Definitions HQ

Inner experience (n.) is, ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠as compared with philosophy, such that what counts is no longer the statement of wind, but the wind.

Inner experience (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not easily accessible as, viewed from the outside it is the sum of distinct operations, some intellectual, others aesthetic, yet others moral... and it is only from within, lived to the point of terror, that it appears to unify that which discursive thought must separate.

Inner experience (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the state of ecstasy, of rapture, of experience laid bare, free of ties, even of an origin, of any confession whatever.

Inner experience (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a kind of mystical experience: the states of ecstasy, of rapture, at least of meditated emotion.

Inner experience (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a voyage to the limit of what a human can bear, with no goal beyond itself; answering to no church or doctrine, it becomes its own authority, and that authority must be paid for.

Inner experience (n.) in ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠Bataille’s sense is in no way inner or subjective: it is the experience of a bond with an outside beyond all measure — and only community gives that bond its spacing and its rhythm.