ROSICRUCIAN ORDER A M O R C TRADE
MARK
Supplementary Monograph PRINTED
IN U. •. A.
The subject matter of this monograph must be understood by the reader or student of same, not to be the official official Rosicrucia n teaching s. Thes e monographs constitute a series of supplementary studies provided by the Rosicrucian Order,.AMORC, both to members and nonmembers, because they are not the secret, private teachings of the Order. The object of these supplementary monographs is to broaden the mind of the student by presenting him with the w ritings, opinions, and dissertations dissertations of authorities authorities in various various fields fields of huma n enterprise and endeavor. Ther efore, it is quite probable that that the reader will note at times in these supplementary monographs statements made which are inconsistent wit h the Rosicrucian teach ings or view n?s . poin - . t. But with . . the . realization that . they - are merely supple upplementar ntary y and that n?s the Rosicrucian Rosicrucian Organization Organization is not en do rsin g or condoning them, one must take them merely for their prim supple* 'p r i n a facie value. Throughout the supplementary of the subject will be given due credit whenever lentary series series the the authors authors or or translators transla we have knowledge of their identity.
ROSICRUCIAN PARK, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
"Consecrated to truth and dedicated to every Rosicrucian"
SPECIAL SUBJECT
LIFE EVERLASTING RAD-7
LECTURE NUMBERS
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LIFE
EVERLASTING
INTRODUCTION
We wo ul d like to impr impress ess on our rea reader ders s that the ma mate teri rial al of these in terest ing lectures is purely su ppleme ntary to to, , and NOT a part of the the officia l Rosic rucian teachings of AMORC. We offer these courses for for those who wish to broaden their views by familiarity with the diverse opinions o of f promi nent writers, thinkers, and teachers teachers. . The theories theories and concepts expressed, although not necessarily wrong, are extrane ous to to the Rosicr ucian philosophy. It is often by comparison with other views that we understand our own better. The following series are of the writings of that famous American his torian and philosopher, John Fiske, born at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1842 and dec eas eased ed i in n 190 1901. 1. He bec became ame renow r enowned ned as as a lecture lecturer r on ph i losophy in Harva rd University, and devoted many years of his life to phil ph ilos osop ophi hica cal l theses. The fol low lowing ing lect lectures ures wer e first pu publ blis ishe hed d in book boo k for form m in 1901 1901. . The serie series s en enti titl tled ed Life Ev Ever erla lasti sti ng is wor w orth thy y of your most careful though thought. t. His discourses will not carry carry you with them with out effort. effort. You will be obli ged to exercise your mental pow ers, but you will profit thereby in a deeper understanding of self and life
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Few incidents in ancient history are more tragic than the death of Pompey. Pompe y. The spectacle of the migh ty warr ior who had conquered the Orient and contended with Caesar for the the mastery of the world, a de feated and despa irin g fugitive fugitive, , trea cher ously murdered and lying lying un buri bu ri ed on the Eg Egyp ypti tian an strand, wa was s one that dre drew w tears fro from m Caesa C aesar r himsel f and from many another. another. Yet among the the poets of the sixteenth century Renaissance there was one who took a different view of the matter. matt er. In an ep epig igra ram m of inc om ompar par abl e be beau auty ty Fr Franc anc es esco co Mol sa ex cl ai ms :Dux, Pharea quamvis jaceas inhumatus arena, No n ideo fati est sae vio r ira tui tui: : Indignum fuerat tellus tibi victa sepulcrum; Non No n dec decuit uit coelo, te te, , nisi, Magn Magne, e, tegil It is almost impossible to preserve in a translation the peculiar charm of these lines, but a friend of mine in one of the pleasant student days of forty years ago produced this happy and fitting paraphrase:— We gri grieve eve not, Pom Pompey, pey, tha that t to thee No ear thl thly y tomb wa was s given; All Al l lands subdue subdued, d, no noug ught ht else was free To shelter thee but Heaven!
Here the art of the poet lies in the boldness with which he seizes upon one of of the most subtle and startling effects effects of cont contrast. rast. In the very circumstance which to the ancient mind was the acme of hu mi li at io n and ho rr rror or hi his s ge geni nius us di disc scer erns ns the oc occa casi sion on for mo st ex alted panegyric, the bitterness of death is lost in the abounding triumph of the soul enlarged and set free, the attributes of woe are transformed into crowning glories. It is just in this spirit of the Modenese poet that mankind has sought to take away from death its sting, from the grave its victory. That solemn moment in which, for those who have gone before and for us who are to follow, follow, the eye of sense beholds na ught save the ending of the world, the entran ce upo n a bla ck and silent eternity, the eye of faith declares to be the supreme moment of a new birth for the dis enthralled soul, the introduction to a new era of life compared with which the present one is not worthy of the name....Who can tell but that this which we call life is real ly death, from whic h wha t we call death is is an an awakening? From this vantage ground of thought the human soul comes to look without dread upon the termination of this ter restri al existence. The failure of the bodi ly powers, the the stoppage of the fluttering pulse, the cold stillness upon the features so lately wreathed in smiles of merriment, the corruption of the tomb, the breaking of the ties of love, the loss of all that has given value to existence, the dull blankness of irremediable sorrow, the knell of of everlasting everlasting fa rewells,— al all l this this is is seized up upon on by the the sov ereign imagination of man and transformed into a scene of transcend ing glory, such as in all the vast career of the universe is reserved for huma nity alone. alone. In the hig hest of creatures the Divine immanence has acquired sufficient concentration and steadiness to survive the dissolution of the flesh and assert an individuality untrammelled by the limitations which in the present life everywhere persistently surr ound it. it. Upon this view death is not a calamit y but a boon, not a punishment inflicted upon Man, but the supreme manifestation of his exception al preroga tive as as chief among God's creat creatures. ures. Thus the the faith in immortal life is the great poetic achievement of the human mind, mind , it is al all-p l-p er erva vasiv siv e, it is co conc ncer erne ned d wi th eve every ry mo me nt and every aspect of our existence as moral individuals, and it is the one thing that makes this world inhabitable for beings constructed like ourselves. The destruction of this sublime poetic conception would be like de depr priv ivin in g a p la ne net t of its atm atmosp ospher here; e; it w ou ould ld lea leave ve no noth thin ing g but bu t a mora mo ra l de dese sert rt as col d an and d dea d as the sav savage age sur surfac face e of the moon. We hav have e no now w to co ns nsid ider er thi this s su supr prem eme e po poet et ic ac achie hie ve veme ment nt of m a n — his be li ef in his own Im mo rt al it y— in the lig light ht of our mo moder der n stu studies dies of evolution; we must notice some distinctions between its earlier and later stages, and briefly examine some of the objections which have been be en al alle lege ged d in the na name me of sc scie ience nce ag agai ainst nst the val id idit ity y of the beli be li ef Here, as in all departments of the efflorescence of the human mind, the beg inni ngs wer e lowly, lowly, and nec essa rily so. so. Noth ing very lofty lofty or
