I've been reading William James' Varieties of the Religious Experience for the past few days, now, and I have a few thoughts. I'll be responding to it, somewhat, in posts to come. I've always been drawn to it, but for whatever reason had yet to read it until now. I'm not sure if this was simply an oversight on my part, or one of those fortunate synchronicities that sometimes manifest out of the cosmic chaos. Either way, the reading is timely. Timely because, as is the habit of the explorer, the practical mystic, I find myself nearing the disembarkation point of another adventure into the depths of the (un)conscious mind. To that end, I'm finding recollections of similar experiences useful (or, at least, interesting). It's amazing how much of my own empirical findings map onto many of these experiences. There is most certainly some kind of psychological process at work, here. For now, I won't make any claims beyond that - it is sufficient for the time being merely to acknowledge the reality of the state (and, having undergone the transformations of perspective that the subjects in James' book describe, I can personally attest to this reality).
This journal will serve several functions: a) a record of such experiences as witnessed in my own life, both previous and pending, b) a personal diary of life events, both banal and significant, c) a sounding board for my ideas, both irrelevant and germane.
Given these functions, this blog should not be mistaken for anything more than a strictly personal affair, a subjective account of my life and times, a playground for whatever creative impulses I still harbor (and a scrap-heap for any other mildly entertaining nonsense that falls upon my whim).
It is a project, a poem, a prayer to the universe, and I welcome you to it.
