SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The problem of the continued conscious life of man after the death of the
physical body, concerns the _where_ and the _how_, and does not, and need
not, concern us at all now. It is, literally, an "after consideration."
Who and what man is, here and now, is the real problem. Only when, or in
the degree in which, we master this problem, can we really know anything
definitely of the other.
The complete separation of these two problems, and the exact definition
and formulation of each, is the first step on the road to knowledge of the
Science of the Soul.
For the time being, in the study of Psychology, "other worldliness" should
be absolutely abandoned.
Almost everyone finds it difficult to do this. Many find it impossible.
The fear and uncertainty with which almost everyone faces the inevitable,
the loss of friends, the broken lute, the empty chair, the lonely
life--all these make us cry out in anguish--_where_ and _how_ and _when_,
and overlook the "_what are we_?"
So-called Religion in all time has almost hopelessly mixed and confused
these problems.
The various concepts and doctrines of rewards and punishments hereafter,
have put ulterior motives in the place of actual values, weakened the will
and hindered man from doing his best.
A still further confusion follows, in the measure of assets, that leads to
time-serving and false values.
Satisfy the average individual that "death ends all" and he will cry, "Let
us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die," notwithstanding the
fact that he sees others who have "gone the pace," realized only "dust and
ashes," declared it "all a mistake," and that if they had the chance they
would "do it all the other way."
Remember, we are dealing with _actual values_ here and now, divested of
both fear and anticipation of the hereafter.
On the other hand, who ever saw an individual die, who had led a clean,
upright, kindly life, indulge in regret or remorse, or declare life a
disappointment or a failure?
The first is anchored to the physical plane by insatiate appetite and
passion, or desire to reform, which might soon be forgotten.
The other has found sweetness and joy in life, in conscious growth, in
doing good; and his soul is illumined and transfigured as the body fails
and he approaches another plane, and this often independent of any
formulated religious belief.
It all depends on what the man is _within_ himself, his intrinsic
character, his _real self_; and no matter where he goes, that character,
that self, goes with him. It _is_ Himself.
The "change in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," is not in the _man_
and cannot be. It is in the plane, or sphere, or world he inhabits, or to
which he goes. It is a change of garments, of habitat, of houses in which
we live--if we live at all.
This much we _know_, and should not forget or confuse it. We know it, as
we know that "twice two are four"; that fire will burn, or that bodies,
unsupported, fall to the ground. We know it from the fact of our own
self-conscious identity. Radically or suddenly to change that essentially
is to annihilate _us_.
The preacher says, "Study the Bible." He might say, "Study yourself!" The
preacher says, "Look to Jesus." He might say, "Look within!" The preacher
says, "Repent and pray." I would say, "After an inventory of your inner
possessions, clean up the house and _go to work_ to improve it in every
way."
When "cleaning day" is well under way, if the "sure-enough" preacher drops
in, and you show him the house and what you are trying your best to do, he
will just start "Old Hundred," and will be too happy for anything else.
I am not criticising the preacher, nor opposing religion, but getting
ready for it, laying the foundation of Morals and the building of
character. "Religion" cannot do this. _You_ and _I_ have to do it, or it
is never done.
Without this work of _ours_, religion is little more, or else, than
passing emotion or lasting superstition, "lip service," cant, hypocrisy,
and then cold heartless dogmatism, a measure and jingling of words that
never touch the heart, but leave the individual ready to throw stones and
light brands of torture: a case-hardening of the affections and the
aspirations, that wraps the soul like the bandages of the mummied
Pharaohs, a mere petrifaction.
We know, or may know, as much actually and scientifically of the growth of
the soul as of the growth of the body. The average individual knows more
of the soul than of the body, but his knowledge is in confusion. It is a
matter of hourly, daily, life-long, and changing _experience_. He knows
little of physiology, except feelings, sensations, desires, and results.
How and why the mechanism of the body works he knows not.
Body and soul are organically identified, intimately associated and
interwoven, and act and react on each other. They are functionally
synchronous in all movements. The analogies between them are numberless
and easily traced.
