O
T IIE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON, JANUARY 10, E. M. 301 (1901.)
desire of its prolongation, hope of ath an a tism , which is dom inant in the higher anim als, the “ m atter” of Daily all nam es for “ a breath of
b etter conditions of life beyond the the C hristian and M oham m edan the soul is a part of the nervous w ind” ; they were transferred from
grave, hope of the reward of good C hurches, we have, ap p aren tly , a system ; in the lower nerveless ani- this to the breath of man
After a
and pu n ish m ent of evil deeds, and purer and higher form of faith in mals and plants it is a p art of their time this “ living b re ath ” was ident-
so forth. C om parative psychology the M etaphysical A thanatism , as m u lticellular protoplasm ic body; ified with the “ vital fo rc e” and
has recently brought to our know- tau g h t by most of our dualist and and in the unicellular protists it is finally it came to be regarded as
ledge a great variety of m yths and sp iritu alist philosophers.
Plato a part of their protoplastic cell- the soul itself, or, in a narrow er
legends of th a t ch aracter ; they are, m ust be considered its chief creator: body. In this way we are brought sense, as it highest m anifestation
for the most part, closely associated in the fourth cen tu ry before Christ once more to the psychic organs, the “ sp irit.” From th a t the ima -
w ith the oldest forms of theistic he taught th a t com plete dualism of and to an appreciation of the fact ¡nation went on to derive the m v s-
and religious belief. In m o sto fth e body and soul which afterw ards be th at these m aterial organs are in- tic notion of individual “ sp irits” -
m odern religions ath an atism is in- cam e one of the most im portant, dispensable for the action of the these, also, are still usually con-
tim ately connected with theism ; theoretically, and one of the most soul ; but the soul itself is actual — ceived as “ aeriform beings”-th o u g h
th e m ajority of believers transfer in flu en tial,p rac tica lly ,o fth e C h rist- it is the sum -total of their physiol- they are credited with the physio-
th eir m aterialistic idea of a “ per- ¡an articles of faith.
The body ogical functions.
logical functions of an organism ,
sonal G od” to th eir “ im m ortal is m ortal, m aterial, physical ; the
However, the idea of a specific an(I they have been photographed
soul.” T h at is p articu larly true of soul is im m ortal, im m aterial, raeta- “ soul-substance” found in the dual- in certain well-known spiritist cir-
th e dom inant religion of the m odern physical. They are only tem porar- istic philosophers who adm it such a cles.
civilized states, C hristianity.
ily associated, for the course of the thing is very different from this.
E xperim ental physics has suc-
As everybody knows, the dogma individual life. As P lato postulated
They conceive the im m ortal soul to ceeded, during the last decade of
of the im m ortality of the soul has au eternal life before as well as
be m aterial, yet invisible, and es- the century, in reducing all gaseous
long since assum ed in th eC h ristain a fter this tem porary association, he
sentiaily different from the visible bodies to a liquid—m ost of them ,
religion th a t rigid form which it m ust he classed as an adherent of
body which it inhabits
also, to a solid condition. N othing
has in the articles of faith : “ I be “ m etem psychosis,” or tran sm ig ra
Thus Invisibility comes to be re more is needed th an special a p p a ra
lieve in the resurrection of the body tion o f souls : the soul existed as
and in the eternal life.” Man wi such, or as an “ eternal idea,” be garded as the most im portant a ttr i tus, which exerts a violent pressure
arise on the “ last d ay ,” as C hrist is fore it entered into a hum an body. bute of the soul. Some, in fact, com on the gases at a very low’ tem pera
alleged to have done on Easter W hen it quits one body it seeks pare the soul with ether, and regard ture. By this process not only the
m orn, and receive a reward accord such other as is most suited to its it, like ether, as an extrem ely subtle, atm ospheric elem ents, oxygen, h y
ing to the tenor of his earth ly life. ch aracter for its habitation. I h e light, and highly elastic m aterial, drogen, and nitrogen, but even
This typically C hristian idea is souls of bloody ty ra n ts pass into au im ponderable agency, th a t fills com pound gases (such as carbonic
thoroughly m aterialistic and a n bodies of wolves and vultures, those the intervals between the ponder- acid gas) and gaseous aggregates
thropom orphic ; it is very little of virtuous toilers m igrate into the able particles of the living organism ; I (like the atm osphere) have been
others com pare the soul with the I changed from gaseous to liquid
superior to the corresponding crude bodies of bees and ants, and so
legends of uncivilized peoples. The forth. The childish naivety of this wind, and so give it a gaseous na form. In this way the “ invisible”
im possibility of the “ resurrection of P latonic m orality is obvious ; on t u r e ; and it is this sim ile w hich substances have become “ visible”
the body is clear to every man who closer exam ination his views, are first found favor with prim itive to all, and in a certain sense “ tang
has some knowledge of anatom y found to he absolutely incom patible peoples, and led in time the fam iliar ible.” W ith this transform ation the
and physiology. The resurrection with the scientific tru th which we dualistic conception. W hen a man m ystic nim bus which form erly
died. the body rem ained as a lifeless veiled the character of the gas in
of C hrist, which is celebrated every owe to modern anatom y,
• ii
1 il soul “ Hew popular estim ation—as an invisible
E aster by m illions of C hristians, is ogy, histology, and onto'
we ,
L ol 11
>reath.”
