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diff --git a/old/1561.txt b/old/1561.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c97dbdc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1561.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10068 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pagan & Christian Creeds, by Edward Carpenter + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Pagan & Christian Creeds + Their Origin and Meaning + +Author: Edward Carpenter + +Posting Date: August 26, 2008 [EBook #1561] +Release Date: December, 1998 +[Last updated: July 28, 2022] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAGAN & CHRISTIAN CREEDS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller + + + + + +PAGAN & CHRISTIAN CREEDS: THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING + +By Edward Carpenter + + + + +"The different religions being lame attempts to represent under various +guises this one root-fact of the central universal life, men have at +all times clung to the religious creeds and rituals and ceremonials as +symbolising in some rude way the redemption and fulfilment of their own +most intimate natures--and this whether consciously understanding +the interpretations, or whether (as most often) only doing so in an +unconscious or quite subconscious way." + +The Drama of Love and Death, p. 96. + + + +CONTENTS + + I. INTRODUCTORY + II. SOLAR MYTHS AND CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS + III. THE SYMBOLISM OF THE ZODIAC + IV. TOTEM-SACRAMENTS AND EUCHARISTS + V. FOOD AND VEGETATION MAGIC + VI. MAGICIANS, KINGS AND GODS + VII. RITES OF EXPIATION AND REDEMPTION + VIII. PAGAN INITIATIONS AND THE SECOND BIRTH + IX. MYTH OF THE GOLDEN AGE + X. THE SAVIOUR-GOD AND THE VIRGIN-MOTHER + XI. RITUAL DANCING + XII. THE SEX-TABOO + XIII. THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY + XV. THE MEANING OF IT ALL + XV. THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES + XVI. THE EXODUS OF CHRISTIANITY + XVII. CONCLUSION + + APPENDIX ON THE TEACHINGS OF THE UPANISHADS: + I. REST + II. THE NATURE OF THE SELF + + + + +PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN CREEDS: THEIR ORIGIN AND MEANING + + + + +I. INTRODUCTORY + +The subject of Religious Origins is a fascinating one, as the great +multitude of books upon it, published in late years, tends to show. +Indeed the great difficulty to-day in dealing with the subject, lies in +the very mass of the material to hand--and that not only on account of +the labor involved in sorting the material, but because the abundance +itself of facts opens up temptation to a student in this department of +Anthropology (as happens also in other branches of general Science) to +rush in too hastily with what seems a plausible theory. The more facts, +statistics, and so forth, there are available in any investigation, the +easier it is to pick out a considerable number which will fit a given +theory. The other facts being neglected or ignored, the views put +forward enjoy for a time a great vogue. Then inevitably, and at a later +time, new or neglected facts alter the outlook, and a new perspective is +established. + +There is also in these matters of Science (though many scientific men +would doubtless deny this) a great deal of "Fashion". Such has been +notoriously the case in Political Economy, Medicine, Geology, and even +in such definite studies as Physics and Chemistry. In a comparatively +recent science, like that with which we are now concerned, one would +naturally expect variations. A hundred and fifty years ago, and since +the time of Rousseau, the "Noble Savage" was extremely popular; and he +lingers still in the story books of our children. Then the reaction from +this extreme view set in, and of late years it has been the popular cue +(largely, it must be said, among "armchair" travelers and explorers) +to represent the religious rites and customs of primitive folk as a +senseless mass of superstitions, and the early man as quite devoid of +decent feeling and intelligence. Again, when the study of religious +origins first began in modern times to be seriously taken up--say in the +earlier part of last century--there was a great boom in Sungods. Every +divinity in the Pantheon was an impersonation of the Sun--unless indeed +(if feminine) of the Moon. Apollo was a sungod, of course; Hercules was +a sungod; Samson was a sungod; Indra and Krishna, and even Christ, the +same. C. F. Dupuis in France (Origine de tous les Cultes, 1795), F. Nork +in Germany (Biblische Mythologie, 1842), Richard Taylor in England (The +Devil's Pulpit, (1) 1830), were among the first in modern times to put +forward this view. A little later the PHALLIC explanation of everything +came into fashion. The deities were all polite names for the organs and +powers of procreation. R. P. Knight (Ancient Art and Mythology, +1818) and Dr. Thomas Inman (Ancient Faiths and Ancient Names, 1868) +popularized this idea in England; so did Nork in Germany. Then again +there was a period of what is sometimes called Euhemerism--the theory +that the gods and goddesses had actually once been men and women, +historical characters round whom a halo of romance and remoteness +had gathered. Later still, a school has arisen which thinks little of +sungods, and pays more attention to Earth and Nature spirits, to gnomes +and demons and vegetation-sprites, and to the processes of Magic by +which these (so it was supposed) could be enlisted in man's service if +friendly, or exorcised if hostile. + + + (1) This extraordinary book, though carelessly composed and +containing many unproven statements, was on the whole on the right +lines. But it raised a storm of opposition--the more so because its +author was a clergyman! He was ejected from the ministry, of course, and +was sent to prison twice. + + +It is easy to see of course that there is some truth in ALL these +explanations; but naturally each school for the time being makes the +most of its own contention. Mr. J. M. Robertson (Pagan Christs and +Christianity and Mythology), who has done such fine work in this field, +(1) relies chiefly on the solar and astronomical origins, though he does +not altogether deny the others; Dr. Frazer, on the other hand--whose +great work, The Golden Bough, is a monumental collection of primitive +customs, and will be an inexhaustible quarry for all future students--is +apparently very little concerned with theories about the Sun and the +stars, but concentrates his attention on the collection of innumerable +details (2) of rites, chiefly magical, connected with food and +vegetation. Still later writers, like S. Reinach, Jane Harrison and +E. A. Crowley, being mainly occupied with customs of very primitive +peoples, like the Pelasgian Greeks or the Australian aborigines, have +confined themselves (necessarily) even more to Magic and Witchcraft. + + (1) If only he did not waste so much time, and so needlessly, in +slaughtering opponents! + + (2) To such a degree, indeed, that sometimes the connecting clue +of the argument seems to be lost. + + +Meanwhile the Christian Church from these speculations has kept itself +severely apart--as of course representing a unique and divine revelation +little concerned or interested in such heathenisms; and moreover (in +this country at any rate) has managed to persuade the general public +of its own divine uniqueness to such a degree that few people, even +nowadays, realize that it has sprung from just the same root as +Paganism, and that it shares by far the most part of its doctrines and +rites with the latter. Till quite lately it was thought (in Britain) +that only secularists and unfashionable people took any interest in +sungods; and while it was true that learned professors might point to a +belief in Magic as one of the first sources of Religion, it was easy in +reply to say that this obviously had nothing to do with Christianity! +The Secularists, too, rather spoilt their case by assuming, in their +wrath against the Church, that all priests since the beginning of +the world have been frauds and charlatans, and that all the rites of +religion were merely devil's devices invented by them for the purpose of +preying upon the superstitions of the ignorant, to their own enrichment. +They (the Secularists) overleaped themselves by grossly exaggerating a +thing that no doubt is partially true. + +Thus the subject of religious origins is somewhat complex, and yields +many aspects for consideration. It is only, I think, by keeping a broad +course and admitting contributions to the truth from various sides, that +valuable results can be obtained. It is absurd to suppose that in this +or any other science neat systems can be found which will cover all the +facts. Nature and History do not deal in such things, or supply them for +a sop to Man's vanity. + +It is clear that there have been three main lines, so far, along which +human speculation and study have run. One connecting religious rites and +observations with the movements of the Sun and the planets in the sky, +and leading to the invention of and belief in Olympian and remote gods +dwelling in heaven and ruling the Earth from a distance; the second +connecting religion with the changes of the season, on the Earth and +with such practical things as the growth of vegetation and food, and +leading to or mingled with a vague belief in earth-spirits and magical +methods of influencing such spirits; and the third connecting religion +with man's own body and the tremendous force of sex residing in +it--emblem of undying life and all fertility and power. It is clear +also--and all investigation confirms it--that the second-mentioned phase +of religion arose on the whole BEFORE the first-mentioned--that is, that +men naturally thought about the very practical questions of food and +vegetation, and the magical or other methods of encouraging the same, +before they worried themselves about the heavenly bodies and the laws of +THEIR movements, or about the sinister or favorable influences the stars +might exert. And again it is extremely probable that the third-mentioned +aspect--that which connected religion with the procreative desires and +phenomena of human physiology--really came FIRST. These desires and +physiological phenomena must have loomed large on the primitive mind +long before the changes of the seasons or of the sky had been at all +definitely observed or considered. Thus we find it probable that, in +order to understand the sequence of the actual and historical phases of +religious worship, we must approximately reverse the order above-given +in which they have been STUDIED, and conclude that in general the +Phallic cults came first, the cult of Magic and the propitiation of +earth-divinities and spirits came second, and only last came the belief +in definite God-figures residing in heaven. + +At the base of the whole process by which divinities and demons were +created, and rites for their propitiation and placation established, lay +Fear--fear stimulating the imagination to fantastic activity. Primus in +orbe deos fecit Timor. And fear, as we shall see, only became a mental +stimulus at the time of, or after, the evolution of self-consciousness. +Before that time, in the period of SIMPLE consciousness, when the human +mind resembled that of the animals, fear indeed existed, but its nature +was more that of a mechanical protective instinct. There being no figure +or image of SELF in the animal mind, there were correspondingly no +figures or images of beings who might threaten or destroy that self. So +it was that the imaginative power of fear began with Self-consciousness, +and from that imaginative power was unrolled the whole panorama of the +gods and rites and creeds of Religion down the centuries. + +The immense force and domination of Fear in the first self-conscious +stages of the human mind is a thing which can hardly be exaggerated, and +which is even difficult for some of us moderns to realize. But naturally +as soon as Man began to think about himself--a frail phantom and waif in +the midst of tremendous forces of whose nature and mode of operation he +was entirely ignorant--he was BESET with terrors; dangers loomed upon +him on all sides. Even to-day it is noticed by doctors that one of the +chief obstacles to the cure of illness among some black or native races +is sheer superstitious terror; and Thanatomania is the recognized word +for a state of mind ("obsession of death") which will often cause a +savage to perish from a mere scratch hardly to be called a wound. +The natural defence against this state of mind was the creation of an +enormous number of taboos--such as we find among all races and on every +conceivable subject--and these taboos constituted practically a +great body of warnings which regulated the lives and thoughts of the +community, and ultimately, after they had been weeded out and to some +degree simplified, hardened down into very stringent Customs and Laws. +Such taboos naturally in the beginning tended to include the avoidance +not only of acts which might reasonably be considered dangerous, like +touching a corpse, but also things much more remote and fanciful in +their relation to danger, like merely looking at a mother-in-law, or +passing a lightning-struck tree; and (what is especially to be noticed) +they tended to include acts which offered any special PLEASURE or +temptation--like sex or marriage or the enjoyment of a meal. Taboos +surrounded these things too, and the psychological connection is easy to +divine: but I shall deal with this general subject later. + +It may be guessed that so complex a system of regulations made life +anything but easy to early peoples; but, preposterous and unreasonable +as some of the taboos were, they undoubtedly had the effect of +compelling the growth of self-control. Fear does not seem a very worthy +motive, but in the beginning it curbed the violence of the purely animal +passions, and introduced order and restraint among them. Simultaneously +it became itself, through the gradual increase of knowledge and +observation, transmuted and etherealized into something more like wonder +and awe and (when the gods rose above the horizon) into reverence. +Anyhow we seem to perceive that from the early beginnings (in the +Stone Age) of self-consciousness in Man there has been a gradual +development--from crass superstition, senseless and accidental, to +rudimentary observation, and so to belief in Magic; thence to Animism +and personification of nature-powers in more or less human form, +as earth-divinities or sky-gods or embodiments of the tribe; and to +placation of these powers by rites like Sacrifice and the Eucharist, +which in their turn became the foundation of Morality. Graphic +representations made for the encouragement of fertility--as on the +walls of Bushmen's rock-dwellings or the ceilings of the caverns of +Altamira--became the nurse of pictorial Art; observations of plants +or of the weather or the stars, carried on by tribal medicine-men for +purposes of witchcraft or prophecy, supplied some of the material of +Science; and humanity emerged by faltering and hesitating steps on the +borderland of those finer perceptions and reasonings which are supposed +to be characteristic of Civilization. + +The process of the evolution of religious rites and ceremonies has in +its main outlines been the same all over the world, as the reader will +presently see--and this whether in connection with the numerous creeds +of Paganism or the supposedly unique case of Christianity; and now the +continuity and close intermixture of these great streams can no longer +be denied--nor IS it indeed denied by those who have really studied the +subject. It is seen that religious evolution through the ages has been +practically One thing--that there has been in fact a World-religion, +though with various phases and branches. + +And so in the present day a new problem arises, namely how to account +for the appearance of this great Phenomenon, with its orderly phases +of evolution, and its own spontaneous (1) growths in all corners of the +globe--this phenomenon which has had such a strange sway over the hearts +of men, which has attracted them with so weird a charm, which has drawn +out their devotion, love and tenderness, which has consoled them in +sorrow and affliction, and yet which has stained their history with such +horrible sacrifices and persecutions and cruelties. What has been the +instigating cause of it? + + (1) For the question of spontaneity see chap. x and elsewhere. + + +The answer which I propose to this question, and which is developed to +some extent in the following chapters, is a psychological one. It is +that the phenomenon proceeds from, and is a necessary accompaniment of, +the growth of human Consciousness itself--its growth, namely, through +the three great stages of its unfoldment. These stages are (1) that of +the simple or animal consciousness, (2) that of SELF-consciousness, and +(3) that of a third stage of consciousness which has not as yet been +effectively named, but whose indications and precursive signs we here +and there perceive in the rites and prophecies and mysteries of the +early religions, and in the poetry and art and literature generally of +the later civilizations. Though I do not expect or wish to catch Nature +and History in the careful net of a phrase, yet I think that in the +sequence from the above-mentioned first stage to the second, and then +again in the sequence from the second to the third, there will be found +a helpful explanation of the rites and aspirations of human religion. It +is this idea, illustrated by details of ceremonial and so forth, which +forms the main thesis of the present book. In this sequence of growth, +Christianity enters as an episode, but no more than an episode. It does +not amount to a disruption or dislocation of evolution. If it did, or +if it stood as an unique or unclassifiable phenomenon (as some of its +votaries contend), this would seem to be a misfortune--as it would +obviously rob us of at any rate one promise of progress in the future. +And the promise of something better than Paganism and better than +Christianity is very precious. It is surely time that it should be +fulfilled. + +The tracing, therefore, of the part that human self-consciousness has +played, psychologically, in the evolution of religion, runs like a +thread through the following chapters, and seeks illustration in a +variety of details. The idea has been repeated under different aspects; +sometimes, possibly, it has been repeated too often; but different +aspects in such a case do help, as in a stereoscope, to give solidity to +the thing seen. Though the worship of Sun-gods and divine figures in +the sky came comparatively late in religious evolution, 1 have put this +subject early in the book (chapters ii and iii), partly because (as I +have already explained) it was the phase first studied in modern times, +and therefore is the one most familiar to present-day readers, and +partly because its astronomical data give great definiteness and +"proveability" to it, in rebuttal to the common accusation that the +whole study of religious origins is too vague and uncertain to have much +value. Going backwards in Time, the two next chapters (iv and v) deal +with Totem-sacraments and Magic, perhaps the earliest forms of religion. +And these four lead on (in chapters vi to xi) to the consideration of +rites and creeds common to Paganism and Christianity. XII and xiii deal +especially with the evolution of Christianity itself; xiv and xv explain +the inner Meaning of the whole process from the beginning; and xvi and +xvii look to the Future. + +The appendix on the doctrines of the Upanishads may, I hope, serve to +give an idea, intimate even though inadequate, of the third Stage--that +which follows on the stage of self-consciousness; and to portray the +mental attitudes which are characteristic of that stage. Here in this +third stage, it would seem, one comes upon the real FACTS of the inner +life--in contradistinction to the fancies and figments of the second +stage; and so one reaches the final point of conjunction between Science +and Religion. + + + + +II. SOLAR MYTHS AND CHRISTIAN FESTIVALS + +To the ordinary public--notwithstanding the immense amount of work which +has of late been done on this subject--the connection between Paganism +and Christianity still seems rather remote. Indeed the common notion +is that Christianity was really a miraculous interposition into and +dislocation of the old order of the world; and that the pagan gods (as +in Milton's Hymn on the Nativity) fled away in dismay before the sign of +the Cross, and at the sound of the name of Jesus. Doubtless this was a +view much encouraged by the early Church itself--if only to enhance its +own authority and importance; yet, as is well known to every student, it +is quite misleading and contrary to fact. The main Christian doctrines +and festivals, besides a great mass of affiliated legend and ceremonial, +are really quite directly derived from, and related to, preceding +Nature worships; and it has only been by a good deal of deliberate +mystification and falsification that this derivation has been kept out +of sight. + +In these Nature-worships there may be discerned three fairly independent +streams of religious or quasi-religious enthusiasm: (1) that connected +with the phenomena of the heavens, the movements of the Sun, planets and +stars, and the awe and wonderment they excited; (2) that connected with +the seasons and the very important matter of the growth of vegetation +and food on the Earth; and (3) that connected with the mysteries of Sex +and reproduction. It is obvious that these three streams would mingle +and interfuse with each other a good deal; but as far as they were +separable the first would tend to create Solar heroes and Sun-myths; +the second Vegetation-gods and personifications of Nature and the +earth-life; while the third would throw its glamour over the other two +and contribute to the projection of deities or demons worshipped with +all sorts of sexual and phallic rites. All three systems of course have +their special rites and times and ceremonies; but, as, I say, the rites +and ceremonies of one system would rarely be found pure and unmixed with +those belonging to the two others. The whole subject is a very large +one; but for reasons given in the Introduction I shall in this and +the following chapter--while not ignoring phases (2) and (3)--lay most +stress on phase (1) of the question before us. + +At the time of the life or recorded appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, and +for some centuries before, the Mediterranean and neighboring world had +been the scene of a vast number of pagan creeds and rituals. There were +Temples without end dedicated to gods like Apollo or Dionysus among the +Greeks, Hercules among the Romans, Mithra among the Persians, Adonis and +Attis in Syria and Phrygia, Osiris and Isis and Horus in Egypt, Baal +and Astarte among the Babylonians and Carthaginians, and so forth. +Societies, large or small, united believers and the devout in the +service or ceremonials connected with their respective deities, and +in the creeds which they confessed concerning these deities. And an +extraordinarily interesting fact, for us, is that notwithstanding great +geographical distances and racial differences between the adherents +of these various cults, as well as differences in the details of their +services, the general outlines of their creeds and ceremonials were--if +not identical--so markedly similar as we find them. + +I cannot of course go at length into these different cults, but I may +say roughly that of all or nearly all the deities above-mentioned it was +said and believed that: + + +(1) They were born on or very near our Christmas Day. + +(2) They were born of a Virgin-Mother. + +(3) And in a Cave or Underground Chamber. + +(4) They led a life of toil for Mankind. + +(5) And were called by the names of Light-bringer, Healer, Mediator, +Savior, Deliverer. + +(6) They were however vanquished by the Powers of Darkness. + +(7) And descended into Hell or the Underworld. + +(8) They rose again from the dead, and became the pioneers of mankind to +the Heavenly world. + +(9) They founded Communions of Saints, and Churches into which disciples +were received by Baptism. + +(10) And they were commemorated by Eucharistic meals. + + +Let me give a few brief examples. + +Mithra was born in a cave, and on the 25th December. (1) He was born of +a Virgin. (2) He traveled far and wide as a teacher and illuminator +of men. He slew the Bull (symbol of the gross Earth which the sunlight +fructifies). His great festivals were the winter solstice and the Spring +equinox (Christmas and Easter). He had twelve companions or disciples +(the twelve months). He was buried in a tomb, from which however he rose +again; and his resurrection was celebrated yearly with great rejoicings. +He was called Savior and Mediator, and sometimes figured as a Lamb; and +sacramental feasts in remembrance of him were held by his followers. +This legend is apparently partly astronomical and partly vegetational; +and the same may be said of the following about Osiris. + + (1) The birthfeast of Mithra was held in Rome on the 8th day +before the Kalends of January, being also the day of the Circassian +games, which were sacred to the Sun. (See F. Nork, Der Mystagog, +Leipzig.) + + (2) This at any rate was reported by his later disciples (see +Robertson's Pagan Christs, p. 338). + + +Osiris was born (Plutarch tells us) on the 361st day of the year, +say the 27th December. He too, like Mithra and Dionysus, was a great +traveler. As King of Egypt he taught men civil arts, and "tamed them by +music and gentleness, not by force of arms"; (1) he was the discoverer +of corn and wine. But he was betrayed by Typhon, the power of darkness, +and slain and dismembered. "This happened," says Plutarch, "on the 17th +of the month Athyr, when the sun enters into the Scorpion" (the sign of +the Zodiac which indicates the oncoming of Winter). His body was placed +in a box, but afterwards, on the 19th, came again to life, and, as in +the cults of Mithra, Dionysus, Adonis and others, so in the cult +of Osiris, an image placed in a coffin was brought out before the +worshipers and saluted with glad cries of "Osiris is risen." (1) "His +sufferings, his death and his resurrection were enacted year by year in +a great mystery-play at Abydos." (2) + + (1) See Plutarch on Isis and Osiris. + + (2) Ancient Art and Ritual, by Jane E. Harrison, chap. i. + + +The two following legends have more distinctly the character of +Vegetation myths. + +Adonis or Tammuz, the Syrian god of vegetation, was a very beautiful +youth, born of a Virgin (Nature), and so beautiful that Venus and +Proserpine (the goddesses of the Upper and Underworlds) both fell in +love with him. To reconcile their claims it was agreed that he should +spend half the year (summer) in the upper world, and the winter half +with Proserpine below. He was killed by a boar (Typhon) in the autumn. +And every year the maidens "wept for Adonis" (see Ezekiel viii. 14). In +the spring a festival of his resurrection was held--the women set out +to seek him, and having found the supposed corpse placed it (a wooden +image) in a coffin or hollow tree, and performed wild rites and +lamentations, followed by even wilder rejoicings over his supposed +resurrection. At Aphaca in the North of Syria, and halfway between +Byblus and Baalbec, there was a famous grove and temple of Astarte, +near which was a wild romantic gorge full of trees, the birthplace of +a certain river Adonis--the water rushing from a Cavern, under lofty +cliffs. Here (it was said) every year the youth Adonis was again wounded +to death, and the river ran red with his blood, (1) while the scarlet +anemone bloomed among the cedars and walnuts. + + (1) A discoloration caused by red earth washed by rain from the +mountains, and which has been observed by modern travelers. For the +whole story of Adonis and of Attis see Frazer's Golden Bough, part iv. + + +The story of Attis is very similar. He was a fair young shepherd or +herdsman of Phrygia, beloved by Cybele (or Demeter), the Mother of the +gods. He was born of a Virgin--Nana--who conceived by putting a ripe +almond or pomegranate in her bosom. He died, either killed by a boar, +the symbol of winter, like Adonis, or self-castrated (like his own +priests); and he bled to death at the foot of a pine tree (the pine +and pine-cone being symbols of fertility). The sacrifice of his blood +renewed the fertility of the earth, and in the ritual celebration of +his death and resurrection his image was fastened to the trunk of a +pine-tree (compare the Crucifixion). But I shall return to this legend +presently. The worship of Attis became very widespread and much honored, +and was ultimately incorporated with the established religion at Rome +somewhere about the commencement of our Era. + +The following two legends (dealing with Hercules and with Krishna) have +rather more of the character of the solar, and less of the vegetational +myth about them. Both heroes were regarded as great benefactors of +humanity; but the former more on the material plane, and the latter on +the spiritual. + +Hercules or Heracles was, like other Sun-gods and benefactors of +mankind, a great Traveler. He was known in many lands, and everywhere +he was invoked as Saviour. He was miraculously conceived from a divine +Father; even in the cradle he strangled two serpents sent to destroy +him. His many labors for the good of the world were ultimately +epitomized into twelve, symbolized by the signs of the Zodiac. He slew +the Nemxan Lion and the Hydra (offspring of Typhon) and the Boar. He +overcame the Cretan Bull, and cleaned out the Stables of Augeas; he +conquered Death and, descending into Hades, brought Cerberus thence and +ascended into Heaven. On all sides he was followed by the gratitude and +the prayers of mortals. + +As to Krishna, the Indian god, the points of agreement with the general +divine career indicated above are too salient to be overlooked, and too +numerous to be fully recorded. He also was born of a Virgin (Devaki) +and in a Cave, (1) and his birth announced by a Star. It was sought to +destroy him, and for that purpose a massacre of infants was ordered. +Everywhere he performed miracles, raising the dead, healing lepers, and +the deaf and the blind, and championing the poor and oppressed. He had +a beloved disciple, Arjuna, (cf. John) before whom he was transfigured. +(2) His death is differently related--as being shot by an arrow, or +crucified on a tree. He descended into hell; and rose again from the +dead, ascending into heaven in the sight of many people. He will return +at the last day to be the judge of the quick and the dead. + + (1) Cox's Myths of the Aryan Nations, p. 107. + + (2) Bhagavat Gita, ch. xi. + + +Such are some of the legends concerning the pagan and pre-Christian +deities--only briefly sketched now, in order that we may get something +like a true perspective of the whole subject; but to most of them, and +more in detail, I shall return as the argument proceeds. + +What we chiefly notice so far are two points; on the one hand the +general similarity of these stories with that of Jesus Christ; on the +other their analogy with the yearly phenomena of Nature as illustrated +by the course of the Sun in heaven and the changes of Vegetation on the +earth. + + +(1) The similarity of these ancient pagan legends and beliefs with +Christian traditions was indeed so great that it excited the attention +and the undisguised wrath of the early Christian fathers. They felt no +doubt about the similarity, but not knowing how to explain it fell +back upon the innocent theory that the Devil--in order to confound the +Christians--had, CENTURIES BEFORE, caused the pagans to adopt certain +beliefs and practices! (Very crafty, we may say, of the Devil, but also +very innocent of the Fathers to believe it!) Justin Martyr for instance +describes (1) the institution of the Lord's Supper as narrated in the +Gospels, and then goes on to say: "Which the wicked devils have IMITATED +in the mysteries of Mithra, commanding the same thing to be done. For, +that bread and a cup of water are placed with certain incantations in +the mystic rites of one who is being initiated you either know or can +learn." Tertullian also says (2) that "the devil by the mysteries of +his idols imitates even the main part of the divine mysteries."... +"He baptizes his worshippers in water and makes them believe that +this purifies them from their crimes."... "Mithra sets his mark on the +forehead of his soldiers; he celebrates the oblation of bread; he offers +an image of the resurrection, and presents at once the crown and the +sword; he limits his chief priest to a single marriage; he even has his +virgins and ascetics." (3) Cortez, too, it will be remembered complained +that the Devil had positively taught to the Mexicans the same things +which God had taught to Christendom. + + (1) I Apol. c. 66. + + (2) De Praescriptione Hereticorum, c. 40; De Bapt. c. 3; De +Corona, c. 15. + + (3) For reference to both these examples see J. M. Robertson's +Pagan Christs, pp. 321, 322. + + +Justin Martyr again, in the Dialogue with Trypho says that the Birth in +the Stable was the prototype (!) of the birth of Mithra in the Cave of +Zoroastrianism; and boasts that Christ was born when the Sun takes its +birth in the Augean Stable, (1) coming as a second Hercules to cleanse +a foul world; and St. Augustine says "we hold this (Christmas) day holy, +not like the pagans because of the birth of the Sun, but because of the +birth of him who made it." There are plenty of other instances in the +Early Fathers of their indignant ascription of these similarities to the +work of devils; but we need not dwell over them. There is no need for +US to be indignant. On the contrary we can now see that these +animadversions of the Christian writers are the evidence of how and to +what extent in the spread of Christianity over the world it had become +fused with the Pagan cults previously existing. + + (1) The Zodiacal sign of Capricornus, iii. + + +It was not till the year A.D. 530 or so--five centuries after the +supposed birth of Christ--that a Scythian Monk, Dionysius Exiguus, an +abbot and astronomer of Rome, was commissioned to fix the day and the +year of that birth. A nice problem, considering the historical science +of the period! For year he assigned the date which we now adopt, (2) and +for day and month he adopted the 25th December--a date which had been +in popular use since about 350 B.C., and the very date, within a day or +two, of the supposed birth of the previous Sungods. (3) From that +fact alone we may fairly conclude that by the year 530 or earlier the +existing Nature-worships had become largely fused into Christianity. In +fact the dates of the main pagan religious festivals had by that time +become so popular that Christianity was OBLIGED to accommodate itself to +them. (1) + + (1) As, for instance, the festival of John the Baptist in June +took the place of the pagan midsummer festival of water and bathing; +the Assumption of the Virgin in August the place of that of Diana in the +same month; and the festival of All Souls early in November, that of the +world-wide pagan feasts of the dead and their ghosts at the same season. + + (2) See Encycl. Brit. art. "Chronology." + + (3) "There is however a difficulty in accepting the 25th December +as the real date of the Nativity, December being the height of the rainy +season in Judaea, when neither flocks nor shepherds could have been at +night in the fields of Bethlehem" (!). Encycl. Brit. art. "Christmas +Day." According to Hastings's Encyclopaedia, art. "Christmas," "Usener +says that the Feast of the Nativity was held originally on the 6th +January (the Epiphany), but in 353-4 the Pope Liberius displaced it to +the 25th December... but there is no evidence of a Feast of the Nativity +taking place at all, before the fourth century A.D." It was not till 534 +A.D. that Christmas Day and Epiphany were reckoned by the law-courts as +dies non. + + +This brings us to the second point mentioned a few pages back--the +analogy between the Christian festivals and the yearly phenomena of +Nature in the Sun and the Vegetation. + +Let us take Christmas Day first. Mithra, as we have seen, was reported +to have been born on the 25th December (which in the Julian Calendar was +reckoned as the day of the Winter Solstice AND of the Nativity of the +Sun); Plutarch says (Isis and Osiris, c. 12) that Osiris was born on +the 361st day of the year, when a Voice rang out proclaiming the Lord of +All. Horus, he says, was born on the 362nd day. Apollo on the same. + +Why was all this? Why did the Druids at Yule Tide light roaring fires? +Why was the cock supposed to crow all Christmas Eve ("The bird of +dawning singeth all night long")? Why was Apollo born with only one hair +(the young Sun with only one feeble ray)? Why did Samson (name derived +from Shemesh, the sun) lose all his strength when he lost his hair? Why +were so many of these gods--Mithra, Apollo, Krishna, Jesus, and others, +born in caves or underground chambers? (1) Why, at the Easter Eve +festival of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem is a light brought from the +grave and communicated to the candles of thousands who wait outside, and +who rush forth rejoicing to carry the new glory over the world? (2) Why +indeed? except that older than all history and all written records has +been the fear and wonderment of the children of men over the failure of +the Sun's strength in Autumn--the decay of their God; and the anxiety +lest by any means he should not revive or reappear? + + + (1) This same legend of gods (or idols) being born in caves has, +curiously enough, been reported from Mexico, Guatemala, the Antilles, +and other places in Central America. See C. F. P. von Martius, +Etknographie Amerika, etc. (Leipzig, 1867), vol. i, p. 758. + + (2) Compare the Aztec ceremonial of lighting a holy fire and +communicating it to the multitude from the wounded breast of a human +victim, celebrated every 52 years at the end of one cycle and the +beginning of another--the constellation of the Pleiades being in the +Zenith (Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, Bk. I, ch. 4). + + +Think for a moment of a time far back when there were absolutely NO +Almanacs or Calendars, either nicely printed or otherwise, when all that +timid mortals could see was that their great source of Light and Warmth +was daily failing, daily sinking lower in the sky. As everyone now knows +there are about three weeks at the fag end of the year when the days are +at their shortest and there is very little change. What was happening? +Evidently the god had fallen upon evil times. Typhon, the prince of +darkness, had betrayed him; Delilah, the queen of Night, had shorn his +hair; the dreadful Boar had wounded him; Hercules was struggling +with Death itself; he had fallen under the influence of those malign +constellations--the Serpent and the Scorpion. Would the god grow weaker +and weaker, and finally succumb, or would he conquer after all? We can +imagine the anxiety with which those early men and women watched for the +first indication of a lengthening day; and the universal joy when the +Priest (the representative of primitive science) having made some +simple observations, announced from the Temple steps that the day WAS +lengthening--that the Sun was really born again to a new and glorious +career. (1) + + (1) It was such things as these which doubtless gave the +Priesthood its power. + + +Let us look at the elementary science of those days a little closer. +How without Almanacs or Calendars could the day, or probable day, of the +Sun's rebirth be fixed? Go out next Christmas Evening, and at midnight +you will see the brightest of the fixed stars, Sirius, blazing in the +southern sky--not however due south from you, but somewhat to the +left of the Meridian line. Some three thousand years ago (owing to the +Precession of the Equinoxes) that star at the winter solstice did +not stand at midnight where you now see it, but almost exactly ON +the meridian line. The coming of Sirius therefore to the meridian at +midnight became the sign and assurance of the Sun having reached the +very lowest point of his course, and therefore of having arrived at the +moment of his re-birth. Where then was the Sun at that moment? Obviously +in the underworld beneath our feet. Whatever views the ancients may have +had about the shape of the earth, it was evident to the mass of people +that the Sungod, after illuminating the world during the day, plunged +down in the West, and remained there during the hours of darkness in +some cavern under the earth. Here he rested and after bathing in the +great ocean renewed his garments before reappearing in the East next +morning. + +But in this long night of his greatest winter weakness, when all the +world was hoping and praying for the renewal of his strength, it is +evident that the new birth would come--if it came at all--at midnight. +This then was the sacred hour when in the underworld (the Stable or the +Cave or whatever it might be called) the child was born who was destined +to be the Savior of men. At that moment Sirius stood on the southern +meridian (and in more southern lands than ours this would be more nearly +overhead); and that star--there is little doubt--is the Star in the East +mentioned in the Gospels. + +To the right, as the supposed observer looks at Sirius on the midnight +of Christmas Eve, stands the magnificent Orion, the mighty hunter. There +are three stars in his belt which, as is well known, lie in a straight +line pointing to Sirius. They are not so bright as Sirius, but they are +sufficiently bright to attract attention. A long tradition gives them +the name of the Three Kings. Dupuis (1) says: "Orion a trois belles +etoiles vers le milieu, qui sont de seconde grandeur et posees en ligne +droite, l'une pres de l'autre, le peuple les appelle les trois rois. +On donne aux trois rois Magis les noms de Magalat, Galgalat, Saraim; +et Athos, Satos, Paratoras. Les Catholiques les appellent Gaspard, +Melchior, et Balthasar." The last-mentioned group of names comes in +the Catholic Calendar in connection with the feast of the Epiphany (6th +January); and the name "Trois Rois" is commonly to-day given to these +stars by the French and Swiss peasants. + + (1) Charles F. Dupuis (Origine de Tous les Cultes, Paris, 1822) +was one of the earliest modern writers on these subjects. + + +Immediately after Midnight then, on the 25th December, the Beloved Son +(or Sun-god) is born. If we go back in thought to the period, some three +thousand years ago, when at that moment of the heavenly birth Sirius, +coming from the East, did actually stand on the Meridian, we shall come +into touch with another curious astronomical coincidence. For at the +same moment we shall see the Zodiacal constellation of the Virgin in +the act of rising, and becoming visible in the East divided through the +middle by the line of the horizon. + +The constellation Virgo is a Y-shaped group, of which [gr a], the star +at the foot, is the well-known Spica, a star of the first magnitude. The +other principal stars, [gr g] at the centre, and [gr b] and [gr e] at +the extremities, are of the second magnitude. The whole resembles more a +cup than the human figure; but when we remember the symbolic meaning +of the cup, that seems to be an obvious explanation of the name Virgo, +which the constellation has borne since the earliest times. (The three +stars [gr b], [gr g] and [gr a], lie very nearly on the Ecliptic, that +is, the Sun's path--a fact to which we shall return presently.) + +At the moment then when Sirius, the star from the East, by coming to the +Meridian at midnight signalled the Sun's new birth, the Virgin was seen +just rising on the Eastern sky--the horizon line passing through +her centre. And many people think that this astronomical fact is the +explanation of the very widespread legend of the Virgin-birth. I do not +think that it is the sole explanation--for indeed in all or nearly all +these cases the acceptance of a myth seems to depend not upon a single +argument but upon the convergence of a number of meanings and reasons in +the same symbol. But certainly the fact mentioned above is curious, and +its importance is accentuated by the following considerations. + +In the Temple of Denderah in Egypt, and on the inside of the dome, +there is or WAS an elaborate circular representation of the Northern +hemisphere of the sky and the Zodiac. (1) Here Virgo the constellation +is represented, as in our star-maps, by a woman with a spike of corn in +her hand (Spica). But on the margin close by there is an annotating and +explicatory figure--a figure of Isis with the infant Horus in her arms, +and quite resembling in style the Christian Madonna and Child, except +that she is sitting and the child is on her knee. This seems to show +that--whatever other nations may have done in associating Virgo with +Demeter, Ceres, Diana (2) etc.--the Egyptians made no doubt of the +constellation's connection with Isis and Horus. But it is well known as +a matter of history that the worship of Isis and Horus descended in the +early Christian centuries to Alexandria, where it took the form of the +worship of the Virgin Mary and the infant Savior, and so passed into +the European ceremonial. We have therefore the Virgin Mary connected by +linear succession and descent with that remote Zodiacal cluster in the +sky! Also it may be mentioned that on the Arabian and Persian globes of +Abenezra and Abuazar a Virgin and Child are figured in connection with +the same constellation. (3) + + (1) Carefully described and mapped by Dupuis, see op. cit. + + (2) For the harvest-festival of Diana, the Virgin, and her +parallelism with the Virgin Mary, see The Golden Bough, vol. i, 14 and +ii, 121. + + (3) See F. Nork, Der Mystagog (Leipzig, 1838). + + +A curious confirmation of the same astronomical connection is afforded +by the Roman Catholic Calendar. For if this be consulted it will be +found that the festival of the Assumption of the Virgin is placed on the +15th August, while the festival of the Birth of the Virgin is dated the +8th September. I have already pointed out that the stars, [gr a], [gr +b] and [gr g] of Virgo are almost exactly on the Ecliptic, or Sun's path +through the sky; and a brief reference to the Zodiacal signs and the +star-maps will show that the Sun each year enters the sign of Virgo +about the first-mentioned date, and leaves it about the second date. At +the present day the Zodiacal signs (owing to precession) have shifted +some distance from the constellations of the same name. But at the time +when the Zodiac was constituted and these names were given, the first +date obviously would signalize the actual disappearance of the cluster +Virgo in the Sun's rays--i. e. the Assumption of the Virgin into the +glory of the God--while the second date would signalize the reappearance +of the constellation or the Birth of the Virgin. The Church of Notre +Dame at Paris is supposed to be on the original site of a Temple of +Isis; and it is said (but I have not been able to verify this myself) +that one of the side entrances--that, namely, on the left in entering +from the North (cloister) side--is figured with the signs of the Zodiac +EXCEPT that the sign Virgo is replaced by the figure of the Madonna and +Child. + +So strange is the scripture of the sky! Innumerable legends and customs +connect the rebirth of the Sun with a Virgin parturition. Dr. J. G. +Frazer in his Part IV of The Golden Bough (1) says: "If we may trust the +evidence of an obscure scholiast the Greeks (in the worship of Mithras +at Rome) used to celebrate the birth of the luminary by a midnight +service, coming out of the inner shrines and crying, 'The Virgin has +brought forth! The light is waxing!' ([gr 'H parhenos tetoken, auzei +pws].)" In Elie Reclus' little book Primitive Folk (2) it is said of the +Esquimaux that "On the longest night of the year two angakout (priests), +of whom one is disguised as a WOMAN, go from hut to hut extinguishing +all the lights, rekindling them from a vestal flame, and crying out, +'From the new sun cometh a new light!'" + + (1) Book II, ch. vi. + + (2) In the Contemporary Science Series, I. 92. + + +All this above-written on the Solar or Astronomical origins of the myths +does not of course imply that the Vegetational origins must be denied +or ignored. These latter were doubtless the earliest, but there is no +reason--as said in the Introduction (ch. i)--why the two elements should +not to some extent have run side by side, or been fused with each other. +In fact it is quite clear that they must have done so; and to separate +them out too rigidly, or treat them as antagonistic, is a mistake. The +Cave or Underworld in which the New Year is born is not only the place +of the Sun's winter retirement, but also the hidden chamber beneath the +Earth to which the dying Vegetation goes, and from which it re-arises +in Spring. The amours of Adonis with Venus and Proserpine, the lovely +goddesses of the upper and under worlds, or of Attis with Cybele, the +blooming Earth-mother, are obvious vegetation-symbols; but they do not +exclude the interpretation that Adonis (Adonai) may also figure as a +Sun-god. The Zodiacal constellations of Aries and Taurus (to which I +shall return presently) rule in heaven just when the Lamb and the Bull +are in evidence on the earth; and the yearly sacrifice of those two +animals and of the growing Corn for the good of mankind runs +parallel with the drama of the sky, as it affects not only the said +constellations but also Virgo (the Earth-mother who bears the sheaf of +corn in her hand). + +I shall therefore continue (in the next chapter) to point out these +astronomical references--which are full of significance and poetry; but +with a recommendation at the same time to the reader not to forget the +poetry and significance of the terrestrial interpretations. + +Between Christmas Day and Easter there are several minor festivals or +holy days--such as the 28th December (the Massacre of the Innocents), +the 6th January (the Epiphany), the 2nd February (Candlemas (1) Day), +the period of Lent (German Lenz, the Spring), the Annunciation of the +Blessed Virgin, and so forth--which have been commonly celebrated in +the pagan cults before Christianity, and in which elements of Star and +Nature worship can be traced; but to dwell on all these would take too +long; so let us pass at once to the period of Easter itself. + + (1) This festival of the Purification of the Virgin corresponds +with the old Roman festival of Juno Februata (i. e. purified) which was +held in the last month (February) of the Roman year, and which included +a candle procession of Ceres, searching for Proserpine. (F. Nork, Der +Mystagog.) + + + + +III. THE SYMBOLISM OF THE ZODIAC + +The Vernal Equinox has all over the ancient world, and from the earliest +times, been a period of rejoicing and of festivals in honor of the +Sungod. It is needless to labor a point which is so well known. Everyone +understands and appreciates the joy of finding that the long darkness is +giving way, that the Sun is growing in strength, and that the days are +winning a victory over the nights. The birds and flowers reappear, and +the promise of Spring is in the air. But it may be worth while to give +an elementary explanation of the ASTRONOMICAL meaning of this period, +because this is not always understood, and yet it is very important in +its bearing on the rites and creeds of the early religions. The priests +who were, as I have said, the early students and inquirers, had worked +out this astronomical side, and in that way were able to fix dates and +to frame for the benefit of the populace myths and legends, which were +in a certain sense explanations of the order of Nature, and a kind of +"popular science." + +The Equator, as everyone knows, is an imaginary line or circle girdling +the Earth half-way between the North and South poles. If you imagine a +transparent Earth with a light at its very centre, and also imagine the +SHADOW of this equatorial line to be thrown on the vast concave of +the Sky, this shadow would in astronomical parlance coincide with the +Equator of the Sky--forming an imaginary circle half-way between the +North and South celestial poles. + +The Equator, then, may be pictured as cutting across the sky either by +day or by night, and always at the same elevation--that is, as seen from +any one place. But the Ecliptic (the other important great circle of the +heavens) can only be thought of as a line traversing the constellations +as they are seen at NIGHT. It is in fact the Sun's path among the fixed +stars. For (really owing to the Earth's motion in its orbit) the Sun +appears to move round the heavens once a year--travelling, always to the +left, from constellation to constellation. The exact path of the sun is +called the Ecliptic; and the band of sky on either side of the Ecliptic +which may be supposed to include the said constellations is called the +Zodiac. How then--it will of course be asked--seeing that the Sun and +the Stars can never be seen together--were the Priests ABLE to map out +the path of the former among the latter? Into that question we need not +go. Sufficient to say that they succeeded; and their success--even with +the very primitive instruments they had--shows that their astronomical +knowledge and acuteness of reasoning were of no mean order. + +To return to our Vernal Equinox. Let us suppose that the Equator and +Ecliptic of the sky, at the Spring season, are represented by two lines +Eq. and Ecl. crossing each other at the point P. The Sun, represented +by the small circle, is moving slowly and in its annual course along the +Ecliptic to the left. When it reaches the point P (the dotted circle) +it stands on the Equator of the sky, and then for a day or two, being +neither North nor South, it shines on the two terrestrial hemispheres +alike, and day and night are equal. BEFORE that time, when the sun +is low down in the heavens, night has the advantage, and the days are +short; AFTERWARDS, when the Sun has travelled more to the left, the days +triumph over the nights. It will be seen then that this point P where +the Sun's path crosses the Equator is a very critical point. It is the +astronomical location of the triumph of the Sungod and of the arrival of +Spring. + +How was this location defined? Among what stars was the Sun moving at +that critical moment? (For of course it was understood, or supposed, +that the Sun was deeply influenced by the constellation through which it +was, or appeared to be, moving.) It seems then that at the period when +these questions were occupying men's minds--say about three thousand +years ago--the point where the Ecliptic crossed the Equator was, as a +matter of fact, in the region of the constellation Aries or the he-Lamb. +The triumph of the Sungod was therefore, and quite naturally, ascribed +to the influence of Aries. THE LAMB BECAME THE SYMBOL OF THE RISEN +SAVIOR, AND OF HIS PASSAGE FROM THE UNDERWORLD INTO THE HEIGHT OF +HEAVEN. At first such an explanation sounds hazardous; but a thousand +texts and references confirm it; and it is only by the accumulation of +evidence in these cases that the student becomes convinced of a theory's +correctness. It must also be remembered (what I have mentioned before) +that these myths and legends were commonly adopted not only for +one strict reason but because they represented in a general way the +convergence of various symbols and inferences. + +Let me enumerate a few points with regard to the Vernal Equinox. In the +Bible the festival is called the Passover, and its supposed institution +by Moses is related in Exodus, ch. xii. In every house a he-lamb was to +be slain, and its blood to be sprinkled on the doorposts of the house. +Then the Lord would pass over and not smite that house. The Hebrew word +is pasach, to pass. (1) The lamb slain was called the Paschal Lamb. But +what was that lamb? Evidently not an earthly lamb--(though certainly +the earthly lambs on the hillsides WERE just then ready to be killed and +eaten)--but the heavenly Lamb, which was slain or sacrificed when the +Lord "passed over" the equator and obliterated the constellation Aries. +This was the Lamb of God which was slain each year, and "Slain since the +foundation of the world." This period of the Passover (about the 25th +March) was to be (2) the beginning of a new year. The sacrifice of +the Lamb, and its blood, were to be the promise of redemption. The +door-frames of the houses--symbols of the entrance into a new life--were +to be sprinkled with blood. (3) Later, the imagery of the saving power +of the blood of the Lamb became more popular, more highly colored. (See +St. Paul's epistles, and the early Fathers.) And we have the expression +"washed in the blood of the Lamb" adopted into the Christian Church. + + (1) It is said that pasach sometimes means not so much to pass +over, as to hover over and so protect. Possibly both meanings enter in +here. See Isaiah xxxi. 5. + + (2) See Exodus xii. i. + + (3) It is even said (see The Golden Bough, vol. iii, 185) that +the doorways of houses and temples in Peru were at the Spring festival +daubed with blood of the first-born children--commuted afterwards to the +blood of the sacred animal, the Llama. And as to Mexico, Sahagun, the +great Spanish missionary, tells us that it was a custom of the people +there to "smear the outside of their houses and doors with blood drawn +from their own ears and ankles, in order to propitiate the god of +Harvest" (Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi, p. 235). + + +In order fully to understand this extraordinary expression and its +origin we must turn for a moment to the worship both of Mithra, the +Persian Sungod, and of Attis the Syrian god, as throwing great light +on the Christian cult and ceremonies. It must be remembered that in the +early centuries of our era the Mithra-cult was spread over the whole +Western world. It has left many monuments of itself here in Britain. +At Rome the worship was extremely popular, and it may almost be said +to have been a matter of chance whether Mithraism should overwhelm +Christianity, or whether the younger religion by adopting many of the +rites of the older one should establish itself (as it did) in the face +of the latter. + +Now we have already mentioned that in the Mithra cult the slaying of a +Bull by the Sungod occupies the same sort of place as the slaving of the +Lamb in the Christian cult. It took place at the Vernal Equinox and the +blood of the Bull acquired in men's minds a magic virtue. Mithraism was +a greatly older religion than Christianity; but its genesis was similar. +In fact, owing to the Precession of the Equinoxes, the crossing-place of +the Ecliptic and Equator was different at the time of the establishment +of Mithra-worship from what it was in the Christian period; and the +Sun instead of standing in the He-lamb, or Aries, at the Vernal Equinox +stood, about two thousand years earlier (as indicated by the dotted line +in the diagram), in this very constellation of the Bull. (1) The bull +therefore became the symbol of the triumphant God, and the sacrifice +of the bull a holy mystery. (Nor must we overlook here the agricultural +appropriateness of the bull as the emblem of Spring-plowings and of +service to man.) + + (1) With regard to this point, see an article in the Nineteenth +Century for September 1900, by E. W. Maunder of the Greenwich +Observatory on "The Oldest Picture Book" (the Zodiac). Mr. Maunder +calculates that the Vernal Equinox was in the centre of the Sign of +the Bull 5,000 years ago. (It would therefore be in the centre of Aries +2,845 years ago--allowing 2,155 years for the time occupied in passing +from one Sign to another.) At the earlier period the Summer solstice was +in the centre of Leo, the Autumnal equinox in the centre of Scorpio, and +the Winter solstice in the centre of Aquarius--corresponding roughly, +Mr. Maunder points out, to the positions of the four "Royal Stars," +Aldebaran, Regulus, Antares and Fomalhaut. + + +The sacrifice of the Bull became the image of redemption. In a certain +well-known Mithra-sculpture or group, the Sungod is represented as +plunging his dagger into a bull, while a scorpion, a serpent, and other +animals are sucking the latter's blood. From one point of view this may +be taken as symbolic of the Sun fertilizing the gross Earth by plunging +his rays into it and so drawing forth its blood for the sustenance of +all creatures; while from another more astronomical aspect it symbolizes +the conquest of the Sun over winter in the moment of "passing over" the +sign of the Bull, and the depletion of the generative power of the Bull +by the Scorpion--which of course is the autumnal sign of the Zodiac +and herald of winter. One such Mithraic group was found at Ostia, where +there was a large subterranean Temple "to the invincible god Mithras." + +In the worship of Attis there were (as I have already indicated) many +points of resemblance to the Christian cult. On the 22nd March (the +Vernal Equinox) a pinetree was cut in the woods and brought into the +Temple of Cybele. It was treated almost as a divinity, was decked +with violets, and the effigy of a young man tied to the stem (cf. the +Crucifixion). The 24th was called the "Day of Blood"; the High Priest +first drew blood from his own arms; and then the others gashed and +slashed themselves, and spattered the altar and the sacred tree with +blood; while novices made themselves eunuchs "for the kingdom of +heaven's sake." The effigy was afterwards laid in a tomb. But when +night fell, says Dr. Frazer, (1) sorrow was turned to joy. A light was +brought, and the tomb was found to be empty. The next day, the 25th, was +the festival of the Resurrection; and ended in carnival and license +(the Hilaria). Further, says Dr. Frazer, these mysteries "seem to have +included a sacramental meal and a baptism of blood." + + (1) See Adonis, Attis and Osiris, Part IV of The Golden Bough, by +J. G. Frazer, p. 229. + + +"In the baptism the devotee, crowned with gold and wreathed with +fillets, descended into a pit, the mouth of which was covered with a +wooden grating. A bull, adorned with garlands of flowers, its forehead +glittering with gold leaf, was then driven on to the grating and there +stabbed to death with a consecrated spear. Its hot reeking blood +poured in torrents through the apertures, and was received with devout +eagerness by the worshiper on every part of his person and garments, +till he emerged from the pit, drenched, dripping, and scarlet from head +to foot, to receive the homage, nay the adoration, of his fellows--as +one who had been born again to eternal life and had washed away his sins +in the blood of the bull." (1) And Frazer continuing says: "That the +bath of blood derived from slaughter of the bull (tauro-bolium) +was believed to regenerate the devotee for eternity is proved by an +inscription found at Rome, which records that a certain Sextilius +Agesilaus Aedesius, who dedicated an altar to Attis and the mother of +the gods (Cybele) was taurobolio criobolio que in aeternum renatus." +(2) "In the procedure of the Taurobolia and Criobolia," says Mr. J. M. +Robertson, (3) "which grew very popular in the Roman world, we have the +literal and original meaning of the phrase 'washed in the blood of the +lamb' (4); the doctrine being that resurrection and eternal life +were secured by drenching or sprinkling with the actual blood of a +sacrificial bull or ram." (5) For the POPULARITY of the rite we may +quote Franz Cumont, who says:--"Cette douche sacree (taurobolium) pareit +avoir ete administree en Cappadoce dans un grand nombre de sanctuaires, +et en particulier dans ceux de Ma la grande divinite indigene, et dans +ceux: de Anahita." + + (1) See vol. i, pp. 334 ff. + + (2) Adonis, Attis and Osiris, p. 229. References to Prudentius, +and to Firmicus Maternus, De errore 28. 