Ben Alterman, Ph.D.

Document Archive

This website is a repository of compositions I’ve written and wish to make freely available to the public. They may be viewed, downloaded, and/or printed by clicking on the button following each description. Email me at 2benalterman@gmail.com if you would like to be informed when new compositions are posted here or if you would like to send me your comments or questions. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.

Background

My Journey Through Meditation, Neuroscience and Psychology Over Half a Century

This is a four page description of my studies and practice of Buddhist meditation and clinical psychology over more than half a century. Included are a number of anecdotes concerning neurophysiology and psychology as they have interfaced with meditation during my career.

Transcendent Action At A Distance

A Neo-Buddhist Sci-Fi Fantasy Superhero Mashup To Chase Away The Blues

This is a four page short story I wrote following the 2024 U.S. election. It is a sci-fi “mashup” of numerous canonical Buddhist scriptures reimagined. The annotated version details the canonical sources of inspiration for specific passages in the text and includes a selected bibliography.

Protocol-Free Meditation

(With Wisdom And a Cup of Tea)

This is an eight page guide to practicing a methodology of mental training I developed over a period of approximately thirty years working professionally as a clinical psychologist with clients from a wide variety of backgrounds. It is based on a number of canonical methods that I learned from meditation masters of various Buddhist traditions and practiced over a period of approximately twenty years prior to becoming a psychologist. The techniques are presented here in a flexible, secular format that may be employed in its entirety or in part, however the practitioner finds useful.

Meditation on Suchness

This single page instruction is a concise guide to precisely understanding one of the most famous and enigmatic aphorisms in all the sutras of Buddhism; namely, “Form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” The technique of meditation described in this monograph is more fully elaborated in the guide to “Protocol-Free Meditation” above. The drawing by Naomi Alterman depicts a 13-14th century Yuan Dynasty statue of Gotama Buddha housed at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.

Neurophysiological Effects of Selective Attention

This is my doctoral dissertation in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. The principle finding of my dissertation research was that when a person pays fixed attention to a flickering visual stimulus, this stimulus drives specific neurons in the primary visual cortex of the brain. When the same person pays no attention to the flickering stimulus, even with their eyes remaining fixed on the stimulus, the same neurons in the primary visual cortex no longer register any stimulus-driven activity whatsoever.

Future Additions

I plan to gradually post monographs on the non-traditional techniques of mental training I provided to my clients over the thirty year course of my professional career as a clinical psychologist. I also intend to write a commentary to “The Exposition of the Elements Sutta” (MN140), a detailed discourse on meditation by the Buddha contained in the Pali canon. My commentary will include guidance in applying the Buddha’s extensive instructions to the practice of Protocol-Free Meditation. Eventually “Transcendent Action at a Distance – Part II” and other compositions will be added to this archive as well.