What you have described in this last post about "bliss" reminds me of the idea of "Flow", proposed my Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. If that idea strikes a chord with you, that is something I have experienced many times throughout my life, starting from young childhood, in relation to many activities. I also like to describe it as a state of total merging with environment and experience. The thing about it for me though is that they are states with variable levels of engagement, intensity, length of time - but they are never permanent or last beyond a few hours or days at a time (for me at least). Then there are of course the intervals between such states, typically much longer than the harmonious, merging states. And yes, the longing. For me, the more I experience these states, the more I tend to feel that I am connected to my most genuine inner source, a source of identity, even though the actual moments of joy feel more like a loss of even wanting to know who I am and what I look for, more like a blurring or loss of boundaries between internal and external, a loss of separation. I liked the way you described it, it resonates with me.

For, me, actually some of my biggest issues in life, the addictions that I mentioned in various posts, often derived from a sense of loss of that connectedness - and then trying to substitute in artificial, excessive ways, using mind-altering substances, relationships, excessive work, I even used therapy in that way (so it defeated it's main purpose at those times), many obsessions. Periods when the ability to sense that spontaneous joy was replaced with pleasure-seeking and compulsions, ultimately pushing even the possibility of the more genuine, more "spiritual" experiences out of perspective.

Did therapy help me resolve these? I would say no or quite little, more in a form of masking symptoms in the moment rather than solutions. Even with my second therapist, who is very similar to myself in many (I think genuine) ways. But some of the conclusions from my experiences in therapy have helped to point toward what areas of my life need more balance in order to allow those kinds of "unity experiences" with higher frequency and in more relaxed forms. I also find it helpful to accept that it's unlikely I would ever find stability in those states, they come and go. One of the best kinds and easiest to experience, for me, are moments of insight and synthesis in an abstract sense - I can get these via my science or art work for example, and they make it worth for me to continue to love these parts of my life. They all tend to provide an experience or sense of beauty in he moment, including being in nature, meditative states at times, some interpersonal interactions, and many more. I would actually be sad if it was not possible to experience these sates in many different ways, from many sources. I just think that, in general, life more often involves dissonance than those perfect moments of harmony. The one thing I am personally grateful for though is that I have always had a strong sense of self in the form of knowing what I like and want. It's both a bane and a blessing. The latter is a reference to wanting and getting hooked on obsessive, excessive, destructive experiences.