• Abraham Maslow Peak Experience

What is a peak experience? Maslow, the term's inventor, says that 'peak experiences are sudden feelings of intense happiness and well-being, possibly the awareness of. Abraham Maslow Religions, Values and Peak Experiences Toward a Psychology of Being. Review by Tim Knepper, 2001 Maslow, Abraham H. Religions, Values and Peak Experiences. Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences Abraham H. Maslow Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences 1964 by Kappa Delta Pi and 1970 (preface) The Viking Press.

A peak experience is a moment accompanied by a euphoric mental state often achieved by individuals. The concept was originally developed by in 1964, who describes peak experiences as 'rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate an advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect upon the experimenter.' There are several unique characteristics of a peak experience, but each element is perceived together in a holistic manner that creates the moment of reaching one’s full potential.

Peak experiences can range from simple activities to intense events; however, it is not necessarily about what the activity is, but the ecstatic, blissful feeling that is being experienced during it. Contents. History Peak experiences were originally described by as 'moments of highest happiness and fulfillment' in his 1964 work. To some extent the term represents Maslow's attempt to denominate those experiences which have generally been identified as and whose origins have, by implication, been thought of as supernatural. Maslow (1970) believed 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).

Maslow's assertions about peak experience, along with his famous, were widely celebrated due to the theories' focus on the psychology of healthy people, which stood out in a time where the bulk of psychology research focused on psychological disorders. In original peak experience research, Maslow utilized interviews and questionnaires to gather participants' testimonies of peak experience. These early studies suggested common triggers for peak experience included art, nature, sex, creative work, music, scientific knowledge, and introspection.

Historically, peak experience is associated with the psychological phenomenon. Peak experience is differentiated from flow due to a number of factors including subjective level of experience intensity: while peak experience denotes a high level of stimulation or euphoria, flow is not associated with an increased level of stimulation.

For further differentiation, see 'Peak Experiences in Self-Actualization' below. Characteristics An individual in a peak experience will perceive the following simultaneously:. loss of judgment to time and space. the feeling of being one whole and harmonious self, free of dissociation or inner conflict. the feeling of using all capacities and capabilities at their highest potential, or being 'fully functioning'.

functioning effortlessly and easily without strain or struggle. feeling completely responsible for perceptions and behavior.

Use of self-determination to becoming stronger, more single-minded, and fully volitional. being without inhibition, fear, doubt, and self-criticism. spontaneity, expressiveness, and naturally flowing behavior that is not constrained by conformity. a free mind that is flexible and open to creative thoughts and ideas. complete mindfulness of the present moment without influence of past or expected future experiences.

a physical feeling of warmth, along with a sensation of pleasant vibrations emanating from the heart area outward into the limbs. Self-actualization Self-actualization is a concept developed by Abraham Maslow that is characterized by one becoming all they want to be, and can be, by maximizing their potential. A common phenomenon that many self-actualized people experience is called, proposed. Flow has been described as a state of mind when one is using their full potential, completely immersed in their current activity, and are therefore not conscious of time, or anything else for that matter.

Self-actualized people often experience flow, as well as peak experiences. Although flow and peak experiences are often thought of as the same thing, they are different occurrences. While flow is a subjective conscious process that happens internally, peak experiences are describing an event that has occurred to someone who was functioning at optimal levels.

Peak experiences are the actual outcome of an external occurrence, while flow is an internal mental process that may or may not precede a peak experience. Due to the nature and characteristics of self-actualized individuals, peak experiences often occur in their lives with their ability to perceive, accept, understand, and enjoy the journey of life. Examples Polyson (1985): 'Most of the peak experiences had occurred during athletic, artistic, religious, or nature experiences, or during intimate moments with a friend or family member.' Maslow (1962): 'Think of the most wonderful experience of your life: the happiest moments, ecstatic moments, moments of rapture, perhaps from being in love, or from listening to music or suddenly 'being hit' by a book or painting, or from some creative moment.' Specific examples of when peak experiences often occur:. Scientific discoveries; seeing or discovering some phenomenon for the first time.

activities –, mountain/,. Musical talents – while playing an instrument alone, or with a group Implications considers the peak experience to be one of the most important goals of life, as it is an indication of self-actualization. This moment of feeling wholly and completely the true self makes the peak experience an essential component of identity. The aftereffects of the peak experience leave the individual to see himself and the world in a new way. He views himself more positively, he views life as worthwhile and meaningful, and most importantly, he seeks to repeat the experience. The peak experience is an exhibition of Maslow’s emphasis on the quest for positive growth maximizing potential as the true goal of human existence.

