How Living with an Awareness of Death can Change Your Life: Introducing The Plateau Experience

It seems to me that the surf is more beautiful to me now than it used to be, and more touching. In thinking of the surf, I realize that I am mortal, and the surf is not. (Krippner, 1972, p. 117, as cited in Cleary, 1996, p. 35)

The plateau experience is a state of consciousness theorized by the seminal Humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow. Unlike Maslow’s ‘peak experience,’ the plateau is a more enduring, less emotionally salient mode of being in the world uniquely consisting of a simultaneous perception of “the sacred in the ordinary” (Buckler, 2011; Krippner, 1972). Maslow first conceptualized the plateau in 1968 after experiencing a near fatal heart attack which shifted his experience of the world into a distinguishable operating system of gratefulness and serenity (Gruel, 2015). Renown for the ways in which he fearlessly practiced self-inquiry and studied his own interiority (Cleary, 1996; Gruel, 2015; Heitzman, 2003; Krippner, 1972), which contributed to much of his accolades as a psychologist, Maslow questioned whether this new and rewarding experience of consciousness could be voluntarily entered or intentionally evoked as a transpersonal practice. 

Lacking energy in the final months of his life, Maslow recorded his insights on the plateau primarily throughout private journals rather than formal research settings (Krippner, 1972). Hoffman (1988) takes note of his sentiment explicating the reasoning for this recording process: "The sad thought I've so often had is that whenever I die, it will [leave] many things half done. The journal system is better for salvaging incomplete stuff for someone else to finish" (Hoffman, 1988, p. 249 as cited in Cleary, 1996, p.60). As such, much of the information available on the plateau is derivative of anecdotal evidence from Maslow’s personal accounts, as recorded in his journals and several speaking engagements. Perhaps for this reason, little research has since been conducted on Maslow’s concept of the plateau (Cleary, 1996; Gruel, 2015; Heitzman, 2003; Krippner, 1972).

The academic databases of PsycINFO, ProQuest One Academic and the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology together showcase only several research, dissertations and theoretical studies investigating the plateau experience specifically, rather than merely citing it (e.g., see Cleary & Shapiro, 1996; Gruel, 2015; and Krippner, 1972). This further supports the impetus of this review of literature on the plateau experience for inspiring a deeper empirical analysis on the specific ability of mortality awareness combined with personal volition to evoke the plateau state of consciousness. Longer annotations are intentionally included throughout in effort to maintain the integrity of Maslow’s original descriptions of the experience, most of which arose informally.

Although there have not been significant developments of primary sources in the fifty decades since Maslow’s passing (Gruel, 2015) there have been a handful of scholars courageous enough to begin to further unravel Maslow’s experience from which his theory crystalized, so as to begin to respond to his call for cultivating systematic research around the plateau experience. This paper investigates the central question of how the phenomenological experience of the plateau may be evoked through both personal volition and integrated awareness of death, as it is addressed throughout the available literature. The investigation holds relevance for the purpose of igniting developments in research on the plateau experience where there has not yet been any, while affirming Maslow’s visionary spirit as well as his unparalleled ability to inspire new pathways for more fulfilling modes of being in the world, beyond his own mortality.

Literature Review

Explicating the Plateau Experience

Most academic articles attempting to explicate the plateau experience refer with the greatest frequency to the seminal Krippner (1972) account. This account serves as the earliest and most extensive summation of Maslow’s exact words on the plateau, as recorded during his participation at the Interdisciplinary Conference on the Voluntary Control of Internal States. Held in Kansas during the month of April, 1970, his statements at the conference iluminate the sense of connectedness between the divine and the mundane that constitutes the foundation of the plateau experience. Krippner (1972) records Maslow’s description of the plateau as a state where “nothing is excepted and nothing special, but one lives in a world of miracles all the time” (Buckler, 2011; Krippner, 1972, p. 113). Beginning to elucidate the intellectual quality of approach latent within the continued plateau experience, Buckler (2011) cites Krippner’s seminal paper exhibiting one of Maslow’s most referenced descriptions of the experience:

Such experiences, Maslow suggested, are more voluntary than the peak experience: by this Maslow noted that to enter […] such states of consciousness, he could voluntarily go to a museum or meadow opposed to a subway. Maslow thus explained that there was a lack of surprise with such experiences and that they could be taught. As such, plateau experiences are cognitive, ‘a witnessing of the world...a witnessing of reality’ which involved ‘seeing the symbolic, or the mythic, the poetic, the transcendent, the miraculous, the unbelievable’. (Krippner, 1972, p.115 as cited in Buckler, 2011, p.30)

Bringing together each of Maslow’s key descriptions regarding the plateau, Buckler (2011) summates the most pertinent aspects of the experience as: “voluntary; it can be taught; there is a ‘witnessing’ akin to being mindful of the moment; there is a sense of calmness or serenity; there is an acceptance of one’s own mortality and a feeling of enjoyment or happiness” (Buckler, p.32). Finally, concluding this preliminary description of the plateau experience, Krippner (1972) records Maslow’s account of the affect of the higher plateau, concluding his definition by alluding to the topic of this literature review: the ability of mortality awareness to evoke the plateau experience. Stating that after one has experienced plateau consciousness:

You can be more in the here and now than with all the spiritual exercises that there are. It’s just a kind of spontaneous exercise in hanging on to the moment, because the moment is precious. […] There is certainly a shifting of values about what’s basic and what’s not basic, what’s important and what’s not important. I think if it were possible for us to die and be resurrected, it might then be possible for more people to have this post-mortem life. (p.118) 

The First Condition for Emergence: Mortality Salience

An excerpt taken directly from Maslow’s private journal published after his death and recorded in Cleary’s (1996) discussion of Maslow’s post-mortem life exemplifies the questions he posited around the plateau and its relationship to mortality: “Does death-awareness produce the transcendent, transpersonal, transhuman? […]” Continuing, “I still wonder that maybe what I've called SA [self-actualization] has reconciliation with mortality as a sine qua non” (Maslow, 1979, p. 126, as cited in Cleary, 1996, pp. 66-67). Though Maslow intuited that an evolution towards plateau experience arrives with the natural aging process (Gruel, 2015, p.48) as one approaches mortality, it has yet to be empirically researched whether the experience may also be evoked through an intentional and conceptual awareness of the facticity of mortality, independent of age.

An extensive and more current literature review on the plateau experience written by Gruel (2015) holds relevance in this continued dialogue for the ways in which she synthesizes unique details regarding Maslow’s experience with mortality awareness. While Maslow spoke openly of the “confrontation and appreciation of one’s mortality” as a defining characteristic of the plateau experience, further information regarding the possibilities for this awareness to evoke the experience are sparse (Gruel, 2015, p.48; Maslow, 1970, pp.116–119). Given that the environment through which Malsow’s experience of the plateau originated was in the psychological context of frequent reminders of his own mortality through physiological pain, it remains curious that there has not been further explicit research towards this front. Referencing the psychobiographical work of Heitzman (2003) regarding Maslow’s internal life in between his near fatal heart attack and his death, Gruel (2015) interprets Heitzman’s case study as suggesting the plateau experience “was Maslow’s philosophical reckoning with his own fear of death” (p.48). In addition, Gruel (2015) makes note of Heitzman’s astute observation that:

Pioneering research into near-death experiences (NDEs) by Ring (2000) suggests Maslow’s state of mind was not unique, as consistent and enduring changes after a NDE often include an enhanced appreciation for life, greater self-acceptance, a concern for others, reverence for life, anti-competitiveness, enhanced spirituality, reduced fear of death, expanded mental awareness, and a quest for knowledge, all of which featured in Maslow’s shifted values after the first heart attack and continued until his ultimate death. (Heitzman, 2001, as cited in Gruel, 2015, p.48)

Although there exists a range of literature on enduring psychological changes after NDEs, there has not yet been research conducted on the ability of integrated contemplation of mortality for specifically evoking a similar psychological experience akin to the plateau. According to Heitzman’s (2003) in-depth exploration of Maslow’s interiority around his post-mortem life, he reckoned with the theme of mortality awareness throughout the end of his life, providing further speculative support for his psychological proximity to the facticity of death as instigating his experience of plateau cognition (Gruel, 2015). As Cleary (1995) contends similarly, “it was a threat to his very survival through a NDE that prompted an enhanced sense of awareness” (Cleary & Shapiro, 1995; Gruel, 2015, p.49). 

