Chapter 6

THE belief in phantoms¹, ghosts, or spirits, has frequentlybeen discussed in connection with speculations² on the originof religion. According to Mr. Spencer ('Principles ofSociology') 'the first traceable conception of a supernaturalbeing is the conception of a ghost.' Even Fetichism is 'anextension of the ghost theory.' The soul of the Fetich 'incommon with supernatural agents at large, is originally thedouble of a dead man.' How do we get this notion - 'thedouble of a dead man?' Through dreams. In the Old Testamentwe are told: 'God came to' Abimelech, Laban, Solomon, andothers 'in a dream'; also that 'the angel of the Lord'

　　appeared to Joseph 'in a dream.' That is to say, these mendreamed that God came to them. So the savage³, who dreams ofhis dead acquaintance, believes he has been visited by thedead man's spirit. This belief in ghosts is confirmed, Mr.

　　Spencer argues, by other phenomena⁴. The savage who faintsfrom the effect of a wound sustained in fight looks just likethe dead man beside him. The spirit of the wounded manreturns after a long or short period of absence: why shouldthe spirit of the other not do likewise? If reanimationfollows comatose⁵ states, why should it not follow death?

　　Insensibility is but an affair of time. All the modes ofpreserving the dead, in the remotest ages, evince the beliefin casual separation of body and soul, and of their possiblereunion.

　　Take another theory. Comte tells us there is a primarytendency in man 'to transfer the sense of his own nature, inthe radical⁶ explanation of all phenomena whatever.' Writingin the same key, Schopenhauer calls man 'a metaphysicalanimal.' He is speaking of the need man feels of a theory,in regard to the riddle⁷ of existence, which forces itselfupon his notice; 'a need arising from the consciousness thatbehind the physical in the world, there is a metaphysicalsomething permanent as the foundation of constant change.'

　　Though not here alluding⁸ to the ghost theory, this bearsindirectly on the conception, as I shall proceed to show.

　　We need not entangle⁹ ourselves in the vexed¹⁰ question ofinnate ideas, nor inquire whether the principle of casualityis, as Kant supposed, like space and time, a form ofintuition given A PRIORI. That every change has a cause mustnecessarily (without being thus formulated) be one of theinitial beliefs of conscious beings far lower in the scalethan man, whether derived¹¹ solely¹² from experience orotherwise. The reed that shakes is obviously shaken by thewind. But the riddle of the wind also forces itself intonotice; and man explains this by transferring to the wind'the sense of his own nature.' Thunderstorms, volcanicdisturbances, ocean waves, running streams, the motions ofthe heavenly bodies, had to be accounted for as involvingchange. And the natural - the primitive¹³ - explanation was byreference to life, analogous¹⁴, if not similar, to our own.

　　Here then, it seems to me, we have the true origin of thebelief in ghosts.

　　Take an illustration which supports this view. While sittingin my garden the other day a puff¹⁵ of wind blew a lady'sparasol across the lawn. It rolled away close to a dog lyingquietly in the sun. The dog looked at it for a moment, butseeing nothing to account for its movements, barkednervously, put its tail between its legs, and ran away,turning occasionally to watch and again bark, with every signof fear.

　　This was animism. The dog must have accounted for theeccentric behaviour of the parasol by endowing it with anuncanny spirit. The horse that shies at inanimate objects bythe roadside, and will sometimes dash itself against a treeor a wall, is actuated by a similar superstition¹⁶. Is thereany essential difference between this belief of the dog orhorse and the belief of primitive man? I maintain that anintuitive animistic tendency (which Mr. Spencer repudiates),and not dreams, lies at the root of all spiritualism. WouldMr. Spencer have had us believe that the dog's fear of therolling parasol was a logical deduction¹⁷ from its caninedreams? This would scarcely elucidate¹⁸ the problem. The dogand the horse share apparently¹⁹ Schopenhauer's metaphysicalpropensity with man.

　　The familiar aphorism²⁰ of Statius: PRIMUS IN ORBE DEOS FECITTIMOR, points to the relation of animism first to the beliefin ghosts, thence to Polytheism, and ultimately toMonotheism. I must apologise to those of the transcendentalschool who, like Max Muller for instance (Introduction to the'Science of Religion'), hold that we have 'a primitiveintuition of God'; which, after all, the professor derives,like many others, from the 'yearning²¹ for something thatneither sense nor reason can supply'; and from the assumptionthat 'there was in the heart of man from the very first afeeling of incompleteness, of weakness, of dependency, &c.'

　　All this, I take it, is due to the aspirations²² of a muchlater creature than the 'Pithecanthropus erectus,' to whom wehere refer.

　　Probably spirits and ghosts were originally of an evil kind.

　　Sir John Lubbock ('The Origin of Civilisation') says: 'Thebaying of the dog to the moon is as much an act of worship assome ceremonies which have been so described by travellers.'

