I’m very sensitive to the concerns you raise. Truth units seen in its practical guise can for sure be seen as utilitarian and anti-metaphysical—as well as existentialist—because I’m all those things. On the other hand, I’ve tried to emphasize that I’m anti-ideological, that I don’t see utilitarianism, positivism and existentialism as themselves truths per se. For me, they are simply less ideological than many of the alternatives.

Re consensus, I don’t see pragmatism as simple consensus. Instead it is what good critical thinkers would agree to. That’s why I talked about science, which in principle is all about critical thinking, and I think for that reason science has had such success.

At the end of his Tractatus, Wittgenstein says we can talk about “the world” but we cannot talk about “the mystical” which is what lies beyond “the world.” Wittgenstein believed in “the mystical” he just didn’t believe in talking about it. By “talk” he meant “put into words.” At 6.5 he says “When the answer cannot be put into words, neither can the question be put into words.”

In this light, religious, spiritual, ethical, purpose, and metaphysical experiences are essentially more meaningful and valid than other experiences, but something tends to get lost when people try to communicate them through means other than poetry, art, music, etc.

My mystical experiences center on mystery and wonder. I’m content with the mystery because the wonder is fulfilling.