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
“One brilliant Sunday morning, my wife and boys went to the
Unitarian Chapel in Macclesfield. I felt it impossible to
accompany them—as though to leave the sunshine on the hills, and
go down there to the chapel, would be for the time an act of
spiritual suicide. And I felt such need for new inspiration and
expansion in my life. So, very reluctantly and sadly, I left my
wife and boys to go down into the town, while I went further up
into the hills with my stick and my dog. In the loveliness of the
morning, and the beauty of the hills and valleys, I soon lost my
sense of sadness and regret. For nearly an hour I walked along the
road to the ‘Cat and Fiddle,’ and then returned. On the way back,
suddenly, without warning, I felt that I was in Heaven—an inward
state of peace and joy and assurance indescribably intense,
accompanied with a sense of being bathed in a warm glow of light,
as though the external condition had brought about the internal
effect—a feeling of having passed beyond the body, though the
scene around me stood out more clearly and as if nearer to me than
before, by reason of the illumination in the midst of which I
seemed to be placed. This deep emotion lasted, though with
decreasing strength, until I reached home, and for some time
after, only gradually passing away.”
The writer adds that having had further experiences of a similar sort, he
now knows them well.
“The spiritual life,” he writes, “justifies itself to those who
live it; but what can we say to those who do not understand? This,
at least, we can say, that it is a life whose experiences are
proved real to their possessor, because they remain with him when
brought closest into contact with the objective realities of life.
Dreams cannot stand this test. We wake from them to find that they
are but dreams. Wanderings of an overwrought brain do not stand
this test. These highest experiences that I have had of God’s
presence have been rare and brief—flashes of consciousness which
have compelled me to exclaim with surprise—God is _here_!—or
conditions of exaltation and insight, less intense, and only
gradually passing away. I have severely questioned the worth of
these moments. To no soul have I named them, lest I should be
building my life and work on mere phantasies of the brain. But I
find that, after every questioning and test, they stand out to‐day
as the most real experiences of my life, and experiences which
have explained and justified and unified all past experiences and
all past growth. Indeed, their reality and their far‐reaching
significance are ever becoming more clear and evident. When they
came, I was living the fullest, strongest, sanest, deepest life. I
was not seeking them. What I was seeking, with resolute
determination, was to live more intensely my own life, as against
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account