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b'On today\\u2019s episode of The Addicted Mind Podcast, Duane talks with Paul Schulte, the author of We Agnostics: How William James, Father of American Psychology, Advanced A Spiritual Solution to Addiction: How a Venerated Harvard Doctor Inspired the 12 Step Movement.\\xa0\\nPaul is going to talk about Williams James\'s philosophy, what he brought to addiction treatment and addiction care, and how his work strongly influenced the work of Bill Wilson, founder of the 12-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous.\\nHe talks about how William James was able to articulate the theme he saw in human change \\u2013 something that has been talked about in religious circles and spirituality for over 3,000 years. It\\u2019s the theme of a person who is lost, feels broken, and ultimately is able to find serenity and calmness.\\xa0\\nWith a degree in drug and alcohol addiction counseling, Paul did an internship at the UCLA School of Medicine. There, he was drawn into what was going on with the different types of treatment and the influences of the 12-step movement.\\xa0\\nHe came across William James\\u2019 Book, The Varieties of Religious Experience, which has had a tremendous influence on American life. Paul very much resonated with William\\u2019s experiences, how he had developed all of his ideas about the unconscious, and where these urges to suddenly stop what seems like a chronic behavior comes from in humans.\\nWilliam questions what causes these transformations in humans. Way before Freud developed his idea of the subconscious, William was one of the early pioneers of the subconscious and the desire to move towards a new form of regeneration of the human spirit coming from the subconscious.\\nIn this episode, you will hear:\\n\\nHow Paul resonated with William James\\n\\nThe universality of the human condition\\n\\nThe 3 marks of the soul-sick\\n\\nThe two-fold mark of a spiritual experience\\n\\nWhy William James says we are all agnostic\\n\\nHow Bill W. adopted the idea of William James\\n\\nBeautiful analogies in William\\u2019s book that describes the human experience and its similarities to the 12-step movement\\n\\nDealing with chaotic emotions and purging fear\\xa0\\n\\nNot excusing the behavior but forgiving it\\n\\nThe sense of regeneration\\n\\nKey Quotes:\\n[06:19] - \\u201cWilliam James was on to something about the obsession of the mind. But certainly, the spiritual element of trying to get cleaned up. That was a very big quantum leap in the understanding of addiction.\\u201d\\n[10:09] - \\u201cI had this thing in me, this weird soul-sickness in the way before I picked up my first drink."\\n[14:20] - \\u201cThat feeling of self-loathing, and alienation and fear, which are basically the three marks of that soul sick.\\u201d\\n[14:39] - \\u201cThe mark of a spiritual experience is twofold. One, life gets bigger. And number two, we feel like we belong and that there\'s a union with other people.\\u201d\\n[23:26] - \\u201cWe\'re not falling apart, when we think we\'re falling apart, we\'re actually falling together.\\u201d\\n[27:05] - \\u201cIt\'s from this sense of destitution, that we rebuild ourselves, and when all the shams and all the lies of dishonesty are peeled away."\\n[30:50] - "We don\'t go around excusing behavior. We forgive the behavior."\\n[33:57] - \\u201cThe fundamental point of helping others is self-forgetfulness, and the more that we engage in self-forgetfulness, the better off we are going to be because we get away from that oppressive ego, which wants to reassert itself.\\u201d\\nIf you really enjoyed this episode, we\\u2019ve created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at www.theaddictedmind.com\\xa0to download it.\\nSupporting Resources:\\nWe Agnostics: How William James, Father of American Psychology, Advanced A Spiritual Solution to Addiction: How a Venerated Harvard Doctor Inspired the 12 Step Movement\\nThe Varieties Of Religious Experience: A Study In Human Nature\\nThe Big Book\\nEpisode Credits\\nIf you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.\\nFind out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'