The Plateau Experience:

Beyond Flow States.

At the age of sixty-two Abraham Maslow collapsed and died from a heart attack. Approximately nineteen months earlier, he had experienced a heart attack that had nearly killed him. It was during the time between heart attacks that Maslow experienced changes in his values and awareness, which he labelled as the plateau experience (Krippner, 1972). This name made reference to a retreat from the heightened experiences for which he was famous. During this time, his attitude towards life changed, where he revised and expanded upon his earlier thoughts on self-actualization and self- transcendence, and the relationship between them. In his work before the first heart attack Maslow had stated that ‘‘The greatest attainment of identity, autonomy, or self-hood is itself, a going beyond and above selfhood’’ (Maslow, 1961, p.105). However this so-called ‘plateau experience’ seemed to provide him with a deeper understanding of this paradox and as such, he spent the final months of his life dedicated to understanding it. Even though his research on this was unfinished at the time of his death, Maslow considered himself a pioneer of new thoughts that other people would then take over to complete.

The plateau experience is a more permanent state of direct experience than the peak experiences (things that drive motivation, seeking acceptance, stress and anxiety, excitement, etc.), leading to eventual stabilization if one engages in extended practice of it.

Both Maslow and Buckler (a professor of Applied Psychology) stress the importance of not over-using peak experiences in our lives, but rather we should focus on striving to have more plateau experiences to balance us, and lead us to serenity and mindfulness. Buckler (2011) sees the plateau experience, and even just an awareness of it, as a means of bringing greater serenity and mindfulness to the ‘‘frenetic onslaught of daily life’’ (p.78).

Almost fifty years after his death Maslow’s theories on the plateau experience have been explored in some depth within psychological sciences (mostly humanistic and transpersonal). He left a large area of potential for exploration, although many people believe it is significantly undervalued (similar to his work on the hierarchy of human needs).

There is limited research and documentation on the plateau experience. Maslow did make a few published statements about his experience, and left multiple journal entries in 1979, though little has been done since his death, except for discussion. Maslow claimed that ‘‘individuals capable of having transcendent experiences lived potentially fuller and healthier lives than the majority of humanity because [they] were able to transcend everyday frustrations and conflicts and were less driven by neurotic tendencies’’ (Cleary & Shapiro, 1995, p.6).

Despite the lack of study on the subject Maslow’s ideas are still critical for our world today. He believed that people who could embrace such a ‘plateau experience’, a transcendent state, are more likely to pay attention to the world as seek to make improvements within it.

Despite the personal significance of the plateau experience, Maslow did not engage a comprehensive study of it. This was partly because of his weakened physical condition but also due to its relation to the 1960s ‘‘drug and hippy’’ era that came to be associated with mysticism- people viewed the plateau experience as a similar endurance. Had he continued elaborating his later thoughts, a new general theory of personality may have emerged (Leontiev, 2008).

Although it has significant potential the plateau experience remains largely unstudied within the realm of psychological inquiry.

Plateau Experience: Beyond Flow States

MASLOW’S STATEMENTS ON THE PLATEAU EXPERIENCE

The ability to define the plateau experience remains vague as Maslow did not provide a succinct characterisation and at the time of his death, he was still attempting to discern what had actually happened. What we do know is that it was a unique experience, different to others yet similar to so-called peak experiences in life.

One of the things that comes with age is that the cognitive elements become greater and greater as the emotional poignancy sort of slackens off and dies out … called the ‘‘plateau experience’’ … the illuminative aspects — the knowledge aspects, the sacralizing of the world — now become very easy and can be turned on and turned off just as I please … The only trouble is that your goddam body can’t keep up with you. (Maslow, cited in Cleary, 1996, pp.229–230)

