The Varieties of Religious Experience/ a study in human nature James, William

THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
BY WILLIAM JAMES
Lecture I Religion and Neurology
Introduction: the course is not anthropological, but deals
with personal documents. Questions of fact and questions of
value. In point of fact, the religious are often neurotic.
Criticism of medical materialism, which condemns religion
on that account. Theory that religion has a sexual origin
refuted. All states of mind are neurally conditioned. Their
significance must be tested not by their origin but by the
value of their fruits. Three criteria of value; origin useless as a
criterion. Advantages of the psychopathic temperament
when a superior intellect goes with it; especially for the
religious life.
Lecture II Circumscription of the Topic
Futility of simple definitions of religion. No one specific
"religious sentiment". Institutional and personal religion.
We confine ourselves to the personal branch. Definition of
religion for the purpose of these lectures. Meaning of the
term "divine". The divine is what prompts solemn reactions.
Impossible to make our definitions sharp. We must study the
more extreme cases. Two ways of accepting the universe.
Religion is more enthusiastic than philosophy. Its
characteristic is enthusiasm in solemn emotion. Its ability to
overcome unhappiness. Need of such a faculty from the
biological point of view.
Lecture 111 The Reality of the Unseen
Percepts versus abstract concepts. Influence of the latter on
belief. Kant's theological Ideas. We have a sense of reality
other than that given by the special senses. Examples of
"sense of presence". The feeling of unreality. Sense of a
divine presence: examples. Mystical experiences: examples.
Other cases of sense of God's presence. Convincingness of
unreasoned experience. Inferiority of rationalism in
establishing belief. Either enthusiasm or solemnity may
preponderate In the religious attitude of individuals.
Lectures IV and V The Religion of Heaithy-mindedness
Happiness is man's chief concern. "Once-born and twiceborn"
characters. Walt Whitman. Mixed nature of Greek
feeling. Systematic heaithy-mindedness. Its reasonableness.
Liberal Christianity shows it. Optimism as encouraged by
Popular Science. The "Mind-cure" movement. Its creed.
Cases. Its doctrine of evil. Its analogy to Lutheran theology.
Salvation by relaxation. Its methods: suggestion: meditation,
"recollection"; verification. Diversity of possible schemes of
adaptation to the universe. Appen dix: Two mind-cure cases.
Lecture VI and VII The Sick Soul
Heaithy-mindedness and repentance. Essential pluralism of
the healthy-minded philosophy. Morbid-mindedness — its
two degrees. The pain-threshold varies in individuals.
Insecurity of natural goods. Failure, or vain success of every
life. Pessimism of all pure naturalism. Hopelessness of Greek
and Roman view. Pathological unhappiness. "Anhedonia".
Querulous melancholy. Vital zest is a pure gift. Loss of it
makes physical world look different. Tolstoy. Bunyan. Alline.
Morbid fear. Such cases need a supernatural religion for
relief. Antagonism of healthy-mindedness and morbidness.
The problem of evil cannot be escaped.
Lecture VIII The Divided Self, and the Process of its Unification
Heterogeneous personality. Character gradually attains unity.
Examples of divided self. The unity attained need not be
religious. "Counter conversion" cases. Other cases. Gradual
and sudden unification. Tolstoy's recovery. Bunyan's.
Lecture IX Conversion
Case of Stephen Bradley. The psychology of characterchanges.
Emotional excitements make new centers of
personal energy. Schematic ways of representing this.
Starbuck likens conversion to normal moral ripening.
Leuba's ideas. Seemingly unconvertible persons. Two
types of conversion. Subconscious incubation of
motives. Self-surrender. Its importance in religious history.
Cases.
Lecture X Conversion — concluded
Cases of sudden conversion. Is suddenness essential?. No, it
depends on psychological idiosyncrasy. Proved existence of
transmarginal, or subliminal, consciousness.
"Automatisms". Instantaneous conversions seem due to the
possession of an active subconscious self by the subject. The
value of conversion depends not on the process, but on the
fruits. These are not superior in sudden conversion.
Professor Coe's views. Sanctification as a result. Our
psychological account does not exclude direct presence of
the Deity. Sense of higher control. Relations of the emotional
"faith-state" to intellectual beliefs. Leuba quoted.
Characteristics of the faith-state: sense of truth; the world
appears new. Sensory and motor automatisms. Permanency
of conversions.
