--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The work of cultivating experiences…" description: "\"The work of cultivating experiences called \"peak experiences\" or \"mystic moments\" or \"breakthroughs\" until they become more accessible is part of the e..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abf/jacob-needleman-16314_breakthrough_the-work-of-cultivating-experiences-call_1841080.jpg" --- # The work of cultivating experiences called "peak… ![“The work of cultivating experiences called "peak experiences" or "mystic moments" or "breakthroughs" until they become more accessible is part of the essential nature of genuine spiritual discipline. These are moments, at the very least, of approaching the experiential verification that there does…” quote by Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abf/jacob-needleman-16314_breakthrough_the-work-of-cultivating-experiences-call_1841080.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abf/jacob-needleman-16314_breakthrough_the-work-of-cultivating-experiences-call_1841080.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/abf/jacob-needleman-16314_breakthrough_the-work-of-cultivating-experiences-call_1841080.jpg) > “The work of cultivating experiences called "peak experiences" or "mystic moments" or "breakthroughs" until they become more accessible is part of the essential nature of genuine spiritual discipline. These are moments, at the very least, of approaching the experiential verification that there does exist something Higher within and perhaps also outside of ourselves. Moments at the very least of approaching what the religions call God.” [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Pursuing profound, transformative experiences is central to true spiritual practice, offering glimpses of a higher reality. **In simple terms:** Seeking deep experiences is key to spiritual growth. Key Takeaway Cultivate moments of transcendence. Themes spirituality growth experience Mood hopeful reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - meditation retreats - artistic creation - nature immersion Key Concepts mysticism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How can you integrate these moments daily? - What practices help you access deeper states? A Different Perspective Such moments can be fleeting and hard to sustain. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Breakthrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breakthrough/) [Discipline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discipline/) [Experiences Called](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experiences-called-2350592/) [Experiences Mystic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/experiences-mystic-2350591/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Moments Breakthroughs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments-breakthroughs-1665877/) [Mystic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystic/) [Mystic Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystic-moments-2350590/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Peak experiences](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peak-experiences/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Spiritual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spiritual/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) ## Related quotes > [“The big moments are the tiny moments. The breakthroughs are often silent, and they happen in the most unassuming places.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-goins/the-big-moments-are-the-tiny-moments-the-breakthroughs-are-often/) [Jeff Goins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-goins/) > [“Many of us have had Oracle experiences, though we may not have called them that. Have you had the feeling there’s a guardian angel…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cristina-smith/many-of-us-have-had-oracle-experiences-though-we-may-not-have-called/) [Cristina Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cristina-smith/) > [The worst loss you've ever experienced is the greatest gift you can have.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/byron-katie/the-worst-loss-you-ve-ever-experienced-is-the-greatest-gift-you-can/) [Byron Katie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/byron-katie/) > [The person in peak-experiences feels himself, more than other times, to be the responsible, active, creating center of his activities and of his perceptions.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/the-person-in-peak-experiences-feels-himself-more-than-other-times-to/) [Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/) > [Sport is singularly able to give us peak experience where we feel completely one with the world and transcend all conflicts as we finally…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-a-sheehan/sport-is-singularly-able-to-give-us-peak-experience-where-we-feel/) [George A. Sheehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-a-sheehan/) > [Everyone who experiences a spontaneous peak experience tries to recapture the bliss, but most are disappointed. They search for fulfillment in the next job,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/everyone-who-experiences-a-spontaneous-peak-experience-tries-to/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [One's only failure is failing to live up to one's own possibilities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/one-s-only-failure-is-failing-to-live-up-to-one-s-own-possibilities/) [Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/) > [If the only tool you have is a hammer, it's hard to eat spaghetti.