Further incentivising research on the ability to sustain said psychological transformations through consistent engagement with mortality awareness, Gruel (2015) points towards Heitzman’s differentiation between the shared characteristics of plateau consciousness and research by Ring (2000) on perceptual changes resulting from NDEs:

Conclusions Ring makes that further resonate with Maslow’s experience are: (a) the value of a NDE comes from the translation of its wisdom into daily life, which corresponds with Maslow’s sense of the sacred in the ordinary, and (b) significant changes are not always simply a matter of receiving a gift; rather, work is involved to unwrap it (Heitzman, 2003), paralleling Maslow’s belief that ‘‘plateau-experiencing can be achieved, learned, [and] earned by hard work. (Gruel, 2015, p.48)

During the discussion at the Interdisciplinary Conference on the Voluntary Control of Internal States (1970), Maslow spoke specifically to the origins of the plateau as arising after an acceptance of the existential truth that death may come at any moment. “In the plateau,” Gruel (2015) explains, “his life and death became inseparable, along with heightened vulnerability, fragility, preciousness, wonder, and [a] sense of impermanence” (Gruel, 2015, p.48). In the same thought stream regarding this plateau cognition and mode of being, Maslow stated:

…You’re more poignantly enjoying the things that other people ignore...I’ve speculated if it were possible to give an experience of death and then a reprieve that people might enjoy life more. My heart attack [which occurred roughly a year and a half before this conference] brought about a real confrontation with death. Ever since then, I’ve been living what I’ve been calling to myself, ‘the post-mortem life’. I’ve already gone through the process of dying, so everything from then on is gravy. (Krippner, 1972, p. 119) 

Maslow’s affirmation of having already experienced “the process of dying”, (Krippner, 1972, p. 119, cited in Cleary, 1996, p.34) further conveys how having this experience – while still living – provided a new opportunity for a deeper kind of living, or, more specifically, plateau experiencing. Also demonstrating the possibility for mortality to evoke the plateau experience, Maslow’s essence was captured by Cleary (1996) who contended “he reported that the experience of having a reprieve from death made life afterwards appear much more vivid and precious” (pp.34-35). Cleary’s (1996) theoretical article is relevant to this review for the ways in which it showcases the first preliminary steps towards a deeper level of analysis on the plateau experience and its relationship to mortality. Speaking to one’s intellectual (or physical) proximity to the reality of death and impermanence as a catalyst for plateau living, Cleary (1996) echoes Maslow’s statement that:

The plateau experience enables one to accomplish this state of being in the here and now without spiritual exercises, and that this state becomes easier to understand when working with the dying. He mentioned his own heart attack as an example of a confrontation with death, which was followed not only by physical recovery, but by greater self- understanding and a sense of expanded consciousness. Although the plateau experience is partly inspired by the knowledge of one's own mortality— and this can be frightening, it also makes the experience poignant. (p. 36)

The Second Condition for Emergence: Volition

Maslow spoke often of how higher states of consciousness require work to assimilate into the fabric of everyday life (Gruel, 2015).

The second condition then through which the plateau experience may be most likely to emerge according to the reviewed literature is through that of volition or personal intent. The question of the effect of one’s willingness to participate and engage in the work required to enter and sustain the plateau experience is especially noteworthy for the implications it has regarding future research on transpersonal technologies able to ignite and sustain, through repeated engagement, the plateau experience. As an exceptionally self-aware individual in pursuit of increasing possibilities for human flourishing and, in his words, ‘the far reaches of human potential’ it is possible that after noticing the shift in his interiority inspired by his near death, Maslow was intentional about keeping the recognition of the fact of death close to his heart—psychologically and physiologically. This further motivated Maslow’s desire to inspire research on the discerning the implications for teaching this mode of being to others.        

Kautz and Kautz’ (1997) qualitative research article is the first of its kind exploring the plateau experience, streamlining from the main ideas conveyed within Cleary and Shapiro’s (1995) work, “The Plateau Experience and the Post-Mortem Life: Abraham H. Maslow’s Unfinished Theory.” Exploring the question of whether the experience can be arrived at voluntarily, the researchers utilize 22 members of their peer group as the participants in their study. Engaging with them via written correspondence and analyzing common themes within their friends’ responses, they record the ways in which their peers’ experiences can relate to and thus further validate the plateau experience within their individual life-worlds.

