Highlights of Stealing Fire

This book was an intriguing journey through achieving states of peak performance and experience. 

Ecstasis

Ecstasis is a state of mind that is described as being in “the zone”

• Plato described ecstasis as an altered state where our normal waking consciousness vanishes completely, replaced by an intense euphoria and a powerful connection to a greater intelligence.
• In this state, the conscious mind takes a break and the subconscious takes over. The conscious mind is a potent tool, but is slow, and can only manage a small amount of information at once. The subconscious is far more efficient. It can process more data in shorter time frames.
• As this occurs, a number of performance-enhancing neurochemicals flood the system. These chemicals amplify focus, muscle reaction times, and pattern recognition.

There are four signature characteristics of ecstasis (STER): 

• Selflessness – inner critic goes offline, get out of own way, expanded thinking
• Timelessness – sense of deep now, temporal processing energy is reallocated to focus
• Effortlessness – pleasure chemicals propel us past our usual limits of motivation
• Richness – our brain’s pattern recognition abilities amp up opening fresh perspectives 

Why It Matters

·        People have been found to be up to 500% more productive in these flow states.

·        The information richness of a non-ordinary state affords perspective and allows us to make connections where none may have existed before.  We can see more pieces of the problem we’re trying to solve.

The Four Forces of Ecstasis

Accelerating developments in four fields are providing greater access to and understanding of non-ordinary states of consciousness.

• Psychology – We have a better sense of our own development and, with it, the space to move beyond a socially-defined identity.  Clearer frameworks and data-driven models help navigate formerly obscure terrain.
• Neurobiology – Advances have clarified our understanding of what is happening in our brains and bodies when we experience a range of mental states, clarifying the mechanics of transcendence. Now, more than ever, we understand the knobs and levers being tweaked in the brain to obtain optimal states of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best. Stress chemicals are replaced by performance-enhancing, pleasure-producing compounds.
• Pharmacology – By treating the six powerful neurochemicals that underpin ecstasis as raw ingredients, we’ve begun to refine the recipes for peak experience and can access them on demand. Mind-altering substances deactivate key parts of the brain including the default mode network (“ego disintegration”) and create highly synchronized connections between far-flung areas of the brain (“mind expansion”).
• Technology – Bringing access to scale, experiences can be shared by huge groups, generating more data, and firmer conclusions with much less risk. Innovation provides wider and safer access to altered states.

The Sandbox of the Future

Non-ordinary states can heighten trust, amplify cooperation, and accelerate breakthroughs, fundamentally disrupting business as usual.  We can speed learning, facilitate healing, and provide measurable impacts in our lives.  Organizations like the Navy SEALs and Google utilize these developments to take a different approach on high performance and pursue ecstasis with a degree of precision that was not possible even ten years ago.  Throughout history, there have been attempts to “steal fire” and reach these states.  Finally, we can kindle the flame ourselves.

From the book: Stealing Fire - How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work by Steven Kotler & Jamie Wheal