　　I think he would admit that fear is the origin of theworship. In his essay on 'Superstition,' Hume writes:

　　'Weakness, fear, melancholy²³, together with ignorance, are thetrue sources of superstition.' Also 'in such a state ofmind, infinite unknown evils are dreaded²⁴ from unknownagents.'

　　Man's impotence to resist the forces of nature, and theirterrible ability to injure him, would inspire a sense ofterror; which in turn would give rise to the twofold notionof omnipotence²⁶ and malignity²⁷. The savage of the present daylives in perpetual fear of evil spirits; and thesuperstitious dread²⁵, which I and most others have suffered,is inherited from our savage ancestry²⁸. How much further backwe must seek it may be left to the sage²⁹ philosophers of thefuture.

1 phantoms   

n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They vanished down the stairs like two phantoms. 他们像两个幽灵似的消失在了楼下。 来自辞典例句
• The horrible night that he had passed had left phantoms behind it. 他刚才度过的恐布之夜留下了种种错觉。 来自辞典例句

2 speculations   

n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断

参考例句：

• Your speculations were all quite close to the truth. 你的揣测都很接近于事实。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. 这种可能性引起了有趣的推测。 来自《用法词典》

3 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

4 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

5 comatose   

adj.昏睡的，昏迷不醒的

参考例句：

• Those in extreme fear can be put into a comatose type state.那些极端恐惧的人可能会被安放进一种昏迷状态。
• The doctors revived the comatose man.这个医生使这个昏睡的苏醒了。

6 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

7 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

8 alluding   

提及，暗指( allude的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He didn't mention your name but I was sure he was alluding to you. 他没提你的名字，但是我确信他是暗指你的。
• But in fact I was alluding to my physical deficiencies. 可我实在是为自己的容貌寒心。

9 entangle   

vt.缠住，套住；卷入，连累

参考例句：

• How did Alice manage to entangle her hair so badly in the brambles?爱丽丝是怎么把头发死死地缠在荆棘上的？
• Don't entangle the fishing lines.不要让钓鱼线缠在一起。

10 vexed   

adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论

参考例句：

• The conference spent days discussing the vexed question of border controls. 会议花了几天的时间讨论边境关卡这个难题。
• He was vexed at his failure. 他因失败而懊恼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

11 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

13 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

14 analogous   

adj.相似的；类似的

参考例句：

• The two situations are roughly analogous.两种情況大致相似。
• The company is in a position closely analogous to that of its main rival.该公司与主要竞争对手的处境极为相似。

15 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

16 superstition   

n.迷信，迷信行为

参考例句：

• It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
• Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。

17 deduction   

n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎

参考例句：

• No deduction in pay is made for absence due to illness.因病请假不扣工资。
• His deduction led him to the correct conclusion.他的推断使他得出正确的结论。

18 elucidate   

v.阐明，说明

参考例句：

• The note help to elucidate the most difficult parts of the text.这些注释有助于弄清文中最难懂的部分。
• This guide will elucidate these differences and how to exploit them.这篇指导将会阐述这些不同点以及如何正确利用它们。

19 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

20 aphorism   

n.格言，警语

参考例句：

• It is the aphorism of the Asian Games. 这是亚运会的格言。
• Probably the aphorism that there is no easy answer to what is very complex is true. 常言道,复杂的问题无简易的答案,这话大概是真的。

21 yearning   

a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的

参考例句：

• a yearning for a quiet life 对宁静生活的向往
• He felt a great yearning after his old job. 他对过去的工作有一种强烈的渴想。

22 aspirations   

强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音

参考例句：

• I didn't realize you had political aspirations. 我没有意识到你有政治上的抱负。
• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。

23 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

24 dreaded   

adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The dreaded moment had finally arrived. 可怕的时刻终于来到了。
• He dreaded having to spend Christmas in hospital. 他害怕非得在医院过圣诞节不可。 来自《用法词典》

25 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

26 omnipotence   

n.全能，万能，无限威力

参考例句：

• Central bankers have never had any illusions of their own omnipotence. 中行的银行家们已经不再对于他们自己的无所不能存有幻想了。 来自互联网
• Introduce an omnipotence press automatism dividing device, explained it operation principle. 介绍了冲压万能自动分度装置，说明了其工作原理。 来自互联网

27 malignity   

n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性

参考例句：

• The little witch put a mock malignity into her beautiful eyes, and Joseph, trembling with sincere horror, hurried out praying and ejaculating "wicked" as he went. 这个小女巫那双美丽的眼睛里添上一种嘲弄的恶毒神气。约瑟夫真的吓得直抖，赶紧跑出去，一边跑一边祷告，还嚷着“恶毒！” 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Outside, the pitiless rain fell, fell steadily, with a fierce malignity that was all too human. 外面下着无情的雨，不断地下着，简直跟通人性那样凶狠而恶毒。 来自辞典例句

28 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

29 sage   

n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的

参考例句：

• I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
• The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。