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In James' lectures 9 and 10, our focus turns
from the malady of sin sickness and the divided self to the cure of conversion,
and its effect, reunification.
The conscious mind and the subliminal consciousness (192) exist side by side within the psyche. The conscious mind is, of course, that with which one primarily perceives reality and responds to stimuli in a public manner. The subliminal unconsciousness is the source of dreams, "unaccountable impulses," and "half-conscious systems" (166); it is influential on consciousness. Psychic systems are collections of related interests, aspirations, ideas which swirl like solar systems through the psyche. Systems might be compared to the tinted lenses of a camera. As the tint on the film is determined by the color of the current lens, one's understanding of external stimuli and appropriate responses are determined by which system currently resides in the conscious mind. When Teddy Roosevelt is in the Capitol, he is presidential. On vacation, he becomes an outdoor sportsman. It would not do to appropriate the presidential system while on vacation. The system from which one devotes and works is one's "hot place," the "habitual centre of his personal energy" (165). Through sudden emotional or explosive occasions, a subconscious or half-conscious system may be potentiated, causing "mental rearrangement." James identifies this rearrangement with "conversion." In the case of religious conversion, some trauma might precipitate a previously subliminal, religious system to burst onto the conscious, replacing or over-arching the current resident, overlaying or modifying values, interests, and objectives (166-7), resulting in a new outlook on life. Two characteristics are mentioned as precipitating sudden conversion (which is a change of systems): a feeling of incompleteness of varying intensity, and the psychic recognition of an attractive, positive ideal (174). The struggle seems to be manifested against the old system (or, against or away from sin) rather than toward the new (righteousness). In addition, Coe identifies three factors leading to conversion: pronounced emotional sensitivity, a tendency to automatisms (subliminal manifestations such as automatic writing), and openness to (hypnotic) suggestion. The process may become temporarily or permanently "jammed," causing the need to "fall back on the larger power (system)" (175). Jamming thus delays conversion once or many times, and may (I suppose) penultimately impede conversion. Once converted, there is a sense of self surrender while one simultaneously embraces the new. Thus Brainerd exhausted his ability to pray at the same time a new feeling of spirituality set in (179). The ultimate fruits of conversion are quite positive: loss of worry / certainty of grace, perception of new truths and ideals, and a new outlook on the world (202). Crisis conversion feels otherworldly, miraculous. James mentions revivalism's religious stereotype of the procedure: "one is nailed on the cross of natural despair and agony" for sins, "in the twinkling of an eye one is miraculously released," one has a strong feeling that the miraculous has occurred (188). In Edwards' words, God gives "a considerable sense of evil" so one might appreciate "the value of what God is pleased to do" (189). Coe, Starbuck, and James all agree that conversion is a purely natural process (especially for adolescents). But James does not discount the possibility of the influence of spiritual powers (if they exist) on those being converted. After all, as Coe writes and James agrees, "the ultimate test of religious values is nothing psychological, but something ethical, definable only by what is attained" (197).
Application: Central Illinois, 1979; M is a white, upper-middle class female who is experiencing marital difficulties and painful bursitis. M called a religious friend and made an appointment for discussion of [her mother]. The discussion turned to M. herself. The religious friend said, "...I could pray for you now, but I'd rather take you to the church." The church was a storefront ..... The pastor was black. A special church meeting was called that afternoon. There were about six people in attendance. The group "ministered" to M., then some began to discern "demons" in her. They explained about demonic possession.... With M's permission, demons of rejection, worry, anxiety, hatred, fear, etc. were "called out." This process took about 2 hours. M. experienced astonishment and a trance-like state. ...One of the leaders [then] asked M if she had been "saved." M said "I had repeated the 'sinners' prayer' with the television some years ago." M. confessed she had felt nothing then, and saw no evidence of it since. [Upon repeating the prayer] M. felt "a warmth and excitement." The group then prayed that M. would be baptized in the Holy Spirit, saying: "Let God take control of your tongue. Give utterance!" M. began to speak in tongues. She raised her hands (etc.).... (#4 case history from my essay "Charismata in a Wesleyan Framework." The following details of her conversion were discussed in a personal interview in 1992.) M's primary psychic system (hot place) identified her as a mother. Secondary was her sense of herself in societal relationships. We might conclude that, since she (1) was a nominal church-goer, (2) had prayed the "sinners' prayer" with the television, (3) had called on a "religious" friend for advice about her mother, and (4) had subconsciously but intentionally turned the conversation from her mother to her, there was a strong religious system working in her subliminal consciousness, trying to get out. (James' 2 characteristics:) (1) M was concurrently dealing with several potential traumas - care for her elderly mother, marital problems, and a sense of personal incompleteness. In addition, she suffered the constant, gnawing pain of bursitis. (2) Her reaching out to a "religious" friend indicates that she valued the religious aspect of this person, her "positive ideal." The advice she needed from her friend consciously concerned her fear of her aged mother's spiritual condition. Subliminally, she may have anticipated her own death (of that or the present system), and the subsequent emergence of this new, religious system. (Coe's 3 factors) In the act of going to the church, M entered the doors of a new world. Instead of the stately Methodist Church, she went into a store front. Instead of meeting a white, robed minister, she met a black man in a suit. Instead of attending a worship service open to the community, she stood in the middle of a small circle of but a few who had come together primarily for her benefit. (1) Her willingness to participate demonstrates her emotional sensitivity and openness to abandoning the familiar signposts of the old system. (2) At another time, M had experimented with hypnotherapy, and was easily entranced. Her openness to subconscious suggestion was demonstrated by her experience of total healing of the bursitis as a climax to her conversion. (3) She also, on command, began to exhibit glossalalia (an automatism), retaining this ability permanently. Being delivered of some of the insecurities of the old system (demons) was necessary in order to achieve a state of sanctifying newness. M totally surrendered herself to those who were ministering to her and to God, and felt a sense of otherworldliness (as well as warmth and excitement). Nearly simultaneously, M surrenders, and embraces the new life. In looking back on the experience, she retains assurance: her worries are swallowed up in God, she walks out of the church to new life, voraciously consuming the Bible as her textbook for living. James writes of the permanence of conversion's effects on 209. In interviewing M in 1992, she strongly believed that this experience set her on the course that she was still following fervently 13 years later. <Back Top^ |