is the recognition, or, if you please, the assumption, _that conscious
volition is the ultimate source of all Force_. It is the belief that
behind the sensuous, phenomenal world, distinct from it, giving it form,
existence, and activity, lies the ultimate, invisible, immeasurable power
of Mind, of conscious Will, of Intelligence, analogous in some way to our
own; and,—mark this essential corollary,—_that man is in communication
with it_.
What the highest religions thus assume was likewise the foundation of the
earliest and most primitive cults. The one universal trait amid their
endless forms of expression was the unalterable faith in Mind, in the
super-sensuous, as the ultimate source of all force, all life, all being.
Science and Christianity teach the same, but with this difference: the
progress of observation has taught us the existence of certain uniform
sequences which we call “laws of nature,” based solely on Mind, but
representing its processes of realisation. The savage knew not these. He
imagined every motion in nature was the immediate exhibition of Will, his
own will in his own motions, some seen or unseen will in other motions.
The seen were of another being like himself; the unseen were to that
extent unknown, and these were his gods.
I repeat, wherever we find the divine, the spiritual agency, set forth in
myth or symbol, creed or rite, we find it characterised by two traits: it
is of the nature of the human mind, that is, super-sensuous; and it is
the ultimate source of power. It will be my aim to show the expressions
of these universal postulates of the religious sentiment in the rudest
faiths of the world.
You may ask, by what process of thinking did primitive man assign
mind to nature. The process is extremely simple, and is illustrated
by the action of any child. Let one be accidentally hurt by an empty
rocking-chair in motion; at once, it is angry at the chair, and is
gratified to see it whipped! The child-mind assigns to the object the
will and the sensations of which it is conscious in itself. This is the
simplest explanation it can imagine for action.
Precisely so is it with the savage man. Wherever he perceives motion,
independent of a living being, he assumes the presence of a conscious
agent, not visible to his senses. As Professor Sayce remarks of the early
Chaldeans: “To them the spiritual, the _Zi_, was that which manifested
life, and the test of the manifestation of life was movement.”[36] This
is universally true of primitive faiths.
But this was not enough. To most if not all primitive men, movement was
not the only manifestation of life. To them, the immovable, the rock,
the mountain, any inanimate object, was likewise a conscious spiritual
agency, a thinking being. This, too, has its explanation in one of the
simplest, most elementary traits of mind, the sense of Personality. To
the undeveloped reason, the Other is ever conceived as Another, a Self,
and is clothed with the attributes of _the_ Self, of the thinking Ego.
This is always the case in the tales of children and the myths of savage
tribes.[37]
These are the earliest concepts of the religious faculty; but they would
have been powerless to seize upon the emotions and to develop the great
religions of the world, had they not been supported by that which is the
corner-stone of every creed on earth, the corollary I mentioned, to wit,
the direct communion between the human and the divine mind, between the
Man and God.
This is the one trait shared by the highest as well as the lowest, it is
the one proof of authenticity which each proclaims for itself. I shall
tell you of religions so crude as to have no temples or altars, no rites
or prayers; but I can tell you of none that does not teach the belief of
the intercommunion of the spiritual powers and man. Every religion is a
Revelation—in the opinion of its votaries. Those which are called the
“book-religions” depend mainly upon the _record_ of a revelation, while
in all primitive faiths inspiration is actual and constant. The human
soul, regarded in its origin as an emanation of the Divine, is in its
nature omniscient when in moments of ecstasy it frees itself from its
material envelope.[38]
When an Australian native is asked if he has ever seen the great Creator,
Baiame, he will reply: “No, not seen him, but I have felt [or inwardly
perceived] him.”[39] A Basuto chief replied to the question whether his
people knew of God before the missionaries came: “We did not know Him,
but we dreamed of Him.”
