Scientists are increasingly recognising the importance of reflection in everyday life, yet current approaches within Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) often limit its scope to cognitive problem-solving. Aaron Pengyu Zhu from the National University of Singapore, Kristina Mah from The University of Sydney, and Janghee Cho from the National University of Singapore, alongside their colleagues, present a novel investigation into Daoist philosophy as a means of broadening our understanding of reflective practice. Their research, combining Daoist texts with interviews from 18 priests, scholars and practitioners, identifies dimensions of Stillness, Resonance, and others, revealing embodied, relational and ethical qualities frequently absent in HCI. This work significantly challenges existing frameworks, advocating a move from individual reflection to ‘reflecting-with’, and offers Daoism as a valuable epistemological resource for the field.

Daoist philosophy illuminates embodied and relational dimensions of everyday reflection, offering a path toward wholeness

Scientists have demonstrated a novel approach to understanding reflection, moving beyond conventional Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) frameworks that prioritize cognitive problem-solving and individual improvement. This research introduces Daoist philosophy as a non-Western lens to broaden the scope of reflective practices within interactive systems.
The team achieved this by combining insights from Daoist literature with semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 Daoist priests, scholars, and practitioners, revealing previously overlooked dimensions of everyday reflection. These investigations identified Stillness, Resonance, and Emergence as three key components, highlighting embodied, relational, and ethically driven qualities often absent in current HCI research.

The study unveils that Daoism offers a unique perspective on reflection, advocating a shift from simply ‘reflection’ to ‘reflecting-with’, emphasizing interconnectedness and receptivity. Researchers conducted 18 semi-structured interviews to explore how Daoist principles manifest in daily life, focusing on embodied practices and mindful awareness of surroundings and others.

This qualitative data revealed that participants’ reflective processes are deeply rooted in Daoist teachings, particularly concerning the body, context, and interpersonal permeability. The work establishes a Daoist reflective paradigm characterized by these three dimensions, Stillness, Resonance, and Emergence, as a complement to existing HCI frameworks.

This breakthrough reveals the potential of Daoism as an epistemological resource for the HCI community, offering an alternative foundation for designing technologies that support more holistic and meaningful reflective experiences. The identified dimensions, Stillness, Resonance, and Emergence, are presented as critical for informing alternative frameworks for interactive systems, moving beyond individual self-improvement towards a more interconnected and ethically grounded approach. The research opens possibilities for designing technologies that support reflection not as a solitary cognitive process, but as a relational practice embedded within everyday life and attuned to the nuances of experience.

Uncovering Daoist dimensions of everyday reflection through qualitative inquiry reveals nuanced understandings of lived experience

Researchers initiated this work to broaden understandings of reflection beyond conventional HCI approaches, drawing upon Daoist philosophy as a novel lens. The study employed semi-structured interviews with 18 participants, Daoist priests, scholars, and practitioners, to investigate how Daoism conceptualises reflection in daily life.

These interviews served as the primary data source, allowing researchers to explore embodied practices and mindsets inspired by Daoist teachings. Scientists meticulously analysed interview transcripts to identify key dimensions of everyday reflection, focusing on the interplay between body, situation, and perception of others.

This analysis yielded three core components: Stillness, Resonance, and Emergence, which the team presents as a Daoist reflective paradigm. The research innovatively positions these dimensions as a complement to existing HCI frameworks, offering designers alternative considerations for reflection-supportive technologies.

Experiments involved a rigorous qualitative approach, prioritising in-depth understanding over quantitative metrics. Participants described their reflective processes, enabling the team to discern patterns and themes related to Daoist principles. The study pioneers a shift from individual reflection towards “reflecting-with”, emphasising the entanglement of self, others, and situations.

This methodological approach reveals ethically driven qualities often overlooked in HCI, opening possibilities for designing interactive systems that engage plural perspectives and foster deeper, more holistic reflective experiences. The findings articulate design implications for reflective technologies, positioning Daoist reflection as an alternative framework for HCI.

Stillness, Resonance and Emergence characterise Daoist reflective dimensions of being

Scientists identified three interrelated dimensions of Daoist reflection: Stillness, Resonance, and Emergence, expanding current understandings of reflective practice. The research team conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 Daoist priests, scholars, and practitioners to explore everyday reflective practices and align them with Daoist concepts.

Data shows that Stillness grounds reflection as a pre-cognitive, embodied openness, achieved through practices like forgetting and silence. Participants described forgetting as releasing attachment to social roles and dualistic distinctions, enabling a fresh perspective to arise, while silence was presented as an active method suspending linguistic expression and habitual judgment.

Experiments revealed that Resonance refers to meaning emerging through inward attentiveness, fostering self-acceptance and critical awareness. Listening, a reflective practice of attending to inner presence, enables awareness and acceptance of one’s present state, extending reflection beyond purely cognitive models.

Observation, maintaining non-judgmental awareness of external situations, was also identified as a key method within Resonance. Measurements confirm that Emergence represents a dynamic attunement aligning body, situation, and natural rhythms, generating new understanding through adaptation and acceptance of uncertainty.

The team measured attunement as an active reflective process of being in tune with bodily rhythms, situational flows, and natural cycles. Participants described becoming, a reflective practice of perceiving otherness and relationality, as central to Emergence. Results demonstrate that these three dimensions are not linear stages but unfold as part of a trajectory, beginning with Stillness, moving toward Resonance, and culminating in Emergence. The work highlights that digital technologies can be sources of “noise” disrupting reflective space, as one participant noted mobile technology as a distraction affecting judgment and emotions.

Daoist foundations of Stillness, Resonance and responsive interaction inform a powerful approach to healing

Scientists have broadened understandings of reflection by introducing Daoist philosophy as a non-Western framework for designing interactive systems. Their work challenges conventional HCI approaches that primarily focus on cognitive problem-solving and individual improvement, instead highlighting embodied, relational, and ethically driven dimensions of everyday reflection.

Through a combination of Daoist literature review and semi-structured interviews with eighteen Daoist priests, scholars, and practitioners, researchers identified three key dimensions: Stillness, Resonance, and myriad phenomena. This investigation demonstrates that reflection, within a Daoist context, is deeply rooted in embodied alignment with one’s environment, emphasizing spontaneity and relational existence.

The concept of Wu-Wei, or effortless action, suggests reflection isn’t about deliberate problem-solving but cultivating attunement and responding with minimal resistance. Furthermore, the principle of Yin-Yang highlights the importance of embracing change and productive tension rather than seeking fixed conclusions.

The authors acknowledge a limitation in the interpretive nature of their work, noting the potential for subjective understanding of Daoist texts and the importance of researcher positionality. Future research could explore how these dimensions can be practically integrated into the design of interactive systems, moving beyond reflection on problems towards reflecting-with systems that foster attunement and ethical consideration.