Remember the last time you sat alone in a park? The breeze rustled the trees, but you no longer feel like the person you are. You actually feel like a part of everything around you, no longer tethered to the noise of daily life.
In that moment, it’s as if the boundaries between you and the world dissolve. That feeling of going beyond the body, temporarily losing your usual grip on your identity, is the essence of spiritual transcendence.
Maybe you’ve had only a single moment like this. Or maybe you’ve had a few that you consider yourself a transcendence rookie.
Either way, if you’ve wondered if spiritual transcendence is real or just a trick played by your mind, it’s time to walk the path where spirituality and science intersect… and understand the root of it all.
What is spiritual transcendence?
Spiritual transcendence isn’t just about self-discovery; it’s about expanding beyond your personal limitations. In this state, you can recognize your place in the grander scheme of things. Spirituality 101, if you will.
When you call an experience “transcendent,” you’re saying that it goes beyond your day-to-day reality. In other words, you’re less focused on your usual identity (like your name, your role in society, and so on) and more on the reality of your actual well-being, your surroundings, other people, and nature.
“There’s so much more to you than your physical body. As you tap into that, you start to love yourself more [and] appreciate yourself more. You see the bigger picture. The brighter you,” says Jeffrey Allen, a renowned energy healer and Mindvalley trainer.
Now, what about “spiritual transcendence” in meaning? Think of it as a sacred experience that fundamentally alters how you perceive yourself. It’s when you connect with something profoundly larger than yourself, a state often accessed through introspective activities like meditation or moments of reflection—whether at home, in places of worship, or immersed in nature.
Jeffrey explains this angle in detail in Duality, his Quest on Mindvalley. “Your awareness is what you perceive as you, and it can move independently from your body—it’s not bound by time and space. And you can move it consciously and intentionally.”
What is spiritual transcendence theory?
Science has some interesting things to say about it. Professor and researcher Dr. Pamela Reed’s self-transcendence theory, for one, talks about breaking through personal limits. She argues that people operate as open systems that keep themselves from experiencing transcendence with self-inflicted obstacles and boundaries acquired through conditioning.
Once you’ve moved beyond the barriers you’ve set for yourself, you unlock a higher level of awareness and a new way of seeing the world. And what’s great is this paradigm shift is your birthright because, ultimately, you aren’t static by design.
As a human being, you’re constantly evolving and interacting with your environment to inform and rewrite your perception. So, for instance, if you can learn the fear of trying new things during childhood, you can also unlearn it to embrace bravery in adulthood through, say, adrenaline-packed activities.
This naturally ties into Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
You may have seen his famous pyramid, which starts with basic needs like food and safety and climbs up to self-actualization. But did you know that psychologist Abraham Maslow added one final layer at the top—self-transcendence?
That’s right. Once your basic needs are sorted, you’re not just content to know yourself. You’re driven to connect with something much bigger: finding purpose and meaning. Not just within the confines of the self… but well beyond it.
When you combine Reed’s take on expansion with Maslow’s vision of transcendence, you realize that spiritual transcendence isn’t just some fleeting moment of zen. It’s a full-on shift in how you see yourself and the world—a push toward something far more meaningful.
The neuroscience of spiritual transcendence
What happens in the brain when you experience spiritual transcendence? Is there an actual mechanism that can explain this shift in consciousness?
The great news is science has some solid answers.
1. Neuroplasticity
One of the most fascinating aspects of spiritual transcendence is how it taps into the brain’s inherent ability to change. This concept is known as neuroplasticity, which refers to your brain’s ability to rewire itself by forming new neural connections.
In moments of deep spiritual awareness, your brain rewires itself to support new ways of thinking and perceiving. Just think about how regular meditation practices can lead to increased gray matter in areas of the brain responsible for emotional regulation, self-awareness, and perspective-taking. These changes, in turn, illustrate how meditation strengthens the brain’s capacity to adapt to challenges and transform itself.
Through this transformation, you become increasingly adept at accessing states of spiritual transcendence—and change how you navigate the world.
2. Optimized prefrontal cortex
When you engage in spiritually uplifting activities—like deep meditation or intense reflection—your brain starts firing up in the prefrontal cortex. This part of your brain is the hub for higher-level thinking, self-awareness, and decision-making.
Since these activities are all about self-realization and connection to something greater, you can say that spiritual transcendence is good for your brain health. While the experience itself might feel super dream-like and elusive, your brain’s actually hard at work in real time, reorganizing itself to support the state of heightened awareness.
3. Reduced default mode network activity
What’s the brain’s role in the link between spiritual transcendence and meditation?
When you regularly tap into heightened awareness through meditation, your brain shows reduced activity in the default mode network (DMN)—the part responsible for ego and self-focused thinking. When the DMN quiets down, it’s easier to step outside of yourself and feel more connected to the world around you.
