pagan and christian creeds-第29节
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me to the stage of THINKING it would perhaps be necessary that the lark should be exiled from the earth and the sky; and confined in a cage。 Early Man FELT the great truths and realities of Lifeoften I believe more purely than we do but he could not give form to his experience。 THAT stage came when he began to lose touch with these realities; and it showed itself in rites and ceremonials。 The inbreak of self…consciousness brought OUT the facts of his inner life into ritualistic and afterwards into intellectual forms。
Let me give examples。 For a long time the Tribe is all in all; the individual is completely subject to the 'Spirit of the Hive'; he does not even THINK of contravening it。 Then the day comes when self…interest; as apart from the Tribe; becomes sufficiently strong to drive him against some tribal custom。 He breaks the tabu; he eats the forbidden apple; he sins against the tribe; and is cast out。 Suddenly he finds himself an exile; lonely; condemned and deserted。 A horrible sense of distress seizes himsomething of which he had no experience before。 He tries to think about it all; to understand the situation; but is dazed and cannot arrive at any conclusion。 His one NECESSITY is Reconciliation; Atonement。 He finds he cannot LIVE outside of and alienated from his tribe。 He makes a Sacrifice; an offering to his fellows; as a seal of sincerityan offering of his own bodily suffering or precious blood; or the blood of some food…animal; or some valuable gift or otherif only he may be allowed to return。 The offering is accepted。 The ritual is performed; and he is received back。 I have already spoken of this perfectly natural evolution of the twin…ideas of Sin and Sacrifice; so I need not enlarge upon the subject。 But two things we may note here: (1) that the ritual; being so concrete (and often severe); graves itself on the minds of those concerned; and expresses the feelings of the tribe; with an intensity and sharpness of outline which no words could rival; and (2) that such rituals may have; and probably did; come into use even while language itself was in an infantile condition and incapable of dealing with the psychological situation except by symbols。 They; the rituals; were the first effort of the primitive mind to get beyond; subconscious feeling and emerge into a world of forms and definite thought。
Let us carry the particular instance; given above; a stage farther; even to the confines of abstract Thought and Philosophy。 I have spoken of 〃The Spirit of the Hive〃 as if the term were applicable to the Human as well as to the Bee tribe。 The individual bee obviously has never THOUGHT about that 'Spirit;' nor mentally understood what Maeterlinck means by it; and yet in terms of actual experience it is an intense reality to the bee (ordaining for instance on some fateful day the slaughter of all the drones); controlling bee…movements and bee… morality generally。 The individual tribesman similarly steeped in the age…long human life of his fellows has never thought of the Tribe as an ordaining being or Spirit; separate from himselfTILL that day when he is exiled and outcast from it。 THEN he sees himself and the tribe as two opposing beings; himself of course an Intelligence or Spirit in his own limited degree; the Tribe as a much greater Intelligence or Spirit; standing against and over him。 From that day the conception of a god arises on him。 It may be only a totem…goda divine Grizzly…Bear or what notbut still a god or supernatural Presence; embodied in the life of the tribe。 This is what Sin has taught him。'1' This is what Fear; founded on self…consciousness; has revealed to him。 The revelation may be true; or it may be fallacious (I do not prejudge it); but there it isthe beginning of that long series of human evolutions which we call Religion。
'1' It is to be noted; in that charming idyll of the Eden garden; that it is only AFTER eating of the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve perceive the Lord God walking in the garden; and converse with him (Genesis iii。 8)。
'For when the human mind has reached that stage of consciousness in which each man realizes his own 'self' as a rational and consistent being; 〃looking before and after;〃 then; as I have said already; the mind projects on the background of Nature similarly rational Presences which we may call 'Gods'; and at that stage 'Religion' begins。 Before that; when the mind is quite unformed and dream…like; and consists chiefly of broken and scattered rays; and when distinct self…consciousness is hardly yet developed; then the presences imagined in Nature are merely flickering and intermittent phantoms; and their propitiation and placation comes more properly under; the head of 'Magic。''
So much for the genesis of the religious ideas of Sin and Sacrifice; and the rites connected with these ideas their genesis through the in…break of self…consciousness upon the corporate SUB…consciousness of the life of the Community。 But an exactly similar process may be observed in the case of the other religious ideas。
I spoke of the doctrine of the SECOND BIRTH; and the rites connected with it both in Paganism and in Christianity。 There is much to show that among quite primitive peoples there is less of shrinking from death and more of certainty about a continued life after death than we generally find among more intellectual and civilized folk。 It is; or has been; quite; common among many tribes for the old and decrepit; who are becoming a burden to their fellows; to offer themselves for happy dispatch; and to take willing part in the ceremonial preparations for their own extinction; and this readiness is encouraged by their nave and untroubled belief in a speedy transference to 〃happy hunting…grounds〃 beyond the grave。 The truth is that when; as in such cases; the tribal life is very whole and unbrokeneach individual identifying himself completely with the tribethe idea of the individual's being dropped out at death; and left behind by the tribe; hardly arises。 The individual is the tribe; has no other existence。 The tribe goes on; living a life which is eternal; and only changes its hunting…grounds; and the individual; identified with the tribe; feels in some subconscious way the same about himself。
But when one member has broken faith with the tribe; when he has sinned against it and become an outcast ah! then the terrors of death and extinction loom large upon him。 〃The wages of sin is death。〃 There comes a period in the evolution of tribal life when the primitive bonds are loosening; when the tendency towards SELF…will and SELF…determination (so necessary of course in the long run for the evolution of humanity) becomes a real danger to the tribe; and a terror to the wise men and elders of the community。 It is seen that the children inherit this tendencyeven from their infancy。 They are no longer mere animals; easily herded; it seems that they are born in sinor at least in ignorance and neglect of their tribal life and calling。 The only cure is that they MUST BE BORN AGAIN。 They must deliberately and of set purpose be adopted into the tribe; and be made to realize; even severely; in their own persons what is happening。 They must go through the initiations necessary to impress this upon them。 Thus a whole series of solemn rites spring up; different no doubt in every locality; but all having the same object and purpose。 'And one can understand how the necessity of such initiations and second birth may easily have been itself felt in every race; at some stage of its evolutionand THAT quite as a spontaneous growth; and independently of any contagion of example caught from other races。'
The same may be said about the world…wide practice of the Eucharist。 No more effective method exists for impressing on the members of a body their community of life with each other; and causing them to forget their jangling self…interests; than to hold a feast in common。 It is a method which has been honored in all ages as well as to…day。 But when the flesh partaken of at the feast is that of the Totemthe guardian and presiding genius of the tribeor perhaps of one of its chief food…animals then clearly the feast takes on a holy and solemn character。 It becomes a sacrament of unityof the unity of all with the tribe; and with each other。 Self…interests and self… consciousness are for the time submerged; and the common life asserts itself; but here again we see that a custom like this would not come into being as a deliberate rite UNTIL self…consciousness and the divisions consequent thereon had grown to be an obvious evil。 The herd… animals (cows; sheep; and so forth) do not have Eucharists; simply because they are sensible enough to feed along the same pastures without quarrelling over the richest tufts of grass。
When the flesh partaken of (either actually or symbolically) is not that of a divinized animal; but the flesh of a human…formed godas in the mysteries of Dionysus or Osiris or Christthen we are led to suspect (and of course this theory is widely held and supported) that the rites date from a very far…back period when a human being; as representative of the tribe; was actually slain; dismembered and partly devoured; though as time went on; the rite gradually became glossed ove