# Lecture XX: Conclusions explained — The Varieties of Religious Experience > Chapter companion for The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James. ## What happens In the concluding lecture, James synthesizes his empirical study of religious experience. He argues that religion is founded on the individual's feeling of connection with a 'more' that is the subconscious continuation of conscious life. This 'more' is experienced as an external, higher power, and this sense of union is literally true. James acknowledges that over-beliefs—personal interpretations of this experience—are indispensable, and he advocates for tolerance of diverse religious types. He repudiates the 'survival-theory' that reduces religion to primitive error, asserting that religion deals with the only absolute realities we know: our personal destinies. He concludes by summarizing the common beliefs and psychological characteristics of the religious life, including the belief in a spiritual universe, the value of prayer, and the fruits of new zest, peace, and love. ## Themes in this chapter ### Empiricism and Existential Analysis James concludes by reaffirming his empirical method, stating that conclusions about religion must be based on spiritual judgments and appreciations of its significance for life, taken 'on the whole.' ### Pluralism and Diversity of Religious Types James emphatically answers 'No' to the question of whether the existence of many religious types is regrettable, arguing that different individuals have different functions and duties, and that the divine must mean a group of qualities. ### The Role of Feeling and Emotion James states that individuality is founded in feeling and that the recesses of feeling are where we catch real fact in the making, subordinating the intellectual part of religion to the emotional. ### Prayer and Communion with the Divine James includes 'prayer or inner communion with the spirit' as a core belief of the religious life, describing it as a process where 'work is really done' and spiritual energy flows into the phenomenal world. ## Character check-ins ### William James Delivers the concluding lecture, synthesizing his empirical method and arguing for the subconscious as the doorway to the 'more' in religious experience. He repudiates the survival-theory of religion and emphasizes the importance of individual over-beliefs. ### Ralph Waldo Emerson Mentioned as a type of religious personality that should not be forced to be like a Wesley or Whitman, illustrating James's argument for the necessity of diverse religious types. ### John Wesley Mentioned as a contrasting religious type to Emerson, used to illustrate the idea that different individuals have different religious missions and that forcing uniformity would diminish the total human consciousness of the divine. ### Walt Whitman Mentioned as another contrasting religious type, alongside Wesley, to support James's argument for the value of religious pluralism and the unique contributions of different personalities. ## Key lines > The axis of reality runs solely through the egotistic places—they are strung upon it like so many beads. The core of what is real is found in our personal, individual experiences and feelings, which are the essential points around which reality is organized. _James argues against science's dismissal of the personal, egotistic elements of experience, asserting that they are central to reality._ > By being religious we establish ourselves in possession of ultimate reality at the only points at which reality is given us to guard. Through religion, we connect with and hold onto what is ultimately real, which is only accessible to us through our personal, individual lives. _James repudiates the survival-theory of religion, arguing that its focus on personal destiny is a strength, not a weakness._ > The most interesting and valuable things about a man are usually his over-beliefs. A person's most intriguing and important ideas are typically their personal, speculative beliefs that go beyond the common facts of experience. _James argues for the necessity and value of over-beliefs in religion, advocating for tolerance of them as long as they are not intolerant._ > The divine can mean no single quality, it must mean a group of qualities, by being champions of which in alternation, different men may all find worthy missions. The divine is not a single, uniform thing but a collection of different qualities, and different people can each champion one of these qualities, finding their own purpose. _James uses this to justify the existence of diverse religious types and sects, arguing that each contributes to a fuller understanding of the divine._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/chapters/lecture-xx-conclusions - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_varieties_of_religious_experience_se/chapters