Something else happened which has come into my consciousness which is a very precious thing. A sort of precipitation occurred of what might be called the sedimentation or fallout from illuminations, insights, and other life experiences that were very important — tragic experiences included. The result has been a kind of unitive consciousness … the simultaneous perception of the sacred and the ordinary, or the miraculous and the ordinary, or the miraculous and the rather constant or easy-without-effort sort of thing. I now perceive under the aspect of eternity and become mythic, poetic, and symbolic about ordinary things … one lives in a world of miracles all the time. There is a paradox because it is miraculous and yet it doesn’t produce an autonomic burst. This type of consciousness has certain elements in common with peak experiences — awe, mystery, surprise, and esthetic shock … but are constant rather than climactic … The words I would use to describe this kind of experience would be a ‘‘high plateau.’’ (Maslow, cited in Krippner, 1972, pp. 113–114)

Heitzman (2003) completed an intensive case study of this point in life, and suggests that the plateau experience was Maslow’s philosophical reckoning with his own fear of death, a process he understood to involve transcendence of the ego. She identifies that research into near-death experiences suggests Maslow’s state of mind was not unique, as changes after a near-death experience often include an enhanced appreciation for life, greater self-acceptance, a concern for others, reverence for life, anti-competitiveness, enhanced spirituality, reduced fear of death, expanded mental awareness, and a quest for knowledge, all of which featured in Maslow’s shifted values after the first heart attack and continued until his ultimate death (Heitzman, 2001).

Plateau Experience for Optimal Living

Maslow was about to start revising and expanding on his thoughts in The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (1971) when his fatal heart attack struck.

Transcendence can mean to live in the realm of … plateau living … After the insight or the great conversion, or the great mystic experience, or the great illumination, or the great full awakening, one can calm down as the novelty disappears, and as one gets used to good things or even great things, live casually in heaven and be on easy terms with the eternal and infinite … In plateau cognition, one becomes perfect, or can see oneself as perfect, e.g., in that moment I can love all and accept all, forgive all, be reconciled even to the evil that hurts me. I can understand and enjoy the way things are. And I can then even feel some subjective equivalent of what has been attributed to the gods only, i.e., omniscience, omnipotence, ubiquity … Perhaps the best word in order to stress that this is part of human nature, even though at its best, is the word metahumanness. (pp. 265–268).

Maslow struggled with the concept of the plateau experience because it contradicted his thoughts and work on the Hierarchy of Needs. His journals, though, provide valuable insight into his understanding of the plateau experience. In them, he noted discussions with U. A. Asrani, an East Indian colleague from whom he adopted the term plateau experience. Asrani’s influence aligned with the recognition by Maslow that assimilating Asian psychology was desirable because they ‘‘appeared to represent an essential part of human nature that needed to be taken into account in any psychological theory attempting to delineate a model for the whole person’’ (Cleary & Shapiro, 1995, p.5).

INFLUENCES OF MASLOW’S PLATEAU THEORY

Maslow wrote the following letter to Asrani on May 5, 1967.

I think your suggested term Plateau Experience is excellent and I shall use it henceforth to describe what I have been calling ‘‘serene B-cognition’’ [Being- cognition]. Apparently, this tends to come with aging or at least that is my experience. The acute and climactic peak experiences seem to lessen in number while the ‘‘awakened’’ cognition or unitive perceiving seems to increase and even come under voluntary control. The happiness then tends to be mild and constant rather than poignant and acute. (Maslow, cited in Heitzman, 2003, p. 34)

The plateau experience, according to Hindu teaching, is neither intermittent nor ecstatic but natural and continuous, and should not be referred to as a ‘‘peak’’ but as a plateau. It is labelled with the name sahaja samadhi (or ‘‘natural’’), in which full spiritual or transcendental consciousness co-exists with full outer awareness but free from ego-sense … the final state is …‘‘stabilization’’ and is beyond ecstasy … pure, universal consciousness flows through a man, uses his faculties and performs the function which you ascribe to the ego, only much better (1966, pp.13–16).

This is perhaps the clearest definition we have of the plateau experience from Maslow.

