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The Resonances of Transcendent Experience: William James’ Pragmatism and the Metaphysics of Traditionalism
It would be difficult to find philosophical teachings and worldviews more differing in their appearance and presentation than Traditionalism and American Pragmatism. While Traditionalism aspires towards higher, transcendent worlds and is deeply critical of everything modern, Pragmatism is psychological and strives to use its methods to give seekers a solid foundation in the present moment and the strength to go through difficult events. At the same time, upon properly delving into the philosophical work of William James (1842-1910), we can see striking instances of Pragmatism coinciding with Traditionalism in its interpretation of ways of living through and overcoming the most difficult spiritual crises that people face in the modern world. Drawing on the works of James, René Guénon (1886-1951), and Julius Evola (1898-1974), this article attempts to interpret the relation of these two doctrines from the perspective of their philosophical grounding of the spiritual quest and the existential way out of the “darkness of mechanicism.”
To achieve this goal, in this article we will briefly examine the main ideas of James and the Traditionalists on the standpoint of overcoming the internal crises faced by sensitive human types, compare their main approaches in terms of their similarities and differences, and then offer our own optic on the results of such a comparative analysis, which we believe to be constructive from an existential point of view — primarily in overcoming the “dark night of the soul” that every person living on Earth and capable of deep feeling faces during periods of severe life trials.