My fascination, in recent years, is an area I call “the peak experience.” It goes by other names as well, such as a transcendent feeling or oceanic feeling or cosmic feeling. Below is an essay I wrote about it, including examples of peak experiences and references to the leading texts about it.

The problem is that most of my examples, while valid, are dated- some over a hundred years old.

Therefore, my hope in starting this blog is that you,the reader, will contribute your peak experiences. I would hope this blog will show that such feelings  are a common human experience and look forward  to reading your responses.

Michael Hoyt

                                 

                           PEAK EXPERIENCES by Michael R. Hoyt  February 2018

                           From Long Day’s Journey into Night  by Eugene O’Neill

                           act 4, Edmond speaking, recalling his days as a sailor.

“ Then the moment of ecstatic freedom came. The peace, the end of the quest, the last harbor, the joy of belonging to a fulfillment beyond mens’ lousy, pitiful, greedy fears and hopes and dreams! And several other times in my life, when I was swimming far out, or lying alone on a beach, I have had the same  experience. Became the sun, the hot sand, green seaweed anchored to a rock, swaying in the tide. Like a saint's vision of  beatitude. Like the veil of things as they seem drawn back by  an unseen hand. For a second you see- and seeing the secret,  are the secret. For a second there is meaning! Then the hand lets the veil fall and you are alone, lost in the fog again, and you stumble on toward nowhere, for no good reason!" 

So what is this phenomenon?  Is it supernatural? Is it a delusion of the mind? Aside from The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James the most famous book to discuss this is Religions, Values and Peak-Experiences by Abraham H. Maslow. Another often quoted book is Cosmic Consciousness by Richard Maurice Bucke, M.D. There are various names for it, aside from peak experience. Bucke and others call it cosmic consciousness. A mystic like St. Teresa of Avila might call it religious ecstasy.  Hereafter, I will refer to the phenomenon only as the peak experience. 

About 10 years ago I was buying popcorn in the lobby of a movie theater when I  was suddenly overcome by an overwhelming sense of God’s presence. It felt good. I felt surrounded by a sense of love, a sense that everything will be alright, that there was a reason for everything. However, the feeling was momentary and vanished by the time I entered the theater. However, I always remember it and was curious to learn if others had similar experiences.

In reading the classic book, The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, he lists many testimonies such as the following: 

“In that time the consciousness of Gods' presence, I might say, yet that is too suggestive of personality, and the moments of which I speak did not hold the consciousness of a personality, but something in myself made me feel myself a part of something bigger than I, that was controlling. I felt myself one with the grass, the trees, birds, insects, everything in Nature. I exulted in the mere fact of existence, of being a part of it all -the drizzling rain, the shadows of the clouds, the tree-trunks, and so on. In the years following, such moments continued to come, but I wanted them constantly. I knew so well the satisfaction of losing self in a perception of supreme power and love, that I was unhappy because that perception was not constant." (1)

 Maslow,  James, and Bucke treat  peak experiences as a branch of religious mysticism although Maslow and Bucke, in particular, do not consider them to be of supernatural origin.  Although many examples of peak experience describe God’s presence, as mine did, others are more secular, emphasizing a unity with nature such as the following passage from The Book of Disquiet, by Fernando Pessoa:

“ I step over to my window overlooking the narrow street, I look at the immense sky and the countless stars, and I'm free, with a winged splendor whose fluttering sends a shiver throughout my body... How large are the mind's riches, ranging from the well of profound emotions to the distant stars that are reflected in it and so, in some sense, are there!  And since now I know I can see, I look upon the vast objective metaphysics of all the heavens with a certainty that makes me want to  die singing...I want to raise my arms and shout wild and strange things, to speak to the lofty mysteries, to affirm a new and vast personality to the boundless expanses of empty matter.” (2)

Such raptures have been well documented throughout the centuries with mystics of many faiths. In Christianity a typical example is from St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits: 

