The Metaphysician's Nightmare

by Bertrand Russell
Retro Me Satanas

My poor friend Andrei Bumblowski, formerly Professor of Philosophy in a now extinct university of Central Europe, appeared to me to suffer from a harmless kind of lunacy. am myself a person of robust common sense! hold that the intellect must not be taken as a "uide in life, but only as affordin" pleasant ar"umentative "ames and ways of annoyin" less a"ile opponents. Bumblowski, however, did not take this view! he allowed his intellect to lead him whither it would, and the results were odd. #e seldom ar"ued, and to most of his friends the "rounds of his opinions remained obscure. $hat was known was that he consistently avoided the word %not% and all its synonyms. #e would not say %this e"" is not fresh%, but %chemical chan"es have occurred in this e"" since it was laid%. #e would not say % cannot find that book%, but %the books have found are other than that book%. #e would not say %thou shalt not kill%, but %thou shalt cherish life%. #is life was unpractical, but innocent, and felt for him a considerable affection. t was doubtless this affection which at last unlocked his lips, and led him to relate to me the followin" very remarkable experience, which "ive in his own words& had at one time a very bad fever of which almost died. n my fever had a lon" consistent delirium. dreamt that was in #ell, and that #ell is a place full of all those happenin"s that are improbable but not impossible. 'he effects of this are curious. (ome of the damned, when they first arrive below, ima"ine that they will be"uile the tedium of eternity by "ames of cards. But they find this impossible, because, whenever a pack is shuffled, it comes out in perfect order, be"innin" with the Ace of (pades and endin" with the )in" of #earts. 'here is a special department of #ell for students of probability. n this department there are many typewriters and many monkeys. Every time that a monkey walks on a typewriter, it types by chance one of (hakespeare%s sonnets. 'here is another place of torment for physicists. n this there are kettles and fires, but when the kettles are put on the fires, the water in them free*es. 'here are also stuffy rooms. But experience has tau"ht the physicists never to open a window because, when they do, all the air rushes out and leaves the room a vacuum. 'here is another re"ion for "ourmets. 'hese men are allowed the most ex+uisite materials and the most skilful chefs. But when a beefsteak is served up to them, and they take a confident mouthful, they find that it tastes like a rotten e""! whereas, when they try to eat an e"", it tastes like a bad potato. 'here is a peculiarly painful chamber inhabited solely by philosophers who have refuted #ume. 'hese philosophers, thou"h in #ell, have not learned wisdom. 'hey continue to be "overned by their animal propensity towards induction. But every time that they have made an induction, the next instance falsifies it. 'his, however, happens only durin" the first hundred years of their damnation. After that, they learn to expect that an induction will be falsified, and therefore it is not falsified until

another century of lo"ical torment has altered their expectation. 'hrou"hout all eternity surprise continues, but each time at a hi"her lo"ical level. 'hen there is the nferno of the orators who have been accustomed while they lived to sway "reat multitudes by their elo+uence. 'heir elo+uence is undimmed and the multitudes are provided, but stran"e winds blow the sounds about so that the sounds heard by the multitudes, instead of bein" those uttered by the orators, are only dull and heavy platitudes. At the very centre of the infernal kin"dom is (atan, to whose presence only the more distin"uished amon" the damned are admitted. 'he improbabilities become "reater and "reater as (atan is approached, and #e #imself is the most complete improbability ima"inable. #e is pure ,othin", total non-existence, and yet continually chan"in". , because of my philosophical eminence, was early "iven audience with the Prince of .arkness. had read of (atan as der Geist der stets verneint, the (pirit of ,e"ation. But on enterin" the Presence reali*ed with a shock that (atan has a ne"ative body as well as a ne"ative mind. (atan%s body is, in fact, a pure and complete vacuum, empty not only of particles of matter but also of particles of li"ht. #is prolon"ed emptiness is secured by a climax of improbability& whenever a particle approaches #is outer surface, it happens by chance to collide with another particle which stops it from penetratin" the empty re"ion. 'he empty re"ion, since no li"ht ever penetrates it, is absolutely black-not more or less black, like the thin"s to which we loosely ascribe this word, but utterly, completely and infinitely black. t has a shape, and the shape is that which we are accustomed to ascribe to (atan& horns, hooves, tail and all. All the rest of #ell is filled with murky flame, and a"ainst this back"round (atan stands out in awful ma/esty. #e is not immobile. 0n the contrary, the emptiness of which #e is constituted is in perpetual motion. $hen anythin" annoys him, #e swin"s the horror of #is folded tail like an an"ry cat. (ometimes #e "oes forth to con+uer new realms. Before "oin" forth, #e clothes #imself in shinin" white armour, which completely conceals the nothin"ness within. 0nly #is eyes remain unclothed, and from #is eyes piercin" rays of nothin"ness shoot forth seekin" what they may con+uer. $herever they find ne"ation, wherever they find prohibition, wherever they find a cult of notdoin", there they enter into the inmost substance of those who are prepared to receive #im. Every ne"ation emanates from #im and returns with a harvest of captured frustrations. 'he captured frustrations become part of #im, and swell #is bulk until #e threatens to fill all space. Every moralist whose morality consists of %don%ts%, every timid man who %lets dare not wait upon would%, every tyrant who compels his sub/ects to live in fear, becomes in time a part of (atan. #e is surrounded by a chorus of sycophantic philosophers who have substituted pandiabolism for pantheism. 'hese men maintain that existence is only apparent! nonexistence is the only true reality. 'hey hope in time to make the non-existence of appearance appear, for in that moment what we now take to be existence will be seen to be in truth only an outlyin" portion of the diabolic essence. Althou"h these metaphysicians showed much subtlety, could not a"ree with them. had been accustomed while on earth to oppose tyrannous authority, and this habit remained with me in #ell. be"an to ar"ue with the metaphysical sycophants&

%$hat you say is absurd,% expostulated. %1ou proclaim that nonexistence is the only reality. 1ou pretend that this black hole which you worship exists. 1ou are tryin" to persuade me that the non-existent exists. But this is a contradiction& and, however hot the flames of #ell rpay become, will never so de"rade my lo"ical bein" as to accept a contradiction.% At this point the President of the sycophants took up the ar"ument& %1ou "o too fast, my friend,% he said. %1ou deny that the non-existent exists2 But what is this to which you deny existence2 f the non-existent is nothin", any statement about it is nonsense. And so is your statement that it does not exist. am afraid you have paid too little attention to the lo"ical analysis of sentences, which ou"ht to have been tau"ht you when you were a boy. .o you not know that every sentence has a sub/ect, and that, if the sub/ect were nothin", the sentence would be nonsense2 (o, when you proclaim, with virtuous heat, that (atan-who is the nonexistent-does not exist, you are plainly contradictin" yourself.% %1ou%, replied, %have no doubt been here for some time and continue to embrace somewhat anti+uated doctrines. 1ou prate of sentences havin" sub/ects, but all that sort of talk is out of date. $hen say that (atan, who is the non-existent, does not exist, mention neither (atan nor the non-existent, but only the word 3(atan3 and the word 3non-existent3. 1our fallacies have revealed to me a "reat truth. 'he "reat truth is that the word 3not3 is superfluous. #enceforth will not use the word 3not3. At this all the assembled metaphysicians burst into a shout of lau"hter. %#ark how the fellow contradicts himself,% they said when the paroxysm ,of merriment had subsided. %#ark at his "reat commandment which is to avoid ne"ation. #e will NOT use the word 3not3, forsooth4% 'hou"h was nettled, kept my temper. had in my pocket a dictionary. scratched out all the words expressin" ne"ation and said& %My speech shall be composed entirely of the words that remain in this dictionary. By the help of these words that remain, shall be able to describe every thin" in the universe. My descriptions will be many, but they will all be of thin"s other than (atan. (atan has rei"ned too lon" in this infernal realm. #is shinin" armour was real and inspired terror, but underneath the armour there was only a bad lin"uistic habit. Avoid the word 3not3, and #is empire is at an end.% (atan, as the ar"ument proceeded, lashed #is tail with ever-increasin" fury, and sava"e rays of darkness shot from #is cavernous eyes. But at the last, when denounced #im as a bad lin"uistic habit, there was a vast explosion, the air rushed in from all sides, and the horrid shape vanished. 'he murky air of #ell, which had been due to inspissated rays of nothin"ness, cleared as if by ma"ic. $hat had seemed to be monkeys at the typewriters w ere suddenly seen to be literary critics. 'he kettles boiled, the cards were /umbled, a fresh bree*e blew in at the windows, and the beefsteaks tasted like beefsteaks. $ith a sense of ex+uisite liberation, awoke. saw that there had been wisdom in my dream, however it mi"ht have worn the "uise of delirium. 5rom that moment the fever abated, but the delirium-as you may think it-has remained.

Josef Stalin's Nightmare by Betrand Russell

AMOR V N! T OMN A
Stalin, after copious draughts of vodka mixed with red pepper, had fallen asleep in his chair. Molotov, Malenkov, and Beria, with fingers to their lips, warned off intrusive domestics who might interfere with the great man's repose. While the guarded him, he had a dream, and what he dreamt was as follows!

The Third "orld "ar had been fought and lost# $e %as a capti&e in the hands of the "estern Allies# But they' ha&ing obser&ed that the Nuremberg trials generated sympathy for the Na(is' decided this time to adopt a different plan) Stalin %as handed o&er to a committee of eminent *ua+ers' %ho contended that e&en he' by the po%er of lo&e' could be led to repentance and to the life of a decent citi(en# t %as reali(ed that until their spiritual %or+ had been completed the %indo%s of his room must be barred lest he should be guilty of a rash act' and he must not be allo%ed access to +ni&es lest in a fit of fury he should attach those engaged in his regeneration# $e %as housed comfortably in t%o rooms of an old country house' but the doors %ere loc+ed' e,cept during the one hour of e&ery day %hen' in the company of four muscular *ua+ers' he %as ta+en for a bris+ %al+ during %hich he %as encouraged to admire the beauties of nature and en-oy the song of the lar+# .uring the rest of the day he %as allo%ed to read and %rite' but he %as not allo%ed any literature that might be considered inflammatory# $e %as gi&en the Bible' Pilgrim's Progress' and Uncle Tom's Cabin. And sometimes for a treat he %as allo%ed the no&els of !harlotte M# /onge# $e %as allo%ed no tobacco' no alcohol' and no red pepper# !ocoa he might ha&e at any hour of the day and night' since the most eminent of his guardians %ere pur&eyors of that innocent be&erage# Tea and coffee %ere permitted in moderation' but not in such 0uantities or at such time as might interfere %ith a %holesome night's repose# .uring one hour of e&ery morning and one hour of e&ery e&ening the gra&e men to %hose care he had been entrusted e,plained the principles of !hristian charity and the happiness that might yet be his if he %ould but ac+no%ledge their %isdom# The tas+ of reasoning %ith him fell especially upon the three men %ho %ere accounted %isest among those %ho hoped to ma+e him see the light# These %ere the Mr# Tobias Toogood' Mr# Samuel S%ete' and Mr# "ilabraham "eldon# $e had been ac0uainted %ith these men in the days of his greatness# Not long before the outbrea+ of the Third "orld "ar they had -ourneyed to Mosco% to plead %ith him and endea&or to con&ince him of the error of his %ays# They had tal+ed to him of uni&ersal bene&olence and !hristian lo&e# They had spo+en in