Lectures XI, XII, and XIII Saintliness
Sainte-Beuve on the State of Grace. Types of character as due
to the balance of impulses and inhibitions. Sovereign
excitements. Irascibility. Effects of higher excitement in
general. The saintly life is ruled by spiritual excitement. This
may annul sensual impulses permanently. Probable
subconscious influences involved. Mechanical scheme for
representing permanent alteration in character.
Characteristics of saintliness. Sense of reality of a higher
power. Peace of mind, charity. Equanimity, fortitude, etc.
Connection of this with relaxation. Purity of life. Asceticism.
Obedience. Poverty. The sentiments of democracy and of
humanity. General effects of higher excitements.
Lectures XIV and XV The Value of Saintliness
It must be tested by the human value of its fruits. The reality
of the God must, however, also be judged. "Unfit" religions
get eliminated by "experience". Empiricism is not
skepticism. Individual and tribal religion. Loneliness of
religious originators. Corruption follows success.
Extravagances. Excessive devoutness, as fanaticism; as
theopathic absorption. Excessive purity. Excessive charity.
The perfect man is adapted only to the perfect environment.
Saints are leavens. Excesses of asceticism. Asceticism
symbolically stands for the heroic life. Militarism and
voluntary poverty as possible equivalents. Pros and cons of the
saintly character. Saints i^ersus "strong" men. Their social
function must be considered. Abstractly the saint is the
highest type, but in the present environment it may fail, so we
make ourselves saints at our peril. The question of
theological truth.
Lectures XVI and XVII Mysticism
Mysticism defined. Four marks of mystic states. They form a
distinct region of consciousness. Examples of their lower
grades. Mysticism and alcohol. "The anaesthetic revelation".
Religious mysticism. Aspects of Nature. Consciousness of
God. "Cosmic consciousness". Yoga. Buddhistic mysticism.
Sufism. Christian mystics. Their sense of revelation. Tonic
effects of mystic states. They describe by negatives. Sense of
union with the Absolute. Mysticism and music. Three
conclusions (i) Mystical states carry authority for him who
has them. (2) But for no one else. (3) Nevertheless, they
break down the exclusive authority of rationalistic states.
They strengthen monistic and optimistic hypotheses
Lectures XVIll Philosophy
Primacy of feeling in religion, philosophy being a secondary
function. Intellectualism professes to escape subjective
standards in her theological constructions. "Dogmatic
theology". Criticism of its account of God's attributes.
"Pragmatism" as a test of the value of conceptions. God's
metaphysical attributes have no practical significance. His
moral attributes are proved by bad arguments; collapse of
systematic theology. Does transcendental idealism fare
better? Its principles Quotations from john Caird. They are
good as restatements of religious experience, but uncoercive
as reasoned proof. What philosophy can do for religion by
transforming herself into "science of religions".
Lecture XIX Other Characteristics
/Esthetic elements in religion. Contrast of Catholicism and
Protestantism. Sacrifice and Confession. Prayer. Religion
holds that spiritual work is really effected in prayer. Three
degrees of opinion as to what is effected. First degree.
Second degree. Third degree. Automatisms, their frequency
among religious leaders, jewish cases. Mohammed. Joseph
Smith. Religion and the subconscious region in general.
Lecture XX Conclusions
Summary of religious characteristics. Men's religions need
not be identical. "The science of religions" can only suggest,
not proclaim, a religious creed. Is religion a "survival" of
primitive thought?. Modern science rules out the concept of
personality. Anthropomorphism and belief in the personal
characterized pre-scientific thought. Personal forces are real,
in spite of this. Scientific objects are abstractions, only
individualized experiences are concrete. Religion holds by the
concrete. Primarily religion is a biological reaction. Its
simplest terms are an uneasiness and a deliverance;
description of the deliverance. Question of the reality of the
higher power. The author's hypotheses: i. The subconscious
self as intermediating between nature and the higher region;
2. The higher region, or "God"; 3. He produces real effects in nature.
Postscript
Philosophic position of the present work defined as
piecemeal supernaturalism. Criticism of universalistic
supernaturalism. Different principles must occasion
differences in fact. What differences in fact can Cod's
existence occasion?. The question of immortality. Question
of God s uniqueness and infinity: religious experience does
not settle this question in the affirmative. The pluralistic
hypothesis is more conformed to common sense.