“ One day in orison (prayer) on the steps of the choir of the Dominican church, he saw in a distinct manner the plan of divine wisdom in the creation of the world. On another occasion, during a procession, his spirit was ravished in God, and it was given him to contemplate, in a form and images fitted to the weak, understanding to a dweller on the earth, the deep mystery of the Holy Trinity. This last vision flooded his heart with such sweetness, that the mere memory of it in after times made him shed abundant tears." (3)

So how do we describe this phenomenon?  According to Bucke “the prime characteristic  is a consciousness of the cosmos, that is, of the life and order of the universe.” He goes on to mention various characteristics such as the state of exaltation, intellectual enlightenment, joy, a sense of immortality. He relates his own peak experience in the third person  to say that, “Like a flash there is presented to his consciousness a clear conception in outline of the meaning and drift of the universe. He does not come to believe merely, but he sees and knows that the cosmos, which to the self conscious  mind seems made up of dead matter, is in fact far otherwise-is in very truth a living presence.” (4)

In The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James, after quoting numerous testimonies, outlines some common features of the peak experience. He found that they are overwhelmingly optimistic and unifying. A sense of immortality is a common theme for many.  Most of the subjects had a hard time putting the experience into words and for many it was a life changing event. Subjects do not doubt the truthfulness of the experience.   Unlike with religious visionaries such as at Lourdes and Fatima, most peak experiences have little or no visual imagery. Subjects hear no voices. There is no mythology or story as in dreams or visions. An important note is that, according to James, peak experiences do not contradict “ or deny anything that our senses have immediately perceived.”(5) In other words they are  not like a Tim Burton movie.

Another point made by James is that the peak experience is not confined to any specific culture or religious tradition although the experience is similar to the mystic experiences in many religious cultures.(6) 

For example, the Christian mystic, St. Teresa of Avila wrote:

  "One day, being in orison (prayer) it was granted me to perceive in one instant how all things are seen and contained in God. I did not perceive them in their proper form, and nevertheless the view I had of them was of a sovereign clearness, and has remained vividly impressed upon my soul. It is one of the most signal of all the graces which the Lord has granted me. . . • The view was so subtle and delicate that the understanding cannot grasp it."(7)

The other major author who has studied the phenomenon, Abraham Maslow, corroborates most of James’ observations. He adds that the experience is egoless, unselfish.  Reinforcing James’ observation that the peak experience is positive and optimistic, never evil or undesirable, Maslow writes that, “It proves to the experiencer that there are ends in the world, that there are things or objects or experiences to yearn for which are worthwhile in themselves.” (8) 

He writes further that, “This is like giving a naturalistic meaning to the concept of heaven...The conception that emerges from the peak experiences is  one which exists all the time all around us, always available to step into for a little while at least.” (9)

This sounds similar to me to the experience of nirvana or satori in Buddhism.  According to legend Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha, after many years of searching, achieved enlightenment or nirvana under the bodhi tree. Some descriptions say that it is the realization of the true nature of the universe. Although the experience seems similar to peak experiences already described, Buddhists believe that such a state, as I perceive it, can only be achieved after understanding the Four Noble Truths and when karma has achieved its final cessation. Therefore, to the Buddhist, nirvana is not an accidental or sudden happening without proper spiritual preparation, unlike the peak experience which can happen at any time  to anyone.   I maybe wrong. Perhaps a Buddhist can "enlighten" me on this.

Both James and Bucke feel there is a layer of consciousness that is tapped into during the peak experience. Some people feel the active presence of God, as I did, but others do not feel this.  For some, it has occurred during prayer or meditation but at other times, as with me with the popcorn, a thing like  tea and a madeleine cookie can achieve it,  as told by Proust in Remembrance of Things Past:

  “ No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory; it was me. I had ceased to feel mediocre, contingent, mortal. Whence could it have come to me, this all-powerful joy? I sensed that it was connected with the taste of the tea and the cake, but that it infinitely transcended those savours, could not, indeed, be of the same nature. Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize it and apprehend it? “ (10) 

The peak experience is not  continuous. For many subjects it happens once and that’s it. After my popcorn experience maybe ten years ago, it has never recurred, but this is common. For example, in  The Presence of Absence  by Doris Grumbach she relates:

“Many years ago an extraordinary thing happened to me. I have never been able to forget it. I have tried to believe it did not happen. But the memory of it, nagging, persistent, unavoidable, has never left me. For more than fifty years I waited for it to happen in the same intensity again. That it did not I attributed to the overcrowded condition  of my life, and to my unworthiness. 

