The Spiral of Attention, Arousal, and Release: A Comparative Phenomenology of Jhāna Meditation and Speaking in Tongues

Buddhist Jhāna meditation and the Christian practice of speaking in tongues appear wildly distinct. These spiritual techniques differ in their ethical, theological, and historical frames and seem, from the outside, to produce markedly different states of consciousness—one a state of utter calm and the other of high emotional arousal. Yet, our phenomenological interviews with experienced practitioners in the USA found significant points of convergence. Practitioners in both traditions describe a dynamic relationship between focused attention, aroused joy, and a sense of letting go or release that they describe as crucial to their practice. This paper highlights these shared phenomenological features and theorizes possible underlying mechanisms. Analyzing our phenomenological data through the lens of various theories of brain function, including sensory gating and predictive processing, we propose that these practices both engage an autonomic field built through a spiral between attention, arousal, and release (AAR).