The physician and physiologist does not stop to inquire, "What _is_ Life"
and refuse to move till someone gives a satisfactory answer; yet he is
dealing with Life in its numberless manifestations in the human, organism
continually.
But this same physician is likely to debate and deny the existence of the
Soul, demanding that you define and demonstrate it.
The term "Individual Intelligence" is as definite, specific, and
demonstrable in Psychology as the term "Life" in Physiology.
We are alive and we possess a certain degree or measure of intelligence.
These are facts in our conscious experience.
We may shape or mold our lives. We may do this according to our ideals, or
we may drift with the tides of circumstance, or of passion and caprice,
and this is what most persons do.
So also with that intelligence which is the guiding light in our lives. It
may illumine our pathway, or it may flash and fitfully glare, with the
shadows, rendering our pathway obscure and uncertain, illusory and
deceitful, or dangerous and fearful.
The soul is in the body; and this light of intelligence is in the soul,
its center, its very essence.
All else in us, and round about us, is diversity and multiplicity. This
light of intelligence in us is _One_ and unchanging.
Our experience in life, however varied and diversified, is co-ordinated
and unified by this Intelligence in us. It is that which puts all our
experiences together and views them through a single lens. It stands by
itself alone, and all else pays tribute to it.
It is the pronoun "I" and it stands for, speaks and acts for, all else in
us.
It is not alone the only _unity_ in us, but it is that which unifies all
the rest, uses the "possessive case," and may subordinate all else in us
to its Will.
Does it, then, do violence to common sense and hourly experience, or is it
any stretch of the imagination to speak of this unity as an entity, and
call it the human soul?
If we live after the change called death, in a spiritual world, in place
of the physical we now inhabit, and with a spiritual or refined body to
correspond with that plane of refined or etherialized substance, the
Individual Intelligence must function in that body and on that plane as it
does now in the physical body on the physical plane.
Either something very like this takes place, or we cease to exist as a
self-conscious individual intelligence. There must remain and continue
man's self-conscious identity.
Furthermore, if this be true, the _real nature_ of this individual
intelligence we call the _Self_, in the last analysis, is likely to be as
much a mystery as ever. We may know _who we are_ without knowing _what it
is_.
Now the composite nature of man, as we know it, not only justifies all
these analogies, but seems to show that the modulus, the germ at least, of
the spiritual body exists now within the physical; that it does not
disintegrate when the physical body dies, but separates and coheres more
closely than ever; and is still inhabited or possessed by the individual
intelligence.
Moreover, it has often been seen by clairvoyants at the time of death,
thus verifying the Biblical declaration, "there is a natural (physical)
body, and there is a spiritual body."
The composite structures of man's organism above referred to are well
known. They are called "systems." The bony or Osseous system, the muscular
system, the circulatory system, the lymphatic system, and the two nervous
systems, serve as illustrations of the composite nature of man.
All of these "systems" more or less inter-penetrate and diffuse each
other.
There is also a chemico-vital, kinetic, or magnetic body, diffused through
and inter-penetrating all the rest. This gives the contrast between the
living organism (with the flush of health upon the cheek and the light of
intelligence in the eyes), and a corpse.
Death is often instantaneous, while decomposition often waits for days.
There is a still further analogy regarding a single function, like a
sensory or motor impulse, passing to or from the central brain, the organ
of consciousness. The journey is one of relays and orderly sequences.
This is proven in a great variety of forms of paresis. I cannot, as an
individual intelligence, _directly_ move my hand any more than I can move
a mountain. I conceive the object or act and set the will in motion. The
impulse traverses the nerves, is transferred to the muscle, and then, when
the circuit is complete, _I_ move my hand.
The gap between my conscious intelligent wish and will, and my physical
hand, is very great. One is metaphysical, the other physical. There is,
therefore, a point of correlation where the one is converted into the
other.
