Religions, Values, and Peak ExperiencesAbraham H. MaslowFirst published in 1970ContentsEditorial Introduction and PrefaceI. IntroductionII. Dichotomized Science and Dichotomized ReligionIII. The "Core-Religious" or "Transcendent" ExperienceIV. Organizational Dangers to Transcendent ExperiencesV. Hope, Skepticism, and Man's Higher NatureVI. Science and the Religious Liberals and Non-TheistsVII. Value-Free Education?VIII. ConclusionsAPPENDIXES:A. Religious Aspects of Peak ExperiencesB. The Third PsychologyC. Ethnocentric Phrasings of Peak-ExperiencesD. What is the Validity of Knowledge Gained in Peak-Experiences?E. Preface to "New Knowledge in Human Values"F. Rhapsodic, Isomorphic CommunicationsG. B-Values as Descriptions of Perception in Peak-ExperiencesH. Naturalistic Reasons for Preferring Growth-Values Over Regression-Values Under Good Conditions I. An Example of B-Analysis Bibliography Religions, Values, and Peak

Experiences (c)1964 by Kappa Delta Pi and (c)1970 (preface)The Viking Press. Published by Penguin Books Limited ISBN0 14 00.4262 8 NOTE: Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences appears in under the "Fair Use" rulings regardingthe 1976 Copyright Act for NON-profit academic, research,and general information purposes. presents this material ingood faith and acts as any other lending library in suchcircumstances. Readers requiring a permanent copy of thismaterial are advised to purchase a copy of the book from their preferred book retailer.Editorial IntroductionThe world has seen increased communication among politicaland economic philosophies, among the social sciences, amongreligions, among the physical sciences, and among people ingeneral. Although there are individual differences in thecultural and material developments of the nations of the world,there has been a growing movement toward the establishmentof a world philosophy in the social and physical sciences.Concurrently with this growth of internationalcommunication and the unity it has brought about in thesciences, and the lesser amount of agreement it has engenderedamong political and social theorists, there has been a risingsentiment in favor of increased communication among, if notunity of, the religions of the world. Protestant groups haveabandoned, or are abandoning, their strict sectarian views. TheEcumenical Council has brought changes that, although so far largely procedural, give promise of increased world co-operation between the Roman Catholic church and other faiths.

And efforts have been and are being made to reconcile theviews of the great religious leaders of all major religions-Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu-religions that,in the past, have been regarded by their followers as having been founded upon the direct revelation of a supreme being toa chosen earthly prophet.Traditionally, religion has been of the spirit; science, of the body; and there has been a wide philosophic gulf betweenthe knowledge of body and the knowledge of spirit. Thenatural sciences and religion have generally been considered asnatural and eternal opponents.William James, through his psychology, especially hisVarieties of Religious Experience, and John Dewey, in his ACommon Faith, have strongly influenced the views of Dr.Maslow in this, the thirty-fifth volume in the "Kappa Delta PiLecture Series." Dissenting from the followers of those prophets who claimed direct revelation from God, and from thenineteenth-century scientists who denied not only directrevelation but God himself, the author declares that theserevelations were, in his words, "peak-experiences" which arecharacteristic not only of specially ordained emissaries of God but of mankind in general. Dr. Maslow considers theserevelations valid psychological events worthy of scientific,rather than metaphysical, study-keys to a better understandingof a peculiarly "human" aspect of man's existence.This volume is presented as a contribution to philosophical and scientific thinking, as one interpretation of afundamental aspect of life, as a step toward a better understanding among the religions of the world, and as a possible program for the development of a healthy relationship between modern science and modern theology.E. I. F. Williams, Editor