640 THEMA 17

~CHRIF~ "1 UM

1. POTAMPA, R., Pers~3nlichkeit und Religi~sitfit, G6ttingen 1958, S. 46ff. 2. WILLWOLL, A., Ober die Strukmr des religi6sen Er[ebens, Scholastik XIV,

Jg. 1939, S. 1-21. 3. G1RGENSOllN, K., Der seelische Aufbau des rellgi6sen Erlebens, Giitersioh 1930;

aul~erdem, Gruehn, W., Die Fi'6mmigkeit der Gegenwart 2. Aufl., Konstanz 1960.

4. 16rqt~TlUS, Geistliche 0bungen, Freiburg 1951. 5. A.a.O., S. 446. 6. GIUGer~SOHN, a.a.O., S. 436ff 7. W~LLWOIL, a.a.O.

RELIGION AS A RESPONSE TO THE SEARCH FOR MEANING;

ITS RELATION TO SKEPTICISM AND CREATIVITY

WALTER HOUSI'ON CLARK Hart/ord, Conn. (USA)

When we turn to the problem of motivation as it relates to religion, we are immediately confronted with the question, What kind of religion? One of tl:.e besetting weaknesses of the psychology of :eligion as it sets out to be a science is that a kind of anarchy reigns with respect to the definition of religion. One study in which social scientists studying religion were asked to give their definition elicited 68 replies, no two exactly alike (4). Not only social scientists but differing types of religious personalities, such as the theologian and the mystic, have difficulty arriving at agreement. This means that each psychological student of the subiect should indicate what kind of behavior he has in mind, to which his conclusions presumably would be confined. I think of religion, most characteristically, as the inner experience ol the individual as he apprehends a Beyond, especially as he strives to harmonize his li[e with the Beyond. This indicates both an inner and an outer aspect of religious behavior.

The motivational roots of religion are exceedingly complex, but in a study by C. S. Braden of Northwestern Unive;JIsity he fomld the motive most often mentioned to be that "religion gives'meaning to life" (2). This would help to explain the comprehensive nature of religious motivation at its best, as well as its durability (11). In a study of my owu there was a disposition to consider the intluence of religion on secular achievements greater than the influence of secular motivation on religion (5). When we

RE LIGIONSPSYCHOLOGI E 641

compare religion with other sources of motivation, ~ueh as the desire for power or money, we note the vulnerability of these secular forms of motiva- tion to the vicissitudes of frustration and to too prolonged examination, particularly at the end of a person's life. However, we must carefully dis- tinguish religion as I have defined it f rom that self-seeking type of religious motivation that conceives of God as a spiri tu~ nurse-maid to satisfy each desire as it rises.

When we turn to the role of religion in creativity we find that there are no empirical studies that clearly prove religion to be a source of creativity superior to others. But several studies are suggestive. Over a generation ago S. S. Visher at Indiana University demonstrated that persons listed in who ' s wtto IN AMERICA had twice the chance of coming from clergymen's families than that of the next most favored group (9). A second study at Yale and Harvard Universities, by another criteria of eminence, showed missionaries and the sons of missionaries in the lead (6). These studies are supported by an inspection of the great religious figures of history where we find a fertility of personality mingled with passion, vigor, force, and a kind of paradoxical single-mindedness that seems to display human nature at its best and most creative. The modern creative statesman Gandhi, who led a non-violent revolution in India, suggests to us why some think that unless the religious motive can somehow find its way into the contemporary struggle for power between East and West, a refiable peace will not be possible.

But we cannot expect that the religious motive operating alone will always give us socially desirable results. While the skeptical motive may destroy religion, it is necessary if religion is to be saved from itseff and become creati've. As a matter of fact we can often ~nd a skeptical thread running through the lives and works of creative geniuses, as in the prophe- cies of Jeremiah and the Book of Job. We are quite used to skepticism as an element in the scientific spirit. But its reception has not been so cordial where special formulations of dogma, creed, or the prescription of religious behavior has been thought to be essentialto the maintenance of a particular religious organization or way of life. But even here history shows us that skepticism in some form is essential if there is to be that growth that is so necessary to religious vitality and creativity.

