Meanwhile the very fact that they are so many and so different from one another is enough toprove that the word "religion" cannot stand for any single principle or essence, but is rather acollective name. The theorizing mind tends always to the oversimplification of its materials. Thisis the root of all that absolutism and one-sided dogmatism by which both philosophy and religionhave been infested3. Let us not fall immediately into a one-sided view of our subject, but let usrather admit freely at the outset that we may very likely find no one essence, but many characterswhich may alternately be equally important to religion. If we should inquire for the essence of"government," for example, one man might tell us it was authority, another submission5, an otherpolice, another an army, another an assembly, an other a system of laws; yet all the while it wouldbe true that no concrete government can exist without all these things, one of which is moreimportant at one moment and others at another. The man who knows governments mostcompletely is he who troubles himself least about a definition which shall give their essence.
Enjoying an intimate acquaintance with all their particularities in turn, he would naturally regardan abstract conception in which these were unified7 as a thing more misleading than enlightening.
And why may not religion be a conception equally complex?[9]
[9] I can do no better here than refer my readers to the extended and admirable remarks on thefutility of all these definitions of religion, in an article by Professor Leuba, published in the Monistfor January, 1901, after my own text was written.
Consider also the "religious sentiment" which we see referred to in so many books, as if it were asingle sort of mental entity8. In the psychologies9 and in the philosophies of religion, we find theauthors attempting to specify10 just what entity it is. One man allies it to the feeling of dependence11;one makes it a derivative12 from fear; others connect it with the sexual life; others still identify itwith the feeling of the infinite; and so on. Such different ways of conceiving it ought of themselvesto arouse doubt as to whether it possibly can be one specific thing; and the moment we are willingto treat the term "religious sentiment" as a collective name for the many sentiments which religiousobjects may in alternation, that it probably contains nothing whatever of psychologicallyspec(arouse) ificnature.Thereis(we) relig(see) ious fear, religious love, religious awe13, religious joy,(a) and so forth14. But religious love is only man's natural emotion of love directed to a religious object;religious fear is only the ordinary fear of commerce, so to speak, the common quaking of thehuman breast, in so far as the notion of divine retribution may arouse it; religious awe is the sameorganic thrill which we feel in a forest at twilight15, or in a mountain gorge16; only this time it comesover us at the thought of our supernatural relations; and similarly of all the various sentimentswhich may be called into play in the lives of religious persons. As concrete states of mind, madeup of a feeling PLUS a specific sort of object, religious emotions of course are psychic17 entitiesdistinguishable from other concrete emotions; but there is no ground for assuming a simpleabstract "religious emotion" to exist as a distinct elementary mental affection by itself, present inevery religious experience without exception.
As there thus seems to be no one elementary religious emotion, but only a common storehouse ofemotions upon which religious objects may draw, so there might conceivably also prove to he noone specific and essential kind of religious object, and no one specific and essential kind ofreligious act.
The field of religion being as wide as this, it is manifestly impossible that I should pretend tocover it. My lectures must be limited to a fraction of the subject. And, although it would indeed befoolish to set up an abstract definition of religion's essence, and then proceed to defend thatdefinition against all comers, yet this need not prevent me from taking my own narrow view ofwhat religion shall consist in FOR THE PURPOSE OF THESE LECTURES, or, out of the manymeanings of the word, from choosing the one meaning in which I wish to interest you particularly,and proclaiming arbitrarily that when I say "religion" I mean THAT. This, in fact, is what I mustdo, and I will now preliminarily seek to mark out the field I choose.
One way to mark it out easily is to say what aspects of the subject we leave out. At the outset weare struck by one great partition which divides the religious field. On the one side of it liesinstitutional, on the other personal religion. As M. P. Sabatier says, one branch of religion keepsthe divinity, another keeps man most in view. Worship and sacrifice, procedures for working onthe dispositions18 of the deity19, theology and ceremony and ecclesiastical organization, are theessentials of religion in the institutional branch. Were we to limit our view to it, we should have todefine religion as an external art, the art of winning the favor of the gods. In the more personalbranch of religion it is on the contrary the inner dispositions of man himself which form the centerof interest, his conscience, his deserts, his helplessness, his incompleteness. And although thefavor of the God, as forfeited20 or gained, is still an essential feature of the story, and theology playsa vital part therein, yet the acts to which this sort of religion prompts are personal not ritual acts,the individual transacts21 the business by himself alone, and the ecclesiastical organization, with itspriests and sacraments and other go-betweens, sinks to an altogether secondary place. The relationgoes direct from heart to heart, from soul to soul, between man and his maker22.
Now in these lectures I propose to ignore the institutional branch entirely23, to say nothing of theecclesiastical organization, to consider as little as possible the systematic24 theology and the ideasabout the gods themselves, and to confine myself as far as I can to personal religion pure andsimple. To some of you personal religion, thus nakedly considered, will no doubt seem tooincomplete a thing to wear the general name. "It is a part of religion," you will say, "but only itsunorganized rudiment25; if we are to name it by itself, we had better call it man's conscience ormorality than his religion. The name 'religion' should be reserved for the fully26 organized system offeeling, thought, and institution, for the Church, in short, of which this personal religion, so called,is but a fractional element."But if you say this, it will only show the more plainly how much the question of definition tendsto become a dispute about names.
Rather than prolong such a dispute, I am willing to accept almost any name for the personalreligion of which I propose to treat. Call it conscience or morality, if you yourselves prefer, andnot religion--under either name it will be equally worthy27 of our study. As for myself, I think it willprove to contain some elements which morality pure and simple does not contain, and theseelements I shall soon seek to point out; so I will myself continue to apply the word "religion" to it; and in the last lecture of all, I will bring in the theologies and the ecclesiasticisms, and saysomething of its relation to them.
In one sense at least the personal religion will prove itself more fundamental than either theologyor ecclesiasticism. Churches, when once established, live at second-hand28 upon tradition; but theFOUNDERS of every church owed their power originally to the fact of their direct personalcommunion with the divine. Not only the superhuman founders29, the Christ, the Buddha30, Mahomet,but all the originators of Christian31 sects32 have been in this case;--so personal religion should stillseem the primordial33 thing, even to those who continue to esteem34 it incomplete.
