Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-08-15
Does Death End AIIf

au diDel4eFtT, hnu Lny answer 10 ElH.
 Does death end all?
 IT We are to believe that We possess an immortal soul or spirit, that is to live on and through the countless ages of the future, happy or miserable
 according to our lives here, is 1t not reasonable to believe that the soul or immortal spirit Is superior to the earthly
 part which we now inhablt? If the spirit has that life quality, to leave the present frame at death, why is it that when we are under the dentists gas we know nothing? A laborer is struck by a falling stone, is picked up uncon- scious; or e mortal Is dragged from the water totally unconscious, but by per sistent mechanical efforts breath is once
 more forced in its accustomed channels.
 If the question is asked of these what they know, they will answer, they know not anything. Is it to be believed there
 IS a future existence, or does not death end all. My reply was,
 My pagan friend.
 However much I may differ with you. in the questions asked, or in your req soning, will deal fairly with You. In
 the first place, think you will agree
 with me in this, that the body is the in- strument through which mind or spirit maniiests itself. Matter IS inert, it is not capable of mOtion-thst 1t moves only as it is moved by something. If then, matter in and of itself is incapable of motion, there must be something su- per-added to matter. so to speak, which
 when present and inhabiting the form, manipulates, directs and controls its every movement. ThIs power, or life force, not only sits as governor III the form, directing and controlling all, but also manifests itself and its own attrib-
 utes to us, by means of II. Now does not the above proposition establish be- yOnd all question, th6t the body Is the instrument through which mind and spirit manifests itself, sustained by req son, common sense and science. If the body, the instrument of life, and of its ex- pressions, becomes so impaired through injury, or otherwise, that the spirit is DO longer able to manifest itself In Its nor maj condition through It, We then have an instance of interrupted manifesto tion, and that Is the condition of my pagan friend, by the dentists gas, the falling stone, and the watery illustra- tion.
 1 am unable tO see, however, that this argues gDy thing agaInst immortality, or m favor Of the theory that death ends all, for tbe reason that the moment the cause Is removed the spirit again nanlfests itself natur- ally and freely In tLe instrument. How then can more be said than that the power has cessed-hGs temporarily ceased-tO manifest itself;
 Let Us suppose the interrupting cause tO be sJ poten: as to separate the power and its revealing instrument altogether, winch We call death. Is there any ar gument here to show that ths power hgs entirely ceased when II has only ceased To reveal itself through its Instrument.
 This life of ours Is dual in iis nature and III its expression. having its wake iul side, upon which impressions are be- ing constantly made through the avenues of the five senses-the Inlets of all knoweldge of hfe's wakeful side. and its ireamlRnd side, where the avenues of he gakeful side are securely locked ! D sweet sleep. Here I wish to suppose n individual in the above condition of l leep and dreams, absorbed in a dream. | Here with all the external avenues of | he senses closed, with no physical ob- | ect presented to the retina of the eye, DO so1nd to the ear, nor other senses presented to the COn6c;Ousness, the men, al world without the aid of any of the sxternal senses is living a full rounded lie of consciousness. The spirit during he repOse of the body Is up and active, | md nov absorbed Tn important business | citations, wandering through beautiful | cenery, or discourses cheerily with | friends. Then sadness in turn visits 1t, | md perhaps the individual awakens in ! flood of tears, showing that the spirit l Ias been passing through 6 living ex- the effect of which no amount | 4 mere thinking during wRkefulness | onld produce, ID fact so vivid as to re- lulre moments of reflection to deter | nine that the experience was really a | Iream. Thus the external world is in- Sardly represented to our minds with | lll the force of reality. We speak, We lear and see, as If We were ln commu- | iication with existence.
 If then the human spirit, without the | i'd of any Of the five external senses, IS | .bie, as illustrated Tn dreams, to live a | ull, rounded life of consciousness, and | IS perfect in detail and as real in spirit | IS any experience during wakefulness, md this without the aid of the external | ,r physical world, who shall say that | shen the spirit loses control of bodily | organism altogether that 1t does not re- aiu the same powers, and that the only | md served by our coming into thls | orm Is to have the physical world and fife experiences impressed upon the | pirit or mirrored into 1t, whereby A uture without the physical form, is Ylone rendered possible. The spirit by | hls means becoming self creative.
 When the spirit IS cast-that IS at | ,lrth, 1t takes form-it knows nsthing | $ to space. time, distance, form size, | Teight, color, order or number, but is | imply the moving life force in Q myste- lous trinity of capabilities: lst. soul or ensation in which all sensations are aught and held; 2d, perception, by which they are seen and judged of as to heir nature and attributes; 3d, will, by | -hich the spirit takes some action ID eference to the judgment formed on hose impressions
 l think the above conditions are rought to this mysterious trinity in nity of life force through the avenues [ the i've seuses, the body serving no ther purpose than to keep open these llets of knowledge from the world round. by which alone the spirit be- mes indivlGualized. No dreams could ome to the human spirit prlor to its Dntact with form. This was the inf lie plan of bringing us 10 light. These OndIucns having now been impressed pOn the spiritual and imperishable de Of our nature. may not the physl- sl side of tine five senses, the body, by nd through which they were obtained, 1G which now serve theIr purpose. be ropped consistently with continued te: An effect once produced Is a con nued fact, even ID the physical world. } not consciousness, whether upon the de of sleep or wEkefulness, or other ise, still consciousness to the end of ,ckoning? 1t is the fundmental verity lRt renders existence possible
 Il