…a lot of trouble understanding you know I couldn't quite grok that until one of his talks he mentioned I think it was William James said how when an infant is born it's laying there in the crib and she's seeing a blooming, buzzing confusion. You know…

…about in your own life, a change in you now that actually is something that you have control over. You know, as William James once said, you can actually change your life by simply changing your attitude. But I've learned that what old William didn't…

…is short term memory plus attention. This is the new buzzword, short term memory plus attention. Actually, Henry James or William James said this first, but it's just been brought forward. And if you think about it, that's a pretty good working…

…that's what it does. Boundaries are creations of culture. Remember the child lying underneath the spinning things in its crib? William James, great psychologist of the turn of the century, said, we are born into a bloomingde, buzzing confusion. That's what.…

…of how they turned on intelligently to pursue the philosophic quest. My favorite Harvard intellectual is a man named William James, who actually founded the psychology department there. He's considered to be the father of american psychology. At the age…

…department there. He's considered to be the father of american psychology. At the age of 13, according to his brother Henry's memoirs, William James was in France. Now talk about teenage punks. At the age of 13, William James, coming from one of our top…

…according to his brother Henry's memoirs, William James was in France. Now talk about teenage punks. At the age of 13, William James, coming from one of our top Brownman Boston families, was experimenting with all sorts of curious and strange brain drugs…

…all tied together. And if you untied it, it completely deflated. And you were left staring into something analogous to William James description of an infant's world. You were left staring into a blooming, buzzing confusion. Well, you know, what is that?…

…about 19, 45, 55 years make it very little happened. Mescaline did not, though. It was taken by Havelock Ellis and William James and F. Weir Mitchell and it did not spawn a craze. It did not influence large numbers of intellectuals, particularly then…

…of consciously expressed material. The problem is we're not making good use of it. I mean, in a microcosm. I think it was William James who said, it's fine that we line our rooms with books, but if we don't read those books, we're no better off than…

…you know, put your hand on the radio? I mean, this is not a scientific paradigm in action. This is pure voodoo. It was William James who said, if we don't read the books with which we line our apartments, we are no better than our cats, some dogs.…

…and so forth and so on. And the task is to hold it in your mind. I think it was James, I think it was William James who said, if we don't read the books with which we carefully line our apartments, then we're no better than our dogs and cats. And…

…It cannot help but do this. It does it in the following manner. A child born into what the psychologist William James called a blooming, buzzing confusion. A child born into the blooming, buzzing confusion attempts to isolate complexes of activity, complexes…

…It cannot help but do this. It does it in the following manner. A child born into what the psychologist William James called a blooming, buzzing confusion. A child born into the blooming, buzzing confusion attempts to isolate complexes of activity, complexes…

…their construct of the mind, and replace it with something else. And then we can talk about, what is the something else William James said of the newborn infant? He said, we are born into a blooming, buzzing confusion. Which is a pretty good description…

…dissolving the boundaries of self, culture and ego. Assumption. And then what you discover is not the white light. Or what William James called a blooming, buzzing confusion. Although in the first few minutes, it can be like that. But what you really…

…about 19, 45, 55 years make it very little happened. Mescaline did nothing, though. It was taken by Havelock Ellis and William James and F. Weir Mitchell. And it did not spawn a craze. It did not influence large numbers of intellectuals, particularly then…

…to dissolve belief systems, and they do this very well. And then they leave you with the raw datum of experience, what William James called in talking of infants, a blooming, buzzing confusion is what they leave you with, the raw datum of experience. And…

…got, where we're at, that will eventually turn the tide for us. For me, that means continuing these podcasts at all costs. As William James pointed out, you can change your life simply by changing your attitude, and you do that one thought at a time. So…

…As the scientific study of behavior, experience, and intentionality, humanistic psychology has assisted in the rediscovery of what William James called the stream of consciousness as a proper area of investigation. The groundwork was prepared for the advent…

…the inevitable disappointment, the reformulation of the fetish, so forth and so on. This is what occupies us. You know, it was William James, I think, who said, if we don't read the books with which we line our apartments, then we are no better than…

…all tied together. And if you untied it, it completely deflated. And you were left staring into something analogous to William James description of an infant's world. You were left staring into a blooming, buzzing confusion. Well, you know, what is that?…