IN 1890, the American psychologist William James famously likened our conscious experience to the flow of a stream. "A 'river' or a 'stream' are the metaphors by which it is most naturally described," he wrote. "In talking of it hereafter, let's call it the stream of thought, consciousness, or subjective life."
While there is no disputing the aptness of this metaphor in capturing our subjective experience of the world, recent research has shown that the "stream" of consciousness is, in fact, an illusion. We actually perceive the world in rhythmic pulses rather than as a continuous flow…
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Professor Hocking's "West Wind"--
William Ernest Hocking (1873-1966)
Hocking's Gifford Lectures, 1938-9... A Hocking Reader...
The Meaning of God in Human Experience: a philosophic study of religion (1912)
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John Kaag's website... Kaag on twitter... Kaag on Thoreau, with Nigel Warburton (podcast, iTunes)... The Philosopher and the Thief (Atlantic)... How a Philosophy Professor Found Love in a Hidden Library-"a spirited lover’s quarrel with the individualism and solipsism in our national thought" (nyt)... A Neglected Library Leads to Love (npr)...
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