body th a t wrought visible effects—
as purely m ythical as “ the aw ak m ention them only h*
in 1
ening of the dead,” which he is a l spite of their ab su rd ity , »
’ -pari on
the hum an has entirely disappeared. If, then,
leged to have tau g h t. These m ys had a profound influence Uil ou*
physical e
r as a quali- the substance of the soul were
tic articles of faith are just as un th o u g h t and culture. On the one tatively sim ilar idea has assumed really gaseous, it should be possible
tenable in the light of pure reason lan d , the m ysticism of the Neo- a more concrete shape in recent to liquefy it by the application of a
as the cognate hypothesis of “eternal P latonists, which penetrated into times through the great progress of high pressure at a low tem perature.
life.”
C h ristian ity , attaches itself to the optics and electricity (especially in W7e could then catch the soul as it
The fantastic notions which the psychology of I’la to ; on the other Ibe last decade); for these sciences is “ breathed o u t” at the m om ent of
C hristain Church dissem inates as hand, it became subsequently one have taught us a good deal about death, condense it, and exhibit it in
to the etern al life of the im m ortal of the chief supports of sp iritu al-
energy of ether, and enabled a bottle as “ im m ortal fluid” (F luid-
By a
soul after the dissolution of the istic and idealistic philosophy. The U8 lo form ulate certain conclusions urn anim ae im m ortale).
body are ju st as m aterialistic as the P latonic “ idea” gave way in time as
m aterial character of this further lowering of the tem perature
I_I_____
_____
l • it “ substance”
1 a
«• ; n all-pervading
I l.nnriru ¿I 1 iii» agency.
rro
_ and increase of pressure it m ight
dogma of the “ resurrection of the to * the
Such L . an
notion _ of
psychic
body.” In his in terestin g work on this is ju st as incom prehensible and etheric soul— th a t is, a psychic sub- be possible to solidify it— to pro
Religion in the L ight of the D ar m etaphysical, though it often as- 8,ance— which ¡9 sim ilar to phys- duce “soul-snow.” The experim ent
w inian Theory, Savage ju s tly re sum ed a physical appearance.
ether, and which, like ether, has not yet succeeded.
m arks : “ I t is one of the standing
If ath an atism were true, if, in
The conception of the soul as a Pa88eH between the ponderable ele-
charges of the C hurch against “ substance” is far from clear in ments ° f the living protoplasm or deed, the hum an soul were to live
science th a t is m aterialistic. I must m any psychologists; sometimes it is t,le molecules of the brain, can for all eternity, we should have to
V.,
say, in passing, th a t the whole ec regarded as an “ im m a te ria l” entity n°t possibly account for the indi- £ran t the same privilege to the
clesiastical doctrine of a future life of a peculiar ch aracter in an ab- vidual life of the soul. N either the 8OU1S of the higher anim als, at least
has alw ays been, and is still, m ater »tract an d idealistic sense, some- mystic notions of th a t kind which 1° those of the nearest related mam-
ialism of the purest type. It teaches times in a concrete and realistic Were w arm ly discussed about the *1® (apes, dogs, etc.) For m an is
th a t the m aterial body shall rise, sense, and som etimes in a confused m iddle of the century, nor the at- n°t distinguished from them by a
and dwell in a m aterial heaven. ” tertium quid between the two. If tem pts of modern “ N eovitalists” t o ' special kind of soul, or by any ex-
To prove this, one has only to read we adhere to the m onistic idea of put th eir m ystical “ vital force” on ' elusive and peculiar function, but
im p artially some of the serm ons
substance, and which we develop in a **ne w’th physical ether, call for only by a higher degree of psychic
and o rn ate discourses in which the chap, xii, and which takes it to be refutation any longer.
activity, a superior stage of develop-
glory of the future life is extolled the sim plest elem ent of our whole
Much more widespread, and still m ent-
we ascribe “ personal im-
as the highest good of the C hristian j worid-sy8tem, we find energy and much respected, is the view which
raortality ” to m an, we are bound
and belief in it is laid down to be m atter inseparably associated with ascribes a gaseous n atu re to the t0 s ra n t it also to the higher ani-
the foundation of m orality. Ac- it. We m ust,therefore, distinguish substance of the soul. The c o m - |m aIs-
cording to them , all the joys of the . j n the “ substance of th e soul ” the parison of hum an breath with the
*
*
*
most advanced m odern civilization characteristic psychic Energy which wind is a very old one; they were Th
e
r
aw ait the pious believer in Bara- j0 a ll we percei/e ( 8ensatio, ; pre9. originally considered to be identi- of
the
s
1 !m m ° r ta lit-v
dise, while the “ A ll-loving F a th e r” en tatio n , volition, etc.) and the cal, and were both given the same foeen add -ed ’* " U<
have
reserves his etern al fires for the psychic M atter, which is the in sen- name. The anem os and psyche of ♦ », „
( nce< ior the last two
p d to . «.torteUrt.
. r . b l . basis «,
.o ti,ity- th . 7 £ the Greek(, <nd the
Io opposition to the m aterialist the living protoplasm .
and
Z?
T hus, in spiritus of the Rom ans, were origl- | have their origin, for th em o si part,’