Chapter I
with regard to Soul, we shall find ourselves in presence of certain marked contrasts as follows:
LIFE SOUL
1. Is impersonal. It has 1. Is personal. Individual not any individualities or souls exist as separate entities idiosyncrasies. and each has its own distinguishing character.
2. Is homogeneous. It is 2. Is heterogeneous. Souls divisible into separate portions are distinct from each other only in the same sense and do not coalesce. that the same is true of heat, light, electricity, and other forms of physical energy. These various parcels coalesce when brought into contact with each other and form a whole that is uniform without any differentiation.
3. Is the organiser of matter 3. Is the employer of the and the controlling influence organs formed by Life. morphology, physiology, embryology, palæontology and ætiology of the organisms produced.
4. Is non-conscious, 4. Is conscious, perceptive, non-sensory and incapable of sensitive, emotional, intelligent, thought or memory. thinking, and mnemonic.
5. Is non-moral. It is 5. Is characterised by volition, conscienceless without any accompanied by a full knowledge of good and evil. understanding of good and Its functions are performed evil. It is capable of acting mechanically without any regard rightly and wrongly and of to what results may ensue. appreciating the results of its actions.
6. Is capable of indefinite 6. Is incapable of reproduction. increase by reproduction. It Each individual soul may possibly be originated by is a self-contained, self-sufficing, a particular grouping of self-continuing entity material atoms in combination that has not originated from with particular physical any other soul or from any forces and under particular matter of physical force. physical conditions.
These contrasts necessitate a duality of signification of the word “death.” When the death of an organic being is spoken of, the phrase implies that the matter of which it is composed has lost its attribute of vitality (an analogous case being the reduction of the temperature of a body to absolute zero). And where the organic being is a member of the human race (the question of the souls of animals and vegetables does not lie within the scope of this book) the phrase also implies that the soul and body have become separated so completely as to terminate the employment of the latter by the former.
The very pith of the arguments that are sometimes advanced against the idea of “survival” is to be found in this double meaning of the word “death.” When the belief is asserted that “death is the end” and that there is not any “future life,” the statements are reasonable and well-founded if regard be had solely to the phenomena of Life and to the relations of Life with the body. The knight who contended that the shield was of silver maintained a true enough view; as also did the knight who advanced from the opposite direction and, having seen the other side of the suspended buckler, declared it to be of gold. Death is continued death so far as the question of physical Life is concerned: it is merely a change of stage in psychical existence.
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