244 ESSAYS OF A BIOLOGIST 



explanation. Revelation too goes by the board — 

 save a revelation which is simply a name for the 

 progressive increase of knowledge 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 phenomena. 



4^ « # « » « 



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 

 defined emotionally as consisting in awe ; in fear ; 

 in love ; in mystical exaltation or communion. It 

 has been defined from the standpoint of action — ^as 

 worship ; as ritual ; as sacrifice ; as morality. 

 Matthew Arnold called it ' morality tinged with 

 emotion ' ; Salomon Reinach ' un ensemble de 

 scrupules qui font obstacle au libre exercice de nos 

 facultes.' Jevons makes the experiencing 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 writing down all religion simply 

 as illusion ? No. For their point of view is mean- 

 ingless. 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- 

 festations of religion, but not religion itself. Religion 



