The Nature of Man: Studies in Optimistic Philosophy

I must add, however, that Nirvana did not occupy a place in Buddhism so important as has been ascribed to it by several commentators. In many of the Buddhist authorities mention of Nirvana is only accidental. In the " Lalita Vistara," for instance, the word occurs very seldom, and then only in unimportant connections. However, the latter document contains a good deal that serves to explain the conception of Nirvana. When the young Buddha, still very exacting, asked his father to obtain for him perpetual youth, health, life ever- lasting, and freedom from death, he added the following words : " Lord, if you cannot give me these four gifts, at least bring it about that after this life I shall have no more metempsychoses." J

Brahmanistic doctrine of transmigration of souls. Accord- ing to the legend, before his birth as a prince, the Buddha had passed hundreds of earlier existences. His soul had been the soul not only of fifty-eight kings, but of eighteen monkeys, four horses, four snakes, three lizards, two fish, and of other creatures.* Such continual transferences of the soul to so many different animals was a source of perplexity and sorrow to believers. It was natural that a great thinker like Buddha should have conceived the desire of sparing himself and his faithful followers so many transmigrations. He thought of these rebirths as a great evil, from which a pure life might set one free.

In the poetical language of the Hindoo Buddhists, metem- psychosis was compared to the ocean ; the waves that change from moment to moment were the continual rebirths ; our temporary body was the foam of the crests of the waves, while Nirvana was the opposite shore. He who reaches Nirvana would never again plunge into the great sea of Sangsara. In a passage quoted by Rhys Davids, and ascribed to Kama Sutta, it is stated expressly that " the sea is an image of the Sangsara or transmigrations, while Nirvana is an island upon it. Once the shores have been reached, a soul will no longer be plunged in the waves of the ocean, and will be freed from the successive births of metempsychosis."

In other words, to avoid being tormented after death by perpetual rebirths, some of which may be humiliating, it is necessary to live a pure life and so to secure repose or Nirvana. Nirvana is by no means the cessation of all con- sciousness, but merely the end of transmigrations. From such a point of view, it is possible to interpret all, or at least nearly all, the passages in which Nirvana is spoken of. When he was old and full of disease and afflicted with grievous pain, Buddha, being at the point of death, thought of his disciples and called them to him and said : " It is not meet that I should enter Nirvana without having spoken with those who have cared for me, without speaking to the community of disciples. By the force of my will I shal subdue this disease and hold the life within me." Some time afterwards, the reverend Ananda went to Buddha and spoke to him, saying amongst other words as follows : " The Sublime One will surely not enter into Nirvana ere he has made known unto the community of disciples his wishes regarding them." " Growing more and more feeble, the spirit of Buddha passed from ecstacy to ecstacy without ceasing, and knew every delight ; then he entered into Nirvana. And the earth trembled, and thunder rolled across the skies." *

It is clear that in this passage Nirvana was associated with death. But it was with the death of a saint who had lived a pure life. Metempsychosis would not be inflicted on him, and he would enjoy repose. It is probable that the term Nirvana later on came to be applied to the state of mind of a saint who, by living the pure life, would avoid transmigration after death. As the importance of Nirvana lies in its contrast with metempsychosis, it is easy to see why the precise state of mind involved in it has not been described exactly. How- ever, a survey of the Buddhistic writings makes it plain that at least Nirvana was not associated with annihilation. In this respect Max Miiller's verdict must be taken as correct.

Buddha's attempt to remedy the ills of human life, then, lay in a complete renunciation of all the joys and pleasures of life, and in perfect resignation. The mere fact that * Oldenburg, loc. cit. pp. 200-206. primitive Buddhism did not persist, but rapidly passed into an ordinary religion, is sufficient proof that Buddha did not achieve his purpose. It was the promise of a life to come that attracted so many men and spread Buddhism over so large a part of the earth. However, this faith has been able to maintain itself only in certain strata of society to which the rationalistic conception of the mental processes has not penetrated. Since the awakening of the scientific spirit in Europe, it has been recognised that the promise of a future life has no basis of fact to support it. The modern study of the functions of the mind has shown beyond all question that these are dependent on the functions of the body, in particular of those of the central nervous system. A slight lowering of the rate of the circulation of the blood, a fleeting anaemia of the brain, at once arrests consciousness, that is to say, the fundamental sensation of the individual mental life. Anaesthetics, used in doses so small that they do not influence certain parts of the nervous system, as, for instance, those that control the heart and lungs, completely abolish consciousness. Persons who are put under chloro- form for surgical purposes fall into a state of absolute uncon- sciousness. Sometimes, after undergoing painful sensations, especially sensations of oppression, the patients imagine themselves to be in rapid motion, and in a few moments have the sensation of falling into an immense gulf, after which comes nothingness, the annihilation of sensations and of consciousness. In other cases, patients, without any sensation of catastrophe, lose all idea of reality, and every psychic and sensorial function is abolished. Such states are very closely similar to death, which indeed is the result, in certain rare instances, of the ordinary process of being chloroformed.

