Chapter 10

[83]K. Weule, "Negerleben in Ostafrika," 304. Quoted by Reik.,op. cit.[84]Chazac, "La religion des Kikuyu."AnthroposII. 317, 1910.[85]Sir J. G. Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy." II. 144.[86]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy" II, 145.[87]Ancient Society, 385 ff.[88]See especially W. H. R. Rivers, "On the Origin of the Classificatory System of Relationship." Anthropological Essays, presented to E. B. Tylor, p. 310 ff.[89]Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," II, 638.[90]Frazer,op. cit.III, 576.[91]L. Fernandez de Piedrahita, "Historia de las Conquistas del Nuevo Reyno de Granada," 1688, 113.[92]Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, VII, 856.[93]F. S. Clavigero, "The History of Mexico." Trans. 1787, I, 319.[94]Book. III, 31.[95]Sir Gaston Maspero, quoted by Miss R. E. White, "Women in Ptolemaic Egypt",Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1898, XVIII, 244.Cp.Frazer, "Adonis, Attis and Osiris." II, 214, who also quotes the above.[96]Cimon.[97]Ch. XXII, ii.[98]Cp. e. g.W. Ellis. "Tour through Hawaii," 414.[99]"Totemism and Exogamy," I, 273 ff.[100]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," II, 189.[101]"Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 443 ff.[102]See especially K. Abraham, "Die Stelle der Verwandtenehe in der Psychologie der Neurosen,"Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen, I, 1909, 110.[103]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," I, 346, 439, 449 ff., 475, 483, II, 75 ff., 233 ff., III 552.[104]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," I, 180 ff. II 65.[105]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," II, 525, III 575, IV 316.[106]For numerous examples see Frazer. "Totemism and Exogamy."[107]For numerous examples see Frazer. "Totemism and Exogamy."[108]For numerous examples see Frazer. "Totemism and Exogamy."[109]The reader will remember that in England permission to marry a deceased wife's sister has only recently been granted.[110]See especially Freud, "Totem and Taboo," 24 ff.[111]Cp.Rank, "Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 44 ff.[112]"The Problem of Hamlet,"American Journal of Psychology, 1910. XXI, 72.[113]Cp.Riklin, "Wishfulfillment and Symbolism in Fairy Tales".[114]Cp.Otto Rank, "Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 44 ff.[115]For numerous examples see Rank,op. cit.119 ff.[116]"Zur Einführung des Narzißmus."Jahrbuch für Psychoanalyse, VI, 1.i.[117]See especially Otto Rank, "Die Lohengrinsage," Schriften zur angewandten Seelenkunde.[118]An influence of this kind may also manifest itself by causing the successive falling in love with several persons of the same name, as for instance, in the case of Schiller (Charlotte von Wolzogen, Charlotte von Kalb, Charlotte von Lengefeld) or in that of Shelley (Harriet Grove, Harriet Westbrook and the later affection for Harriet de Boinville). The incestuous origin of such a name influence may be shown even more clearly in cases where the names of persons successively loved are those of different members of the lover's own family; as in the case of Mörike; (Clara and Louisa, after the name of his two sisters).Cp.Rank, "Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," pp. 91, 543. In a case known to me, a young woman fell in love successively with three men possessing the same Christian name, one of whom had the same surname as herself. In a fourth love affair the surname of the man was the same as the Christian name of her brother, to whom she was much attached, and contrary to her usual custom she always called this fourth lover by his surname instead of by his Christian name.[119]Though not perhaps quite so superficial as is often supposed. Psycho-analytic work has drawn attention to the influence that a name may often exercise upon the behaviour and mental characteristics of its possessor. (Cp.Stekel, "Die Verpflichtung des Namens,"Zeitschrift für Psychotherapie und medizinische Psychologie, III, Part 2, 1911. Abraham, "Über die determinierende Kraft des Namens,"Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse, II, 1912, 133). Goethe (Wahlverwandtschaften, Part I, Ch. 2) too had already noticed the possibility of this influence.[120]Cp.Freud, "Beiträge zur Psychologie des Liebeslebens,"Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen, 1910, II, 390.[121]It is such a character for instance that Ibsen appears to have met in the person of Emilie Bardach of Vienna, who served as principal model for Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder and who is referred to in the following description given to his friend Elias (Neue Deutsche Rundschau1906, p. 1462, quoted by William Archer in his Introductions to Ibsen's plays, Vol. X, p. XXIV) "He related how he had met in the Tyrol a Viennese girl of very remarkable character. She at once made him her confidant. The gist of her confessions was that she did not care a bit about one day marrying a well brought-up young man—most likely she would never marry. What tempted and charmed and delighted her was to lure other women's husbands away from them. She was a little daemonic worker: she often appeared to him like a little bird of prey, that would fain have made him too, her booty."[122]Otto Rank, "Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," especially p. 121.[123]An interesting example of this curious desire is quoted by Rank (Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage, p. 94.) from the life of Schiller: on the occasion of the publication of the banns for the marriage between the poet and Charlotte von Lengefeld, the former is said to have remarked jokingly to his bride that it would be a pity if no one came to raise some objection to the marriage or to dispute his right to Charlotte's hand![124]This belief is often strengthened by, and in its turn tends to confirm, the frequently held infantile theory which regards sexual relations as consisting essentially of an attack on the mother by the father—a theory which itself exerts in many cases an important and often harmful influence on subsequent sexual life.[125]Cp.E. S. Hartland, "The Legend of Perseus." Vol. I, p. 94.[126]Byron's espousal (note, by the way, the implications underlying the use of such an expression in this connection) of the cause of Greek independence may be cited as a classical example of this form of sublimation.[127]Cp.below, Ch. XII.[128]Cp.Otto Rank, "Die Lohengrinsage." 87. ff., Ernest Jones "Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 233.[129]"Beiträge zur Psychologie des Liebeslebens."Jahrbuch für psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen, 1910, II, 389.[130]Indeed it frequently happens that a boy will call up the image of some girl whom he sincerely loves in order that he may the better resist the temptation to practise masturbation.[131]For an interesting and suggestive study of the influence of a high degree of this dissociation upon married life and upon the general attitude towards questions of sex and of morality, the reader is referred to J. D. Beresford's novel "God's Counterpoint".[132]If this is so (and indeed perhaps in any case), it is evident that the difference in question must be taken into consideration in dealing with such questions as those affecting the pre-marital chastity or unchastity of men, the "double moral standard" in sexual mattersetc.[133]Among the causes of the greater condemnation of masturbation in men one of great importance consists in the fear of castration which—as result of threats by parents and nurses and otherwise—frequently becomes intimately associated with the onanistic act. Closely connected with this is the fact that the significance and consequences of masturbation are more obvious in the male than in the female—the emission of semen and the lassitude that follows this being very liable to produce a sense of loss and injury, thus easily arousing or reinforcing the fears connected with the ideas of castration. Perhaps a further factor of a more general nature is played by the greater freedom of narcissistic impulses in women (Cp.Freud, "Zur Einführung des Narzißmus,"Jahrbuch für Psychoanalyse, VI. I.). The relatively greater persistence of infantile self-love shows itself clearly in the greater freedom of the milder manifestations of homosexuality in women (the homosexual partner being a projection of the lover's self;Cp.above p. 103) and may very well also be the cause of women's more natural attitude to masturbation as a form of auto-erotic gratification.[134]Cp.Ernest Jones, "Papers on Psycho-Analysis" 558, the whole chapter being important in this connection.[135]Since there is a very general tendency for physical superiority in men to arouse sexual feelings in the woman, whereas inferiority in men as regards size, strength, health,etc., is apt to arouse a sympathetic, motherly affection in the woman.