Measuring “Enlightenment”: The Development of an Inventory of Secular/Spiritual Wakefulness

Steve Taylor

Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United KingdomMany of the world’s spiritual traditions describe an expansive state of being in which the individual’s awareness becomes more intense and refined so that one gains a clearer or deeper awareness of reality and seems to transcend the delusory and dysfunctional elements of a more ordinary and seemingly limited state of being (James, 1985: Spencer, 1962; Happold, 1986; Schuon, 1984). Research has suggested that this expansive state can occur outside the context of spiritual traditions, particularly in the aftermath of intense psychological turmoil (Miller & C’de Baca, 2001; Martin, 2020; Taylor, 2012, 2021).

We term this expansive state “wakefulness,” defining it as an expansive, self-transcendent, stable state of being in which a person’s vision and relationship to the world are transformed.

This research brief describes the construction of an inventory – by a team of six British, Canadian, and German researchers, including the presenter – that successfully operationalizes the state of wakefulness in secular contexts.The Parapsychological Association is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of psi (or ‘psychic’) experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition. The primary objective of the PA is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences.

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Steve Taylor PhD is the author of many books on psychology and spirituality, and is a senior lecturer and researcher in psychology at Leeds Beckett University. He is a past chair of the Transpersonal Psychology Section of the British Psychological Society. His new book is DisConnected, while his other books include Extraordinary Awakenings, The Leap and Spiritual Science. His books have been published in 20 languages. He writes regular blog articles for Psychology Today and The Conversation, and has also written for Scientific American. He wrote a prize-winning essay for the Bigelow Institute’s essay on competition on the evidence for the survival of consciousness beyond physical death. Steve lives in Manchester, England with his wife and three young children.

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Published on June 22, 2024