Why Victorian children would believe in a psychological God

Comment on the relationship between Psychology and Religion

In the Victorian semi-autobiographical novel, The Way of All Flesh (full text), author Samuel Butler says, "If their wills were well broken in childhood, to use an expression then much in vogue, they would acquire habits of obedience..."

Once this psychological wound (the archeotrauma*) is created, its ongoing intrusion on the internal experience of life can easily be mistaken for the existence of a God.

The writer George Orwell praised The Way of All Flesh and called it "a great book because it gives an honest picture of the relationship between father and son."

A. A. Milne, author of Winnie-the-Pooh, wrote about it in his essay "A Household Book", published in a collection of his essays, Not That It Matters:

"Once upon a time I discovered Samuel Butler; not the other two, but the one who wrote The Way of All Flesh, the second-best novel in the English language. I say the second-best, so that, if you remind me of Tom Jones, or The Mayor of Casterbridge, or any other that you fancy, I can say, of course, that one is the best."

In 1998, Random House's The Modern Library ranked The Way of All Flesh twelfth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.

A Crucifix (from the Latin cruci fixus meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is an image of Jesus Christ on the Cross, as distinct from a bare Cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the Cross is referred to in English as the Corpus (Latin for "body").

*Also see, What is the Archeotrauma? and Evolution and Psychology Research.

An AI (artificial intelligence) image.

Taken in: Palestine / West Bank / patriarchat of Jerusalem (show map)

Taken on: November 1, 2023

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Sets appears in: • Psychology 4, Culture and Archeotrauma AI Images

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