The Exceptional Human Experience Process #2

[Guest guest]

Thanks Wim, Wendy, Amanda!

Here I'll start with #1: "Definition" for the 5 stages. (See below

for the 5 "stages" and 12 "characteristics.)

Stage 1:  The Initiating Event/Experience

1. Definition: The initial, originating Exceptional Experience (EE)

is of sufficient strength or potency to capture the individual's

attention and disrupt the status quo of everyday life activities.

....

Stage 2:  Search for Reconciliation

1. Definition: The EEer chooses to widen the search beyond

conventional authorities and seek novel, alternative, and even

unconventional perspectives that were previously considered

irrational and even absurd before the initiating EE. This phase is

highlighted by active, sometimes frantic exploration to discover

novel ways of testing, examining, and coping with the EE.

Stage 3:  Between Two Worlds

1. Definition: The intense search activity of the past stage(s) is

muted or put on hold as the metamorphosing EEer to EHEer takes time

out to assimilate, digest, and integrate findings into a new life

view, sense of self, and endeavors to get back to the tasks of

everyday life. Observed as a relatively-lengthy, sterile, dry,

dormant period as the experiencer subjectively vacillates between the

old perspective and the new, unable to totally embrace the new.

Stage 4:  In the Experiential Paradigm

1. Definition: The EHEer envisions and "knows" the world/Universe as

one great, interconnected whole of living consciousness where

artifically-constructed boundaries of reality are null in the "grand

scheme of things, essential truth." Depending on point of entry to

this stage, experiencers may be catapulted into it at any age with no

prior EE/EHE contextual anchors, discover it more or less

spontaneously, and already have some contextual EE/EHE anchors, or

return into it as a "place" for gathering inspiration, fresh insight,

and guidance.

Stage 5:  A New Way of Being in the World

1. Definition: The EHE forges a personally-fulfilling, meaningful

path that reflects and sustains inner calling as well as outwardly

contributes his or her personal best to the world-at-large. Both

(many, multidimensional) worlds are integrated within and without,

represented (i.e., "known") as one world of an

intricately-interconnected singularity where the EHEer mirrors,

reflects, aligns with the Universe. The EHEer is consciously aware

that individual choices (core actions, thoughts, emotions, desires,

intents) have the power to dynamically shape outcomes (the Universe),

and he or she endeavors to live through that knowledge responsively

and responsibly.

Next to come "Examples"

Love, Hillary

******************

It starts with an outline of 5 developmental stages worked out by Rhea White of the EHE Network:

1. The initiating event/experience

2. Search for reconciliation

3. Between two worlds

4. In the experiential paradigm

5. A new way of being in the world. 

Suzanne V. Brown has taken these stages further, saying that "within

each of the stages there are qualitative sets of attributive

characteristics that could be used to distinguish (more or less) one

stage from the others."

So each stage is divided into 12 sets of characteristics, ultimately forming a matrix of 60 cells.

1. Definition

2. Examples

3. Search focus

4. Questions asked

5. Cognitive dissonance

6. Depotentiating activities

7. Results of depotentiation

8. Potentiating activities

9. Results of potentiation

10. Challenges

11.  Critical juncture

12. Crossroads to next stage.