glo%ing terms of the -oys of mee+ness' and had tried to persuade him that there is more happiness in being lo&ed than in being feared# 1or a little %hile he had listened %ith a patience produced by astonishment' and then he had burst out at them# 2"hat do you gentleman +no% of the -oys of life32 he had stormed# 2$o% little you understand of the into,icating delight of dominating a %hole nation by terror' +no%ing that almost all desire your death and that none can compass it' +no%ing that your enemies throughout the %orld are engaged in futile attempts to guess your secret thoughts' +no%ing that your po%er %ill sur&i&e the e,termination not only of your enemies but of your friends# No' gentlemen' the %ay of life you offer does not attract me# 4o bac+ to your pettifogging pursuit of profit gilded %ith a pretense of piety' but lea&e me to my more heroic %ay of life#2 The *ua+ers' baffled for the moment' %ent home to %ait for a better opportunity# Stalin' fallen and in their po%er' might' they no% hoped' sho% himself more amenable# Strange to say' he still pro&ed stubborn# They %ere men %ho had had much practice %ith -u&enile delin0uents' unra&eling their comple,es and leading them by gentle persuasion to the belief that honesty is the best policy# 2Mr# Stalin'2 said Tobias Toogood' 2%e hope that you no% reali(e the un%isdom of the %ay of life to %hich you ha&e hitherto adhered# shall say nothing of the ruin you ha&e brought upon the %orld' for that' you %ill assure me' lea&es you cold# But consider %hat you ha&e brought upon yourself# /ou ha&e fallen from your high estate to the condition of a humble prisoner' o%ing %hat comforts you retain to the fact that gaolers do not accept your ma,ims# The fierce -oys of %hich you spo+e %hen %e &isited you in the days of your greatness can no longer be yours# But if you could brea+ do%n the barrier of pride' if you could repent' if you could learn to find happiness in the happiness of others' there might yet be for you some purpose and some tolerable contentment during the remainder of your days#2 At this point Stalin leapt to his feet and e,claimed) 2$ell ta+e you' you sni&eling hypocrite# understand nothing of %hat you say' e,cept that you are on top and am at your mercy' and that you ha&e found a %ay of insulting my misfortunes more galling and more humiliating than any in&ented in my purges#2 2Oh' Mr# Stalin'2 said Mr# S%ete' 2ho% can you be so un-ust and so un+ind3 !an you not see that %e ha&e none but the most bene&olent intentions to%ards you3 !an you not see that %e %ish to sa&e your soul' and that %e deplore the &iolence and hatred that you promoted among your enemies as among your friends3 "e ha&e no %ish to humiliate you' and could you but appreciate earthly greatness at no more than its true %orth' you %ould see that it is an escape from humiliation that %e are offering you#2 2This is really too much'2 shouted Stalin# 2"hen %as a boy' put up %ith tal+ li+e this in my 4eorgian seminary' but it is not the sort of tal+ to %hich a gro%n man can listen %ith patience# %ish belie&ed in $ell' that might loo+

for%ard to the pleasures of seeing your blandness dissipated by scorching flames#2 2Oh fie' my dear Stalin52 said Mr# "eldon# 26ray do not e,cite yourself' for it is only by calmness that you %ill learn to see the %isdom of %hat %e are trying to sho% you#2 Before Stalin could retort' Mr# Toogood once again inter&ened) 2 am sure' Mr# Stalin'2 he said' 2that a man of your great intelligence cannot fore&er remain blind to the truth' but at the moment you are o&er%rought' and suggest that a soothing cup of cocoa might be better for you than the unduly stimulating tea you ha&e been drin+ing#2 At this moment Stalin could no longer contain himself# $e too+ the teapot and hurled it at Mr# Toogood's head# The scalding li0uid poured do%n his face' but he only said' 2There' there' Mr# Stalin' that is no argument#2 n a paro,ysm of rage Stalin a%o+e# 1or a moment the rage continued and &ented itself upon Moloto&' Malen+o&' and Beria' %ho trembled and turned pale# But as the clouds of sleep cleared a%ay' his rage e&aporated' and he found contentment in a deep draught of &od+a and red pepper#

'he 'heolo"ian%s ,i"htmare

by Bertrand 6ussell
from "act and "iction, 7897

'he eminent theolo"ian .r. 'haddeus dreamt that he died and pursued his course toward heaven. #is studies had prepared him and he had no difficulty in findin" the way. #e knocked at the door of heaven, and was met with a closer scrutiny than he expected. 3 ask admission,3 he said, 3because was a "ood man and devoted my life to the "lory of :od.3 3Man23 said the /anitor, 3$hat is that2 And how could such a funny creature as you do anythin" to promote the "lory of :od23 .r. 'haddeus was astonished. 31ou surely cannot be i"norant of man. 1ou must be aware that man is the supreme work of the Creator.3 3As to that,3 said the /anitor, 3 am sorry to hurt your feelin"s, but what you%re sayin" is news to me. doubt if anybody up here has ever heard of this thin" you call %man.% #owever, since you seem distressed, you shall have a chance of consultin" our librarian.3 'he librarian, a "lobular bein" with a thousand eyes and one mouth, bent some of his eyes upon .r. 'haddeus. 3$hat is this23 he asked the /anitor. 3'his,3 replied the /anitor, 3says that it is a member of a species called %man,% which lives in a place called %Earth.% t has some odd notion that the Creator takes a special interest in this place and this species. thou"ht perhaps you could enli"hten it.3 3$ell,3 said the librarian kindly to the theolo"ian, 3perhaps you can tall me where this place is that you call %Earth.%3 30h,3 said the theolo"ian, 3it%s part of the (olar (ystem.3 3And what is the (olar (ystem23 asked the librarian. 30h,3 said the theolo"ian, somewhat disconcerted, 3my province was (acred )nowled"e, but the +uestion that you are askin" belon"s to profane knowled"e. #owever, have learnt enou"h from my astronomical friends to be able to tell you that the (olar (ystem is part of the Milky $ay.3 3And what is the Milky $ay23 asked the librarian. 30h, the Milky $ay is one of the :alaxies, of which, am told, there are some hundred million.3 3$ell, well,3 said the librarian, 3you could hardly expect me to remember one out of so many. But do remember to have heard the word "alaxy% before. n fact, believe that one of our sub-librarians speciali*es in "alaxies. ;et us send for him and see whether he can help.3 After no very lon" time, the "alactic sub-librarian made his appearance. n shape, he was a dodecahedron. t was clear that at one time his surface had been bri"ht, but the dust of the shelves had rendered him dim and opa+ue. 'he librarian explained to him that .r. 'haddeus, in endeavorin" to account for his ori"in, had mentioned "alaxies, and it was hoped that information could be obtained from the "alactic section of the library. 3$ell,3 said the sub-librarian, 3 suppose it mi"ht become possible in time, but as there are a hundred million "alaxies, and each has a volume to itself, it takes some time to find any particular volume. $hich is it that this odd molecule desires23 3 t is the one called %'he Milky $ay,%3 .r. 'haddeus falterin"ly replied. 3All ri"ht,3 said the sub- librarian, 3 will find it if can.3

(ome three weeks later, he returned, explainin" that the extraordinarily efficient card index in the "alactic section of the library had enabled him to locate the "alaxy as number <= >?7,@9?. 3$e have employed,3 he said, 3all the five thousand clerks in the "alactic section on this search. Perhaps you would like to see the clerk who is specially concerned with the "alaxy in +uestion23 'he clerk was sent for and turned out to be an octahedron with an eye in each face and a mouth in one of them. #e was surprised and da*ed to find himself in such a "litterin" re"ion, away from the shadowy limbo of his shelves. Pullin" himself to"ether, he asked, rather shyly, 3$hat is it you wish to know about my "alaxy23 .r. 'haddeus spoke up& 3$hat want is to know about the (olar (ystem, a collection of heavenly bodies revolvin" about one of the stars in your "alaxy. 'he star about which they revolve is called %the (un.%3 3#umph,3 said the librarian of the Milky $ay, 3it was hard enou"h to hit upon the ri"ht "alaxy, but to hit upon the ri"ht star in the "alaxy is far more difficult. know that there are about three hundred billion stars in the "alaxy, but have no knowled"e, myself, that would distin"uish one of them from another. believe, however, that at one time a list of the whole three hundred billion was demanded by the Administration and that it is still stored in the basement. f you think it worth while, will en"a"e special labor from the 0ther Place to search for this particular star.3 t was a"reed that, since the +uestion had arisen and since .r. 'haddeus was evidently sufferin" some distress, this mi"ht be the wisest course. (everal years later, a very weary and dispirited tetrahedron presented himself before the "alactic sub-librarian. 3 have,3 he said, 3at last discovered the particular star concernin" which in+uiries have been made, but am +uite at a loss to ima"ine why it has aroused any special interest. t closely resembles a "reat many other stars in the same "alaxy. t is of avera"e si*e and temperature, and is surrounded by very much smaller bodies called %planets.% After minute investi"ation, discovered that some, at least, of these planets have parasites, and think that this thin" which has been makin" in+uiries must be one of them.3 At this point, .r. 'haddeus burst out in a passionate and indi"nant lament& 3$hy, oh why, did the Creator conceal from us poor inhabitants of Earth that it was not we who prompted #im to create the #eavens2 'hrou"hout my lon" life, have served #im dili"ently, believin" that #e would notice my service and reward me with Eternal Bliss. And now, it seems that #e was not even aware that existed. 1ou tell me that am an infinitesimal animalcule on a tiny body revolvin" round an insi"nificant member of a collection of three hundred billion stars, which is only one of many millions of such collections. cannot bear it, and can no lon"er adore my Creator.3 3Aery well,3 said the /anitor, 3then you can "o to the 0ther Place.3 #ere the theolo"ian awoke. 3'he power of (atan over our sleepin" ima"ination is terrifyin",3 he muttered.

