THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE - Pink Monkey

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James, William (1842-1910) - American psychologist, philosopher, and physiologist. The brother of Henry James. He taught at Harvard (from 1872) and wrote a number of works on psychology, theology, ethics and metaphysics. The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) - Culled from a series of lectures presented by James as Gifford Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh. He concludes that any article of religious faith that provides inspiration and emotional satisfaction is “true.”
Table Of Contents THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE . . . . . 6 A STUDY IN HUMAN NATURE . . . . . . . . . . 6 PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 LECTURE I RELIGION AND NEUROLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . 9 LECTURE II CIRCUMSCRIPTION OF THE TOPIC . . . . . . . . 39 LECTURE III THE REALITY OF THE UNSEEN . . . . . . . . . 70 LECTURES IV AND V THE RELIGION OF HEALTHY-MINDEDNESS . . . . . 102
Page 1: 1902 THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXP
Page 5 and 6: LECTURES XVI AND XVII MYSTICISM . .
Page 7 and 8: PREFACE THIS book would never have
Page 9 and 10: LECTURE I RELIGION AND NEUROLOGY IT
Page 11 and 12: If the inquiry be psychological, no
Page 13 and 14: manifestly questions of historical
Page 15 and 16: are ‘geniuses’ in the religious
Page 17 and 18: peace: and returning to the shepher
Page 19 and 20: origin would simultaneously explain
Page 21 and 22: y little starts to which the pleasu
Page 23 and 24: icising persons whose states of min
Page 25 and 26: To plead the organic causation of a
Page 27 and 28: and they do not come to every one;
Page 29 and 30: them, judgments based on our own im
Page 31 and 32: In other words, not its origin, but
Page 33 and 34: demon were its author, he could hav
Page 35 and 36: normal nervous systems. But the psy
Page 37 and 38: y refusing to consider their place
Page 39 and 40: LECTURE II CIRCUMSCRIPTION OF THE T
Page 41 and 42: only this time it comes over us at
Page 43 and 44: wear the general name. “It is a p
Page 45 and 46: We escape much controversial matter
Page 47 and 48: Such is the Emersonian religion. Th
Page 49 and 50: Such a definition as this would in
Page 51 and 52: “There are many chances that the
Page 53 and 54:
There must be something solemn, ser
Page 55 and 56:
ness, weariness and care, with the
Page 57 and 58:
sent, yet when you place the typica
Page 59 and 60:
and are living in pure submission t
Page 61 and 62:
e a pilgrim upon the earth with the
Page 63 and 64:
citement of a higher kind of emotio
Page 65 and 66:
This sort of happiness in the absol
Page 67 and 68:
the fiend’s figure being there. T
Page 69 and 70:
submitted to as an imposition of ne
Page 71 and 72:
few Christian believers to have had
Page 73 and 74:
through and through, so to speak, b
Page 75 and 76:
our last lecture we had a glimpse o
Page 77 and 78:
“I have several times within the
Page 79 and 80:
that at more than one other conjunc
Page 81 and 82:
turned on my side to go to sleep ag
Page 83 and 84:
Like all positive affections of con
Page 85 and 86:
of late years the power of communic
Page 87 and 88:
the two worlds, the inner and the o
Page 89 and 90:
above myself, I felt the presence o
Page 91 and 92:
heart bounded in recognition. I ran
Page 93 and 94:
financial difficulties, etc. That h
Page 95 and 96:
Such is the human ontological imagi
Page 97 and 98:
external inventor of ‘contrivance
Page 99 and 100:
The constitutionally sombre religio
Page 101 and 102:
accordingly that we make of religio
Page 103 and 104:
it. Such a belief ought to be true;
Page 105 and 106:
finities are rather with flowers an
Page 107 and 108:
done wrong things enough in my life
