[MD] a William James' quote

[MarshaV]

"The aggregate of dispositions is of crucial importance, for it is this aggregate 
which, more than any of the other four, flavors the character of the whole bundle. 
In terms of the human individual, dispositions are most directly responsible for 
giving shape and uniqueness to the personality. The importance of this aggregate 
and the frequency of Nagarjuna’s reference to it warrants further elucidation of its 
nature. The first three ag- gregates provide for the material world, sensations of it, 
and the resultant cognizing of sensation called perception. For example, the first 
aggregate may be an object, the second aggregate senses the light reflecting from 
the object and reports the frequency of the light, and the third aggregate identifies 
that frequency as “blue.” The fourth aggregate is a mix of at- titudes, habits, 
emotions, passions, and thoughts which cause the person to react to this perception, 
e.g. “I like blue.”

This is also the place where, if one is not careful, such preferences and attitudes 
can lead to grasping. These dispositions are what turn an otherwise passive 
receiver of perceptions into a conceptualizing and act- ing individual. These 
four all provide first an awareness of the external world and then reactions to it. 
The fifth and final aggregate, conscious- ness, is not a sort of higher result arising 
from the first four, for the inter- nal mental life is found in the fourth aggregate. 
Rather, consciousness is a term for the all-pervading awareness which makes 
possible sensations, perceptions, and dispositions.

A quote from the philosopher William James, while written in reference to a 
different tradition, is nonetheless one of the clearest and most cogent expressions 
of the function and importance of the dispositions this author has yet found.

    “Conceive yourself, if possible, suddenly stripped of all the 
      emotion with which your world now inspires you, and try 
      to imagine it as it exists, purely by itself, without your favorable 
      or unfavorable, hope- ful or apprehensive comment. It will be 
      almost impossible for you to realize such a condition of 
      negativity and deadness. No one portion of the universe would	
      then have any importance beyond another; and the whole 
      collection	of its things and series of its events would be without 
      significance, character, expression, or perspective.” 


The dispositions are thus vital if the person is to act in and react to the world, and 
action and reaction are themselves vital if one is to follow the Eightfold Path. On 
the other hand, the dispositions can also be the chief cause of grasping and will 
bind one to the cycle of suffering if one is not careful. It is dispositions which constitute 
preferences, but it is these preferences which can easily become passionate attractions 
and aversions. As Kalupahana puts it, “we are, therefore, in a double-bind.” We need 
the dispositions in order to live, but they can also contribute most to our suffering.  The 
key is to use dispositional preferences without being used by them. Nagarjuna’s section 
here offers explanations and guidance about how one is to do this."
 
    (Winters, Jonah,'Thinking in Buddhism: Nagarjuna’s Middle Way', pp.53-54)
 
 
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