Is it easy for you to sketch what the map you’re referring to is?
Not OP, but I can describe the map he’s referring too. Jeffery Martin interviewed 1,200 enlightened individuals and found that while their reported experience was different, their descriptions of their new phenomenological experience fell into similar clusters or ‘locations’. There’s around 20-40 locations in all (he is vague about exactly how many there are) but Jeffery only talks about the first 4 because that’s where the vast majority of people spend their time and he believes talking about the later locations is dangerous. The project is a little sketchy but there’s no one else doing what he’s doing. People have noticed a resemblance between the locations and the Theravadan 4 path model but locations are typically temporary ‘states’ whereas paths are irreversable shifts.
The quick summary of the distinctive characteristics of each location are,
Location 1
Expansion of sense of self, connection to divine
Much less affected by ‘self’ thoughts
Distance from but still have positive and negative emotions
Deep peace but can be suppressed by triggered conditioning
Effects from perceptual triggers fall off quickly
Deep peace and beingness feels more real than anything previous
Trust in ‘how things are’
Personal history less relevant, memories less
Location 2
‘Self’ thoughts continue to fade
Peace increasingly harder to suppress/conditioning fades
Shift towards increasingly positive emotions, until only very positive emotions remain
Intermediate levels of perceptual triggers increasingly fade
More likely to feel that there is a correct decision or path to take when presented with choices
Higher well-being than location one
Location 3
Only single positive emotion remains
Feels like a combination of universal compassion, love, joy, …
Higher well-being than location 2
Location 4
No sense of agency
No emotions
No ‘self’ thoughts
Perceptual triggers at their bare minimum
No sense of divine or universal consciousness
Life was simply unfolding and they were watching the process happen
Not OP, but I can describe the map he’s referring too. Jeffery Martin interviewed 1,200 enlightened individuals and found that while their reported experience was different, their descriptions of their new phenomenological experience fell into similar clusters or ‘locations’. There’s around 20-40 locations in all (he is vague about exactly how many there are) but Jeffery only talks about the first 4 because that’s where the vast majority of people spend their time and he believes talking about the later locations is dangerous. The project is a little sketchy but there’s no one else doing what he’s doing. People have noticed a resemblance between the locations and the Theravadan 4 path model but locations are typically temporary ‘states’ whereas paths are irreversable shifts.
The quick summary of the distinctive characteristics of each location are,
Location 1
Expansion of sense of self, connection to divine
Much less affected by ‘self’ thoughts
Distance from but still have positive and negative emotions
Deep peace but can be suppressed by triggered conditioning
Effects from perceptual triggers fall off quickly
Deep peace and beingness feels more real than anything previous
Trust in ‘how things are’
Personal history less relevant, memories less
Location 2
‘Self’ thoughts continue to fade
Peace increasingly harder to suppress/conditioning fades
Shift towards increasingly positive emotions, until only very positive emotions remain
Intermediate levels of perceptual triggers increasingly fade
More likely to feel that there is a correct decision or path to take when presented with choices
Higher well-being than location one
Location 3
Only single positive emotion remains
Feels like a combination of universal compassion, love, joy, …
Higher well-being than location 2
Location 4
No sense of agency
No emotions
No ‘self’ thoughts
Perceptual triggers at their bare minimum
No sense of divine or universal consciousness
Life was simply unfolding and they were watching the process happen
Memory deficits/scheduled appointments, etc.
Highest well-being reported