The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1921-04-28
Something to
Think AbOuf
THE SOUL SEARCH
BY r. II. WALKER

A N ENGLISH scientist has devoted
"A a lot OF time and effort to writ
Ing a book which he calls "In Search
OF the Soul"
At the end the scientist finds him
self no nearer discovering the where
abouts OF what he was searching for
or even knowing the character of the
thing he sought than was Plato or
Seneca or ~Pythagoras or Eplctetus,
all great teachers, but all dlsagreelng
when II came to the thing which none
Of them KNEW anything about.
Always there has been a doubt as
to whether the soul was within or
without the body.
One investigator who died not long
ago spent years of his life In an at
tempt to devise a weighing mechanism
so delicate that he would be able to
determine II there was any deter
minable difference In the weight OF a
human body Just before aud Just
after death, hoping thereby to es-
tabllsh the weight OF the soul.
There were reports. never perhaps
justified. that the government bureau
Of standards had under consideration
a similar line Of experiments.
1t would be just as satisfying, in
all probability, to try and weigh a
thought, for II Is probable that moth
Ing more tangible leaves the body at
death.
Did you ever wonder what becomes
of the thinking power when the body
no longer has power 10 breathe and
move? Is the thinking power the
soul?
Where goes the genius OF a Beethov-
en- or a Mozart and that indescrlbable
power TO group sounds into harmony
when death has robbed those fingers
Of writing down the notes upon the
ruled paper?
What becomes OF the analytical
powers Of a Newton or a Euclid or an
Einstein when he can no longer pen
his formulate or give to the world his
~conclusions7
What becomes OF the genius Of the
painter when his hand can no longer
hold the brush or Of the sculptor
when his hammer and chlsel have
been laid down for the last timer
Is there tangibility to knowledge,
to talent, or are they wholly spiritual
and without dependence on material
things and exlstence1
Plato said, "The body IL a prison,
from which the soul must be released
before II can arrive at the knowledge
of those things which are real and i'm
mutable."
Is the soul really imprisoned within
the body or Is the body only an H.
fusion which our belief gives a de-
celvlng reality?
The scientist who Is studying mat
ter, for no one yet KNOWS what
matter Is, tells us that everything
material is made up Of electrons and
that electrons are really only a mani
festation of electricity and that cleo
tricity Is not matter but only energy,
and we. therefore. end up with the
statement that matter is not material
but only a demonstration of energy,
so after all what is there to the thing
which we ordinarily think of as the
home OF the soul2
What an enigma What an eternal
probleml We stand upon the edge OF
n great ocean and wisely discuss II
as a whole when we do not know more
than the merest fraction of the truth
about the one wave that washes at
our feet.
We write books with sounding titles
and confess at the end, IL we are
truthful, II know nothing"
Only ONE thing man really KNOWS.
That is that he is conscious, that he
has been endowed with some power
Of recognition and reason. Whether
his use OF that power results In a
truthful conclusion he does not know.
II may be that one OF the greatest
glories and privileges of the hereafter
will be TO know something and know
that IL Is the truth.
There are many question marks in
the paragraphs above but all life is a
question TO which none of us have
ever known the satisfactory answer.
Gopyrightl