Merlin, have you ever read this essay by Simone Weil? http://www.chosunjournal.com/weil.html It is in the context of prayer and spirituality, which isn’t bad. But if that kind of thing turns you off, I still recommend it since her general argument about the soul (mind) is very interesting.

For example, this paragraph:

“Attention consists of suspending our thought, leaving it detached, empty, and ready to be penetrated by the object; it means holding in our minds, within reach of this thought, but on a lower level and not in contact with it, the diverse knowledge we have acquired which we are forced to make use of. Our thought should be in relation to all particular and already formulated thoughts, as a man on a mountain who, as he looks forward, sees also below him, without actually looking at them, a great many forests and plains. Above all our thought should be empty, waiting, not seeking anything, but ready to receive in its naked truth the object that is to penetrate it.”