Part 6 (1/2)
There are many apples falling to the ground, but we are not inspired with the knowledge that the actuating force is gravity.
One of the best ill.u.s.trations, to show the difference between a ”live”
and a ”dead” person, can be had from that excellent invention called the ”film” or ”plate,” and which is so remarkably used in the camera.
When that sensitive composition of chemicals that forms the ”film” and which produces such a vivid and lasting likeness of ourselves is freshly made, it possesses that vital something we call ”life.”
But allow this film to remain unused for a period of time, and it will no longer be able to perform its remarkable work. It will not possess the ”life” to take a picture or to record an impression.
If a premature ”exposure” of the film is made, it loses its vital quality because of the mixture with other elements, or because of the evaporation of its const.i.tuent parts.
It is not necessary to a.n.a.lyze all the properties of that film to show the principle whereby it performs its wonderful work. The general principle, showing its marvelous use while intact and its utter uselessness when its composition is no longer the same, should be sufficient to ill.u.s.trate the comparison.
This ill.u.s.tration can with force and conviction be applied to the peculiar quality and nature of our ”soul” and brain. As long as the brain is incased within our skull, and fully protected from contact with any other substance to alter or to change its integrity, it will perform all that is warranted of it. In the case of our brain, though, besides the importance of keeping it protected from outside chemical action, the vital element concerned in its continuity of life lies in the importance of keeping it constantly nourished and supplied with the remarkable qualities of the vital substance of blood.
The moment the blood supply to the brain is stopped, our brain loses its most important const.i.tuent, with the ultimate and inevitable result of inertia, decomposition and decay. When this condition happens we are then ”dead” and, like the proverbial egg, ”all the King's horses and all the King's men cannot put Humpty Dumpty together again.”
If we possessed a soul, and it were of a permanent and special quality, it would maintain its impressions and remember its existence.
It could pa.s.s through innumerable periods and know its many and varied journeys.
Even memory, so unreliable in our short life, bespeaks the utter impossibility of such a thing as a soul with a permanent and lasting existence.
That which we call the ”soul” is nothing but a chemical composition, that can and _does_ lose its permanency while we are still alive.
We are acquainted with a number of chemical compositions that must remain in a pacific state to maintain their ident.i.ty, so those chemical forces that compose our ”soul” must perforce maintain their equilibrium.
If we are stunned, or suffer any of the many conditions that upset chemical compounds and compositions, we, for the time being, suffer either ”unconsciousness” or some other form of mental disability.
If we are shocked too severely, we become totally and permanently impaired, and suffer violent fits and fearful rages, insanity or imbecility.
Different shocks, and even forms of disease, result in certain action upon our chemical brain, which causes it to lose only part of its ability. Extreme high fever is only one form of illness which causes the brain to lose its stability and run rampant and unbridled.
If I were fully cognizant of all forms and degrees of disease, I could recite exactly how they act and in what degree they harm the delicate organism of our brain. In many instances shocks or diseases too powerful for our brain to withstand, cause that portion of our brain that may control our speech, our sight, our hearing, our limbs or other organs to lose its power, with the consequence that we must suffer and be handicapped with what is properly called ”a great affliction.”
Science to-day has discovered that great truth, and has not only catalogued the different portions of the brain in their individual departments or capacities, but, by a master stroke of surgery, can correct and remedy those impaired parts, and give back to the human being the use of those valuable organs that the invisible agents of Nature had taken away.
So, instead of the brain's possessing a ”soul,” we find it, only in a more delicate degree, a mechanical formation such as we discovered our body to be.
But if we possess a soul and it is capable of pa.s.sing through the many and varied stages that life suffers, what becomes of its impressions?
What and where are the benefits of its retention?
Where is the soul when we are in a state of unconsciousness? Surely, if the soul were ever present to guard and maintain life, it would be standing by and using its power when it is most needed. We have no occasion for help when we are not in danger. It is when power can be used and exercised that it should be manifested.
Even love, the great compelling force of our life, is subject to the variations of our chemical ”soul,” its attractions and repulsions.
If two form the unit of reproduction, and love is the great mating medium of Nature, then once it is animated, once it is brought into existence, it should endure permanently, and the possessors should at least enjoy their blissful companions.h.i.+p until the end. But no. Nature would entice, and then destroy, this most consuming feeling of life.