408 IMMORTALITY. 



to secure also the identity of the self, for though 

 self-identity depend on memory, it is not neces- 

 sary that the memory should be perfect. It is 

 not necessary that we should remember all we did 

 ten years ago in order to feel ourselves the same 

 persons now as then, nor need we expect to re- 

 member all we feel now, in order to identify our- 

 selves with ourselves ten years hence. The con- 

 tinuity of the chain of consciousness suffices to 

 constitute the identity, even though from any given 

 point the remoter links have passed out of sight ; 

 and hence a future life may in a sense be ascribed 

 to all conscious beings. 



Nevertheless it is not until the higher stages of 

 individuality and spiritual development are reached 

 that the phenomenal self of any single life, i.e., the 

 memory of its past, can be supposed to form a pre- 

 dominant, or even an important, factor in the total 

 or final consciousness of the Ego, or one that can 

 display any great permanence. The lower phases of 

 Evolution do not generate sufficient psychical energy 

 to attain to any considerable degree of immortality. 

 For as we saw (§ 12), the continuance of life depends 

 on memory, and memory on the intensity of the im- 

 pression thoughts and feelings make upon the soul, 

 and on the whole the capacity to receive impressions 

 corresponds to the degree of spiritual development. 



But how does all this apply to man ? Shall we 

 assert that man has reached a sufficient height of 

 spiritual evolution so that the human soul, the 

 phenomenal self of our earth-life, persists as Jnmzan ? 

 Certainly man has in many cases shown such 

 capacity for thoughts more than human, for a '' love 

 that is stronger than death," that it would seem 

 monstrous to deny him the intensity of conscious- 



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