Presence
Some ineffable good
Historical account — 1902
VBG Archives·Cambridge, US
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Modern language summary…
A friend of the psychologist William James -- a sharp, skeptical intellect -- described moments when he became suddenly, unmistakably aware of a presence close to him, fused with intense happiness: not a mood, not the glow of music or scenery, but what he called the sure knowledge of a mighty person near at hand. Afterward, the memory stood as the single most real thing he had ever perceived. Notably, he refused to interpret it religiously -- he simply reported what happened. (Location not recorded; account collected and published by William James, Harvard, 1902.)
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"There was not a mere consciousness of something there, but fused in the central happiness of it, a startling awareness of some ineffable good. Not vague either, not like the emotional effect of some poem, or scene, or blossom, of music, but the sure knowledge of the close presence of a sort of mighty person, and after it went, the memory persisted as the one perception of reality. Everything else might be a dream, but not that."
Source: William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), Lecture III. Public domain. View source