(11-11-2024, 02:48 PM)Sirius Wrote: The disagreement sitting with "them", what answers the call? How is it commanding nature?I've had to go back to the chapter again, because I was quoting the theory from memory and possibly over-simplifying. For a lot of the chapter, he is arguing that religion recognises conscious agents over nature and magic tends not to, attempting to manipulate nature directly. So "them" is not really distinct from the natural world.
But then I came across the paragraph which I was obviously remembering when I referred to "commanding spiritual powers".He mentions various societies, from ancient Egypt to India, which developed a belief in conscious gods but even so regarded them as coming under the control of magical procedures, He quotes Egyptian magicians threatening gods with destruction if they are disobedient. He quotes a saying "everywhere current in India"; "The whole universe is subject to the gods; the gods are subject to the spells; the spells to the Brahmans; therefore the Brahmans are our gods". It is in that context that he distinguishes between the arrogant attitude of the magician and the humble attitude of the priest. (This is p52 in the abridged edition)