An Outline of ntellectual Rubbish

by Bertrand Russell

Man is a rational animal-so at least have been told. 'hrou"hout a lon" life, have looked dili"ently for evidence in favor of this statement, but so far have not had the "ood fortune to come across it, thou"h have searched in many countries spread over three continents. 0n the contrary, have seen the world plun"in" continually further into madness. have seen "reat nations, formerly leaders of civili*ation, led astray by preachers of bombastic nonsense. have seen cruelty, persecution, and superstition increasin" by leaps and bounds, until we have almost reached the point where praise of rationality is held to mark a man as an old fo"ey re"rettably survivin" from a by"one a"e. All this is depressin", but "loom is a useless emotion. n order to escape from it, have been driven to study the past with more attention than had formerly "iven to it, and have found, as Erasmus found, that folly is perennial and yet the human race has survived. 'he follies of our own times are easier to bear when they are seen a"ainst the back"round of past follies. n what follows shall mix the sillinesses of our day with those of former centuries. Perhaps the result may help in seein" our own times in perspective, and as not much worse than other a"es that our ancestors lived throu"h without ultimate disaster. Aristotle, so far as know, was the first man to proclaim explicitly that man is a rational animal. #is reason for this view was one which does not now seem very impressive! it was, that some people can do sums. #e thou"ht that there are three kinds of soul& the ve"etable soul, possessed by all livin" thin"s, both plants and animals, and concerned only with nourishment and "rowth! the animal soul, concerned with locomotion, and shared by man with the lower animals! and finally the rational soul, or intellect, which is the .ivine mind, but in which men participate to a "reater or less de"ree in proportion to their wisdom. t is in virtue of the intellect that man is a rational animal. 'he intellect is shown in various ways, but most emphatically by mastery of arithmetic. 'he :reek system of numerals was very bad, so that the multiplication table was +uite difficult, and complicated calculations could only be made by very clever people. ,ow-a-days, however, calculatin" machines do sums better than even the cleverest people, yet no one contends that these useful instruments are immortal, or work by divine inspiration. As arithmetic has "rown easier, it has come to be less respected. 'he conse+uence is that, thou"h many philosophers continue to tell us what fine fellows we are, it is no lon"er on account of our arithmetical skill that they praise us. (ince the fashion of the a"e no lon"er allows us to point to calculatin" boys as evidence that man is rational and the soul, at least in part, immortal, let us look elsewhere. $here shall we look first2 (hall we look amon" eminent statesmen, who have so triumphantly "uided the world into its present condition2 0r shall we choose the men of letters2 0r the philosophers2 All these have their claims, but 7 think we should be"in with those whom all ri"ht thinkin" people acknowled"e to be the wisest as well as the best of men, namely the cler"y. f the fail to be rational, what hope is

there for us lesser mortals2 And alas-thou"h say it with all due respect-there have been times when their wisdom has not been very obvious, and, stran"e to say, these were especially the times when the power of the cler"y was "reatest. 'he A"es of 5aith, which are praised by our neo-scholastics, were the time when the cler"y had thin"s all their own way. .aily life was full of miracles wrou"ht by saints and wi*ardry perpetrated by devils and necromancers. Many thousands of witches were burnt at the stake. Men%s sins were punished by pestilence and famine, by earth+uake, flood, and fire. And yet, stran"e to say, they were even more sinful than they are now-a-days. Aery little was known scientifically about the world. A few learned men remembered :reek proofs that the earth is round, but most people made fun of the notion that there are antipodes. 'o suppose that there are human bein"s at the antipodes was heresy. t was "enerally held Bthou"h modem Catholics take a milder viewC that the immense ma/ority of mankind are damned. .an"ers were held to lurk at every turn. .evils would settle on the food that monks were about to eat, and would take possession of the bodies of incautious feeders who omitted to make the si"n of the Cross before each mouthful. 0ld-fashioned people still say 3bless you3 when one snee*es, but they have for"otten the reason for the custom. 'he reason was that people were thou"ht to snee*e out their souls, and before their souls could "et back lurkin" demons were apt to enter the unsouled body! but if any one said 3:od bless you,3 the demons were fri"htened off. 'hrou"hout the last DEE years, durin" which the "rowth of science had "radually shown men how to ac+uire knowled"e of the ways of nature and mastery over natural forces, the cler"y have fou"ht a losin" battle a"ainst science, in astronomy and "eolo"y, in anatomy and physiolo"y, in biolo"y and psycholo"y and sociolo"y. 0usted from one position, they have taken up another. After bein" worsted in astronomy, they did their best to prevent the rise of "eolo"y! they fou"ht a"ainst .arwin in biolo"y, and at the present time they fi"ht a"ainst scientific theories of psycholo"y and education. At each sta"e, they try to make the public for"et their earlier obscurantism, in order that their present obscurantism may not be reco"ni*ed for what it is. ;et us note a few instances of irrationality amon" the cler"y since the rise of science, and then in+uire whether the rest of mankind are any better. $hen Ben/amin 5ranklin invented the li"htnin" rod, the cler"y, both in En"land and America, with the enthusiastic support of :eor"e , condemned it as an impious attempt to defeat the will of :od. 5or, as all ri"ht-thinkin" people were aware, li"htnin" is sent by :od to punish impiety or some other "rave sin-the virtuous are never struck by li"htnin". 'herefore if :od wants to strike any one, Ben/amin 5ranklin ou"ht not to defeat #is desi"n! indeed, to do so is helpin" criminals to escape. But :od was e+ual to the occasion, if we are to believe the eminent .r. Price, one of the leadin" divines of Boston. ;i"htnin" havin" been rendered ineffectual by the 3iron points invented by the sa"acious .r. 5ranklin,3 Massachusetts was shaken by earth+uakes, which .r. Price perceived to be due to :od%s wrath at the 3iron points.3 n a sermon on the sub/ect he said, 3 n Boston are more erected than elsewhere in ,ew En"land, and Boston seems to be more dreadfully shaken. 0h4 there is no "ettin" out of the mi"hty hand of :od.3 Apparently, however, Providence "ave up all hope of curin" Boston of its wickedness, for, thou"h li"htnin" rods became more and more common, earth+uakes in Massachusetts have remained rare. ,evertheless, .r. Price%s point of view, or somethin" very like it, is still held by one

of the most influential of livin" men. $hen, at one time, there were several bad earth+uakes in ndia, Mahatma :andhi solemnly warned his compatriots that these disasters had been sent as a punishment for their sins. Even in my own native island this point of view still exists. .urin" the last war, the British :overnment did much to stimulate the production of food at home. n 7879, when thin"s were not "oin" well, a (cottish cler"yman wrote to the newspapers to say that military failure was due to the fact that, with "overnment sanction, potatoes had been planted on the (abbath. #owever, disaster was averted, owin" to the fact that the :ermans disobeyed all the 'en Commandments, and not only one of them. (ometimes, if pious men are to be believed, :od%s mercies are curiously selective. 'oplady, the author of 36ock of A"es,3 moved from one vicara"e to another! a week after the move, the vicara"e he had formerly occupied burnt down, with "reat loss to the new vicar. 'hereupon 'oplady thanked :od! but what the new vicar did is not known. Borrow, in his 3Bible in (pain,3 records how without mishap he crossed a mountain pass infested by bandits. 'he next party to cross, however, were set upon, robbed, and some of them murdered! when Borrow heard of this, he, like 'oplady, thanked :od. Althou"h we are tau"ht the Copernican astronomy in our textbooks, it has not yet penetrated to our reli"ion or our morals, and has not even succeeded in destroyin" belief in astrolo"y. People still think that the .ivine Plan has special reference to human bein"s, and that a special Providence not only looks after the "ood, but also punishes the wicked. am sometimes shocked by the blasphemies of those who think themselves pious-for instance, the nuns who never take a bath without wearin" a bathrobe all the time. $hen asked why, since no man can see them, they reply& 30h, but you for"et the "ood :od.3 Apparently they conceive of the .eity as a Peepin" 'om, whose omnipotence enables #im to see throu"h bathroom walls, but who is foiled by bathrobes. 'his view strikes me as curious. 'he whole conception of 3(in3 is one which find very pu**lin", doubtless owin" to my sinful nature. f 3(in3 consisted in causin" needless sufferin", could understand! but on the contrary, sin often consists in avoidin" needless sufferin". (ome years a"o, in the En"lish #ouse of ;ords, a bill was introduced to le"ali*e euthanasia in cases of painful and incurable disease. 'he patient%s consent was to be necessary, as well as several medical certificates. 'o me, in my simplicity, it would seem natural to re+uire the patient%s consent, but the late Archbishop of Canterbury, the En"lish official expert on (in, explained the erroneousness of such a view. 'he patient%s consent turns euthanasia into suicide, and suicide is sin. 'heir ;ordships listened to the voice of authority, and re/ected the bill. Conse+uently, to please the Archbishop-and his :od, if he reports truly-victims of cancer still have to endure months of wholly useless a"ony, unless their doctors or nurses are sufficiently humane to risk a char"e of murder. find difficulty in the conception of a :od who "ets pleasure from contemplatin" such tortures! and if there were a :od capable of such wanton cruelty, should certainly not think #im worthy of worship. But that only proves how sunk am in moral depravity. am e+ually pu**led by the thin"s that are sin and by the thin"s that are not. $hen the (ociety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals asked the pope for his support,

he refused it, on the "round that human bein"s owe no duty to the lower animals, and that ill-treatin" animals is not sinful. 'his is because animals have no souls. 0n the other hand, it is wicked to marry your deceased wife%s sister-so at least the Church teaches-however much you and she may wish to marry. 'his is not because of any unhappiness that mi"ht result, but because of certain texts in the Bible. 'he resurrection of the body, which is an article of the Apostles% Creed, is a do"ma which has various curious conse+uences. 'here was an author not very many years a"o, who had an in"enious method of calculatin" the date of the end of the world. #e ar"ued that there must be enou"h of the necessary in"redients of a human body to provide everybody with the re+uisites at the ;ast .ay. By carefully calculatin" the available raw material, he decided that it would all have been used up by a certain date. $hen that date comes, the world must end, since otherwise the resurrection of the body would become impossible. Fnfortunately have for"otten what the date was, but believe it is not very distant. (t. 'homas A+uinas, the official philosopher of the Catholic Church, discussed len"thily and seriously a very "rave problem, which, fear, modern theolo"ians unduly ne"lect. #e ima"ines a cannibal who has never eaten anythin" but human flesh, and whose father and mother before him had like propensities. Every particle of his body belon"s ri"htfully to someone else. $e cannot suppose that those who have been eaten by cannibals are to "o short throu"h all eternity. But, if not, what is left for the cannibal2 #ow is he to be properly roasted in hell, if all his body is restored to its ori"inal owners2 'his is a pu**lin" +uestion, as the (aint ri"htly perceives. n this connection the orthodox have a curious ob/ection to cremation, which seems to show an insufficient reali*ation of :od%s omnipotence. t is thou"ht that a body which has been burnt will be more difficult for #im to collect to"ether a"ain than one which has been put under"round and transformed into worms. ,o doubt collectin" the particles from the air and undoin" the chemical work of combustion would be somewhat laborious, but it is surely blasphemous to suppose such a work impossible for the .eity. conclude that the ob/ection to cremation implies "rave heresy. But doubt whether my opinion will carry much wei"ht with the orthodox. t was only very slowly and reluctantly that the Church sanctioned the dissection of corpses in connection with the study of medicine. 'he pioneer in dissection was Aesalius, who was Court physician to the Emperor Charles A. #is medical skill led the emperor to protect him, but after the emperor was dead he "ot into trouble. A corpse which he was dissectin" was said to have shown si"ns of life under the knife, and he was accused of murder. 'he n+uisition was induced by )in" Phillip to take a lenient view, and only sentenced him to a pil"rima"e to the #oly ;and. 0n the way home he was shipwrecked and died of exhaustion. 5or centuries after this time, medical students at the Papal Fniversity in 6ome were only allowed to operate on lay fi"ures, from which the sexual parts were omitted. 'he sacredness of corpses is a widespread belief. t was carried furthest by the E"yptians, amon" whom it led to the practice of mummification. t still exists in full force in China. A 5rench sur"eon, who was employed by the Chinese to teach $estern medicine, relates that his demand for corpses to dissect was received with horror, but he was assured that he could have instead an unlimited supply of live

