Part I: Selected Recent Research & Part II: Self-Esteem and Enlightenment

Because of  my new book coming out March 31, Spirituality Through a Highly Sensitive Lens: An Objective Look at Meditation Methods and Enlightenment), my blog posts now have two parts in each post—Part I will give brief reviews of a selection of recent research,  and Part II will be in keeping with the tone of my new book, something more “spiritual.” For that, scroll down in this post to Part II. 

Part I: Selected Recent Research for Your Enjoyment

Aron, E. N., & Lionetti, F. (2026). Six reasons for confusion about the trait of high sensitivity. Current Psychology, 45(1), 95.

These two brilliant authors, whom you may have heard of address the six challenges in identifying and describing the Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS) trait. Not much of this is new to you, but I think it helps having it all in one place.  What are those six?

1. The trait is a subtle survival strategy of processing information more deeply, which is very difficult to observe behaviorally. 
2. The widely used measure of the trait, the HSP Scale, is outdated and does not fully capture the facets if depth of processing, emotional responsiveness, empathy, and sensitivity to positive experiences all intrinsic to this trait. (This paper was written before the revision was published even as a preprint). 
3. SPS leads to differential susceptibility, resulting in varied behaviors depending on early experiences. Those with supportive childhoods often blend in, while those with difficult upbringings may be more visible due to their heightened stress responses, creating a skewed perception of the trait. 
4. Contrary to popular belief, SPS is not strongly associated with introversion.  
5. It is also not associated with low sensation seeking or avoidance of novelty. 
6. Cultural stereotypes contribute to the underrepresentation of highly sensitive men in our thinking and research about SPS.  

These six sources of confusion can lead to misidentifications, especially in well-adjusted individuals who successfully manage their sensitivity or sensitive men who mask it. The paper advocates for continued research, particularly studies that consider differential susceptibility, to provide a more accurate understanding of SPS.

Bottom Line: Accurate information is crucial to prevent harmful stereotypes, to support those who are most vulnerable while keeping in mind the many successful persons with the trait, and to enhance public and professional awareness of the trait’s complexity and potential.

Sadowski, S. K., & Szpitalak, M. (2022). Sensory processing sensitivity and its relation to susceptibility to misinformation. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 53(2), 79-87.

The authors begin by discussing how much we are all exposed to misinformation. Then they applied a standard misinformation experimental protocol to study how HSPs respond to misinformation.  In their study 127 participants, mostly students (mean age 22.39, 56% women), watched the end of a play that involved some misinformation about what had happened previously in the play, and afterwards wrote a bit about how it affected them.  Then second, half were exposed even more to the misinformation in the play and others were not. Then the third step, the memory of the original material was tested. Everyone exposed more to the misinformation had their memory distorted by it, but the higher the store on HSP Scale, the more resistant people were to the misinformation manipulation.

Bottom Line:  As you would expect of people who process information more deeply, HSPs appear to be less affected by misinformation.

Bürger, M., Münscher, J. C., & Herzberg, P. Y. (2024). High sensitivity groups with distinct personality patterns: a person-centered perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1336474.

I usually do not report much on studies that emphasize the three facets or factors of the old, nonrevised HSP Scale, and most of the studies still in the publishing “pipeline” still make use of those factors to some degree.  However, this one is especially creative.  It identified two types of HSPs, using what is called  Latent Profile Analysis of the HSP Scale on two independent German-speaking samples (N = 1,102; N = 526).  They combined this with scores on the Five- Factor Model of personality (Introversion-extraversion, Neuroticism, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness) to provide a detailed description of the latent sensitivity groups. The two kinds of HSPs?  Not too surprising. The Confident Sensitivity Group of course scored higher on the 7 positively worded items on the old HSP Scale, and on the Five-Factor measure they exhibited average Neuroticism, significantly above-average Openness, and slightly above-average Extraversion. The second type, what they called the Vulnerable Sensitivity Group, of course scored higher on the 20 negative items of the old HSP Scale and showed the more typical personality pattern for HSPs (as measured using the old HSP Scale) on the Five Factor measure–significantly above-average Neuroticism, below-average Extraversion, and slightly above-average Openness.

Bottom Line:  As we already know, HSPs are subject to differential susceptibility, so that if raised in a healthy home and school environment, they tend to be even more confident than other people, but if they come from a less positive environment, they tend to be vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem.  But now someone has put them into groups that the two measures (one outdated) could identify, I suppose especially helpful for mental health professionals.

Part II.  Self-Esteem and Enlightenment

As the release of my book gets closer, I try to imagine how people will experience the title, or rather the subtitle:  An Objective View of Meditation Methods and Enlightenment. (This assumes they read past the uninformative main title, Spirituality through a Highly Sensitive Lens.) It is my fear that people will not respond well to that word “enlightenment.”  There are many reasons, and I think I go into them all in the book:  The two big ones are, first, the number of “enlightened” spiritual teachers who have behaved badly, and second, all our projections onto the term, imagining it is a state of perfection, an archetype more or less.  And underlying that, I think an unconscious thought, “This book isn’t for me—I could never become enlightened.”

