I remember there was some discussion on the origins of the term 'elan vital', either here or on a previous forum, some time ago, when I was reading but not posting.  As far as I am aware, the term was coined by the French philosopher/literary type, Henri Bergson (1859-1941).  Bergson won the Nobel prize for literature in 1927. His theory of 'elan vital', a spirit of energy and life which moves all things, expressed the antirationalist and mystical approach to understanding that underpinned his faith in direct intuition as a means of attaining knowledge.  As Jonti points out, this belief in an 'essential' reality has long been unfashionable.  Bergson and 'elan vital', however, remain newsworthy amongst a certain community of intellectuals as a consequence of Bergson being the model for Proust's writer, Bergotte, in 'A la recherche du temps perdu'.

All of which points up, considering his boast that he has never read a book cover to cover, tpr's choice of name for his (now defunct?) organization, as displaying a degee of intimacy with the trivial concerns of the literati that can only be described as 'mystical'.  Perhaps it is pedantry to continue to flag up the obvious deficiencies of tpr's mental faculties as being a result of his failure to finish high school.  Perhaps those perceived deficiencies are in a result of omniscience.  Should an omniscient being need to graduate?  Surely not!