Another cited description is from Osborne:

Making your way to the Plateau

Imagine people living in a miasma at the foot of a mountain, stunted, undernourished, wasted by disease. They have been told that there is a wonderful plateau on the mountaintop, with fruit and flowers, invigorating air and cool, fresh water. But the ascent is arduous and they would have to leave their hovels and their few miserable possessions behind, or stay where they are. Only a few of the more enterprising, either seeking the mountain summit or simply striving to rise above the heat, miasma and mosquitos of the plain, have climbed up some distance and made themselves dwellings on the hillside. The plain-dwellers would refer to them all alike as ‘people of the hill’ and yet there would be endless differences among them. Some might have developed a farmstead and have fruit, milk and grain to give away to the sick and needy below, while others might be resting in a cave with a little more than their immediate needs. Some might have set forth on a deliberate enterprise to attain the summit, while others were driven merely by the urge to get up higher into cooler air and more beautiful health-giving surroundings, not even knowing that there was a summit to attain. Even among those who started out with a plan of ascent, some might have put it aside till a later, indefinite date, once they had made a home somewhere along the path, while others might regard each pleasure-grove they came to as no more than a resting place from which to plan the next stage of the ascent (Osborne, 2001, pp.92–93).

According to this the plateau is described as a choice for those choosing the metaphorical mountain, a choice which not everyone makes despite the troubles on the plain. He uses the mountain path as a portrayal of the different ways in which one can reach self-realisation, and there are no stages on this path but rather a plateau of extraordinary experiences (as Maslow described it himself).

Asrani also endured a plateau experience, in much the same way Maslow did (following an emotionally challenging situation as a political prisoner). He and Maslow shared details of their experiences in together. Asrani claimed the plateau experience to be ‘‘a state of ideal or optimal mental health far superior to that of the normal mental health which is the goal of psychoanalysts’’ (Asrani, 1969b, p.99), echoed through Maslow’s metahuman concept. He states,

The sahaja state yields equanimity, a heightened frustration-tolerance and a sense of freedom; one begins to live in the present. It leads to concentration and efficiency in every activity, impartiality and freedom from bias in all judgments; elimination of all mental and emotional tensions; and an elimination of an over-concern with metaphysical questions. That state also enhances aesthetic appreciation and simplifies the pursuit of ethical values because of the unselfish detached attitude which is at the root of that state…like the dynamic equilibrium of a man running stably on two bicycle wheels … tak[ing] all the burdens of life on the wheeled vehicle of unselfishness. (Asrani, 1969, p.99).

Maslow’s plateau experience was largely influenced by Taoism. More specifically, a text written by Lao Tzu (the Tao Te Ching). Maslow considered Taoism an open-ended understanding of one’s self and nature, and he emphasized spontaneity, receptive knowing and the act of flowing with life, rather than against it. The plateau experience is open to the ordinary, as well as the extraordinary and signifies an awakening to things that have been in front of us all along.

The plateau experience could have been improved by Maslow with a study into ancient Asian wisdom and meditation texts. Asrani (1970) agrees with the value of such an inquiry, particularly empirical contributions making use of the plethora of experience and knowledge in India:

A. H. Maslow has contributed valuable literature on an understanding of Jnana Yogic States. From purely observational data, he defines Self- Actualisers (those who actualise their potentialities) and a still higher class of people, whom he calls ‘Transcenders’ who not only have a taste of Peak Experiences, ecstacies, samadhies, etc., but actually live and feel like Jivana Mukta sages … Maslow has done a lot to popularise the concept of the Jivana Mukta State (he calls it ‘Transcendence’, ‘Theory Z’ or ‘Plateau State’) from purely observational and empirical data. We here in India have a widely prevalent practice of Jnana Yoga, and probably much better living Jnana Yogic mystics. We can contribute deeper shades of this research and thus advance the scientific knowledge of the theory and practice of Jnana Yoga much further (p.61).

Currently there is not any comprehensive research to align the plateau experience with jivana mukta, Jnana yoga, the sahaja state or Taoism — and other equivalent states from any wisdom traditions from around the world.

OTHER LITERATURE

More than ten years after Maslow died Keutzer (1982), a clinical psychologist, wrote an article entitled Physics and Consciousness. She connects Maslow’s transcendent plateau experience to ‘‘cosmic connection’’ (Keutzer, 1982, p.75), highlighting parallels between this cosmic connection and physics. She encourages another level of explanation around the transpersonal movement, such as Maslow’s, to help resolve the ontological problem this paradigm shift poses.

