Threshold Crossing
All books · Research-facing model
What room remains to question, delay or choose?
By Justin McDermott · Complete manuscript · Unpublished
Vividness, conviction and obedience are different things. Threshold Crossing proposes a model of how unusual experience may acquire perceived authority, and how a person’s available choices can narrow or reopen.
Inside the book
The central question concerns the room a person has to respond. A compelling experience raises questions about what it seems to mean, how much authority it carries and whether acting on it still feels like a choice. The book offers distinctions for investigation, criticism and testing, with attention to the possibility of questioning, delaying or choosing another response.
The distinction between a vivid experience, conviction and obedience.
How unusual experience may come to carry perceived authority.
How the space available for questioning and choice can narrow or reopen.
Who it is for
Begin here if you want to examine the proposed model and the questions it raises. It is written for readers interested in research, unusual experience and agency, including those who want to challenge its distinctions or consider how they might be tested.
Its place in the Compass
Threshold Crossing develops questions explored philosophically in When Meaning Becomes Sovereign. The Needs We Carry turns toward the ethical responsibilities of support when someone’s options are constrained.
Explore The Needs We Carry · About the Compass project
A shorter way into the writing
The Weight of Maybe. A short reflection on how anticipated harm and possible good shape the choices we make.
Read more or get in touch
This is a complete, unpublished manuscript. Publishing enquiries welcome. To request a reading sample or discuss editorial interest, email Justin about Threshold Crossing.
Browse all five books · Read the Field Notes · Meet the author