Varieties of Religious Experience

Rating:
Summary: A Foundation for Better Understanding
Review: Objective and to the point, William James creates a framework for understanding. He explains the logic behind various ways of thinking without entirely condemning any of these views. James dips into sixth sense experiences and discusses the validity of these experiences based on their unanimity as well as the insignificance of unanimity and more importantly the changes personal experiences can cause in someone's life. Touching on various topics James leaves little unexplained and at the same time stresses the lack of scientific knowledge on many of these subjects and therefore our inability to draw specific conclusions. This book is carefully constructed and can be enlightening for those of us who lack in-depth knowledge of the subject or for the most seasoned researchers.

Rating:
Summary: Tedious
Review: Sorry to throw off the curve... but this book is long-winded and short on useful ideas. I say 'long-winded' because nearly half of the text consists of citations, most of which are unnecessary. Rather than making arguments, James presents passages that illustrate a point, a feeling, a sentiment, an idea(?). But what is clear is that you've just read nearly 600 pages that amount to nothing. No wonder Wittgenstein allegedly read this book over and over again. There's no point!

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book by a Great Man
Review: The previous reviews are very good descriptions of this book. I'd like to reiterate that it helps while reading to remember that this is primarily a study of many case histories of very personal and profound experiences with God. They are mostly in the form of excerpts from autobiographies and memoirs, mainly Christian and contemporary (the book was published in 1903), but many also from other times and faiths. There is no addressing the pros and cons of organized religion here, or, for that matter, of questions like whether miracles really happen, etc.

This book is a microcosm, though. James touches on so many matters of religion and, indeed, life and philosophy overall that the book makes valuable reading for anyone interested in humans generally.

He talks, of necessity, quite a bit about the subconscious, which had just recently been "invented," showing that profound religious experiences comes from there, though that doesn't mean that they're not of divine origin: perhaps it's our subconscious self that connects to God.

James then analyzes these experiences from the pragmatic point of view of, Are these experiences healthy? What are their "fruits"?

But there are no ultimate "Answers" of the kind you find suggested in other works of philosophy or theology. Despite some heady speculation towards the end, James sticks to the facts, and never expects his audience to accept anything unproven.

Especially interesting, I thought, were the descriptions of "conversion," a two-fold experience consisting of spiritual crisis and of release from that crisis and the reaching of a profound state of surety and, usually, happiness. Besides many others, he describes the conversion processes of John Bunyan (a schizophrenic) and Leo Tolstoy. James makes the very interesting comparison of the process (nowadays called "being born again") with the natural process of adolescence, and speculates that conversion crisis, as encouraged by the Protestant churches, is perhaps one of the healthiest and safest ways of attaining adulthood.

Also fascinating is James' description of "the Healthy-minded Individual," who is born with a trusting assurance of God's loving presence, and who never goes through any crisis of conversion because he doesn't need to. I myself would doubt the existence of these lucky people, but then I recalled a person (my children's teacher) who is always cheerful, energetic, and kind, and who I sincerely believe has never lost her temper or been anything more than necessarily stern with her students, parents, and other teachers. She has a profound, almost instinctive, faith in God. That for me is living proof of the veracity of James' categories and conclusions.

And James' own almost chivalrous kindness, honesty, and respect for us, his audience make me feel that he himself, whether "once-" or "twice-born," had reached that higher level of morality and happiness; it made reading this book a profound and inspiring experience.

Oddly, the preface (by Martin E. Marty) of the version of "Varieties" that I have (Penguin) does not mention the following, found in the preface to the William James volume of the "Great Books" series:

"James had been concerned with religion from an empirical point of view as early as 1869, when he had noted in a review the 'anomalous' and 'discreditable' attitude of a so-called enlightened society toward psychical phenomena. To ascertain the appropriate 'stall or pigeonhole' for these 'wild facts,' he helped organize the American Society for Psychical Research in 1884. Two years later he was invited to give the Gifford Lectures on Natural Religion at the University of Edinburgh.

"On a vacation climb in the Adirondacks in 1898, James underwent a variety of religious experience: 'It seemed as if the Gods of all the nature-mythologies were holding an indescribable meeting in my breast with the moral Gods of the inner life....Doubtless in more ways than one, things in the Edinburgh lectures will be traceable to it,' he wrote his wife. The climb, however, overtaxed his heart, which would not have impaired his health if he had not essayed the Adirondacks the following summer and lost his way. There followed two years of complete collapse. Thus the Gifford Lectures were not finished until 1902, when they were also published in book form as 'The Varieties of Religious Experience.'"

Rating:
Summary: Old, but Remarkably not Dated Material
Review: This book is based on a series of Lectures that the late William James gave at the turn of the century. What makes James' writing so odd in the world of religious studies is his refreshingly realistic take on religion and human nature considering it was written previous to the first world war. In an age where people were remarkably positive about human kind and our collective destiny James' views were certainly unpopular. James, however, was ahead of his time. We look back on his work from a century later through the lens of the most bloody and brutal century mankind can remember and find James' assertions to be entirely too accurate.

