The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human NatureJames, William
ReligionComparative
The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature
James, William
Conversion; Experience (Religion); Philosophy and religion; Psychology, Religious; Religion
_b._ _Strength of Soul._—The sense of enlargement of life may be so
uplifting that personal motives and inhibitions, commonly omnipotent,
become too insignificant for notice, and new reaches of patience and
fortitude open out. Fears and anxieties go, and blissful equanimity takes
their place. Come heaven, come hell, it makes no difference now!
“We forbid ourselves all seeking after popularity, all ambition to
appear important. We pledge ourselves to abstain from falsehood,
in all its degrees. We promise not to create or encourage
illusions as to what is possible, by what we say or write. We
promise to one another active sincerity, which strives to see
truth clearly, and which never fears to declare what it sees.
“We promise deliberate resistance to the tidal waves of fashion,
to the ‘booms’ and panics of the public mind, to all the forms of
weakness and of fear.
“We forbid ourselves the use of sarcasm. Of serious things we will
speak seriously and unsmilingly, without banter and without the
appearance of banter;—and even so of all things, for there are
serious ways of being light of heart.
“We will put ourselves forward always for what we are, simply and
without false humility, as well as without pedantry, affectation,
or pride.”
_c._ _Purity._—The shifting of the emotional centre brings with it, first,
increase of purity. The sensitiveness to spiritual discords is enhanced,
and the cleansing of existence from brutal and sensual elements becomes
imperative. Occasions of contact with such elements are avoided: the
saintly life must deepen its spiritual consistency and keep unspotted from
the world. In some temperaments this need of purity of spirit takes an
ascetic turn, and weaknesses of the flesh are treated with relentless
severity.
_d._ _Charity._—The shifting of the emotional centre brings, secondly,
increase of charity, tenderness for fellow‐creatures. The ordinary motives
to antipathy, which usually set such close bounds to tenderness among
human beings, are inhibited. The saint loves his enemies, and treats
loathsome beggars as his brothers.
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I now have to give some concrete illustrations of these fruits of the
spiritual tree. The only difficulty is to choose, for they are so
abundant.
Since the sense of Presence of a higher and friendly Power seems to be the
fundamental feature in the spiritual life, I will begin with that.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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