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Elective English–I

Notes Bertrand Russell believes that our savage ancestors found themselves helpless and powerless
because nature was dark and chaotic and no means to think otherwise. They began to imagine
a power that was unseen for them they thought that, here must be some visible force, which
is beyond their sight and control. Then they thought is, they gave some worship to that power.
It would make their life better, more helpful and powerful. Thinking so they established the
power of imagination and began to worship to that power which is the worst task made by
them.
After they established power and began to worship it a tradition of worshipping over power
was developed. The tradition of worship came to be developed in such a negative way that
we worship God; the blood thirst demonic picture of God, was created so that we worsened
the tradition more and more. He gives two examples of God to criticize the negative tradition
of worship. The Moloch God was worshipped by sacrificing the children by burning them in
to the flame of fire. He also criticizes the God in the Book of Job in the Bible where both Gods,
the Moloch God as well as the other God in negative sense are the source of suffering rather
than love to the worshipper. He criticized such demon like Gods and attacks over the negative
tradition of worship. He suggests that it is the time to alter the tradition of worship but it is
better to stop to worship if we can.
Russell reminds the moral readers that only humans can distinguish between good and bad
or right and wrong. He says that human being is different from other creation of Mother
Nature, in the sense that only humans have the indomitable (strong) nature of spirit that is
using our mind. He reminds us that by using the mind, we can think, imagine, analyze and
evaluate what is right and what is wrong. He thinks that power and its worship is very
meaningless.

In his opinion, there is no human power but super human power such as nature, time and
death. In nature, there is power of change and violence. In time, there is power of fate and in
death, there is power of finality, in this power there is such force, which we cannot control
or prevent. Whatever we worship after these powers, they are deaf, dumb and victimization.
No one can be immoral; no one can escape from the moth of death at last. To use such mind
is tousle (dishevel) indomitable nature of our spirit and by using so we can conclude that our
worship to power is meaningless. We should be indifferent to the power. It is better not to
worship power. If not so it is the time to alter the tradition of power worship and it is better
to worship good, loveable and affectionate power.
Finally, Russell suggests us that when we stop to worship power we can be freeman. To be
a freeman it is very difficult because we are guided by our petty and trivial personal selfish
desire. We are bounded in the material world so we cannot renounce this world. Until and
unless we renounce such material desires, we cannot be a free man. It is like the world of a
dark cave, which is difficult to cross, but once we cross it we will reach a beautiful temple,
which is to be the freeman.

What Russell says is if we abandon our personal selfish desire and if we reject the material
world, we become freeman and we have different type of world of the worship. The Freeman
does not worship like the savage who worships as a slave on the feet of power to fulfill his
petty and trivial desires. But, to the freeman worship is different because he is not the slave
on the feet of power. Instead, his worship is deep thinking or meditation for the welfare of
humanity. In Russell’s opinion, A Freeman’s Worship is to burn in to the fire of worldly human
passions. It is the great thinking of human for the benefit of the human world like Buddha.

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