Personally “The Stream of Consciousness” told us clearly that our feelings and emotions changed the way we perceive things. The images above I believe help give some visual representation of what William James’s might’ve meant. Both images show what is going on in the heads of two different people. These two people could be looking at the same thing, and perceive completely differently. The first image shows a mass amount of pictures and words jumbled together, all coming from the single brain of a person, shown in the bottom middle. It also shows more darkness, confusion and a continuous, non-stop flow. The second image also helps understand James’s idea but in a different manner. The seconds shows confusion as well but holds a clear, clutter of images, with more detail. The comparison of these two images can help illustrate the thoughts of two people, both going through life. Their feelings alter their perception of situations and objects therefore leading them to have completely different beliefs, thoughts, and images in their heads.
Both images can also accurately represent James’s idea that consciousness is complex. Clearly the two drawings show different interpretations of one’s thoughts, ideas and feelings. However what they do not represent is the idea the consciousness is better thought of as a stream. The idea that consciousness is best perceived as a stream suggests change and a difference in one’s view of the world. Although the first suggests the idea of continuity with its never-ending images that seem to be connected by a single line, there’s no way of telling if there is change. We are only given the feelings and thoughts of the people now, at that moment. We can assume that their emotions will change as they go through life but again there’s no single suggestion that indicates such development.