Ancestral Worship as Religion According to Herbert Spencer and Bhil Tribe.
Ancestral Worship as Religion
The Ghost-Theory of Herbert Spencer
Brief reference may be made to Spencer's well-known theory which finds the origin of religion in the worship of ancestors appearing in the form of ghosts. The awe inspired by dead {death}, and the fear created by the dead who had passed beyond the control of the living, constitute the two factors which arouse a new sense in man; and as far back as we can go men are seen offering sacrifices to the spirits of their ancestors. This Herbert Spencer believed to be the most primitive form of religion. Animism is not original but derivative, being a generalized form of the belief in the spirits of dead ancestors reappearing as ghosts and choosing certain objects in nature as their dwelling place.
The rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to still exist, and to be capable of working good or evil to their descendants. As a preparation for dealing hereafter with the principles of sociology, I have, for some years past, directed much attention to the modes of thought current in the simpler human societies; and evidence of many kinds, furnished by all varieties of uncivilized men, has forced on me a conclusion harmonizing with that lately [1 January 1866, vol. 3] expressed in this Review by Prof. [T. H.] Huxley–namely, that the savage, conceiving a corpse to be deserted by the active personality who dwelt in it, conceives this active personality to still exist, and that his feelings and ideas concerning it form the basis of his superstitions. Everywhere we find expressed or implied the belief that each person is double; and that when he dies, his other self, whether remaining near at hand or gone far away, may return, and continues capable of injuring his enemies and aiding his friends.
Herbert Spencer thought that the origins of religion lay in the worship of ghosts or ancestors; he extrapolated this view from the balance of evidence found among "primitives,"
The Ghost-Theory of Herbert Spencer
Brief reference may be made to Spencer's well-known theory which finds the origin of religion in the worship of ancestors appearing in the form of ghosts. The awe inspired by dead {death}, and the fear created by the dead who had passed beyond the control of the living, constitute the two factors which arouse a new sense in man; and as far back as we can go men are seen offering sacrifices to the spirits of their ancestors. This Herbert Spencer believed to be the most primitive form of religion. Animism is not original but derivative, being a generalized form of the belief in the spirits of dead ancestors reappearing as ghosts and choosing certain objects in nature as their dwelling place.
The rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to still exist, and to be capable of working good or evil to their descendants. As a preparation for dealing hereafter with the principles of sociology, I have, for some years past, directed much attention to the modes of thought current in the simpler human societies; and evidence of many kinds, furnished by all varieties of uncivilized men, has forced on me a conclusion harmonizing with that lately [1 January 1866, vol. 3] expressed in this Review by Prof. [T. H.] Huxley–namely, that the savage, conceiving a corpse to be deserted by the active personality who dwelt in it, conceives this active personality to still exist, and that his feelings and ideas concerning it form the basis of his superstitions. Everywhere we find expressed or implied the belief that each person is double; and that when he dies, his other self, whether remaining near at hand or gone far away, may return, and continues capable of injuring his enemies and aiding his friends.
Herbert Spencer thought that the origins of religion lay in the worship of ghosts or ancestors; he extrapolated this view from the balance of evidence found among "primitives,"