criminals. #is ob/ection to this alternative was totally unintelli"ible to his Chinese employers. Althou"h there are many kinds of sin, seven of which are deadly, the most fruitful field for (atan%s wiles is sex. 'he orthodox Catholic doctrine on this sub/ect is to be found in (t. Paul, (t. Au"ustine, and (t. 'homas A+uinas. t is best to be celibate, but those who have not the "ift of continence may marry. ntercourse in marria"e is not sin, provided it is motivated by desire for offsprin". All intercourse outside marria"e is sin, and so is intercourse within marria"e if any measures are adopted to prevent conception. nterruption of pre"nancy is sin, even if, in medical opinion, it is the only way of savin" the mother%s life! for medical opinion is fallible, and :od can always save a life by miracle if #e sees fit. B'his view is embodied in the law of Connecticut.C Aenereal disease is :od%s punishment for sin. t is true that, throu"h a "uilty husband, this punishment may fall on an innocent woman and her children, but this is a mysterious dispensation of Providence, which it would be impious to +uestion. $e must also not in+uire why venereal disease was not divinely instituted until the time of Columbus. (ince it is the appointed penalty for sin, all measures for its avoidance are also sin-except, of course, a virtuous life. Marria"e is nominally indissoluble, but many people who seem to be married are not. n the case of influential Catholics, some "round for nullity can often be found, but for the poor there is no such outlet, except perhaps in cases of impotence. Persons who divorce and remarry are "uilty of adultery in the si"ht of :od. 'he phrase 3in the si"ht of :od3 pu**les me. 0ne would suppose that :od sees everythin", but apparently this is a mistake. #e does not see 6eno, for you cannot be divorced in the si"ht of :od. 6e"istry offices are a doubtful point. notice that respectable people, who would not call on anybody who lives in open sin, are +uite willin" to call on people who have had only a civil marria"e! so apparently :od does see re"istry offices. (ome eminent men think even the doctrine of the Catholic Church deplorably lax where sex is concerned. 'olstoy and Mahatma :andhi, in their old a"e, laid it down that all sexual intercourse is wicked, even in marria"e and with a view to offsprin". 'he Manicheans thou"ht likewise, relyin" upon men%s native sinfulness to supply them with a continually fresh crop of disciples. 'his doctrine, however, is heretical, thou"h it is e+ually heretical to maintain that marria"e is as praiseworthy as celibacy. 'olstoy thinks tobacco almost as bad as sex! in one of his novels, a man who is contemplatin" murder smokes a ci"arette first in order to "enerate the necessary homicidal fury. 'obacco, however, is not prohibited in the (criptures, thou"h, as (amuel Butler points at, (t. Paul would no doubt have denounced it if he had known of it. t is odd that neither the Church nor modern public opinion condemns pettin", provided it stops short at a certain point. At what point sin be"ins is a matter as to which casuists differ. 0ne eminently orthodox Catholic divine laid it down that a confessor may fondle a nun%s breasts, provided he does it without evil intent. But doubt whether modern authorities would a"ree with him on this point. Modern morals are a mixture of two elements& on the one hand, rational precepta as to how to live to"ether peaceably in a society, and on the other hand traditional taboos

derived ori"inally from some ancient superstition, but proximately from sacred books, Christian, Mohammedan, #indu, or Buddhist. 'o some extent the two a"ree! the prohibition of murder and theft, for instance, is supported both by human reason and by .ivine command. But the prohibition of pork or beef has only scriptural authority, and that only in certain reli"ions. t is odd that modern men, who are aware of what science has done in the way of brin"in" new knowled"e and alterin" the conditions of social life, should still be willin" to accept the authority of texts embodyin" the outlook of very ancient and very i"norant pastoral or a"ricultural tribes. t is discoura"in" that many of the precepts whose sacred character is thus uncritically acknowled"ed should be such as to inflict much wholly unnecessary misery. f men%s kindly impulses were stron"er, they would find some way of explainin" that these precepts are not to be taken literally, any more than the command to 3sell all that thou hast and "ive to the poor.3 'here are lo"ical difficulties in the notion of sin. $e are told that sin consists in disobedience to :od%s commands, but we are also told that :od is omnipotent. f #e is, nothin" contrary to #is will can occur! therefore when the sinner disobeys #is commands, #e must have intended this to happen. (t. Au"ustine boldly accepts this view, and asserts that men are led to sin by a blindness with which :od afflicts them. But most theolo"ians, in modern times, have felt that, if :od causes men to sin, it is not fair to send them to hell for what they cannot help. $e are told that sin consists in actin" contrary to :od%s will. 'his, however, does not "et rid of the difficulty. 'hose who, like (pino*a, take :od%s omnipotence seriously, deduce that there can be no such thin" as sin. 'his leads to fri"htful results. $hat4 said (pino*a%s contemporaries, was it not wicked of ,ero to murder his mother2 $as it not wicked of Adam to eat the apple2 s one action /ust as "ood as another2 (pino*a wri""les, but does not find any satisfactory answer. f everythin" happens in accordance with :od%s will, :od must have wanted ,ero to murder his mother! therefore, since :od is "ood, the murder must have been a "ood thin". 5rom this ar"ument there is no escape. 0n the other hand, those who are in earnest in thinkin" that sin is disobedience to :od are compelled to say that :od is not omnipotent. 'his "ets out of all the lo"ical pu**les, and is the view adopted by a certain school of liberal theolo"ians. t has, however, its own difficulties. #ow are we to know what really is :od%s will2 f the forces of evil have a certain share of power, they may deceive us into acceptin" as (cripture what is really their work. 'his was the view of the :nostics, who thou"ht that the 0ld 'estament was the work of an evil spirit. As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our troubles. $hose authority2 'he 0ld 'estament2 'he ,ew 'estament2 'he )oran2 n practice, people choose the book considered sacred by the community in which they are born, and out of that book they choose the parts they like, i"norin" the others. At one time, the most influential text in the Bible was& 3'hou shalt not suffer a witch to live.3 ,ow-a-days, people pass over this text, in silence if possible! if not, with an apolo"y. And so, even when we have a sacred book, we still choose as truth whatever suits our own pre/udices. ,o Catholic, for instance, takes seriously the text which says that a bishop should be the husband of one wife. People%s beliefs have various causes. 0ne is that there is some evidence for the belief in +uestion. $e apply this to matters of fact, such as 3what is so-and-so%s telephone

number23 or 3who won the $orld (eries23 But as soon as it comes to anythin" more debatable, the causes of belief become less defensible. $e believe, first and foremost, what makes us feel that we are fine fellows. Mr. #omo, if he has a "ood di"estion and a sound income, thinks to himself how much more sensible he is than his nei"hbor soand-so, who married a fli"hty wife and is always losin" money. #e thinks how superior his city is to the one GE miles away& it has a bi""er Chamber of Commerce and a more enterprisin" 6otary Club, and its mayor has never been in prison. #e thinks how immeasurably his country surpasses all others. f he is an En"lishman, he thinks of (hakespeare and Milton, or of ,ewton and .arwin, or of ,elson and $ellin"ton, accordin" to his temperament. f he is a 5renchman, he con"ratulates himself on the fact that for centuries 5rance has led the world in culture, fashions, and cookery. f he is a 6ussian, he reflects that he belon"s to the only nation which is truly international. f he is a 1u"oslav, he boasts of his nation%s pi"s! if a native of the Principality of Monaco, he boasts of leadin" the world in the matter of "amblin". But these are not the only matters on which he has to con"ratulate himself. 5or is he not an individual of the species homo sapiens# Alone amon" animals he has an immortal soul, and is rational! he knows the difference between "ood and evil, and has learnt the multiplication table. .id not :od make him in #is own ima"e2 And was not everythin" created for man%s convenience2 'he sun was made to li"ht the day, and the moon to li"ht the ni"ht--thou"h the moon, by some oversi"ht, only shines durin" half the nocturnal hours. 'he raw fruits of the earth were made for human sustenance. Even the white tails of rabbits, accordin" to some theolo"ians, have a purpose, namely to make it easier for sportsmen to shoot them. 'here are, it is true, some inconveniences& lions and ti"ers are too fierce, the summer is too hot, and the winter too cold. But these thin"s only be"an after Adam ate the apple! before that, all animals were ve"etarians, and the season was always sprin". f only Adam had been content with peaches and nectarines, "rapes and pears and pineapples, these blessin"s would still be ours. (elf-importance, individual or "eneric, is the source of most of our reli"ious beliefs. Even sin is a conception derived from self-importance. Borrow relates how he met a $elsh preacher who was always melancholy. By sympathetic +uestionin" he was brou"ht to confess the source of his sorrow& that at the a"e of seven he had committed the sin a"ainst the #oly :host. 3My dear fellow,3 said Borrow, 3don%t let that trouble you! know do*ens of people in like case. .o not ima"ine yourself cut off from the rest of mankind by this occurrence! if you in+uire, you will find multitudes who suffer from the same misfortune.3 5rom that moment, the man was cured. #e had en/oyed feelin" sin"ular, but there was no pleasure in bein" one of a herd of sinners. Most sinners are rather less e"otistical! but theolo"ians undoubtedly en/oy the feelin" that Man is the special ob/ect of :od%s wrath, as well as of #is love. After the 5all-so Milton assures us'he (un #ad first his precept so to move, so shine, As mi"ht affect the Earth with cold and heat (carce tolerable, and from the ,orth to call .ecrepit $inter, from the (outh to brin" (olstitial summer%s heat. #owever disa"reeable the results may have been, Adam could hardly help feelin" flattered that such vast astronomical phenomena should be brou"ht about to teach him a lesson. 'he whole of theolo"y, in re"ard to hell no less than to heaven, takes it for

