james the varieties of religious experience

But by drawing on all his experiences, Fox founded a religion that is alive and well today. Fox experienced revelatory visions he saw the streets running with blood and had bizarre epiphanies that some would consider psychotic. Take, for example, the founder of Quakerism, George Fox. Some people might regard certain religious experiences as symptomatic of mental illness or instability, but regardless of whether they are or aren’t, such experiences can still be immensely valuable and educational. Such effects clearly bear on human psychology. As we shall discover in the following book summarys, we’re filled with emotions and judgments that inform our unique perceptions.įurthermore, religious experiences expose people to new emotions and guide them toward new conclusions. For instance, the way we see the world is subjective no two people view it in exactly the same way. Yet science and philosophy simply aren’t enough to explain everything that we experience and perceive. In the author’s time, science and philosophy were burgeoning, and today we’re witnessing even more developments in these fields. Of course, science and philosophy have their place, but they simply can’t explain everything in the world. What springs to mind when you think of religion? A church or mosque? A prayer chanted or sung? Psychology may not be the first thing one thinks of, but it turns out that religious experiences has much to teach about the mind.

what laughing gas can teach you about religious experience.how religious experience cured Russian writer Leo Tolstoy’s depression and.In this summary of The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James, you’ll learn Among other things, the author explains why we simply can’t understand human psychology without studying religious experience, and that these experiences can help cure mental illness. This book summary, based on a series of lectures given by the author near the turn of the 20th century, take you on a journey through the multifaceted world of religious experience. Religion is an integral part of modern life – not only in people’s daily lives, but in politics, too.īut if you strip away the churches, mosques and temples, the dogma and the holy books, what is religious experience? What is it on a deeper, more personal level? However, an article published in the Washington Post, in 2012, article states that about 8 out of 10 people still identify with a religious group.

James the varieties of religious experience