Michael Hoffman, Apr. 10, 2025
Contents:
links work on desktop Edge/Chrome:
- The Dilemma of Determinism (James, 1897)
- An Inchoate Universe: James’ Probabilistic Underdeterminism (Bromhall, 2013)
- The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time: William James’ Reluctant Guide to Enlightenment (Bricklin, 2016)
- Table of Contents
- Commentary Analysis
- Chris Letheby gives us a false dilemma
- Pros and Cons, Good News & Bad News of Egodeath theory of psychedelic eternalism
- Erik Davis Zep 4 Presents Some Good News of Transcend Eternalism, to Balance Out the Bad News Revelation of Heimarmene-Enslavement
- People Must Accurately Understand the Egodeath Theory’s Balance of Pros and Cons
- Good Voice Recording
- Kyle Bromhall Article About James Article
- msgs today
- See Also
The Dilemma of Determinism (James, 1897)
The Dilemma of Determinism
William James, 1897
https://faculty.georgetown.edu/blattnew/intro/james_dilemma_of_determinism.pdf
Book by William James that contains the article “The Dilemma of Determinism”:
The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, by William James. https://www.amazon.com/Dilemma-Determinism-William-James/dp/116288892X
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=william+james+the+will+to+believe
An Inchoate Universe: James’ Probabilistic Underdeterminism (Bromhall, 2013)
AN INCHOATE UNIVERSE: JAMES’S PROBABILISTIC UNDERDETERMINISM
Kyle Bromhall, 2013
https://philarchive.org/archive/BROAIU-2 – 30 pages
Citation and Link for Bromhall Article About William James’ 1897 Article The Dilemma of Determinism.
https://williamjamesstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/William-James-Studies_SPRING-2018_VOLUME-14_NUMBER-1-SPRING-2018-pp1-204.pdf – the entire journal issue. Spring 2018. 2 articles by Bromhall.
The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time: William James’ Reluctant Guide to Enlightenment (Bricklin, 2016)
The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time: William James’ Reluctant Guide to Enlightenment (Bricklin) = Eternalism
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/illusion-will-self-time-james-enlightenment-bricklin-eternalism/
The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time: William James’s Reluctant Guide to Enlightenment
Jonathan Bricklin
January 2, 2016
http://amzn.com/143845628X
SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology
CUT THE BRANCH: THE ILLUSION OF POSSIBILITY-BRANCHING
This book and author has ties among:
- Philosophy of Eternalism
- Enlightenment from altered-state revelation
- The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology
- The Journal of Consciousness Studies
- Consciousness Studies
- Psychedelics in late 20th C. spirituality
- Altered states
- Ramesh Balsekar (no-free-will)
- Benny Shanon (Cognitive Phenomenology of Ayahuasca)
Table of Contents
Jonathan Bricklin equates “Enlightenment” with the altered-state revelation of eternalism. Bricklin uses terms including “monism, Parmenides, eternalism”, vs. “Pluriverse”.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/143845628X
The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time: William James’s Reluctant Guide to Enlightenment
Transpersonal Humanist Psychology
January 2, 2016
Jonathan Bricklin
SUNY series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology (43 books)
“Discusses how William James’s work suggests a world without will, self, or time and how research supports this perspective.
“William James is often considered a scientist compromised by his advocacy of mysticism and parapsychology. Jonathan Bricklin argues James can also be viewed as a mystic compromised by his commitment to common sense.
“James wanted to believe in will, self, and time, but his deepest insights suggested otherwise. “Is consciousness already there waiting to be uncovered and is it a veridical revelation of reality?”
“James asked shortly before his death in 1910.
“A century after his death, research from neuroscience, physics, psychology, and parapsychology is making the case, both theoretically and experimentally, that answers James’s question in the affirmative.
“By separating what James passionately wanted to believe, based on common sense, from what his insights and researches led him to believe, Bricklin shows how James himself laid the groundwork for this more challenging view of existence.
“The non-reality of will, self, and time is consistent with James’s psychology of volition, his epistemology of self, and his belief that Newtonian, objective, even-flowing time does not exist.”