"ranted that Man is what is of most importance in the Fniverse of created bein"s. (ince all theolo"ians are men, this postulate has met with little opposition. (ince evolution became fashionable, the "lorification of Man has taken a new form. $e are told that evolution has been "uided by one "reat Purpose& throu"h the millions of years when there were only slime, or trilobites, throu"hout the a"es of dinosaurs and "iant ferns, of bees and wild flowers, :od was preparin" the :reat Climax. At last, in the fullness of time, #e produced Man, includin" such specimens as ,ero and Cali"ula, #itler and Mussolini, whose transcendent "lory /ustified the lon" painful process. 5or my part, find even eternal damnation less incredible, and certainly less ridiculous, than this lame and impotent conclusion which we are asked to admire as the supreme effort of 0mnipotence. And if :od is indeed omnipotent, why could #e not have produced the "lorious result without such a lon" and tedious prolo"ue2 Apart from the +uestion whether Man is really so "lorious as the theolo"ians of evolution say he is, there is the further difficulty that life on this planet is almost certainly temporary. 'he earth will "row cold, or the atmosphere will "radually fly off, or there will be an insufficiency of water, or, as (ir Hames Heans "enially prophesies, the sun will burst and all the planets will be turned into "as. $hich of those will happen first, no one knows! but in any case the human race will ultimately die out. 0f course, such an event is of little importance from the point of view of orthodox theolo"y, since men are immortal, and will continue to exist in heaven and hell when none are left on earth. But in that case why bother about terrestrial developments2 'hose who lay stress on the "radual pro"ress from the primitive slime to Man attach an importance to this mundane sphere which should make them shrink from the conclusion that all life on earth is only a brief interlude between the nebula and the eternal frost, or perhaps between one nebula and another. 'he importance of Man, which is the one indispensable do"ma of the theolo"ians, receives no support from a scientific view of the future of the solar system. 'here are many other sources of false belief besides self-importance. 0ne of these is love of the marvelous. knew at one time a scientifically-minded con/uror, who used to perform his tricks before a small audience, and then "et them, each separately, to write down what they had seen happen. Almost always they wrote down somethin" much more astonishin" than the reality, and usually somethin" which no con/uror could have achieved! yet they all thou"ht they were reportin" truly what they had seen with their own eyes. 'his sort of falsification is still more true of rumors. A tells B that last ni"ht he saw Mr.-, the eminent prohibitionist, sli"htly the worse for li+uor! B tells C that A saw the "ood man reelin" drunk, C tells . that he was picked up unconscious in the ditch, . tells E that he is well known to pass out every evenin". #ere, it is true, another motive comes in, namely malice. $e like to think ill of our nei"hbors, and are prepared to believe the worst on very little evidence. But even where there is no such motive, what is marvelous is readily believed unless it "oes a"ainst some stron" pre/udice. All history until the ei"hteenth century is full of prodi"ies and wonders which modern historians i"nore, not because they are less well attested than facts which the historians accept, but because modem taste amon" the learned prefers what science re"ards as probable. (hakespeare relates how on the ni"ht before Caesar was killed, A common slave-you know him well by si"ht- #eld up his left hand, which did flame and bum ;ike twenty torches /oin%d! and yet his hand, ,ot sensible of fire, remain%d unscorch%d. Besides- have not since put up my

sword- A"ainst the Capitol met a lion, $ho "lar%d upon me, and went surly by, $ithout annoyin" me! and there were drawn Fpon a heap a hundred "hastly women, 'ransformed with their fear, who swore they saw Men all in fire walk up and down the streets.

(hakespeare did not invent these marvels! he found them in reputable historians, who are amon" those upon whom we depend for our knowled"e concernin" Hulius Caesar. 'his sort of thin" always used to happen at the death of a "reat man or the be"innin" of an important war. Even so recently as 787D the 3an"els of Mons3 encoura"ed the British troops. 'he evidence for such events is very seldom first-hand, and modern historians refuse to accept it-except, of course, where the event is one that has reli"ious importance. Every powerful emotion has its own myth-makin" tendency. $hen the emotion is peculiar to an individual, he is considered more or less mad if he "ives credence to such myths as he has invented. But when an emotion is collective, as in war, there is no one to correct the myths that naturally arise. Conse+uently in all times of "reat collective excitement unfounded rumors obtain wide credence. n (eptember, 787D, almost everybody in En"land believed that 6ussian troops had passed throu"h En"land on the way to the $estern 5ront. Everybody knew someone who had seen them, thou"h no one had seen them himself. 'his myth-makin" faculty is often allied with cruelty. Ever since the middle a"es, the Hews have been accused of practisin" ritual murder. 'here is not an iota of evidence for this accusation, and no sane person who has examined it believes it. ,evertheless it persists. have met white 6ussians who were convinced of its truth, and amon" many ,a*is it is accepted without +uestion. (uch myths "ive an excuse for the infliction of torture, and the unfounded belief in them is evidence of the unconscious desire to find some victim to persecute. 'here was, until the end of the ei"hteenth century, a theory that insanity is due to possession by devils. t was inferred that any pain suffered by the patient is also suffered by the devils, so that the best cure is to make the patient suffer so much that the devils will decide to abandon him. 'he insane, in accordance with this theory, were sava"ely beaten. 'his treatment was tried on )in" :eor"e when he was mad, but without success. t is a curious and painful fact that almost all the completely futile treatments that have been believed in durin" the lon" history of medical folly have been such as caused acute sufferin" to the patient. $hen anaesthetics were discovered, pious people considered them an attempt to evade the will of :od. t was pointed out, however, that when :od extracted Adam%s rib #e put him into a deep sleep. 'his proved that anaesthetics are all ri"ht for men! women, however, ou"ht to suffer, because of the curse of Eve. n the $est votes for women proved this doctrine mistaken, but in Hapan, to this day, women in childbirth are not allowed any alleviation throu"h anaesthetics. As the Hapanese do not believe in:enesis, this piece of sadism must have some other /ustification. 'he fallacies about 3race3 and 3blood,3 which have always been popular, and which the ,a*is have embodied in their official creed, have no ob/ective Hustification! they

are believed solely because they minister to self-esteem and to the impulse toward cruelty. n one form or another, these beliefs are as old as civili*ation! their forms chan"e, but their essence remains. #erodotus tells how Cyrus was brou"ht up by peasants, in complete i"norance of his royal blood! at the a"e of twelve his kin"ly bearin" toward other peasant boys revealed the truth. 'his is a variant of an old story which is found in all ndo-European countries. Even +uite modem people say that 3blood will tell.3 t is no use for scientific physiolo"ists to assure the world that there is no difference between the blood of a ,e"ro and the blood of a white man. 'he American 6ed Cross, in obedience to popular pre/udice, at first, when America became involved in the present war, decreed that no ,e"ro blood should be used for blood transfusion. As a result of an a"itation, it was conceded that ,e"ro blood mi"ht be used, but only for ,e"ro patients. (imilarly, in :ermany, the Aryan soldier who needs blood transfusion is carefully protected from the contamination of Hewish blood. n the matter of race, there are different beliefs in different societies. $here monarchy is firmly established, kin"s are of a hi"her race than their sub/ects. Fntil very recently, it was universally believed that men are con"enitally more intelli"ent than women! even so enli"htened a man as (pino*a decides a"ainst votes for women on this "round. Amon" white men, it is held that white men are by nature superior to men of other colors, and especially to black men! in Hapan, on the contrary, it is thou"ht that yellow is the best color. n #aiti, when they make statues of Christ and (atan, they make Christ black and (atan white. Aristotle and Plato considered :reeks so innately superior to barbarians that slavery is /ustified so lon" as the master is :reek and the slave barbarian. 'he ,a*is and the American le"islators who made the immi"ration laws consider the ,ordics superior to (lavs or ;atins or any other white men. But the ,a*is, under the stress of war, have been led to the conclusion that there are hardly any true ,ordics outside :ermany! the ,orwe"ians, except <uislin" and his few followers, have been corrupted by intermixture with 5inns and ;aps and such. 'hus politics are a clue to descent. 'he biolo"ically pure ,ordic loves #itler, and if you do not love #itler, that is proof of tainted blood. All this is, of course, pure nonsense, known to be such by every-one who has studied the sub/ect. n schools in America, children of the most diverse ori"ins are sub/ected to the same educational system, and those whose business it is to measure intelli"ence +uotients and otherwise estimate the native ability of students are unable to make any such racial distinctions as are postulated by the theorists of race. n every national or racial "roup there are clever children and stupid children. t is not likely that, in the Fnited (tates, colored children will develop as successfully as white children, because of the sti"ma of social inferiority! but in so far as con"enital ability can be detached from environmental influence, there is no clear distinction amon" different "roups. 'he whole conception of superior races is merely a myth "enerated by the overweenin" self-esteem of the holders of power. t may be that, some day, better evidence will be forthcomin"! perhaps, in time, educators will be able to prove BsayC that Hews are on the avera"e more intelli"ent than "entiles. But as yet no such evidence exists, and all talk of superior races must be dismissed as nonsense. 'here is a special absurdity in applyin" racial theories to the various populations of Europe. 'here is not in Europe any such thin" as a pure race. 6ussians have an admixture of 'artar blood, :ermans are lar"ely (lavonic, 5rance is a mixture of Celts,

:ermans, and people of Mediterranean race, taly the same with the addition of the descendants of slaves imported by the 6omans. 'he En"lish are perhaps the most mixed of all. 'here is no evidence that there is any advanta"e in belon"in" to a pure race. 'he purest races now in existence are the Py"mies, the #ottentots, and the Australian abori"ines! the 'asmanians, who were probably even purer, are extinct. 'hey were not the bearers of a brilliant culture. 'he ancient :reeks, on the other hand, emer"ed from an amal"amation of northern barbarians and an indi"enous population! the Athenians and onians, who were the most civili*ed, were also the most mixed. 'he supposed merits of racial purity are, it would seem, wholly ima"inary. (uperstitions about blood have many forms that have nothin" to do with race. 'he ob/ection to homicide seems to have been, ori"inally, based on the ritual pollution caused by the blood of the victim. :od said to Cain& 3'he voice of thy brother%s blood crieth unto me from the "round.3 Accordin" to some anthropolo"ists, the mark of Cain was a dis"uise to prevent Abel%s blood from findin" him! this appears also to be the ori"inal reason for wearin" mournin". n many ancient communities no difference was made between murder and accidental homicide! in either case e+ually ritual ablution was necessary. 'he feelin" that blood defiles still lin"ers, for example in the Churchin" of $omen and in taboos connected with menstruation. 'he idea that a child is of his father%s 3blood3 has the same superstitious ori"in. (o far as actual blood is concerned, the mother%s enters into the child, but not the father%s. f blood were as important as is supposed, matriarchy would be the only proper way of tracin" descent. n 6ussia, where, under the influence of )arl Marx, people since the revolution have been classified by their economic ori"in, difficulties have arisen not unlike those of :erman race theorists over the (candinavian ,ordies. 'here were two theories that had to be reconciled& on the one hand, proletarians were "ood and other people were bad! on the other hand, communists were "ood and other people were bad. 'he only way of effectin" a reconciliation was to alter the meanin" of words. A 3proletarian3 came to mean a supporter of the "overnment! ;enin, thou"h born a Prince, was reckoned a member of the proletariat. 0n the other hand, the word 3kulak,3 which was supposed to mean a rich peasant, came to mean any peasant who opposed collectivi*ation. 'his sort of absurdity always arises when one "roup of human bein"s is supposed to be inherently better than another. n America, the hi"hest praise that can be bestowed on an eminent colored man after he is safely dead is to say 3he was a white man.3 A coura"eous woman is called 3masculine3& Macbeth, praisin" his wife%s coura"e, says& Brin" forth men children only, 5or thy undaunted mettle should compose ,othin" but males.

