304 DOCTRINE OF EVOLUTION 



world as the primitive man conceives it. Larger tasks 

 are discharged by more important spirits, and every- 

 thing natural thus becomes animated by supernatural 

 beings. Thor was the god of thunder ; Freia the god- 

 dess of spring and vernal awakening ; Athena inspired 

 the minds of men. Venus and Aphrodite played their 

 special parts, also. But such powers as these, estab- 

 lished by the untutored mind, needed to be accounted 

 for, and so in the more advanced religions Jove and 

 Jupiter were created as the more ultimate causes, in 

 response to intellectual demands. By combining all 

 powers into one, God and Brahma are the results. 



Thus in merest outline the conception of the infinite 

 personality works out its evolution. At all times, 

 among primitive and higher religions, the powers are 

 clothed with human forms, and gods are pictured as 

 men endowed with intellects and passions, and motives of 

 vengeance and benignity. Man cannot shape his postu- 

 lated deities save in such forms, with the possible excep- 

 tion of the most philosophical concept of all, Brahma. 



The second fundamental belief, namely, in immortality, 

 owes its origin in greatest measure to the psychological 

 processes described above. Another potent factor, how- 

 ever, has been the natural desire to continue existence 

 hereafter, usually in order to reap rewards not bestowed 

 here. This desire is implanted by nature through the 

 operation of purely biological factors, and it has the 

 value of an organic instinct. To specify more particu- 

 larly, nature has placed every organic individual under 

 the necessity of doing its utmost to prolong its own life 

 in the interests of itself, of others of its tribe, and of its 

 species. Extinction is not faced willingly by a human 



