On Vital Reserves PDF Download

An essay by William James "On Vital Reserves" furnishes a welcome opportunity to possess a work of speculative originality that at least is strongly suggestive of the occult philosophy. Professor James draws our attention to certain underlying reserves of force, a sort of "second wind," that often become available after a definite fatigue point has been passed and that may even be followed by a third and fourth "wind." With the majority of men these reserves never show themselves. Most of us live far below our possibilities. We allow the fatigue point to be the frontier of our energies. We know nothing of our maximum unless some emergency shall call it forth, but without that spur it remains unsuspected. And so the author asks what are actually the limits of human faculty and how may we learn to reach them?The first point to agree upon in this enterprise is that as a rule men habitually use only a small pari of the powers which they actually possess and which they might use under appropriate conditions.These reserves of force are usually called forth by abnormal conditions, and then all the ordinary laws of health seem to be in abeyance. The new energies have rules of their own and will produce a veritable revolution in the habits of the bodily organism. - Professor James reminds us of the case of Colonel Baird-Smith, who defended Delhi during a six weeks' siege. In spite of many terrible wounds and a debilitating sickness he sustained life on an almost exclusive diet of alcohol and opium-the only things for which he craved. Not only had these drugs none of their usual effect, and "the excitement of the work was so great that no lesser one seemed to have any chance against it. and I certainly never found my intellect clearer or my nerves stronger in my life." But as soon as the emergency was over "a perfect loathing of my late staff of life took possession of me".--Theosophical Outlook, Volume 2