Commentary Analysis
This initial sketch of planned page is a comprehensive summary. See my linked pages, and the James article & Bromhall article that are linked from there.
Bromhall’s article confirms my immediate reaction from page 1 of james article: James argues in terms of domino-chain causality but he doesn’t actually care about that;
James is actually fighting againt block-universe eternalism w/ single nonbranching future and 2-level, dependent control.
James advocates possibility-branching & monolithic, autonomous control.
Confirmed by Bromhall’s article as my analysis today confirmed.
James isn’t against determinism , he is against eternalism.
Book by Bricklin is good and on-target, Reluctant Mystic.
Chris Letheby gives us a false dilemma
Chris Letheby gives us a false dilemma:
- “NaturalismTM” Science only matter exists, cartoon caricature, MaterialismTM.
- Absurd mystic fantasy = Fatalism according to his definition. only mind exists. cartoon caricature #2.
Egodeath theory = 3rd option, that is relevant, useful, helpful, clear, simple. I sail by those Engineering stars. Egodeath theory of psychedelic eternalism.
Pros and Cons, Good News & Bad News of Egodeath theory of psychedelic eternalism
Erik Davis Zep 4 Presents Some Good News of Transcend Eternalism, to Balance Out the Bad News Revelation of Heimarmene-Enslavement
zep4 p 118 re: astral ascent mysticism – balance of positive & negative transcend heimarmene?
zep4 p 122 re: astral ascent mysticism – balance of positive & negative transcend determinism? (eternalism) —
Bromhall very usefully differentiates
- causal determinism – I call, “domino chain causality”.
- logical determinism – equivalent (Gilbert Ryle A theory vs B of time) to block-universe eternalism.
But those are both of limited relevance, re describing what is the case, and re how to argue for what is the case. Instead, my term would be more like:
- psychedelic determinism – That term would be closer to how the Egodeath theory argues that the future is closed or is revealed to be or proved or demonstrated to be closed and non-branching and we do not really have control-power to steer.
- ETERNALISM DETERMINISM – 4D Spacetime Mysticism; 4D block spacetime worldline frozen non-branching, w/ 2-level, dependent control. CLOSED FUTURE, single-future.
vs: - Quantum Mysticism determinism – branching, open future; monolithic, autonomous control; legit real possibility-branching, manyworlds.
Per the Egodeath theory lexicon, the term “logical determinism” is like: preexisting frozen block non-branching future worldline frozen in rock, possibility-branching is illusory virtual only, & monolithic, autonomous control to steer w/ power of control among those branches is virtual illusory only.
I don’t like arg via domino-chain determinism , and I don’t like Ryle arg from linguistic statement truth value tho that is close enough to the way Egodeath theory argues, that Bromhall profitably equates Ryle….
That’s why Bromhall calls it “logical determinism” – better phrase per lexicon of Egodeath theory would be psychedelic determinism, experientially revealing frozen block 4D spacetime preexisting future.
The future is “closed” in some specific sense, and because of which?:
- causal determinism – Because of domino-chain causality.
- logical determinism – Because of truth-value of statements about the future.[starts to get better at describing the proposed sense in which the future is closed] Josie Kins mentions A- & B-theory of time in article in effectindex.com article on Perception of Eternalism: I assessed that article is 67% good.
- psychedelic determinism – Because of psychedelic loose cognition experiential perception and – framed as a positive in Jan 1988! – this model is superior because it 100% annhilates ego power, as irrelevancy that gets cancelled out.
Egodeath theory. the Cybernetic Theory of Ego Transcendence.
That model is the clearest spec’n of sense in which future is closed.
In the Marketing dept. inventory of Pros & Cons of Egodeath theory, LEVERAGE THE MOST OBJECTIONABLE OFFENSIVE ASPECT OF Egodeath theory AS A STRENGTH, AN ADVANTAGE.
To my psychedelic church:
What are you complaining about, you SAID you wanted ego death; psychedelic eternalism is 100% ego death; no-free-will; branching possibilities is virtual illusion only, as is power of steering among those.
