Carl Jung and William James On Religion

 Conor Lumley

Presentation on March 1 st

Carl Jung and William James On Religion

As organized religion continues to fall from its pedestal during the beginning of the 20th

century, humanity grasped for meaning in any way they could. Science (medical materialism as James

would call it. Jung used the term reductionism) became the heir apparent, taking over the position

religion once held. Although this idea appalls many science worshippers, the loss of a religious way of

experiencing life led many to personal despair (James states that the religion of science promotes

nothing more than survival).

Both Jung and James had fathers who were ministers. As they intellectually matured, they both

fell away from the dogma. However, one can imagine this left a hole where this massive aspect of their

lives once received and like many intellectuals at this time, they had no choice but the wrestle with the

concept of God. They both wanted a sort of validation for the reverse they still maintained for the

concept of divinity.

James, the father of psychology, was Jung’s predecessor. His conceptions of religion as

portrayed in “Varieties of Religious Experience” heavily influenced Jung’s mind. Especially the concept

that religion, when stripped of its dogma and collectivity, could potentially be beneficial for the

psychological wellbeing of a person. James’s beneficial religions were ones where a personal connection

to the numinous properties of being was promoted. It focuses on experience rather than simply

rationalizing metaphysical theories. If you feel a connection to the divine, this connection shouldn’t be

reduced to physiology (Don’t think you felt the presence of God simply because you have indigestion, or

because of a sexual fetish *cough cough Freud*).

Jung held a chillingly similar disposition towards this idea of personal religious experience,

leaning heavily on the phenomenology expounded by James. To Jung, the religious experience was an

integral part of the human psyche. The symbols and stories present in religious texts were unconscious

manifestations of collective mental processes, and therefore religion in a sense was a way of attending

to these processes. To Jung, God was the unconscious, the wellspring from which all conscious thought

arose (similar to James’s analogy of consciousness as a river). Jung held a similar, if not stronger, distaste

for dogmatizing these experiences. To truly experience the contents of one's psyche (God), he must

place the utmost importance on his own experiences, instead of trying to integrate systems that did

nothing but dilute one's experience of the divine. The end goal of this relationship with the unconscious

was to achieve unity, a wholeness, where one EMBRACES all experience (see Variants for a similar view).

This wholeness offers meaning and tranquility.

These are not the extent to the similarities between the two (both were heavily into

occult/paranormal studies, fun fact). It is our job as conscious entities to embrace all aspects of our

experiences while alive. Even if this meaning is superfluous on an objective level, it is of utmost

importance for our psychological well-being. Even the most scientific of minds must have a meaning,

however unconscious, in which they place utmost reverence.

Discussion Questions:

-What is your personal God?

-What would it be like to truly place no reverence in any aspect of ones life? Do you know any examples

people who claim to embrace nothing?

References

James, William. (2015). The Varieties of Religious Experience. Philosophical Library Open Road. (ebook

format).

James, William. (1920). Pragmatism: A New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking. Archive Classics.

(ebook format).

Jung, C. G., Henderson, J. L., Franz, M.-L. von, Jaffé Aniela, & Jacobi, J. (2013). Man and his symbols.

Stellar Classics.

Jung, C. G. (n.d.). C. G. Jung's red book: Liber Novus. Philemon Foundation. Retrieved February 26, 2022,

from https://philemonfoundation.org/published-works/red-book/