Low Self-Esteem as a Western Problem—Ask the Dalai Lama

I will argue that this state IS for you, and virtually everyone, but you may not believe that at all. I want to begin with an excerpt from the book:

Let’s start with a common problem: Many people start meditating, then stop. You will hear many reasons why, but often the bottom line is, I have too many thoughts. Or I’m not the type. That is, I am flawed. We are now entering ranking territory.

Dan Brown, a Harvard professor specializing in attachment trauma who also taught Tibetan Buddhism to hundreds of students [said] . . . he was shocked to see how many of his Western students suffered from low self-esteem due to their childhoods. They felt they could not meditate and certainly never become awakened. Their completely unconscious sense of ranking low had them defeated no matter how long they practiced. 

Low self-esteem seems to be a problem mainly in the West. When a group of psychologists and meditation teachers were meeting with the Dalai Lama, one asked how she might help her students with their chronic low self-esteem. The Dalai Lama was astonished once he understood the question—the translator had to struggle because there is no word for low self-esteem in Tibetan. It makes sense that when Westerners learn to meditate, many assume they will not be good at it, and certainly never become awakened. Their completely unconscious sense of ranking low can have them defeated no matter how long they practiced. 

Of course, if low self-confidence can stop a person from meditating, it may also act as the strongest reason to pursue it, all the way to the goal, the seemingly highest rank. Surely to be awakened might seem like the ultimate way to feel permanently self-confident.

But that’s another topic. I doubt that motivation works when ranking is a strong complex.

Seeing Your Self-Esteem Issues

There are many reasons why most of us in the West have self-esteem issues. It’s deep in our competitive culture, at work and play.  Who’s best?  Who’s trying hardest? Are you doing your best? And it is right in the family if you develop an insecure attachment style—you are inevitably worried about your importance to your parents.  Indeed, I wrote an entire book on ranking, linking, and low self-esteem, and what to do about it: The Undervalued Self. (Another terrible title—it should have been something like, Choosing Between Ranking and Linking—I have trouble with publishers and book titles.  I can’t even remember the THREE subtitles they gave that book, and I am sure no one else remembers them either, although they are right there on the cover.)

All I want to do here is suggest you look carefully at how your self-esteem issues might play into your attitude towards enlightenment.  

What You Are Aiming For

Understanding this state–I think for now I will just call it a permanent shift–will help. It is not a single or even repeated experience, as might happen out in nature or on drugs.  Experiences are wonderful, such as feeling one with everything, but while they can permanently change attitudes, this is a permanent change in the whole brain.

This shift is not a change in lifestyle, beliefs, mood, emotional regulation skills, or attitudes.  None of that. It cannot be forced. It is a shift in the overall functioning of the whole brain, not just one part.  Some people enter it spontaneously, sometimes even suddenly. Maybe you have heard about Eckart Tolle’s experience, which he wrote about in The Power Of Now. He went to sleep deeply depressed and woke up enlightened. But that is rare. But most people will need to use a meditation practice daily to get there. My book reviews all the different kinds of meditation practice so you can pick the one that seems best suited to you.  Daily practice usually needs the boost of some opportunities for long-term practice (like weekend retreats) and some wise teachers to help you understand your experiences and get you back on track if you stray.  This is important. You don’t usually just start a practice and bingo, get there.

“There.”  To put it very simply, you can divide life into the relative, all the stuff we see and do, all the elements that life can be divided into, and then there is the absolute, the unchanging.  You have no doubt felt that unbounded, unmoving, deeply “silent” (even in a noisy place) aspect of life, hopefully sometimes in meditation. It’s hard to describe, yet I suspect you have tasted it.  

The trick is to keep that brain state going outside of meditation, eyes open, simultaneous with everything else.  It will be more in the background when working on something, but always there, and in the foreground when relaxed or when you need it.  When “bad things” happen, you will feel a strange, real equanimity.  You will think less, especially about yourself.  You personally are just somehow not so important anymore. You feel less self-conscious.  You have fewer intense desires.  You still care about things and probably will spontaneously do what you can, or more, to change the world.  But you feel a deep calm inside. In short, it is something HSP especially need and are probably attracted to.

Still, Maybe It Is Not for Everyone

Still, I do not mean that everyone should make awakening or enlightenment (I use the terms interchangeably) a priority.  And then feel bad about themselves if they do not!  This is not about self-esteem. You may have other things in life that are calling you, especially when you are young and have other fish to fry. I really consider it a personal choice. Some people just hear the word and want that. At any age. Others do not. Or do not yet. But I think everyone ought to at least know what this state is before deciding. 

 I am also not saying, alas, that everyone who wants that shift will get it easily.  It can take years, although that is changing.  People are getting there sooner.  But I have not seen that being related to personal ability or deserving it.  I think desire really helps.  Other than that, I think we in the West are still learning about the state and things will speed up soon.  But when you are using the practice that is right for you, everything along the way gets better too, so no real time is lost. There’s more equanimity, more peace, more patience and love for the world and others. You can get started any time, and I believe you can get there. This is NOT about an ability, innate or learned. You can do it. And you deserve it. Read that last line again!