This was one of the first academic books on the subject of religious experience and is thus extremely important. William James demonstrates such a wide scope of knowledge on the subject that reading this book is like opening a window into the world of nineteenth century religious movements. Considering the amount of important developements that occured within religion at the time: The Quakers, The abolishionists, Mormons, etc. This book can be extremely useful in that aspect as well.
It is certainly worth reading if you have an interest in

religious experience or in nineteenth century religion. James is and most likely will always be one of the greatest voices on this subject, thus, not to read this book would not be a sin, but it would definitely be a mistake.

Rating:
Summary: The Varieties of Religious Experience
Review: This book is heavy going. Its like slogging up a beautiful mountain and on the way seeing all the beauty nature created on the way.

If you can grasp this book, and try to distill all the collected wisdom as presented by James, you will see that the essential religious experience is effected through surrender.

This book is not meant to be read at one sitting; no one will find it all captivating; but just finding one part - " But since, in any terms,the crisis described is the throwing of our conscious selves upon the mercy of powers which, *whatever they may be, are more ideal than we are actually*, and make for our redemption, you see why self-surrender has been and always must be regarded as the vital turning-point of the religious life, so far as the religious life is spiritual and no affair of outer works and ritual and sacraments.

Wonderful book;well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Dense for the Common Experience
Review: This is a classic work explaining in a remarkably objective manner the many varieties and possibilities of religious experience. It well avoids the common trap of falling into a polemic either for or against religion; nor does it become a tract supporting Protestantism over Catholicism or vice-verse; or even Christianity over Islam or vice-versa. The book is extremely well-reasoned and liberally dosed with examples of the extremes of religiousity. These extremes not only make for entertaining reading, but James argues that we can learn more from the people who have felt the religious impulse strongly than we can from those who neatly fit religion into their otherwise secular lives. An over-weaning theme of the book is James's respect for the individual's experience of religion. As a result, this is not a book about the varieties of religions, as it does not compare Protestantism and Christianity; nor Judaism and Buddhism, or any other forms of established religion. In fact, in his chapter about mysticism, he argues that the established religions customarily treat mystics and mysticisms as heretics and heresy. Mysticism then either succumbs or successfully survives to either break off to become its own established religion or becomes absorbed into an established religion. By the time that has happened the individual aspects of mysticism are lost and are replaced by still further dogma.

This book should really have been titled "The Varieties of Christian Religious Experience," for it is only for Christianity (and to some extent Judaism) that James is well-versed enough to give a thorough examination. It is not that he does not respect Islam or Buddhism; it is that he doesn't know them well enough to draw them fully into the discussion.

Rating:
Summary: Truly - The 'Varieties' of Religious Experience
Review: This is a work of research. James gathers together accounts of the mystical meeting with God from the panoply of the world's religious traditions. One of his conclusions not surprisingly is that people often come to meet the conception or intellectual construct or content in regard to God that they have brought with them.
James in collecting the evidence and analyzes and attempts to give an overall definition of the structure of the mystical religious experience. The case- histories are the evidence upon which the empiricist James will draw his conclusions.
Among the famous distinctions that do make a difference in the work is the distinction between first- born and twice- born souls. The first born are those who are alright and happy in their lives. The twice- born are those upon whom James places the emphasis. These are the people who go through some 'dark night of the soul' in which they seem to lose themselves and their world, live in a blackness of Nothingness, until the miraculous transformation comes and they are born again as new beings. This being born again comes through their meeting with God. And again the God they discover is often the God of the religious tradition which they take in.
It is interesting that in many of the accounts there is talk of merger with and fusion with God, of being absorbed by God. This is somewhat different from the Jewish mystical conception in which one can only approach G-d closer and closer but never really hope to be identical with the One and Only One.
One interesting aspect of the work is James' use of his own experience, his own personal depression as one of the case - histories. In his case it was not the encounter with God which saved him, but ' the will to freedom' which he learned from the French thinker Renouvier. Paralyzed and loss his act of will to freedom would constitute in a deep psychological way a repudiation of the life of his own Swedenborgian mystical father, and lead to his own supremely active life.
James summary conclusions about these experiences and about the mystical encounter lead him not to one definite conclusion, but rather to something like Wittgenstein's family resemblance of overlapping categories of classification.In these he tries too to use pragmatic categories of judgment and understand what he calls the ' cash value ' of the experience i.e. its real benefit in the person's future life. James also talks about something which is certainly not the God most of the mystics have found. They believe and connect with an Infinite Power, but James in his own life and thought seeing the force of Evil in the world held on to the idea of a ' finite God ' who aims at good and needs the help of humanity to realize the right goals in history .This idea in someway parallels the Jewish religious idea of covenant partnership with God, in Tikkun Olam the transformation of the world for good.
It is impossible in a review like this to do justice to this great work, and the great mind and human being who compiled and composed it. It is a must for anyone who cares to better know and understand the religious life. The conclusions they draw may not be James' but they will be helped in understanding religious life better, nonetheless.

