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display: none; } + div.tnotes p { text-align: justify; } + .x-ebookmaker .covernote { visibility: visible; display: block; } + h1 {line-height: 150%; } + .footnote {font-size: .9em; } + div.footnote p {text-indent: 2em; margin-bottom: .5em; } + .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always; } + body {font-family: Garamond, Georgia, serif; text-align: justify; } + table {font-size: .9em; padding: 1.5em .5em 1em; page-break-inside: avoid; + clear: both; } + div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; + page-break-after: always; } + div.titlepage p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; + line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 3em; } + .ph1 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-large; + margin: .67em auto; page-break-before: always; } + .ph2 { text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; font-size: x-large; margin: .75em auto; + page-break-before: always; } + .x-ebookmaker p.dropcap:first-letter { float: left; } + </style> + </head> + <body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76774 ***</div> + +<div class='tnotes covernote'> + +<p class='c000'><strong>Transcriber’s Note:</strong></p> + +<p class='c000'>New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.</p> + +</div> + +<div class='chapter ph1'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div>THE FUTURE OF AN ILLUSION</div> + <div class='c002'><span class='xlarge'>THE INTERNATIONAL PSYCHO-ANALYTICAL LIBRARY</span></div> + <div class='c003'><span class='large'>EDITED BY ERNEST JONES</span></div> + <div class='c003'><span class='small'>No. 15</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='titlepage'> + +<div> + <h1 class='c004'>THE FUTURE OF AN ILLUSION</h1> +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c002'> + <div><span class='xlarge'>SIGMUND FREUD, M.D., LL.D.</span></div> + <div class='c003'><span class='small'>TRANSLATED</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>BY</span></div> + <div><span class='small'>W. D. ROBSON-SCOTT</span></div> + <div class='c003'>PUBLISHED BY HORACE LIVERIGHT</div> + <div>AND THE INSTITUTE OF PSYCHO-ANALYSIS</div> + <div><span class='small'>MCMXXVIII</span></div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div><span class='small'><em>Printed in Great Britain by</em> <span class='sc'>R. & R. Clark, Limited</span>, <em>Edinburgh</em></span></div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_v'>v</span> + <h2 class='c005'>TRANSLATOR’S NOTE</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>I wish to express my thanks to the Editor and +to Mr. James Strachey for reading through +this translation and making many helpful +suggestions.</p> + +<div class='lg-container-r'> + <div class='linegroup'> + <div class='group'> + <div class='line'>W. D. R.-S.</div> + </div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER I</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>When one has lived for long within a +particular culture<a id='r1'></a><a href='#f1' class='c007'><sup>[1]</sup></a> and has often +striven to discover its origins and the +path of its development, one feels for once the +temptation to turn one’s attention in the other +direction and to ask what further fate awaits this +culture and what transformations it is destined +to undergo. But one soon finds that the value +of such an enquiry is diminished from the outset +by several considerations. Above all, by the fact +that there are only a few people who can survey +human activity in all its ramifications. Most +people have been compelled to restrict themselves +to a single, or to a few, spheres of interest; but the +less a man knows of the past and the present the +more unreliable must his judgement of the future +prove. And further it is precisely in the matter +<span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>of this judgement that the subjective expectations +of the individual play a part that is difficult to +assess; for these prove to be dependent on purely +personal factors in his own experience, on his more +or less hopeful attitude to life, according as +temperament, success or failure has prescribed for +him. And finally one must take into account the +remarkable fact that in general men experience +the present naïvely, so to speak, without being +able to estimate its content; they must first place +it at a distance, <em>i.e.</em> the present must have become +the past before one can win from it points of +vantage from which to gauge the future.</p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f1'> +<p class='c008'><a href='#r1'>1</a>. The German word <em>Kultur</em> has been translated sometimes +as ‘culture’ and sometimes as ‘civilization’, denoting as it does +a concept intermediate between these and at times inclusive of +both.—<span class='sc'>Ed.</span></p> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>And so he who yields to the temptation to +deliver an opinion on the probable future of our +culture will do well to remind himself of the difficulties +just indicated, and likewise of the uncertainty +that attaches quite universally to every +prophecy. It follows from this that in hasty flight +from so great a task I shall seek out the small +tract of territory to which my attention has hitherto +been directed, as soon as I have defined its position +in general.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Human culture—I mean by that all those +respects in which human life has raised itself above +animal conditions and in which it differs from the +life of the beasts, and I disdain to separate culture +<span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span>and civilization—presents, as is well known, two +aspects to the observer. It includes on the one +hand all the knowledge and power that men have +acquired in order to master the forces of nature +and win resources from her for the satisfaction of +human needs; and on the other hand it includes +all the necessary arrangements whereby men’s +relations to each other, and in particular the +distribution of the attainable riches, may be +regulated. The two tendencies of culture are not +independent of each other, first, because the mutual +relations of men are profoundly influenced by the +measure of instinctual satisfaction that the existing +resources make possible; secondly, because the +individual can himself take on the quality of a +piece of property in his relation to another, in so +far as this other makes use of his capacity for work +or chooses him as sexual object; and thirdly, +because every individual is virtually an enemy of +culture, which is nevertheless ostensibly an object +of universal human concern. It is remarkable +that little as men are able to exist in isolation they +should yet feel as a heavy burden the sacrifices +that culture expects of them in order that a communal +existence may be possible. Thus culture +must be defended against the individual, and its +organization, its institutions and its laws, are all +<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>directed to this end; they aim not only at establishing +a certain distribution of property, but also +at maintaining it; in fact, they must protect +against the hostile impulses of mankind everything +that contributes to the conquest of nature and +the production of wealth. Human creations are +easy to destroy, and science and technical skill, +which have built them up, can also be turned to +their destruction.</p> + +<p class='c008'>So one gets the impression that culture is something +which was imposed on a resisting majority +by a minority that understood how to possess +itself of the means of power and coercion. Of +course it stands to reason that these difficulties +are not inherent in the nature of culture itself, +but are conditioned by the imperfections of the +cultural forms that have so far been developed. +Indeed it is not difficult to point out these defects. +While mankind has made solid advances in the +conquest of nature and may expect to make still +greater ones, no certain claim can be established +for a corresponding advance in the regulation +of human affairs, and probably at every period, +as again now, many men have asked themselves +whether this fragment that has been acquired by +culture is indeed worth defending at all. One +might suppose that a reorganization of human +<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>relations should be possible, which, by abandoning +coercion and the suppression of the instincts, +would remove the sources of dissatisfaction with +culture, so that undisturbed by inner conflict men +might devote themselves to the acquisition of +natural resources and to the enjoyment of the same. +That would be the golden age, but it is questionable +if such a state of affairs can ever be realized. It +seems more probable that every culture must be +built up on coercion and instinctual renunciation; +it does not even appear certain that without +coercion the majority of human individuals would +be ready to submit to the labour necessary for +acquiring new means of supporting life. One +has, I think, to reckon with the fact that there +are present in all men destructive, and therefore +anti-social and anti-cultural, tendencies, and that +with a great number of people these are strong +enough to determine their behaviour in human +society.</p> + +<p class='c008'>This psychological fact acquires a decisive +significance when one is forming an estimate of +human culture. One thought at first that the +essence of culture lay in the conquest of nature +for the means of supporting life, and in eliminating +the dangers that threaten culture by the suitable +distribution of these among mankind, but now the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>emphasis seems to have shifted away from the +material plane on to the psychical. The critical +question is whether and to what extent one can +succeed, first, in diminishing the burden of the +instinctual sacrifices imposed on men; secondly, +in reconciling them to those that must necessarily +remain; and thirdly, in compensating them for +these. It is just as impossible to do without +government of the masses by a minority as it is to +dispense with coercion in the work of civilization, +for the masses are lazy and unintelligent, they have +no love for instinctual renunciation, they are not +to be convinced of its inevitability by argument, +and the individuals support each other in giving +full play to their unruliness. It is only by the +influence of individuals who can set an example, +whom the masses recognize as their leaders, that +they can be induced to submit to the labours and +renunciations on which the existence of culture +depends. All is well if these leaders are people +of superior insight into what constitute the +necessities of life, people who have attained the +height of mastering their own instinctual wishes. +But the danger exists that in order not to lose +their influence they will yield to the masses more +than these will yield to them, and therefore it +seems necessary that they should be independent +<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>of the masses by having at their disposal means +of enforcing their authority. To put it briefly, +there are two widely diffused human characteristics +which are responsible for the fact that the organization +of culture can be maintained only by a +certain measure of coercion: that is to say, men +are not naturally fond of work, and arguments are +of no avail against their passions.</p> + +<p class='c008'>I know what objections will be brought against +these arguments. It will be said that the character +of the masses, here delineated, which is +supposed to prove that one cannot dispense with +coercion in the work of civilization, is itself only +the result of defective cultural organization, through +which men have become embittered, revengeful +and unapproachable. New generations, brought +up kindly and taught to have a respect for reason, +who have experienced the benefits of culture early +in life, will have a different attitude towards it; +they will feel it to be their very own possession, +and they will be ready on its account to make the +sacrifice in labour and in instinctual renunciation +that is necessary for its preservation. They will +be able to do without coercion and will differ little +from their leaders. If no culture has so far produced +human masses of such a quality, it is due +to the fact that no culture has yet discovered the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>plan that will influence men in such a way, and +that from childhood on.</p> + +<p class='c008'>It may be doubted whether it is possible at all, +or at any rate just now, in the present stage of our +conquest of nature, to establish a cultural organization +of this kind; it may be asked where the throng +of superior, dependable and disinterested leaders, +who are to act as educators of the future generations, +are to come from; and one may be appalled +at the stupendous amount of force that will be +unavoidable if these intentions are to be carried +out. But one cannot deny the grandeur of this +project and its significance for the future of human +culture. It is securely based on a piece of psychological +insight, on the fact that man is equipped +with the most varied instinctual predispositions, +the ultimate course of which is determined by the +experiences of early childhood. But the limitations +of man’s capacity for education set bounds +to the efficacy of such a cultural transformation. +One may question whether and in what degree it +would be possible for another cultural milieu to +efface the two characteristics of human masses +that make the guidance of men’s affairs so very +difficult. The experiment has not yet been made. +Probably a certain percentage of mankind—owing +to morbid predisposition or too great instinctual +<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>vigour—will always remain asocial, but if only one +can succeed in reducing to a minority the majority +that is to-day hostile to culture, one will have +accomplished a great deal, perhaps indeed everything +that can be accomplished.</p> + +<p class='c008'>I should not like to give the impression that I +have wandered far away from the chosen path of +my enquiry. I will therefore expressly assert that +it is far from my intention to estimate the value +of the great cultural experiment that is at present +in progress in the vast country that stretches +between Europe and Asia. I have neither the +special knowledge nor the capacity to decide on +its practicability, to test the expediency of the +methods employed, or to measure the width of +the inevitable gulf between intention and execution. +What is there in course of preparation +eludes investigation, for which it is not ready; for +this our long consolidated culture presents the +material.