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Plato described ecstasis as an altered state where our normal waking consciousness vanishes completely, replaced by an intense euphoria and a powerful connection to a greater intelligence.
nonordinary states of consciousness (NOSC)
flow states, those “in-the-zone” moments
contemplative and mystical states, where techniques like chanting, dance, meditation, sexuality, and, most recently, wearable technologies are used to shut off the self.
psychedelic states, where the recent resurgence in sanctioned research is leading to some of the more intriguing pharmacological findings in several decades. Taken together, these three categories define our territory of ecstasis.
The ecstatic is a language without words that we all speak.”
when non-ordinary states trigger timelessness, they deliver us to the perpetual present—where we have undistracted access to the most reliable data.
“It’s creative inspiration or divine madness or that kind of connection to something larger than ourselves that makes us feel like we understand the intelligence that runs throughout the universe.”
Often, an ecstatic experience25 begins when the brain releases norepinephrine and dopamine into our system. These neurochemicals raise heart rates,26 tighten focus, and help us sit up and pay attention. We notice more of what’s going on around us, so information normally tuned out or ignored becomes more readily available.
the cascade of neurobiological change that occurs in a non-ordinary state lets us perceive and process more of what’s going on around us and with greater accuracy. In these states, we get upstream of our umwelt. We get access to increased data, heightened perception, and amplified connection. And this lets us see ecstasis for what it actually is: an information technology. Big Data for our minds.
creativity is essential for solving complex problems—the kinds we often face in a fast-paced world. Second, we have very little success training people
to be more creative. And there’s a pretty simple explanation for this failure: we’re trying to train a skill, but what we really need to be training is a state of mind.
Wicked problems are those without easy answers—where our rational, binary logic breaks down and our normal tools fail us. But the information richness of a nonordinary state affords us perspective and allows us to make connections
where none may have existed before.
because they blossom without the sanction of the orthodoxy, they are persecuted for it.
Spiritual subcultures that slip through heaven’s gate tend to piss off the gatekeepers.
We have trouble admitting we’re cyborgs then, because the very prospect of augmenting ourselves with technology seems suspect.
the states of consciousness we prefer are those that reinforce established cultural values. We enshrine these states socially, economically, and legally. That is, we have state-sanctioned states of consciousness. Altered states that subvert these values are persecuted, while the people who enjoy them are marginalized.
As Nietzsche said: “madness is rare in individuals—but in groups, political parties, nations and eras, it’s the rule.”
“in all probability . . . hocus pocus is nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus (“this is the body”), [a] ridiculous imitation of the priests of the Church.”
together, all this work—from the NDE studies to the cancer and trauma research to the flow and meditation programs—demonstrates that even brief moments spent outside ourselves produce positive impact, regardless of the mechanisms used to get there. And they can provide these benefits in the face of the deepest challenges imaginable.
In the past thirty years, there have been about forty-six thousand scientific studies on depression and an underwhelming four hundred on joy. . . . As long as someone can obtain nonsickness that is
deemed sufficient. As Buddhist scholar Alan Watts put it, ‘Western scientists have an underlying assumption that normal is absolutely as good as it gets and that the exceptional is only for saints, that it is something that cannot be cultivated.’” But many of the same interventions that can help us get our heads above water can just as effectively be devoted to raising our heads above the clouds. If we’re interested in untapped levels of performance improvement and lasting emotional change, peak states of consciousness may provide the quickest path between two points: a shortcut from A to
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Our facial expressions are hardwired5 into our emotions: we can’t have one without the other. Botox lessens depression because it prevents us from making sad faces. But it also dampens our connection to those around us because we feel empathy by mimicking each other’s facial expressions. With Botox, mimicry becomes impossible, so we feel almost nothing at all.
we’re not smart and we have bodies—we’re smart because we have bodies.7 The heart has about 40,000 neurons that play a central role in shaping emotion, perception, and decision making. The stomach and intestines complete this network, containing more than 500 million nerve cells, 100 million neurons, 30 different neurotransmitters, and 90 percent of the body’s supply of serotonin (one of the major neurochemicals responsible for mood and well-being). This “second brain,” as scientists have dubbed it, lends some empirical
support to the persistent notion of gut instinct.