All shamanism is based on a direct relation to divinity. The shaman is an
inspired prophet and healer, and believes as firmly in his inspiration
as do his credulous adherents. From shamanism was developed in India the
practice known as _Yoga_, characterised by ecstatic seizures, periods of
cerebral exaltation, and alleged divine powers.[40] To the same origin
we must attribute the similar phenomena of “speaking with tongues,” and
religious mania.
I am not speaking of deceptions or illusions. When I say that all
religions depend for their origin and continuance directly upon
inspiration, I state an historic fact. It may be known under other
names, of credit or discredit, as mysticism, ecstasy, rhapsody,
demoniac possession, the divine afflatus, the gnosis, or in its latest
christening, “cosmic consciousness.”[41] All are but expressions of a
belief that knowledge arises, words are uttered, or actions performed,
not through conscious ideation and reflective purpose, but through the
promptings of a power above or beyond the individual mind.[42] Prophets
and shamans, evangelists and Indian medicine-men, all claim, and all
claim with honesty, to be moved by the god within, the _deus in nobis_,
and to speak the words of the Lord.
The intensity of purpose, and the suppression of the reason which
everywhere and at all times this sense of inspiration brings with it,
cannot be overestimated in their influence on the history of the race. To
them are due all fanaticism, religious bigotry, and illiberality.
He who has walked with God, who has felt the pressure of the divine hand,
who has been rewarded with the “beatific vision,” to him all lesser ties
are weak, all knowledge vain. He will say: “It is better to know God and
be ignorant of all else, than to know all else and be ignorant of God.”
No reasoning can convince him of error, for his logic acknowledges not
the laws of human thought; no appeal will soften his judgments, for he
utters not the decision of a man, but the unalterable edict of the God.
Unless we can offer a rational explanation for this universal trait, all
religions become inexplicable. Fortunately the investigations of modern
psychology enable us to present such an explanation. It teaches us by
innumerable examples that by far the majority of the impressions on
our senses leave no trace in conscious recollection, although they are
stored in the records of the brain; that what seems lost to memory, still
lingers in its recesses; and that mental action is constantly going on
and reaching results, wholly without our knowledge.
The psychologist calls this process by the terms “unconscious
cerebration,” or “psychic automatism.” It is the function of the
“sub-limital consciousness,” or, for short, the “sub-consciousness.” Not
only is it common, it is constant, and the results of this unperceived
labour of our minds is often far more valuable than those of our
intelligent efforts. The most complex mechanical inventions, the most
impressive art-work of the world, even the most difficult mathematical
solutions, have been attained through this unknowing mechanism of mind.
They seemed real inspirations, but we may be sure that the mind through
long _conscious_ effort had been storing the material and laying the
foundation for the perfect edifice which sprang so magically into
existence.
The psychologist has gone farther. Not resting content with the detection
of this automatic mental machinery, he has studied how it is set a-going,
and is prepared to show that in all its forms it can be produced at will
under favourable conditions. Like an ancient necromancer, he can inspire
and bewitch, he can exorcise demons and cast out devils.
His power is not occult, for it belongs to science, and science has no
secrets. It is known as “suggestion,” and in it lies the sociologic power
of all religions and superstitions whatever, primitive or present. It is
necessary, therefore, that I devote a few words to its explanation.
Suggestion in its simplest form is the indirect evocation of an idea in
the mind as the starting-point of a process of thought and feeling. The
idea may be impressed by a repetition of the stimulus, by association
with allied ideas, or by sensory contacts. It may be evoked by deliberate
effort of our own, which is called “auto-suggestion”; or the impression
may be derived from or directed to a number of individuals, which is
termed “collective suggestion.”
Powerful means of suggestion are the monotonous repetitions of certain
words; the fixation of the sight on a single object; the concentration
of the mind on one thought; the reduction of the ordinary nutrition;
association with persons already under its influence; continuance of the
same motions; prolonged hearing the same note or rhythmic chord; silence,
darkness, and solitude. These may be variously combined and brought to
bear upon the mind in such a manner as entirely to alter its ordinary
habits, and seemingly to evoke another personality.