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER II</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>We have glided unawares out of the +economic plane over into the psychological. +At first we were tempted to +seek the essence of culture in the existing material +resources and in the arrangements for their distribution. +But with the discovery that every +culture is based on compulsory labour and instinctual +renunciation, and that it therefore inevitably +evokes opposition from those affected by +these demands, it became clear that the resources +themselves, the means of acquiring them, and the +arrangements for their distribution could not be +its essential or unique characteristic; for they are +threatened by the rebelliousness and destructive +passions of the members of the culture. Thus +in addition to the resources there are the means +of defending culture: the coercive measures, and +others that are intended to reconcile men to it +and to recompense them for their sacrifices. And +these last may be described as the psychical sphere +of culture.</p> + +<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span>For the sake of a uniform terminology we will +describe the fact that an instinct cannot be satisfied +as ‘frustration’, the means by which this frustration +is secured as ‘prohibition’, and the condition +produced by the prohibition as ‘privation’. Then +the next step is to distinguish between privations +that do affect everybody and those that do not, +those that merely affect groups, classes, or even +individuals. The former are the oldest; with +the prohibitions that cause them culture began, +who knows how many thousands of years ago, to +detach itself from the primordial animal condition +of mankind. To our surprise we have found that +they are still operative, that they still form the +kernel of the hostility to culture. The instinctual +wishes that suffer under them are born anew with +every child; there is a class of men, the neurotics, +who react already to this first group of frustrations +by an asocial attitude. Such instinctual +wishes are those of incest, of cannibalism, and of +murder. It seems strange to classify these, in +repudiating which all men seem to be at one, with +those others, about whose permissibility or impermissibility +in our culture there is so vigorous +a dispute; but psychologically one is justified in +doing this. Nor is the attitude of culture to these +oldest instinctual wishes the same in each case; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>cannibalism alone seems to be proscribed by everyone, +and—to other than analytic observation—completely +overcome; the strength of the incest +wishes can still be perceived behind the prohibition; +and under certain conditions murder is still +practised, indeed enjoined, by our culture. It +is possible that cultural developments lie before us, +in which yet other wish-gratifications, which are +to-day entirely permissible, will appear just as +disagreeable as those of cannibalism do now.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Already in these earliest instinctual renunciations +a psychological factor is involved, which +remains of great importance for everything that +follows. It is not true to say that the human +mind has undergone no development since the +earliest times and that in contrast to the advances +of science and technical skill it is still the same to-day +as at the beginning of history. We can point +out one of these advances here. It is in accordance +with the course of our development that +external compulsion is gradually internalized, in +that a special mental function, man’s super-ego, +takes it under its jurisdiction. Every child presents +to us the model of this transformation; it is only +by that means that it becomes a moral and social +being. This strengthening of the super-ego is a +highly valuable psychological possession for culture. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>Those people in whom it has taken place, from +being the foes of culture, become its supporters. +The greater their number in a cultural community, +the more secure it is and the more easily can it +dispense with external coercion. Now the degree +of this internalization differs widely in the case of +each instinctual prohibition. As far as the earliest +demands of culture, already mentioned, are concerned, +the process of internalization seems to +have been to a great extent accomplished, if we +leave out of account the unwelcome exception of +the neurotics. But the case is altered when we +turn to the other instinctual claims. One notes +with surprise and concern that a majority of men +obey the cultural prohibitions in question only +under the pressure of external force, in fact only +where the latter can assert itself and for as long +as it is an object of fear. This also holds good +for those so-called moral cultural demands, which +in the same way apply to everyone. The greater +part of what one experiences of man’s moral +untrustworthiness is to be explained in this connection. +There are innumerable civilized people +who would shrink from murder or incest, and who +yet do not hesitate to gratify their avarice, their +aggressiveness and their sexual lusts, and who have +no compunction in hurting others by lying, fraud +<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>and calumny, so long as they remain unpunished +for it; and no doubt this has been so for many +cultural epochs.</p> + +<p class='c008'>If we turn to those restrictions that only apply +to certain classes of society, we encounter a state +of things which is glaringly obvious and has +always been recognized. It is to be expected that +the neglected classes will grudge the favoured +ones their privileges and that they will do everything +in their power to rid themselves of their +own surplus of privation. Where this is not +possible a lasting measure of discontent will obtain +within this culture, and this may lead to dangerous +outbreaks. But if a culture has not got beyond +the stage in which the satisfaction of one group +of its members necessarily involves the suppression +of another, perhaps the majority—and this is the +case in all modern cultures,—it is intelligible that +these suppressed classes should develop an intense +hostility to the culture; a culture, whose existence +they make possible by their labour, but in whose +resources they have too small a share. In such +conditions one must not expect to find an internalization +of the cultural prohibitions among +the suppressed classes; indeed they are not even +prepared to acknowledge these prohibitions, intent, +as they are, on the destruction of the culture itself +<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>and perhaps even of the assumptions on which +it rests. These classes are so manifestly hostile +to culture that on that account the more latent +hostility of the better provided social strata has +been overlooked. It need not be said that a +culture which leaves unsatisfied and drives to +rebelliousness so large a number of its members +neither has a prospect of continued existence, nor +deserves it.</p> + +<p class='c008'>The extent to which cultural rules have been +internalized—to express it popularly and unpsychologically: +the moral level of the members—is +not the only psychical asset to be considered +if one is estimating the value of a culture. In +addition there is its heritage of ideals and artistic +creations, that is to say, of the satisfactions they +both yield.</p> + +<p class='c008'>One will be only too readily inclined to include +among the psychical possessions of a culture its +ideals, that is, its judgements of what are its +loftiest and its most ambitious accomplishments. +It seems at first as if these ideals would determine +the achievements of the cultural group; but +the actual process would seem to be that the +ideals are modelled on the first achievements that +the co-operation of internal ability and external +circumstances made possible, and that now these +<span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>first achievements are merely held fast by the +ideal as examples to be followed. The satisfaction +the ideal gives to the members of the culture is +thus of a narcissistic nature, it is based on pride +in what has already been successfully achieved. +To make this satisfaction complete the culture +compares itself with others which have applied +themselves to other tasks and have developed +other ideals. On the strength of these differences +every culture claims the right to despise the rest. +In this way cultural ideals become a source of +discord and enmity between different cultural +groups, as can be most clearly seen among nations.</p> + +<p class='c008'>The narcissistic satisfaction provided by the +cultural ideal is also one of the forces that effectively +counteract the hostility to culture within +the cultural group. It can be shared not only +by the favoured classes, which enjoy the benefits +of this culture, but also by the suppressed, since +the right to despise those that are outside it +compensates them for the wrongs they suffer in +their own group. True, one is a miserable plebeian, +tormented by obligations and military service, +but withal one is a Roman citizen, one has one’s +share in the task of ruling other nations and +dictating their laws. This identification of the +suppressed with the class that governs and exploits +<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>them is, however, only a part of a larger whole. +Thus the former can be attached affectively to +the latter; in spite of their animosity they can +find their ideals in their masters. Unless such +relations, fundamentally of a satisfying kind, were +in existence, it would be impossible to understand +how so many cultures have contrived to exist for +so long in spite of the justified hostility of great +masses of men.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Different in kind is the satisfaction that art +yields to the members of a cultural group. As a +rule it remains inaccessible to the masses, who are +engaged in exhausting labour and who have not +enjoyed the benefits of individual education. As +we have long known, art offers substitutive +gratifications for the oldest cultural renunciations, +still always most deeply felt, and for that reason +serves like nothing else to reconcile men to the +sacrifices they have made on culture’s behalf. +On the other hand, works of art promote the +feelings of identification, of which every cultural +group has so much need, in the occasion they +provide for the sharing of highly valued emotional +experiences. And when they represent the achievements +of a particular culture, thus in an impressive +way recalling it to its ideals, they also subserve +a narcissistic gratification.</p> + +<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>No mention has yet been made of what is +perhaps the most important part of the psychical +inventory of a culture: that is to say, its—in the +broadest sense—religious ideas; in other words, +the use of which will be justified later, its illusions.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER III</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>Wherein lies the peculiar value of +religious ideas?</p> + +<p class='c008'>We have spoken of the hostility to +culture, produced by the pressure it exercises and +the instinctual renunciations that it demands. +If one imagined its prohibitions removed, then +one could choose any woman who took one’s fancy +as one’s sexual object, one could kill without +hesitation one’s rival or whoever interfered with +one in any other way, and one could seize what +one wanted of another man’s goods without asking +his leave: how splendid, what a succession of +delights, life would be! True, one soon finds the +first difficulty: everyone else has exactly the +same wishes, and will treat one with no more +consideration than one will treat him. And so +in reality there is only one single person who can +be made unrestrictedly happy by abolishing thus +the restrictions imposed by culture, and that is +a tyrant or dictator who has monopolized all the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>means of power; and even he has every reason +to want the others to keep at least one cultural +commandment: thou shalt not kill.</p> + +<p class='c008'>But how ungrateful, how short-sighted after all, +to strive for the abolition of culture! What would +then remain would be the state of nature, and that +is far harder to endure. It is true that nature +does not ask us to restrain our instincts, she lets +us do as we like; but she has her peculiarly +effective mode of restricting us: she destroys us, +coldly, cruelly, callously, as it seems to us, and +possibly just through what has caused our satisfaction. +It was because of these very dangers +with which nature threatens us that we united +together and created culture, which, amongst +other things, is supposed to make our communal +existence possible. Indeed, it is the principal +task of culture, its real <em>raison d’être</em>, to defend us +against nature.</p> + +<p class='c008'>One must confess that in many ways it already +does this tolerably well, and clearly as time goes +on it will be much more successful. But no one +is under the illusion that nature has so far been +vanquished; few dare to hope that she will ever +be completely under man’s subjection. There +are the elements, which seem to mock at all human +control: the earth, which quakes, is rent asunder, +<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>and buries man and all his works; the water, +which in tumult floods and submerges all things; +the storm, which drives all before it; there are the +diseases, which we have only lately recognized +as the attacks of other living creatures; and +finally there is the painful riddle of death, for +which no remedy at all has yet been found, nor +probably ever will be. With these forces nature +rises up before us, sublime, pitiless, inexorable; +thus she brings again to mind our weakness and +helplessness, of which we thought the work of +civilization had rid us. It is one of the few noble +and gratifying spectacles that men can offer, when +in the face of an elemental catastrophe they awake +from their muddle and confusion, forget all their +internal difficulties and animosities, and remember +the great common task, the preservation of mankind +against the supremacy of nature.</p> + +<p class='c008'>For the individual, as for mankind in general, +life is hard to endure. The culture in which he +shares imposes on him some measure of privation, +and other men occasion him a certain degree of +suffering, either in spite of the laws of this culture +or because of its imperfections. Add to this the +evils that unvanquished nature—he calls it Fate—inflicts +on him. One would expect a permanent +condition of anxious suspense and a severe injury +<span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>to his innate narcissism to be the result of this state +of affairs. We know already how the individual +reacts to the injuries that culture and other men +inflict on him: he develops a corresponding degree +of resistance against the institutions of this culture, +of hostility towards it. But how does he defend +himself against the supremacy of nature, of fate, +which threatens him, as it threatens all?