Future

Nor can it be assumed that religion may in the future be reborn either into morality (Kant), or art (Strauss), or metaphysical philosophy (Hegel), or finally into positive knowledge (Og. Comte), as it is impossible to assume that an oak or a pine can grow out of an Apple grain. Thus, the law of organic growth of religion presupposes complete independence and a certain isolation of religious life in all its changes from other phenomena of the spiritual life of man.

It goes without saying that, like a living organism, each individual religion does not develop in a straight line into infinity, but has its own periods of birth, growth, flowering, painful decline, and death. Most of the ancient religions (Egyptian, Assyro-Babylonian, Greco-Roman, etc.) are extinct; they have ceased to exist together with those States in which they professed as national religions. On the contrary, other religions, continuing their miserable existence, stopped in the process of their development; keeping to a well-known ancient tradition, they do not dare to deviate from it one step and therefore do not show the slightest desire for renewal and further progress.

3. The law of dependence of the spiritual life of man on the surrounding nature. That the character of religious beliefs and the form of worship is largely determined by the totality of the natural conditions in which a certain people live, this fact has long been considered firmly established in science. Naturalistic religions are always a reflection of the nature of the area. Animal deification (zoolatry) could only be developed where animals had the greatest influence on human life. The cult of the Egyptians was closely connected with the river Nile, and this is because no other river in the world had such a decisive influence on the life and well-being of the people as the Nile. The influence of local nature is found not only in the particular features of the cult and mythology, but also in the General character and direction of religion. The poetic and cheerful religion of the Greeks could only be formed under the clear sky of Greece, where nature did not suppress man, but excited his vital activity. On the contrary, India, with its languishing heat, luxuriant vegetation, and natural wealth that left no room for hard work, led the Hindu in the field of religion not only to abstract contemplation, but also to an extremely pessimistic view of life.