Cleary and Shapiro (1995) provide abrief overview of Maslow’s near death experience, how this prompted his plateau experience, the emergent themes at that time, and his shift from discussing peak experiences to plateau in an article The Plateau Experience and the Post- Mortem Life: Abraham. H. Maslow’s Unfinished Theory, in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. They urge that the plateau experience holds interest as a topic in itself with possible contributions to better understanding transpersonal consciousness, development, and insight, as well as evolving transpersonal research (Cleary & Shapiro, 1995).

After that Cleary continued research into the plateau experience, collecting any and all writings by Maslow on the topic, including his personal journal entries. He aimed to provide a complete understanding of the experience. He compares Maslow’s previous peak experience theory with his influence from Asian psychologies, and cites Maslow with first using the term plateau experience. Cleary states that ‘‘the greatest significance of Maslow’s parting legacy is that of opening a door to openness — pointing the way toward the ceaseless manifestations of the farther reaches of human nature’’ (Cleary, 1996, p.209). He suggests that further research should be based upon:

• empirical research into whether or not the plateau experience may be elicited readily, as Maslow suggested, which would shed light on its commonality and/or universality as an experience,
• more extensive investigation of the relationship between the plateau experience and cognate concepts of consciousness in Asian psychologies (as mentioned),
• exploration as to whether elements of Maslow’s experience were idiosyncratic,
• examination of how long plateau experiences actually endure, whether they create lasting changes in consciousness, and if such changes remain undiminished over time, and
• investigation of the relationship between death awareness and the transcendent, transpersonal, trans-human — a question Maslow himself raised

(Cleary, 1996).

The plateau experience is one in a series of phases people tend to navigate as we adapt to higher levels of our own spiritual nature. This includes:

• belief (magic, mythic, rational, holistic);
• faith (which is an intuition, but not yet a direct experience, of the higher realms);
• peak experience (of the psychic, subtle, casual, or nondual — in no particular order, because peak experiences are usually one-time hits);
• plateau experience (of the psychic, subtle, causal, and nondual — almost always in that order, because competence at one stage is required for the next); and
• permanent adaptation (to the psychic, subtle, casual, and nondual, also in that order, for the same reason). (Wilber, 1998, p.181)

[P]lateau experiences, with further practice, can become permanent adaptations: constant access to psychic, subtle, casual, and nondual occasions — constant access to nature mysticism, deity mysticism, formless mysticism, and integral mysticism — all as easily available to consciousness as matter, body, and mind now are. And this is likewise evidenced in constant consciousness (sahaja) through all three states — waking, dreaming (or savikalpa samadhi), and sleeping (or nirvikalpa samadhi). (Wilber, 1998, p.181)

Heitzman, through all of her studies in 2001, concluded that Maslow cycled in and out of plateau experiences during the last fifteen months of his life, with ever increasing effect.

I believe Maslow realized that one door to transcendent experience was opened by going into and embracing everyday life, rather than attempting to elevate himself above it … [He] truly yielded to an acceptance of life on its own terms and transcendence of his self-consciousness. (Heitzman, 2003, p.293)

Her recommendations (2003) for further investigation include

• distinguishing Maslow’s actual experiences from possible embellishment of those experiences,
• a fine-combing of his journals to detect the frequency of themes regarding his concerns as he wrote about the plateau experience, and
• further psycho-biographical case studies of other individuals reporting similar experiences to better discern Maslow’s idiosyncracies.

Heitzman acknowledges that her research has barely touched upon the depth and significance of the plateau experience, and the theories behind it.

