RELIGION OF HEALTHY-MINDEDNESS – William James
How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness, is in fact for most men at all times the secret motive of all they do, and of all they are willing to endure.
Religion and Neurology – Varieties of Religious Experience
The question, What are the religious propensities? and the question, What is their philosophic significance? are two entirely different orders of question from the logical point of view;
Varieties of Religious Experience – William James
The course is not anthropological, but deals with personal documents. Percepts versus abstract concepts-Happiness is man’s chief concern-Healthy-mindedness and repentance- Heterogeneous personality- Sudden conversion- Testing human value of its fruits- Mysticism defined- Primacy of feeling in religion- Philosophy a secondary function- Aesthetic elements in religion- Summary of religious characteristics
Select Reading
From time to time I will make complete books available. I tend to grab out of copyright material, often from the free book texts at https://www.gutenberg.org/. I find that handling the texts helps me to review the books.
William James – What is the Nature and Value of Religious Propensity?
The question, What are the religious propensities? and the question, What is their philosophic significance? are two entirely different orders of question from the logical point of view; and, as a failure to recognize this fact distinctly may breed confusion, I wish to insist upon the point a little before we enter into the documents […]
William James – Feelings and Impulses Must be the Subject of Psychological Inquiry
If the inquiry be psychological, not religious institutions, but rather religious feelings and religious impulses must be its subject, and I must confine myself to those more developed subjective phenomena recorded in literature produced by articulate and fully self-conscious men, in works of piety and autobiography. The Varieties of Religious Experience, by William James, Lecture […]