How does Hurlburt’s method of sampling what is happening in our minds work? What have we learnt from it about the variety of our everyday inner worlds - from thinking without symbols, to schizophrenia, to guitar playing?

Welcome to another episode of “Imagine an apple”!

Today, Vynn interviews Francis about his new favourite book “Investigating Pristine Inner Experience”. The book describes Russell Hurlburt’s “Descriptive Experience Sampling” method, and what we’ve learnt from it.

Timestamps:

00:53 Why Francis likes the book
02:55 Hurlburt and his method
09:34 Scepticism
13:58 Unsymbolized thinking
18:22 Sampling yourself
25:59 Variety of inner experience
30:30 Schizophrenia, emotion
39:38 Benefits, guitar playing
48:10 Sonder

Show Links:

Investigating Pristine Inner Experience: Moments of Truth - book by Russell T. Hurlburt
Descriptive Experience Sampling Codebook - Russell T. Hurlburt and Christopher L. Heavey
My mind sampling results - Francis’ blog
RussHurlburt’s YouTube Channel - Recordings of DES sessions
Inner Experience in Bulimia, Fragmented Experience in Bulimia - papers by Hurlburt
Sampling normal and schizophrenic inner experience - book by Hurlburt
Sonder - definition in the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Contact Details:

Please follow us, get in touch, tell us about your inner experiences!

Twitter: @imagine_apple @SurenVynn @frabcus
Email: imagine@flourish.org
Theme written, performed and recorded by @MJPiercello

“Being a Godly Leader”—Leadership Conference 2025: Episode 1

Andrew Wommack Recorded Live

Inventory Your Relationship, Not Excuses

The AI-powered Podcast Player