174 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



believe that death of the brain does not put an end 

 to human personality. They believe that human 

 personality, though residing in the brain, is not 

 limited to its residence there, and that after death 

 it continues to have an existence independent of the 

 body. They believe, in fact, in human immortality. 

 And those who hold this belief are so numerous and 

 number so many persons of high intelligence and 

 character and distinction that the belief has been 

 accepted by thousands of followers of less intelli- 

 gence, as a necessary part of their faith in things and 

 forces inaccessible to the senses. If questioned 

 about their faith in human immortality, the most 

 intelligent of these persons will admit that there is 

 no proof for their belief from ordinary rational evi- 

 dence, but, at the same time, they will insist that 

 there are intuitions which are superior to such proofs 

 and that these intuitions must be heeded. They 

 will contend that immortality is one of the great 

 spiritual needs of man, that it is, in some form, an 

 apparently innate belief with most persons, and that 

 such innate beliefs carry with them a strong presump- 

 tion in favor of their correctness. They will also 

 urge the elevating power of the belief in immortality. 

 And from these considerations they reach the con- 

 clusion that the immortality of the soul, if not proven, 

 is sufficiently probable to constitute a legitimate 

 article of faith. There are others who go somewhat 

 farther. They are convinced that it is possible for 

 some minds to be placed in communication with the 



