Peak experiences
Encyclopedia
Peak experience is a term used to describe certain transpersonal
and ecstatic states, particularly ones tinged with themes of euphoria
, harmonization and interconnectedness. Participants characterize these experiences, and the revelations imparted therein, as possessing an ineffably mystical and spiritual
(or overtly religious) quality or essence.
Abraham Maslow
, in his 1964 work Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences. To some extent the term represents Maslow's attempt to "naturalize" those experiences which have generally been identified as religious experiences
and whose origin has, by implication, been thought of as supernatural. Maslow (1970) believed that the origin, core and essence of every known "high religion" was "the private, lonely, personal illumination, revelation, or ecstasy of some acutely sensitive prophet or seer" (p. 19).
(the principal psychoactive component of various psychedelic mushroom species) induced intense peak experiences in a majority of study volunteers. In a 14-month follow-up study, a majority of volunteers reported that the psilocybin-induced experience had been overwhelmingly positive and was among the five most personally meaningful spiritual experiences of their lives.
Maslow describes how the peak experience tends to be uplifting and ego-transcending; it releases creative energies; it affirms the meaning and value of existence; it gives a sense of purpose to the individual; it gives a feeling of integration; it leaves a permanent mark on the individual, evidently changing them for the better. Peak experiences can be therapeutic in that they tend to increase the individual's free will, self-determination, creativity, and empathy. The highest peaks include "feelings of limitless horizons opening up to the vision, the feeling of being simultaneously more powerful and also more helpless than one ever was before, the feeling of great ecstasy and wonder and awe, and the loss of placing in time and space" (1970, p. 164). When peak experiences are especially powerful, the sense of self dissolves into an awareness of a greater unity. Maslow's theories appear to be supported by the recent reports from Griffiths and colleagues, in which community observers (such as close family members) reported a variety of positive personality changes in volunteers in the psilocybin arm of the study.
Maslow claimed that all individuals are capable of peak experiences. Virtually everyone, he suggested, has a number of peak experiences in the course of their life, but often such experiences ether go unrecognized, misunderstood or are simply taken for granted. In so-called "non-peakers", peak experiences are somehow resisted and suppressed. Maslow argued that peak experiences should be studied and cultivated, so that they can be introduced to those who have never had them or who resist them, providing them a route to achieve personal growth, integration, and fulfillment.
On peak experiences:
A somewhat more facetious and ironic viewpoint:
Positive effects of resolving genealogical bewilderment:
Transpersonal
The term transpersonal is often used to refer to psychological categories that transcend the normal features of ordinary ego-functioning. That is, stages of psychological growth, or stages of consciousness, that move beyond the rational andprecede the mystical...
and ecstatic states, particularly ones tinged with themes of euphoria
Euphoria
Euphoria is an emotional and mental state defined as a sense of great elation and well being.Euphoria may also refer to:* Euphoria , a genus of scarab beetles* Euphoria, a genus name previously used for the longan and other trees...
, harmonization and interconnectedness. Participants characterize these experiences, and the revelations imparted therein, as possessing an ineffably mystical and spiritual
Spiritual
Spiritual may refer to:*Spirituality, a concern with matters of the spirit*Spiritual , an African American song, usually with a Christian religious text...
(or overtly religious) quality or essence.
Origins
Many of the nuances the term now connotes were expounded by psychologistPsychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Harold Maslow was an American professor of psychology at Brandeis University, Brooklyn College, New School for Social Research and Columbia University who created Maslow's hierarchy of needs...
, in his 1964 work Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences. To some extent the term represents Maslow's attempt to "naturalize" those experiences which have generally been identified as religious experiences
Religious experience
Religious experience is a subjective experience in which an individual reports contact with a transcendent reality, an encounter or union with the divine....
and whose origin has, by implication, been thought of as supernatural. Maslow (1970) believed that the origin, core and essence of every known "high religion" was "the private, lonely, personal illumination, revelation, or ecstasy of some acutely sensitive prophet or seer" (p. 19).
The nature of peak experiences
Peak experiences are described by Maslow as especially joyous and exciting moments in life, involving sudden feelings of intense happiness and well-being, wonder and awe, and possibly also involving an awareness of transcendental unity or knowledge of higher truth (as though perceiving the world from an altered, and often vastly profound and awe-inspiring perspective). They usually come on suddenly and are often inspired by deep meditation, intense feelings of love, exposure to great art or music, or the overwhelming beauty of nature. Peak experiences can also be triggered pharmacologically. A 2006 double-blind clinical study by Griffiths and colleagues showed that psilocybinPsilocybin
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug, with mind-altering effects similar to those of LSD and mescaline, after it is converted to psilocin. The effects can include altered thinking processes, perceptual distortions, an altered sense of time, and spiritual experiences, as well as...
