Religious Unions and More...

In James’s concluding thoughts of The Varieties of Religious Experience he overviews the meanings of the words “more” and “union” from a religious standpoint. While defining and understanding these words according to a specific religion, it is crucial that one does not breakdown a religion into simply “more” and “union” because these meaning are personal. The “more” is the subconscious part of a person’s life while the “union” has the power to make that a truth.

According to James, "more" is also the way in which religious experience connects to one's conscious life and furthermore to a religious "union". This relationship of words can work across the board of different religions because of its generality in what the words entail religiously. The downfall is that people looking into a religion that they are not a part of have the vulnerability of assuming that it means the same thing for all Catholics or for any other religion of choice. Because everyone has the ability to have a different religious experience, their "more" and "union" can be different from the person kneeling down next to them praying to the same God or prophet.

Unfortunately, I had difficulty decipherign the true meaning of "union" according to James and whether or not it is possible to have one or the other. It seems as though it is possible to have a sense of "more" without a "union" but not a "union" without those subconscious thoughts that entail the aspect of "more". In a religion, there is a sense of union and in order to retriece that union there must be thoughts and beliefs that people share to form that bond. Those subconscious thoughts and beliefs create a need for a union.