Principles of western civilisation

VI THE ASCENDENCY OF THE PRESENT 163

spective and purely imaginary process of thought assumed to take place in the minds of early men in relation to a supposed belief in ghosts. Its Origin is considered, that is to say, in relation to a subjective, fanciful, and entirely trivial train of ideas in the mind of the individual, and not to any serious extent in relation to any principle of our social evolution.

We see after a time, in short, that the origin of the institution of Ancestor Worship must have some other and altogether deeper significance than this. A phenomenon which is represented on so vast a scale, and which has undoubtedly played so immense a part in the evolution of early society, must be related to some constant, deep-seated, and universal principle of social development, different in kind from any of which account is taken in the comparatively slight explanations just mentioned, * Briefly summarised, Mr. Spencer’s theory is as follows :—Changes in the sky and on the earth, with shadows, echoes, dreams, insensibility, and sleep, foster in the childish mind of primitive man the notion of duality—of a spirit which can leave the body at will, and which, with one kind of unconsciousness, does not come back at all—with death. The belief grows that these ghosts or the doubles of dead men are the causes of all strange and mysterious things in nature, and primitive man begins to propitiate them by prayer and sacrifice. When the chief or some leader of influence dies who has been held in awe during his life, his spirit is held in greater awe, and is assumed to possess greater powers on death, and he is worshipped as a superhuman being. Leaders and chiefs of conquering races tend especially to become objects of worship after death, and so, Mr. Spencer considers, the multiplication of deities continues until Ancestor Worship becomes the root of all existing religions. Thus, to quote Mr. Spencer’s summary, setting out with the wandering double which the dream suggests; passing to the double which goes away at death; advancing from this ghost, supposed but to have a transitory second life, to ghosts which exist permanently, and, therefore, accumulate ;—primitive man is led gradually to people surrounding space with supernatural beings, until, using the phrase in the broadest sense as comprehending all worship of the dead, Mr. Spencer finds Ancestor Worship to be the root of every religion (Principles of Soctology, §§ 68-207)