William James (1842 – 1920) The Varieties of Religious Experiences (2009, 1902)
Sense of reality
“They [spiritual experiences] determine our vital attitude as decisively as the vital attitude of lovers is determined by the habitual sense,…… They are convincing to those who have them as any direct sensible experiences can be, and they are, as a rule, much more convincing than results established by mere logic are……if you do have them, and have them at all strongly, the probability is that you cannot help regarding them as genuine perceptions of truth, as revelations of a kind of reality [my underlining] which no adverse argument, however unanswerable by you in words, can expel from your belief. (later James refers to “our sense of reality” – p.48) P.47
“Your whole subconscious life, your impulses, your faiths, your needs, your divinations, have prepared the premises, of which your consciousness now feels the weight of the result; and something in you absolutely KNOWS that that result must be truer than any logic-chopping rationalistic talk, however clever, that may contradict it. This inferiority of the rationalistic level in founding belief is just as manifest when rationalism argues for religion as when it argues against it.” (p.48)
“The truth is that in the metaphysical and religious sphere, articulate reasons are cogent for us only when our inarticulate feelings of reality have already been impressed in favor of the same conclusion Then, indeed, our intuitions and our reason work together, and great world-ruling systems, like that of the Buddhist or of the Catholic philosophy, may grow up………Instinct leads, intelligence does but follow.” P.48
Much of what William James says here echoes what Jung and Damasio say about pervasive influence of emotions – which I brought up in the “Mistaking Knowledge for Truth” essay.
“As regards the origin of the Greek gods, we need not at present seek an opinion. But the whole array of our instances leads to a conclusion something like this: It is as if there were in the human consciousness a sense of reality, a feeling of objective presence, a perception of what we may call “something there,” more deep and more general than any kind of the special and particular “senses’ by which the current psychology supposes existent realities to be originally revealed.” (p.40)
Abstraction
“The sentiment of reality can indeed attach itself so strongly to our object of belief that our whole life is polarized through and through, so to speak, by its sense of the existence of the thing believed in, and yet that thing, for purpose of definite description, can hardly be said to be present to our mind at all.” (p.39)
“It is not only the Ideas of pure Reason as Kant styled them, that have this power of making us vitally feel presences that we are impotent articulately to describe. All sorts of higher abstractions bring with them the same kind of impalpable appeal.” (p.39)
James concludes that “As time, space, and the ether soak through all things so (we feel) do abstract and essential goodness, beauty strength, significance, justice soak through all things good, strong, significant, and just.” (p.39) That is, “Everything we know is “what” it is by sharing in the nature of one of these abstractions.” ( p.39)
“The absolute determinability of our mind by abstractions is one of the cardinal facts in our human constitution. Polarizing and magnetizing us as they do, we turn towards them and from them, we seek them, hold them, hate them, bless them, just as if they were so many concrete beings. And beings they are, beings as real in the realm which they inhabit as the changing of sense are in the realm of space.” (p.39)
Other Psychologists and psychoanalysts on Religious Beliefs and Spirituality
Viktor Frankl, Carl Jung, and William James were pretty much on the same page when it came to religious beliefs. All three believed that (unconscious) spiritual processes generate and create meaning(s) for people.
Viktor Frankl: In the anthology, Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology (2014), Paul Wong, the prominent psychologist, observes: “ Frankl considers meaning seeking as stemming from one’s spiritual nature . According to Frankl, meaning, compassion and other positive psychological resources belong to the spiritual dimension” (my italics)
Carl Jung: In
Volume 8 of the Collected Works, paragraph 648 (1968 revised), Jung stated:
“Life and spirit are two powers or necessities between which man is placed. Spirit gives meaning to his life, and
the possibility of its greatest development. But life is essential to spirit,
since its truth is nothing if it cannot live” (my italics)
William James argues that spiritual and religious experiences create a "sense of "reality." It would seem self-evident that "a sense of reality" necessarily includes meaning and would involve a "Meaning Structure"
Lastly, but not least, there is the iconic anthropologist Clifford Geertz: Clifford Geertz ’s reputation as a brilliant anthropologist is well deserved. He takes complex conceptual frameworks and expresses them in easily understood comprehensive statements. A pivotal argument for Geertz is that symbolism and meaning are vital and essential in both culture and religion: “The view of man as a symbolizing, conceptualizing, meaning-seeking animal, which has become increasingly popular both in the social sciences and in philosophy over the past several years, opens up a whole new approach not only to the analysis of religion as such, but to the understanding of the relations between religion and values. The drive to make sense out of experience, to give it form and order, is evidently as real and pressing as the more familiar biological needs. And, this being so, it seems unnecessary to continue to interpret symbolic activities --- religion, art, ideology – as nothing but thinly disguised expressions of something other than what they seem to be: attempts to provide orientation to an organism which cannot live in a world it is unable to understand.” (p.140)
Furthermore, several recent existential and positive psychologists agree that a primary function of religious beliefs is to provide meaning and structure for the individual.
