Selection is the very keel on which our mental ship is built. And in this case of memory its utility is obvious. If we remembered everything, we should on most occasions be as ill off as if we remembered nothing.
Interpretation
Selection in memory is crucial for effectively navigating our thoughts and experiences.
In this quote, William James emphasizes the importance of selective memory in our mental processes. He argues that the ability to choose what to remember is fundamental to our mental well-being, as recalling everything could overwhelm us just as much as forgetting entirely. Thus, selection acts like a keel for our mental ship, guiding us through life more effectively.
In practice
In a psychology lecture, to illustrate the importance of selective memory in learning.
Many persons nowadays seem to think that any conclusion must be very scientific if the arguments in favor of it are derived from twitching of frogs' legs (especially if the frogs are decapitated) and that, on the other hand, any doctrine chiefly vouched for by the feelings of human beings (with heads on their shoulders) must be benighted and superstitious.
The man who knows governments most completely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence. Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regard an abstract conception in which these were unified as a thing more misleading than enlightening.
All the higher, more penetrating ideals are revolutionary. They present themselves far less in the guise of effects of past experience than in that of probable causes of future experience, factors to which the environment and the lessons it has so far taught us must learn to bend.
The lunatic's visions of horror are all drawn from the material of daily fact. Our civilization is founded on the shambles, and every individual existence goes out in a lonely spasm of helpless agony.
It is astonishing how many mental operations we can explain when we have once grasped the principles of association
As there is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it, so reasonable arguments, challenges to magnanimity, and appeals to sympathy or justice, are folly when we are dealing with human crocodiles and boa-constrictors.
Novelty has charms that our minds can hardly withstand.
The weak are dominated by their ego, the wise dominate their ego, and the intelligent are in a constant struggle against their ego.
...grief can derange even the strongest and most disciplined of minds.
O that men's ears should be To counsel deaf but not to flattery!
I feel so strongly that deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.
I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him. I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security... Let every man and woman know, by the whispering of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.
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