THE SOUL--WHAT IS IT?
Dry truth, real knowledge, hard facts, are less interesting, less
entertaining, than a plausible fable or a fanciful story. While
the latter is listened to, with eagerness and pleasure, the former
barely receives ordinary civility and attention. The effort requisite
to understand and to think, requires resolution, determination,
and fixed attention. The senses are not stimulated, the emotions
and feelings not aroused, by mathematical problems or astronomical
calculations. The muscular tissues are much more easily trained,
disciplined, and educated than the nervous tissues. In the former
we see immediate results. There is a pleasure in the pursuit, a
palpable satisfaction in watching the muscular action and physical
development. The most agreeable part about that kind of exercise,
training--or education if you choose--is that it is easily acquired
and soon put in practice, and much admired. It has other advantages
in addition. The fatigue and exhaustion in consequence of muscular
exercise, add no small amount of enjoyment to that already experienced,
by having to replenish the spent energies, to fill the demand for new
material called for. The gustatory and olfactory nerves are stimulated
by odor of the viands provided, and what is still more important,
the glandular activity that is set in motion produces an amount of
exhilaration, so satisfactory that it is recognized as one of the
principal features for every and on all occasions. "A feast is made
for laughter and wine maketh merry" (Eccles. x, 19).
Muscular action, however, cannot take place without nervous
action. These two tissues are dependent one on the other. Yet the
muscular tissue may be considered as subordinate to the nervous
tissue. While the muscular tissue may become totally inactive or
incapacitated, or even removed, the brain tissue may retain its
activity and continue to perform its functions. The very reverse
takes place when the brain is either injured or removed. We know by
experience, experiments, that injuries or other pathological changes
will cause impairment to muscular tissue.
It is hard to conceive, and harder still to understand, that an
animal--man included--is nothing more than a vitalized machine,
composed in the first place of two distinct working parts--muscular
and nervous--while all the other portions have to perform duty in
order to sustain them.
The word function is a term applied to all tissues in general, as
kidneys, liver, stomach, etc.; each has its function. So have muscles
and nerves. The former has for its function contraction, while the
latter has for its function to control and regulate that contraction.
The first part of the machinery is governed and checked by the
domination of the other. That dominion, that control, is termed
Volition, in other words, will power!
1. Will power! What is it? It is a power which every animal possesses,
and every animal exercises, in accordance with its particular
organization and degree of organic development.
2. Every animal has the power, with the aid of its senses--five senses
of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling--to select substances
from the vegetable and mineral kingdom, for its immediate want,
for the sustenance of life.
3. It has the power of locomotion to go in search for those substances,
and to carry them to a place of safety, for present or future use. It
has the power to select the kind of food, to choose that which is
beneficial and reject that which is injurious. The five senses direct
in that selection.
4. The animal has will power to protect and defend his
possessions--through his senses the brain directs and the muscles act.
5. The animal has will power, when the organs of procreation are
developed, to choose a partner for the production of young. The senses
serve in making the selection, as regards beauty, form, size, etc.
6. It has the will power to nourish and protect its young or to
destroy it.
7. Animals have the will power to build their habitation, their home,
and furnish it in a manner best suited for their comfort.
8. Animals have the power to articulate sound, and have the will
to communicate with each other if they so desire, to antagonize or
to quarrel.
9. They have the will power to select from the surrounding
elements. They choose water, air, sunshine, high or low altitudes;
they migrate from warm to cold, and from cold to warm, climates.
10. They have social intercourse among themselves; have a will power to
organize as a band or body to protect themselves against the attacks
of other organized bodies, to fight and to battle.
11. Animals instruct their young--guide them and protect them,
as well as feed them. They have their code of morals. They have all
such functions as serenading, love-making, music, jealousy, pleasure,
and anger. Animals have judgment; they can compare and reflect on
cold and heat, danger and tranquillity, comfort and discomfort. They
can reject or accept.
12. They have memory, perception, and understanding. Domestic and
wild animals exhibit these peculiarities. They will manifest their
likes and dislikes, hate and love, courage and cowardice.
The will power depends on the nervous system--the cerebral hemispheres,
the cerebrum or small brain, the thalamus opticus, corpus striata,
corpora quadrigemina, the peduncles, medulla oblongata, spinal cord,
etc. That is, all the organs that constitute the nervous machinery,
that control the muscular tissues in all their acts, and keep a
watchful outlook over all other organs of the body.
