William James’ “Varieties of Religious Experience” was derived from the Gifford Lecture series he delivered around 1900-1902. The first thing to bear in mind, then, is that James’ definition of religion was intended as a working definition in order that his audience could follow his exposition. As a founding father of the field of modern psychology and a proponent of pragmatic philosophy, dogmatism wasn’t at all a part of James’ style.
Secondly, brilliant and amiable as he may have been in person, James referred to himself as a “sick soul,” given to bouts of psychic entropy (i.e, depression). His emphasis on the experiential quality of spirituality had nothing to do with supporting dogma or hewing to community supersition. Rather, James saw positive spiritual experience as psychic uplift, eudaemonia—experienced idiosyncratically at the individual level, and sought to examine and cultivate such experiences. Seen from another vantage point, James was in fact exploring a world view based on seeking out the sacred in the mundane.
William James’ “Varieties of Religious Experience” was derived from the Gifford Lecture series he delivered around 1900-1902. The first thing to bear in mind, then, is that James’ definition of religion was intended as a working definition in order that his audience could follow his exposition. As a founding father of the field of modern psychology and a proponent of pragmatic philosophy, dogmatism wasn’t at all a part of James’ style.
Secondly, brilliant and amiable as he may have been in person, James referred to himself as a “sick soul,” given to bouts of psychic entropy (i.e, depression). His emphasis on the experiential quality of spirituality had nothing to do with supporting dogma or hewing to community supersition. Rather, James saw positive spiritual experience as psychic uplift, eudaemonia—experienced idiosyncratically at the individual level, and sought to examine and cultivate such experiences. Seen from another vantage point, James was in fact exploring a world view based on seeking out the sacred in the mundane.