Page 109 and 110:
of congenital anaesthesia. 37 This
Page 111 and 112:
ness, antipathy, complaint, and rem
Page 113 and 114:
They do not lie awake in the dark a
Page 115 and 116:
If, then, we give the name of healt
Page 117 and 118:
the subjective sphere without zealo
Page 119 and 120:
element of Christian character. I a
Page 121 and 122:
A. None whatever. There is no agenc
Page 123 and 124:
eckoned with as a genuine religious
Page 125 and 126:
The plain fact remains that the spr
Page 127 and 128:
To come now to a little closer quar
Page 129 and 130:
day, and so on through a long list
Page 131 and 132:
Their notion of man’s higher natu
Page 133 and 134:
“The first underlying cause of al
Page 135 and 136:
things we are all so wildly seeking
Page 137 and 138:
ten days I was able to eat anything
Page 139 and 140:
from God which had grown upon the p
Page 141 and 142:
world over. Thus one gets, by one
Page 143 and 144:
ena from our notice, merely because
Page 145 and 146:
The mind-curers have given the wide
Page 147 and 148:
special miracle have at all times b
Page 150 and 151:
“The value, the potency of ideals
Page 152 and 153:
every ill? Never lose this recollec
Page 154 and 155:
ent-Soul, and an influx of life, lo
Page 156 and 157:
will practically prove you right. T
Page 158 and 159:
unto me even as thou wilt,’ and a
Page 160 and 161:
of reality, which we can thus appro
Page 162 and 163:
tion nor any mystic or religious fa
Page 164 and 165:
subtle way, directly from a healthi
Page 166 and 167:
LECTURES VI AND VII THE SICK SOUL A
Page 168 and 169:
may start the clean page with no ol
Page 170 and 171:
“When thou fallest into a fault,
Page 172 and 173:
difficulty faces us in every form o
Page 174 and 175:
a genuine religion, and no mere sil
Page 176 and 177:
sunny side of their misery-line, th
Page 178 and 179:
in the line of his achievements are
Page 180 and 181:
But this is only the first stage of
Page 182 and 183:
correlated with death, a health not
Page 184 and 185:
The early Greeks are continually he
Page 186 and 187:
mind. The Epicurean still awaits re
Page 188 and 189:
stance absolutely private and indiv
Page 190 and 191:
that way. I took no account of hell
Page 192 and 193:
sphere of experience at all. Exaspe
Page 194 and 195:
choly which led him to his own reli
Page 196 and 197:
on organic conditions. And as the e
Page 198 and 199:
At about the age of fifty, Tolstoy
Page 200 and 201:
“The oriental fable of the travel
Page 202 and 203:
learn nothing, after what I now kno
Page 204 and 205:
jective, for the purpose and meanin
Page 206 and 207:
een anything but myself! Anything b
Page 208 and 209:
procure some article that was there
Page 210 and 211:
that labor and are heavy-laden,’
Page 212 and 213:
the light of good is splendid as lo
Page 214 and 215:
tice is the only practical resource
Page 216 and 217:
truth. There are two lives, the nat
Page 218 and 219:
which the consequences may be incon
Page 220 and 221:
discrepant mutually. In the hauntin
Page 222 and 223:
and read), and opening the Bible at
Page 224 and 225:
urst their shell, and make irruptio
Page 226 and 227:
with young men or young women on pu
Page 228 and 229:
The French philosopher Jouffroy has
Page 230 and 231:
sensible. I felt the horror of the
Page 232 and 233:
tion. He had formed his resolution,
Page 234 and 235:
trollable weakness, made me so nerv
Page 236 and 237:
“’You must first get rid of ang
Page 238 and 239:
more harbor any of the thieving and
Page 240 and 241:
far as the reasoning intellect by i
Page 242 and 243:
I gave up the life of the conventio
Page 244 and 245:
Bunyan became a minister of the gos
Page 246 and 247:
These examples may suffice to acqua
Page 248 and 249:
posed in a series of layers or shel
Page 250 and 251:
“At first, I began to feel my hea
Page 252 and 253:
ment. I went directly to the shelf
