The Overcrowded Earth

Abstract

The enigmatic and quite impenetrable mystery of has agitated the mind of man since time immemorial, calling forth emotions of anxiety, awe and apprehensiveness. and its denial-Immortality, says B. Malinowski, have always formed, as they form today, the most poignant theme of man's forebodings. 1). The Talmudic sages often speak of the of the Angel of Death 2), and the Midrash Koheleth Rabbah interprets Eccles. III I to mean: He hath set a Dread of the Angel of in their heart 3). is a well known fact that primitive man declines to recognize as a normal, typical phenomenon, as a natural, matter-of-course form of existence 4), as an outcome of the relentless, uncompromising cosmic law of birth, growth and dissolution. In the cultures of aboriginal peoples everywhere we find the very important concept that is rather quite an abnormal event. It is with death and its premonitions that the Azande most frequently and feelingly associate witch raft, and it is only with regard to death that witchcraft evokes