The knowledge of these facts, and of this orderly sequence and
correlation, constitutes the Science of pathology and enables us to locate
the lesion or disease. I cannot move my hand, and the pathologist locates
the "short-circuit" in brain, or nerve, or "terminal plate," or muscle, as
the case may be.
Now it is this _system_ of _composite systems_ that deserves special
attention. We know that it exists as a series of relays and refining
processes. In disease it is interrupted, or out of joint, or broken down.
Health means harmony, concord, rhythm between every part, and the power of
the one individual intelligence to use it all, to act or refrain from
action, and to hold and maintain through all, repose, equilibrium, and
self-mastery.
The physical body we know to be a thing of sense and time. We know its
beginning, its gestation, its entrance and exit on this material plane.
Its secrets are all involved in the subtle relations it bears to the soul
that inhabits, unifies, and utilizes it.
The Individual Intelligence, Ego, Soul, or Entity, is as patent to us in
our _awareness of self_ as is the body it inhabits. It is our _very self_.
Our knowledge of it is a _direct personal experience_, so direct,
immediate, and constant that we overlook its significance.
I can see no reason to imagine that a human being, passing from the
earthly plane and consciously living on the spiritual plane and
recognizing itself as the same individual, would be any wiser as to the
exact nature and origin of the Individual Intelligence than he is now;
though his field of vision and range of conscious experience had so
immeasurably increased and expanded.
If he had solved this problem of _ultimates_, he would be at the end of
his thread of life and would compass the Infinite. He would be no longer
Man, but God.
So, from all these considerations, and from all directions, we come back
to human evolution, the upward and onward journey of the human soul.
As man's health, usefulness, and happiness here depend on the perfection
and utility of the physical body he inhabits, and its maintenance in
health and harmony, have we the least reason to imagine that the same
individual, dwelling on the spiritual plane, will not be under the same of
analogous laws and relations there, since we have assumed the persistence
and conscious identity of the soul there as here?
I hold, therefore, that man possesses, now and here, the structure of a
_Spiritual_ Body; and that the "growth of the soul" and our status and
relation to the soul, and our status and relation to the life after death
on the spiritual plane, depend _very largely_ on the character and
integrity of this spiritual body, the "house we have builded."
The whole of life, therefore, here, is what gestation of the infant body
is before birth. When the child is born it is a separate personality, a
distinct individuality.
There has been woven into its organism a distinct and synchronous
correspondence with that of the mother.
During gestation it has passed through every plane of organic life, from
_amoeba_, or mollusk, to man.
It is thus in touch with every phase and quality of life. It epitomizes
them all, transcends them all, and _may co-ordinate_ them all.
On the other hand, the individual intelligence of the child, a distinct
and separate _unity_, is in vital, spiritual, and synchronous relation to
that of the mother that enfolds it.
It is either building or rejuvenating a new spiritual body, as the
"essential form" of the physical, organic, chemical, and kinetic or
magnetic body.
What we call "Life," or "Vitality," runs like a "dominant chord" in the
harmonic scale of the whole. Each part, organ, and function is related to
every other and to the whole by definite vibrations and the laws of
harmony.
If, from the beginning, it is an "unwelcome child," the higher and subtler
elements of the mother's nature, and all her emotions are turned against
it, are discordant and not constructive and harmonic.
Discord is thus ingrained at the foundations and woven into the "subtle
body" of the child.
Nature is so persistent in its determination to preserve and perpetuate
the human race, that the building of the organic body of the child goes
on; and the Individual Intelligence is so potent that it often triumphs
over these prenatal obstructions, but by no means always. If "there _is_ a
spiritual body" in the mother organism during the present life, as I am
_entirely satisfied_ there is; and if the child is laying the foundation
and weaving the pattern and fabric of a spiritual body of its own for the
present life and that immediately beyond; then these psychological
influences and conditions are of _transcendent importance_ and _may_ be
largely determined by our intelligent choice.
A higher race of beings will never inhabit this earth till these
fundamental laws are recognized and regarded.