[136]I am indebted to my friend Major O. Berkeley-Hill for the suggestion that the attraction which women often feel for men of a racially more primitive type, and the corresponding jealousy that the (often subconscious) perception of this attraction arouses in men of the women's own race, are among the most important factors which prevent the reconciliation or co-operation of different races and which are the cause of much of the brutality and violence which a superior race is apt to exercise towards an inferior one. (Cp.the frequent lynchings of negroes for real or supposed sexual offences in America, or the anti-negro or anti-Chinese riots that are of not infrequent occurrence in English seaport towns.) If this should be true (and there can be little doubt that it applies to certain cases) it would appear that we are dealing with a psychological fact possessing historical and sociological bearings of even wider significance than would at first appear—bearings which must be kept in mind in all attempts to produce rapprochement or better understanding between the different races of mankind. (For a study of the tendency in question in individual casesCp.the novels of Robert Hichens,e. g."Bella Donna" and "Barbary Sheep")[137]A very interesting case illustrative of the rescue and prostitute phantasies will be found in Ernest Jones. "Einige Fälle von Zwangsneurose,"Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen, 1913, V, 55.[138]This psychic tendency must of course be distinguished from the sexual jealousy so characteristic of paranoia, which has been shown to be due to repressed homosexuality, the paranoiac projecting on to his wife or paramour the tender feelings towards some person or persons of his own sex, which he himself harbours in his Unconscious. (Cp.Ferenczi, "Contributions to Psycho-Analysis," trans. by Ernest Jones, Ch. XI, p. 238 ff.)Both the importance and the incestuous origin of this desire for chastity are clearly demonstrated by theinfrequentlyrecurring theme of the Virgin Mother in religion and mythology.Cp.below Ch. XIV.[139]An interesting historical case of one whose career was probably influenced to a large extent by quite a number of the unconscious motives discussed in this chapter is that of King Henry VIII of England. See J.C. Flügel, "On the Character and Married Life of Henry VIII."The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 1920, I, 24.[140]Cp.Ernest Jones, "Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 2nd. ed. 540 ff. for a study of the manner in which restraint of the child in one particular respect—with regard to the excretory functions—may lead to a hostile attitude of this kind on the part of the child.[141]Thus, as Mr. Burt has suggested to me, the influence of displaced father-hatred is probably in large measure responsible for the fact that strikes and other crude forms of rebellion against authority in industry occur principally among the working classes, where the tyranny of the father is often of a primitive and repressive type. For the same reason the number of delinquents from these classes is almost certainly relatively larger than that from the upper and middle classes, quite apart from the influence of economic and educational factors.Cp.too in this connection p. 128 below.[142]Cp.Ernest Jones, "Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 2nd. ed., 318 ff.[143]"Contributions to Psycho-Analysis," trans. by Ernest Jones, Ch. II, especially 57 ff.[144]Ernest Jones, "Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 2nd. ed. 301.[145]In technical psycho-analytic literature, the term "Transference" is, as a rule, used to denote this particular kind of displacement only.[146]"Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse," 526 ff.[147]O. Rank, "Um Städte werben,"Zeitschrift für Ärztliche Psychoanalyse, 1914, II, 50. B. Dattner, "Die Stadt als Mutter,"Zeitschrift für Ärztliche Psychoanalyse, 1914, II, 59.[148]"War and Individual Psychology,"Sociological Review, 1915, p. 1.[149]"Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 83.[150]"Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 143.[151]Ernest Jones,loc. cit.[152]Ernest Jones,loc. cit.[153]"War and Individual Psychology,"Sociological Review, 1915, p. 10.[154]"Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 414 ff.[155]Ernest Jones,loc. cit.[156]"Totem and Taboo," 70 ff.[157]For a brief general account of projectioncp.Bernard Hart, "The Psychology of Insanity," 117 ff.[158]A certain priestly king in West Africa may not even quit his chair, in which he has to sleep sitting. Frazer, "Taboo and the Perils of the Soul," 123.[159]Frazer,op. cit., 124.[160]Frazer,op. cit., 18.[161]We may briefly mention here a few of the main lines along which the evidence for the identification of regicide and parricide proceeds:—(1) The very person who performs the deed of murder is frequently the one who succeeds to the throne; taking this in combination with the fact that it is usually the son or some other near relative who is the recognised successor, it is evident that there exists a natural tendency for the murderer to belong to the murdered king's own family.(2) The birth of a son is very frequently associated with the idea of danger to the father. This danger would appear to be the principal motive for the widespread custom of killing the king's son, which seems to be regarded as, in many respects, an alternative to the killing of the king himself (see Frazer, "The Dying God," Ch. VI, 160 ff.)Cp.the very frequent legends (of which the story of Œdipus is one) in which a kingly father, to avoid threatened danger to himself, exposes or otherwise attempts to murder his young son. See Rank, "The Myth of the Birth of the Hero."(3) There exist many cases in legend, and some in actual fact, in which the son fights with his father for the privileges of chieftainship; while in at least one case (Frazer, "The Dying God," 190) the king is made to abdicate as soon as his son is born.(4) In the many quaint practices of the Carnival type, which, as Frazer has shown ("The Dying God," 205 ff.), usually represent, in one at least of their aspects, the murder of the king in the shape of the spirit of vegetation, the death of the old monarch is usually followed, immediately or after an interval, by general rejoicing at the coming to power of his successor (cp.the well known phrase, "Le roi est mort, vive le roi") showing that the idea of the superseding of an outworn potentate is a prominent underlying feature of the whole type of ceremony.(5) Festivals of this kind, and indeed those connected with the succession of kings generally, are usually associated with some kind of sexual orgy, in which the relaxation of the usual prohibitions, especially those which relate to incest, is often a prominent feature; this fact seems to point to the existence of some connection between incest and succession to the kingship, such as that which is manifested in the myth of Œdipus.(6) This connection is indicated even more clearly by the widespread custom of the new king taking over the wife of the king whom he has succeeded, even if she should be his own step-mother, or in some cases perhaps his real mother (See Frazer, "The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings," II, 283 ff., "The Dying God," 193 ff.). Where (as seems to have happened not infrequently) this is combined with the murder, deposition or defeat of the old king, we get both elements of the Œdipus complex in intimate association, and openly expressed.(7) Among the prohibitions and conditions to which a king is subject during his tenure of office, not the least burdensome are those connected with his sexual life. On the one hand his sexual activities are often restricted, permitted only under certain circumstances and conditions or even forbidden altogether; while on the other hand any failure or weakness of sexual power may be made the reason for his deposition or execution. If the sexual jealousy, which is such an important constituent of the Œdipus complex, plays an active part in the attitude habitually adopted towards kings (especially by those who are likely to become their successors), such restrictions on the king's sexual activity or such a utilisation of any sexual failing on his part as an excuse for his deposition or execution are only what we might expect to find.In bringing forward these arguments in favour of the operation of the Œdipus complex in the treatment accorded to kings, we must not of course shut our eyes to the co-operation of other important motives belonging to the later and more conscious levels of the mind, such as that emphasised by Frazer, according to whom the king is regarded as the embodiment of natural fertility, so that, if he were to become old or enfeebled, Nature (in virtue of the principles of homoeopathic magic) would suffer from a corresponding weakness and produce less abundantly; this belief naturally leading to the desire to kill the king while he is still in his prime, lest in age or disease he should endanger the sustenance of the community. Such a motive as this (and perhaps still others) may very well co-exist with the motives connected with the Œdipus complex, in virtue of the psychological mechanism of over-determination, just as—as Silberer, Rank, and others have shown—many myths, legends and neurotic symptoms may give direct or symbolic expression at the same time to two or more distinct sets of tendencies.