Sick Souls Healthy Minds Prologue

Josiah Anderson

Dr. Phil Oliver

PHIL-1030-10

10 December, 2023

Sick Souls, Healthy Minds Prologue, by John Kaag

 "I am a low-lived wretch. I've been prey to such disgust for life during the past three months as to make letter writing almost an impossibility." 

The Sick Souls Healthy Minds Prologue starts with this quote from William James back from his early life when he was traveling to Berlin to seek health and sanity. He was desperate for something to solve his condition, sick and on the brink of collapse.

William James earned a medical degree, but it didn't fill him with joy, because of his many skills. He said often that he felt pulled in too many directions, felt in pieces and had difficulty moving forward from his depressions. He was stuck on a philosophical idea, the possibility that humanity is predestined from the start and it will all end in meaninglessness and tragedy. So he began his philosophy toward saving his life-- not eternal life, but preserving his life before inevitable death takes its toll. In This link the beginning parts of the article it discusses how James came to a conclusion that he truly does have a free will and he does have some sort of purpose that he can chose to interact with. 

Healthy Mindedness. This is William James' philosophy that focused on being thoughtful and living vibrantly. He says, "be not afraid of life, believe that life is worth living, and your belief will create that fact." This philosophy is described as a "home remedy" for how to survive as a human and preserve and pass on what is most important about being a human before we pass away. This philosophy is said to not work for everyone and even sometimes does not work for the author of SSHM, but he mentions that having this as a goal to strive for is important and is a daily battle. 

Kaag then focuses on the idea that our souls are sick and need to be helped in some way and James can help us with that. This immediately made think that if our souls are sick then this raises many questions such as "what do you mean by soul?" and "If our souls are sick, then where does our idea of a healthy soul come from?" as well as many other possible questions. The one that stuck out to me the most however is:

Does it make sense to conclude our souls are sick?

As I thought about this question, I agreed that our souls are sick. I believe everyone has a sick soul in some fashion and some have been able to make their souls healthy, but if this is true then there must be a real solution to achieve a healthy soul. As I thought about these things I came across this video below that really explains evidence for a soul and how it relates to our own self. It was really insightful for me to discover more about the soul and what this means for us.

James also said that the task is not to follow our sick souls to death, but to find a reason to live thoughtfully. He says, "the task is to find a way to live, truly live, in the interim." It is easy to become caught into the patterns of our daily life and stop thinking about things that really matter. It is often until it is too late that we stop to do the things and see the people we care about. The death of someone close to us is a great example of what it takes to force us to slow down and think. It is sad that it comes to this but it is all the more important to think about the condition of our souls before it is too late and we have wasted our own lives. 

This thought process left me with a challenge for my self and to those reading this blog post:

How can you live in a more vibrant and thoughtful way, so as to give life meaning?

For me it is seeking truth, which in a way was also a drive for James. I am going to continue looking at evidence and seeking to keep my soul healthy and sharing it with others while I still have time to.