far-reaching could be expected from the kind of brain that was en cased in in the Neande rthal skull skull. . Amo ng existing savages savages there there are are tribes concerning which travellers have doubted whether they pos sess ideas ideas that that can properly be called religiou religious. s. But wherev er un tutored humanity exists we find the conception of a world of ghosts more mo re or less dis ti tinc nctl tly y ela bor borate ated; d; the th thro rong ngin ing g si simu mula lacr cra a of departed tribesmen linger near their accustomed haunts, keenly sen sitive to favour or neglect, neglect, and quic k to punis h all infractions of the rules which the stern exigencies of life in the wilderness have pr es escr crib ib ed for the con conduc duct t of the tribe. tribe . This Th is cru crude de pri me meva val l gho ghoststworl d is thus already closely assoc iated with the ethical side of life, and out of this association have grown some of the most co lossal governing agencies by which the development of human society has been influenced. influenced. It is therefore not withou t reason that mo d ern students of anthropology devote so much time to animism and fe tishism and other crude workings of that savage intelligence of which the primeval ghost-world is a product. It is not at all unlikely that the savage's notion of ghosts may have ori gina ted chiefly in his exper ienc e of dreams, and this is is the explanatio n at present most in fav favour our. . The sleeping warrior ranges far and wide over the country, while he chases the buffalo and joins in the medicine dance with comrades known to have died yet now as active and as voluble as himself, but suddenly the scene changes and he is back in his familiar hut surrounded by his people who wh o can testify that he he has not for a mom en ent t left them. It is not unlikely, I sa say, y, that the noti on of one's cons cious self as some thing which can quit the material body and return to it may have started in such often-repeated humble experienc experiences. es. It can hardly be doub doubted, ted, how howeve eve r, tha that t this sa savag vage e co conc ncep epti tion on of the de deta tach chab able le conscious self is simply the primitive phase of the Christian con ception of the conscious soul which dwells within the perishable body bo dy and qui quits ts it at death. Th ro ug h ma many ny sta stages ges of el ab abor orat atio ion n and refinement the sequence between the two conceptions is unmistakable. At this po poin int t the ma mate teri ri al alis ist t in inte terpo rpo se ses s wi th an ar argu gume ment nt wh ic h he regards as crushing. crushing. He reminds us that if we wou ld es ti ma te the valu e of an idea, idea, as of a rac e-h ors e or a mastif f, it is is wel l to take a look at it its s pedigr pedigree. ee. What, then, then, is to be said— he scornfully asksr-of a doctrine of personal immortality which when reduced to its lowest terms is seen to have started in a savage's misinterpretation of his dreams? Wha t more is nee ded to prove it unworth y of the the seri ous attenti on of a scienti fic studen t of nature? On the the other hand hand, , the student whose mood is truly scientific will feel that one of mank ma nkin ind' d' s ca cardi rdi na nal l be belie liefs fs mu st no not t be di dism smis isse sed d too lig lightl htl y be becau cause se of the crudeness and error in that primitive stratum of human thought in whi ch it first took roo root. t. In his perceptio ns with in certain limits limits the savage is eminently keen and accurate, but when it comes to intel lectual judgments that go at all below the surface of things his mind is a mere farrago of grotesque fancies, wherein, nevertheless, some kerne ls of truth are are here and there embedded. It is a long way from
the dragon swallowing the sun to the interposition of the moon’s body be twee betw een n us and the luminary luminary. . The dr drago ago n was w as a figm figment ent of fancy, but the eclipse was none the less a fact. No w if we may take an il Now illus lus tra ti tion on fro from m the wor workin kin gs of an infan infant's t's mind, it is pr prett ett y cle arl y mad e out tha that t as baby ba by sits pro ppe d amon among g his pillows and turns his eyes hither and thither in following his mother mot her's 's mo move veme ment nts s to and fro in the room, she seems in com coming ing tow toward ard him hi m to to enla enlarge rge and in goin g away to dimi diminish nish in size, size, like Alice in Wonder Won derlan land. d. It is onl only y w it ith h the ed educa uca tio n of the eye and the smal small l muscle mus cles s wh whic ich h adj adjust ust it that the larg er area sub subten tended ded on the ret retina ina instantly means comparative nearness and the smaller area comparative remoteness. remoten ess. At first the sensations are interpreted direc directly, tly, and the impression upon baby's nascent intelligence is a gross error. The mother is not waxing great and small by turns, but only approach ing and receding. If, If , however, we consider that in baby's mind the the enlarged retinal spot means more and the diminished spot less of the plea pl easur sur abl e feel feeling ings s ex exci cite ted d by a fam famili iliar ar and graci gracious ous pres presence ence, , the approach of which is greeted with smiles and outstretched arms, while its departure is bemoaned with cries and tears, we see that as to the essentials of the situation the dawning intelligence is entirely right, although its its specific interpretation is quite wro wrong. ng. Mamma has not not really dwindled and vanished like the penny in a conjurer's palm, but has only flitted from the field of vision.
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To come back now to our primeval savage; when he sees in a dream his deceased comrade and mistakes the vision for a reality, his error is not concerned with the most fun damental part of the matte matter. r. The allallimportant fact is that this dreaming savage has somehow acquired a me nt ntal al att attitu itu de to towa ward rd dea death th wh ic h is to tota tall lly y di diff ffer eren en t fro from m tha that t of all other anima animals, ls, and is therefore pecul iarly huma human. n. Throughout th the e half-dozen invertebrate branches or sub-kingdoms, where intelligence is manifested only in its lower forms of reflex action and instinct, we find no evidence that any creature has come to know of death. The re is a sense, no doubt, in whi ch we may say that tha t the love of life life is universal. As a rul rule, e, all animals shun danger, and natura l sel ec tion maintains this rule by the pitiless slaughter of all delinquents, of all in who m the needful inh erit ed tendenci es are too weak. But in in the lower animal grades and in the vegetal world the courting of life and the shrinking from death go on without conscious intelligence, as the blades of/grass in a meadow or the clustering leaves upon a tree compete with one another for the maximum of exposure to sunshine until perh pe rhap aps s sto stout ut bo boug ughs hs and stem stems s are wa rp ed or tw twis iste ted d in the struggle. strugg le. Amon Am on g inv ert erteb ebra rates tes , eve even n wh when en we get so hi high gh as lob lobste sters rs and cu cutt tt le fish, fis h, the conscio usness attend ant upon the seizin g of prey and the the escape from enemies probably does not extend beyond the facts within the immed iate sphere of of vision. vision. Even among those ants ants that have ma r shalled hosts and grand tactics there is doubtless no such thing as me di ta ti on of death. Pass Pa ssin ing g to the ve verte rtebra brates tes , it is no not t unt until il we reach the warm-blooded birds and mammals that we find what we are seeking. Among sundry birds and mam mals we see indic ations of a dawning recognition of th the e presence of dea death. th. An early manifesta tion is the sense of bereavement when the maternal instinct is rudely disturbed, as in in the cow cow mou rni ng for her calf. calf. This feeling goes a little way, but not a great way, beyond the sense of physical dis comfort, and is soon reli eved by milking. Much more intense and and abiding is the feeling of bereavement among birds that mate for life, and among the hig her ap apes es, , and it reaches its culmin ation in the dog whose intelligence and affections have been so profoundly modified through his his immensely long long comradeship with man man. . Nowhere in literatur literature e do we strike upon a deeper note of pathos than in Scott's immortal lines on the dog who starved while watching his young master's life less les s body, body, alone upon a Highla nd moor: — "How long didst thou think that his silence was slumber? Wh en the wi nd stir st irre red d his gar men t, ho w oft didst di dst th thou ou start!" start !" Yet even this devoted creature could have carried his thoughts but little way toward the point reached by our dreaming savage with his
