Appearance: That Which Shows Up and The Beautiful
In the aspect of Appearance, what shows up in an ESE and how can we make meaning of them depends on how we construct the world in which we live.
Appearance June 2023
May 2023 Set and Setting Structure
Places and Spaces: Where Are We, Exactly?
A deeper exploration of the aspect of Setting and how places and spaces contribute to Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences (ESEs)
Set and Setting Structure
“This Must Be the Place”- Sets and Settings in ESEs
The Set and Setting of an ESE play an important role in understanding the ESE itself. Semiotics and deep questions are our friends in examining Set and Setting.
Uncategorized
Gathering The Experienced
In my last few years as a pastor up in Maine, I often thought the American church, or at least my experience of it, needs a new map. Like overlaying a map of Paris on top of New York City and then finding new ways to get to places previously familiar, there need to be new pathways, new feeling networks that arc through the experience of faith and spirituality. I have a sneaking suspicion this…
April Explanation Structure
Scaffolds of the Strange: The Structure of ESEs
The four aspects of an Extraordinary Spiritual Experience help us understand and integrate the event. Set and Setting, Appearance, Revelation, and Disclosure all create a scaffolding for the way we interpret what has happened.
Explanation March
Changed by the Unexplained: What Is An Extraordinary Spiritual Experience (ESE)?
Last week, I talked about the value of structure when we consider what is happening in an Extraordinary Spiritual Experience (ESE). The goal in understanding that structure is to create scaffolds that allow for meaning-making of the experience. More often than not, the process of making meaning of an ESE is a long-term project, commonly called integration in the world of psychedelic therapy. There is the immediate event of the ESE, and then there is…
Historical
The Value of Structure
Why is structure important when we encounter the spiritual, the weird, the strange? The history of research into ESEs tells us some structure is needed for understanding and meaning-making.
Introduction
The Trail Through the Forest
When I started this website back in 2019, I had big plans for my future. Before this website, I started many others. There is a wasteland of four to seven entries in at least 5 different blogs littering my little niche in the blogosphere, going back quite a few years. Part of that speaks to a lack of focus, an inability to play out an idea to completion. And part of it speaks to the…
Uncategorized
Coincidence or Synchronicity
What is coincidental and what is synchronicity? Today, I recount two synchronistic occurrences following my Johns Hopkins journeys.
