CHAPTER 2

WILLIAM JAMES’S CONCEPT OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCES

2.1 Introduction

James postulated that religious experiences are not merely a product of individual
subjectivity, but rather a broader manifestation of human experience that can be studied,
analysed and understood within a scientific framework. This dissertation aims to explore
James's concept of the religious experiences, examining how his theories are still relevant and
significant in today's world, as well as how they have influenced modern spirituality and
psychology. By providing a critical analysis of James's approach to religious experience, this
dissertation will contribute to a deeper understanding of human consciousness and the role of
spirituality in modern culture.

2.2 Concepts of Religion

As people's beliefs and spiritual practices evolve, they tend to leave certain human desires out
of their religion and focus on them in their daily lives. On the other hand, certain needs
become the primary drivers for their religious practices, especially in specific phases of
society. For instance, in Christian countries, people do not turn to religion to fulfil their
unethical desires. The selection of which desires to associate with religion is not necessarily
based on the desire's religious nature, but rather on the perception of the object of worship.1

2.2.1 Definition of Religion

In general, there are two main categories of definitions for the term "religion." The
first type is focused on the beliefs and doctrines that make a particular religion distinct, while
the second type concerns the broader social function or purpose of religion. Some definitions
may be biased or subjective in nature, such as Marx's description of religion as the "opiate of
the people," which is a functional definition. An example of a biased substantial definition is
"Religion is the superstitious acceptance of the belief that God exists," while another non
neutral definition that combines both functional and substantial elements is "Religion is the
act of getting right before God2.

1
MALORY NYE, Religion: The Basics, New York, Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2004, 8.
2
KEITH E. YANDELL Philosophy of Religion: A contemporary introduction, New York, Routledge1999, 16.
 A religion offers a diagnosis of what it tells us is our deep and paralyzing problem. It
also offers a solution. This combination of diagnosis-and-cure itself makes assumptions about
what there is, what can be known, and what has positive worth. It inherently contains the
seeds of a full-grown worldview. At the very least, it contains commitments as to what there
is, what must be known, and what has worth that can be consistently developed into some
worldviews but not into others3

According to William James When discussing an individual's connection to "what

they perceive as the divine," it is important to have a broad understanding of the term
"divine," which can refer to any object that is god-like, whether it is a specific deity or not.
However, using the term "god-like" as a general quality can become ambiguous, as there
have been many different gods throughout religious history, each with their own unique
attributes.4

2.2.2 Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy includes various branches such as metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics.

Metaphysics deals with developing and critically evaluating descriptions of reality.
Epistemology involves building and evaluating explanations of what knowledge is and how it
is acquired. Lastly, ethics is focused on establishing and evaluating explanations of what
distinguishes right from wrong conduct and what constitutes moral persons.

The philosophy of religion deals with topics such as good and evil, the inherent value
of things, the meaning of a worthwhile life, and the connection between these concepts. This
area of study aims to provide understandable explanations of religious traditions and evaluate
them in a philosophical manner. To give a philosophically accessible account of religious
traditions means to present straightforward and straightforward explanations of their essential
principles.5

Religion was a topic that deeply fascinated James, and he viewed it as the most
significant pursuit of his life. His books, including A Pluralistic Universe, Pragmatism,
Human Immortality, and The Will to Believe, frequently explored religious themes.
However, James's most notable contribution to the study of religion was The Varieties of
Religious Experience, a work that established his historical importance. James focused on the
3
Ibid,4
4
WILLIAM JAMES, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, University of Adelaide,
1902,16.
5
Cf. KEITH E. YANDELL, Philosophy of Religion, 17-18.
personal experiences, actions, and emotions of individuals in relation to their conception of
the divine in this book. This was the main subject of interest for James in The Varieties of
Religious Experience.6

2.2.3 Pragmatism and Religion

In the Varieties of Religious Experience, James presented his readers with a wide
range of first-hand reports by individuals describing their religious experiences. He was
particularly interested in mystical or quasi-mystical experiences. James wanted to provide a
phenomenology of religious experience; to convey, as concretely and richly as possible, what
these experiences were like from the point of view of the person who had them.

