The day after death, or, Our future life, according to science / translated from the French of Louis Figuier.

  • Louis Figuier
Date:
1884
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The day after death, or, Our future life, according to science / translated from the French of Louis Figuier. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    vive the tomb, go to ? What -win it become, what shall you be, my reader, the day after your death ? To the consideration of this question this book is devoted. Almost aU thinkers have declared that the problem of the future life defies solution. They have argued that the human mind is powerless to foresee so profound a mystery, and that therefore the only rational course is to abstain from the en- deavour, This is the reasoning of the majority of mankind, partly from carelessness, or partly from conviction. Besides, when we venture to look at this tremendous question closely, we find ourselves immediately surrounded with such thick dark- ness that we lack courage to pursue the investigation. And thus > we are led to turn away from aU thought of the future life, ' There are, nevertheless, circumstances which force us to re- | fleet on this dark and difficult subject, WTien one finds j oneself in danger of death, or when one has lost a dearly beloved object, there is no escape from meditation upon the future life. When we have dwelt long and earnestly upon the idea, we may be brought to acknowledge that the problem is not, as it has so long been believed, beyond the reach of the human mind. During the greater portion of his life, the author of this book believed, in common with everybody else, that the pro- blem of the future life is out of our reach, and that true wis- dom consists in not troubling our minds about it. But, one dreadful day, a thunderbolt fell in his path. He lost the son in whom centred all the hope and ambition of his life. Then, in the bitterness of his grief he rcfiected deeply on the new '