After having explored some prerequisite conditions for transformative, transcendent experiences (deprivation, silence), let’s have a look at one of the most fascinating aspects of human behavior: the flow state.
The “Flow State” is a relatively novel concept in psychology. Created in the 70s by Hungarian-American psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, he first looked at artists, especially painters, and saw how they were “carried on by the flow” of painting, forgeting to eat and sleep during long periods of extreme concentration. The “Flow State” then became a subject of study for cognitive psychologists, who quickly identified it in sports and even business.
The Flow State means reaching a state of absortion in what one does so deep, that the subject experiences a fusion with his surroundings and a distortion in his perception of time.
Defining the Flow State
The Flow State is a state of full focus, where the person’s actions and their consciousness are fused together in the achievement of a task. This demands a situation that slightly exceeds your skills, therefore pushing you to the brink of your capabilities. If the task at hand exceeds your skills, you will fall into anxiety and frustration, if it’s below your capabilities, you’ll get bored.
The Flow State is fundamental because it breaks the categorical mold - that tendency we have of putting things into boxes and labeling them with language. The Flow State is part of a lived experience, it’s a form of participatory knowing. Therefore, it is a centerpiece in our meaning-making structures.
What is the Flow State? The Flow State is what happens when you dance, or you play sports, or you get lost in any activity you may be doing. A dancer doesn’t “think” about how to move his feet, he just moves them. Flow State is what happens when musicians improvise: they become one with the music, rising to other levels of consciousness, like in the movie Soul.
In the Flow State, you feel at one with the world around you and actions seem effortless. You seem to be guided by a supreme order, as if you could see clearly what you’re supposed to do. Time passes differently, and the little voice we have in our head talking all the time is turned off.
The Flow State shares many characteristics with transcendent and transformative experiences. After accessing the Flow State, people report feeling more “alive”, with the world “sharper” and “more beautiful”, which are typical reports we find in any “revelatory” experience. It separates you from your ego.
We’ve talked before about that little you in your head, screaming alerts and warnings all the time in order to keep you alive. It’s a very effective evolutionary tool. What it is not, however, is a means for looking outside the box and seeing what is really there.
The Existential Function of the Flow State
How does the Flow State tie into our search for Logos? It’s most important characteristic is its ability to decenter the subject. By breaking the rigid linguistic constructions that keep us unilaterally focused on one sole aspect of reality, it opens the door to the perception of alternative realities.
However, entering the Flow State does not unequivocally equal a transcendent experience or a transformative one. People dance their feet off for hours on end, yet come out of the party with zero reflection or introspection. Therefore, the Flow State is a necessary component of transcendent experiences, but it is not the only one. Just as deprivation (fasting) or silence are part of the process, they’re not the only factors coming into play.
So how does the Flow State become a transcendent experience? Next time, we’ll start looking at what transcendent experiences are and how they are characterized as we get closer to our final objective: understanding Logos.
I’ll sign off with a quote by Marcus Aurelius, an author that has become more and more important in my life as I hit middle age:
—“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth”. Meditations.
The description matches the experience well, but I disagree about the need to slightly exceed the capabilities. That kind of focusing allows me to work very well, but I can hyper-focus (the term I am used to) on something simple as well. I do not feel guided either. I am one with what I am doing and there is nothing else. All senses not involved are silent. It is a similar dedication like having fallen in love. Eating and sleeping are indeed insignificant. The most amusing, yet true, description I heard was `I go to the toilet when it feels like one minute longer and I will die'. There is nothing better really - unless despite all efforts things just do not work. Then it is horrible.