Transcendence Research Documents Awe, Empathy & Wonder Beyond Self Focus

"Transcendence is a fundamental part of the human experience. Since the dawn of our species, people have been losing themselves in ritualistic prayer, song, and dance. Even so, for a long time, the prevailing consensus in psychology was that such experiences were pathological rather than natural. Freud believed that “oceanic feelings of oneness” were neurotic memories of the womb and the signs of a deranged mind," writes Emily Esfahani Smith for New York Magazine. 

Carl Jung believed exactly the opposite of Freud, which is just one more reason behind their competitive rivalry. Jung knew what University of Pennsylvania psychologist David Yaden confirms in a new review of research on transcendence. in the Review of General Psychology, “The Varieties of Self-Transcendent Experience,” defines these states as transient moments when people feel lifted above the hustle and bustle of daily life, their sense of self fades away, and they feel connected to something bigger. In such states, people typically report feelings of awe and rapture; of time stopping; and of feeling a sense of unity with other people, nature, God, or the universe.