Towards peak experience - exploring the influence of wilderness on conscious awareness

AimsThis study examines what effect wilderness has on our conscious awareness, and by extension of that meta-cognition; our physical, mental and spiritual health. It reviews available scientific and artistic literature and integrates this with interviews in order to generate original grounded theory. It was found that intensity of wilderness experience varied proportionally with four mediators; Challenge, Immersion, Beauty and Time. With these maximised, experiences broadly within four themes occurred; Increased Awareness, Confidence, Perspective and Connectedness. When sufficiently intense, these four experiences amalgamated to elicit what Maslow described as 'Peak Experience'. As such, this thesis unexpectedly provides a pragmatic recipie towards peak experience, and a map of one's potential psychological journey, in the context of wilderness.

Exploring the influence of wilderness on conscious awareness

AimsThis study examined what effect wilderness has on our conscious awareness, and by extension of that meta-cognition; our physical, mental and spiritual health.BackgroundMethodIt reviews available scientific and artistic literature and integrates this with interviews in order to generate original grounded theory.ResultIt was found that intensity of wilderness experience varied proportionally with four mediators; Challenge, Immersion, Beauty and Time. With these maximised, experiences broadly within four themes occurred; Increased Awareness, Confidence, Perspective and Connectedness. When sufficiently intense, these four experiences amalgamated to elicit what Maslow described as 'Peak Experience'.ConclusionAs such, this thesis unexpectedly provides a pragmatic recipie towards peak experience, and a map of one's potential psychological journey, in the context of wilderness.

Ivy-Covered Words

Words and phrases coined by scholars that become part of the vernacular usually have popular resonance: pecking order, natural selection, meme. Some scholars have coined more than their share of such neologisms. Darwin was a prolific coiner and importer of terms such as cross-fertilize, subgroup, and alfalfa. Darwin’s London neighbor Dr. William Gowers contributed knee-jerk (for the reflexive jerk of a tapped knee). Robert Merton added self-fulfilling prophecy, role model, and focused interview, Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs and peak experience. In some cases neologisms related to academic discoveries were created by “interpreters”: theory of relativity (Max Planck), focus group (Ernest Dichter), body language (Julius Fast). As with books from the world of popular publishing, some of these new words and phrases appeared in the titles of more scholarly works. They include Bowling Alone, Personal Space, and Holism and Evolution.

PHILOSOPHISING TOWARDS WISDOM ENTENDIDO COMO ALIMENTACIÓN DEL ÁRBOL DE LA VIDA QUE RESIDE EN NOSOTROS.

In this essay the author poses the hypothesis that the metaphor “to philosophise is to nurture the Tree of life in us” is a better metaphor than “to philosophise is to cease living” when it comes to conceptualizing what people might experience when philosophising the so called “Dialogos Way”. First, the author outlines different usages of the Tree of life metaphor. In line with reflective practice research methodology, she then explores how the metaphor corresponds to the Dialogos approach as a process- and wisdom oriented form of philosophical practice. Further, through original reflection, she narrates six examples from her experience as a philosophical practitioner. From this, six themes are extracted through critical reflection: aha-experience, peak-experience, heart-to-heart synchronization, life-guiding concepts, plateau experience and pluralism. The themes are then reflected upon theoretically and generally. Summing up, the participants seemed to have experienced forms of psychological growth rather than psychological suffering and “death” through participation in Dialogos dialogue series or workshops. The author concludes that even though the long term aim of philosophy might well be to cope with death, and even though philosophising might imply practicing “dying” through letting go of one`s more or less well founded opinions and stances, this might lead to a new “birth” and thus to psychological growth rather than psychological suffering and death, supporting the initial hypothesis.

The Self-Actualization of the Main Character in the Novel Anak Rantau by Ahmad Fuadi

The novel Anak Rantau by Ahmad Fuadi was chosen as the object of research because of the many aspects of self-actualization that are raised in the story, especially regarding the main character's struggles in facing the realities of life and its twists.. The purpose of this research was to describe and explain the process and characteristics of the main character's self-actualization in the novel Anak Rantau by Ahmad Fuadi. This study used a literary psychology approach. The psychological theory used was Abraham Maslow's self-actualization. Hepi started the process of self-actualization since he was abandoned in Tanjung Duren village by his father. Hepi fulfilled 14 traits of self-actualization. The nature of self-actualization that he has was 1) efficient observation of reality; 2) self-acceptance and others as they are; 3) spontaneity, simplicity, and reasonableness; 4) focus on the problem; 5) the need for privacy; 6) function autonomously; 7) appreciation that is always fresh; 8) social awareness/interest; 9) interpersonal relationships; 10) democratic; 11) differences between means and objectives; 12) creativity; 13) independence, and 14) peak experience.

