Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-07-14
WHAT is A SOUL?
GGD EFERRING to what you said some time
* ago about the SOUL writes cores
pondent, Il would respectfully ask you

GGD EFERRING to what you said some time
* ago about the SOUL writes cores
pendent, Il would respectfully ask you
to rise and explain. What is the soul? Where is
it located? How do you know you have soul?
To say that the soul is the immortal part is dodg-
ing the question. Is there any real proof that there
is anything except material substance, or pody, 10
a human being?"
To the inquiry What is the soul?" We must
honestly and frankly say without clouds or eva
1t should be added, however, that because we
do not know what thing is constitutes no reason
why we should not talk about it and use it.
As a matter of fact, the most usable practical
things in the world things whose essence and
real nature understand least.
Take electricity, for instance, one of the most
servceable forces extant; it pulls our trolley cars
and railway trains, gives light and heat, COM
municates thought signs, heals diseases and does
all manner of everyday work for us; we know now
to generate it, how to turn it on and on, what
substances will conduct it, we can measure It's
power; can do almost as much with 1t as we
can with wood or iron; and yet NOBODY IN all the
world knows what 1t is. .
Nobody knows what gravitation is, though 1t
grips all creation; chemical affinity, though 1t
pertains to every molecule of matter; nor loVe'
though it is the biggest factor in life
When we use the word soul it is really by way
Of expressing our conception of what human 9elng
is If he is merely lump of highly organized ana
sensitzed matter if his motives and acts can De oe
termined by the same sort of reactions that take
place in the chemists retorts and test tubes then
he is only body. But if he is mysterious mex,
pcable phenomenon wholly different from all
other creatures earth, because he thinks ana mas
notions of right and wrong, then he is more than
another kind of animal he is more than perfected
anthropoid ape he is-we do not know what, ana
we call him a soul to express that added some
thing"
To use the term soul therefore implies That we
conceive of creature VINO 1unctlons III
ways that cannot possibly be explained Dy chem-
istry or by any laws that operate in stones Trees
animals.
We do not know that man is immortal; we De-
lieve it. but it is essentially unknowable lmmor-
tality therefore, cannot be proved in the way that
such movable things as mathematics can De
proved, but it be believed.
And the best, the most valuable the most IN
dispensable things in life are not the Things we
know as that two and two make four, but the
things we believe, as that your wife loves you
YOUR friends are loyal to you, that doing right is
better than doing wrong.
1t is this belief of the dignity, worth, and lmpor-
lance of human life that redeems the world from
baseness and gross animalism.
Neutrality-suspicious. have quarrelled for centuries
over what reality is and what truth" IS one
of the cleverest tests of truth Is that given by
those called "pragmatists,' of whom the late VIII
liam James was the leading exponent. They say
that the best test of truth is will 1T Work! Ana
Judged by this test surely no idea could be more
truthful han the soul idea, for none exercises
more practically useful influence upon individual
and communal life
copyright, 1916 by Frank Crane.)