8. + + (3) That is, "By the slaughter of the bull and the slaughter of +the ram born again into eternity." + + (4) Pagan Christs, p. 315. + + (5) Mysteres de Mithra, Bruxelles, 1902, p. 153. + + +Whether Mr. Robertson is right in ascribing to the priests (as he +appears to do) so materialistic a view of the potency of the actual +blood is, I should say, doubtful. I do not myself see that there is +any reason for supposing that the priests of Mithra or Attis regarded +baptism by blood very differently from the way in which the Christian +Church has generally regarded baptism by water--namely, as a SYMBOL of +some inner regeneration. There may certainly have been a little more +of the MAGICAL view and a little less of the symbolic, in the older +religions; but the difference was probably on the whole more one of +degree than of essential disparity. But however that may be, we cannot +but be struck by the extraordinary analogy between the tombstone +inscriptions of that period "born again into eternity by the blood of +the Bull or the Ram," and the corresponding texts in our graveyards +to-day. F. Cumont in his elaborate work, Textes et Monuments relatifs +aux Mysteres de Mithra (2 vols., Brussels, 1899) gives a great number of +texts and epitaphs of the same character as that above-quoted, and they +are well worth studying by those interested in the subject. Cumont, it +may be noted (vol. i, p. 305), thinks that the story of Mithra and the +slaying of the Bull must have originated among some pastoral people to +whom the bull was the source of all life. The Bull in heaven--the symbol +of the triumphant Sungod--and the earthly bull, sacrificed for the good +of humanity were one and the same; the god, in fact, SACRIFICED HIMSELF +OR HIS REPRESENTATIVE. And Mithra was the hero who first won this +conception of divinity for mankind--though of course it is in essence +quite similar to the conception put forward by the Christian Church. + +As illustrating the belief that the Baptism by Blood was accompanied by +a real regeneration of the devotee, Frazer quotes an ancient writer +(1) who says that for some time after the ceremony the fiction of a new +birth was kept up by dieting the devotee on MILK, like a new-born +babe. And it is interesting in that connection to find that even in the +present day a diet of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT MILK for six or eight +weeks is by many doctors recommended as the only means of getting rid +of deep-seated illnesses and enabling a patient's organism to make a +completely new start in life. + + (1) Sallustius philosophus. See Adonis, Attis and Osiris, note, +p. 229. + + +"At Rome," he further says (p. 230), "the new birth and the remission +of sins by the shedding of bull's blood appear to have been carried +out above all at the sanctuary of the Phrygian Goddess (Cybele) on +the Vatican Hill, at or near the spot where the great basilica of St. +Peter's now stands; for many inscriptions relating to the rites were +found when the church was being enlarged in 1608 or 1609. From +the Vatican as a centre," he continues, "this barbarous system of +superstition seems to have spread to other parts of the Roman empire. +Inscriptions found in Gaul and Germany prove that provincial sanctuaries +modelled their ritual on that of the Vatican." + +It would appear then that at Rome in the quiet early days of the +Christian Church, the rites and ceremonials of Mithra and Cybele, +probably much intermingled and blended, were exceedingly popular. Both +religions had been recognized by the Roman State, and the Christians, +persecuted and despised as they were, found it hard to make any headway +against them--the more so perhaps because the Christian doctrines +appeared in many respects to be merely faint replicas and copies of the +older creeds. Robertson maintains (1) that a he-lamb was sacrificed in +the Mithraic mysteries, and he quotes Porphyry as saying (2) that +"a place near the equinoctial circle was assigned to Mithra as an +appropriate seat; and on this account he bears the sword of the Ram +(Aries) which is a sign of Mars (Ares)." Similarly among the early +Christians, it is said, a ram or lamb was sacrificed in the Paschal +mystery. + + (1) Pagan Christs, p. 336. + + (2) De Antro, xxiv. + + +Many people think that the association of the Lamb-god with the Cross +arose from the fact that the constellation Aries at that time WAS on the +heavenly cross (the crossways of the Ecliptic and Equator-see diagram, +ch. iii), and in the very place through which the Sungod had to pass +just before his final triumph. And it is curious to find that Justin +Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho (1) (a Jew) alludes to an old Jewish +practice of roasting a Lamb on spits arranged in the form of a Cross. +"The lamb," he says, meaning apparently the Paschal lamb, "is roasted +and dressed up in the form of a cross. For one spit is transfixed right +through the lower parts up to the head, and one across the back, to +which are attached the legs (forelegs) of the lamb." + + (1) Ch. xl. + + +To-day in Morocco at the festival of Eid-el-Kebir, corresponding to the +Christian Easter, the Mohammedans sacrifice a young ram and hurry it +still bleeding to the precincts of the Mosque, while at the same time +every household slays a lamb, as in the Biblical institution, for its +family feast. + +But it will perhaps be said, "You are going too fast and proving too +much. In the anxiety to show that the Lamb-god and the sacrifice of the +Lamb were honored by the devotees of Mithra and Cybele in the Rome of +the Christian era, you are forgetting that the sacrifice of the Bull and +the baptism in bull's blood were the salient features of the Persian and +Phrygian ceremonials, some centuries earlier. How can you reconcile +the existence side by side of divinities belonging to such different +periods, or ascribe them both to an astronomical origin?" The answer +is simple enough. As I have explained before, the Precession of the +Equinoxes caused the Sun, at its moment of triumph over the powers of +darkness, to stand at one period in the constellation of the Bull, and +at a period some two thousand years later in the constellation of the +Ram. It was perfectly natural therefore that a change in the sacred +symbols should, in the course of time, take place; yet perfectly natural +also that these symbols, having once been consecrated and adopted, +should continue to be honored and clung to long after the time of their +astronomical appropriateness had passed, and so to be found side by side +in later centuries. The devotee of Mithra or Attis on the Vatican +Hill at Rome in the year 200 A.D. probably had as little notion or +comprehension of the real origin of the sacred Bull or Ram which he +adored, as the Christian in St. Peter's to-day has of the origin of the +Lamb-god whose vicegerent on earth is the Pope. + +It is indeed easy to imagine that the change from the worship of the +Bull to the worship of the Lamb which undoubtedly took place among +various peoples as time went on, was only a ritual change initiated +by the priests in order to put on record and harmonize with the +astronomical alteration. Anyhow it is curious that while Mithra in the +early times was specially associated with the bull, his association with +the lamb belonged more to the Roman period. Somewhat the same happened +in the case of Attis. In the Bible we read of the indignation of +Moses at the setting up by the Israelites of a Golden Calf, AFTER +the sacrifice of the ram-lamb had been instituted--as if indeed the +rebellious people were returning to the earlier cult of Apis which they +ought to have left behind them in Egypt. In Egypt itself, too, we find +the worship of Apis, as time went on, yielding place to that of the +Ram-headed god Amun, or Jupiter Ammon. (1) So that both from the Bible +and from Egyptian history we may conclude that the worship of the Lamb +or Ram succeeded to the worship of the Bull. + + (1) Tacitus (Hist. v. 4) speaks of ram-sacrifice by the Jews in +honor of Jupiter Ammon. See also Herodotus (ii. 42) on the same in +Egypt. + + +Finally it has been pointed out, and there may be some real connection +in the coincidence, that in the quite early years of Christianity the +FISH came in as an accepted symbol of Jesus Christ. Considering that +after the domination of Taurus and Aries, the Fish (Pisces) comes next +in succession as the Zodiacal sign for the Vernal Equinox, and is now +the constellation in which the Sun stands at that period, it seems +not impossible that the astronomical change has been the cause of the +adoption of this new symbol. + +Anyhow, and allowing for possible errors or exaggerations, it becomes +clear that the travels of the Sun through the belt of constellations +which forms the Zodiac must have had, from earliest times, a profound +influence on the generation of religious myths and legends. To say that +it was the only influence would certainly be a mistake. Other causes +undoubtedly contributed. But it was a main and important influence. The +origins of the Zodiac are obscure; we do not know with any certainty the +reasons why the various names were given to its component sections, nor +can we measure the exact antiquity of these names; but--pre-supposing +the names of the signs as once given--it is not difficult to imagine the +growth of legends connected with the Sun's course among them. + +Of all the ancient divinities perhaps Hercules is the one whose role +as a Sungod is most generally admitted. The helper of gods and men, a +mighty Traveller, and invoked everywhere as the Saviour, his labors +for the good of the world became ultimately defined and systematized +as twelve and corresponding in number to the signs of the Zodiac. It +is true that this systematization only took place at a late period, +probably in Alexandria; also that the identification of some of the +Labors with the actual signs as we have them at present is not always +clear. But considering the wide prevalence of the Hercules myth over +the ancient world and the very various astronomical systems it must have +been connected with in its origin, this lack of exact correspondence is +hardly to be wondered at. + +The Labors of Hercules which chiefly interest us are: (1) The capture +of the Bull, (2) the slaughter of the Lion, (3) the destruction of the +Hydra, (4) of the Boar, (5) the cleansing of the stables of Augeas, (6) +the descent into Hades and the taming of Cerberus. The first of these +is in line with the Mithraic conquest of the Bull; the Lion is of course +one of the most prominent constellations of the Zodiac, and its conquest +is obviously the work of a Saviour of mankind; while the last four +labors connect themselves very naturally with the Solar conflict in +winter against the powers of darkness. The Boar (4) we have seen already +as the image of Typhon, the prince of darkness; the Hydra (3) was said +to be the offspring of Typhon; the descent into Hades (6)--generally +associated with Hercules' struggle with and victory over Death--links on +to the descent of the Sun into the underworld, and its long and doubtful +strife with the forces of winter; and the cleansing of the stables +of Augeas (5) has the same signification. It appears in fact that the +stables of Augeas was another name for the sign of Capricorn through +which the Sun passes at the Winter solstice (1)--the stable of course +being an underground chamber--and the myth was that there, in this +lowest tract and backwater of the Ecliptic all the malarious and evil +influences of the sky were collected, and the Sungod came to wash them +away (December was the height of the rainy season in Judaea) and cleanse +the year towards its rebirth. + + (1) See diagram of Zodiac. + + +It should not be forgotten too that even as a child in the cradle +Hercules slew two serpents sent for his destruction--the serpent and the +scorpion as autumnal constellations figuring always as enemies of the +Sungod--to which may be compared the power given to his disciples by +Jesus (1) "to tread on serpents and scorpions." Hercules also as a +Sungod compares curiously with Samson (mentioned above, ii), but we +need not dwell on all the elaborate analogies that have been traced (2) +between these two heroes. + + (1) Luke x. 19. + + (2) See Doane's Bible Myths, ch. viii, (New York, 1882.) + + +The Jesus-story, it will now be seen, has a great number of +correspondences with the stories of former Sungods and with the actual +career of the Sun through the heavens--so many indeed that they cannot +well be attributed to mere coincidence or even to the blasphemous wiles +of the Devil! Let us enumerate some of these. There are (1) the birth +from a Virgin mother; (2) the birth in a stable (cave or underground +chamber); and (3) on the 25th December (just after the winter solstice). +There is (4) the Star in the East (Sirius) and (5) the arrival of the +Magi (the "Three Kings"); there is (6) the threatened Massacre of the +Innocents, and the consequent flight into a distant country (told also +of Krishna and other Sungods). There are the Church festivals of (7) +Candlemas (2nd February), with processions of candles to symbolize the +growing light; of (8) Lent, or the arrival of Spring; of (9) Easter Day +(normally on the 25th March) to celebrate the crossing of the Equator +by the Sun; and (10) simultaneously the outburst of lights at the Holy +Sepulchre at Jerusalem. There is (11) the Crucifixion and death of the +Lamb-God, on Good Friday, three days before Easter; there are (12) the +nailing to a tree, (13) the empty grave, (14) the glad Resurrection (as +in the cases of Osiris, Attis and others); there are (15) the twelve +disciples (the Zodiacal signs); and (16) the betrayal by one of the +twelve. Then later there is (17) Midsummer Day, the 24th June, dedicated +to the Nativity of John the Baptist, and corresponding to Christmas +Day; there are the festivals of (18) the Assumption of the Virgin +(15th August) and of (19) the Nativity of the Virgin (8th September), +corresponding to the movement of the god through Virgo; there is the +conflict of Christ and his disciples with the autumnal asterisms, (20) +the Serpent and the Scorpion; and finally there is the curious fact that +the Church (21) dedicates the very day of the winter solstice (when any +one may very naturally doubt the rebirth of the Sun) to St. Thomas, who +doubted the truth of the Resurrection! + +These are some of, and by no means all, the coincidences in question. +But they are sufficient, I think, to prove--even allowing for possible +margins of error--the truth of our general contention. To go into the +parallelism of the careers of Krishna, the Indian Sungod, and +Jesus would take too long; because indeed the correspondence is so +extraordinarily close and elaborate. (1) I propose, however, at the +close of this chapter, to dwell now for a moment on the Christian +festival of the Eucharist, partly on account of its connection with the +derivation from the astronomical rites and Nature-celebrations already +alluded to, and partly on account of the light which the festival +generally, whether Christian or Pagan, throws on the origins of +Religious Magic--a subject I shall have to deal with in the next +chapter. + + (1) See Robertson's Christianity and Mythology, Part II, pp. +129-302; also Doane's Bible Myths, ch. xxviii, p. 278. + + +I have already (Ch. II) mentioned the Eucharistic rite held in +commemoration of Mithra, and the indignant ascription of this by Justin +Martyr to the wiles of the Devil. Justin Martyr clearly had no doubt +about the resemblance of the Mithraic to the Christian ceremony. A +Sacramental meal, as mentioned a few pages back, seems to have been held +by the worshipers of Attis (1) in commemoration of their god; and +the 'mysteries' of the Pagan cults generally appear to have included +rites--sometimes half-savage, sometimes more aesthetic--in which a +dismembered animal was eaten, or bread and wine (the spirits of the Corn +and the Vine) were consumed, as representing the body of the god whom +his devotees desired to honor. But the best example of this practice is +afforded by the rites of Dionysus, to which I will devote a few lines. +Dionysus, like other Sun or Nature deities, was born of a Virgin (Semele +or Demeter) untainted by any earthly husband; and born on the 25th. +December. He was nurtured in a Cave, and even at that early age was +identified with the Ram or Lamb, into whose form he was for the time +being changed. At times also he was worshiped in the form of a Bull. +(2) He travelled far and wide; and brought the great gift of wine to +mankind. (3) He was called Liberator, and Saviour. His grave "was shown +at Delphi in the inmost shrine of the temple of Apollo. Secret offerings +were brought thither, while the women who were celebrating the feast +woke up the new-born god.... Festivals of this kind in celebration of +the extinction and resurrection of the deity were held (by women and +girls only) amid the mountains at night, every third year, about the +time of the shortest day. The rites, intended to express the excess of +grief and joy at the death and reappearance of the god, were wild even +to savagery, and the women who performed them were hence known by +the expressive names of Bacchae, Maenads, and Thyiades. They wandered +through woods and mountains, their flying locks crowned with ivy or +snakes, brandishing wands and torches, to the hollow sounds of the drum, +or the shrill notes of the flute, with wild dances and insane cries and +jubilation." + + (1) See Frazer's Golden Bough, Part IV, p. 229. + + (2) The Golden Bough, Part II, Book II, p. 164. + + (3) "I am the TRUE Vine," says the Jesus of the fourth gospel, +perhaps with an implicit and hostile reference to the cult of +Dionysus--in which Robertson suggests (Christianity and Mythology, p. +357) there was a ritual miracle of turning water into wine. + + +Oxen, goats, even fawns and roes from the forest were killed, torn to +pieces, and eaten raw. This in imitation of the treatment of Dionysus by +the Titans, (1)--who it was supposed had torn the god in pieces when a +child. + + (1) See art. Dionysus. Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, +Nettleship and Sandys 3rd edn., London, 1898). + + +Dupuis, one of the earliest writers (at the beginning of last century) +on this subject, says, describing the mystic rites of Dionysus (1): +"The sacred doors of the Temple in which the initiation took place were +opened only once a year, and no stranger might ever enter. Night lent to +these august mysteries a veil which was forbidden to be drawn aside--for +whoever it might be. (2) It was the sole occasion for the representation +of the passion of Bacchus (Dionysus) dead, descended into hell, and +rearisen--in imitation of the representation of the sufferings of Osiris +which, according to Herodotus, were commemorated at Sais in Egypt. It +was in that place that the partition took place of the body of the god, +(3) which was then eaten--the ceremony, in fact, of which our Eucharist +is only a reflection; whereas in the mysteries of Bacchus actual raw +flesh was distributed, which each of those present had to consume in +commemoration of the death of Bacchus dismembered by the Titans, and +whose passion, in Chios and Tenedos, was renewed each year by the +sacrifice of a man who represented the god. (4) Possibly it is this last +fact which made people believe that the Christians (whose hoc est corpus +meum and sharing of an Eucharistic meal were no more than a shadow of a +more ancient rite) did really sacrifice a child and devour its limbs." + + (1) See Charles F. Dupuis, "Traite des Mysteres," ch. i. + + (2) Pausan, Corinth, ch. 37. + + (3) Clem, Prot. Eur. Bacch. + + (4) See Porphyry, De Abstinentia, lii, Section 56. + + +That Eucharistic rites were very very ancient is plain from the +Totem-sacraments of savages; and to this subject we shall now turn. + + + + +IV. TOTEM-SACRAMENTS AND EUCHARISTS + +Much has been written on the origin of the Totem-system--the system, +that is, of naming a tribe or a portion of a tribe (say a CLAN) +after some ANIMAL--or sometimes--also after some plant or tree or +Nature-element, like fire or rain or thunder; but at best the subject is +a difficult one for us moderns to understand. A careful study has been +made of it by Salamon Reinach in his Cultes, Mythes et Religions, (1) +where he formulates his conclusions in twelve statements or definitions; +but even so--though his suggestions are helpful--he throws very little +light on the real origin of the system. (2) + + (1) See English translation of certain chapters (published by +David Nutt in 1912) entitled Cults, Myths and Religions, pp. 1-25. The +French original is in three large volumes. + + (2) The same may be said of the formulated statement of the +subject in Morris Jastrow's Handbooks of the History of Religion, vol. +iv. + +There are three main difficulties. The first is to understand why +primitive Man should name his Tribe after an animal or object of nature +at all; the second, to understand on what principle he selected the +particular name (a lion, a crocodile, a lady bird, a certain tree); the +third, why he should make of the said totem a divinity, and pay honor +and worship to it. It may be worth while to pause for a moment over +these. + +(1) The fact that the Tribe was one of the early things for which Man +found it necessary to have a name is interesting, because it shows +how early the solidarity and psychological actuality of the tribe +was recognized; and as to the selection of a name from some animal or +concrete object of Nature, that was inevitable, for the simple reason +that there was nothing else for the savage to choose from. Plainly to +call his tribe "The Wayfarers" or "The Pioneers" or the "Pacifists" or +the "Invincibles," or by any of the thousand and one names which modern +associations adopt, would have been impossible, since such abstract +terms had little or no existence in his mind. And again to name it after +an animal was the most obvious thing to do, simply because the animals +were by far the most important features or accompaniments of his own +life. As I am dealing in this book largely with certain psychological +conditions of human evolution, it has to be pointed out that to +primitive man the animal was the nearest and most closely related of all +objects. Being of the same order of consciousness as himself, the animal +appealed to him very closely as his mate and equal. He made with regard +to it little or no distinction from himself. We see this very clearly in +the case of children, who of course represent the savage mind, and who +regard animals simply as their mates and equals, and come quickly into +rapport with them, not differentiating themselves from them. + +(2) As to the particular animal or other object selected in order to +give a name to the Tribe, this would no doubt be largely accidental. Any +unusual incident might superstitiously precipitate a name. We can hardly +imagine the Tribe scratching its congregated head in the deliberate +effort to think out a suitable emblem for itself. That is not the way in +which nicknames are invented in a school or anywhere else to-day. At the +same time the heraldic appeal of a certain object of nature, animate or +inanimate, would be deeply and widely felt. The strength of the lion, +the fleetness of the deer, the food-value of a bear, the flight of a +bird, the awful jaws of a crocodile, might easily mesmerize a whole +tribe. Reinach points out, with great justice, that many tribes placed +themselves under the protection of animals which were supposed (rightly +or wrongly) to act as guides and augurs, foretelling the future. +"Diodorus," he says, "distinctly states that the hawk, in Egypt, was +venerated because it foretold the future." (Birds generally act as + and Samoa the kangaroo, the crow and the owl premonish their fellow +clansmen of events to come. At one time the Samoan warriors went so far +as to rear owls for their prophetic qualities in war. (The jackal, +or 'pathfinder'--whose tracks sometimes lead to the remains of a +food-animal slain by a lion, and many birds and insects, have a value of +this kind.) "The use of animal totems for purposes of augury is, in all +likelihood, of great antiquity. Men must soon have realized that the +senses of animals were acuter than their own; nor is it surprising that +they should have expected their totems--that is to say, their natural +allies--to forewarn them both of unsuspected dangers and of those +provisions of nature, WELLS especially, which animals seem to scent +by instinct." (1) And again, beyond all this, I have little doubt that +there are subconscious affinities which unite certain tribes to certain +animals or plants, affinities whose origin we cannot now trace, though +they are very real--the same affinities that we recognize as existing +between individual PERSONS and certain objects of nature. W. H. +Hudson--himself in many respects having this deep and primitive relation +to nature--speaks in a very interesting and autobiographical volume (2) +of the extraordinary fascination exercised upon him as a boy, not +only by a snake, but by certain trees, and especially by a particular +flowering-plant "not more than a foot in height, with downy soft +pale green leaves, and clusters of reddish blossoms, something like +valerian." ... "One of my sacred flowers," he calls it, and insists on +the "inexplicable attraction" which it had for him. In various ways of +this kind one can perceive how particular totems came to be selected by +particular peoples. + + + (1) See Reinach, Eng. trans., op. cit., pp. 20, 21. + + (2) Far away and Long ago (1918) chs. xvi and xvii. + + +(3) As to the tendency to divinize these totems, this arises no doubt +partly out of question (2). The animal or other object admired on +account of its strength or swiftness, or adopted as guardian of the +tribe because of its keen sight or prophetic quality, or infinitely +prized on account of its food-value, or felt for any other reason to +have a peculiar relation and affinity to the tribe, is by that fact SET +APART. It becomes taboo. It must not be killed--except under necessity +and by sanction of the whole tribe--nor injured; and all dealings with +it must be fenced round with regulations. It is out of this taboo or +system of taboos that, according to Reinach, religion arose. "I propose +(he says) to define religion as: A SUM OF SCRUPLES (TABOOS) WHICH IMPEDE +THE FREE EXERCISE OF OUR FACULTIES." (1) Obviously this definition is +gravely deficient, simply because it is purely negative, and leaves +out of account the positive aspect of the subject. In Man, the positive +content of religion is the instinctive sense--whether conscious or +subconscious--of an inner unity and continuity with the world around. +This is the stuff out of which religion is made. The scruples or taboos +which "impede the freedom" of this relation are the negative forces +which give outline and form to the relation. These are the things which +generate the RITES AND CEREMONIALS of religion; and as far as Reinach +means by religion MERELY rites and ceremonies he is correct; but clearly +he only covers half the subject. The tendency to divinize the totem is +at least as much dependent on the positive sense of unity with it, as on +the negative scruples which limit the relation in each particular case. +But I shall return to this subject presently, and more than once, with +the view of clarifying it. Just now it will be best to illustrate the +nature of Totems generally, and in some detail. + + + (1) See Orpheus by S. Reinach, p. 3. + + +As would be gathered from what I have just said, there is found among +all the more primitive peoples, and in all parts of the world, an +immense variety of totem-names. The Dinkas, for instance, are a rather +intelligent well-grown people inhabiting the upper reaches of the Nile +in the vicinity of the great swamps. According to Dr. Seligman their +clans have for totems the lion, the elephant, the crocodile, the +hippopotamus, the fox, and the hyena, as well as certain birds which +infest and damage the corn, some plants and trees, and such things as +rain, fire, etc. "Each clan speaks of its totem as its ancestor, and +refrains (as a rule) from injuring or eating it." (1) The members of the +Crocodile clan call themselves "brothers of the crocodile." The tribes +of Bechuana-land have a very similar list of totem-names--the buffalo, +the fish, the porcupine, the wild vine, etc. They too have a Crocodile +clan, but they call the crocodile their FATHER! The tribes of Australia +much the same again, with the differences suitable to their country; and +the Red Indians of North America the same. Garcilasso, della Vega, +the Spanish historian, son of an Inca princess by one of the Spanish +conquerors of Peru and author of the well-known book Commentarias +Reales, says in that book (i, 57), speaking of the pre-Inca period, "An +Indian (of Peru) was not considered honorable unless he was descended +from a fountain, river or lake, or even from the sea, or from a wild +animal, as a bear, lion, tiger, eagle, or the bird they call cuntur +(condor), or some other bird of prey." (2) According to Lewis Morgan, +the North American Indians of various tribes had for totems the wolf, +bear, beaver, turtle, deer, snipe, heron, hawk, crane, loon, turkey, +muskrat; pike, catfish, carp; buffalo, elk, reindeer, eagle, hare, +rabbit, snake; reed-grass, sand, rock, and tobacco-plant. + + (1) See The Golden Bough, vol. iv, p. 31. + + (2) See Andrew Lang, Custom and Myth, p. 104, also Myth, Ritual +and Religion, vol. i, pp. 71, 76, etc. + + +So we might go on rather indefinitely. I need hardly say that in more +modern and civilized life, relics of the totem system are still to be +found in the forms of the heraldic creatures adopted for their crests by +different families, and in the bears, lions, eagles, the sun, moon and +stars and so forth, which still adorn the flags and are flaunted as the +insignia of the various nations. The names may not have been ORIGINALLY +adopted from any definite belief in blood-relationship with the animal +or other object in question; but when, as Robertson says (Pagan Christs, +p. 104), a "savage learned that he was 'a Bear' and that his father +and grandfather and forefathers were so before him, it was really +impossible, after ages in which totem-names thus passed current, that he +should fail to assume that his folk were DESCENDED from a bear." + +As a rule, as may be imagined, the savage tribesman will on no account +EAT his tribal totem-animal. Such would naturally be deemed a kind of +sacrilege. Also it must be remarked that some totems are hardly suitable +for eating. Yet it is important to observe that occasionally, and +guarding the ceremony with great precautions, it has been an almost +universal custom for the tribal elders to call a feast at which +an animal (either the totem or some other) IS killed and commonly +eaten--and this in order that the tribesmen may absorb some virtue +belonging to it, and may confirm their identity with the tribe and with +each other. The eating of the bear or other animal, the sprinkling with +its blood, and the general ritual in which the participants shared its +flesh, or dressed and disguised themselves in its skin, or otherwise +identified themselves with it, was to them a symbol of their community +of life with each other, and a means of their renewal and salvation in +the holy emblem. And this custom, as the reader will perceive, became +the origin of the Eucharists and Holy Communions of the later religions. + +Professor Robertson-Smith's celebrated Camel affords an instance of +this. (1) It appears that St. Nilus (fifth century) has left a detailed +account of the occasional sacrifice in his time of a spotless white +camel among the Arabs of the Sinai region, which closely resembles a +totemic communion-feast. The uncooked blood and flesh of the animal had +to be entirely consumed by the faithful before daybreak. "The slaughter +of the victim, the sacramental drinking of the blood, and devouring in +wild haste of the pieces of still quivering flesh, recall the details +of the Dionysiac and other festivals." (2) Robertson-Smith himself +says:--"The plain meaning is that the victim was devoured before its +life had left the still warm blood and flesh... and that thus in the +most literal way, all those who shared in the ceremony absorbed part of +the victim's life into themselves. One sees how much more forcibly +than any ordinary meal such a rite expresses the establishment or +confirmation of a bond of common life between the worshipers, and also, +since the blood is shed upon the altar itself, between the worshipers +and their god. In this sacrifice, then, the significant factors are two: +the conveyance of the living blood to the godhead, and the absorption of +the living flesh and blood into the flesh and blood of the worshippers. +Each of these is effected in the simplest and most direct manner, so +that the meaning of the ritual is perfectly transparent." + + (1) See his Religion of the Semites, p. 320. + + (2) They also recall the rites of the Passover--though in this +latter the blood was no longer drunk, nor the flesh eaten raw. + + +It seems strange, of course, that men should eat their totems; and +it must not by any means be supposed that this practice is (or was) +universal; but it undoubtedly obtains in some cases. As Miss Harrison +says (Themis, p. 123); "you do not as a rule eat your relations," and as +a rule the eating of a totem is tabu and forbidden, but (Miss Harrison +continues) "at certain times and under certain restrictions a man not +only may, but MUST, eat of his totem, though only sparingly, as of a +thing sacrosanct." The ceremonial carried out in a communal way by the +tribe not only identifies the tribe with the totem (animal), but is +held, according to early magical ideas, and when the animal is desired +for food, to favor its manipulation. The human tribe partakes of the +mana or life-force of the animal, and is strengthened; the animal tribe +is sympathetically renewed by the ceremonial and multiplies exceedingly. +The slaughter of the sacred animal and (often) the simultaneous +outpouring of human blood seals the compact and confirms the magic. This +is well illustrated by a ceremony of the 'Emu' tribe referred to by Dr. +Frazer:-- + +"In order to multiply Emus which are an important article of food, the +men of the Emu totem in the Arunta tribe proceed as follows: They clear +a small spot of level ground, and opening veins in their arms they let +the blood stream out until the surface of the ground for a space of +about three square yards is soaked with it. When the blood has dried +and caked, it forms a hard and fairly impermeable surface, on which they +paint the sacred design of the emu totem, especially the parts of the +bird which they like best to eat, namely, the fat and the eggs. Round +this painting the men sit and sing. Afterwards performers wearing long +head-dresses to represent the long neck and small head of the emu, mimic +the appearance of the bird as it stands aimlessly peering about in all +directions." (1) + + (1) The Golden Bough i, 85--with reference to Spencer and +Gillen's Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 179, 189. + + +Thus blood sacrifice comes in; and--(whether this has ever actually +happened in the case of the Central Australians I know not)--we can +easily imagine a member of the Emu tribe, and disguised as an actual +emu, having been ceremonially slaughtered as a firstfruits and promise +of the expected and prayed-for emu-crop; just as the same certainly +HAS happened in the case of men wearing beast-masks of Bulls or Rams +or Bears being sacrificed in propitiation of Bull-gods, Ram-gods or +Bear-gods or simply in pursuance of some kind of magic to favor the +multiplication of these food-animals. + +"In the light of totemistic ways of thinking we see plainly enough the +relation of man to food-animals. You need or at least desire flesh food, +yet you shrink from slaughtering 'your brother the ox'; you desire his +mana, yet you respect his tabu, for in you and him alike runs the common +life-blood. On your own individual responsibility you would never kill +him; but for the common weal, on great occasions, and in a fashion +conducted with scrupulous care, it is expedient that he die for his +people, and that they feast upon his flesh." (1) + + (1) Themis, p. 140. + + +In her little book Ancient Art and Ritual (1) Jane Harrison describes +the dedication of a holy Bull, as conducted in Greece at Elis, and at +Magnesia and other cities. "There at the annual fair year by year the +stewards of the city bought a Bull 'the finest that could be got,' and +at the new moon of the month at the beginning of seed-time (? April) + Bull was led in procession at the head of which went the chief priest +and priestess of the city. With them went a herald and sacrificer, +and two bands of youths and maidens. So holy was the Bull that nothing +unlucky might come near him. The herald pronounced aloud a prayer for +'the safety of the city and the land, and the citizens, and the women +and children, for peace and wealth, and for the bringing forth of grain +and all other fruits, and of cattle.' All this longing for fertility, +for food and children, focuses round the holy Bull, whose holiness is +his strength and fruitfulness." The Bull is sacrificed. The flesh is +divided in solemn feast among those who take part in the procession. +"The holy flesh is not offered to a god, it is eaten--to every man his +portion--by each and every citizen, that he may get his share of the +strength of the Bull, of the luck of the State." But at Athens the +Bouphonia, as it was called, was followed by a curious ceremony. "The +hide was stuffed with straw and sewed up, and next the stuffed animal +was set on its feet and yoked to a plough as though it were ploughing. +The Death is followed by a Resurrection. Now this is all important. We +are accustomed to think of sacrifice as the death, the giving up, the +renouncing of something. But SACRIFICE does not mean 'death' at all. It +means MAKING HOLY, sanctifying; and holiness was to primitive man just +special strength and life. What they wanted from the Bull was just that +special life and strength which all the year long they had put into him, +and nourished and fostered. That life was in his blood. They could not +eat that flesh nor drink that blood unless they killed him. So he must +die. But it was not to give him up to the gods that they killed him, +not to 'sacrifice' him in our sense, but to have him, keep him, eat him, +live BY him and through him, by his grace." + + (1) Home University Library, p. 87. + + +We have already had to deal with instances of the ceremonial eating of +the sacred he-Lamb or Ram, immolated in the Spring season of the year, +and partaken of in a kind of communal feast--not without reference (at +any rate in later times) to a supposed Lamb-god. Among the Ainos in the +North of Japan, as also among the Gilyaks in Eastern Siberia, the Bear +is the great food-animal, and is worshipped as the supreme giver of +health and strength. There also a similar ritual of sacrifice occurs. A +perfect Bear is caught and caged. He is fed up and even pampered to the +day of his death. "Fish, brandy and other delicacies are offered to him. +Some of the people prostrate themselves before him; his coming into +a house brings a blessing, and if he sniffs at the food that brings a +blessing too." Then he is led out and slain. A great feast takes place, +the flesh is divided, cupfuls of the blood are drunk by the men; +the tribe is united and strengthened, and the Bear-god blesses the +ceremony--the ideal Bear that has given its life for the people. (1) + + + (1) See Art and Ritual, pp. 92-98; The Golden Bough, ii, 375 +seq.; Themis, pp. 140, 141; etc. + + +That the eating of the flesh of an animal or a man conveys to you some +of the qualities, the life-force, the mana, of that animal or man, is an +idea which one often meets with among primitive folk. Hence the common +tendency to eat enemy warriors slain in battle against your tribe. By +doing so you absorb some of their valor and strength. Even the enemy +scalps which an Apache Indian might hang from his belt were something +magical to add to the Apache's power. As Gilbert Murray says, (1) "you +devoured the holy animal to get its mana, its swiftness, its strength, +its great endurance, just as the savage now will eat his enemy's brain +or heart or hands to get some particular quality residing there." +Even--as he explains on the earlier page--mere CONTACT was often +considered sufficient--"we have holy pillars whose holiness consists +in the fact that they have been touched by the blood of a bull." And in +this connection we may note that nearly all the Christian Churches have +a great belief in the virtue imparted by the mere 'laying on of hands.' + + (1) Four Stages of Greek Religion, p. 36. + + +In quite a different connection--we read (1) that among the Spartans a +warrior-boy would often beg for the love of the elder warrior whom he +admired (i. e. the contact with his body) in order to obtain in that +way a portion of the latter's courage and prowess. That through the +mediation of the lips one's spirit may be united to the spirit of +another person is an idea not unfamiliar to the modern mind; while the +exchange of blood, clothes, locks of hair, etc., by lovers is a custom +known all over the world. (2) + + (1) Aelian VII, iii, 12: [gr autoi goun (oi paides) deontai twn +erastwn] [gr eispnein autois]. See also E. Bethe on "Die Dorische +Knabenliebe" in the Rheinisches Museum, vol. 26, iii, 461. + + (2) See Crawley's Mystic Rose, pp. 238, 242. + + +To suppose that by eating another you absorb his or her soul is somewhat +naive certainly. Perhaps it IS more native, more primitive. Yet there +may be SOME truth even in that idea. Certainly the food that one eats +has a psychological effect, and the flesh-eaters among the human race +have a different temperament as a rule from the fruit and vegetable +eaters, while among the animals (though other causes may come in +here) the Carnivora are decidedly more cruel and less gentle than the +Herbivora. + +To return to the rites of Dionysus, Gilbert Murray, speaking of +Orphism--a great wave of religious reform which swept over Greece and +South Italy in the sixth century B.C.--says: (1) "A curious relic of +primitive superstition and cruelty remained firmly imbedded in Orphism, +a doctrine irrational and unintelligible, and for that very reason +wrapped in the deepest and most sacred mystery: a belief in the +SACRIFICE OF DIONYSUS HIMSELF, AND THE PURIFICATION OF MAN BY HIS +BLOOD. It seems possible that the savage Thracians, in the fury of their +worship on the mountains, when they were possessed by the god and became +'wild beasts,' actually tore with their teeth and hands any hares, +goats, fawns or the like that they came across.... The Orphic +congregations of later times, in their most holy gatherings, solemnly +partook of the blood of a bull, which was by a mystery the blood of +Dionysus-Zagreus himself, the Bull of God, slain in sacrifice for the +purification of man." (2) + + (1) See Notes to his translation of the Bacch[ae] of Euripides. + + (2) For a description of this orgy see Theocritus, Idyll xxvi; +also for explanations of it, Lang's Myth, Ritual and Religion, vol. ii, +pp, 241-260, on Dionysus. The Encyclop[ae]dia Brit., article "Orpheus," +says:--"Orpheus, in the manner of his death, was considered to personate +the god Dionysus, and was thus representative of the god torn to pieces +every year--a ceremony enacted by the Bacchae in the earliest times with +a human victim, and afterwards with a bull, to represent the bull-formed +god. A distinct feature of this ritual was [gr wmofagia] (eating the +flesh of the victim raw), whereby the communicants imagined that they +consumed and assimilated the god represented by the victim, and thus +became filled with the divine ecstasy." Compare also the Hindu doctrine +of Praj[pati, the dismembered Lord of Creation. + + +Such instances of early communal feasts, which fulfilled the double part +of confirming on the one hand the solidarity of the tribe, and on the +other of bringing the tribe, by the shedding of the blood of a divine +Victim into close relationship with the very source of its life, +are plentiful to find. "The sacramental rite," says Professor +Robertson-Smith, (1) "is also an atoning rite, which brings the +community again into harmony with its alienated god--atonement being +simply an act of communion designed to wipe out all memory of previous +estrangement." With this subject I shall deal more specially in chapter +vii below. Meanwhile as instances of early Eucharists we may mention the +following cases, remembering always that as the blood is regarded as the +Life, the drinking or partaking of, or sprinkling with, blood is always +an acknowledgment of the common life; and that the juice of the grape +being regarded as the blood of the Vine, wine in the later ceremonials +quite easily and naturally takes the place of the blood in the early +sacrifices. + + (1) Religion of the Semites, p. 302. + + +Thus P. Andrada La Crozius, a French missionary, and one of the first +Christians who went to Nepaul and Thibet, says in his History of India: +"Their Grand Lama celebrates a species of sacrifice with BREAD and WINE, +in which, after taking a small quantity himself, he distributes the +rest among the Lamas present at this ceremony." (1) "The old Egyptians +celebrated the resurrection of Osiris by a sacrament, eating the sacred +cake or wafer after it had been consecrated by the priest, and thereby +becoming veritable flesh of his flesh." (2) As is well known, the eating +of bread or dough sacramentally (sometimes mixed with blood or seed) +as an emblem of community of life with the divinity, is an extremely +ancient practice or ritual. Dr. Frazer (3) says of the Aztecs, +that "twice a year, in May and December, an image of the great god +Huitzilopochtli was made of dough, then broken in pieces and solemnly +eaten by his worshipers." And Lord Kingsborough in his Mexican +Antiquities (vol. vi, p. 220) gives a record of a "most Holy Supper" +in which these people ate the flesh of their god. It was a cake made of +certain seeds, "and having made it, they blessed it in their manner, and +broke it into pieces, which the high priest put into certain very clean +vessels, and took a thorn of maguey which resembles a very thick needle, +with which he took up with the utmost reverence single morsels, which +he put into the mouth of each individual in the manner of a communion." +Acostas (4) confirms this and similar accounts. The Peruvians partook of +a sacrament consisting of a pudding of coarsely ground maize, of which +a portion had been smeared on the idol. The priest sprinkled it with the +blood of the victim before distributing it to the people. Priest and +people then all took their shares in turn, "with great care that no +particle should be allowed to fall to the ground--this being looked upon +as a great sin." (5) + + + (1) See Doane's Bible Myths, p. 306. + + (2) From The Great Law, of religious origins: by W. Williamson +(1899), p. 177. + + (3) The Golden Bough, vol. ii, p. 79. + + (4) Natural and Moral History of the Indies. London (1604). + + (5) See Markham's Rites and laws of the Incas, p. 27. + + +Moving from Peru to China (instead of 'from China to Peru') we find that +"the Chinese pour wine (a very general substitute for blood) on a straw +image of Confucius, and then all present drink of it, and taste the +sacrificial victim, in order to participate in the grace of Confucius." +(Here again the Corn and Wine are blended in one rite.) And of Tartary +Father Grueber thus testifies: "This only I do affirm, that the devil so +mimics the Catholic Church there, that although no European or Christian +has ever been there, still in all essential things they agree so +completely with the Roman Church, as even to celebrate the Host with +bread and wine: with my own eyes I have seen it." (1) These few +instances are sufficient to show the extraordinarily wide diffusion of +Totem-sacraments and Eucharistic rites all over the world. + + (1) For these two quotations see Jevons' Introduction to the +History of Religion, pp. 148 and 219. + + + + +V. FOOD AND VEGETATION MAGIC + +I have wandered, in pursuit of Totems and the Eucharist, some way from +the astronomical thread of Chapters II and III, and now it would appear +that in order to understand religious origins we must wander still +farther. The chapters mentioned were largely occupied with Sungods and +astronomical phenomena, but now we have to consider an earlier period +when there were no definite forms of gods, and when none but the vaguest +astronomical knowledge existed. Sometimes in historical matters it is +best and safest to move thus backwards in Time, from the things recent +and fairly well known to things more ancient and less known. In this way +we approach more securely to some understanding of the dim and remote +past. + +It is clear that before any definite speculations on heaven-dwelling +gods or divine beings had arisen in the human mind--or any clear +theories of how the sun and moon and stars might be connected with the +changes of the seasons on the earth--there were still certain obvious +things which appealed to everybody, learned or unlearned alike. One of +these was the return of Vegetation, bringing with it the fruits or the +promise of the fruits of the earth, for human food, and also bringing +with it increase of animal life, for food in another form; and the other +was the return of Light and Warmth, making life easier in all ways. Food +delivering from the fear of starvation; Light and Warmth delivering from +the fear of danger and of cold. These were three glorious things which +returned together and brought salvation and renewed life to man. The +period of their return was 'Spring,' and though Spring and its benefits +might fade away in time, still there was always the HOPE of its +return--though even so it may have been a long time in human evolution +before man discovered that it really did always return, and (with +certain allowances) at equal intervals of time. + +Long then before any Sun or Star gods could be called in, the return of +the Vegetation must have enthralled man's attention, and filled him with +hope and joy. Yet since its return was somewhat variable and uncertain +the question, What could man do to assist that return? naturally +became a pressing one. It is now generally held that the use of +Magic--sympathetic magic--arose in this way. Sympathetic magic seems to +have been generated by a belief that your own actions cause a similar +response in things and persons around you. Yet this belief did not rest +on any philosophy or argument, but was purely instinctive and sometimes +of the nature of a mere corporeal reaction. Every schoolboy knows how +in watching a comrade's high jump at the Sports he often finds himself +lifting a knee at the moment 'to help him over'; at football matches +quarrels sometimes arise among the spectators by reason of an +ill-placed kick coming from a too enthusiastic on-looker, behind one; +undergraduates running on the tow-path beside their College boat in +the races will hurry even faster than the boat in order to increase its +speed; there is in each case an automatic bodily response increased +by one's own desire. A person ACTS the part which he desires to be +successful. He thinks to transfer his energy in that way. Again, if by +chance one witnesses a painful accident, a crushed foot or what-not, +it commonly happens that one feels a pain in the same part oneself--a +sympathetic pain. What more natural than to suppose that the pain +really is transferred from the one person to the other? and how easy the +inference that by tormenting a wretched scape-goat or crucifying a human +victim in some cases the sufferings of people may be relieved or their +sins atoned for? + +Simaetha, it will be remembered, in the second Idyll of Theocritus, +curses her faithless lover Delphis, and as she melts his waxen image she +prays that HE TOO MAY MELT. All this is of the nature of Magic, and is +independent of and generally more primitive than Theology or Philosophy. +Yet it interests us because it points to a firm instinct in early +man--to which I have already alluded--the instinct of his unity and +continuity with the rest of creation, and of a common life so close +that his lightest actions may cause a far-reaching reaction in the world +outside. + +Man, then, independently of any belief in gods, may assist the arrival +of Spring by magic ceremonies. If you want the Vegetation to appear you +must have rain; and the rain-maker in almost all primitive tribes has +been a MOST important personage. Generally he based his rites on quite +fanciful associations, as when the rain-maker among the Mandans wore a +raven's skin on his head (bird of the storm) or painted his shield with +red zigzags of lightning (1); but partly, no doubt, he had observed +actual facts, or had had the knowledge of them transmitted to him--as, +for instance that when rain is impending loud noises will bring about +its speedy downfall, a fact we moderns have had occasion to notice on +battlefields. He had observed perhaps that in a storm a specially loud +clap of thunder is generally followed by a greatly increased downpour +of rain. He had even noticed (a thing which I have often verified in +the vicinity of Sheffield) that the copious smoke of fires will generate +rain-clouds--and so quite naturally he concluded that it was his smoking +SACRIFICES which had that desirable effect. So far he was on the track +of elementary Science. And so he made "bull-roarers" to imitate the +sound of wind and the blessed rain-bringing thunder, or clashed +great bronze cymbals together with the same object. Bull-voices and +thunder-drums and the clashing of cymbals were used in this connection +by the Greeks, and are mentioned by Aeschylus (2); but the bull-roarer, +in the form of a rhombus of wood whirled at the end of a string, seems +to be known, or to have been known, all over the world. It is described +with some care by Mr. Andrew Lang in his Custom and Myth (pp. 29-44), +where he says "it is found always as a sacred instrument employed in +religious mysteries, in New Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, ancient +Greece, and Africa." + + (1) See Catlin's North American Indians, Letter 19. + + (2) Themis, p. 61. + + +Sometimes, of course, the rain-maker was successful; but of the inner +causes of rain he knew next to nothing; he was more ignorant even than +we are! His main idea was a more specially 'magical' one--namely, that +the sound itself would appeal to the SPIRITS of rain and thunder and +cause them to give a response. For of course the thunder (in Hebrew +Bath-Kol, "the daughter of the Voice") was everywhere regarded as +the manifestation of a spirit. (1) To make sounds like thunder would +therefore naturally call the attention of such a spirit; or he, the +rain-maker, might make sounds like rain. He made gourd-rattles (known +in ever so many parts of the world) in which he rattled dried seeds +or small pebbles with a most beguiling and rain-like insistence; or +sometimes, like the priests of Baal in the Bible, (2) he would cut +himself with knives till the blood fell upon the ground in great drops +suggestive of an oncoming thunder-shower. "In Mexico the rain god was +propitiated with sacrifices of children. If the children wept and shed +abundant tears, they who carried them rejoiced, being convinced that +rain would also be abundant." (3) Sometimes he, the rain-maker, would +WHISTLE for the wind, or, like the Omaha Indians, flap his blankets for +the same purpose. + + (1) See A. Lang, op. cit.: "The muttering of the thunder is said +to be his voice calling to the rain to fall and make the grass grow up +green." Such are the very words of Umbara, the minstrel of the Tribe +(Australian). + + (2) I Kings xviii. + + (3) Quoted from Sahagun II, 2, 3 by A. Lang in Myth, Ritual and +Religion, vol. ii, p. 102. + + +In the ancient myth of Demeter and Persephone--which has been adopted by +so many peoples under so many forms--Demeter the Earth-mother loses her +daughter Persephone (who represents of course the Vegetation), carried +down into the underworld by the evil powers of Darkness and Winter. +And in Greece there was a yearly ceremonial and ritual of magic for the +purpose of restoring the lost one and bringing her back to the world +again. Women carried certain charms, "fir-cones and snakes and unnamable +objects made of paste, to ensure fertility; there was a sacrifice of +pigs, who were thrown into a deep cleft of the earth, and their remains +afterwards collected and scattered as a charm over the fields." +(1) Fir-cones and snakes from their very forms were emblems of male +fertility; snakes, too, from their habit of gliding out of their own +skins with renewed brightness and color were suggestive of resurrection +and re-vivification; pigs and sows by their exceeding fruitfulness would +in their hour of sacrifice remind old mother Earth of what was expected +from her! Moreover, no doubt it had been observed that the scattering of +dead flesh over the ground or mixed with the seed, did bless the +ground to a greater fertility; and so by a strange mixture of primitive +observation with a certain child-like belief that by means of symbols +and suggestions Nature could be appealed to and induced to answer to the +desires and needs for her children this sort of ceremonial Magic arose. +It was not exactly Science, and it was not exactly Religion; but it was +a naive, and perhaps not altogether mistaken, sense of the bond between +Nature and Man. + + (1) See Gilbert Murray's Four Stages of Greek Religion, p. 29. + + +For we can perceive that earliest man was not yet consciously +differentiated from Nature. Not only do we see that the tribal life was +so strong that the individual seldom regarded himself as different or +separate or opposed to the rest of the tribe; but that something of the +same kind was true with regard to his relation to the Animals and to +Nature at large. This outer world was part of himself, was also himself. +His sub-conscious sense of unity was so great that it largely dominated +his life. That brain-cleverness and brain-activity which causes modern +man to perceive such a gulf between him and the animals, or between +himself and Nature, did not exist in the early man. Hence it was +no difficulty to him to believe that he was a Bear or an Emu. +Sub-consciously he was wiser than we are. He knew that he was a bear or +an emu, or any other such animal as his totem-creed led him to fix his +mind upon. Hence we find that a familiarity and common consent existed +between primitive man and many of his companion animals such as has +been lost or much attenuated in modern times. Elisee Reclus in his very +interesting paper La Grande Famille (1) gives support to the idea that +the so-called domestication of animals did not originally arise from any +forcible subjugation of them by man, but from a natural amity with +them which grew up in the beginning from common interests, pursuits and +affections. Thus the chetah of India (and probably the puma of Brazil) +from far-back times took to hunting in the company of his two-legged and +bow-and-arrow-armed friend, with whom he divided the spoil. W. H. Hudson +(2) declares that the Puma, wild and fierce though it is, and capable +of killing the largest game, will never even to-day attack man, but +when maltreated by the latter submits to the outrage, unresisting, with +mournful cries and every sign of grief. The Llama, though domesticated +in a sense, has never allowed the domination of the whip or the bit, +but may still be seen walking by the side of the Brazilian peasant +and carrying his burdens in a kind of proud companionship. The mutual +relations of Women and the Cow, or of Man and the Horse (3) (also the +Elephant) reach so far into the past that their origin cannot be traced. +The Swallow still loves to make its home under the cottage eaves and +still is welcomed by the inmates as the bringer of good fortune. Elisee +Reclus assures us that the Dinka man on the Nile calls to certain snakes +by name and shares with them the milk of his cows. + + + (1) Published originally in Le Magazine International, January +1896. + + (2) See The Naturalist in La Plata, ch. ii. + + (3) "It is certain that the primitive Indo-European reared droves +of tame or half-tame horses for generations, if not centuries, before +it ever occurred to him to ride or drive them" (F. B. Jevons, Introd. to +Hist. Religion, p. 119). + + +And so with Nature. The communal sense, or subconscious perception, +which made primitive men feel their unity with other members of their +tribe, and their obvious kinship with the animals around them, brought +them also so close to general Nature that they looked upon the trees, +the vegetation, the rain, the warmth of the sun, as part of their +bodies, part of themselves. Conscious differentiation had not yet set +in. To cause rain or thunder you had to make rain- or thunder-like +noises; to encourage Vegetation and the crops to leap out of the ground, +you had to leap and dance. "In Swabia and among the Transylvanian Saxons +it is a common custom (says Dr. Frazer) for a man who has some hemp to +leap high in the field in the belief that this will make the hemp grow +tall." (1) Native May-pole dances and Jacks in the Green have hardly +yet died out--even in this most civilized England. The bower of green +boughs, the music of pipes, the leaping and the twirling, were all an +encouragement to the arrival of Spring, and an expression of Sympathetic +Magic. When you felt full of life and energy and virility in yourself +you naturally leapt and danced, so why should you not sympathetically do +this for the energizing of the crops? In every country of the world +the vernal season and the resurrection of the Sun has been greeted with +dances and the sound of music. But if you wanted success in hunting +or in warfare then you danced before-hand mimic dances suggesting the +successful hunt or battle. It was no more than our children do to-day, +and it all was, and is, part of a natural-magic tendency in human +thought. + + (1) See The Golden Bough, i, 139 seq. Also Art and Ritual, p. 31. + + +Let me pause here for a moment. It is difficult for us with our +academical and somewhat school-boardy minds to enter into all this, and +to understand the sense of (unconscious or sub-conscious) identification +with the world around which characterized the primitive man--or to look +upon Nature with his eyes. A Tree, a Snake, a Bull, an Ear of Corn. WE +know so well from our botany and natural history books what these things +are. Why should our minds dwell on them any longer or harbor a doubt as +to our perfect comprehension of them? + +And yet (one cannot help asking the question): Has any one of us really +ever SEEN a Tree? I certainly do not think that I have--except most +superficially. That very penetrating observer and naturalist, Henry D. +Thoreau, tells us that he would often make an appointment to visit a +certain tree, miles away--but what or whom he saw when he got there, he +does not say. Walt Whitman, also a keen observer, speaks of a tulip-tree +near which he sometimes sat--"the Apollo of the woods--tall and +graceful, yet robust and sinewy, inimitable in hang of foliage and +throwing-out of limb; as if the beauteous, vital, leafy creature could +walk, if it only would"; and mentions that in a dream-trance he actually +once saw his "favorite trees step out and promenade up, down and around +VERY CURIOUSLY." (1) Once the present writer seemed to have a partial +vision of a tree. It was a beech, standing somewhat isolated, and +still leafless in quite early Spring. Suddenly I was aware of its +skyward-reaching arms and up-turned finger-tips, as if some vivid life +(or electricity) was streaming through them far into the spaces of +heaven, and of its roots plunged in the earth and drawing the same +energies from below. The day was quite still and there was no movement +in the branches, but in that moment the tree was no longer a separate or +separable organism, but a vast being ramifying far into space, sharing +and uniting the life of Earth and Sky, and full of a most amazing +activity. + + (1) Specimen Days, 1882-3 Edition, p. iii. + + +The reader of this will probably have had some similar experiences. +Perhaps he will have seen a full-foliaged Lombardy poplar swaying in +half a gale in June--the wind and the sun streaming over every little +twig and leaf, the tree throwing out its branches in a kind of ecstasy +and bathing them in the passionately boisterous caresses of its two +visitants; or he will have heard the deep glad murmur of some huge +sycamore with ripening seed clusters when after weeks of drought the +steady warm rain brings relief to its thirst; and he will have known +that these creatures are but likenesses of himself, intimately and +deeply-related to him in their love and hunger longing, and, like +himself too, unfathomed and unfathomable. + +It would be absurd to credit early man with conscious speculations +like these, belonging more properly to the twentieth century; yet it is +incontrovertible, I think, that in SOME ways the primitive peoples, with +their swift subconscious intuitions and their minds unclouded by mere +book knowledge, perceived truths to which we moderns are blind. Like +the animals they arrived at their perceptions without (individual) brain +effort; they knew things without thinking. When they did THINK of course +they went wrong. Their budding science easily went astray. Religion +with them had as yet taken no definite shape; science was equally +protoplasmic; and all they had was a queer jumble of the two in the form +of Magic. When at a later time Science gradually defined its outlook and +its observations, and Religion, from being a vague subconscious feeling, +took clear shape in the form of gods and creeds, then mankind gradually +emerged into the stage of evolution IN WHICH WE NOW ARE. OUR scientific +laws and doctrines are of course only temporary formulae, and so also +are the gods and the creeds of our own and other religions; but these +things, with their set and angular outlines, have served in the past +and will serve in the future as stepping-stones towards another kind of +knowledge of which at present we only dream, and will lead us on to +a renewed power of perception which again will not be the laborious +product of thought but a direct and instantaneous intuition like that of +the animals--and the angels. + + +To return to our Tree. Though primitive man did not speculate in modern +style on these things, I yet have no reasonable doubt that he felt (and +FEELS, in those cases where we can still trace the workings of his +mind) his essential relationship to the creatures of the forest more +intimately, if less analytically, than we do to-day. If the animals with +all their wonderful gifts are (as we readily admit) a veritable part +of Nature--so that they live and move and have their being more or less +submerged in the spirit of the great world around them--then Man, when +he first began to differentiate himself from them, must for a long +time have remained in this SUBconscious unity, becoming only distinctly +CONSCIOUS of it when he was already beginning to lose it. That early +dawn of distinct consciousness corresponded to the period of belief +in Magic. In that first mystic illumination almost every object was +invested with a halo of mystery or terror or adoration. Things were +either tabu, in which case they were dangerous, and often not to be +touched or even looked upon--or they were overflowing with magic grace +and influence, in which case they were holy, and any rite which released +their influence was also holy. William Blake, that modern prophetic +child, beheld a Tree full of angels; the Central Australian native +believes bushes to be the abode of spirits which leap into the bodies of +passing women and are the cause of the conception of children; Moses +saw in the desert a bush (perhaps the mimosa) like a flame of fire, with +Jehovah dwelling in the midst of it, and he put off his shoes for +he felt that the place was holy; Osiris was at times regarded as a +Tree-spirit (1); and in inscriptions is referred to as "the solitary one +in the acacia"--which reminds us curiously of the "burning bush." The +same is true of others of the gods; in the old Norse mythology Ygdrasil +was the great branching World-Ash, abode of the soul of the universe; +the Peepul or Bo-tree in India is very sacred and must on no account be +cut down, seeing that gods and spirits dwell among its branches. It is +of the nature of an Aspen, and of little or no practical use, (2) but so +holy that the poorest peasant will not disturb it. The Burmese believe +the things of nature, but especially the trees, to be the abode of +spirits. "To the Burman of to-day, not less than to the Greek of long +ago, all nature is alive. The forest and the river and the mountains +are full of spirits, whom the Burmans call Nats. There are all kinds of +Nats, good and bad, great and little, male and female, now living round +about us. Some of them live in the trees, especially in the huge figtree +that shades half-an-acre without the village; or among the fern-like +fronds of the tamarind." (3) + + + (1) The Golden Bough, iv, 339. + + (2) Though the sap is said to contain caoutchouc. + + (3) The Soul of a People, by H. Fielding (1902), p. 250. + + +There are also in India and elsewhere popular rites of MARRIAGE of women +(and men) to Trees; which suggest that trees were regarded as very +near akin to human beings! The Golden Bough (1) mentions many of these, +including the idea that some trees are male and others female. The +well-known Assyrian emblem of a Pine cone being presented by a priest to +a Palm-tree is supposed by E. B. Tylor to symbolize fertilization--the +Pine cone being masculine and the Palm feminine. The ceremony of the god +Krishna's marriage to a Basil plant is still celebrated in India down +to the present day; and certain trees are clasped and hugged by pregnant +women--the idea no doubt being that they bestow fertility on those +who embrace them. In other cases apparently it is the trees which are +benefited, since it is said that men sometimes go naked into the +Clove plantations at night in order by a sort of sexual intercourse to +fertilize them. (2) + + (1) Vol. i, p. 40, Vol. iii, pp. 24 sq. + + (2) Ibid., vol. ii, p. 98. + + +One might go on multiplying examples in this direction quite +indefinitely. There is no end to them. They all indicate--what was +instinctively felt by early man, and is perfectly obvious to all to-day +who are not blinded by "civilization" (and Herbert Spencer!) that the +world outside us is really most deeply akin to ourselves, that it is +not dead and senseless but intensely alive and instinct with feeling and +intelligence resembling our own. It is this perception, this conviction +of our essential unity with the whole of creation, which lay from the +first at the base of all Religion; yet at first, as I have said, was +hardly a conscious perception. Only later, when it gradually became more +conscious, did it evolve itself into the definite forms of the gods and +the creeds--but of that process I will speak more in detail presently. + +The Tree therefore was a most intimate presence to the Man. It grew in +the very midst of his Garden of Eden. It had a magical virtue, which +his tentative science could only explain by chance analogies and +assimilations. Attractive and beloved and worshipped by reason of its +many gifts to mankind--its grateful shelter, its abounding fruits, its +timber, and other invaluable products--why should it not become the +natural emblem of the female, to whom through sex man's worship is ever +drawn? If the Snake has an unmistakable resemblance to the male organ in +its active state, the foliage of the tree or bush is equally remindful +of the female. What more clear than that the conjunction of Tree and +Serpent is the fulfilment in nature of that sex-mystery which is so +potent in the life of man and the animals? and that the magic ritual +most obviously fitted to induce fertility in the tribe or the herds +(or even the crops) is to set up an image of the Tree and the Serpent +combined, and for all the tribe-folk in common to worship and pay it +reverence. In the Bible with more or less veiled sexual significance +we have this combination in the Eden-garden, and again in the brazen +Serpent and Pole which Moses set up in the wilderness (as a cure for the +fiery serpents of lust); illustrations of the same are said to be found +in the temples of Egypt and of South India, and even in the ancient +temples of Central America. (1) In the myth of Hercules the golden +apples of the Hesperides garden are guarded by a dragon. The Etruscans, +the Persians and the Babylonians had also legends of the Fall of man +through a serpent tempting him to taste of the fruit of a holy Tree. And +De Gubernatis, (2) pointing out the phallic meaning of these stories, +says "the legends concerning the tree of golden apples or figs which +yields honey or ambrosia, guarded by dragons, in which the life, the +fortune, the glory, the strength and the riches of the hero have their +beginning, are numerous among every people of Aryan origin: in India, +Persia, Russia, Poland, Sweden, Germany, Greece and Italy." + + (1) See Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Symbolism, by Thomas +Inman (Trubner, 1874), p. 55. + + (2) Zoological Mythology, vol. ii, pp. 410 sq. + + +Thus we see the natural-magic tendency of the human mind asserting +itself. To some of us indeed this tendency is even greater in the case +of the Snake than in that of the Tree. W. H. Hudson, in Far Away +and Long Ago, speaks of "that sense of something supernatural in +the serpent, which appears to have been universal among peoples in a +primitive state of culture, and still survives in some barbarous or +semi-barbarous countries." The fascination of the Snake--the fascination +of its mysteriously gliding movement, of its vivid energy, its +glittering eye, its intensity of life, combined with its fatal dart of +Death--is a thing felt even more by women than by men--and for a reason +(from what we have already said) not far to seek. It was the Woman who +in the story of the Fall was the first to listen to its suggestions. +No wonder that, as Professor Murray says, (1) the Greeks worshiped a +gigantic snake (Meilichios) the lord of Death and Life, with ceremonies +of appeasement, and sacrifices, long before they arrived at the worship +of Zeus and the Olympian gods. + + (1) Four Stages of Greek Religion, p. 29. + + +Or let us take the example of an Ear of Corn. Some people +wonder--hearing nowadays that the folk of old used to worship a +Corn-spirit or Corn-god--wonder that any human beings could have been so +foolish. But probably the good people who wonder thus have never REALLY +LOOKED (with their town-dazed eyes) at a growing spike of wheat. (1) Of +all the wonderful things in Nature I hardly know any that thrills one +more with a sense of wizardry than just this very thing--to observe, +each year, this disclosure of the Ear within the Blade--first a swelling +of the sheath, then a transparency and a whitey-green face within a +hooded shroud, and then the perfect spike of grain disengaging itself +and spiring upward towards the sky--"the resurrection of the wheat with +pale visage appearing out of the ground." + + (1) Even the thrice-learned Dr. Famell quotes apparently with +approval the scornful words of Hippolytus, who (he says) "speaks of the +Athenians imitating people at the Eleusinian mysteries and showing to +the epoptae (initiates) that great and marvelous mystery of perfect +revelation--in solemn silence--a CUT CORNSTALK ([gr teqerismenon] [gr +stacon])."--Cults of the Greek States, vol. iii, p. 182. + + +If this spectacle amazes one to-day, what emotions must it not have +aroused in the breasts of the earlier folk, whose outlook on the world +was so much more direct than ours--more 'animistic' if you like! What +wonderment, what gratitude, what deliverance from fear (of starvation), +what certainty that this being who had been ruthlessly cut down and +sacrificed last year for human food had indeed arisen again as a savior +of men, what readiness to make some human sacrifice in return, both as +an acknowledgment of the debt, and as a gift of something which would +no doubt be graciously accepted!--(for was it not well known that where +blood had been spilt on the ground the future crop was so much more +generous?)