The Depths of the Wind-Holding Soul: Sources of Religion and Morality Opened by Persistence (1890s) Bergson, "Time and Freedom"

The Depths of the Wind-Holding Soul: Sources of Religion and Morality Opened by Persistence (1890s) Bergson, "Time and Freedom"
Bergson explained the sources of religiosity and morality through the two-layered structure of time experience. External, homogenized time sustains the social order, but the core of religious sensitivity and moral conduct is internal, pure duration, the flow of memory, emotion, and value experience that melds together to form the whole personality. The free act rises from the depths of this persistence, not as the result of external causes and effects, but as a qualitative leap that condenses and opens the entire personality. Therefore, the free act is the core of moral decision-making, and is not mere compliance with norms, but a creative act that takes on the entirety of one's being and relates it to the world. Religious attitudes are also supported by a deep sense of unity and continuity with the world that lies outside of institutions and rituals, and the maturation of the personality gives rise to a particular sense of meaning and devotion. Contemporary religious studies
, ethics, and neuroscience also suggest that moral judgments arise from the integration of multilayered experiences, such as the sympathetic narrative self and the long-term self-image, echoing Bergson's insights. Liberal religious morality is understood not as an externally given frame but as a creative continuum in which inner persistence matures and emerges.