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CHAPTER I
THE SOURCE OF RELIGIOUS NEED
WHAT is a need? The term itself is ambiguous. It can
denote the experience of privation, or a state of being in want.
It can also serve as a name for the inner driving forces of a
human being. Kaila uses it in this sense. These driving forces
can be at work within us, although we do not experience them
consciously. For example, we can be in need of food and yet not
feel hungry. There are people who experience a deep need of
religion, feeling it to be essential for the completeness of their
lives. Others are unacquainted with a need of this nature.
Nevertheless the need seems to be universal and impossible
to uproot. Where does it come from? Is it innate or acquired? To
these questions we must now turn.
Is There a Religious Instinct?
Earlier in the century this question would have been
answered affirmatively without hesitation. One would have had
no doubt that the human being is endowed with a religious
instinct. I have in my possession an American book published
a few decades ago wherein the author says categorically:
‘From the scientific point of view religion has its root in an
instinct.’ A lot has happened since then. When McDougall
compiled his chart of instincts he listed no fewer than thirteen.
Today psychology is not at all sure whether there are any at
all. Some think the term is without meaning except in the realm
of animal behaviour. Others think there may be a few instincts
in human beings, but they do not include the herd instinct or
the fighting instinct, and some are very doubtful whether there
is any innate or instinctive fear, except perhaps, in infants, the
fear of falling and of loud noises. Those who hold these positions,
and their number increases, think that McDougall’s list of
instincts was unwarrantably wide and loosely conceived. They
dismiss the old idea of a religious instinct completely and on
very good grounds. One critical question touches the heart of
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