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Delight Springs

Friday, December 2, 2022

William James on The Gospel of Relaxation by Cole McBee (#7)

William James wrote The Gospel of Relaxation to show why people should relax more and what relaxation can do for humans and their life. You can look around the world and see that people in America are always so busy or focused on something that they hardly pay attention to anything around them. When you walk down the street of a major city you can notice that the only thing that most people care about when they are doing something is what they have to do next. I myself have noticed this when I go to Nashville whether it be for a music concert or a football game, almost everybody that you walk by or next to, will not even acknowledge your presence nor acknowledge that you exist because most people in America are very selfish in nature. Something else that is noticeable is that people in America only have two main types of expressions when they have conversations. Most of the time when you talk to someone, they either look happy or angry. This comes from the fact that Americans do not know how to control their emotions well.

 

William James mentions this emotion control in The Gospel of Relaxation. He uses the term “bottled lightning” to describe how Americans act. He got this idea from an author who described the heroine of the story of having this “Bottled Lightning." James quotes a Scottish asylum physician named Dr. Clouston saying "You Americans wear too much expression on your faces. You are living like an army with all its reserves engaged in action.” James goes on to say that “Intensity, rapidity, vivacity of appearance, are indeed with us something of a nationally accepted ideal” William James also commented on a certain tension in the air around Americans. Says that Americans are so tense because of bad role models that they follow and allow them to dictate how they live their life. He got this idea from a colleague of his named Münsterberg, who was a professor at Harvard where they both taught.

 

James also compares Americans and how they act with how Europeans act when they are in public. He points out that they are polar opposites when it comes to how each group of people acts when in public. He says that while Europeans are calm, cool, and collected, he says that Americans are always eager and ready to move. He uses two different workers as an example. One worker acts like a European while the other acts like an American. James says that a worker that keeps his emotions in check will be worth more because he doesn't go backwards or breaks down while a worker that does not will be worth less because he will constantly be complaining and will never have the willingness to work even the toughest jobs.

 

In The Gospel of Relaxation, William James talks about an unhealthy mind versus a healthy mind. For an unhealthy mind, he says that “it consists mainly of bodily discomforts distinctly localized by the sufferer” and “a general self-mistrust and sense that things are not as they should be with him.” What does he mean by this you ask? That’s a great question! He means that what an unhealthy mind does to a person is that it makes a person feel like they are unhealthy even when they might not be. For a healthy mind, he says, “the sensations that pour in from the organism only help to swell the general vital sense of security” and “readiness for anything that may turn up."​ To him, this means that when a person has a healthy mind, then he or she will have no fears or shame that might pop up in inopportune times.

 

He gives a good explanation for how to study for a test that not many people, myself included, do. James says to study many consecutive days ahead of the test. While also not studying for too long, which is not beneficial. According to Caroline Williams, “Some studies dating from the 1990s suggest that due to natural variations in our cycle of alertness, we can concentrate for no longer than 90 minutes before needing a 15-minute break.” And once you reach the night before the test, you are to take your book or study material and through them down and say that "I won't waste another minute on this miserable thing, and I don't care an iota whether I succeed or not." James says this will do two main things for your body and mind. The first idea that is accomplished is that it will allow you to rest and relax knowing that you know everything to the best of your ability and the second is that you will be less nervous for when you take the test the following day. I do not study because I have a hard time focusing which affects my scores on tests and quizzes.

 

All in all, William James had a good idea when it came to what he thought about how people should live their life. He wanted people in the United States to have fun and laugh. He wanted everyone to be happy with who they are and how they act in our society. I have come to agree with him more in this essay. I have not always been the happiest person because I was mad over something that shouldn’t have affected me as much as it did, but I have learned to move past it. This essay and James have proven to me even more that this attitude change was a good idea and was the best idea for my life now and in the future. I hope to further myself using the teachings given out by these thinkers to fully make myself into a better person and a better partner in life.  I hope you will see that his view on this topic will help you in some way whether it be in a small or big way. 

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