Although the viewpoints and perspectives on religion vary greatly, there seems to be a universal human impulse towards sacredness that manifests itself in the institution of religion, a codified system of beliefs, symbolic expressions, and rituals. Of all creatures, humans alone recognize their own mortality and ponder over death. This awareness induces in them a sense of awe and reverence for what is construed as the supernatural and gives rise to an elaborate system of rituals and ceremonies for the divine force that presides over human destiny. Thus, according to Freud, religion develops from the need to ward off the horrors of nature; particularly the cruelty of death and also to compensate for the deprivations which culture imposes on the individual.