"The Varieties of Religious Experience"

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bobevenson
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"The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by bobevenson »

From lectures by Harvard psychologist and philosopher William James at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1901-1902:
"There can be no doubt that as a matter of fact a religious life, exclusively pursued, does tend to make the person exceptional and eccentric. I speak not now of your ordinary religious believer, who follows the conventional observances of his country, whether it be Buddhist, Christian, or Mohammedan. His religion has been made for him by others, communicated to him by tradition, determined to fixed forms by imitation, and retained by habit. It would profit us little to study this second-hand religious life. We must make search rather for the original experiences which were the pattern-setters to all this mass of suggested feeling and imitated conduct. These experiences we can only find in individuals for whom religion exists not as a dull habit, but as an acute fever rather. But such individuals are 'geniuses' in the religious line; and like many other geniuses who have brought forth fruits effective enough for commemoration in the pages of biography, such religious geniuses have often shown symptoms of nervous instability. Even more perhaps than other kinds of genius, religious leaders have been subject to abnormal psychical visitations. Invariably they have been creatures of exalted emotional sensibility. Often they have led a discordant inner life, and had melancholy during a part of their career. They have known no measure, been liable to obsessions and fixed ideas; and frequently they have fallen into trances, heard voices, seen visions, and presented all sorts of peculiarities which are ordinarily classed as pathological. Often, moreover, these pathological features in their career have helped to give them their religious authority and influence."

Recognize anybody?
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Arising_uk
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Arising_uk »

:lol: Not if you mean you, as you have no religious authority or influence nor have you or will you be commemorated biographically as a religious leader and unless you've been or are an unemployed bum or living off a trust fund you've also not been pursuing an exclusively religious life.

What this is though is yet another blinding example of your astounding super-powers of extreme selective reading and confirmation bias as you completely fail to recognise that who he is describing are the Jesus's, Buddha's, Mohammed's and even Young's and Hubbard's of the religious world and you are far from them bobby.
bobevenson
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by bobevenson »

Arising_uk wrote:Who he is describing are the Jesus's, Buddha's, Mohammed's and even Young's and Hubbard's of the religious world.
No he is not.
Last edited by bobevenson on Sat Apr 09, 2016 11:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Arising_uk
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Arising_uk »

No he is not.
:lol: Oh yes he is. But then you can't read through your super-powers.
bobevenson
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by bobevenson »

Please, I've never heard any of those people being referred to as having known no measure, been liable to obsessions and fixed ideas; and frequently having fallen into trances, heard voices, seen visions, and presented with all sorts of peculiarities which are ordinarily classed as pathological.
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Harbal
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Harbal »

Arising_uk wrote::lol: Not if you mean you, as you have no religious authority or influence nor have you or will you be commemorated biographically as a religious leader and unless you've been or are an unemployed bum or living off a trust fund you've also not been pursuing an exclusively religious life.

What this is though is yet another blinding example of your astounding super-powers of extreme selective reading and confirmation bias as you completely fail to recognise that who he is describing are the Jesus's, Buddha's, Mohammed's and even Young's and Hubbard's of the religious world and you are far from them bobby.
Just hold on a minute, show some respect. Are you aware that bobevenson once recieved a letter from the Cincinnati Public Library?
bobevenson
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by bobevenson »

Harbal wrote:
Arising_uk wrote::lol: Not if you mean you, as you have no religious authority or influence nor have you or will you be commemorated biographically as a religious leader and unless you've been or are an unemployed bum or living off a trust fund you've also not been pursuing an exclusively religious life.

What this is though is yet another blinding example of your astounding super-powers of extreme selective reading and confirmation bias as you completely fail to recognise that who he is describing are the Jesus's, Buddha's, Mohammed's and even Young's and Hubbard's of the religious world and you are far from them bobby.
Just hold on a minute, show some respect. Are you aware that bobevenson once recieved a letter from the Cincinnati Public Library?
That's right, and they confirmed that I discovered the origin of Cincinnati's Queen City name, relating Cincinnati to the queen city of Babylon and the seven hills of ancient Rome in the book of Revelation in 20 minutes, something the rest of the world couldn't do in 170 years.
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Harbal
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Harbal »

bobevenson wrote: That's right, and they confirmed that I discovered the origin of Cincinnati's Queen City name, relating Cincinnati to the queen city of Babylon and the seven hills of ancient Rome in the book of Revelation in 20 minutes, something the rest of the world couldn't do in 170 years.
I meant the letter wanting to know why you hadn't returned your books by the due date.
bobevenson
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by bobevenson »

I don't think prophets have a due date. In fact, when I revisited the Cincinnati library a year after taking out an armload of books to write "The Ouzo Prophecy," I couldn't find a single book on Revelation.
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Harbal
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Harbal »

bobevenson wrote:I don't think prophets have a due date. In fact, when I revisited the Cincinnati library a year after taking out an armload of books to write "The Ouzo Prophecy," I couldn't find a single book on Revelation.
There's probably not much demand for them.
Obvious Leo
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Obvious Leo »

Bob. The connection between acute religious subjective experience and mental illness is well documented in the literature and the clinical psychopathology of such disorders is steadily becoming better understood with the aid of new and highly sophisticated diagnostic technology, such as fMRI. Therefore if you intend your topic to be an exercise in breaking new ground in the field of human psychology then I'm afraid this is far from being the case. However if you are merely explaining that the reason for your bizarre and erratic posts is simply because you are barking fucking mad then you may set your mind at ease, my friend. Most of us managed to figure that out pretty quickly.
Jaded Sage
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Jaded Sage »

NOW YOU'RE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE! I'M READING THIS NOW. I'M ALMOST DONE.
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Arising_uk
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Arising_uk »

Harbal wrote:I meant the letter wanting to know why you hadn't returned your books by the due date.
:lol:
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Arising_uk
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Arising_uk »

bobevenson wrote:Please, I've never heard any of those people being referred to as having known no measure, been liable to obsessions and fixed ideas; and frequently having fallen into trances, heard voices, seen visions, and presented with all sorts of peculiarities which are ordinarily classed as pathological.
You've not heard of much then as you've pretty much nailed Jesus, Mohammed and Brigham but I'll give you the Buddha appeared pretty sane in comparison but then he was not exactly religious. Now L. Ron is in a class of his own as as far as I've heard he's the only one in the last 900 odd years who's started a successful mass religion but that's sci-fi writers for ya. You on the other hand are just another ten-a-penny 'Christian' loon obsessed with numerology and Revelation, but I'll give you that you're in a fair old class of your own in this respect but in all other respects you are much of a much with your monomania, NPD, gob-smacking selective reading ability and extreme confirmation bias.

Toodles.
Jaded Sage
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Re: "The Varieties of Religious Experience"

Post by Jaded Sage »

Guys, he means people LIKE Christ, Buddha, Muhammad, Lao Tzu, etc. He goes on to mention some philosophers, some lesser known religious figures and a bunch of nonfamous and everyday people.
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