LIFE AFTER DEATH/PART 1

 

I

IS THERE ANY CERTAIN KNOWLEDGE ?

This subject of life after death is one of great  interest to all of us, not only because we ourselves must certainly one day die, but far more because there can scarcely be any one among us, except perhaps the very young, who has not lost (as we call it) by death someone who is near and dear to us. So if there be any information available with regard to the life after death, we are naturally very anxious to have it. But the first thought which arises in the mind of the man who sees such a title as this is usually 'Can anything be certainly known as to life after death?' We have all had various theories put before us on the subject by the various religious bodies, and yet even the most devoted followers of these sects seem hardly to believe their              

teachings about this matter, for they still speak of death as 'the king of terrors', and seem to regard the whole question as surrounded by mystery and horror. They may use the term 'falling asleep in Jesus', but they still employ the black dresses and plumes, the horrible crape and the odious black-edged notepaper, they still surround death with all the trappings of woe, and with everything calculated to make it seem and dark and terrible. We have an evil heredity behind us in this matter; we have inherited these funeral horrors from forefathers, and so we are used to them, and do not see the absurdity and monstrosity of it all. The ancients were in this respect wiser than we, for they did not associate all these nightmares of gloom with the death of body — partly perhaps because they had a much more rational method of disposing of the body — a method which was not only infinitely better for the dead man and more healthy for the living, but was also free from the gruesome suggestions connected with slow decay. They knew much more about death in those days, and because

they knew more they mourned less.

The first thing that we must realize about death is that it is a perfectly natural incident in the course of our life. That ought to be obvious to us immediately, because if we believe at all in a God who is a loving Father we should know that a fate which, like death, comes to all alike, cannot be evil, and that whether we are in this world or the next we must be equally safe in His hands. This consideration alone should have shown us that death is not something to be dreaded, but simply a necessary step in our evolution. It ought not to be necessary for Theosophy to come among Christian nations and teach death is a friend and not an enemy. It would not be necessary if Christianity had not so largely forgotten its own best traditions. It has come to regard the grave as 'the bourn from which no traveller returns', and the passage of it as a leap in the dark, into some awful unknown void. On this point, as on many others, Theosophy has a gospel for the western world; it has to announce that there is no gloomy impenetrable abyss beyond the grave, but instead a world of light and life, which may be known to us as fully and accurately as the streets of our own city. We have created the gloom and the horror for ourselves, like children who frighten themselves with ghastly stories, and we have only to study the facts of the case, and all these artificial clouds will roll away at once. Death is no darksome king of terrors, no skeleton with a scythe to cut short the thread of rife, but rather an angel bearing a golden key, with which he unlocks for us the door into a fuller and higher life than this.

But men will naturally say 'This is very beautiful and poetic, but how can we certainly know that it is really so?' You may know it in many ways; there is plenty of evidence ready to the hand of anyone who will take the trouble to gather it together. Shakespeare's statement is really a remarkable one when we consider that ever since the dawn of history, and in every country of which we know anything, travellers have always been returning from beyond the

grave, and showing themselves to their fellowmen. There is much evidence for such apparitions, as they have been called. At one time it was fashionable to ridicule all such stories; now it is no longer so, since scientific men like Sir William Crookes, the discoverer of the metal thallium and the inventor of Crookes's radiometer, and Sir Oliver Lodge, the great scientist, and eminent public men like Mr Balfour, the late Premier of England, have joined and actively worked with a Society-instituted for the investigation of such phenomena. Read the reports of the work of the Society for Psychical Research, and you will see something of the testimony which exists as to the return of the dead. Read books like Mr Stead's Real Ghost Stories, or Camille Flammarion's L'Inconnu, and you will find there plenty of accounts of apparitions, showing themselves — not centuries ago in some faraway land, but here and now among ourselves — to persons still living, who can be questioned and can testify to the reality of their experiences.            

Another line of testimony to the life after death is the study of modern spiritualism. I know that many people think that there is nothing to be found along that line but fraud and deception; but I can myself bear personal witness that this is not so. Fraud and deception there may have been — nay, there has been — in certain cases; but nevertheless I fearlessly assert that there are great truths behind this, which may be discovered by any man who is willing to devote the necessary time and patience to their unfolding. Here again there is a vast literature to be studied, or the man who prefers it may make his investigations for himself at firsthand as I did. Many men may not be willing to take that trouble or to devote so much time; very well, that is their affair, but unless they will examine, they have no right to scoff at those who have seen, and therefore know that these things are true.

A third line of evidence, which is the one most commending itself to theosophical students, is that of direct investigation. Every man has within himself latent faculties, undeveloped senses, by

means of which the unseen world can be directly cognized, and to any one who will take the trouble to evolve these powers the whole world beyond the grave will lie open as the day. A good many theosophical students have already unfolded these inner senses, and it is the evidence thus obtained that I wish to lay before you. I know very well that this is a considerable claim to make — a claim which would not be made by any minister of any church when he gave you his version of the states after death. He will say, 'The Church teaches this', or 'The Bible tells you so', but he will never say,' I who speak to you, have seen this, and know it to be true'. But in Theosophy we are able to say to you quite definitely that many of us know personally that of which we speak, for we are dealing with a definite series of facts which we have investigated, and which you yourselves may investigate in turn. We offer you what we know, yet we say to you 'unless this commends itself to you as utterly reasonable, do not rest contented with our assertion; look into these things for yourselves as fully as you can, and then you will be in a position to speak to others as authoritatively as we do'. But what are the facts which are disclosed to us by these investigations?