</p> + +<p class='c008'>Culture relieves him of this task: it performs +it in the same way for everyone. (It is also +noteworthy that pretty well all cultures are the +same in this respect.) It does not cry a halt, as +it were, in its task of defending man against +nature; it merely pursues it by other methods. +This is a complex business; man’s seriously +menaced self-esteem craves for consolation, life +and the universe must be rid of their terrors, and +incidentally man’s curiosity, reinforced, it is true, +by the strongest practical motives, demands an +answer.</p> + +<p class='c008'>With the first step, which is the humanization +of nature, much is already won. Nothing can be +made of impersonal forces and fates; they remain +eternally remote. But if the elements have passions +that rage like those in our own souls, if death +itself is not something spontaneous, but the violent +act of an evil Will, if everywhere in nature we +<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>have about us beings who resemble those of our +own environment, then indeed we can breathe +freely, we can feel at home in face of the supernatural, +and we can deal psychically with our +frantic anxiety. We are perhaps still defenceless, +but no longer helplessly paralysed; we can at +least react; perhaps indeed we are not even defenceless, +we can have recourse to the same methods +against these violent supermen of the beyond that +we make use of in our own community; we can try +to exorcise them, to appease them, to bribe them, +and so rob them of part of their power by thus +influencing them. Such a substitution of psychology +for natural science provides not merely +immediate relief, it also points the way to a +further mastery of the situation.</p> + +<p class='c008'>For there is nothing new in this situation. It +has an infantile prototype, and is really only the +continuation of this. For once before one has +been in such a state of helplessness: as a little +child in one’s relationship to one’s parents. For +one had reason to fear them, especially the father, +though at the same time one was sure of his +protection against the dangers then known to one. +And so it was natural to assimilate and combine +the two situations. Here, too, as in dream-life, +the wish came into its own. The sleeper is seized +<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>by a presentiment of death, which seeks to carry +him to the grave. But the dream-work knows +how to select a condition that will turn even this +dreaded event into a wish-fulfilment: the dreamer +sees himself in an ancient Etruscan grave, into +which he has descended, happy in the satisfaction +it has given to his archæological interests. Similarly +man makes the forces of nature not simply +in the image of men with whom he can associate +as his equals—that would not do justice to the +overpowering impression they make on him—but +he gives them the characteristics of the father, +makes them into gods, thereby following not only +an infantile, but also, as I have tried to show, a +phylogenetic prototype.</p> + +<p class='c008'>In the course of time the first observations of +law and order in natural phenomena are made, +and therewith the forces of nature lose their +human traits. But men’s helplessness remains, +and with it their father-longing and the gods. +The gods retain their threefold task: they must +exorcise the terrors of nature, they must reconcile +one to the cruelty of fate, particularly as shown +in death, and they must make amends for the +sufferings and privations that the communal life +of culture has imposed on man.</p> + +<p class='c008'>But within these there is a gradual shifting of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>the accent. It is observed that natural phenomena +develop of themselves from inward necessity; +without doubt the gods are the lords of nature: +they have arranged it thus and now they can +leave it to itself. Only occasionally, in the so-called +miracles, do they intervene in its course, as +if to protest that they have surrendered nothing +of their original sphere of power. As far as the +vicissitudes of fate are concerned, an unpleasant +suspicion persists that the perplexity and helplessness +of the human race cannot be remedied. +This is where the gods are most apt to fail us; if +they themselves make fate, then their ways must +be deemed inscrutable. The most gifted people +of the ancient world dimly surmised that above +the gods stands Destiny and that the gods themselves +have their destinies. And the more autonomous +nature becomes and the more the gods +withdraw from her, the more earnestly are all +expectations concentrated on the third task assigned +to them and the more does morality become +their real domain. It now becomes the business of +the gods to adjust the defects and evils of culture, +to attend to the sufferings that men inflict on each +other in their communal life, and to see that the +laws of culture, which men obey so ill, are carried +out. The laws of culture themselves are claimed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span>to be of divine origin, they are elevated to a +position above human society, and they are +extended over nature and the universe.</p> + +<p class='c008'>And so a rich store of ideas is formed, born of +the need to make tolerable the helplessness of +man, and built out of the material offered by +memories of the helplessness of his own childhood +and the childhood of the human race. It is easy to +see that these ideas protect man in two directions; +against the dangers of nature and fate, and against +the evils of human society itself. What it amounts +to is this: life in this world serves a higher purpose; +true, it is not easy to guess the nature of +this purpose, but certainly a perfecting of human +existence is implied. Probably the spiritual part +of man, the soul, which in the course of time has +so slowly and unwillingly detached itself from the +body, is to be regarded as the object of this +elevation and exaltation. Everything that takes +place in this world expresses the intentions of +an Intelligence, superior to us, which in the +end, though its devious ways may be difficult to +follow, orders everything for good, that is, to +our advantage. Over each one of us watches a +benevolent, and only apparently severe, Providence, +which will not suffer us to become the +plaything of the stark and pitiless forces of nature; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>death itself is not annihilation, not a return to +inorganic lifelessness, but the beginning of a new +kind of existence, which lies on the road of +development to something higher. And to turn +to the other side of the question, the moral +laws that have formed our culture govern also +the whole universe, only they are upheld with +incomparably more force and consistency by a +supreme judicial court. In the end all good is +rewarded, all evil punished, if not actually in this +life, then in the further existences that begin after +death. And thus all the terrors, the sufferings, +and the hardships of life are destined to be +obliterated; the life after death, which continues +our earthly existence as the invisible part of the +spectrum adjoins the visible, brings all the perfection +that perhaps we have missed here. And +the superior wisdom that directs this issue, the +supreme goodness that expresses itself thus, the +justice that thus achieves its aim—these are the +qualities of the divine beings who have fashioned +us and the world in general; or rather of the one +divine being into which in our culture all the gods +of antiquity have been condensed. The race that +first succeeded in thus concentrating the divine +qualities was not a little proud of this advance. +It had revealed the father nucleus which had +<span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>always lain hidden behind every divine figure; +fundamentally it was a return to the historical +beginnings of the idea of God. Now that God +was a single person, man’s relations to him could +recover the intimacy and intensity of the child’s +relation to the father. If one had done so much +for the father, then surely one would be rewarded—at +least the only beloved child, the chosen people, +would be. More recently, pious America has laid +claim to be ‘God’s own country’, and for one of +the forms under which men worship the deity the +claim certainly holds good.</p> + +<p class='c008'>The religious ideas that have just been summarized +have of course gone through a long +process of development, and have been held in +various phases by various cultures. I have singled +out one such phase of development, which more +or less corresponds to the final form of our contemporary +Christian culture in the west. It is +easy to see that not all the parts of this whole +tally equally well with each other, that not all +the questions that press for an answer receive +one, and that the contradiction of daily experience +can only with difficulty be dismissed. But such as +they are, these ideas—religious, in the broadest +sense of the word—are prized as the most precious +possession of culture, as the most valuable thing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>it has to offer its members; far more highly +prized than all our devices for winning the treasures +of the earth, for providing men with sustenance, +or for preventing their diseases, and so forth; +men suppose that life would be intolerable if they +did not accord these ideas the value that is claimed +for them. And now the question arises: what +are these ideas in the light of psychology; whence +do they derive the esteem in which they are held; +and further, in all diffidence, what is their real +worth?</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER IV</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>An enquiry that proceeds uninterruptedly, +like a monologue, is not altogether without +its dangers. One is too easily tempted to +push aside thoughts that would interrupt it, and +in exchange one is left with a feeling of uncertainty +which one will drown in the end by over-decisiveness. +I shall therefore imagine an opponent who +follows my arguments with mistrust, and I shall +let him interject remarks here and there.</p> + +<p class='c008'>I hear him saying: ‘You have repeatedly used +the expressions “culture creates these religious +ideas”, “culture places them at the disposal of +its members”, which sounds strange to me somehow. +I could not say why myself, but it does +not sound so natural as to say that culture has +made regulations about distributing the products of +labour or about the rights over women and children.’</p> + +<p class='c008'>I think, nevertheless, that one is justified in +expressing oneself thus. I have tried to show that +religious ideas have sprung from the same need +<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>as all the other achievements of culture: from the +necessity for defending itself against the crushing +supremacy of nature. And there was a second +motive: the eager desire to correct the so painfully +felt imperfections of culture. Moreover, +there is something particularly apposite in saying +that culture gives the individual these ideas, for +he finds them at hand, they are presented to him +ready-made; he would not be in a position to +find them by himself. It is the heritage of many +generations which he enters into and which he +takes over as he does the multiplication table, +geometry, etc. There is certainly a distinction in +this, but it lies elsewhere, and I cannot examine it +at this point. The feeling of strangeness that you +mention may be partly accounted for by the fact +that this stock of religious ideas is generally offered +as a divine revelation. But that is in itself a part +of the religious system, and entirely leaves out of +account the known historical development of these +ideas and their variations in different ages and +cultures.</p> + +<p class='c008'>‘Another point which seems to me more +important. You would derive the humanization +of nature from the desire to put an end to human +perplexity and helplessness in the face of nature’s +dreaded forces, and from the necessity for establishing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>relations with, and finally influencing, these +forces. But this explanation seems to be superfluous. +For primitive man has no choice, he has +no other way of thinking. It is natural to him, +as if innate, to project his existence outwards into +the world, and to regard all events that come under +his observation as the manifestations of beings +who fundamentally resemble himself. It is his +only method of comprehension. And it is by no +means self-evident, on the contrary it is a remarkable +coincidence, that he should succeed in satisfying +one of his great wants by thus indulging his +natural disposition.’</p> + +<p class='c008'>I do not find that so striking. For do you +suppose that men’s thought-processes have no +practical motives, that they are simply the expression +of a disinterested curiosity? That is surely +very improbable. I believe, rather, that when he +personifies the forces of nature man is once again +following an infantile prototype. He has learnt +from the persons of his earliest environment that +the way to influence them is to establish a relationship +with them, and so, later on, with the same +end in view, he deals with everything that happens +to him as he dealt with those persons. Thus I +do not contradict your descriptive observation; +it is, in point of fact, natural to man to personify +<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>everything that he wishes to comprehend, in order +that later he may control it—the psychical subjugation +as preparation for the physical—but I +provide in addition a motive and genesis for this +peculiarity of human thought.</p> + +<p class='c008'>‘And now yet a third point. You have dealt +with the origin of religion once before, in your book +<cite>Totem und Tabu</cite>. But there it appears in a +different light. Everything is the son-father relationship; +God is the exalted father, and the +longing for the father is the root of the need for +religion. Since then, it seems, you have discovered +the factor of human weakness and helplessness, +to which indeed the chief part in the formation +of religion is commonly assigned, and you now +transfer to helplessness everything that was +formerly father complex. May I ask you to +enlighten me on this transformation?’</p> + +<p class='c008'>With pleasure. I was only waiting for this +invitation. But is it really a transformation? +In <cite>Totem und Tabu</cite> it was not my purpose to +explain the origin of religions, but only of totemism. +Can you from any standpoint known to you explain +the fact that the first form in which the protecting +deity revealed itself to men was that of an animal, +that a prohibition existed against killing or eating +this animal, and that yet it was the solemn custom +<span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span>to kill it and eat it communally once a year? It +is just this that takes place in totemism. And +it is hardly to the purpose to argue whether +totemism should be called a religion. It has +intimate connections with the later god-religions; +the totem animals become the sacred animals of +the gods; and the earliest, and the most profound, +moral restrictions—the murder prohibition and +the incest prohibition—originate in totemism. +Whether or not you accept the conclusions of +<cite>Totem und Tabu</cite>, I hope you will admit that in +that book a number of very remarkable isolated +facts are brought together into a consistent whole.