PHIL/RS 335
VARIETIES, LECTURES 8-10
THE DIVIDED SELF; CONVERSION
LECTURE VIII: THE DIVIDED SELF
• Last time, we focused on “…two different
conceptions of the universe of our
experience” (185).
• When we left off the discussion of the sick
souled, James had noted that those who
are sick souled can nonetheless become
‘happy.’
• This possibility is the foundation of the religious
experience characteristic of this fundamental
mood: the religion of the twice-born.
• In this lecture, James aims to account for this
transition by exploring the psychological
parameters of the twice-born individual.
HOMO DUPLEX
• James begins with a characterization of the
“psychological basis” of the twice-born
personality (186).
• This is, of course, a general, not specifically
religious, psychological description: some
people experience themselves as divided:
Homo Duplex (186-7).
• Without speculating on the causes of this
experience, James connects it to the
extreme forms of religious excitement with
which he began Varieties (see passage
from Augustine, pp. 191-2).
UNIFICATION
• As the case of Augustine suggests, the
heterogeneity which seems at the heart of
the sick souled individual, can be
overcome, a process which James
characterizes as ‘unification.’
• Religion is one of the avenues through
which this unification can be accomplished,
but there are countless others as well.
• Consider the ‘counter-conversion’ of Jouffroy
(196-7). This is a unification in the opposite
direction: skepticism.
CONVERSION
• Conversion is the name James gives to the
religious form of unification.
• Obviously, we are going to treat this topic at
some length, but at the end of this section
James introduces an important distinction:
Lysis v. Crisis.
• These terms highlight two different modes of
unification: developing vs. abrupt, total
transformation.
LECTURES 9 & 10: CONVERSION
• James begins with a definition of
conversion: “…the process, gradual or
sudden, by which a self hitherto
divided, and consciously wrong inferior
and unhappy, becomes unified and
consciously right superior and happy,
in consequence of its firmer hold upon
religious realities” (210).
A PSYCHOLOGICAL ACCOUNT
• As is his practice, James first turns to experimental,
descriptive psychology for some insight into the broad
contours of this phenomenon.
• The basis of this account is the complex set of aims and
objects that typically animates an individual (Max the
philosopher, Max the teacher, Max the husband, Max
the parent).
• Shifting between these perspectives is like a shift in
existential focus. Absorbed by these different aims and
objects, our world and our experience shifts as we move
between them.
• The shifts are motivated by “centres of our dynamic
energy,” the passion with which we infuse the various roles.
• One clear advantage of this account is its capacity to
explain the heterogeneous experience of the sick
souled: it's due to a “great oscillation in the emotional
interest” (217).
HABITUAL CENTER
• This analysis also allows James to
specify his definition of conversion in
light of the psychological account.
• In a basically unified individual, there
exists what James calls “…the habitual
centre of his personal energy” (217).
• On these terms, conversion is the
location of religious conviction at this
center (218).
A “NORMAL ADOLESCENT
PHENOMENON”
• Given this account of conversion, it should
not be surprising that James locates the
typical conversion experience in
adolescence.
• Moody teenagers, looking for something to
organize and explain their experience, find
in religion happiness, overcoming of selfdoubt, entry into a wider world.
• As you would suspect, James is not very
interested in this typical experience. Rather
he wants to focus on cases where adults go
through the process.
CLEARING THE FIELD
• Before he turns to his subject
matter fully, James further
specifies his object, distinguishing it
from theologically naive instances
(the addict grasping for salvation).
• He also acknowledges that some
seem incapable of conversion
(226-7).
TWO FORMS OF CONVERSION
• Relying again on Starbuck, James moves to clarify his
treatment of conversion by noting that it can take two
specific forms: volitional and self-surrender.
• This distinction does not map directly on the distinction
introduced in the previous section between lysis and crisis,
though there are correlations.
• The volitional form is typically gradual, consisting of the
methodical replacement of energy centers by the specifically
religious one.
• The self-surrender form is typically characterized by the
organization of subconscious effects that is realized in a
sudden enthusiasm.
• James is mostly interested in the self-surrender form of
conversion, both because they aren’t all the differences
between the two are small, but mostly because even
the volitional form requires what Starbuck characterizes
as the “giving-up” of the personal will.
SURRENDER
• As James explains it, this surrender is
necessary because of the perceived gap in
the individual between their present state
(sin!) and their goal, a gap which can only
be overcome by surrendering to the goal.
• In an interesting aside, James suggests a
genealogy of Christianity organized by the
increasing importance placed on this
surrender by various denominations (233).
SOME MORE PSYCHOLOGY
• After reviewing a number of (lengthy) conversion
narratives, James asks the obvious question: What
should we think about this?
• In order to account for his own thinking, James turns
once again to psychological description and
theorizing, attending in this instance to the
subconscious ground upon which so much of the
conversion process flowers.
• Employing the concept of a "field of
consciousness," the normal functioning of which
includes variations in width or scope, a fluctuation in
the field's margins.
• He's particularly interested in the, for him, recent recognition
of extra-marginal elements of the field (256-7).
• It's significance is that it requires reference to the
subconscious.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
TYPOLOGY
• The significance of this analysis
becomes clear when it is applied to
the conversion narratives that he has
been reviewing.
• Relying on the work of other psychologists,
James observes that there seems to be a
high correlation between sudden converts
and “the possession of an active subliminal
life” (264).
• He even offers a psychological typology of
the sudden convert (265)
SPIRITUAL FRUITS
• Obviously, some believers may be
concerned that this sort of analysis
may diminish the spiritual significance
of the conversion phenomenon.
• As you should anticipate, James
disagrees, insisting that what is
important is not the explanation for the
conversion, but it's consequences in
the life of the converted individual
(265-6).
STATE OF ASSURANCE
•
What are the felt dimensions of the
conversion experience?
1. Giving oneself over to a higher power.
2. Loss of worry.
3. Penetration of mystery to a higher
truth.
4. Rejuvenation of the world.
5. Ecstatic happiness.
DOES IT LAST?
• James acknowledges the frequent
transiency of these experiences, and the
subsequent failure to maintain the
conversion experience.
• This is of a piece, he suggests, with our general
emotional lives.
• What is important to note is that for some, it
is constant, while for most it is merely a
‘cooling off’ of the initial enthusiasm.
• Rarely is it that the conversion is completely
undone, so James concludes that
conversion is an instance of a “changed
attitude towards life” (284).