The Varieties of Religious Experience - Penn State University

William Jamesfind them in Stoicism, in Hinduism, and in Buddhism in the highestpossible degree. They harmonize with paternal theism beautifully; butthey harmonize with all reflection whatever upon the dependence ofmankind on general causes; and we must, I think, consider them notsubordinate but coordinate parts of that great complex excitement inthe study of which we are engaged. Religious rapture, moral enthusiasm,ontological wonder, cosmic emotion, are all unifying states ofmind, in which the sand and grit of the selfhood incline to disappear,and tenderness to rule. The best thing is to describe the conditionintegrally as a characteristic affection to which our nature is liable, aregion in which we find ourselves at home, a sea in which we swim;but not to pretend to explain its parts by deriving them too cleverlyfrom one another. Like love or fear, the faith-state is a natural psychiccomplex, and carries charity with it by organic consequence. Jubilationis an expansive affection, and all expansive affections are selfforgetfuland kindly so long as they endure.We find this the case even when they are pathological in origin. Inhis instructive work, la Tristesse et la Joie,162 M. Georges Dumascompares together the melancholy and the joyous phase of circularinsanity, and shows that, while selfishness characterizes the one, theother is marked by altruistic impulses. No human being so stingyand useless as was Marie in her melancholy period! But the momentthe happy period begins, “sympathy and kindness become her characteristicsentiments. She displays a universal goodwill, not only ofintention, but in act… . She becomes solicitous of the health ofother patients, interested in getting them out, desirous to procurewool to knit socks for some of them. Never since she has been undermy observation have I heard her in her joyous period utter anybut charitable opinions.”163 And later, Dr. Dumas says of all suchjoyous conditions that “unselfish sentiments and tender emotionsare the only affective states to be found in them. The subject’s mindis closed against envy, hatred, and vindictiveness, and wholly transformedinto benevolence, indulgence, and mercy.”164162 Paris, 1900.163 Page 130.164 Page 167.253