In regard to the relationship of the plateau to mortality awareness, one of their respondents writes, “The mere fact of growing older, highlighted by such milestones as Senior Citizen Status, losing beloved friends and relations (and patients), as well as health adversities, can lead one either into avoidance or acceptance of thoughts of mortality, or a combination. In our acceptance moments, we are keenly aware of the beauty and love surrounding us” (1997, p.18). Similarly, Kautz and Kautz (1997) describe another participant who offers their experience of a serious car accident as an evocation towards the plateau. After the accident they describe their emotional experience as "surprised to still be alive" (p.19).  Although sustaining bad cuts and multiple broken bones, they viewed the accident as a sort of gift: “Since then I have been more aware of the frailty of life and thank God for each day. I am ready to go any time, though not asking for death. I think perhaps life has been more placid since then,” offering an example for the ability of mortality to stimulate plateau cognition (p.19). 

While scholarly and peer-reviewed, the credibility of the methodology and research design employed within this explorative article may be questioned specifically in regard to how the study participants consisted of the researchers’ peer group. With “the majority (of participants) were senior citizens between 60 and 90 years of age; three were middle-aged, between 40 and 52” and most of which the researchers had known for over 50 years (Kautz, W. F., & Kautz, A., 1997, p.17). Though the sample is small and not representative, the findings maintain relevance due to limited research available on the topic while such methodological limitations are still considered. This article serves a gap within the literature as one of the closest empirical studies surrounding the plateau, holding an important place amidst current understandings regarding possibilities for identifying consistencies amidst the plateau experience. 

Though one may be surprised by organic experiences of plateau consciousness, in order to sustain the plateau in an integrated and enduring way, it would appear that one must maintain intentionality regarding their remembrance of impermanence. Cleary (1996) describes Maslow as feeling that:

“too many aspirants were trying to bypass the maturation and hard work necessary for authentic progress in self-understanding and self-realization. He suggested that peak experience states are relevant to the transpersonal dimension, but that achieving a ‘life of transcendence" [as the plateau appears to entail] tends to be a lifelong effort” (p. 44).

In the same breath, Maslow noted that the plateau experience can be ‘achieved, learned, earned by long hard work’ which can be aspired to [while it also] takes time to experience the necessary ‘maturing, experiencing, living, learning’” cultivating a sustained experience requires (Cleary, 1996, p.44).

             A Gap in the Literature: Plateau Evocation Through Death Awareness and Volition.  

Maslow was clear in his requests for greater research to be conducted towards further elucidating the plateau experience as well as the ways in which the plateau can be evoked (Buckler, 2011; Cleary, 1995; Gruel, 2015; Krippner, 1972). An analysis of available scholarly literature on the plateau from academic search engines conveys that there exists sparce empirical information on the specific ability for volition combined with mortality awareness to evoke an experience akin to the plateau. While present theoretical reviews focus heavily on the relationship between the peak experience and the experience of transcendence within the plateau, given that it was the conditions of mortality salience and intentional self-awareness from which Maslow’s theory of the plateau originated in the first place, it makes sense that the invitation for further research to reduce this gap in literature is considered meaningfully. Most criticisms regarding the plateau experience maintain primarily that “the theoretical perspective of the plateau experience […] appears underdeveloped,” likewise further incentivising research on the phenomenon (Buckler, 2011, p.33; Cleary, 1995). 

Future Invitations in The Literature Towards Elucidating the Ability of Mortality Awareness and Volition to Evoke the Plateau Experience.

 To what degree can experiencing most moments in life as if they were an end in themselves bring individuals closer to self-transcendent realities in everyday life through a sort of sacralising of human experience? Several authors in the field of existential-humanistic and transpersonal psychology (Buckler, 2011; Cleary, 1996; Gruel, 2015; Kautz & Kautz, 1997) point towards future directions for research pertaining specifically to the ability of mortality awareness to evoke a plateau-like experience. In Gruel’s (2015) review of literature on the plateau regarding future directions, she echoes Cleary’s (1996) invitation for not only greater research into further investigating how the experience might be elicited, but also “investigation of the relationship between death awareness and the transcendent, transpersonal, transhuman—a question Maslow himself raised” (Gruel, 2015, p.55). Specifically, Maslow recorded in his personal journal “Maybe death helps to create the feeling of sacralization= unitive consciousness, plateaus, peaks (both sunny ones & clouded ones), of archetypical, symbolic, eternal, transcendent experiences. Kids can't do this; they are still positivists perceiving only what their (external?) senses can bring them. Does death-awareness produce the transcendent, transpersonal, transhuman?” (Maslow, 1970 as cited in Cleary, 1996, p.254).