What happened was this: sitting there, almost squatting on those wooden steps, listening to the quiet, I was filled with a unique feeling of peace, an impression so intense that it seemed to expand into ineffable joy, a huge delight... It went on, second after second, so pervasive that it seemed to fill my entire body. I relaxed into it, I luxuriated in it. Then with no warning, and surely without preparation or expectation, I knew what it was: for the seconds it lasted I felt, with a certainty I cannot account for, a sense of the presence of God”(11)

And so it goes through multiple examples in the literature. I understood that my experience was not an isolated event. But before I could claim a kinship with St. Teresa of Avila and consider myself somehow “elected,” I must say that all the authors I have read on the subject emphasize that these experiences happen not only to saints but all kinds of people from many faiths and cultures.

There is also what I consider a minor chord to this essay and that is the evidence of mystical experiences induced artificially by drugs.                                                                                   

In reading the book, The Harvard Psychedelic Club by Don Lattin, I learned of the Good Friday Marsh Chapel Experiment. The book is mostly about the drug experiments in the 1960s led by Timothy Leary and its impact on society then and now. Leary, then a Harvard psychology professor, and his associates conducted a number of group studies with hallucinogenic drugs such as psilocybin and later LSD. One of the studies involved a group of divinity students at Andover Newton Theological School near Boston. On Good Friday 1962 the students assembled in the basement of Marsh Chapel on the campus of Boston University. Above, in the Chapel, was a traditional service which was heard below on loudspeakers. Half the students were given placebos. The other half were given a pill of psilocybin, an extract of hallucinogenic mushrooms. The results were dramatic. Those with the placebo remained attentive to the programmed service. Those with the drug reacted differently. One man reported that,  “Colors began incredibly intense.” another said that, “Cigarette ashes in the urinal looked like beautiful black pearls.” Still another felt that he was, “awash in a sea of color. These bands of swooshing liquid...Sometimes, it would resolve into patterns with meaning, and other times it would be just this beautiful swirl of color. It was by turns threatening and awe inspiring.”

One man got up and gave a sermon, a string of gibberish. Another yelled out, “God is everywhere. Oh God, the glory!” All of the drugged participants felt they had a profound mystical experience. In a follow up study years later many of them were still in Christian ministry. Some early partners of Leary took a religious bent. Richard Alpert became Ram Dass  and was a Buddhist  guru. Huston Smith wrote  a famous book on comparative religion, The World’s Religions, and another entitled Why Religion Matters.

But the psychedelic experience was not always religious. The most famous LSD guru, Timothy Leary, spent his later years stoned most of the time and the rock slogan of “Sex, drugs and rock and roll”  is indicative of the hedonistic aspect of much drug exploration.(12) 

As my late friend George Stefun once remarked, perhaps such mystical experiences, whether natural or drug induced, depend on the predisposition of the person.  

But whether the psychedelic experience is religious or not, it is different in several significant ways. Most natural  peak experiences, including mine, do not  include hallucinations and the panoply of colors reported by many drug users. Most documented peak experiences consist of a fleeting, transient experience that is not common or easily induced either by drugs, prayer or extensive penitential practices. Perhaps for believers the experience is what Christians call grace. Certainly I felt that way as I asked for extra butter on my popcorn.