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Why in the long run the animal god did not +suffice and why it was replaced by the human—that +was hardly discussed in <cite>Totem und Tabu</cite>, +and other problems of the formation of religion +find no mention there at all. But do you regard +such a limitation as identical with a denial? My +work is a good example of the strict isolation of +the share that psycho-analytic observation can +contribute to the problem of religion. If I am +now trying to add to it the other, less deeply +hidden, part, you should not accuse me of inconsistency, +just as before I was accused of being +one-sided. It is of course my business to point +out the connecting links between what I said +<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>before and what I now put forward, between the +deeper and the manifest motivation, between the +father complex and man’s helplessness and need +for protection.</p> + +<p class='c008'>These connections are not difficult to find. +They consist in the relation of the child’s helplessness +to the adult’s continuation of it, so that, as +was to be expected, the psycho-analytic motivation +of the forming of religion turns out to be the +infantile contribution to its manifest motivation. +Let us imagine to ourselves the mental life of +the small child. You remember the object-choice +after the anaclitic type, which psycho-analysis +talks about? The libido follows the paths of +narcissistic needs, and attaches itself to the objects +that ensure their satisfaction. So the mother, +who satisfies hunger, becomes the first love-object, +and certainly also the first protection against all +the undefined and threatening dangers of the outer +world; becomes, if we may so express it, the first +protection against anxiety.</p> + +<p class='c008'>In this function the mother is soon replaced +by the stronger father, and this situation persists +from now on over the whole of childhood. But +the relation to the father is affected by a peculiar +ambivalence. He was himself a danger, perhaps +just because of that earlier relation to the mother; +<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>so he is feared no less than he is longed for +and admired. The indications of this ambivalence +are deeply imprinted in all religions, as is +brought out in <cite>Totem und Tabu</cite>. Now when the +child grows up and finds that he is destined to +remain a child for ever, and that he can never do +without protection against unknown and mighty +powers, he invests these with the traits of the +father-figure; he creates for himself the gods, +of whom he is afraid, whom he seeks to propitiate, +and to whom he nevertheless entrusts the task of +protecting him. Thus the longing-for-the-father +explanation is identical with the other, the need +for protection against the consequences of human +weakness; the child’s defensive reaction to his +helplessness gives the characteristic features to +the adult’s reaction to his own sense of helplessness, +<em>i.e</em>. the formation of religion. But it is not +our intention to pursue further the development +of the idea of God; we are concerned here with +the matured stock of religious ideas as culture +transmits them to the individual.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER V</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>Now to take up again the threads of our +enquiry: what is the psychological significance +of religious ideas and how can +we classify them? The question is at first not at all +easy to answer. Having rejected various formulas, +I shall take my stand by this one: religion +consists of certain dogmas, assertions about facts +and conditions of external (or internal) reality, +which tell one something that one has not oneself +discovered and which claim that one should give +them credence. As they give information about +what are to us the most interesting and important +things in life, they are particularly highly valued. +He who knows nothing of them is ignorant indeed, +and he who has assimilated them may consider +himself enriched.</p> + +<p class='c008'>There are of course many such dogmas about +the most diverse things of this world. Every +school hour is full of them. Let us choose geography. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>We hear there: Konstanz is on the +Bodensee. A student song adds: If you don’t +believe it go and see. I happen to have been +there, and can confirm the fact that this beautiful +town lies on the shore of a broad stretch of water, +which all those dwelling around call the Bodensee. +I am now completely convinced of the accuracy +of this geographical statement. And in this +connection I am reminded of another and very +remarkable experience. I was already a man of +mature years when I stood for the first time on +the hill of the Athenian Acropolis, between the +temple ruins, looking out on to the blue sea. A +feeling of astonishment mingled with my pleasure, +which prompted me to say: then it really is true, +what we used to be taught at school! How +shallow and weak at that age must have been my +belief in the real truth of what I heard if I can be +so astonished to-day! But I will not emphasize +the significance of this experience too much; yet +another explanation of my astonishment is possible, +which did not strike me at the time, and which is +of a wholly subjective nature and connected with +the peculiar character of the place.</p> + +<p class='c008'>All such dogmas as these, then, exact belief +in their contents, but not without substantiating +their title to this. They claim to be the condensed +<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>result of a long process of thought, which is +founded on observation and also, certainly, on +reasoning; they show how, if one so intends, one +can go through this process oneself, instead of +accepting the result of it; and the source of the +knowledge imparted by the dogma is always +added, where it is not, as with geographical statements, +self-evident. For instance: the earth is +shaped like a globe; the proofs adduced for this +are Foucault’s pendulum experiment, the phenomena +of the horizon and the possibility of circumnavigating +the earth. Since it is impracticable, +as all concerned realize, to send every school child +on a voyage round the world, one is content that +the school teaching shall be taken on trust, but +one knows that the way to personal conviction is +still open.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Let us try to apply the same tests to the dogmas +of religion. If we ask on what their claim to be +believed is based, we receive three answers, which +accord remarkably ill with one another. They +deserve to be believed: firstly, because our primal +ancestors already believed them; secondly, because +we possess proofs, which have been handed down +to us from this very period of antiquity; and +thirdly, because it is forbidden to raise the question +of their authenticity at all. Formerly this presumptuous +<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>act was visited with the very severest +penalties, and even to-day society is unwilling +to see anyone renew it.</p> + +<p class='c008'>This third point cannot but rouse our strongest +suspicions. Such a prohibition can surely have +only one motive: that society knows very well +the uncertain basis of the claim it makes for its +religious doctrines. If it were otherwise, the +relevant material would certainly be placed most +readily at the disposal of anyone who wished to +gain conviction for himself. And so we proceed +to test the other two arguments with a feeling of +mistrust not easily allayed. We ought to believe +because our forefathers believed. But these +ancestors of ours were far more ignorant than we; +they believed in things we could not possibly +accept to-day; so the possibility occurs that +religious doctrines may also be in this category. +The proofs they have bequeathed to us are deposited +in writings that themselves bear every +trace of being untrustworthy. They are full of +contradictions, revisions, and interpolations; where +they speak of actual authentic proofs they are +themselves of doubtful authenticity. It does +not help much if divine revelation is asserted +to be the origin of their text or only of their +content, for this assertion is itself already a part +<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>of those doctrines whose authenticity is to be +examined, and no statement can bear its own +proof.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Thus we arrive at the singular conclusion that +just what might be of the greatest significance for +us in our cultural system, the information which +should solve for us the riddles of the universe and +reconcile us to the troubles of life, that just this +has the weakest possible claim to authenticity. +We should not be able to bring ourselves to accept +anything of as little concern to us as the fact that +whales bear young instead of laying eggs, if it were +not capable of better proof than this.</p> + +<p class='c008'>This state of things is in itself a very remarkable +psychological problem. Let no one think that +the foregoing remarks on the impossibility of +proving religious doctrines contain anything new. +It has been felt at all times, assuredly even by the +ancestors who bequeathed this legacy. Probably +many of them nursed the same doubts as we, but +the pressure imposed on them was too strong for +them to have dared to utter them. And since +then countless people have been tortured by the +same doubts, which they would fain have suppressed +because they held themselves in duty +bound to believe, and since then many brilliant +intellects have been wrecked upon this conflict +<span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span>and many characters have come to grief through +the compromises by which they sought a way +out.</p> + +<p class='c008'>If all the arguments that are put forward for +the authenticity of religious doctrines originate in +the past, it is natural to look round and see whether +the present, better able to judge in these matters, +cannot also furnish such evidence. The whole of +the religious system would become infinitely more +credible if one could succeed in this way in removing +the element of doubt from a single part of it. It +is at this point that the activity of the spiritualists +comes in; they are convinced of the immortality +of the individual soul, and they would demonstrate +to us that this one article of religious teaching is +free from doubt. Unfortunately they have not +succeeded in disproving the fact that the appearances +and utterances of their spirits are merely +the productions of their own mental activity. +They have called up the spirits of the greatest of +men, of the most eminent thinkers, but all their +utterances and all the information they have +received from them have been so foolish and so +desperately insignificant that one could find nothing +else to believe in but the capacity of the spirits +for adapting themselves to the circle of people +that had evoked them.</p> + +<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>One must now mention two attempts to evade +the problem, which both convey the impression of +frantic effort. One of them, high-handed in its +nature, is old; the other is subtle and modern. +The first is the <em>Credo quia absurdum</em> of the early +Father. It would imply that religious doctrines +are outside reason’s jurisdiction; they stand above +reason. Their truth must be inwardly felt: one +does not need to comprehend them. But this +<em>Credo</em> is only of interest as a voluntary confession; +as a decree it has no binding force. Am I to be +obliged to believe every absurdity? And if not, +why just this one? There is no appeal beyond +reason. And if the truth of religious doctrines +is dependent on an inner experience which bears +witness to that truth, what is one to make of the +many people who do not have that rare experience? +One may expect all men to use the gift of reason +that they possess, but one cannot set up an +obligation that shall apply to all on a basis that +only exists for quite a few. Of what significance +is it for other people that you have won from a +state of ecstasy, which has deeply moved you, an +imperturbable conviction of the real truth of the +doctrines of religion?</p> + +<p class='c008'>The second attempt is that of the philosophy +of ‘As If’. It explains that in our mental activity +<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>we assume all manner of things, the groundlessness, +indeed the absurdity, of which we fully +realize. They are called ‘fictions’, but from a +variety of practical motives we are led to behave +‘as if’ we believed in these fictions. This, it is +argued, is the case with religious doctrines on +account of their unequalled importance for the +maintenance of human society.<a id='r2'></a><a href='#f2' class='c007'><sup>[2]</sup></a> This argument is +not far removed from the <em>Credo quia absurdum</em>. +But I think that the claim of the philosophy of +‘As If’ is such as only a philosopher could make. +The man whose thinking is not influenced by the +wiles of philosophy will never be able to accept +it; with the confession of absurdity, of illogicality, +there is no more to be said as far as he is concerned. +He cannot be expected to forgo the +guarantees he demands for all his usual activities +just in the matter of his most important interests. +I am reminded of one of my children who was +distinguished at an early age by a peculiarly +<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>marked sense of reality. When the children were +told a fairy tale, to which they listened with rapt +attention, he would come forward and ask: Is +that a true story? Having been told that it was +not, he would turn away with an air of disdain. +It is to be expected that men will soon behave +in like manner towards the religious fairy tales, +despite the advocacy of the philosophy of ‘As If’.</p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f2'> +<p class='c008'><a href='#r2'>2</a>. I hope I am not doing an injustice if I make the author of +the philosophy of ‘As If’ represent a point of view that is familiar +to other thinkers also. Cp. H. Vaihinger, <cite>Die Philosophie des Als +ob</cite>, Siebente und achte Auflage, 1922, S. 68: ‘We include as +fictions not merely indifferent theoretical operations but ideational +constructions emanating from the noblest minds, to which the +noblest part of mankind cling and of which they will not allow +themselves to be deprived. Nor is it our object so to deprive +them—for as <em>practical fictions</em> we leave them all intact; they +perish only as <em>theoretical truths</em>’ (C. K. Ogden’s translation).