All these ways of speakin" come of unwillin"ness to abandon foolish "enerali*ations. n the economic sphere there are many widespread superstitions. $hy do people value "old and precious stones2 ,ot simply because of their rarity& there are a number of elements called 3rare earths3 which are much rarer than "old, but no one will "ive a penny for them except a few men of science. 'here is a theory, for which there is much to be said, that "old and "ems were valued ori"inally on account of their

supposed ma"ical properties. 'he mistakes of "overnments in modem times seem to show that this belief still exists amon" the sort of men who are called 3practical.3 At the end of the last war, it was a"reed that :ermany should pay vast sums to En"land and 5rance, and they in turn should pay vast sums to the Fnited (tates. Every one wanted to be paid in money rather than "oods! the 3practical3 men failed to notice that there is not that amount of money in the world. 'hey also failed to notice that money is no use unless it is used to buy "oods. As they would not use it in this way, it did no "ood to anyone. 'here was supposed to be some mystic virtue about "old that made it worth while to di" it up in the 'ransvaal and put it under"round a"ain in bank vaults in America. n the end, of course, the debtor countries had no more money, and, since they were not allowed to pay in "oods, they went bankrupt. 'he :reat .epression was the direct result of the survivin" belief in the ma"ical properties of "old. t is to be feared that some similar superstition will cause e+ually bad results after the end of the present war. Politics is lar"ely "overned by sententious platitudes which are devoid of truth. 0ne of the most widespread popular maxims is, 3human nature cannot be chan"ed.3 ,o one can say whether this is true or not without first definin" 3human nature.3 But as used it is certainly false. $hen Mr. A utters the maxim, with an air of portentous and conclusive wisdom, what he means is that all men everywhere will always continue to behave as they do in his own home town. A little anthropolo"y will dispel this belief. Amon" the 'ibetans, one wife has many husbands, because men are too poor to support a whole wife! yet family life, accordin" to travellers, is no more unhappy than elsewhere. 'he practice of lendin" one%s wife to a "uest is very common amon" uncivili*ed tribes. 'he Australian abori"ines, at puberty, under"o a very painful operation which, throu"hout the rest of their lives, "reatly diminishes sexual potency. nfanticide, which mi"ht seem contrary to human nature, was almost universal before the rise of Christianity, and is recommended by Plato to prevent over-population. Private property is not reco"ni*ed amon" some sava"e tribes. Even amon" hi"hly civili*ed people, economic considerations will override what is called 3human nature.3 n Moscow, where there is an acute housin" shorta"e, when an unmarried woman is pre"nant, it often happens that a number of men contend for the le"al ri"ht to be considered the father of the prospective child, because whoever is /ud"ed to be the father ac+uires the ri"ht to share the woman%s room, and half a room is better than no room. n fact, adult 3human nature3 is extremely variable, accordin" to the circumstances of education. 5ood and sex are very "eneral re+uirements, but the hermits of the 'hebaid eschewed sex alto"ether and reduced food to the lowest point compatible with survival. By diet and trainin", people can be made ferocious or meek, masterful or slavish, as may suit the educator. 'here is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the vast ma/ority by ade+uate "overnmental action. Plato intended his 6epublic to be founded on a myth which he admitted to be absurd, but he was ri"htly confident that the populace could be induced to believe it. #obbes, who thou"ht it important that people should reverence the "overnment however unworthy it mi"ht be, meets the ar"ument that it mi"ht be difficult to obtain "eneral assent to anythin" so irrational by pointin" out that people have been brou"ht to believe in the Christian reli"ion, and, in particular, in the do"ma of transubstantiation. f he had

been alive now, he would have found ample confirmation in the devotion of :erman youth to the ,a*is. 'he power of "overnments over men%s beliefs has been very "reat ever since the rise of lar"e (tates. 'he "reat ma/ority of 6omans became Christian after the 6oman emperors had been converted. n the parts of the 6oman Empire that were con+uered by the Arabs, most people abandoned Christianity for slam. 'he division of $estern Europe into Protestant and Catholic re"ions was determined by the attitude of "overnments in the sixteenth century. But the power of "overnments over belief in the present day is vastly "reater than at any earlier time. A belief, however untrue, is important when it dominates the actions of lar"e masses of men. n this sense, the beliefs inculcated by the Hapanese, 6ussian, and :erman "overnments are important. (ince they are completely diver"ent, they cannot all be true, thou"h they may well all be false. Fnfortunately they are such as to inspire men with an ardent desire to kill one another, even to the point of almost completely inhibitin" the impulse of selfpreservation. ,o one can deny, in face of the evidence, that it is easy, "iven military power, to produce a population of fanatical lunatics. t would be e+ually easy to produce a population of sane and reasonable people, but many "overnments do not wish to do so, since such people would fail to admire the politicians who are at the head of these "overnments. 'here is one peculiarly pernicious application of the doctrine that human nature cannot be chan"ed. 'his is the do"matic assertion that there will always be wars, because we are so constituted that we feel a need of them. $hat is true is that a man who has had the kind of diet and education that most men have will wish to fi"ht when provoked. But he will not actually fi"ht unless he has a chance of victory. t is very annoyin" to be stopped by a speed cop, but we do not fi"ht him because we know that he has the overwhelmin" forces of the (tate at his back. People who have no occasion for war do not make any impression of bein" psycholo"ically thwarted. (weden has had no war since 7I7D, but the (wedes were, a few years a"o, one of the happiest and most contented nations in the world. doubt whether they are so still, but that is because, thou"h neutral, they are unable to escape many of the evils of war. f political or"ani*ation were such as to make war obviously unprofitable, there is nothin" in human nature that would compel its occurrence, or make avera"e people unhappy because of its not occurrin". Exactly the same ar"uments that are now used about the impossibility of preventin" war were formerly used in defense of duellin", yet few of us feel thwarted because we are not allowed to fi"ht duels. am persuaded that there is absolutely no limit to the absurdities that can, by "overnment action, come to be "enerally believed. :ive me an ade+uate army, with power to provide it with more pay and better food than falls to the lot of the avera"e man, and will undertake, within thirty years, to make the ma/ority of the population believe that two and two are three, that water free*es when it "ets hot and boils when it "ets cold, or any other nonsense that mi"ht seem to serve the interest of the (tate. 0f course, even when these beliefs had been "enerated, people would not put the kettle in the ice-box when they wanted it to boil. 'hat cold makes water boil would be a (unday truth, sacred and mystical, to be professed in awed tones, but not to be acted on in daily life. $hat would happen would be that any verbal denial of the mystic doctrine would be made ille"al, and obstinate heretics would be 3fro*en3 at the stake. ,o person who did not enthusiastically accept the official doctrine would be allowed

to teach or to have any position of power. 0nly the very hi"hest officials, in their cups, would whisper to each other what rubbish it all is! then they would lau"h and drink a"ain. 'his is hardly a caricature of what happens under some modern "overnments. 'he discovery that man can be scientifically manipulated, and that "overnments can turn lar"e masses this way or that as they choose, is one of the causes of our misfortunes. 'here is as much difference between a collection of mentally free citi*ens and a community molded by modern methods of propa"anda as there is between a heap of raw materials and a battleship. Education, which was at first made universal in order that all mi"ht be able to read and write, has been found capable of servin" +uite other purposes. By instillin" nonsense it unifies populations and "enerates collective enthusiasm. f all "overnments tau"ht the same nonsense, the harm would not be so "reat. Fnfortunately each has its own brand, and the diversity serves to produce hostility between the devotees of different creeds. f there is ever to be peace in the world, "overnments will have to a"ree either to inculcate no do"mas, or all to inculcate the same. 'he former, fear, is a Ftopian ideal, but perhaps they could a"ree to teach collectively that all public men, everywhere, are completely virtuous and perfectly wise. Perhaps, when the war is over, the survivin" politicians may find it prudent to combine on some such pro"ramme. But if conformity has its dan"ers, so has nonconformity. (ome 3advanced thinkers3 are of the opinion that any one who differs from the conventional opinion must be in the ri"ht. 'his is a delusion! if it were not, truth would be easier to come by than it is. 'here are infinite possibilities of error, and more cranks take up unfashionable errors than unfashionable truths. met once an electrical en"ineer whose first words to me were& 3#ow do you do2 'here are two methods of faith-healin", the one practised by Christ and the one practised by most Christian (cientists. practice the method practiced by Christ.3 (hortly afterwards, he was sent to prison for makin" out fraudulent balance-sheets. 'he law does not look kindly on the intrusion of faith into this re"ion. knew also an eminent lunacy doctor who took to philosophy, and tau"ht a new lo"ic which, as he frankly confessed, he had learnt from his lunatics. $hen he died he left a will foundin" a professorship for the teachin" of his new scientific methods, but unfortunately he left no assets. Arithmetic proved recalcitrant to lunatic lo"ic. 0n one occasion a man came to ask me to recommend some of my books, as he was interested in philosophy. did so, but he returned next day sayin" that he had been readin" one of them, and had found only one statement he could understand, and that one seemed to him false. asked him what it was, and he said it was the statement that Hulius Caesar is dead. $hen asked him why he did not a"ree, he drew himself up and said& 3Because am Hulius Caesar.3 'hese examples may suffice to show that you cannot make sure of bein" ri"ht by bein" eccentric. (cience, which has always had to fi"ht its way a"ainst popular beliefs, now has one of its most difficult battles in the sphere of psycholo"y. People who think they know all about human nature are always hopelessly at sea when they have to do with any abnormality. (ome boys never learn to be what, in animals, is called 3house trained.3 'he sort of person who won%t stand any nonsense

deals with such cases by punishment! the boy is beaten, and when he repeats the offense he is beaten worse. All medical men who have studied the matter know that punishment only a""ravates the trouble. (ometimes the cause is physical, but usually it is psycholo"ical, and only curable by removin" some deep-seated and probably unconscious "rievance. But most people en/oy punishin" anyone who irritates them, and so the medical view is re/ected as fancy nonsense. 'he same sort of thin" applies to men who are exhibitionists! they are sent to prison over and over a"ain, but as soon as they come out they repeat the offense. A medical man who speciali*ed in such ailments assured me that the exhibitionist can be cured by the simple device of havin" trousers that button up the back instead of the front. But this method is not tried because it does not satisfy people%s vindictive impulses. Broadly speakin", punishment is likely to prevent crimes that are sane in ori"in, but not those that sprin" from some psycholo"ical abnormality. 'his is now partially reco"ni*ed! we distin"uish between plain theft, which sprin"s from what may be called rational self-interest, and kleptomania, which is a mark of somethin" +ueer. And homicidal maniacs are not treated like ordinary murderers. But sexual aberrations rouse so much dis"ust that it is still impossible to have them treated medically rather than punitively. ndi"nation, thou"h on the whole a useful social force, becomes harmful when it is directed a"ainst the victims of maladies that only medical skill can cure. 'he same sort of thin" happens as re"ards whole nations. .urin" the last war, very naturally, people%s vindictive feelin"s were aroused a"ainst the :ermans, who were severely punished after their defeat. ,ow many people are ar"uin" that the Aersailles 'reaty was ridiculously mild, since it failed to teach a lesson! this time, we are told, there must be real severity. 'o my mind, we shall be more likely to prevent a repetition of :erman a""ression if we re"ard the rank and file of the ,a*is as we re"ard lunatics than if we think of them as merely and simply criminals. ;unatics, of course, have to be restrained! we do not allow them to carry firearms. (imilarly the :erman nation will have to be disarmed. But lunatics are restrained from prudence, not as a punishment, and so far as prudence permits we try to make them happy. Everybody reco"ni*es that a homicidal maniac will only become more homicidal if he is made miserable. n :ermany at the present day, there are, of course, many men amon" the ,a*is who are plain criminals, but there must also be many who are more or less mad. ;eavin" the leaders out of account B do not ur"e leniency toward themC, the bulk of the :erman nation is much more likely to learn cooperation with the rest of the world if it is sub/ected to a kind but firm curative treatment than if it is re"arded as an outcast amon" the nations. 'hose who are bein" punished seldom learn to feel kindly toward the men who punish them. And so lon" as the :ermans hate the rest of mankind peace will be precarious. $hen one reads of the beliefs of sava"es, or of the ancient Babylonians and E"yptians, they seem surprisin" by their capricious absurdity. But beliefs that are /ust as absurd are still entertained by the uneducated even in the most modem and civili*ed societies. have been "ravely assured, in America, that people born in March are unlucky and people born in May are peculiarly liable to corns. do not know the history of these superstitions, but probably they are derived from Babylonian or E"yptian priestly love. Beliefs be"in in the hi"her social strata, and then, like mud in a river, sink "radually downward in the educational scale! they may take >,EEE or D,EEE

