New-York tribune., 1909-07-24

Soil LECTURE 1903 BY @. Loves DicIlin-
son. 12mo, PIP. IS. Houghton Mifiin Com
Whether and in what sense Immortality is de-
sirable is a question that Mr.. Loves Dickinson
considers independently Of the inquiry whether
or no immortality is a fact, and il is not on ac-
count Of any sympathy with scientific" skepu-
cisrn that he limits the discussion in this way.
The connection, in our present experience Of
body and mind may have encouraged the in
ference that the soul dies with the brain, yet
this is only an inference, and quite possibly a
mistaken one To infer wisely in such matters
one must be a poet well a man of sci
ence, and Mr.. Dickinson declares that for his
own part he would rather trust the intuitions
Of Goethe or Of Browning than the reasonings
Of Spencer or Of Haeckel, for the poet while not
bringing to the debate conclusive word. is able
to stimulate our imagination and to help US feel
our limitations amid the vastness # the uni
verse.
Some recognizable qualities must mark any
Immortality Of whose desirabeness We are TO
judge, and the author has an affirmative answer
for his main question long as immortality
may he thought Of as state in which "a con-
tinuity Of experiences analogous to that which
We are aware Of here is carried on into life
after DEATH the essence of thar life being the
continuous unfolding, no doubt through stress
and conflict, of those potentialfties Of Good Of
which we are aware here as the most significant
part Of ourselves" If there are few intelligent
people who look forward with satisfaction to the
traditional Christian heaven. that is because the
delineation Of condition OF perfect satisfaction
and goodness has always been extraordinarily
difficult. Only in the faintest symboical adum-
brations is the unknown object Of cur desire
imaginable We have allowed ourselves to be
offended by metaphoricaI impediments. and the
heaven We really mean is the ultimate term of a
process in which are engaged. of the end of
which We can only say that ii is Good. With
this Interpretation of ultimate blessedness Mr.
Dickinson is completely on orthodox ground
that one could half expect him to discover to
us the philosophy underlying the doctrine Of
eternal punishment, but the bare idea Of future
retributiOn he turns away from with adherence
Even as a deterrent of crime the menace Of the
theological hell is less effective than the pen
alties Of human law, and how anv benevolent
person could dream Of accepting q life in heaven
while other nortaIs were doomed to punishment
IS for our author, past finding out
To the reader whose sympathics keep closer
to the currents Of Catholic thought It viii occa-
sion mild surprise that Mr.. Dickinson should
try to evade the consequences Of his own pre-
misses, as he does when, having based a desirable
Immortality on the fact Of a moral order, he
turns and rends the notion of future peralty In
and where choice is possible a man seeing the
better part may yet choose the inferior. Grant
ed that moral achievement raised to the nth
power is that possibility to which the term
heaven applies IS there to be no name for
the other insistent fact in life, the dingy oppo-
site of holiness. whose outcome. in the verdict
Of human experience, justifies the doginatic
symbolism Of eternal punishment no less strong
ly than the happier realities give substance to
Z 4Ra..s
make ethical distinctions the companion doe
trines are likely TO survive the one let lis hope
dispensing with the hideous imagery that so
long has cleaved to il, and the other managing
10 get along without too circumstantial accounts
Of the bliss that is to be. But complain as one
may Of Mr. Dickinson's neglect closely TO ar
uculate important moral principles the reader
iB nevertheless bound TO admire the kindness of
heart that would so precipitateIy annhiate ali
hells.
one motive that the author offers for raising
atfesh the question to what Immortality
really means is found in the fact that there are
D%sslmistic people who, far from craving i'm
fH"f tA4iiy, are passionately desirous of extinc-
npni but people who are not pessimists at all
are likely to be no less grateful for so careful
q search Tor what Is essential in the promise Of
eternal lhe- by way Of making his own posi-
tIon clearer Mr.. Dickinson has described ard
classified the attitudes assumed b, humans
toward the perennial theme. Some Of rs he
tells us dislike the subject and dodge it when
ever We can, after the manner of Frederic
Myers's host who in after dinner conversation
protested: "Of course. II you press me- 1 be-
Heve shall all enter into eternal bliss but
I wish you wouldn't talk about such disagree
able subjects" Others Of us, it seems, are dullv
acquiescent and others optimistic and ready for
all the immortality available. This way of re-
ducing listeners to anRmic abstractions has it's
advantages to the lecturer no doubt; but are
not ALL matter of fact. capable of more
than one way OF viewing our interests, earthly