The Call Of The Wild...

Refinement is what characterizes our intellectual philosophies. They exquisitely satisfy that craving for a refined object of contemplation, which is so powerful an appetite of the mind. But I ask you in all seriousness to look abroad on this colossal universe of concrete facts, on their awful bewilderments, their surprises and cruelties, on the wildness, which they show, and then tell me whether refined is the one inevitable descriptive adjective that springs to your lips.

 A philosophy that breathes out nothing but refinement will never satisfy the empiricist temper of mind. It will seem rather a monument of artificiality. So we find men of science preferring to turn their backs on metaphysics as on something altogether cloistered and spectral, and practical men shaking philosophy's dust off their feet and following the call of the wild.

William James born in 1842 was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher trained as a medical doctor. His statement above came from a lecture he gave at Columbia University in 1906. It's rather amazing to see that after one hundred years science for the most part, still considers refinement as the sole road to awareness and fact. It discards knowledge that is prevalent through self-discovery and inner guidance. Scientific principles take precedence over practical experiences of individuals and groups of people who live the act of being human now.

Certainly I would be foolish to discard the refined approach completely in observing the world I find myself experiencing. I believe the time has come to integrate as many probabilities as possible to define what physical life consists of naturally; my nature is more than scientific refinement, it is spiritual manifestation.

Science describes who I am in limited terms. Those terms create a system that treats a portion of the self, which is not my complete system of expression. I find my self in a world of separation and I live filled with fear and anxiety. They follow me then capture me. I put my self in the cell called ego, where a fragment of me accepts refinement as gospel truth.

The collective consciousness is under construction. There are road signs posted to direct me to the now age of awareness. James talked about it and experienced it in his life by believing it was the path to unity. Metaphysics is no longer the stepchild of refinement. It is a link to another aspect of my humanity. Accepting the wild as well as the refined, I can sense other parts of me. I allow my self, through my choices, to experience life in human form, and also express my self as consciousness without form.

Philosophical pragmatism is changing in theory. There is truth in all thoughts perceived by the thinker. The unity of consciousness is expressed in diversity. The source of refinement is ego-motivated separation. The essence of humanity is metaphysical awareness and physical experience united in a web of consciousness that is the foundation for all three-dimensional manifestations.

As James points out I am dusting off my thoughts and the call of the wild is not that wild anymore.