years to sink all the way. 1ou may find your colored help makin" some remark that comes strai"ht out of Plato-not the parts of Plato that scholars +uote, but the parts where he utters obvious nonsense, such as that men who do not pursue wisdom in this life will be born a"ain as women. Commentators on "reat philosophers always politely i"nore their silly remarks. Aristotle, in spite of his reputation, is full of absurdities. #e says that children should be conceived in the $inter, when the wind is in the ,orth, and that if people marry too youn" the children will be female. #e tells us that the blood of females is blacker then that of males! that the pi" is the only animal liable to measles! that an elephant sufferin" from insomnia should have its shoulders rubbed with salt, olive-oil, and warm water! that women have fewer teeth than men, and so on. ,evertheless, he is considered by the "reat ma/ority of philosophers a para"on of wisdom. (uperstitions about lucky and unlucky days are almost universal. n ancient times they "overned the actions of "enerals. Amon" ourselves the pre/udice a"ainst 5riday and the number thirteen is very active! sailors do not like to sail on 5riday, and many hotels have no thirteenth floor. 'he superstitions about 5riday and thirteen were once believed by those reputed wise! now such men re"ard them as harmless follies. But probably ?,EEE years hence many beliefs of the wise of our day will have come to seem e+ually foolish. Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something! in the absence of "ood "rounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones. Belief in 3nature3 and what is 3natural3 is a source of many errors. t used to be, and to some extent still is, powerfully operative in medicine. 'he human body, left to itself, has a certain power of curin" itself., small cuts usually heal, colds pass off, and even serious diseases sometimes disappear without medical treatment. But aids to nature are very desirable, even in these cases. Cuts may turn septic if not disinfected, colds may turn to pneumonia, and serious diseases are only left without treatment by explorers and travellers in remote re"ions, who have no option. Many practices which have come to seem 3natural3 were ori"inally 3unnatural,3 for instance clothin" and washin". Before men adopted clothin" they must have found it impossible to live in cold climates. $here there is not a modicum of cleanliness, populations suffer from various diseases, such as typhus, from which $estern nations have become exempt. Aaccination was Band by some still isC ob/ected to as 3unnatural.3 But there is no consistency in such ob/ections, for no one supposes that a broken bone can be mended by 3natural3 behavior. Eatin" cooked food is 3unnatural3! so is heatin" our houses. 'he Chinese philosopher ;ao-tse, whose traditional date is about 9EE B.C., ob/ected to roads and brid"es and boats as 3unnatural,3 and in his dis"ust at such mechanistic devices left China and went to live amon" the $estern barbarians. Every advance in civili*ation has been denounced as unnatural while it was recent. 'he commonest ob/ection to birth control is that it is a"ainst 3nature.3 B5or some reason we are not allowed to say that celibacy is a"ainst nature! the only reason can think of is that it is not new.C Malthus saw only three ways of keepin" down the population! moral restraint, vice, and misery. Moral restraint, he admitted, was not likely to be practised on a lar"e scale. 3Aice,3 i.e., birth control, he, as a cler"yman, viewed with abhorrence. 'here remained misery. n his comfortable parsona"e, he contemplated the misery of the "reat ma/ority of mankind with e+uanimity, and pointed out the fallacies of reformers who hoped to alleviate it. Modern theolo"ical

opponents of birth control are less honest. 'hey pretend to think that :od will provide, however many mouths there may be to feed. 'hey i"nore the fact that #e has never done so hitherto, but has left mankind exposed to periodical famines in which millions died of hun"er. 'hey must be deemed to hold-if they are sayin" what they believe-that from this moment onward :od will work a continual miracle of loaves and fishes which #e has hitherto thou"ht unnecessary. 0r perhaps they will say that sufferin" here below is of no importance! what matters is the hereafter. By their own theolo"y, most of the children whom their opposition to birth control will cause to exist will "o to hell. $e must suppose, therefore, that they oppose the amelioration of life on earth because they think it a "ood thin" that many millions should suffer eternal torment. By comparison with them, Malthus appears merciful. $omen, as the ob/ect of our stron"est love and aversion, rouse complex emotions which are embodied in proverbial 3wisdom.3 Almost everybody allows himself or herself some entirely un/ustifiable "enerali*ation on the sub/ect of woman. Married men, when they "enerali*e on that sub/ect, /ud"e by their wives! women /ud"e by themselves. t would be amusin" to write a history of men%s views on women. n anti+uity, when male supremacy was un+uestioned and Christian ethics were still unknown, women were harmless but rather silly, and a man who took them seriously was somewhat despised. Plato thinks it a "rave ob/ection to the drama that the playwri"ht has to imitate women in creatin" his female roles. $ith the comin" of Christianity woman took on a new part, that of the temptress! but at the same time she was also found capable of bein" a saint. n Aictorian days the saint was much more emphasi*ed than the temptress! Aictorian men could not admit themselves susceptible to temptation. 'he superior virtue of women was made a reason for keepin" them out of politics, where, it was held, a lofty virtue is impossible. But the early feminists turned the ar"ument round, and contended that the participation of women would ennoble politics. (ince this has turned out to be an illusion, there has been less talk of women%s superior virtue, but there are still a number of men who adhere to the monkish view of woman as the temptress. $omen themselves, for the most part, think of themselves as the sensible sex, whose business it is to undo the harm that comes of men%s impetuous follies. 5or my part distrust all "enerali*ations about women, favorable and unfavorable, masculine and feminine, ancient and modern! all alike, should say, result from paucity of experience. 'he deeply irrational attitude of each sex toward women may be seen in novels, particularly in bad novels. n bad novels by men, there is the woman with whom the author is in love, who usually possesses every charm, but is somewhat helpless, and re+uires male protection! sometimes, however, like (hakespeare%s Cleopatra, she is an ob/ect of exasperated hatred, and is thou"ht to be deeply and desperately wicked. n portrayin" the heroine, the male author does not write from observation, but merely ob/ectives his own emotions. n re"ard to his other female characters, he is more ob/ective, and may even depend upon his notebook! but when he is in love, his passion makes a mist between him and the ob/ect of his devotion. $omen novelists, also, have two kinds of women in their books. 0ne is themselves, "lamorous and kind, and ob/ect of lust to the wicked and of love to the "ood, sensitive, hi"h-souled, and constantly mis/ud"ed. 'he other kind is represented by all other women, and is usually portrayed as petty, spiteful, cruel, and deceitful. t would seem that to /ud"e women without bias is not easy either for men or for women.

:enerali*ations about national characteristics are /ust as common and /ust as unwarranted as "enerali*ations about women. Fntil 7I@E, the :ermans were thou"ht of as a nation of spectacled professors, evolvin" everythin" out of their inner consciousness, and scarcely aware of the outer world, but since 7I@E this conception has had to be very sharply revised. 5renchmen seem to be thou"ht of by most Americans as perpetually en"a"ed in amorous intri"ue! $alt $hitman, in one of his catalo"ues, speaks of 3the adulterous 5rench couple on the sly settee.3 Americans who "o to live in 5rance are astonished, and perhaps disappointed, by the intensity of family life. Before the 6ussian 6evolution, the 6ussians were credited with a mystical (lav soul, which, while it incapacitated them for ordinary sensible behavior, "ave them a kind of deep wisdom to which more practical nations could not hope to attain. (uddenly everythin" was chan"ed& mysticism was taboo, and only the most earthly ideals were tolerated. 'he truth is that what appears to one nation as the national character of another depends upon a few prominent individuals, or upon the class that happens to have power. 5or this reason, all "enerali*ations on this sub/ect are liable to be completely upset by any important political chan"e. 'o avoid the various foolish opinions to which mankind are prone, no superhuman "enius is re+uired. A few simple rules will keep you, not from all error, but from silly error. f the matter is one that can be settled by observation, make the observation yourself. Aristotle could have avoided the mistake of thinkin" that women have fewer teeth than men, by the simple device of askin" Mrs. Aristotle to keep her mouth open while he counted. #e did not do so because he thou"ht he knew. 'hinkin" that you know when in fact you don%t is a fatal mistake, to which we are all prone. believe myself that hed"eho"s eat black beetles, because have been told that they do! but if were writin" a book on the habits of hed"eho"s, should not commit myself until had seen one en/oyin" this unappeti*in" diet. Aristotle, however, was less cautious. Ancient and medieval authors knew all about unicorns and salamanders! not one of them thou"ht it necessary to avoid do"matic statements about them because he had never seen one of them. Many matters, however, are less easily brou"ht to the test of experience. f, like most of mankind, you have passionate convictions on many such matters, there are ways in which you can make yourself aware of your own bias. f an opinion contrary to your own makes you an"ry, that is a si"n that you are subconsciously aware of havin" no "ood reason for thinkin" as you do. f some one maintains that two and two are five, or that celand is on the e+uator, you feel pity rather than an"er, unless you know so little of arithmetic or "eo"raphy that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. 'he most sava"e controversies are those about matters as to which there is no "ood evidence either way. Persecution is used in theolo"y, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowled"e, but in theolo"y there is only opinion. (o whenever you find yourself "ettin" an"ry about a difference of opinion, be on your "uard! you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is "oin" beyond what the evidence warrants. A "ood way of riddin" yourself of certain kinds of do"matism is to become aware of opinions held in social circles different from your own. $hen was youn", lived much outside my own country in 5rance, :ermany, taly, and the Fnited (tates.

