登陆注册
5561700000115

第115章

1. The Soul as a Mannikin

THE FOREGOING examples have taught us that the office of a sacred king or priest is often hedged in by a series of burdensome restrictions or taboos, of which a principal purpose appears to be to preserve the life of the divine man for the good of his people. But if the object of the taboos is to save his life, the question arises, How is their observance supposed to effect this end? To understand this we must know the nature of the danger which threatens the king's life, and which it is the intention of these curious restrictions to guard against. We must, therefore, ask: What does early man understand by death? To what causes does he attribute it? And how does he think it may be guarded against?

As the savage commonly explains the processes of inanimate nature by supposing that they are produced by living beings working in or behind the phenomena, so he explains the phenomena of life itself. If an animal lives and moves, it can only be, he thinks, because there is a little animal inside which moves it: if a man lives and moves, it can only be because he has a little man or animal inside who moves him. The animal inside the animal, the man inside the man, is the soul. And as the activity of an animal or man is explained by the presence of the soul, so the repose of sleep or death is explained by its absence; sleep or trance being the temporary, death being the permanent absence of the soul. Hence if death be the permanent absence of the soul, the way to guard against it is either to prevent the soul from leaving the body, or, if it does depart, to ensure that it shall return. The precautions adopted by savages to secure one or other of these ends take the form of certain prohibitions or taboos, which are nothing but rules intended to ensure either the continued presence or the return of the soul. In short, they are life-preservers or life-guards. These general statements will now be illustrated by examples.

Addressing some Australian blacks, a European missionary said, I am not one, as you think, but two. Upon this they laughed. You may laugh as much as you like, continued the missionary, I tell you that I am two in one; this great body that you see is one; within that there is another little one which is not visible. The great body dies, and is buried, but the little body flies away when the great one dies. To this some of the blacks replied, Yes, yes.

We also are two, we also have a little body within the breast. On being asked where the little body went after death, some said it went behind the bush, others said it went into the sea, and some said they did not know. The Hurons thought that the soul had a head and body, arms and legs; in short, that it was a complete little model of the man himself. The Esquimaux believe that the soul exhibits the same shape as the body it belongs to, but is of a more subtle and ethereal nature. According to the Nootkas the soul has the shape of a tiny man; its seat is the crown of the head. So long as it stands erect, its owner is hale and hearty; but when from any cause it loses its upright position, he loses his senses. Among the Indian tribes of the Lower Fraser River, man is held to have four souls, of which the principal one has the form of a mannikin, while the other three are shadows of it. The Malays conceive the human soul as a little man, mostly invisible and of the bigness of a thumb, who corresponds exactly in shape, proportion, and even in complexion to the man in whose body he resides. This mannikin is of a thin, unsubstantial nature, though not so impalpable but that it may cause displacement on entering a physical object, and it can flit quickly from place to place; it is temporarily absent from the body in sleep, trance, and disease, and permanently absent after death.

So exact is the resemblance of the mannikin to the man, in other words, of the soul to the body, that, as there are fat bodies and thin bodies, so there are fat souls and thin souls; as there are heavy bodies and light bodies, long bodies and short bodies, so there are heavy souls and light souls, long souls and short souls. The people of Nias think that every man, before he is born, is asked how long or how heavy a soul he would like, and a soul of the desired weight or length is measured out to him. The heaviest soul ever given out weighs about ten grammes. The length of a man's life is proportioned to the length of his soul; children who die young had short souls. The Fijian conception of the soul as a tiny human being comes clearly out in the customs observed at the death of a chief among the Nakelo tribe. When a chief dies, certain men, who are the hereditary undertakers, call him, as he lies, oiled and ornamented, on fine mats, saying, Rise, sir, the chief, and let us be going. The day has come over the land. Then they conduct him to the river side, where the ghostly ferryman comes to ferry Nakelo ghosts across the stream. As they thus attend the chief on his last journey, they hold their great fans close to the ground to shelter him, because, as one of them explained to a missionary, His soul is only a little child. People in the Punjaub who tattoo themselves believe that at death the soul, the little entire man or woman inside the mortal frame, will go to heaven blazoned with the same tattoo patterns which adorned the body in life. Sometimes, however, as we shall see, the human soul is conceived not in human but in animal form.

