#41: The Psychology of Self-Transcendence - Steve Taylor, PhD

The FitMind Podcast: Mental Fitness, Neuroscience & Psychology

Dr. Steve Taylor talks about self-transcendence and peak experiences (terms famously coined by Maslow) and gives a psychological view of what causes them to occur.

Steve is an author and psychologist who comes highly endorsed by leaders like Eckhart Tolle. He is a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University and the author of several bestselling books on psychology and self-transcendence.

He is the current chair of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society. His books have been published in 20 languages and include Waking From Sleep, The Fall, Out of the Darkness, Back to Sanity, The Calm Center, and The Leap. His latest book is Spiritual Science: Why Science Needs Spirituality to Make Sense of the World.

Steve's research has appeared in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, The Journal of Consciousness Studies, The Transpersonal Psychology Review, The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, as well as the popular media in the UK, including on BBC World TV, The Guardian, and The Independent.

In this episode, we talk about the science behind self-transcendence, a term used by psychologists to describe peak experiences but also enduring states of what some call "awakening." Steve has extensively researched what causes this to happen and also draws upon his personal experience to give a pretty incredible account of what the mind is capable of and how we might improve our chances of experiencing the world in this way.

And if you stick around for the end, Steve shares some powerful poems from his book that express his own experience of self-transcendence.

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