The man in this picture in on a quest for everlasting knowledge. He is going through thoughts and ideas that the unfocused and untrained mind cannot comprehend. In the picture, you can see that he is thinking of many things at once which requires intense concentration. William James describes the stream of consciousness as a concept in which the person is in a state in which he/she is able to experience the ”analytic method”. ” The analytic method will discover in due time the elementary parts, if such exist, without danger of precipitate assumption.” To me this picture shows what the person is undergoing in during a stream of consciousness. They are constantly searching for greater knowledge and purpose and their search never reaches an end, only rest stops. The person is more focused and is able to ”analyze” simple rudimentary elementary parts to form a greater complex picture.
Syed Hannan