Experiments for enlightenment and fundamental wellbeing (with Jeffery Martin)
Spencer Greenberg and Jeffrey Martin discuss research on persistent fundamental well-being (also called non-symbolic experience). Jeffrey shares insights from interviewing thousands of individuals, outlining different "locations" of well-being, and revealing how his Finders course helps people achieve this state.
Deep Dive Analysis
18 Topic Outline
Jeffery Martin's Journey to Researching Enlightenment
Challenges and Skepticism in Academia
Initial Survey Research and Its Limitations
In-Depth Cognitive Science Interviews and Key Discoveries
Defining Fundamental Wellbeing and Related Terms
Distinction Between Persistent and Ongoing Non-Symbolic Experience
The Continuum of Fundamental Wellbeing: Locations 1-4
Location 1: Shift from Discontentment to Fundamental Okayness
Location 2: Introduction of Non-Dual Perception
Location 3: Dual Again with a Single Positive Emotion
Location 4: Freedom, Loss of Agency, and No Emotion
Fluidity and Integration of Layers in Fundamental Wellbeing
Trade-offs Between Peace and Functionality
The Nervous System's Reconditioning Process
The Finders Course Protocol and Method Selection
Historical Effectiveness of Spiritual Methods and Modern Adaptations
Research Methodology and Success Rates of the Finders Course
Future Research: Ketamine Trials and RCTs
7 Key Concepts
Fundamental Wellbeing
This is a public-facing term for persistent non-symbolic experience, describing a fundamental sense that things are okay, replacing a deep-seated discontentment. It represents a baseline shift in one's psychological experience of life.
Persistent Non-Symbolic Experience (PNSE)
The academic term for ongoing non-symbolic experience that has lasted continuously for more than a year. It encompasses various states commonly known as enlightenment, persistent awakening, nonduality, or the peace that passeth understanding.
Ongoing Non-Symbolic Experience (ONSE)
This academic term refers to a continuous non-symbolic experience that has lasted for less than a year. It is used to describe individuals who have recently transitioned into fundamental well-being but have not yet met the one-year criterion for PNSE.
Locations of Fundamental Wellbeing
These are distinct clusters of experiences along a continuum of fundamental well-being, not a hierarchy. They are characterized by reliable differences in sense of self, cognition, affect, perception, and memory, and represent the natural progression of experience for many individuals.
Non-Duality
A perceptual experience characterized by a sense of 'not two' or oneness, where the separation between subject and object is diminished or absent. While individual objects can still be differentiated, the underlying sense is that everything is one arising, including the observer.
Fluidity (in Fundamental Wellbeing)
The ability of an individual's system to shift between different locations or layers of depth within fundamental well-being. This allows for optimization of one's experience to the present moment or task, rather than being fixed in one state.
Integration (of Layers)
A state beyond fluidity where all layers of depth within a specific location are experienced simultaneously and equally, without a dominant fixation of identity in any one. The individual is sort of all of them, not any individual one.
13 Questions Answered
It is a public term for persistent non-symbolic experience, characterized by a fundamental sense that things are okay, replacing a deep-seated discontentment that often underlies moment-to-moment experience.
It is an academic term for an ongoing non-symbolic experience that has lasted continuously for more than a year, encompassing various states like enlightenment, persistent awakening, or nonduality.
It is an academic term for a continuous non-symbolic experience that has lasted for less than a year, used to describe those newly transitioned to fundamental well-being.
They are points along a continuum of related experiences, representing different clusters of changes in sense of self, cognition, affect, perception, and memory, and are not meant to imply a hierarchy.
It is a perceptual state characterized by a sense of oneness or 'not two,' where the separation between subject and object is diminished or absent, even if individual objects can still be differentiated.
While Location Four involves the disappearance of agency, emotion, and the sense of the divine, it is often described by research subjects as offering an unparalleled sense of freedom, particularly from no longer caring what people think of you.