The will power, then, is the power to act in accordance and in harmony
with the things recognized, or the selection made by any of the five
senses, discriminating between that which is good for them and that
which is injurious, or good and evil.
Animals in selecting grass for food will avoid that which is injurious
to them. The olfactory and gustatory nerves guide them. They will seek
shelter, and evidently know what to do when a thunderstorm approaches,
etc., etc.
Will power is a property, quality, or function belonging to all
living creatures in common. The degree of will power depends upon the
quality, quantity, and perfection of the nervous organization. Man has
will power in a measure greater as the nervous system is developed,
educated, and perfected.
Morality--a quality that does not exclusively belong to man. What is
morality? It is nothing more than a restraint, or check, on our actions
and our feelings. It is the regulating of the actions of life towards
ourselves and towards others. It is the obedience to recognized and
established laws in a community, socially and politically. It means
not to trespass against the laws of nature, against ourselves, or
against our neighbors.
Animals restrain themselves and obey.
Morality differs according to the social customs and practices, and
the civil laws regulating the same, which were made and adopted for
mutual benefit and protection. These are either crude or refined,
depending on the condition of society.
To a limited degree animals have morality. Man has it in a higher and
more refined degree, according to the progress and culture attained.
Intelligence--Animals possess intelligence, if the meaning of it is,
to recognize sounds and figures, be obedient to the voice, understand
what is said, perform certain acts, execute the will of a master,
know the difference between right and wrong, express gratitude,
exercise watchfulness, protect life and property, remember places
and objects in general, be capable of some degree of improvement,
susceptible of training and modification of conduct, etc., within
the limits of the nervous power the animal has.
What is the soul? Is the soul something quite independent of
matter? Is it a something entire and complete in itself? A perfect
part of a perfect whole? Does the soul possess all the excellences and
qualities theologians claim for it? Whence does it come? What does it
consist of? Has it an existence separate and apart from the body? If
so, where? In what state does it exist previous to entering the
body? Does every human being receive a like quality and quantity? Has
it consistency? density? elasticity? Is there any connection between
the soul principle and matter? Spirit and soul, are they one and
the same thing, or do they differ? If so, in what? What is substance
soul and substance spirit? Is it self-acting and self-existing? Is
the soul susceptible to training and education, and the reception of
knowledge? Or is the soul already trained, educated, and possessed of
all the knowledge that is now known or likely to be known? Does the
will power reside in the soul? And is the nervous system subservient
to the soul? Is the soul endowed with passions and emotions? Can the
soul deteriorate, be injured or be afflicted? In what degree does
the soul differ in the civilized and in uncivilized man?
The theological soul has its origin in the Bible, no doubt (from
the word nephesh, breathing; the Greek psyche: Latin animas, chayu,
breath of life).
This word gave the impulse to a vast amount of thought and reflection,
both theological and psychological. Discussion and literature followed
as extensive as there has ever been on any metaphysical topic.
It may be interesting to learn some of the attributes of the soul. Here
is a partial list: "Will, passion, love, joy, grief, anger, mirth,
sorrow, revenge, contempt, hatred, honor, pride, humility, jealousy,
despair, pity, compassion, love of fame, of music, of the marvelous, of
notoriety, avarice, guilt, curiosity, astonishment, respect, desire,
cheerfulness, melancholy, sense of beauty, sense of the sublime,
sense of friendship, feeling of delight, selfishness, generosity,
etc." The author of this concoction had not a very clear notion of what
he was writing about, otherwise he would have known that animals have
in common with man most of the emotions above recited. The soul is a
display of nervous phenomena, exhibited under certain circumstances,
differing only in intensity of expression, depending upon the kind
and character of animal and man.
It is one of the common tricks of trade--when theologians argue upon
the immortality of the soul, they bring and ring in any amount of
biblical evidence to sustain them. They prove nothing. They cannot
prove anything. It is the standing puzzle. They try to unravel a
mysterious something that is not mysterious. Nor is there any need
of mystery. What is essential for us to know is the truth, plain
natural facts. There is nothing that we need be either ashamed or
afraid of. If we have been deluded by errors made several thousand
years ago, regarding the dual composition of man, or have been imposed
upon and intentionally retarded in the onward progress, it is time
to correct the error and remove the imposition. Let us have a clear,
intelligent view of things and look at them as they are. This mystery,
like other mysteries, can be cleared up by the light of science and
modern investigation.