incipient ghost-worl ghost-world. d. More power of abstraction and and generalization was needed. needed. While the sight of the kill ing of a fellow-creat ure may arouse vio lent te rror in the the higher mamma ls belo w man, there is nothing to indicate that the sight of the dead body awakens in the dumb spectator any general conceptions in which his own ultimate doom is included. The only only feeling aroused seems to to vary betwe en utter in diffe renc e and and faint curiosity. Pro fess or Shaler makes a statement of cardi nal importa nce in this connecti on when he say says: s: "If "I f we should seek some one mark which, in the intellectual advance from the brutes to man, might denote the passage to the human side, we might well find it in the moment when it dawned on the nascent man that death was a my st er ery y wh ic h he ha had d in his h is tur turn n to mee meet." t." It is therefore interesting to note that the first approaches, albeit remote ones, toward a realizing sense of death occur among those ani mals ma ls in whi w hi ch the beg in inni ning ngs s of fam ily life hav have e bee n made, and the habitual exercise of altruistic emotions helps to widen the intelli gence and facilitate the appropriation to one's self of the experiences of one's co mrad mrades es and mates. Such is ttye case wit with h perm ane anentl ntly y mat mated ed bir ds and wi with th the hi high gher er apes, wh il ile e the case of the dog, exc excep eptio tiona nal l as it is through his acquired dependence upon man, has similar implica tions. Now I have elsewhe re pro ved and repeatedly illustrat ed tha that t the leading peculiarity which distinguished man's apelike progenitors from all other creatures was the progressive increase in the duration of infancy, which was a direct consequence of expanding intelligence, and was moreover the immediate cause of the genesis of the human family and of hum an society. society. It appears now that the realizing sense of death, such as we find it it in untutor ed men of primitiv e habits of thought, has originated in the selfsame circumstances which have wro ugh t the might y change from greg ariou sness to sociality, from the general level of mammalian existence to the unique level of humanity. I have elsewhere called attention to the profoundly interesting fact that the notion of an Unseen Worl d beyond that in which we lea lead d our daily lives is coeval with the earliest beginnings of Humanity upon our planet. We may now observe that it adds adds greatly to the interest and to the significance of this fact, when we find that the very cir cumstan ces whic h tended to single out our progenitors, and raise them from the the aver age mammal ian level into Manhood, tended also to make them realize the problem of of death and mee t it with a solution. solution. The grouping of facts now begins to make it appear that this primeval solution was but the natural outcome of the whole cosmic process that had gone befor before? e? that when na scent Humanity firs first t eluded the burden of the prob lem by rising above it, this was but part an d parcel of the the unprecedented cosmic operation through which man's Humanity was devel ope d and and declared. The long and cumul ative play of of cause cause and effect which wrought the lengthening of the period of helpless babyhood and the correlati ve mater nal care, care, and whi ch thus differentia ted the the non human ho rde of primates into a group of human cl an s, was atten ded by a strong development of the sympathetic feelings as it vastly increased the mut ual dependenc e among individuals. During the the sam same e perio d the gradual acquirement of articulate speech was accompanied by a great
increase in in the powers of of abstraction and generalizat generalization. ion. These new capacities were applied to the interpretation of death, just as they were applied to all otner things; and thus thus, , in the very process of beco be comi ming ng human, human , our pr prog ogen enit itor ors s aro arose se to the co cons nsci ciou ousn snes ess s of de death ath as something with which humanity has always and everywhere to reckon. From the earliest and most rudimentary stages of the process, however, the conception of death was not of an event which puts an end to human individuality, but of an event which human individuality sur vives. If we look at the circumsta nces of the genesis of manki nd pure pu rely ly fro from m the na natu tura rali list st's 's po poin int t of view, it can not fail to be be highly significant that the mental attitude toward death should from the first have assumed this form, that the human soul should from the start have felt itself encompassed not only by the endless multitude of visible and tangible and audible things, but also by an Unseen World. Wor ld. In v ie w of this st stri riki king ng fact it is of sma small ll mo mome ment nt tha that t the earliest generalizations which in course of time developed into a world of ghost ghosts s and demon demons s were grotesquely erroneo erroneous. us. Primitive theorizing is sure to be faulty and in the light of later knowledge comes to seem absurd and and bizarre. Such has been in mod ern days the the fate of of the the savage's ghos t-world, along with the Ptolemai c astronomy, the doctrine of signatures, and many another sample of the "wisdom of the ancient ancients." s." But the fact fact that primitive man misstated his relation to the Unseen World in no wise militates against the truth of his assumpt ion that such such a wo rld exists for us us. . To this question as to the truth of the assumption I shall return in the seque sequel. l. We have very bri efly ske tched the mann er of its origi na tion, and here we may leave this part of our subject with the remark that the belief in a future life, in a world unseen to mortal eyes, is not only coeval with the beginnings of the human race but is also co exten sive with it in all its subseque nt stages of development. It is in short one of the diff eren tial att ributes of humanity. Man is is not only tne primate who possesses articulate speech and the power of abstract reasoning, who is characterized by a long period of plastic infancy and a corresponding capacity for progress, who is grouped in societies of which tne primordial units were clans; he is not only all this, but he is the creature who expects to survive the event of physi cal deat death. h. This expectation was was one of his acquisitions acquisitions gained while attaini ng to the human plane of existence, and the interestin g question in the natural history of man is whether it is to be regarded as a perm pe rm an anen en t acq acquis uisiti ition, on, or is ra rath ther er ana analog log ous to the or organ gan tha that t sub serves, perhaps through long ages, an important but temporary purpose, after the fulfilment of which it dwindles into a rudiment neglected and forgotten. I do not overlook the existence of divers theological systems in which the attitude toward a future life is very different from that with which our Christian education has has made us famil familiar iar. . We sometimes sometimes