produced by any other form of anaesthetic, affords any particle of ground for the view that there is consciousness in any form apart from the body. The action of morphine sometimes brings about a strange current of happiness and an apparent weightlessness of the body ; but here again there is no suspicion given as to the existence of any mental phenomena apart from the body. Consciousness of personality is of supreme interest from the point of view of personal immortality, and this mental phenomenon develops only slowly and progressively in an infant. This fact, again, like the facts of narcosis, shows the dependence of consciousness on the action of the bodily organs. Just as our consciousness comes out of nothing in the first months, or years, of our life, so it will pass into nothing at the end of our life.

Mental disease confirms this conclusion, and it, too, gives no ground for the belief in a survival of the mind after death. Certain internal sensibilities in the depths of our organism survive our personal consciousness. When the heart has ceased to beat, and when the anaemic brain is certainly incapable of personal consciousness, some portions of the body may still retain vitality. The muscular fibres are still able to contract when they are stimulated, and the white corpuscles of the blood can still exhibit their specific move- ments. It is certain, moreover, that these white corpuscles possess a specific sensibility, and, by a sort of sense of taste, respond to the kind of environment that surrounds them. Our consciousness, however, is absolutely out of touch with the sensations of these globules, 'which, however, none the less are part of our organism. It happens, therefore, that in certain diseases, the white corpuscles, stimulated by the presence of particular substances, perform extensive

movements of migration within our bodies. Such migration is quite outside the sphere of consciousness. The corpuscles, directed by their sensibility, are in constant pursuit ot microbes that have entered the body, and yet these actions, too, are not made known to our consciousness. In the same fashion, the thousands of active spermatozoa in the male organs and the ova in the female possess specific sensi- bility. These reproductive elements contain the germ of individual consciousness, but it is not until they have developed into the new generation that it is possible to impute to them individual consciousness, and the organism that shelters them has no idea of what it harbours. The sensibility of the white corpuscles and of the many other cells composing our body, although certainly a reality, has no part in the absolutely special sensation that we call indi- vidual consciousness, and which is all we think of in wishing to escape death.

The idea of a future life is supported by not a single fact, while there is much evidence against it. The phenomenon of intercommunication across a distance, sometimes called telepathy, may be actual, but affords no support to the conception of the existence of souls apart from bodies. It may be that emanations are given off by certain organs, and that these are capable of being appreciated by the organs of another body at a distance ; but, even if such were the case, we should have to deal simply with other bodily functions. Moreover, the supposed phenomena that fall within this category are so rare, so difficult to observe, and so obscure, that no certain argument for the continuance of existence after death can be deduced from them.

It is easy to see why the advance of knowledge has diminished the number of believers in the persistence of consciousness after death, and that complete annihilation at death is the conception accepted by the vast majority of enlightened persons. Apart from their chief function of consoling men for the inevitability of death, religions have concerned themselves with some of the results of other disharmonies of the human constitution. From time immemorial they have claimed the direction of diet, the control of the reproductive functions and the prevention or cure of all kinds of disease.

The dietary regulations given by the religions are familiar. Even at the present day, the cookery of many races is regulated by their religion. The Jewish diet, notably, is regulated by the Mosaic law, down to the most minute detail. For instance, it was forbidden to eat the blood of animals. Moses commanded : " Notwithstanding, thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee ; the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart. Only ye shall not eat the blood ; ye shall pour it on the earth as water." * Later on : " Only be sure that thou eat not the blood ; for the blood is the life ; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh." f " Thou shalt not eat it, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord." J The Books of Moses also contain receipts for the cooking of certain meats. " Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, his head with his legs, and with the purtenan^e thereof." §

It has been suggested that these rules were founded on ideas of hygiene in consonance with the results of modern science. Some of them, it is true, such as the prohibition of uncooked or partially cooked meat, are confirmed by our modem knowledge. But the greater number of the Mosaic rules, as, for instance, the prohibition of the consumption as food of blood or the flesh of pigs or hares and so forth, are in direct opposition to a modern knowledge of hygienic diet. Religious cookery has no more than a historical interest.

