xvn THE DESIRE FOR IMMORTALITY 331 



couches its warnings in the solemn voice of immemorial 

 experience. Yet I feel sure that the census of senti 

 ments will not have to proceed far to make it clear 

 that the traditional attitude of society rests neither upon 

 reason nor upon religion, but really upon a blind feeling 

 or instinct, against the domination of which all self- 

 respecting persons will revolt as soon as they recognize 

 its existence in themselves and in others. 



It will consequently become possible for the few who 

 desire to know the truth, and are prepared to take the 

 steps ordinarily adopted in complicated scientific investiga 

 tions, to treat the social taboo with the proper disrespect 

 and to pursue their course without being thwarted by the 

 many who do not desire to know and have hitherto held 

 it to be their duty to prevent any one from finding out. 



The present situation is indeed not far short of farcical, 

 or rather would be entirely so, but for the pathos of the 

 self-delusion which it implies, and the torture which it 

 inflicts on its victims. We profess to believe that a 

 knowledge of the fate which awaits each one of us in 

 the comparatively near future would be, of all knowledge, 

 the most precious. We lament, with many marks of 

 sincerity, that the inscrutable wisdom of higher powers 

 has inexorably precluded us from the attainment of this 

 knowledge. We confess to have experienced, perhaps 

 more than once, unspeakable agonies when we were 

 forced to face death in our own persons or in those of 

 our dear ones. Yet what do we do to extricate ourselves 

 from this tragic situation ? 



We tell ghost stories ! This we have done for at 

 least ten thousand years, and the supply is as plentiful as 

 ever. It is also, scientifically, as unsatisfactory as ever, 

 for the social atmosphere still renders a serious testing 

 of this material practically impossible. Is it not absurd 

 therefore that we can neither stop retailing them, nor 

 make a real effort to discover of what facts they are the 

 adumbration ? 



The answer is simple. Ghost stories are what, on the 

 whole, we desire them to be : they fulfil their function 



