CHAPTER XI. Resurrection.

 From the relationship existing between the soul and the cells it appears that the former cannot live a life independent of the latter. The soul receives its entire individuality, all its qualities, forces, and faculties¹, through the organism built by the cells, which therefore must exist before the soul can exist as the real unity² in the organism. This does not mean that the soul is an empty form void of independent substance. Even before the cells have combined into an organic unit the soul is potentially present in them in the form of the wants that force them to upbuild the organism, and this organism is that of the soul, not that of the cells, of which each possesses its individual organism.

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But if the soul is potentially present in the cells it is only through them that it can arise to a higher life. We have already shown in another connection that a direct transposition would be useless and meaningless. Endowed with his present organs adapted to earthly conditions, a man suddenly translated into the glories of a higher world would with seeing eyes yet see nothing, with hearing ears hear nothing and with feeling senses would feel nothing. To comprehend what there exists and happens, man’s own organism must have undergone a corresponding radical³ transformation⁴. He must have new, more perfect senses, higher spiritual and bodily faculties, differing from his present as far as the objects in this higher world differ from those on earth. This transfigured body can only be organized by the same beings that built it here in time. The soul is inseparably united with these beings and is where they are.

Here in time man commences with a[168] cell and with a cell he must begin in a future life. This first cell with which man enters his next form of existence cannot logically be any other than the first dying cell-individual. As no atom, so no elementary unit of the living spiritual body is annihilated⁵. Viewed from our present existence death cannot mean anything to the departed cell-generations but the cessation of life and activity in the world responsive to our senses. In reality they rise to a higher evolution under different conditions and this evolution must be identical with the upbuilding of the glorified⁶ body man shall possess in a future life.

This form of death and resurrection, natural because it is founded on the idea and nature of the organism, is common to all living beings and must so be, as they are all built according to the same general plan and therefore essentially⁷ subject to the same evolutionary⁸ processes. The birth and death of the lower individuals in whole generations[169] is known to be a universal phenomenon in every organism and we will now endeavor shortly to explain this process.

If the soul enters as a real part in every individual cell, it does not belong differently to the first generation than to the last or to the whole series of intermediary generations. But here in time man lives only in the generation existing at the present moment. The generations that in the past successively formed the spiritual substance of his body have already gone out of time and those that are coming have not yet made their entrance. Man’s entity⁹ is thus split or distributed upon a series of successively existing moments, each of which contains only a certain limited part of the organism, and the latter has therefore in reality a far broader extent than is seen at present.

But time confines and restricts man not only in this, but in all respects. To take another example, we know that man possesses a multitude of different[170] faculties and talents. But in time he cannot utilize¹⁰ them all. As a member of society he devotes himself to a certain trade or profession. Now there are thousands of different possible activities and therefore thousands of different talents that every man might develop but never can, simply for lack of time. Time is not even sufficient to fully¹¹ develop one human talent in one definite direction. Man has at his disposal only the present moment, and in each moment he can only think one thought, perform one act, satisfy one need. It is said that man should develop all his faculties evenly, but so long as he lives in time this is an impossibility. As a matter of fact man can only live this life piecemeal¹², and in this time-existence proper we have the explanation of the fact that man distributes his body over a series of cell-generations.

The law of the indestructibility of matter and energy is valid¹³ also in the ideal world and this necessarily since[171] it is a demand of thought itself.[3] Applied¹⁴ to spiritual substance, which can exist only in the form of living individuals, the law may be expressed, “All living beings are immortal¹⁵.” If therefore the cell-generations that in the past composed man’s organism can no more be annihilated than the future generations can be created from nothing, this implies that man has an individual existence not only after but before his entrance into this world. If such be the case we must be able to derive¹⁶ and explain our earthly life from this pre-existence. Can it now be shown that man’s conditions in his pre-existence are such that he needs and must go through an evolution in time? In that case history may perhaps give us a hint how to answer the question, or would this pre-existence be an entirely¹⁷ new thought? By no means. Pre-existence is and must be a fundamental[172] idea in all religions because they all suppose that man emanated¹⁸ from God through an original act of creation. That the Christian¹⁹ religion especially has this basic idea Victor Rydberg has fully demonstrated in a treatise²⁰ entitled “Man’s Pre-existence.”

But although we may say that all religions teach a pre-existence we do not mean that this idea has been or even could have been rightly understood. We might expect just the contrary, as pre-existence is connected with the common conception that man’s soul as well as the material world was once created in time, in which case pre-existence can only mean an existence extending very far back in time. There was a time when God existed but not man, which latter, as being created, must have an existence separate from God even if he may in other respects be called His image.

This form of belief in pre-existence shows the same shortcomings and is subject to the same objections as the[173] whole orthodox theory of creation. As we can and must ask how a perfect God could create an imperfect, that is, an evolutionary world, we might also ask, why was man created with the necessity for an evolution in time when he never could develop anything but what God had implanted potentially in his being? Instead of explaining evolution this theory only makes it so much the more mysterious.

Besides this conception, however, the religious intuition has surmised²¹ that the connection between God and man is profoundly deeper and more intimate. Man does not have an existence separate from God. This intuitive thought, intensified²² in highly religious souls, has led them to preach, that man possesses a life in God; is part of His own being, is a living member in His perfect organism. If this be true, why, again, must man go through an evolution? Is he not as unchangeable as God Himself?

1 faculties   

n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院

参考例句：

• Although he's ninety, his mental faculties remain unimpaired. 他虽年届九旬，但头脑仍然清晰。
• All your faculties have come into play in your work. 在你的工作中，你的全部才能已起到了作用。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

3 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

4 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

5 annihilated   

v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃

参考例句：

• Our soldiers annihilated a force of three hundred enemy troops. 我军战士消灭了300名敌军。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We annihilated the enemy. 我们歼灭了敌人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 glorified   

美其名的，变荣耀的

参考例句：

• The restaurant was no more than a glorified fast-food cafe. 这地方美其名曰餐馆，其实只不过是个快餐店而已。
• The author glorified the life of the peasants. 那个作者赞美了农民的生活。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

9 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

10 utilize   

vt.使用，利用

参考例句：

• The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
• You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

12 piecemeal   

adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块

参考例句：

• A lack of narrative drive leaves the reader with piecemeal vignettes.叙述缺乏吸引力，读者读到的只是一些支离破碎的片段。
• Let's settle the matter at one stroke,not piecemeal.把这事一气儿解决了吧，别零敲碎打了。

13 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

14 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

15 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

16 derive   

v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• We shall derive much benefit from reading good novels.我们将从优秀小说中获得很大好处。

17 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

18 emanated   

v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示

参考例句：

• Do you know where these rumours emanated from? 你知道谣言出自何处吗？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rumor emanated from Chicago. 谣言来自芝加哥。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

19 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

20 treatise   

n.专著；(专题)论文

参考例句：

• The doctor wrote a treatise on alcoholism.那位医生写了一篇关于酗酒问题的论文。
• This is not a treatise on statistical theory.这不是一篇有关统计理论的论文。

21 surmised   

v.臆测，推断( surmise的过去式和过去分词 )；揣测；猜想

参考例句：

• From the looks on their faces, I surmised that they had had an argument. 看他们的脸色，我猜想他们之间发生了争执。
• From his letter I surmised that he was unhappy. 我从他的信中推测他并不快乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》