"I can stand it no longer"

William James died on August 30, 1910, in his Chocorua, New Hampshire summer home. Simon Critchley provides details in the surprisingly uplifting Book of Dead Philosophers. But far more impressive than how he died was how he thought about dying.

Shortly before his own looming extinction, James responded to Henry Adams' dark musings about the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the "heat death of the universe" and so on:

"Though the ULTIMATE state of the universe may be its . . . extinction, there is nothing in physics to interfere with the hypothesis that the PENULTIMATE state might be . . . a happy and virtuous consciousness. . . . In short, the last expiring pulsation of the universe's life might be, "I am so happy and perfect that I can stand it no longer."

Way to go, Billy. Like Woody Allen's "Dr. Flicker," James understood that the universe won't be expiring for billions of years yet, and "we've got to enjoy ourselves while we're here."

And, we must understand that "we" doesn't just mean me.