--what readiness to adopt some magic ritual likely to +propitiate the unseen power--even though the outline and form of the +latter were vague and uncertain in the extreme! Dr. Frazer, speaking of +the Egyptian Osiris as one out of many corn-gods of the above character, +says (1): "The primitive conception of him as the corn-god comes clearly +out in the festival of his death and resurrection, which was celebrated +the month of Athyr. That festival appears to have been essentially a +festival of sowing, which properly fell at the time when the husbandman +actually committed the seed to the earth. On that occasion an effigy of +the corn-god, moulded of earth and corn, was buried with funeral rites +in the ground in order that, dying there, he might come to life again +with the new crops. The ceremony was in fact a charm to ensure the +growth of the corn by sympathetic magic, and we may conjecture that as +such it was practised in a simple form by every Egyptian farmer on his +fields long before it was adopted and transfigured by the priests in the +stately ritual of the temple." (2) + + (1) The Golden Bough, iv, p. 330. + + (2) See ch. xv. + + +The magic in this case was of a gentle description; the clay image of +Osiris sprouting all over with the young green blade was pathetically +poetic; but, as has been suggested, bloodthirsty ceremonies were also +common enough. Human sacrifices, it is said, had at one time been +offered at the grave of Osiris. We bear that the Indians in Ecuador used +to sacrifice men's hearts and pour out human blood on their fields +when they sowed them; the Pawnee Indians used a human victim the same, +allowing his blood to drop on the seed-corn. It is said that in Mexico +girls were sacrificed, and that the Mexicans would sometimes GRIND their +(male) victim, like corn, between two stones. ("I'll grind his bones to +make me bread.") Among the Khonds of East India--who were particularly +given to this kind of ritual--the very TEARS of the sufferer were an +incitement to more cruelties, for tears of course were magic for Rain. +(1) + + (1) The Golden Bough, vol. vii, "The Corn-Spirit," pp. 236 sq. + + +And so on. We have referred to the Bull many times, both in his +astronomical aspect as pioneer of the Spring-Sun, and in his more direct +role as plougher of the fields, and provider of food from his own body. +"The tremendous mana of the wild bull," says Gilbert Murray, "occupies +almost half the stage of pre-Olympic ritual." (1) Even to us there is +something mesmeric and overwhelming in the sense of this animal's +glory of strength and fury and sexual power. No wonder the primitives +worshiped him, or that they devised rituals which should convey his +power and vitality by mere contact, or that in sacramental feasts +they ate his flesh and drank his blood as a magic symbol and means of +salvation. + + (1) Four Stages, p. 34. + + + + +VI. MAGICIANS, KINGS AND GODS + +It is perhaps necessary, at the commencement of this chapter, to say a +few more words about the nature and origin of the belief in Magic. +Magic represented on one side, and clearly enough, the beginnings of +Religion--i.e. the instinctive sense of Man's inner continuity with the +world around him, TAKING SHAPE: a fanciful shape it is true, but with +very real reaction on his practical life and feelings. (1) On the other +side it represented the beginnings of Science. It was his first attempt +not merely to FEEL but to UNDERSTAND the mystery of things. + + (1) For an excellent account of the relation of Magic to Religion +see W. McDougall, Social Psychology (1908), pp. 317-320. + + +Inevitably these first efforts to understand were very puerile, very +superficial. As E. B. Tylor says (1) of primitive folk in general, "they +mistook an imaginary for a real connection." And he instances the case +of the inhabitants of the City of Ephesus, who laid down a rope, seven +furlongs in length, from the City to the temple of Artemis, in order to +place the former under the protection of the latter! WE should lay down +a telephone wire, and consider that we established a much more efficient +connection; but in the beginning, and quite naturally, men, like +children, rely on surface associations. Among the Dyaks of Borneo (2) +when the men are away fighting, the WOMEN must use a sort of telepathic +magic in order to safeguard them--that is, they must themselves rise +early and keep awake all day (lest darkness and sleep should give +advantage to the enemy); they must not OIL their hair (lest their +husbands should make any SLIPS); they must eat sparingly and put aside +rice at every meal (so that the men may not want for food). And so on. +Similar superstitions are common. But they gradually lead to a little +thought, and then to a little more, and so to the discovery of actual +and provable influences. Perhaps one day the cord connecting the temple +with Ephesus was drawn TIGHT and it was found that messages could be, by +tapping, transmitted along it. That way lay the discovery of a fact. In +an age which worshiped fertility, whether in mankind or animals, TWINS +were ever counted especially blest, and were credited with a magic +power. (The Constellation of the Twins was thought peculiarly lucky.) +Perhaps after a time it was discovered that twins sometimes run in +families, and in such cases really do bring fertility with them. In +cattle it is known nowadays that there are more twins of the female sex +than of the male sex. (3) + + (1) Primitive Culture, vol. i, p. 106. + + (2) See The Golden Bough, i, 127. + + (3) See Evolution of Sex, by Geddes and Thomson (1901), p. 41, +note. + + +Observations of this kind were naturally made by the ablest members of +the tribe--who were in all probability the medicine-men and wizards--and +brought in consequence power into their hands. The road to power in +fact--and especially was this the case in societies which had not +yet developed wealth and property--lay through Magic. As far as magic +represented early superstition land religion it laid hold of the HEARTS +of men--their hopes and fears; as far as it represented science and the +beginnings of actual knowledge, it inspired their minds with a sense of +power, and gave form to their lives and customs. We have no reason to +suppose that the early magicians and medicine-men were peculiarly wicked +or bent on mere self-aggrandizement--any more than we have to think the +same of the average country vicar or country doctor of to-day. They +were merely men a trifle wiser or more instructed than their flocks. +But though probably in most cases their original intentions were decent +enough, they were not proof against the temptations which the possession +of power always brings, and as time went on they became liable to trade +more and more upon this power for their own advancement. In the +matter of Religion the history of the Christian priesthood through the +centuries shows sufficiently to what misuse such power can be put; and +in the matter of Science it is a warning to us of the dangers attending +the formation of a scientific priesthood, such as we see growing up +around us to-day. In both cases--whether Science or Religion--vanity, +personal ambition, lust of domination and a hundred other vices, unless +corrected by a real devotion to the public good, may easily bring as +many evils in their train as those they profess to cure. + +The Medicine-man, or Wizard, or Magician, or Priest, slowly but +necessarily gathered power into his hands, and there is much evidence to +show that in the case of many tribes at any rate, it was HE who became +ultimate chief and leader and laid the foundations of Kingship. The +Basileus was always a sacred personality, and often united in himself as +head of the clan the offices of chief in warfare and leader in priestly +rites--like Agamemnon in Homer, or Saul or David in the Bible. As a +magician he had influence over the fertility of the earth and, like the +blameless king in the Odyssey, under his sway + + "the dark earth beareth in season + Barley and wheat, and the trees are laden with fruitage, and + alway + Yean unfailing the flocks, and the sea gives fish in + abundance." (1) + + (1) Odyssey xix, 109 sq. Translation by H. B. Cotterill. + + +As a magician too he was trusted for success in warfare; and +Schoolcraft, in a passage quoted by Andrew Lang, (1) says of the Dacotah +Indians "the war-chief who leads the party to war is always one of +these medicine-men." This connection, however, by which the magician is +transformed into the king has been abundantly studied, and need not be +further dwelt upon here. + +And what of the transformation of the king into a god--or of the +Magician or Priest directly into the same? Perhaps in order to +appreciate this, one must make a further digression. + +For the early peoples there were, as it would appear, two main objects +in life: (1) to promote fertility in cattle and crops, for food; and (2) +to placate or ward off Death; and it seemed very obvious--even before +any distinct figures of gods, or any idea of prayer, had arisen--to +attain these objects by magic ritual. The rites of Baptism, of +Initiation (or Confirmation) and the many ceremonies of a Second Birth, +which we associate with fully-formed religions, did belong also to +the age of Magic; and they all implied a belief in some kind of +re-incarnation--in a life going forward continually and being renewed +in birth again and again. It is curious that we find such a belief among +the lowest savages even to-day. Dr. Frazer, speaking of the Central +Australian tribes, says the belief is firmly rooted among them "that the +human soul undergoes an endless series of re-incarnations--the living +men and women of one generation being nothing but the spirits of their +ancestors come to life again, and destined themselves to be reborn +in the persons of their descendants. During the interval between +two re-incarnations the souls live in their nanja spots, or local +totem-centres, which are always natural objects such as trees or rocks. +Each totem-clan has a number of such totem-centres scattered over the +country. There the souls of the dead men and women of the totem, but no +others, congregate, and are born again in human form when a favorable +opportunity presents itself." (2) + + (1) Myth, Ritual and Religion, vol. i, p. 113. + + (2) The Golden Bough, vol. i, p. 96. + + +And what the early people believed of the human spirit, they believed of +the corn-spirits and the tree and vegetation spirits also. At the great +Spring-ritual among the primitive Greeks "the tribe and the growing +earth were renovated together: the earth arises afresh from her dead +seeds, the tribe from its dead ancestors." And the whole process +projects itself in the idea of a spirit of the year, who "in the first +stage is living, then dies with each year, and thirdly rises again from +the dead, raising the whole dead world with him. The Greeks called him +in this stage 'The Third One' (Tritos Soter) or 'the Saviour'; and the +renovation ceremonies were accompanied by a casting-off of the old year, +the old garments, and everything that is polluted by the infection of +death." (1) Thus the multiplication of the crops and the renovation of +the tribe, and at the same time the evasion and placation of death, were +all assured by similar rites and befitting ceremonial magic. (2) + + (1) Gilbert Murray, Four Stages, p. 46. + + (2) It is interesting to find, with regard to the renovation of +the tribe, that among the Central Australians the foreskins or male +members of those who died were deposited in the above-mentioned nanja +spots--the idea evidently being that like the seeds of the corn the +seeds of the human crop must be carefully and ceremonially preserved for +their re-incarnation. + + +In all these cases, and many others that I have not mentioned--of +the magical worship of Bulls and Bears and Rams and Cats and Emus and +Kangaroos, of Trees and Snakes, of Sun and Moon and Stars, and the +spirit of the Corn in its yearly and miraculous resurrection out of the +ground--there is still the same idea or moving inspiration, the sense +mentioned in the foregoing chapter, the feeling (hardly yet conscious of +its own meaning) of intimate relationship and unity with all this outer +world, the instinctive conviction that the world can be swayed by the +spirit of Man, if the man can only find the right ritual, the right +word, the right spell, wherewith to move it. An aura of emotion +surrounded everything--of terror, of tabu, of fascination, of desire. +The world, to these people, was transparent with presences related to +themselves; and though hunger and sex may have been the dominant and +overwhelmingly practical needs of their life, yet their outlook on the +world was essentially poetic and imaginative. + +Moreover it will be seen that in this age of magic and the belief in +spirits, though there was an intense sense of every thing being +alive, the gods, in the more modern sense of the world, hardly existed +(1)--that is, there was no very clear vision, to these people, of +supra-mundane beings, sitting apart and ordaining the affairs of +earth, as it were from a distance. Doubtless this conception was slowly +evolving, but it was only incipient. For the time being--though there +might be orders and degrees of spirits (and of gods)--every such being +was only conceived of, and could only be conceived of, as actually a +part of Nature, dwelling in and interlaced with some phenomenon of Earth +and Sky, and having no separate existence. + + (1) For a discussion of the evolution of RELIGION out of MAGIC, +see Westermarck's Origin of Moral Ideas, ch. 47. + + +How was it then, it will be asked, that the belief in separate and +separable gods and goddesses--each with his or her well-marked outline +and character and function, like the divinities of Greece, or of India, +or of the Egyptian or Christian religions, ultimately arose? To +this question Jane Harrison (in her Themis and other books) gives an +ingenious answer, which as it chimes in with my own speculations (in the +Art of Creation and elsewhere) I am inclined to adopt. It is that the +figures of the supranatural gods arose from a process in the human mind +similar to that which the photographer adopts when by photographing a +number of faces on the same plate, and so superposing their images on +one another, he produces a so-called "composite" photograph or image. +Thus, in the photographic sphere, the portraits of a lot of members +of the same family superposed upon one another may produce a composite +image or ideal of that family type, or the portraits of a number of +Aztecs or of a number of Apache Indians the ideals respectively of the +Aztec or of the Apache types. And so in the mental sphere of each member +of a tribe the many images of the well-known Warriors or Priests or +wise and gracious Women of that tribe did inevitably combine at last +to composite figures of gods and goddesses--on whom the enthusiasm +and adoration of the tribe was concentrated. (1) Miss Harrison has +ingeniously suggested how the leading figures in the magic rituals of +the past--being the figures on which all eyes would be concentrated; and +whose importance would be imprinted on every mind--lent themselves to +this process. The suffering Victim, bound and scourged and crucified, +recurring year after year as the centre-figure of a thousand ritual +processions, would at last be dramatized and idealized in the great +race-consciousness into the form of a Suffering God--a Jesus Christ or +a Dionysus or Osiris--dismembered or crucified for the salvation of +mankind. The Priest or Medicine-Man--or rather the succession of Priests +or Medicine-Men--whose figures would recur again and again as leaders +and ordainers of the ceremonies, would be glorified at last into the +composite-image of a God in whom were concentrated all magic powers. +"Recent researches," says Gilbert Murray, "have shown us in abundance +the early Greek medicine-chiefs making thunder and lightning and rain." +Here is the germ of a Zeus or a Jupiter. The particular medicine-man +may fail; that does not so much matter; he is only the individual +representative of the glorified and composite being who exists in the +mind of the tribe (just as a present-day King may be unworthy, but is +surrounded all the same by the agelong glamour of Royalty). "The real +[gr qeos], tremendous, infallible, is somewhere far away, hidden in +clouds perhaps, on the summit of some inaccessible mountain. If the +mountain is once climbed the god will move to the upper sky. The +medicine-chief meanwhile stays on earth, still influential. He has some +connection with the great god more intimate than that of other men... he +knows the rules for approaching him and making prayers to him." (2) Thus +did the Medicine-man, or Priest, or Magician (for these are but three +names for one figure) represent one step in the evolution of the god. + + (1) See The Art of Creation, ch. viii, "The Gods as Apparitions +of the Race-Life." + + (2) The Four Stages, p. 140. + + +And farther back still in the evolutionary process we may trace (as in +chapter iv above) the divinization or deification of four-footed animals +and birds and snakes and trees and the like, from the personification of +the collective emotion of the tribe towards these creatures. For people +whose chief food was bear-meat, for instance, whose totem was a bear, +and who believed themselves descended from an ursine ancestor, there +would grow up in the tribal mind an image surrounded by a halo of +emotions--emotions of hungry desire, of reverence, fear, gratitude and +so forth--an image of a divine Bear in whom they lived and moved and had +their being. For another tribe or group in whose yearly ritual a Bull or +a Lamb or a Kangaroo played a leading part there would in the same +way spring tip the image of a holy bull, a divine lamb, or a sacred +kangaroo. Another group again might come to worship a Serpent as its +presiding genius, or a particular kind of Tree, simply because these +objects were and had been for centuries prominent factors in its yearly +and seasonal Magic. As Reinach and others suggest, it was the Taboo +(bred by Fear) which by first forbidding contact with the totem-animal +or priest or magician-chief gradually invested him with Awe and +Divinity. + +According to this theory the god--the full-grown god in human shape, +dwelling apart and beyond the earth--did not come first, but was a late +and more finished product of evolution. He grew up by degrees and out of +the preceding animal-worships and totem-systems. And this theory is much +supported and corroborated by the fact that in a vast number of early +cults the gods are represented by human figures with animal heads. The +Egyptian religion was full of such divinities--the jackal-headed +Anubis, the ram-headed Ammon, the bull-fronted Osiris, or Muth, queen of +darkness, clad in a vulture's skin; Minos and the Minotaur in Crete; in +Greece, Athena with an owl's head, or Herakles masked in the hide +and jaws of a monstrous lion. What could be more obvious than that, +following on the tribal worship of any totem-animal, the priest or +medicine-man or actual king in leading the magic ritual should don the +skin and head of that animal, and wear the same as a kind of mask--this +partly in order to appear to the people as the true representative of +the totem, and partly also in order to obtain from the skin the magic +virtues and mana of the beast, which he could then duly impart to the +crowd? Zeus, it must be remembered, wears the aegis, or goat-skin--said +to be the hide of the goat Amaltheia who suckled him in his infancy; +there are a number of legends which connected the Arcadian Artemis with +the worship of the bear, Apollo with the wolf, and so forth. And, most +curious as showing similarity of rites between the Old and New Worlds, +there are found plenty of examples of the wearing of beast-masks in +religious processions among the native tribes of both North and South +America. In the Atlas of Spix and Martius (who travelled together in +the Amazonian forests about 1820) there is an understanding and +characteristic picture of the men (and some women) of the tribe of the +Tecunas moving in procession through the woods mostly naked, except for +wearing animal heads and masks--the masks representing Cranes of various +kinds, Ducks, the Opossum, the Jaguar, the Parrot, etc., probably +symbolic of their respective clans. + +By some such process as this, it may fairly be supposed, the forms of +the Gods were slowly exhaled from the actual figures of men and women, +of youths and girls, who year after year took part in the ancient +rituals. Just as the Queen of the May or Father Christmas with us are +idealized forms derived from the many happy maidens or white-bearded +old men who took leading parts in the May or December mummings and thus +gained their apotheosis in our literature and tradition--so doubtless +Zeus with his thunderbolts and arrows of lightning is the idealization +into Heaven of the Priestly rain-maker and storm-controller; Ares the +god of War, the similar idealization of the leading warrior in the +ritual war-dance preceding an attack on a neighboring tribe; and Mercury +of the foot-running Messenger whose swiftness in those days (devoid of +steam or electricity) was so precious a tribal possession. + +And here it must be remembered that this explanation of the genesis of +the gods only applies to the SHAPES and FIGURES of the various deities. +It does not apply to the genesis of the widespread belief in spirits or +a Great Spirit generally; that, as I think will become clear, has +quite another source. Some people have jeered at the 'animistic' or +'anthropomorphic' tendency of primitive man in his contemplation of the +forces of Nature or his imaginations of religion and the gods. With a +kind of superior pity they speak of "the poor Indian whose untutored +mind sees God in clouds and hears him in the wind." But I must confess +that to me the "poor Indian" seems on the whole to show more good sense +than his critics, and to have aimed his rude arrows at the philosophic +mark more successfully than a vast number of his learned and scientific +successors. A consideration of what we have said above would show that +early people felt their unity with Nature so deeply and intimately +that--like the animals themselves--they did not think consciously or +theorize about it. It was just their life to be--like the beasts of the +field and the trees of the forest--a part of the whole flux of things, +non-differentiated so to speak. What more natural or indeed more +logically correct than for them to assume (when they first began to +think or differentiate themselves) that these other creatures, these +birds, beasts and plants, and even the sun and moon, were of the same +blood as themselves, their first cousins, so to speak, and having the +same interior nature? What more reasonable (if indeed they credited +THEMSELVES with having some kind of soul or spirit) than to credit these +other creatures with a similar soul or spirit? Im Thurn, speaking of the +Guiana Indians, says that for them "the whole world swarms with beings." +Surely this could not be taken to indicate an untutored mind--unless +indeed a mind untutored in the nonsense of the Schools--but rather a +very directly perceptive mind. And again what more reasonable (seeing +that these people themselves were in the animal stage of evolution) than +that they should pay great reverence to some ideal animal--first cousin +or ancestor--who played an important part in their tribal existence, and +make of this animal a totem emblem and a symbol of their common life? + +And, further still, what more natural than that when the tribe passed +to some degree beyond the animal stage and began to realize a life more +intelligent and emotional--more specially human in fact--than that +of the beasts of the field, that it should then in its rituals and +ceremonies throw off the beast-mask and pay reverence to the interior +and more human spirit. Rising to a more enlightened consciousness of its +own intimate quality, and still deeply penetrated with the sense of its +kinship to external nature, it would inevitably and perfectly logically +credit the latter with an inner life and intelligence, more +distinctly human than before. Its religion in fact would become MORE +'anthropomorphic' instead of less so; and one sees that this is a +process that is inevitable; and inevitable notwithstanding a +certain parenthesis in the process, due to obvious elements in our +'Civilization' and to the temporary and fallacious domination of +a leaden-eyed so-called 'Science.' According to this view the true +evolution of Religion and Man's outlook on the world has proceeded not +by the denial by man of his unity with the world, but by his seeing and +understanding that unity more deeply. And the more deeply he understands +himself the more certainly he will recognize in the external world a +Being or beings resembling himself. + +W. H. Hudson--whose mind is certainly not of a quality to be jeered +at--speaks of Animism as "the projection of ourselves into nature: +the sense and apprehension of an intelligence like our own, but more +powerful, in all visible things"; and continues, "old as I am this same +primitive faculty which manifested itself in my early boyhood, still +persists, and in those early years was so powerful that I am almost +afraid to say how deeply I was moved by it." (1) Nor will it be quite +forgotten that Shelley once said:-- + + The moveless pillar of a mountain's weight + Is active living spirit. Every grain + Is sentient both in unity and part, + And the minutest atom comprehends + A world of loves and hatreds. + + (1) Far Away and Long Ago, ch. xiii, p. 225. + + +The tendency to animism and later to anthropomorphism is I say +inevitable, and perfectly logical. But the great value of the work done +by some of those investigators whom I have quoted has been to show that +among quite primitive people (whose interior life and 'soul-sense' was +only very feeble) their projections of intelligence into Nature were +correspondingly feeble. The reflections of themselves projected into +the world beyond could not reach the stature of eternal 'gods,' but +were rather of the quality of ephemeral phantoms and ghosts; and the +ceremonials and creeds of that period are consequently more properly +described as, Magic than as Religion. There have indeed been great +controversies as to whether there has or has not been, in the course +of religious evolution, a PRE-animistic stage. Probably of course human +evolution in this matter must have been perfectly continuous from stages +presenting the very feeblest or an absolutely deficient animistic sense +to the very highest manifestations of anthropomorphism; but as there is +a good deal of evidence to show that ANIMALS (notably dogs and horses) +see ghosts, the inquiry ought certainly to be enlarged so far as to +include the pre-human species. Anyhow it must be remembered that the +question is one of CONSCIOUSNESS--that is, of how far and to what degree +consciousness of self has been developed in the animal or the primitive +man or the civilized man, and therefore how far and to what degree the +animal or human creature has credited the outside world with a similar +consciousness. It is not a question of whether there IS an inner life +and SUB-consciousness common to all these creatures of the earth and +sky, because that, I take it, is a fact beyond question; they all emerge +or have emerged from the same matrix, and are rooted in identity; but +it is a question of how far they are AWARE of this, and how far by +separation (which is the genius of evolution) each individual creature +has become conscious of the interior nature both of itself and of the +other creatures AND of the great whole which includes them all. + +Finally, and to avoid misunderstanding, let me say that +Anthropomorphism, in man's conception of the gods, is itself of course +only a stage and destined to pass away. In so far, that is, as the +term indicates a belief in divine beings corresponding to our PRESENT +conception of ourselves--that is as separate personalities having each +a separate and limited character and function, and animated by +the separatist motives of ambition, possession, power, vainglory, +superiority, patronage, self-greed, self-satisfaction, etc.--in so far +as anthropomorphism is the expression of that kind of belief it is of +course destined, with the illusion from which it springs, to pass away. +When man arrives at the final consciousness in which the idea of such a +self, superior or inferior or in any way antagonistic to others, ceases +to operate, then he will return to his first and primal condition, and +will cease to need ANY special religion or gods, knowing himself and all +his fellows to be divine and the origin and perfect fruition of all. + + + + +VII. RITES OF EXPIATION AND REDEMPTION + +There is a passage in Richard Jefferies' imperishably beautiful book +The Story of my Heart--a passage well known to all lovers of that +prose-poet--in which he figures himself standing "in front of the Royal +Exchange where the wide pavement reaches out like a promontory," and +pondering on the vast crowd and the mystery of life. "Is there any +theory, philosophy, or creed," he says, "is there any system of culture, +any formulated method, able to meet and satisfy each separate item of +this agitated pool of human life? By which they may be guided, by which +they may hope, by which look forward? Not a mere illusion of the craving +heart--something real, as real as the solid walls of fact against +which, like seaweed, they are dashed; something to give each separate +personality sunshine and a flower in its own existence now; something +to shape this million-handed labor to an end and outcome that will leave +more sunshine and more flowers to those who must succeed? Something real +now, and not in the spirit-land; in this hour now, as I stand and the +sun burns.... Full well aware that all has failed, yet, side by side +with the sadness of that knowledge, there lives on in me an unquenchable +belief, thought burning like the sun, that there is yet something to +be found.... It must be dragged forth by the might of thought from the +immense forces of the universe." + +In answer to this passage we may say "No,--a thousand times No! there +is no theory, philosophy, creed, system or formulated method which +will meet or ever satisfy the demand of each separate item of the +human whirlpool." And happy are we to know there is no such thing! How +terrible if one of these bloodless 'systems' which strew the history +of religion and philosophy and the political and social paths of +human endeavor HAD been found absolutely correct and universally +applicable--so that every human being would be compelled to pass +through its machine-like maw, every personality to be crushed under +its Juggernath wheels! No, thank Heaven! there is no theory or creed or +system; and yet there is something--as Jefferies prophetically felt and +with a great longing desired--that CAN satisfy; and that, the root +of all religion, has been hinted at in the last chapter. It is the +CONSCIOUSNESS of the world-life burning, blazing, deep down within us: +it is the Soul's intuition of its roots in Omnipresence and Eternity. + +The gods and the creeds of the past, as shown in the last +chapter--whatever they may have been, animistic or anthropomorphic +or transcendental, whether grossly brutish or serenely ideal and +abstract--are essentially projections of the human mind; and no doubt +those who are anxious to discredit the religious impulse generally will +catch at this, saying "Yes, they are mere forms and phantoms of the +mind, ephemeral dreams, projected on the background of Nature, and +having no real substance or solid value. The history of Religion (they +will say) is a history of delusion and illusion; why waste time over +it? These divine grizzly Bears or Aesculapian Snakes, these cat-faced +Pashts, this Isis, queen of heaven, and Astarte and Baal and Indra +and Agni and Kali and Demeter and the Virgin Mary and Apollo and Jesus +Christ and Satan and the Holy Ghost, are only shadows cast outwards onto +a screen; the constitution of the human mind makes them all tend to +be anthropomorphic; but that is all; they each and all inevitably pass +away. Why waste time over them?" + +And this is in a sense a perfectly fair way of looking at the matter. +These gods and creeds ARE only projections of the human mind. But all +the same it misses, does this view, the essential fact. It misses the +fact that there is no shadow without a fire, that the very existence of +a shadow argues a light somewhere (though we may not directly see it) as +well as the existence of a solid form which intercepts that light. +Deep, deep in the human mind there is that burning blazing light of +the world-consciousness--so deep indeed that the vast majority of +individuals are hardly aware of its existence. Their gaze turned +outwards is held and riveted by the gigantic figures and processions +passing across their sky; they are unaware that the latter are only +shadows--silhouettes of the forms inhabiting their own minds. (1) The +vast majority of people have never observed their own minds; their own +mental forms. They have only observed the reflections cast by these. +Thus it may be said, in this matter, that there are three degrees of +reality. There are the mere shadows--the least real and most +evanescent; there are the actual mental outlines of humanity (and of +the individual), much more real, but themselves also of course slowly +changing; and most real of all, and permanent, there is the light "which +lighteth every man that cometh into the world"--the glorious light +of the world-consciousness. Of this last it may be said that it never +changes. Every thing is known to it--even the very IMPEDIMENTS to its +shining. But as it is from the impediments to the shining of a light +that shadows are cast, so we now may understand that the things of this +world and of humanity, though real in their degree, have chiefly a +kind of negative value; they are opaquenesses, clouds, materialisms, +ignorances, and the inner light falling upon them gradually reveals +their negative character and gradually dissolves them away till they +are lost in the extreme and eternal Splendor. I think Jefferies, when +he asked that question with which I have begun this chapter, was in some +sense subconsciously, if not quite consciously, aware of the answer. His +frequent references to the burning blazing sun throughout The Story of +the Heart seem to be an indication of his real deep-down attitude of +mind. + + (1) See, in the same connection, Plato's allegory of the Cave, +Republic, Book vii. + + +The shadow-figures of the creeds and theogonies pass away truly like +ephemeral dreams; but to say that time spent in their study is wasted, +is a mistake, for they have value as being indications of things much +more real than themselves, namely, of the stages of evolution of the +human mind. The fact that a certain god-figure, however grotesque and +queer, or a certain creed, however childish, cruel, and illogical, held +sway for a considerable time over the hearts of men in any corner or +continent of the world is good evidence that it represented a real +formative urge at the time in the hearts of those good people, and +a definite stage in their evolution and the evolution of humanity. +Certainly it was destined to pass away, but it was a step, and a +necessary step in the great process; and certainly it was opaque and +brutish, but it is through the opaque things of the world, and not +through the transparent, that we become aware of the light. + +It may be worth while to give instances of how some early rituals and +creeds, in themselves apparently barbarous or preposterous, were really +the indications of important moral and social conceptions evolving in +the heart of man. Let us take, first, the religious customs connected +with the ideas of Sacrifice and of Sin, of which such innumerable +examples are now to be found in the modern books on Anthropology. If we +assume, as I have done more than once, that the earliest state of Man +was one in which he did not consciously separate himself from the world, +animate and inanimate, which surrounded him, then (as I have also said) +it was perfectly natural for him to take some animal which bulked large +on his horizon--some food-animal for instance--and to pay respect to it +as the benefactor of his tribe, its far-back ancestor and totem-symbol; +or, seeing the boundless blessing of the cornfields, to believe in +some kind of spirit of the corn (not exactly a god but rather a magical +ghost) which, reincarnated every year, sprang up to save mankind +from famine. But then no sooner had he done this than he was bound to +perceive that in cutting down the corn or in eating his totem-bear +or kangaroo he was slaying his own best self and benefactor. In +that instant the consciousness of DISUNITY, the sense of sin in some +undefined yet no less disturbing and alarming form would come in. If, +before, his ritual magic had been concentrated on the simple purpose of +multiplying the animal or, vegetable forms of his food, now in addition +his magical endeavor would be turned to averting the just wrath of the +spirits who animated these forms--just indeed, for the rudest savage +would perceive the wrong done and the probability of its retribution. +Clearly the wrong done could only be expiated by an equivalent sacrifice +of some kind on the part of the man, or the tribe--that is by the +offering to the totem-animal or to the corn-spirit of some victim whom +these nature powers in their turn could feed upon and assimilate. In +this way the nature-powers would be appeased, the sense of unity would +be restored, and the first At-one-ment effected. + +It is hardly necessary to recite in any detail the cruel and hideous +sacrifices which have been perpetrated in this sense all over the world, +sometimes in appeasement of a wrong committed or supposed to have been +committed by the tribe or some member of it, sometimes in placation or +for the averting of death, or defeat, or plague, sometimes merely +in fulfilment of some long-standing custom of forgotten origin--the +flayings and floggings and burnings and crucifixions of victims without +end, carried out in all deliberation and solemnity of established +ritual. I have mentioned some cases connected with the sowing of the +corn. The Bible is full of such things, from the intended sacrifice of +Isaac by his father Abraham, to the actual crucifixion of Jesus by +the Jews. The first-born sons were claimed by a god who called himself +"jealous" and were only to be redeemed by a substitute. (1) Of the +Canaanites it was said that "even their daughters they have BURNT in the +fire to their gods"; (2) and of the King of Moab, that when he saw +his army in danger of defeat, "he took his eldest son that should have +reigned in his stead and offered him for a burnt-offering on the wall!" +(3) Dr. Frazer (4) mentions the similar case of the Carthaginians +(about B.C. 300) sacrificing two hundred children of good family as a +propitiation to Baal and to save their beloved city from the assaults +of the Sicilian tyrant Agathocles. And even so we hear that on that +occasion three hundred more young folk VOLUNTEERED to die for the +fatherland. + + (1) Exodus xxxiv. 20. + + (2) Deut. xii. 31. + + (3) 2 Kings iii. 27. + + (4) The Golden Bough, vol. "The Dying God," p. 167. + + +The awful sacrifices made by the Aztecs in Mexico to their gods +Huitzilopochtli, Texcatlipoca, and others are described in much detail +by Sahagun, the Spanish missionary of the sixteenth century. The victims +were mostly prisoners of war or young children; they were numbered by +thousands. In one case Sahagun describes the huge Idol or figure of the +god as largely plated with gold and holding his hands palm upward and in +a downward sloping position over a cauldron or furnace placed below. The +children, who had previously been borne in triumphal state on litters +over the crowd and decorated with every ornamental device of feathers +and flowers and wings, were placed one by one on the vast hands and +ROLLED DOWN into the flames--as if the god were himself offering them. +(1) As the procession approached the temple, the members of it wept and +danced and sang, and here again the abundance of tears was taken for a +good augury of rain. (2) + + (1) It is curious to find that exactly the same story (of the +sloping hands and the children rolled down into the flames) is related +concerning the above-mentioned Baal image at Carthage (see Diodorus +Siculus, xx. 14; also Baring Gould's Religious Belief, vol. i, p. 375). + + (2) "A los ninos que mataban, componianlos en muchos atavios para +llevarlos al sacrificio, y llevabos en unas literas sobre los hombros, +estas literas iban adornadas con plumages y con flores: iban tanendo, +cantando y bailando delante de ellos... Cuando Ileviban los ninos a +matar, si llevaban y echaban muchos lagrimas, alegrabansi los que los +llevaban porque tomaban pronostico de que habian de tener muchas aguas +en aquel ano." Sahagun, Historia Nueva Espana, Bk. II, ch. i. + + +Bernal Diaz describes how he saw one of these monstrous figures--that +of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, all inlaid with gold and precious +stones; and beside it were "braziers, wherein burned the hearts of three +Indians, torn from their bodies that very day, and the smoke of them and +the savor of incense were the sacrifice." + +Sahagun again (in Book II, ch. 5) gives a long account of the sacrifice +of a perfect youth at Easter-time--which date Sahagun connects with the +Christian festival of the Resurrection. For a whole year the youth had +been held in honor and adored by the people as the very image of the +god (Tetzcatlipoca) to whom he was to be sacrificed. Every luxury +and fulfilment of his last wish (including such four courtesans as he +desired) had been granted him. At the last and on the fatal day, leaving +his companions and his worshipers behind, be slowly ascended the Temple +staircase; stripping on each step the ornaments from his body; and +breaking and casting away his flutes and other musical instruments; +till, reaching the summit, he was stretched, curved on his back, and +belly upwards, over the altar stone, while the priest with obsidian +knife cut his breast open and, snatching the heart out, held it up, yet +beating, as an offering to the Sun. In the meantime, and while the heart +still lived, his successor for the next year was chosen. + +In Book II, ch. 7 of the same work Sahagun describes the similar +offering of a woman to a goddess. In both cases (he explains) of young +man or young woman, the victims were richly adorned in the guise of the +god or goddess to whom they were offered, and at the same time great +largesse of food was distributed to all who needed. (Here we see the +connection in the general mind between the gift of food (by the gods) +and the sacrifice of precious blood (by the people).) More than once +Sahagun mentions that the victims in these Mexican ceremonials not +infrequently offered THEMSELVES as a voluntary sacrifice; and Prescott +says (1) that the offering of one's life to the gods was "sometimes +voluntarily embraced, as a most glorious death opening a sure passage +into Paradise." + + (1) Conquest of Mexico, Bk. I, ch. 3. + + +Dr. Frazer describes (1) the far-back Babylonian festival of the Sacaea +in which "a prisoner, condemned to death, was dressed in the king's +robes, seated on the king's throne, allowed to issue whatever commands +he pleased, to eat, drink and enjoy himself, and even to lie with the +king's concubines." But at the end of the five days he was stripped +of his royal robes, scourged, and hanged or impaled. It is certainly +astonishing to find customs so similar prevailing among peoples so far +removed in space and time as the Aztecs of the sixteenth century A.D. +and the Babylonians perhaps of the sixteenth century B.C. But we know +that this subject of the yearly sacrifice of a victim attired as a +king or god is one that Dr. Frazer has especially made his own, and for +further information on it his classic work should be consulted. + + (1) Golden Bough, "The Dying God," p. 114. (See also S. Reinach, +Cults, Myths and Religion, p. 94) on the martyrdom of St. Dasius. + + +Andrew Lang also, with regard to the Aztecs, quotes largely from +Sahagun, and summarizes his conclusions in the following passage: +"The general theory of worship was the adoration of a deity, first by +innumerable human sacrifices, next by the special sacrifice of a MAN for +the male gods, of a WOMAN for each goddess. (1) The latter victims were +regarded as the living images or incarnations of the divinities in, each +case; for no system of worship carried farther the identification of the +god with the sacrifice (? victim), and of both with the officiating priest. +The connection was emphasized by the priests wearing the newly-flayed skins +of the victims--just as in Greece, Egypt and Assyria, the fawn-skin +or bull-hide or goat-skin or fish-skin of the victims is worn by the +celebrants. Finally, an image of the god was made out of paste, and this +was divided into morsels and eaten in a hideous sacrament by those who +communicated." (2) + + (1) Compare the festival of Thargelia at Athens, originally +connected with the ripening of the crops. A procession was formed and +the first fruits of the year offered to Apollo, Artemis and the Horae. +It was an expiatory feast, to purify the State from all guilt and avert +the wrath of the god (the Sun). A man and a woman, as representing +the male and female population, were led about with a garland of figs +(fertility) round their necks, to the sound of flutes and singing. They +were then scourged, sacrificed, and their bodies burned by the seashore. +(Nettleship and Sandys.) + + (2) A Lang, Myth, Ritual and Religion, vol. ii, p. 97. + + +Revolting as this whole picture is, it represents as we know a mere +thumbnail sketch of the awful practices of human sacrifice all over the +world. We hold up our hands in horror at the thought of Huitzilopochtli +dropping children from his fingers into the flames, but we have to +remember that our own most Christian Saint Augustine was content to +describe unbaptized infants as crawling for ever about the floor of +Hell! What sort of god, we may ask, did Augustine worship? The Being who +could condemn children to such a fate was certainly no better than the +Mexican Idol. + +And yet Augustine was a great and noble man, with some by no means +unworthy conceptions of the greatness of his God. In the same way the +Aztecs were in many respects a refined and artistic people, and their +religion was not all superstition and bloodshed. Prescott says of them +(1) that they believed in a supreme Creator and Lord "omnipresent, +knowing all thoughts, giving all gifts, without whom Man is as +nothing--invisible, incorporeal, one God, of perfect perfection and +purity, under whose wings we find repose and a sure defence." How can +we reconcile St. Augustine with his own devilish creed, or the religious +belief of the Aztecs with their unspeakable cruelties? Perhaps we can +only reconcile them by remembering out of what deeps of barbarism and +what nightmares of haunting Fear, man has slowly emerged--and is +even now only slowly emerging; by remembering also that the ancient +ceremonies and rituals of Magic and Fear remained on and were cultivated +by the multitude in each nation long after the bolder and nobler spirits +had attained to breathe a purer air; by remembering that even to the +present day in each individual the Old and the New are for a long period +thus intricately intertangled. It is hard to believe that the practice +of human and animal sacrifice (with whatever revolting details) should +have been cultivated by nine-tenths of the human race over the globe +out of sheer perversity and without some reason which at any rate to +the perpetrators themselves appeared commanding and convincing. To-day +(1918) we are witnessing in the Great European War a carnival of human +slaughter which in magnitude and barbarity eclipses in one stroke all +the accumulated ceremonial sacrifices of historical ages; and when +we ask the why and wherefore of this horrid spectacle we are told, +apparently in all sincerity, and by both the parties engaged, of the +noble objects and commanding moralities which inspire and compel it. We +can hardly, in this last case, disbelieve altogether in the genuineness +of the plea, so why should we do so in the former case? In both cases we +perceive that underneath the surface pretexts and moralities Fear is and +was the great urging and commanding force. + + (1) Conquest of Mexico, Bk. I, ch. 3. + + +The truth is that Sin and Sacrifice represent--if you once allow for the +overwhelming sway of fear--perfectly reasonable views of human conduct, +adopted instinctively by mankind since the earliest times. If in a +moment of danger or an access of selfish greed you deserted your brother +tribesman or took a mean advantage of him, you 'sinned' against him; and +naturally you expiated the sin by an equivalent sacrifice of some kind +made to the one you had wronged. Such an idea and such a practice were +the very foundation of social life and human morality, and must have +sprung up as soon as ever, in the course of evolution, man became +CAPABLE of differentiating himself from his fellows and regarding his +own conduct as that of a 'separate self.' It was in the very conception +of a separate self that 'sin' and disunity first began; and it was +by 'sacrifice' that unity and harmony were restored, appeasement and +atonement effected. + +But in those earliest times, as I have already indicated more than once, +man felt himself intimately related not only to his brother tribesman, +but to the animals and to general Nature. It was not so much that he +THOUGHT thus as that he never thought OTHERWISE! He FELT subconsciously +that he was a part of all this outer world. And so he adopted for his +totems or presiding spirits every possible animal, as we have seen, +and all sorts of nature-phenomena, such as rain and fire and water and +clouds, and sun, moon and stars--which WE consider quite senseless and +inanimate. Towards these apparently senseless things therefore he felt +the same compunction as I have described him feeling towards his brother +tribesmen. He could sin against them too. He could sin against his +totem-animal by eating it; he could sin against his 'brother the ox' by +consuming its strength in the labor of the plough; he could sin against +the corn by cutting it down and grinding it into flour, or against the +precious and beautiful pine-tree by laying his axe to its roots and +converting it into mere timber for his house. Further still, no doubt he +could sin against elemental nature. This might be more difficult to be +certain of, but when the signs of elemental displeasure were not to be +mistaken--when the rain withheld itself for months, or the storms and +lightning dealt death and destruction, when the crops failed or evil +plagues afflicted mankind--then there could be little uncertainty that +he had sinned; and Fear, which had haunted him like a demon from the +first day when he became conscious of his separation from his fellows +and from Nature, stood over him and urged to dreadful propitiations. + +In all these cases some sacrifice in reparation was the obvious thing. +We have seen that to atone for the cutting-down of the corn a human +victim would often be slaughtered. The corn-spirit clearly approved of +this, for wherever the blood and remains of the victim were strewn the +corn always sprang up more plentifully. The tribe or human group made +reparation thus to the corn; the corn-spirit signified approval. The +'sin' was expiated and harmony restored. Sometimes the sacrifice was +voluntarily offered by a tribesman; sometimes it was enforced, by lot +or otherwise; sometimes the victim was a slave, or a captive enemy; +sometimes even an animal. All that did not so much matter. The main +thing was that the formal expiation had been carried out, and the wrath +of the spirits averted. + +It is known that tribes whose chief food-animal was the bear felt it +necessary to kill and eat a bear occasionally; but they could not do +this without a sense of guilt, and some fear of vengeance from the great +Bear-spirit. So they ate the slain bear at a communal feast in which +the tribesmen shared the guilt and celebrated their community with their +totem and with each other. And since they could not make any reparation +directly to the slain animal itself AFTER its death, they made their +reparation BEFORE, bringing all sorts of presents and food to it for a +long anterior period, and paying every kind of worship and respect to +it. The same with the bull and the ox. At the festival of the Bouphonia, +in some of the cities of Greece as I have already mentioned, the actual +bull sacrificed was the handsomest and most carefully nurtured that +could be obtained; it was crowned with flowers and led in procession +with every mark of reverence and worship. And when--as I have already +pointed out--at the great Spring festival, instead of a bull or a goat +or a ram, a HUMAN victim was immolated, it was a custom (which can be +traced very widely over the world) to feed and indulge and honor the +victim to the last degree for a WHOLE YEAR before the final ceremony, +arraying him often as a king and placing a crown upon his head, by way +of acknowledgment of the noble and necessary work he was doing for the +general good. + +What a touching and beautiful ceremony was that--belonging especially +to the North of Syria, and lands where the pine is so beneficent and +beloved a tree--the mourning ceremony of the death and burial of Attis! +when a pine-tree, felled by the axe, was hollowed out, and in the hollow +an image (often itself carved out of pinewood) of the young Attis was +placed. Could any symbolism express more tenderly the idea that the +glorious youth--who represented Spring, too soon slain by the rude tusk +of Winter--was himself the very human soul of the pine-tree? (1) At some +earlier period, no doubt, a real youth had been sacrificed and his body +bound within the pine; but now it was deemed sufficient for the maidens +to sing their wild songs of lamentation; and for the priests and male +enthusiasts to cut and gash themselves with knives, or to sacrifice +(as they did) to the Earth-mother the precious blood offering of their +virile organs--symbols of fertility in return for the promised and +expected renewal of Nature and the crops in the coming Spring. For +the ceremony, as we have already seen, did not end with death and +lamentation, but led on, perfectly naturally, after a day or two to a +festival of resurrection, when it was discovered--just as in the case of +Osiris--that the pine-tree coffin was empty, and the immortal life had +flown. How strange the similarity and parallelism of all these things to +the story of Jesus in the Gospels--the sacrifice of a life made in order +to bring salvation to men and expiation of sins, the crowning of the +victim, and arraying in royal attire, the scourging and the mockery, the +binding or nailing to a tree, the tears of Mary, and the resurrection +and the empty coffin!--or how not at all strange when we consider in +what numerous forms and among how many peoples, this same parable +and ritual had as a matter of fact been celebrated, and how it had +ultimately come down to bring its message of redemption into a somewhat +obscure Syrian city, in the special shape with which we are familiar. + + (1) See Julius Firmicus, who says (De Errore, c. 28): "in sacris +Phrygiis, quae Matris deum dicunt, per annos singulos arbor pinea +caeditur, et in media arbore simulacrum uvenis subligatur. In Isiacis +sacris de pinea arbore caeditur truncus; hujus trunci media pars +subtiliter excavatur, illis de segminibus factum idolum Osiridis +sepelitur. In Prosperpinae sacris caesa arbor in effigiem virginis +formaraque componitur, et cum intra civitatem fuerit illata, quadraginta +noctibus piangitur, quadragesima vero nocte comburitur." + + +Though the parable or legend in its special Christian form bears with it +the consciousness of the presence of beings whom we may call gods, it is +important to remember that in many or most of its earlier forms, though +it dealt in 'spirits'--the spirit of the corn, or the spirit of the +Spring, or the spirits of the rain and the thunder, or the spirits of +totem-animals--it had not yet quite risen to the idea of gods. It +had not risen to the conception of eternal deities sitting apart and +governing the world in solemn conclave--as from the slopes of Olympus +or the recesses of the Christian Heaven. It belonged, in fact, in its +inception, to the age of Magic. The creed of Sin and Sacrifice, or of +Guilt and Expiation--whatever we like to call it--was evolved perfectly +naturally out of the human mind when brought face to face with Life +and Nature) at some early stage of its self-consciousness. It was +essentially the result of man's deep, original and instinctive sense of +solidarity with Nature, now denied and belied and to some degree +broken up by the growth and conscious insistence of the self-regarding +impulses. It was the consciousness of disharmony and disunity, +causing men to feel all the more poignantly the desire and the need of +reconciliation. It was a realization of union made clear by its very +loss. It assumed of course, in a subconscious way as I have already +indicated, that the external world was the HABITAT of a mind or minds +similar to man's own; but THAT being granted, it is evident that the +particular theories current in this or that place about the nature of +the world--the theories, as we should say, of science or theology--did +not alter the general outlines of the creed; they only colored its +details and gave its ritual different dramatic settings. The mental +attitudes, for instance, of Abraham sacrificing the ram, or of the +Siberian angakout slaughtering a totem-bear, or of a modern and pious +Christian contemplating the Saviour on the Cross are really almost +exactly the same. I mention this because in tracing the origins or the +evolution of religions it is important to distinguish clearly what is +essential and universal from that which is merely local and temporary. +Some people, no doubt, would be shocked at the comparisons just made; +but surely it is much more inspiriting and encouraging to think that +whatever progress HAS been made in the religious outlook of the world +has come about through the gradual mental growth and consent of the +peoples, rather than through some unique and miraculous event of a +rather arbitrary and unexplained character--which indeed might never be +repeated, and concerning which it would perhaps be impious to suggest +that it SHOULD be repeated. + +The consciousness then of Sin (or of alienation from the life of the +whole), and of restoration or redemption through Sacrifice, seems to +have disclosed itself in the human race in very far-back times, and +to have symbolized itself in some most ancient rituals; and if we are +shocked sometimes at the barbarities which accompanied those rituals, +yet we must allow that these barbarities show how intensely the early +people felt the solemnity and importance of the whole matter; and we +must allow too that the barbarities did sear and burn themselves into +rude and ignorant minds with the sense of the NEED of Sacrifice, and +with a result perhaps which could not have been compassed in any other +way. + +For after all we see now that sacrifice is of the very essence of social +life. "It is expedient that ONE man should die for the people"; and not +only that one man should actually die, but (what is far more important) +that each man should be ready and WILLING to die in that cause, when +the occasion and the need arises. Taken in its larger meanings and +implications Sacrifice, as conceived in the ancient world, was a +perfectly reasonable thing. It SHOULD pervade modern life more than it +does. All we have or enjoy flows from, or is implicated with, pain +and suffering in others, and--if there is any justice in Nature or +Humanity--it demands an equivalent readiness to suffer on our part. If +Christianity has any real essence, that essence is perhaps expressed +in some such ritual or practice of Sacrifice, and we see that the dim +beginnings of this idea date from the far-back customs of savages coming +down from a time anterior to all recorded history. + + + + +VIII. PAGAN INITIATIONS AND THE SECOND BIRTH + +We have suggested in the last chapter how the conceptions of Sin and +Sacrifice coming down to us from an extremely remote past, and +embodied among the various peoples of the world sometimes in crude and +bloodthirsty rites, sometimes in symbols and rituals of a gentler and +more gracious character, descended at last into Christianity and became +a part of its creed and of the creed of the modern world. On the whole +perhaps we may trace a slow amelioration in this process and may flatter +ourselves that the Christian centuries exhibit a more philosophical +understanding of what Sin is, and a more humane conception of what +Sacrifice SHOULD be, than the centuries preceding. But I fear that any +very decided statement or sweeping generalization to that effect would +be--to say the least--rash. Perhaps there IS a very slow amelioration; +but the briefest glance at the history of the Christian churches--the +horrible rancours and revenges of the clergy and the sects against +each other in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., the heresy-hunting +crusades at Beziers and other places and the massacres of the Albigenses +in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the witch-findings and +burnings of the sixteenth and seventeenth, the hideous science-urged and +bishop-blessed warfare of the twentieth--horrors fully as great as any +we can charge to the account of the Aztecs or the Babylonians--must give +us pause. Nor must we forget that if there is by chance a substantial +amelioration in our modern outlook with regard to these matters the same +had begun already before the advent of Christianity and can by no means +be ascribed to any miraculous influence of that religion. Abraham was +prompted to slay a ram as a substitute for his son, long before the +Christians were thought of; the rather savage Artemis of the old Greek +rites was (according to Pausanias) (1) honored by the yearly sacrifice +of a perfect boy and girl, but later it was deemed sufficient to draw a +knife across their throats as a symbol, with the result of spilling only +a few drops of their blood, or to flog the boys (with the same result) +upon her altar. Among the Khonds in old days many victims (meriahs) were +sacrificed to the gods, "but in time the man was replaced by a horse, +the horse by a bull, the bull by a ram, the ram by a kid, the kid by +fowls, and the fowls by many flowers." (2) At one time, according to the +Yajur-Veda, there was a festival at which one hundred and twenty-five +victims, men and women, boys and girls, were sacrificed; "but reform +supervened, and now the victims were bound as before to the stake, +but afterwards amid litanies to the immolated (god) Narayana, the +sacrificing priest brandished a knife and--severed the bonds of the +captives." (3) At the Athenian festival of the Thargelia, to which I +referred in the last chapter, it appears that the victims, in later +times, instead of being slain, were tossed from a height into the sea, +and after being rescued were then simply banished; while at Leucatas a +similar festival the fall of the victim was graciously broken by tying +feathers and even living birds to his body. (4) + + (1) vii. 19, and iii. 8, 16. + + (2) Primitive Folk, by Elie Reclus (Contemp. Science Series), p. +330. + + (3) Ibid. + + (4) Muller's Dorians Book II, ch. ii, par. 10. + + +With the lapse of time and the general progress of mankind, we may, +I think, perceive some such slow ameliorations in the matter of the +brutality and superstition of the old religions. How far any later +ameliorations were due to the direct influence of Christianity might +be a difficult question; but what I think we can clearly see--and what +especially interests us here--is that in respect to its main religious +ideas, and the matter underlying them (exclusive of the MANNER of +their treatment, which necessarily has varied among different peoples) +Christianity is of one piece with the earlier pagan creeds and is +for the most part a re-statement and renewed expression of world-wide +doctrines whose first genesis is lost in the haze of the past, beyond +all recorded history. + +I have illustrated this view with regard to the doctrine of Sin and +Sacrifice. Let us take two or three other illustrations. Let us take the +doctrine of Re-birth or Regeneration. The first few verses of St. John's +Gospel are occupied with the subject of salvation through rebirth or +regeneration. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of +God."... "Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter +into the kingdom of God." Our Baptismal Service begins by saying that +"forasmuch as all men are conceived and born in sin; and that our +Saviour Christ saith, None can enter into the kingdom of God except he +be regenerate and born anew of water and the Holy Ghost"; therefore it +is desirable that this child should be baptized, "received into Christ's +Holy Church, and be made a lively member of the same." That, is to say, +there is one birth, after the flesh, but a second birth is necessary, a +birth after the Spirit and into the Church of Christ. Our Confirmation +Service is simply a service repeating and confirming these views, at +an age (fourteen to sixteen or so) when the boy or girl is capable of +understanding what is being done. + +But our Baptismal and Confirmation ceremonies combined are clearly +the exact correspondence and parallel of the old pagan ceremonies of +Initiation, which are or have been observed in almost every primitive +tribe over the world. "The rite of the second birth," says Jane +Harrison, (1) "is widespread, universal, over half the savage world. +With the savage to be twice-born is the rule. By his first birth he +comes into the world; by his second he is born into his tribe. At his +first birth he belongs to his mother and the women-folk; at his second +he becomes a full-fledged man and passes into the society of the +warriors of his tribe."... "These rites are very various, but they all +point to one moral, that the former things are passed away and that +the new-born man has entered upon a new life. Simplest of all, and most +instructive, is the rite practised by the Kikuyu tribe of British East +Africa, who require that every boy, just before circumcision, must be +born again. The mother stands up with the boy crouching at her feet; she +pretends to go through all the labour pains, and the boy on being reborn +cries like a babe and is washed." (2) + + (1) Ancient Art and Ritual, p. 104. + + (2) See also Themis, p. 21. + + +Let us pause for a moment. An Initiate is of course one who "enters +in." He enters into the Tribe; he enters into the revelation of certain +Mysteries; he becomes an associate of a certain Totem, a certain God; a +member of a new Society, or Church--a church of Mithra, or Dionysus or +Christ. To do any of these things he must be born again; he must die +to the old life; he must pass through ceremonials which symbolize the +change. One of these ceremonials is washing. As the new-born babe is +washed, so must the new-born initiate be washed; and as by primitive +man (and not without reason) BLOOD was considered the most vital and +regenerative of fluids, the very elixir of life, so in earliest times +it was common to wash the initiate with blood. If the initiate had to be +born anew, it would seem reasonable to suppose that he must first die. +So, not unfrequently, he was wounded, or scourged, and baptized with his +own blood, or, in cases, one of the candidates was really killed and his +blood used as a substitute for the blood of the others. No doubt HUMAN +sacrifice attended the earliest initiations. But later it was sufficient +to be half-drowned in the blood of a Bull as in the Mithra cult, (1) +or 'washed in the blood of the Lamb' as in the Christian phraseology. +Finally, with a growing sense of decency and aesthetic perception +among the various peoples, washing with pure water came in the +initiation-ceremonies to take the place of blood; and our baptismal +service has reduced the ceremony to a mere sprinkling with water. (2) + + (1) See ch. iii. + + (2) For the virtue supposed to reside in blood see Westermarck's +Moral Ideas, Ch. 46. + + +To continue the quotation from Miss Harrison: "More often the new birth +is stimulated, or imagined, as a death and a resurrection, either of +the boys themselves or of some one else in their presence. Thus at +initiation among some tribes of South-east Australia, when the boys are +assembled an old man dressed in stringy bark-fibre lies down in a +grave. He is covered up lightly with sticks and earth, and the grave is +smoothed over. The buried man holds in his hand a small bush which seems +to be growing from the ground, and other bushes are stuck in the ground +round about. The novices are then brought to the edge of the grave and +a song is sung. Gradually, as the song goes on, the bush held by the +buried man begins to quiver. It moves more and more, and bit by bit the +man himself starts up from the grave." + +Strange in our own Baptismal Service and just before the actual +christening we read these words, "Then shall the Priest say: O merciful +God, grant that old Adam in this child may be so BURIED that the new +man may be raised up in him: grant that all carnal affections may die +in him, and that all things belonging to the Spirit may live and grow +in him!" Can we doubt that the Australian medicine-man, standing at the +graveside of the re-arisen old black-fellow, pointed the same moral to +the young initiates as the priest does to-day to those assembled before +him in church--for indeed we know that among savage tribes initiations +have always been before all things the occasions of moral and social +teaching? Can we doubt that he said, in substance if not in actual +words: "As this man has arisen from the grave, so you must also arise +from your old childish life of amusement and self-gratification and, +ENTER INTO the life of the tribe, the life of the Spirit of the tribe." +"In totemistic societies," to quote Miss Harrison again, "and in the +animal secret societies that seem to grow out of them, the novice is +born again as THE SACRED ANIMAL. Thus among the Carrier Indians (1) +when a man wants to become a Lulem or 'Bear,' however cold the season +he tears off his clothes, puts on a bear-skin and dashes into the +woods, where he will stay for three or four days. Every night his +fellow-villagers will go out in search parties to find him. They cry out +Yi! Kelulem (come on, Bear), and he answers with angry growls. Usually +they fail to find him, but he comes back at last himself. He is met, and +conducted to the ceremonial lodge, and there in company with the rest +of the Bears dances solemnly his first appearance. Disappearance and +reappearance is as common a rite in initiation as stimulated killing and +resurrection, and has the same object. Both are rites of transition, +of passing from one to another." In the Christian ceremonies the boy or +girl puts away childish things and puts on the new man, but instead +of putting on a bear-skin he puts on Christ. There is not so much +difference as may appear on the surface. To be identified with your +Totem is to be identified with the sacred being who watches over your +tribe, who has given his life for your tribe; it is to be born again, +to be washed not only with water but with the Holy Spirit of all your +fellows. To be baptized into Christ ought to mean to be regenerated +in the Holy Spirit of all humanity; and no doubt in cases it does mean +this, but too often unfortunately it has only amounted to a pretence of +religious sanction given to the meanest and bitterest quarrels of the +Churches and the States. + + (1) Golden Bough, Section 2, III, p. 438. + + +This idea of a New Birth at initiation explains the prevalent pagan +custom of subjecting the initiates to serious ordeals, often painful and +even dangerous. If one is to be born again, obviously one must be ready +to face death; the one thing cannot be without the other. One must be +able to endure pain, like the Red Indian braves; to go long periods +fasting and without food or drink, like the choupan among the Western +Inoits--who, wanders for whole nights over the ice-fields under the +moon, scantily clothed and braving the intense cold; to overcome the +very fear of death and danger, like the Australian novices who, at first +terrified by the sound of the bull-roarer and threats of fire and the +knife, learn finally to cast their fears away. (1) By so doing one +puts off the old childish things, and qualifies oneself by firmness +and courage to become a worthy member of the society into which one +is called. (2) The rules of social life are taught--the duty to one's +tribe, and to oneself, truth-speaking, defence of women and children, +the care of cattle, the meaning of sex and marriage, and even the +mysteries of such religious ideas and rudimentary science as the tribe +possesses. And by so doing one really enters into a new life. Things of +the spiritual world begin to dawn. Julius Firmicus, in describing +the mysteries of the resurrection of Osiris, (3) says that when the +worshipers had satiated themselves with lamentations over the death +of the god then the priest would go round anointing them with oil and +whispering, "Be of good cheer, O Neophytes of the new-arisen God, for to +us too from our pains shall come salvation." (4) + + (1) According to accounts of the Wiradthuri tribe of Western +Australia, in their initiations, the lads were frightened by a large +fire being lighted near them, and hearing the awful sound of the +bull-roarers, while they were told that Dhuramoolan was about to burn +them; the legend being that Dhuramoolan, a powerful being, whose voice +sounded like thunder, would take the boys into the bush and instruct +them in all the laws, traditions and customs of the community. So he +pretended that he always killed the boys, cut them up, and burnt them to +ashes, after which he moulded the ashes into human shape, and restored +them to life as new beings. (See R. H. Matthews, "The Wiradthuri +tribes," Journal Anthrop. Inst., vol. xxv, 1896, pp. 297 sq.) + + (2) See Catlin's North-American Indians, vol. i, for initiations +and ordeals among the Mandans. + + (3) De Errore, c. 22. + + (4) [gr Qarreite, mustai ton qeou seswsmenou,] +[gr Estai gar hmin ek ponwn swthria.] + + +It would seem that at some very early time in the history of tribal and +priestly initiations an attempt was made to impress upon the neophytes +the existence and over-shadowing presence of spiritual and ghostly +beings. Perhaps the pains endured in the various ordeals, the long +fastings, the silences in the depth of the forests or on the mountains +or among the ice-floes, helped to rouse the visionary faculty. +The developments of this faculty among the black and colored +peoples--East-Indian, Burmese, African, American-Indian, etc.