[162]"Principles of Sociology." Vol. I.[163]A fear which, as modern psychological knowledge seems to show, is largely the result of the guilty conscience of the living; the feelings of hostility (including of course death wishes) which the living had experienced towards the dead during their lifetime being projected on to the dead (in accordance with the now familiar mechanism, which can be studied most clearly in psychopathological disorders such as Paranoia;cp.above pp. 116, 130); as a result of which the dead are conceived as being on the whole evilly disposed towards the living and consequently to be feared. Hence the very general fear of ghosts.Cp.Freud, "Totem and Taboo," 88 ff.[164]For numerous examples, see Herbert Spencer, "Principles of Sociology." Vol. I, Part I, Ch. 20. p. 280 ff.[165]Cp.W. McDougall, "Social Psychology," 1908, pp. 84 ff., 296 ff. W. Trotter, "Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War," 1916.[166]A clear and instructive examination of the whole question is given by Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," Vol. IV.[167]It is still to some extent a matter of dispute as to how far existing races of savages are ignorant of the rôle of the father in reproduction. There is much evidence in favour of such ignorance being often very considerable and sometimes perhaps complete (See E. S. Hartland, "Primitive Paternity," 1910). Some authors however (e. g.Walter Heape, "Sex Antagonism," and Carveth Read, "No Paternity,"Jour. Royal Anthrop. Inst.1918, XLVIII, 146) have maintained that the facts do not admit of the assumption of complete ignorance. Read especially has shown that such ignorance as exists may often be due to social or individual inhibitions, which prevent the knowledge of the true facts (a knowledge which exists in certain persons even in primitive communities) from penetrating to the consciousness of the majority of the inhabitants. If this view is correct, it reveals an interesting parallel to the fate of sexual knowledge in the individual; psycho-analytic investigation often showing that knowledge of the facts of sex and reproduction can be repressed from consciousness, though persisting in the unconscious levels of the mind. (Cp.Freud, "Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex," 37 ff., 51.)[168]Where of course the vagueness in question is beyond all doubt due to repression.[169]E. S. Hartland, "Primitive Paternity." Vol. I, Ch. 1.[170]A frequent dream in childhood consists in being chased by some wild and dangerous animal, which on analysis is almost invariably found to represent the father—the dream being comparable as regards conative tendency to the games of being pursued, in which children so often delight and which arouse in them a pleasant combination of fear and excitement, highly tinged with masochistic feeling. As regards mythology, the cases in which—as in that of Romulus and Remus—the rôle of foster parent is taken over by animals are of course quite numerous (cp.too in this connection the recent literary examples of Mowgli and Tarzan; also the dog Nana in Peter Pan), while in fairy stories there are also many examples of animals being endowed with parent attributes.[171]"Analyse der Phobie eines fünfjährigen Knaben."Jahrbuch für Psychopathologische und Psychoanalytische Forschungen, 1909. Vol. I, p. 1.[172]"Contributions to Psycho-Analysis," Ch. IX, 204.[173]Sometimes however, one of these opposing elements is directed to the animal, the other to the human parent. Thus, as Mr. Burt has suggested to me, it would seem that in delinquents the tender elements are often withdrawn from the parents and manifest themselves in the excessive fondness for animal pets, to which Lombroso has drawn attention. ("Criminal Man," 1911, 62-3.)[174]Frazer considers that the Australian system of exogamy bears the stamp of "deliberate design." "Totemism and Exogamy," IV, 112 ff.[175]Freud, "Totem and Taboo," 198 ff.[176]The Puritanical movement represented, in one of its most important aspects, an attempt to re-introduce the notion of the stern, relentless father. It is interesting to note that there seems to exist an association between the puritanical attitude in religion and a harsh, authoritative relationship between parents and children.[177]"Der Alptraum in seiner Beziehung zu gewissen Formen des mittelalterlichen Aberglaubens." Schriften zur angewandten Seelenkunde.[178]Particularly for undesirable thoughts of a sexual nature, the Devil being the recognised source of temptations and obsessions of this kind. The sexual aspects of the Father God are of course throughout chiefly noticeable in his relations to women and in the attitude adopted towards him by women. Thus the long series of amorous adventures on the part of Zeus are typical instances of father-daughter incest. In many places the cohabitation of a god with a mortal woman, who is regarded as his bride, has been an essential part of religious ceremonial; though the god himself is often, conveniently enough, impersonated for this purpose by his priest. The very widespread practice of religious prostitution seems to be derived from the same source (Cp.Frazer, "Adonis, Attis, Osiris," I., 57 ff.). That girls should, before they marry, give themselves to the god, to his representative, or to some other man under his auspices, may be regarded as a custom having some relation to the initiation phantasies and ceremonies which we have already considered; the girl's introduction to sex life being, through this custom, accomplished by the father, or at least under his guidance and with his approval. A social parallel to this religious custom is to be found in thedroit de seigneur, in virtue of which the lord of the manor had the right to sexual intercourse with a bride before she could be claimed by her husband.In the Christian Church, owing, we may suppose, to the increasing repression of the more directly sexual aspects of the father-regarding feelings, the sexual elements in the religious attitude of women is more frequently directed to Christ than to God the Father (corresponding to a brother-sister rather than to the older father-daughter type of affection). Nevertheless, the persistence of incestuous tendencies towards the father, can often be observed in individual cases.[179]Cp.Rank, "The Myth of the Birth of the Hero," 83 ff.[180]Though there are indications that the Christian God is sometimes regarded as bisexual (cp.von Winterstein, "Psychoanalytische Anmerkungen zur Geschichte der Philosophie,"Imago, 1913, II, 195), comparing in this respect with the original bisexual world parents found in some more primitive religions,e.g.Ymir, the giant out of whose body the world was made according to Scandinavian mythology.[181]Cp.Frazer. "The Dying God," 5. Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," 1858, Vol. VI. Ch. L, 223. The notion of the Holy Ghost as a mother is also found to occur spontaneously in children.Cp.Sully, "Studies of Childhood," 132.[182]The repression of the mother-regarding feelings has had its influence not only on the attitude towards the mother element in religion and on the attitude towards women in general, but also on everything that is (consciously or unconsciously) associated with women and especially with the mother. There is one curious instance of this influence which has been of very considerable importance in the history of philosophy, science and of man's attitude towards some of the most important problems of life and mind. There exists a very general association, on the one hand between the notion of mind, spirit or soul and the idea of the father or of masculinity; and on the other hand between the notion of the body or of matter (materia= that which belongs to the mother) and the idea of the mother or of the feminine principle. The repression of the emotions and feelings relating to the mother has, in virtue of this association, produced a tendency to adopt an attitude of distrust, contempt, disgust or hostility towards the human body, the Earth, and the whole material Universe, with a corresponding tendency to exalt and over-emphasise the spiritual elements, whether in man or in the general scheme of things. It seems very probable that a good many of the more pronouncedly idealistic tendencies in philosophy may owe much of their attractiveness in many minds to a sublimation of this reaction against the mother, while the more dogmatic and narrow forms of materialism may perhaps in their turn represent a return of the repressed feelings originally connected with the mother. (Cp.Von Winterstein,op. cit.)

