290 



ADAPTATION AND PROGRESS 



Two questions are raised in this connection, first, " What are 

 the limits of human faculty in various directions ? and second. By 

 what diversity of means, in the different t3^es of human beings, 

 may the faculties be stimulated to their best results ? " 



Granting that as a rule men habitually use only a small part of 

 the powers which they actually possess and which they might use 

 under appropriate conditions, the question arises, " To what do 

 the better men owe their escape ? and, in the fluctuations which 

 all men feel in their own degree of energizing, to what are the 

 improvements due, when they occur ? " — and he answers, 

 " Either some unusual stimulus fills them with emotional excite- 

 ment, or some unusual idea of necessity induces them to make an 

 extra effort of will. Excitements, ideas, and efforts, in a word, 

 are what carry us over the dam." 



James illustrates his theory by several historical examples and 

 points out especially the power of suggestive ideas to awaken the 

 energies of loyalty, courage, endurance or devotion. 



" Conversions," he holds, " whether they be political, scientific, 

 philosophical, or religious, form another way in which bound 

 energies are let loose. They unify us and put a stop to unscientific 

 mental interferences. The result is freedom, and often a great en- 

 largement of power. A belief that thus set tles upon an individua l 

 always acts as a challenge to his will." 



Christian Science, faith-cure and prayer are given credit for 

 being instruments for the tapping of this reservoir of energy to 

 the good of man, and he concludes: " The two questions, first 

 that of the possible extent of our powers; and second, that of the 

 various avenues of approach to them, the various keys for unlock- 

 ing them in diverse individuals, dominate the whole problem of 

 individual and national education. We need a topography of 

 „,the limits of human power, similar to the chart which oculists use 

 of the field of human vision. We need also a study of the various 

 types of human beings with reference to the different ways in 

 which their energy reserves may be appealed to and set loose. 

 Biographies and individual experiences of every kind may be 

 drawn upon for evidence here." ^ 



^ This James has done in his Varieties of Rdigious Experience, 



