244 ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



planation. Revelation too goes by the board — save 

 a revelation which is simply a name for the progres- 

 sive increase of knowlege and insight. 



Last, but not least, we do not pretend to know the 

 Absolute. We know phenomena, and our systems, 

 in so far as scientific, are interpretations of phenom- 

 ena. 



Religion has been defined in a hundred different 

 ways. It has been defined intellectually — as a creed; 

 as myth; as a view of the universe; it has been de- 

 fined emotionally as consisting in awe; in fear; in 

 love; in mystical exaltation or communion. It has 

 been defined from the standpoint of action — as wor- 

 ship; as ritual; as sacrifice; as morality. Matthew 

 Arnold called it 'morality tinged with emotion"; 

 Salomon Reinach "a sum of scruples impeding the 

 free use of human faculties." Jevons makes the ex- 

 periencing of God the central feature; and so on and 

 so forth. Is it possible to find any common measure 

 for all these statements? Would it not be better to 

 unite with those who cut the Gordian knot by writ- 

 ing down all religion simply as illusion? No. For 

 their point of view is meaningless. Even illusions 

 are, in themselves, facts to be investigated; and even 

 illusions have a basis. 



. But it is not necessary to believe that it is an 

 illusion; the knot may be untied. Ritual, Creed, 

 Morality, Mystical Experience — all these are mani- 