We may illustrate and symbolize this spiritual habitation we are building
by the over-tones and the harmonics in music.
Its nature and function and the whole process of building and development
are a refining and purifying process.
It may be conceived in the vito-magnetic field of man, as that which is in
nearest relation and closest touch with the soul, the Individual
Intelligence, and through, and by which the soul acts.
Being in synchronous relation with the physical organs and functions, like
a chord in music, a high with a lower tone (but still harmonic), the
_direct_ vehicle and agent of the soul would be this spiritual body; and
when the physical body or vehicle dies, or is cast off, the spiritual body
_with the soul_ escapes.
Empirical evidence along just these lines is so abundant in the annals of
every people, and in all ages, that it is unnecessary to quote it here.
Whole volumes are filled with it, outside the annals of Spiritualism and
the Psychical Society, and antedating them by centuries and millenniums.
The most important consideration is that the building of character by
voluntary choice and personal effort, the "growth of the soul," and the
evolution of this spiritual body are _inseparable_. This trinity which is
man, is _potentially_ (and may be _actually_) a _unity_.
The evolutionary and devolutionary lines run in precisely opposite
directions, are easily differentiated and defined, are usually recognized
by observation and by the individual himself. It is very difficult and
takes a long time to deceive ourselves with regard to the upward or
downward trend of our own life, till we have blunted by misuse and
degraded all the finer faculties, capacities, and powers of our being.
A quickened conscience, a moral uplift, a desire to do right, a noble
ideal, mark the beginning; but self-study, a rigid and persistent
self-analysis, taking account of stock of all our resources and
capacities, all our real possessions and opportunities, is the scientific
process by which man may become master of his own life and evolve to
higher and still higher planes of being, even here in the present life.
The question of rewards and punishments hereafter, and what we may expect,
or hope, or fear, that we will _get_, will sink into utter nothingness
before the great and ever-growing question of what we _are_, and what we
are determined to _become_.
Incidentally with this dominating impulse and determination will be the
growth and development of the spiritual body, and the intuition and
guiding light of the Individual Intelligence. We shall become consciously
_aware_ of this as a constant personal experience demanding no further
proof. It is _knowledge_ of the soul _direct_.
Every faculty, capacity, and power of the soul will be our willing
servant.
This is Constructive Psychology, and is a normal evolution under both
Natural and Divine Law: "Living the Life that we may know the doctrine."
It is practical, scientific Psychology worked out and demonstrated in the
Laboratory of Life. Religions and Revelations will no longer be mysteries,
but open books; for we shall be in touch with their source and at-one with
their inspiration.
This is what is meant by "The School of Natural Science."
Nor is it an idle speculation, nor merely a thing "devoutly to be
wished."
If the whole nature of man is built and operated under law; if he is, as
he seems to be, an aggregate of all substances, an epitome of all
principles and processes; then it follows that to understand these laws,
processes and correspondences, is to become _master_ of them and of life.
Wonderful as have been the discoveries in nature's finer forces and in
applied science, all that science has discovered or invented, or art has
devised, is like children's toys, when compared with the subtle and
marvelous mechanism of man's organism.
The rhythmic beating of the heart, synchronous with respiration and the
circulation of the blood, are sufficient illustrations. But even this
concerns the vehicle, not the driver; the instrument, not the player upon
this "harp of a thousand strings."
When it comes to the mental and psychical realm, cognition is direct and
immediate. We become "aware" of relations and processes, of sequences and
powers, by intuition, as we are _aware_ of the Self.
This is _apperception_ in its highest sense. Not through the mind, which
is a _process_ and a function, but through that which uses, controls and
dominates the mind, viz.: the Individual Intelligence, the Soul.
In the mind, in daily life, _we_ weigh and measure, reason, choose,
compare, and adjust. In intuition or apperception it is borne in, or comes
like a flash of light, and seems as if "we always knew it."