What concerns me is that, at least in some people, drugs can engender a true religious experience. I grew up in a society where drugs were considered either illegal, immoral or both. When I was in the Air Force in the seventies I would have been dishonorably discharged if I were found in possession of a single marijuana cigarette, although in the military alcohol was (and is?) the relaxer of choice. And yet some primitive cultures use hallucinogenic plants in religious rituals.  But, more succinctly, can God be truly revealed using  drugs?  If drugs can induce a mystical religious state does this mean that these experiences are strictly due to manipulation of the brain or can they mean something beyond that? 

Can the peak experience be a supernatural experience? Materialists, of course, would say that it is not. It is a function of the brain. There is no way to tell definitively. People who have had a religious experience are convinced of God’s existence. Most feel that it is a life changing  experience.  Even though these experiences obviously happen inside the brain, this does not exclude the possibility, in my mind, that God is an active agent. If we can understand our physical evolution as directed by God, why not also our mental evolution?

Even if the peak experience is a product of biological evolution, I wonder why the brain evolved in this way.  Most functions evolve to meet a specific survival threat or need. For example, the fight or flight response helps us avoid danger. Adrenalin gives us a needed boost in an emergency but reported cases of peak experience do not seem to be a response to any real life situation. Like mine, most occur at random and do not last.  There don’t seem to be any real life triggers or situations that promote these experiences  All these experiences convinced James that “our normal waking consciousness...is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about...there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different...No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.” (13)

Regarding drug induced mystical flights, how could evolution which has taken place over millions of years anticipate drugs like psilocybin and LSD? If James is right and there is a level of consciousness that is only occasionally tapped into, I wonder why it is there. Was it all in my head? Of course. It certainly wasn’t in the pimply faced kid selling me the popcorn. The  question is whether the  mind is confined entirely by the skull or if it can be invaded by the supernatural, taken over so to speak. Certainly natural things can do so. When I fell in love with my wife Jean, she invaded my thoughts and feelings. Falling in love happens in the brain but it is conditioned by an outside lover. Cannot God operate in a similar fashion? 

But if the peak experience is the Yin, what is the Yang? For James it is the schizophrenic experience.:

... You will find abundant cases in which ‘mystical ideas' are cited as characteristic symptoms of enfeebled or deluded states of mind. In delusional insanity, paranoia, as they sometimes call it, we may have a diabolical mysticism, a sort of religious mysticism turned upside down. The same sense of ineffable importance in the smallest events, the same texts and words coming with new meanings, the same voices and visions and leadings and missions, the same controlling by extraneous powers; only this time the emotion is pessimistic: instead of consolations we have desolations; the meanings are dreadful; and the powers are enemies to life. It is evident that from the point of view of their psychological mechanism, the classic mysticism and these lower mysticisms spring from the same mental level, from that great subliminal or transmarginal region of which science is beginning to admit the existence, but of which so little is really known. That region contains every kind of matter: 'seraph and snake' abide there side by side. (14)

In biblical texts such persons would be considered to be possessed by demons. But perhaps according to modern psychology the demonic and the angelic are not far apart? I am reminded of those who are bi polar and who suffer from extreme highs and lows.

Fortunately, I  had the positive experience while buying my popcorn. But I recall a time when I was a teenager when the meaning of the world dropped from under me  and I felt alone in the universe. And so I think that heaven and hell are not far apart?

footnotes:

1. William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience ( New York: Penguin, 1982)  p. 394 
2. Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet (New York: Penguin, 2003) p.47
3. Op. cit., James p.410
4. Richard Maurice Bucke, M.D., Cosmic Consciousness (New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, Inc. 1969) p.73-74 
5. Op. cit., James p.427
6. Ibid., James pp.405-428
7. Ibid., James p.411 (get original)
8. Abraham H. Maslow, Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences (New York: Penguin Books. 1980) p.62-63
9. Ibid., p66
10. Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past
11. Doris Grumbach, The Presence of Absence, p3
12. Don Lattin, The Harvard Psychedelic Club (New York: Harper Collins 2010) p.61ff
13. Op. cit., James p.388
14. Ibid., p.426