[83]K. Weule, "Negerleben in Ostafrika," 304. Quoted by Reik.,op. cit.

[84]Chazac, "La religion des Kikuyu."AnthroposII. 317, 1910.

[85]Sir J. G. Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy." II. 144.

[86]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy" II, 145.

[87]Ancient Society, 385 ff.

[88]See especially W. H. R. Rivers, "On the Origin of the Classificatory System of Relationship." Anthropological Essays, presented to E. B. Tylor, p. 310 ff.

[89]Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," II, 638.

[90]Frazer,op. cit.III, 576.

[91]L. Fernandez de Piedrahita, "Historia de las Conquistas del Nuevo Reyno de Granada," 1688, 113.

[92]Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, VII, 856.

[93]F. S. Clavigero, "The History of Mexico." Trans. 1787, I, 319.

[94]Book. III, 31.

[95]Sir Gaston Maspero, quoted by Miss R. E. White, "Women in Ptolemaic Egypt",Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1898, XVIII, 244.Cp.Frazer, "Adonis, Attis and Osiris." II, 214, who also quotes the above.

[96]Cimon.

[97]Ch. XXII, ii.

[98]Cp. e. g.W. Ellis. "Tour through Hawaii," 414.

[99]"Totemism and Exogamy," I, 273 ff.

[100]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," II, 189.

[101]"Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 443 ff.

[102]See especially K. Abraham, "Die Stelle der Verwandtenehe in der Psychologie der Neurosen,"Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen, I, 1909, 110.

[103]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," I, 346, 439, 449 ff., 475, 483, II, 75 ff., 233 ff., III 552.

[104]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," I, 180 ff. II 65.

[105]Seee. g.Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," II, 525, III 575, IV 316.

[106]For numerous examples see Frazer. "Totemism and Exogamy."

[107]For numerous examples see Frazer. "Totemism and Exogamy."

[108]For numerous examples see Frazer. "Totemism and Exogamy."

[109]The reader will remember that in England permission to marry a deceased wife's sister has only recently been granted.

[110]See especially Freud, "Totem and Taboo," 24 ff.

[111]Cp.Rank, "Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 44 ff.

[112]"The Problem of Hamlet,"American Journal of Psychology, 1910. XXI, 72.

[113]Cp.Riklin, "Wishfulfillment and Symbolism in Fairy Tales".

[114]Cp.Otto Rank, "Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 44 ff.

[115]For numerous examples see Rank,op. cit.119 ff.