hear such systems cited as exceptions to the alleged universality of the human beli ef in in immortality. The Buddh ist looks looks forward through myri my riad ads s of su succ cces essi sive ve sen tie nt exi st stenc enc es to a cu culm lmin inat atin ing g stat state e of Ni rw an a (s (sic ic), ), wh ic h if not actu actual al ex exti tinc ncti tion on is at lea least st co comp mple lete te quiesc ence, the absolute zero of being. It hard ly needs saying, how ever, that Buddhistic theology, though it may have arrived at such a zero through long flights of metaphysical reasoning, is nevertheless ba se sed d in all its fo found undati ations ons upo upon n the pr primi imi tiv e be beli lief ef in man man's 's survival of death. Sometimes it is said that the Jews of the Old Testament times had no pr oper prop er co conc ncep epti tion on of imm immort ortali ality. ty. It can ha hard rdly ly be mai mainta nta in ined, ed, ho w ever, that such stories as that of the conversation at Endor between the living Saul and the dead Samuel could emanate from a people desti tute of beli ef in a lif life e after death death. . In point of fact ancien t Jewish thoug ht abounds in traces of of the primit ive ghost-world. It is only by contrast with the glorious and inspiring Christian development of the beli be lief ef in im immo mort rtal alit ity y that the ea earl rlier ier di disp spen ensa sati tion on seems so jeju jejune ne and meagre in its its faith. faith. There was little to arouse religious emotion in the dismal world of flitting shadows, the Sheol or Hades from which the Greek hero woul d so gladly have escaped, escaped, even to take the most meni me ni al po posi siti tion on in all the sun lit worl world. d. Gre ek and He Hebr brew ew thou thought ght, , in what we call the classic ages, stood alike in need of religious revival. The myth ic lore lore of the Greek mind had flowered luxuriantly in aesthetic fancies, while the spiritual life of Judaism languished amid strict obedie nce to forms and precepts. The far-reac hing thoughts . of Greek philosophers and the lofty ethics of Hebrew preachers were divorced from the primitive ghost-world, even as the mental processes of the modern scholar are separated by a great gulf frojn those of the woma n who comes to scrub the flo floor. or. The advent of Chris tiani ty fused toget her the vario us elements. The doctri ne of of a future life life was endowed with all the moral significance that Jewish thought could give to it, it, and with all the mystic glor y that Hellenic s peculat ion could contribute, so that the effect upon men was that of a fresh revel atio n of life and immortality through the the gospel. gospel. Grotesqu e and and hideous features also were brought in from the ghost-worlds of the classic ages, as well as from that of the Teutonic barbarians, and the resul t is is seen in media eval Christianity. At no othe r tim time, e, perhaps, perhaps, has the Unseen World played such a leading part in men's minds as in the twelft h and thirtee nth cen turies of our Chri stia n era, era, in the age age that witnessed the culmination of sublimity in church architecture, in the society whose thought found comprehensive expression in the "Summa" of St. Thomas, as the thought of our times is expressed in Spencer's "First Principles," in an intellectual atmosphere, which just as it was about passing away was depicted for all coming time in the poe m of Dante. Dante. It was a time of of spiritual awakeni ng such as ma n kind had never before witnessed, but it was also an age of new problems, an age whe rein the seeds seeds of revolt were thick ly germinating. The nature and constitution of the Unseen World had been too rashly and too elaborately set forth in theorems born of the slender knowledge
of primitive times, times, and the growing tendency to interrogate Nature soon led to conclusions which broke down the old edifice of thought. In the sixteenth century came Copernicus and administered such a shock to the mind as even Luther's defiance of the papacy scarcely equalled. In recent days, when Bishop Wilberforce reckoned without his host in trying to twit Huxley with his monkey ances ancestry, try, our minds were getting inured to all sorts of audacious innovations, so that they did not greatly disturb us. us. For its unsettlin g effects upon time-hon oured belief bel iefs s and men tal hab habits its the Dar Darwi winia nia n theo theory ry is no mor more e to be co m pared par ed to the Cop ern ica n than the inv ent ention ion of the ste steamb amboat oat is to b e comp are ared d to the voya voyages ges of Columbus. We are in no dang danger er of ov over er rating the bewilderment that was wrought by the discovery that our earth is not the physical centre of things, and that the sun apparently does not exist for the sole purpose of giving light and warmth to man's terrest rial habitat habitat. . We need not wonde r that in conservative Spain scarcely a century ago the University of Salamanca prohibited the teaching of the Newton ian astronomy. astronomy. We need not wonde r that that Gal ile o should have been commanded to hold his tongue on a topic that seemed to cast discredit upon the whole theology that assumes man to be the central object of the Divine care.
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This unsettling of men's minds was of course indefinitely increased by the revolt of Descartes against the scholastic philosophy, by Newton's immense con tribution s to physics, physics, and by such discoveries as those of Harvey, Black, and Lavoisier, which showed by what methods truth could be obt ai aine ned d co conc ncer erni ning ng Na Natu ture re's 's ope operat ration ions, s, and ho how w dif fe fere rent nt such meth me thods ods we were re fro from m thos those e by wh whic ich h the acc accep epted ted syst systems ems of the ol olog ogy y ha had d been be en bu built ilt up up. . The res result ult has be been en wh whol oles esal ale e sk skep epti tici cism sm di dire rect cted ed against everything whatever that now exists or has ever existed in the shape of ancient belief. This result was first reached in in Franc e about the middle of the eighteenth century, when the thoughts of Locke and New ton we were re ea eage gerly rly abs or orbed bed in a co commu mmunit nity y irr it itat ated ed be yo yond nd en endu dura ranc nce e by soc social ial inju injustic stice, e, and in wh ic ich h the chur church ch ha had d done mu much ch to for fei feit t respect. respect . Thus came about that violen t outbreak of mat eri alis tic athe ism which, in spite of its its generous aims and many admirab le a chi eve ments, ment s, is sur surely ely one of the mos most t mo mour urnf nful ul epi episod sodes es in the hi hist st or y of human thought thought. . The French philosophe rs set an example to three gene ra tions; the note struck by Diderot and Buffon and D'Alembert continued to resound until the scientific horizon had become radiant in every quar ter with the promise of a brig hter day day, , and its its echoes have not yet died. die d. It was but lately that the the voice of Lamettrie was hear d again from the lips lips of Strauss and Buechner, and even even today we may sometime s be en ente tert rtai aine ned d by a be la te ted d ei eigh ghte teen enth th cen centur tury y na natu tural ral ist wh o is fully pers pe rsua ua de d tha that t his den denial ial of hu human man imm immort ort al ality ity is an in inev evita ita ble co coro rol l lary from the doctrine of evolution. Indeed the progress of scienti fic discovery has been so rapid since the time of Diderot, its achievements have been so vast, its results so multifarious and so dazzling, that it has well -nig h absorbed the attention of the foremost foremost minds. The dogmas dogmas of theology seem stale and empty, the speculations of metaphysics vain and unprofitable in comparison with the fascinating marvels of chemistry and astronomy, astronomy, of palae ontol ogy and spectrum analysis; analysis; and it is natural that we should rejoice over the methods of research that are enabling us thus to wres t from Natu re a few of her long guarded secrets, and to mak e up our mi minds nds to hav e no noth thin ing g to do w it ith h con conclu clusion sions s tha that t are not obtai ned or at least veri fie d by such scientific met methods. hods. Daily we hear sounded the praises of observation, of experiment, of comparison; we are warned against long deductions, since the strength of any chain of arguments is measured by that of its weakest link, and experience is perp pe rpet etua uall lly y tea ch chin ing g us, to our ve vexa xati tion on and chagrin, tha that t wh what at reas reason on says must be so is not so, so, that facts wil l not fit hypo hypothesi thesis. s. The mor e thi things ngs we try to exp explai lain, n, the be tt er we rea realiz lize e that we live in a wo rl d of unex plaine d residua. Away, then, then, with all all so-call ed truths that cannot be tested by weights and measures or other direct appeals to the sen senses ses! ! Your m o d e m philosopher will have nothing of th them em. . His syst em is composed composed, , from start to finish finish, , of scient ific theorem theorems. s. As for the higher speculations, the deeper generalizations, in which phi losophy has been wont to indulge concerning the aim and meaning of existence, he waves them away away as as profitl ess or even mischievous. The world is full of questions as pressing as they are baffling.