Cuddy discovered that spending two minutes in a “power pose”—meaning a posture of dominance (like “Wonder Woman”: hands on hips, elbows cocked wide, legs firmly planted)—changed both psychology and physiology. In her research, subjects who adopted the Wonder Woman posture took greater risks and took them more frequently. And two minutes of the pose was enough to increase levels of the dominance hormone testosterone by 20 percent and decrease the stress hormone cortisol by 15 percent. While the field of embodied cognition is in its infancy, and there is still lots of work to be done replicating
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these early findings suggest a tighter linkage between our minds and our bodies than most of us would ever suspect.
“The pursuit of intoxication with drugs is a primary motivational force in organisms.”
So potent is the urge to get out of our heads that it functions as a “fourth drive,” a behavior-shaping force as powerful as our first three drives—the desire for food, water, and sex.
Researchers have been pondering this for a while now, and have concluded that intoxication does play a powerful evolutionary role—“depatterning.”
Anthropologists have discovered that as soon as a local intoxicant becomes enshrined in tradition, people grow suspicious of imports. “Most cultures,” explains Pollan, “curiously, promote one plant8 for this purpose, or two, and condemn others. They fetishize one and they have taboos on others.” This explains why, when Franciscan priests arrived in Mexico9 and found the peyote cactus at the center of the local religion, they outlawed the plant, and enforced their own
preference for sacramental wine (despite catastrophic consequences for the native populations, who were missing a key enzyme to metabolize ethanol). Conversely, in 1920’s Prohibition America,10 growing apples—which could be fermented into hard cider—was against the law, but tinctures of opium and marijuana were readily available at the local pharmacy.
once we do take those freely shared ideas and use them to unlock nonordinary states for ourselves, what do we find? A self-authenticating experience of selflessness, timelessness, effortlessness, and richness. In short, all the ingredients required for a rational mysticism. It cuts out the middlemen, and remains rooted in the certainty of the lived experience.
“after the ecstasy, the laundry.”
Think of yourself as a colander—a bowl filled with holes. When you experience a peak state, it’s like turning on the kitchen faucet and flooding that colander with water. If there’s enough volume, the colander fills up despite the leaks. As long as water keeps flooding in, you will, for a moment, experience what it’s like to be a cup. You’ll feel whole; if you’re really inspired, holy.
Then the faucet turns off, the peak experience ends, and all that water leaks back out. In a matter of moments, you’ll settle back to where you started. The information recedes. The inspiration that was so easy to grasp moments ago slips away. And now you’ve got a decision to make. Do you engage the dull and repetitive work of plugging your leaks or do you go hunting for the next ecstatic faucet to tap? The notion that hard work and persistence in the face of struggle might have a role in all of this often gets lost. In 2014, Ryan Holiday released a bestselling book12 on exactly this subject,
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impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” And this is certainly true of the ecstatic way. All that “effortless effort” takes a lot of work. So do the hard thing and the rest becomes much easier: Enjoy the state, but be sure to do t...
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“I care not a whit for a man’s religion,” Abraham Lincoln once quipped, “unless his dog is the better for it.”
As Hemingway reminds us,25 “the world breaks everyone.”
the attempt to avoid suffering often creates more of it, leaving us susceptible to the most predictable trap of all: spiritual bypassing. “[It’s] a widespread tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices,”26 says John Welwood, the psychologist who coined the term, “to sidestep or avoid facing unresolved emotional issues, psychological wounds, and unfinished developmental tasks.”
“Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving27 up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
Balancing the bright lights of the ecstatic path with the darkness of the human condition is essential. Otherwise, we become unstable, top-heavy, our roots too shallow to ground us. The Indian philosopher Nisargadatta summed up the dilemma well: “Love tells me I am everything. Wisdom tells me I am nothing.28 And between these two banks, flows the river of my life.”
Ecstasis] is absolutely
ruthless and highly indifferent,”29 wrote John Lilly. “It teaches its lessons whether you like them or not.”
Every glimpse above the clouds can’t help but suggest work still to be done on the ground. That’s the resolution to the paradox of vulnerable strength. Ecstasis doesn’t absolve us of our humanity. It connects us to it. It’s in our brokenness, ...
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The late poet and musician Leonard Cohen may have been our greatest contemporary commentator on this theme. In his song “Anthem,” he sings: “Ring the bells that still can ring,31 forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. It’s where the light gets in.”
in the United States, more than half of paid vacation days go unclaimed and we perversely brag about clocking 60–80-hour workweeks (even though our effectiveness drops after 50 hours). We valorize suffering and sacrifice, even when the victories they provide are hollow.
