There are two things that he could have learned from Hegel but clearly did not. James does not understand Hegel to a first approximation when he characterizes him as a mystic. I do everything in my power to not believe in false things and to limit my beliefs to justified true beliefs. Because something makes me feel good or helps me deal with the world or accept my live on this blue dot I inhabit is not a reason for believing in it. Sufficient reasons for our beliefs proportional to the credulity of the statement under consideration are the only standard I’m currently aware of for determining my beliefs. All of the various testimonials concerning peoples feeling excruciatingly detailed in this book add nothing to my understanding about the divine. Feelings are not things (I don’t usually shout, but I’m going to for the sake of emphasis: FEELINGS ARE NOT THINGS!). All of the stories are about the individuals feelings arising from intense sensations from within the individual. Over a hundred different case studies of personal experiences are mentioned in detail with all of them dealing with an individual’s devotional, sacramental, or mortification relationship to the divine. The book is an incredibly dangerous approach to understanding a topic. This is clearly one of the worst books I’ve ever read and I can’t believe that I had such high esteem for the author before having read this. Testimonials belong inside a comic book and offer nothing but anecdotal curiosities for those who already believe without sufficient reason or for those who like to pretend to know things they don’t really know. He wasn't just describing the transcendental condition of mankind, he was establishing and building a framework for others to follow for over 100 years.įeeling, testimonials, pragmatism leads no where He wants to know and explain his hypothesis. A drive to discover how we work and what really makes us tick. And it isn't a clinical curiosity either (although his precision could be called clinical).
I believe the magic of this book is James isn't selling a belief. He looks at it normatively and then he tries to look at each speck and piece through a value lens. He artfully and carefully presents a measured approach to religion. You have thousand of books written every year proclaiming their strain of Christianity, Judaism, Vegetarianism, Atheism, Mormonism, Buddhism, as being the only true and living way to view the divine AND the only mirror to view and judge ourselves. Most writers run at the subject with some large bias of the mystical, the. The amazing thing about James is he can write with precision and humility about something so completely intrinsic and fraught with pit falls.
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