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-allen/if-the-only-tool-you-have-is-a-hammer-it-s-hard-to-eat-spaghetti/) [David Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-allen/) > [People want to be bowled over by something special. Nine times out of ten you might strike out, but that tenth time, that peak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/haruki-murakami/people-want-to-be-bowled-over-by-something-special-nine-times-out-of/) [Haruki Murakami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/haruki-murakami/) > [Expression and communication in the peak–experiences tend often to become poetic, mythical, and rhapsodic, as if this were the natural kind of language to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/expression-and-communication-in-the-peak-experiences-tend-often-to/) [Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/) > [“Professor A. H. Maslow , for example, has conducted a series of researches into extremely healthy people that have led him to conclude that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-wilson/professor-a-h-maslow-for-example-has-conducted-a-series-of-researches/) [Colin Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-wilson/) > [Language can be a way of hiding your thoughts and preventing communication.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/language-can-be-a-way-of-hiding-your-thoughts-and-preventing/) [Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/) > [“See, the human mind is kind of like...a pinata. When it breaks open, there's a lot of surprises inside. Once you get the pinata…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-wagner/see-the-human-mind-is-kind-of-like-a-pinata-when-it-breaks-open-there/) [Jane Wagner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-wagner/) > [Plateau experiencing can be achieved, learned, earned by long hard work… A transient glimpse is certainly possible in the peak experiences which may, after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/plateau-experiencing-can-be-achieved-learned-earned-by-long-hard-work/) [Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/) > [Laugh at what you hold sacred, and still hold it sacred.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/laugh-at-what-you-hold-sacred-and-still-hold-it-sacred/) [Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/) ## More by Jacob Needleman > [We are born for meaning, not pleasure, unless it is pleasure that is steeped in meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/we-are-born-for-meaning-not-pleasure-unless-it-is-pleasure-that-is/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [Why has time disappeared in our culture? How is it that after decades of inventions and new technologies devoted to saving time and labor,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/why-has-time-disappeared-in-our-culture-how-is-it-that-after-decades/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [If one steps out on a starry night and observes one's inner state, one asks if one could hate or be overwhelmed by envy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/if-one-steps-out-on-a-starry-night-and-observes-one-s-inner-state-one/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [Life is not so much defined by the external situation as it is by the internal one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/life-is-not-so-much-defined-by-the-external-situation-as-it-is-by-the/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [“This is the mark of great ideas: they unify people and they also act to unify the disparate parts of the human being; they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/this-is-the-mark-of-great-ideas-they-unify-people-and-they-also-act/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [Our modern world-view tragically misperceives and wrongly defines what it is to be human. We are conditioned by our society to believe happiness comes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/our-modern-world-view-tragically-misperceives-and-wrongly-defines/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [For the growing number of people seeking to approach the ideas of Gurdjieff, Toward Awakening by Jean Vaysse offers reliable guidance, as well as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/for-the-growing-number-of-people-seeking-to-approach-the-ideas-of/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [The problem of money dogs our steps throughout the whole of our lives, exerting a pressure that, in its way, is as powerful and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/the-problem-of-money-dogs-our-steps-throughout-the-whole-of-our-lives/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [ What is \[the role of money\] in the search for meaning? Is our relationship to it one of the chief factors that keeps us… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/what-is-the-role-of-money-in-the-search-for-meaning-is-our/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [“Remember how long you have been putting these things off, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods and have not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/remember-how-long-you-have-been-putting-these-things-off-and-how/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [As my personal explorations continued, I experienced this quality of inner reality more and more and could no longer doubt that the meaning of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/as-my-personal-explorations-continued-i-experienced-this-quality-of/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [To love my neighbor is to assist the arising and unfolding in him of that which can harmonize the real elements of his nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/to-love-my-neighbor-is-to-assist-the-arising-and-unfolding-in-him-of/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [Our world, so we see and hear on all sides, is drowning in materialism, commercialism, consumerism. But the problem is not really