The Ghost Cults

87:0.1The ghost cult evolved as an off­set to the haz­ards of bad luck; its prim­i­tive re­li­gious ob­ser­vances were the out­growth of anx­i­ety about bad luck and of the in­or­di­nate fear of the dead. None of these early re­li­gions had much to do with the rec­og­ni­tion of De­ity or with rev­er­ence for the super­hu­man; their rites were mostly neg­a­tive, de­signed to avoid, ex­pel, or co­erce ghosts. The ghost cult was noth­ing more nor less than in­sur­ance against dis­as­ter; it had noth­ing to do with in­vest­ment for higher and fu­ture re­turns.

87:0.2Man has had a long and bit­ter strug­gle with the ghost cult. Noth­ing in hu­man his­tory is de­signed to ex­cite more pity than this pic­ture of man’s ab­ject slav­ery to ghost-spirit fear. With the birth of this very fear man­kind started on the up­grade of re­li­gious evo­lu­tion. Hu­man imag­i­na­tion cast off from the shores of self and will not again find an­chor un­til it ar­rives at the con­cept of a true De­ity, a real God.