THE RELIGION OF HEALTHY-MINDEDNESS
ASSIGNMENT ONE
As a religion major, I have always found myself in a position of learning religious experiences such as optimism and pessimism. Despite the fact that pessimism is also part and parcel of life, I have always put a lot of emphasis on the complex optimism because it is something I work hard to earn. I am not in the category of the simple optimistic people who don't struggle to achieve optimism because they are naturally endowed with it. As William James says in the religion of Healthy-Mindedness, "In some individuals optimism may become quasi-pathological. The capacity for even a transient sadness or a momentary humility seems cut off from them as by a land of congenital anesthesia" (pg. 4). This view of James is what those who are naturally endowed with optimism are undergoing.
On the other hand, my attention and life, in general, have been greatly focused on complex religious optimism because I believe in struggling to achieve a conscious state in the health of mind. This struggle has always made me close my eyes from all the evil which are in the world despite how they seem to be. This is in line with the assertion of James William which says "To the man actively happy, from whatever cause, evil simply cannot then and there be believed in. He must ignore it; and to the bystander he may then seem perversely to shut his eyes to it and hush it up" (Pg.8). Therefore, having subscribed to complex religious optimism, I have never cast any belief on evil. Despite the fact that I know of its existence, I don't believe in its effects on the choices I make. I had always been a believer in the ministration of evil in my affairs in particular and that of people in general but my perception has changed of late since I got a practical religious experience. The essay of James shaped my perception and belief to the extent that I realized the necessity of the struggle for optimism and religious uprightness.
Again, I have embraced the system of mind-cure because it has brought a significant restoration in my life. Sicknesses had overwhelmed me in the time past but mind cure made me get a rapid recovery from such mental torture. On the same note, the system of the mind-cure has taught me to expel any thought of fear from my life despite the prevailing conditions. Mind-cure has also connected me with the spirit of renewal hence my heart is continually yearning and struggling towards the realization of complex optimism. In line with my experience, William James says, "In just the degree in which you realize your oneness with the Infinite Spirit, you will exchange dis-ease for ease, inharmony for harmony, suffering and pain for abounding health and strength" (Pg.17). Yes, that is the encounter I have undergone in the path of complex optimism.
Since I subscribed to the mind cure system and movement, I have never doubted its effectiveness and relevance in combating the diseases of nervous system. Being a religious sys...
