THE BATTALION.
23
IMMORTALITY.
The immortality of the soul is a sub
ject that has been engrossing the human
mind for centuries. Yet it remains un
fathomed ; no finite being has ever shown
proof of its existence.
One may ask, what is immortality?
Is it that the soul shall live on through
the mists of time, through the cycles of
ages, and still retain its undaunted in
dividuality? That this is the universal
conception of it no one will deny.
Upon the consideration of such* a sub
ject, one can but feel his great incapa
bility, and the futility of any effort to
arrive at a definite conclusion; he at
once becomes engrossed amidst the per
plexities—theological, social, and moral
—in which he is involved.
The change, made by Darwin’s great
discovery, in our notions regarding the
origin of our species, could not fail to
stimulate curiosity as to its destiny.
It is true that whatever our origin
may have been, and through whatever
evolutionary process we may have gone,
we are what we are, and none the less
for it.
That we have risen from the condition
of the worm should not cause us to de
spair, but should inspire us with hope
for a greater and grander development.
When we think of man in comparison
with other animals, we find that he alone
is consciously moral; he alone is spec
ulative, looking over the past and into
the future; he alone feels the sublime
influence of beauty, and expresses his
sense of it in poetry and art. Shall he
then, the masterpiece of creative genius,
perish and sink into oblivion, as do the
lowliest and most insignificant creatures
of earth?
Who can fathom this mystery of exist
ence? The human mind can not conceive
of eternity and infinity; we can think
of them only as time and space extended
without limit; but still it is an absurd
ity, since of space and time we must al
ways think as things divisible; while of
infinity and eternity there can be no di
vision.
Of the great philosophers of antiquity,
Plato believed intensely in a future life,
for which the present one was but a
training, and in a future state of re
wards and punishments. His arguments,
put into the mouth of Socrates, who
was about to die, come to uS in the most
persuasive guise; but they are entangled
with fanciful thoughts of a pre-existence
of knowledge, a reminiscence of a pre
vious state. They were based on the er
roneous conception of the soul as a thing
distinct from the body, and imprisoned
in it; hence, they viewed death in the
light of an emancipation of the immor
tal soul from the mortal body.
The soul, Plato thought, could not be
affected by diseases of the body, but only
by its own diseases of sin and vice. In
this he approached our own belief very
closely, and his avowed faith in the fu
ture reward of loyalty to truth and vir
tue is unmistakably set forth in his “Re
public.”
Thus man has ever shrunk from anni
hilation; there is a universal desire to
prolong existence beyond the life which
we now live; but that his desire will be
fulfilled we can offer but little assur
ance beyond that found in theology.
Mortal life prolonged to any consider
able extent is but a span from things
real to an inconceivable eternity.
The destiny of the race is settled,
whate’er it may be, and all know that
across every life the inevitable shadow
of death must pass.
Whether mortal or immortal, man
should strive to elevate his fellow creat
ures, and find his own real spiritual life
in his efforts j to perfect humanity, and
his paradise in that happy anticipation
of the state of bliss into which humanity
will be brought when perfected.
W. F. L., ’01.