Synthesis:Multidimensional Framework

A seemingly outstanding barrier to our field is that various disciplines with different themes of interest, goals, histories, and socioeconomic incentives are insufficiently connected. We believe that skilful dialog between the sometimes seemingly orthogonal perspectives and focuses of the academic disciplines (the humanities and sciences), modern medical disciplines, and spiritual, mystical or religious traditions, can lead to a fruitful, integrative synergy to advance our understanding of emergent experiences and development in all of their intricately related dimensions and complexity. It is to that end that the present framework was developed. After reviewing and synthesizing various existing such frameworks with overlapping aims (see below, section "main sources"), we came up with three major levels with further subdivisions, focusing on the individual first, then on the different aspects of social and cultural life, and finally the ecological level.

Individual Level

Subjectivity

This covers all relevant domains of experiencing, which constitute the manifest world or the field of consciousness for a given individual from their own perceptual perspective. As is the case overall with this framework, not all domains will be of equal relevance. Note that from a phenomenological perspective, this is the "first-person view", while from a medical perspective, this corresponds to symptoms.

• Aesthetics
• Arousal and vigilance/wakefulness
• Beliefs and Worldviews
• Cognition
• Desire and Pleasure
• Emotions
• Existential domain
• Intuition
• Language, Symbols, and Meaning
• Perception

• Psychology
• Sense spheres
• Sexuality
• Space and Time
• Values and Virtues
• Will

Physiology and Biological systems

Third-person phenomenology, and what, to a medical doctor, would be the domain of "signs". A lot of the elements of in the previous section also manifest or have correlates on this level, but not all of them — for instance the content of mental images is hard to observe apart from a 1st person perspective. In the case of the physiology of emergence and emergent phenomena, it seems that e.g. the skeleton or the genome are unlikely to be changed much, while changes in more plastic components like the brain-immune-gut-system, heart-brain-axis, etc., could well be very significant mediators/correlates on the longer term.

• Biological rhythms and cycles
• Cardiovascular and respiratory system
• Endocrine system
• Fascia
• Gastrointestinal system
• Immune system
• Genome
• Lymphatic system
• Metabolism
• Muscles and bones

• Nervous system
• Other relevant biological characteristics of the individual
• Proteome
• Reproductive system
• Sensory systems
• Skin and hair
• Urinary system

Behavior and Action

There is a spectrum of scales in time and space to consider here, from short "internal" micro-gestures (e.g. meditative activities, reactivity patterns) to long-term "external" behaviors and habits like lifestyle choices.

• Ethics
• Habits and Lifestyle (Diet, Sleep, Physical activity...)
• Verbal and Non-verbal expression (Movements, Gestures, Expression/Communication style, Tone of voice, Attitudes, Demeanor, etc.)
• Skills and Challenges
• Motricity (Balance, Bodily control, Coordination, Gross and fine motor patterns, Reflexes)
• Practice/Modality factors (Consistency, Fit, Practice-related risk factors, Practice type)
• Sociocultural/demographic characteristics of individuals (Gender, Age, Occupation, Education level, Wealth)

Capacity to elicit reactions from social environment (Charm, Agreeableness, Benevolence, Attractiveness, etc.)

Society and Culture

• Sociocultural characteristics of individuals (Occupation, Education level, Wealth)
• Family
• School/Work
• Community
• Subculture
• Culture
• Society
• Civilization

Environment

• Cosmic Influences
• Fauna
• Flora
• Geography
• Geology
• Natural Cycles

Main sources

Reference	Name of model	Discipline/Field
1. Bickley, L. S., Szilagyi, P. G., & Hoffman, R. M. (2017). Bates’ guide to physical examination and history taking (Twelfth edition). Wolters Kluwer.	Physiological Systems	Medicine
2. Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2007). The Bioecological Model of Human Development. In W. Damon & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of Child Psychology (1st ed.). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0114	Bioecological Model of Human Development	Developmental Psychology
3. Cuthbert, B. N., & Insel, T. R. (2013). Toward the future of psychiatric diagnosis: the seven pillars of RDoC. BMC Medicine, 11(1), 126. https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7015-11-126	Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)	Psychiatry/Medicine
4. Emmons, R. A., & Paloutzian, R. F. (2003). The Psychology of Religion. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 377–402. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145024	Multilevel Interdisciplinary Paradigm (MIP)	Psychology of religion
5. Engel, G. L. (1978). The Biopsychosocial Model and The Education Of Health Professionals. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 310(1), 169–181. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1978.tb22070.x	Biopsychosocial Model	Theory of health
6. Lehman, B. J., David, D. M., & Gruber, J. A. (2017). Rethinking the biopsychosocial model of health: Understanding health as a dynamic system. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(8), e12328. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12328	Biopsychosocial Model (revised)	Theory of health
7. Locke, R. G., & Kelly, E. F. (1985). A Preliminary Model for the Cross-Cultural Analysis of Altered States of Consciousness. Ethos, 13(1), 3–55. http://www.jstor.org/stable/640008	Preliminary Model for the Cross-Cultural Analysis of Altered States of Consciousness	Cross-cultural Anthropology
8. Mahoney, A., & Shafranske, E. P. (2013). Envisioning an integrative paradigm for the psychology of religion and spirituality. In K. I. Pargament, J. J. Exline, & J. W. Jones (Eds.), APA handbook of psychology, religion, and spirituality (Vol 1): Context, theory, and research. (pp. 3–19). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14045-001	Integrative Paradigm for the Psychology of R/S	Psychology of R/S
9. Riggs, D. W., Yeager, R. A., & Bhatnagar, A. (2018). Defining the Human Envirome: An Omics Approach for Assessing the Environmental Risk of Cardiovascular Disease. Circulation Research, 122(9), 1259–1275. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.117.311230	Human Envirome	Health and the Environment
10. Schoenberg, P. L. A., & Gonzalez, K. M. (2022). Systematic Review of High-Dimensional Omics in Mind-Body Medicine. OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine, 07(04), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.21926/obm.icm.2204052	High-Dimensional Omics in Mind-Body Medicine	Mechanistic accounts of mind-body medicine based on inflammatory markers
11. Taves, A. (2020). Mystical and Other Alterations in Sense of Self: An Expanded Framework for Studying Nonordinary Experiences. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(3), 669–690. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619895047	Expanded Framework for Studying Nonordinary Experiences	Psychology and Nonordinary Experiences
12. Vion-Dury, J., & Mougin, G. (2016). Modalisations Of The Consciousness Field: A Phenomenological And Morphodynamic Approach. PSN - psychiatrie, sciences humaines, neurosciences. https://hal.science/hal-01580235/document	Phenomenological and Morphodynamic Model of the Consciousness Field	Phenomenology and medicine
13. Wright, M. J., Sanguinetti, J. L., Young, S., & Sacchet, M. D. (2023). Uniting Contemplative Theory and Scientific Investigation: Toward a Comprehensive Model of the Mind. Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-023-02101-y	THIN Model	Contemplative science
14. General Inventory of Emergent Phenomena in Sandilands, O., & Ingram, D. M. (2024). Documenting and defining emergent phenomenology: theoretical foundations for an extensive research strategy. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1340335. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1340335	Domains of Experience and Function	Multidisciplinary and varied qualitative and theoretical sources