THE FUNCTION OF RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION. 199 ever, as with all other customs which are likely to produce hallucinations, we realise that those who acquire the habit, but fail to receive the message, nevertheless do gain in some measure an emphasis of those impulses which are of broader than individualistic significance. In this case the influences which are of a sexual nature being curbed, there is greater opportunity for the "higher" instincts of later development, for the ethical instincts of social import, to become prominent in mind. The very fact that the sexual nature is kept in check forces its demands upon the indi- vidual upon occasion while youth and health remain, and thus the celibate's attention is necessarily guided to those voices within him which can only be heard when one turns to introspective examination. This habit of introspective consideration, as thus aided, being once acauired will cer- tainly bring about an enforcement throughout all of life of those impulses of an ethical nature which, as we have seen, require time for their development because they relate to general trends of action which appear only when we study long series of subordinate activities ; impulses which can- not appear clear if our attention is fixed upon the individual- istic demands of the moment, from which the celibate deliberately attempts to cut himself off. 9. I must say a word here concerning the custom of making pilgrimages which has been of widespread occur- rence among many religious people. This custom evidently involves individual hardship, per- sonal loss and tribal weakening ; nor does it show on its face the distinct advantages in the direction of social advancement that I have been aiming to show exist in the case of all other notable religious exercises. But the reader will recall, I think, that in the last article of this series I mentioned that we should expect to find that the social impulses would tend to be made dominant by actions which brought into strong relief the outlines of the social fabric ; which emphasised the fact that there are social bonds, that there exists community of interests which must be dominant even where individual likings are oc- casionally crushed out, that mutual aid is necessary to our welfare as individual elements in social life. The efficiency of these pilgrimages in this direction can- not be questioned : and it seems to me there can be no doubt that their value has been quite in line with that attached to the other religious habits that we have been studying, when we consider that they ended in sacrifice, in prayer, and in
