6o Science Religion and Reality 



selection and ritual affirmation of one of these alternatives — the 

 hope in a future life. And here the public concourse gives the 

 emphasis, the powerful testimony to the belief Public pomp 

 and ceremony take effect through the contagiousness of faith, 

 through the dignity of unanimous consent, the impressiveness of 

 collective behaviour. A multitude enacting as one an earnest and 

 dignified ceremony invariably carries away even the disinterested 

 observer, still more the affected participant. 



But the distinction between social collaboration as the only 

 technique necessary for the enactment of a belief on the one hand, 

 and the creation of the belief or self-revelation of society on the 

 other, must be emphatically pointed out. The community 

 proclaims a number of definite truths and gives moral comfort to 

 its members, but it does not give them the vague and empty 

 assertion of its own divinity. 



In another type of religious ritual, in the ceremonies of initia- 

 tion, we found that the ritual establishes the existence of some 

 powei or personality from which tribal law is derived, and 

 which is responsible for the moral rules imparted to the novice. 

 To make the belief impressive, strong, and grandiose, there is the 

 pomp of the ceremony and the hardships of preparation and ordeal. 

 An unforgettable experience, unique in the life of the individual, 

 is created, and by this he' learns the doctrines of tribal tradition and 

 the rules of its morality. The whole tribe is mobilised and all 

 its authority set in motion to bear witness to the power and reality 

 of the things revealed. 



Here again, as at the death, we have to do with a crisis in the 

 individual life, and a mental conflict associated with it. At 

 puberty, the youth has to test his physical power, to cope with his 

 sexual maturity, to take up his place in the tribe. This brings 

 him promises, prerogatives, and temptations, and at the same time 

 imposes burdens upon him. The right solution of the conflict 

 lies in his compliance with tradition, in- his submission to the 

 sexual morality of his tribe and to the burdens of manhood, and 

 that is accomplished in the ceremonies of initiation. 



The public character of these ceremonies avails both to 

 establish the greatness of the ultimate law-giver and to achieve 

 homogeneity and uniformity in the teaching of morals. Thus 

 they become a form of condensed education of a religious character. 

 As in all schooling, the principles imparted are merely selected, 



