Fullness and Dearth: Depth Experience and Democratic Life

How should inquiry into ethical-political life come to terms with “depth experience?” By this, I mean extraordinary experience that breaks into the familiar frames of meaning and reasoning that undergird everyday life, bringing some sort of transformation or significant solidification of basic commitments or identity. Stated in this abstract fashion, my question is likely to seem rather bewildering or uninteresting for the study of politics. But its potential significance becomes apparent if one mentions George W. Bush and being “born again.” This article speculates more broadly about such experience, expanding the focus beyond theists and “limit” experiences. When one does this, depth experience need not be thought of as anathema to political theory. Rather, I show that it can be cultivated in such a way as to animate an admirable “bearing” on the part of citizens of affluent, late-modern societies and cohere with certain fundamentals of deliberative democracy.