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8 IMMORTALITY 



anxiety about the future Is by no means to be re- 

 commended, and that a behef in another life is apt 

 to lead to a neglect of this. Now, though it must 

 be admitted that such excess of concern is possible, 

 it is by no means probable that it will ever constitute 

 a serious danger. The immediate pressure of the 

 present makes such overpowering demands upon our 

 attention that there is no real ground for the fear 

 that men can ever to any extent become oblivious 

 of the importance of this world, and least of all will 

 they do so if they have rationally investigated the 

 question of a future life. It is the fancy eschato- 

 logles which are uncritically accepted that do the 

 mischief, and no rational doctrine which regards the 

 future life as a natural continuation of the present 

 is in the least likely to lead to an antagonism between 

 the claims of the present and the future, different In 

 kind or much greater in degree than that which 

 already exists between the different sections of our 

 life on earth {cp. ch. iv. § 7). 



And so, although it is not possible that the ques- 

 tion of a future life should ever be an absorbing and 

 permanent occupation of the mind In the heyday of 

 youth and in the vigour of life, while death seems a 

 distant cloud on the horizon of reality, it must yet 

 be regarded as a salutary and appropriate occup- 

 ation in the leisure of declining years. For it is the 

 only interest which can prevent the degeneration of 

 the moral and intellectual nature In old age. With- 

 out it, when the active work of life Is done, men be- 

 come slothful. If they have nothing further to look 

 forward to, there is no reason for employing their 

 activities : the game is played out and they lag 

 superfluous on the stage ; the battle of life Is over as 

 far as they are concerned, and they must leave Its 



