Fiske, [FN#184] in his argument against materialism, blames the denial of immortality, saying:  “The materialistic assumption that there is no such state of things, and that the life of the soul ends accordingly with the life of the body, is perhaps the most colossal instance of baseless assumption that is known to the history of philosophy.”  But we can say with equal force that the common-sense assumption that the life of soul continues beyond the grave is, perhaps, the most colossal instance of baseless assumption that is known to the history of thought, because, there being no scientific evidences that give countenance to the assumption, even the spiritualists themselves hesitate to assert the existence of a ghost or soul.  Again he[FN#185] says:  “With this illegitimate hypothesis of annihilation the materialist transgresses the bounds of experience quite as widely as the poet who sings of the New Jerusalem with its river of life and its street of gold.  Scientifically speaking, there is not a particle of evidence for either view.”  This is as much as to say there is not a particle of evidence, scientifically speaking, for the common-sense view of soul, because the poet’s description of the New Jerusalem is nothing but the result of the common-sense belief of immortality.

[FN#184] ‘The Destiny of Man,’ p. 110.

[FN#185] ‘The Destiny of Man,’ pp. 110, 111.

4.  The Examination of the Notion of Self.

The belief in immortality is based on the strong instinct of self-preservation that calls forth an insatiable longing for longevity.  It is another form of egoism, one of the relics of our brute forefathers.  We must bear in mind that this illusion of the individual Self is the foundation on which every form of immorality has its being.  I challenge my readers to find in the whole history of mankind any crime not based on egoism.  Evil-doers have been as a rule pleasure-hunters, money-seekers, seekers after self-interests, characterized by lust, folly, and cruelty.  Has there been anyone who committed theft that he might further the interests of his villagers?  Has there been any paramour who disgraced himself that lie might help his neighbours?  Has there been any traitor who performed the ignoble conduct to promote the welfare of his own country or society at large?

To get Enlightened, therefore, we have to correct, first of all, our notions concerning Self.  Individual body and mind are not the only important constituents of Self.  There are many other indispensable elements in the notion of Self.  For instance, I have come into existence as another form of my parents.  I am theirs, and may justly be called the reincarnation of them.  And again, my father is another form of his parents; my mother of hers; his and her parents of theirs; and ad infinitum.  In brief, all my forefathers live and have their being in me.  I cannot help, therefore, thinking that my physical state is the result of the sum total of my good and bad actions in the past lives I led in the persons of my forefathers, and of the influence I received therein;[FN#186] and that my psychical state is the result of that which I received, felt, imagined, conceived, experienced, and thought in my past existences in the persons of my ancestors.