Peak
Experiences
“I
think we all have a core that is ecstatic, that knows and that looks up in wonder.
We all know that there are marvelous moments of eternity that just happen. We
know them.”
Coleman
Barks
Pioneering
Psychologist, Abraham Maslow described “peak experiences” as “profound
personal and meaningful events.” They might involve intense feelings, hyper-awareness
of self and others, an out of body experience, a sense of timelessness, and
profound insights. In the words of Saul Levine, M.D. in Psychology Today, May
5, 2021, many of us have experienced being “transfixed by wonderment and awe
during an overwhelmingly inspiring experience.” Some of us experience this
in great cathedrals, listening to a beautiful piece of music, or in nature.
Almost everyone, in every culture and of every ethnicity has reported these
uniquely human experiences. The Bible describes a couple of them—one is the
transfiguration of Jesus on the mountaintop, and another is the blinding of
Saul on the road to Damascus.
The 13th
century Sufi poet, Rumi, whose poetry Coleman Barks translated into English,
was a dervish. He induced states of altered consciousness by spinning in ecstatic
meditation. Many veteran meditators describe these states of bliss. In my
experience, however, I have never been able to induce them. The few times I
have had them, they happened spontaneously, out of the blue, and simply stopped
me in my tracks. One particular sunset in the Arizona desert is a crystalline memory,
as is a waking dream in which my house became an arboretum filled with exotic,
glowing plants. Peak experiences are not uncommon, but they are rare.
When we
have an experience of wonder and awe, I believe our soul is showing us
something that our eyes cannot typically see—the possibility of bliss that
exists right here and right now. In Alabama, the azaleas are in massive bloom.
This is the rare up-side of global warming. We’ve had so much rain that
everything in the plant kingdom is exploding in growth and bloom. Excessive
pollen is raining down on us from trees and shrubs. The lush blooms delight our
hearts and sting our nose and eyes. If you stand and stare into a cloud of
azalea blooms, letting your eyes rest in the intense beauty, I can almost
guarantee a peak experience. Either that or a sneezing fit.
Such
experiences, however, are like the view from the mountaintop. They are meant to revive
you, to give you a sense of what's possible, and to open your eyes to what is
all around you that you don’t notice because your mind is too busy with other
things. Sometimes we come away with a new perspective, a different view of
ourselves and our world. And sometimes, they are like a tall glass of water on
a hot day. Take what you can get from them because they don’t grace our lives
very often. They are a gift from the world’s soul to you, to encourage you to
keep going. Stay on the path. Bring your new awareness back with you. It’s
meant to be shared.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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