Exploring tranquility: Eastern and Western perspectives.
Frontiers in psychology January 1, 2022 Vincent Ringgaard Christoffersen, Borut Škodlar, Mads Gram Henriksen
Tranquility is a fundamental human experience that has been pursued across Eastern and Western philosophical, religious, and spiritual traditions, yet its experiential nature has not been systematically compared. This theoretical study examines central experiences of tranquility from both traditions, sorting them into four categories based on focus: the body, emotions, the mind, and mysticism. The authors propose that these diverse tranquil experiences share common features: a sense of presence and inner peace as content, and a structure involving detachment and absorption. The account is exploratory, aiming to identify what different tranquil experiences may have in common.