Rating:
Summary: An all-time classic: a "must read."
Review: To call "Varieties of Religious Experience" a classic is an understatement. What I find really amazing is that it was written in 1902. James was first known for his work with "functionalism" in psychology, essentially making him the first modern psychologist --- moving psychology away from the realm of philosophy. Thus, we have psychology becoming an empirical science. The empirical methodology was used to explore items of interest in psychology and religion.

Many books on religion express an interest in religion from the point of view of a theologian or person who studies religion from the point of view of religious institutions. To many people, religion means different things. It could be from the point of view of a "born-again Christian," or it could be from a more personal point of view. We come to see religion as an existential phenomenon. We learn that it is an incredibly personal relation between the individual and his concept of the Divine. There is a definite emphasis on the personal aspects of religion.

With experimental psychology, we deal in matters that are seen and are easily quantifiable. In the psychology of religion, we deal with how the individual deals with the reality of the unseen. We have a feeling of the presence of God. Some people can feel a mystical experience, whereas others have a more rational approach. People experience the divine in different manners - on the one hand, it can be impersonal and transcendental, and on the other hand it can be solemn, personal, and passionate. The religious tell us that religion can have the result of "healthy mindedness" -- in fact, it leads to a systematic sense of "healthy mindedness" diverting our attention from disease and death. This is more than just "faith healing," but rather a prescription for a life of action. It leads to practical effectiveness. Another area of interest is sin and the "sick soul", and the healthy effects of "redemption." Other areas of interest are conversion, religious "back-sliding," saintliness and living the good life, empiricism and skepticism, mysticism and philosophy, and aspects of religious worship service.

I found that this book should have interest not just to students of the psychology of religion. It also has appeal to the religious, and those who want to find out more about the religious experience from a point of view that is a different from the views expressed in Church and Sunday School. The point of view is one that will appeal both to religious conservatives and to religious liberals. Its presentation is sensitive and logical. For some people, it may even produce the "aha!" response that they are now seeing religion with greater perspective. (This is a review of the paperback edition.)

Rating:
Summary: An all-time classic: a "must read."
Review: To call "Varieties of Religious Experience" a classic is an understatement. What I find really amazing is that it was written in 1902. James was first known for his work with "functionalism" in psychology, essentially making him the first modern psychologist --- moving psychology away from the realm of philosophy. Thus, we have psychology becoming an empirical science. The empirical methodology was used to explore items of interest in psychology and religion.

Many books on religion express an interest in religion from the point of view of a theologian or person who studies religion from the point of view of religious institutions. To many people, religion means different things. It could be from the point of view of a "born-again Christian," or it could be from a more personal point of view. We come to see religion as an existential phenomenon. We learn that it is an incredibly personal relation between the individual and his concept of the Divine. There is a definite emphasis on the personal aspects of religion.

With experimental psychology, we deal in matters that are seen and are easily quantifiable. In the psychology of religion, we deal with how the individual deals with the reality of the unseen. We have a feeling of the presence of God. Some people can feel a mystical experience, whereas others have a more rational approach. People experience the divine in different manners - on the one hand, it can be impersonal and transcendental, and on the other hand it can be solemn, personal, and passionate. The religious tell us that religion can have the result of "healthy mindedness" -- in fact, it leads to a systematic sense of "healthy mindedness" diverting our attention from disease and death. This is more than just "faith healing," but rather a prescription for a life of action. It leads to practical effectiveness. Another area of interest is sin and the "sick soul", and the healthy effects of "redemption." Other areas of interest are conversion, religious "back-sliding," saintliness and living the good life, empiricism and skepticism, mysticism and philosophy, and aspects of religious worship service.

I found that this book should have interest not just to students of the psychology of religion. It also has appeal to the religious, and those who want to find out more about the religious experience from a point of view that is a different from the views expressed in Church and Sunday School. The point of view is one that will appeal both to religious conservatives and to religious liberals. Its presentation is sensitive and logical. For some people, it may even produce the "aha!" response that they are now seeing religion with greater perspective. (This is a review of the paperback edition.)

Rating:
Summary: A Stunning Survey of Mystical Experiences
Review: William James writes in a refined, almost Elizabethean style, which is very effective in isolating and postulating the cases of religious and mystical experiences outlined here. Besides James' objective approach to the study, I also appreciate the range of cases studied. From the greatest of Christian mystics to the strangest of self-mortificationists, the characters, experiences and events James squeezes out of history provide an informative, astounding, and entertaining look at the world of religious experiences (often referred to as 'mystical experiences'). And perhaps most importantly, he does this without pandering to his readership nor pushing his beliefs onto others. Ultimately, as a psychologist, he seems far more concerned with objectively studying the cases of individual's experiences, rather than using his findings to proselytize in any way, shape or form. Recommended for those new to the study of 'non-ordinary' religious experiences, mystical phenomenon, and perhaps psychology. But this is no joke or quack fad. It is a study based on hard research. William James was a highly respected professional in circles of literati, psychology, and scholasticism.