Experiencing Divinity

We can make Divinity a here-and-now experience, making it descend down to earth in any vocation we are engaged in or in any act we carry out with sincerity, says BATURAM NAYAK

This write-up is to share the concept of ‘Peak Experience’, coined by the great psychologist Abraham H Maslow, of the school of Humanistic Psychology. The concept is the outcome of his decade-long research on mature human beings. An understanding of the impact of peak experience in the dynamics of the human mind can open up immense possibilities for the shaping of a beautiful mind.

I share this as a tribute to Maslow, and hence quote him at length, to leave with the reader full discretion to understand and evaluate the strength as well as efficacy of the concept of peak experience in totality, in light of the level of maturation of their very own individuality.

Maslow says: “The term peak experience is a generalisation for the best moments of the human being, for the happiest moments of his life, for experience of ecstasy, rapture, bliss, of the greatest joy…When I asked my subjects, after they have described their peak experiences, how the world looked different to them… during and after peak experiences, it would be: truth, beauty, wholeness, dichotomy-transcendence, aliveness-process, uniqueness, perfection, necessity, completion, justice, order, simplicity, richness, effortlessness, playfulness, and self-sufficiency.”

In fact, almost all of us, sometime or the other, have gone through such beautiful moments in our life, like profound aesthetic experiences of creative ecstasies, moments of mature love, natural childbirth, service to the needy, rising to an occasion, making sacrifices, and so on.

These moments have given us a sense of deep fulfilment. Such moments of heightened mental states make us rediscover our own life and look at the world from a new perspective. The freshly gained outlook makes our life worth living.

In short, a moment of peak experience becomes the ‘Moment of Truth’ for us and the beauty of this truth validates our life with a meaning and purpose. It works like a revelation and a sort of total change or metamorphosis takes place in the structure and content of our individuality.

By virtue of this, the peak experiencers not only possess the ability and impetus to actualise their highest potential, but also they carry within themselves the ability to transcend, i.e. they can easily transcend reality and come back at ease, thereby acquiring wonderful characteristics of an unbiased, detached observer.

People evolved this way are revered as fully human, compassionate entities, very much akin to the saints, great teachers and social reformers. We may call them the ‘Salt of the Earth’, or the genuine ones who add taste to common life.

Maslow highlights some of the distinctive features of the peak experiencers in the following words:

(We can very well assess ourselves in light of these traits of the truly evolved, peak experiencers.)

1. Peak experiences become the most important things in their lives, the high spots, the validators of life.

2. They speak easily, normally, naturally, and unconsciously in the language of being.

3. They perceive unitively or sarcally (i.e. the sacred within the secular), or they see the sacredness of all things at the same time.

4.  They are much more consciously and deliberately metamotivated. Perfection, truth, beauty, goodness, unity, dichotomy-transcendence are their most important motivations.

5. They seem somehow to recognise each other, even in the first meeting.

6. They have aesthetic responses more easily than other people do.

7. They are more holistic about the world.

8. They can easily live in the deficiency realm and in the being realm of life at ease. This way they can reconcile with life situations more easily.

These are some important characteristics of the people who have gone beyond peak experience to self-actualisation and further ahead as good transcenders.

We have our own analogy of such people in our religious heritage, too, though we define them in different terms. However, we look at them with awe, wonder and reverence, though forgetting that it is equally possible on our part to evolve ourselves to that level of integrated individuality.

If we take a cue from the heightened state of our being during our own peak experiences, we can understand that we too have a divine spark lurking within us, which is the primordial source of our own joy, happiness, and fulfilment, which in itself carries the promises of unlimited possibilities for social good and universal happiness.

Human nature has its further reaches. And we can explore its far reaching possibilities by not just empowering our own mind, but also beautifying it with utmost sincerity and devotion, yet with complete joy and playfulness.

Looking back at our own peak experiences in retrospect, we can muster enough conviction to believe that being more human is not only feasible, but also if we are sincere enough, we can make Divinity a here-and-now experience, making it descend down to earth in any vocation we are engaged in or in any act we carry out with sincerity.

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Baturam Nayak, a postgraduate in economics, joined the banking sector in 1983 and retired in June 2020. He is a firm believer in simplicity and minimalism. “My faith is Oneness, एकत्वम्; that’s the way I would express myself and live in harmony with everything,” he says.

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