Plateau experience Maslow also recognized a related but distinct phenomena of the plateau experience. This is serene and calm rather than a poignantly emotional, climactic, autonomic response to the miraculous, the awesome, the sacralized, the Unitive, the B-values. So far as I can now tell, the high plateau-experience always has a noetic and cognitive element, which is not always true for peak experiences, which can be purely and exclusively emotional.

Abraham Maslow Peak Experience

It is far more voluntary than peak experiences are. One can learn to see in this Unitive way almost at will.

It then becomes a witnessing, an appreciating, what one might call a serene, cognitive blissfulness which can, however, have a quality of casualness and of lounging about. After Maslow's death, investigation into the nature of plateau experiences 'largely fizzled into obscurity.' See also. References. Corsini, Raymond J. Encyclopedia of Psychology.

United States: John Wiley & Sons. Corsini, Raymond J.

Encyclopedia of Psychology. United States: John Wiley & Sons. ^ Maslow, A.H. Religions, values, and peak experiences. London: Penguin Books Limited. Maslow, Abraham (1968). Toward a Psychology of Being.

New York, NY: Van Nostrand-Reinhold. ^ Polyson, J. 'Student's peak experiences: A written exercise'. Teaching of Psychology, 12. ^ Capon, John. 'Flow and Peak Experience'.

Missing or empty url=. ^ Maslow, A. Toward a psychology of being. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand-Reinhold. Boniface, M.R. Towards an understanding of flow and other positive experience phenomena within outdoor and adventurous activities. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 1, 55-68.

^ Privette, G. Peak experience, peak performance and flow: A comparative analysis of positive human experiences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45, 1361-1368. Maslow, Abraham H. Toward a Psychology of Being. New York, NY: Van Nostrand-Reinhold.

^ Larsen, R. Personality Psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature third edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Cherry, Kendra.

'Characteristics of Self-Actualized People'. Missing or empty url=. Charlton, Bruce (1998). 'Peak experiences, creativity and the Colonel Flastratus phenomenon.' . Whaley, John; Sloboda, John; Gabrielsson, Alf (2008).

'Peak experiences in music'. Gruel, Nicole (2015). 'The Plateau Experience: An Exploration of Its Origins, Characteristics, and Potential'. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. 47 (1): 44–63.

Further reading. Maslow, A. 'Religious Aspects of Peak-Experiences'.

In Sadler, W. Personality and Religion. New York: Harper & Row. The farther reaches of human nature. New York: Viking Press.

Yair, G (2008). 'Key educational experiences and self-discovery in higher education'.

Teaching and Teacher Education. Maslow, Abraham H. Toward a Psychology of Being. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.

Personality Psychology: Domains of knowledge about human nature third edition. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Polyson, J. 'Student's peak experiences: A written exercise'. Teaching of Psychology, 12.

Religious Experience Resources - Reviews Abraham Maslow Religions, Values and Peak Experiences Toward a Psychology of Being Review by Tim Knepper, 2001 Maslow, Abraham H. Religions, Values and Peak Experiences. Ohio State University Press, 1964.

Astrology destiny and the wheel of time pdf. Maslow, Abraham H. Toward a Psychology of Being. Van Nostrand Reinshold, 1968.

