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1X CONTENTS reality of a higher power, 274. Peace of mind, charity, 278. Equanimity, fortitude, etc., 284. Connection of this with relaxation, 289. Purity of life, 290. Asceticism, 296. Obedience, 310. Poverty, 315. The sentiments of democracy and of humanity, 324. General effects of higher excitements, 325. LECTURES XIV AND XV The Value of Saintliness 326 It must be tested by the human value of its fruits, 327. The reality of the God must, however, also be judged, 328. ' Unfit ' religions get eliminated by ' experience,' 331. Empiricism is not skepticism, 332. Individual and tribal religion, 334. Loneliness of religious originatoi's, 335. Corruption follows success, 337. Extravagances, 339. Excessive devoutness, as fanaticism, 340 ; as theopathic absorption, 343. Excessive purity, 348. Excessive charity, 355. The perfect man is adapted only to the perfect environment, 356. Saints are leavens, 357. Excesses of asceticism, 360. Asceticism symbolically stands for the heroic life, 363. Militarism and voluntary poverty as possible equivalents, 365. Pros and cons of the saintly character, 369. Saints versus ' strong ' men, 371. Their social function must be considered, 374. Abstractly the saint is the highest type, but in the present environment it may fail, so we make ourselves saints at our peril, 375. The question of theological truth, 377. LECTURES XVI AND XVII Mysticism 379 Mysticism defined, 379. Four marks of mystic states, 380. They form a distinct region of consciousness, 382. Examples of their lower grades, 382. Mysticism and alcohol, 386. ' The anaesthetic revelation,' 387. Religious mysticism, 393. Aspects of Nature, 394. Consciousness of God, 396. ' Cosmic consciousness,'398. Yoga, 400. Buddhistic mysticism, 401. Sufism, 402. Christian mystics, 406. Their sense of revelation, 408. Tonic effects of mystic states, 414. They describe by negatives, 416. Sense of union with the Absolute, 419. Mysticism and music, 420. Three conclusions, 422. (1) Mystical states carry authority for him who has them, 423. (2) But for no one else, 424. (3) Nevertheless, they break down the exclusive authority of rationalistic states, 427. They strengthen monistic and optimistic hypotheses, 428.
2CONTENTS xi LECTURE XVIII Philosophy 430 Primacy of feeling in religion, philosophy being a secondary function, 430. Intellectualism professes to escape subjective standards in her theological constructions, 433. ' Dogmatic theology,' 436. Criticism of its account of God's attributes, 442. ' Pragmatism ' as a test of the value of conceptions, 444. God's metaphysical attributes have no practical significance, 445. His moral attributes are proved by bad arguments ; collapse of systematic theology, 448. Does transcendental idealism fare better ? Its principles, 449. Quotations from John Caird, 450. They are good as restatements of religious experience, but uncoercive as reasoned proof, 453. What philosophy can do for religion by transforming herself into 'science of religions,' 455. LECTURE XIX Other Charactekistics 458 Esthetic elements in religion, 458. Contrast of Catholicism and Protestantism, 461. Sacrifice and Confession, 462. Prayer, 463. Religion holds that spiritual work is really effected in prayer, 465. Three degx'ees of opinion as to what is effected, 467. First degree, 468, Second degree, 472. Third degree, 474. Automatisms, their frequency among religious leaders, 478. Jewish cases, 479. Mohammed, 481. Joseph Smith, 482. Religion and the subconscious region in general, 483. LECTURE XX Conclusions 485 Summary of religious characteristics, 485. Men's religions need not be identical, 487. ' The science of religions ' can only suggest, not proclaim, a religious creed, 489. Is religion a ' survival ' of primitive thought ? 490. Modern science rules out the concept of personality, 491. Anthropomorphism and belief in the personal characterized pre-scientific thought, 493. Personal forces are real, in spite of this, 498. Scientific objects are abstractions, only individualized experiences are concrete, 498. Religion holds by the concrete, 500. Primarily religion is a biological reaction, 504. Its simplest terms are an uneasiness and a deliverance ; description of the deliverance, 508. Quesxii CONTENTS tion of the reality of the higher power, 510. The author's hypotheses : 1. The subconscious self as intermediating between nature and the higher region, 511 : 2. The higher region, or ' God/ 515 ; 3. He produces real effects in nature, 518. Postscript 520 Philosophic position of the present work defined as piecemeal supernaturalism, 520. Criticism of universalistic supernaturalism, 521. Different principles must occasion differences in fact, 522. What differences in fact c^n God's existence occasion ? 