There are, it is true, other things in religion chronologically35 more primordial than personaldevoutness in the moral sense. Fetishism and magic seem to have preceded inward pietyhistorically--at least our records of inward piety37 do not reach back so far. And if fetishism andmagic be regarded as stages of religion, one may say that personal religion in the inward sense andthe genuinely spiritual ecclesiasticisms which it founds are phenomena38 of secondary or eventertiary order. But, quite apart from the fact that many anthropologists--for instance, Jevons andFrazer --expressly oppose "religion" and "magic" to each other, it is certain that the whole systemof thought which leads to magic, fetishism, and the lower superstitions39 may just as well be calledprimitive science as called primitive40 religion. The question thus becomes a verbal one again; andour knowledge of all these early stages of thought and feeling is in any case so conjectural41 andimperfect that farther discussion would not be worth while.
Religion, therefore, as I now ask you arbitrarily to take it, shall mean for us THE FEELINGS,ACTS, AND EXPERIENCES OF INDIVIDUAL MEN IN THEIR SOLITUDE42, SO FAR ASTHEY APPREHEND43 THEMSELVES TO STAND IN RELATION TO WHATEVER THEYMAY CONSIDER THE DIVINE. Since the relation may be either moral, physical, or ritual, it isevident that out of religion in the in which we take it, theologies, philosophies, and ecclesiasticalorganizationsmaysecondaril(sense) y grow. In these lectures, however, as I have alreadysaid, the immediate4 personal experiences will amply fill our time, and we shall hardly considertheology or ecclesiasticism at all.
We escape much controversial matter by this arbitrary definition of our field. But, still, a chanceof controversy44 comes up over the word "divine," if we take the definition in too narrow a sense.
There are systems of thought which the world usually calls religious, and yet which do notpositively assume a God. Buddhism46 is in this case. Popularly, of course, the Buddha himself standsin place of a God; but in strictness the Buddhistic47 system is atheistic48. Modern transcendentalidealism, Emersonianism, for instance, also seems to let God evaporate into abstract Ideality. Not adeity in concreto, not a superhuman person, but the immanent divinity in things, the essentiallyspiritual structure of the universe, is the object of the transcendentalist cult50. In that address to thegraduating class at Divinity College in 1838 which made Emerson famous, the frank expression ofthis worship of mere51 abstract laws was what made the scandal of the performance.
"These laws," said the speaker, "execute themselves. They are out of time, out of space, and notsubject to circumstance: Thus, in the soul of man there is a justice whose retributions are instantand entire. He who does a good deed is instantly ennobled. He who does a mean deed is by theaction itself contracted. He who puts off impurity52 thereby53 puts on purity. If a man is at heart just,then in so far is he God; the safety of God, the immortality54 of God, the majesty55 of God, do enter into that man with justice. If a man dissemble, deceive, he deceives himself, and goes out ofacquaintance with his own being. Character is always known. Thefts never enrich; alms neverimpoverish; murder will speak out of stone walls. The least admixture of a lie--for example, thetaint of vanity, any attempt to make a good impression, a favorable appearance--will instantlyvitiate the effect. But speak the truth, and all things alive or brute56 are vouchers57, and the very rootsof the grass underground there do seem to stir and move to bear your witness. For all thingsproceed out of the same spirit, which is differently named love, justice, temperance, in its differentapplications, just as the ocean receives different names on the several shores which it washes. In sofar as he roves from these ends, a man bereaves58 himself of power, of auxiliaries59. His beingshrinks . . . he becomes less and less, a mote60, a point, until absolute badness is absolute death. Theperception of this law awakens61 in the mind a sentiment which we call the religious sentiment, andwhich makes our highest happiness. Wonderful is its power to charm and to command. It is amountain air. It is the embalmer62 of the world.
It makes the sky and the hills sublime63, and the silent song of the stars is it. It is the beatitude ofman. It makes him illimitable. When he says 'I ought'; when love warns him; when he chooses,warned from on high, the good and great deed; then, deep melodies wander through his soul fromsupreme wisdom. Then he can worship, and be enlarged by his worship; for he can never gobehind this sentiment. All the expressions of this sentiment are sacred and permanent in proportionto their purity. [They] affect us more than all other compositions. The sentences of the olden time,which ejaculate this piety, are still fresh and fragrant65. And the unique impression of Jesus uponmankind, whose name is not so much written as ploughed into the history of this world, is proof ofthe subtle virtue66 of this infusion67."[10]
[10] Miscellanies, 1868, p. 120 (abridged).
Such is the Emersonian religion. The universe has a divine soul of order, which soul is moral,being also the soul within the soul of man. But whether this soul of the universe be a mere qualitylike the eye's brilliancy or the skin's softness, or whether it be a self-conscious life like the eye'sseeing or the skin's feeling, is a decision that never unmistakably appears in Emerson's pages. Itquivers on the boundary of these things, sometimes leaning one way sometimes the other, to suitthe literary rather than the philosophic68 need. Whatever it is, though, it is active. As much as if itwere a God, we can trust it to protect all ideal interests and keep the world's balance straight. Thesentences in which Emerson, to the very end, gave utterance69 to this faith are as fine as anything inliterature: "If you love and serve men, you cannot by any hiding or stratagem70 escape theremuneration. Secret retributions are always restoring the level, when disturbed, of the divinejustice. It is impossible to tilt71 the beam. All the tyrants72 and proprietors73 and monopolists of theworld in vain set their shoulders to heave the bar. Settles forevermore the ponderous74 equator to itsline, and man and mote, and star and sun, must range to it, or be pulverized75 by the recoil76."[11]
[11] Lectures and Biographical Sketches77, 1868, p. 186.
