Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 6.djvu/201

THE FUNCTION OF EELIGIOUS EXPEESSION. 185 states, the deceptive perceptions, which are not stimulated from without us, and which psychologically speaking make the essence of the hallucinations we are considering ? Where the processes, which when carried to extremes produce hallucinations, are not carried to extremes, mental states similar to those accompanying hallucination will obtain ; consequently if any benefit were ever connected with the attainment of true hallucinations, the same benefit in less degree would be likely to be gained by the person who followed the practices which often lead to hallucination, who even aimed to attain the hallucination, whether he succeeded or not in his endeavour. What is more, these closely allied mental states would be closely related by the one who had once experienced hallucination to his more startling experience ; so that it appears not at all obscure why it has become common custom to speak of our con- sciousness of the pressure of our impulses as though voices spoke within us, guiding our lives. There is no fiction more general and none more beautiful than that which tells us of the "still small voice of conscience". It will be convenient to use this metaphor from time to time, and I am sure I shall not be misunderstood in so doing. It will appear upon examination that the various groups of religious expression which we shall examine tend to pro- duce the suppression of individualistic reaction, and lead us to listen for the guiding voices within us ; and that if carried to extremes they end often in the production of true halluci- nations during which the influences from the objective world are largely cut off and notions of purely subjective origin are falsely objectified. Before beginning our study in detail I must speak again of one point which will apply to all the religious expressions to be examined. Notwithstanding all that was said in the last article of this series there is likely to be a confirmed impression in the minds of some readers that religious habits are forced upon the race altogether by tradition and custom ; that we undertake them purely as the result of our imitative tendencies. I have already stated why I believe this notion to be with- out foundation : although it is doubtless true that many of our religious habits are thus acquired by one generation from the preceding generation ; still it is to be noted that when certain fixed habits appear in wide masses of people, and where they persist for long historic periods, then we are warranted in the assumption that the tendency to follow the