HUMAN EXISTENCE

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 15 January 1927, Page 11

HUMAN EXISTENCE

THE PROBLEM OF FEAR

“COME of the insoluble problems of human existence” was the title of a lecture delivered by Sir Oliver Lodge in London recently (reports the Daily Telegraph ). One of the problems he chose for examination was the such a long scries of processes, and millions of ages, should have been necessary for the production of the solar system. It seemed blnsliphemous to suppose that the end could have been achieved by a better plan than the one adopted.

That the earth can be reasonably said to have gone through a long labour of preparation, before a human race could exist upon it, was, Sir Oliver thought, an illuminating and instructive That long period of gestation must increase our sense of responsibility; and although we might he occasionally dismayed at the thought of how imperfect we were, and how unworthy of all the paius that had been bestowed upon us, vet we might be thankful that we had now at length become conscious of the effort, and unlike our lowly ancestry, felt that at length we, too, might become partners arid co-operators in u process which, after all, was only in the beginning.

“When we contemplate the serious efforts at amelioration of our lot, and the pains taken for our benefit, ’ ’ proceeded Sir Oliver, “and then think of the unnecessary troube caused, say, by the lack of co-operation between capital and labour, and emphasised by industrial disputes, when we think of the internecine warfare between nations, who might be able to help one another

in the struggle against natural difficulties, we are apt to be dismayed. But that is to take a short-sighted view. By faith we can realise that even that struggle has been or is somehow necessary, that it contributes something to experience, that it is only a stage in Ihe process. The opposing forces need not lie due to hostile principalities and powers, but may lie accounted for, partly by the inertia of matter, mainly by the obstructiveness, stupidity, ignorance, and self-will of man.”

The problems which loomed largest in the mind of the ordinary human ’’dnv were those which centred round the uncertainties and contingencies of life, and especially those connected with

undoubted facts of death and bereavement. The consolations* of religion mitigated those for some people, but by no means for all. Some human beings, especially the old, lived in constant fear of death, which formed a gloomy background to their lives. “The burial service,” continued Sir Oliver, “is not exhilarating, the disposal of the corpse is a repulsive necessity.. It cannot be said that religion has widely removed the element of fear. Is it not true that in some not wholly extinct, forms it has rather intensified it. by insisting on the hereditary quality of sin and by the doctrine of eternal punishment? To some the doctrine of vicarious atonement lias brought comfort, but to many it seems illusory and perhaps even unfair. Fear is a terrible bugbear from which faith and knowledge should free us.