Now it would be too absurd to say that the inner experiences that underlie78 such expressions offaith as this and impel79 the writer to their utterance are quite unworthy to be called religiousexperiences. The sort of appeal that Emersonian optimism, on the one hand, and Buddhistic pessimism80, on the other, make to the individual and the son of response which he makes to them inhis life are in fact indistinguishable from, and in many respects identical with, the best Christianappeal and response. We must therefore, from the experiential point of view, call these godless orquasi-godless creeds81 "religions"; and accordingly when in our definition of religion we speak ofthe individual's relation to "what he considers the divine," we must interpret the term "divine" verybroadly, as denoting any object that is god-LIKE, whether it be a concrete deity or not. But theterm "godlike," if thus treated as a floating general quality, becomes exceedingly vague, for manygods have flourished in religious history, and their attributes have been discrepant82 enough. Whatthen is that essentially49 godlike quality--be it embodied83 in a concrete deity or not--our relation towhich determines our character as religious men? It will repay us to seek some answer to thisquestion before we proceed farther.
For one thing, gods are conceived to be first things in the way of being and power. Theyoverarch and envelop84, and from them there is no escape. What relates to them is the first and lastword in the way of truth. Whatever then were most primal85 and enveloping86 and deeply true might atthis rate be treated as godlike, and a man's religion might thus be identified with his attitude,whatever it might be, toward what he felt to be the primal truth.
Such a definition as this would in a way be defensible. Religion, whatever it is, is a man's totalreaction upon life, so why not say that any total reaction upon life is a religion? Total reactions aredifferent from casual reactions, and total attitudes are different from usual or professional attitudes.
To get at them you must go behind the foreground of existence and reach down to that curioussense of the whole residual87 cosmos88 as an everlasting89 presence, intimate or alien, terrible oramusing, lovable or odious90, which in some degree everyone possesses. This sense of the world'spresence, appealing as it does to our peculiar91 individual temperament92, makes us either strenuous93 orcareless, devout36 or blasphemous94, gloomy or exultant95, about life at large; and our reaction,involuntary and inarticulate and often half unconscious as it is, is the completest of all our answersto the question, "What is the character of this universe in which we dwell?" It expresses ourindividual sense of it in the most definite way. Why then not call these reactions our religion, nomatter what specific character they may have? Non-religious as some of these reactions may be, inone sense of the word "religious," they yet belong to THE GENERAL SPHERE OF THERELIGIOUS LIFE, and so should generically96 be classed as religious reactions. "He believes inNo-God, and he worships him," said a colleague of mine of a student who was manifesting a fineatheistic ardor97; and the more fervent98 opponents of Christian doctrine99 have often enough shown atemper which, psychologically considered, is indistinguishable from religious zeal100.
But so very broad a use of the word "religion" would be inconvenient101, however defensible itmight remain on logical grounds. There are trifling102, sneering103 attitudes even toward the whole oflife; and in some men these attitudes are final and systematic. It would strain the ordinary use oflanguage too much to call such attitudes religious, even though, from the point of view of anunbiased critical philosophy, they might conceivably be perfectly104 reasonable ways of looking uponlife. Voltaire, for example, writes thus to a friend, at the age of seventy-three: "As for myself," hesays, "weak as I am, I carry on the war to the last moment, I get a hundred pike-thrusts, I returntwo hundred, and I laugh. I see near my door Geneva on fire with quarrels over nothing, and Ilaugh again; and, thank God, I can look upon the world as a farce105 even when it becomes as tragic106 as it sometimes does. All comes out even at the end of the day, and all comes out still more evenwhen all the days are over."Much as we may admire such a robust107 old gamecock spirit in a valetudinarian108, to call it areligious spirit would be odd. Yet it is for the moment Voltaire's reaction on the whole of life. Jeme'n fiche is the vulgar French equivalent for our English ejaculation "Who cares?" And the happyterm je me'n fichisme recently has been invented to designate the systematic determination not totake anything in <37> life too solemnly. "All is vanity" is the relieving word in all difficult crisesfor this mode of thought, which that exquisite109 literary genius Renan took pleasure, in his later daysof sweet decay, in putting into coquettishly sacrilegious forms which remain to us as excellentexpressions of the "all is vanity" state of mind. Take the following passage, for example--we musthold to duty, even against the evidence, Renan says--but he then goes on:-"There are many chances that the world may be nothing but a fairy pantomime of which no Godhas care. We must therefore arrange ourselves so that on neither hypothesis we shall be completelywrong. We must listen to the superior voices, but in such a way that if the second hypothesis weretrue we should not have been too completely duped. If in effect the world be not a serious thing, itis the dogmatic people who will be the shallow ones, and the worldly minded whom thetheologians now call frivolous110 will be those who are really wise.
"In utrumque paratus, then. Be ready for anything--that perhaps is wisdom. Give ourselves up,according to the hour, to confidence, to skepticism, to optimism, to irony111 and we may be sure thatat certain moments at least we shall be with the truth. . . . Good-humor is a philosophic state ofmind; it seems to say to Nature that we take her no more seriously than she takes us. I maintainthat one should always talk of philosophy with a smile. We owe it to the Eternal to be virtuous112 butwe have the right to add to this tribute our irony as a sort of personal reprisal113. In this way we returnto the right quarter jest for jest; we play the trick that has been played on us. Saint Augustine'sphrase: Lord, if we arc deceived, it is by thee! remains114 a fine one, well suited to our modernfeeling. Only we wish the Eternal to know that if we accept the fraud, we accept it knowingly andwillingly. We are resigned in advance to losing the interest on our investments of virtue, but wewish not to appear ridiculous by having counted on them too securely."[12]
[12] Feuilles detachees, pp. 394-398 (abridged).
Surely all the usual associations of the word "religion" would have to be stripped away if such asystematic parti pris of irony were also to be denoted by the name. For common men "religion,"whatever more special meanings it may have, signifies always a SERIOUS state of mind. If anyone phrase could gather its universal message, that phrase would be, "All is not vanity in thisUniverse, whatever the appearances may suggest." If it can stop anything, religion as commonlyapprehended can stop just such chaffing talk as Renan's. It favors gravity, not pertness; it says"hush" to all vain chatter115 and smart wit.
