THE SIC ET NON SOCIETY · FOOTNOTES
The Threshold
- William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (1902), lectures XVI–XVII, “Mysticism”. The cited passage opens his discussion of ineffability and the felt authority of mystical experience. English original. Read the text ↗
- Sigmund Freud, A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, authorised English edition (Horace Liveright, 1920), lecture XIX, “Resistance and Suppression”. The cited passage uses a two-room analogy; the translation is credited by Project Gutenberg to G. Stanley Hall. Read the text ↗
- Rolf Dobelli, The Art of Thinking Clearly (HarperCollins, 2013). The short “Check the explanation” prompt is original writing, informed by the book’s discussion of thinking errors. It does not quote the book. Publisher’s page ↗
Editorial connection. James and Freud are placed beside one another by the Society. They did not write in conversation; the pairing is ours. The short thinking prompt is our own, informed by Dobelli’s book.
Context. James’s passage concerns reports of mystical experience. Freud’s analogy belongs to a historical psychoanalytic model. These readings place the passages beside a question; they do not settle it.