523. The question of immortality, 524. Question of God's uniqueness and infinity: religious experience does not settle this question in the affirmative, 525. The pluralistic hypothesis is more conformed to common sense, 526. Index 529
3THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE LECTURE I RELIGION AND NEUROLOGY IT is with no small amount of trepidation that I take my ^/^ - / place behind this desk, and face this learned audience. To us Americans, the experience of receiving instruction from the living voice, as well as from the books, of European scholars, is very familiar. At my own University of Harvard, not a winter passes without its harvest, large '^-^ <^w^ or small, of lectures from Scottish, English, French, or German representatives of the science or hterature of - * their respective countries whom we have either induced to cross the ocean to address us, or captured on the wing as they were visiting our land. It seems the natural thing for us to listen whilst the Europeans talk. The contrary habit, of talking whilst the Europeans listen, we have not yet acquired ; and in him who first makes the adventure it begets a certain sense of apology being due for so presumptuous an act. Particularly must this be the case on a soil as sacred to the American imagination as that of Edinburgh. The glories of the philosophic chair of this university were deeply impressed on my imagination in boyhood. Professor Eraser's Essays in Philosophy, then just published, was the first philosophic book I ever looked into, and I well remember the awestruck feeling I received from the account of Sir Wil-
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1X CONTENTS reality of a higher power, 274. Peace of mind, charity, 278. Equanimity, fortitude, etc., 284. Connection of this with relaxation, 289. Purity of life, 290. Asceticism, 296. Obedience, 310. Poverty, 315. The sentiments of democracy and of humanity, 324. General effects of higher excitements, 325. LECTURES XIV AND XV The Value of Saintliness 326 It must be tested by the human value of its fruits, 327. The reality of the God must, however, also be judged, 328. ' Unfit ' religions get eliminated by ' experience,' 331. Empiricism is not skepticism, 332. Individual and tribal religion, 334. Loneliness of religious originatoi's, 335. Corruption follows success, 337. Extravagances, 339. Excessive devoutness, as fanaticism, 340 ; as theopathic absorption, 343. Excessive purity, 348. Excessive charity, 355. The perfect man is adapted only to the perfect environment, 356. Saints are leavens, 357. Excesses of asceticism, 360. Asceticism symbolically stands for the heroic life, 363. Militarism and voluntary poverty as possible equivalents, 365. Pros and cons of the saintly character, 369. Saints versus ' strong ' men, 371. Their social function must be considered, 374. Abstractly the saint is the highest type, but in the present environment it may fail, so we make ourselves saints at our peril, 375. The question of theological truth, 377. LECTURES XVI AND XVII Mysticism 379 Mysticism defined, 379. Four marks of mystic states, 380. They form a distinct region of consciousness, 382. Examples of their lower grades, 382. Mysticism and alcohol, 386. ' The anaesthetic revelation,' 387. Religious mysticism, 393. Aspects of Nature, 394. Consciousness of God, 396. ' Cosmic consciousness,'398. Yoga, 400. Buddhistic mysticism, 401. Sufism, 402. Christian mystics, 406. Their sense of revelation, 408. Tonic effects of mystic states, 414. They describe by negatives, 416. Sense of union with the Absolute, 419. Mysticism and music, 420. Three conclusions, 422. (1) Mystical states carry authority for him who has them, 423. (2) But for no one else, 424. (3) Nevertheless, they break down the exclusive authority of rationalistic states, 427. They strengthen monistic and optimistic hypotheses, 428.
