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The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
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Lectures 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Lectures 11-13 Summary: “Saintliness”
These combined lectures take an in-depth look at the functional outcomes of religious experience, or “fruits.” James admits that the examination of these outcomes may cast his subjects in a pathetic light, but it is imperative to remember these same outcomes have produced the greatest parts of human history: “The highest flights of charity, devotion, trust, patience, bravery to which the wings of human nature have spread themselves have been flown for religious ideals” (260). While religious revelations may not have their root in intellectualism, they create space for advancement.
Although there is consistency in the fruits of conversion, people exhibit these outcomes to varying degrees. One person may practice temperance after a religious conversion, while another may pursue radical self-discipline. James suggests that this variance is due to the diversity of individuals’ sensitivity to emotional stimulation. Humans are driven by their impulses and inhibitions, and the balance of the two keeps individuals at an emotional equilibrium.
The psychologist offers a straightforward example: An individual in a room of people will be cognizant of how he presents himself around others. He may sit up straight and constrain some of his behaviors. If everyone leaves the room, the man may then take a more relaxed attitude, allowing his impulses to overcome his inhibitions.
Emotional excitability can take a range of forms, from a quick temper to genuine earnestness. When the emotional stimulus drives the individual toward a positive direction, then that person exhibits the fruits of religious conversion. Positive emotional stimulus brings the individual back to a center of balanced energy. Religious conversion has the power to transform people and cause them to cast off perversions or habits that plagued them in the past.
The collective name for the fruits of religion is “saintliness.” James outlines the specific functions in greater detail than he has in previous lectures. A person who has experienced a religious revelation feels senses of conviction, self-surrender, happiness, freedom, tenderness for others, purity, and charity. These fruits can shift to extremes, such as toward asceticism and a total abandonment of the individual’s personal inhibitions and needs.
Conviction leads individuals to believe that they are a part of something bigger than themselves and that there is something greater at work in the universe than their individual needs and motivations. This leads them to surrender control to this unseen force. As they lose their ego, they feel immense joy and freedom and show greater affection for others. They also begin to limit their contact with things which they feel are counter to the purity they have experienced.
While these fruits are closely connected with Christianity, James explains that they are the result of any type of religious conversion. They are found in all types of religion, including Buddhism and Stoicism. In each of these individual types of religious institutions, those experiencing revelations lose their sense of self and become absorbed into tenderness and jubilation. Their experience leads them to a feeling of inner tranquility, which can cause some to act in extreme ways in order to maintain it.
Overall, however, these fruits are the necessary materials for bringing the mind back to a balanced center and letting go of anxiety and discord. James compares the human mind to a machine that needs a certain level of steam-pressure to operate efficiently. When the pressure is decreased or increased too much, the machine does not run properly. Religious experience helps to balance the level.
Lectures 14-15 Summary: “The Value of Saintliness”
Now that James has detailed the fruits of religious conversion, he turns to an assessment of religion’s function and whether its outcomes contribute practically to human life. A simple examination through a Christian lens would produce an easy answer, but James is not interested in convenience. Here, he reminds his listeners that he is engaging in a method of radical empiricism in which he examines both the tangible and experiential. In light of this, he will not be able to provide a definitive and tidy answer to how religion functions for human life as a whole: “We cannot divide man sharply into an animal and a rational part” (327).
The psychologist recognizes that many in his audience may find it foolish to try to determine the value of religion outside of the question of whether it is founded in truth. If an individual is correct in their assertion of a living god, then the religion has inherent value. This viewpoint is a prejudice that restricts scientific study. James likens it to the dismissal of religions which utilize animal sacrifices due to a personal disdain for the practice. Recognizing one’s prejudices is important to establish the limitations of the study. Whatever one’s personal feelings are, one must pursue a pluralistic understanding of the phenomenon. Examining the value of belief, independent of truth or prejudice, has value because of the function belief brings to human life. Therefore, rather than judging worth based upon the criteria of an unseen god, James proposes that human standards for judgment are needed.
James suggests that one of the reasons for the diversity of religions may be that different types of people need different types of religious experiences. Some benefit from reassurance, while others benefit from fear. Although people admire the saints, the extremity of their personal religions is not practical for every person. James asks his audience to keep an open mind as they examine the value of these pluralistic experiences of saintliness, and to remember that they are concerned with individualized relationships with religion rather than institutions.
Every fruit has the potential to be taken to excess, and James cautions that this can cause an imbalance rather than promote an equilibrium. Devoutness can transition into fanaticism; many of the saints exhibited fanaticism despite how widely they are admired for the extremity of their faith. The danger occurs when fanaticism is paired with aggression. Devotion to God must be paired with common sense and a strong intellect which drives the individual toward rightness of action.
James then turns his attention to the divine, or the gods themselves. The usefulness of gods directly corresponds to the psychological and social impact they have on human lives.
Lectures 11-15 Analysis
James addresses the issue of how a scientist might determine the value of a religion. Before James’s Gifford Lectures, many psychologists and scientists focused on the validity of religious institutions’ claims. However, James presents a new way of thinking about this question. He wants his audience to consider whether a religion brings value and functionality to an individual’s personal life, not whether a religion’s doctrine is fundamentally true or false. James argues that The Functional Value of Religion is responsible for its lasting influence over human life. It must serve people in some way, because otherwise, humans would disregard it.
Some interpretations of James’s writing on saintliness suggest that James is reacting directly to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s view that saintliness is dehumanizing and causes people to gain a sense of superiority over others. Nietzsche was a philosopher and a renowned atheist, and he is closely associated with the philosophy of nihilism. The belief that life is meaningless or innately bad bothered James, and it led him to develop his theories about morbid-mindedness and healthy-mindedness. James responds to Nietzsche's point by arguing that personal religious experience has direct value for the individual, endowing it with inherent value. Furthermore, he proposes that the fruits of religion are responsible for the greatest achievements in human history.
In this section, as James begins to unpack his assessment of religious experiences, he expresses concern over his audience’s perceptions. The psychologist recognizes that what he is doing is novel for the early 20th century. He is asking his audience to set aside their personal beliefs and prejudices to look at all religions equally and to consider how diverse religions may have the same functionality and purpose in human lives. Previous scholarship about the validity and value of religious institutions was heavily biased and centered on the dominant faiths of Europe. Challenging these accepted ideals was no small feat; despite the diverse audience at the Gifford Lectures, most of James’s listeners were Christian Europeans. He asked them to accept the notion that their religious institutions and the belief systems they felt were elevated above all others were not that different from others' religious experiences.
Pluralism and Universal Experience means that the religious revelations of a Christian are similar to the revelations of Buddhists, Muslims, Stoics, scientists, and any other person who experiences the unification of the divided self. Each produces fruits which are collectively categorized as saintliness. James’s reference to the outcomes of religion as “fruits” is a direct reference to the Biblical verse Matthew 7:20: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The authenticity and value of the religious experience is determined by the fruits and their intensity.
James offers a psychological explanation for why conversion is so effective at producing fruits like conviction, happiness, chastity, and liberty. He compares the human mind to a machine that is propelled by steam pressure. The right balance is needed to keep the machine running smoothly. However, the system is often upended by the various aims of fields of consciousness and emotional excitability. James regards religious conversion as a means of intensifying steam pressure to regain emotional equilibrium. This is why people feel the fruits of saintliness most keenly directly after conversion.
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