INTRODUCTION 



nature described; another that he cannot be found, 

 hence cannot be described; another that he Is an inti- 

 mate experience; another that he is as far away as the 

 most distant nebula. But it rather seems as if these 

 would-be prophets and dialecticians came out by the 

 same door through which they went In. And which- 

 ever way the final verdict stood, the humble seeker 

 after truth and light did not find his doubts dissolved 

 nor his troubles lessened. High-powered discussions 

 as to whether God exists or does not exist do not help 

 average men and women much. 



And how has it been with Immortality? The at- 

 tempt to demonstrate Immortality has exhibited pre- 

 cisely the same irresolute, unconvincing methods. A 

 religion without convictions of Immortality Is hardly 

 a religion. Yet religion has no proofs that man sur^ 

 vives the breaking up of this physical structure. Lead- 

 ers of religion whose chief duty Is to assure those who 

 have loved and lost, of personal survival, have no defi- 

 nite argument to present. Again and again their con- 

 solation goes no further than to ask the bereaved to 

 be resigned, to believe that all Is well, that God is 

 good. Once more. If religion tries to explain immor- 

 tality, which, of course, It does, it uses terms which fit 

 an Immortality of three dimensions: with a Valhalla, 

 a Paradise, a Dante's Imaginative portrayal, a St. 

 John's vision of repose and reward. 



There have been, and are still, high and noble souls 

 within the sacred precincts, who, when they go up to the 

 temple go up to pray; and the remembrance of them 

 is blessed. A religious idea carried through with earn- 

 estness and sincerity, though reason rebels at it, com- 

 mands our admiration. One of the most astonishing 