As I on once ce he ar d He Herb rber ert t Sp en ce r say, "You can cannot not take up any pr ob le m in ph ys ysic ics s wi th ou t be in g qu quic ickl kl y led to some me ta ph phys ys ic ical al pr ob le m whi w hich ch you can neither solve nor evade." evade." It was in order to to secure secure philosophic peac pe ace e of mi nd tha t Au Augu gu st ste e Co Comt mte e und under ertoo too k to bu il d up w ha t he cal called led Positiv e Philosophy, in whic h the existence of all such problems was was to be co comp mp la ce nt ly ignor ignored, ed, — mu much ch as the ost ostric rich h see seeks ks esc ape fro from m a dil emma by bur yin g its its hea d in the sand sand. . In a far more rever ent and justifiable spirit the agnostic like Huxley or Spencer acknowledges the limitations of the human mind and builds as far as he may, leaving the rest to God. In the fervour of this m o d e m reliance upon upon scientific method methods, s, we are are warned with especial emphasis against all humours and predilections whi ch we may be be in dang er of cherish ing as as human beings. In a new sense of the words we are reminded that "the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked," and if any belief is especially pleasant or consol ing to us, us, forth with does Scie nce lay upon us her austere comma nd to to mo rt if y the fle flesh sh and tre treat at the be beli lief ef in q ue uest stio ion n wi with th ex exce cept ptio iona nal l di s favou r and suspicion. Thus there has grown up a kind of Pur ita nis m in the scientific temper which, while announcing its unalterable purpose to follow Truth though she lead us to Hades, takes a kind of grim satis faction in emphasizing the place of destination. N ow th Now there ere can be no sor sort t of dou bt that this rig rigid id and vig oro us sci en enti tifi fic c temper is in in the main eminently wholesome and commendable commendable. . In the interests of intellectual honesty there is nothing which we need more than to be put on our guard against allowing our reasoning processes to be w a rp ed by ou our r feeli feelings. ngs. Ne ve vert rthe hele le ss in st stee eeri ring ng cl clea ear r of Sc Scyll yll a it wou ld be a pity to tumble straight into the the maw of Charybdis, Charybdis, and it it be hooves us to ask just how far the canons of scientific method are com pe te nt to gu guid ide e us in de deali ali ng wi th ult ultima ima te que sti stions ons. . Scien Sc ien ce has gi given ven us so many surprises that our capacity for being shocked or astounded is well-nigh exhausted, and our old unregenerate human nature has been bul lied and bad ge red into som ethi ng like humility; so that now, now, at the the end of the greatest and most bewildering of centuries, we may fitly pause for a mome mo me nt and ask ho w fares it it, , in the these se ex exac ac ti ting ng days, wi th the Un Unse seen en Wo rl d wh ic h ma man n br ou gh t wit h hi m whe when n he was firs first t ma maki ki ng his ap appe peara arance nce on our planet? And what has has science t to o say say about that time-honoured beli be li ef th that at th e h um uman an soul sur surviv viv es the dea death th of the hu huma man n body body? ? The position that science irrevocably condemns such a belief seems at first sight a ver y strong one, one, and has unquest iona bly had a good deal of weigh t with many minds of of the present generation generation. . Throughou t the animal king dom we never see sensati sensation, on, perception, insti instinct, nct, volition, r eason ing, or any of the phenomena which we distinguish as mental, manifested except in connection with nerve-matter arranged in systems of various degrees of complexity complexity. . We can can trace sundry relations of general corres pond po nd en ce be tw ee n the in incr crea easi sing ng ma mani nife fest stat atio ions ns of in inte tell llig igen ence ce and the inc rea sin g compli catio ns of of the nervous syste system. m. Injuries to to the nervous structure entail failures of function, either in the mental operations
themselves or in the control which they exercise over the actions of the body; there is either psychical aberration, or loss of consciousness, or musc ula r paralysis. At the mome nt of deat death, h, as soon as as the the current of arterial blood ceases to flow through the cerebral vessels, all signs signs of consciousness cease for the looker-on and after the nervous system has been resolved into its elements, what reason have we to suppose that conscious ness survives, any more than that the the wetne ss of wate r should survive its separation into oxygen and hydrogen? So far as our terrestrial experience goes there can be but one answer to such a question. We have no more warr ant in experi ence for suppo sing consciousness to exist without a nervous system than we have for sup posi po sing ng the pr prop oper erti ties es of wa te r to ex exis ist t in a worl wo rld d des ti titu tute te of h yd ydro roge gen n and oxygen. oxygen. Our power of framin g concept ions is narrow ly limited by experience, and whe n we try to figure to ourselves the conditions of a future life, we are either hopelessly baffled at the start or else we fall back ba ck upon gr gros ossl sly y ma te teri ri al is ti tic c imag imagery. ery. The sav savage age's 's gh ghos ostt-wo worl rld d is a mere mer e re repe peti titi tion on of the fights and hun hunts ts wi th wh whic ich h he is familiar. familia r. The early Christians looked forward to a speedy resurrection from Sheol, followe d by an endless bodily existen ce upon a renovated earth. earth. Dante's pict pi ctur ures es of the Un Unsee see n Wo rl d are of often ten so int ens ensely ely ma te ri al alis isti tic c as to seem grotesq ue in our more truly spiritu al age age. . Popula r conceptions of heaven today abound in symbolism that is confessedly a mere reflection from the the wor ld of matter; insomu ch that persons of sufficien t culture to realize the inadequacy of these popular images are wont to avoid the difficulty by refraining from putting their hopes and beliefs into any defini te or descri bable form. form. Among such minds there there is is a tacit agree ment men t that the uns unseen een wo worl rld d mu must st be pu pure rely ly spi rit ritual ual in co ns ti tu ti on , yet no menta l image of such such a wo rl d can be formed. formed. We are all agreed that that life beyond the grave would be a delusion and a cruel mockery without the continuance of the tender household affections which alone make the pres pr esen ent t life wo rt h living; living ; bu but t to im imagi agi ne the rec recog ognit nit io ion n of soul by sou soul l apart from the material structure in which we have known soul to be man ifested, apart f rom the look of the love d face, face, the tones of the loved voice, or the renewed touch of the long vanished hand, is something quite beyo be yond nd our power. power . Even Ev en if yo u try to ima imagin gine e yo your ur own ps psych ych ica l act activ ivity ity as continuing without the aid of the physical machinery of sensation, you soon get into unman ageab le difficultie s. The furniture of your mind consists in great part of sensuous images, chiefly visual, and you cannot in thought follow yourself into a world that does not announce itself to you throug h sense impressions. Fro m all this it plainly appears that our notion of the survival of conscious activity apart from material condi tions is not only unsupported by any evidence that can be gathered from the world of which we have experience, but is utterly and hopelessly inconceivable. The argume nt here sum mari zed is in no way profo und or abstruse; abstruse; it is extremely obvious, and as its propositions cannot well be controverted, it has had great weigh t with man y people. I dare say say it may be held
responsible for the larger part of contemporary skeptic ism as as to to the future li life fe. . Peopl e have grown accustom ed to deman ding scient ific support for doctrines, whereas this doctrine is not only destitute of scie ntif ic support but lands us in inconceivab ilities; is it it not not, , then, untena ble and absurd? Such is the common argument. argument. Ther e are those who seek to meet it with inductive evidence of the presence of disem bodi bo died ed spi spirit rits s or gho ghosts sts wh ic h ho hold ld dir direct ect co comm mmun unic icat atio ion n onl only y wi with th ce cer r tain specially endowed persons known as as medi mediums ums. . Concer ning such such in ductive evidence it may be said that very little has as yet been brought forward which is likely to make much impression upon minds trained in investigatio n. If it its s value as evidence were to be conceded, it wou ld seem to point to the conclusion that the grade of intelligence which survives the grave is about on a par with that which in the present life we are accusto med to shut up in in asylums for id io ts . On the whol e the the medi me dium um is isti ti c idea ideas s and me meth thod ods s are fra frankl nkly y ma mater ter ia iali list stic ic, , th thei eir r all ege d communications with the other world are through sights and sounds, and if their pretensions could be sustained the result would be simply the rehabilitation of the primitiv e ghost worl world. d. Their theory of thing things s moves mov es on so low a pla p lane ne as h ar ardl dly y to me merit rit not ice in a ser seriou ious s phil ph ilos os op ophi hi c dis discus cussio sion. n.