The rationale by which this is reached is through developing the
automatic and unconscious action of the mind into a conscious display
of its powers. This may be repulsive or admirable, above or below the
normal capacities; but is always correlated to the individual, and
connected with his experiences.
This is the explanation of nearly all the religious experiences of
primitive peoples, as it is of what is known as “theopathy” everywhere,
and of the modern forms of theosophy, mesmerism, and hypnotism.[43]
All religious teachings and associations, in the lowest as well as the
highest faiths, aim to cultivate these mystical feelings by increasing
the intensity of the suggestions which give rise to them, and diminishing
the force of other suggestions which may interfere.
Even in civilised communities it is extraordinary with what facility
suggestive sense-delusions can be produced in waking persons. At least
ninety out of every hundred individuals can be persuaded thus to deceive
themselves. The extreme contagiousness of such delusions, common enough
in civilised conditions, is greatly increased in the savage state. In
their lives the phenomena of auto-suggestion are strikingly frequent.
Among the African Zulus any adult can cast himself or herself into
the hypnotic state, and by this obtain what they consider second
sight,—“the power to see where lost objects are, and how absent friends
are occupied.” When asked to explain this state of mind, they can only
say that it is one “in which a man is awake, but sees things which he
would not see, if he were not in this state”[44]; which reminds us of the
remarkable doctrine of the Sanscrit Upanishads—“There is no limit to the
knowing of the Self that knows.”[45] Among many Australian tribes, among
the Kamschatkans, and among the Yahgans of Tierra del Fuego, as well as
many other peoples, the mysterious power of the shamans or medicine men
is shared by all adults in a greater or less degree.[46]
These are at the bottom of the scale. One degree higher, and we find
the priesthood a separate class, usually of both sexes, but chosen by
natural selection from those members of the community who by temperament
or cultivation possess in the highest degree this tendency to mystical
power. This is generally indicated by the clearness and character of the
dreams and visions which appear at the time he or she enters adult life.
These are considered to be direct inspirations from the spirit world,
either from the souls of the dead, or the powers other than those which
control the destiny of man.
These inspired seers represent the priesthood of every primitive
religion. They cultivate and preserve it, and in them the missionaries
of higher faiths have ever found their most resolute foes and successful
opponents. The reason is, as I have said, that the shaman has himself
been face to face with God, has heard His voice, and felt His presence.
His faith therefore is real, and cannot be shaken by any argument. He may
indeed, and he generally does, assist his public performances with some
trickery, some thaumaturgy; but that this is merely superadded for effect
is proved by the general custom that when one such adept is ill or in
straits he will solicit the aid of another.[47]
Among his associates he is looked upon as set apart from other men by the
divinity which chooses him for its agent, or dwells within him. In the
Polynesian islands this is forcibly expressed in the terms applied to
the native priests, _pia atua_, “god boxes,” receptacles of divinity; and
_amama_, “open mouths,” for through them the god speaks, not their own
selves.[48]
The presence of divinity is recognised and felt only in unusual mental
states, in moments of ecstasy or trance, in periods of rapture,
intoxication, or frenzy. Hence in all early and many late religions
abnormal and pathological mental seizures are regarded as cases of
inspiration, or else of demoniac possession. In the Quichua language of
Peru the word _huaca_ is their most general term for the divine, but
_huaca runa_, “divine man,” means one who is crazy[49]; and in Greek, the
word _mania_ was used for both madness and prophetic inspiration.
We thus see that in this mental state we find the psychic development of
the primitive idea of the divine, the notion of God. It is not, as has
sometimes been claimed, the sudden result of a single feeling; it is a
complex conception, from a multitude of obscurely felt impressions and
emotions. It is neither an intuition nor an induction; it is neither an
inference from observation, nor the conclusion of a logical process.