Transcendant actualization was introduced to psychology by Maslow (1971) to describe the final revised stage on his Hierarchy of Needs. In an exhaustive survey of all that has been published on transcendence in transpersonal psychology, Hamel et al. (2003) used Maslow’s two indicators of transcendence — metacognition and metamotivation — to organize the content. This resulted in a description of how transcendent actualization may be realized. This is significant because Maslow did not get the opportunity to see how this might, unfold, although he suspected the transcendent state of the plateau could be taught. The four components identified were

• in-depth perception, i.e., the ability to discern and explore the aspects of one’s life and life in general beyond appearances;
• holistic perception, i.e., the ability to perceive one’s life and life in general from a detached viewpoint;
• presence of being, i.e., the ability of one’s personality to live in harmony with the Self; and
• beyond ego- orientation, i.e., the ability to leave one’s personal preoccupations behind to focus on others, a mission, an altruistic goal (Hamel et al., 2003).

Peak experiences such as moments of insight or epiphany are often followed by plateaus. Such insights can fade quickly without the presence of a ‘‘scaffolding’’ for the learning process to assist with making meaning of the unfamiliar experience, such as:

• having a language and cultural context for the experience;
• having supportive like-minded community, including contact with more experienced practitioners (also necessary for ego development);
• encountering or intentionally placing daily reminders of the experience in one’s environment, which in NLP are called anchors;
• continuing to access similar teachings; or
• expressing the insight through art, writing or other action (using the sensual alpha brain wave state as a bridge from deep subliminal theta experience to everyday mind beta experience).

(Hartman & Zimberoff, 2008, p.38)

It is always hard to discern the intention of past researchers in modern-society; how would they have taken their research and what would have become of it if they had more time? It was clear that Maslow was optimistic about the human’s capacity to experience the extraordinary, even in the midst of the realities of ordinary activities. His encounter with the plateau experience is important for any field of research that pertains to the human brain and psychology, as it signifies on many levels what it means to be human; offering an opportunity to explore the sacred, mysterious, miraculous and reality all together. His dedication to the natural processes of the human brain and psychology should encourage us to live fully, and true to ourselves, in an ever-changing world.

REFERENCES

ASRANI, U. A. (1969). Peak and plateau: Some reflections on Sahaja Samadhi. The Mountain Path. 5(2), 98–100.

ASRANI, U. A. (1970). Relative merits of different types of yoga from a scientific standpoint. Darshana International, 10, 50–64.

BUCKLER, S. (2011). The plateau experience: Maslow’s unfinished theory. Saarbru¨ ken, Germany; Lambert Academic Publishing.

CLEARY, T., & SHAPIRO, S. (1995). The plateau experience and the post-mortem life: Abraham. H. Maslow’s unfinished theory. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 27(1), 1–23.

CLEARY, T. (1996). Abraham Maslow and the farther reaches of human nature: The plateau experience (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Proquest. (9700510)

HAMEL, S., LECLERC, G., & LEFRANC¸ OIS, R. (2003). A psychological outlook on the concept of transcendent actualization. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 13(1), 3–15.

HARTMAN, D., & ZIMBEROFF, D. (2008). Higher stages of human development. Journal of Heart-Centered Therapies, 11(2), 3–95.

HEITZMAN, L. (2001). The plateau experience and narcissism: A psychoanalytic approach to Maslow’s last transpersonal theory (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from Proquest. (1412164)

HEITZMAN, L. (2003). The plateau experience in context: An intensive in-depth psychobiographical case study of Abraham Maslow’s ‘‘post-mortem life.’’ (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from Proquest. (3078463)

KEUTZER, C. (1982). Physics and consciousness. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 22(2), 74–90.

KRIPPNER, S. (1972). The Plateau experience: A. H. Maslow and others. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 4(2), 107–120.

LEONTIEV, D. (2008). Maslow yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48(4), 451–453.

MASLOW, A. (1970). Religions, values and peak experiences. New York, NY: Viking Press.

MASLOW, A. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York, NY: Viking Press.

MASLOW, A. (1979). The journals of A. H. Maslow (R. J. Lowry, Ed.; Vols. 1–2). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.

OSBORNE, A. (2001). My life and quest. Tamil Nadu, India: Sri Ramanaramam Tiruvannamalai.

WILBER, K. (1998). The essential Ken Wilber: An introductory reader. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.