there. What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/our-world-so-we-see-and-hear-on-all-sides-is-drowning-in-materialism/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [As to how I would guide someone who is confused about the idea of God, I would suggest that he or she begins identifying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/as-to-how-i-would-guide-someone-who-is-confused-about-the-idea-of-god/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) > [Money is like a mirror to our culture. What we see tells us who we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-needleman/money-is-like-a-mirror-to-our-culture-what-we-see-tells-us-who-we-are/) [Jacob Needleman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) [Explore all 40 Jacob Needleman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-needleman/) ## More Breakthrough quotes > [Real breakthroughs are not found because you want to develop some new technology, but because you are curious and want to find out how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anton-zeilinger/real-breakthroughs-are-not-found-because-you-want-to-develop-some-new/) [Anton Zeilinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anton-zeilinger/) > [The hardware and the software used in the Breakthrough project will be compatible with other telescopes around the world, so they too can search…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yuri-milner/the-hardware-and-the-software-used-in-the-breakthrough-project-will/) [Yuri Milner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yuri-milner/) > [Just like the breakthroughs, the bad stuff always takes you by surprise. (121)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gail-giles/just-like-the-breakthroughs-the-bad-stuff-always-takes-you-by/) [Gail Giles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gail-giles/) > [There are just moments when all the stars are aligned for breakthrough products.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-sculley/there-are-just-moments-when-all-the-stars-are-aligned-for/) [John Sculley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-sculley/) > [The founder of any branch must be more ingenious than the common man. However, if his achievement is not carried on by disciples of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-lee/the-founder-of-any-branch-must-be-more-ingenious-than-the-common-man/) [Bruce Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-lee/) > [Brokenness is often the road to breakthrough. Hang in there. Your time is coming.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/brokenness-is-often-the-road-to-breakthrough-hang-in-there-your-time/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Historic changes and challenges. Breakthroughs in human knowledge and opportunity. And yet, for vast numbers across the globe, the daily realities have not altered.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/historic-changes-and-challenges-breakthroughs-in-human-knowledge-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Obama is hardly the first president to seek rapprochement with our adversaries and reconciliation with our enemies, of course. But his determination to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-f-hayes/obama-is-hardly-the-first-president-to-seek-rapprochement-with-our/) [Stephen F. Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-f-hayes/) > [... when things get rough, a breakthrough is just on the other side of the pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-maclaine/when-things-get-rough-a-breakthrough-is-just-on-the-other-side-of-the/) [Shirley MacLaine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-maclaine/) > [Tonight, after a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/tonight-after-a-breakthrough-year-for-america-our-economy-is-growing/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Opposition is just proof that you're close to a major breakthrough keepgoing!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rev-run-2/opposition-is-just-proof-that-you-re-close-to-a-major-breakthrough/) [Rev Run](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rev-run-2/) > [ Innovation is not a big breakthrough invention every time. Innovation is a constant thing. But if you don't have an innovative company \[team\], coming… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-welch/innovation-is-not-a-big-breakthrough-invention-every-time-innovation/) [Jack Welch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-welch/) > [“A reset isn't going backwards; it's clearing the path to move forward.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-rivera/a-reset-isn-t-going-backwards-it-s-clearing-the-path-to-move-forward/) [Alex Rivera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-rivera/) > [The consensus we arrived with States for amending the Constitution to implement GST is a major breakthrough. This alone has the potential to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/narendra-modi/the-consensus-we-arrived-with-states-for-amending-the-constitution-to/) [Narendra Modi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/narendra-modi/) > [Conceivably, blockchains could rely on a number of standards above the Internet's existing standards to allow a smooth bridging from one layer to another.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-mougayar/conceivably-blockchains-could-rely-on-a-number-of-standards-above-the/) [William Mougayar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-mougayar/) [Browse all 507 Breakthrough quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breakthrough/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The work of cultivating experiences called \"peak experiences\" or \"mystic moments\" or \"breakthroughs\" until they become more accessible is part of the essential nature of genuine spiritual discipline. 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