A peak experience is an altered state of consciousness characterized by euphoria, often achieved by self-actualizing individuals. The concept was originally developed by psychologist Abraham Maslow in mid-1940s and term was coined by him in 1956 (see "History" below). According to T. Landsman, "Maslow described them [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.
History Peak experiences were originally presented by Abraham Maslow in September, 1956 at annual American Psychological Association convention and published in his first and principal paper on the subject, which were later reprinted in the book.
This paper is an attempt to generalize in a single description some of these basic cognitive happenings in the B-love experience, the parental experience, the mystic or oceanic, or nature experience, the aesthetic perception, the creative moment, the therapeutic or intellectual insight, the orgasmic experience, certain forms of athletic fulfillment. These and other moments of highest happiness and fulfillment I shall call the peak-experiences. By choosing term Maslow attempted to denominate those experiences which have generally been identified as religious experiences and whose origins have, by implication, been thought of as supernatural. He emphasized importance of this even before the exact term was introduced:
It is quite important to dissociate this experience from any theological or supernatural reference, even though for thousands of years they have been linked. None of our subjects spontane ously made any such tie-up, although in later conversation some semireligious conclusions were drawn by a few, e.g., “life must have a meaning,” etc. Because this experience is a natural experience, well within the jurisdiction of science, it is probably better to use Freud’s term for it, e.g., the oceanic feeling.
In book Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences (1964) Maslow demonstrated that every "known high religion" is necessary associated with peak experiences:
The high religions call themselves revealed religions and each of them tends to rest its validity, its function, and its right to exist on the codification and the communication of this original mystic experience or revelation from the lonely prophet to the mass of human beings in general. But it has recently begun to appear that these "revelations" or mystical illuminations can be subsumed under the head of the "peak-experiences" or "ecstasies" or "transcendent" experiences which are now being eagerly investigated by many psychologists.
Maslow's assertions about peak experience, along with his famous hierarchy of needs, 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 including art, nature, sex, creative work, music, scientific knowledge, and introspection.
Characteristics According to Maslow, often-reported emotions in a peak experience include "wonder, awe, reverence, humility, surrender, and even worship before the greatness of the experience", and reality is perceived with truth, goodness, beauty, wholeness, aliveness, uniqueness, perfection, completion, justice, simplicity, richness, effortlessness, playfulness, and self-sufficiency. 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
Peak experience and self-actualization
Self-actualization is a concept developed by Abraham Maslow that is "to develop one’s potential, to become the person one was meant to be". During research on self-actualized people Maslow found that many subjects reported a similar unusual set of feelings, which prompted him to investigate peak experiences. After listing all 19 "characteristics of the cognition found in the generalized peak-experience" in his 1959 paper Maslow resumes interrelation between peak experience and self-actualizion:
In other words, any person in any of the peak experiences takes on temporarily many of the characteristics which I found in self-actualizing individuals. That is, for the time they become self-actualizers. [...] This makes it possible for us to redefine self-actualization [...] We may define it as an episode, or a spurt in which the powers of the person come together in a particularly efficient and intensely enjoyable way, and in which he is more integrated and less split, more open for experience, more idiosyncratic, more perfectly expressive or spontaneous, or fully functioning, more creative, more humorous, more ego-transcending, more independent of his lower needs, etc. He becomes in these episodes more truly himself, more perfectly actualizing his potentialities, closer to the core of his Being.
Peak experience and flow
A common phenomenon to the peak experience called flow, was proposed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1975 book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, partially based on Maslow's findings:
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