Goal

Contemplative traditions ascribe a crucial role to intense subjective experiences, often referred to as mystical or spiritual. Individuals having these experiences outside religious contexts, in extreme or unusual situations such as being in the wilderness or dehydrated, also report them as life-changing. Independently of philosophical interpretation, soteriological goals, context or culture, accelerated flourishing is a primary outcome often identified as emerging from these transcendent experiences. Intense and long term positive effects are frequently reported. Despite their potential, science has left them aside in the quest for flourishing.
Our goal is to create a unified map of how transcendent experiences accelerate flourishing, and to understand their biology and interplay with interpretations, cultures and contexts. Rigorously studying both the more challenging, as well as salubrious, aspects of these experiences in an ontologically agnostic way will allow the development of radically new and more effective interventions for flourishing to ensure the realization of full human potential rather than simply the absence of disease.
Efforts need to avoid past mistakes, or we risk continuing to overlook an area of immense untapped potential when we need human flourishing the most.

Opportunity

Despite a multi-thousand year history of human spiritual experiences, and significant efforts from independent groups to apply understanding of transcendent experiences to flourishing, large-scale social benefits have not materialized. Now, multicultural societies, mainstream acceptance of meditation and psychedelic research, open access to contemplative and scientific knowledge, and new technologies present an opportunity of historical proportions for a fresh attempt.
We propose that Templeton Foundation ignites a field of scientific study of transcendent experience characterized by cutting-edge rigorous research using an ontologically-agnostic perspective, inclusive of opposing viewpoints and working collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams including natural and social scientists and the humanities.

Roadblocks

1. Scientific and clinical prejudice arising from the proximity of transcendent experiences to religion, further fuelled by lack of ontological agnosticism, conflicts of interest and suboptimal scientific methodology.
2. Prejudice within contemplative traditions themselves: age-old debates of religious orthodoxies and lack of recognition of how different frameworks could collaboratively contribute to general human spiritual potential.
3. The diversity, complexity, and challenging nature of transcendent experiences: they can lead to human suffering instead of or before leading to flourishing - all these possibilities need to be researched with equipoise and transparency.
4. The difficulty of organizing interdisciplinary teams and research.

Breakthroughs Needed

Prejudice among scientists can be overcome if the new science remains ontologically agnostic, conflict-of-interest free, and methodologically impeccable. Overcoming prejudice among clinicians, policymakers and communities will need excellent scientifically-based communication, involving all groups in a participatory and open, transparent scientific process from the beginning.
Involving contemplative traditions from inception, as well as acknowledging their contributions, will be key to avoiding rejection and to reinforcing genuine intentions to benefit humanity through cultural exchange.
Those who think transcendent experiences may be unsafe or not lead to human flourishing will also need to be intimately involved; adversarial collaboration could be used to research diverse experiences and patterns.
The key to addressing organizational challenges will be to first form a funding stream steering committee that includes contemplatives, clinicians, scientists, policy-makers, and community representatives with genuinely diverse views. This committee will then guide the formation of a consortium of experienced researchers covering the areas of expertise needed (e.g. psychology, phenomenology, epidemiology, neurophysiology, sociology, anthropology, et cetera). The committee and consortium will need to agree on initial consensual theoretical frameworks and operational definitions. The consortium can then propose projects for the committee to define funding strategies.

Key Indicators of Success

3 years: Committee and consortium formed? Consensus achieved? Funded studies able to start? Delays acceptable if there is progress.
5 years: Initial empirical results available to tempt other funders? Conducted following principles set out above (e.g., open, rigorous, agnostic)? Answer "yes" to the second question or the initiative will have failed.
10 years: Reliable evidence available? Usable to devise radically new interventions? The first question needs a "yes". The second question might be answered negatively if evidence speaks against transcendent experiences (e.g., safety concerns). This unlikely scenario would not mean failure, as it would still resolve an age-long debate.

Additional Information

We believe that the work proposed herein is capable of igniting this field in such a way that mainstream funders will become interested in funding further research. The foundational work proposed here is to categorically establish whether there is potential for developing human flourishing through transcendent experiences, and how this potential can be realized safely, consistently, and effectively. If this work is methodologically thorough, shows promise, and is done with wide stakeholder engagement to overcome prejudices, mainstream funders will pay attention, providing funds to gain a thorough understanding of optimizing human flourishing on a societal, culturally-embedded level, including genetic, psychological, social and cultural determinants, and potential interventions in all of these areas.
This idea stems from the Emergent Phenomenology Research Consortium (EPRC, www.theeprc.org). The EPRC is a forming interdisciplinary collaboration of international researchers who share the vision explained here. They are already organizing to accomplish these goals, including meeting with stakeholders and seeking funds. The EPRC could certainly advise and run projects to execute this idea.
The applicant, Dr. Jay Sanguinetti, co-directs the Centre for Consciousness Studies which previously successfully pitched the Accelerating Research on Consciousness idea to the Templeton Foundation. The EPRC members who wrote this proposal along with the applicant are Dr. Julieta Galante from the University of Cambridge and Dr. Andrea Grabovac from the University of British Columbia. Other EPRC members who contributed to forming this idea are Dr. David Vago (Research Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center), Dr. Matthew Sachett from Harvard University, Erola Pons from the University of Tuebingen, Professor Malcolm Wright from Massey University, Professor Zoran Josipovic (director of the Nonduality Institute at New York University), and Dr. Daniel M. Ingram.
The EPRC has also submitted other ideas to this call. These ideas are inter-related but different, reflecting the diversity of disciplines, backgrounds, and thinking that are present in the Consortium.

Relevant references:
1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-014-0294-2
2. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037249
3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00870
4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02087
5. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(17)30231-1