</p> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>But at present they still behave quite differently, +and in past ages, in spite of their incontrovertible +lack of authenticity, religious ideas have exercised +the very strongest influence on mankind. This +is a fresh psychological problem. We must ask +where the inherent strength of these doctrines lies +and to what circumstance they owe their efficacy, +independent, as it is, of the acknowledgement of +the reason.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VI</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>I think we have sufficiently paved the way for +the answer to both these questions. It will +be found if we fix our attention on the psychical +origin of religious ideas. These, which profess to +be dogmas, are not the residue of experience or +the final result of reflection; they are illusions, +fulfilments of the oldest, strongest and most +insistent wishes of mankind; the secret of their +strength is the strength of these wishes. We know +already that the terrifying effect of infantile helplessness +aroused the need for protection—protection +through love—which the father relieved, and that +the discovery that this helplessness would continue +through the whole of life made it necessary to +cling to the existence of a father—but this time a +more powerful one. Thus the benevolent rule of +divine providence allays our anxiety in face of +life’s dangers, the establishment of a moral world +order ensures the fulfilment of the demands of +justice, which within human culture have so often +<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>remained unfulfilled, and the prolongation of +earthly existence by a future life provides in +addition the local and temporal setting for these +wish-fulfilments. Answers to the questions that +tempt human curiosity, such as the origin of the +universe and the relation between the body and +the soul, are developed in accordance with the +underlying assumptions of this system; it betokens +a tremendous relief for the individual psyche if it +is released from the conflicts of childhood arising +out of the father complex, which are never wholly +overcome, and if these conflicts are afforded a +universally accepted solution.</p> + +<p class='c008'>When I say that they are illusions, I must +define the meaning of the word. An illusion is +not the same as an error, it is indeed not necessarily +an error. Aristotle’s belief that vermin are +evolved out of dung, to which ignorant people +still cling, was an error; so was the belief of a +former generation of doctors that <em>tabes dorsalis</em> was +the result of sexual excess. It would be improper +to call these errors illusions. On the other hand, +it was an illusion on the part of Columbus that +he had discovered a new sea-route to India. The +part played by his wish in this error is very clear. +One may describe as an illusion the statement of +certain nationalists that the Indo-Germanic race +<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>is the only one capable of culture, or the belief, +which only psycho-analysis destroyed, that the +child is a being without sexuality. It is characteristic +of the illusion that it is derived from +men’s wishes; in this respect it approaches the +psychiatric delusion, but it is to be distinguished +from this, quite apart from the more complicated +structure of the latter. In the delusion we emphasize +as essential the conflict with reality; the +illusion need not be necessarily false, that is to +say, unrealizable or incompatible with reality. +For instance, a poor girl may have an illusion +that a prince will come and fetch her home. It +is possible; some such cases have occurred. That +the Messiah will come and found a golden age is +much less probable; according to one’s personal +attitude one will classify this belief as an illusion +or as analogous to a delusion. Examples of illusions +that have come true are not easy to discover, +but the illusion of the alchemists that all metals +can be turned into gold may prove to be one. +The desire to have lots of gold, as much gold as +possible, has been considerably damped by our +modern insight into the nature of wealth, yet +chemistry no longer considers a transmutation of +metals into gold as impossible. Thus we call a +belief an illusion when wish-fulfilment is a prominent +<span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span>factor in its motivation, while disregarding +its relations to reality, just as the illusion itself +does.</p> + +<p class='c008'>If after this survey we turn again to religious +doctrines, we may reiterate that they are all +illusions, they do not admit of proof, and no one +can be compelled to consider them as true or to +believe in them. Some of them are so improbable, +so very incompatible with everything we +have laboriously discovered about the reality of +the world, that we may compare them—taking +adequately into account the psychological differences—to +delusions. Of the reality value of +most of them we cannot judge; just as they +cannot be proved, neither can they be refuted. +We still know too little to approach them critically. +The riddles of the universe only reveal themselves +slowly to our enquiry, to many questions science +can as yet give no answer; but scientific work is +our only way to the knowledge of external reality. +Again, it is merely illusion to expect anything +from intuition or trance; they can give us nothing +but particulars, which are difficult to interpret, +about our own mental life, never information +about the questions that are so lightly answered +by the doctrines of religion. It would be wanton +to let one’s own arbitrary action fill the gap, and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>according to one’s personal estimate declare this +or that part of the religious system to be more +or less acceptable. These questions are too +momentous for that; too sacred, one might say.</p> + +<p class='c008'>At this point it may be objected: well, then, +if even the crabbed sceptics admit that the statements +of religion cannot be confuted by reason, +why should not I believe in them, since they have +so much on their side—tradition, the concurrence +of mankind, and all the consolation they yield? +Yes, why not? Just as no one can be forced into +belief, so no one can be forced into unbelief. But +do not deceive yourself into thinking that with +such arguments you are following the path of +correct reasoning. If ever there was a case of +facile argument, this is one. Ignorance is ignorance; +no right to believe anything is derived from +it. No reasonable man will behave so frivolously +in other matters or rest content with such feeble +grounds for his opinions or for the attitude he +adopts; it is only in the highest and holiest +things that he allows this. In reality these are +only attempts to delude oneself or other people +into the belief that one still holds fast to religion, +when one has long cut oneself loose from it. +Where questions of religion are concerned people +are guilty of every possible kind of insincerity and +<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>intellectual misdemeanour. Philosophers stretch +the meaning of words until they retain scarcely +anything of their original sense; by calling ‘God’ +some vague abstraction which they have created +for themselves, they pose as deists, as believers, +before the world; they may even pride themselves +on having attained a higher and purer idea +of God, although their God is nothing but an +insubstantial shadow and no longer the mighty +personality of religious doctrine. Critics persist in +calling ‘deeply religious’ a person who confesses +to a sense of man’s insignificance and impotence +in face of the universe, although it is not this +feeling that constitutes the essence of religious +emotion, but rather the next step, the reaction to +it, which seeks a remedy against this feeling. He +who goes no further, he who humbly acquiesces in +the insignificant part man plays in the universe, +is, on the contrary, irreligious in the truest sense +of the word.</p> + +<p class='c008'>It does not lie within the scope of this enquiry +to estimate the value of religious doctrines as +truth. It suffices that we have recognized them, +psychologically considered, as illusions. But we +need not conceal the fact that this discovery +strongly influences our attitude to what must +appear to many the most important of questions. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>We know approximately at what periods and by +what sort of men religious doctrines were formed. +If we now learn from what motives this happened, +our attitude to the problem of religion will suffer +an appreciable change. We say to ourselves: it +would indeed be very nice if there were a God, +who was both creator of the world and a benevolent +providence, if there were a moral world order +and a future life, but at the same time it is very +odd that this is all just as we should wish it +ourselves. And it would be still odder if our +poor, ignorant, enslaved ancestors had succeeded +in solving all these difficult riddles of the universe.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VII</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>Having recognized religious doctrines to +be illusions, we are at once confronted +with the further question: may not other +cultural possessions, which we esteem highly and +by which we let our life be ruled, be of a similar +nature? Should not the assumptions that regulate +our political institutions likewise be called illusions, +and is it not the case that in our culture the +relations between the sexes are disturbed by an +erotic illusion, or by a series of erotic illusions? +Once our suspicions have been roused, we shall not +shrink from asking whether there is any better +foundation for our conviction that it is possible to +discover something about external reality through +the applying of observation and reasoning in scientific +work. Nothing need keep us from applying +observation to our own natures or submitting the +process of reasoning to its own criticism. Here a +series of enquiries present themselves, which in their +result should be of decisive importance for constructing +<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>a ‘Weltanschauung’. We surmise, too, that +such an endeavour would not be wasted, and that +it would at least partially justify our suspicions. +But the author of these pages has not the means +to undertake so comprehensive a task; forced by +necessity, he confines his work to the pursuit of +a single one of these illusions, that is, the religious.</p> + +<p class='c008'>But now the loud voice of our opponent bids +us to stop. We are called to account for our +transgressions.</p> + +<p class='c008'>‘Archæological interests are no doubt most +praiseworthy, but one does not set about an +excavation if one is thereby going to undermine +occupied dwelling-places so that they collapse and +bury the inhabitants under their ruins. The +doctrines of religion are not a subject that one +can be clever about, as one can about any other. +Our culture is built up on them; the preservation +of human society rests on the assumption that +the majority of mankind believe in the truth of +these doctrines. If they are taught that there +is no almighty and all just God, no divine world +order, and no future life, then they will feel exempt +from all obligation to follow the rules of culture. +Uninhibited and free from fear, everybody will +follow his asocial, egoistic instincts, and will seek +to prove his power. Chaos, which we have +<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>banished through thousands of years of the work +of civilization, will begin again. Even if one +knew, and could prove, that religion was not in +possession of the truth, one should conceal the +fact and behave as the philosophy of “As If” +demands—and this in the interests of the preservation +of everybody. And apart from the danger +of the undertaking, it is also a purposeless cruelty. +Countless people find their one consolation in the +doctrines of religion, and only with their help can +they endure life. You would rob them of what +supports them, and yet you have nothing better +to give them in exchange. It has been admitted +that so far science has not achieved much, but +even if it had advanced far further, it would not +suffice for men. Man has yet other imperative +needs, which can never be satisfied by cold science, +and it is very strange—to be frank, it is the acme +of inconsistency—that a psychologist who has +always emphasized how much in men’s lives the +intelligence retreats before the life of the instincts +should now strive to rob men of a precious wish-satisfaction, +and should want to give them in +exchange a compensation of an intellectual nature.’</p> + +<p class='c008'>What a number of accusations all at once! +However, I am prepared to deny them all; and +what is more, I am prepared to defend the statement +<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>that culture incurs a greater danger by +maintaining its present attitude to religion than +by relinquishing it. But I hardly know where +to begin my reply.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Perhaps with the assurance that I myself +consider my undertaking to be completely harmless +and free from danger. This time the overestimation +of the intellect is not on my side. If +men are such as my opponents describe them—and +I have no wish to contradict it—then there +is no danger of a devout believer, overwhelmed +by my arguments, being deprived of his faith. +Besides, I have said nothing that other and better +men have not said before me in a much more +complete, forcible and impressive way. The +names of these men are well known. I shall not +quote them. I should not like to give the impression +that I would count myself of their number. +I have merely—this is the only thing that is new +in my statement—added a certain psychological +foundation to the critique of my great predecessors. +It is hardly to be expected that just this addition +will produce the effect that was denied to the earlier +attempts. Certainly I might be asked at this +point why I write such things if I am convinced +of their ineffectiveness. But we shall come back +to that later.</p> + +<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span>The one person this publication may harm is +myself. I shall have to listen to the most unpleasant +reproaches on the score of shallowness, +narrow-mindedness, and lack of idealism and of +understanding for the highest interests of mankind. +But on the one hand these remonstrances are +not new to me; and on the other hand, if a man +has even in his early years learnt to face the displeasure +of his contemporaries, what effect then +can it have on him in his old age, when he is certain +to be soon beyond the reach of all favour or disfavour? +In former times it was different. Then +utterances such as these brought with them a +sure foreshortening of one’s earthly existence and +a speedy approach of the opportunity to gain +personal experience of the next life. But, I +repeat, those times are over, and to-day such things +can be written without endangering even the +author; the most that can happen will be that +in this or that country the translation and the +circulation of his book will be forbidden—and +naturally this will happen just in that country +which feels certain of the high standard of its +culture. But one must be able to put up with this +also, if one makes any plea for wish-renunciation +or for acquiescence in fate.