Here is the ego death that you requested, so stop complaining.
I don’t want ppl to LIKE my Egodeath theory; I want them to UNDERSTAND my Egodeath theory. That’s my definition of Success: Does everyone understand what Egodeath theory is? Yes; Success.
Does everyone LIKE the Egodeath theory of psychedelic eternalism? No, tons of ppl HATE my theory – but since they UNDERSTAND my theory, that’s what constitutes Success.
If what ppl hate is something other than my theory, that’s mis-projected onto my theory, that’s a failure, by my measure.
I demand that YOU MUST ACCURATELY HATE the Egodeath theory of psychedelic eternalism.
People Must Accurately Understand the Egodeath Theory’s Balance of Pros and Cons
You must understand the Egodeath theory’s balance of Pros and Cons.
“I want ego transcendence and also increase my power of possibility-branching steering control.”
We know my model of block-universe eternalism in loose cognition state, producing mental model transformation, is correct BECAUSE it renders ego pointless and null.
The total instant lightning destruction of Semele ego mortal is proved true by the block-universe eternalism POV; this model of what ego transcendence is really about – as I wrote in 1988 — is proved true by the totalness with which ego power is nullfied completely,
The Cybernetic Theory of Ego Transcendence explanatory model therefore makes sense, this must be the correct model of enlightenment, I argued, b/c this model 100% cancels, nullifies, offends, and disrespects ego power.
The Cybernetic Theory of Ego Transcendence — This model of instant mental model transformation to transcend ego – ego death — power evaporates as irrelevant illusion — makes sense, hence must be correct.
Differentaiate the intermediate way of arguing, vs the real point that we really care about, the terminus: Brom does that.
Brom says ultimately what James REALLY cares about rejecting is a single …. eternalism per Egodeath theory: a single preexisting closed future with no egoic agency control that can steer.
No One at the Bridge – Rush: I have no arms to steer.
Bromhall’s description of what James is REALLY against, matches Egodeath theory eternalism pretty closely.
That’s why it is profitable to copypaste Bromhall’s article to the present page.
Pros of Egodeath theory: GOOD NEWS including booby prize disappointing, brought by Egodeath theory of psychedelic eternalism (similar tone in Erik Davis book Zep 4 p 122):
- simple instant enlight but balancing on right foot is hard like skateboarding in switch stance.
- You retain Isaac child thinking, though qualified re: its foundation.
- virtual freewill.
- set free from prison, sort of; redemption from enslavement in fate block, sort of, released from kidnap by block-universe eternalism, sort of. Reach above sphere of the fixed stars, sort of. spirit portion only, of you.
Cons: BAD NEWS brought by the Egodeath theory of psychedelic eternalism:
- no-free-will.
- soul remains trapped in cosmic rock.
- possibilism branching is illusion only; ego steering power for that, is illusion only.
- Psychedelic tragedy Rock lyrics.
- Future is closed.
Good Voice Recording
voice recording good: added modular stereo noise gate (hack-y, not real – not cutting me off too bad) on room mics. TK_VOX_6391.wav apr 10 2025. 1:40:00
Bromhall advocates possibilism, based on marketing label of “science”, equating “science” with newage alleged Observer Effect, and with randomness as the foundation of freewill power and real possibility-branching.
That is bad and wrong of Bromhall.
Bromhall adds good distinction between causal vs logical determinism, the latter meaning whether statements about the future have a truth value.
If per Gilbert Ryle, statements about future have a truth value, that clearly implies hardcore eternalism (empty ego agency + illusion of possibility-branching), unlike the weak connection James uses between domino-chain causality / causal causal-chain determinism & a weak image of eternalism and a weak image of nullity of agency steering control power.
The article Bromhall contributes helpful concepts/phrases. And rolls out junk newage “observer effect” arg’n, and the popular topic of “can randomness serve as foundation of freewill?”
per Bromhall’s cheap rehetoric, CLOAK SELF IN MANTLE OF SCIENCE: like Houot.
