Optimism: The Lesson of Ages (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Benjamin Paul Blood

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1330140079 ISBN 13: 9781330140079

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2019

Synopsis

In Optimism Benjamin Paul Blood wrote probably his greatest philosphical work. First published in 1860 this book describes how to attain peace of mind through spirituality, in this case a thoroughly American deist spirituality, rooted in Christianity and highly sophisticated.

The language used is difficult by modern standards, but at times poetic and capable of lifting the reader out of their own world and into Blood's. As he grapples with religious doctrine the intelligence of the author shines through and he is sure to surprise you with some of the conclusions he draws.

About the Publisher

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

About this title

About the Author

Benjamin Paul Blood (1832-1919) is perhaps best known as a formative mystical influence on William James. The son of a wealthy landowner, Blood lived in Amsterdam, NY. While not committed to any one profession, he had an early interest in inventing and held patents for a reaping machine and a reinforced side saddle. His writing became a constant through his adult life, the bulk of which was in the form of letters and columns for a variety of newspapers in an era when the discourse was much like today’s blogs. Through the newspapers, Blood was able to bring his philosophical ideas to a churchgoing public that he considered largely immoral.Although initially receiving a lukewarm response, Blood’s most influential work, especially on William James, was the Anaesthetic Revolution and the Gist of Philosophy (1874), a 37-page pamphlet expounding on the mystical revelations prompted by the taking of ether.

From the Back Cover

“He is in the light of the eye, and in the object that it shines on. He is not a curiosity, a member of a species, or a thing to be represented by any device. He is the One—the original—the all in all.” Benjamin Paul Blood’s Optimism (1860) is a testament to the idea that spiritual experience must precede religious knowledge. Impassioned by his own mystical experiences, Blood spells out an eternal nondual philosophy in a distinctly American voice that helped shape the work of William James (Varieties of Religious Experiences) and the 19th-century religious philosophers. In Optimism, we find a timeless, practical guide to faith and acceptance of whatever life delivers.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1330140079
• ISBN 13: 9781330140079
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 136