[116]"Zur Einführung des Narzißmus."Jahrbuch für Psychoanalyse, VI, 1.i.

[117]See especially Otto Rank, "Die Lohengrinsage," Schriften zur angewandten Seelenkunde.

[118]An influence of this kind may also manifest itself by causing the successive falling in love with several persons of the same name, as for instance, in the case of Schiller (Charlotte von Wolzogen, Charlotte von Kalb, Charlotte von Lengefeld) or in that of Shelley (Harriet Grove, Harriet Westbrook and the later affection for Harriet de Boinville). The incestuous origin of such a name influence may be shown even more clearly in cases where the names of persons successively loved are those of different members of the lover's own family; as in the case of Mörike; (Clara and Louisa, after the name of his two sisters).Cp.Rank, "Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," pp. 91, 543. In a case known to me, a young woman fell in love successively with three men possessing the same Christian name, one of whom had the same surname as herself. In a fourth love affair the surname of the man was the same as the Christian name of her brother, to whom she was much attached, and contrary to her usual custom she always called this fourth lover by his surname instead of by his Christian name.

[119]Though not perhaps quite so superficial as is often supposed. Psycho-analytic work has drawn attention to the influence that a name may often exercise upon the behaviour and mental characteristics of its possessor. (Cp.Stekel, "Die Verpflichtung des Namens,"Zeitschrift für Psychotherapie und medizinische Psychologie, III, Part 2, 1911. Abraham, "Über die determinierende Kraft des Namens,"Zentralblatt für Psychoanalyse, II, 1912, 133). Goethe (Wahlverwandtschaften, Part I, Ch. 2) too had already noticed the possibility of this influence.

[120]Cp.Freud, "Beiträge zur Psychologie des Liebeslebens,"Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen, 1910, II, 390.

[121]It is such a character for instance that Ibsen appears to have met in the person of Emilie Bardach of Vienna, who served as principal model for Hilda Wangel in The Master Builder and who is referred to in the following description given to his friend Elias (Neue Deutsche Rundschau1906, p. 1462, quoted by William Archer in his Introductions to Ibsen's plays, Vol. X, p. XXIV) "He related how he had met in the Tyrol a Viennese girl of very remarkable character. She at once made him her confidant. The gist of her confessions was that she did not care a bit about one day marrying a well brought-up young man—most likely she would never marry. What tempted and charmed and delighted her was to lure other women's husbands away from them. She was a little daemonic worker: she often appeared to him like a little bird of prey, that would fain have made him too, her booty."

[122]Otto Rank, "Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," especially p. 121.

[123]An interesting example of this curious desire is quoted by Rank (Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage, p. 94.) from the life of Schiller: on the occasion of the publication of the banns for the marriage between the poet and Charlotte von Lengefeld, the former is said to have remarked jokingly to his bride that it would be a pity if no one came to raise some objection to the marriage or to dispute his right to Charlotte's hand!

[124]This belief is often strengthened by, and in its turn tends to confirm, the frequently held infantile theory which regards sexual relations as consisting essentially of an attack on the mother by the father—a theory which itself exerts in many cases an important and often harmful influence on subsequent sexual life.

[125]Cp.E. S. Hartland, "The Legend of Perseus." Vol. I, p. 94.

[126]Byron's espousal (note, by the way, the implications underlying the use of such an expression in this connection) of the cause of Greek independence may be cited as a classical example of this form of sublimation.

[127]Cp.below, Ch. XII.

[128]Cp.Otto Rank, "Die Lohengrinsage." 87. ff., Ernest Jones "Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 233.

[129]"Beiträge zur Psychologie des Liebeslebens."Jahrbuch für psychoanalytische und psychopathologische Forschungen, 1910, II, 389.

[130]Indeed it frequently happens that a boy will call up the image of some girl whom he sincerely loves in order that he may the better resist the temptation to practise masturbation.

[131]For an interesting and suggestive study of the influence of a high degree of this dissociation upon married life and upon the general attitude towards questions of sex and of morality, the reader is referred to J. D. Beresford's novel "God's Counterpoint".

[132]If this is so (and indeed perhaps in any case), it is evident that the difference in question must be taken into consideration in dealing with such questions as those affecting the pre-marital chastity or unchastity of men, the "double moral standard" in sexual mattersetc.

[133]Among the causes of the greater condemnation of masturbation in men one of great importance consists in the fear of castration which—as result of threats by parents and nurses and otherwise—frequently becomes intimately associated with the onanistic act. Closely connected with this is the fact that the significance and consequences of masturbation are more obvious in the male than in the female—the emission of semen and the lassitude that follows this being very liable to produce a sense of loss and injury, thus easily arousing or reinforcing the fears connected with the ideas of castration. Perhaps a further factor of a more general nature is played by the greater freedom of narcissistic impulses in women (Cp.Freud, "Zur Einführung des Narzißmus,"Jahrbuch für Psychoanalyse, VI. I.). The relatively greater persistence of infantile self-love shows itself clearly in the greater freedom of the milder manifestations of homosexuality in women (the homosexual partner being a projection of the lover's self;Cp.above p. 103) and may very well also be the cause of women's more natural attitude to masturbation as a form of auto-erotic gratification.

[134]Cp.Ernest Jones, "Papers on Psycho-Analysis" 558, the whole chapter being important in this connection.

[135]Since there is a very general tendency for physical superiority in men to arouse sexual feelings in the woman, whereas inferiority in men as regards size, strength, health,etc., is apt to arouse a sympathetic, motherly affection in the woman.

[136]I am indebted to my friend Major O. Berkeley-Hill for the suggestion that the attraction which women often feel for men of a racially more primitive type, and the corresponding jealousy that the (often subconscious) perception of this attraction arouses in men of the women's own race, are among the most important factors which prevent the reconciliation or co-operation of different races and which are the cause of much of the brutality and violence which a superior race is apt to exercise towards an inferior one. (Cp.the frequent lynchings of negroes for real or supposed sexual offences in America, or the anti-negro or anti-Chinese riots that are of not infrequent occurrence in English seaport towns.) If this should be true (and there can be little doubt that it applies to certain cases) it would appear that we are dealing with a psychological fact possessing historical and sociological bearings of even wider significance than would at first appear—bearings which must be kept in mind in all attempts to produce rapprochement or better understanding between the different races of mankind. (For a study of the tendency in question in individual casesCp.the novels of Robert Hichens,e. g."Bella Donna" and "Barbary Sheep")

[137]A very interesting case illustrative of the rescue and prostitute phantasies will be found in Ernest Jones. "Einige Fälle von Zwangsneurose,"Jahrbuch für Psychoanalytische und Psychopathologische Forschungen, 1913, V, 55.

