William James' Revolution: A New Perspective on the Varieties of Religious Experience

By Ron Miller

When it was first published in 1902, The Varieties of Religious Experience caused a revolution, a quantum leap, a paradigm shift. James opened the door to the scientific study of religious experience, probing the relationship between religion and psychology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9780983542193

Ron Miller

Ron Miller has worked as a freelance writer and illustrator for more than 30 years. Many of his illustrations appear in magazines like Astronomy and Scientific American. He has also worked on motion pictures and created postage stamps. (One of his stamps is attached to a spacecraft headed for the planet Pluto!) He has also written short stories and novels and has even created a comic book.

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William James' Revolution:

A New Perspective on The Varieties of Religious Experience

Copyright © 2011, 2013 by Ron Miller

SECOND EDITION

International Standard Book Number: 978-0-9835421-6-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908030

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

P.O. Box 641544

Los Angeles, CA 90064

www.ronmillersworldpublishing.com

Cover photograph: Henry James, circa 1905.

eISBN: 9780983542193

DEDICATED

WITH GRATITUDE AND AFFECTION TO

MARJORIE LINDSAY REED

LONG-TIME FRIEND AND

CO-WORKER IN THE VINEYARD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

LECTURE I

RELIGION AND NEUROLOGY

1:1 STATEMENT OF INTENT

1:1

1:2 GENIUSES IN RELIGION

1:2

1:3 MEDICAL MATERIALISM

1:3

LECTURE II

CIRCUMSCRIPTION OF THE TOPIC

2:1 PERSONAL RELIGION

2:1

2:6 AN ETERNAL PRESENT

2:6

2:7 BEYOND THE RATIONAL

2:7

2:8 RELIGIOUS HAPPINESS

2:8

2:9 EASY NECESSITY

2:9

2:2 RELIGION DEFINED

2:2

2:3 ALWAYS MISTY

2:3

2:4 ACCEPTING THE UNIVERSE

2:4

2:5 SOMEHOW UNIQUE

2:5

LECTURE III

REALITY OF THE UNSEEN

3:1 HARMONIOUS ADJUSTMENT

3:1

3:2 WARM AND COLD FAITH

3:2

3:3 REASON'S CRITERIA

3:3

3:4 REASON'S LIMITS

3:4

3:5 REASON'S DEFEAT

3:5

LECTURES IV AND V

THE RELIGION OF HEALTHY-MINDEDNESS

4/5:1 HAPPINESS AS PROOF

4/5:1

4/5:2 EVIL'S ORIGIN

4/5:2

4/5:3 A MANY-SIDED UNIVERSE

4/5:3

4/5:4 BOTH-AND

4/5:4

LECTURES VI AND VII

THE SICK SOUL

6/7:1 THE SICK SOUL'S DISEASE

6/7:1

6/7:2 LEVELS OF EVIL

6/7:2

6/7:3 DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS NEEDS

6/7:3

6/7:4 DELIVERANCE

6/7:4

LECTURE VIII

THE DIVIDED SELF, AND THE PROCESS OF ITS UNIFICATION

8:1 CHAOS TO UNIFICATION

8:1

8:2 RELIGION'S POWER

8:2

LECTURE IX

CONVERSION

9:1 TRANSFORMATION

9:1

9:6 SELF-SURRENDER

9:6

9:7 FAITH WITHOUT DOCTRINE

9:7

9:8 EGO GUARDS THE DOOR

9:8

9:2 HOT AND COLD

9:2

9:3 FROM PERIPHERY TO CENTRE

9:3

9:4 EXPLANATION FAILS

9:4

9:5 IMPERVIOUS TO CONVERSION

9:5

LECTURE X

CONVERSION CONCLUDED

10:1 THE DREAMY SUBLIMINAL

10:1

10:2 A HIGH-WATER MARK

10:2

LECTURES XI, XII, XIII

SAINTLINESS

11/12/13:1 SAINTLINESS

11/12/13:1

11/12/13:6 REMOVING THE YOKE

11/12/13:6

11/12/13:2 ENLARGERS OF OUR LIFE

11/12/13:2

11/12/13:3 ASCETICISM

11/12/13:3

11/12/13:4 PURITY

11/12/13:4

11/12/13:5 THE OTHER KINGDOM

11/12/13:5

LECTURES XIV AND XV

THE VALUE OF SAINTLINESS

14/15:1 NOT ONE FOR ALL

14/15:1

14/15:6 UNBALANCED DEVOUTNESS

14/15:6

14/15:7 THE GREAT TORCH-BEARERS

14/15:7

14/15:8 THE MORAL EQUIVALENT OF WA.R

14/15:8

14/15:9 MORAL FITNESS

14/15:9

14/15:2 DOWN ON DOGMA

14/15:2

14/15:3 ORTHODOXY

14/15:3

14/15:4 RELIGION'S WICKED PARTNERS

14/15:4

14/15:5 THE MASK OF PIETY

14/15:5

LECTURES XVI AND XVII

MYSTICISM

16/17:1 INEFFABILITY

16/17:1

16/17:6 ONE POINT ON THE SPECTRUM

16/17:6

16/17:7 REACHING UNANIMITY

16/17:7

16/17:8 CHARACTERISTICS OF MYSTICAL STATES

16/17:8

16/17:9 TRUEST OF INSIGHTS

16/17:9

16/17:2 NOETIC QUALITY

16/17:2

16/17:3 TRANSIENCY

16/17:3

16/17:4 PASSIVITY

16/17:4

16/17:5 ERSATZ ECSTASY

16/17:5

LECTURE XVIII

PHILOSOPHY

18:1 UNWHOLESOME PRIVACY

18:1

18:2 PRESUMPTUOUS INTELLECTUALISM

18:2

LECTURE XIX

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS

19:1 SACRIFICE

19:1

19:2 RELIGION IN ACT

19:2

19:3 THE WIDE-OPEN DOOR

19:3

LECTURE XX

CONCLUSIONS

20:1 A BROAD SUMMARY

20:1

20:6 GOD WINS

20:6

20:2 PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS

20:2

20:3 PARTIAL SYSTEMS

20:3

20:4 A DISTANT GOD

20:4

20:5 THE MORE

20:5

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

ORDERING INFORMATION

INTRODUCTION

THE REVOLUTION

When it was first published in 1902, The Varieties of Religious Experience caused a revolution, a quantum leap, a paradigm shift. For many of its first readers, and for many later readers as well, the experience was much like believing one day that the heavenly bodies circle around the earth and learning the next day that the earth is but one of several planets orbiting around the sun.

The study of religion would never be the same. How ironic that William James, the man who led this revolution, taught physiology, psychology, and philosophy at Harvard...but never religion. And yet, the Gifford Lectures he delivered in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1901 and 1902, became the book that launched a thousand others, arguably the most important text about religion written in English in the 20th century.

Until that time, the study of religion revolved largely around an examination of creed, code, and cult. What doctrines or dogmas did a particular religion teach? What were its basic tenets? These elements constituted its creed. What moral stance did it embody? What ethical teachings did it embrace? These precepts formed its code. And, finally, what rituals did it enact? The architecture of its sacred space, the chant, the vestments, the defining liturgical ceremonies... all of these factors revealed its cult.

Eschewing all such traditional foci of investigation and study, James asked a new question. What was the experience of the person or persons standing at the origin of this religious movement? What was the experience of Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and the Buddha that led to Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism? And the same question can be asked of Teresa of Avila and the Carmelites, Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits, George Fox and the Quakers, Mary Baker Eddy and the Christian Scientists, Jaladin Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes, the Baal Shem Tov and the East European Hasidim.

James opened the door to the scientific study of religious experience, probing the relationship between religion and psychology. It is obvious no one can have a religious experience without brain activity. The salient question is whether this brain activity is the mediator or creator of the experience. In other words, is the brain, much like a television set, receiving and transmitting a program not originating in itself? If consciousness—as many sacred traditions claim—constitutes the essential nature of reality, than we are recipients, not creators, of that consciousness.

THE BOOK

This classic text by William James should be required reading for anyone wanting to study religion. But years of college teaching have convinced me that this is a daunting read for most undergraduate students, and even for some older adults. One of my students asked me whether I could translate James's book into English. Perhaps it was that question that first led me to write this book.

I began by selecting passages that I thought did the most to communicate James's most important insights. Readers may disagree on some of the texts either included or omitted, but I'm confident that there will be a fairly strong consensus about most of my choices. These selections (direct quotes from James's book) are presented in page-size portions. The titles, however, are my own.

On the facing page of each portion of James's text, the reader finds a commentary intended to elucidate its central idea. This commentary is derived from my own experience of teaching this text to undergrads for some thirty years. I attempt in these commentaries to bring the philosopher's penetrating insights into the