A Walk with William James, Part 9: Broken Like Bubbles in the Sun

Posted on 6.21.2007

The high point of the The Varieties of Religious Experience is when William James turns to the issue of "saintliness," to those people who are the spiritual artists and giants among us.

I will say more about saintliness, but today a short and personal post reflecting on a lovely passage early in James' lectures on saintliness. Specifically, James is speaking of those expansive religious impulses that can come over and grab us. These grand and good impulses, which the saints seem to experience more than most, help to crash through all our moral idleness and psychological inertia to move us to act in a way that seems sublime and transcendent:

"Given a certain amount of love, indignation, generosity, magnanimity, admiration, loyalty, or enthusiasm of self-surender, the result is always the same. That whole raft of cowardly obstructions, which in tame persons and dull moods are sovereign impediments to action, sinks away at once. Our conventionality, our shyness, laziness, and stinginess, our demands for precedent and permission, for guarantee and surety, our small suspicions, timidities, despairs, where are they now? Severed like cobwebs, broken like bubbles in the sun..."

This is the quintessential religious experience. When some feeling of love or moral indignation takes hold of us and causes us to push aside convention, shyness, despair, fear and timidity--breaking all these as bubbles in the sun--moving us to ACT in a good and holy way. I think of Rosa Parks refusing to move, St. Francis rushing up to kiss a leper, Gandhi's march to Dandi, and Stephen standing before the Sanhedrin.

And, of course, I think of Jesus. You know what facet of Jesus' life fills me up with this feeling the most? His eating with sinners. Every time I think about that great, grand and good facet of his life and ministry my heart just swells.

Maybe there is a God. Maybe there isn't. Round and round it goes in my head. But every time I think of Jesus eating with sinners something in me breaks--like bubbles breaking in the sun--and I say, screw it, I'm living my life like that guy.

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8 thoughts on “A Walk with William James, Part 9: Broken Like Bubbles in the Sun”

  1. &;Maybe there is a God. Maybe there isn't. Round and round it goes in my head. But every time I think of Jesus eating with sinners something in me breaks--like bubbles breaking in the sun--and I say, screw it, I'm living my life like that guy."

    I feel the exact same way; it's the eating with sinners that gets me and probably one of the main reasons I'm still in the game. Thanks for this personal reflection. Peace.

  2. Thank God for orthopraxis! You could hardly call me a Christian if you knew what was in my head. So I join you in saying "Screw it".

  3. lost lambs, eating with sinners, frustration with the religious community have been exactly the facets of Jesus life that I have been focused on to just keep me freakin going..

    There are so many cool things about Jesus eating with sinners. Of course the obvious was that He was deviating from the religious expectations and then that the sinners wanted to actually eat with Him and that some woman would come in and feel like she could wash his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair just blows my mind. Reaching out to hold this man's hand as I walk is making and has made all the difference. He says that we must be His hands to each other ...now isn't that a bitch?

    I say like "Just Do It" we could make up some t-shirts that say "Screw It"..I'll be in line to buy the first one. What a great sermon that would be "Screw It."

  4. AMEN! Screw what we have been taught to believe and what we are suppose to be, and live in this world as He did. It amazes me how Him eating with sinners got him in all kinds of trouble with the so called religious men. I do wonder what the church would say if I did start eating with sinners.... ha, who cares and screw it... But that's what I love about Jesus so much is how he liberates us. The breaking of the bubbles in the sun describes so accurately what happens when He gives us permission to do as he did. It is amazing how a little love and kindness can melt the hardest of hearts.

    I'm with Beverly in the whole t-shirt thing, I'd be next in line.

  6. "But every time I think of Jesus ... I say, screw it, I'm living my life like that guy."

    Another ditto. I think it's fascinating that this sentiment seems to be so common among the readers of your blog.

  7. Richard,

    A late Friday evening thought. We don't simply pull that thought our of thin air. One reason we say,
    "I'm living my life like that guy" is because that guy reveals God at work and the imago dei (i.e. us humans) at the same time. Another reason is that "we ARE surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses"--who have taught us and who teach us even if we don't see them, hear them, or acknowledge them. And let's not forget even those hypocritical Pharisees and ruling Sadducees whom Jesus also loved. Somehow in helping those who are broken by injustice we also in God's economy help redeem the powers and principalities.

    To say the least, Jesus as Peter and Paul knew is a tough act to follow. God grant us both the vision and the strength to be merciful.

    Blessings,

    George C.

  8. This is the first blog I've ever subscribed to! Thank you and I'm looking forward to participating.

    Your selection for today reminds me of something I used to preach and lately remembered to teach my young children: That is, people do what they want. Seems simple, but how often do we get excuses from someone about why they acted in some way or why they made some decision. I'm trying hard to teach my kids that they can, and in fact will, do what they want. It all just depends on how bad they want it. That's why we are all capable of the extraordinary when the right motivation occurs. Of course, we all have limitations, but I think they are way smaller than we are led to believe.

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