Raymond; or, Life and Death: With examples of the evidence for survival of memory and affection after death.Lodge, Oliver, Sir
Religion
Raymond; or, Life and Death: With examples of the evidence for survival of memory and affection after death.
Lodge, Oliver, Sir
Future life; Lodge, Raymond, 1889-1915 (Spirit); Spiritualism; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, British
The actual reproduction or remembrance of a fact--the demonstration
or realisation of memory--undoubtedly depends on brain and muscle
mechanism; but memory itself turns out to be essentially mental,
and is found to exist apart from the bodily mechanism which helped
originally to receive and store the impression. And though without
that same or some equivalent mechanism we cannot get at it, so that
it cannot be displayed to others, yet in my experience it turns out
not to be absolutely necessary to use actually the same instrument
for its reproduction as was responsible for its deposition:
though undoubtedly to use the same is easier and helpful. In the
early Edison phonographs the same instrument had to be used for
both reception and reproduction; but now a record can readily be
transferred from one instrument to another. This may be regarded as
a rough mechanical analogy to the telepathic or telergic process
whereby a psychic reservoir of memory can be partially tapped through
another organism.
But, apart from any consideration of what may be regarded as
doubtful or uncertain, there are some facts about the relation of
brain to consciousness, which, though universally admitted, are
frequently misinterpreted. Injure the brain, and consciousness
is lost. 'Lost' is the right word--not 'destroyed.' Repair the
lesion, and consciousness may be restored, i.e. normal manifestation
of consciousness can once more occur. It is the _display_ of
consciousness, in all such cases, that we mean when we speak of the
effect of brain injury; the utilisation of bodily organs is necessary
for its exhibition. If the bodily organs do not exist, or are too
damaged, no normal manifestation is possible. That is the fact which
may be misinterpreted.
In general we may say, with fair security, that no receptivity to
physical phenomena exists save through sense-organ, nerve, and brain;
nor any initiation of physical phenomena, save through brain, nerve,
and muscle. Apart from physical phenomena consciousness is isolated
and inaccessible: we have no right to say that it is non-existent.
In ordinary usage it is not customary or necessary to be always
harping on this completer aspect of things: it is only necessary when
misunderstanding has arisen from uniformly inaccurate, or rather
unguarded, modes of expression.
In an excellent lecture by Dr. Mott on "The Effects of High
Explosives upon the Central Nervous System," I find this sentence:--
"It is known that a continuous supply of oxygen is essential for
consciousness."
What is intended is clear enough, but analysed strictly this
assertion goes far beyond what is known. We do not really know that
oxygen, or any form of matter, has anything to do with consciousness:
all that we know, and all that Dr. Mott really means to say, I
presume, is that without a supply of oxygen consciousness gives no
physical sign.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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