Jeffery Martin states he is peaceful at all times, rather than happy, noting that the focus shifts from happiness to a deeper sense of peace or well-being as one progresses in fundamental well-being.
Individuals in fundamental well-being report a profound sense of peace even in life-threatening situations or during the death of a loved one, with the system optimizing for efficient response rather than panic or suffering.
The nervous system, being a constant learning and habit machine, gradually reprograms itself based on the new state of fundamental well-being, leading to a reduction in suffering from old psychological triggers over time as they are no longer paired with the old 'suffering' self.
The protocol has an average success rate of 65-70% for people who were not already in fundamental well-being at the start of the course, based on self-reported transitions at the end of the seven-week program.
If a method is truly effective and a good fit for an individual, it should take no more than one hour a day for a week to produce a transition, with the most progress occurring after the 40-43 minute mark of daily practice.
Many people are already in fundamental well-being but don't realize it due to common misconceptions and dogmatic beliefs about what enlightenment or similar states should feel like, or a lack of self-reflection.
Jeffery Martin believes an RCT on the main protocol would be a waste of time due to the extensive existing data and the unlikelihood of a placebo effect for fundamental well-being, but he supports RCTs for new interventions like ketamine trials.
7 Actionable Insights
1. Trial & Error with Methods
To find a path to fundamental well-being, experiment with different methods, as the best fit is unique to each individual and cannot be predicted by psychological data, requiring a trial-and-error approach.
2. Practice for One Hour Daily
If you are trying a method to transition to fundamental well-being, practice for at least one hour a day, as significant progress often occurs past the 40-43 minute mark, making the last part of the hour a ‘sweet spot’.
3. Prioritize Long-Standing Methods
When seeking effective practices for well-being, look for methods with historical longevity, such as mantra-based techniques found across various spiritual traditions, as their persistence suggests a proven track record.
4. Evaluate Modern Method Evidence
Complement historical methods by seeking contemporary practices that have a high number of people reporting successful transitions to fundamental well-being, indicating current effectiveness.
5. Explore Awareness or Direct Inquiry
Focus your search on either awareness-based methods (like Headless Way at headless.org) or direct inquiry methods (like those found at Liberation Unleashed), as these are the two main types that have been observed to lead to transitions.
6. Use MindEase App for Stress
Download the free MindEase app (mindease.io) for iOS, Android, or web to access scientifically proven exercises that relieve stress and anxiety in under 10 minutes, tailored to your specific situation and thought patterns.
7. Balance Peace & Functionality
For those who achieve fundamental well-being, strategically trade off deeper states of peace for functionality in the world, as maximizing peace by pursuing later ’locations’ may require an impractical, isolated lifestyle.
6 Key Quotes
I felt like I'd done everything the world told me I should do in order to be happy, and there I was, you know, not unhappy, not miserable, or something like that, but it didn't seem fair to me that given how hard I'd worked, there were people out there that seemed to be a lot happier than I was.
Jeffery Martin
We forced them to drill down with precision into their phenomenology in ways often that they never had before.
Jeffery Martin
There's just this fundamental sense that things are okay when you experience this stuff.
Jeffery Martin
If in whatever your worst moment is, you look down deep and somehow, even in that moment, paradoxically, things seem okay, well, you're in fundamental well-being.
Jeffery Martin
The word that is most often just blurted out by research subjects, you know, early on in a location four interview without any prompting is freedom.
Jeffery Martin
I think it's a lot more common than people realize it is. And it's a lot easier to get to than people realize. The hard part is not getting to fundamental well-being in most cases. The hard part is integrating it into your life, really.
Jeffery Martin
1 Protocols
Finders Course Protocol for Transitioning to Fundamental Wellbeing
Jeffery Martin- Identify and try top methods (e.g., awareness-based methods like Headless Way, or direct inquiry methods like those at Liberation Unleashed).
- Practice each chosen method for one hour a day for a full week.
- Assess if the method feels like a good fit and is moving you in the right direction.
- If a method is effective, it should lead to a transition within that week of practice; otherwise, try another method.