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To return to the argument that the doctrine of the survival of conscious activity apart from material conditions is unsupported by experience and is inconceivable, we may observe that it is incon ceivable just because it is entirely without foundation in experience. Our powers of conception are narrowly determined by the limits of our experience, and when that experienc e has never furnished us with the mate ma te ri al s for fra min g a co conc ncep epti ti on we si simp mply ly ca cann nnot ot fra frame me it it. . Hen ce we cannot conceive of the conscious soul as entirely dissociated from any material vehicle. No w we are pr prep epar ar ed to ask, Ho How w mu ch doe does s this fam famous ous ar argu gu me ment nt amoun t to to, , as agai nst the the belief that the soul survives the the body? The answ er is, is, Nothing! ab solu tely nothing. It not only fails fails to disp rove the validity of the belief, but it does not raise even the slightest iprima facie presu mpt ion against it. it. This will at once become appar ent if we remember that human experience is very far indeed from being infinite, and that there are in all probability immense regions of existence in every way as real as the' region which we know, yet con cerning which we cannot form the faintest rudiment of a conception. Wi th in the pa past st ce cent ntur ury y the stu study dy of lig light ht and oth other er ra radi dian ant t for forces ces has furnished us us with a suggestive object-lesson. The luminiferous ether combines properties which are are inconceivable in in connec connection. tion. How curious to think that we live and move in an ocean of ether in which the part icle s of all mate rial things are floating like islands! islands! But how amazing to learn that this ocean of ether is also an adamantine firmament! Is not this sheer nons ense ? An ocean firmam ent of ether adamant! Yet such seems seems to be the fact fact, , an d our philo soph y must mak e the best of it it. Now suppose tha that t all this world were crowded with dis embodied souls, an infinite throng most aptly called "the majority," a thousand or more on every spot in space as broad as the point of a cambric needle, in what way could we become aware of their existence? Clea rly in no way, since we have no organ or faculty for the perc ept ion of soul apart from the material structure and activities in which it has been manifested throughout the whole course of our experience. There we will suppose are the countless millions, the existence of any one of whom, could we detec t it, it, wou ld s uffice to demo nstr ate the doct rin e of a future lif life, e, and yet, yet, for lack of the the requi site means of communication, all this this evidence is is inaccessible. Such an illustrati on shows that "the entire absence of testimony does not even raise a nega tive presum ption except in in cases where testi mony is is accessible." The reason is obvious.-. Until we can go wherever the testimony may be, we are not not entitl ed to affirm that there is an absence of testim testimony. ony. So long as our knowledge is restricted by the conditions of this terres trial life, we are not in a position to make negative assertions as to regions of existenc e outside of these conditions. conditions. We may feel quite free, fr ee, therefore, to give give due due weight to any considerati ons which make it pr ob obab able le th that at co cons nsci ciou ousn snes es s su surv rviv ives es the wr ec k of the ma te teri ri al body.
We are no now w in a p os osit itio ion n to see the fa falla lla cy of Mo Mole lesc scho hott tt's 's oft enquoted aphorism aphorism, , "N "No o thought thought without phosphorus!" When this this saying was a new one, there were worthy people who felt that somehow it was all over with man's imm ortal soul. soul. Wit h phosp horus you light your candle, candle, and with phosphorus you discover Neptune and write the Fifth Symphony; how charm ingly simple and convincing! And yet was anything save a bit of rhetoric really gained by singling out phosphorus among the chemi cal constituents of brain tissue rather than nitrogen or carbon? Suppose the dict um had been, "No thought withou t a brain." The obv i ous answer would have been, "If you refe r to the the present life, most erudite professor, your remark is true, but hardly novel or startling; if you refer to any condition of things subseque nt to death, death, pray where did you obtain your knowledge?" Ne vert Neve rthe hele le ss this po poin int t ca cann nnot ot be di disp spos osed ed of sim simply ply by ex hi bi t ing the flaw in in Moles chott 's rhetoric. His remark rests upon the the assumption that conscious mental phenomena are products of the organic tissues with whic h they they are associated. This is is of course the the central strong-hold of materialism materialism. . A century ago the the case case was very boldly put when we were asked to believe that the brain secretes thought as the liver secretes bil bile. e. Nobody today wo uld think of maki ng duch a com par ison, but it is more cautiously stated that consciousness is a "func tion" of the brain, or at all events of the nervous system, even as bile bi le-m -mak akin ing g is a fun cti on of the liver. Before Bef ore we yi yield eld any mo di cu m of assent to this statement we may observe that "function" is a word with a wide range of meaning, and we must insist upon some closer defin i tion. ti on. Here mat eri ali sm calls to to its its aid the the discove ry of the cor rela tion and equiv alence of forces, forces, one of of the most stupendous a chievem ents of our century. century. We now know that heat and light and elect ricity and actinism are not forces generically distinct and isolated each from the others. othe rs. All are are specific modes of mode cula r motion, transf ormable one one into another at any moment as naturally as a cloud condenses into rain drops. drop s. Any such mole cula r motion, moreover, ma y come from the arrest ed visible mo tion of a mass, and ma y in turn be liberated so as to resume the form of visib le motion, as whe n an electri c current is transforme d into the onward movement of the trolley car. The change in our conception of Nature that has been wrought by this wonderful discovery is more profound than all changes that went before. before . The ba bala lanc nce e in the ha hands nds of the ch chemi emi st ha had d alr ead eady y pr prov oved ed that no matt er is ever lost but only transformed, and that every mat e rial form at any moment visible owes its existence to the metamorphosis of some some previ ous form. form. So now it was fur ther shown that the myr iad prop pr oper ertie tie s or qu qual alit itie ies s of ma matt tter er are sim simply ply the ex expr pres essi sion on of m yr yria ia ds of activitie s which are all, all, in a final analysis, analysis, motions; that no moti mo tion on is eve r los lost t but onl only y tra transf nsf orm ormed, ed, and that eve every ry ki kind nd of mo moti ti on at any any moment perceptible— whether in the form form of of movement through through space, or of light, or heat, or elect rici ricity, ty, or the actinism actin ism that build bu ild s up the gr gree een n stuf stuff f in the lea leaves ves of pl an ts ts— — owes its ex exis iste tenc nce e to the met amor phos is of of some some previo us kind of motion. Every living organism is a marvellous aggregate of divers forms of matter performing
