Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/296

264 return to his old alcheringa home, where he will be in communion with them until such time as it seems good to him to undergo reincarnation."

If then we are to regard the intichhima ceremonies as typical of the stage of cult or ritual which may be spoken of as "nascent religion," and if in such ceremonies there is, as Sir James Frazer holds, no reference to personal beings regarded as superior to man. it is clear that we can no longer suppose the essence or distinguishing mark of religion to consist in the assumption that the course of nature and of human life is controlled by personal beings superior to man. On the one hand we have narrowed the denotation of magic and have limited it, in accordance with the conception of those who believe in it, to proceedings intended for the harm of the community or its members. On the other hand, we have extended the denotation of religion until it embraces all ceremonies or rites practised by the community for the good of the community. Now, in this way we do get rid of the necessity of assuming that in the evolution Of man. there was a stage in which magic was known to man and religion was not. But we only get rid of it at the cost of extending and attenuating our notion of religion until it no longer contains any reference to a personal god or gods. Now, this it may seem at first we cannot possibly do. Religion, it may be said, implies at least belief in a personal god or gods. But to say that, is in effect to say that what I believe in is religion, and what other people believe in—if it differs from my belief—is not religion. Now that view, however common and however firmly held, is not scientific. From the point of view of science all forms of religion alike are forms of religion. We may and indeed we must have a provisional definition of religion, a working hypothesis to go upon. But we may and indeed we must also be prepared to amend our definition—for it is ex hypothesi but a provisional