The religions have been greatly occupied with the func- tions of the reproductive organs. Most of the founders of ;he great faiths have paid a keen attention to the dishar- monies of this side of our constitution. They became per- suaded of the merit of abstention, which they practised themselves and preached to others. Buddha, after devoting his youth to all the pleasures and not being satisfied, passed to absolute asceticism. He and his adepts formed an order of monkhood, on which an absolute celibacy was imposed. If a member of the order had intercourse with a woman, he was considered to be as guilty as a murderer or a thief. In the Buddhist rules framed even for laymen, " sexual inter- course outside marriage was forbidden, on the ground that it was degrading." *

The views of the Christian religion on sexual matters are well known. The leaders of Christianity abstained from sexual intercourse and recommended their conduct to others. St. Paul more than once affirmed his own continence. " For I would that all men were even as I myself ; but every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. I say therefore, to the unmarried and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I ; but if they cannot contain, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn." f

The religions of savage races are equally concerned with the reproductive functions. There are many extremely strange facts known concerning this matter, and among such I may mention that the Sandwich Islanders have a deity who presides at abortions. This god is made in the form of an elongated wooden instrument, and is known as " Kapo." The upper part of the deity is shaped into a grotesque head, while the lower portion terminates in a point and serves to induce abortion by entering the uterus and rupturing the foetal membranes.*

Many other idols are used by savages as protections against disease. Ploss-Bartels,| in his treatise on "Medicine among Primitive Races," has described a large collection of talismans of this kind. The ruling idea in the manufacture of these is that diseases are due to the presence of evil spirits, who are to be scared away as soon as possible. The Goldi of Siberia construct straw or wooden figures of men and animals to absorb the spirits of diseases. The Guilaks make wooden human figures, on the breasts of which are fashioned images of toads. These talismans are used as remedies for diseases of the chest and stomach.

In higher forms of religion there remain abundant traces of such notions. Even Martin Luther declared that disease was supernatural in origin. " Behold a matter on which there is no room for doubt," he stated, " and that is that the plague, fevers, and other diseases are the work of the devil." A number of religious ceremonies were specified as the best remedies for diseases. The plague has left many deep marks on human history, and it is natural that a malady so terrible should have attracted serious attention. It was usually attributed to

divine wrath, which was to be appeased by purification and sacrifice. Human beings were slain on altars to appease the wrath of God and to lessen the mortality from plague. Such religious customs have disappeared almost com- pletely with the advancing culture of man, but traces of them survive and become apparent on occasions. Quite recently, when the King of England, Edward VII., was afflicted with an abdominal suppuration, he was given the assistance of the most highly skilled modern surgery, but at the same time special services were held in the churches to aid the cure of the royal invalid.

Every one has now come to regard such events as mere relics of old customs without intrinsic importance. Hygiene in the kitchen and the prevention of disease are no longer under the control of religion, but are regulated on scientific knowledge obtained by the experimental method. I need pay no further attention to these matters. However, reli- gion is still occupied with the problem of death. The solutions which as yet it has offered cannot be regarded as satisfactory. A future life has no single argument to support it, and the non-existence of life after death is in consonance with the whole range of human knowledge. On the other hand, resignation as preached by Buddha will fail to satisfy humanity, which has a longing for life, and is overcome by the thought of the inevitability of death.

It was to be expected that in such a state of affairs philo- sophers would have sought an issue from the dilemma. Certainly many philosophical theories have been propounded to explain life and death. As the subject is of extreme importance I shall reserve a chapter for it. Some philosophical systems are in intimate union with religions — Ideas of ancient philosophers on the immortality of the soul — The teaching of Plato — The scepticism of Aristotle — The Stoics — Cicero, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius — Modern philosophical systems — Pessimism and its origin — Lord Byron — Theories of Schopenhauer and Hartmann — Mailaender's philosophy of deliverance — Criticisms of pessimism — Max Nordau — Ideas of modern thinkers on death

SYSTEMS of philosophy are closely attached to religious doctrine. Buddhism, for instance, originated in a philo- sophic theory which acquired a religious character in the hands of the followers of Buddha. Similarly, many systems of philosophy are merely religious dogmas which it has been attempted to support by rational argument apart from supernatural revelation. The idea of life beyond the grave has long since furnished one of the principal bases of various philosophic doctrines, the ultimate object of which was to solve the problem of death. Ancient philosophy is full of such. Plato describes the tragic death of his master Socrates, and in connection with it expresses very clearly his ideas upon death. He puts these words in the mouth of Socrates in the " Phaedo " : " Fa Irom being depressed by the death of a friend, I felt, on the

contrary, that he was to be envied ; as I witnessed his attitude, and listened to his words, and noticed the courage with which he faced death, I became convinced that he did not quit this life without some divine support that drew him towards another world in which he would find the most perfect happiness man could wish." Plato attributes to Socrates a very definite view as to future retribution : " In truth," said Socrates, " if I did not expect to find in another life gods at once good and wise, and men better than those of this life, it would be foolish of me not to be disturbed by the approach of death. But I know that I look to finding myself among just men. I do not fear to die, because I am confident that something still remains after this life, and that, according to the old belief, the good will be treated better than the bad."