He believed that conceptual, philosophical discourse was an inadequate route to

religious knowledge, it is plausible to see his intention in The Varieties of Religious
Experience as a philosophically unconventional one. There is good reason to think that in
offering a glimpse into the inner lives of mystics and other religious individuals, James hoped
to guide his readers into at least some degree of resonance with or participation in those
experiences.

It seems plausible to interpret him as having believed that if his audience, through
contemplating the experiential descriptions he provided, could identify and appreciate their
own germinal mystical experiences (however attenuated), they might experience at least
some sense of what the fully developed mystic has experienced, and perhaps come to have an
entirely new appreciation of the evidential power of that experience (Suckiel 2002).

James’s evocative and original analysis of religious experience in The Varieties of

Religious Experience has had immense impact on scholars and religious practitioners, and
has transformed the parameters within which the topic of religious experience has been
discussed.

In his epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and philosophy of religion, James’s

immense contributions to philosophy are to be counted not only in terms of the subtlety,
originality, and incisiveness of his observations and arguments, but also in terms of his
unwavering commitment to the idea that it is the responsibility of philosophers to clarify,
enrich, and add perspective and wisdom to the experience of ordinary life.7

6
Cf. JOHN R. SHOOK- JOSEPH MARGOLIS, ed., A companion to Pragmatism, Blackwell Publishing, Victoria,
2006, 40.
7
Ibid, 41-42.
2.3 Concepts of religious experience

A research in religion philosophy and psychology is called The Varieties of Religious

Experience. James was interested in religion from a philosophical perspective, as seen in The
Varieties of Religious Experience and other works mainly with two inquiries. First, as was
previously mentioned, was if religious convictions can be supported by citing the practical
outcomes that flow from keeping such convictions. The second question concerned whether
one's own religious experiences were suitable could serve as proof of one's religious
convictions.8

“James view on religious experience is a complex as his whole thought. If so, what is
religious experience? Religious experience is the consciousness which individuals have of an
intercourse between themselves and higher powers with which they feel themselves to be
related. This is the definition of William James about religious experience”9.

“James approaches religious experience as an empirical inquirer. In lecture 1 of

varieties he distinguishes between two forms of judgement which might be made about
religion, which he calls existential and spiritual. Existential judgements concern the origin
and history of religious experience, whereas spiritual judgements have to do with their
meaning. James takes these to be two separate matters, and sets out to investigate them
independently of one another”.10

The views put forward by James is not based on any particular religion but he
understands from the point view of all kinds of religious experience include atheist, theist,
non-believers, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu believers. People say that there is unseen touch
happens in religious experience but for James there are many forms or varieties of religious
experience. In his book Varieties he presents it in a considerable manner it says.

“That whatever it may be on its further side, the ‘more’ which in religious experience
we feel ourselves connected on its higher side the subconscious continuation of our conscious

8
Cf. SHOOK- MARGOLIS, ed., A companion to Pragmatism,41.
9
XAVIER J. PUTHENKALAM, Religious Experience and Faith, Kottayam, India Publication, 1989, 15.
10
MICHAEL BACON, The Psychology of Religious: William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience,
Bloomsbury Press, 2017, 5.
life. Starting thus a recognized psychological fact as our basis, we seem to preserve a contact
with ‘science’ which the ordinary theologian lacks11.

At the same time the theologian’s contention that the religious man is moved by an
external power is vindicated, for it is one of the peculiarities of invasions from the
subconscious religion to take on objective appearances, and to suggest to the subject an
external control. In the religious life the control is felt as ‘higher’; but since on our hypothesis
it is primary the higher faculties of our hidden mind which are controlling, the sense of union
with the power beyond us is a sense of something, not merely apparently, but literally true”12.

2.3.1 Definition and nature of religious experiences

The terms "religion" and "religious" are commonly used to describe human activities and are
cultural concepts that have emerged from a specific cultural and political history in
contemporary English. However, due to the spread of English language and western culture,
these terms are used widely across the world, such as by Hindus who use the word "dharma"
to refer to their religion.