What is the difference between man and animal? Articulate speech and
the susceptibility of the brain matter to a high degree of culture.
Mind is a term employed to designate the collective acquirements of
a man's brain. In proportion as the acquirements are greater or less,
the mind is greater or smaller.
These acquirements may be simple, complex, or profound. They may
be biased, general, or scientific; they may be deep, learned, or
superficial. They may be only a slight advance above the general
animal instinct; or may have assumed a superior intelligence and may
have arisen to a higher plane of intellectual qualities.
The acquirement or evolution of mental power and intellectual capacity
depends:
1. On the constitutionally inherited capacity and capability.
2. On the size and general conformation of the brain.
3. On the perfect condition of the organs of special sense.
4. On the quality of the nervous structure.
5. On the general physical constitution of the body.
6. On the evenly balanced equilibrium between the vital organs.
7. On the chemical elementary constituents that enter into the
composition of the various tissues, especially the nervous tissue.
8. And lastly on the education, training, or culture.
9. I may add, suggestively, on the relative quantity and quality of
the gray and white substance of the brain, etc., and perhaps on the
depth of the sulci and the size of the convolutions and the general
symmetry of the different lobes of the cerebrum, etc.
The brain of an idiot is not susceptible to culture or education. He
has all the senses, but of an inferior and imperfect order; a brain
insufficient in quantity and quality to be capable of acquiring
anything. No mind can be formed. The idiot has not any intellect. Has
he a soul?
Or supposing any portion of the brain is diseased and any one of the
special senses ceases to act, as sight, hearing, or any part of the
muscular tissue, and the intellect is impaired, either partially or
wholly incapacitated, then has the soul suffered any damage, or does
the soul remain intact?
Or supposing that a child is born blind, or that some one of the nerve
centers controlling certain faculties of the brain is absent, and
the education is necessarily limited to the remaining nerve centers,
is the soul still complete and perfect?
Or in case of change of structure of the brain substance, as
in softening of the brain; or in case of tumors, blood clots
(thrombosis), or syphilitic disease, and paralysis either local or
general resulting--depending on the seat of the disease--what has
the soul to do with it? Or in disease of the meninges (coverings);
or in case of insanity, whatever morbid cause might have produced
that condition, where is the soul?
Or when, in consequence of morbid changes, the mental and physical
expressions, the actions, change, often extravagantly, is the soul
affected thereby?
When the body is afflicted with disease, does the soul suffer?
At what period of fetal development is it that the soul enters the
body? Or does it enter at birth?
The breath of life is Oxygen. Without that element one could not
live. Without it the newly born babe is more helpless than a lower
animal. Not a single special sense is fully developed. The brain
substance is not fully developed. The babe has no power to will
anything. It has no volition--except the act of nursing, and that is
not a voluntary act. The organs over which will has no control are
the first to act--an infant soils its linen involuntarily. It imbibes
nourishment, as a mass of protoplasm imbibes moisture. It has neither
will power nor desire. It cannot select. It has neither knowledge nor
conscience. Since none of the special senses is able to act, it has no
perception of any kind whatsoever. It experiences only two sensations,
pain and hunger. Young birds and other young animals do the same.
Is there anything in this newly born babe of a supernatural character,
such as a soul, spirit; the knowledge of God, or of good and evil? Does
there exist in this mass of organized protoplasm anything that may
be called divine? Is there aught innate? No! Certainly not!
There are what may be termed latent powers--not unlike latent
heat--capable of being evolved. You may fashion anything out of it--in
the religious line, brutal or uncivilized, etc. It will acquire
any kind of speech, from the howling of a dog to the most refined
language. It will contract any habit, from that of the lowest animal
type to that of the most refined lady or gentleman. You may make either
a cannibal out of it or the most fantastic gustatorian. It will either
crawl, climb, or walk. It will live anywhere and anyhow. It will either
parade nude, be painted, or wear a breechcloth, or wear a swell dress
coat, or, if it be a female, a long trailing skirt with all sorts of
gewgaws. In religion you may make anything out of this babe. You may
make it believe the greatest nonsense. It will believe three gods
in one or twenty-five gods in one. It will be a Jew, a Christian,
a Mohammedan, or the lowest brute on the face of the earth.
