The Psychological Origin and the Nature of ReligionLeuba, James H. (James Henry)
Religion
The Psychological Origin and the Nature of Religion
Leuba, James H. (James Henry)
Magic; Psychology, Religious
The method illustrated above by which animals learn to deal with forces in
the midst of which they live has a much wider range of application in
human existence than is generally supposed. Man's fundamental mode of
learning is also the unreflective, experimental, one in which frequent
blind attempts and chance successes slowly lead to the elimination of
ineffective movements. Would you convince yourself of the vastly
exaggerated rôle ascribed to abstract ideas and to logical processes in
ordinary human behaviour, inquire how 'power' is conceived of by those who
use it. What is in the mind of the stoker when he thinks of the power of
coal? What in the mind of the gambler when he tries to coerce fate? What
in the mind of the necromancer when he summons the shades of spirits?
Nothing definite beyond a knowledge of what is to be done in order to
secure the desired results and the anticipation of these results them
selves. The stoker thinks of what he sees and feels: the coal, in burning,
gives heat; the heat makes the water boil; the steam pushes the
piston-rod, and so forth. Each one of the successive links in the chain is
vaguely thought of by him as striving to bring about the following one.
That is how he understands the coal-power. And what does the ordinary
person know, for instance, about electricity? Simply what is to be done in
order to start the dynamo, light the lamp, switch the current, and what
the effect will be in each case, nothing more. The superstitious person,
whether belonging to a primitive tribe or to the Anglo-Saxon civilisation
of the twentieth century, understands in no other than this practical way
the forces he deals with. I remember the delight shown by an elderly lady
when a brood of swallows fell down our sitting-room chimney. 'It will
bring luck to the household,' said she. I did my best, patiently and in
several ways, to ascertain the sort of notion the lady had regarding the
nature of the power that was to bring about the fortunate events
predicted, and also to discover her idea of the connection existing
between the fall of the swallows and the exertion of the 'power' in our
behalf. I had to come to the conclusion that there was no idea whatsoever
in her mind beyond those expressed by 'swallows-down-the-chimney' and
'happy-events-coming.' These two ideas were in her mind directly
associated. When I declared my inability to see the causal connection
between the two, she complained of my abnormal critical sense! Nothing
more than the immediate association of an antecedent with its consequent
need be looked for in the mind of most civilised, superstitious persons,
and, of course, nothing more in the mind of a savage. That is sufficient
for practical purposes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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