Some controversial figures use religion as a justification for their actions, whereas the
majority of followers of the respective religion disapprove of those actions. Religion has a
broad range of meanings and is used globally for different purposes, often in conflicting
ways.

A common starting point in the study of religion can often be the search for ‘ultimate’
truths or answers. Liberation, salvation, morality, belief, and many other such key concepts
may be issues we wish to explore when we are studying religion, but we can speculate ad
infinitum as to which set of ideas is closer to the ‘truth’. Many (not all) religions are practised
in a way that presumes a reality beyond humans such as gods, deities, supernaturalism. But
scholars have to adopt in their approach an element of academic neutrality in this area.
Indeed, this may also require an element of scholarly ‘agnosticism’, by recognising that in
these studies we should only claim competence in the field of experience which is known: the
human world. This is not to argue that there is no ‘supernatural’ or spiritual reality beyond

11
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature, University of Adelaide,
1902,512-513.
12
Ibid, 512-513.
this, but rather that there are plenty of other interesting things to learn and think about
religion without presuming (or refuting) this alternative reality.13

2.3.2 Incompleteness and complexity of varieties

“Experience” in this context stands for, though it is not exhausted by sensation,

perception, feeling, prayer, changes of heart, deliverances from fear, and alternations of
attitudes experience is the cornerstone of James prospective or pragmatic metaphysical
pluralism.

“Through James could not fulfil his initial plan the varieties of religious experience
as we have it is rich and complex. The richness appears in too many places for so brief an
essay. As this even to mention, let alone examine, but certainly a good example of it is the
extend passage on prayer, which is all the more noteworthy because of the authors disavowal
of ‘any live believed in a conscious sprit of the universe with whom I may hold
communion”14.

2.4 Types of religious experience

“The ensuing course James follows in varieties moves from healthy mindedness,
with his distinction between an individual and a voluntary or systematic healthy mindedness,
to sick soul and divided self, to conversion, saintliness, and mysticism with the possible
exception of the lecture on mysticism, the sequence James adopts conforms to the ideal
progression of evangelical religious experience. This sequence provides the bulk of the
“concrete data” upon his conclusions are based. In the reminder of this essay we shall attend
to the divided self, conversion, saintliness and mysticism, as representing James’s whole
literary”15.

“In this area William James mention about St. Teresa is one of the mystics upon who
depends for his hypothesis, which by this point has acquired an unmistakably metaphysical
character. Other is Al-Ghazzali, Jacob Boehme and Saint John of the cross. James list four
marks of mystical experience: Ineffability, noetic quality, transiency and passivity” 16.

2.4.1 The Religion of Healthy Mindedness

13
Cf. MALORY NYE, Religion: The Basics, 4.
14
PUTNAM RUTH ANNA, ed., The Cambridge Companion to William James, USA, Cambribge University
Press, 1997,225.
15
I
16
Ibid.225.
With such relations between religion and happiness, it is perhaps not surprising that men
come to regard the happiness which a religious belief affords as a proof of its truth. If a creed
makes a man feel happy, he almost inevitably adopts it. Such a belief ought to be true;
therefore, it is true-such, rightly or wrongly, is one of the “immediate inferences” of the
religious logic used by ordinary men.

we must admit that any persistent enjoyment may produce the sort of religion which
consists in a grateful admiration of the gift of so happy an existence; and we must also
acknowledge that the more complex ways of experiencing religion are new manners of
producing happiness, wonderful inner paths to a supernatural kind of happiness, when the
first gift of natural existence is unhappy, as it so often proves itself to be.17

2.4.2 The Sick Soul

According to James Idea This religion directs him to settle his scores with the
eviller aspects of the universe by systematically declining to lay them to heart or make much
of them, by ignoring them in his reflective calculations, or even, on occasion, by denying
outright that they exist. Evil is a disease; and worry over disease is itself an additional form of
disease, which only adds to the original complaint. Even repentance and remorse, affections
which come in the character of ministers of good, may be but sickly and relaxing impulses.
The best repentance is to up and act for righteousness, and forget that you ever had relations
with sin. So, he is saying that evil is the cause for the sick soul.18

