The Varieties of Religious Experience - Penn State University

William JamesLECTURES XI, XII, AND XIII SAINTLINESS Sainte-Beuve onthe State of Grace— Types of character as due to the balance ofimpulses and inhibitions— Sovereign excitements—Irascibility—Effects of higher excitement in general— The saintly life is ruled byspiritual excitement— This may annul sensual impulses permanently—Probable subconscious influences involved— Mechanicalscheme for representing permanent alteration in character— Characteristicsof saintliness— Sense of reality of a higher power— Peaceof mind, charity—Equanimity, fortitude, etc.— Connection of thiswith relaxation— Purity of life— Asceticism— Obedience— Poverty—Thesentiments of democracy and of humanity— Generaleffects of higher excitements.LECTURES XIV AND XV THE VALUE OF SAINTLINESS Itmust be tested by the human value of its fruits— The reality of theGod must, however, also be judged— “Unfit” religions get eliminatedby “experience”— Empiricism is not skepticism—Individualand tribal religion— Loneliness of religious originators— Corruptionfollows success— Extravagances—Excessive devoutness, as fanaticism—As theopathic absorption—Excessive purity— Excessivecharity— The perfect man is adapted only to the perfect environment—Saints are leavens— Excesses of asceticism—— Asceticismsymbolically stands for the heroic life— Militarism and voluntarypoverty as possible equivalents—Pros and cons of the saintlycharacter— Saints versus “strong” men— Their social function mustbe considered— Abstractly the saint is the highest type, but in thepresent environment it may fail, so we make ourselves saints at ourperil— 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— Aspectsof Nature— Consciousness of God—”Cosmic consciousness”—Yoga— Buddhistic mysticism— Sufism—Christian mystics— Theirsense of revelation— Tonic effects of mystic states— They describeby negatives— Sense of union with the Absolute— Mysticism and7