54 Science Religion and Reality 



from congregation, the intolerance shown by religion, especially 

 in its early manifestations, the cogency of morals and other similar 

 facts. It also satisfies our modern democratic bias, wh'ch in 

 social science appears as a tendency to explain all by " collective " 

 rather than by " individual " forces. This, the theory which 

 makes vox populi vox Dei appear as a sober, scientific truth, must 

 surely be congenial to modern man. 



Yet, upon reflection, critical misgivings, and very serious ones 

 at that, arise. Everyone who has experienced religion deeply 

 and sincerely knows that the strongest religious moments come 

 in solitude, in turning away from the world, in concentration and in 

 mental detachment, and not in the distraction of a crowd. Can 

 primitive religion be so entirely devoid of the inspiration of solitude \ 

 No one who knows savages at first-hand or from a careful study 

 of literature will have any doubts. Such facts as the seclusion of 

 novices at initiation, their individual, personal struggles during 

 the ordeal, the communion with spirits, divinities, and powers 

 in lonely spots, all these show us primitive religion frequently 

 lived through in solitude. Again, as we have seen before, the 

 belief in immortality cannot be explained without the consideration 

 of the religious frame of mind of the individual, who faces his own 

 pending death in fear and sorrow. Primitive religion does not 

 entirely lack its prophets, seers, soothsayers and interpreters of 

 belief. All such facts, though they certainly do not prove that 

 religion is exclusively individual, make it difficult to understand 

 how it can be regarded as the Social pure and simple. 



And again, the essence of morals, as opposed to legal or 

 customary rules, is that they are enforced by conscience. The 

 savage does not keep his taboo for fear of social punishment 

 or of public opinion. He abstains from breaking it partly because 

 he fears the direct evil consequences flowing from the will of a 

 divinity, or from the forces of the sacred, but mainly because his 

 personal responsibility and conscience forbid him doing it. The 

 forbidden totem animal, incestuous or forbidden intercourse, the 

 tabooed action or food, are directly abhorrent to him. I have 

 seen and felt savages shrink from an illicit action with the same 

 horror and disgust with which the religious Christian will shrink 

 from the committing of what he considers sin. Now this mental 

 attitude is undoubtedly due in part to the influence of society, in 

 so far as the particular prohibition is branded as horrible and 



