“There has only really been teaching when there has been learning. The anthropological correlate to teaching is learning. The anthropological correlate to revelation is discovery.”
What James has to say here is extremely profound, and your reaction to it is so true. And I think it is a struggle for us all, where we have to truly link out heads to our hearts, which we have not really been encouraged to do over such a long time. WE have been taught to “keep the rules” and in so doing we will become “good”. This is why the inner resource of contemplation is such a vital tool.
However I am intrigued by your quotation “or it is an an achievement, especially in a mass society that speaks an idiom of individualism and thereby obscures the genuine article.” How do you see individualism? What exactly is the genuine article?