I think maybe we should say from the get-go that James really is interested in the state of mind of the mystical experience. Like he's very much approaching this as a psychologist. So he cares about like what's going on when these people are actually experiencing this. But yeah, he is just describing the experience of these people in a purely descriptive way. It is at the beginning, not in any way trying to judge whether these are true insights into a deeper reality or just mass hallucinations.
David and Tamler talk about William James’ chapter on mysticism from his book "Varieties of Religious Experience." What defines a mystical experience? Why do they defy expression and yet feel like a state of knowledge, a glimpse into the window of some undiscovered aspect of reality? Is Tamler right that David has a little mystic inside of him just waiting to burst forth from his breast?
Plus – another edition of VBW does conceptual analysis and we’re sticking with ‘c’ words – this time the definitive theory of ‘creepy.’
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