--are well +known. Miss Alice Fletcher, who lived among the Omaha Indians for thirty +years, gives a most interesting account (1) of the general philosophy +of that people and their rites of initiation. "The Omahas regard all +animate and inanimate forms, all phenomena, as pervaded by a common +life, which was continuous with and similar to the will-power they were +conscious of in themselves. This mysterious power in all things they +called Wakonda, and through it all things were related to man and +to each other. In the idea of the continuity of life a relation was +maintained between the seen and the unseen, the dead and the living, +and also between the fragment of anything and its entirety." (2) Thus an +Omaha novice might at any time seek to obtain Wakonda by what was called +THE RITE OF THE VISION. He would go out alone, fast, chant incantations, +and finally fall into a trance (much resembling what in modern times has +been called COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS) in which he would perceive the inner +relations of all things and the solidarity of the least object with the +rest of the universe. + + (1) Summarized in Themis, pp. 68-71. + + (2) A. C. Fletcher, The Significance of the Scalp-lock, Journal +of Anthropological Studies, xxvii (1897-8), p. 436. + + +Another rite in connection with initiation, and common all over +the pagan world--in Greece, America, Africa, Australia, New Mexico, +etc.--was the daubing of the novice all over with clay or chalk or even +dung, and then after a while removing the same. (1) The novice must have +looked a sufficiently ugly and uncomfortable object in this state; but +later, when he was thoroughly WASHED, the ceremony must have afforded a +thrilling illustration of the idea of a new birth, and one which would +dwell in the minds of the spectators. When the daubing was done as not +infrequently happened with white clay or gypsum, and the ritual took +place at night, it can easily be imagined that the figures of young men +and boys moving about in the darkness would lend support to the idea +that they were spirits belonging to some intermediate world--who had +already passed through death and were now waiting for their second birth +on earth (or into the tribe) which would be signalized by their thorough +and ceremonial washing. It will be remembered that Herodotus (viii) +gives a circumstantial account of how the Phocians in a battle with the +Thessalians smeared six hundred of their bravest warriors with white +clay so that, looking like supernatural beings, and falling upon the +Thessalians by night, they terrified the latter and put them to instant +flight. + + (1) See A. Lang's Myth, Ritual and Religion, i, 274 sq. + + +Such then--though only very scantily described--were some of the rites +of Initiation and Second Birth celebrated in the old Pagan world. The +subject is far too large for adequate treatment within the present +limits; but even so we cannot but be struck by the appropriateness in +many cases of the teaching thus given to the young, the concreteness of +the illustrations, the effectiveness of the symbols used, the dramatic +character of the rites, the strong enforcement of lessons on the nature +and duties of the life into which the candidates were about to enter. +Christianity followed on, and inherited these traditions, but one feels +that in its ceremonies of Baptism and Confirmation, which of course +correspond to the Pagan Initiations, it falls short of the latter. Its +ceremonies (certainly as we have them to-day in Protestant countries) +are of a very milk-and-watery character; all allusion to and teaching on +the immensely important subject of Sex is omitted, the details of social +and industrial morality are passed by, and instruction is limited to a +few rather commonplace lessons in general morality and religion. + + +It may be appropriate here, before leaving the subject of the Second +Birth, to inquire how it has come about that this doctrine--so remote +and metaphysical as it might appear--has been taken up and embodied in +their creeds and rituals by quite PRIMITIVE people all over the world, +to such a degree indeed that it has ultimately been adopted and built +into the foundations of the latter and more intellectual religions, like +Hinduism, Mithraism, and the Egyptian and Christian cults. I think the +answer to this question must be found in the now-familiar fact that the +earliest peoples felt themselves so much a part of Nature and the animal +and vegetable world around them that (whenever they thought about these +matters at all) they never for a moment doubted that the things which +were happening all round them in the external world were also happening +within themselves. They saw the Sun, overclouded and nigh to death in +winter, come to its birth again each year; they saw the Vegetation +shoot forth anew in spring--the revival of the spirit of the Earth; the +endless breeding of the Animals, the strange transformations of Worms +and Insects; the obviously new life taken on by boys and girls at +puberty; the same at a later age when the novice was transformed into +the medicine-man--the choupan into the angakok among the Esquimaux, the +Dacotah youth into the wakan among the Red Indians; and they felt in +their sub-conscious way the same everlasting forces of rebirth and +transformation working within themselves. In some of the Greek Mysteries +the newly admitted Initiates were fed for some time after on milk only +"as though we were being born again." (See Sallustius, quoted by Gilbert +Murray.) When sub-conscious knowledge began to glimmer into direct +consciousness one of the first aspects (and no doubt one of the truest) +under which people saw life was just thus: as a series of rebirths and +transformations. (1) The most modern science, I need hardly say, in +biology as well as in chemistry and the field of inorganic Nature, +supports that view. The savage in earliest times FELT the truth of some +things which we to-day are only beginning intellectually to perceive and +analyze. + + (1) The fervent and widespread belief in animal metamorphoses +among early peoples is well known. + + +Christianity adopted and absorbed--as it was bound to do--this +world-wide doctrine of the second birth. Passing over its physiological +and biological applications, it gave to it a fine spiritual +significance--or rather it insisted especially on its spiritual +significance, which (as we have seen) had been widely recognized before. +Only--as I suppose must happen with all local religions--it narrowed the +application and outlook of the doctrine down to a special case--"As +in Adam all die, so in CHRIST shall all be made alive." The Universal +Spirit which can give rebirth and salvation to EVERY child of man to +whom it comes, was offered only under a very special form--that of Jesus +Christ. (1) In this respect it was no better than the religions +which preceded it. In some respects--that is, where it was especially +fanatical, blinkered, and hostile to other sects--it was WORSE. But +to those who perceive that the Great Spirit may bring new birth and +salvation to some under the form of Osiris, equally well as to others +under the form of Jesus, or again to some under the form of a Siberian +totem-Bear equally as to others under the form of Osiris, these +questionings and narrowings fall away as of no importance. We in this +latter day can see the main thing, namely that Christianity was and is +just one phase of a world-old religion, slowly perhaps expanding its +scope, but whose chief attitudes and orientations have been the same +through the centuries. + + (1) The same happened with regard to another great Pagan doctrine +(to which I have just alluded), the doctrine of transformations and +metamorphoses; and whereas the pagans believed in these things, as the +common and possible heritage of EVERY man, the Christians only allowed +themselves to entertain the idea in the special and unique instance of +the Transfiguration of Christ. + + +Many other illustrations might be taken of the truth of this view, but +I will confine myself to two or three more. There is the instance of the +Eucharist and its exceedingly widespread celebration (under very various +forms) among the pagans all over the world--as well as among Christians. +I have already said enough on this subject, and need not delay over it. +By partaking of the sacramental meal, even in its wildest and crudest +shapes, as in the mysteries of Dionysus, one was identified with and +united to the god; in its milder and more spiritual aspects as in the +Mithraic, Egyptian, Hindu and Christian cults, one passed behind the +veil of maya and this ever-changing world, and entered into the region +of divine peace and power. (1) + + + (1) Baring Gould in his Orig. Relig. Belief, I. 401, +says:--"Among the ancient Hindus Soma was a chief deity; he is called +the Giver of Life and Health.... He became incarnate among men, was +taken by them and slain, and brayed in a mortar (a god of corn and wine +apparently). But he rose in flame to heaven to be 'the Benefactor of the +World' and the 'Mediator between God and Man!' Through communion with +him in his sacrifice, man (who partook of this god) has an assurance of +immortality, for by that sacrament he obtains union with his divinity." + + +Or again the doctrine of the Saviour. That also is one on which I need +not add much to what has been said already. The number of pagan deities +(mostly virgin-born and done to death in some way or other in their +efforts to save mankind) is so great (1) as to be difficult to keep +account of. The god Krishna in India, the god Indra in Nepaul and +Thibet, spilt their blood for the salvation of men; Buddha said, +according to Max Muller, (2) "Let all the sins that were in the world +fall on me, that the world may be delivered"; the Chinese Tien, the Holy +One--"one with God and existing with him from all eternity"--died to +save the world; the Egyptian Osiris was called Saviour, so was Horus; +so was the Persian Mithras; so was the Greek Hercules who overcame Death +though his body was consumed in the burning garment of mortality, out +of which he rose into heaven. So also was the Phrygian Attis called +Saviour, and the Syrian Tammuz or Adonis likewise--both of whom, as we +have seen, were nailed or tied to a tree, and afterwards rose again +from their biers, or coffins. Prometheus, the greatest and earliest +benefactor of the human race, was NAILED BY THE HANDS and feet, and with +arms extended, to the rocks of Mount Caucasus. Bacchus or Dionysus, +born of the virgin Semele to be the Liberator of mankind (Dionysus +Eleutherios as he was called), was torn to pieces, not unlike Osiris. +Even in far Mexico Quetzalcoatl, the Saviour, was born of a virgin, was +tempted, and fasted forty days, was done to death, and his second coming +looked for so eagerly that (as is well known) when Cortes appeared, the +Mexicans, poor things, greeted HIM as the returning god! (3) In Peru +and among the American Indians, North and South of the Equator, similar +legends are, or were, to be found. + + (1) See for a considerable list Doane's Bible Myths, ch. xx. + + (2) Hist. Sanskrit Literature, p. 80. + + (3) See Kingsborough, Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi. + + +Briefly sketched as all this is, it is enough to prove quite abundantly +that the doctrine of the Saviour is world-wide and world-old, and that +Christianity merely appropriated the same and (as the other cults did) +gave it a special color. Probably the wide range of this doctrine would +have been far better and more generally known, had not the Christian +Church, all through, made the greatest of efforts and taken the greatest +precautions to extinguish and snuff out all evidence of pagan claims on +the subject. There is much to show that the early Church took this line +with regard to pre-Christian saviours; (1) and in later times the same +policy is remarkably illustrated by the treatment in the sixteenth +century of the writings of Sahagun the Spanish missionary--to whose work +I have already referred. Sahagun was a wonderfully broad-minded and fine +man who, while he did not conceal the barbarities of the Aztec religion, +was truthful enough to point out redeeming traits in the manners and +customs of the people and some resemblances to Christian doctrine and +practice. This infuriated the bigoted Catholics of the newly formed +Mexican Church. They purloined the manuscripts of Sahagun's Historia and +scattered and hid them about the country, and it was only after infinite +labor and an appeal to the Spanish Court that he got them together +again. Finally, at the age of eighty, having translated them into +Spanish (from the original Mexican) he sent them in two big volumes home +to Spain for safety; but there almost immediately THEY DISAPPEARED, and +could not be found! It was only after TWO CENTURIES that they ultimately +turned up (1790) in a Convent at Tolosa in Navarre. Lord Kingsborough +published them in England in 1830. + + (1) See Tertullian's Apologia, c. 16; Ad Nationes, c. xii. + + +I have thus dwelt upon several of the main doctrines of +Christianity--namely, those of Sin and Sacrifice, the Eucharist, the +Saviour, the Second Birth, and Transfiguration--as showing that they are +by no means unique in our religion, but were common to nearly all the +religions of the ancient world. The list might be much further extended, +but there is no need to delay over a subject which is now very generally +understood. I will, however, devote a page or two to one instance, which +I think is very remarkable, and full of deep suggestion. + +There is no doctrine in Christianity which is more reverenced by the +adherents of that religion, or held in higher estimation, than that God +sacrificed his only Son for the salvation of the world; also that since +the Son was not only of like nature but of the SAME nature with the +Father, and equal to him as being the second Person of the Divine +Trinity, the sacrifice amounted to an immolation of Himself for the good +of mankind. The doctrine is so mystical, so remote, and in a sense so +absurd and impossible, that it has been a favorite mark through the +centuries for the ridicule of the scoffers and enemies of the Church; +and here, it might easily be thought, is a belief which--whether it be +considered glorious or whether contemptible--is at any rate unique, and +peculiar to that Church. + +And yet the extraordinary fact is that a similar belief ranges all +through the ancient religions, and can be traced back to the earliest +times. The word host which is used in the Catholic Mass for the bread +and wine on the Altar, supposed to be the transubstantiated body +and blood of Christ, is from the Latin Hostia which the dictionary +interprets as "an animal slain in sacrifice, a sin-offering." It takes +us far far back to the Totem stage of folk-life, when the tribe, as I +have already explained, crowned a victim-bull or bear or other animal +with flowers, and honoring it with every offering of food and worship, +sacrificed the victim to the Totem spirit of the tribe, and consumed it +in an Eucharistic feast--the medicine-man or priest who conducted the +ritual wearing a skin of the same beast as a sign that he represented +the Totem-divinity, taking part in the sacrifice of 'himself to +himself.' It reminds us of the Khonds of Bengal sacrificing their +meriahs crowned and decorated as gods and goddesses; of the Aztecs doing +the same; of Quetzalcoatl pricking his elbows and fingers so as to draw +blood, which he offered on his own altar; or of Odin hanging by his own +desire upon a tree. "I know I was hanged upon a tree shaken by the winds +for nine long nights. I was transfixed by a spear; I was moved to Odin, +myself to myself." And so on. The instances are endless. "I am the +oblation," says the Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita, (1) "I am the +sacrifice, I the ancestral offering." "In the truly orthodox conception +of sacrifice," says Elie Reclus, (2) "the consecrated offering, be it +man, woman or virgin, lamb or heifer, cock or dove, represents THE DEITY +HIMSELF.... Brahma is the 'imperishable sacrifice'; Indra, Soma, Hari +and the other gods, became incarnate in animals to the sole end that +they might be immolated. Perusha, the Universal Being, caused himself to +be slain by the Immortals, and from his substance were born the birds of +the air, wild and domestic animals, the offerings of butter and curds. +The world, declared the Rishis, is a series of sacrifices disclosing +other sacrifices. To stop them would be to suspend the life of Nature. +The god Siva, to whom the Tipperahs of Bengal are supposed to have +sacrificed as many as a thousand human victims a year, said to the +Brahamins: 'It is I that am the actual offering; it is I that you +butcher upon my altars.'" + + (1) Ch. ix, v. 16. + + (2) Primitive Folk, ch. vi. + + +It was in allusion to this doctrine that R. W. Emerson, paraphrasing the +Katha-Upanishad, wrote that immortal verse of his:-- + + If the red slayer thinks he slays, + Or the slain thinks he is slain, + They know not well the subtle ways + I take, and pass, and turn again. + + +I say it is an astonishing thing to think and realize that this profound +and mystic doctrine of the eternal sacrifice of Himself, ordained by +the Great Spirit for the creation and salvation of the world--a doctrine +which has attracted and fascinated many of the great thinkers and nobler +minds of Europe, which has also inspired the religious teachings of +the Indian sages and to a less philosophical degree the writings of the +Christian Saints--should have been seized in its general outline and +essence by rude and primitive people before the dawn of history, and +embodied in their rites and ceremonials. What is the explanation of this +fact? + +It is very puzzling. The whole subject is puzzling. The world-wide +adoption of similar creeds and rituals (and, we may add, legends and +fairy tales) among early peoples, and in far-sundered places and times +is so remarkable that it has given the students of these subjects +'furiously to think' (1)--yet for the most part without great success in +the way of finding a solution. The supposition that (1) the creed, rite +or legend in question has sprung up, so to speak, accidentally, in one +place, and then has travelled (owing to some inherent plausibility) over +the rest of the world, is of course one that commends itself readily at +first; but on closer examination the practical difficulties it presents +are certainly very great. These include the migrations of customs and +myths in quite early ages of the earth across trackless oceans and +continents, and between races and peoples absolutely incapable of +understanding each other. And if to avoid these difficulties it is +assumed that the present human race all proceeds from one original +stock which radiating from one centre--say in South-Eastern Asia +(2)--overspread the world, carrying its rites and customs with it, why, +then we are compelled to face the difficulty of supposing this radiation +to have taken place at an enormous time ago (the continents being then +all more or less conjoined) and at a period when it is doubtful if any +religious rites and customs at all existed; not to mention the further +difficulty of supposing all the four or five hundred languages now +existing to be descended from one common source. The far tradition of +the Island of Atlantis seems to afford a possible explanation of the +community of rites and customs between the Old and New World, and +this without assuming in any way that Atlantis (if it existed) was the +original and SOLE cradle of the human race. (3) Anyhow it is clear that +these origins of human culture must be of extreme antiquity, and that +it would not be wise to be put off the track of the investigation of a +possible common source merely by that fact of antiquity. + + (1) See A. Lang's Myth, Ritual and Religion, vol. ii. + + (2) See Hastings, Encycl. Religion and Ethics, art. "Ethnology." + + (3) E. J. Payne, History of the New World called America (vol. i, +p. 93) says: "It is certain that Europe and America once formed a single +continent," but inroads of the sea "left a vast island or peninsula +stretching from Iceland to the Azores--which gradually disappeared." +Also he speaks (i. 93) of the "Miocene Bridge" between Siberia and the +New World. + + +A second supposition, however, is (2) that the natural psychological +evolution of the human mind has in the various times and climes led folk +of the most diverse surroundings and heredity--and perhaps even sprung +from separate anthropoid stocks--to develop their social and religious +ideas along the same general lines--and that even to the extent of +exhibiting at times a remarkable similarity in minute details. This is a +theory which commends itself greatly to a deeper and more philosophical +consideration; but it brings us up point-blank against another most +difficult question (which we have already raised), namely, how to +account for extremely rude and primitive peoples in the far past, and on +the very borderland of the animal life, having been SUSCEPTIBLE to the +germs of great religious ideas (such as we have mentioned) and having +been instinctively--though not of course by any process of conscious +reasoning--moved to express them in symbols and rites and ceremonials, +and (later no doubt) in myths and legends, which satisfied their +FEELINGS and sense of fitness--though they may not have known WHY--and +afterwards were capable of being taken up and embodied in the great +philosophical religions. + +This difficulty almost compels us to a view of human knowledge which has +found supporters among some able thinkers--the view, namely, that a vast +store of knowledge is already contained in the subconscious mind of man +(and the animals) and only needs the provocation of outer experience +to bring it to the surface; and that in the second stage of human +psychology this process of crude and piecemeal externalization is +taking place, in preparation for the final or third stage in which the +knowledge will be re-absorbed and become direct and intuitional on a +high and harmonious plane--something like the present intuition of the +animals as we perceive it on the animal plane. However this general +subject is one on which I shall touch again, and I do not propose to +dwell on it at any length now. + +There is a third alternative theory (3)--a combination of (1) and +(2)--namely, that if one accepts (2) and the idea that at any given +stage of human development there is a PREDISPOSITION to certain symbols +and rites belonging to that stage, then it is much more easy to accept +theory (1) as an important factor in the spread of such symbols and +rites; for clearly, then, the smallest germ of a custom or practice, +transported from one country or people to another at the right time, +would be sufficient to wake the development or growth in question +and stimulate it into activity. It will be seen, therefore, that the +important point towards the solution of this whole puzzling question is +the discussion, of theory (2)--and to this theory, as illustrated by the +world-wide myth of the Golden Age, I will now turn. + + + + +IX. MYTH OF THE GOLDEN AGE + +The tradition of a "Golden Age" is widespread over the world, and it is +not necessary to go at any length into the story of the Garden of Eden +and the other legends which in almost every country illustrate this +tradition. Without indulging in sentiment on the subject we may hold it +not unlikely that the tradition is justified by the remembrance, among +the people of every race, of a pre-civilization period of comparative +harmony and happiness when two things, which to-day we perceive to be +the prolific causes of discord and misery, were absent or only weakly +developed--namely, PROPERTY and SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. (1) + + (1) For a fuller working out of this, see Civilisation: its Cause +and Cure, by E. Carpenter, ch. i. + + +During the first century B.C. there was a great spread of Messianic +Ideas over the Roman world, and Virgil's 4th Eclogue, commonly called +the Messianic Eclogue, reflects very clearly this state of the public +mind. The expected babe in the poem was to be the son of Octavian +(Augustus) the first Roman emperor, and a messianic halo surrounded it +in Virgil's verse. Unfortunately it turned out to be a GIRL! However +there is little doubt that Virgil did--in that very sad age of the +world, an age of "misery and massacre," and in common with thousands +of others--look for the coming of a great 'redeemer.' It was only a few +years earlier--about B.C. 70--that the great revolt of the shamefully +maltreated Roman slaves occurred, and that in revenge six thousand +prisoners from Spartacus' army were nailed on crosses all the way from +Rome to Capua (150 miles). But long before this Hesiod had recorded a +past Golden Age when life had been gracious in communal fraternity and +joyful in peace, when human beings and animals spoke the same language, +when death had followed on sleep, without old age or disease, and after +death men had moved as good daimones or genii over the lands. Pindar, +three hundred years after Hesiod, had confirmed the existence of the +Islands of the Blest, where the good led a blameless, tearless, life. +Plato the same, (1) with further references to the fabled island of +Atlantis; the Egyptians believed in a former golden age under the god +R[a^] to which they looked back with regret and envy; the Persians had +a garden of Eden similar to that of the Hebrews; the Greeks a garden +of the Hesperides, in which dwelt the serpent whose head was ultimately +crushed beneath the heel of Hercules; and so on. The references to a +supposed far-back state of peace and happiness are indeed numerous. + + (1) See arts. by Margaret Scholes, Socialist Review, Nov. and +Dec. 1912. + + +So much so that latterly, and partly to explain their prevalence, a +theory has been advanced which may be worth while mentioning. It is +called the "Theory of intra-uterine Blessedness," and, remote as it may +at first appear, it certainly has some claim for attention. The theory +is that in the minds of mature people there still remain certain vague +memories of their pre-natal days in the maternal womb--memories of a +life which, though full of growing vigor and vitality, was yet at that +time one of absolute harmony with the surroundings, and of perfect peace +and contentment, spent within the body of the mother--the embryo indeed +standing in the same relation to the mother as St. Paul says WE stand to +God, "IN whom we live and move and have our being"; and that these vague +memories of the intra-uterine life in the individual are referred back +by the mature mind to a past age in the life of the RACE. Though it +would not be easy at present to positively confirm this theory, yet one +may say that it is neither improbable nor unworthy of consideration; +also that it bears a certain likeness to the former ones about the +Eden-gardens, etc. The well-known parallelism of the Individual history +with the Race-history, the "recapitulation" by the embryo of the +development of the race, does in fact afford an additional argument for +its favorable reception. + +These considerations, and what we have said so often in the foregoing +chapters about the unity of the Animals (and Early Man) with Nature, and +their instinctive and age-long adjustment to the conditions of the +world around them, bring us up hard and fast against the following +conclusions, which I think we shall find difficult to avoid. + +We all recognize the extraordinary grace and beauty, in their different +ways, of the (wild) animals; and not only their beauty but the extreme +fitness of their actions and habits to their surroundings--their subtle +and penetrating Intelligence in fact. Only we do not generally use +the word "Intelligence." We use another word (Instinct)--and rightly +perhaps, because their actions are plainly not the result of definite +self-conscious reasoning, such as we use, carried out by each +individual; but are (as has been abundantly proved by Samuel Butler and +others) the systematic expression of experiences gathered up and sorted +out and handed down from generation to generation in the bosom of the +race--an Intelligence in fact, or Insight, of larger subtler scope than +the other, and belonging to the tribal or racial Being rather than to +the isolated individual--a super-consciousness in fact, ramifying afar +in space and time. + +But if we allow (as we must) this unity and perfection of nature, and +this somewhat cosmic character of the mind, to exist among the Animals, +we can hardly refuse to believe that there must have been a period when +Man, too, hardly as yet differentiated from them, did himself +possess these same qualities--perhaps even in greater degree than the +animals--of grace and beauty of body, perfection of movement and action, +instinctive perception and knowledge (of course in limited spheres); and +a period when he possessed above all a sense of unity with his fellows +and with surrounding Nature which became the ground of a common +consciousness between himself and his tribe, similar to that which +Maeterlinck, in the case of the Bees, calls the Spirit of the Hive. (1) +It would be difficult, nay impossible, to suppose that human beings +on their first appearance formed an entire exception in the process of +evolution, or that they were completely lacking in the very graces and +faculties which we so admire in the animals--only of course we see that +(LIKE the animals) they would not be SELF-conscious in these matters, +and what perception they had of their relations to each other or to +the world around them would be largely inarticulate and +SUB-conscious--though none the less real for that. + + (1) See The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck; and for +numerous similar cases among other animals, P. Kropotkin's Mutual Aid: a +factor in Evolution. + + +Let us then grant this preliminary assumption--and it clearly is not +a large or hazardous one--and what follows? It follows--since to-day +discord is the rule, and Man has certainly lost the grace, both physical +and mental, of the animals--that at some period a break must have +occurred in the evolution-process, a discontinuity--similar perhaps to +that which occurs in the life of a child at the moment when it is born +into the world. Humanity took a new departure; but a departure which for +the moment was signalized as a LOSS--the loss of its former harmony and +self-adjustment. And the cause or accompaniment of this change was the +growth of Self-consciousness. Into the general consciousness of the +tribe (in relation to its environment) which in fact had constituted +the mentality of the animals and of man up to this stage, there now was +intruded another kind of consciousness, a consciousness centering round +each little individual self and concerned almost entirely with the +interests of the latter. Here was evidently a threat to the continuance +of the former happy conditions. It was like the appearance of +innumerable little ulcers in a human body--a menace which if continued +would inevitably lead to the break-up of the body. It meant loss of +tribal harmony and nature-adjustment. It meant instead of unity a myriad +conflicting centres; it meant alienation from the spirit of the tribe, +the separation of man from man, discord, recrimination, and the fatal +unfolding of the sense of sin. The process symbolized itself in the +legend of the Fall. Man ate of the Tree of the knowledge of good and +evil. Sometimes people wonder why knowledge of any kind--and especially +the knowledge of good and evil--should have brought a curse. But the +reason is obvious. Into, the placid and harmonious life of the animal +and human tribes fulfilling their days in obedience to the slow +evolutions and age-long mandates of nature, Self-consciousness broke +with its inconvenient and impossible query: "How do these arrangements +suit ME? Are they good for me, are they evil for me? I want to know. I +WILL KNOW!" Evidently knowledge (such knowledge as we understand by +the word) only began, and could only begin, by queries relating to the +little local self. There was no other way for it to begin. Knowledge and +self-consciousness were born, as twins, together. Knowledge therefore +meant Sin (1); for self-consciousness meant sin (and it means sin +to-day). Sin is Separation. That is probably (though disputed) the +etymology of the word--that which sunders. (2) The essence of sin is +one's separation from the whole (the tribe or the god) of which one is +a part. And knowledge--which separates subject from object, and in its +inception is necessarily occupied with the 'good and evil' of the little +local self, is the great engine of this separation. (Mark! I say nothing +AGAINST this association of Self-consciousness with 'Sin' (so-called) +and 'Knowledge' (so-called). The growth of all three together is an +absolutely necessary part of human evolution, and to rail against it +would be absurd. But we may as well open our eyes and see the fact +straight instead of blinking it.) The culmination of the process and the +fulfilment of the 'curse' we may watch to-day in the towering expansion +of the self-conscious individualized Intellect--science as the handmaid +of human Greed devastating the habitable world and destroying its +unworthy civilization. And the process must go on--necessarily must +go on--until Self-consciousness, ceasing its vain quest (vain in both +senses) for the separate domination of life, surrenders itself back +again into the arms of the Mother-consciousness from which it originally +sprang--surrenders itself back, not to be merged in nonentity, but to be +affiliated in loving dependence on and harmony with the cosmic life. + + (1) Compare also other myths, like Cupid and Psyche, Lohengrin +etc., in which a fatal curiosity leads to tragedy. + + (2) German Sunde, sin, and sonder, separated; Dutch zonde, sin; +Latin sons, guilty. Not unlikely that the German root Suhn, expiation, +is connected; Suhn-bock, a scape-goat. + + +All this I have dealt with in far more detail in Civilization: its +Cause and Cure, and in The Art of Creation; but I have only repeated the +outline of it as above, because some such outline is necessary for the +proper ordering and understanding of the points which follow. + +We are not concerned now with the ultimate effects of the 'Fall' of Man +or with the present-day fulfilment of the Eden-curse. What we want to +understand is how the 'Fall' into self-consciousness led to that great +panorama of Ritual and Religion which we have very briefly described +and summarized in the preceding chapters of this book. We want for the +present to fix our attention on the COMMENCEMENT of that process by +which man lapsed away from his living community with Nature and his +fellows into the desert of discord and toil, while the angels of the +flaming sword closed the gates of Paradise behind him. + +It is evident I think that in that 'golden' stage when man was simply +the crown and perfection of the animals--and it is hardly possible +to refuse the belief in such a stage--he possessed in reality all the +essentials of Religion. (1) It is not necessary to sentimentalize over +him; he was probably raw and crude in his lusts of hunger and of sex; +he was certainly ignorant and superstitious; he loved fighting with +and persecuting 'enemies' (which things of course all religions +to-day--except perhaps the Buddhist--love to do); he was dominated often +by unreasoning Fear, and was consequently cruel. Yet he was full of that +Faith which the animals have to such an admirable degree--unhesitating +faith in the inner promptings of his OWN nature; he had the joy which +comes of abounding vitality, springing up like a fountain whose outlet +is free and unhindered; he rejoiced in an untroubled and unbroken +sense of unity with his Tribe, and in elaborate social and friendly +institutions within its borders; he had a marvelous sense-acuteness +towards Nature and a gift in that direction verging towards +"second-sight"; strengthened by a conviction--which had never become +CONSCIOUS because it had never been QUESTIONED--of his own personal +relation to the things outside him, the Earth, the Sky, the Vegetation, +the Animals. Of such a Man we get glimpses in the far past--though +indeed only glimpses, for the simple reason that all our knowledge of +him comes through civilized channels; and wherever civilization has +touched these early peoples it has already withered and corrupted +them, even before it has had the sense to properly observe them. It +is sufficient, however, just to mention peoples like some of the early +Pacific Islanders, the Zulus and Kafirs of South Africa, the Fans of the +Congo Region (of whom Winwood Reade (2) speaks so highly), some of the +Malaysian and Himalayan tribes, the primitive Chinese, and even the +evidence with regard to the neolithic peoples of Europe, (3) in order to +show what I mean. + + (1) See S. Reinach, Cults, Myths, etc., introduction: "The +primitive life of humanity, in so far as it is not purely animal, is +religious. Religion is the parent stem which has thrown off, one by one, +art, agriculture, law, morality, politics, etc." + + (2) Savage Africa, ch. xxxvii. + + (3) See Kropotkin's Mutual Aid, ch. iii. + + +Perhaps one of the best ideas of the gulf of difference between the +semi-civilized and the quite primal man is given by A. R. Wallace in +his Life (Vol. i, p. 288): "A most unexpected sensation of surprise and +delight was my first meeting and living with man in a state of nature +with absolute uncontaminated savages! This was on the Uaupes river.... +They were all going about their own work or pleasure, which had nothing +to do with the white men or their ways; they walked with the free step +of the independent forest-dweller... original and self-sustaining as the +wild animals of the forests, absolutely independent of civilization... +living their own lives in their own way, as they had done for countless +generations before America was discovered. Indeed the true denizen of +the Amazonian forests, like the forest itself, is unique and not to be +forgotten." Elsewhere (3) Wallace speaks of the quiet, good-natured, +inoffensive character of these copper-colored peoples, and of their +quickness of hand and skill, and continues: "their figures are generally +superb; and I have never felt so much pleasure in gazing at the finest +statue as at these living illustrations of the beauty of the human +form." + + + (3) Travels on the Amazon (1853), ch. xvii. + + +Though some of the peoples just mentioned may be said to belong to +different grades or stages of human evolution and physically some no +doubt were far superior to others, yet they mostly exhibit this simple +grace of the bodily and mental organism, as well as that closeness of +tribal solidarity of which I have spoken. The immense antiquity, of +the clan organization, as shown by investigations into early marriage, +points to the latter conclusion. Travellers among Bushmen, Hottentots, +Fuegians, Esquimaux, Papuans and other peoples--peoples who have been +pushed aside into unfavorable areas by the invasion of more warlike +and better-equipped races, and who have suffered physically in +consequence--confirm this. Kropotkin, speaking of the Hottentots, quotes +the German author P. Kolben who travelled among them in 1275 or so. "He +knew the Hottentots well and did not pass by their defects in silence, +but could not praise their tribal morality highly enough. Their word is +sacred, he wrote, they know nothing of the corruption and faithless arts +of Europe. They live in great tranquillity and are seldom at war with +their neighbors, and are all kindness and goodwill to one another." (1) +Kropotkin further says: "Let me remark that when Kolben says 'they are +certainly the most friendly, the most liberal and the most benevolent +people to one another that ever appeared on the earth' he wrote a +sentence which has continually appeared since in the description of +savages. When first meeting with primitive races, the Europeans usually +make a caricature of their life; but when an intelligent man has +stayed among them for a longer time he generally describes them as the +'kindest' or the 'gentlest' race on the earth. These very same words +have been applied to the Ostyaks, the Samoyedes, the Eskimos, the Dyaks, +the Aleuts, the Papuans, and so on, by the highest authorities. I also +remember having read them applied to the Tunguses, the Tchuktchis, the +Sioux, and several others. The very frequency of that high commendation +already speaks volumes in itself." (2) + + (1) P. Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, p. 90. W. J. Solias also speaks in +terms of the highest praise of the Bushmen--"their energy, patience, +courage, loyalty, affection, good manners and artistic sense" (Ancient +Hunters, 1915, p. 425). + + (2) Ibid, p. 91. + + +Many of the tribes, like the Aleuts, Eskimos, Dyaks, Papuans, Fuegians, +etc., are themselves in the Neolithic stage of culture--though for the +reason given above probably degenerated physically from the standard of +their neolithic ancestors; and so the conclusion is forced upon one +that there must have been an IMMENSE PERIOD, (1) prior to the first +beginnings of 'civilization,' in which the human tribes in general led a +peaceful and friendly life on the earth, comparatively little broken +up by dissensions, in close contact with Nature and in that degree +of sympathy with and understanding of the Animals which led to the +establishment of the Totem system. Though it would be absurd to credit +these tribes with any great degree of comfort and well-being according +to our modern standards, yet we may well suppose that the memory of +this long period lingered on for generations and generations and was +ultimately idealized into the Golden Age, in contrast to the succeeding +period of everlasting warfare, rancor and strife, which came in with the +growth of Property with its greeds and jealousies, and the accentuation +of Self-consciousness with all its vanities and ambitions. + + (1) See for estimates of periods ch. xiv; also, for the +peacefulness of these early peoples, Havelock Ellis on "The Origin of +War," where he says "We do not find the WEAPONS of warfare or the WOUNDS +of warfare among these Palaeolithic remains ... it was with civilization +that the art of killing developed, i. e. within the last 10,000 or +12,000 years when Neolithic men (who became our ancestors) were just +arriving." + + +I say that each tribe at this early stage of development had within it +the ESSENTIALS of what we call Religion--namely a bedrock sense of its +community with Nature, and of the Common life among its members--a sense +so intimate and fundamental that it was hardly aware of itself (any more +than the fish is aware of the sea in which it lives), but yet was really +the matrix of tribal thought and the spring of tribal action. It +was this sense of unity which was destined by the growth of +SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS to come to light and evidence in the shape of all +manner of rituals and ceremonials; and by the growth of the IMAGINATIVE +INTELLECT to embody itself in the figures and forms of all manner of +deities. + +Let us examine into this a little more closely. A lark soaring in the +eye of the sun, and singing rapt between its "heaven and home" realizes +no doubt in actual fact all that those two words mean to us; yet +its realization is quite subconscious. It does not define its own +experience: it FEELS but it does not THINK. In order to come to the +stage of THINKING it would perhaps be necessary that the lark should +be exiled from the earth and the sky, and confined in a cage. Early Man +FELT the great truths and realities of Life--often I believe more purely +than we do--but he could not give form to his experience. THAT stage +came when he began to lose touch with these realities; and it showed +itself in rites and ceremonials. The inbreak of self-consciousness +brought OUT the facts of his inner life into ritualistic and afterwards +into intellectual forms. + +Let me give examples. For a long time the Tribe is all in all; the +individual is completely subject to the 'Spirit of the Hive'; he +does not even THINK of contravening it. Then the day comes when +self-interest, as apart from the Tribe, becomes sufficiently strong to +drive him against some tribal custom. He breaks the tabu; he eats the +forbidden apple; he sins against the tribe, and is cast out. Suddenly he +finds himself an exile, lonely, condemned and deserted. A horrible sense +of distress seizes him--something of which he had no experience before. +He tries to think about it all, to understand the situation, but +is dazed and cannot arrive at any conclusion. His one NECESSITY is +Reconciliation, Atonement. He finds he cannot LIVE outside of and +alienated from his tribe. He makes a Sacrifice, an offering to his +fellows, as a seal of sincerity--an offering of his own bodily suffering +or precious blood, or the blood of some food-animal, or some valuable +gift or other--if only he may be allowed to return. The offering is +accepted. The ritual is performed; and he is received back. I have +already spoken of this perfectly natural evolution of the twin-ideas +of Sin and Sacrifice, so I need not enlarge upon the subject. But two +things we may note here: (1) that the ritual, being so concrete (and +often severe), graves itself on the minds of those concerned, and +expresses the feelings of the tribe, with an intensity and sharpness of +outline which no words could rival, and (2) that such rituals may have, +and probably did, come into use even while language itself was in an +infantile condition and incapable of dealing with the psychological +situation except by symbols. They, the rituals, were the first effort of +the primitive mind to get beyond, subconscious feeling and emerge into a +world of forms and definite thought. + +Let us carry the particular instance, given above, a stage farther, even +to the confines of abstract Thought and Philosophy. I have spoken of +"The Spirit of the Hive" as if the term were applicable to the Human as +well as to the Bee tribe. The individual bee obviously has never THOUGHT +about that 'Spirit,' nor mentally understood what Maeterlinck means by +it; and yet in terms of actual experience it is an intense reality to +the bee (ordaining for instance on some fateful day the slaughter of all +the drones), controlling bee-movements and bee-morality generally. The +individual tribesman similarly steeped in the age-long human life of his +fellows has never thought of the Tribe as an ordaining being or Spirit, +separate from himself--TILL that day when he is exiled and outcast from +it. THEN he sees himself and the tribe as two opposing beings, himself +of course an Intelligence or Spirit in his own limited degree, the Tribe +as a much greater Intelligence or Spirit, standing against and over him. +From that day the conception of a god arises on him. It may be only +a totem-god--a divine Grizzly-Bear or what not--but still a god or +supernatural Presence, embodied in the life of the tribe. This is +what Sin has taught him. (1) This is what Fear, founded on +self-consciousness, has revealed to him. The revelation may be true, +or it may be fallacious (I do not prejudge it); but there it is--the +beginning of that long series of human evolutions which we call +Religion. + + (1) It is to be noted, in that charming idyll of the Eden garden, +that it is only AFTER eating of the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve +perceive the Lord God walking in the garden, and converse with him +(Genesis iii. 8). + + + (For when the human mind has reached that stage of +consciousness in which each man realizes his own 'self' as a rational +and consistent being, "looking before and after," then, as I have +said already, the mind projects on the background of Nature similarly +rational Presences which we may call 'Gods'; and at that stage +'Religion' begins. Before that, when the mind is quite unformed and +dream-like, and consists chiefly of broken and scattered rays, and when +distinct self-consciousness is hardly yet developed, then the presences +imagined in Nature are merely flickering and intermittent phantoms, and +their propitiation and placation comes more properly under, the head of +'Magic.') + +So much for the genesis of the religious ideas of Sin and Sacrifice, and +the rites connected with these ideas--their genesis through the in-break +of self-consciousness upon the corporate SUB-consciousness of the life +of the Community. But an exactly similar process may be observed in the +case of the other religious ideas. + +I spoke of the doctrine of the SECOND BIRTH, and the rites connected +with it both in Paganism and in Christianity. There is much to show that +among quite primitive peoples there is less of shrinking from death and +more of certainty about a continued life after death than we generally +find among more intellectual and civilized folk. It is, or has been, +quite, common among many tribes for the old and decrepit, who are +becoming a burden to their fellows, to offer themselves for happy +dispatch, and to take willing part in the ceremonial preparations for +their own extinction; and this readiness is encouraged by their +na[i:]ve and untroubled belief in a speedy transference to "happy +hunting-grounds" beyond the grave. The truth is that when, as in such +cases, the tribal life is very whole and unbroken--each individual +identifying himself completely with the tribe--the idea of the +individual's being dropped out at death, and left behind by the tribe, +hardly arises. The individual is the tribe, has no other existence. +The tribe goes on, living a life which is eternal, and only changes its +hunting-grounds; and the individual, identified with the tribe, feels in +some subconscious way the same about himself. + +But when one member has broken faith with the tribe, when he has sinned +against it and become an outcast--ah! then the terrors of death and +extinction loom large upon him. "The wages of sin is death." There comes +a period in the evolution of tribal life when the primitive bonds are +loosening, when the tendency towards SELF-will and SELF-determination +(so necessary of course in the long run for the evolution of humanity) +becomes a real danger to the tribe, and a terror to the wise men and +elders of the community. It is seen that the children inherit this +tendency--even from their infancy. They are no longer mere animals, +easily herded; it seems that they are born in sin--or at least in +ignorance and neglect of their tribal life and calling. The only cure is +that they MUST BE BORN AGAIN. They must deliberately and of set purpose +be adopted into the tribe, and be made to realize, even severely, +in their own persons what is happening. They must go through the +initiations necessary to impress this upon them. Thus a whole series of +solemn rites spring up, different no doubt in every locality, but all +having the same object and purpose. (And one can understand how the +necessity of such initiations and second birth may easily have been +itself felt in every race, at some stage of its evolution--and THAT +quite as a spontaneous growth, and independently of any contagion of +example caught from other races.) + +The same may be said about the world-wide practice of the Eucharist. +No more effective method exists for impressing on the members of a body +their community of life with each other, and causing them to forget +their jangling self-interests, than to hold a feast in common. It is a +method which has been honored in all ages as well as to-day. But when +the flesh partaken of at the feast is that of the Totem--the guardian +and presiding genius of the tribe--or perhaps of one of its chief +food-animals--then clearly the feast takes on a holy and solemn +character. It becomes a sacrament of unity--of the unity of all with the +tribe, and with each other. Self-interests and self-consciousness are +for the time submerged, and the common life asserts itself; but here +again we see that a custom like this would not come into being as a +deliberate rite UNTIL self-consciousness and the divisions consequent +thereon had grown to be an obvious evil. The herd-animals (cows, sheep, +and so forth) do not have Eucharists, simply because they are sensible +enough to feed along the same pastures without quarrelling over the +richest tufts of grass. + +When the flesh partaken of (either actually or symbolically) is not that +of a divinized animal, but the flesh of a human-formed god--as in the +mysteries of Dionysus or Osiris or Christ--then we are led to suspect +(and of course this theory is widely held and supported) that the rites +date from a very far-back period when a human being, as representative +of the tribe, was actually slain, dismembered and partly devoured; +though as time went on, the rite gradually became glossed over and +mitigated into a love-communion through the sharing of bread and wine. + +It is curious anyhow that the dismemberment or division into fragments +of the body of a god (as in the case of Dionysus, Osiris, Attis, +Praj[a']pati and others) should be so frequent a tenet of the +old religions, and so commonly associated with a love-feast of +reconciliation and resurrection. It may be fairly interpreted as a +symbol of Nature-dismemberment in Winter and resurrection in Spring; but +we must also not forget that it may (and indeed must) have stood as +an allegory of TRIBAL dismemberment and reconciliation--the tribe, +conceived of as a divinity, having thus suffered and died through the +inbreak of sin and the self-motive, and risen again into wholeness by +the redemption of love and sacrifice. Whatever view the rank and file of +the tribe may have taken of the matter, I think it is incontestable that +the more thoughtful regarded these rites as full of mystic and spiritual +meaning. It is of the nature, as I have said before, of these early +symbols and ceremonies that they held so many meanings in solution; and +it is this fact which gave them a poetic or creative quality, and their +great hold upon the public mind. + +I use the word "tribe" in many places here as a matter of convenience; +not forgetting however that in some cases "clan" might be more +appropriate, as referring to a section of a tribe; or "people" or "folk" +as referring to unions of SEVERAL tribes. It is impossible of course to +follow out all the gradations of organization from tribal up to national +life; but it may be remembered that while animal totems prevail as a +rule in the earlier stages, human-formed gods become more conspicuous in +the later developments. All through, the practice of the Eucharist goes +on, in varying forms adapting itself to the surrounding conditions; and +where in the later societies a religion like Mithraism or Christianity +includes people of very various race, the Rite loses quite naturally +its tribal significance and becomes a celebration of allegiance to a +particular god--of unity within a special Church, in fact. Ultimately it +may become--as for a brief moment in the history of the early Christians +it seemed likely to do--a celebration of allegiance to all Humanity, +irrespective of race or creed or color of skin or of mind: though +unfortunately that day seems still far distant and remains yet +unrealized. It must not be overlooked, however, that the religion of the +Persian B[a^]b, first promulgated in 1845 to 1850--and a subject I shall +deal with presently--had as a matter of fact this all embracing and +universal scope. + +To return to the Golden Age or Garden of Eden. Our conclusion seems to +be that there really was such a period of comparative harmony in human +life--to which later generations were justified in looking back, and +looking back with regret. It corresponded in the psychology of human +Evolution to stage One. The second stage was that of the Fall; and so +one is inevitably led to the conjecture and the hope that a third stage +will redeem the earth and its inhabitants to a condition of comparative +blessedness. + + + + +X. THE SAVIOUR-GOD AND THE VIRGIN-MOTHER + +From the consideration of the world-wide belief in a past Golden Age, +and the world-wide practice of the Eucharist, in the sense indicated +in the last chapter, to that of the equally widespread belief in a +human-divine Saviour, is a brief and easy step. Some thirty years ago, +dealing with this subject, (1) I wrote as follows:--"The true Self of +man consists in his organic relation with the whole body of his fellows; +and when the man abandons his true Self he abandons also his true +relation to his fellows. The mass-Man must rule in each unit-man, else +the unit-man will drop off and die. But when the outer man tries to +separate himself from the inner, the unit-man from the mass-Man, then +the reign of individuality begins--a false and impossible individuality +of course, but the only means of coming to the consciousness of the true +individuality." And further, "Thus this divinity in each creature, +being that which constitutes it and causes it to cohere together, was +conceived of as that creature's saviour, healer--healer of wounds of +body and wounds of heart--the Man within the man, whom it was not only +possible to know, but whom to know and be united with was the alone +salvation. This, I take it, was the law of health--and of holiness--as +accepted at some elder time of human history, and by us seen as through +a glass darkly." + + (1) See Civilisation: its Cause and Cure, ch. i. + + +I think it is impossible not to see--however much in our pride of +Civilization (!) we like to jeer at the pettinesses of tribal +life--that these elder people perceived as a matter of fact and direct +consciousness the redeeming presence (within each unit-member of the +group) of the larger life to which he belonged. This larger life was a +reality--"a Presence to be felt and known"; and whether he called it by +the name of a Totem-animal, or by the name of a Nature-divinity, or +by the name of some gracious human-limbed God--some Hercules, Mithra, +Attis, Orpheus, or what-not--or even by the great name of Humanity +itself, it was still in any case the Saviour, the living incarnate Being +by the realization of whose presence the little mortal could be lifted +out of exile and error and death and suffering into splendor and life +eternal. + +It is impossible, I think, not to see that the myriad worship of +"Saviours" all over the world, from China to Peru, can only be +ascribed to the natural working of some such law of human and tribal +psychology--from earliest times and in all races the same--springing up +quite spontaneously and independently, and (so far) unaffected by the +mere contagion of local tradition. To suppose that the Devil, long +before the advent of Christianity, put the idea into the heads of all +these earlier folk, is really to pay TOO great a compliment both to the +power and the ingenuity of his Satanic Majesty--though the ingenuity +with which the early Church DID itself suppress all information about +these pre-Christian Saviours almost rivals that which it credited to +Satan! And on the other hand to suppose this marvellous and universal +consent of belief to have sprung by mere contagion from one accidental +source would seem equally far-fetched and unlikely. + +But almost more remarkable than the world-encircling belief in +human-divine Saviours is the equally widespread legend of their birth +from Virgin-mothers. There is hardly a god--as we have already had +occasion to see--whose worship as a benefactor of mankind attained +popularity in any of the four continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and +America--who was not reported to have been born from a Virgin, or at +least from a mother who owed the Child not to any earthly father, but to +an impregnation from Heaven. And this seems at first sight all the more +astonishing because the belief in the possibility of such a thing is so +entirely out of the line of our modern thought. So that while it +would seem not unnatural that such a legend should have, sprung up +spontaneously in some odd benighted corner of the world, we find it +very difficult to understand how in that case it should have spread +so rapidly in every direction, or--if it did not spread--how we are +to account for its SPONTANEOUS appearance in all these widely sundered +regions. + +I think here, and for the understanding of this problem, we are thrown +back upon a very early age of human evolution--the age of Magic. Before +any settled science or philosophy or religion existed, there were +still certain Things--and consequently also certain Words--which had +a tremendous influence on the human mind, which in fact affected it +deeply. Such a word, for instance, is 'Thunder'; to hear thunder, to +imitate it, even to mention it, are sure ways of rousing superstitious +attention and imagination. Such another word is 'Serpent,' another +'Tree,' and so forth. There is no one who is insensible to the +reverberation of these and other such words and images (1); and among +them, standing prominently out, are the two 'Mother' and 'Virgin.' +The word Mother touches the deepest springs of human feeling. As the +earliest word learnt and clung to by the child, it twines itself with +the heart-strings of the man even to his latest day. Nor must we forget +that in a primitive state of society (the Matriarchate) that influence +was probably even greater than now; for the father of the child being +(often as not) UNKNOWN the attachment to the mother was all the more +intense and undivided. The word Mother had a magic about it which has +remained even until to-day. But if that word rooted itself deep in the +heart of the Child, the other word 'virgin' had an obvious magic for +the full grown and sexually mature Man--a magic which it, too, has never +lost. + + (1) Nor is it difficult to see how out of the discreet use of +such words and images, combined with elementary forms like the square, +the triangle and the circle, and elementary numbers like 3, 4, 5, etc., +quite a science, so to speak, of Magic arose. + + +There is ample evidence that one of the very earliest objects of human +worship was the Earth itself, conceived of as the fertile Mother of all +things. Gaia or Ge (the earth) had temples and altars in almost all the +cities of Greece. Rhea or Cybele, sprung from the Earth, was "mother of +all the gods." Demeter ("earth mother") was honored far and wide as the +gracious patroness of the crops and vegetation. Ceres, of course, the +same. Maia in the Indian mythology and Isis in the Egyptian are forms +of Nature and the Earth-spirit, represented as female; and so forth. The +Earth, in these ancient cults, was the mystic source of all life, and +to it, as a propitiation, life of all kinds was sacrificed. (There are +strange accounts of a huge fire being made, with an altar to Cybele in +the midst, and of deer and fawns and wild animals, and birds and sheep +and corn and fruits being thrown pell-mell into the flames. (1)) It was, +in a way, the most natural, as it seems to have been the earliest +and most spontaneous of cults--the worship of the Earth-mother, +the all-producing eternal source of life, and on account of her +never-failing ever-renewed fertility conceived of as an immortal Virgin. + + (1) See Pausanias iv. 32. 