We may somewhat haltingly describe the process, but we can never impart
the knowledge to another, because it is an _individual experience_. As
easily could another feel, sense, and _realize_ the pain of thrusting our
finger into the fire, as to receive vicariously, from us, a _real_
physical experience.
Here lies the difficulty, often the impossibility, of the teacher or the
Master, in imparting his knowledge.
I am _entirety satisfied_ that by personal effort and experience along
these lines of normal higher evolution, there comes a time and a degree of
unfoldment and power when, from knowledge and self-mastery, the
Master--the Individual Intelligence--having evolved and learned to
_control_ the spiritual body, can consciously and deliberately pass out of
the physical body and return to it at will. He can do this as consciously
and completely as it occurs at death; can go where he pleases, within the
range of his unfoldment or spiritual experience, and retain conscious
memory of it all after his return to the physical body.
And suppose this all to be true, how can he demonstrate the fact, or
transmit the experience to another; and particularly if that other
declared to begin with that, "the whole process is absurd and
impossible"?
Nor is mere credulity here a highway to knowledge. It is merely the
opposite pole of incredulity, and both are begotten by ignorance.
Analogy and the basic principles and laws of scientific psychology are
very different matters indeed. They point in this direction like a theorem
in mathematics. The principles and laws being grasped and apprehended, the
solution becomes only a question of _work_; and at every step the law is
verified, "Backward and forward it still spells the same."
What is this but the _methods_ of Natural Science applied to Psychical
Science upon the basis of the Unity of Natural Phenomena and Universal
Law?
There is nothing to prevent any of us from starting on this upward journey
of the soul, if we choose; and never till we do, shall we really begin to
_know_, to realize our birthright, and progress toward the realm of
eternal day.
The science of ethics, the basis of morals, is the starting point, the
first step; and _leading the life_, the way. And there is no climbing up
some other way. So said the Master of Galilee, and so say the real Masters
in all times.
When Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life," he doubtless
meant that these were all _in him_, and he at-one with them.
When Jesus said, "I and the Father are _one_. No one cometh to the Father
but by me," he doubtless referred to this at-one-ment as the only way by
which the natural man--Adam--could become the Spiritual man--_Christos_.
When he said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you," he undoubtedly meant
that "heaven" is a condition, a harmonic state, and not a place.
We undoubtedly create our own "hell" and our own "heaven," and people them
with "devils" or with "angels."
True Science and true Religion clasp hands, and are like the two hands of
the one body of Truth. They check each other, supplement each other,
harmonize each other.
Superstition and blind dogma are the enemies of true Science;
Religion--never.
Science and Religion are the handmaids of Truth; because both are the
children of Divinity, the agents of Light and of Eternal Progress for
Man.
This building of character, this growth of the soul, this Harmonic of
Evolution, is a matter of _work_; of personal endeavor, of valid, real,
personal experience.
Its results are our _real_ possessions, our "treasure in heaven" that
nothing can ever destroy. Life and Death may ebb and flow, and come and
go; but _we_ may, if we will, go on forever; or we may turn the other way
and go down to death. _Some day_ every human soul will elect, choose, and
decide and then start on the journey, North or South.
This is the meaning of Soul, of Individual Intelligence, of Rational
Volition, of Personal Responsibility.
It is the Science of Nature aligned with Divinity, and compassing
Humanity.
The purpose of these outlines, suggestions, analogies, and inferences, is
to show that this life is a period of gestation, in close analogy and
comparable with that of the child _in utero_; that with the web and woof
of character, organ and function, impulse and use, opportunity and
destiny, we are building a spiritual body, the _immediate vehicle_ of the
soul, as literally as is the physical body on the outer material plane;
that the laws of Spiritual health and vitality are as concrete,
apprehensible, and demonstrable as those of physiology.
Normal use under law develops health, harmony, and strength, in the one
case as in the other, demonstrably; and these laws, accurately formulated
and demonstrated, constitute the School of Natural Science, accessible to
all prepared to receive and wisely use them; advancement depending on
progress, thoroughness, and loyalty, in all preceding degrees.
Is it worth while?