But if hostile to light irony, religion is equally hostile to heavy grumbling116 and complaint. Theworld appears tragic enough in some religions, but the tragedy is realized as purging117, and a way ofdeliverance is held to exist. We shall see enough of the religious melancholy118 in a future lecture;but melancholy, according to our ordinary use of language, forfeits119 all title to be called religious when, in Marcus Aurelius's racy words, the sufferer simply lies kicking and screaming after thefashion of a sacrificed pig. The mood of a Schopenhauer or a Nietzsche--and in a less degree onemay sometimes say the same of our own sad Carlyle--though often an ennobling sadness, is almostas often only peevishness120 running away with the bit between its teeth. The sallies of the twoGerman authors remind one, half the time, of the sick shriekings of two dying rats. They lack thepurgatorial note which religious sadness gives forth.
There must be something solemn, serious, and tender about any attitude which we denominatereligious. If glad, it must not grin or snicker; if sad, it must not scream or curse. It is precisely121 asbeing SOLEMN experiences that I wish to interest you in religious experiences. So I propose-arbitrarilyagain, if you please--to narrow our definition once more by saying that the word"divine," as employed therein, shall mean for us not merely the primal and enveloping and real, forthat meaning if taken without restriction122 might prove too broad. The divine shall mean for us onlysuch a primal reality as the individual feels impelled123 to respond to solemnly and gravely, andneither by a curse nor a jest.
But solemnity, and gravity, and all such emotional attributes, admit of various shades; and, dowhat we will with our defining, the truth must at last be confronted that we are dealing124 with a fieldof experience where there is not a single conception that can be sharply drawn125. The pretension,under such conditions, to be rigorously "scientific" or "exact" in our terms would only stamp us aslacking in understanding of our task. Things are more or less divine, states of mind are more orless religious, reactions are more or less total, but the boundaries are always misty126, and it iseverywhere a question of amount and degree. Nevertheless, at their extreme of development, therecan never be any question as to what experiences are religious. The divinity of the object and thesolemnity of the reaction are too well marked for doubt. Hesitation127 as to whether a state of mind is"religious," or "irreligious," or "moral," or "philosophical128," is only likely to arise when the state ofmind is weakly characterized, but in that case it will be hardly worthy of our study at all. Withstates that can only by courtesy be called religious we need have nothing to do, our only profitablebusiness being with what nobody can possibly feel tempted129 to call anything else. I said in myformer lecture that we learn most about a thing when we view it under a microscope, as it were, orin its most exaggerated form. This is as true of religious phenomena as of any other kind of fact.
The only cases likely to be profitable enough to repay our attention will therefore be cases wherethe religious spirit is unmistakable and extreme. Its fainter manifestations130 we may tranquilly132 passby. Here, for example, is the total reaction upon life of Frederick Locker133 Lampson, whoseautobiography, entitled "Confidences," proves him to have been a most amiable134 man.
"I am so far resigned to my lot that I feel small pain at the thought of having to part from whathas been called the pleasant habit of existence, the sweet fable135 of life. I would not care to live mywasted life over again, and so to prolong my span. Strange to say, I have but little wish to beyounger. I submit with a chill at my heart. I humbly136 submit because it is the Divine Will, and myappointed destiny. I dread137 the increase of infirmities that will make me a burden to those aroundme, those dear to me. No! let me slip away as quietly and comfortably as I can. Let the end come,if peace come with it.
"I do not know that there is a great deal to be said for this world, or our sojourn138 here upon it; butit has pleased God so to place us, and it must please me also. I ask you, what is human life? Is not it a maimed happiness--care and weariness, weariness and care, with the baseless expectation, thestrange cozenage139 of a brighter to-morrow? At best it is but a froward child, that must be playedwith and humored, to keep it quiet till it falls asleep, and then the care is over."[13]
[13] Op. cit., pp. 314, 313.
This is a complex, a tender, a submissive, and a graceful140 state of mind. For myself, I should haveno objection to calling it on the whole a religious state of mind, although I dare say that to many ofyou it may seem too listless and half-hearted to merit so good a name. But what matters it in theend whether we call such a state of mind religious or not? It is too insignificant141 for our instructionin any case; and its very possessor wrote it down in terms which he would not have used unless hehad been thinking of more energetically religious moods in others, with which he found himselfunable to compete. It is with these more energetic states that our sole business lies, and we canperfectly well afford to let the minor142 notes and the uncertain border go. It was the extremer casesthat I had in mind a little while ago when I said that personal religion, even without theology orritual, would prove to embody143 some elements that morality pure and simple does not contain. Youmay remember that I promised shortly to point out what those elements were. In a general way Ican now say what I had in mind.
"I accept the universe" is reported to have been a favorite utterance of our New Englandtranscendentalist, Margaret Fuller; and when some one repeated this phrase to Thomas Carlyle, hissardonic comment is said to have been: "Gad144! she'd better!" At bottom the whole concern of bothmorality and religion is with the manner of our acceptance of the universe. Do we accept it only inpart and grudgingly145, or heartily146 and altogether? Shall our protests against certain things in it beradical and unforgiving, or shall we think that, even with evil, there are ways of living that mustlead to good? If we accept the whole, shall we do so as if stunned147 into submission--as Carlylewould have us--"Gad! we'd better!"--or shall we do so with enthusiastic assent148? Morality pure andsimple accepts the law of the whole which it finds reigning149, so far as to acknowledge and obey it,but it may obey it with the heaviest and coldest heart, and never cease to feel it as a yoke150. But forreligion, in its strong and fully developed manifestations, the service of the highest never is felt asa yoke. Dull submission is left far behind, and a mood of welcome, which may fill any place on thescale between cheerful serenity151 and enthusiastic gladness, has taken its place.
