From this he
draws the conclusions--(1) that he himself has two persons, one
hunting while the other sleeps; (2) that his acquaintances also have a
double existence; and, from those cases in which he met with the dead,
(3) that they are not only double persons, but that one of the persons
is dead while the other continues to live.
Thus, according to Spencer, the idea arises that man consists of two
separable thinking parts, and that one of these can survive the other.
When a person faints and recovers, we say he comes to himself. That
is, a part of his person left him and has returned. But in this case,
as in the dream, the body has not divided, so that in a swoon the
outgoing portion is not corporeal.
The savage will think that this is what remains alive after death,
for he is incapable of distinguishing between a swoon and death. Then
he will associate the part which leaves the body during a swoon with
that which gives life, and some will regard the heart, which fails to
beat after death, and others the breath, which ceases when life does,
as this life-giving part or soul.
Thus far I am quoting from Spencer.
The conception of the soul, which has thus arisen, has been utilized
by astute priests to obtain power over their fellow-men; while the
genuine founders of religions have made use of it, and by threats of
punishment, and promises of reward, have tried to induce mankind to
live uprightly.
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