Life After Death

taken here to discuss these connected problems and so I assume that survival has sufficient evidence for its acceptance to make a tentative effort to satisfy some curiosity about the further questions that have more interest than the purely scientific problem of the continuity of life.

At the present day there is the usual, perhaps more than the usual, passion to know whether, if a man die, he shall live again, and it takes the form of an intenser interest in the nature of the life after death than in the scientific question of the fact. This problem is discussed at some length in this work. It is not easy to satisfy inquirers on this point. Most of them suppose that, if we can communicate with the discarnate, they can easily tell us all about the transcendental world. But this is an illusion and the sooner that we learn that there is a very large problem before us in that matter the better for our intellectual sanity. It is comparatively easy to prove survival, when you have once eliminated fraud and subconscious fabrications. But it is a very different matter to determine just what we shall believe or how we shall conceive the nature of the existence beyond the grave. It will be a matter of long investigation and all that I can hope to do in this work is to suggest the considerations that must be taken into account when discussing the problem.

ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PRIMITIVE CONCEPTIONS OF A FUTURE LIFE

Herbert Spencer's theory, 1. Savage ideas, 3. Illustrations of savage

beliefs, 4. Relation to spiritualism, 10. Nature of the next life, 14.

Modern views, 17.

CHAPTER II

THE IDEAS OF CIVILIZED NATIONS

Culture and religion, 20. Chinese religion, 21. Taoism, 23. Buddhism,

24. Hindu beliefs, 25. Brahmanism, 27. Reincarnation, 28.

Japanese doctrines, 31. Philosophy, 33. Egyptian ideas, 35.

Hebrew beliefs, 37. Zoroastrianism, 39.

CHAPTER III

GRECO-ROMAN IDEAS

Early Greek conceptions, 42. Phirosophic period, 46. Ionian thinkers,

48. Heraclitus, 49. Empedocles and Democritus, 50. Pythago-

Transmigration, 57. Aristotle, 58. Stoics,

The Romans, 62. Cicero and Seneca, 63.

CHRISTIANITY AND PSYCHIC RESEARCH

General observations, 65. The resurrection, 68. New Testament

incidents, 71. Miracles of healing, 75. Further incidents, 76.

Meaning of "Angel," 78. The Temptation, 80. St. Paul, 81.

Relation to psychic research, 85. Healing, 87. Science, 89.

viii ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER V

MODERN AND SCIENTIFIC DOCTRINES

General characteristics, 92. Resurrection, 94. Materialism, 96. Greek

philosophy, 98. Christian philosophy, 99. Revival of science, 101.

Types of materialism, 104. Philosophic materialism, 108. Method

of disproof, 110. Conception of spirit, 115. Mental pictures and

the problem, 120. Professor James' reservoir theory, 121. Spinoza

and pantheism, 125. Telepathy, 129. Spiritistic theory, 134.

Instances against telepathy, 137. Argument and explanation, 140.

CHAPTER VI

THE POSSIBILITY OF A FUTURE LIFE

Introduction, 143. Epicureans, 145. Indestructibility of substance,

147. Nature of survival, 150. Metchnikoff and survival, 152.

Physical resurrection, 153. Pauline doctrine, 154. Cartesian

view, 155. Professor James' transmission theory, 156. Nature of

consciousness, 159. Metaphysical theories, 160. Scientific prob-

lem, 165. Atomic doctrines, 167. Ether theory, 170. Conserva-

tion of energy, 171. Mechanical and teleological views, 174.

Idealism, 176. Physical science, 178. Psychology, 182.

CHAPTER VII

DIFFICULTIES OF THE PROBLEM

The two problems, 189. Difficulties in the proof, 192. Hypotheses,

195. Mental pictures, 200. Differences in narratives, 202. Con-

fusions in the communications, 204.

CHAPTER VIII

THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATING

Illusions about the process, 206. Normal intercourse, 209. Medium-
istic trance, 211. Number of minds involved, 213. Double con-
trol, 216. Interfusion, 218. Modus operandi, 221. Pictographic

process, 223. Telephonic analogies, 225. Rapport, 227. Lia-

bilities of pictographic process, 229. Summary, 231.