The empirical, first-person, subjective investigation into the nature of the mind and its role in Nature, which uses methods for developing refined attention, mindfulness, and introspection to directly observe states of consciousness and mental functions in their relationship with the body and the physical world at large. Discoveries made by way of such first-person inquiry can be intersubjectively validated or repudiated by highly trained contemplatives and through collaborative research using the third-person methods of behavioral and cognitive psychology and of cognitive neuroscience.