6; and Lucian, De Syria Dea, 49. + + +But when the Saviour-legend sprang up--as indeed I think it must +have sprung up, in tribe after tribe and people after people, +independently--then, whether it sprang from the divinization of some +actual man who showed the way of light and deliverance to his fellows +"sitting in darkness," or whether from the personification of the tribe +itself as a god, in either case the question of the hero's parentage was +bound to arise. If the 'saviour' was plainly a personification of the +tribe, it was obviously impossible to suppose him the son of a mortal +mother. In that case--and if the tribe was generally traced in the +legends to some primeval Animal or Mountain or thing of Nature--it was +probably easy to think of him (the saviour) as, born out of Nature's +womb, descended perhaps from that pure Virgin of the World who is +the Earth and Nature, who rules the skies at night, and stands in the +changing phases of the Moon, and is worshiped (as we have seen) in +the great constellation Virgo. If, on the other hand, he was the +divinization of some actual man, more or less known either personally +or by tradition to his fellows, then in all probability the name of his +mortal mother would be recognized and accepted; but as to his father, +that side of parentage being, as we have said, generally very uncertain, +it would be easy to suppose some heavenly Annunciation, the midnight +visit of a God, and what is usually termed a Virgin-birth. + +There are two elements to be remembered here, as conspiring to this +conclusion. One is the condition of affairs in a remote matriarchial +period, when descent was reckoned always through the maternal line, and +the fatherhood in each generation was obscure or unknown or commonly +left out of account; and the other is the fact--so strange and difficult +for us to realize--that among some very primitive peoples, like the +Australian aborigines, the necessity for a woman to have intercourse +with a male, in order to bring about conception and child-birth, was +actually not recognized. Scientific observation had not always got as +far as that, and the matter was still under the domain of Magic! (1) +A Virgin-Mother was therefore a quite imaginable (not to say +'conceivable') thing; and indeed a very beautiful and fascinating thing, +combining in one image the potent magic of two very wonderful words. +It does not seem impossible that considerations of this kind led to the +adoption of the doctrine or legend of the virgin-mother and the heavenly +father among so many races and in so many localities--even without any +contagion of tradition among them. + + (1) Probably the long period (nine months) elapsing between +cohabitation and childbirth confused early speculation on the subject. +Then clearly cohabitation was NOT always followed by childbirth. And, +more important still, the number of virgins of a mature age in primitive +societies was so very minute that the fact of their childlessness +attracted no attention--whereas in OUR societies the sterility of the +whole class is patent to everyone. + + +Anyhow, and as a matter of fact, the world-wide dissemination of the +legend is most remarkable. Zeus, Father of the gods, visited Semele, it +will be remembered, in the form of a thunderstorm; and she gave birth to +the great saviour and deliverer Dionysus. Zeus, again, impregnated Danae +in a shower of gold; and the child was Perseus, who slew the Gorgons +(the powers of darkness) and saved Andromeda (the human soul (1)). +Devaki, the radiant Virgin of the Hindu mythology, became the wife +of the god Vishnu and bore Krishna, the beloved hero and prototype of +Christ. With regard to Buddha St. Jerome says (2) "It is handed down +among the Gymnosophists, of India that Buddha, the founder of their +system, was brought forth by a Virgin from her side." The Egyptian Isis, +with the child Horus, on her knee, was honored centuries before the +Christian era, and worshiped under the names of "Our Lady," "Queen of +Heaven," "Star of the Sea," "Mother of God," and so forth. Before her, +Neith, the Virgin of the World, whose figure bends from the sky over the +earthly plains and the children of men, was acclaimed as mother of the +great god Osiris. The saviour Mithra, too, was born of a Virgin, as we +have had occasion to notice before; and on the Mithrais monuments the +mother suckling her child is a not uncommon figure. (3) + + (1) For this interpretation of the word Andromeda see The Perfect +Way by Edward Maitland, preface to First Edition, 1881. + + (2) Contra Jovian, Book I; and quoted by Rhys Davids in his +Buddhisim. + + (3) See Doane's Bible Myths, p. 332, and Dupuis' Origins of +Religious Beliefs. + + +The old Teutonic goddess Hertha (the Earth) was a Virgin, but was +impregnated by the heavenly Spirit (the Sky); and her image with a child +in her arms was to be seen in the sacred groves of Germany. (1) The +Scandinavian Frigga, in much the same way, being caught in the embraces +of Odin, the All-father, conceived and bore a son, the blessed Balder, +healer and saviour of mankind. Quetzalcoatl, the (crucified) saviour of +the Aztecs, was the son of Chimalman, the Virgin Queen of Heaven. (2) +Even the Chinese had a mother-goddess and virgin with child in her arms +(3); and the ancient Etruscans the same. (4) + + (1) R. P. Knight's Ancient Art and Mythology, p. 21. + + (2) See Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, vol. vi, p. 176, +where it is said "an ambassador was sent from heaven on an embassy to a +Virgin of Tulan, called Chimalman... announcing that it was the will +of the God that she should conceive a son; and having delivered her the +message he rose and left the house; and as soon as he had left it +she conceived a son, without connection with man, who was called +Quetzalcoat, who they say is the god of air." Further, it is explained +that Quetzalcoatl sacrificed himself, drawing forth his own blood with +thorns; and that the word Quetzalcoatlotopitzin means "our well-beloved +son." + + (3) Doane, p. 327. + + (4) See Inman's Pagan and Christian Symbolism, p. 27. + + +Finally, we have the curiously large number of BLACK virgin mothers +who are or have been worshiped. Not only cases like Devaki the Indian +goddess, or Isis the Egyptian, who would naturally appear black-skinned +or dark; but the large number of images and paintings of the same +kind, yet extant--especially in the Italian churches--and passing for +representations of Mary and the infant Jesus. Such are the well-known +image in the chapel at Loretto, and images and paintings besides in the +churches at Genoa, Pisa, Padua, Munich and other places. It is difficult +not to regard these as very old Pagan or pre-Christian relics which +lingered on into Christian times and were baptized anew--as indeed +we know many relics and images actually were--into the service of the +Church. "Great is Diana of the Ephesians"; and there is I believe more +than one black figure extant of this Diana, who, though of course a +virgin, is represented with innumerable breasts (1)--not unlike some of +the archaic statues of Artemis and Isis. At Paris, far on into Christian +times there was, it is said, on the site of the present Cathedral of +Notre Dame, a Temple dedicated to 'our Lady' Isis; and images belonging +to the earlier shrine would in all probability be preserved with altered +name in the later. + + (1) See illustration, p. 30, in Inman's Pagan and Christian +Symbolism. + + +All this illustrates not only the wide diffusion of the doctrine of the +Virgin-mother, but its extreme antiquity. The subject is obscure, and +worthy of more consideration than has yet been accorded it; and I do not +feel able to add anything to the tentative explanations given a page or +two back, except perhaps to suppose that the vision of the Perfect Man +hovered dimly over the mind of the human race on its first emergence +from the purely animal stage; and that a quite natural speculation +with regard to such a being was that he would be born from a Perfect +Woman--who according to early ideas would necessarily be the Virgin +Earth itself, mother of all things. Anyhow it was a wonderful Intuition, +slumbering as it would seem in the breast of early man, that the Great +Earth after giving birth to all living creatures would at last bring +forth a Child who should become the Saviour of the human race. + +There is of course the further theory, entertained by some, that +virgin-parturition--a kind of Parthenogenesis--has as a matter of fact +occasionally occurred among mortal women, and even still does occur. I +should be the last to deny the POSSIBILITY of this (or of anything else +in Nature), but, seeing the immense difficulties in the way of PROOF +of any such asserted case, and the absence so far of any thoroughly +attested and verified instance, it would, I think, be advisable to leave +this theory out of account at present. + +But whether any of the EXPLANATIONS spoken of are right or wrong, +and whatever explanation we adopt, there remains the FACT of the +universality over the world of this legend--affording another instance +of the practical solidarity and continuity of the Pagan Creeds with +Christianity. + + + + +XI. RITUAL DANCING + +It is unnecessary to labor the conclusion of the last two or three +chapters, namely that Christianity grew out of the former Pagan Creeds +and is in its general outlook and origins continuous and of one piece +with them. I have not attempted to bring together ALL the evidence +in favor of this contention, as such work would be too vast, but more +illustrations of its truth will doubtless occur to readers, or will +emerge as we proceed. + +I think we may take it as proved (1) that from the earliest ages, and +before History, a great body of religious belief and ritual--first +appearing among very primitive and unformed folk, whom we should call +'savages'--has come slowly down, broadening and differentiating itself +on the way into a great variety of forms, but embodying always certain +main ideas which became in time the accepted doctrines of the later +Churches--the Indian, the Egyptian, the Mithraic, the Christian, and +so forth. What these ideas in their general outline have been we can +perhaps best judge from our "Apostles' Creed," as it is recited every +Sunday in our churches. + +"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: And in +Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, +born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, +dead and buried. He descended into Hell; the third day he rose again +from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand +of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick +and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the +communion of Saints; the Forgiveness of sins; the Resurrection of the +body, and the life everlasting. Amen." + +Here we have the All-Father and Creator, descending from the Sky in the +form of a spirit to impregnate the earthly Virgin-mother, who thus gives +birth to a Saviour-hero. The latter is slain by the powers of Evil, is +buried and descends into the lower world, but arises again as God +into heaven and becomes the leader and judge of mankind. We have the +confirmation of the Church (or, in earlier times, of the Tribe) by means +of a Eucharist or Communion which binds together all the members, living +or dead, and restores errant individuals through the Sacrifice of the +hero and the Forgiveness of their sins; and we have the belief in a +bodily Resurrection and continued life of the members within the fold of +the Church (or Tribe), itself regarded as eternal. + +One has only, instead of the word 'Jesus,' to read Dionysus or Krishna +or Hercules or Osiris or Attis, and instead of 'Mary' to insert Semele +or Devaki or Alcmene or Neith or Nana, and for Pontius Pilate to use the +name of any terrestrial tyrant who comes into the corresponding story, +and lo! the creed fits in all particulars into the rites and worship of +a pagan god. I need not enlarge upon a thesis which is self-evident +from all that has gone before. I do not say, of course, that ALL +the religious beliefs of Paganism are included and summarized in our +Apostles' Creed, for--as I shall have occasion to note in the next +chapter--I think some very important religious elements are there +OMITTED; but I do think that all the beliefs which ARE summarized in the +said creed had already been fully represented and elaborately expressed +in the non-Christian religions and rituals of Paganism. + +Further (2) I think we may safely say that there is no certain proof +that the body of beliefs just mentioned sprang from any one particular +centre far back and radiated thence by dissemination and mental +contagion over the rest of the world; but the evidence rather shows that +these beliefs were, for the most part, the SPONTANEOUS outgrowths +(in various localities) of the human mind at certain stages of its +evolution; that they appeared, in the different races and peoples, at +different periods according to the degree of evolution, and were largely +independent of intercourse and contagion, though of course, in cases, +considerably influenced by it; and that one great and all-important +occasion and provocative of these beliefs was actually the RISE OF +SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS--that is, the coming of the mind to a more or +less distinct awareness of itself and of its own operation, and +the consequent development and growth of Individualism, and of the +Self-centred attitude in human thought and action. + +In the third place (3) I think we may see--and this is the special +subject of the present chapter--that at a very early period, when +humanity was hardly capable of systematic expression in what we call +Philosophy or Science, it could not well rise to an ordered and literary +expression of its beliefs, such as we find in the later religions +and the 'Churches' (Babylonian, Jewish, East Indian, Christian, or +what-not), and yet that it FELT these beliefs very intensely and was +urged, almost compelled, to their utterance in some form or other. And +so it came about that people expressed themselves in a vast mass of +ritual and myth--customs, ceremonies, legends, stories--which on account +of their popular and concrete form were handed down for generations, and +some of which linger on still in the midst of our modern civilization. +These rituals and legends were, many of them, absurd enough, rambling +and childish in character, and preposterous in conception, yet they gave +the expression needed; and some of them of course, as we have seen, were +full of meaning and suggestion. + +A critical and commercial Civilization, such as ours, in which +(notwithstanding much TALK about Art) the artistic sense is greatly +lacking, or at any rate but little diffused, does not as a rule +understand that poetic RITES, in the evolution of peoples, came +naturally before anything like ordered poems or philosophy or +systematized VIEWS about life and religion--such as WE love to wallow +in! Things were FELT before they were spoken. The loading of diseases +into disease-boats, of sins onto scape-goats, the propitiation of the +forces of nature by victims, human or animal, sacrifices, ceremonies of +re-birth, eucharistic feasts, sexual communions, orgiastic celebrations +of the common life, and a host of other things--all SAID plainly enough +what was meant, but not in WORDS. Partly no doubt it was that at some +early time words were more difficult of command and less flexible in use +than actions (and at all times are they not less expressive?). Partly it +was that mankind was in the child-stage. The Child delights in ritual, +in symbol, in expression through material objects and actions: + + See, at his feet some little plan or chart, + Some fragment from his dream of human life, + Shaped by himself with newly learned art; + A wedding or a festival, + A mourning or a funeral; + And this hath now his heart. + +And primitive man in the child-stage felt a positive joy in ritual +celebrations, and indulged in expressions which we but little +understand; for these had then his heart. + +One of the most pregnant of these expressions was DANCING. Children +dance instinctively. They dance with rage; they dance with joy, with +sheer vitality; they dance with pain, or sometimes with savage glee at +the suffering of others; they delight in mimic combats, or in animal +plays and disguises. There are such things as Courting-dances, when +the mature male and female go through a ritual together--not only in +civilized ball-rooms and the back-parlors of inns, but in the farmyards +where the rooster pays his addresses to the hen, or the yearling bull +to the cow--with quite recognized formalities; there are elaborate +ceremonials performed by the Australian bower-birds and many other +animals. All these things--at any rate in children and animals--come +before speech; and anyhow we may say that LOVE-RITES, even in mature +and civilized man, hardly ADMIT of speech. Words only vulgarize love and +blunt its edge. + +So Dance to the savage and the early man was not merely an amusement or +a gymnastic exercise (as the books often try to make out), but it was +also a serious and intimate part of life, an expression of religion and +the relation of man to non-human Powers. Imagine a young dancer--and +the admitted age for ritual dancing was commonly from about eighteen +to thirty--coming forward on the dancing-ground or platform for the +INVOCATION OF RAIN. We have unfortunately no kinematic records, but it +is not impossible or very difficult to imagine the various gestures +and movements which might be considered appropriate to such a rite in +different localities or among different peoples. A modern student of +Dalcroze Eurhythmics would find the problem easy. After a time a certain +ritual dance (for rain) would become stereotyped and generally adopted. +Or imagine a young Greek leading an invocation to Apollo to STAY SOME +PLAGUE which was ravaging the country. He might as well be accompanied +by a small body of co-dancers; but he would be the leader and chief +representative. Or it might be a WAR-DANCE--as a more or less magical +preparation for the raid or foray. We are familiar enough with accounts +of war-dances among American Indians. C. O. Muller in his History and +Antiquities of the Doric Race (1) gives the following account of the +Pyrrhic dance among the Greeks, which was danced in full armor:--"Plato +says that it imitated all the attitudes of defence, by avoiding a thrust +or a cast, retreating, springing up, and crouching-as also the opposite +movements of attack with arrows and lances, and also of every kind of +thrust. So strong was the attachment to this dance at Sparta that, long +after it had in the other Greek states degenerated into a Bacchanalian +revel, it was still danced by the Spartans as a warlike exercise, and +boys of fifteen were instructed in it." Of the Hunting-dance I have +already given instances. (2) It always had the character of Magic about +it, by which the game or quarry might presumably be influenced; and it +can easily be understood that if the Hunt was not successful the blame +might well be attributed to some neglect of the usual ritual mimes or +movements--no laughing matter for the leader of the dance. + + (1) Book IV, ch. 6, Section 7. + + (2) See also Winwood Reade's Savage Africa, ch. xviii, in which +he speaks of the "gorilla dance," before hunting gorillas, as a +"religious festival." + + +Or there were dances belonging to the ceremonies of Initiation--dances +both by the initiators and the initiated. Jane E. Harrison in Themis (p. +24) says, "Instruction among savage peoples is always imparted in more +or less mimetic dances. At initiation you learn certain dances which +confer on you definite social status. When a man is too old to dance, +he hands over his dance to another and a younger, and he then among +some tribes ceases to exist socially.... The dances taught to boys at +initiation are frequently if not always ARMED dances. These are not +necessarily warlike. The accoutrement of spear and shield was in part +decorative, in part a provision for making the necessary hubbub." (Here +Miss Harrison reproduces a photograph of an Initiation dance among the +Akikuyu of British East Africa.) The Initiation-dances blend insensibly +and naturally with the Mystery and Religion dances, for indeed +initiation was for the most part an instruction in the mysteries and +social rites of the Tribe. They were the expression of things which +would be hard even for us, and which for rude folk would be impossible, +to put into definite words. Hence arose the expression--whose meaning +has been much discussed by the learned--"to dance out ([gr ezorceisqai]) +a mystery." (1) Lucian, in a much-quoted passage, (2) observes: "You +cannot find a single ancient mystery in which there is not dancing ... +and this much all men know, that most people say of the revealers of the +mysteries that they 'dance them out.'" Andrew Lang, commenting on this +passage, (3) continues: "Clement of Alexandria uses the same term when +speaking of his own 'appalling revelations.' So closely connected are +mysteries with dancing among savages that when Mr. Orpen asked Qing, the +Bushman hunter, about some doctrines in which Qing was not initiated, +he said: 'Only the initiated men of that dance know these things.' To +'dance' this or that means to be acquainted with this or that +myth, which is represented in a dance or ballet d'action. So widely +distributed is the practice that Acosta in an interesting passage +mentions it as familiar to the people of Peru before and after the +Spanish conquest." (And we may say that when the 'mysteries' are of a +sexual nature it can easily be understood that to 'dance them out' is +the only way of explaining them!) + + (1) Meaning apparently either simply to represent, or, sometimes +to DIVULGE, a mystery. + + (2) [gr peri 'Orchsews], Ch. xv. 277. + + (3) Myth, Ritual and Religion, i, 272. + + +Thus we begin to appreciate the serious nature and the importance of the +dance among primitive folk. To dub a youth "a good dancer" is to pay him +a great compliment. Among the well-known inscriptions on the rocks in +the island of Thera in the Aegean sea there are many which record in +deeply graven letters the friendship and devotion to each other of +Spartan warrior-comrades; it seems strange at first to find how often +such an epithet of praise occurs as Bathycles DANCES WELL, Eumelos is +a PERFECT DANCER ([gr aristos orcestas]). One hardly in general expects +one warrior to praise another for his dancing! But when one realizes +what is really meant--namely the fitness of the loved comrade to lead in +religious and magical rituals--then indeed the compliment takes on a +new complexion. Religious dances, in dedication to a god, have of course +been honored in every country. Muller, in the work just cited, (1) +describes a lively dance called the hyporchema which, accompanied by +songs, was used in the worship of Apollo. "In this, besides the chorus +of singers who usually danced around THE BLAZING ALTAR, several persons +were appointed to accompany the action of the poem with an appropriate +pantomimic display." It was probably some similar dance which is +recorded in Exodus, ch. xxxii, when Aaron made the Israelites a golden +Calf (image of the Egyptian Apis). There was an altar and a fire and +burnt offerings for sacrifice, and the people dancing around. Whether in +the Apollo ritual the dancers were naked I cannot say, but in the affair +of the golden Calf they evidently were, for it will be remembered that +it was just this which upset Moses' equanimity so badly--"when he SAW +THAT THE PEOPLE WERE NAKED"--and led to the breaking of the two tables +of stone and the slaughter of some thousands of folk. It will be +remembered also that David on a sacrificial occasion danced naked before +the Lord. (2) + + (1) Book II, ch. viii, Section 14. + + (2) 2 Sam. vi. + + +It may seem strange that dances in honor of a god should be held naked; +but there is abundant evidence that this was frequently the case, and it +leads to an interesting speculation. Many of these rituals undoubtedly +owed their sanctity and solemnity to their extreme antiquity. They came +down in fact from very far back times when the average man or woman--as +in some of the Central African tribes to-day--wore simply nothing at +all; and like all religious ceremonies they tended to preserve their +forms long after surrounding customs and conditions had altered. +Consequently nakedness lingered on in sacrificial and other rites into +periods when in ordinary life it had come to be abandoned or thought +indecent and shameful. This comes out very clearly in both instances +above--quoted from the Bible. For in Exodus xxxii. 25 it is said that +"Aaron had made them (the dancers) naked UNTO THEIR SHAME among their +enemies (READ opponents)," and in 2 Sam. vi. 20 we are told that Michal +came out and sarcastically rebuked the "glorious king of Israel" for +"shamelessly uncovering himself, like a vain fellow" (for which rebuke, +I am sorry to say, David took a mean revenge on Michal). In both cases +evidently custom had so far changed that to a considerable section of +the population these naked exhibitions had become indecent, though as +parts of an acknowledged ritual they were still retained and supported +by others. The same conclusion may be derived from the commands recorded +in Exodus xx. 26 and xxviii. 42, that the priests be not "uncovered" +before the altar--commands which would hardly have been needed had not +the practice been in vogue. + +Then there were dances (partly magical or religious) performed at rustic +and agricultural festivals, like the Epilenios, celebrated in Greece at +the gathering of the grapes. (1) Of such a dance we get a glimpse in the +Bible (Judges xxi. 20) when the elders advised the children of Benjamin +to go out and lie in wait in the vineyards, at the time of the yearly +feast; and "when the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the +dances, then come ye out of the vineyards and catch you every man a wife +from the daughters of Shiloh"--a touching example apparently of early +so-called 'marriage by capture'! Or there were dances, also partly or +originally religious, of a quite orgiastic and Bacchanalian character, +like the Bryallicha performed in Sparta by men and women in hideous +masks, or the Deimalea by Sileni and Satyrs waltzing in a circle; or the +Bibasis carried out by both men and women--a quite gymnastic exercise in +which the performers took a special pride in striking their own buttocks +with their heels! or others wilder still, which it would perhaps not be +convenient to describe. + + (1) [gr Epilhnioi umnoi]: hymns sung over the winepress +(Dictionary). + + +We must see how important a part Dancing played in that great panorama +of Ritual and Religion (spoken of in the last chapter) which, having +originally been led up to by the 'Fall of Man,' has ever since the dawn +of history gradually overspread the world with its strange procession of +demons and deities, and its symbolic representations of human destiny. +When it is remembered that ritual dancing was the matrix out of which +the Drama sprang, and further that the drama in its inception (as still +to-day in India) was an affair of religion and was acted in, or in +connection with, the Temples, it becomes easier to understand how all +this mass of ceremonial sacrifices, expiations, initiations, Sun and +Nature festivals, eucharistic and orgiastic communions and celebrations, +mystery-plays, dramatic representations, myths and legends, etc., which +I have touched upon in the preceding chapters--together with all the +emotions, the desires, the fears, the yearnings and the wonderment which +they represented--have practically sprung from the same root: a root +deep and necessary in the psychology of Man. Presently I hope to show +that they will all practically converge again in the end to one meaning, +and prepare the way for one great Synthesis to come--an evolution also +necessary and inevitable in human psychology. + +In that truly inspired Ode from which I quoted a few pages back, occur +those well-known words whose repetition now will, on account of their +beauty, I am sure be excused:-- + + Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: + The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, + Hath had elsewhere its setting, + And cometh from afar; + Not in entire forgetfulness, + And not in utter nakedness, + But trailing clouds of glory do we come + From God, who is our home: + Heaven lies about us in our infancy! + Shades of the prison-house begin to close + Upon the growing Boy, + But He beholds the light and whence it flows + He sees it in his joy; + The youth who daily farther from the east + Must travel, still is Nature's Priest, + And by the vision splendid + Is on his way attended; + At length the man perceives it die away + And fade into the light of common day. + + +Wordsworth--though he had not the inestimable advantage of a +nineteenth-century education and the inheritance of the Darwinian +philosophy--does nevertheless put the matter of the Genius of the Child +in a way which (with the alteration of a few conventional terms) we +scientific moderns are quite inclined to accept. We all admit now that +the Child does not come into the world with a mental tabula rasa of +entire forgetfulness but on the contrary as the possessor of vast stores +of sub-conscious memory, derived from its ancestral inheritances; we +all admit that a certain grace and intuitive insight and even prophetic +quality, in the child-nature, are due to the harmonization of these +racial inheritances in the infant, even before it is born; and that +after birth the impact of the outer world serves rather to break up +and disintegrate this harmony than to confirm and strengthen it. Some +psychologists indeed nowadays go so far as to maintain that the child +is not only 'Father of the man,' but superior to the man, (1) and that +Boyhood and Youth and Maturity are attained to not by any addition but +by a process of loss and subtraction. It will be seen that the last ten +lines of the above quotation rather favor this view. + + (1) "Man in the course of his life falls away more and more from +the specifically HUMAN type of his early years, but the Ape in the +course of his short life goes very much farther along the road of +degradation and premature senility." (Man and Woman, by Havelock Ellis, +p. 24). + + +But my object in making the quotation was not to insist on the truth +of its application to the individual Child, but rather to point out +the remarkable way in which it illustrates what I have said about the +Childhood of the Race. In fact, if the quotation be read over again with +this interpretation (which I do not say Wordsworth intended) that +the 'birth' spoken of is the birth or evolution of the distinctively +self-conscious Man from the Animals and the animal-natured, +unself-conscious human beings of a preceding age, then the parable +unfolds itself perfectly naturally and convincingly. THAT birth +certainly was sleep and a forgetting; the grace and intuition and +instinctive perfection of the animals was lost. But the forgetfulness +was not entire; the memory lingered long of an age of harmony, of an +Eden-garden left behind. And trailing clouds of this remembrance +the first tribal men, on the edge of but not yet WITHIN the +civilization-period, appear in the dawn of History. + +As I have said before, the period of the dawn of Self-consciousness was +also the period of the dawn of the practical and inquiring Intellect; it +was the period of the babyhood of both; and so we perceive among these +early people (as we also do among children) that while in the main the +heart and the intuitions were right, the intellect was for a long period +futile and rambling to a degree. As soon as the mind left the ancient +bases of instinct and sub-conscious racial experience it fell into +a hopeless bog, out of which it only slowly climbed by means of the +painfully-gathered stepping-stones of logic and what we call Science. +"Heaven lies about us in our infancy." Wordsworth perceived that +wonderful world of inner experience and glory out of which the child +emerges; and some even of us may perceive that similar world in which +the untampered animals STILL dwell, and OUT of which self-regarding Man +in the history of the race was long ago driven. But a curse went +with the exile. As the Brain grew, the Heart withered. The inherited +instincts and racially accumulated wisdom, on which the first men +thrived and by means of which they achieved a kind of temporary +Paradise, were broken up; delusions and disease and dissension set +in. Cain turned upon his brother and slew him; and the shades of the +prison-house began to close. The growing Boy, however, (by whom we may +understand the early tribes of Mankind) had yet a radiance of Light and +joy in his life; and the Youth--though travelling daily farther from the +East--still remained Nature's priest, and by the vision splendid was on +his way attended: but + + At length the Man perceived it die away. + And fade into the light of common day. + +What a strangely apt picture in a few words (if we like to take it +so) of the long pilgrimage of the Human Race, its early and pathetic +clinging to the tradition of the Eden-garden, its careless and vigorous +boyhood, its meditative youth, with consciousness of sin and endless +expiatory ritual in Nature's bosom, its fleeting visions of +salvation, and finally its complete disillusionment and despair in the +world-slaughter and unbelief of the twentieth century! + +Leaving Wordsworth, however, and coming back to our main line of +thought, we may point out that while early peoples were intellectually +mere babies--with their endless yarns about heroes on horseback leaping +over wide rivers or clouds of monks flying for hundreds of miles +through the air, and their utter failure to understand the general +concatenations of cause and effect--yet practically and in their +instinct of life and destiny they were, as I have already said, by no +means fools; certainly not such fools as many of the arm-chair students +of these things delight to represent them. For just as, a few years +ago, we modern civilizees studying outlying nations, the Chinese for +instance, rejoiced (in our vanity) to pick out every quaint peculiarity +and absurdity and monstrosity of a supposed topsyturvydom, and failed +entirely to see the real picture of a great and eminently sensible +people; so in the case of primitive men we have been, and even still +are, far too prone to catalogue their cruelties and obscenities and +idiotic superstitions, and to miss the sane and balanced setting of +their actual lives. + +Mr. R. R. Marett, who has a good practical acquaintance with his +subject, had in the Hibbert Journal for October 1918 an article on "The +Primitive Medicine Man" in which he shows that the latter is as a rule +anything but a fool and a knave--although like 'medicals' in all ages he +hocuspocuses his patients occasionally! He instances the medicine-man's +excellent management, in most cases, of childbirth, or of wounds and +fractures, or his primeval skill in trepanning or trephining--all of +which operations, he admits, may be accompanied with grotesque and +superstitious ceremonies, yet show real perception and ability. We all +know--though I think the article does not mention the matter--what a +considerable list there is of drugs and herbs which the modern art of +healing owes to the ancient medicine-man, and it may be again mentioned +that one of the most up-to-date treatments--the use of a prolonged and +exclusive diet of MILK as a means of giving the organism a new start +in severe cases--has really come down to us through the ages from this +early source. (1) The real medicine-man, Mr. Marett says, is largely +a 'faith-healer' and 'soul-doctor'; he believes in his vocation, and +undergoes much for the sake of it: "The main point is to grasp that by +his special initiation and the rigid taboos which he practises--not to +speak of occasional remarkable gifts, say of trance and ecstasy, which +he may inherit by nature and have improved by art--he HAS access to a +wonder-working power.... And the great need of primitive folk is for +this healer of souls." Our author further insists on the enormous play +and influence of Fear in the savage mind--a point we have touched on +already--and gives instances of Thanatomania, or cases where, after a +quite slight and superficial wound, the patient becomes so depressed +that he, quite needlessly, persists in dying! Such cases, obviously, +can only be countered by Faith, or something (whatever it may be) which +restores courage, hope and energy to the mind. Nor need I point out +that the situation is exactly the same among a vast number of 'patients' +to-day. As to the value, in his degree, of the medicine-man many modern +observers and students quite agree with the above. (2) Also as the +present chapter is on Ritual Dancing it may not be out of place to call +attention to the supposed healing of sick people in Ceylon and other +places by Devil-dancing--the enormous output of energy and noise in the +ritual possibly having the effect of reanimating the patient (if it does +not kill him), or of expelling the disease from his organism. + + (1) Milk ("fast-milk" or vrata) was, says Mr. Hewitt, the only +diet in the Soma-sacrifice. See Ruling Races of Prehistoric Times +(preface). The Soma itself was a fermented drink prepared with ceremony +from the milky and semen-like sap of certain plants, and much used in +sacrificial offerings. (See Monier-Williams. Sanskrit Dictionary.) + + (2) See Winwood Reade (Savage Africa), Salamon Reinach (Cults, +Myths and Religions), and others. + + +With regard to the practical intelligence of primitive peoples, +derived from their close contact with life and nature, Bishop Colenso's +experiences among the Zulus may appropriately be remembered. When +expounding the Bible to these supposedly backward 'niggers' he was met +at all points by practical interrogations and arguments which he was +perfectly unable to answer--especially over the recorded passage of the +Red Sea by the Israelites in a single night. From the statistics given +in the Sacred Book these naughty savages proved to him absolutely +conclusively that the numbers of fugitives were such that even supposing +them to have marched--men, women and children--FIVE ABREAST and in close +order, they would have formed a column 100 miles long, and this +not including the baggage, sheep and cattle! Of course the feat was +absolutely impossible. They could not have passed the Red Sea in a night +or a week of nights. + +But the sequel is still more amusing and instructive. Colenso, in his +innocent sincerity, took the side of the Zulus, and feeling sure the +Church at home would be quite glad to have its views with regard to +the accuracy of Bible statistics corrected, wrote a book embodying the +amendments needed. Modest as his criticisms were, they raised a STORM of +protest and angry denunciation, which even led to his deposition for the +time being from his bishopric! While at the same time an avalanche of +books to oppose his heresy poured forth from the press. Lately I had the +curiosity to look through the British Museum catalogue and found that +in refutation of Colenso's Pentateuch Examined some 140 (a hundred and +forty) volumes were at that time published! To-day, I need hardly +say, all these arm-chair critics and their works have sunk into utter +obscurity, but the arguments of the Zulus and their Bishop still stand +unmoved and immovable. + +This is a case of searching intelligence shown by 'savages,' an +intelligence founded on intimate knowledge of the needs of actual +life. I think we may say that a similarly instinctive intelligence +(sub-conscious if you like) has guided the tribes of men on the whole +in their long passage through the Red Sea of the centuries, from those +first days of which I speak even down to the present age, and has in +some strange, even if fitful, way kept them along the path of that final +emancipation towards which Humanity is inevitably moving. + + + + +XII. THE SEX-TABOO + +In the course of the last few chapters I have spoken more than once +of the solidarity and continuity of Christianity, in its essential +doctrines, with the Pagan rites. There is, however, one notable +exception to this statement. I refer of course to Christianity's +treatment of Sex. It is certainly very remarkable that while the Pagan +cults generally made a great deal of all sorts of sex-rites, laid much +stress upon them, and introduced them in what we consider an unblushing +and shameless way into the instincts connected with it. I say 'the +Christian Church,' on the whole took quite the opposite line--ignored +sex, condemned it, and did much despite to the perfectly natural +instincts connected with it. I say 'the Christian Church,' because +there is nothing to show that Jesus himself (if we admit his figure as +historical) adopted any such extreme or doctrinaire attitude; and the +quite early Christian teachers (with the chief exception of Paul) do not +exhibit this bias to any great degree. In fact, as is well known, strong +currents of pagan usage and belief ran through the Christian assemblies +of the first three or four centuries. "The Christian art of this period +remained delightfully pagan. In the catacombs we see the Saviour as a +beardless youth, like a young Greek god; sometimes represented, like +Hermes the guardian of the flocks, bearing a ram or lamb round his neck; +sometimes as Orpheus tuning his lute among the wild animals." (1) +The followers of Jesus were at times even accused--whether rightly +or wrongly I know not--of celebrating sexual mysteries at their +love-feasts. But as the Church through the centuries grew in power and +scope--with its monks and their mutilations and asceticisms, and its +celibate clergy, and its absolute refusal to recognize the sexual +meaning of its own acclaimed symbols (like the Cross, the three fingers +of Benediction, the Fleur de Lys and so forth)--it more and more +consistently defined itself as anti-sexual in its outlook, and stood out +in that way in marked contrast to the earlier Nature-religions. + + (1) Angels' Wings, by E. Carpenter, p. 104. + + +It may be said of course that this anti-sexual tendency can be traced in +other of the pre-Christian Churches, especially the later ones, like the +Buddhist, the Egyptian, and so forth; and this is perfectly true; but it +would seem that in many ways the Christian Church marked the culmination +of the tendency; and the fact that other cults participated in the taboo +makes us all the more ready and anxious to inquire into its real cause. + +To go into a disquisition on the Sex-rites of the various pre-Christian +religions would be 'a large order'--larger than I could attempt to fill; +but the general facts in this connection are fairly patent. We know, +of course, from the Bible that the Syrians in Palestine were given to +sexual worships. There were erect images (phallic) and "groves" (sexual +symbols) on every high hill and under every green tree; (1) and these +same images and the rites connected with them crept into the Jewish +Temple and were popular enough to maintain their footing there for a +long period from King Rehoboam onwards, notwithstanding the efforts of +Josiah (2) and other reformers to extirpate them. Moreover there were +girls and men (hierodouloi) regularly attached during this period to +the Jewish Temple as to the heathen Temples, for the rendering of sexual +services, which were recognized in many cases as part of the ritual. +Women were persuaded that it was an honor and a privilege to be +fertilized by a 'holy man' (a priest or other man connected with the +rites), and children resulting from such unions were often called +"Children of God"--an appellation which no doubt sometimes led to a +legend of miraculous birth! Girls who took their place as hierodouloi in +the Temple or Temple-precincts were expected to surrender themselves +to men-worshipers in the Temple, much in the same way, probably, as +Herodotus describes in the temple of the Babylonian Venus Mylitta, where +every native woman, once in her life, was supposed to sit in the Temple +and have intercourse with some stranger. (3) Indeed the Syrian and +Jewish rites dated largely from Babylonia. "The Hebrews entering +Syria," says Richard Burton (4) "found it religionized by Assyria and +Babylonia, when the Accadian Ishtar had passed West, and had become +Ashtoreth, Ashtaroth, or Ashirah, the Anaitis of Armenia, the Phoenician +Astarte, and the Greek Aphrodite, the great Moon-goddess who is queen of +Heaven and Love." The word translated "grove" as above, in our Bible, +is in fact Asherah, which connects it pretty clearly with the Babylonian +Queen of Heaven. + + (1) 1 Kings xiv. 22-24. + + (2) 2 Kings xxiii. + + (3) See Herodotus i. 199; also a reference to this custom in the +apocryphal Baruch, vi. 42, 43. + + (4) The Thousand Nights and a Night (1886 edn.), vol. x, p. 229. + + +In India again, in connection with the Hindu Temples and their rites, +we have exactly the same institution of girls attached to the Temple +service--the Nautch-girls--whose functions in past times were certainly +sexual, and whose dances in honor of the god are, even down to the +present day, decidedly amatory in character. Then we have the very +numerous lingams (conventional representations of the male organ) to +be seen, scores and scores of them, in the arcades and cloisters of the +Hindu Temples--to which women of all classes, especially those who +wish to become mothers, resort, anointing them copiously with oil, and +signalizing their respect and devotion to them in a very practical +way. As to the lingam as representing the male organ, in some form or +other--as upright stone or pillar or obelisk or slender round tower--it +occurs all over the world, notably in Ireland, and forms such a +memorial of the adoration paid by early folk to the great emblem and +instrument of human fertility, as cannot be mistaken. The pillars set +up by Solomon in front of his temple were obviously from their +names--Jachin and Boaz (1)--meant to be emblems of this kind; and the +fact that they were crowned with pomegranates--the universally accepted +symbol of the female--confirms and clinches this interpretation. The +obelisks before the Egyptians' temples were signs of the same character. +The well-known T-shaped cross was in use in pagan lands long before +Christianity, as a representation of the male member, and also at the +same time of the 'tree' on which the god (Attis or Adonis or Krishna or +whoever it might be) was crucified; and the same symbol combined with +the oval (or yoni) formed THE Crux Ansata {Ankh} of the old Egyptian +ritual--a figure which is to-day sold in Cairo as a potent charm, and +confessedly indicates the conjunction of the two sexes in one design. +(2) MacLennan in The Fortnightly Review (Oct. 1869) quotes with approval +the words of Sanchoniathon, as saying that "men first worship plants, +next the heavenly bodies, supposed to be animals, then 'pillars' +(emblems of the Procreator), and last, the anthropomorphic gods." + + (1) "He shall establish" and "In it is strength" are in the Bible +the marginal interpretations of these two words. + + (2) The connection between the production of fire by means of the +fire-drill and the generation of life by sex-intercourse is a very +obvious one, and lends itself to magical ideas. J. E. Hewitt in his +Ruling Races of Prehistoric Times (1894) says (vol. i, p. 8) that +"Magha, the mother-goddess worshipped in Asia Minor, was originally the +socket-block from which fire was generated by the fire-drill." Hence we +have, he says, the Magi of Persia, and the Maghadas of Indian History, +also the word "Magic." + + +It is not necessary to enlarge on this subject. The facts of the +connection of sexual rites with religious services nearly everywhere in +the early world are, as I say, sufficiently patent to every inquirer. +But it IS necessary to try to understand the rationale of this +connection. To dispatch all such cases under the mere term "religious +prostitution" is no explanation. The term suggests, of course, that the +plea of religion was used simply as an excuse and a cover for sexual +familiarities; but though this kind of explanation commends itself, +no doubt, to the modern man--whose religion is as commercial as his +sex-relationships are--and though in CASES no doubt it was a true +explanation--yet it is obvious that among people who took religion +seriously, as a matter of life and death and who did not need +hypocritical excuses or covers for sex-relationships, it cannot be +accepted as in general the RIGHT explanation. No, the real explanation +is--and I will return to this presently--that sexual relationships are +so deep and intimate a part of human nature that from the first it has +been simply impossible to keep them OUT of religion--it being of +course the object of religion to bring the whole human being into +some intelligible relation with the physical, moral, and if you like +supernatural order of the great world around him. Sex was felt from the +first to be part, and a foundational part, of the great order of the +world and of human nature; and therefore to separate it from Religion +was unthinkable and a kind of contradiction in terms. (1) + + (1) For further development of this subject see ch. xv. + + +If that is true--it will be asked--how was it that that divorce DID take +place--that the taboo did arise? How was it that the Jews, under the +influence of Josiah and the Hebrew prophets, turned their faces away +from sex and strenuously opposed the Syrian cults? How was it that this +reaction extended into Christianity and became even more definite in the +Christian Church--that monks went by thousands into the deserts of the +Thebaid, and that the early Fathers and Christian apologists could +not find terms foul enough to hurl at Woman as the symbol (to them) of +nothing but sex-corruption and delusion? How was it that this contempt +of the body and degradation of sex-things went on far into the Middle +Ages of Europe, and ultimately created an organized system of hypocrisy, +and concealment and suppression of sex-instincts, which, acting as cover +to a vile commercial Prostitution and as a breeding ground for horrible +Disease, has lasted on even to the edge of the present day? + +This is a fair question, and one which demands an answer. There must +have been a reason, and a deep-rooted one, for this remarkable reaction +and volte-face which has characterized Christianity, and, perhaps to +a lesser degree, other both earlier and later cults like those of the +Buddhists, the Egyptians, the Aztecs, (1) and so forth. + + (1) For the Aztecs, see Acosta, vol. ii, p. 324 (London, 1604). + + +It may be said--and this is a fair answer on the SURFACE of the +problem--that the main reason WAS something in the nature of a reaction. +The excesses and corruptions of sex in Syria had evidently become pretty +bad, and that very fact may have led to a pendulum-swing of the Jewish +Church in the opposite direction; and again in the same way the general +laxity of morals in the decay of the Roman empire may have confirmed the +Church of early Christendom in its determination to keep along the +great high road of asceticism. The Christian followed on the Jewish +and Egyptian Churches, and in this way a great tradition of sexual +continence and anti-pagan morality came right down the centuries even +into modern times. + +This seems so far a reasonable theory; but I think we shall go farther +and get nearer the heart of the problem if we revert to the general clue +which I have followed already more than once--the clue of the necessary +evolution of human Consciousnss. In the first or animal stage of +human evolution, Sex was (as among the animals) a perfectly necessary, +instinctive and unself-conscious activity. It was harmonious with +itself, natural, and unproductive of evil. But when the second stage set +in, in which man became preponderantly SELF-conscious, he inevitably +set about deflecting sex-activities to his own private pleasure and +advantage; he employed his budding intellect in scheming the derailment +of passion and desire from tribal needs and, Nature's uses to the poor +details of his own gratification. If the first stage of harmonious +sex-instinct and activity may be held as characteristic of the Golden +Age, the second stage must be taken to represent the Fall of man and his +expulsion from Paradise in the Garden of Eden story. The pleasure and +glory of Sex having been turned to self-purposes, Sex itself became the +great Sin. A sense of guilt overspread man's thoughts on the subject. +"He knew that he was naked," and he fled from the voice and face of the +Lord. From that moment one of the main objects of his life (in its inner +and newer activities) came to be the DENIAL of Sex. Sex was conceived +of as the great Antagonist, the old Serpent lying ever in wait to betray +him; and there arrived a moment in the history of every race, and of +every representative religion, when the sexual rites and ceremonies of +the older time lost their naive and quasi-innocent character and became +afflicted with a sense of guilt and indecency. This extraordinarily +interesting and dramatic moment in human evolution was of course that in +which self-consciousness grew powerful enough to penetrate to the centre +of human vitality, the sanctumof man's inner life, his sexual instinct, +and to deal it a terrific blow--a blow from which it has never yet +recovered, and from which indeed it will not recover, until the very +nature of man's inner life is changed. + +It may be said that it was very foolish of Man to deny and to try +to expel a perfectly natural and sensible thing, a necessary and +indispensable part of his own nature. And that, as far as I can see, is +perfectly true. But sometimes it is unavoidable, it would seem, to do +foolish things--if only to convince oneself of one's own foolishness. +On the other hand, this policy on the part of Man was certainly very +wise--wiser than he knew--for in attempting to drive out Sex (which of +course he could not do) he entered into a conflict which was bound +to end in the expulsion of SOMETHING; and that something was the +domination, within himself, of self-consciousness, the very thing which +makes and ever has made sex detestable. Man did not succeed in driving +the snake out of the Garden, but he drove himself out, taking the real +old serpent of self-greed and self-gratification with him. When some day +he returns to Paradise this latter will have died in his bosom and been +cast away, but he will find the good Snake there as of old, full of +healing and friendliness, among the branches of the Tree of Life. + +Besides it is evident from other considerations that this moment of the +denial of sex HAD to come. When one thinks of the enormous power of this +passion, and its age-long, hold upon the human race, one realizes that +once liberated from the instinctive bonds of nature, and backed by a +self-conscious and self-seeking human intelligence it was on the way to +become a fearful curse. + + A monstrous Eft was of old the Lord and Master of Earth; + For him did his high sun flame, and his river billowing ran. + +And this may have been all very well and appropriate in the +carboniferous Epoch, but WE in the end of Time have no desire to fall +under any such preposterous domination, or to return to the primal +swamps from which organic nature has so slowly and painfully emerged. + +I say it was the entry of self-consciousness into the sphere of Sex, and +the consequent use of the latter for private ends, which poisoned +this great race-power at its root. For above all, Sex, as representing +through Childbirth the life of the Race (or of the Tribe, or, if you +like, of Humanity at large) should be sacred and guarded from merely +selfish aims, and therefore to use it only for such aims is indeed a +desecration. And even if--as some maintain and I think rightly (1)--sex +is not MERELY for child-birth and physical procreation, but for mutual +vitalizing and invigoration, it still subserves union and not egotism; +and to use it egotistically is to commit the sin of Separation indeed. +It is to cast away and corrupt the very bond of life and fellowship. The +ancient peoples at any rate threw an illumination of religious (that is, +of communal and public) value over sex-acts, and to a great extent made +them into matters either of Temple-ritual and the worship of the gods, +or of communal and pandemic celebration, as in the Saturnalia and +other similar festivals. We have certainly no right to regard these +celebrations--of either kind--as insincere. They were, at any rate in +their inception, genuinely religious or genuinely social and festal; +and from either point of view they were far better than the secrecy +of private indulgence which characterizes our modern world in these +matters. The thorough and shameless commercialism of Sex has alas! +been reserved for what is called "Christian civilization," and with +it (perhaps as a necessary consequence) Prostitution and Syphilis have +grown into appalling evils, accompanied by a gigantic degradation of +social standards, and upgrowth of petty Philistinism and niaiserie. +Love, in fact, having in this modern world-movement been denied, and its +natural manifestations affected with a sense of guilt and of sin, has +really languished and ceased to play its natural part in life; and a +vast number of people--both men and women, finding themselves barred or +derailed from the main object of existence, have turned their energies +to 'business' or 'money-making' or 'social advancement' or something +equally futile, as the only poor substitute and pis aller open to them. + + (1) See Havelock Ellis, The Objects of Marriage, a pamphlet +published by the "British Society for the Study of Sex-psychology." + + +Why (again we ask) did Christianity make this apparently great mistake? +And again we must reply: Perhaps the mistake was not so great as +it appears to be. Perhaps this was another case of the necessity of +learning by loss. Love had to be denied, in the form of sex, in order +that it might thus the better learn its own true values and needs. Sex +had to be rejected, or defiled with the sense of guilt and self-seeking, +in order that having cast out its defilement it might return one day, +transformed in the embrace of love. The whole process has had a deep and +strange world-significance. It has led to an immensely long period of +suppression--suppression of two great instincts--the physical instinct +of sex and the emotional instinct of love. Two things which should +naturally be conjoined have been separated; and both have suffered. +And we know from the Freudian teachings what suppressions in the +root-instincts necessarily mean. We know that they inevitably terminate +in diseases and distortions of proper action, either in the body or +in the mind, or in both; and that these evils can only be cured by the +liberation of the said instincts again to their proper expression and +harmonious functioning in the whole organism. No wonder then that, with +this agelong suppression (necessary in a sense though it may have +been) which marks the Christian dispensation, there should have +been associated endless Sickness and Crime and sordid Poverty, the +Crucifixion of animals in the name of Science and of human workers in +the name of Wealth, and wars and horrors innumerable! Hercules writhing +in the Nessus-shirt or Prometheus nailed to the rocks are only as +figures of a toy miniature compared with this vision of the great and +divine Spirit of Man caught in the clutches of those dread Diseases +which through the centuries have been eating into his very heart and +vitals. + +It would not be fair to pile on the Christian Church the blame for all +this. It had, no doubt, its part to play in the whole great scheme, +namely, to accentuate the self-motive; and it played the part very +thoroughly and successfully. For it must be remembered (what I have +again and again insisted on) that in the pagan cults it was always +the salvation of the CLAN, the TRIBE, the people that was the main +consideration; the advantage of the individual took only a very +secondary part. But in Christendom--after the communal enthusiasms +of apostolic days and of the medieval and monastic brotherhoods and +sisterhoods had died down--religion occupied itself more and more with +each man or woman's INDIVIDUAL salvation, regardless of what might +happen to the community; till, with the rise of Protestantism and +Puritanism, this tendency reached such an extreme that, as some one has +said, each man was absorbed in polishing up his own little soul in a +corner to himself, in entire disregard to the damnation which might come +to his neighbor. Religion, and Morality too, under the commercial regime +became, as was natural, perfectly selfish. It was always: "Am _I_ saved? +Am _I_ doing the right thing? Am _I_ winning the favor of God and man? +Will my claims to salvation be allowed? Did _I_ make a good bargain +in allowing Jesus to be crucified for me?" The poison of a diseased +self-consciousness entered into the whole human system. + +As I say, one must not blame the Christians too much for all +this--partly because, AFTER the communal periods which I have just +mentioned, Christianity was evidently deeply influenced by the rise +of COMMERCIALISM, to which during the last two centuries it has so +carefully and piously adapted itself; and partly because--if our view is +anywhere near right--this microbial injection of self-consciousness was +just the necessary work which (in conjunction with commercialism) it HAD +to perform. But though one does not blame Christianity one cannot blind +oneself to its defects--the defects necessarily arising from the part it +had to play. When one compares a healthy Pagan ritual--say of Apollo or +Dionysus--including its rude and crude sacrifices if you like, but also +including its whole-hearted spontaneity and dedication to the common +life and welfare--with the morbid self-introspection of the Christian +and the eternally recurring question "What shall I do to be saved?"--the +comparison is not favorable to the latter. There is (at any rate in +modern days) a mawkish milk-and-wateriness about the Christian attitude, +and also a painful self-consciousness, which is not pleasant; and though +Nietzsche's blonde beast is a sufficiently disagreeable animal, one +almost thinks that it were better to be THAT than to go about with one's +head meekly hanging on one side, and talking always of altruism and +self-sacrifice, while in reality one's heart was entirely occupied with +the question of one's own salvation. There is besides a lamentable want +of grit and substance about the Christian doctrines and ceremonials. +Somehow under the sex-taboo they became spiritualized and etherealized +out of all human use. Study the initiation-rites of any savage +tribe--with their strict discipline of the young braves in fortitude, +and the overcoming of pain and fear; with their very detailed lessons in +the arts of war and life and the duties of the grown man to his tribe; +and with their quite practical instruction in matters of Sex; and then +read our little Baptismal and Confirmation services, which ought to +correspond thereto. How thin and attenuated and weak the latter +appear! Or compare the Holy Communion, as celebrated in the sentimental +atmosphere of a Protestant Church, with an ancient Eucharistic feast of +real jollity and community of life under the acknowledged presence +of the god; or the Roman Catholic service of the Mass, including its +genuflexions and mock oblations and droning ritual sing-song, with the +actual sacrifice in early days of an animal-god-victim on a blazing +altar; and I think my meaning will be clear. We do not want, of course, +to return to all the crudities and barbarities of the past; but also we +do not want to become attenuated and spiritualized out of all mundane +sense and recognition, and to live in an otherworld Paradise void of +application to earthly affairs. + +The sex-taboo in Christianity was apparently, as I have said, an effort +of the human soul to wrest itself free from the entanglement of physical +lust--which lust, though normal and appropriate and in a way gracious +among the animals, had through the domination of self-consciousness +become diseased and morbid or monstrous in Man. The work thus done has +probably been of the greatest value to the human race; but, just as in +other cases it has sometimes happened that the effort to do a certain +work has resulted in the end in an unbalanced exaggeration so here. We +are beginning to see now the harmful side of the repression of sex, and +are tentatively finding our way back again to a more pagan attitude. +And as this return-movement is taking place at a time when, from many +obvious signs, the self-conscious, grasping, commercial conception of +life is preparing to go on the wane, and the sense of solidarity to +re-establish itself, there is really good hope that our return-journey +may prove in some degree successful. + +Man progresses generally, not both legs at once like a sparrow, but +by putting one leg forward first, and then the other. There was this +advantage in the Christian taboo of sex that by discouraging the +physical and sensual side of love it did for the time being allow the +spiritual side to come forward. But, as I have just now indicated, +there is a limit to that process. We cannot always keep one leg first in +walking, and we do not want, in life, always to put the spiritual first, +nor always the material and sensual. The two sides in the long run have +to keep pace with each other. + +And it may be that a great number of the very curious and seemingly +senseless taboos that we find among the primitive peoples can be partly +explained in this way: that is, that by ruling out certain directions +of activity they enabled people to concentrate more effectually, for +the time being, on other directions. To primitive folk the great world, +whose ways are puzzling enough in all conscience to us, must have been +simply bewildering in its dangers and complications. It was an amazement +of Fear and Ignorance. Thunderbolts might come at any moment out of the +blue sky, or a demon out of an old tree trunk, or a devastating plague +out of a bad smell--or apparently even out of nothing at all! Under +those circumstances it was perhaps wise, wherever there was the smallest +SUSPICION of danger or ill-luck, to create a hard and fast TABOO--just +as we tell our children ON NO ACCOUNT to walk under a ladder (thereby +creating a superstition in their minds), partly because it would take +too long to explain all about the real dangers of paint-pots and other +things, and partly because for the children themselves it seems simpler +to have a fixed and inviolable law than to argue over every case that +occurs. The priests and elders among early folk no doubt took the +line of FORBIDDAL of activities, as safer and simpler, even if +carried sometimes too far, than the opposite, of easy permission and +encouragement. Taboos multiplied--many of them quite senseless--but +perhaps in this perilous maze of the world, of which I have spoken, +it really WAS simpler to cut out a large part of the labyrinth, as +forbidden ground, thus rendering it easier for the people to find their +way in those portions of the labyrinth which remained. If you read in +Deuteronomy (ch. xiv) the list of birds and beasts and fishes permitted +for food among the Israelites, or tabooed, you will find the list on +the whole reasonable, but you will be struck by some curious exceptions +(according to our ideas), which are probably to be explained by the +necessity of making the rules simple enough to be comprehended by +everybody--even if they included the forbiddal of some quite eatable +animals. + +At some early period, in Babylonia or Assyria, a very stringent taboo on +the Sabbath arose, which, taken up in turn by the Jewish and Christian +Churches, has ruled the Western World for three thousand years or more, +and still survives in a quite senseless form among some of our rural +populations, who will see their corn rot in the fields rather than save +it on a Sunday. (1) It is quite likely that this taboo in its first +beginning was due not to any need of a weekly rest-day (a need which +could never be felt among nomad savages, but would only occur in +some kind of industrial and stationary civilization), but to some +superstitious fear, connected with such things as the changes of the +Moon, and the probable ILL-LUCK of any enterprise undertaken on the +seventh day, or any day of Moon-change. It is probable, however, that as +time went on and Society became more complex, the advantages of a weekly +REST-DAY (or market-day) became more obvious and that the priests and +legislators deliberately turned the taboo to a social use. (2) The +learned modern Ethnologists, however, will generally have none of this +latter idea. As a rule they delight in representing early peoples as +totally destitute of common sense (which is supposed to be a monopoly +of us moderns!); and if the Sabbath-arrangement has had any value or +use they insist on ascribing this to pure accident, and not to the +application of any sane argument or reason. + + (1) For other absurd Sunday taboos see Westermarck on The Moral +Ideas, vol. ii, p. 289. + + (2) For a tracing of this taboo from useless superstition to +practical utility see Hastings's Encycl. Religion and Ethics, art. "The +Sabbath." + + +It is true indeed that a taboo--in order to be a proper taboo--must not +rest in the general mind on argument or reason. It may have had good +sense in the past or even an underlying good sense in the present, but +its foundation must rest on something beyond. It must be an absolute +fiat--something of the nature of a Mystery (1) or of Religion or +Magic-and not to be disputed. This gives it its blood-curdling quality. +The rustic does not know what would happen to him if he garnered his +corn on Sunday, nor does the diner-out in polite society know what +would happen if he spooned up his food with his knife--but they both are +stricken with a sort of paralysis at the very suggestion of infringing +these taboos. + + (1) See Westermarck, Ibid., ii. 586. + + +Marriage-customs have always been a fertile field for the generation +of taboos. It seems doubtful whether anything like absolute promiscuity +ever prevailed among the human race, but there is much to show that wide +choice and intercourse were common among primitive folk and that the +tendency of later marriage custom has been on the whole to LIMIT this +range of choice. At some early period the forbiddal of marriage between +those who bore the same totem-name took place. Thus in Australia "no man +of the Emu stock might marry an Emu woman; no Blacksnake might marry a +Blacksnake woman, and so forth." (1) Among the Kamilaroi and the Arunta +of S. Australia the tribe was divided into classes or clans, sometimes +four, sometimes eight, and a man of one particular clan was only +marriageable with a woman of another particular clan--say (1) with (3) +or (2) with (4), and so on. (2) Customs with a similar tendency, but +different in detail, seem to have prevailed among native tribes in +Central Africa and N. America. And the regulations in all this matter +have been so (apparently) entirely arbitrary in the various cases that +it would almost appear as if the bar of kinship through the Totem had +been the EXCUSE, originating perhaps in some superstition, but that the +real and more abiding object was simply limitation. And this perhaps was +a wise line to take. A taboo on promiscuity had to be created, and for +this purpose any current prejudice could be made use of. (3) + + (1) Myth, Ritual and Religion, i, p. 66. + + (2) See Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Australia. + + (3) The author of The Mystic Rose seems to take this view. See +p. 214 of that book. + + +With us moderns the whole matter has taken a different complexion. When +we consider the enormous amount of suffering and disease, both of mind +and body, arising from the sex-suppression of which I have just spoken, +especially among women, we see that mere unreasoning taboos--which +possibly had their place and use in the past--can be tolerated no +longer. We are bound to turn the searchlight of reason and science on a +number of superstitions which still linger in the dark and musty +places of the Churches and the Law courts. Modern inquiry has shown +conclusively not only the foundational importance of sex in the +evolution of each human being, but also the very great VARIETY of +spontaneous manifestations in different individuals and the vital +necessity that these should be recognized, if society is ever to expand +into a rational human form. It is not my object here to sketch the +future of marriage and sex-relations generally--a subject which is now +being dealt with very effectively from many sides; but only to insist on +our using our good sense in the whole matter, and refusing any longer to +be bound by senseless pre-judgments. + +Something of the same kind may be said with regard to Nakedness, which +in modern Civilization has become the object of a very serious and +indeed harmful taboo; both of speech and act. As someone has said, it +became in the end of the nineteenth century almost a crime to mention +by name any portion of the human body within a radius of about twenty +inches from its centre (!) and as a matter of fact a few dress-reformers +of that period were actually brought into court and treated as criminals +for going about with legs bare up to the knees, and shoulders and chest +uncovered! Public follies such as these have been responsible for much +of the bodily and mental disease and suppression just mentioned, and +the sooner they are sent to limbo the better. No sensible person +would advocate promiscuous nakedness any more than promiscuous +sex-relationship; nor is it likely that aged and deformed people would +at any time wish to expose themselves. But surely there is enough good +sense and appreciation of grace and fitness in the average human mind +for it to be able to liberate the body from senseless concealment, and +give it its due expression. The Greeks of old, having on the whole +clean bodies, treated them with respect and distinction. The young men +appeared quite naked in the palaestra, and even the girls of Sparta ran +races publicly in the same condition; (1) and some day when our +bodies (and minds too) have become clean we shall return to similar +institutions. But that will not be just yet. As long as the defilement +of this commercial civilization is on us we shall prefer our dirt and +concealment. The powers that be will protest against change. Heinrich +Scham, in his charming little pamphlet Nackende Menschen, (2) describes +the consternation of the commercial people at such ideas: + +"'What will become of us,' cried the tailors, 'if you go naked?' + +"And all the lot of them, hat, cravat, shirt, and shoemakers joined in +the chorus. + +"'AND WHERE SHALL I CARRY MY MONEY?' cried one who had just been made a +director." + + + (1) See Theocritus, Idyll xviii. + + (2) Published at Leipzig about 1893. + + + + +XIII. THE GENESIS OF CHRISTIANITY + +Referring back to the existence of something resembling a great +World-religion which has come down the centuries, continually expanding +and branching in the process, we have now to consider the genesis of +that special brand or branch of it which we call Christianity. Each +religion or cult, pagan or Christian, has had, as we have seen, a vast +amount in common with the general World-religion; yet each has had its +own special characteristics. What have been the main characteristics of +the Christian branch, as differentiating it from the other branches? + +We saw in the last chapter that a certain ascetic attitude towards Sex +was one of the most salient marks of the Christian Church; and that +whereas most of the pagan cults (though occasionally favoring frightful +austerities and cruel sacrifices) did on the whole rejoice in pleasure +and the world of the senses, Christianity--following largely on +Judaism--displayed a tendency towards renunciation of the world and the +flesh, and a withdrawal into the inner and more spiritual regions of the +mind. The same tendency may be traced in the Egyptian and Phrygian cults +of that period. It will be remembered how Juvenal (Sat. VI, 510-40) +chaffs the priests of Cybele at Rome for making themselves "eunuchs for +the kingdom of heaven's sake," or the rich Roman lady for plunging in +the wintry Tiber for a propitiation to Isis. No doubt among the later +pagans "the long intolerable tyranny of the senses over the soul" had +become a very serious matter. But Christianity represented perhaps the +most powerful reaction against this; and this reaction had, as indicated +in the last chapter, the enormously valuable result that (for the time) +it disentangled love from sex and established Love, pure and undefiled, +as ruler of the world. "God is Love." But, as also indicated, the +divorce between the two elements of human nature, carried to an extreme, +led in time to a crippling of both elements and the development of a +certain morbidity and self-consciousness which, it cannot be denied, is +painfully marked among some sections of Christians--especially those of +the altruistic and 'philanthropic' type. + +Another characteristic of Christianity which is also very fine in +its way but has its limits of utility, has been its insistence on +"morality." Some modern writers indeed have gone so far--forgetting, I +suppose, the Stoics--as to claim that Christianity's chief mark is its +high morality, and that the pagans generally were quite wanting in the +moral sense! This, of course, is a profound mistake. I should say that, +in the true sense of the word, the early and tribal peoples have been +much more 'moral' as a rule--that is, ready as individuals to pay +respect to the needs of the community--than the later and more civilized +societies. But the mistake arises from the different interpretations of +the word; for whereas all the pagan religions insisted very strongly on +the just-mentioned kind of morality, which we should call CIVIC DUTY TO +ONE'S NEIGHBOR, the Christian made morality to consist more especially +in a mans DUTY TO GOD. It became with them a private affair between a +mans self and-God, rather than a public affair; and thus led in the end +to a very obnoxious and quite pharisaic kind of morality, whose chief +inspiration was not the helping of one's fellow-man but the saving of +one's own soul. + +There may perhaps be other salient points of differentiation between +Christianity and the preceding pagan religions; but for the present we +may recognize these two--(a) the tendency towards a renunciation of the +world, and the consequent cultivation of a purely spiritual love and (b) +the insistence on a morality whose inspiration was a private sense of +duty to God rather than a public sense of duty to one's neighbor and to +society generally. It may be interesting to trace the causes which led +to this differentiation. + +Three centuries before our era the conquests of Alexander had had the +effect of spreading the Greek thought and culture over most of the known +world. A vast number of small bodies of worshipers of local deities, +with their various rituals and religious customs, had thus been broken +up, or at least brought into contact with each other and partially +modified and hellenized. The orbit of a more general conception of life +and religion was already being traced. By the time of the founding of +the first Christian Church the immense conquests of Rome had greatly +extended and established the process. The Mediterranean had become a +great Roman lake. Merchant ships and routes of traffic crossed it in all +directions; tourists visited its shores. The known world had become one. +The numberless peoples, tribes, nations, societies within the girdle of +the Empire, with their various