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divers characteristic motions, and the sum total of these motions is the whol e of life, life, as rega rde d pur ely on its physi cal side. side. When we take food we bring into the system sundry nitrogenous and hydrocarbon compounds, each of which is alive with little energies or latent capac ities for cert ain kind s of of motion. The oxyg en of the air air, , espe cia lly in its its unst able form of ozone, ozone, is a powe rful inciter of chemica l motio mo tio ns, and wh en we br brea ea th the e it in in, , the lit little tle la laten ten t ca capa paci citi ties es p re sently become actual motions. Some of them are realized in the rhyth mi ca l mo ve me ment nt s of he ar art t and lungs, some in the un undu dula lati tion ons s tha that t susta in the animal te mperature , some in the formati on of of the tiny drops that coll ect in a secre ting gland, some in the repair of tiss ue by the substitution of new complex molecules for old ones that are broken down, some in the contr act ion of a group of muscles, some in the changes within the substance of nerve that accompany conscious thought, sensa tion, and voliti volition. on. Ah, yes, her here e we come to to it at last last! ! We do not doubt that all these myriad motions are members in a series of trans formation, wherein the appearance of each results from the disappear ance of its predec essors. We have neither the instruments nor the calculus to prove this in the infinite multitude of details, but the general theory has been so completely established wherever it is acces sible to instruments and calculus that we can have no hesitation in granting its universality wherever matter and motion are concerned in any shape or amo amount. unt. No scientific man will will for a moment doubt that the little vibratory discharge between cerebral ganglia which accompa nies a thought is one member in a series of molecular motions that mi gh t be me as ur ed and ex expr pres esse sed d in ter terms ms of qu quan anti tity ty if we w e onl y po s sessed an apparatus sufficiently delicate and subtle. No w if such is the case wi th the lit little tle ph phys ysic ical al mo ti on wi th in the brain, bra in, ho how w is it wit w it h the ac acco comp mp an yi ng th thoug oug ht ht? ? Does the co corr rr el at atio io n obtain between physical motions and conscious feelings? Are states states of of con scio usne ss links in the Protean seri es of motions, in such wise that the vibra tion withi n the the brain produces the the thought thought or or feeling? In other words is the thought or feeling merely a transformed vibration? Does a certain amount of vibration perish to be replaced by an exact equivale nt in the shape shape of of thought? And then then does the thought perish in the act of giving place to other vibrations which end in a visible mo ti on of mu musc sc le les? s? as when, w hen, for exa mpl mple, e, yo you u he hear ar the sou sound nd of a be bell ll and start toward the door. On this poin t there has been much confusi on of of idea ideas. s. Whe n I put the question to Tyndall in conversation, nearly thirty years ago, he seemed to think that there must be some such completeness of correla tion between the physical and the psychical? but his mind was not at ease on the subject. Herb ert Spencer, in his "First Princi ples" rath er cautiously took the same direction and tried to show how a certain amount of motion might be transformable into a certain amount of feel ing. in g. He observed that the the consciousness of effort or or muscu lar strain in lifting a heavy weight is more intense than in lifting a light weight, and that when a loud sound sets up atmospheric vibrations of great amplitude the shock to our auditory consciousness is correspond-
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Rosicrucian Order, AMORC ANALYTICA L DISCUSSIONS (Supplementar (Supplem entary y Lecture)
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ingly greater than in the case of a gentle sound which sets up vibra tions of small amplitude. amplitude. But when he comes to the inner regions of thought and emotion which are not reached by percussion and strain, he is less successful in finding illustrations. It is espe cial ly worth y of note that in the final edition of "First Principles," published in this year 1900 and in Spencer's eighty-first, he goes very far toward withdrawing from his original position, while in his Preface he calls att enti on to this change as as one one of the mos t important in the boo book. k. In my "Cos "Cosmic mic Ph Phil ilos osop ophy, hy, " pu publ blis ishe hed d in 1874, I maint mai ntai aine ned d tha that t to pro prove ve the transformation of motion into feeling or of feeling into motion is in the very nature of things im impossible possible. . In order to be convi nced of this, thi s, let us us go back a few years and ask how the great doctri ne of the corr elati on of forces becam e established. Its It s first absolu te veri fic a tion occurred about 1846, when Dr. Joule showed "that the fall of 772 lbs. lb s. throu gh one foot will raise the tem perature of a pound of water one degre e of of Fahrenhei t." When this was proved it gave us the the mec ha n ical equivalent of heat, and the theory acquired a truly scientific character. chara cter. Similar quantitative correlations correlations were established in the case of heat and chemica l action by Dulong and Petit Petit, , and in the the case of chemic al action and elect ricity by Faraday Faraday. . The truth of the theory is wholly a question of quantitative measurement. measurement. Now you can measure heat, heat , you can meas ure electricity, and since the action of nerves in all probability consists of undulatory motions it is to some extent measu me asu rab rable, le, and do doubt ubt le less ss wo ul uld d be co compl mpl et etely ely me meas asur urab able le had we the means. means . But wh when en you come to tho though ughts ts and emoti emotions, ons, I beg to kn know ow ho how w you are goin going g to to wor k to to give an acco unt of the them m in in foot-pounds! It is not sim ply that we have no means at hand, no calcu lus equal equa l to the occasion; the th in ing g is absur d on its its face. face. It is as true today a as s it was in the time of Descartes that thought is devoid of extension and cannot be submitted to mechanical measurement. measurement. It appea rs to me, therefore, theref ore, that what we should really reall y find, find, if we could trace in detail the metamorphosis of motions within the body, from the sense-or gans to the brain brain, , and thence outwa rd to the muscu lar system, syste m, wo uld be somewhat as follows: follows: the inward motion, carryi ng the me ss ssag age e int o the brain, wo woul uld d per perish ish in gi givin vin g pla place ce to the vi vibr brat atio ion n whic h accompan ies the conscious sta state; te; and this vibra tion in turn woul d peri pe rish sh in gi givin vin g pla ce to the ou outwa twa rd mot motion, ion, car carryi ryi ng the ma mand ndat ate e out to the muscles. JEf we had the means of meas urem ent we could prove the equiv alenc e from step to st step ep. . But wher e would the consciou s state state, , the thought or feeling feeling, , come into this circui t? Why, nowhere, nowhere, the phy sic sical al ci circ rcui uit t of mo motio tio ns is co comp mple lete te in itself; the sta state te of co con n sciousne ss is access ible only to its possessor. To him it is the sub jective equivalent of the vibration within the brain, whereof it is neither the cause nor the effect, neither the producer nor the off spring, sprin g, but simply t the he concomitant. In other words the natural history of the mass of activities that are perpetually being concentrated within our bodies bodies, , to be presently once more disintegrated and dif fused, fus ed, shows us a closed circle which is entire ly physical, and in whic h one segment belongs to the nervous system. As for for our conscious life, that forms no part of.the closed circle but stands entirely
