RATIONALISM AND IDEA OF GOD 229 



results. Much of what now is interpreted, by all 

 save the few experts, in supernatural terms of the old 

 theology will become intelligible as a product of the 

 natural workings of that amazing thing, the human 

 mind. We shall not have sects trying to exploit the 

 normal dissatisfactions and disharmonies of adolescence 

 in order to secure * conversions ' ; repressed tendencies 

 will not be thought to be the voice of a personal 

 Devil, nor neglected ideals the voice of a personal 

 God. Irrational fear, to-day still the greatest enemy 

 of mankind and most potent annihilator of happiness, 

 will, by comprehension of its curious mechanism and 

 its persistence, often transformed, from childhood to 

 adult life, become amenable to treatment and be made 

 more and more to disappear. Proper analysis of 

 mental processes such as repression, suppression, and 

 sublimation will enable us to make better use of our 

 faculties, and deliberately to build up treasures of 

 spiritual experience now attainable only by the lucky 

 few in whom temperament and circumstance accident- 

 ally conspire. 



On the moral side, the idea that a Divine command 

 has, at some remote period in the past, provided a 

 fixed code, and the belief in the immutable truth of 

 certain dogmas — these will happily disappear. Morals, 

 like all else, not only have evolved, but should evolve. 

 We shall find, for instance, that no excuse will be 

 left for the common horrified (and horrible) views 

 of sex, as of something inherently hateful, of all its 



