The origin of the
tradition of the
Holy Ghost is easily traced to the
Brahminical trifold conception of
God.
First is the god of power or might,
Brahma or Brahm, the Father, second is the
god of creation, the Word, answering to John's creative Word (John 1:3), third is the god of generation and regeneration, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. Under the Brahminical
theocracy, the Holy Ghost was the living, vital, active, life-imparting agent.
The Holy Ghost in the
Christian Scripture is the agent of
Christ's conception, because, as
Matthew declares,
he was conceived by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was also the regenerating agent at his
baptism, although
Luke, who relates it, does not say why the
Holy Spirit in the form of a bird, alighted and sat upon his head.
The reason is nevertheless fully disclosed in the older mythical
religions. Christians claim baptism imparts a new spiritual life-they are born again. This new spirit appeared as a dove or a pigeon.
The spirit was originally
female so that the
Trinity consisted of two masculine principles and a feminine one, the latter being the procreative or regenerative principle. At the imposition of
Patriarchy the sex of the Holy Ghost altered from female to neuter.
The primary windy idea of the Holy Ghost is traceable to that early period of society when the untutored people of the earth in their ignorance of nature easily believed that movement signified the passage of a god.
The
Buddhists had their god
Vasus, who manifested himself as fire, wind, storms, gas, ghosts, gusts, and the breath, thus being nearly a counterpart of the Christian Holy Ghost. This god sprang from the supreme, primordial God, who was to Brahmins and Buddhists a fine, spiritual substance-aura, anima, wind, ether, igneous fluid, or electrical fire or fire from the sun, giving rise to baptism by fire. The third member of the Trinity, subsequently seems to have arisen from this being and had the same properties.