A study of its aspect in savage life shows that it arises from the
perception of the latent activity of the sub-consciousness, from the
strange sense of activity, will, and power which, under favourable
conditions of concentration (suggestion), it imparts to the more or less
conscious Self. This influence is at first vague, impersonal, undefined,
but is gradually differentiated and personified. Furthermore, it is
constantly strengthened and sustained by the agency of that cultivated
suggestion I have described, which is intended to bring the individual
into contact with unknown activities. Thus the idea of the superhuman is
developed from the unconscious human powers of Mind.
Conclusive evidence of this is offered by language. From the abundant
material at hand let us choose three examples, widely separated, one
from the Dakotan stock of North American Indians, one from the ancient
Peruvians, and one from the South Sea Islanders.
The hidden and mysterious power of the universe is expressed in the
Dakotan dialects by the word _wakan_. This term expresses infinite will;
it is, as Miss Fletcher tells us, “the deification of that peculiar
quality or power of which man is conscious within himself as directing
his own acts or willing a course to bring about certain results.”
From the word _wacin_, will, are derived the terms for what we call
“telepathy,” a belief in which is nigh universal in primitive cults; for
intelligence or mentality; and for the sacred dance.[50]
While the meaning of _wakan_ in Dakota is well defined, its derivation
is uncertain. It is singular that precisely the same word with the same
meaning reappears in the Quichua and Aymara languages of the interior
of Peru. It is there applied to everything which is extraordinary or
immense, out of the course of nature, and especially to everything sacred
or divine. It was not a deity, but expressed the deific power believed to
be present in men, animals, or things.[51]
The identity of the two words is probably no mere coincidence, nor is
the one borrowed from the other. In Quichua _wakan_ expresses the sound
characteristic of any animal, as _allco wakan_, the dog howls, _huallpa
wakan_ the cock crows, and this in turn is derived from the interjection
of surprise or astonishment or admiration, _hua_. It was that which was
employed in the sacred invocations.
Strange as it may seem, the English word “God” is traced by Aryan
scholars through the Gothic _guth_ to the Sanscrit verb _hua_ to
call upon, to invoke (past participle, _hutha_), the same primitive
interjection in verbal form; and the holy name of the Hebrews, _Yahve_,
is now believed to be that of the Chaldean god of the earth, waters, and
fertility, in whose name _Eā_, _Ya_, or _Yah_, we recognize a cognate
interjection or refrain, the same which, shouted in the orgiastic rites,
gave the name, Bacchus or Iachus.[52]
Turning to the island world of the Pacific we find through its countless
groups of sunny isles the impersonal Divine expressed by one general
term, _mana_. The natives believed in the agency of departed souls and
also of spirits of independent origin (_vui_); but the supernatural power
through which both acted on nature or events was this _mana_. If a man
prospered in his affairs and gained influence in the tribe, it was not by
his own efforts, but because he had _mana_; precisely as pious persons
among ourselves attribute their prosperity and that of their worthy
neighbors to the favour of the Lord. The original meaning of _mana_
appears to be “that which is within one,” and, later, the intelligence on
mind, whence power or might, as the expressions of Will applied to the
concept of universal life and motion.[53]
These words, I repeat, do not convey any idea of personality. They are
not evidences of a primitive monotheism, as has often been claimed. They,
and all like them, are vague, indefinite terms for the supernatural, that
which was inexplicable by the limited knowledge of the most ignorant of
our species.[54]
The media of suggestion act primarily through the emotions, and in the
religious suggestion those emotions especially are concerned which give
rise to thoughts concerning the super-sensuous and the manifestation of
power.
But none of these emotions in itself, neither fear, hope, awe, wonder,
nor any other, has the power to evoke the notion of the supernatural. It
arises from those deeper intellectual traits which are peculiarly human.
Yet it is true that such emotions are potent stimuli to those forms of
suggestion which lead up to the religious feelings; they are part of
them, and what arouses and incites those, develops and strengthens these;
and they thus have their place as suggestive accessories.
