"Self Surrender" - and Spiritual Agency

An homage to William James.

I am reading the classic 1902 book The Varieties of Religious Experience, by psychologist William James. James describes the psychological condition that precedes the making of any dramatic change in one's way of looking at Life – particularly the experience of embracing a faith of a religious nature – as "self surrender." Someone who is desperate to escape from self-loathing for countless perceived sins, or exhausted by the travails of Life such as illness, failure, brokenness or purposelessness may basically give himself up to – he knows not what. The unknown and invisible net that catches him is his subconscious mind, within which there is a subliminal protective power - a constantly available Source of comfort, strength and wisdom. He may call that Source by any name, but I believe what he has found within is a Holy Spirit which is within every human being. And after that discovery, he may soon realize that he is both the steward of that Spirit – and its agent.