The state of Flow refers to moments of rapt attention and absorption, when you are fully, consciously focused on the task or moment at hand.
Research shows that this state is at the center of peak-performance, maximizing attributes like motivation, learning, and creativity.
In the human hierarchy of needs (pictured), the famed psychologist Dr. Abraham Maslow incorporates the flow state in Self-Actualization. At Self-Actualization, one typically discovers one’s purpose and true self.
However, because the hierarchy was popularized before Maslow could make further amends to the pyramid, many assumed that Self-Actualization is the end goal. It’s not.
Towards the end of his life, Maslow added Self-Transcendence to the top. Additionally, since his time, research now also understands his pyramid not necessarily as a linear path, but a circle with each level interconnected, whereby Self-Transcendence is critical to survival of the most basic needs.
At Self-Transcendence, we experience a “metahuman” quality of life — one where we are more deeply aware of the interconnectedness of all life, and the evolutionary cosmic nature of reality.
Self Transcendence is when the human potential continues to expand beyond the deceit and misinformation of ordinary reality that conditions us to conform, to doubt ourselves, and to anchor ourselves to old wounds.