So
that, as regards the external facts of its derivation, the cult
may be taken as an outgrowth of archaic man's pervading animistic
sense, defined and in some degree transformed by the predatory
habit of life, the result being a personified preternatural
agency, which is by imputation endowed with a full complement of
the habits of thought that characterize the man of the predatory
culture.
The grosser psychological features in the case, which have an
immediate bearing on economic theory and are consequently to be
taken account of here, are therefore: (a) as has appeared in an
earlier chapter, the predatory, emulative habit of mind here
called prowess is but the barbarian variant of the generically
human instinct of workmanship, which has fallen into this
specific form under the guidance of a habit of invidious
comparison of persons; (b) the relation of status is a formal
expression of such an invidious comparison duly gauged and graded
according to a sanctioned schedule; (c) an anthropomorphic cult,
in the days of its early vigor at least, is an institution the
characteristic element of which is a relation of status between
the human subject as inferior and the personified preternatural
agency as superior.
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