This mass of vitalized matter is susceptible to training. The physical
part, the muscular part, always develops and is readily trained. In a
primitive state it requires but little discipline to acquire muscular
strength. The muscular powers are the first to assert themselves. This
master tissue, whenever and wherever it excels, receives honor and
homage, and prevails among its companions. In barbaric ages this was
the controlling force, the ruling spirit, the governing power.
The nervous tissues require teaching. The senses must be trained,
educated, cultured, refined. The impressions received through the
nerve-centers by the senses are stored up in the cerebrum. Though
they are at first simple, crude, and incomprehensible, habit, use, or
repetition enables them to familiarize us with the surrounding objects.
If the brain is fully formed, the infantile education begins. By
constant repetition of the same acts, the sense of satisfaction
from feeding, and the sense of comfort from cleanliness, are slowly
established in the experience of the child.
Hunger, cold, heat, and moisture will cause it to manifest its
dissatisfaction by crying. It sleeps twenty out of the twenty-four
hours, and wakes only to indicate its wants of either hunger or
discomfort. The more regularly it is fed, and the more cleanly it
is kept, the more peacefully will it rest and the more soundly will
it sleep.
When, however, an infant is born, though physically fully developed,
with face fully formed, but acephalous, without brain--that is, when
an arrest of development has taken place--the babe cannot live, it
cannot breathe, because the principal part of the nervous system is
wanting--the medulla oblongata, cerebrum and cerebellum, etc.--though
the lungs, heart, and all other organs are perfectly developed. This
arrest of development may take place at any time. It is thus that
congenital malformations are produced. Idiots are thus formed, or any
other inferior formation of brain may take place. In proportion as
the parts are present or wanting--the brain, or rather the nervous
system--latent (better, inherent) qualities for future capabilities
exist or do not exist. Supposing the optic nerve is arrested in its
development, or any organ with which it is immediately connected, the
special sense of sight is wanting. Though the eye itself, the organ
of sight, may be perfect, all the training and education will never
give it capability or skill in arts and sciences. This can never be
acquired by that organ. You cannot educate that organ which you have
not. Whatever perfect brain formation exists may be trained, fashioned,
educated, in any one of the thousands of directions one pleases. It
may be given any bent or bias, good, bad, or indifferent--depending
upon the influences that are brought to bear on the young brain while
it is in the process of developing.
An infant has no mind, intellect, thought, idea, memory, or any other
nerve quality that nerve structure is capable of developing.
Talk of soul or spirit is absurd. It does not exist either in infant
or in man any more than it exists in a plant or an animal--unless
the term is applied to the collective functions of the great central
organs, and in that case it would certainly not be supernatural.
At the time when the books of Moses were written--we need not even go
so far back as when the fable of creation was first related--they knew
nothing of circulation or of respiration, or of the nervous system. It
was not even thought of. I believe you may search the Bible from end to
beginning and from beginning to end without finding such a thing. No
such word as brain is mentioned. What is known of the nervous system
is, comparatively speaking, of recent date.
"What seems most marvelous is, that we, in the nineteenth century,
boasting of a high grade of civilization, and, I may say, with all
the modern improvements, should accept and still hold fast to an idea
that originated in the brain of some barbarian four thousand or more
years ago, away down in Mesopotamia (now Turkey) where they are still
considered uncivilized. This is certainly very strange.
But ah! that priestcraft!
THE MIND.
All the organs in the body are capable of performing their functions
the moment the child is born. Most organs have performed their
functions prior to the child's birth. Circulation, respiration,
digestion, secretion, and excretion--these functions are performed at
once. These are involuntary, and require no educational training. They
are performed while the organism is otherwise entirely helpless.
1. The first few weeks.--
The nervous system is not developed. The special senses are not
responsive--neither sight, hearing, taste, nor smell.
There are no voluntary muscular movements, no coördinations
of muscles.
Nervous and muscular tissues undeveloped.
Special senses undeveloped, no recognition.