Page 254 and 255:
These alternations are the complete
Page 256 and 257:
up paper. Then we have the wavering
Page 258 and 259:
ties, under the ‘unimaginable tou
Page 260 and 261:
as to these ordinary youthful conve
Page 262 and 263:
Professor Leuba, in a valuable arti
Page 264 and 265:
I made my way to the space near the
Page 266 and 267:
in conversion, and their relations
Page 268 and 269:
half an hour the lost name comes sa
Page 270 and 271:
Of the volitional type of conversio
Page 272 and 273:
damn or save!” cries John Nelson,
Page 274 and 275:
e, “Let one do all in one’s pow
Page 276 and 277:
us of its opposite. The better mind
Page 278 and 279:
nothing in heaven or earth could ma
Page 280 and 281:
complete despair, crying aloud, “
Page 282 and 283:
LECTURE X CONVERSION- Concluded IN
Page 284 and 285:
Redeemer of souls, and save me, or
Page 286 and 287:
Young Mr. Alline, after the briefes
Page 288 and 289:
shall never forget the meeting. ‘
Page 290 and 291:
temptation since conversion, God se
Page 292 and 293:
“Coming out of the cafe I met the
Page 294 and 295:
eyes to the day. He sees, but canno
Page 296 and 297:
fectively received, and Christ’s
Page 298 and 299:
“Surely it cannot be unreasonable
Page 300 and 301:
the total mental state, the entire
Page 302 and 303:
I cannot but think that the most im
Page 304 and 305:
forms it; - but in so doing he has
Page 306 and 307:
And thus I return to our own specif
Page 308 and 309:
man, partaking as he does directly
Page 310 and 311:
these spiritual grubs and earthworm
Page 312 and 313:
Does this temperamental origin dimi
Page 314 and 315:
I confess that this is the way in w
Page 316 and 317:
“God,” says Luther, “is the G
Page 318 and 319:
that I, this individual I, just as
Page 320 and 321:
preposterous; the affective stream
Page 322 and 323:
der, and to be struck with terror w
Page 324 and 325:
one final struggle to call on God f
Page 326 and 327:
Constantine’s cross in the sky. T
Page 328 and 329:
first time in all my life, did I kn
Page 330 and 331:
I at this time simply said, I Lord,
Page 332 and 333:
if these waves continue to pass ove
Page 334 and 335:
One word, before I close this lectu
Page 336 and 337:
LECTURES XI, XII, AND XIII SAINTLIN
Page 338 and 339:
Sainte-Beuve has here only the more
Page 340 and 341:
ment a royal Bengal tiger appeared
Page 342 and 343:
an inhibition as irresistibly as an
Page 344 and 345:
The difference between willing and
Page 346 and 347:
‘melting moods’ into which eith
Page 348 and 349:
that] I was in the wilderness with
Page 350 and 351:
“When I was about forty I tried t
Page 352 and 353:
They are these: 1. A feeling of bei
Page 354 and 355:
“We promise deliberate resistance
Page 356 and 357:
Since the sense of Presence of a hi
Page 358 and 359:
state of mind equally ready to be s
Page 360 and 361:
had entirely done with myself. I fe
Page 362 and 363:
eason: “That ye may be the childr
Page 364 and 365:
these are so many expressions from
Page 366 and 367:
“I went down the drift and found
Page 368 and 369:
‘Love your enemies!’ Mark you,
Page 370 and 371:
So much for the human love aroused
Page 372 and 373:
you are the sovereign master; do wi
Page 374 and 375:
“It was blowing stiffly,” he wr
Page 376 and 377:
often; and the chief wonder of it i
Page 378 and 379:
something inside telling me that it
Page 380 and 381:
hat to them, it set them all into a
Page 382 and 383:
as a token of respect by persons on
Page 384 and 385:
that cost applied to keeping all sw
Page 386 and 387:
2. Temperance in meat and drink, si
Page 388 and 389:
arduous. It is only the extreme man
Page 390 and 391:
no matter what time of night it was
Page 392 and 393:
under head 4. John Cennick was Meth
Page 394 and 395:
In this case the spontaneous impuls
Page 396 and 397:
ject of its adoration,- we must go
Page 398 and 399:
“To know all things, learn to kno
Page 400 and 401:
enough to reach upwards to his nave
Page 402 and 403:
Suso next tells of his penitences b
Page 404 and 405:
“Her love of pain and suffering w
Page 406 and 407:
It is as a sacrifice, a mode of ‘
Page 408 and 409:
One should read the letters in whic
Page 410 and 411:
“Sister Marie Claire [of Port Roy
Page 412 and 413:
one move out of his room when he fi
Page 414 and 415:
ight. To certain huckstering kinds
Page 416 and 417:
In short, lives based on having are
Page 418 and 419:
Accordingly, throughout the annals
Page 420 and 421:
her father having promised her to a
Page 422 and 423:
hammedan than in Christian lands) t
Page 424 and 425:
as we are able those who feel them,
Page 426 and 427:
off from it deliberately in those r
Page 428 and 429:
not look at them. Once, on the cont
Page 430 and 431:
So far, then, although we are compe
Page 432 and 433:
than if he claimed his instrument t
Page 434 and 435:
ight direction, I believe as much a
Page 436 and 437:
For which reason I kept much as a s
Page 438 and 439:
wicked practical partner, the spiri
Page 440 and 441:
ing life. So of many of the saints
Page 442 and 443:
fruits of this impulse to celebrate
Page 444 and 445:
Fanaticism is found only where the
Page 446 and 447:
Apparently little else but sufferin
Page 448 and 449:
at chapel, she heard supernaturally
Page 450 and 451:
cal of shrewdom: a paramountly feel
Page 452 and 453:
conventional ‘society,’ then bu
Page 454 and 455:
have recourse to such a number of e
Page 456 and 457:
dered one day to bring a book from
Page 458 and 459:
church. Stop going to holiness meet
Page 460 and 461:
Herbert Spencer tells us that the p
Page 462 and 463:
the character-polyhedron, the resou
Page 464 and 465:
ter world console us for the genera
Page 466 and 467:
mountebanks than of sane men inspir
Page 468 and 469:
not be sacrificed to mortification.
Page 470 and 471:
In these remarks I am leaning only
Page 472 and 473:
gage in them from treating themselv
Page 474 and 475:
equivalent of war: something heroic
Page 476 and 477:
I have now said all that I can usef
Page 478 and 479:
crated lives of some sort, but quit
Page 480 and 481:
to see diminished; for fear rouses
Page 482 and 483:
as a compromise, but he will be inf
Page 484 and 485:
solutely; the verdict will vary acc
Page 486 and 487:
LECTURES XVI AND XVII MYSTICISM OVE
Page 488 and 489:
2. Noetic quality.- Although so sim
Page 490 and 491:
sions we must use it. I will begin,
Page 492 and 493:
Sir James Crichton-Browne has given
Page 494 and 495:
A much more extreme state of mystic
Page 496 and 497:
In a recital like this there is cer
Page 498 and 499:
may determine attitudes though they
Page 500 and 501:
egion of thought of which Mr. Clark
Page 502 and 503:
his unit of measurement: so may we
Page 504 and 505:
people ‘learn through suffering,
Page 506 and 507:
“The eternal necessity of sufferi
Page 508 and 509:
my vision ranging through the milky
Page 510 and 511:
Dauphine, I was impelled to kneel d
Page 512 and 513:
leave the sunshine on the hills, an
Page 514 and 515:
psychiatrist, Dr. R.M. Bucke, gives
Page 516 and 517:
tion principle of the world, of all
Page 518 and 519:
a man comes out of Samadhi, they as
Page 520 and 521:
M. Schmolders has translated a part
Page 522 and 523:
theless, I kept the hope of attaini
Page 524 and 525:
In this, as I have said, it resembl
Page 526 and 527:
“finds no terms, no means, no com
Page 528 and 529:
“In the orison of union,” says
Page 530 and 531:
distant events, for example; but th
Page 532 and 533:
She goes on to tell how it was as i
Page 534 and 535:
of degeneration and hysteria. Undou
Page 536 and 537:
courage so great that if at that mo
Page 538 and 539:
closes the account. Their very deni
Page 540 and 541:
“Gott ist ein lauter Nichts, ihn
Page 542 and 543:
cloudiness which covers things is n
Page 544 and 545:
of the Godhead... and is lost in th
Page 546 and 547:
From the shore that hath no shore b
Page 548 and 549:
As a matter of psychological fact,
Page 550 and 551:
the classic mystical tradition. The
Page 552 and 553:
y extraneous powers; only this time
Page 554 and 555:
extensive and inclusive world. The
Page 556 and 557:
LECTURE XVIII PHILOSOPHY THE subjec
Page 558 and 559:
as over-beliefs, buildings-out perf
Page 560 and 561:
upon religious feeling, not coordin
Page 562 and 563:
“If,” he continues, “the Supr
Page 564 and 565:
Lend me your attention while I run
Page 566 and 567:
ments do but follow the combined su
Page 568 and 569:
If philosophy can do so little to e
Page 570 and 571:
Ad extra, however, or with respect
Page 572 and 573:
I will not weary you by pursuing th
Page 574 and 575:
ter, if all propositions were pract
Page 576 and 577:
they severally call for no distinct
Page 578 and 579:
into connection with our life, it i
Page 580 and 581:
The basis of modern idealism is Kan
Page 582 and 583:
self. It is absolute; for the faint
Page 584 and 585:
may be said to be the essential cha
Page 586 and 587:
from a private faith into a public
Page 588 and 589:
veracity, and so I revert to the th
Page 590 and 591:
fire his volley of new vocables out
Page 592 and 593:
he shows how high is their aestheti
Page 594 and 595:
verization and leveling of what a g
Page 596 and 597:
served in transfigured form in the
Page 598 and 599:
storms follow from physical anteced
Page 600 and 601:
atheists have always said it was. A
Page 602 and 603:
through what channel the grace is g
Page 604 and 605:
Muller’s custom was to never run
Page 606 and 607:
ciently tried, the Lord would send
Page 608 and 609:
then it pleased GOD to put me in mi
Page 610 and 611:
“Furthermore one finds one’s se
Page 612 and 613:
Such a spirit was that of Marcus Au
Page 614 and 615:
invests the familiar vanishes, and
Page 616 and 617:
assume that whatever natural facts
Page 618 and 619:
The great field for this sense of b
Page 620 and 621:
in the first person, as if Jehovah
Page 622 and 623:
however,... distinguish still other
Page 624 and 625:
When, in addition to these phenomen
Page 626 and 627:
LECTURE XX CONCLUSIONS THE material
Page 628 and 629:
But this question suggests another
Page 630 and 631:
and the higher vocation, here just
Page 632 and 633:
called, is, during his scientific h
Page 634 and 635:
she appears to cancel herself. The
Page 636 and 637:
Or read the account of God’s bene
Page 638 and 639:
ters.... When one goes into a grind
Page 640 and 641:
were hardly suspected or conceived.
Page 642 and 643:
any auxiliary concurrence of Satan,
Page 644 and 645:
which these things follow, by which
Page 646 and 647:
If this be true, it is absurd for s
Page 648 and 649:
grown. The final human opinion may,
Page 650 and 651:
survives at last save a vague respe
Page 652 and 653:
and the conduct as being the more c
Page 654 and 655:
“O to confront night, storms, hun
Page 656 and 657:
At this purely subjective rating, t
Page 658 and 659:
with the germinal higher part of hi
Page 660 and 661:
that it acts as well as exists, and
Page 662 and 663:
as true as when it was first writte
Page 664 and 665:
“If this room is full of darkness
Page 666 and 667:
“For myself I can say that spirit
Page 668 and 669:
“Man can learn to transcend these
Page 670 and 671:
the religious man’s experience of
Page 672 and 673:
POSTSCRIPT IN writing my concluding
Page 674 and 675:
sons, I find it hard to believe tha
Page 676 and 677:
If asked just where the differences
Page 678 and 679:
all-inclusive soul of the world. Po
Page 680:
from their brevity, and I can only
show all

THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE - Pink Monkey

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