William James saw the human psyche as being awesomely complex. To start off with, he divided it into two selves:
The phenomenal self (the experienced self, the 'me' self, the self as known)
The self-thought (the I-self, the self as knower).
There is the 'ME' which is the objective, detached term that we use -- that we see -- the empirical self. And then there is the 'I' the constant flow of subjective thought that the person has about the self and which makes the person perceive the self, moment per moment, in a certain way:
'Personality implies the incessant presence of two elements, an objective person, known by a passing subjective Thought and recognized as continuing in time. Hereafter let us use the words ME and I for the empirical person and the judging Thought.' (James (1890), op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 371.)
The ME self is further divided into three different interrelated aspects of self:
the material self (I.e. anything in which we feel some sort of physical ownership towards such as our bodies, our families, our possessions),
the social self (our feelings of social relations),
The spiritual self (our feelings of our own subjectivity).
A person has many different social selves for he perceives himself in numerous ways and is, consequently, perceived by each of his acquaintances in a diversity of ways. Similarly, too, man's self-esteem is shaped by his goals and the level of actions that he sets himself out to accomplish, whilst man had disjunction from ideal self to real self - seeing himself in one abstract sort of way, whilst he may function, in actuality, as a totally different human.
James' discussion of the I-Self is philosophically complex. He points out that we form a holistic sense of self compounding the I of yesterday with the I of preceding days, and aggregating it into one whole. On the contrary, however, the I is constantly fluctuating and is made up of a series of pointillist 'I's that differ according to context. The convert, for instance, is different in the moment after the conversion to that of before. The man thinks in a different way; his reference to himself is different.
The conversion experience is one that transforms the whole man. This includes the I and the me. It, therefore, has to shape all crevices of the psyche. In regards to the ME, it has to thoroughly penetrate all spheres of the empirical life, such as man's relationship to others in all its materialistic indications (bodies, family, possessions); man's social self (I.e. The conversion experience has to shape the feeling of the many different social selves that he has); and the feelings of his spiritual self. By penetrating and influencing each of these singly, - who is made up of holistic whole -- becomes transformed and 'converted'. Man's 'I', in turn, therefore changes since one -- reciprocally -- affects the other. The 'I', namely the way man perceives himself, shapes the 'me (the objective self). In this way, an authentic "conversion" experience involves a new and special kind of relationship with the self.
Conversion, consequently, is also a penetration into the "unseen" since not only does it alter the outside appearance, namely the phenomenal self, but it also makes its way into the self-thought. We may articulate it as this: Conversion starts off from the self-thought. The man is shaken into a certain experience that impacts his inner self, his spirit, and his internal mechanisms of thinking about the world. Man is most closely in touch with this subjective 'I', this passing stream of inner self. It is this which compels him to view himself in a certain way. He knows that the empirical ME exists, but it is the 'I' that determines the way that he perceives himself and that is most immediate to him.
The 'I', however, shapes the 'Me' for the inner perception of the man causes the man, in turn, to behave in a certain way and conduct his affairs -- or his relationship to his physical phenomena -- in a certain manner. It is the 'I', to elaborate, that determines his self-esteem and the goals that he strives for, as well as it being the ' I' that determines the quality and quantity of his possessions (for instance whom he chooses to marry, if he decides to marry all; or how many kids he has -- if at all). Finally, although not conclusively, the 'I' also shapes his social contacts (a man becoming a monk, for instance, may decide to become a hermit). In this way, changes from the inside transform the outside, and the outside, in turn, reinforces the activity (or the effect of the conversion) form the inside. This is because there is a cyclical effect, which is inside (I.e. I) causing change on the empirical phenomena...
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