Author: shivam sharma

Thinking Thought

In 1869, a 27-year-old man, who had just graduated as a doctor of medicine from Harvard, was going through a “crisis of meaning.” This was not the first time he dealt with adversity. Throughout his six years in medical school, his education was interrupted by different illnesses and bouts of depression. But this time, it was worse. He even contemplated suicide for months. The young man’s name was William James, who later became the leading psychologist in America and one of the founders of the philosophical school of pragmatism. It took James three years to overcome depression. Something he did by himself. To be clear, James wasn’t just feeling down. John McDermott, editor of The Writings of William James, wrote about the severity of his mental state: “James spent a good part of life rationalizing his decision not to commit suicide.” During this time, James also had panic attacks and hallucinations. This wasn’t new to him. His father faced the same agonizing things, years before him. This feat made James believe that his condition was biological, and therefore something he couldn’t overcome. But in 1870, James made a psychological breakthrough after reading an essay by Charles Renouvier, a French philosopher. In his journal, he wrote: “I think that yesterday was a crisis in my life. I finished the first part of Renouvier’s second Essais and see no reason why his definition of free will — ‘the sustaining of a thought because I choose to when I might have other thoughts’ — need be the definition of an illusion. At any rate, I will assume for the present — until next year — that it is no illusion. My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will.” This realization is at the core of pragmatism, the school of philosophy that James and Charles Sanders Peirce founded, years later. James realized that we have the ability to choose one thought over the other. In other words, we can control what we think. However, James doesn’t say we can control our consciousness. When we sit down and observe our thoughts for a few minutes, we will notice that a lot of things flow through our mind. The thoughts are just “there.” Nothing we can change about that. But since we have free will, we can decide which thoughts we focus on. Hence, we can influence the direction of consciousness. This realization is critical to the way we live. It’s the difference between “I can’t help but feel this way” and “I feel this way because I decided to feel this way.” The emphasis is on deciding. And that’s what this book is about: With practice, you can get better at controlling your thoughts, so you can decide what you think. And with better control over our thoughts, we can improve the quality of our lives and the out outcome of our careers. That’s my proposition in this book. You have the ability to decide what you think. And since the result of your life depends on your thoughts, I think it’s the most important thing in life. When we improve the way we think, nothing is impossible to achieve. That simple realization changes everything. Many great thinkers have written about the importance of thoughts. But William James’ godfather, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who also inspired James a great deal, put it most simply: “You become what you think about all day long.” I believe that’s true. But we must realize that actions follow thoughts. That means you can’t change your actions without changing your thoughts. Let’s start!