[138]This psychic tendency must of course be distinguished from the sexual jealousy so characteristic of paranoia, which has been shown to be due to repressed homosexuality, the paranoiac projecting on to his wife or paramour the tender feelings towards some person or persons of his own sex, which he himself harbours in his Unconscious. (Cp.Ferenczi, "Contributions to Psycho-Analysis," trans. by Ernest Jones, Ch. XI, p. 238 ff.)Both the importance and the incestuous origin of this desire for chastity are clearly demonstrated by theinfrequentlyrecurring theme of the Virgin Mother in religion and mythology.Cp.below Ch. XIV.

Both the importance and the incestuous origin of this desire for chastity are clearly demonstrated by theinfrequentlyrecurring theme of the Virgin Mother in religion and mythology.Cp.below Ch. XIV.

[139]An interesting historical case of one whose career was probably influenced to a large extent by quite a number of the unconscious motives discussed in this chapter is that of King Henry VIII of England. See J.C. Flügel, "On the Character and Married Life of Henry VIII."The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 1920, I, 24.

[140]Cp.Ernest Jones, "Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 2nd. ed. 540 ff. for a study of the manner in which restraint of the child in one particular respect—with regard to the excretory functions—may lead to a hostile attitude of this kind on the part of the child.

[141]Thus, as Mr. Burt has suggested to me, the influence of displaced father-hatred is probably in large measure responsible for the fact that strikes and other crude forms of rebellion against authority in industry occur principally among the working classes, where the tyranny of the father is often of a primitive and repressive type. For the same reason the number of delinquents from these classes is almost certainly relatively larger than that from the upper and middle classes, quite apart from the influence of economic and educational factors.Cp.too in this connection p. 128 below.

[142]Cp.Ernest Jones, "Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 2nd. ed., 318 ff.

[143]"Contributions to Psycho-Analysis," trans. by Ernest Jones, Ch. II, especially 57 ff.

[144]Ernest Jones, "Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 2nd. ed. 301.

[145]In technical psycho-analytic literature, the term "Transference" is, as a rule, used to denote this particular kind of displacement only.

[146]"Vorlesungen zur Einführung in die Psychoanalyse," 526 ff.

[147]O. Rank, "Um Städte werben,"Zeitschrift für Ärztliche Psychoanalyse, 1914, II, 50. B. Dattner, "Die Stadt als Mutter,"Zeitschrift für Ärztliche Psychoanalyse, 1914, II, 59.

[148]"War and Individual Psychology,"Sociological Review, 1915, p. 1.

[149]"Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 83.

[150]"Papers on Psycho-Analysis," 143.

[151]Ernest Jones,loc. cit.

[152]Ernest Jones,loc. cit.

[153]"War and Individual Psychology,"Sociological Review, 1915, p. 10.

[154]"Das Inzestmotiv in Dichtung und Sage," 414 ff.

[155]Ernest Jones,loc. cit.

[156]"Totem and Taboo," 70 ff.

[157]For a brief general account of projectioncp.Bernard Hart, "The Psychology of Insanity," 117 ff.

[158]A certain priestly king in West Africa may not even quit his chair, in which he has to sleep sitting. Frazer, "Taboo and the Perils of the Soul," 123.

[159]Frazer,op. cit., 124.

[160]Frazer,op. cit., 18.

[161]We may briefly mention here a few of the main lines along which the evidence for the identification of regicide and parricide proceeds:—(1) The very person who performs the deed of murder is frequently the one who succeeds to the throne; taking this in combination with the fact that it is usually the son or some other near relative who is the recognised successor, it is evident that there exists a natural tendency for the murderer to belong to the murdered king's own family.(2) The birth of a son is very frequently associated with the idea of danger to the father. This danger would appear to be the principal motive for the widespread custom of killing the king's son, which seems to be regarded as, in many respects, an alternative to the killing of the king himself (see Frazer, "The Dying God," Ch. VI, 160 ff.)Cp.the very frequent legends (of which the story of Œdipus is one) in which a kingly father, to avoid threatened danger to himself, exposes or otherwise attempts to murder his young son. See Rank, "The Myth of the Birth of the Hero."(3) There exist many cases in legend, and some in actual fact, in which the son fights with his father for the privileges of chieftainship; while in at least one case (Frazer, "The Dying God," 190) the king is made to abdicate as soon as his son is born.(4) In the many quaint practices of the Carnival type, which, as Frazer has shown ("The Dying God," 205 ff.), usually represent, in one at least of their aspects, the murder of the king in the shape of the spirit of vegetation, the death of the old monarch is usually followed, immediately or after an interval, by general rejoicing at the coming to power of his successor (cp.the well known phrase, "Le roi est mort, vive le roi") showing that the idea of the superseding of an outworn potentate is a prominent underlying feature of the whole type of ceremony.(5) Festivals of this kind, and indeed those connected with the succession of kings generally, are usually associated with some kind of sexual orgy, in which the relaxation of the usual prohibitions, especially those which relate to incest, is often a prominent feature; this fact seems to point to the existence of some connection between incest and succession to the kingship, such as that which is manifested in the myth of Œdipus.(6) This connection is indicated even more clearly by the widespread custom of the new king taking over the wife of the king whom he has succeeded, even if she should be his own step-mother, or in some cases perhaps his real mother (See Frazer, "The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings," II, 283 ff., "The Dying God," 193 ff.). Where (as seems to have happened not infrequently) this is combined with the murder, deposition or defeat of the old king, we get both elements of the Œdipus complex in intimate association, and openly expressed.(7) Among the prohibitions and conditions to which a king is subject during his tenure of office, not the least burdensome are those connected with his sexual life. On the one hand his sexual activities are often restricted, permitted only under certain circumstances and conditions or even forbidden altogether; while on the other hand any failure or weakness of sexual power may be made the reason for his deposition or execution. If the sexual jealousy, which is such an important constituent of the Œdipus complex, plays an active part in the attitude habitually adopted towards kings (especially by those who are likely to become their successors), such restrictions on the king's sexual activity or such a utilisation of any sexual failing on his part as an excuse for his deposition or execution are only what we might expect to find.In bringing forward these arguments in favour of the operation of the Œdipus complex in the treatment accorded to kings, we must not of course shut our eyes to the co-operation of other important motives belonging to the later and more conscious levels of the mind, such as that emphasised by Frazer, according to whom the king is regarded as the embodiment of natural fertility, so that, if he were to become old or enfeebled, Nature (in virtue of the principles of homoeopathic magic) would suffer from a corresponding weakness and produce less abundantly; this belief naturally leading to the desire to kill the king while he is still in his prime, lest in age or disease he should endanger the sustenance of the community. Such a motive as this (and perhaps still others) may very well co-exist with the motives connected with the Œdipus complex, in virtue of the psychological mechanism of over-determination, just as—as Silberer, Rank, and others have shown—many myths, legends and neurotic symptoms may give direct or symbolic expression at the same time to two or more distinct sets of tendencies.