It makes a tremendous emotional and practical difference to one whether one accept the universein the drab discolored way of stoic152 resignation to necessity, or with the passionate153 happiness ofChristian saints. The difference is as great as that between passivity and activity, as that betweenthe defensive154 and the aggressive mood. Gradual as are the steps by which an individual may growfrom one state into the other, many as are the intermediate stages which different individualsrepresent, yet when you place the typical extremes beside each other for comparison, you feel thattwo discontinuous psychological universes confront you, and that in passing from one to the othera "critical point" has been overcome.
If we compare stoic with Christian ejaculations we see much more than a difference of doctrine;rather is it a difference of emotional mood that parts them. When Marcus Aurelius reflects on theeternal reason that has ordered things, there is a frosty chill about his words which you rarely findin a Jewish, and never in a Christian piece of religious writing. The universe is "accepted" by all these writers; but how devoid155 of passion or exultation156 the spirit of the Roman Emperor is!
Compare his fine sentence: "If gods care not for me or my children, here is a reason for it," withJob's cry: "Though he slay157 me, yet will I trust in him!" and you immediately see the difference Imean. The anima mundi, to whose disposal of his own personal destiny the Stoic consents, is thereto be respected and submitted to, but the Christian God is there to be loved; and the difference ofemotional atmosphere is like that between an arctic climate and the tropics, though the outcome inthe way of accepting actual conditions uncomplainingly may seem in abstract terms to be much thesame.
"It is a man's duty," says Marcus Aurelius, "to comfort himself and wait for the naturaldissolution, and not to be vexed158, but to find refreshment159 solely160 in these thoughts--first that nothingwill happen to me which is not conformable to the nature of the universe; and secondly161 that I needdo nothing contrary to the God and deity within me; for there is no man who can compel me totransgress. He is an abscess on the universe who withdraws and separates himself from the reasonof our common nature, through being displeased162 with the things which happen. For the samenature produces these, and has produced thee too. And so accept everything which happens, evenif it seem disagreeable, because it leads to this, the health of the universe and to the prosperity andfelicity of Zeus. For he would not have brought on any man what he has brought if it were notuseful for the whole. The integrity of the whole is mutilated if thou cuttest off anything. And thoudost cut off, as far as it is in thy power, when thou art dissatisfied, and in a manner triest to putanything out of the way."[14]
[14] Book V., ch. ix. (abridged).
Compare now this mood with that of the old Christian author of the Theologia Germanica:-"Where men are enlightened with the true light, they renounce163 all desire and choice, and commitand commend themselves and all things to the eternal Goodness, so that every enlightened mancould say: 'I would fain be to the Eternal Goodness what his own hand is to a man.' Such men arein a state of freedom, because they have lost the fear of pain or hell, and the hope of reward orheaven, and are living in pure submission to the eternal Goodness, in the perfect freedom offervent love. When a man truly perceiveth and considereth himself, who and what he is, andfindeth himself utterly164 vile165 and wicked and unworthy, he falleth into such a deep abasement166 that itseemeth to him reasonable that all creatures in heaven and earth should rise up against him. Andtherefore he will not and dare not desire any consolation167 and release; but he is willing to beunconsoled and unreleased; and he doth not grieve over his sufferings, for they are right in hiseyes, and he hath nothing to say against them. This is what is meant by true repentance168 for sin; andhe who in this present time entereth into this hell, none may console him. Now God hath notforsaken a man in this hell, but He is laying his hand upon him, that the man may not desire norregard anything but the eternal Good only. And then, when the man neither careth for nor desirethanything but the eternal Good alone, and seeketh not himself nor his own things, but the honour ofGod only, he is made a partaker of all manner of joy, bliss169, peace, rest, and consolation, and so theman is henceforth in the kingdom of heaven. This hell and this heaven are two good safe ways fora man, and happy is he who truly findeth them."[15]
[15] Chaps. x., xi. (abridged): Winkworth's translation.
How much more active and positive the impulse of the Christian writer to accept his place in theuniverse is! Marcus Aurelius agrees TO the scheme--the German theologian agrees WITH it. Heliterally ABOUNDS171 in agreement, he runs out to embrace the divine decrees.
Occasionally, it is true, the stoic rises to something like a Christian warmth of sentiment, as inthe often quoted passage of Marcus Aurelius:-"Everything harmonizes with me which is harmonious172 to thee, O Universe. Nothing for me is tooearly nor too late, which is in due time for thee. Everything is fruit to me which thy seasons bring,O Nature: from thee are all things, in thee are all things, to thee all things return. The poet says,Dear City of Cecrops; and wilt173 thou not say, Dear City of Zeus?"[16]
[16] Book IV., 523But compare even as devout a passage as this with a genuine Christian outpouring, and it seems alittle cold. Turn, for instance, to the Imitation of Christ:-"Lord, thou knowest what is best; let this or that be according as thou wilt. Give what thou wilt,so much as thou wilt, when thou wilt. Do with me as thou knowest best, and as shall be most tothine honour. Place me where thou wilt, and freely work thy will with me in all things. . . . Whencould it be evil when thou wert near? I had rather be poor for thy sake than rich without thee. Ichoose rather to be a pilgrim upon the earth with thee, than without thee to possess heaven. Wherethou art, there is heaven; and where thou art not, behold174 there death and hell."[17]
[17] Benham's translation: Book III., chaps. xv., lix. Compare Mary Moody175 Emerson: "Let mebe a blot176 on this fair world, the obscurest the loneliest sufferer, with one proviso--that I know it isHis agency. I will love Him though He shed frost and darkness on every way of mine." R. W.
Emerson: Lectures and Biographical Sketches, p. 188.
It is a good rule in physiology177, when we are studying the meaning of an organ, to ask after itsmost peculiar and characteristic sort of performance, and to seek its office in that one of itsfunctions which no other organ can possibly exert. Surely the same maxim178 holds good in ourpresent quest. The essence of religious experiences, the thing by which we finally must judgethem, must be that element or quality in them which we can meet nowhere else. And such a qualitywill be of course most prominent and easy to notice in those religious experiences which are mostone-sided, exaggerated, and intense.
