Peak experiences
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Peak experience is a term used to describe certain extra-personal and ecstatic states, particularly ones tinged with themes of unification, harmonization and interconnectedness. Participants characterize these experiences, and the revelations imparted therein, as possessing an ineffably mystical (or overtly religious) quality or essence.
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[edit] Origins
Many of the nuances the term now connotes were expounded by psychologist Abraham Maslow in his 1970 work Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences [1].
[edit] Sustained Peak Experience
Maslow defined [2] lengthy, wilfully induced peak experiences (plateau experiences) as a characteristic of the self-actualized.
[edit] Quotes
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 Wilson [3]
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 Wilde
[edit] Drug Culture
The term peak experience and peaking are widely used in the drug subculture to describe such states, specifically when induced by the consumption of hallucinogenic substances.
[edit] See also
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