2. Absence and Recall of the Soul.

同类推荐
  • 南华真经循本

    南华真经循本

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 说琴

    说琴

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说胜军王所问经

    佛说胜军王所问经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 十尾龟

    十尾龟

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Make-Believe Man

    The Make-Believe Man

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 亡灵发言人

    亡灵发言人

    死人不会说话真相或将淹没我能听到鬼魂说话我为亡灵发言PS:生活化,家常化灵异,不恐怖。
  • 香火(中国好小说)

    香火(中国好小说)

    作者从一个产妇的视角出发,记述了自己及身边的亲戚、同病房的产妇的生产故事、人生故事。这些故事有喜有悲,折射出社会人性的多样,人和人命运的多样。
  • 弑魔战争

    弑魔战争

    在平行宇宙的另一端的地球上,有一个处在“悬崖”边上的国家,在这个国家的边境有一群契约军,他们本是人类,一次偶然的机会与魔族签订了契约,魔族给予他们非人般的能力,而他们替魔族称霸世界,契约军连连战捷,这个国家危在旦夕。一名科学家研发了一种强力的武器,而这个武器不是一般人可以使用,此时,这个国家的命运就掌握在一个人手里………
  • 限时死亡

    限时死亡

    最后活下的人痛苦地回忆那个夜晚:电灯每熄灭10分钟,他们当中就有一人残忍地死去……七个同学先后醒来,他们不是按着头就是揉着眼睛,四周一片银灰,这是一个很大的房间。他们像做梦一样,不知道自己身在何处。头顶有一个嵌入式的圆形日光灯,密封在玻璃里面,发出苍白的光,照着周围一片冷冷的阴暗。四周是不锈钢的墙壁,一块块的长方形浮突出来,仿佛是太平间里排列整齐、冷冰冰的钢屉。没有窗户;有一面墙上挂着红色的石英钟。房间一角有个更大的竖起的长方形,那应该是门,连把手都没有。他们似乎被人关到了这里,并且曾经昏迷过。
  • 鸡助系统要你何用

    鸡助系统要你何用

    某年某日,有名帅气帝境大佬半空落下跌入湖中。无意激活一系统,如同鸡助的氪金系统。一帝一系统,纨绔行走灵元域开始成就天道之路“圣境以下没有我一个眼神搞不定的,如果有就吃我一拳。”
  • 雁儿在林梢

    雁儿在林梢

    丹枫如雁儿般翩然回巢了,这个受江淮和碧槐极力栽培,而在英国学戏剧的小姨子学成回国了!由于碧槐的早逝,江淮不禁与丹枫堕入情网,另一方面丹枫从姐姐朋友谈话中猜测姐姐的死并不是心脏病那么单纯,而是江淮另外喜欢上别的女人,为了查出姐姐的死因,于是有化名为晓霜,接近江淮的弟弟江浩,把江浩迷惑得团团转,周转在兄弟俩之间。难道丹枫认为碧槐的死应该由江淮负责吗?而她准备化身为挟有复仇使命,且频频戏弄两兄弟的“黑天使”吗?
  • 家书

    家书

    写《家书》,这是早已决定要做的事。因为个人的阅历和人生的历练不同,会造成对事物认知的差异。
  • 领主有系统

    领主有系统

    华俊之穿越到一个众神陨落的世界,这里的荒郊野外全是危险的生物,他表示很怕怕。不过还好,穿越者总有天佑,而且死鬼老爹也给他留下了一块领地和一个……猫耳女仆!
  • 通灵卡卡西

    通灵卡卡西

    名为时追的少年意外通灵火影灵体旗木卡卡西,一条名为通灵者的道路开启。卡卡西附身,他能走多远?
  • 总裁的蜜宠恋人

    总裁的蜜宠恋人

    一个是年少多金,英俊潇洒的总裁!一个是集团千金!青梅竹马的两人,是所有人眼中珠联璧合的一对!但是,欧阳非云不知道犯了什么邪,竟然逃婚……莫安怎肯放弃,不仅要征服欧阳非云,而且,还要做他最宠爱的女人!