I heard the philosopher Sophie-Grace Chappell on a podcast recently. She's writing a book on epiphanies. And I remembered that three and a half years ago, I wrote to her.
This is what I said:
For some time, I have been particularly interested in certain aspects of consciousness. Initially, I felt that peak experiences offered a route into what makes humans so different from other animals. And I was especially struck by how little that is addressed therapeutically – even in ‘self help’ terms. So, for example, in Positive Psychology, Martin Seligman defines the aspects of well-being in his ‘PERMA’ framework – but though his M stands for ‘meaning’ it’s not a transcendent quality, instead it’s more closely related to ‘purposefulness’ than any existential ‘purpose’. Even William James and Jonathan Haidt didn’t really answer my questions.
Subsequently, I’ve been brooding over the idea that the need for a framework of meaning is fundamental to human consciousness. Other animals show intentionality and a sense of self; what they don’t seem to require (or be able to construct) is a narrative.
James Pennebaker’s research into writing as therapy seems to suggest that having a cohesive narrative is beneficial to mental and physical health. Yuval Noah Harari posits that shared myths (whether religion, money, ideologies, morality or beliefs in such ideas as human rights) give humans the ability to co-operate flexibly in large numbers.
But I want to understand how we came to be story-tellers and imaginers – and why this aspect of the psyche seems so vital to our productivity and well-being.
I think that there is a link between transcendent experience and the need for a narrative… to put it crudely, epiphanies place us in a meaningful psychological framework. Without it, it seems to me, people are fragmented and chaotic or in despair.
Further, I think that the frameworks allow us to turn all that is essentially subjective into a world of belief that appears objective, thus removing us from doubt and questioning.
I am keen to explore these ideas further in a more rigorous and academically disciplined fashion. But I don’t know where to begin.
Nothing has changed except that I have read a lot more but have also, it seems, forgotten a great deal.
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