But
under the later developed industrial processes, when the prime
movers and the contrivances through which they work are of an
impersonal, non-individual character, the grounds of
generalization habitually present in the workman's mind and the
point of view from which he habitually apprehends phenomena is an
enforced cognizance of matter-of-fact sequence. The result, so
far as concerts the workman's life of faith, is a proclivity to
undevout scepticism.
It appears, then, that the devout habit of mind attains its best
development under a relatively archaic culture; the term "devout"
being of course here used in its anthropological sense simply,
and not as implying anything with respect to the
spiritual attitude so characterized, beyond the fact of a
proneness to devout observances. It appears also that this devout
attitude marks a type of human nature which is more in consonance
with the predatory mode of life than with the later-developed,
more consistently and organically industrial life process of the
community. It is in large measure an expression of the archaic
habitual sense of personal status -- the relation of mastery and
subservience -- and it therefore fits into the industrial scheme
of the predatory and the quasi-peaceable culture, but does not
fit into the industrial scheme of the present.
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