</p> + +<p class='c008'>And then it occurred to me to ask whether the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>publication of this work might not do some harm +after all—not indeed to a person, but to a cause: +the cause of psycho-analysis. For it cannot be +denied that this is my creation, and that an +abundance of distrust and ill-will has been shown +to it. If I now come forward with such displeasing +statements, people will be only too ready to displace +their feelings from my person on to psycho-analysis. +Now one can see, it will be said, where +psycho-analysis leads to. The mask is fallen; +it leads to the denial of God and of an ethical +ideal, as indeed we have always supposed. To +keep us from the discovery, we have been made to +believe that psycho-analysis neither has, nor can +have, a philosophical standpoint.</p> + +<p class='c008'>This pother will be really disagreeable to me +on account of my many fellow-workers, several +of whom do not at all share my attitude to religious +problems. However, psycho-analysis has already +braved many storms, and it must face this new +one also. In reality psycho-analysis is a method +of investigation, an impartial instrument like, +say, the infinitesimal calculus. Even if a physicist +should discover with the help of the latter that +after a certain period the earth will be destroyed, +one would still hesitate to impute destructive +tendencies to the calculus itself, and to proscribe +<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>it on that account. Nothing that I have said +here against the truth-value of religion needed +the support of psycho-analysis; it had been said +by others long before psycho-analysis came into +existence. If one can find a new argument against +the truth of religion by applying the psycho-analytic +method, so much the worse for religion, +but the defenders of religion will with equal right +avail themselves of psycho-analysis in order to +appreciate to the full the affective significance of +religious doctrines.</p> + +<p class='c008'>And now to proceed with the defence: clearly +religion has performed great services for human +culture. It has contributed much toward restraining +the asocial instincts, but still not enough. +For many thousands of years it has ruled human +society; it has had time to show what it can +achieve. If it had succeeded in making happy +the greater part of mankind, in consoling them, +in reconciling them to life, and in making them +into supporters of civilization, then no one would +dream of striving to alter existing conditions. +But instead of this what do we see? We see +that an appallingly large number of men are discontented +with civilization and unhappy in it, and +feel it as a yoke that must be shaken off; that these +men either do everything in their power to alter +<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>this civilization, or else go so far in their hostility +to it that they will have nothing whatever to do +either with civilization or with restraining their +instincts. At this point it will be objected that +this state of affairs is due to the very fact that +religion has forfeited a part of its influence on +the masses, just because of the deplorable effect +of the advances in science. We shall note this +admission and the reasons given for it, and shall +make use of it later for our own purposes; but +the objection itself has no force.</p> + +<p class='c008'>It is doubtful whether men were in general +happier at a time when religious doctrines held +unlimited sway than they are now; more moral +they certainly were not. They have always +understood how to externalize religious precepts, +thereby frustrating their intentions. And the +priests, who had to enforce religious obedience, +met them half-way. God’s kindness must lay a +restraining hand upon his justice. One sinned, +and then one made oblation or did penance, and +then one was free to sin anew. Russian mysticism +has come to the sublime conclusion that sin is +indispensable for the full enjoyment of the blessings +of divine grace, and therefore, fundamentally, it +is pleasing to God. It is well known that the +priests could only keep the masses submissive to +<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>religion by making these great concessions to +human instincts. And so it was settled: God +alone is strong and good, man is weak and sinful. +Immorality, no less than morality, has at all times +found support in religion. If the achievements +of religion in promoting men’s happiness, in +adapting them to civilization, and in controlling +them morally, are no better, then the question +arises whether we are right in considering it +necessary for mankind, and whether we do +wisely in basing the demands of our culture +upon it.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Let us consider the unmistakable character of +the present situation. We have heard the admission +that religion no longer has the same influence +on men that it used to have (we are concerned +here with European Christian culture). And this, +not because its promises have become smaller, +but because they appear less credible to people. +Let us admit that the reason—perhaps not the +only one—for this change is the increase of the +scientific spirit in the higher strata of human +society. Criticism has nibbled at the authenticity +of religious documents, natural science has shown +up the errors contained in them, and the comparative +method of research has revealed the fatal +resemblance between religious ideas revered by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>us and the mental productions of primitive ages +and peoples.</p> + +<p class='c008'>The scientific spirit engenders a particular +attitude to the problems of this world; before +the problems of religion it halts for a while, then +wavers, and finally here too steps over the threshold. +In this process there is no stopping. The +more the fruits of knowledge become accessible +to men, the more widespread is the decline of +religious belief, at first only of the obsolete and +objectionable expressions of the same, then of its +fundamental assumptions, also. The Americans +who instituted the monkey trial in Dayton have +alone proved consistent. Elsewhere the inevitable +transition is accomplished by way of half-measures +and insincerities.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Culture has little to fear from the educated or +from the brain workers. In their case religious +motives for civilized behaviour would be unobtrusively +replaced by other and secular ones; +besides, for the most part they are themselves +supporters of culture. But it is another matter +with the great mass of the uneducated and suppressed, +who have every reason to be enemies of +culture. So long as they do not discover that +people no longer believe in God, all is well. But +they discover it, infallibly, and would do so even +<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>if this work of mine were not published. They +are ready to accept the results of scientific thought, +without having effected in themselves the process +of change which scientific thought induces in men. +Is there not a danger that these masses, in their +hostility to culture, will attack the weak point +which they have discovered in their taskmaster? +If you must not kill your neighbour, solely because +God has forbidden it and will sorely avenge it in +this or the other life, and you then discover that +there is no God so that one need not fear his +punishment, then you will certainly kill without +hesitation, and you could only be prevented from +this by mundane force. And so follows the +necessity for either the most rigorous suppression +of these dangerous masses and the most careful +exclusion of all opportunities for mental awakening +or a fundamental revision of the relation between +culture and religion.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER VIII</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>One would suppose that this last proposal +could be carried out without any +special difficulty. It is true that it +would involve some measure of renunciation, but +one would gain, perhaps, more than one lost, and +a great danger would be avoided. But people +have a horror of it, as if civilization would thereby +be exposed to an even greater danger. When +Saint Boniface felled the tree which was venerated +as sacred by the Saxons, those who stood round +expected some fearful event to follow the outrage. +It did not happen, and the Saxons were baptized.</p> + +<p class='c008'>It is manifestly in the interest of man’s communal +existence, which would not otherwise be +practicable, that civilization has laid down the +commandment that one shall not kill the neighbour +whom one hates, who is in one’s way, or +whose property one covets. For the murderer +would draw on to himself the vengeance of the +murdered man’s kinsmen and the secret envy of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>the others who feel as much inward inclination as +he did to such an act of violence. Thus he would +not enjoy his revenge or his spoil for long, but +would have every prospect of being killed soon +himself. Even if he could defend himself against +single foes by his extraordinary strength and +caution, he would be bound to succumb to a +combination of these weaker foes. If a combination +of this sort did not take place, then +murder would continue ceaselessly, and the end +of it would be that men would exterminate one +another. It would be the same state of affairs +among individuals that still prevails in Corsica +among families, but otherwise survives only among +nations. Insecurity of life, an equal danger for +all, now unites men into one society, which forbids +the individual to kill and reserves to itself the +right to kill in the name of society the man who +violates this prohibition. This, then, is justice and +punishment.</p> + +<p class='c008'>We do not, however, tell others of this rational +basis for the murder prohibition; we declare, on +the contrary, that God is its author. Thus, +making bold to divine his intentions, we find that +he has no wish, either, for men to exterminate +each other. By acting thus we invest the cultural +prohibition with a quite peculiar solemnity, but at +<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>the same time we risk making its observance +dependent on belief in God. If we retract this +step, no longer saddling God with our own wishes, +and content ourselves with the social justification +for the cultural prohibition, then we renounce, it +is true, its hallowed nature, but we also avoid +endangering its existence. And we gain something +else as well. Through some kind of diffusion or +infection the character of sanctity and inviolability, +of other-worldliness, one might say, has been +extended from some few important prohibitions +to all other cultural institutions and laws and +ordinances. And often the halo becomes these +none too well; not only do they invalidate each +other by making conflicting decisions according to +the time and place of their origin; even apart +from this they betray every sign of human inadequacy. +One can easily recognize among them +things which can only be the product of shortsightedness +and apprehensiveness, the expression +of narrow interests, or the result of inadequate +hypotheses. The criticism to which one must +subject them also diminishes to an unwelcome +extent people’s respect for other and more +justified cultural demands. As it is a delicate task +to decide what God has himself ordained and what +derives rather from the authority of an allpowerful +<span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span>parliament or a supreme judicial decision, +it would be an indubitable advantage to leave +God out of the question altogether, and to admit +honestly the purely human origin of all cultural +laws and institutions. Along with their pretensions +to sanctity the rigid and immutable nature +of these laws and regulations would also cease. +Men would realize that these have been made, +not so much to rule them, as, on the contrary, to +serve their interests; they would acquire a more +friendly attitude to them, and instead of aiming +at their abolition they would aim only at improving +them. This would be an important advance +on the road which leads to reconciliation with the +burden of culture.</p> + +<p class='c008'>But here our plea for a purely rational basis +for cultural laws, that is to say, for deriving them +from social necessity, is interrupted by a sudden +doubt. We have chosen as our example the origin +of the murder prohibition. But does our account +of it correspond to historical truth? We fear not; +it appears to be merely a rationalistic construction. +With the help of psycho-analysis we have studied +this very point in the history of human culture, +and supported by this study we are bound to say +that in reality it did not happen like this. Even +in men to-day purely reasonable motives are of +<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>little avail against passionate impulses. How +much weaker, then, must they have been in the +primordial animal man! Perhaps even now his +descendants would still kill one another without +inhibition, if there had not been among those acts +of murder one—the slaughter of the primal father—which +evoked an irresistible emotional reaction, +momentous in its consequences. From it arose +the commandment: thou shalt not kill, which in +totemism was confined to the father-substitute, +and was later extended to others, but which even +to-day is not universally observed.</p> + +<p class='c008'>But according to arguments which I need not +repeat here, that primal father has been the prototype +of God, the model after which later generations +have formed their figure of God. Hence the +religious explanation is right. God was actually +concerned in the origin of that prohibition; his +influence, not insight into what was necessary for +society, brought it into being. And the process +of attributing man’s will to God is fully justified; +for men, knowing that they had brutally set aside +the father, determined, in the reaction to their +outrage, to respect his will in future. And so the +religious doctrine does give us the historical truth, +though of course in a somewhat remodelled and +disguised form; our rational explanation belies it.