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AN AFTER LIFE.
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That a physical organization is not a conscious being can be seen in the following way. When we refer to a physical organization we say 'it', but when we refer to a conscious being we say 'he.' Obviously we cannot properly refer to the parts of a physical organization either separately or collectively as 'he,' which we could do were they conscious. And further, we cannot rationally think that the body or any part of it generates consciousness. The body generates heat, for instance, which is a mode of molecular motion, but cannot in the same way generate consciousness. Consciousness means the fact of being conscious, which is an abstract idea. Being conscious is the concrete reality, and to say that the brain generates being conscious is unmeaning language, non-sense. Obviously there must be something imbuing the body with consciousness while alive, as water gives wetness to a sponge or sugar sweetness to tea.
Again, all real things and beings are substantial. I am a real being, therefore I am substantial. Substance is indestructible, so I am indestructible and therefore must always exist In order to exist I must be conscious, and in order always to exist I must always be conscious. I cannot exist minus consciousness potential or actual, so a substance which can exist minus consciousness cannot be me. My physical organization can (or will) exist minus consciousness, therefore my physical organization cannot be me.
A third reason for believing in soul is the fact that knowledge, sentience, or any form of consciousness is different in kind from motion of matter. Light, heat, electricity and magnetism are generally believed to be various modes of molecular or of atomic ·motion. But no mode of molecular or atomic motion can be regard
ed as an example of being conscious. Being conscious evinces something other than material structures; it evinces a conscious being, and this new discovery is generally called soul.
We may now point out the two ways in which Mr. Spencer's own remarks in effect substantiate belief in a soul.
The thought that consciousness continues after physical organization has become inactive must, he says, seemingly be relinquished. In order to be relinquished it must have been held. Why was it held ? Is it not because the thought itself is a maniShree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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