“Wonder and Hope”
This final chapter ties together William James’s lifelong struggle with despair and his eventual commitment to a philosophy built around possibility and openness. Kaag starts with a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, reflecting on the “LIFE IS WORTH LIVING” sign. For James, that question was never simple, he spent years battling depression and even suicidal thoughts. But instead of giving up, he built a philosophy that makes room for uncertainty, struggle, and hope. Personally I always thought life was worth living just based on the fact that I get to live and I get this opportunity to experience and feel all of these different sensations that life brings.
James believed that life doesn’t come with guaranteed meaning. Instead, we create meaning through our choices, our commitments, and our willingness to embrace uncertainty. What keeps life worthwhile, he argues, is the chance, the possibility, that our actions matter. That “maybe” is enough to keep us going. I love this view because it faces the reality that maybe our actions don't really matter at the end of the day, it stays realistic with what we know as humans about this universe and about life. James would say that as long as there’s a possibility that life can become meaningful, even if it’s tiny, that’s what keeps you in the game. It flips the whole meaning of life question from:
“Is life meaningful?”
to
“Can I make meaning?”
James thought that even if your life doesn’t leave something big behind, your actions still cause ripples, effects you’ll never fully see. Kaag uses the image of tossing an object into water to explain this: the object disappears, but the ripples remain. Our lives work the same way, the consequences of what we do extend further than we can see. For James this uncertainty is what makes life worth living. This reinforces James’s belief that investing yourself deeply in something that will outlast you is the “greatest use of life.”
James also sees value in moments of wonder, those experiences where the world suddenly feels bigger, richer, and more meaningful than we usually notice. I believe this fascination becomes rarer as we get older and as we experience more things because as we get older, less and less becomes new so whenever I finally get this feeling from time to time I get so much satisfaction and gratitude towards this opportunity that I get to have to experience these things. I often compare this feeling to the common saying "I feel like I am 5 years old again" because it was in our youth when we experienced the most wonder in our lives. Kaag also talks about James’s fascination with Walt Whitman, who was known for finding meaning in the most everyday stuff, even on a dirty Brooklyn ferry, embodied what James called the “healthy mind”: someone who can find significance in the plain and everyday.
For James, those little flashes of wonder are moments where the world feels bigger than your own worries. This momentary shift in perspective can temporarily dissolve the ego and open up a sense of hope and connection. This often happens whenever I go to a new country I have never been before or see a band that I have wanted to see for a while, its those new experiences that have made me realize how lucky I am to be alive and how valuable these experiences are.
James wasn’t always all sunshine and he battled depression most of his life. So when James talks about “healthy-mindedness,” he’s not describing people who refuse to look at the dark parts of life, he’s describing people who know the darkness is there but make a conscious choice to keep living anyway. I believe everyone needs to not fully experience but at least see the dark parts of life. I had a great childhood and an amazing life up until now so all of the so called "dark" parts of life I have experienced and seen whenever I travel to a more poor country. My parents are Brazilian so every time we visit family over there I always see the extreme poverty that countless people are living through. I believe these experiences also create meaning in your life and make you want to live since you have been through or seen the dark parts of life and you gain this deeper appreciation for your life since you have seen the dark parts.
The chapter ends with Kaag watching the sunset near the Statue of Liberty, trying to feel what James hoped everyone could feel now and then: not certainty, but a calm and grateful awareness that the world still holds possibilities. That there’s still something left to live for. That life is worth living because its value is not fixed, it’s something you help create. My discussion question for my presentation was "Is is ok that we won't see the full impact of our choices?" I personally am fine with not seeing the full extent of my choices. I feel like if we did it would make our time here less valuable because of the fact that we would be able to see how our choices impacted others. That fact makes me want to live the best life I can and make the best choices so when I am not around, I won't have to worry about what I left behind I can focus on moving forward onto the next step of our existence.
"William James’s lifelong struggle with despair" - I'd say his struggle with despair ended when he discovered Renouvier's definition of free will, in his 20s. What persisted was an occasional struggle with what we'd call sadness or mild depression, which he dealt with effectively in various ways (including strenuous physical activity and a keen interest in the varieties of human experience).
ReplyDeleteGlad you found that Norris Frederick essay, I met him at a conference once. Nice man, good scholar.
Good point about the instructive contrast between darkness and healthy-mindedness.
Not seeing all the rippling consequences of our choices, seems to me, should encourage us to feel a little more invested in, and concerned for, the human prospect in the NATURAL afterlife on earth.