What Maslow Never Got to Teach About Happiness

Abraham Maslow, ranked among the greatest American psychologists of the 20th century, pioneered the scientific study of peak-experiences. These are sudden moments of intense happiness and self-fulfillment, often accompanied by feelings of gratitude, enhanced self-worth, and awe—and, as he accurately hypothesized— are often life-changing in their impact.

In Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences, Maslow metaphorically wrote, "A single glimpse of heaven is enough to confirm its existence... Even one such experience might be able to prevent suicide, and perhaps many varieties of slow self-destruction [like] alcoholism, drug addiction, and addiction to violence."

Maslow also found that emotionally healthy people—especially those whom he called self-actualizing—generally have far more "peaks" than average in everyday life. Why? Apparently, because they're more open to new experiences, more curious, and less guarded in their relationships. This discovery led him to one of his most important concepts: that of plateau-experiences. In part, he came to it as a result of facing his mortality after a major heart attack in 1967, as virtually no medical interventions existed then to overcome such conditions.

Because Maslow formulated this notion very late in life, he never developed or helped popularize it—as he had masterfully done with peaks. That's why you've probably never heard of plateau-experiences (not to be confused with the term "plateauing" at work, related to stagnating in one's skills or achievement). But with the huge rise of interest today in mindfulness—and, more broadly, new models of human consciousness—this topic is gaining renewed attention.

Exactly what are plateau-experiences? Essentially, these differ from the "white hot" ecstatic moments of peaks by comprising sustained periods of serene joy. Maslow gave such examples as a mother gazing with wonder for hours at her newborn baby, or lovers gazing into each other's eyes with open delight. As a personal example, he described standing transfixed ashore the dazzling Pacific Ocean—watching the rolling waves and steadily entering into an exalted mindset.

"It's possible to sit and look at something miraculous for an hour and enjoy every second of it," he commented at the Second Interdisciplinary Conference on the Voluntary Control of Inner States scant weeks before he died in June 1970.

Transcending Time

As Maslow's biographer, I assure you that, like many of us, he was fascinated by the nature of psychological time: how long-past episodes of happiness in our lives can exert a lasting, beneficial impact. In precisely this context, he found plateau-experiences to be so important. Why? Because these spark an uplifting sense of timelessness, in which the present, past, and future all merge: we feel liberated from time's ordinary, and all-too-familiar, confines. The present moment doesn't vanish or recede but expands, and in this way, our happiness expands as well.

Maslow provided a personal example in this regard at a commencement ceremony at Brandeis University, where he taught.

"There was suddenly this vision... I [saw] a long academic procession.... It contained all the people I [historically] admire [and] Socrates was at the head... Then, behind me, the procession extended into a dim cloud in which there were...people not yet born...and these were also my colleagues... These future ones... When you attain the plateau experience, it's the transcending of time and space."

In the exalted mental state that Maslow called the "high plateau," our various plateau-experiences are woven into "a constantly high level, in the sense of illumination or awakening or in Zen." No single experience, however intense, will bring us there, he emphasized. Rather, it involves a gradual journey upward to it.

Dwelling on the High Plateau

Although Maslow famously denied the possibility of inducing peak-experiences at will, he readily asserted that we can train ourselves to reach the higher plateaus of consciousness. "Very important today in a topical sense," he wrote in Religions, Values, and Peak-Experiences, "is the realization that plateau-experiencing...can be achieved [and] learned... [Unlike the peak-experience], all of this takes time...to take up residence on the high plateau of Unitive consciousness."

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Had Maslow lived longer, I'm certain that he would have fully developed his concept of the high plateau—and also taught effective means for its attainment. But one sure method would be to amplify your sense of timelessness through meditation and mindfulness training. In addition, adopt Maslow's technique of what he called "witnessing the world"—seeing the potential for beauty, harmony, and peace that exist all around us, at this very moment.