THE RELIGION OF NATURE 



There is no other animal besides man to whose 

 ancestors the real horror of pain that we feel 

 could have been useful. On the contrary, there is 

 no animal to which it would not have been a serious 

 disadvantage in the struggle of existence. 



We, commanding all the resources of our civili- 

 zation, are wisely cultivating as it were the feel- 

 ing of pain to the utmost. There is no trifling 

 bodily ailment for which we do not apply and, as 

 a rule, successfully to the doctor. There is noth- 

 ing which shocks us so much as the idea of pain. 

 In our middle age, when in a state of nature we 

 should be liable to be driven into the background 

 by our juniors being probably killed in the pro- 

 cess we are patched and mended by our doctors, 

 and we are surrounded with the shield of the law 

 in such wise that, wherever you look, you shall see 

 the old and feeble among us ruling the young and 

 strong. 



We have, in fact, reversed nature's rules of the 

 struggle of existence for our own -benefit, and the 

 chief factor of our success has been the growing 

 dislike of mental and physical " suffering " which 

 impels civilized men always to surround themselves 

 with moral and material safeguards. 



Other animals I except those which are do- 

 mesticated and cared for by man have no safe- 

 guards. They must fight always to keep their 

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