The functions of religious belief and faith seems to be that of intensifying motivation. A vital religious experience is always in some sense a creative act with creative consequences. But a too intense focus on the experience and the attempt by artificial means---often institutionalized--to keep it alive and at the same time confined, will tend to rob religion of creativeness and to make the individual a fanatic or even a bigot. The function ot~ skepticism

642 TIIEMA 17

then becomes that of releasing this intense motivation for work in wider fields. Yet as it releases religioug motivation skepticism tends gradually to destroy it at tile same time that it debases itself. What may have started out as the pure Iove of truth may degenerate into cynicism or mere indifference. When this point has been reached any energy the religious motive once had has been lost. Life has become more peaceful but also more sterile. It is for this reason that for best cultural results there needs to be a tension or equilibrium between these two forces, an equilibrium which, in fact, seems to be an unstable one.

In part the interplay between these two motives may help to explain some of the great cultural periods of history, such as the cultural flowering centered'in New England in the nineteenth century that coincided with the period of the most rapid dissolution of American Puritanism, or the Renaissance with its struggle between religion and the more secular emphases of the new learning. It is the natural instability of the tension between faith and skepticism that helps to explain why great cultural periods do not endure.

A study that I have made gives partial support to my theory in that people of superior achievement rated themselves higher in their tendency toward skepticism than did a comparable group of less eminence (5). The convert, who has questioned and discarded his old faith at the same time that he has gained the fresh vision of a new, is another illustration of the theory. Of 30 writers studied in a Catholic anthology 20 proved to be converts (3, p. 236).

Thus interfaith contact and competition, particularly when it occurs in an atmosphere of mutual respect, is very wholesome. "Iqae ways and beliefs of another group of religious believers than one's own constitutes a stimulus to that skepticism and questioning of one's beliefs that in the long run" will keep them alive .and creative.

It is through some such process that faith and skepticism interact. It is clear that the theory requires much more extensive and precise testing. But such study is important for our understanding of religious motivation, the development of the religious life, and the significant problem of human creativity.

REFFRENCES

]. AI.LPORT) GORDON W., Personality. New York; Henry Holt, 1937. 2. BR~.OErL C. S., Why People are Religious--a Study in Religious Motivation.

1. o] Bible attd Religion, 1947, 15, 3845. 3. CL.~.RK, W. H., The Psychology o] Religion. New York: Macmillan, 1958.

REL IGIONSPSYCIIOLOG 1 E 643

4. - - - - - - , How do Social Scientists define Religion? J. o] Social Psychok~gy, 1958, 47, 143-148.

5. - - , A Study of Some of the Factors leading to Achievement and Creativity, with Special Reference to Religious Skepticism and Belief. 1. o] Social Psychology, 1955, 41, 57-69.

6. HIJNTINGTON, ELLSWORTII and WHITNEY, t . F., The Builders o/ Anlerica. New York: biorrow, 1927.

7. JAMES, WILLIAM, The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Tile Modern Library, 1902.

8. TILLICtl, PAUL, Ttte Courage to be. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952. 9. VtSlaER, S. S., A Study of the Place of Birth and the Occupation o~ Subjects

of Sketches in Who's Who in America. A m . J. o] Sociology, 1925, 30, 551~557.

10. WHITELY, P. L., A Study of the Allport-Vernon Test for Personal Values. J. oJ Jlbnormal and Social Ps3~ehology, 1933, 28, 1-13.

11. - - - - - - , The Constancy of Personal Value. J. oJ Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1938, 33, 405~408.

UN T E S T D 'ANIMISME P R O T E C T E U R : C O R R E L A T I O N S E T

IMPLICATIONS

A. GODIN

Bruxelles (Belgique)

La relation entre certains traits du psychisme et la religion v6cue ne sera

connue avec precision que si l'on dispose d'instruments d'6valuation adapt6s

b. cette 4tude. La crdation de tels instruments, leur 6talonnage et validation,

constituent aujourd'hui des tfiches urgentes de la psyehologie religieusc en

tant que science positive.

Les tendances anthropomorphistes ou animistes, les conduites ritualistes

ou magiques, les aspirations sur base de frustrations parentales, los ren- forcements ou r6ductions des prfjug6s inter-groupes (et de nombrcux autres

m6canismes ou structures psychiques) devront 4tre plus exactement d~crits

et connus, au plan ph~nom6nal, si l 'on souhaite mieux eomprendre leur

relation avec l'intentionalit6 religieuse, culturellement ou ph6nom4nologi-

quement 4tablie.

DOUBLE AN1MISME

L'animisme enfantin, 6tudi6 par Piaget, Caruso, Havighurst et Jahoda, an moyen d'histoires 5, interprdter, se pr~sente sous deux forffies: intentio-

nalisme punitif et intentionalisme protecteur (voir Psycholog?ca Belgica ,