Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/572

* IMMORTALITY. 498 IMMORTALITY. Testament writers, on the ground of the deeper intuition into religious truth possessed by them. The uncertainty, however, as to the actual words of Jesus and the growing impression that some at least of the writers of the New Testament did not believe in a natural immortality, but in an endless life bestowed as a free gift of God upon His children in lui especial sense, have led many scholars who attach much importance to these spiritual authorities to accept the theory of a conditional immortality. The good will continue to exist; the wicked are destined for final anni- hilation. Where the question of man's sur>'ival is de- cided in the alhrmative without an appeal to authority, the reasons given are such as the inadequacy of the objections, the difliculty of ac- counting for certain phenomena except as mani- festations of spirits, the incompleteness of the present life, and the 'intimations of immortality' to which it is felt that an objective reality must correspond. Kacts are quoted that tend to show the independence of man's mind operating with great clearness, precision, and strength even in wholly abnormal physical conditions; and though, to render the argument strictly cogent, it would be necessary to prove that in these instances the brain was also alfected, and that the mental ])ower would not liave been enhanced if the physical conditions had been more normal, im- portance seems to be rightly attached to this con- sideration. That the relation between nicnUiI activities and cerebral changes is very intimate is not denied; but it is thought that a distinct and separable spirit using the brain as its organ might act upon it in such a manner as to ex- press diflTerent perceptions through diflerent cerebral centres. The argviment based on the evolution of mental life in animal and man, and the transmission of psychical as well as physical characteristics from man to man, is met by the observation that the consciousness of self, what- ever its origin, is so distinguishing a mark of human nature and so intrinsically significant that a greater permanence and a loftier destiny may well Ix; associated with it. Instead of mak- ing self-eonsciousness the basis of immortality, others prefer to think of the possession of a sense of right or a peculiarly high development of the moral nature as furnishing the ground for sur- vival. A mass of testimony is produced, ancient and modern, to show actual communication between the dead and the living. Much of this testimony eomes from persons bereaved of some relative or friend whose potent personality still occu- pies the mind. In almost all instances the in- itiative is taken by the living, and the communi- cation is mediated through a third person. A critical sifting is often impossible. UTiere the manifestations through a medium have been watched and studied by scientifically trained oh- feners, there is at best only a small residue of facts that cannot be accounted for by known laws of nature. In the present state of our knowledge of psychic phenomena, it is sometimes hazardous to pronounce a judsment. The scientist is, as a rule, inclined to assume the operation of some low of nature not yet fully understood. The manifestations may thus furnish to our minds a presumption in favor of immortality, but they cannot prove it. With more effect an argument is founded upon the incompleteness of the present life. The largest part of the human race die in infancy, or before years of discretion have l)een reached, and it is natural to ask whether there is no outllowering elsewhere of the human life that only buds here. Even the longest lifetime raises more intellectual problems than it solves, and leaves the mind curiously looking for their solu- tions to the last. The moral imperfections, st'cn even in the best, painfully ajjparent in the masses of men, give the impression of something frag- mentnrj', unlinished, partially realized. The in- cciualilies of life as regards wealth, position, health, opportunity for self-realization, and the still more marked inequalities of character, seem to call for a readjustment, for coni|)ensations in another life. If these considerations strictly j)rove only a dissatisfaction with prevailing con- ditions, and would to some extent lose their validity as arguments in a state of society better organized, more intelligent, resourceful, and strong than the present, the shrinking from even a painless death, the sense of an inalienable per- sonality, and the long and widespread prevalence of the hope of a future life arc deemed by many to have evidential value. The fear of death may indeed be a dread of extinction, and the fear of something after deatli the involuntary reilection of a iK'lief long dierished by mankind. But it is forcefully argued that a belief so strong and persistent is not likely to be a sheer delusion. While manifestly it is not safe to conclude from the intensity and popularity of an idea that there must be an objective reality corresponding to it, and while it is especially to be considered that modem science has revolutionized that estimate of the universe, held throughout the ages, with which all eschatological speculations in antiquity were closely connected, it nevertheless seems plausible that some fact in nature's economy is reflected in the hope of immortality. That the elements composing man's body at death are im- perishable and will forever continue to be inte- gral parts of forms that manifest the eternal cncrgj', is reasonably certain. Tliat his psychical peculiarities survive in his offspring and in the liuman lives that directly or indirectly come into contact with him. is a matter of easy observation. Whether this survival in the race is endless seems to some thinkers doubtful, on the ground that the earth itself will some day have run its course and ceased to be the bearer through space of organic life. But as it is quite inconceivable that in an infinite universe, constituted, as spec- tral analysis shows, of essentially the same sub- stances, a single satellite of a single sun should have produced intelligence like that of man. the secret of the earth's life may become known, and the influence of the human race, large or small, good or bad, may be felt elsewhere in the uni- verse ere the final catastrophe comes, and even out of the death of this planet are likely to rise new forms of life. That man will live forever in other forms of physical organization and of consciousness may therefore be regarded as exceedingly probable. A'hether the consciousness of personal identity which cannot be stripped off or dissolved in the sueee-ssion of fluctuating mental states and the accompanying sense of moral aecountabilitv can be fully explained as products of the brain due to the persistency of the physical tvpe. in spite of incessant chances in the ortranism. may be gravely questioned. From the standpoint of idealistic