Self Actualization and Education Value in The Novel Dendam Si Yatim Piatu by Sintha Rosse

This study aims to analyze self-actualization and educational values contained in Sintha Rosse's Dendam si Yatim Piatu novel based on Abraham Maslow's humanistic psychology. The research method used was descriptive qualitative method and content analysis technique. The results showed: 1) Self-actualization was found to be more dominant in this novel as much as 65.08% while the value of education was 34.91%. The 14 characters who show self-actualization are found all in this novel. The most dominant self-actualization is focusing on achievement targets (13.52%), the second most is social awareness (13.09%), independence (9.23%), spontaneity, simplicity, and fairness (9.01%). rewards that are always new (8.80%), interpersonal relationships (8.80%), creativity (6.87%), democratic (6.01%), self-acceptance (5.79%), independence (5.58 %), peak experience (4.29%), observing reality efficiently (3.43%), a meaningful sense of humor (3.00%), and the need for privacy (2.58%). 2) The dominant educational value is the value of moral education (37.20%), followed by the value of social education (29.60%), the value of divine education (24.40%), the value of cultural education (5.60%), and the value of aesthetic education (3.20%). Through this novel, the author provides an example through self-actualization of the main character, maximizing all efforts, developing talents, potential, never giving up in achieving goals and achieving the desired success so that life becomes more meaningful. In addition, the author also conveys good values so that readers can wisely take lessons from them which are expected to be applied in everyday life.

Travel as a Catalyst of Peak Experiences Among Young Chinese Adults

Humanistic psychology has pioneered in investigating travel as a contributor to personality growth. In this study, 182 native Chinese undergraduates responded to a survey inquiring if they had ever experienced “wonderful happiness” while engaged in tourism, and if so, to indicate the purpose of their travel, how recently and where their peak-experience occurred, whether they were alone or with others at the time, its intensity and subsequent impact on their view of life. Participants were also asked to describe the “trigger” of their peak-experience; these were coded into nine categories. A total of 86.8% (N=158) responded affirmatively, most of whom were touring within China. Peaks involving nature were reported significantly most frequently. A cluster involving interpersonal joy, serenity, and personal growth were reported second-most frequently, with relatively small frequencies relating to culture/aesthetics, culinary delight, and particularly materialism, skill mastery, and external achievement. More than 75% of participants rated their peak as “moderately” or “very” intense and 53.5% reported that it impacted their subsequent view of life. No significant gender differences emerged. The implications of these findings for understanding growth aspects of tourism among Chinese young adults are discussed, and future avenues of research are highlighted.

Peak-experience and the entheogenic use of cannabis in world religions

This paper demonstrates that cannabis can evoke “peak-experiences”—the name psychologist Abraham Maslow gave to fleeting moments of expanded perception indicative of self-transcendence—when used alongside more traditional religious practices such as meditation, fasting, contemplative prayer, and sacramental ritual. For that reason, religious seekers around the globe have deployed cannabis as a deliberate psychoactive to trigger the peak-experiences that stir feelings of ecstasy, wonder, and awe and resolve the “dichotomies, polarities, and conflicts of life.” As such, peak-experiences exemplify a form of spiritual revelation that has played a pivotal role in the history of religion, and because of its ability to elicit unitive consciousness at the heart of mystical insight, cannabis has been utilized as a mild entheogen across culture and tradition for millennia.

"Suwung": Pola penyelesaian masalah Kaum Sufi Suku Jawa di Kota Malang

“Suwung” merupakan istilah Jawa yang menggambarkan kondisi kosong, tidak mempunyai bentuk dan abstrak. Di dalamnya mengandung makna kekosongan yang bernuansa pengendalian diri yang sempurna dan kesadaran sejati akan diri yang berkaitan dengan ketuhanan. Suwung bagi kaum sufi merupakan sebuah pengalaman spiritual yang disebut peak experience. Peak experience menurut Maslow dijabarkan sebagai suatu kondisi saat seseorang secara mental merasa keluar dari dirinya sendiri (Davis, 2003). Melalui pemahaman Suwung ini, manusia dengan sadar dapat memecahkan masalah yang dihadapi dalam kehidupan secara lebih bijaksana. Subjek penelitian ini dibagi menjadi 3 kategori yaitu: (1) kelompok penganut paham sufi yang masih belum terpenuhinya kebutuhan dasar hidup, (2) kelompok penganut paham sufi yang memenuhi kebutuhan dasar hidup dengan perjuangan, (3) kelompok penganut paham sufi yang memenuhi kebutuhan dasar hidupdengan mudah. Metode yang dilakukan adalah snowball sampling. Sedangkan validitas dilakukan dengan metode triangulasi significant other. Metode penelitian ini adalah kualitatif fenomenologi dengan proses analisis data menggunakan interaksionis simbolik. Dalam prosesnya, peneliti melakukan wawancara mendalam sampai menemukan data jenuh. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa dari ketiga kelompok subjek mampu menerima suatu masalah dengan cara mengosongkan diri dan secara hakiki menerima Tuhan dalam kondisi apa pun. Keadaan Narimo dan syukur menjadi dasar penyelesaian masalah bagi seluruh subjek. Selain persamaan itu, ada tiga perbedaan pola berpikir dari kelompok subjek penelitian dalam memecahkan suatu masalah. Pertama, manusia memecahkan masalah yang dihadapi dengan kepasrahan. Kedua, menyelesaikan masalah dengan cara berkompromi dengan fakta. Ketiga, menyelesaikan masalah melalui pencarian makna akan hidup.