languages, creeds, customs, religions, +philosophies, were profoundly influencing each other. (1) A great fusion +was taking place; and it was becoming inevitable that the next great +religious movement would have a world-wide character. + + (1) For an enlargement on this theme see Glover's Conflict of +Religions in the early Roman Empire; also S. J. Case, Evolution of +Early Christianity (University of Chicago, 1914). The Adonis worship, for +instance (a resurrection-cult), "was still thriving in Syria and Cyprus +when Paul preached there," and the worship of Isis and Serapis had +already reached then, Rome and Naples. + + +It was probable that this new religion would combine many elements from +the preceding rituals in one cult. In connection with the fine temples +and elaborate services of Isis and Cybele and Mithra there was growing +up a powerful priesthood; Franz Cumont (1) speaks of "the learned +priests of the Asiatic cults" as building up, on the foundations of old +fetichism and superstition, a complete religious philosophy--just as +the Brahmins had built the monism of the Vedanta on the "monstrous +idolatries of Hinduism." And it was likely that a similar process would +evolve the new religion expected. Toutain again calls attention to the +patronage accorded to all these cults by the Roman Emperors, as favoring +a new combination and synthesis:--"Hadrien, Commode, Septime Severe, +Julia Domna, Elagabal, Alexandre Severe, en particulier ont contribue +personnellement a la popularite et au succes des cultes qui se +celebraient en l'honneur de Serapis et d'Isis, des divinites syriennes +et de Mithra." (2) + + (1) See Cumont, Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain +(Paris, 1906), p. 253. + + (2) Cultes paiens dans l'Empire Romain (2 vols., 1911), vol. ii, +p. 263. + + +It was also probable that this new Religion would show (as indicated +in the last chapter) a reaction against mere sex-indulgence; and, +as regards its standard of Morality generally, that, among so many +conflicting peoples with their various civic and local customs, it could +not well identify itself with any ONE of these but would evolve an +inner inspiration of its own which in its best form would be love of the +neighbor, regardless of the race, creed or customs of the neighbor, and +whose sanction would not reside in any of the external authorities +thus conflicting with each other, but in the sense of the soul's direct +responsibility to God. + +So much for what we might expect a priori as to the influence of the +surroundings on the general form of the new Religion. And what about the +kind of creed or creeds which that religion would favor? Here again +we must see that the influence of the surroundings compelled a certain +result. Those doctrines which we have described in the preceding +chapters--doctrines of Sin and Sacrifice, a Savior, the Eucharist, the +Trinity, the Virgin-birth, and so forth--were in their various forms +seething, so to speak, all around. It was impossible for any new +religious synthesis to escape them; all it could do would be to +appropriate them, and to give them perhaps a color of its own. Thus +it is into the midst of this germinating mass that we must imagine the +various pagan cults, like fertilizing streams, descending. To trace all +these streams would of course be an impossible task; but it may be of +use, as an example of the process, to take the case of some particular +belief. Let us take the belief in the coming of a Savior-god; and this +will be the more suitable as it is a belief which has in the past been +commonly held to be distinctive of Christianity. Of course we know now +that it is not in any sense distinctive, but that the long tradition of +the Savior comes down from the remotest times, and perhaps from every +country of the world. (1) The Messianic prophecies of the Jews and the +fifty-third chapter of Isaiah emptied themselves into the Christian +teachings, and infected them to some degree with a Judaic tinge. The +"Messiah" means of course the Anointed One. The Hebrew word occurs some +40 times in the Old Testament; and each time in the Septuagint or Greek +translation (made mainly in the third century BEFORE our era) the word +is translated [gr cristos], or Christos, which again means Anointed. +Thus we see that the idea or the word "The Christ" was in vogue in +Alexandria as far back certainly as 280 B.C., or nearly three centuries +before Jesus. And what the word "The Anointed" strictly speaking means, +and from what the expression is probably derived, will appear later. In +The Book of Enoch, written not later than B.C. 170, (2) the Christ is +spoken of as already existing in heaven, and about to come as judge +of all men, and is definitely called "the Son of Man." The Book of +Revelations is FULL of passages from Enoch; so are the Epistles of Paul; +so too the Gospels. The Book of Enoch believes in a Golden Age that is +to come; it has Dantesque visions of Heaven and Hell, and of Angels good +and evil, and it speaks of a "garden of Righteousness" with the "Tree of +Wisdom" in its midst. Everywhere, says Prof. Drews, in the first century +B.C., there was the longing for a coming Savior. + + (1) Even to-day, the Arabian lands are always vibrating with +prophecies of a coming Mahdi. + + (2) See Edition by R. H. Charles (1893). + + +But the Savior-god, as we also know, was a familiar figure in Egypt. The +great Osiris was the Savior of the world, both in his life and death: in +his life through the noble works he wrought for the benefit of mankind, +and in his death through his betrayal by the powers of darkness and +his resurrection from the tomb and ascent into heaven. (1) The Egyptian +doctrines descended through Alexandria into Christianity--and though +they did not influence the latter deeply until about 300 A.D., yet they +then succeeded in reaching the Christian Churches, giving a color to +their teachings with regard to the Savior, and persuading them to accept +and honor the Egyptian worship of Isis in the Christian form of the +Virgin Mary. + + (1) See ch. ii. + + +Again, another great stream of influence descended from Persia in the +form of the cult of Mithra. Mithra, as we have seen, (1) stood as a +great Mediator between God and man. With his baptisms and eucharists, +and his twelve disciples, and his birth in a cave, and so forth, +he seemed to the early Fathers an invention of the devil and a most +dangerous mockery on Christianity--and all the more so because his +worship was becoming so exceedingly popular. The cult seems to have +reached Rome about B.C. 70. It spread far and wide through the Empire. +It extended to Great Britain, and numerous remains of Mithraic +monuments and sculptures in this country--at York, Chester and other +places--testify to its wide acceptance even here. At Rome the vogue of +Mithraism became so great that in the third century A. D., it was quite +doubtful (2) whether it OR Christianity would triumph; the Emperor +Aurelian in 273 founded a cult of the Invincible Sun in connection with +Mithraism; (3) and as St. Jerome tells us in his letters, (4) the latter +cult had at a later time to be suppressed in Rome and Alexandria by +PHYSICAL FORCE, so powerful was it. + + (1) Ch. ii. + + (2) See Cumont, op. cit., who says, p. 171:--"Jamais, pas meme a +l'epoque des invasions mussulmanes, l'Europe ne sembla plus pres +de devenir asiatique qu'au moment ou Diocletien reconnaissait +officiellement en Mithra, le protecteur de l'empire reconstitue." See +also Cumont's Mysteres de Mithra, preface. The Roman Army, in fact, +stuck to Mithra throughout, as against Christianity; and so did the +Roman nobility. (See S. Augustine's Confessions, Book VIII, ch. 2.) + + (3) Cumont indeed says that the identification of Mithra with the +Sun (the emblem of imperial power) formed one reason why Mithraism was +NOT persecuted at that time. + + (4) Epist. cvii, ad Laetam. See Robertson's Pagan Christs, p. +350. + + +Nor was force the only method employed. IMITATION is not only the +sincerest flattery, but it is often the most subtle and effective way of +defeating a rival. The priests of the rising Christian Church were, like +the priests of ALL religions, not wanting in craft; and at this moment +when the question of a World-religion was in the balance, it was an +obvious policy for them to throw into their own scale as many elements +as possible of the popular Pagan cults. Mithraism had been flourishing +for 600 years; and it is, to say the least, CURIOUS that the Mithraic +doctrines and legends which I have just mentioned should all have been +adopted (quite unintentionally of course!) into Christianity; and still +more so that some others from the same source, like the legend of the +Shepherds at the Nativity and the doctrine of the Resurrection and +Ascension, which are NOT mentioned at all in the original draft of the +earliest Gospel (St. Mark), should have made their appearance, in the +Christian writings at a later time, when Mithraism was making great +forward strides. History shows that as a Church progresses and expands +it generally feels compelled to enlarge and fortify its own foundations +by inserting material which was not there at first. I shall shortly give +another illustration of this; at present I will merely point out +that the Christian writers, as time went on, not only introduced new +doctrines, legends, miracles and so forth--most of which we can trace to +antecedent pagan sources--but that they took especial pains to +destroy the pagan records and so obliterate the evidence of their own +dishonesty. We learn from Porphyry (1) that there were several elaborate +treatises setting forth the religion of Mithra; and J. M. Robertson adds +(Pagan Christs, p. 325): "everyone of these has been destroyed by the +care of the Church, and it is remarkable that even the treatise of +Firmicus is mutilated at a passage (v.) where he seems to be accusing +Christians of following Mithraic usages." While again Professor Murray +says, "The polemic literature of Christianity is loud and triumphant; +the books of the Pagans have been DESTROYED." (2) + + (1) De Abstinentia, ii. 56; iv. 16. + + (2) Four Stages, p. 180. We have probably an instance of this +destruction in the total disappearance of Celsus' lively attack +on Christianity (180 A.D.), of which, however, portions have been +fortunately preserved in Origen's rather prolix refutation of the same. + + +Returning to the doctrine of the Savior, I have already in preceding +chapters given so many instances of belief in such a deity among the +pagans--whether he be called Krishna or Mithra or Osiris or Horus or +Apollo or Hercules--that it is not necessary to dwell on the subject any +further in order to persuade the reader that the doctrine was 'in the +air' at the time of the advent of Christianity. Even Dionysus, then +a prominent figure in the 'Mysteries,' was called Eleutherios, The +Deliverer. But it may be of interest to trace the same doctrine among +the PRE-CHRISTIAN sects of Gnostics. The Gnostics, says Professor +Murray, (1) "are still commonly thought of as a body of CHRISTIAN +heretics. In reality there were Gnostic sects scattered over the +Hellenistic world BEFORE Christianity as well as after. They must have +been established in Antioch and probably in Tarsus well before the +days of Paul or Apollos. Their Savior, like the Jewish Messiah, was +established in men's minds before the Savior of the Christians. 'If +we look close,' says Professor Bousset, 'the result emerges with great +clearness that the figure of the Redeemer as such did not wait for +Christianity to force its way into the religion of Gnosis, but was +already present there under various forms.'" + + (1) Four Stages, p. 143. + + +This Gnostic Redeemer, continues Professor Murray, "is descended by a +fairly clear genealogy from the 'Tritos Soter' ('third Savior') (1) of +early Greece, contaminated with similar figures, like Attis and Adonis +from Asia Minor, Osiris from Egypt, and the special Jewish conception of +the Messiah of the Chosen people. He has various names, which the name +of Jesus or 'Christos,' 'the Anointed,' tends gradually to supersede. +Above all, he is in some sense Man, or 'the second Man' or 'the Son of +Man'... He is the real, the ultimate, the perfect and eternal Man, of +whom all bodily men are feeble copies." (2) + + (1) There seems to be some doubt about the exact meaning of this +expression. Even Zeus himself was sometimes called 'Soter,' and at +feasts, it is said, the THIRD goblet was always drunk in his honor. + + (2) See also The Gnostic Story of Jesus Christ, by Gilbert T. +Sadler (C. W. Daniel, 1919). + + +This passage brings vividly before the mind the process of which I +have spoken, namely, the fusion and mutual interchange of ideas on the +subject of the Savior during the period anterior to our era. Also it +exemplifies to us through what an abstract sphere of Gnostic religious +speculation the doctrine had to travel before reaching its expression in +Christianity. (1) This exalted and high philosophical conception passed +on and came out again to some degree in the Fourth Gospel and the +Pauline Epistles (especially I Cor. xv); but I need hardly say it +was not maintained. The enthusiasm of the little scattered Christian +bodies--with their communism of practice with regard to THIS world and +their intensity of faith with regard to the next--began to wane in the +second and third centuries A.D. As the Church (with capital initial) +grew, so was it less and less occupied with real religious feeling, and +more and more with its battles against persecution from outside, and its +quarrels and dissensions concerning heresies within its own borders. And +when at the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) it endeavored to establish an +official creed, the strife and bitterness only increased. "There is no +wild beast," said the Emperor Julian, "like an angry theologian." Where +the fourth Evangelist had preached the gospel of Love, and Paul had +announced redemption by an inner and spiritual identification with +Christ, "As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive"; +and whereas some at any rate of the Pagan cults had taught a glorious +salvation by the new birth of a divine being within each man: "Be of +good cheer, O initiates in the mystery of the liberated god; For to +you too out of all your labors and sorrows shall come Liberation"--the +Nicene creed had nothing to propound except some extremely futile +speculations about the relation to each other of the Father and the +Son, and the relation of BOTH to the Holy Ghost, and of all THREE to the +Virgin Mary--speculations which only served for the renewal of shameful +strife and animosities--riots and bloodshed and murder--within the +Church, and the mockery of the heathen without. And as far as it dealt +with the crucifixion, death and resurrection of the Lord it did not +differ from the score of preceding pagan creeds, except in the thorough +materialism and lack of poetry in statement which it exhibits. After +the Council of Nicaea, in fact, the Judaic tinge in the doctrines of the +Church becomes more apparent, and more and more its Scheme of Salvation +through Christ takes the character of a rather sordid and huckstering +bargain by which Man gets the better of God by persuading the latter +to sacrifice his own Son for the redemption of the world! With the +exception of a few episodes like the formation during the Middle Ages of +the noble brotherhoods and sisterhoods of Frairs and Nuns, dedicated to +the help and healing of suffering humanity, and the appearance of a few +real lovers of mankind (and the animals) like St. Francis--(and these +manifestations can hardly be claimed by the Church, which pretty +consistently opposed them)--it may be said that after about the fourth +century the real spirit and light of early Christian enthusiasm died +away. The incursions of barbarian tribes from the North and East, and +later of Moors and Arabs from the South, familiarized the European +peoples with the ideas of bloodshed and violence; gross and material +conceptions of life were in the ascendant; and a romantic and aspiring +Christianity gave place to a worldly and vulgar Churchianity. + + (1) When travelling in India I found that the Gnanis or Wise Men +there quite commonly maintained that Jesus (judging from his teaching) +must have been initiated at some time in the esoteric doctrines of the +Vedanta. + + +I have in these two or three pages dealt only--and that very +briefly--with the entry of the pagan doctrine of the Savior into the +Christian field, showing its transformation there and how Christianity +could not well escape having a doctrine of a Savior, or avoid giving a +color of its own to that doctrine. To follow out the same course +with other doctrines, like those which I have mentioned above, would +obviously be an endless task--which must be left to each student or +reader to pursue according to his opportunity and capacity. It is clear +anyhow, that all these elements of the pagan religions--pouring down +into the vast reservoir, or rather whirlpool, of the Roman Empire, +and mixing among all these numerous brotherhoods, societies, collegia, +mystery-clubs, and groups which were at that time looking out intently +for some new revelation or inspiration--did more or less automatically +act and react upon each other, and by the general conditions prevailing +were modified, till they ultimately combined and took united shape +in the movement which we call Christianity, but which only--as I have +said--narrowly escaped being called Mithraism--so nearly related and +closely allied were these cults with each other. + + +At this point it will naturally be asked: "And where in this scheme of +the Genesis of Christianity is the chief figure and accredited leader of +the movement--namely Jesus Christ himself--for to all appearance in the +account here given of the matter he is practically non-existent or a +negligible quantity?" And the question is a very pertinent one, and very +difficult to answer. "Where is the founder of the Religion?"--or to +put it in another form: "Is it necessary to suppose a human and visible +Founder at all?" A few years ago such a mere question would have been +accounted rank blasphemy, and would only--if passed over--have been +ignored on account of its supposed absurdity. To-day, however, owing to +the enormous amount of work which has been done of late on the +subject of Christian origins, the question takes on quite a different +complexion. And from Strauss onwards a growingly influential and learned +body of critics is inclined to regard the whole story of the Gospels as +LEGENDARY. Arthur Drews, for instance, a professor at Karlsruhe, in his +celebrated book The Christ-Myth, (1) places David F. Strauss as first +in the myth field--though he allows that Dupuis in L'origine de tous +les cultes (1795) had given the clue to the whole idea. He then mentions +Bruno Bauer (1877) as contending that Jesus was a pure invention +of Mark's, and John M. Robertson as having in his Christianity and +Mythology (1900) given the first thoroughly reasoned exposition of the +legendary theory; also Emilio Bossi in Italy, who wrote Jesu Christo +non e mai esistito, and similar authors in Holland, Poland, and other +countries, including W. Benjamin Smith, the American author of The +Pre-christian Jesus (1906), and P. Jensen in Das Gilgamesch Epos in +den Welt-literatur (1906), who makes the Jesus-story a variant of the +Babylonian epic, 2000 B.C. A pretty strong list! (2) "But," continues +Drews, "ordinary historians still ignore all this." Finally, he +dismisses Jesus as "a figure swimming obscurely in the mists of +tradition." Nevertheless I need hardly remark that, large and learned +as the body of opinion here represented is, a still larger (but less +learned) body fights desperately for the actual HISTORICITY of Jesus, +and some even still for the old view of him as a quite unique and +miraculous revelation of Godhood on earth. + + (1) Die Christus-mythe: verbesserte und erweitezte Ausgabe, Jena, +1910. + + (2) To which we may also add Schweitzer's Quest of the historical +Jesus (1910). + + +At first, no doubt, the LEGENDARY theory seems a little TOO far-fetched. +There is a fashion in all these things, and it MAY be that there is a +fashion even here. But when you reflect how rapidly legends grow up even +in these days of exact Science and an omniscient Press; how the figure +of Shakespeare, dead only 300 years, is almost completely lost in +the mist of Time, and even the authenticity of his works has become a +subject of controversy; when you find that William Tell, supposed to +have lived some 300 years again before Shakespeare, and whose deeds in +minutest detail have been recited and honored all over Europe, is almost +certainly a pure invention, and never existed; when you remember--as +mentioned earlier in this book (1)--that it was more than five hundred +years after the supposed birth of Jesus before any serious effort +was made to establish the date of that birth--and that then a purely +mythical date was chosen: the 25th December, the day of the SUN'S new +birth after the winter solstice, and the time of the supposed birth of +Apollo, Bacchus, and the other Sungods; when, moreover, you think for +a moment what the state of historical criticism must have been, and +the general standard of credibility, 1,900 years ago, in a country like +Syria, and among an ignorant population, where any story circulating +from lip to lip was assured of credence if sufficiently marvelous +or imaginative;--why, then the legendary theory does not seem so +improbable. There is no doubt that after the destruction of Jerusalem +(in A.D. 70), little groups of believers in a redeeming 'Christ' were +formed there and in other places, just as there had certainly existed, +in the first century B.C., groups of Gnostics, Therapeutae, Essenes and +others whose teachings were very SIMILAR to the Christian, and there was +now a demand from many of these groups for 'writings' and 'histories' +which should hearten and confirm the young and growing Churches. The +Gospels and Epistles, of which there are still extant a great abundance, +both apocryphal and canonical, met this demand; but how far their +records of the person of Jesus of Nazareth are reliable history, or how +far they are merely imaginative pictures of the kind of man the Saviour +might be expected to be, (2) is a question which, as I have already +said, is a difficult one for skilled critics to answer, and one on which +I certainly have no intention of giving a positive verdict. Personally I +must say I think the 'legendary' solution quite likely, and in some ways +more satisfactory than the opposite one--for the simple reason that +it seems much more encouraging to suppose that the story of Jesus, +(gracious and beautiful as it is) is a myth which gradually formed +itself in the conscience of mankind, and thus points the way of +humanity's future evolution, than to suppose it to be the mere record +of an unique and miraculous interposition of Providence, which depended +entirely on the powers above, and could hardly be expected to occur +again. + + (1) Ch. II. + + (2) One of Celsus' accusations against the Christians was that +their Gospels had been written "several times over" (see Origen, Contra +Celsum, ii. 26, 27). + + +However, the question is not what we desire, but what we can prove to be +the actual fact. And certainly the difficulties in the way of regarding +the Gospel story (or stories, for there is not one consistent story) +as TRUE are enormous. If anyone will read, for instance, in the four +Gospels, the events of the night preceding the crucifixion and reckon +the time which they would necessarily have taken to enact--the Last +Supper, the agony in the Garden, the betrayal by Judas, the haling +before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, and then before Pilate in the Hall +of judgment (though courts for the trial of malefactors do not GENERALLY +sit in the middle of the night); then--in Luke--the interposed visit to +Herod, and the RETURN to Pilate; Pilate's speeches and washing of hands +before the crowd; then the scourging and the mocking and the arraying of +Jesus in purple robe as a king; then the preparation of a Cross and the +long and painful journey to Golgotha; and finally the Crucifixion at +sunrise;--he will see--as has often been pointed out--that the whole +story is physically impossible. As a record of actual events the story +is impossible; but as a record or series of notes derived from the +witnessing of a "mystery-play"--and such plays with VERY SIMILAR +incidents were common enough in antiquity in connection with cults of +a dying Savior, it very likely IS true (one can see the very dramatic +character of the incidents: the washing of hands, the threefold denial +by Peter, the purple robe and crown of thorns, and so forth); and as +such it is now accepted by many well-qualified authorities. (1) + + (1) Dr. Frazer in The Golden Bough (vol. ix, "The Scapegoat," p. +400) speaks of the frequency in antiquity of a Mystery-play relating +to a God-man who gives his life and blood for the people; and he +puts forward tentatively and by no means dogmatically the following +note:--"Such a drama, if we are right, was the original story of Esther +and Mordecai, or (to give their older names) Ishtar and Marduk. It was +played in Babylonia, and from Babylonia the returning Captives brought +it to Judaea, where it was acted, rather as an historical than a +mythical piece, by players who, having to die in grim earnest on a +cross or gallows, were naturally drawn from the gaol rather than the +green-room. A chain of causes, which because we cannot follow them +might--in the loose language of common life--be called an accident, +determined that the part of the dying god in this annual play should +be thrust upon Jesus of Nazareth, whom the enemies he had made in high +places by his outspoken strictures were resolved to put out of the way." +See also vol. iv, "The Dying God," in the same book. + + +There are many other difficulties. The raising of Lazarus, already dead +three days, the turning of water into wine (a miracle attributed to +Bacchus, of old), the feeding of the five thousand, and others of the +marvels are, to say the least, not easy of digestion. The "Sermon on the +Mount" which, with the "Lord's Prayer" embedded in it, forms the great +and accepted repository of 'Christian' teaching and piety, is well known +to be a collection of sayings from pre-christian writings, including the +Psalms, Isaiah, Ecclesiasticus, the Secrets of Enoch, the Shemonehesreh +(a book of Hebrew prayers), and others; and the fact that this +collection was really made AFTER the time of Jesus, and could not +have originated from him, is clear from the stress which it lays on +"persecutions" and "false prophets"--things which were certainly not a +source of trouble at the time Jesus is supposed to be speaking, though +they were at a later time--as well as from the occurrence of the word +"Gentiles," which being here used apparently in contra-distinction to +"Christians" could not well be appropriate at a time when no recognized +Christian bodies as yet existed. + +But the most remarkable point in this connection is the absolute +silence of the Gospel of Mark on the subject of the Resurrection and +Ascension--that is, of the ORIGINAL Gospel, for it is now allowed on +all hands that the twelve verses Mark xvi. 9 to the end, are a later +insertion. Considering the nature of this event, astounding indeed, if +physically true, and unique in the history of the world, it is strange +that this Gospel--the earliest written of the four Gospels, and nearest +in time to the actual evidence--makes no mention of it. The next Gospel +in point of time--that of Matthew--mentions the matter rather briefly +and timidly, and reports the story that the body had been STOLEN from +the sepulchre. Luke enlarges considerably and gives a whole long chapter +to the resurrection and ascension; while the Fourth Gospel, written +fully twenty years later still--say about A. D. 120--gives two chapters +and a GREAT VARIETY OF DETAILS! + +This increase of detail, however, as one gets farther and farther from +the actual event is just what one always finds, as I have said before, +in legendary traditions. A very interesting example of this has lately +come to light in the case of the traditions concerning the life and +death of the Persian Bab. The Bab, as most of my readers will know, was +the Founder of a great religious movement which now numbers (or numbered +before the Great War) some millions of adherents, chiefly Mahommedans, +Christians, Jews and Parsees. The period of his missionary activity +was from 1845 to 1850. His Gospel was singularly like that of Jesus--a +gospel of love to mankind--only (as might be expected from the +difference of date) with an even wider and more deliberate inclusion of +all classes, creeds and races, sinners and saints; and the incidents and +entourage of his ministry were also singularly similar. He was born at +Shiraz in 1820, and growing up a promising boy and youth, fell at the +age Of 21 under the influence of a certain Seyyid Kazim, leader of a +heterodox sect, and a kind of fore-runner or John the Baptist to the +Bab. The result was a period of mental trouble (like the "temptation in +the wilderness"), after which the youth returned to Shiraz and at the +age of twenty-five began his own mission. His real name was Mirza Ali +Muhammad, but he called himself thenceforth The Bab, i.e. the Gate ("I +am the Way"); and gradually there gathered round him disciples, drawn +by the fascination of his personality and the devotion of his character. +But with the rapid increase of his following great jealousy and hatred +were excited among the Mullahs, the upholders of a fanatical and +narrow-minded Mahommedanism and quite corresponding to the Scribes and +Pharisees of the New Testament. By them he was denounced to the +Turkish Government. He was arrested on a charge of causing political +disturbance, and was condemned to death. Among his disciples was one +favorite, (1) who was absolutely devoted to his Master and refused to +leave him at the last. So together they were suspended over the city +wall (at Tabriz) and simultaneously shot. This was on the 8th July, +1850. + + (1) Mirza Muhammad Ali; and one should note the similarity of +the two names. + + +In November 1850--or between that date and October 1851, a book +appeared, written by one of the B[a^]b's earliest and most enthusiastic +disciples--a merchant of Kashan--and giving in quite simple and +unpretending form a record of the above events. There is in it no +account of miracles or of great pretensions to godhood and the like. It +is just a plain history of the life and death of a beloved teacher. +It was cordially received and circulated far and wide; and we have no +reason for doubting its essential veracity. And even if proved now to be +inaccurate in one or two details, this would not invalidate the moral of +the rest of the story--which is as follows: + +After the death of the Bab a great persecution took place (in 1852); +there were many Babi martyrs, and for some years the general followers +were scattered. But in time they gathered themselves together again; +successors to the original prophet were appointed--though not without +dissensions--and a Babi church, chiefly at Acca or Acre in Syria, began +to be formed. It was during this period that a great number of legends +grew up--legends of miraculous babyhood and boyhood, legends of miracles +performed by the mature Bab, and so forth; and when the newly-forming +Church came to look into the matter it concluded (quite naturally!) that +such a simple history as I have outlined above would never do for the +foundation of its plans, now grown somewhat ambitious. So a new Gospel +was framed, called the Tarikh-i-Jadid ("The new History" or "The new +Way"), embodying and including a lot of legendary matter, and issued +with the authority of "the Church." This was in 1881-2; and comparing +this with the original record (called The point of Kaf) we get a +luminous view of the growth of fable in those thirty brief years which +had elapsed since the Bab's death. Meanwhile it became very necessary of +course to withdraw from circulation as far as possible all copies of the +original record, lest they should give the lie to the later 'Gospel'; +and this apparently was done very effectively--so effectively indeed +that Professor Edward Browne (to whom the world owes so much on account +of his labors in connection with Babism), after arduous search, came at +one time to the conclusion that the original was no longer extant. Most +fortunately, however, the well-known Comte de Gobineau had in the course +of his studies on Eastern Religions acquired a copy of The point of Kaf; +and this, after his death, was found among his literary treasures and +identified (as was most fitting) by Professor Browne himself. + +Such in brief is the history of the early Babi Church (1)--a Church +which has grown up and expanded greatly within the memory of many yet +living. Much might be written about it, but the chief point at present +is for us to note the well-verified and interesting example it gives of +the rapid growth in Syria of a religious legend and the reasons which +contributed to this growth--and to be warned how much more rapidly +similar legends probably grew up in the same land in the middle of +the First Century, A.D. The story of the Bab is also interesting to us +because, while this mass of legend was formed around it, there is no +possible doubt about the actual existence of a historical nucleus in the +person of Mirza Ali Muhammad. + + (1) For literature, see Edward G. Browne's Traveller's Narrative +on the Episode of the Bab (1891), and his New History of the Bab +translated from the Persian of the Tarikh-i-Jadid (Cambridge, 1893). +Also Sermons and Essays by Herbert Rix (Williams and Norgate, 1907), pp. +295-325, "The Persian Bab." + + +On the whole, one is sometimes inclined to doubt whether any great +movement ever makes itself felt in the world, without dating first from +some powerful personality or group of personalities, ROUND which the +idealizing and myth-making genius of mankind tends to crystallize. But +one must not even here be too certain. Something of the Apostle Paul we +know, and something of 'John' the Evangelist and writer of the Epistle +I John; and that the 'Christian' doctrines dated largely from the +preaching and teaching of these two we cannot doubt; but Paul never +saw Jesus (except "in the Spirit"), nor does he ever mention the man +personally, or any incident of his actual life (the "crucified Christ" +being always an ideal figure); and 'John' who wrote the Gospel was +certainly not the same as the disciple who "lay in Jesus' bosom"--though +an intercalated verse, the last but one in the Gospel, asserts the +identity. (1) + + (1) It is obvious, in fact, that the WHOLE of the last chapter of +St. John is a later insertion, and again that the two last verses of +that chapter are later than the chapter itself! + + +There may have been a historic Jesus--and if so, to get a reliable +outline of his life would indeed be a treasure; but at present it would +seem there is no sign of that. If the historicity of Jesus, in any +degree, could be proved, it would give us reason for supposing--what I +have personally always been inclined to believe--that there was also +a historical nucleus for such personages as Osiris, Mithra, Krishna, +Hercules, Apollo and the rest. The question, in fact, narrows itself +down to this, Have there been in the course of human evolution certain, +so to speak, NODAL points or periods at which the psychologic currents +ran together and condensed themselves for a new start; and has each such +node or point of condensation been marked by the appearance of an actual +and heroic man (or woman) who supplied a necessary impetus for the +new departure, and gave his name to the resulting movement? OR is +it sufficient to suppose the automatic formation of such nodes or +starting-points without the intervention of any special hero or genius, +and to imagine that in each case the myth-making tendency of mankind +CREATED a legendary and inspiring figure and worshiped the same for a +long period afterwards as a god? + +As I have said before, this is a question which, interesting as it is, +is not really very important. The main thing being that the prophetic +and creative spirit of mankind HAS from time to time evolved those +figures as idealizations of its "heart's desire" and placed a halo +round their heads. The long procession of them becomes a REAL piece of +History--the history of the evolution of the human heart, and of human +consciousness. But with the psychology of the whole subject I shall deal +in the next chapter. + + +I may here, however, dwell for a moment on two other points which belong +properly to this chapter. I have already mentioned the great reliance +placed by the advocates of a unique 'revelation' on the high morality +taught in the Gospels and the New Testament generally. There is no need +of course to challenge that morality or to depreciate it unduly; but the +argument assumes that it is so greatly superior to anything of the kind +that had been taught before that we are compelled to suppose something +like a revelation to explain its appearance--whereas of course anyone +familiar with the writings of antiquity, among the Greeks or Romans +or Egyptians or Hindus or later Jews, knows perfectly well that the +reported sayings of Jesus and the Apostles may be paralleled abundantly +from these sources. I have illustrated this already from the Sermon +on the Mount. If anyone will glance at the Testament of the Twelve +Patriarchs--a Jewish book composed about 120 B. C.--he will see that +it is full of moral precepts, and especially precepts of love and +forgiveness, so ardent and so noble that it hardly suffers in any way +when compared with the New Testament teaching, and that consequently no +special miracle is required to explain the appearance of the latter. + +The twelve Patriarchs in question are the twelve sons of Jacob, and the +book consists of their supposed deathbed scenes, in which each patriarch +in turn recites his own (more or less imaginary) life and deeds and +gives pious counsel to his children and successors. It is composed in a +fine and poetic style, and is full of lofty thought, remindful in scores +of passages of the Gospels--words and all--the coincidences being too +striking to be accidental. It evidently had a deep influence on the +authors of the Gospels, as well as on St. Paul. It affirms a belief +in the coming of a Messiah, and in salvation for the Gentiles. The +following are some quotations from it: (1) Testament of Zebulun (p. +116): "My children, I bid you keep the commands of the Lord, and show +mercy to your neighbours, and have compassion towards all, not towards +men only, but also towards beasts." Dan (p. 127): "Love the Lord through +all your life, and one another with a true heart." Joseph (p. 173): "I +was sick, and the Lord visited me; in prison, and my God showed favor +unto me." Benjamin (p. 209): "For as the sun is not defiled by shining +on dung and mire, but rather drieth up both and driveth away the evil +smell, so also the pure mind, encompassed by the defilements of earth, +rather cleanseth them and is not itself defiled." + + (1) The references being to the Edition by R. H. Charles (1907). + + +I think these quotations are sufficient to prove the high standard of +this book, which was written in the Second Century B. C., and FROM which +the New Testament authors copiously borrowed. + +The other point has to do with my statement at the beginning of this +chapter that two of the main 'characteristics' of Christianity were its +insistence on (a) a tendency towards renunciation of the world, and a +consequent cultivation of a purely spiritual love, and (b) on a morality +whose inspiration was a private sense of duty to God rather than a +public sense of duty to one's neighbor and to society generally. I +think, however, that the last-mentioned characteristic ought to +be viewed in relation to a third, namely, (c) the extraordinarily +DEMOCRATIC tendency of the new Religion. (1) Celsus (A.D. 200) jeered +at the early Christians for their extreme democracy: "It is only +the simpletons, the ignoble, the senseless--slaves and womenfolk and +children--whom they wish to persuade (to join their churches) or CAN +persuade"--"wool-dressers and cobblers and fullers, the most uneducated +and vulgar persons," and "whosoever is a sinner, or unintelligent or +a fool, in a word, whoever is god-forsaken ([gr kakodaimwn]), him the +Kingdom of God will receive." (2) Thus Celsus, the accomplished, clever, +philosophic and withal humorous critic, laughed at the new religionists, +and prophesied their speedy extinction. Nevertheless he was mistaken. +There is little doubt that just the inclusion of women and weaklings +and outcasts did contribute LARGELY to the spread of Christianity (and +Mithraism). It brought hope and a sense of human dignity to the despised +and rejected of the earth. Of the immense numbers of lesser officials +who carried on the vast organization of the Roman Empire, most perhaps, +were taken from the ranks of the freedmen and quondam slaves, drawn from +a great variety of races and already familiar with pagan cults of all +kinds--Egyptian, Syrian, Chaldean, Iranian, and so forth. (3) This +fact helped to give to Christianity--under the fine tolerance of the +Empire--its democratic character and also its willingness to accept all. +The rude and menial masses, who had hitherto been almost beneath the +notice of Greek and Roman culture, flocked in; and though this was +doubtless, as time went on, a source of weakness to the Church, and a +cause of dissension and superstition, yet it was in the inevitable +line of human evolution, and had a psychological basis which I must now +endeavor to explain. + + (1) It is important to note, however, that this same democratic +tendency was very marked in Mithraism. "Il est certain," says Cumont, +"qu'il a fait ses premieres conquetes dans les classes inferieures de +la societe et c'est l'a un fait considerable; le mithracisme est reste +longtemps la religion des humbles." Mysteres de Mithra, p. 68. + + (2) See Glover's Conflict of Religions in the early Roman Empire, +ch. viii. + + (3) See Toutain, Cultes paiens, vol. ii, conclusion. + + + + +XIV. THE MEANING OF IT ALL + +The general drift and meaning of the present book must now, I think, +from many hints scattered in the course of it, be growing clear. But it +will be well perhaps in this chapter, at the risk of some repetition, +to bring the whole argument together. And the argument is that since the +dawn of humanity on the earth--many hundreds of thousands or perhaps +a million years ago--there has been a slow psychologic evolution, a +gradual development or refinement of Consciousness, which at a certain +stage has spontaneously given birth in the human race to the phenomena +of religious belief and religious ritual--these phenomena (whether in +the race at large or in any branch of it) always following, step by +step, a certain order depending on the degrees of psychologic evolution +concerned; and that it is this general fact which accounts for the +strange similarities of belief and ritual which have been observed all +over the world and in places far remote from each other, and which have +been briefly noted in the preceding chapters. + +And the main stages of this psychologic evolution--those at any rate +with which we are here concerned--are Three: the stage of Simple +Consciousness, the stage of Self-consciousness, and a third Stage +which for want of a better word we may term the stage of Universal +Consciousness. Of course these three stages may at some future time be +analyzed into lesser degrees, with useful result--but at present I only +desire to draw attention to them in the rough, so to speak, to show that +it is from them and from their passage one into another that there +has flowed by a perfectly natural logic and concatenation the strange +panorama of humanity's religious evolution--its superstitions and +magic and sacrifices and dancings and ritual generally, and later its +incantations and prophecies, and services of speech and verse, and +paintings and forms of art and figures of the gods. A wonderful Panorama +indeed, or poem of the Centuries, or, if you like, World-symphony with +three great leading motives! + + +And first we have the stage of Simple Consciousness. For hundreds of +centuries (we cannot doubt) Man possessed a degree of consciousness not +radically different from that of the higher Animals, though probably +more quick and varied. He saw, he heard, he felt, he noted. He acted or +reacted, quickly or slowly, in response to these impressions. But the +consciousness of himSELF, as a being separate from his impressions, as +separate from his surroundings, had not yet arisen or taken hold on him. +He was an instinctive part, of Nature. And in this respect he was very +near to the Animals. Self-consciousness in the animals, in a germinal +form is there, no doubt, but EMBEDDED, so to speak, in the general +world consciousness. It is on this account that the animals have such +a marvellously acute perception and instinct, being embedded in Nature. +And primitive Man had the same. Also we must, as I have said before, +allow that man in that stage must have had the same sort of grace and +perfection of form and movement as we admire in the (wild) animals now. +It would be quite unreasonable to suppose that he, the crown in the same +sense of creation, was from the beginning a lame and ill-made abortion. +For a long period the tribes of men, like the tribes of the higher +animals, must have been (on the whole, and allowing for occasional +privations and sufferings and conflicts) well adapted to their +surroundings and harmonious with the earth and with each other. There +must have been a period resembling a Golden Age--some condition at +any rate which, compared with subsequent miseries, merited the epithet +'golden.' + +It was during this period apparently that the system of Totems arose. +The tribes felt their relationship to their winged and fourfooted mates +(including also other objects of nature) so deeply and intensely that +they adopted the latter as their emblems. The pre-civilization Man +fairly worshipped, the animals and was proud to be called after them. +Of course we moderns find this strange. We, whose conceptions of these +beautiful creatures are mostly derived from a broken-down cab-horse, +or a melancholy milk-rummaged cow in a sooty field, or a diseased and +despondent lion or eagle at the Zoo, have never even seen or loved them +and have only wondered with our true commercial instinct what profit we +could extract from them. But they, the primitives, loved and admired +the animals; they domesticated many of them by the force of a natural +friendship, (1) and accorded them a kind of divinity. This was the age +of tribal solidarity and of a latent sense of solidarity with Nature. +And the point of it all is (with regard to the subject we have in hand) +that this was also the age from which by a natural evolution the sense +of Religion came to mankind. If Religion in man is the sense of ties +binding his inner self to the powers of the universe around him, then it +is evident I think that primitive man as I have described him possessed +the REALITY of this sense--though so far buried and subconscious that +he was hardly aware of it. It was only later, and with the coming of +the Second Stage, that this sense began to rise distinctly into +consciousness. + + (1) See ch. iv. Tylor in his Primitive Culture (vol. i, p. 460, +edn. 1903) says: "The sense of an absolute psychical distinction between +man and beast, so prevalent in the civilized world, is hardly to be +found among the lower races." + + +Let us pass then to the Second Stage. There is a moment in the evolution +of a child--somewhere perhaps about the age of three (1)--when the +simple almost animal-like consciousness of the babe is troubled by a new +element--SELF-consciousness. The change is so marked, so definite, that +(in the depth of the infant's eyes) you can almost SEE it take place. So +in the evolution of the human race there has been a period--also marked +and definite, though extending intermittent over a vast interval +of time--when on men in general there dawned the consciousness of +THEMSELVES, of their own thoughts and actions. The old simple acceptance +of sensations and experiences gave place to REFLECTION. The question +arose: "How do these sensations and experiences affect ME? What can _I_ +do to modify them, to encourage the pleasurable, to avoid or inhibit the +painful, and so on?" From that moment a new motive was added to life. +The mind revolved round a new centre. It began to spin like a little +eddy round its own axis. It studied ITSELF first and became deeply +concerned about its own pleasures and pains, losing touch the while with +the larger life which once dominated it--the life of Nature, the life of +the Tribe. The old unity of the spirit, the old solidarity, were broken +up. + + (1) See Bucke's Cosmic Consciousness (Philadelphia, 1901), pp. 1 +and 39; also W. McDougall's Social Psychology (1908), p. 146--where the +same age is tentatively suggested. + + +I have touched on this subject before, but it is so important that the +reader must excuse repetition. There came an inevitable severance, an +inevitable period of strife. The magic mirror of the soul, reflecting +nature as heretofore in calm and simple grace, was suddenly cracked +across. The new self-conscious man (not all at once but gradually) +became alienated from his tribe. He lapsed into strife with his fellows. +Ambition, vanity, greed, the love of domination, the desire for property +and possessions, set in. The influences of fellowship and solidarity +grew feebler. He became alienated from his great Mother. His instincts +were less and less sure--and that in proportion as brain-activity and +self-regarding calculation took their place. Love and mutual help were +less compelling in proportion as the demands of self-interest grew +louder and more insistent. Ultimately the crisis came. Cain murdered +his brother and became an outcast. The Garden of Eden and the Golden Age +closed their gates behind him. He entered upon a period of suffering--a +period of labor and toil and sorrow such as he had never before +known, and such as the animals certainly have never known. And in that +distressful state, in that doleful valley of his long pilgrimage, he +still remains to-day. + +Thus has the canker of self-consciousness done its work. It would be +foolish and useless to rail against the process, or to blame any one for +it. It had to be. Through this dismal vale of self-seeking mankind had +to pass--if only in order at last to find the True Self which was (and +still remains) its goal. The pilgrimage will not last for ever. Indeed +there are signs that the recent Great War and the following Events mark +the lowest point of descent and the beginning of the human soul's return +to sanity and ascent towards the heavenly Kingdom. No doubt Man will +arrive again SOME day at the grace, composure and leisurely beauty of +life which the animals realized long ago, though he seems a precious +long time about it; and when all this nightmare of Greed and Vanity and +Self-conceit and Cruelty and Lust of oppression and domination, which +marks the present period, is past--and it WILL pass--then Humanity will +come again to its Golden Age and to that Paradise of redemption and +peace which has for so long been prophesied. + +But we are dealing with the origins of Religion; and what I want +the reader to see is that it was just this breaking up of the old +psychologic unity and continuity of man with his surroundings which led +to the whole panorama of the rituals and creeds. Man, centering round +himself, necessarily became an exile from the great Whole. He committed +the sin (if it was a sin) of Separation. Anyhow Nemesis was swift. The +sense of loneliness and the sense of guilt came on him. The realization +of himself as a separate conscious being necessarily led to his +attributing a similar consciousness of some kind to the great Life +around him. Action and reaction are equal and opposite. Whatever he may +have felt before, it became clear to him now that beings more or less +like himself--though doubtless vaster and more powerful--moved behind +the veil of the visible world. From that moment the belief in Magic and +Demons and Gods arose or slowly developed itself; and in the midst of +this turmoil of perilous and conflicting powers, he perceived himself an +alien and an exile, stricken with Fear, stricken with the sense of Sin. +If before, he had experienced fear--in the kind of automatic way of +self-preservation in which the animals feel it--he now, with fevered +self-regard and excited imagination, experienced it in double or treble +degree. And if, before, he had been aware that fortune and chance were +not always friendly and propitious to his designs, he now perceived +or thought he perceived in every adverse happening the deliberate +persecution of the powers, and an accusation of guilt directed against +him for some neglect or deficiency in his relation to them. Hence by +a perfectly logical and natural sequence there arose the belief in +other-world or supernatural powers, whether purely fortuitous and +magical or more distinctly rational and personal; there arose the sense +of Sin, or of offence against these powers; there arose a complex ritual +of Expiation--whether by personal sacrifice and suffering or by +the sacrifice of victims. There arose too a whole catalogue of +ceremonies--ceremonies of Initiation, by which the novice should learn +to keep within the good grace of the Powers, and under the blessing of +his Tribe and the protection of its Totem; ceremonies of Eucharistic +meals which should restore the lost sanctity of the common life and +remove the sense of guilt and isolation; ceremonies of Marriage and +rules and rites of sex-connection, fitted to curb the terrific and +demonic violence of passions which else indeed might easily rend the +community asunder. And so on. It is easy to see that granted an early +stage of simple unreflecting nature-consciousness, and granting +this broken into and, after a time, shattered by the arrival of +SELF-consciousness there would necessarily follow in spontaneous yet +logical order a whole series of religious institutions and beliefs, +which phantasmal and unreal as they may appear to us, were by no +means unreal to our ancestors. It is easy also to see that as the +psychological process was necessarily of similar general character in +every branch of the human race and all over the world, so the religious +evolutions--the creeds and rituals--took on much the same complexion +everywhere; and, though they differed in details according to climate +and other influences, ran on such remarkably parallel lines as we have +noted. + +Finally, to make the whole matter clear, let me repeat that this event, +the inbreak of Self-consciousness, took place, or BEGAN to take place, +an enormous time ago, perhaps in the beginning of the Neolithic Age. +I dwell on the word "began" because I think it is probable that in its +beginnings, and for a long period after, this newborn consciousness had +an infantile and very innocent character, quite different from its later +and more aggressive forms--just as we see self-consciousness in a little +child has a charm and a grace which it loses later in a boastful +or grasping boyhood and manhood. So we may understand that though +self-consciousness may have begun to appear in the human race at this +very early time (and more or less contemporaneously with the invention +of very rude tools and unformed language), there probably did elapse +a very long period--perhaps the whole of the Neolithic Age--before the +evils of this second stage of human evolution came to a head. Max Muller +has pointed out that among the words which are common to the various +branches of Aryan language, and which therefore belong to the very early +period before the separation of these branches, there are not found +the words denoting war and conflict and the weapons and instruments of +strife--a fact which suggests a long continuance of peaceful habit among +mankind AFTER the first formation and use of language. + +That the birth of language and the birth of self-consciousness were +APPROXIMATELY simultaneous is a probable theory, and one favored by many +thinkers; (1) but the slow beginnings of both must have been so +very protracted that it is perhaps useless to attempt any very exact +determination. Late researches seem to show that language began in what +might be called TRIBAL expressions of mood and feeling (holophrases like +"go-hunting-kill-bear") without reference to individual personalities +and relationships; and that it was only at a later stage that words like +"I" and "Thou" came into use, and the holophrases broke up into "parts +of speech" and took on a definite grammatical structure. (2) If +true, these facts point clearly to a long foreground of rude communal +language, something like though greatly superior to that of the animals, +preceding or preparing the evolution of Self-consciousness proper, in +the forms of "I" and "Thou" and the grammar of personal actions and +relations. "They show that the plural and all other forms of number in +grammar arise not by multiplication of an original 'I,' but by selection +and gradual EXCLUSION from an original collective 'we.'" (3) According +to this view the birth of self-consciousness in the human family, or +in any particular race or section of the human family, must have been +equally slow and hesitating; and it would be easy to imagine, as just +said, that there may have been a very long and 'golden' period at its +beginning, before the new consciousness took on its maturer and harsher +forms. + + (1) Dr. Bucke (Cosmic Consciousness) insists on their +simultaneity, but places both events excessively far back, as we +should think, i.e. 200,000 or 300,000 years ago. Possibly he does not +differentiate sufficiently between the rude language of the holophrase +and the much later growth of formed and grammatical speech. + + (2) See A. E. Crawley's Idea of the Soul, ch. ii; Jane Harrison's +Themis, pp. 473-5; and E. J. Payne's History of the New World called +America, vol. ii, pp. 115 sq., where the beginning of self-consciousness +is associated with the break-up of the holophrase. + + (3) Themis, p. 471. + + +All estimates of the Time involved in these evolutions of early man are +notoriously most divergent and most difficult to be sure of; but if we +take 500,000 years ago for the first appearance of veritable Man (homo +primigenius), (2) and (following Professor W. J. Sollas) (3) 30,000 +or 40,000 years ago for the first tool-using men (homo sapiens) of +the Chellean Age (palaeolithic), 15,000 for the rock-paintings and +inscriptions of the Aurignacian and Magdalenian peoples, and 5,000 years +ago for the first actual historical records that have come down to us, +we may perhaps get something like a proportion between the different +periods. That is to say, half a million years for the purely animal man +in his different forms and grades of evolution. Then somewhere +towards the end of palaeolithic or commencement of neolithic times +Self-consciousness dimly beginning and, after some 10,000 years of slow +germination and pre-historic culture, culminating in the actual historic +period and the dawn of civilization 40 or 50 centuries ago, and to-day +(we hope), reaching the climax which precedes or foretells its abatement +and transformation. + + (2) Though Dr. Arthur Keith, Ancient Types of Man (1911), pp. 93 +and 102, puts the figure at more like a million. + + (3) See Ancient Hunters (1915); also Hastings's Encycl. art. +"Ethnology"; and Havelock Ellis, "The Origin of War," in The Philosophy +of Conflict and other Essays. + + +No doubt many geologists and anthropologists would favor periods greatly +LONGER than those here mentioned; but possibly there would be some +agreement as to the RATIO to each other of the times concerned: that +is, the said authorities would probably allow for a VERY long animal-man +(1)-period corresponding to the first stage; for a much shorter +aggressively 'self conscious' period, corresponding to the Second +Stage--perhaps lasting only one thirtieth or fiftieth of the time of +the first period; and then--if they looked forward at all to a third +stage--would be inclined for obvious reasons to attribute to that again +a very extended duration. + + (1) I use the phrase 'animal-man' here, not with any flavor of +contempt or reprobation, as the dear Victorians would have used it, but +with a sense of genuine respect and admiration such as one feels towards +the animals themselves. + + +However, all this is very speculative. To return to the difficulty about +Language and the consideration of those early times when words adequate +to the expression of religious or magical ideas simply did not exist, +it is clear that the only available, or at any rate the CHIEF means +of expression, in those times, must have consisted in gestures, in +attitudes, in ceremonial ACTIONS--in a more or less elaborate ritual, +in fact. (1) Such ideas as Adoration, Thanksgiving, confession of Guilt, +placation of Wrath, Expiation, Sacrifice, Celebration of Community, +sacramental Atonement, and a score of others could at that time be +expressed by appropriate rites--and as a matter of fact are often +so expressed even now--MORE readily and directly than by language. +'Dancing'--when that word came to be invented--did not mean a mere +flinging about of the limbs in recreation, but any expressive movements +of the body which might be used to convey the feelings of the dancer or +of the audience whom he represented. And so the 'religious dance' became +a most important part of ritual. + + (1) See ch. ix and xi. + + +So much for the second stage of Consciousness. Let us now pass on to +the Third Stage. It is evident that the process of disruption and +dissolution--disruption both of the human mind, and of society round +about it, due to the action of the Second Stage--could not go on +indefinitely. There are hundreds of thousands of people at the present +moment who are dying of mental or bodily disease--their nervous +systems broken down by troubles connected with excessive +self-consciousness--selfish fears and worries and restlessness. Society +at large is perishing both in industry and in warfare through the +domination in its organism of the self-motives of greed and vanity and +ambition. This cannot go on for ever. Things must either continue in +the same strain, in which case it is evident that we are approaching +a crisis of utter dissolution, OR a new element must enter in, a new +inspiration of life, and we (as individuals) and the society of which +we form a part, must make a fresh start. What is that new and necessary +element of regeneration? + +It is evident that it must be a new birth--the entry into a further +stage of consciousness which must supersede the present one. Through +some such crisis as we have spoken of, through the extreme of +suffering, the mind of Man, AS AT PRESENT CONSTITUTED, has to die. (1) +Self-consciousness has to die, and be buried, and rise again in a new +form. Probably nothing but the extreme of suffering can bring this +about. (2) And what is this new form in which consciousness has to +rearise? Obviously, since the miseries of the world during countless +centuries have dated from that fatal attempt to make the little personal +SELF the centre of effort and activity, and since that attempt has +inevitably led to disunity and discord and death, both within the mind +itself and within the body of society, there is nothing left but +the return to a Consciousness which shall have Unity as its +foundation-principle, and which shall proceed from the direct SENSE +AND PERCEPTION of such an unity throughout creation. The simple mind of +Early Man and the Animals was of that character--a consciousness, so +to speak, continuous through nature, and though running to points of +illumination and foci of special activity in individuals, yet at no +point essentially broken or imprisoned in separate compartments. (And +it is this CONTINUITY of the primitive mind which enables us, as I have +already explained, to understand the mysterious workings of instinct +and intuition.) To some such unity-consciousness we have to return; but +clearly it will be--it is not--of the simple inchoate character of the +First Stage, for it has been enriched, deepened, and greatly extended +by the experience of the Second Stage. It is in fact, a new order of +mentality--the consciousness of the Third Stage. + + (1) "The mind must be restrained in the heart till it comes to an +end," says the Maitrayana-Brahmana-Upanishad. + + (2) One may remember in this connection the tapas of the Hindu +yogi, or the ordeals of initiates into the pagan Mysteries generally. + + +In order to understand the operation and qualities of this Third +Consciousness, it may be of assistance just now to consider in what more +or less rudimentary way or ways it figured in the pagan rituals and in +Christianity. We have seen the rude Siberyaks in North-Eastern Asia or +the 'Grizzly' tribes of North American Indians in the neighborhood of +Mount Shasta paying their respects and adoration to a captive bear--at +once the food-animal, and the divinity of the Tribe. A tribesman had +slain a bear--and, be it said, had slain it not in a public hunt with +all due ceremonies observed, but privately for his own satisfaction. He +had committed, therefore, a sin theoretically unpardonable; for had he +not--to gratify his personal desire for food--levelled a blow at the +guardian spirit of the Tribe? Had he not alienated himself from his +fellows by destroying its very symbol? There was only one way by which +he could regain the fellowship of his companions. He must make amends by +some public sacrifice, and instead of retaining the flesh of the animal +for himself he must share it with the whole tribe (or clan) in a common +feast, while at the same time, tensest prayers and thanks are offered to +the animal for the gift of his body for food. The Magic formula demanded +nothing less than this--else dread disaster would fall upon the man who +sinned, and upon the whole brotherhood. Here, and in a hundred similar +rites, we see the three phases of tribal psychology--the first, in which +the individual member simply remains within the compass of the tribal +mind, and only acts in harmony with it; the second, in which the +individual steps outside and to gratify his personal SELF performs an +action which alienates him from his fellows; and the third, in which, +to make amends and to prove his sincerity, he submits to some sacrifice, +and by a common feast or some such ceremony is received back again +into the unity of the fellowship. The body of the animal-divinity is +consumed, and the latter becomes, both in the spirit and in the flesh, +the Savior of the tribe. + +In course of time, when the Totem or Guardian-spirit is no longer merely +an Animal, or animal-headed Genius, but a quite human-formed Divinity, +still the same general outline of ideas is preserved--only with gathered +intensity owing to the specially human interest of the drama. The +Divinity who gives his life for his flock is no longer just an ordinary +Bull or Lamb, but Adonis or Osiris or Dionysus or Jesus. He is betrayed +by one of his own followers, and suffers death, but rises again +redeeming all with himself in the one fellowship; and the corn and the +wine and the wild flesh which were his body, and which he gave for the +sustenance of mankind, are consumed in a holy supper of reconciliation. +It is always the return to unity which is the ritual of Salvation, and +of which the symbol is the Eucharist--the second birth, the formation of +"a new creature when old things are passed away." For "Except a man be +born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God"; and "the first man is of +the earth, earthly, but the second man is the Lord from heaven." Like +a strange refrain, and from centuries before our era, comes down this +belief in a god who is imprisoned in each man, and whose liberation is a +new birth and the beginning of a new creature: "Rejoice, ye initiates +in the mystery of the liberated god"--rejoice in the thought of the hero +who died as a mortal in the coffin, but rises again as Lord of all! + +Who then was this "Christos" for whom the world was waiting three +centuries before our era (and indeed centuries before that)? Who was +this "thrice Savior" whom the Greek Gnostics acclaimed? What was the +meaning of that "coming of the Son of Man" whom Daniel beheld in vision +among the clouds of heaven? or of the "perfect man" who, Paul declared, +should deliver us from the bondage of corruption into the glorious +liberty of the children of God? What was this salvation which time after +time and times again the pagan deities promised to their devotees, and +which the Eleusinian and other Mysteries represented in their religious +dramas with such convincing enthusiasm that even Pindar could say "Happy +is he who has seen them (the Mysteries) before he goes beneath the +hollow earth: that man knows the true end of life and its source +divine"; and concerning which Sophocles and Aeschylus were equally +enthusiastic? (1) + + (1) See Farnell's Cults of the Greek States, vol. iii, p. 194; +also The Mysteries, Pagan and Christian, by S. Cheetham, D.D. (London, +1897). + + +Can we doubt, in the light of all that we have already said, what +the answer to these questions is? As with the first blossoming of +self-consciousness in the human mind came the dawn of an immense cycle +of experience--a cycle indeed of exile from Eden, of suffering and toil +and blind wanderings in the wilderness, yet a cycle absolutely necessary +and unavoidable--so now the redemption, the return, the restoration has +to come through another forward step, in the same domain. Abandoning +the quest and the glorification of the separate isolated self we have to +return to the cosmic universal life. It is the blossoming indeed of this +'new' life in the deeps of our minds which is salvation, and which +all the expressions which I have just cited have indicated. It is +this presence which all down the ages has been hailed as Savior and +Liberator: the daybreak of a consciousness so much vaster, so much more +glorious, than all that has gone before that the little candle of the +local self is swallowed up in its rays. It is the return home, the +return into direct touch with Nature and Man--the liberation from the +long exile of separation, from the painful sense of isolation and +the odious nightmare of guilt and 'sin.' Can we doubt that this new +birth--this third stage of consciousness, if we like to call it so--has +to come, that it is indeed not merely a pious hope or a tentative +theory, but a FACT testified to already by a cloud of witnesses in the +past--witnesses shining in their own easily recognizable and authentic +light, yet for the most part isolated from each other among the arid and +unfruitful wastes of Civilization, like glow-worms in the dry grass of a +summer night? + +Since the first dim evolution of human self-consciousness an immense +period, as we have said--perhaps 30,000 years, perhaps even more--has +elapsed. Now, in the present day this period is reaching its +culmination, and though it will not terminate immediately, its end is, +so to speak, in sight. Meanwhile, during all the historical age behind +us--say for the last 4,000 or 5,000 years--evidence has been coming in +(partly in the religious rites recorded, partly in oracles, poems and +prophetic literature) of the onset of this further illumination--"the +light which never was on sea or