In other words, this is your brain’s way of moving beyond everyday thoughts and guiding you into a state of spiritual transcendence—right in the middle of meditation, a drive, or a walk.
It’s clear that spiritual transcendence is not just a lofty concept. It’s actually a measurable brain-rewiring process that creates space for new perspectives, heightened awareness, and a deeper connection to life’s infinite possibilities.
Spiritual transcendence scale
So, we’ve talked about the science behind spiritual transcendence and how your brain rewires itself during these moments. But how do you measure something so intangible to the naked eye? That’s where the Spiritual Transcendence Scale (STS) comes in.
Developed by psychologist Ralph Piedmont in the late ‘90s, the STS was created to measure how connected people feel to a higher purpose. The goal? To make spirituality measurable within a psychological framework.
The STS has since been used in studies to track how often individuals feel unity with something bigger than themselves, whether through meditation, mindfulness, or daily life. Its framework asks questions to gauge your sense of purpose and moments of reflection that shift your perspective.
So, if you’ve started meditating or journaling, the STS framework essentially helps you track not only when you’re calming your mind but also how you’re expanding your awareness. It’s a compass for your spiritual growth—showing how far you’ve come and where to go next.
Examples of spiritual transcendence
From the lives of real-world visionaries to heroes on the silver screen, the experience of spiritual transcendence is observable in standout character arcs, both in real and imagined worlds. The following three notable figures illustrate its place in the overall human experience.
1. In history: Viktor Frankl
The story of Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl is all about finding meaning in the worst of circumstances. Imprisoned in a concentration camp, Viktor endured unimaginable suffering—he lost his family, faced starvation, and lived under the constant threat of death. Yet even in such darkness, he discovered that you still have the power to choose your response.
His moment of spiritual transcendence came after escaping the camp, when he realized, long after his release, that meaning can be found even in suffering. It was this profound realization that inspired him to write his iconic book, Man’s Search for Meaning.
Viktor’s journey teaches us that transcendence isn’t some distant ideal—it’s about finding purpose in life’s toughest moments. And fortunately, we can all apply that mindset to our everyday challenges.
2. On the silver screen: Bruce Wayne
Everyone loves Batman, but it’s the man underneath this caped vigilante that illustrates the importance of spiritual transcendence. And Robert Pattinson’s version of Bruce Wayne in Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2022) is the rawest portrayal of this character yet.
Look more closely, and you’ll see that Bruce’s journey isn’t just about justice; it’s about understanding Gotham’s broken system. Initially driven by vengeance and the early loss of his parents, this billionaire’s turning point came when he faced The Riddler, a fellow orphan consumed by poverty and resentment.
Ultimately, Bruce realized that while he had the privilege to become Batman, The Riddler resorted to crime because he was trapped in survival mode, unable to transcend his circumstances—and the lower levels of Maslow’s hierarchy.
Bruce’s moment of spiritual transcendence came when he accepted that vengeance wouldn’t fix Gotham—only empathy for others could. His story reminds us that true transcendence comes from moving focus from the self towards a cause far greater than ourselves.
3. In business today: Vishen
For real-life inspiration on spiritual transcendence today, look no further than Vishen, Mindvalley’s own founder and CEO. His moment of spiritual transcendence didn’t happen in a meditation retreat. No—it actually began when his younger self, disillusioned and unfulfilled, walked away from the shiny promises of Silicon Valley.
Burned out and unfulfilled, Vishen joined the non-profit world in New York, where he had way less money but found something more valuable: purpose. He stumbled upon and used meditation to manage stress.
That’s when it clicked—his calling wasn’t personal success; it was helping others unlock their potential. This realization led him to start Mindvalley, the personal transformation company through which he empowers millions of people today.
Vishen highlights, “Any attempt to cling to the ego or to make it an effective source of action is doomed to frustration.” His journey reflects a broader truth about spiritual transcendence: it involves releasing the grip of the ego—our attachment to our identity—to tap into something greater.
Essentially, what happened to him isn’t just a case of career shift; it was spiritual transcendence, in effect, spanned across years.
On an even higher level, Vishen’s story shows that when you align your business with a higher mission, you don’t just transform your life. You ultimately overcome your limitations and unlock your part in bettering the world around you.
5 ways to cultivate spiritual transcendence
Taking inspiration from the stories you’ve just explored, how would you want to experience spiritual transcendence in your own life? Great news: the steps to do so are way more realistic than you’d think.
Here are five expert-backed insights to actively experience this phenomenon in your spiritual growth and path to self-realization.
1. Ground yourself with meditation
You’ve probably heard a lot about meditation, but it’s more than just finding calm within. It’s ultimately a way to root yourself in the present while tapping into the greater sense of awareness beyond identification with your life.