2.4.3 The Divided Self

life which are characteristic respectively of what we called the healthy-minded, who need to
be born only once, and of the sick souls, who must be twice-born in order to be happy. The
result is two different conceptions of the universe of our experience. In the religion of the
once born the world is a sort of rectilinear or one-storied affair, whose accounts are kept in
one denomination, whose parts have just the values which naturally they appear to have, and
of which a simple algebraic sum of pluses and minuses will give the total worth. Happiness
and religious peace consist in living on the plus side of the account.19

In the religion of the twice-born, on the other hand, the world is a double-storied
mystery. Peace cannot be reached by the simple addition of pluses and elimination of

17
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience,62.
18
Ibid, 99.
19
Ibid,127.
minuses from life. Natural good is not simply insufficient in amount and transient, there lurks
a falsity in its very being. Cancelled as it all is by death if not by earlier enemies, it gives no
final balance, and can never be the thing intended for our lasting worship. It keeps us from
our real good, rather; and renunciation and despair of it are our first step in the direction of
the truth.20

2.4.4 Conversion

To be converted, to be regenerated, to receive grace, to experience religion, to gain an

assurance, are so many phrases which denote the process, gradual or sudden, by which a self-
hitherto divided, and consciously wrong inferior and unhappy, becomes unified and
consciously right superior and happy, in consequence of its firmer hold upon religious
realities. This at least is what conversion signifies in general terms, whether or not we believe
that a direct divine operation is needed to bring such a moral change about.21

Saint Paul’s is the most eminent, and in which, often amid tremendous emotional
excitement or perturbation of the senses, a complete division is established in the twinkling of
an eye between the old life and the new. Conversion of this type is an important phase of
religious experience, owing to the part which it has played in Protestant theology, and it
behoves us to study it conscientiously on that account.22

2.4.5 Saintliness

The collective name for the ripe fruits of religion in a character is Saintliness. The saintly
character is the character for which spiritual emotions are the habitual centre of the personal
energy; and there is a certain composite photograph of universal saintliness, the same in all
religions, of which the features can easily be traced. In Christian saintliness this power is
always personified as God; but abstract moral ideals, civic or patriotic utopias, or inner
versions of holiness or right may also be felt as the true lords and enlargers of our life.23

The main features of the Saintliness are, Asceticism. The self-surrender may become
so passionate as to turn into self-immolation. Strength of Soul, the sense of enlargement of
life may be so uplifting that personal motives and inhibitions, Purity. The shifting of the

20
Ibid.
21
William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience 145.
22
Ibid, 166.
23
Ibid,
emotional centre brings with it, first, increase of purity. Charity. The shifting of the emotional
centre brings, secondly, increase of charity, tenderness for fellow-creatures.24

2.4.6 Mysticism

The words “mysticism” and “mystical” are often used as terms of mere reproach, to
throw at any opinion which we regard as vague and vast and sentimental, and without a base
in either facts or logic. For some writers a “mystic” is any person who believes in thought-
transference, or spirit return.

Major features of mysticism are Ineffability, the subject of it immediately says that it
defies expression, that no adequate report of its contents can be given in words. It follows
from this that its quality must be directly experienced; it cannot be imparted or transferred to
others. Noetic quality is that, similar to states of feeling, mystical states seem to those who
experience them to be also states of knowledge. They are states of insight into depths of truth
unplumbed by the discursive intellect. Next one is Transiency, Mystical states cannot be
sustained for long. Except in rare instances, half an hour, or at most an hour or two, seems to
be the limit beyond which they fade into the light of common day.

Next one is Passivity, mysticism prescribes that when the characteristic sort of
consciousness once has set in, the mystic feels as if his own will were in abeyance, and
indeed sometimes as if he were grasped and held by a superior power. This latter peculiarity
connects mystical states with certain definite phenomena of secondary or alternative
personality, such as prophetic speech, automatic writing, or the mediumistic trance.25

24
Ibid, 207-208.
25
Cf. William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience, 286-288.