I also love and resonate with James’ pragmatism. As a physician, I am also aligned with his skepticism of medical materialism.
As a psychotherapist influenced by Jung and Internal Family Systems, it strikes me that we get out of that trap of unity that he describes by seeing that it is only one aspect of reality. There is apparent unity and there is apparent duality. Allowing there to be movement between these positions helps us feel the freedom and relative ‘truth’ of both positions, just from different angles. And the pragmatism comes in around what are the fruits of the perspective, and when and how we take it.
As a somewhat simplistic example, when we sit with someone who is suffering and feeling misunderstood, the classic rookie move is to say ‘I know what you’re talking about — me too’. That’s too quickly moving toward unity.
Usually they need to first be seen and validated around the particularities of their suffering. They need to feel us feeling into their unique position and even acknowledging the futility of that attempt but the desire to try - some version of: ‘wow, that sounds awful. I can’t imagine. I obviously have never been in those shoes, but I do want to try to understand as best I can’.
Only later, once they experience being seen clearly do they often appreciate some movement into unity. But premature move to unity is usually experienced as rupture in relationships and in psychotherapy.
Thanks for this, I find your presentation of writers i find really annoying (Hegel and Heidegger) (and mostly unread) worthy of re-appraisal. Also I'll be adding your "Tao of Heidegger" of to my series https://whyweshould.loofs-samorzewski.com/series-of-tao/
even though it isn't a book.
As another example of this psyhodelic prior art, is Robert Graves and his "historical channeling" quite interesting as well, as mentioned in passing at
Also I really must find a paper I read 40 years ago that said practices developing out of ceremony and ritual get more complex the further from the source of soma one is. Until only the practice is left.
I have a different take related to this aufhebung experience of James', but it is at the practical end of the matter, and which I call _the blur_, as an intentional stance on categories/nouns, i.e. a practice not a drug. I do find some similarities with Pyrrhonist suspension of judgement (and thus also Buddhist meditation practices, but _the blur_ does not arise from them directly at all. (I have no interest in meditation per se.)
This blur practice is more deliberate and less haphazard, and thus perhaps potentially shareable.
Thanks Meika. The psychedelic art piece interesting. I’ve never done psychedelics myself as I’m far too afraid of permanently altering my consciousness in some way. I like how I see the world as it is!
I have gotten to this state a handful of times from meditating while on mushrooms. It is a beautiful but fleeting thing to have total awareness of the fact that you are God and God is in turn the universe in my experience. Getting there via nitrous seems too risky to me though and I never intend to try it that way. It is nonetheless fascinating how many different paths there are available for people to take in order to experience the divine awareness of themselves as part of the wider universal consciousness field. All is one, indeed.
I get that there's these wise old White people and wise old Asian people, but we figured shit out...
https://substack.com/@vesselism101
I also love and resonate with James’ pragmatism. As a physician, I am also aligned with his skepticism of medical materialism.
As a psychotherapist influenced by Jung and Internal Family Systems, it strikes me that we get out of that trap of unity that he describes by seeing that it is only one aspect of reality. There is apparent unity and there is apparent duality. Allowing there to be movement between these positions helps us feel the freedom and relative ‘truth’ of both positions, just from different angles. And the pragmatism comes in around what are the fruits of the perspective, and when and how we take it.
As a somewhat simplistic example, when we sit with someone who is suffering and feeling misunderstood, the classic rookie move is to say ‘I know what you’re talking about — me too’. That’s too quickly moving toward unity.
Usually they need to first be seen and validated around the particularities of their suffering. They need to feel us feeling into their unique position and even acknowledging the futility of that attempt but the desire to try - some version of: ‘wow, that sounds awful. I can’t imagine. I obviously have never been in those shoes, but I do want to try to understand as best I can’.
Only later, once they experience being seen clearly do they often appreciate some movement into unity. But premature move to unity is usually experienced as rupture in relationships and in psychotherapy.
Loved the essay!
Thanks for this, I find your presentation of writers i find really annoying (Hegel and Heidegger) (and mostly unread) worthy of re-appraisal. Also I'll be adding your "Tao of Heidegger" of to my series https://whyweshould.loofs-samorzewski.com/series-of-tao/
even though it isn't a book.
As another example of this psyhodelic prior art, is Robert Graves and his "historical channeling" quite interesting as well, as mentioned in passing at
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/psychedelics-and-spiritualism/
Also I really must find a paper I read 40 years ago that said practices developing out of ceremony and ritual get more complex the further from the source of soma one is. Until only the practice is left.
I have a different take related to this aufhebung experience of James', but it is at the practical end of the matter, and which I call _the blur_, as an intentional stance on categories/nouns, i.e. a practice not a drug. I do find some similarities with Pyrrhonist suspension of judgement (and thus also Buddhist meditation practices, but _the blur_ does not arise from them directly at all. (I have no interest in meditation per se.)
This blur practice is more deliberate and less haphazard, and thus perhaps potentially shareable.
https://whyweshould.loofs-samorzewski.com/posts-on-the-blur/
Thanks Meika. The psychedelic art piece interesting. I’ve never done psychedelics myself as I’m far too afraid of permanently altering my consciousness in some way. I like how I see the world as it is!
only the once myself, you can read about it, if you can read between the lines.... in https://whyweshould.substack.com/p/re-reading-fritjof-capras-the-tao
I have gotten to this state a handful of times from meditating while on mushrooms. It is a beautiful but fleeting thing to have total awareness of the fact that you are God and God is in turn the universe in my experience. Getting there via nitrous seems too risky to me though and I never intend to try it that way. It is nonetheless fascinating how many different paths there are available for people to take in order to experience the divine awareness of themselves as part of the wider universal consciousness field. All is one, indeed.
Standard consciousness is divine enough for me!