2CONTENTS xi LECTURE XVIII Philosophy 430 Primacy of feeling in religion, philosophy being a secondary function, 430. Intellectualism professes to escape subjective standards in her theological constructions, 433. ' Dogmatic theology,' 436. Criticism of its account of God's attributes, 442. ' Pragmatism ' as a test of the value of conceptions, 444. God's metaphysical attributes have no practical significance, 445. His moral attributes are proved by bad arguments ; collapse of systematic theology, 448. Does transcendental idealism fare better ? Its principles, 449. Quotations from John Caird, 450. They are good as restatements of religious experience, but uncoercive as reasoned proof, 453. What philosophy can do for religion by transforming herself into 'science of religions,' 455. LECTURE XIX Other Charactekistics 458 Esthetic elements in religion, 458. Contrast of Catholicism and Protestantism, 461. Sacrifice and Confession, 462. Prayer, 463. Religion holds that spiritual work is really effected in prayer, 465. Three degx'ees of opinion as to what is effected, 467. First degree, 468, Second degree, 472. Third degree, 474. Automatisms, their frequency among religious leaders, 478. Jewish cases, 479. Mohammed, 481. Joseph Smith, 482. Religion and the subconscious region in general, 483. LECTURE XX Conclusions 485 Summary of religious characteristics, 485. Men's religions need not be identical, 487. ' The science of religions ' can only suggest, not proclaim, a religious creed, 489. Is religion a ' survival ' of primitive thought ? 490. Modern science rules out the concept of personality, 491. Anthropomorphism and belief in the personal characterized pre-scientific thought, 493. Personal forces are real, in spite of this, 498. Scientific objects are abstractions, only individualized experiences are concrete, 498. Religion holds by the concrete, 500. Primarily religion is a biological reaction, 504. Its simplest terms are an uneasiness and a deliverance ; description of the deliverance, 508. Quesxii CONTENTS tion of the reality of the higher power, 510. The author's hypotheses : 1. The subconscious self as intermediating between nature and the higher region, 511 : 2. The higher region, or ' God/ 515 ; 3. He produces real effects in nature, 518. Postscript 520 Philosophic position of the present work defined as piecemeal supernaturalism, 520. Criticism of universalistic supernaturalism, 521. Different principles must occasion differences in fact, 522. What differences in fact c^n God's existence occasion ? 523. The question of immortality, 524. Question of God's uniqueness and infinity: religious experience does not settle this question in the affirmative, 525. The pluralistic hypothesis is more conformed to common sense, 526. Index 529
3THE VARIETIES OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE LECTURE I RELIGION AND NEUROLOGY IT is with no small amount of trepidation that I take my ^/^ - / place behind this desk, and face this learned audience. To us Americans, the experience of receiving instruction from the living voice, as well as from the books, of European scholars, is very familiar. At my own University of Harvard, not a winter passes without its harvest, large '^-^ <^w^ or small, of lectures from Scottish, English, French, or German representatives of the science or hterature of - * their respective countries whom we have either induced to cross the ocean to address us, or captured on the wing as they were visiting our land. It seems the natural thing for us to listen whilst the Europeans talk. The contrary habit, of talking whilst the Europeans listen, we have not yet acquired ; and in him who first makes the adventure it begets a certain sense of apology being due for so presumptuous an act. Particularly must this be the case on a soil as sacred to the American imagination as that of Edinburgh. The glories of the philosophic chair of this university were deeply impressed on my imagination in boyhood. Professor Eraser's Essays in Philosophy, then just published, was the first philosophic book I ever looked into, and I well remember the awestruck feeling I received from the account of Sir Wil-
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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