엘리엇의 시에 나타난 종교적 경험의 문제: 심리학적 관점

Abstract

At the earlier part of the twentieth century some thinkers began to view religions in terms of perceptive or cognitive experience. They wanted to address religion independently from conventional approaches to dogmas, liturgies, or rituals as given by religious teachings or institutions. William James and Rudolf Otto, among others, attempted to characterize religious experiences by their unique qualities including its non-rationality, profound consequent influence on the subject, and ineffability, etc. In line with these new understandings on religion, C. G. Jung also tried to explain religious experiences as psychological phenomena, attempting to show how they are different from Christian explanations. He opined that a religious experience in itself is not exposure to the all positive grace or blessing from God but a frightening encounter with an irresistibly powerful force neither benign nor hostile toward the subject. Some writings by T. S Eliot seem to reflect his own experience of this sort. He once mentioned that this kind of experience helps writers compose writings of high quality without much striving from the part of a writer. Eliot, however, does not put high value on such writings written while highly exalted, whether religiously or for another reason. He thinks they should be refined in order to be literally better-merited. This position adds to the complexity of Eliot’s religious writings. His reader needs to see through Eliot’s writings to get a glimpse at what religious implications lie behind what they are physically provided with. Focus of this discussion has been given on the poems composed right after Eliot’s conversion to the English Church, but not without occasional references to those composed at different times.