To the savage, all nature testifies to the presence of the mysterious
power which is behind its forms and motions. He sees the Divine
everywhere. But from this multitude of impressions which excited him
to religious thought we may separate a limited number as beyond others
potent and universal. These are special stimuli to the religious
emotions. They are five in number:
1. Dreaming and allied conditions.
2. The apprehension of Life and Death, from which arises the notion of
the Soul.
3. The perception of Light and Darkness.
4. The observation of Extraordinary Exhibitions of Force.
5. The impression of Vastness.
1. A line of Lucretius asserts that “the dreams of men peopled the heaven
with gods.” We have a right to reply that if dreams alone give us the
gods, why are they absent from the lives of dogs, who are vivid dreamers?
Certain it is, however, that among all savage tribes dreams are regarded
as a part of the experience of life. To primitive man, they are real:
he sees and hears in them as he does in his waking hours; he does not
distinguish between the subjective creation of his brain cells and
objective existence.
In what they differ from daily life, they are divine. They reveal the
future and summon the absent. The Kamschatkans, we are told, gather
together every morning to narrate their dreams and to guess at their
interpretation. Of the Eskimos it is stated that their daily lives “are
to a great extent guided by their dreams.” The Bororo of Brazil take a
dream so literally that a whole village will decamp and seek a distant
site, if one dreams of the approach of an enemy.[55]
The physiological character of dreams easily explains the superstitious
attention they have received in all ages and nations. The absence of
external impressions during sleep favours the rise of unconscious mental
action into consciousness. In them memory is often more active than while
waking; our personality seems doubled, because it has no longer the will
to react against the throngs of varied impressions which arise. The
emotions in sleep are excitable, and both fear and joy are often more
intense than when awake. Add to this that many persons, especially those
of nervous temperament, are subject to peculiarly vivid illusions during
the moments between waking and sleeping, which seem to belong as much to
the former as to the latter conditions,[56] and we have reasons enough
for the part they play in primitive religions.
There are reasons for believing that the dreams of ruder races are
more vivid than our own, more like pictures and realities.[57] They
certainly do not draw the line so sharply between the sights and sounds
of sleeping and waking as we do. With wide-open eyes they see spectres
and apparitions, such as are not unknown, but are ever growing scarcer,
in civilised lands. These waking visions are assiduously cultivated,
and become, as I have already said, the chief bond between man and
divinity.[58]
Not only by fasting, solitude, and intense expectation centred on the
expected revelation, is it brought into reality, but in nearly every
savage tribe we find a knowledge of narcotic plants which were employed
to induce strange and vivid hallucinations or dreams. The negroes of
the Niger had their “fetish water,” the Creek Indians of Florida their
“black drink,” for this purpose. In many parts of the United States the
natives smoked stramonium, the Mexican tribes swallowed the _peyotl_ and
the snake-plant, the tribes of California and the Samoyeds of Siberia had
found a poisonous toadstool;—all to bring about communion with the Divine
and to induce ecstatic visions.[59] Whatever the means employed, their
aim was everywhere the same, and was directed primarily and essentially
towards the excitation of the religious emotions, towards securing a
revelation of the will of the gods.
Thus it came that the whole of life, waking and sleeping, assumed a
dreamy, unreal character. The traveller Spix says of the forest tribes of
Brazil that they never seem fully awake; and a Pawnee war song begins
by an appeal to the gods to decide if this life itself is aught but a
dream.[60]
The ancient Mexicans had developed the doctrine that this life is a dream
and that death is the awakening, the passing into a living condition.
They spoke of dying as the appearance of the dawn, and the approach of
light. This is closely akin to that doctrine of _mâyâ_, or the unreality
of the duality of the subject and object, which “is the very life of the
primitive [East] Indian philosophy.”[61]
The influence which such a view must have exerted on the religious
thought of a nation is manifest.