The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1926-08-05
FUTURE LIFE.
By F. F. CORLISS.
(This is continuation of last weeks
unfinished article)

| unfinished article)
Job was seeking knowledge and he
simply asked shall we live again? He
did not inquire where or how or for
how long shall we live. And to me,
that seems to be the thing of prime
Importance.
Job had wonderful patience and one
would naturally think that he would
rather die and go to Nirvana than to
wish to live on in a resurrected body
so painfully afflicted as his. But his
how strong is the Unborn instinct to
live, live on. For history gives US no
record of one who suffered more pain,
| trials and tribulations of the flesh.
Regardless of our religious belief,
we are all classed philosophically as
either Spiritualists, Materialists or
Agnostics.
The Agnostics are neutrals in
thought They say they do not know
and are not going to speculate or
guess about anything that they can
not see, weigh or measure. To be a
Materialist is to be an outcast among
thinkers because they deny reason and
common sense.
The Hindus and some of the Chin
csc believe they are going to Nirvana
"a condition of endless sleep or utter
extinction.
The rest of the world are classed
as Spritualists, but it does not fol-
low that they have to believe in trance
medium communications with the de-
parted or slate writing and such.
Now nature has revealed to man
with unimpeachable evidence that life
and mind are a continuity on all
planes of existence, visible or invisi-
Bile. That life and intelligence once
raised to the level of self-conscious-
ness ever goes marching on, progress
sively unfolding itself and improving
its environment. And that life in
man does not cease with the decay of
the body and return to its elemental
primitive life like the life that dies
in a tree or flower.
Nature may appear wasteful, but
she is not and her laws governing the
universe prove the conservation of en-
ergy, and if she is so careful that not
an atom of her material substance
shall ever be lost, is it reasonable to
suppose that she will destroy the soul
the life of man, the one and only
thing that can reach the goal? The
one and only thing in all the universe
that really matters. The one and only
medium through which God can eX-
press His noblest attributes. The only
instrument He has for the develop
ment of His planet, the Interpretation
and execution of His cosmic purpose
and the unfolding of His evolutionary
process on the high levels of life and
learning.
Having discovered that our lives
are immortal, the next question is
where shall we live and how be con-
ditioned?
In the cosmic scheme of things
death functions as an essential factor
in the perfection of life, in giving it a
new and richer field for its elevation
to higher levels, just as mind is essen
tial for the moulding of matter and
regrouping its molecules into new and
better living forms, in accordance tc
their chemical affinities and the law OF
growth.
But most of US have been taugt tc
believe in spiritual life beyond the
grave. We are simply souls invested
with an ethereal body that has neither
weight or special dimensions, that is
impervious to heat or cold; that re-
quires neither food nor drink, clothes
or shelter. We are supposed to &c
first to the Astral Plane, an ethrea
zone that surrounds earth like one OF
Saturn's rings, thence as we qualify
spiritually, we go higher and enter
the Mental zone and so we keep or
climbing into purer, better life with
perfection as our ultimate goal.
Now in this great ethreal void we
toll not, neither do we spin. 1t is {
place of eternal bliss where we car
rest in quietude or float about anc
find our friends, play an imaginar!
harp and sing to the morning stars.
This picture of the future life wa:
impressed on me in my childhood days
by very devout teachers, but it ha:
always seemed so unnatural, vague
and shadowy that l have never beer
able with all my study through the
intervening years, to comprehend it
Now as matter of fact, truth Of
nature, we know that life and learn
ing, mind and matter all have theil
source in an ethereal, metaphysical
realm invisible to man.
We know, also, that the Creator
while He confines Himself to this in
visible, intangible sphere is helples
to express or manifest His highest at
tributes. He would exist as a spirit