found this very profitable in diminishin" the intensity of insular pre/udice. f you cannot travel, seek out people with whom you disa"ree, and read a newspaper belon"in" to a party that is not yours. f the people and the newspaper seem mad, perverse, and wicked, remind yourself that you seem so to them. n this opinion both parties may be ri"ht, but they cannot both be wron". 'his reflection should "enerate a certain caution. Becomin" aware of forei"n customs, however, does not always have a beneficial effect. n the seventeenth century, when the Manchus con+uered China, it was the custom amon" the Chinese for the women to have small feet, and amon" the Manchus for the men to wear-pi"tails. nstead of each droppin" their own foolish custom, they each adopted the foolish custom of the other, and the Chinese continued to wear pi"tails until they shook off the dominion of the Manchus in the revolution of 7877. 5or those who have enou"h psycholo"ical ima"ination, it is a "ood plan to ima"ine an ar"ument with a person havin" a different bias. 'his has one advanta"e, and only one, as compared with actual conversation with opponents! this one advanta"e is that the method is not sub/ect to the same limitations of time or space. Mahatma :andhi deplores railways and steamboats and machinery! he would like to undo the whole of the industrial revolution. 1ou may never have an opportunity of actually meetin" any one who holds this opinion, because in $estern countries most people take the advanta"e of modern techni+ue for "ranted. But if you want to make sure that you are ri"ht in a"reein" with the prevailin" opinion, you will find it a "ood plan to test the ar"uments that occur to you by considerin" what :andhi mi"ht say in refutation of them. have sometimes been led actually to chan"e my mind as a result of this kind of ima"inary dialo"ue, and, short of this, have fre+uently found myself "rowin" less do"matic and cocksure throu"h reali*in" the possible reasonableness of a hypothetical opponent. Be very wary of opinions that flatter your self-esteem. Both men and women, nine times out of ten, are firmly convinced of the superior excellence of their own sex. 'here is abundant evidence on both sides. f you are a man, you can point out that most poets and men of science are male! if you are a woman, you can retort that so are most criminals. 'he +uestion is inherently insoluble, but self esteem conceals this from most people. $e are all, whatever part of the world we come from, persuaded that our own nation is superior to all others. (eein" that each nation has its characteristic merits and demerits, we ad/ust our standard of values so as to make out that the merits possessed by our nation are the really important ones, while its demerits are comparatively trivial. #ere, a"ain, the rational man will admit that the +uestion is one to which there is no demonstrably ri"ht answer. t is more difficult to deal with the self esteem of man as man, because we cannot ar"ue out the matter with some non-human mind. 'he only way know of dealin" with this "eneral human conceit is to remind ourselves that man is a brief episode in the life of a small planet in a little corner of the universe, and that, for au"ht we know, other parts of the cosmos may contain bein"s as superior to ourselves as we are to /ellyfish. 0ther passions besides self-esteem are common sources of error! of these perhaps the most important is fear. 5ear sometimes operates directly, by inventin" rumors of disaster in war-time, or by ima"inin" ob/ects of terror, such as "hosts! sometimes it operates indirectly, by creatin" belief in somethin" comfortin", such as the elixir of

life, or heaven for ourselves and hell for our enemies. 5ear has many forms-fear of death, fear of the dark, fear of the unknown, fear of the herd, and that va"ue "enerali*ed fear that comes to those who conceal from themselves their more specific terrors. Fntil you have admitted your own fears to yourself, and have "uarded yourself by a difficult effort of will a"ainst their mythmakin" power, you cannot hope to think truly about many matters of "reat importance, especially those with which reli"ious beliefs are concerned. 5ear is the main source of superstition and one of the main sources of cruelty. 'o con+uer fear is the be"innin" of wisdom, in the pursuit of truth as in the endeavor after a worthy manner of life. 'here are two ways of avoidin" fear& one is by persuadin" ourselves that we are immune from disaster, and the other is by the practice of sheer coura"e. 'he latter is difficult, and to everybody becomes impossible at a certain point. 'he former has therefore always been more popular. Primitive ma"ic has the purpose of securin" safety, either by in/urin" enemies, or by protectin" oneself by talismans, spells, or incantations. $ithout any essential chan"e, belief in such ways of avoidin" dan"er survived throu"hout the many centuries of Babylonian civili*ation, spread from Babylon throu"hout the empire of Alexander, and was ac+uired by the 6omans in the course of their absorption of #ellenistic culture. 5rom the 6omans it descended to medieval Christendom and slam. (cience has now lessened the belief in ma"ic, but many people place more faith in mascots than they are willin" to avow, and sorcery, while condemned by the Church, is still officially a possi$le sin. Ma"ic, however, was a crude way of avoidin" terrors, and, moreover, not a very effective way, for wicked ma"icians mi"ht always prove stron"er than "ood ones. n the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, dread of witches and sorcerers led to the burnin" of hundreds of thousands convicted of these crimes. But newer beliefs, particularly as to the future life, sou"ht more effective ways of combatin" fear. (ocrates on the day of his death Bif Plato is to be believedC expressed the conviction that in the next world he would live in the company of the "ods and heroes, and surrounded by /ust spirits who would never ob/ect to his endless ar"umentation. Plato, in his 36epublic,3 laid it down that cheerful views of the next world must be enforced by the (tate, not because they were true, but to make soldiers more willin" to die in battle. #e would have none of the traditional myths about #ades, because they represented the spirits of the dead as unhappy. 0rthodox Christianity, in the A"es of 5aith, laid down very definite rules for salvation. 5irst, you must be bapti*ed! then, you must avoid all theolo"ical error! last, you must, before dyin", repent of your sins and receive absolution. All this would not save you from pur"atory, but it would insure your ultimate arrival in heaven. t was not necessary to know theolo"y. An eminent cardinal stated authoritatively that the re+uirements of orthodoxy would be satisfied if you murmured on your death-bed& 3 believe all that the Church believes! the Church believes all that believe.3 'hese very definite directions ou"ht to have made Catholics sure of findin" the way to heaven. ,evertheless, the dread of hell persisted, and has caused, in recent times, a "reat softenin" of the do"mas as to who will be damned. 'he doctrine, professed by many modern Christians, that everybody will "o to heaven, ou"ht to do away with the fear of death, but in fact this fear is too instinctive to be easily van+uished. 5. $. #. Myers, whom spiritualism had converted to belief in a future life, +uestioned a woman who had lately lost her dau"hter as to what she supposed had become of her

soul. 'he mother replied& 30h, well, suppose she is en/oyin" eternal bliss, but wish you wouldn%t talk about such unpleasant sub/ects.3 n spite of all that theolo"y can do, heaven remains, to most people, an 3unpleasant sub/ect.3 'he most refined reli"ions, such as those of Marcus Aurelius and (pino*a, are still concerned with the con+uest of fear. 'he (toic doctrine was simple& it maintained that the only true "ood is virtue, of which no enemy can deprive me! conse+uently, there is no need to fear enemies. 'he difficulty was that no one could really believe virtue to be the only "ood, not even Marcus Aurelius, who, as emperor, sou"ht not only to make his sub/ects virtuous, but to protect them a"ainst barbarians, pestilences, and famines. (pino*a tau"ht a somewhat similar doctrine. Accordin" to him, our true "ood consists in indifference to our mundane fortunes. Both these men sou"ht to escape from fear by pretendin" that such thin"s as physical sufferin" are not really evil. 'his is a noble way of escapin" from fear, but is still based upon false belief. And if "enuinely accepted, it would have the bad effect of makin" men indifferent, not only to their own sufferin"s, but also to those of others. Fnder the influence of "reat fear, almost everybody becomes superstitious. 'he sailors who threw Honah overboard ima"ined his presence to be the cause of the storm which threatened to wreck their ship. n a similar spirit the Hapanese, at the time of the 'okyo earth+uake took to massacrin" )oreans and ;iberals. $hen the 6omans won victories in the Punic wars, the Cartha"inians became persuaded that their misfortunes were due to a certain laxity which had crept into the worship of Moloch. Moloch liked havin" children sacrificed to him, and preferred them aristocratic! but the noble families of Cartha"e had adopted the practice of surreptitiously substitutin" plebeian children for their own offsprin". 'his, it was thou"ht, had displeased the "od, and at the worst moments even the most aristocratic children were duly consumed in the fire. (tran"e to say, the 6omans were victorious in spite of this democratic reform on the part of their enemies. Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not re"arded as members of the herd. (o it was in the 5rench 6evolution, when dread of forei"n armies produced the rei"n of terror. And it is to be feared that the ,a*is, as defeat draws nearer, will increase the intensity of their campai"n for exterminatin" Hews. 5ear "enerates impulses of cruelty, and therefore promotes such superstitious beliefs as seem to /ustify cruelty. ,either a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a "reat fear. And for this reason poltroons are more prone to cruelty than brave men, and are also more prone to superstition. $hen say this, am thinkin" of men who are brave in all respects, not only in facin" death. Many a man will have the coura"e to die "allantly, but will not have the coura"e to say, or even to think, that the cause for which he is asked to die is an unworthy one. 0blo+uy is, to most men, more painful than death! that is one reason why, in times of collective excitement, so few men venture to dissent from the prevailin" opinion. ,o Cartha"inian denied Moloch, because to do so would have re+uired more coura"e than was re+uired- to face death in battle. But we have been "ettin" too solemn. (uperstitions are not al-ways dark and cruel! often they add to the "aiety of life. received once a communication from the "od 0siris, "ivin" me his telephone number! he lived, at that time, in a suburb of Boston. Althou"h did not enroll myself amon" his worshipers, his letter "ave me pleasure.

have fre+uently received letters from men announcin" themselves as the Messiah, and ur"in" me not to omit to mention this important fact in my lectures. .urin" prohibition, there was a sect which maintained that the communion service ou"ht to be celebrated in whiskey, not in wine! this tenet "ave them a le"al ri"ht to a supply of hard li+uor, and the sect "rew rapidly. 'here is in En"land a sect which maintains that the En"lish are the lost ten tribes! there is a stricter sect, which maintains that they are only the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. $henever encounter a member of either of these sects, profess myself an adherent of the other, and much pleasant ar"umentation results. like also the men who study the :reat Pyramid, with a view to decipherin" its mystical lore. Many "reat books have been written on this sub/ect, some of which have been presented to me by their authors. t is a sin"ular fact that the :reat Pyramid always predicts the history of the world accurately up to the date of publication of the book in +uestion, but after that date it becomes less reliable. :enerally the author expects, very soon, wars in E"ypt, followed by Arma"eddon and the comin" of Antichrist, but by this time so many people have been reco"ni*ed as Antichrist that the reader is reluctantly driven to skepticism. admire especially a certain prophetess who lived beside a lake in ,orthern ,ew 1ork (tate about the year 7I?E. (he announced to her numerous followers that she possessed the power of walkin" on water, and that she proposed to do so at 77 o%clock on a certain mornin". At the stated time, the faithful assembled in their thousands beside the lake. (he spoke to them, sayin"& 3Are you all entirely persuaded that can walk on water23 $ith one voice they replied& 3$e are.3 3 n that case,3 she announced, 3there is not need for me to do so.3 And they all went home much edified. Perhaps the world would lose some of its interest and variety if such beliefs were wholly replaced by cold science. Perhaps we may allow ourselves to be "lad of the Abecedarians, who were so-called because, havin" re/ected all profane learnin", they thou"ht it wicked to learn the ABC. And we may en/oy the perplexity of the (outh American Hesuit who wondered how the sloth could have traveled, since the 5lood, all the way from Mount Ararat to Peru-a /ourney which its extreme tardiness of locomotion rendered almost incredible. A wise man will en/oy the "oods of which there is a plentiful supply, and of intellectual rubbish he will find an abundant diet, in our own a"e as in every other.