We  are  therefore  thrown  back  upon  a  third  explana-
tion, namely,  that  in  the  conditions  of  primitive
thought  and  society  we  can  find  a  quite  sufficient  reason
for  the  existence  of  one  of  the  most  universal  of  human
illusions.  That  explanation  lies  to  hand,  well  worked
out  in  the  writings  of  such  men  as  Tylor,  Spencer,
Frazer,  and  others,  and  in  what  follows  I  have  but  to
summarize  their  investigations,  leaving  it  for  those  who
wish  for  further  details  to  study  the  works  for  them-
selves.
The  distance  between  the  primitive  and  the  modern
point  of  view  is  strikingly  shown  in  the  fact  that  the
problem  that  fronts  us  is  the  complete  reverse  of  that
which  fronted  primitive  humanity.  With  us  the  fact
of  death,  natural  death,  is  obvious  and  inevitable,  and
our  difficulty  is  to  conceive  man's  continuing  to  exist
beyond  the  grave.  And  to  us  it  seems  that  the  belief
in  an  after  life  is  a  consequence  of  either  reflection  or
discovery.  The  savage  outlook  is  quite  different  and
distinct.  Death  does  not  come  to  him  as  part  of  a
natural  sequence,  but  as  an  abrupt  and  non-necessary


THE  SOURCE   OF   THE   SOUL.  101

break.  His  difficulty  is  not  that  of  conceiving  how
man  can  continue  to  live,  but  how  he  can  leave  off
living.  With  him  it  is  not  reflection  and  growing
knowledge  that  leads  to  a  belief  in  a  future  life;  con-
tinued existence  is  a  datum  of  his  thinking,  and  his
difficulty  lies  in  thinking  of  man  ceasing  to  be.  The
modern  mind  thinks  it  discovers  immortal  life;  the
task  of  the  primitive  intelligence  was  to  discover  death.
