LIFE AND CHARACTER

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 November 1928, Page 10

LIFE AND CHARACTER

MM——■■ ■ l. ' —» ADDRESS BY SIR. O. LODGE. LONDON, September 13. To mark the visit of the British Association to Glasgow, special sermons dealing with the relation of religion and Science were preached in nearly all the churches in Glasgow last Sunday. Sir Oliver Lodge preached at the United Free Church and so great was the number of thise wishing to hear him that a hall was thrown open, in which he addressed those unable to,, gain admission to the church. His subject was “The Object of Life.” The following were among his outstanding phrases:— • “Never throw away hastily any old faith, tradition, or convention.” Materialism has been scotched, but not killed;” The Universe is a going concern.” . “ilumaii nature is fine,, but its circumstances afc.hot.” “We a/e souls which have a body.” “In due time the dust, the particles, will return tb earth, and the spirit go back to God, who gave it.” “Presidential addresses of the British Association have’sometimes caused perturbation,” Sir Oliver said. “I think the president this year has thought it worth while to calm these perturbations; which are quite unnecessary, by pointing out that any pronouncement by , a man of science is a partial pronouncement. “To say anything else, than truth is. blasphemy to the spirit of science, but

the’ great man of 'science never pretends -that he is denying the ether side of things. Modern-discoveries clo not throw away or discredit this accumulated witness of humanity.” Here. Sir Oliver thumped the Bible before him. “The Old creeds and formulari.es are not imrrhanent, because our modes of expression change. Science is fluid, and you cannot*stereotype it. Never throw away hastily any old faith, tradition, or convention. They may require modification, but they are the result of the experience of many generations. “Our problems do not get easier as the world grows older, but now the majesty of the universe, as conceivable by the human mind, is overwhelming. We are but'a speck in a vast creation,' full of law and order, in which, in the depths of space, the same laws hold as here, showing it is the work of one mind. Modern science gives to human life and incredible future, so thtrt our blunders and s'quab-

blek shqiy 'its 'as haughty children in the niirdery. “Materihjism has bpen'scotched, but not killed. ’There is a truth in the facts of materfa’iisin, though these facts have ’been wrongly interpreted. The doctrine of evolution has, extended from biology to astronomy. The birth and death of worlds is going on before our eyes..' The universe is ?> going concern. The reign of law and Order is complete,” To simple people in moan streets, and w,ith a hopeless outlook, the object of life, Sir Oliver said,, was a puzzle. Human nature was fine, but its circumstances were not. Bitt was life bqiultl ftp with the h'eiilth activity of brain and liriibs, so that when these ceased everything ceased? “Tile truth is that wo are souls which, have a. ’body,” he proceeded. “The soul has made the body, which is a, mere instrument. The only existence we know, is life in association with matter on this particular planel.,

but it is quite unlikely that this is the only kind of existence possible,. Science is gradually making us aware that real existence is a much wider and more universal thing. Life and mind are by no means limited to our earthly manifestations. “It is only through the limitations of our senses that anyone can have been led to such a mistaken conception as that life -can only exist in intimate, connection with particles and atoms. I believe space (ether or space) to be full of animation of* life and mind which lives in matter for a little while and then goes back into

space. “SOME GREAT MIND.” “My difficulty is how life got into matter . In duo time, the dust, the particles, will return to earth and the spirit go back to God, who gave it. 'That sums up (he matter in literal truth. “Wo are beginning to change our views about matter. We perceive that it is not the most important thingeven in the material universe. It is ether or space which is the important thing. The only excuse for us having thought that life and mind arc necessarily associated with matter is because until quite' recently we had not known them to be associated with anything else. “The attempt to explain consciousness materialistically has been conspicuously futile, but yet science is one of our immediate apprehensions, and that fact alone shows that there is something more in th'e universe

than matter and energy. “Consciousness seems to be a. personal assurance of mind, and mind teems to be the blossom of fruit of life, and it is only by reason of the obsorv,cd actions of our fellows that we infer in them an intelligence akin to our own. “When we detect, rational arrangciment. under a complete system of law and order in the inorganic world —the world of atoms, planets, and suns—when we perceive that the laws of mind and spirit, are valid throughout the whole extent of the universe, most, oi us are led to postulate the existence of some- great mind which governs and understands it all.”/ Scientific men studying psychology, had, Sir Oliver Lodge said, been led in recent times to perceive a definite scientific indication that intelligences other than those normally associated with material organism could still make use of them and thereby display a continued existence. A scientific demonstration of the essential immortality of man was beginning. The demonstration was conducted with difficulty, and met with opposition, but many scientific advances had to meet opposition in their early stages. They, must endeavour, by cautious, study and the elimination of superstition., to incorporate these at present mysterious phenonicmi into the main body of science. There were, some people whose bodily mechanism could occasionally bo

controlled by the intelligence of those above who had previously lived on this planet, and who showed, bv more or lbs:', satisfactory tests, that they had hot ceased to be, that their personality aiid character survived, and that they retained their memory and other attributes unchanged by the episode of death. “To the question what is the object, of life, the answer Is beginning to appear,” Sir Oliver concluded. It. is to form a character which shall continue and which shall be worth living

with, to realise the intrinsic value of life and existence, and to train ourselves by meeting difficulties and obstacles not to be defeated by pain and trouble. “Troubles we must have, but, like the struggle for existence, they may be all to the good. Among the lower animals the struggle for existence improved the species; the struggle towards knowledge and higher powers

may improve the individual. “We have reached a stage at which we can realise that pain and trouble and effort are worth while. Our privilege is to explore with patience and diligence the vast extent of the universe to. the thread of simplicity, amid its marvellous intricacy to apprehend glories beyond the utmost stretch of our imagination, and thereafter to revel in the enjoyment of its. infinite

beauty. “How do I know that we persist after we have left the body? I know by direct experience. What I have ascertained, in this connection is that, those whom we call the dead are not dead, but have just been separated from their bodily mechanism. “I have been in touch with the minds of certain people who have parted from (heir bodies. How can "a mind get into touch with us when it has no material body? It must borrow some material form. But that does not mean that spirits have no bodies. They have substantial bodies, not made up of matter, but, as 1 think, of ether. My experience after 50 years is that this is truth. These people who have parted from their bodies demonstrate that they preserve their memories, their characters, and their affections.”