It has no mind--no faculties, morality, intellect, memory,
reason, judgment.
In short, it has nothing innate--no principle of either God,
soul, or religion.
No will power. The muscular and nervous tissues are not yet able
to perform their functions, except such as are reflex and of an
involuntary character.
No expression.
2. A few weeks after birth.--
Impressions of light perceptible.
Sensations slightly improved.
Expression still blank.
No volition.
No recognition.
Cry the only sound.
3. Three months.--
Special senses improved.
The eye steadier. The child begins to recognize its mother, etc.
Utters sounds of satisfaction.
Perceives sounds indistinctly.
No coördinate movement.
Upper extremities more active.
Expression of face improved--smiles.
4. Six months.--
Muscular tissues more developed--crawls.
No coördination of muscular action.
Sight improved--recognizes mother, father, etc.
Excretions involuntary.
Expressions of pain and satisfaction more palpable.
Hearing improved--listens to sounds.
Playfulness.
Makes sounds of satisfaction and dissatisfaction more
distinctly. No articulation.
5. One year.--
Special senses more developed.
Coördination still imperfect.
Excretion involuntary.
Upper extremities more active.
Fear manifested.
The dawn of want.
Recognizes a few objects.
Pleasure expressed as well as anger.
Likes and dislikes exhibited in some degree.
Beginning of articulation.
Sounds more distinctly recognized.
Sight more perfect.
Taste slightly developed.
Smell--no discrimination.
A child one year old--(a) Recognizes its parents imperfectly. Has
slight coördinate movement of the upper extremities, and beginning of
coördination of the lower extremities. Manifests its wants by making
noises, but has no articulation. Sensations of pleasure, pain, and
anger are more plainly expressed. Playfulness is greater. Fear is
exhibited. (b) It has no mind, no intellect, no will power. No God,
no religion, no soul. No thought, no idea, no conscience. No faculties,
no memory, no judgment. No knowledge of objects, or numbers. It knows
nothing of comparison, relation, liberty, morality, love, hate, shame,
joy, sorrow, despair, envy, ambition, pride, etc., etc.
6. Second year.--
The master tissues begin to perform their functions--the muscular
and nervous tissues.
Digestive apparatus more completely developed by the appearance
of teeth.
All the special senses more susceptible.
Voluntary muscles begin to act, though imperfectly.
Coördination still uncertain.
Muscles of articulation attempt to produce articulate
sound--beginning to imitate.
Recognizes some objects; cannot discriminate.
The sense of taste shows signs of development.
The sense of smell--no discrimination.
The sense of hearing recognizes simple sounds--voice.
The sense of sight more distinct.
The sense of feeling slightly improved.
Attracted by bright-colored objects.
Selfishness exhibited--seizes objects indiscriminately.
Shows fear; knows nothing of danger.
Manifestation of affection toward those who care and provide for
its comfort.
Excretions still pass involuntarily.
Responds feebly to calls.
Playful.
Cognizant of light and darkness, indoors and out of doors.
Shows signs of preference.
Training begins; involuntary acts checked to a slight extent only.
At the end of the second year the child (a) recognizes its parents
and others about it. Has coördinate movements comparatively correct
of both lower and upper extremities. May manifest its wants by
imperfect articulation. The sensations of pleasure, pain, and anger
are more emphatic. (b) The will power is slight. The memory is very
feeble. Discrimination begins in simple matters.
7. Third year.--
Training progresses.
Coördination complete.
Nerve centers formed.
Will power attempted.
It depends at this age upon the surroundings--the guidance,
attention, direction given to the child.
It is more susceptible to impression.
Memory improving.
Perception manifested, but little discrimination.
Articulates more perfectly.
Imitates to some extent.
Excretion controlled.
Playful, active.
All the senses work.
More subject to discipline--obeys more readily.
Teachable in right and wrong of a simple character.
Likes and dislikes more prominent.
Recognizes objects.
Begins to pronounce.
At the end of this period there is no manifestation of anything
innate. The child knows nothing. Only the muscular tissues are more
active, and the nervous tissues more susceptible to teaching. It has
no faculty of any kind.
The functions of the brain are more distinctly manifest through the
organs of special sense. The child will become just what you make
it; though the latent inherited qualities will give impulse to some
directions more than others. Thus inclinations and susceptibilities
are awakened that may lead to greater or less distinction.
