Enlightenment as Healing: A Neuroplastic Framework for Awakening
Executive Summary
This paper proposes that what contemplative traditions call “awakening” or “enlightenment” can be understood as an iterative process of neural network optimisation and trauma resolution. Rather than a mystical endpoint, awakening represents the progressive restructuring of maladaptive mental patterns through phases of heightened neuroplasticity. The intensity and character of these events correlate with the initial burden of trauma and dysfunction: the more “damaged” the predictive machinery of the mind, the more dramatic the reorganisation required.
This model bridges contemplative phenomenology with neuroscience and psychology, reframing enlightenment as a deeply biological healing process that unfolds over repeated cycles.
1. Awakening as Network Repair
The human mind can be conceived as a predictive neural network shaped by experience. Trauma, chronic stress, and maladaptive learning embed inefficient or harmful code into this network, leading to suffering and distorted perception. Awakening occurs when the system enters a phase of elevated neuroplasticity — whether through meditation, insight practice, or other catalytic experiences — and reorganises itself around more adaptive patterns.
This restructuring is not linear but cyclical. The first cycle is the most intense because the network contains the most “duff code.” Later cycles involve subtler adjustments. Each cycle moves the system toward a state of lower suffering and greater integration.
2. Stages of the Process
The restructuring follows recognisable stages that mirror classical insight maps but can also be described mechanistically:
Minima Identification – The mind surfaces maladaptive nodes: trauma imprints, rigid narratives, and inefficiencies become salient.
Forkstorm – New neural hypotheses proliferate. Thought becomes expansive, associative, sometimes visionary. Neurotransmitter surges (dopamine, serotonin) and sympathetic activation fuel rapid rewiring.
Cascade – Reorganised subnetworks begin integrating. Phenomenology may include joy, expansive thinking, and a powerful urge to share insights.
Megaquake (Re-Observation) – The system globally reviews its code. This phase can feel unstable, fearful, or overwhelming as multiple layers of patterns are re-examined.
Global Cascade (Cessation) – A new, coherent network structure consolidates. Experience of self and world shifts suddenly as the predictive model “reboots.”
The cycle then repeats, each time with less code to optimise and subtler phenomenology. Over time, suffering diminishes and equanimity stabilises.
3. Phenomenology and Narrative
A striking feature of these cycles is the emergence of internally coherent narratives — visions, cosmologies, theories — which serve as scaffolding for the new network structure. These narratives need not correspond to external reality; their function is to convince the brain of its new worldview. Traditional cultures described devas or heavens, modern practitioners might speak of simulations or wave theory. Mistaking these scaffolds for ultimate truth is a common trap.
The intensity of altered states and the compulsion to teach others correlate with the scale of healing. Those with deeper trauma often experience more dramatic phases and stronger prosocial drives after reorganisation.
4. Program Blueprint (Conceptual)
A structured approach can guide practitioners through this process more safely and effectively:
Preparation: Establish grounding practices, emotional regulation skills, and supportive environments.
Recognition: Learn to identify the stages of the cycle and normalise their phenomenology.
Scaffold Construction: Engage actively with meaning-making, knowing it is provisional and functional.
Integration: Use journaling, reflective review, and contemplative rest to consolidate insights.
Iteration: Approach subsequent cycles with awareness that intensity will diminish and refinement will deepen.
Because the process can resemble hypomania or psychosis, safety measures — mentorship, psychological support, pacing — are essential. The aim is to harness heightened neuroplasticity without destabilisation.
5. Implications
This framework suggests enlightenment is not an esoteric state but the natural result of iterative network repair. It reframes awakening as a biological healing process with significant overlap with trauma therapy and even ADHD compensation. It explains why children rarely experience dramatic awakenings (insufficient maladaptive code) and why repeated cycles are progressively less intense.
By grounding contemplative phenomenology in neurobiological terms, this model offers common language for meditation teachers, therapists, and neuroscientists. It invites new approaches to mental health that integrate insight practice with trauma resolution, and it suggests that enlightenment is not a final destination but an ongoing optimisation — a wire, not a lantern.