176 BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN PROBLEMS 



deny the possibility of such communication. On the 

 other hand, it has to be admitted that when the 

 evidence of this communication has been purged of 

 intentional or unintentional deception, there remains 

 no evidence that a spirit world, capable of connec- 

 tion with living human beings, has any likelihood. 

 The argument from the spirit world in favor of human 

 immortality must, therefore, be dropped as invalid 

 for the present, unless, indeed, we admit the existence 

 of two kinds of truth, one derived from rational 

 thought and experiences, and a second variety in 

 which a thing becomes so because certain people 

 strongly wish it to be so. 



But if science cannot investigate the supposed 

 spiritual or supernatural world, it can, at least, give 

 us suggestions as to the probability of certain tenets 

 on which the belief in human immortality is founded. 

 What has biological experience to suggest in regard 

 to the argument derived from the innate longing for 

 immortality and the spiritual need for such a 

 belief? 



The view that belief in immortality is a spiritual 

 need has its origin in a craving for a future life which 

 is alleged to be of wide distribution, as well among 

 primitive as among relatively civilized people. The 

 desire in some persons takes the form of a wish for 

 specific rewards for good conduct in this world, or 

 in compensations for failures to enjoy material 

 happiness. Persons of a more refined mold desire 

 a future life mainly for the sake of meeting again 



