divinity. Not only so, but the totem animal is intimately associated with early gods that have the human form. The human god transforms himself into the animal; or is part animal, part man; or is accompanied by the animal; or bears the figure of the animal on his clothing-in short, the human god evolves from the animal. Therefore, it is said, theriomorphism precedes anthropomorphism. But a distinction must be made between two senses of the term form (-morphism), between the physiological sense and the psychological. The order therio- to anthropo- is primarily physiological. Back of it is the psychological fact that the qualities of men, as men then conceived these qualities, were attributed to the totem animal, especially the totemic ancestor. To suppose that primitive man formed his notions of animals by a strictly objective procedure like that of our naturalists at their best is to invert the actual way of the mind. No, the bear is a brother or an ancestor because of the manlike thought and motive that the Indian thinks into him. Anthropomorphism, in the psychological sense, inheres in religion as such from the beginning.

APPENDIX

THE RELATION OF THE SEXUAL INSTINCT TO RELIGION

Various writers have held that the psychical origin and the permanent psychical support of religion are to be found in the sexual life. The facts that give rise to this theory are as follows: (1) the wide distribution of gods of procreation, of phallic symbols, and of sexual acts as a part of religious ceremonial; (2) the discovery of a sexual factor in mental disorders that take the form of religious excitement, depression, or delusion; (3) the existence of various sects that connect spiritual yearning or perfection directly with sex, either in the way of indulgence or in the way of

suppression; the phenomena range from license on the one hand to the sanctification of virginity on the other, with polygamy and various other sorts of control between; (4) the imagery of courtship and marriage that figures so largely in mystical literature, together with evidence that sexual sensations and desire, in certain individuals, are a factor in mystical ecstasy; (5) the close connection between conversion experiences and adolescence; (6) the emphasis upon "love" in the Christian religion.

These facts indicate some sort of psychical connection between sex and religion. But to determine what this connection is we must have a more scientific method than that which seeks to explain religion by picking out some one widespread phenomenon that happens to attract one's attention. By this loose method a pretty strong case could be made for the proposition that fear is the psychical origin and support of religion, or that economic interest is the controlling one. The problem, too, needs to be sharpened. On the one hand, there must be such an inventory of original human nature as will put us on the lookout for all the elements in the great complex called religion. On the other hand, pains must be taken not to oversimplify, particularly as regards early religion. Further, we must face the question, How are instincts as a whole related to the desires that are usually regarded as higher ?

Postponing to later chapters the discussion of various phases of this problem, I shall at this point briefly indicate the conclusions toward which recent studies of original nature, of primitive religion, and of individual religious experience in higher religions seem to be tending with respect to the general relation of the sexual instinct to religion: (1) The earliest religion known to us is not an individual experience (as might be the case if sexual instinct were the sole source) but a group enterprise. (2) The instinctive basis of social grouping is complex, sex being only one factor. (3) The interests of the earliest religious groups known to us include those of sex, but other interests, such as the economic, are always prominent. (4) Throughout the history of religion this complexity prevails. The act of making war, or of administering justice, or of protesting against the oppression of the poor, or of repentance for any kind of wrongdoing, or of

aspiring toward any ideal good, may have a religious aspect directly that is, because of its own felt importance. (5) Phallic symbolism, which is widespread, appears commonly in connection with rites that have to do with the fertility of the earth, that is, with the food supply. This is true, for example, of the serpent, and of whatever phallic symbols the "high places" of the Old Testament bore. The sex interest, that is to say, does not necessarily dominate religion even here. (6) Where sex interest does succeed in dominating religion, as in the worship of Astarte, it is opposed and finally defeated by religion, not by irreligion. (7) Some of the emotional "reverberations" of sex, as in adolescence, have a pervasive influence which religion shares along with the social, the aesthetic, and the intellectual life. But in religion, as in social organization, art, and science, this is only one factor of a complex. (8) In some notable instances religion takes a socialethical ideal as its cause. The Christian principle of "love" is an example. Here it is parental instinct that comes most clearly to expression. It has, in fact, the controlling place, for the love that is required between men is that of brothers, the sons of a common father.

The interesting suggestion has been made that primitive man's first notion of spirit possession and of transcendent mystery may have arisen directly from the intensity of feeling and of emotion in sexual intercourse, together with the involuntary character of sex excitement. Hence it is inferred that the first objects of worship were the sexual organs, and that the first gods were simply imaginative representations of sex experience. The origin of religion in the race must doubtless be sought in some sort or sorts of excitement that jogged primitive man out of his habitual modesof conduct. There is plenty of evidence that sex excitement has a place here, but this evidence is paralleled point for point by evidence of the presence of other sorts of intense excitement also. The capacity of sexual excitement to awaken new modes of conduct or of thought, moreover, was limited by the fact that, sexual promiscuity or at least very early sexual union being allowed, desire was promptly satisfied, and the strains that fixate attention

I See Theodore Schroeder, "Erotogenese der Religion," Zeitschrift für Religionspsychologie, I (1908), 445-55.

for a considerable period were lacking. That is, the sexual life tended to have the character of habit and commonplaceness. On the other hand, the uncertainty of the food supply and the vicissitudes of war and of disease created situations most favorable to the sort of repeated fixation of attention out of which a new mode of conduct and of thought emerges. Hence the great prominence in early religion of ceremonies connected with the food supply and with the maintenance of group solidarity. For a discussion of religion in adolescence, see the chapter on "Conversion."

CHAPTER VI

THE GENESIS OF THE IDEA OF GOD

The term "god" connotes qualities not clearly present in either spirits or mana. The spirits with which early man had dealings were often vague, shifty, lacking in the qualities that command respect. One might say that they were objectifications of men's unorganized impulses. Mana, especially as contained in the totem ancestor, is more stable and awe-inspiring. Yet it lacks clear individuality. The gods, on the other hand, are manlike, have individuality or character, and are relatively exalted. Men establish relations with them by prayer and by various relatively permanent social arrangements, such as vows and covenants. We have now to ask how it is that, starting without any god-idea at all, men got themselves gods.

Because of our traditions, many of us tend, whenever "the idea of God" is mentioned, to think of it as an explanatory or philosophical concept. Consequently, when inquiry is made as to its origin, we are prone to ask from what facts early men might have reasonably inferred the presence of divine beings. But it is certain that the genesis of the idea is not to be found in the controlled thinking that we call philosophy. The idea reaches back to, and is continuous with, mana and the spirits, which, in turn, are continuous with still more inchoate conceptions. Our search will not stop short of the crude impressionism in which thinking started.