“The Varieties of Religious Experience” is a generous and endlessly insightful book about human nature.
I’ve devoted a significant chunk of this one life I have to reading, though I really don’t believe that books offer any greater chance of salvation than, say, windsurfing. Yet I can’t help feeling that I was saved, for a while, by William James.
About 10 years ago I was hurting; not from a broken heart so much as an exhausted one, having spent several of the previous years caring about people whose own hearts and minds were in states of distress. When I picked up “The Varieties of Religious Experience,” an edited version of 20 lectures that James delivered in Edinburgh in 1901 and 1902, I wasn’t expecting it to be a profound balm, but that’s what it was.
I immediately read more work by and about James. I began to verbally annotate everyday life to friends by referring to things he had done or said, with the same frequency with which I had once (no less annoyingly, I’m sure) called on scenes from “The Simpsons.” He was a Swiss Army knife of psychological and emotional insight.
It’s a cliché for people unswayed by religion to still believe in William James, to allow him access to their souls because of the way he sneaks in through their brains. A psychologist and philosopher (and oldest brother of the novelist Henry), James was not a follower of any church, and had little academic interest in institutional religion, but he was obsessively curious about the inner experiences of believers... (continues, nyt)
Beyond ‘Varieties’: A William James Starter Kit
About 10 years ago I was hurting; not from a broken heart so much as an exhausted one, having spent several of the previous years caring about people whose own hearts and minds were in states of distress. When I picked up “The Varieties of Religious Experience,” an edited version of 20 lectures that James delivered in Edinburgh in 1901 and 1902, I wasn’t expecting it to be a profound balm, but that’s what it was.
I immediately read more work by and about James. I began to verbally annotate everyday life to friends by referring to things he had done or said, with the same frequency with which I had once (no less annoyingly, I’m sure) called on scenes from “The Simpsons.” He was a Swiss Army knife of psychological and emotional insight.
It’s a cliché for people unswayed by religion to still believe in William James, to allow him access to their souls because of the way he sneaks in through their brains. A psychologist and philosopher (and oldest brother of the novelist Henry), James was not a follower of any church, and had little academic interest in institutional religion, but he was obsessively curious about the inner experiences of believers... (continues, nyt)
Beyond ‘Varieties’: A William James Starter Kit
‘THE WILL TO BELIEVE’ Instead of seeing a movie with friends, have everyone read the title essay of this collection and then go somewhere to argue about it.
‘A PLURALISTIC UNIVERSE’ Another series of lectures; a bit more wonky in its case against absolute idealism in philosophy, but still accessible.
‘PRAGMATISM’ James was one of the originators of this school of philosophy, and here he describes and defends it.
‘THE SELECTED LETTERS OF WILLIAM JAMES’ Elizabeth Hardwick writes in her introduction that James’s letters show him to be “benevolent, loving, loyal and completely without pompousness or self-importance.”
‘WILLIAM JAMES: IN THE MAELSTROM OF AMERICAN MODERNISM’ If you’re like me, reading James will make you want to know more about him. Robert D. Richardson’s first-rate biography is the place to start.
nyt
‘A PLURALISTIC UNIVERSE’ Another series of lectures; a bit more wonky in its case against absolute idealism in philosophy, but still accessible.
‘PRAGMATISM’ James was one of the originators of this school of philosophy, and here he describes and defends it.
‘THE SELECTED LETTERS OF WILLIAM JAMES’ Elizabeth Hardwick writes in her introduction that James’s letters show him to be “benevolent, loving, loyal and completely without pompousness or self-importance.”
‘WILLIAM JAMES: IN THE MAELSTROM OF AMERICAN MODERNISM’ If you’re like me, reading James will make you want to know more about him. Robert D. Richardson’s first-rate biography is the place to start.
nyt
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