even if I'm insane

[hermeneut]

A lot of Americans (or modern Westerners in general) have trouble experiencing ecstasy, trance, anatman, ego-death, or what Maslow called "peak experiences." This is simply due to the fact that Americans are hung up on some reified sense of self, some sense of self as an autonomous substance that inherently exists. I've said before that you can

Comments

[theartistshado]

haha, that's terrific. You certainly have some deep thoughts constantly mulling about in that head of yours. I cannot help but be a little envious of your literary and philosophical talents.

[hermeneut]

Thank you. I often have too many thoughts mulling about in my head, and in the rest of my body too for that matter. Writing often helps quiet them down

[percivale]

What is a trance precisely, from one who wonders whether he has experienced it?

[hermeneut]

It is difficult to stay what trance is precisely, mainly because trance involves the dissolution of the sort of finite limits we use to make precise definitions of words. Basically, trance is a word used to express transition, transformation, transmutation, transcendence. In the West, trance is often regarded as madness (schizophrenia, psychosis, hallucination, dementia, etc.), but for mystics and visionaries like St. John of the Cross or William Blake, trance was an important part of their religious experiences. Sometimes trance is called ecstasy, inspiration, ego-loss, and other expressions that are intended to represent an experience wherein the normal boundaries of the self are overwhelmed by the power of something infinitely other than the self, the power of something sacred