religions, values, experience

Abraham Maslow touches on many important life themes, while discussing the possibilities to why many people become dichotomized by organized religions. Which in turn explains why people are atheist, agnostic, or deterred from religion completely. At the same time, he emphasizes why universal values shared by most people is important to be taught. Maslow further discusses how the mystics in any religion struggle or face challenge. Maslow highlights his conceptualization of "hierarchy of human needs" and "self-actualization" based on humanistic principles. Maslow’s thesis focuses on, organized religion as well as churches being the major antagonist of the religious experiencer and religious experiences.

Maslow draws further attention to man having a higher nature state that can be achieved through transcendence, a concept similar to Eliade. Though Maslow is more concerned with man’s biological nature, and having an essence that needs to be evolved through self-actualization through humanistic principles. He proposes religious experiences to be considered for scientific investigation, highlighting the human need for spiritual expression. Maslow coins the term “peakers,” those who in some form or another through experiences over time achieve their full human potential. It’s the self-actualizers that constitutes this potential to maximize human powers such as truth, goodness, beauty, wholeness, dichotomy-transcendence, completion, justice, order, etc.

The “non-peakers” is the overly rational, mechanistic, profane (non-theistic) person who is able to have peak experiences but is “afraid”, as per Maslow. He deems them as people who is afraid of the peaks experience, instead they suppress them, deny them, turns away from them or even “f...

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...giving a sense of purpose to the individual. The peak experience tends to increase free will, self-determination, creativity, and empathy that can be examined empirically based on data; giving room for science to play a role.

Maslow believes that we should understand the peak-experience, so we can educate those in our culture who never had them, repressed them or suppressed them. Thus, providing them a route to achieve personal growth, integration, and fulfillment. Like Maslow, I think the peak-experience has its most profound effects when it's framed as experiences that produce meaning in life. Conclusively in order to be perfect or better humankind, organized religions aren’t necessary. It is the individual that should internalize universal values to build virtue and morality, to transcend reaching completion, thus providing a meaning and purpose to their life.