Page:Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion volume 1.djvu/365

 This is not the universal power of Providence, which extends its sway even over the destinies of individuals. What we find rather is that the Particular is brought under the sway of a particular power. This power is that of the Shân, and with it a whole realm of superstition enters in.

Thus the Chinese are in perpetual fear and dread with regard to everything, because all that is external has a meaning, is for them a power which is able to use force against them and to affect them.

China is, par excellence, the home of divination; in every locality you find many people who deal in prophecies. The finding of the right spot for a grave, questions of locality, of relations in space, &c., are the kind of things with which they occupy themselves during their entire life.

If in building a house another house flanks their own, and the front has an angle towards it, all possible ceremonies are gone through, and the special powers in question are rendered propitious by means of presents. The individual is wholly without the power of personal decision and without subjective freedom.