Defined as “moments of highest happiness and fulfillment,” Abraham Maslow’s “peak experience” is veritably ubiquitous, as his protracted typology of peak experiences in Toward a Psychology of Being ( TPB) reveals: Being-love experiences, parental experiences, mystic or oceanic or nature experiences, aesthetic perceptions, creative moments, therapeutic or intellectual insights, orgasmic experiences, and certain forms of athletic fulfillment, etc. In fact the more Maslow investigated peak-experiences, the more he began to expect everyone of having peak-experiences, and to suspect those who could not report any peak-experiences whatsoever ( Religions, Values and Peak Experiences ( RVPE), 22). As for Maslow’s characterization of peak-experiences, this list too is protracted (nineteen characteristics culled from personal interviews, personal reports and surveys of mystical, religious and artistic literature). Unfortunately, however, almost half of these characteristics concern in some way the unified, non-dualistic or non-categorized nature of the peak-experience. The other half of the characteristics include the following: the intrinsically valuable, good, desirable, real, and true nature of the peak-experience; the transcendence of ego, time and space that occurs during a peak-experience; the passive and receptive nature of a peak-experience; and the emotionally charged nature of a peak-experience (a presence of awe, reverence and surrender, and an absence of fear, anxiety and inhibition).

In psychoanalytic-speak Maslow describes peak-experiences as “a fusion of ego, id, super-ego and ego ideal, of conscious, preconscious and unconscious, of primary and secondary processes, a synthesizing of pleasure principle with reality principle, a healthy regression without fear in the service of the greatest maturity, a true integration of the person at all levels” ( TPB, 106). And, in Maslowian-speak, peak-experiences are identified as temporary moments of self-actualization; the peak-experiencer “becomes in these episodes most truly himself, more perfectly actualizes his potentials, closer to the core of his Being, more fully human” ( TBP, 106). It should also be noted that Maslow recognizes a new type of “peak” experience in RVPE – the plateau-experience.

Unlike peak-experiences, plateau-experiences are serene and clam, always possess a noetic and cognitive element and – as the name indicates – are temporally distended. As for the relationship between peak-experiences and organized religion, Maslow believes that the origin, core and essence of every known “high religion” is “the private, lonely, personal illumination, revelation, or ecstasy of some acutely sensitive prophet or seer” ( RVPE, 19). “That is to say,” continues Maslow, “it is very likely, indeed almost certain, that these older reports, phrased in terms of supernatural revelation, were, in fact, perfectly natural, human peak-experiences” ( RVPE, 20). Nevertheless, world religions tend towards polarization, with the privately religious “peakers” on one side and the institutionally religious “non-peakers” on the other.

Maslow goes so far as to call peakers and non-peakers “the two religions of mankind” ( RVPE, 28). Moreover, public organized religion is not only secondary but also harmful to private peak-experiences ( RVPE, 28). Finally, Maslow is of the opinion that all peak-experiences are essentially the same: “To the extent that all mystical or peak-experiences are the same in their essence and have always been the same, all religions are the same in their essence and have always been the same. They religious practitioners should, therefore, come to agree in principle on teaching that which is common to all of them, i.e., whatever it is that peak-experiences teach in common (whatever is different about these illuminations can fairly be taken to be localisms both in time and space, and are, peripheral, expendable, not essential). This something common, this something which is left over after we peel away all the localisms, all the accidents of particular languages or particular philosophies, all the ethno-centric phrasings, all those elements which are not common, we may call the ‘core-religious experience’ or the ‘transcendent experience’” ( RVPE, 20). Where descriptions of peak experiences differ, Maslow pays “no attention to these localisms since they cancel one another out,” “taking the generalized peak-experience to be that which is common to all places and times” ( RVPE, 73).

Moreover, Maslow believes the data from peak-experiences may one day offer a solution to the problem of cultural relativity insofar as the “B-values the values inherent in Being-itself derived from peak-experiences, as well as from other sources, may supply us with a perfectly naturalistic variety of ‘certainty,’ of unity, of eternality, of universality” ( RVPE, 95). “B-values may well turn out to be defining characteristics of humanness in its essence, i.e., the sine qua non aspects of the concept ‘human’” ( RVPE, 95).