Jonathan Bricklin, former program director of the New York Open Center, is a scholar of William James. He has written numerous academic papers and two acclaimed books: The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time: William James’s Reluctant Guide to Enlightenment and Sciousness, which explores James’s philosophy of consciousness. He lives in New York City, where he continues to investigate the frontiers of philosophy and consciousness studies.

Jonathan Bricklin shares his transformative mystical experience that dissolved his sense of separation and led him toward the philosophy of William James. He explains how states of pure consciousness, beyond self, will, and time, reveal a deeper unity underlying existence. Drawing from both personal experience and James’s radical empiricism, Bricklin discusses free will, precognition, and the timeless ground of being.

00:00:00 Introduction

00:03:39 Early life and search for direction

00:06:02 Mystical breakthrough at meditation retreat

00:12:12 Life review and transformation of suffering

00:26:30 William James and the question of free will

01:02:00 Precognition and the anesthetic revelation

01:18:00 Unity, Parmenides, and the center point of being

01:35:00 The Absolute, Whitman, and the play of existence

01:58:20 Conclusion

(Recorded on September 3, 2025)

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Published on September 26, 2025