[161]We may briefly mention here a few of the main lines along which the evidence for the identification of regicide and parricide proceeds:—

(1) The very person who performs the deed of murder is frequently the one who succeeds to the throne; taking this in combination with the fact that it is usually the son or some other near relative who is the recognised successor, it is evident that there exists a natural tendency for the murderer to belong to the murdered king's own family.

(2) The birth of a son is very frequently associated with the idea of danger to the father. This danger would appear to be the principal motive for the widespread custom of killing the king's son, which seems to be regarded as, in many respects, an alternative to the killing of the king himself (see Frazer, "The Dying God," Ch. VI, 160 ff.)Cp.the very frequent legends (of which the story of Œdipus is one) in which a kingly father, to avoid threatened danger to himself, exposes or otherwise attempts to murder his young son. See Rank, "The Myth of the Birth of the Hero."

(3) There exist many cases in legend, and some in actual fact, in which the son fights with his father for the privileges of chieftainship; while in at least one case (Frazer, "The Dying God," 190) the king is made to abdicate as soon as his son is born.

(4) In the many quaint practices of the Carnival type, which, as Frazer has shown ("The Dying God," 205 ff.), usually represent, in one at least of their aspects, the murder of the king in the shape of the spirit of vegetation, the death of the old monarch is usually followed, immediately or after an interval, by general rejoicing at the coming to power of his successor (cp.the well known phrase, "Le roi est mort, vive le roi") showing that the idea of the superseding of an outworn potentate is a prominent underlying feature of the whole type of ceremony.

(5) Festivals of this kind, and indeed those connected with the succession of kings generally, are usually associated with some kind of sexual orgy, in which the relaxation of the usual prohibitions, especially those which relate to incest, is often a prominent feature; this fact seems to point to the existence of some connection between incest and succession to the kingship, such as that which is manifested in the myth of Œdipus.

(6) This connection is indicated even more clearly by the widespread custom of the new king taking over the wife of the king whom he has succeeded, even if she should be his own step-mother, or in some cases perhaps his real mother (See Frazer, "The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings," II, 283 ff., "The Dying God," 193 ff.). Where (as seems to have happened not infrequently) this is combined with the murder, deposition or defeat of the old king, we get both elements of the Œdipus complex in intimate association, and openly expressed.

(7) Among the prohibitions and conditions to which a king is subject during his tenure of office, not the least burdensome are those connected with his sexual life. On the one hand his sexual activities are often restricted, permitted only under certain circumstances and conditions or even forbidden altogether; while on the other hand any failure or weakness of sexual power may be made the reason for his deposition or execution. If the sexual jealousy, which is such an important constituent of the Œdipus complex, plays an active part in the attitude habitually adopted towards kings (especially by those who are likely to become their successors), such restrictions on the king's sexual activity or such a utilisation of any sexual failing on his part as an excuse for his deposition or execution are only what we might expect to find.

In bringing forward these arguments in favour of the operation of the Œdipus complex in the treatment accorded to kings, we must not of course shut our eyes to the co-operation of other important motives belonging to the later and more conscious levels of the mind, such as that emphasised by Frazer, according to whom the king is regarded as the embodiment of natural fertility, so that, if he were to become old or enfeebled, Nature (in virtue of the principles of homoeopathic magic) would suffer from a corresponding weakness and produce less abundantly; this belief naturally leading to the desire to kill the king while he is still in his prime, lest in age or disease he should endanger the sustenance of the community. Such a motive as this (and perhaps still others) may very well co-exist with the motives connected with the Œdipus complex, in virtue of the psychological mechanism of over-determination, just as—as Silberer, Rank, and others have shown—many myths, legends and neurotic symptoms may give direct or symbolic expression at the same time to two or more distinct sets of tendencies.

[162]"Principles of Sociology." Vol. I.

[163]A fear which, as modern psychological knowledge seems to show, is largely the result of the guilty conscience of the living; the feelings of hostility (including of course death wishes) which the living had experienced towards the dead during their lifetime being projected on to the dead (in accordance with the now familiar mechanism, which can be studied most clearly in psychopathological disorders such as Paranoia;cp.above pp. 116, 130); as a result of which the dead are conceived as being on the whole evilly disposed towards the living and consequently to be feared. Hence the very general fear of ghosts.Cp.Freud, "Totem and Taboo," 88 ff.

[164]For numerous examples, see Herbert Spencer, "Principles of Sociology." Vol. I, Part I, Ch. 20. p. 280 ff.

[165]Cp.W. McDougall, "Social Psychology," 1908, pp. 84 ff., 296 ff. W. Trotter, "Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War," 1916.

[166]A clear and instructive examination of the whole question is given by Frazer, "Totemism and Exogamy," Vol. IV.

