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Robert N. Bellah

“We may not like to think of it when we say -it is more blessed to give than to receive-, but it is the giving that creates dominance. As Marcel Mauss reminds us: - To give is to show one’s superiority, to show that one is something more and higher, that one is magister. To accept without returning or repaying more is to face subordination, to become a client and subservient, to become minister. – The archetypal minister is the child, who cannot repay what he or she receives, at least not until much later if ever. Thus, if nurturance is linked to dominance, receiving is linked to submission. These elementary facts of human life must surely be kept in mind as we consider the relation between gods and men, rulers and people, in hierarchical societies.”

Robert N. Bellah, Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age
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Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age Religion in Human Evolution: From the Paleolithic to the Axial Age by Robert N. Bellah
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