(the principal psychoactive component of various psychedelic mushroom species) induced intense peak experiences in a majority of study volunteers. In a 14-month follow-up study, a majority of volunteers reported that the psilocybin-induced experience had been overwhelmingly positive and was among the five most personally meaningful spiritual experiences of their lives.
Maslow describes how the peak experience tends to be uplifting and ego-transcending; it releases creative energies; it affirms the meaning and value of existence; it gives a sense of purpose to the individual; it gives a feeling of integration; it leaves a permanent mark on the individual, evidently changing them for the better. Peak experiences can be therapeutic in that they tend to increase the individual's free will, self-determination, creativity, and empathy. The highest peaks include "feelings of limitless horizons opening up to the vision, the feeling of being simultaneously more powerful and also more helpless than one ever was before, the feeling of great ecstasy and wonder and awe, and the loss of placing in time and space" (1970, p. 164). When peak experiences are especially powerful, the sense of self dissolves into an awareness of a greater unity. Maslow's theories appear to be supported by the recent reports from Griffiths and colleagues, in which community observers (such as close family members) reported a variety of positive personality changes in volunteers in the psilocybin arm of the study.
Maslow claimed that all individuals are capable of peak experiences. Virtually everyone, he suggested, has a number of peak experiences in the course of their life, but often such experiences ether go unrecognized, misunderstood or are simply taken for granted. In so-called "non-peakers", peak experiences are somehow resisted and suppressed. Maslow argued that peak experiences should be studied and cultivated, so that they can be introduced to those who have never had them or who resist them, providing them a route to achieve personal growth, integration, and fulfillment.
Sustained Peak Experience
Maslow defined lengthy, willfully induced peak experiences (plateau experiences) as a characteristic of the self-actualized. He described it as a state of witnessing or cognitive blissfulness, the achievement of which requires a lifetime of long and hard effort, and also self-actualization.Quotes
Peak experiences are transient moments of self-actualization.
(Maslow, 1971, p. 48)
On peak experiences:
Human beings do not realise the extent to which their own sense of defeat prevents them from doing things they could do perfectly well. The peak experience induces the recognition that your own powers are far greater than you imagined them.
Colin WilsonColin WilsonColin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
A somewhat more facetious and ironic viewpoint:
We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible.
Oscar WildeOscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
Positive effects of resolving genealogical bewilderment:
Ancestral recovery was a peak experience, an extraordinary moment that took my breath away, liberated my spirit, and gave me the confidence to soar like an eagle.
(Judith Land, 2011, Adoption Detective: Memoir of an Adopted Child, p. 257)
I was high as a kite and more jubilant that a lottery winner was. My happiness was outside the natural range of variability for human emotions.
(Judith Land, 2011, Adoption Detective: Memoir of an Adopted Child, p. 168)
Recent developments
Prof. Gad Yair from the Hebrew University has developed a line of research on key experiences, especially relating to educational events. His papers on key experiences in higher education and on the role of those experiences in educational turning points are available online. The concept of key educational experiences refers to singular, short and intense educational encounters that proved to have strong and long-lasting effects on adults. These encounters are at times associated with a specific person who led them [e.g. teacher, parent, youth leader], at others with the structure of the episode itself [e.g. progress toward a peak event which is then associated with insight and hindsight]. Indeed, many respondents speak of their key educational experiences in terms of sight: Exceptional activities cause prior blinders to be suddenly lifted off, producing clear vision and insight, notably about students' own selves.See also
- Flow (psychology)Flow (psychology)Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of...
- Shulgin Rating ScaleShulgin Rating ScaleThe Shulgin Rating Scale is a simple scale for reporting the subjective effect of psychoactive substances at a given dosage, and at a given time...
- SufismSufismSufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
- Double Rainbow (viral video)Double Rainbow (viral video)Double Rainbow refers to a viral video posted by Paul "Bear" Vasquez. The clip, filmed in his front yard just outside Yosemite National Park, in the U.S. state of California, chronicles his sighting of and Stendhal syndrome-like reaction to a double rainbow...
Further reading
- Maslow, A. (1964). Religion, values and peak experiences. New York: Viking.
- Maslow, A. (1970). Religious Aspects of Peak-Experiences. Personality and Religion. Harper & Row: New York.
- Maslow, A. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York: Viking Press.