Part 7 (1/2)
We cannot see, because we have no eyes.
We cannot smell, because we have no nose.
We cannot hear, because we have no ears.
We cannot taste, because we have no mouth, no stomach.
But, with it all, these five mediums of sense are dependent upon a _living brain_.
The fact that we suffer the loss of our senses even before death, because of the complications in the make-up of our body, should be sufficient proof of the nonexistence of a soul and the utter impossibility of a life after death.
Unless we retain and maintain our sacred ties after death, another life is valueless and void, useless and unnecessary. It is a fearful sadness to think that the ones you love are to pa.s.s away into nothingness and be no more; that the sparkling eyes will be dim forever; that the rosy cheeks will no longer glow with radiant health; that the ruby lips will fade into a deathly blue, motionless and forever still; that dimpled hands and loving arms will never encircle you again, and the supremacy and tenderness of your love must be crushed with a cold and callous ferocity.
But, sad and mournful as it is, with the human heart beating hopelessly against hope for only one more chance to kiss and caress and love the one you so dearly cherish, it is nevertheless only too poignantly true that death ends all.
Death means nothing to the affairs of the world.
To be taken from amid the world in such an ever-living condition as now exists, is like taking a cup of water from an ever-full pail. The gap is immediately filled, and the level of the water simultaneously adjusted, leaving absolutely no trace of what has been withdrawn. Only the individual suffers. What a mighty burst of heart there would be if we all could feel and suffer at the same time!
Nature makes no difference and knows no distinction between the living and the dead. The warm and tender rays of the sun, and its blistering heat, fall alike upon the crying, innocent babe and the lifeless, unfeeling corpse.
The sun does not s.h.i.+ne to give us its necessary heat, without also bringing to light some new problem and pain for our over-troubled hearts to bear.
Murder, rape and greed look no different to Nature than goodness, virtue and unselfishness.
Tears were made for the things that G.o.d causes, laughter is the result of man's efforts.
XIII
It is man's labor, man's work, man's achievement, that gives us the little desire that we have to live. How often do we prefer _death_ to living life in our former condition, after our efforts have brought us to a point of vantage and comfort!
Death is always preferable to the living of a ”dog's life!” And yet, with it all, the little improvement we have to-day, with the still remaining cruel conditions of Nature left to endure and fight, has not been worth the struggle through the black and bleak past. The price has been entirely too severe for the little that has been gained.
G.o.d gives man nothing; man gives man everything!
What sublime courage it was that made the pathfinders of the past sacrifice their lives, in order that their principles of truth might triumph, so that another link might be made in the chain of progress that is endeavoring to break the spell of a tyrant power.
You must be made to know that for whatever desirable condition we have to-day we are indebted to heroic men and women of the past, who, in the days of infant progress, achieved a moral, physical and intellectual triumph.
The chair you sit on, the cup you drink from, the fork you eat with, the light you read by, the bed you sleep in, the heat that warms you, the shoes on your feet, the clothes upon your back, the hat upon your head, and every part and particle of improvement that has enriched the world with a little touch of human comfort are the result of the heroic labors of the men and women of the past, who victoriously fought the accursed and chaotic forces of Nature, so as to make life and living a little better.
But at every step and stage of progress the dogmatists have exerted their influence toward r.e.t.a.r.dation. What these dogmatists were unable to accomplish through fear and suppression, they accomplished through ostracism, and death. Human advancement and progress are foreign to the ”believing” mind. The dogmatists are concerned only with the ”supernatural.” They want not the comforts of life here if they can secure those benefits ”hereafter.”
It is the att.i.tude of the religious to belittle anything that is designed for human betterment. Their philosophy is, the more you suffer here, the less you will suffer ”hereafter.” Their humility to and fear of this ”unseen” power is the most degrading trait in human beings. It is a frame of mind not only despicable and a hindrance in the face of progress, but even antagonistic to and destructive of all things worth while.