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    The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races: An Interpretation
    The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races: An Interpretation
    The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races: An Interpretation
    Ebook114 pages1 hour

    The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races: An Interpretation

    By Sanger Brown

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    About this ebook

    This book is a collection of essays on the topic of sex worship in pre-Abrahamic religions. The author's objective is to provide a historical account of the development of sex worship as a primitive motive in human evolution and to emphasize its dynamic significance. The author's ultimate aim is not only to inform psychiatrists of the potential relevance of sex worship in understanding mental disorders, but also to provide a broader audience with a deeper understanding of the role of sex in religion and human nature.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGood Press
    Release dateDec 4, 2019
    ISBN4057664565464
    The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races: An Interpretation

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      Book preview

      The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races - Sanger Brown

      Sanger Brown

      The Sex Worship and Symbolism of Primitive Races: An Interpretation

      Published by Good Press, 2019

      [email protected]

      EAN 4057664565464

      Table of Contents

      INTRODUCTION

      THE SEX WORSHIP AND SYMBOLISM OF PRIMITIVE RACES: AN INTERPRETATION

      THE SEX WORSHIP AND SYMBOLISM OF PRIMITIVE RACES: AN INTERPRETATION

      CHAPTER I

      Simple Sex Worship

      CHAPTER II

      Symbolism

      CHAPTER III

      Sun Myths, Mysteries and Decadent Sex Worship

      CHAPTER IV

      Interpretations

      REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

      INDEX

      INTRODUCTION

      Table of Contents

      Our knowledge of religion receives contributions from every quarter; even the student of mental diseases finds information that is of service to the student of religion. The reverse is equally true: a knowledge of religion sheds light upon even the science of mental disorders.

      In this short book, a psychiatrist seeks in the study of one aspect of religious practice—the worship of the procreating power—to gain a clearer understanding of the forms taken by certain kinds of mental diseases. His theory is that we may expect diseased minds to reproduce, or return to expressions of desire customary and official in societies of lower culture. This is, as a matter of fact, less a theory than a statement of observed facts; of this, the reader of these pages, if familiar with certain mental disorders, may readily convince himself.

      But Doctor Brown’s intention is not merely, perhaps not primarily, to draw the attention of the Psychiatrist to a neglected source of information, he aims at something of wider import and addresses a wider public. His purpose is no less than the tracing of the history of that great motive of action, the sex passion, as it appears in religion and the interpretation of its significance. Those who come to this book without the preparation of the specialist will find it not only replete with novel and surprising facts, but will find these facts placed in such a relation to each other and to life in general, as to illuminate both religion and human nature. This important result is made possible by the point of view from which the author writes, the point of view of racial development which has proved its fertility in so many directions.

      James H. Leuba.

      THE SEX WORSHIP AND

      SYMBOLISM OF PRIMITIVE RACES:

      AN INTERPRETATION

      Table of Contents

      THE SEX WORSHIP AND SYMBOLISM

      OF PRIMITIVE RACES:

      AN INTERPRETATION

      Table of Contents

      CHAPTER I

      Table of Contents

      Simple Sex Worship

      Table of Contents

      Psychiatry, during recent years, has found it to its advantage to turn to related sciences and allied branches of study for the explanation of a number of the peculiar symptoms of abnormal mental states. Of these related studies, none have been of greater value than those which throw light on the mental development of either the individual or the race. In primitive races we discover a number of inherent motives which are of interest from the standpoint of mental evolution. These motives are expressed in a very interesting symbolism. It is the duty of the psychiatrist to see to what extent these primitive motives operate unconsciously in abnormal mental conditions, and also to learn whether an insight into the symbolism of mental diseases may be gained, through comparison, by a study of the symbolism of primitive races. In the following discussion one particular motive with its accompanying symbolism is dealt with.

      A great many of the institutions and usages of our present day civilization originated at a very early period in the history of the race. Many of these usages are carried on in modified form century after century, after they have lost the meaning which they originally possessed; it must be remembered, however, that in primitive races they were of importance, and they arose because they served a useful end. From the study of these remnants of former days, we are able to learn the trends of thought which activated and inspired the minds of primitive people. When we clearly understand these motives, we may then judge the extent of their influence on our present day thought and tendencies.

      It has only been during comparatively recent times that the importance of primitive beliefs and practices, from the standpoint of mental evolution, has been appreciated. Formerly, primitive man was regarded merely as a curiosity, and not as an individual from whom anything of any value whatever was to be learned. But more recent studies have changed all this. In order to illustrate this matter of the evolution and development of the human mind we can very profitably quote from Sir J. G. Frazer:[1] For by comparison with civilized man the savage represents an arrested or rather a retarded state of social development, and an examination of his customs and beliefs accordingly supplies the same sort of evidence of the evolution of the human mind that an examination of the embryo supplies of the evolution of the human body. To put it otherwise, a savage is to a civilized man as a child is to an adult; and just as a gradual growth of intelligence in a child corresponds to, and in a sense recapitulates, the gradual growth of intelligence in the species, so a study of savage society at various stages of evolution enables us to follow approximately, though of course not exactly, the road by which the ancestors of the higher races must have travelled in their progress upward through barbarism to civilization. In short, savagery is the primitive condition of mankind, and if we would understand what primitive man was we must know what the savage now is.

      To properly interpret these beliefs and conduct, certain facts must be kept in mind. One is that with primitive races the group stands for the unit, and the individual has little if any personality distinct from the group. This social state gives rise to what is spoken of as collective thought, collective feeling, group action, etc. Miss J. Harrison[2] considers this conception a very important one in primitive religious development. All that the race expresses, all that it believes, is an expression of collective feeling. As a result of this group thought, feelings and beliefs are developed which are entertained by every individual of the community. These racial feelings become a part of the race itself; they are inseparable from it, and they find expression in the loftiest of sentiments and the most earnest of religious beliefs.

      Our study is not primarily concerned with religious development, but since early man’s deepest feelings found expression in what later became a religion, it is necessary to search for racial motives in primitive religions. These

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