DAY 106 - WILLIAM JAMES AND HAPPINESS

Day 106

William James (brother of famous writer Henry James) was born in 1842.  He graduated from Medical School before becoming a prominent psychologist and philosopher at the end of the 19^th Century.  For three years after receiving his MD, James suffered ill health and depression.  He will later on describe himself during that period as having gone through a “crisis of meaning”.  

James thought that finding a meaning to our lives was essential to happiness, even if it required believing in something unverifiable.  James saw that his contemporaries were losing belief in God because of the advancement of science and he assumed that by living as if there was a higher being, no matter what the science had proven, one could lead a happier life.

James, along with Charles Sanders Peirce, is the founder of the School of Pragmatism which claims that Truth can only be found through concrete testing and verification, and not through theoretical  and intellectual analysis. For James, happiness is CREATED , not DISCOVERED.   That is why, he considers that to have a fulfilled life, we need to be active in our pursuit of happiness.  Someone who sits back and accepts life’s circumstances with passivity cannot find happiness.  He deems you need to take risks and act on possibilities that come from the inner self: “Action may not bring happiness but there is no happiness without action”.

James also believes in freewill.  He thinks that happiness is a choice.  We can choose to look at life positively, negatively or neutrally.   Although, he acknowledges that some people are born happy, he believes that those who are not, often go through a crisis that ends up bringing them to a deeper level of happiness than those who are blessed with a natural disposition.

"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human can alter his life by altering his attitude." 

"Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact."

"To change one's life: 1. Start immediately, 2. Do it flamboyantly, 3. No exceptions."

— William James

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