Advanced Meditators’ Meaning, Sense, and Emotions Related to the End of Life

This study investigates the perspectives of long-term meditators (LTMs) on death, focusing on their beliefs, emotional responses, and sense-making processes related to the end of life. Drawing on the responses obtained through direct interviews with 45 experienced practitioners, we utilized thematic analysis to identify a distinctive pattern of existential attitudes shaped by long-term contemplative practice. The most common view (40%) was that consciousness persists beyond physical death, an inference often grounded in direct meditative experiences of awareness as a nonphysical and enduring presence. A significant proportion (28.9%) viewed death as a natural and inevitable process to be accepted without fear or attachment, reflecting the psychological mechanism of decentering cultivated through mindfulness practices. Compared to general population data, LTMs were significantly less likely to endorse materialist views of consciousness cessation (6.7% vs. 23%), suggesting that advanced contemplative training may shift existential beliefs in measurable ways. The findings suggest a nuanced and nondogmatic approach to mortality among LTMs, characterized by an openness to mystery and equanimity. This study offers novel insights into how sustained contemplative practice may fundamentally alter one’s relationship with death, with implications for psychology, spiritual care, and consciousness studies.