147- Why are anatomists, physiologists and, in general, most of those who delve into the natural sciences frequently led into materialism?
“Physiologists judge everything by what they see. Because of pride, humans imagine they know everything and cannot admit that something could possibly be beyond their understanding. Their own science thus makes them presumptuous. They think nature can hide nothing from them.”
148- Isn’t it odd that materialism is a consequence of studies that should, on the contrary, show humankind the superiority of the intelligence governing the world? Should we therefore conclude that such studies are dangerous?
“It is not true that materialism is a consequence of such studies. Rather, it is people who draw a false conclusion from them, for they can abuse even the very best of everything. Moreover, nothingness troubles them more than they would have you believe, and high-minded individuals are almost always more boastful than brave. Most of them are materialists because they have nothing available to fill the void of the abyss that has opened before them. However, throw them a life preserver and they will eagerly grab onto it.”
It is an aberration of the intelligence that leads some to see nothing in organic beings but the action of matter as the basis of all our actions. They see nothing in the human body except an electrical apparatus and they have not studied the mechanism of life except in the functioning of the organs. They have seen life extinguished many times by a ruptured artery, but they perceive nothing except that artery. They have tried to discern whether or not there might be something else, but they have found nothing but inert matter. Moreover, since they have not seen the soul escape or been able to capture it, they have concluded that everything rests in the properties of matter, and thus, after death, the mind is reduced to nothingness. This would be a sad conclusion if it were true, because then good and evil would have no meaning. People would be justified in thinking only of themselves and in placing the satisfaction of material pleasures above everything else. Social ties would be broken and the holiest affections would be destroyed forever. Fortunately, such ideas are far from being the rule; one could even say that they are very circumspect, composed of nothing more than individual opinions and nowhere erected as a doctrine. A society founded on such a basis would contain its own seeds of dissolution and its members would tear each other to pieces like wild animals.
Humans instinctively hold to the conviction that things do not end for them once life is over – they abhor the idea of nothingness. In vain they rebel against the idea of a future life, and when the supreme moment arrives, there are only a few who do not ask what will become of them, because the idea of leaving life behind forever is too painful. Who indeed could indifferently face absolute and eternal separation from everything that has been loved? Who could watch without terror the immense abyss of nothingness opening before them, ready to swallow forever all their faculties and all their hopes, and at the same time say, “That’s it! After me there’s nothing, nothing but nothingness; everything is gone without an appeal. A few days from now and any remembrance of me will be gone from the memory of those surviving me and there will be no trace of my passage on the earth. Even the good I have done will be forgotten by the ingrates I’ve served and there is nothing to compensate me for this, no prospect except my body being devoured by worms!”
Is there not something horrifying and chilling in this picture? Religion teaches us that it cannot be like this and reason confirms it, but a vague and undefined future existence brings nothing to satisfy our love of the pragmatic. This is what has engendered doubt in so many. It is correct to believe we have a soul, but what is it? Does it have any kind of form or appearance? Is it a limited or undefined being? Some say it is a breath of God; others say it is a spark, while still others state that it is part of the Great Whole, the principle of life and intelligence. But what does all this offer us? What does having a soul matter to us if after death it will be merged with the immensity like drops of water in the ocean? Is losing our individuality not the same as nothingness? It is also said that the soul is immaterial. However, an immaterial object cannot have defined proportions, and so for us it is the same as nothingness. Religion also teaches us that we shall be happy or unhappy according to the good or evil we have done. But what is the happiness that awaits us in the heart of God? Is it blissfulness, an eternal contemplation with no other concern than singing praises to the Creator? And are the flames of hell a reality or only a symbol? The Church itself generally understands them in the latter sense. What then are the sufferings of hell? Where is this place of punishment? In short, what do we actually do and what do we actually see in that other world that waits for each one of us?
It is usually stated that no one has ever returned to give us an account of what exists “over there”. That, however, is an error, and Spiritism’s mission is precisely to enlighten us regarding that future, to enable us to see and touch it to a certain extent, no longer through reason only but through actual phenomena also. Thanks to spirit communications, the matter no longer involves pure conjecture, nor is it solely a probability that each one paints at will, or something that poets embellish with their fictions or dress up in allegorical images that seduce us. Instead, it is a reality that has shown its face to us, in that actual beings from beyond the grave have come to tell us about their situation there and what they do there. They have allowed us to watch (so to speak) the events of their new life, thereby showing us the inevitable fate reserved for us according to our own merits or wrongs. Is there anything anti-Christian in this? Quite the contrary, since disbelievers have found faith as a result and the lukewarm have enjoyed a renewal of zeal and confidence. Hence, Spiritism is Christianity’s most powerful aid. If such is the case, it is because God has allowed it. God enables it to reanimate our wavering hopes and lead us onto the path of the good through hope for the future.
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