Now when we compare these intenser experiences with the experiences of tamer minds, so cooland reasonable that we are tempted to call them philosophical rather than religious, we find acharacter that is perfectly distinct. That character, it seems to me, should be regarded as thepractically important differentia of religion for our purpose; and just what it is can easily bebrought out by comparing the mind of an abstractly conceived Christian with that of a moralistsimilarly conceived.
A life is manly179, stoical, moral, or philosophical, we say, in proportion as it is less swayed bypaltry personal considerations and more by objective ends that call for energy, even though thatenergy bring personal loss and pain. This is the good side of war, in so far as it calls for "volunteers." And for morality life is a war, and the service of the highest is a sort of cosmicpatriotism which also calls for volunteers. Even a sick man, unable to be militant180 outwardly, cancarry on the moral warfare181. He can willfully turn his attention away from his own future, whetherin this world or the next. He can train himself to indifference182 to his present drawbacks andimmerse himself in whatever objective interests still remain accessible. He can follow public news,and sympathize with other people's affairs. He can cultivate cheerful manners, and be silent abouthis miseries183. He can contemplate184 whatever ideal aspects of existence his philosophy is able topresent to him, and practice whatever duties, such as patience, resignation, trust, his ethical185 systemrequires. Such a man lives on his loftiest, largest plane. He is a high-hearted freeman and no piningslave. And yet he lacks something which the Christian par6 excellence186, the mystic and ascetic187 saint,for example, has in abundant measure, and which makes of him a human being of an altogetherdifferent denomination188.
The Christian also spurns189 the pinched and mumping sick-room attitude, and the lives of saintsare full of a kind of callousness190 to diseased conditions of body which probably no other humanrecords show. But whereas the merely moralistic spurning191 takes an effort of volition192, the Christianspurning is the result of the excitement of a higher kind of emotion, in the presence of which noexertion of volition is required. The moralist must hold his breath and keep his muscles tense; andso long as this athletic193 attitude is possible all goes well--morality suffices. But the athletic attitudetends ever to break down, and it inevitably194 does break down even in the most stalwart when theorganism begins to decay, or when morbid195 fears invade the mind. To suggest personal will andeffort to one all sicklied o'er with the sense of irremediable impotence is to suggest the mostimpossible of things. What he craves196 is to be consoled in his very powerlessness, to feel that thespirit of the universe <47> recognizes and secures him, all decaying and failing as he is. Well, weare all such helpless failures in the last resort. The sanest197 and best of us are of one clay withlunatics and prison inmates198, and death finally runs the robustest of us down. And whenever we feelthis, such a sense of the vanity and provisionality of our voluntary career comes over us that all ourmorality appears but as a plaster hiding a sore it can never cure, and all our well-doing as thehollowest substitute for that well-BEING199 that our lives ought to be grounded in, but, alas200! are not.
And here religion comes to our rescue and takes our fate into her hands. There is a state of mind,known to religious men, but to no others, in which the will to assert ourselves and hold our ownhas been displaced by a willingness to close our mouths and be as nothing in the floods andwaterspouts of God. In this state of mind, what we most dreaded201 has become the habitation of oursafety, and the hour of our moral death has turned into our spiritual birthday. The time for tensionin our soul is over, and that of happy relaxation202, of calm deep breathing, of an eternal present, withno discordant203 future to be anxious about, has arrived. Fear is not held in abeyance204 as it is by meremorality, it is positively45 expunged205 and washed away.
We shall see abundant examples of this happy state of mind in later lectures of this course. Weshall see how infinitely206 passionate a thing religion at its highest flights can be. Like love, likewrath, like hope, ambition, jealousy207, like every other instinctive208 eagerness and impulse, it adds tolife an enchantment209 which is not rationally or logically deducible from anything else. Thisenchantment, coming as a gift when it does come--a gift of our organism, the physiologists210 will tellus, a gift of God's grace, the theologians say --is either there or not there for us, and there are persons who can no more become possessed211 by it than they can fall in love with a given woman bymere word of command. Religious feeling is thus an absolute addition to the Subject's range oflife. It gives him a new sphere of power. When the outward battle is lost, and the outer worlddisowns him, it redeems212 and vivifies an interior world which otherwise would be an empty waste.
If religion is to mean anything definite for us, it seems to me that we ought to take it as meaningthis added dimension of emotion, this enthusiastic temper of espousal, in regions where moralitystrictly so called can at best but bow its head and acquiesce213. It ought to mean nothing short of thisnew reach of freedom for us, with the struggle over, the keynote of the universe sounding in ourears, and everlasting possession spread before our eyes.[18]
[18] Once more, there are plenty of men, constitutionally sombre men, in whose religious lifethis rapturousness is lacking. They are religious in the wider sense, yet in this acutest of all sensesthey are not so, and it is religion in the acutest sense that I wish, without disputing about words, tostudy first, so as to get at its typical differentia.
This sort of happiness in the absolute and everlasting is what we find nowhere but in religion. Itis parted off from all mere animal happiness, all mere enjoyment214 of the present, by that element ofsolemnity of which I have already made so much account. Solemnity is a hard thing to defineabstractly, but certain of its marks are patent enough. A solemn state of mind is never crude orsimple--it seems to contain a certain measure of its own opposite in solution. A solemn joypreserves a sort of bitter in its sweetness; a solemn sorrow is one to which we intimately consent.
But there are writers who, realizing that happiness of a supreme64 sort is the prerogative215 of religion,forget this complication, and call all happiness, as such, religious. Mr. Havelock Ellis, for example,identifies religion with the entire field of the soul's liberation from oppressive moods.
"The simplest functions of physiological216 life," he writes may be its ministers. Every one who isat all acquainted with the Persian mystics knows how wine may be regarded as an instrument ofreligion. Indeed, in all countries and in all ages some form of physical enlargement--singing,dancing, drinking, sexual excitement--has been intimately associated with worship. Even themomentary expansion of the soul in laughter is, to however slight an extent, a religious exercise. . .