land"--and the cloud of witnesses, +scattered at first, has in these later centuries become so evident and +so notable that we are tempted to believe in or to anticipate a great +and general new birth, as now not so very far off. (1) (We should, h + that many a time already in the history the Millennium has been +prophesied, and yet not arrived punctual to date, and to take to +ourselves the words of 'Peter,' who somewhat grievously disappointed +at the long-delayed second coming of the Lord Jesus in the clouds of +heaven, wrote in his second Epistle: "There shall come in the last +days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the +promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things +continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." (2)) + + (1) For an amplification of all this theme, see Dr. Bucke's +remarkable and epoch-making book, Cosmic Consciousness (first published +at Philadelphia, 1901). + + (2) 2 Peter iii. 4; written probably about A.D. 150. + + +I say that all through the historical age behind us there has been +evidence--even though scattered--of salvation and the return of the +Cosmic life. Man has never been so completely submerged in the bitter +sea of self-centredness but what he has occasionally been able to dash +the spray from his eyes and glimpse the sun and the glorious light of +heaven. From how far back we cannot say, but from an immense antiquity +come the beautiful myths which indicate this. + + Cinderella, the cinder-maiden, sits unbeknown in her earthly. + hutch; + Gibed and jeered at she bewails her lonely fate; + Nevertheless youngest-born she surpasses her sisters and endues + a garment of the sun and stars; + From a tiny spark she ascends and irradiates the universe, + and is wedded to the prince of heaven. + + +How lovely this vision of the little maiden sitting unbeknown close to +the Hearth-fire of the universe--herself indeed just a little spark from +it; despised and rejected; rejected by the world, despised by her two +elder sisters (the body and the intellect); yet she, the soul, though +latest-born, by far the most beautiful of the three. And of the Prince +of Love who redeems and sets her free; and of her wedding garment the +glory and beauty of all nature and of the heavens! The parables of +Jesus are charming in their way, but they hardly reach this height of +inspiration. + +Or the world-old myth of Eros and Psyche. How strange that here again +there are three sisters (the three stages of human evolution), and the +latest-born the most beautiful of the three, and the jealousies and +persecutions heaped on the youngest by the others, and especially by +Aphrodite the goddess of mere sensual charm. And again the coming of the +unknown, the unseen Lover, on whom it is not permitted for mortals to +look; and the long, long tests and sufferings and trials which Psyche +has to undergo before Eros may really take her to his arms and translate +her to the heights of heaven. Can we not imagine how when these things +were represented in the Mysteries the world flocked to see them, and the +poets indeed said, "Happy are they that see and seeing can understand?" +Can we not understand how it was that the Amphictyonic decree of the +second century B.C. spoke of these same Mysteries as enforcing the +lesson that "the greatest of human blessings is fellowship and mutual +trust"? + + + + +XV. THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES + +Thus we come to a thing which we must not pass over, because it throws +great light on the meaning and interpretation of all these rites and +ceremonies of the great World-religion. I mean the subject of the +Ancient Mysteries. And to this I will give a few pages. + +These Mysteries were probably survivals of the oldest religious rites +of the Greek races, and in their earlier forms consisted not so much +in worship of the gods of Heaven as of the divinities of Earth, and +of Nature and Death. Crude, no doubt, at first, they gradually became +(especially in their Eleusinian form) more refined and philosophical; +the rites were gradually thrown open, on certain conditions, not only +to men generally, but also to women, and even to slaves; and in the end +they influenced Christianity deeply. (1) + + (1) See Edwin Hatch, D.D., The Influence of Greek Ideas and +Usages on the Christian Church (London, 1890), pp. 283-5. + + +There were apparently three forms of teaching made use of in these +rites: these were [gr legomena], things SAID; [gr deiknumena], things +SHOWN; and [gr drwmena], things PERFORMED or ACTED. (1) I have given +already some instances of things said-texts whispered for consolation in +the neophyte's car, and so forth; of the THIRD group, things enacted, +we have a fair amount of evidence. There were ritual dramas or +passion-plays, of which an important one dealt with the descent of Kore +or Proserpine into the underworld, as in the Eleusinian representations, +(2) and her redemption and restoration to the upper world in Spring; +another with the sufferings of Psyche and her rescue by Eros, as +described by Apuleius (3)--himself an initiate in the cult of Isis. +There is a parody by Lucian, which tells of the birth of Apollo, the +marriage of Coronis, and the coming of Aesculapius as Savior; there was +the dying and rising again of Dionysus (chief divinity of the Orphic +cult); and sometimes the mystery of the birth of Dionysus as a holy +child. (4) There was, every year at Eleusis, a solemn and lengthy +procession or pilgrimage made, symbolic of the long pilgrimage of the +human soul, its sufferings and deliverance. + + (1) Cheetham, op. cit., pp. 49-61 sq. + + (2) See Farnell, op. cit., iii. 158 sq. + + (3) See The Golden Ass. + + (4) Farnell, ii, 177. + + +"Almost always," says Dr. Cheetham, "the suffering of a god--suffering +followed by triumph--seems to have been the subject of the sacred +drama." Then occasionally to the Neophytes, after taking part in the +pilgrimage, and when their minds had been prepared by an ordeal of +darkness and fatigue and terrors, was accorded a revelation of Paradise, +and even a vision of Transfiguration--the form of the Hierophant +himself, or teacher of the Mysteries, being seen half-lost in a blaze +of light. (1) Finally, there was the eating of food and drinking +of barley-drink from the sacred chest (2)--a kind of Communion or +Eucharist. + + (1) Ibid., 179 sq. + + (2) Ibid., 186. Sacred chests, in which holy things were kept, +figure frequently in early rites and legends--as in the case of the ark +of the Jewish tabernacle, the ark or box carried in celebrations of the +mysteries of Bacchus (Theocritus, Idyll xxvi), the legend of Pandora's +box which contained the seeds of all good and evil, the ark of Noah +which saved all living creatures from the flood, the Argo of the +argonauts, the moonshaped boat in which Isis floating over the waters +gathered together the severed limbs of Osiris, and so brought about his +resurrection, and the many chests or coffins out of which the various +gods (Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Jesus), having been laid there in death, +rose again for the redemption of the world. They all evidently refer to +the mystic womb of Nature and of Woman, and are symbols of salvation and +redemption (For a full discussion of this subject, see The Great Law of +religious origins, by W. Williamson, ch. iv.) + + +Apuleius in The Golden Ass gives an interesting account of his induction +into the mysteries of Isis: how, bidding farewell one evening to the +general congregation outside, and clothed in a new linen garment, he was +handed by the priest into the inner recesses of the temple itself; how +he "approached the confines of death, and having trod on the threshold +of Proserpine (the Underworld), returned therefrom, being borne through +all the elements. At midnight I saw the sun shining with its brilliant +light: and I approached the presence of the Gods beneath and the Gods +above, and stood near and worshipped them." During the night things +happened which must not be disclosed; but in the morning he came forth +"consecrated by being dressed in twelve stoles painted with the figures +of animals." (1) He ascended a pulpit in the midst of the Temple, +carrying in his right hand a burning torch, while a chaplet encircled +his head, from which palm-leaves projected like rays of light. "Thus +arrayed like the Sun, and placed so as to resemble a statue, on a +sudden the curtains being drawn aside, I was exposed to the gaze of the +multitude. After this I celebrated the most joyful day of my initiation, +as my natal day (day of the New Birth) and there was a joyous banquet +and mirthful conversation." + + (1) An allusion no doubt to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, the +pathway of the Sun, as well as to the practice of the ancient priests of +wearing the skins of totem-animals in sign of their divinity. + + +One can hardly refuse to recognize in this account the description of +some kind of ceremony which was supposed to seal the illumination of a +man and his new birth into divinity--the animal origin, the circling of +all experience, the terrors of death, and the resurrection in the +form of the Sun, the symbol of all light and life. The very word +"illumination" carries the ideas of light and a new birth with it. +Reitzenstein in his very interesting book on the Greek Mysteries (1) +speaks over and over again of the illumination ([gr fwtismos]) which +was held to attend Initiation and Salvation. The doctrine of Salvation +indeed ([gr swthria]) was, as we have already seen, rife and widely +current in the Second Century B. C. It represented a real experience, +and the man who shared this experience became a [gr qeios] [gr anqrwpos] +or divine man. (2) In the Orphic Tablets the phrase "I am a child of +earth and the starry heaven, but my race is of heaven (alone)" occurs +more than once. In one of the longest of them the dead man is instructed +"after he has passed the waters (of Lethe) where the white Cypress and +the House of Hades are" to address these very words to the guardians +of the Lake of Memory while he asks for a drink of cold water from that +Lake. In another the dead person himself is thus addressed: "Hail, thou +who hast endured the Suffering, such as indeed thou hadst never suffered +before; thou hast become god from man!" (3) Ecstacy was the acme of the +religious life; and, what is especially interesting to us, Salvation or +the divine nature was open to all men--to all, that is, who should go +through the necessary stages of preparation for it. (4) + + (1) Die hellenistischen Mysterien-Religionen, by R. Reitzenstein, +Leipzig, 1910. + + (2) Reitzenstein, p. 12. + + (3) These Tablets (so-called) are instructions to the dead as to +their passage into the other world, and have been found in the tombs, in +Italy and elsewhere, inscribed on very thin gold plates and buried with +the departed. See Manual of Greek Antiquities by Percy Gardner and F. +B. Jerome (1896); also Prolegomena to Greek Religion by Jane E. Harrison +(1908). + + (4) Reitzenstein, pp. 15 and 18; also S. J. Case, Evolution of +Early Christianity, p. 301. + + +Reitzenstein contends (p. 26) that in the Mysteries, transfiguration +([gr metamorfwsis]), salvation ([gr swthria]), and new birth ([gr +paliggenesia]) were often conjoined. He says (p. 31), that in the +Egyptian Osiris-cult, the Initiate acquires a nature "equal to God" +([gr isoqeos]), the very same expression as that used of Christ Jesus in +Philippians ii. 6; he mentions Apollonius of Tyana and Sergius Paulus +as instances of men who by their contemporaries were considered to have +attained this nature; and he quotes Akhnaton (Pharaoh of Egypt in 1375 +B.C.) as having said, "Thou art in my heart; none other knows Thee, save +thy son Akhnaton; Thou hast initiated him into thy wisdom and into thy +power." He also quotes the words of Hermes (Trismegistus)--"Come unto +Me, even as children to their mother's bosom: Thou art I, and I am Thou; +what is thine is mine, and what is mine is thine; for indeed I am thine +image ([gr eidwlon])," and refers to the dialogue between Hermes and +Tat, in which they speak of the great and mystic New Birth and Union +with the All--with all Elements, Plants and Animals, Time and Space. + +"The Mysteries," says Dr. Cheetham very candidly, "influenced +Christianity considerably and modified it in some important respects"; +and Dr. Hatch, as we have seen, not only supports this general view, but +follows it out in detail. (1) He points out that the membership of the +Mystery-societies was very numerous in the earliest times, A.D.; that +their general aims were good, including a sense of true religion, decent +life, and brotherhood; that cleanness from crime and confession were +demanded from the neophyte; that confession was followed by baptism +([gr kaqarsis]) and THAT by sacrifice; that the term [gr fwtismos] +(illumination) was adopted by the Christian Church as the name for the +new birth of baptism; that the Christian usage of placing a seal on the +forehead came from the same source; that baptism itself after a time +was called a mystery ([gr musihriou]); that the sacred cakes and +barley-drink of the Mysteries became the milk and honey and bread +and wine of the first Christian Eucharists, and that the occasional +sacrifice of a lamb on the Christian altar ("whose mention is often +suppressed") probably originated in the same way. Indeed, the conception +of the communion-table AS an altar and many other points of ritual +gradually established themselves from these sources as time went on. (2) +It is hardly necessary to say more in proof of the extent to which +in these ancient representations "things said" and "scenes enacted" +forestalled the doctrines and ceremonials of Christianity. + + (1) See Hatch, op. cit., pp. 290 sq. + + (2) See Dionysus Areop. (end of fifth century), who describes the +Christian rites generally in Mystery language (Hatch, 296). + + +"But what of the second group above-mentioned, the "things SHOWN"? It +is not so easy naturally to get exact information concerning these, but +they seem to have been specially holy objects, probably things connected +with very ancient rituals in the past--such as sacred stones, old and +rude images of the gods, magic nature-symbols, like that half-disclosed +ear of corn above-mentioned (Ch. V.). "In the Temple of Isis at Philae," +says Dr. Cheetham, "the dead body of Osiris is represented with stalks +of corn springing from it, which a priest waters from a vessel. An +inscription says: 'This is the form of him whom we may not name, Osiris +of the Mysteries who sprang from the returning waters' (the Nile)." +Above all, no doubt, there were images of the phallus and the vulva, the +great symbols of human fertility. We have seen (Ch. XII) that the lingam +and the yoni are, even down to to-day, commonly retained and honored as +holy objects in the S. Indian Temples, and anointed with oil (some +of them) for a very practical reason. Sir J. G. Frazer, in his lately +published volumes on The Folk-lore of the Old Testament, has a chapter +(in vol. ii) on the very numerous sacred stones of various shapes and +sizes found or spoken of in Palestine and other parts of the world. +Though uncertain as to the meaning of these stones he mentions that they +are "frequently, though not always, UPRIGHT." Anointing them with oil, +he assures us, "is a widespread practice, sometimes by women who wish +to obtain children." And he concludes the chapter by saying: "The holy +stone at Bethel was probably one of those massive standing stones or +rough pillars which the Hebrews called masseboth, and which, as we +have seen, were regular adjuncts of Canaanite and early Israelitish +sanctuaries." We have already mentioned the pillars Jachin and Boaz +which stood before the Temple of Solomon, and which had an acknowledged +sexual significance; and so it seems probable that a great number of +these holy stones had a similar meaning. (1) Following this clue it +would appear likely that the lingam thus anointed and worshipped in the +Temples of India and elsewhere IS the original [gr cristos] (2) adored +by the human race from the very beginning, and that at a later time, +when the Priest and the King, as objects of worship, took the place of +the Lingam, THEY also were anointed with the chrism of fertility. +That the exhibition of these emblems should be part of the original +'Mystery'-rituals was perfectly natural--especially because, as we have +explained already (3) old customs often continued on in a quite naive +fashion in the rituals, when they had come to be thought indecent or +improper by a later public opinion; and (we may say) was perfectly +in order, because there is plenty of evidence to show that in SAVAGE +initiations, of which the Mysteries were the linear descendants, all +these things WERE explained to the novices, and their use actually +taught. (4) No doubt also there were some representations or dramatic +incidents of a fairly coarse character, as deriving from these ancient +sources. (5) It is, however, quaint to observe how the mere mention of +such things has caused an almost hysterical commotion among the critics +of the Mysteries--from the day of the early Christians who (in order +to belaud their own religion) were never tired of abusing the Pagans, +onward to the present day when modern scholars either on the one hand +follow the early Christians in representing the Mysteries as sinks of +iniquity or on the other (knowing this charge could not be substantiated +except in the period of their final decadence) take the line of ignoring +the sexual interest attaching to them as non-existent or at any rate +unworthy of attention. The good Archdeacon Cheetham, for instance, while +writing an interesting book on the Mysteries passes by this side of the +subject ALMOST as if it did not exist; while the learned Dr. Farnell, +overcome apparently by the weight of his learning, and unable to +confront the alarming obstacle presented by these sexual rites and +aspects, hides himself behind the rather non-committal remark (speaking +of the Eleusinian rites) "we have no right to imagine any part of this +solemn ceremony as coarse or obscene." (6) As Nature, however, has been +known (quite frequently) to be coarse or obscene, and as the initiators +of the Mysteries were probably neither 'good' nor 'learned,' but were +simply anxious to interpret Nature as best they could, we cannot find +fault with the latter for the way they handled the problem, nor indeed +well see how they could have handled it better. + + (1) F. Nork, Der Mystagog, mentions that the Roman Penates were +commonly anointed with oil. J. Stuart Hay, in his Life of Elagabalus +(1911), says that "Elagabal was worshipped under the symbol of a great +black stone or meteorite, in the shape of a Phallus, which having fallen +from the heavens represented a true portion of the Godhead, much after +the style of those black stone images popularly venerated in Norway and +other parts of Europe." + + (2) J. E. Hewitt, in his Ruling Races of Pre-historic Times (p. +64), gives a long list of pre-historic races who worshipped the lingam. + + (3) See Ch. XI. + + (4) See Ernest Crawley's Mystic Rose, ch. xiii, pp. 310 and 313: +"In certain tribes of Central Africa both boys and girls after +initiation must as soon as possible have intercourse." Initiation being +not merely preliminary to, but often ACTUALLY marriage. The same +among Kaffirs, Congo tribes, Senegalese, etc. Also among the Arunta of +Australia. + + (5) Professor Diederichs has said that "in much ancient ritual it +was thought that mystic communion with the deity could be obtained +through the semblance of sex-intercourse--as in the Attis-Cybele +worship, and the Isis-ritual." (Farnell.) Reitzenstein says (op. cit., +p. 20.) that the Initiates, like some of the Christian Nuns at a later +time, believed in union with God through receiving the seed. + + (6) Farnell, op. cit., iii. 176. Messrs. Gardner and Jevons, in +their Manual of Greek Antiquities, above-quoted, compare the Eleusinian +Mysteries favorably with some of the others, like the Arcadian, the +Troezenian, the Aeginaean, and the very primitive Samothracian: +saying (p. 278) that of the last-mentioned "we know little, but safely +conjecture that in them the ideas of sex and procreation dominated EVEN +MORE than in those of Eleusis." + + +After all it is pretty clear that the early peoples saw in Sex the great +cohesive force which kept (we will not say Humanity but at any rate) +the Tribe together, and sustained the race. In the stage of simple +Consciousness this must have been one of the first things that the +budding intellect perceived. Sex became one of the earliest divinities, +and there is abundant evidence that its organs and processes generally +were invested with a religious sense of awe and sanctity. It was in fact +the symbol (or rather the actuality) of the permanent undying life +of the race, and as such was sacred to the uses of the race. Whatever +taboos may have, among different peoples, guarded its operations, it +was not essentially a thing to be concealed, or ashamed of. Rather the +contrary. For instance the early Christian writer, Hippolytus, Bishop of +Pontus (A.D. 200), in his Refutation of all Heresies, Book V, says that +the Samothracian Mysteries, just mentioned, celebrate Adam as the +primal or archetypal Man eternal in the heavens; and he then continues: +"Habitually there stand in the temple of the Samothracians two images +of naked men having both hands stretched aloft towards heaven, and their +pudenda turned upwards, as is also the case with the statue of Mercury +on Mt. Cyllene. And the aforesaid images are figures of the primal man, +and of that spiritual one that is born again, in every respect of the +same substance with that (first) man." + + +This extract from Hippolytus occurs in the long discourse in which he +'exposes' the heresy of the so-called Naassene doctrines and mysteries. +But the whole discourse should be read by those who wish to understand +the Gnostic philosophy of the period contemporary with and anterior to +the birth of Christianity. A translation of the discourse, carefully +analyzed and annotated, is given in G. R. S. Mead's Thrice-greatest +Hermes (1) (vol. i); and Mead himself, speaking of it, says (p. 141): +"The claim of these Gnostics was practically that the good news of the +Christ (the Christos) was the consummation of the inner doctrine of the +Mystery-institutions of all the nations; the end of them all being the +revelation of the Mystery of Man." Further, he explains that the Soul, +in these doctrines, was regarded as synonymous with the Cause of All; +and that its loves were twain--of Aphrodite (or Life), and of Persephone +(or Death and the other world). Also that Attis, abandoning his sex in +the worship of the Mother-Goddess (Dea Syria), ascends to Heaven--a new +man, Male-female, and the origin of all things: the hidden Mystery being +the Phallus itself, erected as Hermes in all roads and boundaries and +temples, the Conductor and Reconductor of Souls. + + (1) Reitzenstein, op. cit., quotes the discourse largely. The +Thrice-greatest Hermes may also be consulted for a translation of +Plutarch's Isis and Osiris. + + +All this may sound strange, but one may fairly say that it represented +in its degree, and in that first 'unfallen' stage of human thought +and psychology, a true conception of the cosmic Life, and indeed a +conception quite sensible and admirable, until, of course, the Second +Stage brought corruption. No sooner was this great force of the cosmic +life diverted from its true uses of Generation and Regeneration (1) and +appropriated by the individual to his own private pleasure--no sooner +was its religious character as a tribal service (2), (often rendered +within the Temple precincts) lost sight of or degraded into a commercial +transaction--than every kind of evil fell upon mankind. Corruptio optimi +pessima. It must be remembered too that simultaneous with this sexual +disruption occurred the disruption of other human relations; and +we cease to be surprised that disease and selfish passions, greed, +jealousy, slander, cruelty, and wholesale murder, raged--and have raged +ever since. + + (1) For the special meaning of these two terms, see The Drama of +Love and Death, by E. Carpenter, pp. 59-61. + + (2) Ernest Crawley in The Mystic Rose challenges this +identification of Religion with tribal interests; yet his arguments +are not very convincing. On p. 5 he admits that "there is a religious +meaning inherent in the primitive conception and practice of ALL human +relations"; and a large part of his ch. xii is taken up in showing that +even such institutions as the Saturnalia were religious in confirming +the sense of social union and leading to 'extended identity.' + + +But for the human soul--whatever its fate, and whatever the dangers and +disasters that threaten it--there is always redemption waiting. As we +saw in the last chapter, this corruption of Sex led (quite naturally) to +its denial and rejection; and its denial led to the differentiation from +it of Love. Humanity gained by the enthronement And deification of Love, +pure and undefiled, and (for the time being) exalted beyond this mortal +world, and free from all earthly contracts. But again in the end, the +divorce thus introduced between the physical and the spiritual led +to the crippling of both. Love relegated, so to speak, to heaven as a +purely philanthropical, pious and 'spiritual' affair, became exceedingly +DULL; and sex, remaining on earth, but deserted by the redeeming +presence, fell into mere "carnal curiosity and wretchedness of unclean +living." Obviously for the human race there remains nothing, in the +final event, but the reconciliation of the physical and the spiritual, +and after many sufferings, the reunion of Eros and Psyche. + + +There is still, however, much to be said about the Third State of +Consciousness. Let us examine into it a little more closely. Clearly, +since it is a new state, and not merely an extension of a former one, +one cannot arrive at it by argument derived from the Second state, for +all conscious Thought such as we habitually use simply keeps us IN the +Second state. No animal or quite primitive man could possibly understand +what we mean by Self-consciousness till he had experienced it. Mere +argument would not enlighten him. And so no one in the Second state +can quite realize the Third state till he has experienced it. Still, +explanations may help us to perceive in what direction to look, and +to recognize in some of our experiences an approach to the condition +sought. + +Evidently it is a mental condition in some respects more similar to the +first than to the second stage. The second stage of human psychologic +evolution is an aberration, a divorce, a parenthesis. With its +culmination and dismissal the mind passes back into the simple state of +union with the Whole. (The state of Ekagrata in the Hindu philosophy: +one-pointedness, singleness of mind.) And the consciousness of +the Whole, and of things past and things to come and things far +around--which consciousness had been shut out by the concentration on +the local self--begins to return again. This is not to say, of course, +that the excursus in the second stage has been a loss and a defect. On +the contrary, it means that the Return is a bringing of all that +has been gained during the period of exile (all sorts of mental and +technical knowledge and skill, emotional developments, finesse and +adaptability of mind) BACK into harmony with the Whole. It means +ultimately a great gain. The Man, perfected, comes back to a vastly +extended harmony. He enters again into a real understanding and +confidential relationship with his physical body and with the body of +the society in which he dwells--from both of which he has been sadly +divorced; and he takes up again the broken thread of the Cosmic Life. + +Everyone has noticed the extraordinary consent sometimes observable +among the members of an animal community--how a flock of 500 birds (e. +g. starlings) will suddenly change its direction of flight--the light +on the wings shifting INSTANTANEOUSLY, as if the impulse to veer came +to all at the same identical moment; or how bees will swarm or otherwise +act with one accord, or migrating creatures (lemmings, deer, gossamer +spiders, winged ants) the same. Whatever explanation of these facts we +favor--whether the possession of swifter and finer means of external +communication than we can perceive, or whether a common and inner +sensitivity to the genius of the Tribe (the "Spirit of the Hive") or to +the promptings of great Nature around--in any case these facts of animal +life appear to throw light on the possibilities of an accord and consent +among the members of emaciated humanity, such as we dream of now, and +seem to bid us have good hope for the future. + +It is here, perhaps, that the ancient worship of the Lingam comes in. +The word itself is apparently connected with our word 'link,' and has +originally the same meaning. (1) It is the link between the generations. +Beginning with the worship of the physical Race-life, the course of +psychologic evolution has been first to the worship of the Tribe (or +of the Totem which represents the tribe); then to the worship of +the human-formed God of the tribe--the God who dies and rises +again eternally, as the tribe passes on eternal--though its members +perpetually perish; then to the conception of an undying Savior, and the +realization and distinct experience of some kind of Super-consciousness +which does certainly reside, more or less hidden, in the deeps of the +mind, and has been waiting through the ages for its disclosure and +recognition. Then again to the recognition that in the sacrifices, +the Slayer and the Slain are one--the strange and profoundly mystic +perception that the God and the Victim are in essence the same--the +dedication of 'Himself to Himself' (2) and simultaneously with this the +interpretation of the Eucharist as meaning, even for the individual, +the participation in Eternal Life--the continuing life of the Tribe, +or ultimately of Humanity. (3) The Tribal order rises to Humanity; love +ascends from the lingam to yogam, from physical union alone to the union +with the Whole--which of course includes physical and all other kinds of +union. No wonder that the good St. Paul, witnessing that extraordinary +whirlpool of beliefs and practices, new and old, there in the first +century A.D.--the unabashed adoration of sex side by side with the +transcendental devotions of the Vedic sages and the Gnostics--became +somewhat confused himself and even a little violent, scolding his +disciples (I Cor. x. 21) for their undiscriminating acceptance, as it +seemed to him, of things utterly alien and antagonistic. "Ye cannot +drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers +of the Lord's table and the table of devils." + + + (1) See Sanskrit Dictionary. + + (2) See Ch. VIII. + + (3) There are many indications in literature--in prophetic or +poetic form--of this awareness and distinct conviction of an eternal +life, reached through love and an inner sense of union with others and +with humanity at large; indications which bear the mark of absolute +genuineness and sincerity of feeling. See, for instance, Whitman's poem, +"To the Garden the World" (Leaves of Grass, complete edition, p. 79). +But an eternal life of the third order; not, thank heaven! an eternity +of the meddling and muddling self-conscious Intellect! + + +Every careful reader has noticed the confusedness of Paul's mind and +arguments. Even taking only those Epistles (Galatians, Romans and +Corinthians) which the critics assign to his pen, the thing is +observable--and some learned Germans even speak of TWO Pauls. (1) But +also the thing is quite natural. There can be little doubt that Paul of +Tarsus, a Jew brought up in the strictest sect of the Pharisees, did at +some time fall deeply under the influence of Greek thought, and quite +possibly became an initiate in the Mysteries. It would be difficult +otherwise to account for his constant use of the Mystery-language. +Reitzenstein says (p. 59): "The hellenistic religious literature MUST +have been read by him; he uses its terms, and is saturated with its +thoughts (see Rom. vi. 1-14." And this conjoined with his Jewish +experience gave him creative power. "A great deal in his sentiment and +thought may have REMAINED Jewish, but to his Hellenism he was indebted +for his love of freedom and his firm belief in his apostleship." He +adopts terms (like [gr sarkikos], [gr yucikos] and [gr pneumatikos]) +(2) which were in use among the hellenistic sects of the time; and +he writes, as in Romans vi. 4, 5, about being "buried" with Christ or +"planted" in the likeness of his death, in words which might well have +been used (with change of the name) by a follower of Attis or Osiris +after witnessing the corresponding 'mysteries'; certainly the allusion +to these ancient deities would have been understood by every religionist +of that day. These few points are sufficient to acentuate{sic} the two +elements in Paul, the Jewish and the Greek, and to explain (so far) +the seeming confusion in his utterances. Further it is interesting to +note--as showing the pagan influences in the N. T. writings--the degree +to which the Epistle to Philemon (ascribed to Paul) is FULL--short as it +is--of expressions like PRISONER of the Lord, FELLOW SOLDIER, CAPTIVE or +BONDMAN, (3) which were so common at the time as to be almost a cant in +Mithraism and the allied cults. In I Peter ii. 2 (4), we have the verse +"As newborn babes, desire ye the sincere MILK of the word, that ye +may grow thereby." And again we may say that no one in that day could +mistake the reference herein contained to old initiation ceremonies and +the new birth (as described in Chapter VIII above), for indeed milk was +the well-known diet of the novice in the Isis mysteries, as well as On +some savage tribes) of the Medicine-man when practising his calling. + + (1) "Die Mysterien-anschauungen, die bei Paulus im Hintergrunde +stehen, drangen sich in dem sogenarmten Deuteropaulinismus machtig vor" +(Reitzenstein). + + (2) Remindful of our Three Stages: the Animal, the +Self-conscious, and the Cosmic. + + (3) [gr desmios, stratiwths, doulos]. + + (4) See also I Cor. iii. 2. + + +And here too Democracy comes in--strangely foreboded from the first in +all this matter. (1) Not only does the Third Stage bring illumination, +intuitive understanding of processes in Nature and Humanity, sympathy +with the animals, artistic capacity, and so forth, but it necessarily +brings a new Order of Society. A preposterous--one may almost say a +hideous--social Age is surely drawing to its end, The debacle we are +witnessing to-day all over Europe (including the British Islands), the +break-up of old institutions, the generally materialistic outlook on +life, the coming to the surface of huge masses of diseased and fatuous +populations, the scum and dregs created by the past order, all point to +the End of a Dispensation. Protestantism and Commercialism, in the two +fields of religion and daily life have, as I have indicated before, +been occupied in concentrating the mind of each man solely on his OWN +welfare, the salvation of his OWN soul or body. These two forces have +therefore been disruptive to the last degree; they mark the culmination +of the Self-conscious Age--a culmination in War, Greed, Materialism, and +the general principle of Devil-take-the-hindmost--and the clearing of +the ground for the new order which is to come. So there is hope for the +human race. Its evolution is not all a mere formless craze and jumble. +There is an inner necessity by which Humanity unfolds from one degree or +plane of consciousness to another. And if there has been a great 'Fall' +or Lapse into conflict and disease and 'sin' and misery, occupying the +major part of the Historical period hitherto, we see that this period +is only brief, so to speak, in comparison with the whole curve of growth +and expansion. We see also that, as I have said before, the belief in a +state of salvation or deliverance has in the past ages never left +itself quite without a witness in the creeds and rituals and poems and +prophecies of mankind. Art, in some form or other, as an activity or +inspiration dating not from the conscious Intellect, but from deeper +regions of sub-conscious feeling and intuition, has continually come to +us as a message from and an evidence of the Third stage or state, and as +a promise of its more complete realization under other conditions. + + Through the long night-time where the Nations wander + From Eden past to Paradise to be, + Art's sacred flowers, like fair stars shining yonder, + Alone illumine Life's obscurity. + + O gracious Artists, out of your deep hearts + 'Tis some great Sun, I doubt, by men unguessed, + Whose rays come struggling thus, in slender darts, + To shadow what Is, till Time shall manifest. + + + (1) See the germs of Democracy in the yoga teaching of the +Hindus, and in the Upanishads, the Bhagavat Gita, and other books. + + +With the Cosmic stage comes also necessarily the rehabilitation of the +WHOLE of Society in one fellowship (the true Democracy). Not the rule or +domination of one class or caste--as of the Intellectual, the Pious, +the Commercial or the Military--but the fusion or at least consentaneous +organization of ALL (as in the corresponding functions of the human +Body). Class rule has been the mark of that second period of human +evolution, and has inevitably given birth during that period to wars and +self-agrandizements of classes and sections, and their consequent greeds +and tyrannies over other classes and sections. It is not found in the +primitive human tribes and societies, and will not be found in the final +forms of human association. The liberated and emancipated Man passes +unconstrained and unconstraining through all grades and planes of human +fellowship, equal and undisturbed, and never leaving his true home +and abiding place in the heart of all. Equally necessarily with the +rehabilitation of Society as an entirety will follow the rehabilitation +of the entire physical body IN each member of Society. We have spoken +already of Nakedness: its meaning and likely extent of adoption (Ch. +XII). The idea that the head and the hands are the only seemly and +presentable members of the organism, and that the other members are +unworthy and indecent, is obviously as onesided and lopsided as that +which honors certain classes in the commonwealth and despises others. +Why should the head brag of its ascendancy and domination, and the heart +be smothered up and hidden? It will only be a life far more in the open +air than that which we lead at present, which will restore the balance +and ultimately bring us back to sanity and health. + + + + +XVI. THE EXODUS OF CHRISTIANITY + +We have dealt with the Genesis of Christianity; we now come to the +Exodus. For that Christianity can CONTINUE to hold the field of Religion +in the Western World is neither probable nor desirable. It is true, as +I have remarked already, that there is a certain trouble about +defining what we mean by "Christianity" similar to that about the word +"Civilization." If we select out of the great mass of doctrines and +rites favored by the various Christian Churches just those which commend +themselves to the most modern and humane and rational human mind and +choose to call that resulting (but rather small) body of belief and +practice 'Christianity' we are, of course, entitled to do so, and to +hope (as we do hope) that this residuum will survive and go forward into +the future. But this sort of proceeding is hardly fair and certainly not +logical. It enables Christianity to pose as an angel of light while at +the same time keeping discreetly out of sight all its own abominations +and deeds of darkness. The Church--which began its career by destroying, +distorting and denying the pagan sources from which it sprang; whose +bishops and other ecclesiastics assassinated each other in their +theological rancour "of wild beasts," which encouraged the wicked folly +of the Crusades--especially the Children's Crusades--and the shameful +murders of the Manicheans, the Albigenses, and the Huguenots; which +burned at the stake thousands and thousands of poor 'witches' and +'heretics'; which has hardly ever spoken a generous word in favor or +defence of the animals; which in modern times has supported vivisection +as against the latter, Capitalism and Commercialism as against the +poorer classes of mankind; and whose priests in the forms of its various +sects, Greek or Catholic, Lutheran or Protestant, have in these last +days rushed forth to urge the nations to slaughter each other with every +diabolical device of Science, and to glorify the war-cry of Patriotism +in defiance of the principle of universal Brotherhood--such a Church can +hardly claim to have established the angelic character of its mission +among mankind! And if it be said--as it often IS SAID: "Oh! but you must +go back to the genuine article, and the Church's real origin and one +foundation in the person and teaching of Jesus Christ," then indeed you +come back to the point which this book, as above, enforces: namely, that +as to the person of Jesus, there is no CERTAINTY at all that he ever +existed; and as to the teaching credited to him, it is certain that that +comes down from a period long anterior to 'Christianity' and is part of +what may justly be called a very ancient World-religion. So, as in the +case of 'Civilization,' we are compelled to see that it is useless to +apply the word to some ideal state of affairs or doctrine (an ideal +by no means the same in all people's minds, or in all localities and +times), but that the only reasonable thing to do is to apply it in each +case to a HISTORICAL PERIOD. In the case of Christianity the historical +period has lasted nearly 2,000 years, and, as I say, we can hardly +expect or wish that it should last much longer. + +The very thorough and careful investigation of religious origins which +has been made during late years by a great number of students and +observers undoubtedly tends to show that there has been something like +a great World-religion coming down the centuries from the remotest times +and gradually expanding and branching as it has come--that is to say +that the similarity (in ESSENCE though not always in external detail) +between the creeds and rituals of widely sundered tribes and peoples is +so great as to justify the view--advanced in the present volume--that +these creeds and rituals are the necessary outgrowths of human +psychology, slowly evolving, and that consequently they have a common +origin and in their various forms a common expression. Of this great +World-religion, so coming down, Christianity is undoubtedly a branch, +and an important branch. But there have been important branches before; +and while it may be true that Christianity emphasizes some points which +may have been overlooked or neglected in the Vedic teachings or in +Buddhism, or in the Persian and Egyptian and Syrian cults, or in +Mahommedanism, and so forth, it is also equally true that Christianity +has itself overlooked or neglected valuable points in these religions. +It has, in fact, the defects of its qualities. If the World-religion +is like a great tree, one cannot expect or desire that all its branches +should be directed towards the same point of the compass. + +Reinach, whose studies of religious origins are always interesting +and characterized by a certain Gallic grace and nettete, though with a +somewhat Jewish non-perception of the mystic element in life, defines +Religion as a combination of animism and scruples. This is good in +a way, because it gives the two aspects of the subject: the inner, +animism, consisting of the sense of contact with more or less +intelligent beings moving in Nature; and the outer, consisting in +scruples or taboos. The one aspect shows the feeling which INSPIRES +religion, the other, the checks and limitations which DEFINE it and give +birth to ritual. But like most anthropologists he (Reinach) is a little +TOO patronizing towards the "poor Indian with untutored mind." He is +sorry for people so foolish as to be animistic in their outlook, and he +is always careful to point out that the scruples and taboos were quite +senseless in their origin, though occasionally (by accident) they turned +out useful. Yet--as I have said before--Animism is a perfectly sensible, +logical and NECESSARY attitude of the human mind. It is a necessary +attribute of man's psychical nature, by which he projects into the great +World around him the image of his own mind. When that mind is in a very +primitive, inchoate, and fragmentary condition, the images so projected +are those of fragmentary intelligences ('spirits,' gnomes, etc.--the age +of magic); when the mind rises to distinct consciousness of itself the +reflections of it are anthropomorphic 'gods'; when finally it reaches +the universal or cosmic state it perceives the presence of a universal +Being behind all phenomena--which Being is indeed itself--"Himself to +Himself." If you like you may call the whole process by the name of +Animism. It is perfectly sensible throughout. The only proviso is that +you should also be sensible, and distinguish the different stages in the +process. + +Jane Harrison makes considerable efforts to show that Religion is +primarily a reflection of the SOCIAL Conscience (see Themis, pp. +482-92)--that is, that the sense in Man of a "Power that makes for +righteousness" outside (and also inside) him is derived from his feeling +of continuity with the Tribe and his instinctive obedience to its +behests, confirmed by ages of collective habit and experience. He +cannot in fact sever the navel-string which connects him with his tribal +Mother, even though he desires to do so. And no doubt this view of the +origin of Religion is perfectly correct. But it must be pointed out that +it does not by any means exclude the view that religion derives +also from an Animism by which man recognizes in general Nature his +foster-mother and feels himself in closest touch with HER. Which may +have come first, the Social affiliation or the Nature affiliation, I +leave to the professors to determine. The term Animism may, as far as I +can see, be quite well applied to the social affiliation, for the latter +is evidently only a case in which the individual projects his own degree +of consciousness into the human group around him instead of into the +animals or the trees, but it is a case of which the justice is so +obvious that the modern man can intellectually seize and understand it, +and consequently he does not tar it with the 'animistic' brush. + +And Miss Harrison, it must be noticed, does, in other passages of the +same book (see Themis, pp. 68, 69), admit that Religion has its origin +not only from unity with the Tribe but from the sense of affiliation to +Nature--the sense of "a world of unseen power lying behind the visible +universe, a world which is the sphere, as will be seen, of magical +activity and the medium of mysticism. The mystical element, the oneness +and continuousness comes out very clearly in the notion of Wakonda among +the Sioux Indians.... The Omahas regarded all animate and inanimate +forms, all phenomena, as pervaded by a common life, which was continuous +and similar to the will-power they were conscious of in themselves. This +mysterious power in all things they called Wakonda, and through it +all things were related to man, and to each other. In the idea of the +continuity of life, a relation was maintained between the seen and +the unseen, the dead and the living, and also between the fragment of +anything and its entirety." Thus our general position is confirmed, +that Religion in its origin has been INSPIRED by a deep instinctive +conviction or actual sense of continuity with a being or beings in the +world around, while it has derived its FORM and ritual by slow degrees +from a vast number of taboos, generated in the first instance chiefly +by superstitious fears, but gradually with the growth of reason and +observation becoming simplified and rationalized into forms of use. On +the one side there has been the positive impulse--of mere animal Desire +and the animal urge of self-expression; on the other there has been +the negative force of Fear based on ignorance--the latter continually +carving, moulding and shaping the former. According to this an organized +study and classification of taboos might yield some interesting results; +because indeed it would throw light on the earliest forms of both +religion and science. It would be seen that some taboos, like those +of CONTACT (say with a menstruous woman, or a mother-in-law, or a +lightning-struck tree) had an obvious basis of observation, justifiable +but very crude; while others, like the taboo against harming an enemy +who had contracted blood-friendship with one of your own tribe, or +against giving decent burial to a murderer, were equally rough and rude +expressions or indications of the growing moral sentiment of mankind. +All the same there would be left, in any case, a large residuum of +taboos which could only be judged as senseless, and the mere rubbish of +the savage mind. + +So much for the first origins of the World-religion; and I think enough +has been said in the various chapters of this book to show that the same +general process has obtained throughout. Man, like the animals, began +with this deep, subconscious sense of unity with surrounding Nature. +When this became (in Man) fairly conscious, it led to Magic and +Totemism. More conscious, and it branched, on the one hand, into figures +of Gods and definite forms of Creeds, on the other into elaborate +Scientific Theories--the latter based on a strong INTELLECTUAL belief in +Unity, but fervently denying any 'anthropomorphic' or 'animistic' +SENSE of that unity. Finally, it seems that we are now on the edge of +a further stage when the theories and the creeds, scientific and +religious, are on the verge of collapsing, but in such a way as to leave +the sense and the perception of Unity--the real content of the whole +process--not only undestroyed, but immensely heightened and illuminated. +Meanwhile the taboos--of which there remain some still, both religious +and scientific--have been gradually breaking up and merging themselves +into a reasonable and humane order of life and philosophy. + +I have said that out of this World-religion Christianity really sprang. +It is evident that the time has arrived when it must either acknowledge +its source and frankly endeavor to affiliate itself to the same, or +failing that must perish. In the first case it will probably have to +change its name; in the second the question of its name 'will interest +it no more.' + +With regard to the first of these alternatives, I might venture--though +with indifference--to make a few suggestions. Why should we +not have--instead of a Holy Roman Church--a Holy HUMAN Church, +rehabilitating the ancient symbols and rituals, a Christianity (if you +still desire to call it so) frankly and gladly acknowledging its own +sources? This seems a reasonable and even feasible proposition. If such +a church wished to celebrate a Mass or Communion or Eucharist it would +have a great variety of rites and customs of that kind to select from; +those that were not appropriate for use in our times or were connected +with the worship of strange gods need not be rejected or condemned, +but could still be commented on and explained as approaches to the same +idea--the idea of dedication to the Common Life, and of reinvigoration +in the partaking of it. If the Church wished to celebrate the +Crucifixion or betrayal of its Founder, a hundred instances of such +celebrations would be to hand, and still the thought that has underlain +such celebrations since the beginning of the world could easily be +disentangled and presented in concrete form anew. In the light of such +teaching expressions like "I know that my Redeemer liveth" would be +traced to their origin, and men would understand that notwithstanding +the mass of rubbish, cant and humbug which has collected round them they +really do mean something and represent the age-long instinct of Humanity +feeling its way towards a more extended revelation, a new order of +being, a third stage of consciousness and illumination. In such a Church +or religious organization EVERY quality of human nature would have to +be represented, every practice and custom allowed for and its place +accorded--the magical and astronomical meanings, the rites connected +with sun-worship, or with sex, or with the worship of animals; the +consecration of corn and wine and other products of the ground, +initiations, sacrifices, and so forth--all (if indeed it claimed to be +a World-religion) would have to be represented and recognized. For they +all have their long human origin and descent in and through the pagan +creeds, and they all have penetrated into and become embodied to some +degree in Christianity. Christianity therefore, as I say, must either +now come frankly forward and, acknowledging its parentage from the great +Order of the past, seek to rehabilitate THAT and carry mankind one step +forward in the path of evolution--or else it must perish. There is no +other alternative. (1) + + (1) Comte in founding his philosophy of Positivism seems to have +had in view some such Holy Human Church, but he succeeded in making it +all so profoundly dull that it never flourished, The seed of Life was +not in it. + + +Let me give an instance of how a fragment of ancient ritual which has +survived from the far Past and is still celebrated, but with little +intelligence or understanding, in the Catholic Church of to-day, might +be adopted in such a Church as I have spoken of, interpreted, and made +eloquent of meaning to modern humanity. When I was in Ceylon nearly 30 +years ago I was fortunate enough to witness a night-festival in a Hindu +Temple--the great festival of Taipusam, which takes place every year in +January. Of course, it was full moon, and great was the blowing up of +trumpets in the huge courtyard of the Temple. The moon shone down above +from among the fronds of tall coco-palms, on a dense crowd of native +worshipers--men and a few women--the men for the most part clad in +little more than a loin-cloth, the women picturesque in their colored +saris and jewelled ear and nose rings. The images of Siva and two other +gods were carried in procession round and round the temple--three or +four times; nautch girls danced before the images, musicians, blowing +horns and huge shells, or piping on flageolets or beating tom-toms, +accompanied them. The crowd carrying torches or high crates with flaming +coco-nuts, walked or rather danced along on each side, elated and +excited with the sense of the present divinity, yet pleasantly free from +any abject awe. The whole thing indeed reminded one of some bas-relief +of a Bacchanalian procession carved on a Greek sarcophagus--and +especially so in its hilarity and suggestion of friendly intimacy with +the god. There were singing of hymns and the floating of the chief +actors on a raft round a sacred lake. And then came the final Act. Siva, +or his image, very weighty and borne on the shoulders of strong men, was +carried into the first chamber or hall of the Temple and placed on an +altar with a curtain hanging in front. The crowd followed with a rush; +and then there was more music, recital of hymns, and reading from sacred +books. From where we stood we could see the rite which was performed +behind the curtain. Two five-branched candlesticks were lighted; and the +manner of their lighting was as follows. Each branch ended in a +little cup, and in the cups five pieces of camphor were placed, all +approximately equal in size. After offerings had been made, of fruit, +flowers and sandalwood, the five camphors in each candlestick were +lighted. As the camphor flames burned out the music became more wild and +exciting, and then at the moment of their extinction the curtains +were drawn aside and the congregation outside suddenly beheld the god +revealed and in a blaze of light. This burning of camphor was, like +other things in the service, emblematic. The five lights represent +the five senses. Just as camphor consumes itself and leaves no residue +behind, so should the five senses, being offered to the god, consume +themselves and disappear. When this is done, that happens in the soul +which was now figured in the ritual--the God is revealed in the inner +light. (1) + + (1) For a more detailed account of this Temple-festival, see +Adam's Peak to Elephanta by E. Carpenter, ch. vii. + + +We are familiar with this parting or rending of the veil. We hear of it +in the Jewish Temple, and in the Greek and Egyptian Mysteries. It had +a mystically religious, and also obviously sexual, signification. It +occurs here and there in the Roman Catholic ritual. In Spain, some +ancient Catholic ceremonials are kept up with a brilliance and splendor +hardly found elsewhere in Europe. In the Cathedral, at Seville the +service of the Passion, carried out on Good Friday with great +solemnity and accompanied with fine music, culminates on the Saturday +morning--i.e. in the interval between the Crucifixion and the +Resurrection--in a spectacle similar to that described in Ceylon. A rich +velvet-black curtain hangs before the High Altar. At the appropriate +moment and as the very emotional strains of voices and instruments reach +their climax in the "Gloria in Excelsis," the curtain with a sudden +burst of sound (thunder and the ringing of all the bells) is rent +asunder, and the crucified Jesus is seen hanging there revealed in a +halo of glory. + +There is also held at Seville Cathedral and before the High Altar every +year, the very curious Dance of the Seises (sixes), performed now by 16 +instead of (as of old) by 12 boys, quaintly dressed. It seems to be a +survival of some very ancient ritual, probably astronomical, in which +the two sets of six represent the signs of the Zodiac, and is celebrated +during the festivals of Corpus Christi, the Immaculate Conception, and +the Carnival. + +Numerous instances might of course be adduced of how a Church aspiring +to be a real Church of Humanity might adopt and re-create the rituals +of the past in the light of a modern inspiration. Indeed the difficulty +would be to limit the process, for EVERY ancient ritual, we can now +see, has had a meaning and a message, and it would be a real joy to +disentangle these and to expose the profound solidarity of humanity and +aspiration from the very dawn of civilization down to the present day. +Nor would it be necessary to imagine any Act of Uniformity or dead +level of ceremonial in the matter. Different groups might concentrate on +different phases of religious thought and practice. The only necessity +would be that they should approach the subject with a real love of +Humanity in their hearts and a real desire to come into touch with the +deep inner life and mystic growing-pains of the souls of men and women +in all ages. In this direction M. Loisy has done noble and excellent +work; but the dead weight and selfish blinkerdom of the Catholic +organization has hampered him to that degree that he has been unable +to get justice done to his liberalizing designs--or, perhaps, even to +reveal the full extent of them. And the same difficulty will remain. On +the one hand no spiritual movement which does not take up the attitude +of a World-religion has now in this age, any chance of success; on the +other, all the existing Churches--whether Roman Catholic, or Greek, +or Protestant or Secularist--whether Christian or Jewish or Persian or +Hindu--will in all probability adopt the same blind and blinkered and +selfish attitude as that described above, and so disqualify themselves +for the great role of world-wide emancipation, which some religion at +some time will certainly have to play. It is the same difficulty which +is looming large in modern World-politics, where the local selfishness +and vainglorious "patriotisms" of the Nations are sadly impeding and +obstructing the development of that sense of Internationalism and +Brotherhood which is the clearly indicated form of the future, and +which alone can give each nation deliverance from fear, and a promise of +growth, and the confident assurance of power. + +I say that Christianity must either frankly adopt this generous attitude +and confess itself a branch of the great World-religion, anxious only to +do honor to its source--or else it must perish and pass away. There is +no other alternative. The hour of its Exodus has come. It may be, of +course, that neither the Christian Church nor any branch of it, nor any +other religious organization, will step into the gap. It may be--but I +do not think this is likely--that the time of rites and ceremonies and +formal creeds is PAST, and churches of any kind will be no more needed +in the world: not likely, I say, because of the still far backwardness +of the human masses, and their considerable dependence yet on laws and +forms and rituals. Still, if it should prove that that age of dependence +IS really approaching its end, that would surely be a matter for +congratulation. It would mean that mankind was moving into a knowledge +of the REALITY which has underlain these outer shows--that it was coming +into the Third stage of its Consciousness. Having found this there would +be no need for it to dwell any longer in the land of superstitions and +formulae. It would have come to the place of which these latter are only +the outlying indications. + +It may, therefore, happen--and this quite independently of the growth of +a World-cult such as I have described, though by no means in antagonism +to it--that a religious philosophy or Theosophy might develop and +spread, similar to the Gnonam of the Hindus or the Gnomsis of the +pre-Christian sects, which would become, first among individuals and +afterwards among large bodies over the world, the religion of--or +perhaps one should say the religious approach to the Third State. Books +like the Upanishads of the Vedic seers, and the Bhagavat Gita, though +garbled and obscured by priestly interferences and mystifications, do +undoubtedly represent and give expression to the highest utterance of +religious experience to be found anywhere in the world. They are indeed +the manuals of human entrance into the cosmic state. But as I say, +and as has happened in the case of other sacred books, a vast deal of +rubbish has accreted round their essential teachings, and has to be +cleared away. To go into a serious explication of the meaning of these +books would be far too large an affair, and would be foreign to the +purpose of the present volume; but I have in the Appendix below inserted +two papers, (on "Rest" and "The Nature of the Self") containing the +substance of lectures given on the above books. These papers or lectures +are couched in the very simplest language, free from Sanskrit terms and +the usual 'jargon of the Schools,' and may, I hope, even on that account +be of use in familiarizing readers who are not specially STUDENTS with +the ideas and mental attitudes of the cosmic state. Non-differentiation +(Advaita (1)) is the root attitude of the mind inculcated. + + (1) The word means "not-two-ness." Here we see a great subtlety +of definition. It is not to be "one" with others that is urged, but to +be "not two." + + +We have seen that there has been an age of non-differentiation in the +Past-non-differentiation from other members of the Tribe, from the +Animals, from Nature and the Spirit or Spirits of nature; why +should there not arise a similar sense of non-differentiation in the +FUTURE--similar but more extended more intelligent? Certainly this WILL +arrive, in its own appointed time. There will be a surpassing of the +bounds of separation and division. There will be a surpassing of all +Taboos. We have seen the use and function of Taboos in the early stages +of Evolution and how progress and growth have been very much a matter +of their gradual extinction and assimilation into the general body +of rational thought and feeling. Unreasoning and idiotic taboos still +linger, but they grow weaker. A new Morality will come which will shake +itself free from them. The sense of kinship with the animals (as in the +old rituals) (1) will be restored; the sense of kinship with all the +races of mankind will grow and become consolidated; the sense of the +defilement and impurity of the human body will (with the adoption of a +generally clean and wholesome life) pass away; and the body itself will +come to be regarded more as a collection of shrines in which the +gods may be worshiped and less as a mere organ of trivial +self-gratifications; (2) there will be no form of Nature, or of human +life or of the lesser creatures, which will be barred from the approach +of Man or from the intimate and penetrating invasion of his spirit; and +as in certain ceremonies and after honorable toils and labors a citizen +is sometimes received into the community of his own city, so the +emancipated human being on the completion of his long long pilgrimage on +Earth will be presented with the Freedom of the Universe. + + + (1) The record of the Roman Catholic Church has been sadly +Callous and inhuman in this matter of the animals. + + (2) See The Art of Creation, by E. Carpenter. + + + + +XVII. CONCLUSION + +In conclusion there does not seem much to say, except to accentuate +certain points which may still appear doubtful or capable of being +understood. + +The fact that the main argument of this volume is along the lines of +psychological evolution will no doubt commend it to some, while on the +other hand it will discredit the book to others whose eyes, being fixed +on purely MATERIAL causes, can see no impetus in History except through +these. But it must be remembered that there is not the least reason +for SEPARATING the two factors. The fact that psychologically man has +evolved from simple consciousness to self-consciousness, and is now +in process of evolution towards another and more extended kind of +consciousness, does not in the least bar the simultaneous appearance and +influence of material evolution. It is clear indeed that the two must +largely go together, acting and reacting on each other. Whatever the +physical conditions of the animal brain may be which connect themselves +with simple (unreflected and unreflecting) consciousness, it is evident +that these conditions--in animals and primitive man--lasted for an +enormous period, before the distinct consciousness of the individual and +separate SELF arose. This second order of consciousness seems to have +germinated at or about the same period as the discovery of the use +of Tools (tools of stone, copper, bronze, &c.), the adoption of +picture-writing and the use of reflective words (like "I" and "Thou"); +and it led on to the appreciation of gold and of iron with their +ornamental and practical values, the accumulation of Property, the +establishment of slavery of various kinds, the subjection of Women, +the encouragement of luxury and self-indulgence, the growth of crowded +cities and the endless conflicts and wars so resulting. We can see +plainly that the incoming of the self-motive exercised a direct stimulus +on the pursuit of these material objects and adaptations; and that +the material adaptations in their turn did largely accentuate the +self-motive; but to insist that the real explanation of the whole +process is only to be found along one channel--the material OR the +psychical--is clearly quite unnecessary. Those who understand that all +matter is conscious in some degree, and that all consciousness has a +material form of some kind, will be the first to admit this. + +The same remarks apply to the Third Stage. We can see that in modern +times the huge and unlimited powers of production by machinery, united +with a growing tendency towards intelligent Birth-control, are +preparing the way for an age of Communism and communal Plenty which will +inevitably be associated (partly as cause and partly as effect) with +a new general phase of consciousness, involving the mitigation of +the struggle for existence, the growth of intuitional and psychical +perception, the spread of amity and solidarity, the disappearance of +War, and the realization (in degree) of the Cosmic life. + +Perhaps the greatest difficulty or stumbling-block to the general +acceptance of the belief in a third (or 'Golden-Age') phase of human +evolution is the obstinate and obdurate pre-judgment that the passing of +Humanity out of the Second stage can only mean the entire ABANDONMENT +OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS; and this people say--and quite rightly--is both +impossible and undesirable. Throughout the preceding chapters I have +striven, wherever feasible, to counter this misunderstanding--but I have +little hope of success. The DETERMINATION of the world to misunderstand +or misinterpret anything a little new or unfamiliar is a thing which +perhaps only an author can duly appreciate. But while it is clear that +self-consciousness originally came into being through a process of +alienation and exile and fear which marked it with the Cain-like brand +of loneliness and apartness, it is equally clear that to think of that +apartness as an absolute and permanent separation is an illusion, since +no being can really continue to live divorced from the source of its +life. For a period in evolution the SELF took on this illusive form in +consciousness, as of an ignis fatuus--the form of a being sundered from +all other beings, atomic, lonely, without refuge, surrounded by dangers +and struggling, for itself alone and for its own salvation in the midst +of a hostile environment. Perhaps some such terrible imagination was +necessary at first, as it were to start Humanity on its new path. But +it had its compensation, for the sufferings and tortures, mental and +bodily, the privations, persecutions, accusations, hatreds, the wars and +conflicts--so endured by millions of individuals and whole races--have +at length stamped upon the human mind a sense of individual +responsibility which otherwise perhaps would never have emerged, and +whose mark can now be effaced; ultimately, too, these things have +searched our inner nature to its very depths and exposed its bed-rock +foundation. They have convinced us that this idea of ultimate +separation is an illusion, and that in truth we are all indefeasible and +indestructible parts of one great Unity in which "we live and move and +have our being." That being so, it is clear that there remains in the +end a self-consciousness which need by no means be abandoned, which +indeed only comes to its true fruition and understanding when +it recognizes its affiliation with the Whole, and glories in an +individuality which is an expression both of itself AND of the whole. +The human child at its mother's knee probably comes first to know it +HAS a 'self' on some fateful day when having wandered afar it goes +lost among alien houses and streets or in the trackless fields. That +appalling experience--the sense of danger, of fear, of loneliness--is +never forgotten; it stamps some new sense of Being upon the childish +mind, but that sense, instead of being destroyed, becomes all the +prouder and more radiant in the hour of return to the mother's arms. The +return, the salvation, for which humanity looks, is the return of the +little individual self to harmony and union with the great Self of the +universe, but by no means its extinction or abandonment--rather the +finding of its own true nature as never before. + + +There is another thing which may be said here: namely, that the +disentanglement, as above, of three main stages of psychological +evolution as great formative influences in the history of mankind, does +not by any means preclude the establishment of lesser stages within the +boundaries of these. In all probability subdivisions of