William James (1842-1910)

Adoro a William James. Releo cada poco su legendario "Varieties of Religious Experiences" en una versión de bolsillo bien manejable y baratita. "Born in New York City in 1842, William James was a child of privilege and by all odds should have become a playboy or, at best, a dilettante". Pero su mente superó la sombra de padre y hermano (Henry James Sr. & Jr.). Genial, genuino. Mi amiguito murió tras una vida movida, viajera y prolífica como filosofo, psicólogo y pensador, en 1910. Died in Chocorua, New Hampshire, August 26, at the age of 68. Click en esta web, que es la bomba.

William James en Brasil en 1865

"It has sometimes crossed my mind that James wanted to be a poet and an artist, and that there lay in him, beneath the ocean of metaphysics, a lost Atlantis of fine arts: and that he really hated philosophy and all its works, and pursued them only as Hercules might spin or as a prince in a fairy tale sorts seeds for an evil dragon, or as anyone might patiently do some careful work for which he had no aptitude."

James en NYC, 1888

"Genius is nothing but a power of sustained attention but... the sustained attention of the genius, sticking to the subject for hours together, is for the most part of the passive sort".

"There is nothing so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task."

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