[167]It is still to some extent a matter of dispute as to how far existing races of savages are ignorant of the rôle of the father in reproduction. There is much evidence in favour of such ignorance being often very considerable and sometimes perhaps complete (See E. S. Hartland, "Primitive Paternity," 1910). Some authors however (e. g.Walter Heape, "Sex Antagonism," and Carveth Read, "No Paternity,"Jour. Royal Anthrop. Inst.1918, XLVIII, 146) have maintained that the facts do not admit of the assumption of complete ignorance. Read especially has shown that such ignorance as exists may often be due to social or individual inhibitions, which prevent the knowledge of the true facts (a knowledge which exists in certain persons even in primitive communities) from penetrating to the consciousness of the majority of the inhabitants. If this view is correct, it reveals an interesting parallel to the fate of sexual knowledge in the individual; psycho-analytic investigation often showing that knowledge of the facts of sex and reproduction can be repressed from consciousness, though persisting in the unconscious levels of the mind. (Cp.Freud, "Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex," 37 ff., 51.)

[168]Where of course the vagueness in question is beyond all doubt due to repression.

[169]E. S. Hartland, "Primitive Paternity." Vol. I, Ch. 1.

[170]A frequent dream in childhood consists in being chased by some wild and dangerous animal, which on analysis is almost invariably found to represent the father—the dream being comparable as regards conative tendency to the games of being pursued, in which children so often delight and which arouse in them a pleasant combination of fear and excitement, highly tinged with masochistic feeling. As regards mythology, the cases in which—as in that of Romulus and Remus—the rôle of foster parent is taken over by animals are of course quite numerous (cp.too in this connection the recent literary examples of Mowgli and Tarzan; also the dog Nana in Peter Pan), while in fairy stories there are also many examples of animals being endowed with parent attributes.

[171]"Analyse der Phobie eines fünfjährigen Knaben."Jahrbuch für Psychopathologische und Psychoanalytische Forschungen, 1909. Vol. I, p. 1.

[172]"Contributions to Psycho-Analysis," Ch. IX, 204.

[173]Sometimes however, one of these opposing elements is directed to the animal, the other to the human parent. Thus, as Mr. Burt has suggested to me, it would seem that in delinquents the tender elements are often withdrawn from the parents and manifest themselves in the excessive fondness for animal pets, to which Lombroso has drawn attention. ("Criminal Man," 1911, 62-3.)

[174]Frazer considers that the Australian system of exogamy bears the stamp of "deliberate design." "Totemism and Exogamy," IV, 112 ff.

[175]Freud, "Totem and Taboo," 198 ff.

[176]The Puritanical movement represented, in one of its most important aspects, an attempt to re-introduce the notion of the stern, relentless father. It is interesting to note that there seems to exist an association between the puritanical attitude in religion and a harsh, authoritative relationship between parents and children.

[177]"Der Alptraum in seiner Beziehung zu gewissen Formen des mittelalterlichen Aberglaubens." Schriften zur angewandten Seelenkunde.

[178]Particularly for undesirable thoughts of a sexual nature, the Devil being the recognised source of temptations and obsessions of this kind. The sexual aspects of the Father God are of course throughout chiefly noticeable in his relations to women and in the attitude adopted towards him by women. Thus the long series of amorous adventures on the part of Zeus are typical instances of father-daughter incest. In many places the cohabitation of a god with a mortal woman, who is regarded as his bride, has been an essential part of religious ceremonial; though the god himself is often, conveniently enough, impersonated for this purpose by his priest. The very widespread practice of religious prostitution seems to be derived from the same source (Cp.Frazer, "Adonis, Attis, Osiris," I., 57 ff.). That girls should, before they marry, give themselves to the god, to his representative, or to some other man under his auspices, may be regarded as a custom having some relation to the initiation phantasies and ceremonies which we have already considered; the girl's introduction to sex life being, through this custom, accomplished by the father, or at least under his guidance and with his approval. A social parallel to this religious custom is to be found in thedroit de seigneur, in virtue of which the lord of the manor had the right to sexual intercourse with a bride before she could be claimed by her husband.In the Christian Church, owing, we may suppose, to the increasing repression of the more directly sexual aspects of the father-regarding feelings, the sexual elements in the religious attitude of women is more frequently directed to Christ than to God the Father (corresponding to a brother-sister rather than to the older father-daughter type of affection). Nevertheless, the persistence of incestuous tendencies towards the father, can often be observed in individual cases.

In the Christian Church, owing, we may suppose, to the increasing repression of the more directly sexual aspects of the father-regarding feelings, the sexual elements in the religious attitude of women is more frequently directed to Christ than to God the Father (corresponding to a brother-sister rather than to the older father-daughter type of affection). Nevertheless, the persistence of incestuous tendencies towards the father, can often be observed in individual cases.

[179]Cp.Rank, "The Myth of the Birth of the Hero," 83 ff.

[180]Though there are indications that the Christian God is sometimes regarded as bisexual (cp.von Winterstein, "Psychoanalytische Anmerkungen zur Geschichte der Philosophie,"Imago, 1913, II, 195), comparing in this respect with the original bisexual world parents found in some more primitive religions,e.g.Ymir, the giant out of whose body the world was made according to Scandinavian mythology.

[181]Cp.Frazer. "The Dying God," 5. Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," 1858, Vol. VI. Ch. L, 223. The notion of the Holy Ghost as a mother is also found to occur spontaneously in children.Cp.Sully, "Studies of Childhood," 132.

[182]The repression of the mother-regarding feelings has had its influence not only on the attitude towards the mother element in religion and on the attitude towards women in general, but also on everything that is (consciously or unconsciously) associated with women and especially with the mother. There is one curious instance of this influence which has been of very considerable importance in the history of philosophy, science and of man's attitude towards some of the most important problems of life and mind. There exists a very general association, on the one hand between the notion of mind, spirit or soul and the idea of the father or of masculinity; and on the other hand between the notion of the body or of matter (materia= that which belongs to the mother) and the idea of the mother or of the feminine principle. The repression of the emotions and feelings relating to the mother has, in virtue of this association, produced a tendency to adopt an attitude of distrust, contempt, disgust or hostility towards the human body, the Earth, and the whole material Universe, with a corresponding tendency to exalt and over-emphasise the spiritual elements, whether in man or in the general scheme of things. It seems very probable that a good many of the more pronouncedly idealistic tendencies in philosophy may owe much of their attractiveness in many minds to a sublimation of this reaction against the mother, while the more dogmatic and narrow forms of materialism may perhaps in their turn represent a return of the repressed feelings originally connected with the mother. (Cp.Von Winterstein,op. cit.)

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