Be Not Afraid of Life by William James

Author:William James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2022-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

8

“The Energies of Men” (1907)

INTRODUCTION

In his Varieties of Religious Experience, James suggested that the “sick-souled” individual (who experiences the world as deadening or radically alien) can occasionally be “twice-born,” and reclaim something of the vitality of the healthy-minded. This is often described as a spiritual conversion, and in some cases it undoubtedly is, but James in his later life was interested in all forms of conversion, not only the religious sort. This interest is at the heart of “The Energies of Men,” which James first published in 1907.

At its most elementary, a conversion is the process or act of changing from one state to another. It sounds simple, but anyone who has undergone a conversion knows that this moment of transformation is among the most difficult and puzzling of life. In “The Energies of Men,” James is especially interested in cases when energies are completely spent, when we are laid low, and then, miraculously, a “second wind” carries us beyond our (often self-imposed) boundaries.

On usual occasions, we make a practice of stopping an occupation as soon as we meet the first effective layer (so to call it) of fatigue. We have then walked, played, or worked “enough,” so we desist. That amount of fatigue is an efficacious obstruction on this side of which our usual life is cast. But if an unusual necessity forces us to press onward a surprising thing occurs.

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