The above image is an artwork entitled ‘All Alone’ by American painter Malcolm T. Liepke, who is one of my favourite living artists, with some text overlaying the objects and subjects. The image is stylised as a contemporary, esoteric meme. The implication here is that contemplation results in misery, this is straight-forward. It could not possibly be the reverse, as misery is an object, both in the artwork and conceptually, becoming the effect as opposed to the cause. In the same way that meaning is the overall effect rather than the cause, which is both pure experience and a joyous spirit. However, my qualm lies with the chronology of the union of pure experience and joyous spirit. There are two interpretations;

1. One must first maintain a joyous spirit, then undergo pure experience, to unlock meaning.
2. Undergoing a pure experience transforms the spirit into a state of joy; the process of two objects colliding simultaneously unlocks meaning.

One of these I will argue for, in the context of this esoteric meme.

At the outset, I must define pure experience. William James, an American psychologist and philosopher, founded the doctrine of ‘radical empiricism’ in the 1910s, which extends the empiricist concept that human knowledge is obtained via sensory experience. James argues that this reduces experience to mere senses; our mind instead processes the input, called reference, with sense data (mind-dependent objects) to create a stream of consciousness (a term also founded by James). In sum; meaning, values, and intentionality arise from experience.

So, pure experience then, is the time before our brains can process an experience. James posited that life, the primordial state, is objective; it is our minds which classify and sort these experiences which give us consciousness. The state prior to this sorting was called ‘sciousness’, but I use this and pure experience interchangeably. So, sciousness, or pure experience, is basically ‘living in the moment’ (huge simplification, but a somewhat accurate analogy).

Inspired by James’ work, Japanese philosopher Kitarō Nishida, in his 1911 book entitled An Inquiry into the Good, wrote;

“To experience means to know events precisely as they are. It means to cast away completely one’s attitude of discriminative reflection, and to know in accordance with the events. Since people include some reflection even when speaking of experience, the word “pure” is here used to signify a condition of true experience itself without the addition of the least thought or reflection. For example, it refers to that moment of seeing a color or hearing a sound which occurs not only before one has added the judgment that this seeing or hearing relates to something external or that one is feeling this sensation, but even before one has judged what color or what sound it is.”

Thus, pure experience is one with the least amount of reflection, and no contemplation. Contemplation is defined as a profound and concentrated form of reflection. Look at the image once more. The man representing contemplation is not being kissed by the woman representing pure experience for this reason. They are mutually exclusive.

Knowing this we can continue to the interpretations. Number 1 posits that a joyous spirit must be achieved before pure experience. This begs the question, how does one obtain a joyous spirit? Or any kind of spiritual state for that matter? Through living, and living is experiencing. It makes sense that some form of life experience must be obtained prior to a spiritual state.

Number 2 needs some expanding. Say, I look at a colour. Perhaps it is the green of a tree, the blue of someone’s eyes, the red of a bright light. Whilst I am looking at this colour, prior to my brain understanding that the tree is being cut down, or the blue eyes belong to the one I admire, or the red light is disappearing; there is that moment of sciousness — pure experience. In this moment, the spirit temporarily transforms into that of a joyous one; no emotion is felt, the spirit is satisfied. After this moment I may transcend and achieve meaning. Contemplation tarnishes this moment (sciousness and consciousness are mutually exclusive), and my spirit is also tarnished, then.

This is, of course, an interpretation of an esoteric Internet meme, and there may be other interpretations which I have not addressed. Yet, this is how I read the image; it is the pure experience which must occur to invoke a joyous spirit, and the joyous spirit cannot be obtained without pure experience. Sciousness and joy are mutually inclusive. The man and woman at the bar are mutually interested in one another, each enhancing the other’s transcendental potential, and without this mutuality there would be no wine for either of them to drink.

Yet, meaning may not always be achieved; as this would mean every moment of sciousness results in meaningful revelation. Simply having a conversation with some individuals will quickly reveal that this is not true, despite their plethora of pure experiences. The catalyst for meaningful revelation is not just sciousness and a joyous spirit, but emotive response, as well. Pure experiences precede emotion; one must think about the experience in order to feel something from it. Since contemplation and reflection differ, this does not contradict previous constructs, as emotion is unlocked through reflection, not contemplation. According to Nishida, pure experience is that of the least thought or reflection. Although reflection cannot be avoided, it should be minimised as much as possible, and contemplation must be eliminated, in order to achieve meaning. This is a balancing act which must be perfected, or one must simply experience a perfect storm of phenomenological events. Thus, contemplation alone will bring about misery. Pure experience and a joyous spirit, as well as reaching an emotional state through the right amount of reflection, will provoke meaningful revelation.

One year, on a particularly warm New Years Eve night, I watched the midnight fireworks whilst standing on a bridge with estranged acquaintances and some actual strangers. A browning river rushed below our feet. I was hungry, hollow, and desperately craving the recluse of home. There were sirens in the background, and a man’s stern voice blaring from the speakers, reminding us not to loiter on the bridge. I was convinced I would feel like this, a shell of a person, every New Years following. The countdown begun. Images flashed amidst the roaring crowd; of people I’d met, of daily commutes, of inside jokes, of adrenaline spikes, of mania, and of somnolence. These were mental tableaux of ontological phenomena; I hadn’t realised this until I saw the blast of white, refulgent light exploding against the midnight sky. In that moment, those exact milliseconds of pure experience, I felt a type of joie de vivre. The reflection of all these phenomena during that previous year provoked an internal revelation; an idealistic, optimistic, child-like approach to existence. This pure experience, the reflection, and subsequent emotive response, bestowed ontological meaning.

I’m not sure if there’s any meaning to this “essay”, though. You will not find meaning of your own existence by reading essays, whether they are written by schizophrenics or not. The deduction here is that life has to be lived. Experiences must occur. You may not see fireworks tomorrow, but you might experience flowers in bloom, a polite smile, the warmth of a fire, the rhythm of your feet hitting the floor, the touch of someone you love. And when you do, try not to think too much about these phenomena. When the girl embraces you at the bar; take in all sensations, accept all intensities, and soon, the waiter will bring you both a tall bottle of meaning to drink from.