Modeling non-dual awareness via constraint closure: a reinterpretation of groundlessness.

Non-dual awareness (NDA) is a shift in consciousness where the subject-object distinction dissolves and experience is no longer structured by conceptual thought or goal-directed control. The article argues that constraint closure, as developed by Nave, extends the enactivist model of autonomy by showing how autonomy is sustained through the continual regeneration of its own relational conditions, preventing process-closure models from being read in substantialist terms. This view parallels Nāgārjuna's Madhyamaka analysis of dependent origination. The author proposes that NDA corresponds to a shift from decoupled to precarious constraints, revealing that cognition and awareness persist through dynamic regeneration of interdependent relations, not intrinsic foundations.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Non-dual awareness (NDA) refers to a shift in consciousness in which the usual distinction between subject and object dissolves, and experience is no longer structured by conceptual mediation or goal-directed regulation. Meling enactivist model describes NDA as a meditative disclosure of groundlessness-the recognition of emptiness (śūnyatā), that all phenomena lack intrinsic nature. While enactivism explains autonomy through process closure, this article argues that constraint closure, as developed by Nave, extends that framework by making explicit how autonomy is sustained through the continual regeneration of its own relational conditions. This refinement prevents process-closure models from being read in substantialist terms when applied to complex cognitive systems, where stability arises through ongoing transformation rather than fixed organization. Nave's account builds on Juarrero theory of constraint causality, which replaces intrinsic forces with relational conditions-a view that parallels Nāgārjuna's Madhyamaka analysis of dependent origination. Integrating these perspectives, I propose that NDA corresponds to a shift from decoupled to precarious constraints, revealing that cognition and awareness persist not through intrinsic foundations but through the dynamic regeneration of interdependent relations.