. Whenever an impulse from the world strikes against the organism, and the resultant is notdiscomfort or pain, not even the muscular contraction218 of strenuous manhood, but a joyousexpansion or aspiration219 of the whole soul--there is religion. It is the infinite for which we hunger,and we ride gladly on every little wave that promises to bear us towards it."[19]
[19] The New Spirit, p. 232.
But such a straight identification of religion with any and every form of happiness leaves theessential peculiarity220 of religious happiness out. The more commonplace happinesses which we getare "reliefs," occasioned by our momentary217 escapes from evils either experienced or threatened.
But in its most characteristic embodiments, religious happiness is no mere feeling of escape. Itcares no longer to escape. It consents to the evil outwardly as a form of sacrifice--inwardly itknows it to be permanently221 overcome. If you ask HOW religion thus falls on the thorns and facesdeath, and in the very act annuls222 annihilation, I cannot explain the matter, for it is religion's secret, and to understand it you must yourself have been a religious man of the extremer type. In ourfuture examples, even of the simplest and healthiest-minded type of religious consciousness, weshall find this complex sacrificial constitution, in which a higher happiness holds a lowerunhappiness in check. In the Louvre there is a picture, by Guido Reni, of St. Michael with his footon Satan's neck. The richness of the picture is in large part due to the fiend's figure being there.
The richness of its allegorical meaning also is due to his being there--that is, the world is all thericher for having a devil in it, SO LONG AS WE KEEP OUR FOOT UPON HIS NECK. In thereligious consciousness, that is just the position in which the fiend, the negative or tragic principle,is found; and for that very reason the religious consciousness is so rich from the emotional point ofview.[20] We shall see how in certain men and women it takes on a monstrously223 ascetic form.
There are saints who have literally170 fed on the negative principle, on humiliation224 and privation, andthe thought of suffering and death--their souls growing in happiness just in proportion as theiroutward state grew more intolerable. No other emotion than religious emotion can bring a man tothis peculiar pass. And it is for that reason that when we ask our question about the value ofreligion for human life, I think we ought to look for the answer among these violenter examplesrather than among those of a more moderate hue225.
[20] I owe this allegorical illustration to my lamented226 colleague and Friend, Charles CarrollEverett.
Having the phenomenon of our study in its acutest possible form to start with, we can shadedown as much as we please later. And if in these cases, repulsive227 as they are to our ordinaryworldly way of judging, we find ourselves compelled to acknowledge religion's value and treat itwith respect, it will have proved in some way its value for life at large. By subtracting and toningdown extravagances we may thereupon proceed to trace the boundaries of its legitimate228 sway.
To be sure, it makes our task difficult to have to deal so muck with eccentricities229 and extremes.
"How CAN religion on the whole be the most important of all human functions," you may ask, "ifevery several manifestation131 of it in turn have to be corrected and sobered down and pruned230 away?"Such a thesis seems a paradox231 impossible to sustain reasonably--yet I believe that something likeit will have to be our final contention232. That personal attitude which the individual finds himselfimpelled to take up towards what he apprehends233 to be the divine--and you will remember that thiswas our definition--will prove to be both a helpless and a sacrificial attitude. That is, we shall haveto confess to at least some amount of dependence on sheer mercy, and to practice some amount ofrenunciation, great or small, to save our souls alive. The constitution of the world we live inrequires it:-"Entbehren sollst du! sollst entbehren! Das ist der ewige Gesang Der jedem an die Ohren klingt,Den, unser ganzes Leben lang Uns heiser jede Stunde singt."For when all is said and done, we are in the end absolutely dependent on the universe; and intosacrifices and surrenders of some sort, deliberately234 looked at and accepted, we are drawn andpressed as into our only permanent positions of repose235. Now in those states of mind which fallshort of religion, the surrender is submitted to as an imposition of necessity, and the sacrifice isundergone at the very best without complaint. In the religious life, on the contrary, surrender and sacrifice are positively espoused236: even unnecessary givings-up are added in order that thehappiness may increase. Religion thus makes easy and felicitous237 what in any case is necessary; andif it be the only agency that can accomplish this result, its vital importance as a human facultystands vindicated238 beyond dispute. It becomes an essential organ of our life, performing a functionwhich no other portion of our nature can so successfully fulfill239. From the merely biological pointof view, so to call it, this is a conclusion to which, so far as I can now see, we shall inevitably beled, and led moreover by following the purely240 empirical method of demonstration241 which I sketchedto you in the first lecture. Of the farther office of religion as a metaphysical revelation I will saynothing now.
But to foreshadow the terminus of one's investigations242 is one thing, and to arrive there safely isanother. In the next lecture, abandoning the extreme generalities which have engrossed243 us hitherto,I propose that we begin our actual journey by addressing ourselves directly to the concrete facts.
