192 Outlook to Nature 



should be a naturalist, using the word in its 

 large and etymological sense. 



The passing of fear and doubt. 



Religions are founded more or less on the 

 philosophy of fear, or have been much domi- 

 nated by it. The forces of nature are beyond us 

 and about us, the flood, the fire, the rain, the 

 lightning, the earthquake, the pestilence. We 

 appeal to supreme beings to protect us and to 

 provide a way of escape, and we make sacrifices, 

 ask for propitiation, and beg for mercy. We 

 are set over against the great awful universe in 

 which we live. 



But if man is in very truth a real part of 

 nature and has come up through what we call 

 the natural processes (but they are divine pro- 

 cesses, nevertheless), then he feels and respects 

 his brotherhood with nature, adapts himself 

 hopefully to his conditions (since it is useless 

 to adapt himself unhopefully), and he fears not. 

 We are learning how to control the forces of 

 nature, and we are beginning to feel the courage 

 that comes from mastery. We shall then look 



