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The Varieties of Religious Experience Section 1 (Lectures I-X)

• James defines religion as the feelings, acts, and experiences an individual has in private involving the divine.
• James insists that for a man to experience the divine he must let go of his ego and allow God to flow through him.
• Instinct is the first factor prompting people to act. Instinct is followed by logic, according to James.

The Varieties of Religious Experience Section 2 (Lectures XI-Postcript)

• James designates the qualities of saintliness as ascetism, strength of the soul, purity, and charity.
• James claims that the results of excess devoutness is fanaticism. Excess virtue becomes vice, and excess charity is gullibility.
• James believes that religion is personal and should be based on the individual.

Pragmatism Section I (Lectures I-IV)

• James describes philosophy as both sublime and trivial, encompassing the religious rationalist position and the irreligious empiricist position.
• James believes that humans...

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