“Your awareness is what you perceive as you, and it can move independently from your body—it’s not bound by time and space,” Jeffrey emphasizes.
Meditation allows you to step outside the daily chaos and connect with your higher self.
By meditating regularly, you also embrace stillness as part of your spiritual awakening (talk about mystic in the making!). In turn, this stillness brings clarity and presence to every aspect of your life—relationships, work, hobbies, friendships, you name it—and aligns them with your spiritual purpose.
2. Tap into the power of breathwork
Breathwork can inject your spiritual purpose into even the most mundane moments.
As Jade Shaw, the astral projection expert leading The Art of Astral Projection Quest on Mindvalley, explains, “Your breath is the bridge between your physical and spiritual self. It’s a tool to move beyond the physical into the infinite.”
Incorporating breathwork into your day helps you reconnect with your spiritual essence, even when life gets hectic, through practicality. In real life, tried-and-tested breathwork exercises can calm your mind, center yourself, and shift your energy—whether you’re sitting at your desk, in traffic, or simply unwinding after a long day.
3. Try astral projection
Astral projection might sound like the stuff of fantasy films, but think of it more as a trope belonging to sci-fi stories as a starting point.
If you’re a fan of Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021), for example, you’ll recall that after his father’s death, Paul Atreides projected his consciousness into other realms, gaining insights beyond time and space as a result. It was the way to brace himself for his upcoming experiences on planet Arrakis.
Astral projection works similarly. According to Jade, it’s “an experience that can evolve your consciousness and help you understand your true self beyond the physical.”
Now, where does this activity leave you with spiritual transcendence? Well, it likely taps into the same parts of your brain responsible for self-awareness and detachment from the ego, allowing you to experience life beyond the physical.
Lensed this way, it’s easier to see it as a brain-rewiring process that helps you expand your consciousness.
4. Expand your awareness with visualization
Visualization is a powerful tool that helps you move beyond the day-to-day and connect with a higher purpose. “As you start to work with energy, you get to know the part of you that’s bigger than your body. There’s so much more to you than your physical body,” Jeffrey explains.
The great thing about visualization is that it’s doable anywhere, at any time.
When you notice ego-driven thoughts—like the need for control or validation—Jeffrey suggests pausing, taking a deep breath, and visualizing yourself releasing those thoughts into the earth. This technique helps you refocus on what truly matters, helping you navigate life’s ups and downs without losing sight of your spiritual goals.
To hone in on your visualization prowess, you can combine this practice with other insights-gathering steps like:
- Journaling your thoughts daily,
- Meditation,
- Astral projection, and
- Much more.
5. Gain wisdom through the Akashic records
Wait… what? “What are the Akashic records?” you ask.
If you’re new to the concept, think of it as a vast library where the entire history of all beings and experiences is stored. It’s based on how the universe organizes information, connecting everything at the quantum level (where time, space, and energy converge). You know, just as atoms—the building blocks of matter—are interconnected through energy in the physical world.
This interconnectedness forms the basis of the Akashic records.
While all of this might sound mystical, it’s not so different from the scientific idea of epigenetics—the study of how experiences and traumas can be passed down through generations via how genes express themselves. Just as stress responses from trauma can alter our cells’ gene expression, meditation can reverse these effects and introduce new, positive ones.
Back to Paul in Dune. Whenever he’d tap into the wisdom passed down from his generations, you can say that he is, in a way, leveraging the Akashic records.
Now, what does all of this example have to do with spiritual transcendence?
You see, by exploring the concept of pattern recognition informing the Akashic records, you can understand not only inherited habits but also patterns in your environment. Doing this ultimately enables you to transcend your limitations and step into your greatness—on your own terms.
Awaken your greatness
In a fast-paced world, spiritual transcendence offers a way to ground yourself and connect with the greatest life’s compass: your purpose.
To start practicing transcendence on a deeper level, consider Jeffrey Allen’s free masterclass, 4 Powerful Energy Techniques to Tap Into Your Spiritual Body. Here, you will learn how to:
- Use energy tools to elevate every area of your life energetically.
- Live in balance to make the most of both the physical and spiritual worlds.
- Master intuitive clarity to get trusted answers from your gut.
- Apply a seven-minute technique to clear giant energy blocks.
- Unlock your next best move, whether in career, love, health, or spirituality.
Just witness how Jeffrey’s teachings have transformed the life of international speaker and leadership coach Erik Eklund:
“Eight weeks ago, I was sitting at home feeling lonely and single, watching my plans fall apart. But this program, the tools, and Jeffrey’s teaching helped me navigate the quarantine with a bang, radically improving my life for the better.”
And if he can do it, so can you.
Welcome in.
