The Aesthetic in Religious Experience
Religious Studies October 1, 1968 DOI: 10.1017/s0034412500003358 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that William James's definition of the nucleus of religious experience, centered on moral uneasiness and salvation through connection with higher powers, is too narrow because it excludes those whose religious sense arises from awareness of human theoretical limitations, such as Einstein and Pascal. Proposes instead a three-part nucleus: uneasy awareness of human limitations, awe before a further reality, and conviction that participation with that reality is supremely important. |
Abstract
William James catalogued an amazing diversity of religious experiences. Yet even the pluralistic James was able to find a nucleus, consisting of an uneasiness and its solution, ‘1. The uneasiness, reduced to its simplest terms, is a sense that there is something wrong about us as we naturally stand. 2. The solution is a sense that we are saved from the wrongness by making proper connection with the higher powers.’ But by stressing the moral factor, James seems to exclude those who stress rather the sense of mystery stemming from man's theoretical limitations. Einstein, for example, writes: ‘The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious side of life. It is the deep feeling which is at the cradle of all true art and science. In this sense, and only in this sense, I count myself amongst the most deeply religious people.’ For Einstein as for Pascal (Pensées, Fr. 267): ‘The last proceeding of reason is to recognise that there is an infinity of things which are beyond it.’ Thus I propose the following revision of James' conception of the nucleus of the religious experience: (1) uneasy awareness of the limitations of man's moral or theoretical powers, especially when reality is restricted to sense data and natural objects; (2) awe-full awareness of a further reality—beyond or behind or within; (3) conviction that participation with this further reality is of supreme importance.