xvn THE DESIRE FOR IMMORTALITY 327 



are all old, it is easily seen that the weight of all religious 

 and scientific authority must be naturally opposed to any 

 divergence from the established tradition. For the only 

 sort of future life which would have any attraction for the 

 old would be one in which they could go on very much 

 as on earth. But I very much doubt whether, even then, 

 they would care to pass through the ordeal of death in 

 order to secure it. 



It remains to account for the fact that the literary 

 tradition has taken such a very different view of human 

 psychology. Why has everybody always conspired to 

 write as though the question of immortality were of the 

 most tremendous importance and absorbing interest, if de 

 facto the great majority of men have always avoided it as 

 much as ever they could ? I believe the answer to be 

 exceedingly simple. The makers of the literary tradition 

 have expressed what seemed true to them at the time of 

 writing, what was true for them ; and yet the mass of 

 men were always indifferent or hostile. 1 Of course, how 

 ever, the dumb, recalcitrant masses gave no sign of their 

 dissent from a doctrine they were trying to dismiss from 

 their minds, and hence the writers had it all their own 

 way. In other words, the fallacy in the argument that 

 all men naturally crave for immortality is identical with 

 that in the proof of the efficacy of prayer by means of 

 the votive offerings in the temple of Poseidon. Just as 

 those who prayed and perished were not in a position 

 to make offerings, so those who are not interested in a 

 subject do not write books about it. 



1 I should very much doubt whether the ages of faith were a real exception. 

 No doubt it was, in those days, possible to get great and striking effects out of 

 people by playing on their fears of Hell. But these effects were possible just 

 because people were still more systematically averse from thinking on the subject, 

 and still more contentedly ignorant and uncritical. Hence the crudest and most 

 atrocious threats would be sufficient to drive men frantic in extremis, and the 

 ruffianly baron, who had lived more brutally than any beast, would eagerly sign 

 away the whole of the fruits of his lifelong rapine in order to make his peace 

 with God. I believe there is more real religion in the world at present than ever 

 before, i.e. more lives conducted with a sense of constant communion with higher 

 powers, as well as far more of the reasoned faith which only superficially resembles 

 the unthinking acceptance of dogmas felt to be unintelligible, that so often usurps 

 the name of faith. But just because we are more religious, we are less prone to 

 an uncritical acceptance of whatever monstrosity comes to us in the disguise of 

 faith. 