</p> + +<p class='c008'><span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>We now observe that the stock of religious +ideas contains not only wish-fulfilments, but also +important historical memories. What matchless, +what abundant power this combination of past +and present must give to religion! But with the +help of an analogy we may perhaps feel our way +towards another view of the problem. It is not a +good thing to transplant ideas far away from the +soil in which they grew, but we cannot resist +pointing out the resemblance which forms this +analogy. We know that the human child cannot +well complete its development towards culture +without passing through a more or less distinct +phase of neurosis. This is because the child is +unable to suppress by rational mental effort so +many of those instinctual impulsions which cannot +later be turned to account, but has to check +them by acts of repression, behind which there +stands as a rule an anxiety motive. Most of these +child neuroses are overcome spontaneously as one +grows up, and especially is this the fate of the +obsessional neuroses of childhood. The remainder +can be cleared up still later by psycho-analytic +treatment. In just the same way one might +assume that in its development through the ages +mankind as a whole experiences conditions that +are analogous to the neuroses, and this for the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>same reasons, because in the ages of its ignorance +and intellectual weakness it achieved by purely +affective means the instinctual renunciations, indispensable +for man’s communal existence. And +the residue of these repression-like processes, +which took place in antiquity, has long clung on +to civilization. Thus religion would be the universal +obsessional neurosis of humanity. It, like +the child’s, originated in the Oedipus complex, the +relation to the father. According to this conception +one might prophesy that the abandoning +of religion must take place with the fateful +inexorability of a process of growth, and that we +are just now in the middle of this phase of +development.</p> + +<p class='c008'>So we should form our behaviour after the +model of a sensible teacher, who does not oppose +the new development confronting him, but seeks +to further it and to temper the force of its onset. +To be sure this analogy does not exhaust the +essence of religion. If on the one hand religion +brings with it obsessional limitation, which can +only be compared to an individual obsessional +neurosis, it comprises on the other hand a system +of wish-illusions, incompatible with reality, such +as we find in an isolated form only in Meynert’s +amentia, a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion. +<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>But these are only just comparisons, with whose +help we can endeavour to understand social phenomena; +individual psychology supplies us with no +exact counterpart.</p> + +<p class='c008'>It has been shown repeatedly (by myself, and +particularly by Theodor Reik) into what details +the analogy of religion and the obsessional neurosis +may be pursued, how much of the vicissitudes and +peculiarities of the formation of religion may be +understood in this way. And it accords well with +this that the true believer is in a high degree +protected against the danger of certain neurotic +afflictions; by accepting the universal neurosis he +is spared the task of forming a personal neurosis.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Our knowledge of the historical value of certain +religious doctrines increases our respect for them, +but it does not invalidate our proposal to exclude +them from the motivation of cultural laws. On +the contrary! This historical residue has given +us the conception of religious dogmas as, so to +speak, neurotic survivals, and now we may say +that the time has probably come to replace the +consequences of repression by the results of +rational mental effort, as in the analytic treatment +of neurotics. One may prophesy, but hardly regret, +that this process of remodelling will not stop at +dispelling the solemn air of sanctity surrounding +<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>the cultural laws, but that a general revision of +these must involve the abolition of many of them. +And this will go far to solve our appointed problem +of reconciling men to civilization. We need not +regret the loss of historical truth involved in +accepting the rational motivation of cultural laws. +The truths contained in religious doctrines are +after all so distorted and systematically disguised +that the mass of mankind cannot recognize them +as truth. It is an instance of the same thing when +we tell the child that new-born babies are brought +by the stork. Here, too, we tell the truth in +symbolic guise, for we know what that large bird +signifies. But the child does not know it; he hears +only the distortion, and feels that he has been +deceived; and we know how often his refractoriness +and his distrust of the grown-ups gets bound +up with this impression. We have come to the +conclusion that it is better to avoid such symbolic +disguisings of the truth, and to allow the child +knowledge of the real state of affairs in a way +suitable for his stage of intellectual development.</p> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER IX</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>‘You allow yourself contradictions which +are hard to reconcile with one another. +First you declare that a work like yours +is quite harmless; no one will let himself be robbed +of his religious faith through such discussions. +But since, as became evident later, it is your aim +to disturb this faith, one may ask: why in fact +do you publish it? At another point, however, +you admit that it might be dangerous, indeed very +dangerous, for a man to discover that people no +longer believe in God. Docile though he had been +hitherto, now he would throw off all allegiance +to the laws of culture. Your whole argument +that the religious motivation of the cultural +commandments signifies a danger for culture rests, +in fact, on the assumption that the believer can +be made into an unbeliever. But that is a complete +contradiction.</p> + +<p class='c008'>‘And here is another contradiction: you admit +on the one hand that man will not be guided by +<span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span>intelligence; he is ruled by his passions and by the +claims of his instincts; but on the other hand +you propose to replace the affective basis of his +allegiance to culture by a rational one. Let +who can understand this. To me it seems a case +of either the one or the other.</p> + +<p class='c008'>‘Besides, have you learnt nothing from history? +Once before such an attempt to substitute reason +for religion was made, officially and in the grand +manner. Surely you remember the French Revolution +and Robespierre, and also how short-lived +and how deplorably ineffectual the experiment? +It is being repeated in Russia at present, and we +need not be curious about the result. Do you +not think we may assume that man cannot do +without religion?</p> + +<p class='c008'>‘You have said yourself that religion is more +than an obsessional neurosis. But you have not +dealt with this other aspect of it. You are content +to work out the analogy with the neurosis. Men +must be freed from a neurosis. What else is lost +in the process does not trouble you.’</p> + +<p class='c008'>Probably these apparent contradictions have +arisen because I have been dealing too hastily with +complicated matters, but we can make up for this +to some extent. I still maintain that in one +respect my work is quite harmless. No believer +<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>will let himself be led astray by these or by similar +arguments. A believer has certain ties of affection +binding him to the substance of religion. There +are certainly a vast number of other people who +are not religious in the same sense. They obey +the laws of civilization because they are intimidated +by the threats of religion, and they fear religion so +long as they consider it as a part of the reality +that restricts them. These are the people who +break free as soon as they dare to give up their +belief in its reality value; but arguments have +no effect on them either. They cease to fear +religion when they find that others do not fear it, +and of these I have asserted that they would learn +of the decline of religious influence even if I did +not publish my work.</p> + +<p class='c008'>But I suppose you yourself attach more value +to the other contradiction with which you tax me. +Since men are so slightly amenable to reasonable +arguments, so completely are they ruled by their +instinctual wishes, why should one want to take +away from them a means of satisfying their +instincts and replace it by reasonable arguments? +Certainly men are like this, but have you asked +yourself whether they need be so, whether their +inmost nature necessitates it? Can an anthropologist +give the cranial index of a people whose +<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>custom it is to deform their children’s heads by +bandaging them from their earliest years? Think +of the distressing contrast between the radiant +intelligence of a healthy child and the feeble +mentality of the average adult. Is it so utterly +impossible that it is just religious up-bringing +which is largely to blame for this relative degeneration? +I think it would be a very long time +before a child who was not influenced began +to trouble himself about God and the things +beyond this world. Perhaps his thoughts on +these matters would then take the same course +as they did with his ancestors; but we do +not wait for this development; we introduce +him to the doctrines of religion at a time when +he is neither interested in them nor capable of +grasping their import. Is it not true that the +two main points in the modern educational programme +are the retardation of sexual development +and the early application of religious influence? So +when the child’s mind awakens, the doctrines of +religion are already unassailable. But do you +suppose that it is particularly conducive to the +strengthening of the mental function that so +important a sphere should be closed to it by the +menace of hell pains? We need not be greatly +surprised at the feeble mentality of the man who +<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>has once brought himself to accept without +criticism all the absurdities that religious doctrines +repeat to him, and even to overlook the contradictions +between them. Now we have no other +means of controlling our instincts than our intelligence. +And how can we expect people who +are dominated by thought-prohibitions to attain +the psychological ideal, the primacy of the intelligence? +You know too that women in general +are said to suffer from so-called ‘physiological +weak-mindedness’, <em>i.e.</em> a poorer intelligence than +the man’s. The fact itself is disputable, its +interpretation doubtful; but it has been argued +for the secondary nature of this intellectual +degeneration that women labour under the harshness +of the early prohibition, which prevented +them from applying their mind to what would +have interested them most, that is to say, to the +problems of sexual life. So long as a man’s early +years are influenced by the religious thought-inhibition +and by the loyal one derived from it, +as well as by the sexual one, we cannot really say +what he is actually like.</p> + +<p class='c008'>But I will curb my ardour and admit the possibility +that I too am chasing after an illusion. +Perhaps the effect of the religious thought-prohibition +is not as bad as I assume, perhaps it will +<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>turn out that human nature remains the same +even if education is not abused by being subjected +to religion. I do not know, and you cannot know +either. It is not only the great problems of this +life that seem at present insoluble; there are many +smaller questions also that are hard to decide. +But you must admit that there is here the justification +for a hope for the future, that perhaps we +may dig up a treasure which can enrich culture, +and that it is worth while to make the experiment +of a non-religious education. Should it +prove unsatisfactory, I am ready to give up the +reform and to return to the earlier, purely descriptive +judgement: man is a creature of weak +intelligence who is governed by his instinctual +wishes.</p> + +<p class='c008'>There is another point in which I wholeheartedly +agree with you. It is, to be sure, a +senseless proceeding to try and do away with +religion by force and at one blow—more especially +as it is a hopeless one. The believer will not let +his faith be taken from him, neither by arguments +nor by prohibitions. And even if it did succeed +with some, it would be a cruel thing to do. A +man who has for decades taken a sleeping +draught is naturally unable to sleep if he is deprived +of it. That the effect of the consolations +<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>of religion may be compared to that of a narcotic +is prettily illustrated by what is happening in +America. There they are now trying—plainly +under the influence of petticoat government—to +deprive men of all stimulants, intoxicants and +luxuries,<a id='r3'></a><a href='#f3' class='c007'><sup>[3]</sup></a> and to satiate them with piety by +way of compensation. This is another experiment +about the result of which we need not be +curious.</p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f3'> +<p class='c008'><a href='#r3'>3</a>. <em>I.e.</em> tea, alcohol, and tobacco.</p> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>And so I disagree with you when you go on to +argue that man cannot in general do without the +consolation of the religious illusion, that without +it he would not endure the troubles of life, the +cruelty of reality. Certainly this is true of the +man into whom you have instilled the sweet—or +bitter-sweet—poison from childhood on. But what +of the other, who has been brought up soberly? +Perhaps he, not suffering from neurosis, will need +no intoxicant to deaden it. True, man will then +find himself in a difficult situation. He will have +to confess his utter helplessness and his insignificant +part in the working of the universe; he will have +to confess that he is no longer the centre of creation, +no longer the object of the tender care of a benevolent +providence. He will be in the same +position as the child who has left the home where +<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>he was so warm and comfortable. But, after all, +is it not the destiny of childishness to be overcome? +Man cannot remain a child for ever; he +must venture at last into the hostile world. +This may be called ‘<em>education to reality</em>’; need +I tell you that it is the sole aim of my book +to draw attention to the necessity for this +advance?</p> + +<p class='c008'>You fear, probably, that he will not stand the +test? Well, anyhow, let us be hopeful. It is +at least something to know that one is thrown on +one’s own resources. One learns then to use them +properly. And man is not entirely without means +of assistance; since the time of the deluge science +has taught him much, and it will still further +increase his power. And as for the great necessities +of fate, against which there is no remedy, these +he will simply learn to endure with resignation. +Of what use to him is the illusion of a kingdom on +the moon, whose revenues have never yet been +seen by anyone? As an honest crofter on this +earth he will know how to cultivate his plot in a +way that will support him. Thus by withdrawing +his expectations from the other world and concentrating +all his liberated energies on this earthly +life he will probably attain to a state of things in +which life will be tolerable for all and no one will +<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>be oppressed by culture any more. Then with +one of our comrades in unbelief he will be able to +say without regret:</p> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> + <div class='nf-center'> + <div>Let us leave the heavens</div> + <div>To the angels and the sparrows.