All that the child thus far has developed is instinctive, checked and
modified by those in whose care it is. The animal nature predominates,
and the child at this stage will become a brute if left to itself.
If the proper training, teaching, discipline, or education is from this
time forth properly applied and the latent power judiciously brought
out, mind and intellectual qualities may be developed--differing in
degree and intensity--by the bias or bent given to the functions
of the great nervous center. On the culture of this organ depends
the kind of creature we may have when full grown in the shape of
either man or woman. Any kind of sentiment, belief, or superstition,
prejudice, hate, brutality, humanity or inhumanity, good or bad habits,
vicious or benign--with no end to the variety, such as we witness among
ourselves and among the various nations upon earth--may be inculcated.
It is brain function, brain culture, brain education, that produces
greater or lesser minds, that evolves from mere intelligence the
highest intellectual powers, that marks the difference between man and
man from the meanest savage to the greatest philosopher and scientist.
Brain may exercise will power without training, culture, or
education. The muscles may exercise strength without training,
culture, or education. It is the systematic attention of the one as
of the other, the frequent repetition, steady practice, that produces
skill in the one, as in the other; it is the patient application and
perseverance in the one as in the other, sustained by constitutional
endurance, that makes the expert in the one as well as in the other.
It is the united forces of the master tissues that have produced all
that is and was, and will continue to produce all that ever will be.
Soul is the product of the imagination. It has no immortality,
because it has no existence.
There are a class of men that are interested in sustaining the
delusion; these are the priesthood.
What we want is not the salvation of souls, but the salvation of man.
If soul is the collective name of brain product, or combined result
of brain function and education, we need not disagree about the
word. But if it is insisted upon that the word soul means something
distinct and apart from the animal body, a supernatural manifestation,
a supernatural gift or endowment, given to man at birth and to man
only, and that this piece of supposed God enters the body at some
period during birth and quits the body at death, it is not true! On
the contrary, it is false. Man has no soul, nor has any other animal,
except that power that is produced by the nervous material. The
brain has a function to perform, like every other tissue in the
body. The muscular tissue, the liver tissue, etc., each perform their
function. The great nervous centers and the special senses, being
intimately connected, carry all impressions direct to the brain;
the retention of impressions, the memorizing, the recollection,
the formation of ideas, of thought, imagination, are the immediate
functions of the nervous substance. These are secreted in a similar
manner as the pancreas secretes pancreatin; with this distinction, that
pancreatin is a fluid, while the quality of nerve function is a force,
a power, a manifestation, or phenomenon if you choose. Electricity
is a product of a similar nature. There are other forces of a nature
similar in character, the result of chemical combinations.
Let the blood be overcharged with carbonic acid and circulate in
the brain, the nerve tissue will at first act irregularly, next very
erratically, and finally stop its function altogether. The function of
the brain is partially suspended in certain diseases, as in hysteria,
epilepsy, and chorea or convulsions. And where there is no brain,
or little brain, there is no function or very little function. The
variety of brain, with its inequality of size, quantity, quality,
the hereditary failings, opportunity, training, education, all, and
much more, make up the sum total of mind. As you educate the brain,
so the mind will be. It will exhibit energy and endurance, and perform
its functions, in proportion as the nervous structure is healthy,
the chemical constituents evenly balanced, and the equilibrium of all
the organs and tissues of the body evenly and smoothly maintained,
so that the molecular and chemical or vital and nervous elements of
the brain perform each and every one its proper office.
There is no immortality of the soul, nor is there such a thing as
death of instinct. There is nothing immortal except the elementary
substances, proper; they cannot be destroyed. All live bodies function,
no matter how small or how simple; complex bodies also function,
and each and every organ that enters into the composition performs
its function.
Every phase, every phenomenon, is a manifestation of matter.
Thunderstorm, lightning, electricity, or thought--whatsoever it
may be, call it by any other name, designate it or describe it how
you will, we cannot separate any object from this terrestrial globe
of matter. The elements composing this world gave birth to life,
life manifests its energies in many forms, then returns again to the
great ocean of elements whence it came.
No soul you will ever find,
Trust not in its life or death;
Education makes the mind;
Oxygen is the life's breath.