Kautz and Kautz (1997) ask two important questions regarding how their research inspires future questions around experiential evocation of the plateau experience, including: “If there were ways to voluntarily promote plateau experiences, would the experiences of our friends contribute to the understanding of ways in which other persons could foster similar experiences?” (p.16). As well as “Could the understandings which our friends had developed facilitate or improve the experiential awareness of other persons striving towards self-actualization, or help scholars pursuing transpersonal theories?” (1997, p.16). Interestingly, Kautz and Kautz (1997) note that the majority of the participants in their study reported their plateau-like consciousness as originating more from awareness of other existential realities (e.g., senescence and retirement) than from close encounters with death or more direct awareness of mortality specifically (1997). Perhaps this is a result to the diversity within the studies’ participants experiences. In the same token, however, it may imply possibilities for reminders of mere impermanence to trigger the plateau experience, as opposed to exposure to mortality salience specifically, with implications for future research on evoking the plateau experience. 

Future Invitations Beyond Available Literature

For mortality awareness to best affect immersions into these higher states of consciousness in everyday life, it appears that one’s fundamental needs must be met (Kaufman, 2020). This hypothesis may help to distinguish between those who are able to enter the plateau through mortality awareness and volition while sustaining the experience, compared to others whose accessibility to the plateau may be mediated by the presence of more pressing concerns regarding one’s most basic needs. In his book Transcend: The new science of self-actualization, Kauffman (2020) speaks to the degree of privilege that surrounded Maslow’s life during the time which he encountered near death and subsequently entered plateau cognition. During Maslow’s experience, his most basic security needs were sufficiently met in that they did not distract him from his ability to experience aspects of the plateau including a sustained sense of gratitude, an orientation to the present moment and feeling of serenity. This difference can be illustrated by way of example through psychologist Esther Perel’s (2021) explanation of growing up amidst a war-ridden town as the daughter of Holocaust survivors. Perel describes how in the face of potentially imminent death, she was surrounded by two kinds of people: those who were very alive, and those who continued to live as if they had already died, unable to surrender to the beauty of the unequivocal now due to concerns regarding one’s most fundamental sense of security.

On the topic of future research design, MacDonald (2013) states that:

Transpersonal psychology “can provide a template and framework for moving science in the direction of perfecting its theory and methods from being mere representations of reality to being vehicles of experiential access to knowing itself,” (p.320) continuing to say Transpersonal psychology “simply needs to foster a way of understanding and facilitating an improved goodness-of-fit between knowledge and experience” (p.320).

Regarding the dimensions of theoretical investigation that originate from researcher’s individual spiritual practices or experiences themselves, Macdonald (2013) posits a solution to reconcile the present state of research in the transpersonal psychology field. Stating, “mystical worldviews place emphasis not on knowledge and its acquisition, as does science, but rather on knowing as an immediate apprehension of things-as-they-are. They tend to foster an experiential awareness” declaring that this is where transpersonal psychology stands to make unique contribution to research in the field (MacDonald, 2015, p.319). In this breath, an experiential research design for this practice-based problem of the plateau experience might involve, in the form of contemplative meditation, introducing individuals to their own experience of a profound and acute awareness of the facticity of their own mortality as well as the mortality of everyone the know and love.

 This research design could be followed by a written evaluation by participants of the affect the volitionally engaged in mortality-salient contemplation they experence on the existential domains of relationships, life-values, and sense of meaning or fulfillment in life. Additionally, to measure possible longevity through time, this meditation might be administered daily for ten days, whereby before the initial meditation as well as after the final, individuals respond narratively to such prospective questionnaires inquiring about how they would rate their values and feelings regarding the previously mentioned life domains after the duration of ten days of this meditation. 