all the three +will come in time to be recognized and allowed for. To take the +Second stage only, it MAY appear that Self-consciousness in its first +development is characterized by an accentuation of Timidity; in its +second development by a more deliberate pursuit of sensual Pleasure +(lust, food, drink, &c.); in its third by the pursuit of mental +gratifications (vanities, ambitions, enslavement of others); in its +fourth by the pursuit of Property, as a means of attaining these +objects; in its fifth by the access of enmities, jealousies, wars and so +forth, consequent on all these things; and so on. I have no intention at +present of following out this line of thought, but only wish to suggest +its feasibility and the degree to which it may throw light on the social +evolutions of the Past. (1) + + (1) For an analysis of the nature of Self-consciousness see vol. +iii, p. 375 sq. of the three ponderous tomes by Wilhelm +Wundt--Grund-zuge der Physiologischen Psychologie--in which amid an +enormous mass of verbiage occasional gleams of useful suggestion are to +be found. + + +As a kind of rude general philosophy we may say that there are only two +main factors in life, namely, Love and Ignorance. And of these we may +also say that the two are not in the same plane: one is positive and +substantial, the other is negative and merely illusory. It may be +thought at first that Fear and Hatred and Cruelty, and the like, are +very positive things, but in the end we see that they are due merely to +ABSENCE of perception, to dulness of understanding. Or we may put the +statement in a rather less crude form, and say that there are only +two factors in life: (1) the sense of Unity with others (and with +Nature)--which covers Love, Faith, Courage, Truth, and so forth, and +(2) Non-perception of the same--which covers Enmity, Fear, Hatred, +Self-pity, Cruelty, Jealousy, Meanness and an endless similar list. +The present world which we see around us, with its idiotic wars, its +senseless jealousies of nations and classes, its fears and greeds +and vanities and its futile endeavors--as of people struggling in a +swamp--to find one's own salvation by treading others underfoot, is a +negative phenomenon. Ignorance, non-perception, are at the root of it. +But it is the blessed virtue of Ignorance and of non-perception that +they inevitably-if only slowly and painfully--DESTROY THEMSELVES. All +experience serves to dissipate them. The world, as it is, carries' the +doom of its own transformation in its bosom; and in proportion as that +which is negative disappears the positive element must establish itself +more and more. + +So we come back to that with which we began, (1) to Fear bred by +Ignorance. From that source has sprung the long catalogue of follies, +cruelties and sufferings which mark the records of the human race since +the dawn of history; and to the overcoming of this Fear we perforce +must look for our future deliverance, and for the discovery, even in +the midst of this world, of our true Home. The time is coming when the +positive constructive element must dominate. It is inevitable that Man +must ever build a state of society around him after the pattern and +image of his own interior state. The whole futile and idiotic structure +of commerce and industry in which we are now imprisoned springs from +that falsehood of individualistic self-seeking which marks the second +stage of human evolution. That stage is already tottering to its fall, +destroyed by the very flood of egotistic passions and interests, of +vanities, greeds, and cruelties, all warring with each other, which are +the sure outcome and culmination of its operation. With the restoration +of the sentiment of the Common Life, and the gradual growth of a mental +attitude corresponding, there will emerge from the flood something like +a solid earth--something on which it will be possible to build with good +hope for the future. Schemes of reconstruction are well enough in their +way, but if there is no ground of REAL HUMAN SOLIDARITY beneath, of what +avail are they? + + (1) See Introduction, Ch. I. + + +An industrial system which is no real industrial order, but only (on +the part of the employers) a devil's device for securing private profit +under the guise of public utility, and (on the part of the employed) a +dismal and poor-spirited renunciation--for the sake of a bare living--of +all real interest in life and work: such a 'system' must infallibly +pass away. It cannot in the nature of things be permanent. The first +condition of social happiness and prosperity must be the sense of the +Common Life. This sense, which instinctively underlay the whole Tribal +order of the far past--which first came to consciousness in the +worship of a thousand pagan divinities, and in the rituals of countless +sacrifices, initiations, redemptions, love-feasts and communions, which +inspired the dreams of the Golden Age, and flashed out for a time in the +Communism of the early Christians and in their adorations of the risen +Savior--must in the end be the creative condition of a new order: it +must provide the material of which the Golden City waits to be built. +The long travail of the World-religion will not have been in vain, which +assures this consummation. What the signs and conditions of any general +advance into this new order of life and consciousness will be, we know +not. It may be that as to individuals the revelation of a new vision +often comes quite suddenly, and GENERALLY perhaps after a period of +great suffering, so to society at large a similar revelation will +arrive--like "the lightning which cometh out of the East and shineth +even unto the West"--with unexpected swiftness. On the other hand +it would perhaps be wise not to count too much on any such sudden +transformation. When we look abroad (and at home) in this year of grace +and hoped-for peace, 1919, and see the spirits of rancour and revenge, +the fears, the selfish blindness and the ignorance, which still hold in +their paralyzing grasp huge classes and coteries in every country in the +world, we see that the second stage of human development is by no means +yet at its full term, and that, as in some vast chrysalis, for the +liberation of the creature within still more and more terrible struggles +MAY be necessary. We can only pray that such may not be the case. +Anyhow, if we have followed the argument of this book we can hardly +doubt that the destruction (which is going on everywhere) of the +outer form of the present society marks the first stage of man's final +liberation; and that, sooner or later, and in its own good time, that +further 'divine event' will surely be realized. + + +Nor need we fear that Humanity, when it has once entered into the great +Deliverance, will be again overpowered by evil. From Knowledge back to +Ignorance there is no complete return. The nations that have come to +enlightenment need entertain no dread of those others (however hostile +they appear) who are still plunging darkly in the troubled waters +of self-greed. The dastardly Fears which inspire all brutishness and +cruelty of warfare--whether of White against White or it may be of White +against Yellow or Black--may be dismissed for good and all by that blest +race which once shall have gained the shore--since from the very nature +of the case those who are on dry land can fear nothing and need fear +nothing from the unfortunates who are yet tossing in the welter and +turmoil of the waves. + +Dr. Frazer, in the conclusion of his great work The Golden Bough, (1) +bids farewell to his readers with the following words: "The laws of +Nature are merely hypotheses devised to explain that ever-shifting +phantasmagoria of thought which we dignify with the high-sounding names +of the World and the Universe. In the last analysis magic, religion +and science are nothing but theories (of thought); and as Science has +supplanted its predecessors so it may hereafter itself be superseded by +some more perfect hypothesis, perhaps by some perfectly different way of +looking at phenomena--of registering the shadows on the screen--of which +we in this generation can form no idea." I imagine Dr. Frazer is right +in thinking that "a way of looking at phenomena" different from the way +of Science, may some day prevail. But I think this change will come, +not so much by the growth of Science itself or the extension of its +'hypotheses,' as by a growth and expansion of the human HEART and a +change in its psychology and powers of perception. Perhaps some of the +preceding chapters will help to show how much the outlook of humanity on +the world has been guided through the centuries by the slow evolution of +its inner consciousness. Gradually, out of an infinite mass of folly and +delusion, the human soul has in this way disentangled itself, and will +in the future disentangle itself, to emerge at length in the light of +true FREEDOM. All the taboos, the insane terrors, the fatuous forbiddals +of this and that (with their consequent heart-searchings and distress) +may perhaps have been in their way necessary, in order to rivet and +define the meaning and the understanding of that word. To-day +these taboos and terrors still linger, many of them, in the form of +conventions of morality, uneasy strivings of conscience, doubts and +desperations of religion; but ultimately Man will emerge from all these +things, FREE--familiar, that is, with them all, making use of all, +allowing generously for the values of all, but hampered and bound by +NONE. He will realize the inner meaning of the creeds and rituals of the +ancient religions, and will hail with joy the fulfilment of their far +prophecy down the ages--finding after all the long-expected Saviour of +the world within his own breast, and Paradise in the disclosure there of +the everlasting peace of the soul. + + (1) See "Balder," vol. ii, pp. 306, 307. ("Farewell to Nemi.") + + + + +APPENDIX + +THE TEACHING OF THE UPANISHADS + +BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF TWO LECTURES TO POPULAR AUDIENCES + +I. REST + +II. THE NATURE OF THE SELF + + + +I. REST + +To some, in the present whirlpool of life and affairs it may seem almost +an absurdity to talk about Rest. For long enough now rest has seemed a +thing far off and unattainable. With the posts knocking at our doors +ten or twelve times a day, with telegrams arriving every hour, and the +telephone bell constantly ringing; with motors rushing wildly about the +streets, and aeroplanes whizzing overhead, with work speeded up in every +direction, and the drive in the workshops becoming more intolerable +every day; with the pace of the walkers and the pace of the talkers from +hour to hour insanely increasing--what room, it may well be asked, is +there for Rest? And now the issues of war, redoubling the urgency of all +questions, are on us. + +The problem is obviously a serious one. So urgent is it that I think one +may safely say the amount of insanity due to the pressure of daily life +is increasing; nursing-homes have sprung up for the special purpose of +treating such cases; and doctors are starting special courses of +tuition in the art--now becoming very important--of systematically doing +nothing! And yet it is difficult to see the outcome of it all. The clock +of what is called Progress is not easily turned backward. We should +not very readily agree nowadays to the abolition of telegrams or to a +regulation compelling express trains to stop at every station! We can't +ALL go to Nursing Homes, or afford to enjoy a winter's rest-cure in +Egypt. And, if not, is the speeding-up process to go on indefinitely, +incapable of being checked, and destined ultimately to land civilization +in the mad-house? + +It is, I say, a serious and an urgent problem. And it is, I think, +forcing a certain answer on us--which I will now endeavor to explain. + +If we cannot turn back and reverse this fatal onrush of modern life (and +it is evident that we cannot do so in any very brief time--though of +course ultimately we might succeed) then I think there are clearly only +two alternatives left--either to go forward to general dislocation and +madness, or--to learn to rest even in the very midst of the hurry and +the scurry. + +To explain what I mean, let me use an illustration. The typhoons and +cyclones of the China Seas are some of the most formidable storms that +ships can encounter. Their paths in the past have been strewn with +wrecks and disaster. But now with increased knowledge much of their +danger has been averted. It is known that they are CIRCULAR in +character, and that though the wind on their outskirts often reaches a +speed of 100 miles an hour, in the centre of the storm there is a +space of complete calm--not a calm of the SEA certainly, but a complete +absence of wind. The skilled navigator, if he cannot escape the storm, +steers right into the heart of it, and rests there. Even in the midst +of the clatter he finds a place of quiet where he can trim his sails +and adjust his future course. He knows too from his position in what +direction at every point around him the wind is moving and where it will +strike him when at last his ship emerges from the charmed circle. + +Is it not possible, we may ask, that in the very midst of the cyclone of +daily life we may find a similar resting-place? If we can, our case is +by no means hopeless. If we cannot, then indeed there is danger. + +Looking back in History we seem to see that in old times people took +life much more leisurely than they do now. The elder generations gave +more scope in their customs and their religions for contentment and +peace of mind. We associate a certain quietism and passivity with the +thought of the Eastern peoples. But as civilization traveled Westward +external activity and the pace of life increased--less and less time was +left for meditation and repose--till with the rise of Western Europe and +America, the dominant note of life seems to have simply become one of +feverish and ceaseless activity--of activity merely for the sake of +activity, without any clear idea of its own purpose or object. + +Such a prospect does not at first seem very hopeful; but on second +thoughts we see that we are not forced to draw any very pessimistic +conclusion from it. The direction of human evolution need not remain +always the same. The movement, in fact, of civilization from East to +West has now clearly completed itself. The globe has been circled, and +we cannot go any FARTHER to the West without coming round to the East +again. It is a commonplace to say that our psychology, our philosophy +and our religious sense are already taking on an Eastern color; nor is +it difficult to imagine that with the end of the present dispensation a +new era may perfectly naturally arrive in which the St. Vitus' dance of +money-making and ambition will cease to be the chief end of existence. + +In the history of nations as in the history of individuals there +are periods when the formative ideals of life (through some hidden +influence) change; and the mode of life and evolution in consequence +changes also. I remember when I was a boy wishing--like many other +boys--to go to sea. I wanted to join the Navy. It was not, I am sure, +that I was so very anxious to defend my country. No, there was a much +simpler and more prosaic motive than that. The ships of those days with +their complex rigging suggested a perfect paradise of CLIMBING, and I +know that it was the thought of THAT which influenced me. To be able +to climb indefinitely among those ropes and spars! How delightful! Of +course I knew perfectly well that I should not always have free access +to the rigging; but then--some day, no doubt, I should be an Admiral, +and who then could prevent me? I remember seeing myself in my mind's +eye, with cocked hat on my head and spy-glass under my arm, roaming at +my own sweet will up aloft, regardless of the remonstrances which +might reach me from below! Such was my childish ideal. But a time +came--needless to say--when I conceived a different idea of the object +of life. + +It is said that John Tyndall, whose lectures on Science were so much +sought after in their time, being on one occasion in New York was +accosted after his discourse by a very successful American business +man, who urged him to devote his scientific knowledge and ability to +commercial pursuits, promising that if he did so, he, Tyndall, would +easily make "a big pile." Tyndall very calmly replied, "Well, I myself +thought of that once, but I soon abandoned the idea, having come to +the conclusion that I had NO TIME TO WASTE IN MAKING MONEY." The man of +dollars nearly sank into the ground. Such a conception of life had never +entered his head before. But to Tyndall no doubt it was obvious that if +he chained himself to the commercial ideal all the joy and glory of his +days would be gone. + +We sometimes hear of the awful doom of some of the Russian convicts in +the quarries and mines of Siberia, who are (or were) chained permanently +to their wheelbarrows. It is difficult to imagine a more dreadful fate: +the despair, the disgust, the deadly loathing of the accursed thing from +which there is no escape day or night--which is the companion not only +of the prisoner's work but of his hours of rest--with which he has to +sleep, to feed, to take his recreation if he has any, and to fulfil all +the offices of nature. Could anything be more crushing? And yet, and +yet... is it not true that we, most of us, in our various ways are +chained to our wheelbarrows--is it not too often true that to these +beggarly things we have for the most part chained OURSELVES? + +Let me be understood. Of course we all have (or ought to have) our work +to do. We have our living to get, our families to support, our trade, +our art, our profession to pursue. In that sense no doubt we are tied; +but I take it that these things are like the wheelbarrow which a man +uses while he is at work. It may irk him at times, but he sticks to it +with a good heart, and with a certain joy because it is the instrument +of a noble purpose. That is all right. But to be chained to it, not to +be able to leave it when the work of the day is done--that is indeed +an ignoble slavery. I would say, then, take care that even with these +things, these necessary arts of life, you preserve your independence, +that even if to some degree they may confine your body they do not +enslave your mind. + +For it is the freedom of the mind which counts. We are all no doubt +caught in the toils of the earth-life. One man is largely dominated +by sensual indulgence, another by ambition, another by the pursuit +of money. Well, these things are all right in themselves. Without the +pleasures of the senses we should be dull mokes indeed; without ambition +much of the zest and enterprise of life would be gone; gold, in the +present order of affairs, is a very useful servant. These things are +right enough--but to be CHAINED to them, to be unable to think of +anything else--what a fate! The subject reminds one of a not uncommon +spectacle. It is a glorious day; the sun is bright, small white clouds +float in the transparent blue--a day when you linger perforce on the +road to enjoy the scene. But suddenly here comes a man painfully running +all hot and dusty and mopping his head, and with no eye, clearly, for +anything around him. What is the matter? He is absorbed by one idea. +He is running to catch a train! And one cannot help wondering what +EXCEEDINGLY important business it must be for which all this glory and +beauty is sacrificed, and passed by as if it did not exist. + +Further we must remember that in our foolishness we very commonly chain +ourselves, not only to things like sense-pleasures and ambitions which +are on the edge, so to speak, of being vices; but also to other things +which are accounted virtues, and which as far as I can see are just as +bad, if we once become enslaved to them. I have known people who were so +exceedingly 'spiritual' and 'good' that one really felt quite depressed +in their company; I have known others whose sense of duty, dear things, +was so strong that they seemed quite unable to REST, or even to allow +their friends to rest; and I have wondered whether, after all, worriting +about one's duty might not be as bad--as deteriorating to oneself, as +distressing to one's friends--as sinning a good solid sin. No, in this +respect virtues MAY be no better than vices; and to be chained to a +wheelbarrow made of alabaster is no way preferable to being chained to +one of wood. To sacrifice the immortal freedom of the mind in order to +become a prey to self-regarding cares and anxieties, self-estimating +virtues and vices, self-chaining duties and indulgences, is a mistake. +And I warn you, it is quite useless. For the destiny of Freedom is +ultimately upon every one, and if refusing it for a time you heap your +life persistently upon one object--however blameless in itself that +object may be--Beware! For one day--and when you least expect it--the +gods will send a thunderbolt upon you. One day the thing for which +you have toiled and spent laborious days and sleepless nights will lie +broken before you--your reputation will be ruined, your ambition will be +dashed, your savings of years will be lost--and for the moment you will +be inclined to think that your life has been in vain. But presently you +will wake up and find that something quite different has happened. You +will find that the thunderbolt which you thought was your ruin has been +your salvation--that it has broken the chain which bound you to your +wheelbarrow, and that you are free! -------- + +I think you will now see what I mean by Rest. Rest is the loosing of the +chains which bind us to the whirligig of the world, it is the passing +into the centre of the Cyclone; it is the Stilling of Thought. For (with +regard to this last) it is Thought, it is the Attachment of the Mind, +which binds us to outer things. The outer things themselves are all +right. It is only through our thoughts that they make slaves of us. +Obtain power over your thoughts and you are free. You can then use the +outer things or dismiss them at your pleasure. + +There is nothing new of course in all this. It has been known for ages; +and is part of the ancient philosophy of the world. + +In the Katha Upanishad you will find these words (Max Muller's +translation): "As rainwater that has fallen on a mountain ridge runs +down on all sides, thus does he who sees a difference between qualities +run after them on all sides." This is the figure of the man who does NOT +rest. And it is a powerful likeness. The thunder shower descends on the +mountain top; torrents of water pour down the crags in every direction. +Imagine the state of mind of a man--however thirsty he may be--who +endeavors to pursue and intercept all these streams! + +But then the Upanishad goes on: "As pure water poured into pure water +remains the same, thus, O Gautama, is the Self of a thinker who +knows." What a perfect image of rest! Imagine a cistern before you with +transparent glass sides and filled with pure water. And then imagine +some one comes with a phial, also of pure water, and pours the contents +gently into the cistern. What will happen? Almost nothing. The pure +water will glide into the pure water--"remaining the same." There will +be no dislocation, no discoloration (as might happen if MUDDY water were +poured in); there will be only perfect harmony. + +I imagine here that the meaning is something like this. The cistern is +the great Reservoir of the Universe which contains the pure and +perfect Spirit of all life. Each one of us, and every mortal creature, +represents a drop from that reservoir--a drop indeed which is also pure +and perfect (though the phial in which it is contained may not always +be so). When we, each of us, descend into the world and meet the great +Ocean of Life which dwells there behind all mortal forms, it is like the +little phial being poured into the great reservoir. If the tiny canful +which is our selves is pure and unsoiled, then when it meets the +world it will blend with the Spirit which informs the world perfectly +harmoniously, without distress or dislocation. It will pass through and +be at one with it. How can one describe such a state of affairs? You +will have the key to every person that you meet, because indeed you are +conscious that the real essence of that person is the same as your own. +You will have the solution of every event which happens. For every event +is (and is felt to be) the touch of the great Spirit on yours. Can any +description of Rest be more perfect than that? Pure water poured into +pure water.... There is no need to hurry, for everything will come in +its good time. There is no need to leave your place, for all you desire +is close at hand. + +Here is another verse (from the Vagasaneyi-Samhita Upanishad) embodying +the same idea: "And he who beholds all beings in the Self, and the +Self in all beings, he never turns away from It. When, to a man who +understands, the Self has become all things, what sorrow, what trouble, +can there be to him--having once beheld that Unity?"--What trouble, +what sorrow, indeed, when the universe has become transparent with the +presences of all we love, held firm in the One enfolding Presence? + +But it will be said: "Our minds are NOT pure and transparent. More often +they are muddy and soiled--soiled, if not in their real essence, yet by +reason of the mortal phial in which they are contained." And that alas! +is true. If you pour a phial of muddy water into that reservoir which +we described--what will you see? You will see a queer and ugly cloud +formed. And to how many of us, in our dealings with the world, does life +take on just such a form--of a queer and ugly cloud? + +Now not so very long after those Upanishads were written there lived +in China that great Teacher, Lao-tze; and he too had considered these +things. And he wrote--in the Tao-Teh-King--"Who is there who can make +muddy water clear?" The question sounds like a conundrum. For a moment +one hesitates to answer it. Lao-tze, however, has an answer ready. He +says: "But if you LEAVE IT ALONE it will become clear of itself." That +muddy water of the mind, muddied by all the foolish little thoughts +which like a sediment infest it--but if you leave it alone it will +become clear of itself. Sometimes walking along the common road after +a shower you have seen pools of water lying here and there, dirty and +unsightly with the mud stirred up by the hoofs of men and animals. And +then returning some hours afterwards along the same road--in the evening +and after the cessation of traffic--you have looked again, and lo! +each pool has cleared itself to a perfect calm, and has become a lovely +mirror reflecting the trees and the clouds and the sunset and the stars. + +So this mirror of the mind. Leave it alone. Let the ugly sediment +of tiresome thoughts and anxieties, and of fussing over one's +self-importances and duties, settle down--and presently you will look +on it, and see something there which you never knew or imagined +before--something more beautiful than you ever yet beheld--a reflection +of the real and eternal world such is only given to the mind that rests. + + +Do not recklessly spill the waters of your mind in this direction and in +that, lest you become like a spring lost and dissipated in the desert. + +But draw them together into a little compass, and hold them still, so +still; + +And let them become clear, so clear--so limpid, so mirror-like; + +At last the mountains and the sky shall glass themselves in peaceful +beauty, + +And the antelope shall descend to drink, and the lion to quench his +thirst, + +And Love himself shall come and bend over, and catch his own likeness in +you. (1) + + + (1) Towards Democracy, p. 373. + + +Yes, there is this priceless thing within us, but hoofing along the +roads in the mud we fail to find it; there is this region of calm, +but the cyclone of the world raging around guards us from entering it. +Perhaps it is best so--best that the access to it should not be made +too easy. One day, some time ago, in the course of conversation with +Rabindranath Tagore in London, I asked him what impressed him most in +visiting the great city. He said, "The restless incessant movement of +everybody." I said, "Yes, they seem as if they were all rushing about +looking for something." He replied, "It is because each person does not +know of the great treasure he has within himself." -------- + +How then are we to reach this treasure and make it our own? How are we +to attain to this Stilling of the Mind, which is the secret of all power +and possession? The thing is difficult, no doubt; yet as I tried to show +at the outset of this discourse, we Moderns MUST reach it; we have got +to attain to it--for the penalty of failure is and must be widespread +Madness. + +The power to still the mind--to be ABLE, mark you, when you want, +to enter into the region of Rest, and to dismiss or command your +Thoughts--is a condition of Health; it is a condition of all Power +and Energy. For all health, whether of mind or body, resides in one's +relation to the central Life within. If one cannot get into touch with +THAT, then the life-forces cannot flow down into the organism. Most, +perhaps all, disease arises from the disturbance of this connection. All +mere hurry, all mere running after external things (as of the man after +the water-streams on the mountain-top), inevitably breaks it. Let a pond +be allowed calmly under the influence of frost to crystallize, and most +beautiful flowers and spears of ice will be formed, but keep stirring +the water all the time with a stick or a pole and nothing will result +but an ugly brash of half-frozen stuff. The condition of the exercise of +power and energy is that it should proceed from a center of Rest within +one. So convinced am I of this, that whenever I find myself hurrying +over my work, I pause and say, "Now you are not producing anything +good!" and I generally find that that is true. It is curious, but I +think very noticeable, that the places where people hurry most--as +for instance the City of London or Wall Street, New York--are just the +places where the work being done is of LEAST importance (being +mostly money-gambling); whereas if you go and look at a ploughman +ploughing--doing perhaps the most important of human work--you find +all his movements most deliberate and leisurely, as if indeed he had +infinite time at command; the truth being that in dealing (like a +ploughman) with the earth and the horses and the weather and the things +of Nature generally you can no more hurry than Nature herself hurries. + +Following this line of thought it might seem that one would arrive at a +hopeless paradox. If it be true that the less one hurries the better +the work resulting, then it might seem that by sitting still and merely +twirling one's thumbs one would arrive at the very greatest activity and +efficiency! And indeed (if understood aright) there is a truth even in +this, which--like the other points I have mentioned--has been known and +taught long ages ago. Says that humorous old sage, Lao-tze, whom I have +already quoted: "By non-action there is nothing that cannot be done." At +first this sounds like mere foolery or worse; but afterwards thinking on +it one sees there is a meaning hidden. There is a secret by which Nature +and the powers of the universal life will do all for you. The Bhagavat +Gita also says, "He who discovers inaction in action and action in +inaction is wise among mortals." + +It is worth while dwelling for a moment on these texts. We are all--as I +said earlier on--involved in work belonging to our place and station; we +are tied to some degree in the bonds of action. But that fact need not +imprison our inner minds. While acting even with keenness and energy +along the external and necessary path before us, it is perfectly +possible to hold the mind free and untied--so that the RESULT of our +action (which of course is not ours to command) shall remain indifferent +and incapable of unduly affecting us. Similarly, when it is our part +to remain externally INACTIVE, we may discover that underneath this +apparent inaction we may be taking part in the currents of a deeper life +which are moving on to a definite end, to an end or object which in a +sense is ours and in a sense is NOT ours. + +The lighthouse beam flies over land and sea with incredible velocity, +and you think the light itself must be in swiftest movement; but when +you climb up thither you find the lamp absolutely stationary. It is only +the reflection that is moving. The rider on horseback may gallop to and +fro wherever he will, but it is hard to say that HE is acting. The horse +guided by the slightest indication of the man's will performs an the +action that is needed. If we can get into right touch with the immense, +the incalculable powers of Nature, is there anything which we may not be +able to do? If a man worship the Self only as his true state," says +the Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad, "his work cannot fail, for whatever he +desires, that he obtains from the Self." What a wonderful saying, and +how infallibly true! For obviously if you succeed in identifying your +true being with the great Self of the universe, then whatever you desire +the great Self will also desire, and therefore every power of Nature +will be at your service and will conspire to fulfil your need. + +There are marvelous things here "well wrapped up"--difficult to +describe, yet not impossible to experience. And they all depend upon +that power of stilling Thought, that ability to pass unharmed and +undismayed through the grinning legions of the lower mind into the very +heart of Paradise. + +The question inevitably arises, How can this power be obtained? And +there is only one answer--the same answer which has to be given for the +attainment of ANY power or faculty. There is no royal road. The only way +is (however imperfectly) to DO the thing in question, to practice it. If +you would learn to play cricket, the only way is to play cricket; if you +would be able to speak a language, the only way is to speak it. If you +would learn to swim, the only way is to practice swimming. Or would you +wish to be like the man who when his companions were bathing and bidding +him come and join them, said: "Yes, I am longing to join you, but I am +not going to be such a fool as to go into the water TILL I KNOW HOW TO +SWIM!" + +There is nothing but practice. If you want to obtain that priceless +power of commanding Thought--of using it or dismissing it (for the +two things go together) at will--there is no way but practice. And +the practice consists in two exercises: (a) that of concentration--in +holding the thought steadily for a time on one subject, or point of a +subject; and (b) that of effacement--in effacing any given thought from +the mind, and determining NOT to entertain it for such and such a +time. Both these exercises are difficult. Failure in practicing them is +certain--and may even extend over years. But the power equally certainly +grows WITH practice. And ultimately there may come a time when the +learner is not only able to efface from his mind any given thought +(however importunate), but may even succeed in effacing, during short +periods, ALL thought of any kind. When this stage is reached, the +veil of illusion which surrounds all mortal things is pierced, and the +entrance to the Paradise of Rest (and of universal power and knowledge) +is found. + +Of indirect or auxiliary methods of reaching this great conclusion, +there are more than one. I think of life in the open air, if not +absolutely necessary, at least most important. The gods--though +sometimes out of compassion they visit the interiors of houses--are not +fond of such places and the evil effluvium they find there, and avoid +them as much as they can. It is not merely a question of breathing +oxygen instead of carbonic acid. There is a presence and an influence in +Nature and the Open which expands the mind and causes brigand cares +and worries to drop off--whereas in confined places foolish and futile +thoughts of all kinds swarm like microbes and cloud and conceal the +soul. Experto Crede. It is only necessary to try this experiment in +order to prove its truth. + +Another thing which corresponds in some degree to living physically in +the open air, is the living mentally and emotionally in the atmosphere +of love. A large charity of mind, which refuses absolutely to shut +itself in little secluded places of prejudice, bigotry and contempt for +others, and which attains to a great and universal sympathy, helps, most +obviously, to open the way to that region of calm and freedom of which +we have spoken, while conversely all petty enmity, meanness and spite, +conspire to imprison the soul and make its deliverance more difficult. + +It is not necessary to labor these points. As we said, the way to attain +is to sincerely TRY to attain, to consistently PRACTICE attainment. +Whoever does this will find that the way will open out by degrees, as +of one emerging from a vast and gloomy forest, till out of darkness the +path becomes clear. For whomsoever really TRIES there is no failure; for +every effort in that region is success, and every onward push, however +small, and however little result it may show, is really a move forward, +and one step nearer the light. + + + +II. THE NATURE OF THE SELF + +The true nature of the Self is a matter by no means easy to compass. We +have all probably at some time or other attempted to fathom the deeps of +personality, and been baffled. Some people say they can quite distinctly +remember a moment in early childhood, about the age of THREE (though the +exact period is of course only approximate) when self-consciousness--the +awareness of being a little separate Self--first dawned in the mind. +It was generally at some moment of childish tension--alone perhaps in a +garden, or lost from the mother's protecting hand--that this happened; +and it was the beginning of a whole range of new experience. Before +some such period there is in childhood strictly speaking no distinct +self-consciousness. As Tennyson says (In Memoriam xliv): + + The baby new to earth and sky, + What time his tender palm is prest + Against the circle of the breast, + Hath never thought that "This is I." + +It has consciousness truly, but no distinctive self-consciousness. It +is this absence or deficiency which explains many things which at first +sight seem obscure in the psychology of children and of animals. The +baby (it has often been noticed) experiences little or no sense of FEAR. +It does not know enough to be afraid; it has never formed any image of +itself, as of a thing which might be injured. It may shrink from actual +pain or discomfort, but it does not LOOK FORWARD--which is of the +essence of fear--to pain in the future. Fear and self-consciousness are +closely interlinked. Similarly with animals, we often wonder how a horse +or a cow can endure to stand out in a field all night, exposed to cold +and rain, in the lethargic patient way that they exhibit. It is not that +they do not FEEL the discomfort, but it is that they do not envisage +THEMSELVES as enduring this pain and suffering for all those coming +hours; and as we know with ourselves that nine-tenths of our miseries +really consist in looking forward to future miseries, so we understand +that the absence or at any rate slight prevalence of self-consciousness +in animals enables them to endure forms of distress which would drive us +mad. + +In time then the babe arrives at self-consciousness; and, as one might +expect, the growing boy or girl often becomes intensely aware of Self. +His or her self-consciousness is crude, no doubt, but it has very little +misgiving. If the question of the nature of the Self is propounded to +the boy as a problem he has no difficulty in solving it. He says "I know +well enough who I am: I am the boy with red hair what gave Jimmy Brown +such a jolly good licking last Monday week." He knows well enough--or +thinks he knows--who he is. And at a later age, though his definition +may change and he may describe himself chiefly as a good cricketer or +successful in certain examinations, his method is practically the same. +He fixes his mind on a certain bundle of qualities and capacities which +he is supposed to possess, and calls that bundle Himself. And in a more +elaborate way we most of us, I imagine, do the same. + +Presently, however, with more careful thought, we begin to see +difficulties in this view. I see that directly I think of myself as a +certain bundle of qualities--and for that matter it is of no account +whether the qualities are good or bad, or in what sort of charming +confusion they are mixed--I see at once that I am merely looking at +a bundle of qualities: and that the real "I," the Self, is not that +bundle, but is the being INSPECTING the same--something beyond and +behind, as it were. So I now concentrate my thoughts upon that inner +Something, in order to find out what it really is. I imagine perhaps an +inner being, of 'astral' or ethereal nature, and possessing a new +range of much finer and more subtle qualities than the body--a being +inhabiting the body and perceiving through its senses, but quite capable +of surviving the tenement in which it dwells and I think of that as the +Self. But no sooner have I taken this step than I perceive that I am +committing the same mistake as before. I am only contemplating a new +image or picture, and "I" still remain beyond and behind that which I +contemplate. No sooner do I turn my attention on the subjective being +than it becomes OBJECTIVE, and the real subject retires into the +background. And so on indefinitely. I am baffled; and unable to say +positively what the Self is. + +Meanwhile there are people who look upon the foregoing speculations +about an interior Self as merely unpractical. Being perhaps of a more +materialistic type of mind they fix their attention on the body. Frankly +they try to define the Self by the body and all that is connected +therewith--that is by the mental as well as corporeal qualities which +exhibit themselves in that connection; and they say, "At any rate the +Self--whatever it may be--is in some way limited by the body; each +person studies the interest of his body and of the feelings, emotions +and mentality directly associated with it, and you cannot get beyond +that; it isn't in human nature to do so. The Self is limited by this +corporeal phenomenon and doubtless it perishes when the body perishes." +But here again the conclusion, though specious at first, soon appears to +be quite inadequate. For though it is possibly true that a man, if left +alone in a Robinson Crusoe life on a desert island, might ultimately +subside into a mere gratification of his corporeal needs and of those +mental needs which were directly concerned with the body, yet we know +that such a case would by no means be representative. On the contrary we +know that vast numbers of people spend their lives in considering other +people, and often so far as to sacrifice their own bodily and mental +comfort and well-being. The mother spends her life thinking almost +day and night about her babe and the other children--spending all her +thoughts and efforts on them. You may call her selfish if you will, but +her selfishness clearly extends beyond her personal body and mind, and +extends to the personalities of her children around her; her "body"--if +you insist on your definition--must be held to include the bodies of all +her children. And again, the husband who is toiling for the support of +the family, he is thinking and working and toiling and suffering for a +'self' which includes his wife and children. Do you mean that the whole +family is his "body"? Or a man belongs to some society, to a church or +to a social league of some kind, and his activities are largely ruled by +the interests of this larger group. Or he sacrifices his life--as many +have been doing of late--with extraordinary bravery and heroism for the +sake of the nation to which he belongs. Must we say then that the whole +nation is really a part of the man's body? Or again, he gives his life +and goes to the stake for his religion. Whether his religion is right or +wrong does not matter, the point is that there is that in him which can +carry him far beyond his local self and the ordinary instincts of his +physical organism, to dedicate his life and powers to a something of far +wider circumference and scope. + +Thus in the FIRST of these two examples of a search for the nature of +the Self we are led INWARDS from point to point, into interior and ever +subtler regions of our being, and still in the end are baffled; while +in the SECOND we are carried outwards into an ever wider and wider +circumference in our quest of the Ego, and still feel that we have +failed to reach its ultimate nature. We are driven in fact by these two +arguments to the conclusion that that which we are seeking is indeed +something very vast--something far extending around, yet also buried +deep in the hidden recesses of our minds. How far, how deep, we do not +know. We can only say that as far as the indications point the true self +is profounder and more far-reaching than anything we have yet fathomed. + +In the ordinary commonplace life we shrink to ordinary commonplace +selves, but it is one of the blessings of great experiences, even though +they are tragic or painful, that they throw us out into that enormously +greater self to which we belong. Sometimes, in moments of inspiration, +of intense enthusiasm, of revelation, such as a man feels in the midst +of a battle, in moments of love and dedication to another person, and +in moments of religious ecstasy, an immense world is opened up to the +astonished gaze of the inner man, who sees disclosed a self stretched +far beyond anything he had ever imagined. We have all had experiences +more or less of that kind. I have known quite a few people, and most of +you have known some, who at some time, even if only once in their lives, +have experienced such an extraordinary lifting of the veil, an opening +out of the back of their minds as it were, and have had such a vision of +the world, that they have never afterwards forgotten it. They have seen +into the heart of creation, and have perceived their union with the rest +of mankind. They have had glimpses of a strange immortality belonging to +them, a glimpse of their belonging to a far greater being than they have +ever imagined. Just once--and a man has never forgotten it, and even if +it has not recurred it has colored all the rest of his life. + +Now, this subject has been thought about--since the beginning of the +world, I was going to say--but it has been thought about since the +beginnings of history. Some three thousand years ago certain groups +of--I hardly like to call them philosophers--but, let us say, people who +were meditating and thinking upon these problems, were in the habit of +locating themselves in the forests of Northern India; and schools arose +there. In the case of each school some teacher went into the woods and +collected groups of disciples around him, who lived there in his company +and listened to his words. Such schools were formed in very considerable +numbers, and the doctrines of these teachers were gathered together, +generally by their disciples, in notes, which notes were brought +together into little pamphlets or tracts, forming the books which +are called the 'Upanishads' of the Indian sages. They contain some +extraordinary words of wisdom, some of which I want to bring before +you. The conclusions arrived at were not so much what we should call +philosophy in the modern sense. They were not so much the result of the +analysis of the mind and the following out of concatenations of strict +argument; but they were flashes of intuition and experience, and all +through the 'Upanishads' you find these extraordinary flashes embedded +in the midst of a great deal of what we should call a rather rubbishy +kind of argument, and a good deal of merely conventional Brahmanical +talk of those days. But the people who wrote and spoke thus had an +intuition into the heart of things which I make bold to say very few +people in modern life have. These 'Upanisihads,' however various their +subject, practically agree on one point--in the definition of the +"self." They agree in saying: that the self of each man is continuous +with and in a sense identical with the Self of the universe. Now that +seems an extraordinary conclusion, and one which almost staggers the +modern mind to conceive of. But that is the conclusion, that is the +thread which runs all through the 'Upanishads'--the identity of the self +of each individual with the self of every other individual throughout +mankind, and even with the selves of the animals and other creatures. + +Those who have read the Khandogya Upanishad remember how in that +treatise the father instructs his son Svetakeitu on this very +subject--pointing him out in succession the objects of Nature and +on each occasion exhorting him to realize his identity with the +very essence of the object--"Tat twam asi, THAT thou art." He calls +Svetaketu's attention to a tree. What is the ESSENCE of the tree? +When they have rejected the external characteristics--the leaves, the +branches, etc.--and agreed that the SAP is the essence, then the father +says, "TAT TWAM ASI--THAT thou art." He gives his son a crystal of salt, +and asks him what is the essence of that. The son is puzzled. Clearly +neither the form nor the transparent quality are essential. The father +says, "Put the crystal in water." Then when it is melted he says, "Where +is the crystal?" The son replies, "I do not know." "Dip your finger in +the bowl," says the father, "and taste." Then Svetaketu dips here and +there, and everywhere there is a salt flavor. They agree that THAT is +the essence of salt; and the father says again, "TAt twam asi." I am of +course neither defending nor criticizing the scientific attitude here +adopted. I am only pointing out that this psychological identification +of the observer with the object observed runs through the Upanishads, +and is I think worthy of the deepest consideration. + +In the 'Bhagavat Gita,' which is a later book, the author speaks of +"him whose soul is purified, whose self is the Self of all creatures." A +phrase like that challenges opposition. It is so bold, so sweeping, and +so immense, that we hesitate to give our adhesion to what it implies. +But what does it mean--"whose soul is purified"? I believe that it means +this, that with most of us our souls are anything but clean or +purified, they are by no means transparent, so that all the time we are +continually deceiving ourselves and making clouds between us and others. +We are all the time grasping things from other people, and, if not in +words, are mentally boasting ourselves against others, trying to think +of our own superiority to the rest of the people around us. Sometimes we +try to run our neighbors down a little, just to show that they are not +quite equal to our level. We try to snatch from others some things which +belong to them, or take credit to ourselves for things to which we are +not fairly entitled. But all the time we are acting so it is perfectly +obvious that we are weaving veils between ourselves and others. You +cannot have dealings with another person in a purely truthful way, and +be continually trying to cheat that person out of money, or out of his +good name and reputation. If you are doing that, however much in the +background you may be doing it, you are not looking the person fairly +in the face--there is a cloud between you all the time. So long as your +soul is not purified from all these really absurd and ridiculous little +desires and superiorities and self-satisfactions, which make up so much +of our lives, just so long as that happens you do not and you cannot see +the truth. But when it happens to a person, as it does happen in times +of great and deep and bitter experience; when it happens that all these +trumpery little objects of life are swept away; then occasionally, with +astonishment, the soul sees that. It is also the soul of the others +around. Even if it does not become aware of an absolute identity, it +perceives that there is a deep relationship and communion between itself +and others, and it comes to understand how it may really be true that +to him whose soul is purified the self is literally the Self of all +creatures. + +Ordinary men and those who go on more intellectual and less intuitional +lines will say that these ideas are really contrary to human nature and +to nature generally. Yet I think that those people who say this in the +name of Science are extremely unscientific, because a very superficial +glance at nature reveals that the very same thing is taking place +throughout nature. Consider the madrepores, corallines, or sponges. You +find, for instance, that constantly the little self of the coralline +or sponge is functioning at the end of a stem and casting forth its +tentacles into the water to gain food and to breathe the air out of +the water. That little animalcule there, which is living in that way, +imagines no doubt that it is working all for itself, and yet it is +united down the stem at whose extremity it stands, with the life of the +whole madrepore or sponge to which it belongs. There is the common +life of the whole and the individual life of each, and while the little +creature at the end of the stem is thinking (if it is conscious at all) +that its whole energies are absorbed in its own maintenance, it really +is feeding the common life through the stem to which it belongs, and in +its turn it is being fed by that common life. + +You have only to look at an ordinary tree to see the same thing going +on. Each little leaf on a tree may very naturally have sufficient +consciousness to believe that it is an entirely separate being +maintaining itself in the sunlight and the air, withering away and dying +when the winter comes on--and there is an end of it. It probably does +not realize that all the time it is being supported by the sap which +flows from the trunk of the tree, and that in its turn it is feeding +the tree, too--that its self is the self of the whole tree. If the leaf +could really understand itself, it would see that its self was deeply, +intimately connected, practically one with the life of the whole tree. +Therefore, I say that this Indian view is not unscientific. On the +contrary, I am sure that it is thoroughly scientific. + +Let us take another passage, out of the 'Svetasvatara Upanishad,' which, +speaking of the self says: "He is the one God, hidden in all creatures, +all pervading, the self within all, watching over all works, shadowing +all creatures, the witness, the perceiver, the only one free from +qualities." + +And now we can return to the point where we left the argument at the +beginning of this discourse. We said, you remember, that the Self is +certainly no mere bundle of qualities--that the very nature of the mind +forbids us thinking that. For however fine and subtle any quality or +group of qualities may be, we are irresistibly compelled by the +nature of the mind itself to look for the Self, not in any quality or +qualities, but in the being that PERCEIVES those qualities. The passage +I have just quoted says that being is "The one God, hidden in all +creatures, all pervading, the self within all... the witness, the +perceiver, the only one free from qualities." And the more you +think about it the clearer I think you will see that this passage is +correct--that there can be only ONE witness, ONE perceiver, and that +is the one God hidden in all creatures, "Sarva Sakshi," the Universal +Witness. + +Have you ever had that curious feeling, not uncommon, especially in +moments of vivid experience and emotion, that there was at the back of +your mind a witness, watching everything that was going on, yet too deep +for your ordinary thought to grasp? Has it not occurred to you--in a +moment say of great danger when the mind was agitated to the last degree +by fears and anxieties--suddenly to become perfectly calm and collected, +to realize that NOTHING can harm you, that you are identified with +some great and universal being lifted far over this mortal world and +unaffected by its storms? Is it not obvious that the real Self MUST be +something of this nature, a being perceiving all, but itself remaining +unperceived? For indeed if it were perceived it would fall under the +head of some definable quality, and so becoming the object of thought +would cease to be the subject, would cease to be the Self. + +The witness is and must be "free from qualities." For since it is +capable of perceiving ALL qualities it must obviously not be itself +imprisoned or tied in any quality--it must either be entirely without +quality, or if it have the potentiality of quality in it, it must have +the potentiality of EVERY quality; but in either case it cannot be in +bondage to any quality, and in either case it would appear that there +can be only ONE such ultimate Witness in the universe. For if there were +two or more such Witnesses, then we should be compelled to suppose them +distinguished from one another by something, and that something could +only be a difference of qualities, which would be contrary to our +conclusion that such a Witness cannot be in bondage to any quality. + +There is then I take it--as the text in question says--only one Witness, +one Self, throughout the universe. It is hidden in all living things, +men and animals and plants; it pervades all creation. In every thing +that has consciousness it is the Self; it watches over all operations, +it overshadows all creatures, it moves in the depths of our hearts, the +perceiver, the only being that is cognizant of all and yet free from +all. + +Once you really appropriate this truth, and assimilate it in the depths +of your mind, a vast change (you can easily imagine) will take place +within you. The whole world will be transformed, and every thought +and act of which you are capable will take on a different color and +complexion. Indeed the revolution will be so vast that it would be quite +impossible for me within the limits of this discourse to describe it. +I will, however, occupy the rest of my time in dealing with some points +and conclusions, and some mental changes which will flow perfectly +naturally from this axiomatic change taking place at the very root of +life. + +"Free from qualities." We generally pride ourselves a little on our +qualities. Some of us think a great deal of our good qualities, and some +of us are rather ashamed of our bad ones! I would say: "Do not trouble +very much about all that. What good qualities you have--well you may be +quite sure they do not really amount to much; and what bad qualities, +you may be sure they are not very important! Do not make too much fuss +about either. Do you see? The thing is that you, you yourself, are not +ANY of your qualities--you are the being that perceives them. The thing +to see to is that they should not confuse you, bamboozle you, and hide +you from the knowledge of yourself--that they should not be erected into +a screen, to hide you from others, or the others from you. If you cease +from running after qualities, then after a little time your soul will +become purified, and you will KNOW that your self is the Self of all +creatures; and when you can feel that you will know that the other +things do not much matter. + +Sometimes people are so awfully good that their very goodness hides them +from other people. They really cannot be on a level with others, +and they feel that the others are far below them. Consequently their +'selves' are blinded or hidden by their 'goodness.' It is a sad end to +come to! And sometimes it happens that very 'bad' people--just because +they are so bad--do not erect any screens or veils between themselves +and others. Indeed they are only too glad if others will recognize them, +or if they may be allowed to recognize others. And so, after all, they +come nearer the truth than the very good people. + +"The Self is free from qualities." That thing which is so deep, which +belongs to all, it either--as I have already said--has ALL qualities, +or it has none. You, to whom I am speaking now, your qualities, good and +bad, are all mine. I am perfectly willing to accept them. They are all +right enough and in place--if one can only find the places for them. But +I know that in most cases they have got so confused and mixed up that +they cause great conflict and pain in the souls that harbor them. If +you attain to knowing yourself to be other than and separate from the +qualities, then you will pass below and beyond them all. You will be +able to accept ALL your qualities and harmonize them, and your soul +will be at peace. You will be free from the domination of qualities then +because you will know that among all the multitudes of them there are +none of any importance! + +If you should happen some day to reach that state of mind in connection +with which this revelation comes, then you will find the experience +a most extraordinary one. You will become conscious that there is no +barrier in your path; that the way is open in all directions; that all +men and women belong to you, are part of you. You will feel that there +is a great open immense world around, which you had never suspected +before, which belongs to you, and the riches of which are all yours, +waiting for you. It may, of course, take centuries and thousands of +years to realize this thoroughly, but there it is. You are just at the +threshold, peeping in at the door. What did Shakespeare say? "To thine +own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou can'st +not then be false to any man." What a profound bit of philosophy in +three lines! I doubt if anywhere the basis of all human life has been +expressed more perfectly and tersely. + +One of the Upanishads (the Maitrayana-Brahmana) says: "The +happiness belonging to a mind, which through deep inwardness (1) (or +understanding) has been washed clean and has entered into the Self, is a +thing beyond the power of words to describe: it can only be perceived by +an inner faculty." Observe the conviction, the intensity with which this +joy, this happiness is described, which comes to those whose minds have +been washed clean (from all the silly trumpery sediment of self-thought) +and have become transparent, so that the great universal Being residing +there in the depths can be perceived. What sorrow indeed, what, grief, +can come to such an one who has seen this vision? It is truly a thing +beyond the power of words to describe: it can only be PERCEIVED--and +that by an inner faculty. The external apparatus of thought is of no +use. Argument is of no use. But experience and direct perception are +possible; and probably all the experiences of life and of mankind +through the ages are gradually deepening our powers of perception to +that point where the vision will at last rise upon the inward eye. + + (1) The word in the Max Muller translation is "meditation." But +that is, I think, a somewhat misleading word. It suggests to most people +the turning inward of the THINKING faculty to grope and delve in the +interior of the mind. This is just what should NOT be done. Meditation +in the proper sense should mean the inward deepening of FEELING and +consciousness till the region of the universal self is reached; but +THOUGHT should not interfere there. That should be turned on outward +things to mould them into expression of the inner consciousness. + + +Another text, from the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad (which I have already +quoted in the paper on "Rest"), says: "If a man worship the Self only as +his true state, his work cannot fail, for whatever he desires, that he +obtains from the Self." Is that not magnificent? If you truly realize +your identity and union with the great Self who inspires and informs the +world, then obviously whatever you desire the great Self win desire, and +the whole world will conspire to bring it to you. "He maketh the winds +his angels, and the flaming fires his ministers." (I need not say that +I am not asking you to try and identify yourself with the great Self +universal IN ORDER to get riches, "opulence," and other things of that +kind which you desire; because in that quest you will probably not +succeed. The Great Self is not such a fool as to be taken in in that +way. It may be true--and it is true--that if ye seek FIRST the Kingdom +of Heaven all these things shall be added unto you; but you must seek it +first, not second.) + +Here is a passage from Towards Democracy: "As space spreads everywhere, +and all things move and change within it, but it moves not nor changes, + +"So I am the space within the soul, of which the space without is but +the similitude and mental image; + +"Comest thou to inhabit me, thou hast the entrance to all life--death +shall no longer divide thee from whom thou lovest. + +"I am the Sun that shines upon all creatures from within--gazest thou +upon me, thou shalt be filled with joy eternal." + +Yes, this great sun is there, always shining, but most of the time it is +hidden from us by the clouds of which I have spoken, and we fail to see +it. We complain of being out in the cold; and in the cold, for the time +being, no doubt we are; but our return to the warmth and the light has +now become possible. + + +Thus at last the Ego, the mortal immortal self--disclosed at first in +darkness and fear and ignorance in the growing babe--FINDS ITS TRUE +IDENTITY. For a long period it is baffled in trying to understand what +it is. It goes through a vast experience. It is tormented by the +sense of separation and alienation--alienation from other people, and +persecution by all the great powers and forces of the universe; and it +is pursued by a sense of its own doom. Its doom truly is irrevocable. +The hour of fulfilment approaches, the veil lifts, and the soul beholds +at last ITS OWN TRUE BEING. + + +We are accustomed to think of the external world around us as a nasty +tiresome old thing of which all we can say for certain is that it works +by a "law of cussedness"--so that, whichever way we want to go, that way +seems always barred, and we only bump against blind walls without +making any progress. But that uncomfortable state of affairs arises from +ourselves. Once we have passed a certain barrier, which at present looks +so frowning and impossible, but which fades into nothing immediately we +have passed it--once we have found the open secret of identity--then the +way is indeed open in every direction. + +The world in which we live--the world into which we are tumbled as +children at the first onset of self-consciousness--denies this great +fact of unity. It is a world in which the principle of separation +rules. Instead of a common life and union with each other, the contrary +principle (especially in the later civilizations) has been the one +recognized--and to such an extent that always there prevails the +obsession of separation, and the conviction that each person is an +isolated unit. The whole of our modern society has been founded on this +delusive idea, WHICH IS FALSE. You go into the markets, and every man's +hand is against the others--that is the ruling principle. You go into +the Law Courts where justice is, or should be, administered, and you +find that the principle which denies unity is the one that prevails. +The criminal (whose actions have really been determined by the society +around him) is cast out, disacknowledged, and condemned to further +isolation in a prison cell. 'Property' again is the principle which +rules and determines our modern civilization--namely that which is +proper to, or can be appropriated by, each person, as AGAINST the +others. + +In the moral world the doom of separation comes to us in the shape of +the sense of sin. For sin is separation. Sin is actually (and that +is its only real meaning) the separation from others, and the +non-acknowledgment of unity. And so it has come about that during all +this civilization-period the sense of sin has ruled and ranged to such +an extraordinary degree. Society has been built on a false base, not +true to fact or life--and has had a dim uneasy consciousness of its +falseness. Meanwhile at the heart of it all--and within all the frantic +external strife and warfare--there is all the time this real great life +brooding. The kingdom of Heaven, as we said before, is still within. + +The word Democracy indicates something of the kind--the rule of the +Demos, that is of the common life. The coming of that will transform, +not only our Markets and our Law Courts and our sense of Property, and +other institutions, into something really great and glorious instead +of the dismal masses of rubbish which they at present are; but it will +transform our sense of Morality. + +Our Morality at present consists in the idea of self-goodness--one of +the most pernicious and disgusting ideas which has ever infested the +human brain. If any one should follow and assimilate what I have just +said about the true nature of the Self he will realize that it will +never again be possible for him to congratulate himself on his own +goodness or morality or superiority; for the moment he does so he will +separate himself from the universal life, and proclaim the sin of his +own separation. I agree that this conclusion is for some people a most +sad and disheartening one--but it cannot be helped! A man may truly be +'good' and 'moral' in some real sense; but only on the condition that +he is not aware of it. He can only BE good when not thinking about the +matter; to be conscious of one's own goodness is already to have fallen! + +We began by thinking of the self as just a little local self; then we +extended it to the family, the cause, the nation--ever to a larger and +vaster being. At last there comes a time when we recognize--or see that +we SHALL have to recognize--an inner Equality between ourselves and all +others; not of course an external equality--for that would be absurd and +impossible--but an inner and profound and universal Equality. And so we +come again to the mystic root-conception of Democracy. + +And now it will be said: "But after all this talk you have not defined +the Self, or given us any intellectual outline of what you mean by the +word." No--and I do not intend to. If I could, by any sort of copybook +definition, describe and show the boundaries of myself, I should +obviously lose all interest in the subject. Nothing more dull could be +imagined. I may be able to define and describe fairly exhaustively +this inkpot on the table; but for you or for me to give the limits and +boundaries of ourselves is, I am glad to say, impossible. That does not, +however, mean that we cannot FEEL and be CONSCIOUS of ourselves, and of +our relations to other selves, and to the great Whole. On the contrary +I think it is clear that the more vividly we feel our organic unity with +the whole, the less shall we be able to separate off the local self and +enclose it within any definition. I take it that we can and do become +ever more vividly conscious of our true Self, but that the mental +statement of it always does and probably always will lie beyond us. +All life and all our action and experience consist in the gradual +manifestation of that which is within us--of our inner being. In that +sense--and reading its handwriting on the outer world--we come to know +the soul's true nature more and more intimately; we enter into the mind +of that great artist who beholds himself in his own creation. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Pagan & Christian Creeds, by Edward Carpenter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAGAN & CHRISTIAN CREEDS *** + +***** This file should be named 1561.txt or 1561.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/6/1561/ + +Produced by Charles Keller + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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