As such views were not derived from a body of revealed truth, it was necessary to support them by reasoning. Plato therefore went on to try to convince us of the immor- tality of the soul by speculative hypotheses. He recalled the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis, and sug- gested that the souls who had abandoned themselves to injustice, tyranny, and plunder would pass into the bodies of wolves and ha\vks and falcons, for souls of that nature could not go elsewhere; while the souls of those who had practised the social and civic virtues known as temperance or justice, would inhabit the bodies of peaceful and gentle creatures such as bees and ants, or would even enter other human bodies and again become good men.

Plato referred also to the law of contrasts in support of his theory. " As the most strong often springs from the feeblest, or the most swift from the slow, so life gives rise to death, and from death life springs." " From that which is dead," said Socrates, " is born all that lives and has life. And so our souls after death pass to the infernal regions." " As we must grant that the dead are born from the living as much as the living from the dead, it is plain that the souls of dead men exist somewhere, whence they may return to life."

By such arguments Plato tried to prove the immortality of the soul, the fundamental basis of his philosophy, and put them in the mouth of his master Socrates on his death- bed. In the dialogue he tried to refute all kinds of objec- tions. But, in spite of the assurance with which he for- mulated his doctrine, there may be seen underlying the argument a note of doubt, and it is just this that distin- guishes philosophy from religion. It is evident that the whole of Plato's system was the result of an effort to solve the problem of death. Again and again he said that the true philosopher lived only to be ready to die ; that being so, he declared it to be childish for men at the last to shrink from what they had so long been making ready for. It was himself that Plato wished to convince of a future life. " I do not seek," he said, " to persuade all those who are here of the truth of what I say, although to do so would greatly please me ; what I aim at is to convince myself. Behold me, dear friend, in pursuit of an argument that, as you see, interests me deeply ; if what I say turns out to be true, it is good to have believed it, and if there be nothing after death, at least I have gained this, that while I am still with you, I am not borne down with grief."

The doubt which was only latent in Plato was much more active in some other ancient philosophers. Aristotle * at one time admitted that part of the soul was immortal, but that the other part was mortal. The two parts came together at the beginning of a life and separated at its end. Later on, however, Aristotle abandoned this theory of the immortality of the personal consciousness, and argued strongly against the Platonic theory of the immortality of the soul, although, however, he still believed in the inde- structibility of the " rational spirit," an immortal principle.

The Stoics still further developed such a conception. They held that besides the individual soul there was a universal soul, a presiding influence in which all others had their being. Cicero, again, discussing old age and death, tried to esta- blish belief in a future life. " I am convinced," said Cicero to Scipio and Laelius, " that your illustrious fathers, who were so dear to me, are still full of life, and of the only life worthy of the name ; for the body is, as it were, our prison- house, within which we must accomplish the tasks laid on us by necessity. When I think of the activity of the human spirit, its vast memory, its prevision, its store of art and knowledge, and experience, I am convinced in the depths of my being that an existence with such qualities cannot be mortal. The soul is continually active, and its activity comes not to it from without ; the soul is a self-supporting activity, and cannot come to an end. Moreover, as the soul is a simple substance, unalloyed by any mixture of materials, it can neither be divided nor made to perish." By such arguments Cicero sought to prove the immor- tality of the soul. " I will tell you," he said, " why old age, so far from being grievous to me, is full of delight." But in the end, he himself saw the weakness of his proof, and the note of scepticism appeared in him more strongly than in his predecessors, so that he came to say as follows : " If I am deceived as to the immortality of the soul, I am

deceived gladly, and I would not have the belief torn from me while I live. If, when I am dead, all feeling is arrested within me, as some pretended philosophers hold, at least I have not to fear that after my death they will come and mock me for my error." Scepticism becoming more and more definite, belief in the immortality of the soul persisted only in the purely religious form. Philosophical systems freed themselves of it, and replaced it by a vague form of pantheism.

Seneca tried to support the thesis of immortality, but one gets the impression strongly that there was no vigour in his belief. He is content with poetry rather than with reason. " The events of this mortal life," he wrote in one of his celebrated " Letters," " are the mere prelude of a better and more lasting existence. As our mother's womb, bearing us for nine months, shapes us not to live there for ever, but for our place in this world in which it places us, with the strength to breathe this air and to withstand sur- rounding things : so, also, the time that passes from our infancy to our old age is a preparation for a second birth. Another beginning and another world await us. Until then, we could not endure, save from afar, the splendour of the heavens. Learn then, O man, to face without a shudder the decisive hour, the last hour of the body, but not of the soul. What you see around you consider but as the furniture of an inn ; soon you are going further on. The day that you dread as your last day is your birthday into immortality."