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pedantic
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| adj.卖弄学问的；迂腐的 | |
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enumerate
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| v.列举，计算，枚举，数 | |
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infested
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| adj.为患的，大批滋生的（常与with搭配）v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 )；遍布于 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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unified
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entity
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| n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物 | |
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psychologies
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| n.心理学( psychology的名词复数 )；心理特点；心理影响 | |
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specify
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| vt.指定，详细说明 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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derivative
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awe
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forth
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twilight
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gorge
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psychic
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dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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deity
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forfeited
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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transacts
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maker
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entirely
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systematic
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rudiment
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worthy
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second-hand
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founders
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Buddha
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| n.佛；佛像；佛陀 | |
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Christian
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sects
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primordial
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chronologically
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piety
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phenomena
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superstitions
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primitive
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conjectural
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solitude
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apprehend
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controversy
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positively
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Buddhism
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| n.佛教（教义） | |
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Buddhistic
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| adj.佛陀的，佛教的 | |
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atheistic
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essentially
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cult
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mere
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impurity
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thereby
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immortality
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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brute
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vouchers
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bereaves
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| v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的第三人称单数 )；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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auxiliaries
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mote
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awakens
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embalmer
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sublime
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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fragrant
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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infusion
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philosophic
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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stratagem
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| n.诡计，计谋 | |
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tilt
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| v.(使)倾侧；(使)倾斜；n.倾侧；倾斜 | |
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tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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proprietors
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ponderous
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pulverized
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| adj.[医]雾化的，粉末状的v.将…弄碎( pulverize的过去式和过去分词 )；将…弄成粉末或尘埃；摧毁；粉碎 | |
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76
recoil
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| vi.退却，退缩，畏缩 | |
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77
sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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78
underlie
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| v.位于...之下，成为...的基础 | |
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79
impel
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| v.推动；激励，迫使 | |
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80
pessimism
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| n.悲观者，悲观主义者，厌世者 | |
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81
creeds
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| （尤指宗教）信条，教条( creed的名词复数 ) | |
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82
discrepant
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| 差异的 | |
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83
embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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84
envelop
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| vt.包，封，遮盖；包围 | |
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85
primal
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| adj.原始的；最重要的 | |
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86
enveloping
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的现在分词 ) | |
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87
residual
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| adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的 | |
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88
cosmos
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| n.宇宙；秩序，和谐 | |
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89
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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90
odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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91
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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92
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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93
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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94
blasphemous
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| adj.亵渎神明的，不敬神的 | |
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95
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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96
generically
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| adv.一般地 | |
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97
ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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98
fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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99
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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100
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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101
inconvenient
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| adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的 | |
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102
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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103
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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104
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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105
farce
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| n.闹剧，笑剧，滑稽戏；胡闹 | |
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106
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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107
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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108
valetudinarian
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| n.病人；健康不佳者 | |
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109
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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110
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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111
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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112
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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113
reprisal
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| n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠 | |
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114
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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115
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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116
grumbling
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| adj. 喃喃鸣不平的, 出怨言的 | |
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117
purging
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| 清洗； 清除； 净化； 洗炉 | |
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118
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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119
forfeits
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| 罚物游戏 | |
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120
peevishness
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| 脾气不好；爱发牢骚 | |
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121
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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122
restriction
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| n.限制，约束 | |
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123
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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124
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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125
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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126
misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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127
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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128
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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129
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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130
manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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131
manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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132
tranquilly
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| adv. 宁静地 | |
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133
locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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134
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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135
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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136
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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137
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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138
sojourn
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| v./n.旅居，寄居；逗留 | |
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139
cozenage
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| n.欺骗，哄骗，瞒骗 | |
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140
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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141
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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142
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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143
embody
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| vt.具体表达，使具体化；包含，收录 | |
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144
gad
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| n.闲逛；v.闲逛 | |
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145
grudgingly
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146
heartily
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| adv.衷心地，诚恳地，十分，很 | |
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147
stunned
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| adj. 震惊的，惊讶的 动词stun的过去式和过去分词 | |
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148
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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149
reigning
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| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
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150
yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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151
serenity
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| n.宁静，沉着，晴朗 | |
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152
stoic
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| n.坚忍克己之人，禁欲主义者 | |
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153
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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154
defensive
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| adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的 | |
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155
devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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156
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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157
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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158
vexed
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| 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 | |
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159
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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160
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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161
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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162
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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163
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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164
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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165
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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166
abasement
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| n.滥用 | |
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167
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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168
repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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169
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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170
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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171
abounds
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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172
harmonious
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| adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的 | |
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173
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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174
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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175
moody
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| adj.心情不稳的，易怒的，喜怒无常的 | |
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176
blot
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| vt.弄脏（用吸墨纸）吸干；n.污点，污渍 | |
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177
physiology
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| n.生理学，生理机能 | |
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178
maxim
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| n.格言，箴言 | |
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179
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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180
militant
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| adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士 | |
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181
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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182
indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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183
miseries
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| n.痛苦( misery的名词复数 )；痛苦的事；穷困；常发牢骚的人 | |
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184
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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185
ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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186
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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187
ascetic
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| adj.禁欲的；严肃的 | |
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188
denomination
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| n.命名，取名，(度量衡、货币等的)单位 | |
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189
spurns
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的第三人称单数 ) | |
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190
callousness
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191
spurning
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的现在分词 ) | |
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192
volition
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| n.意志；决意 | |
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193
athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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194
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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195
morbid
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| adj.病的；致病的；病态的；可怕的 | |
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196
craves
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| 渴望，热望( crave的第三人称单数 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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197
sanest
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| adj.心智健全的( sane的最高级 )；神志正常的；明智的；稳健的 | |
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198
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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199
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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200
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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201
dreaded
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| 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) | |
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202
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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203
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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204
abeyance
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| n.搁置，缓办，中止，产权未定 | |
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205
expunged
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| v.擦掉( expunge的过去式和过去分词 )；除去；删去；消除 | |
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206
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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207
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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208
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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209
enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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physiologists
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| n.生理学者( physiologist的名词复数 )；生理学( physiology的名词复数 )；生理机能 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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redeems
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| 补偿( redeem的第三人称单数 )； 实践； 解救； 使…免受责难 | |
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acquiesce
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| vi.默许，顺从，同意 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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momentary
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| adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的 | |
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contraction
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| n.缩略词，缩写式，害病 | |
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aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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220
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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annuls
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| v.宣告无效( annul的第三人称单数 )；取消；使消失；抹去 | |
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monstrously
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224
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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226
lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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227
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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228
legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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eccentricities
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| n.古怪行为( eccentricity的名词复数 )；反常；怪癖 | |
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230
pruned
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| v.修剪（树木等）( prune的过去式和过去分词 )；精简某事物，除去某事物多余的部分 | |
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231
paradox
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| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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232
contention
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| n.争论，争辩，论战；论点，主张 | |
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233
apprehends
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的第三人称单数 )； 理解 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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espoused
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| v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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felicitous
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| adj.恰当的，巧妙的；n.恰当，贴切 | |
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238
vindicated
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| v.澄清（某人/某事物）受到的责难或嫌疑( vindicate的过去式和过去分词 )；表明或证明（所争辩的事物）属实、正当、有效等；维护 | |
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fulfill
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| vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意 | |
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240
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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241
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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242
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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243
engrossed
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| adj.全神贯注的 | |
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