I do think WJ intended PE as an aspirational target in our philosophizing, a notion of pre-conceptual immediacy that would stand as a brake on runaway intellectualism. He always proposed to defend experience AGAINST philosophy (and other post-experiential abstractions and reconstructions). Is there really such a thing, though, as a recovered experience free of conception? Probably not. But the concept of PE is useful as a reminder that experience in the first instance always precedes most, at least, of our conceptions.

I’ve written a bit about this… https://www.google.com/books/edition/William_James_s_Springs_of_Delight/OonHEQJuyaUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=purity%20of%20pure%20experience&pg=PA79&printsec=frontcover

Phil,
I will check out your work on the topic.
As I understand James, PE is the primary phase of the process of experience. Recognizing that forces us to realize that all our concepts derived from PE are just one of many possible permutations and interpretations. We don’t dwell in that initial phase unless we take up meditation, nor can we reconstitute it. It is just important to recognize that this step is there so that we don’t falsely conclude that our concepts are really and fully describing what is out there.