Examples of present existing contemplative meditations which may be considered as a vehicle towards evoking this caliber of mortality salience might include “last time” meditations by the renown Stoic philosopher William B. Irvine (2008), as well as similar contemplative meditations regarding the “tail end” concept by Tim Urban (2015). In the former, the perspective is taken of experiencing each new present moment as if it were the last opportunity one had to experience it. In the latter, Urban (2015) highlights an existential or metacognitive awareness of how many times one has left to engage in meaningful activities within the structure of statistical life expectancies. By way of example, if one only reunited with their parents on two holiday occasions per year, the meditation would bring to awareness how many more times they will likely see their parents again in their current lifetime. In the same vein, Maslow had also proposed a meditation or thought experiment for evoking plateau-like cognition regarding approaching our loved ones as if it were the last time we would ever see them, with possible implications for deepening relationship containers under the lens of mortality and impermanence awareness. 

Buckler’s (2011) development of the empirically validated PLEX psychometric to measure the plateau experience could be used after the meditations in conjunction with self-report. Possible alternative measures might also include The Spiritual Orientation Inventory (SOI) (Elkins, 1988), The Personal Meaning self-report Profile (PMP) (Wong, 2021) and The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) (Underwood, 2006). So far, the PLEX measure “remains unused in further empirical research” (Gruel, 2015, p.59). If such research suggestions show success in supporting individuals in experiencing a greater frequency of the fulfillment that accompanies experiencing moments as ends in themselves amidst everyday life, further use of  Hartman and Zimberoff’s (2008), “scaffolding” surrounding supporting the integration of plateau cognition into everyday life may be utilized (Gruel, 2015). Examples of this scaffolding include: 

(1) having a language and cultural context for the experience; (2) having supportive like-minded community, including contact with more experienced practitioners (also necessary for ego development); (3) encountering or intentionally placing daily reminders of the experience in one’s environment, which in NLP are called anchors; (4) continuing to access similar teachings; or (5) expressing the insight through art, writing or other action (using the sensual alpha brain wave state as a bridge from deep subliminal theta experience to everyday mind beta experience). Hartman & Zimberoff, 2008, p.38, as seen in Gruel, 2015, p. 58

In contrast, methods such as interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) specifically directed towards a research sample with their basic securty needs mostly satisfied, whom is also exposed to mortality salience in a regular way, may be useful for future studies regarding the plateau. An example of this population might include professionals who work in researching, teaching or similar academic fields which include contemplations on mortalit, hospice workers, or other vocations exposed to frequent mortality salient conditions. A possible research question directed towards participants might include something like asking participants to describe in as much detail as possible how their exposure to mortality affects them and their life domains such as their relationships, life-values, and sense of meaning or fulfillment in life. Implications for this research may lead to new awareness of practices leading to eventual stabilization in modes of being including higher states of consciousness in everyday life akin to the plateau experience, whereby most everyday mundane moments are approached with the fulfillment inherent in experiencing them as ends in themselves.

Conclusion

As Gruel (2015) acknowledges, “The plateau experience remains a largely untapped resource of potential wealth—psychically, spiritually, and socially—for humanity today” (p.60). Taken as a gestalt, justification is offered through this review for a greater research focus towards discerning the ability of the plateau experience to be evoked intentionally through transpersonal practices or technologies involving conceptual meditations regarding the facticity of death and impermanence. As Cleary (1996) recorded, “Maslow felt a sense of gratitude for surviving his illness and thought that this feeling continued to enhance the quality of his day-to-day experiences” (p.34). What if this research could further support others in experiencing a more vital and fulfilled everyday existence? This investigation remains purposeful for the ways the plateau experience may present new opportunities for human flourishing and experiences of integrated spiritual wellbeing within everyday life, especially within more secular cultures.  As Hoffman (2008) declared, “Maslow regarded himself as a psychological pioneer, broadly exploring new territories of human experience that later investigators would map in detail’’(Hoffman, 2008, p. 442). It seems the time has come for these maps to materialize amidst the academic community, transcending Maslow’s death and invigorating the spirited pulse within the Humanistic theories he once initiated. Finally and hopefully, taking steps towards ethically revitalizing the everyday spiritual wellbeing of inhabitants of the 21st century.

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