Transcendence

Transcendence – the highest category on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – is sometimes imagined as spiritual. I like to think of it more as a practical means to an end. Satisfying this deepest “need” (Maslow 1971). brings one a beautiful sense of inner peace to even the most troubled minds.

Indeed, as Maslow himself put it, it is “the very highest and most inclusive … leves of human conciousness, behaving and relating, as ends rather than means, to oneself, to significant othres, to human beings in general, to other species, to nature, and to the cosmos,” (Maslow 1971). So, it is an “ends rather than a means” to what then, one may ask. The answer? “To oneself, to significant othres”, it would seem. What does this mean? To Maslow, it means that transcendence is the ultimate goal, true happiness.

One can strive to reach this state is by meditating regularly, by being mindful, by being totally present. Doing this can improve your thought patterns, and heighten your sense of inner peace. If you are undergoing difficulty handling your emotions, talk therapy is always a good option to explore.

Another method to go about entering this state is through acid (LSD). I won’t talk about that too much here, but my advice is that LSD a literal shortcut to transcendence (and crazy melting visuals). In my experience, acid is the way to go if you’ve been traumatized. This is important! Think of the agony which would be spared of millions of victims of trauma if acid were made even just medically available?

This is part of the reason why life in the United States disgusts me so much. Why keep something people need away from them? Why lock them up for merely harmlessly temporarily altering their mental state?