approximately reverse the order above-given in which they
have been STUDIED, and conclude that in general the
Phallic cults came first, the cult of Magic and the propitiation
of earth-divinities and spirits came second, and
only last came the belief in definite God-figures residing
in heaven.

At the base of the whole process by which divinities and
demons were created, and rites for their propitiation and
placation established, lay Fear--fear stimulating the
imagination to fantastic activity. Primus in orbe deos
fecit Timor. And fear, as we shall see, only became a mental
stimulus at the time of, or after, the evolution
of self-consciousness. Before that time, in the period of
SIMPLE consciousness, when the human mind resembled
that of the animals, fear indeed existed, but its nature was
more that of a mechanical protective instinct. There
being no figure or image of SELF in the animal mind, there
were correspondingly no figures or images of beings who
might threaten or destroy that self. So it was that the
imaginative power of fear began with Self-consciousness, and
from that imaginative power was unrolled the whole panorama
of the gods and rites and creeds of Religion down the
centuries.

The immense force and domination of Fear in the first
self-conscious stages of the human mind is a thing which
can hardly be exaggerated, and which is even difficult for
some of us moderns to realize. But naturally as soon
as Man began to think about himself--a frail phantom and