</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div class='chapter'> + <span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span> + <h2 class='c005'>CHAPTER X</h2> +</div> + +<p class='drop-capa0_0_6 c006'>‘That does sound splendid. A race of men +that has renounced all illusions and has +thus become capable of making its existence +on the earth a tolerable one! But I cannot +share your expectations. And this, not because +I am the pig-headed reactionary you perhaps take +me for. No; it is because I am a sensible person. +It seems to me that we have now exchanged rôles; +you prove to be the enthusiast, who allows himself +to be carried away by illusions, and I represent the +claims of reason, the right to be sceptical. What +you have just stated seems to me to be founded +on errors, which after your precedent I may call +illusions because they betray clearly enough the +influence of your wishes. You indulge in the hope +that generations which have not experienced the +influence of religious teaching in early childhood +will easily attain the wished-for primacy of the +intelligence over the life of the instincts. That +is surely an illusion; in this decisive point human +<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span>nature is hardly likely to alter. If I am not +mistaken—one knows so little of other civilizations—there +are even to-day peoples who do not grow +up under the pressure of a religious system, and +they come no nearer your ideal than the others. +If you wish to expel religion from our European +civilization you can only do it through another +system of doctrines, and from the outset this +would take over all the psychological characteristics +of religion, the same sanctity, rigidity and +intolerance, the same prohibition of thought in +self-defence. Something of this sort you must have +in justice to the requirements of education. For +you cannot do without education. The way from +sucking child to civilized man is a long one; too +many young people would go astray and fail to +arrive at their life tasks in due time if they were +left without guidance to their own development. +The doctrines made use of in their education will +always confine the thought of their riper years, +exactly as you reproach religion with doing to-day. +Do you not observe that it is the ineradicable +natural defect of our, of every, culture that it +imposes on the child, governed by his instincts +and intellectually weak, the making of decisions +to which only the matured intelligence of the +grown-up can do justice? But owing to the fact +<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>that mankind’s development through the ages +is concentrated into a few years of childhood +culture cannot do otherwise, and it is only by +affective influence that the child can be induced +to accomplish the task assigned to it. And so +this is the outlook for your “primacy of the +intellect”.</p> + +<p class='c008'>‘And now you should not be surprised if I +intervene on behalf of retaining the religious +system of teaching as the basis of education and +of man’s communal life. It is a practical problem, +not a question of reality value. Since we cannot, +for the sake of the preservation of our culture, +postpone influencing the individual until he has +become ready for culture—many would never be +so anyhow—and since we are obliged to press some +system of teaching on the growing child which +shall have the effect on him of a postulate that +does not admit of criticism, it seems to me that +the religious system is by far the most suitable +for the purpose; of course just on account of that +quality—its power for wish-fulfilment and consolation—by +which you claim to have recognized +it as an “illusion”. In face of the difficulty of +discovering anything about reality, indeed the +doubt whether this is possible for us at all, we +must not overlook the fact that human needs +<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>are also a part, and indeed an important part, +of reality, and one that concerns us particularly +closely.</p> + +<p class='c008'>‘I find another advantage of religious doctrine +in one of its peculiarities, to which you seem to +take particular exception. It admits of an ideational +refinement and sublimation, by which it +can be divested of most of those traces of a primitive +and infantile way of thinking which it bears. +What is then left is a body of ideas which science +no longer contradicts and which it cannot disprove. +These modifications of religious doctrine, +which you have condemned as half-measures and +compromises, make it possible to bridge the gap +between the uneducated masses and the philosophical +thinker, and to preserve that common +bond between them which is so important for the +protection of culture. With it you would have +no need to fear that the poor man would discover +that the upper strata of society “no longer believe +in God”. I think I have shown by now that +your endeavour reduces itself to the attempt to +replace a proved and affectively valuable illusion +by one that is improved and without affective +value.’</p> + +<p class='c008'>You shall not find me impervious to your +criticism. I know how difficult it is to avoid +<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>illusions; perhaps even the hopes I have confessed +to are of an illusory nature. But I hold fast to +one distinction. My illusions—apart from the +fact that no penalty is imposed for not sharing +them—are not, like the religious ones, incapable +of correction, they have no delusional character. +If experience should show—not to me, but to +others after me who think as I do—that we are +mistaken, then we shall give up our expectations. +Take my endeavour for what it is. A psychologist, +who does not deceive himself about the +difficulty of finding his bearings in this world, +strives to review the development of mankind in +accord with what insight he has won from studying +the mental processes of the individual during his +development from childhood to manhood. In +this connection the idea forces itself upon him +that religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis, +and he is optimistic enough to assume that mankind +will overcome this neurotic phase, just as so +many children grow out of their similar neuroses. +These pieces of knowledge from individual psychology +may be inadequate, their application to the +human race unjustified, the optimism without +foundation; I grant you the uncertainty of all +these things. But often we cannot refrain from +saying what we think, excusing ourselves on the +<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>ground that it is given for no more than it is +worth.</p> + +<p class='c008'>And there are two points that I must dwell on +a little longer. First, the weakness of my position +does not betoken any strengthening of yours. I +think you are defending a lost cause. We may +insist as much as we like that the human intellect +is weak in comparison with human instincts, and +be right in doing so. But nevertheless there is +something peculiar about this weakness. The +voice of the intellect is a soft one, but it does not +rest until it has gained a hearing. Ultimately, +after endlessly repeated rebuffs, it succeeds. This +is one of the few points in which one may be +optimistic about the future of mankind, but in +itself it signifies not a little. And one can make +it a starting-point for yet other hopes. The +primacy of the intellect certainly lies in the far, +far, but still probably not infinite, distance. And +as it will presumably set itself the same aims that +you expect to be realized by your God—of course +within human limits, in so far as external reality, +Ἀνάγκη, allows it—the brotherhood of man and +the reduction of suffering, we may say that our +antagonism is only a temporary and not an irreconcilable +one. We desire the same things, but you +are more impatient, more exacting, and—why +<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>should I not say it—more selfish than I and those +like me. You would have the state of bliss to +begin immediately after death; you ask of it the +impossible, and you will not surrender the claim +of the individual. Of these wishes our god Αόγος<a id='r4'></a><a href='#f4' class='c007'><sup>[4]</sup></a> +will realize those which external nature permits, +but he will do this very gradually, only in the +incalculable future and for other children of men. +Compensation for us, who suffer grievously from +life, he does not promise. On the way to this +distant goal your religious doctrines will have to +be discarded, no matter whether the first attempts +fail, or whether the first substitute-formations +prove to be unstable. You know why; in the +long run nothing can withstand reason and experience, +and the contradiction religion offers to both +is only too palpable. Not even the purified +religious ideas can escape this fate, so long as they +still try to preserve anything of the consolation +of religion. Certainly if you confine yourself to +the belief in a higher spiritual being, whose +qualities are indefinable and whose intentions +cannot be discerned, then you are proof against +the interference of science, but then you will also +relinquish the interest of men.</p> + +<div class='footnote' id='f4'> +<p class='c008'><a href='#r4'>4</a>. The twin gods Αόγος-Ἀνάγκη of the Dutchman <em>Multatuli</em>.</p> +</div> + +<p class='c008'>And secondly: note the difference between +<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>your attitude to illusions and mine. You have +to defend the religious illusion with all your might; +if it were discredited—and to be sure it is sufficiently +menaced—then your world would collapse, there +would be nothing left for you but to despair of +everything, of culture and of the future of mankind. +From this bondage I am, we are, free. Since we +are prepared to renounce a good part of our +infantile wishes, we can bear it if some of our +expectations prove to be illusions.</p> + +<p class='c008'>Education freed from the burden of religious +doctrines will not perhaps effect much alteration +in man’s psychological nature; our god Αόγος is +not perhaps a very powerful one; he may only +fulfil a small part of what his forerunners have +promised. If we have to acknowledge this, we +shall do so with resignation. We shall not thereby +lose our interest in the world and in life, for we +have in one respect a sure support which you lack. +We believe that it is possible for scientific work +to discover something about the reality of the +world through which we can increase our power +and according to which we can regulate our life. +If this belief is an illusion, then we are in the +same position as you, but science has shown us by +numerous and significant successes that it is no +illusion. Science has many open, and still more +<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>secret, enemies among those who cannot forgive +it for having weakened religious belief and for +threatening to overthrow it. People reproach it +for the small amount it has taught us and the +incomparably greater amount it has left in the +dark. But then they forget how young it is, +how difficult its beginnings, and how infinitesimally +small the space of time since the human +intellect has been strong enough for the tasks it +sets it. Do we not all do wrong in that the +periods of time which we make the basis of our +judgements are of too short duration? We should +take an example from the geologist. People complain +of the unreliability of science, that she +proclaims as a law to-day what the next generation +will recognize to be an error and which it will +replace by a new law of equally short currency. +But that is unjust and in part untrue. The transformation +of scientific ideas is a process of development +and progress, not of revolution. A law that +was at first held to be universally valid proves +to be a special case of a more comprehensive law, +or else its scope is limited by another law not +discovered until later; a rough approximation +to the truth is replaced by one more carefully +adjusted, which in its turn awaits a further approach +to perfection. In several spheres we have not +<span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span>yet surmounted a phase of investigation in which +we test hypotheses that have soon to be rejected +as inadequate; but in others we have already an +assured and almost immutable core of knowledge. +Finally an attempt has been made to discredit +radically scientific endeavour on the ground that, +bound as it is to the conditions of our own organization, +it can yield nothing but subjective results, +while the real nature of things outside us remains +inaccessible to it. But this is to disregard several +factors of decisive importance for the understanding +of scientific work. Firstly, our organization, <em>i.e.</em> +our mental apparatus, has been developed actually +in the attempt to explore the outer world, and +therefore it must have realized in its structure a +certain measure of appropriateness; secondly, +it itself is a constituent part of that world +which we are to investigate, and readily admits +of such investigation; thirdly, the task of science +is fully circumscribed if we confine it to showing +how the world must appear to us in consequence +of the particular character of our organization; +fourthly, the ultimate findings of science, just +because of the way in which they are attained, +are conditioned not only by our organization +but also by that which has affected this organization; +and, finally, the problem of the nature +<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>of the world irrespective of our perceptive +mental apparatus is an empty abstraction without +practical interest.</p> + +<p class='c008'>No, science is no illusion. But it would be an +illusion to suppose that we could get anywhere +else what it cannot give us.</p> + +<div class='pbb'> + <hr class='pb c003'> +</div> +<div class='tnotes x-ebookmaker'> + +<div class='chapter ph2'> + +<div class='nf-center-c0'> +<div class='nf-center c001'> + <div>TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES</div> + </div> +</div> + +</div> + + <ul class='ul_1 c002'> + <li>Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. + + </li> + <li>Used numbers for footnotes. + </li> + </ul> + +</div> + +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76774 ***</div> + </body> + <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.57e (with regex) on 2025-07-30 16:59:59 GMT --> +</html> + diff --git a/76774-h/images/cover.jpg b/76774-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..22b0811 --- /dev/null +++ b/76774-h/images/cover.jpg |