In
the anthology, Meaning in Positive and Existential Psychology (2014), edited by
Batthyany and Russo-Netzer, the psychologists Kim, Davis, and Hicks, observe,
“Religion has long been recognized as a central source of meaning in life that
provides individuals with core beliefs, expectations, and goals, and places the
individual’s life into a larger context.” (p.229 positive)
Bypassed by Orthodox Psychology
I would be remiss if I didn't emphasize that most all of this is largely ignored and bypassed by orthodox and mainstream psychology. Everybody who is anybody in social psychology quotes Roy Baumeister whose work on the need to belong is nothing short of brilliant. However, in his book about meaning there is not one single reference to either "spirit" or spirituality". And in the 700 plus page "Self and Identity Handbook" which advertises itself as a comprehensive portrayal of all current studies and theory also has not a single reference to either "spirit" or "spirituality." As Viktor Frankl noted back in the 1940's the disciplines of science have become largely separate and often very disconnected schools of thought. There are something like 40 to 50 schools of thought in psychology/social psychology.
Content Copyrighted Charles E Peck Jr. Copyright ©
References and Footnotes
Profile of Dr. James Doty: https://profiles.stanford.edu/james-doty
The Center for Compassion And Altruism Research And Education: http://ccare.stanford.edu/
American Psychological Association: https://www.apa.org/
Association for Psychological Science: https://www.psychologicalscience.org/about/links.cfm
Albert Einstein comprehensive website: http://alberteinsteinsite.com/
Albert Einstein Biography: https://www.biography.com/people/albert-einstein-9285408
Godel’s Theorem of Incompleteness: https://www.jamesrmeyer.com/ffgit/godels_theorem.html
John Bargh, PhD: http://bargh.socialpsychology.org/
https://www.rogerdooley.com/john-bargh-priming
http://www.psych.nyu.edu/bargh/index.html
Rupert Sheldrake: https://www.sheldrake.org/
Viktor Frankl: http://www.viktor-frankl.com/
Viktor Frankl: http://www.viktorfrankl.org/
Dr. Harold Koenig: https://spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.php/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Dr. Harold Koenig: https://medicine.duke.edu/faculty/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Roy Baumeister: http://www.roybaumeister.com/
Roy Baumeister: https://psy.fsu.edu/faculty/baumeisterr/baumeister.dp.php
Dr. Paul Wong: http://www.drpaulwong.com/
Dr. Paul Wong: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/paul-wong-biography/
Clifford Geertz: https://www.biography.com/people/clifford-geertz-9308224
Carl Jung: https://www.biography.com/people/carl-jung-9359134
Carl Jung: https://www.psychologistworld.com/cognitive/carl-jung-analytical-psychology
12 common Archetypes: http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html
Emile Durkheim: http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/
Emile Durkheim: http://faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Theorists/Durkheim/index2.htm
William James: https://www.biography.com/people/william-james-9352726
William James: https://study.com/academy/lesson/william-james-psychology-theories-lesson-quiz.html
Tania Singer references: http://cultureofempathy.com/References/Experts/Tania-Singer.htm
https://charterforcompassion.org/discovering-empathy/dr-tania-singer-and-the-neuroscience-of-empathy
Dr Amit Sood Mindfulness: https://www.mindfulleader.org/amit-sood
Dr. Harold Koenig Director, Center for Spirituality,
Theology and Health: https://spiritualityandhealth.duke.edu/index.php/harold-g-koenig-m-d
Dr. Koenig on what spirituality can do for you: https://www.beliefnet.com/wellness/health/2006/05/what-religion-can-do-for-your-health.aspx
Keith Karren – Body, Mind, Spirit:
http://pgrpdf.abhappybooks.com/mind-body-health-keith-j-karren-ph-d-pdf-5716009.pdf
E O Wilson Biodiversity: https://eowilsonfoundation.org/
E O Wilson - PBS on Ants: http://www.pbs.org/program/eo-wilson/
Anthropologist Malinowski: http://anthrotheory.wikia.com/wiki/Bronislaw_
MalinowskiSocial Anthropology - Malinowski: http://scihi.org/bronislaw-malinowski-social-anthropology/
St. Augustine (Catholic source): https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=418
St. Augustine: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/augustine
Konrad Lorenz: https://www.age-of-the-sage.org/scientist/konrad_lorenz.html
Konrad Lorenz: http://www.famouspsychologists.org/konrad-lorenz/
St. Gregory of Nyssa (Franciscan): https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-gregory-of-nyssa/
St. Gregory of Nyssa (wikiorg): https://orthodoxwiki.org/Gregory_of_Nyssa
Neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene: https://www.edge.org/memberbio/stanislas_dehaene
Imants Barušs, psychologist and parapsychologist: http://www.baruss.ca/
Julia Mossbridge, psychologist and parapsychologist: https://noetic.org/profile/julia-mossbridge
https://sharingthesearch.com/tag/j-mossbridge/
https://www.closertotruth.com/contributor/julia-mossbridge/profile
Friedrich Nietzsche: http://nietzschecircle.com/
Nietzsche biography: https://www.biography.com/people/friedrich-nietzsche-9423452
Abraham Joshua Heschel: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/abraham-joshua-heschel-a-prophets-prophet/
Iroquois:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/1d.asp
Greek Mythology: Apollo and the Oracle of Delphi
https://www.greekmythology.com/Olympians/Apollo/apollo.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/apollo-greek-god-sun-music-prophecy-111902
http://greek-gods.info/greek-gods/apollo/
https://www.coastal.edu/intranet/ashes2art/delphi2/misc-essays/oracle_of_delphi.html
https://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/background/7_p1.html
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/pythia-oracle-delphi-001641
https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends/pythia-oracle-delphi-001641