outside of it, concentric with the segment which belongs to the nervous system. These conclusions are not at all in harmony with the materialistic vie w of the cas case. e. If consci ousn ess is a produc t of mol ecu lar motion, it is a natural inference that it must lapse when the motion ceases. But if consciousness is a kind of existence which within our experience accomp anies a certai n phase of mol ecul ar motion, then the case is entire ly altered, altered, and the the pos sibi lity or proba bility of the continua nce of the one without the other becomes a subject for further inquiry. Mate Ma teri rial alis ists ts so some metim tim es de decl clare are tha that t the re rela latio tio n of con sc scio ious us in inte te ll lli i gence genc e to the bra brain in is like that of mus ic to the har harp, p, and wh when en the harp har p is broke n there can be no no more music. music. An opposite vie view, w, long familar to us us, , is that the co nscious soul is an emanat ion from the Divine Intelligence that shapes and sustains the world, and during its tempo rary imprisonment in material forms, the brain is its instrument of expression. Thus the soul soul is is not the music, but the the harper; and obvi ously this view is in harmony with the conclusions which I have deduced from the correlation of forces. Upon these conclusions we cannot directly base an argument sus taining man's immortality, but we certainly remove the only serious objec tion that has ever been alleged against it it. We leave the field clear for those general considerations of philosophic analogy and moral prob pr obab abil ilit ity y wh ic ich h are all the gui guides des up upon on wh whic ich h we can cal call l for he help lp in this arduous inquiry. But it it may be suggested at this point that pe r haps our argument has acquired a wider scope than was at first contem plated. Cons Co nsci ciou ousn snes ess s is not pe pecu culi liar ar to man, but is po poss sses esse sed d in some degree by by the great er portion o of f the animal kingd kingdom. om. Among the higher birds bird s and ma mamm mmal als s the amo unt of con consc sciou iou s life is ve ry con consid sidera erable ble, , and here too it must be argued that consciousness is not a product of mole mo lecu cula lar r mo moti tion on in the ner vou s sys tem but its con concomi comitant tant. . The same argument which removes the objection to immortality for man removes it also for an ind efi efinit nite e numb number er of anim al species. species. What, then, is to be said of the reasonableness of supposing a future life for sundry lower animals? and if we were to reach a negative conclusion in their case, while re aching a positi ve concl usio n in the case of man man, , on what pr in ciple are we to dra w the line? line? Sometimes we hear t this his quest ion pro pound po und ed as a di ff ffic icul ulty ty in the Da Darw rwin inia ian n the theory ory of man m an's 's origin. How Ho w could immortal man have been produced through heredity from an ephem eral brute? The difficulty is one of the sort which we are apt to encounter when we try to designate absolute beginnings and to mark off hard and fast l line ines, s, for in Natur e there are are no no such thin things. gs. Volt aire asked the same kind of question more than a hundred years before Darwinism had been be en he heard ard of. Wh en doe does s the imm immort ortal al soul of the hum an ind indivi ivi dua l come into exist ence ? Is it at the mome nt of conception, or whe n the newborn babe begins to breathe, or at some moment between, or even perhap per haps s at some era of ear ly ch chil ildh dhoo ood d wh when en mo mora ral l re resp spon onsi sibi bili lity ty can be said to hav have e be begu gun? n? Some Som e of the ans wer wers s to the these se qu ques esti tion ons s wo ul uld d
transform an ephemeral creature into an immortal one in the same per son. so n. The mos t proper answer is a frank confe ssion of ignorance. Whet Wh ethe her r it b e in the ind iv ivid idual ual or in the race, we can cannot not tell jus just t where the soul soul comes in. in. A due heed heed to Nature's analogies, however, is helpfu l in in this connection. The ma xim that Nature makes no leaps is is far from tru true. e. Natur e's habit is to make prodigiou s leaps, leaps, but only after long preparation. Slowly rises the water in the tan tank, k, inch by inch through many a weary hour, until at length it overflows and straightway vast systems of machinery are awakened into rumbling life. Slowly grows the eccentricity of the ellipse as you shift its position in the cone, cone, and still the nature natu re of the curve is not essen tia lly varied, when suddenly, presto! one more little shift, and the finite ellipse becomes an infinite hyperbola mocking our feeble powers of con ceptio n as it it speeds away on its its everl astin g care career. er. Perhaps in our ignorance such analogies may help us to realize the possibility that steadily developing ephemeral conscious life may reach a critical point where it suddenly puts on immortality. If this suggestion is a sound one, we must probably regard the conscious life of animals as only the ephemeral adumbration of that whic h comes to to matu rity in man man. . The conside ration s adduced to this point po int mu st con vin ce us tha that t we are at pe perf rfec ect t li liber berty ty to tr treat eat the question of man's immortality in the disinterested spirit of the natu ralist. rali st. In the course of of evolution, there is is no more philosop hical difficulty in man's acquiring immortal life than in his acquiring the erect postur e and articu late speech. speech. In my little book "The Desti ny of Man" I ins insist ist ed up upon on the dr dram amat atic ic te tend nden ency cy or divi divine ne pur purpo pose se ind ic icat ated ed in the long Cosmic process which has manifestly from the outset aimed at the production and perfection of the higher spiritual attributes of humanity. In another little book "Through Nature to God God" " I called atten tion to the the fact that belief in an Unseen World, World, especi ally as so ciated with the moral significance of life, was coeval with the gene sis of Man and had played a predominating part in his development ever since. sin ce. I argued that under such circumstanc es the belief mus t be based upon an eternal reality since a contrary supposition is negatived by all that we know of the habits and methods of the cosmic process of Evolution. No time time is left here to repeat these arguments, arguments, but I hope enough has been said to indicate the probability that the patient study of evolution is likely soon to supply the basis for a Natural Theology more comprehensive, more profound, and more hopeful than could formerly have have been imagined. imagined. The Nine teen th Century has has borne the the brunt, the Tw Twen enti tiet eth h wil l rea p the fruition. fruitio n.
