39^ IMMORTALITV. 



as the germs and protoplasms from which we sprang, 

 the answer our reason must give is that immortaHty 

 is a foolish dream. 



§ lo. It is to be feared that reflections like 

 these present almost insuperable obstacles to the 

 belief in a future life in modern minds. But if 

 they can be answered, their very difficulty would 

 make the answer the more satisfactory. Yet no at- 

 tempt at answering the difficulty can be successful 

 which does not realize where its real point lies. 

 Its essence lies in the fact that whereas conscious- 

 ness and the conscious life of spiritual beings is a 

 matter of degree, it seems impossible to admit 

 degrees of immortality. It seems as though a being 

 must either have a future life or not, must either be 

 immortal or perish utterly. But if the lowest passes 

 into the highest forms of consciousness by a continu- 

 ous development, it is nowhere possible to draw a 

 line of demarcation, and to assert the immortality 

 of man without admitting that of the amoeba. 



To assert the continuance of spiritual beings, 

 therefore, it would be requisite to assert gradations 

 of immortality. We must somehow distinguish 

 between the case of the embryo and the adult, 

 between the highest man and the lowest animal. 

 We must, in short, discover degrees in a spiritual 

 evolution corresponding to the degrees of the 

 physical evolution. 



§ II. Now, though these postulates may at first 

 sight appear strange and impossible, yet if we dis- 

 card ancient prejudices, they will not perhaps prove 

 incapable of fulfilment. We require, in the first 

 place, a careful analysis of the conditions on which 

 a future life depends. 



To have a real meaning, immortality must be per- 