KB says:
‘Science’ = the Newage dogma of alleged “observer effect”: “mind creates reality”. like “only mind exists”.
causal-chain determinism
ccd
domino-chain determinism
dcd
domino-chain causality
dcc
domino-chain causal determinism
dccd
todo: paste Bromhall article here for commentary/formatting. maybe James article too. Bromhall probably writes nonsense about “observe” when truth is, you MEASURE. HE shows his hand by employing the lying word ‘observe’ meausrement, instead of speaking honestly saying just ‘measure’ disturbs the thing measured.
Bromhall is committed to deception by employing ‘observe’, instead of the scientists’ term ‘measure’, though that gets into the Phil of Epistemology more than I want. I probably oppose Brom but his writing is clear in differentiating,
https://faculty.georgetown.edu/blattnew/intro/james_dilemma_of_determinism.pdf
Book by William James that contains the article “The Dilemma of Determinism”:
The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, by William James. https://www.amazon.com/Dilemma-Determinism-William-James/dp/116288892X
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=william+james+the+will+to+believe
Kyle Bromhall Article About James Article
image: TOC of Bricklin book, w/ Eternalism chapter at end
https://egodeaththeory.org/?s=bricklin –
The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time: William James’ Reluctant Guide to Enlightenment (Bricklin) = Eternalism
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/illusion-will-self-time-james-enlightenment-bricklin-eternalism/
msgs today
“When you brought it up, I first heard about all the spheres and Free will and the stars. Need a copy of the drawings you posted. I want the check out the art and symbolism to squeeze the wisdom out of them.”
Skim the great pictures in this video.
I am against mediocre Jungianism (watered down or off-base).
i could make a page gallery of my pictures of geocentric cosmos so far, & links to good wiki pages.
Good news, there are tons of good cosmos diagrams/ pics.
My writeups are the tightest in joining those pictures w what scholars write about Fate, heimarmene, precession of the equinoxes.
Funny: at 20:00 the vid said “precession of the equinoxes” immed after i typed that and wondered “do they say that??”
In your color version of the Pilgrim pic, pilgrim’s head against yellow fire light (not blue), matching David Ulansey’s Mithras and the Hypercosmic Sun, http://www.mysterium.com/hypercosmic.html
I’m glad to see that in 1400-1650 — though no mushroom-trees — the YI branching form; eg {cut right branch} {cut right trunk} motif is still present, eg in geocentric cosmos drawings.
“more branching on Left” (freewill thinking) is a motif that was used w the art genre of mushroom-trees, which flourished around 900 AD-1300 AD.
Motivation of this Webpage
The motivation of the present page is to paste text of this article here & comment on it.
See Also
The Dilemma of Determinism
William James, 1897
https://faculty.georgetown.edu/blattnew/intro/james_dilemma_of_determinism.pdf
The Will to Believe and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy, by William James. https://www.amazon.com/Dilemma-Determinism-William-James/dp/116288892X
Contains “The Dilemma of Determinism”
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=william+james+the+will+to+believe
AN INCHOATE UNIVERSE: JAMES’S PROBABILISTIC UNDERDETERMINISM
Kyle Bromhall, 2013
https://philarchive.org/archive/BROAIU-2 – 30 pages
The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time: William James’ Reluctant Guide to Enlightenment (Bricklin) = Eternalism
https://egodeaththeory.org/2023/01/15/illusion-will-self-time-james-enlightenment-bricklin-eternalism/
The Illusion of Will, Self, and Time: William James’s Reluctant Guide to Enlightenment
Jonathan Bricklin
January 2, 2016
http://amzn.com/143845628X
SUNY Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology
2 pages so far, I wrote about Kyle Bromhall article about James article:
https://egodeaththeory.org/?s=bromhall —
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/02/25/idea-development-page-25/ – find block, bromhall, james, iron
https://egodeaththeory.org/2025/03/03/dr-justin-sledge-of-esoterica-confirmed-late-antiquity-brands-all-rejected-no-free-will-fatedness// – find block, bromhall, james, iron
The Egodeath theory 