Natural Death and Reason - Part 4 - Book Review - Triumph of the Immortal Will by Mathilde Ludendorff
- Materialist Fixation
- The materialistic era ignored the unicell’s "potential immortality," fixating ecstatically on germ cell perpetuity and soma cell decay. This subordinated the brain and soul to reproduction, reducing human significance to serving the species, a stark fall from Kant’s view of man as a unique cosmic perceiver.
- Soul’s Degradation
- This worldview bred a sober, soulless epoch marked by brutality, greed, and cunning, as the soul’s higher purpose was mortified. Unlike anti-reason religions, materialism suppressed the soul’s divine potential, limiting it to social utility.
- Alternative Path
- Ludendorff advocates a new understanding of natural death and evolution, driven by an "Immortal-Will" rather than mechanical selection. This will, evident in the shift from immortal pandorina to mortal volvox, aimed for consciousness, not mere survival practicality, defying Darwinian logic.
- Evolutionary Will
- The Immortal-Will, not selection, actively shaped evolution from unconsciousness to consciousness. Early nerve systems and organs, initially useless in struggle, reflect this aim, with selection playing a passive role later. The soma’s mortality enabled this ascent, especially in animals.
- Plant vs. Animal Divergence
- Volvox variants illustrate this: plants sacrificed mobility for environmental adaptation, retaining germ cell servitude, while animals pursued freedom, developing nerve systems for perception and response, freeing soma cells for self-directed life, culminating in human consciousness.
- Consciousness and Pain
- Higher animals gained nerve systems, introducing pain (e.g., hunger, sexual desire) alongside rare pleasures, mitigated by poor memory. In humans, reason and memory intensified suffering but also enabled cultural mastery over nature, distinguishing man as a "Hyperzoan."
- Reason’s Emergence
- During the Ice Age, the Self-Preservation-Will awoke reason to combat cosmic forces, granting humans self-awareness, causality, and a cosmos-ordering capacity. This leap, unlike Darwinian utility, birthed culture, not just survival tools.
- Death’s Awareness
- Reason revealed death’s inevitability, sparking an immortal longing (mneme) from unicellular origins, as seen in the Gilgamesh epic’s despair. Unlike animals, humans affirm life despite this, driven by a vague hope of transcendence beyond struggle-for-life benefits.
- Myths and Truth
- Four myths—creation, paradise lost, reincarnation, and the beyond—contain evolutionary truths (e.g., unicell immortality, mneme) distorted by reason’s misapplications. The beyond myth’s exclusivity hints at a spiritual state, not universal immortality, requiring deeper inquiry.
- New Godcognisance
- Evolution confirms an innate Divine Will in soma cells, not just germ cells, driving form and consciousness. This shifts belief to knowledge of a pervasive "Thing Itself," redeeming the soul to heights surpassing Kant, free from materialist and mythic errors.
- Materialist Reduction: Degraded the soul to species utility.
- Immortal-Will: Actively drove evolution toward consciousness.
- Reason’s Role: Enabled human transcendence, not just survival.
- Death’s Meaning: A sacrifice for soulful ascent, not punishment.
- Cultural Redemption: A new Godcognisance affirms divine potential.
Natural Death and Reason
The materialistic century persevered in its attitude of in-
difference towards the "Potential-Immortality" characterising
the unicellular beings, but, with an infatuation without its
parallel in history it fixed its attention on to the cognate
immortality of the germ-cells. This verged almost on extasy,
although even more devotion was attached to the decay of the
soma-cells. It was not so much the doctrine of the "Mortality
of the soul", but the subordination of the brain to the perpetual
germ-cells (the bearers of the species) which proved to be such
a source of satisfaction to the materialists. Therefore it is not
amazing to find the sober, matter of fact "Struggler-for-Live"
so self-satisfied, for indeed, when seen in the light of that import-
ance that was attached to the germ-cells, how insignificant was
everything else which once had been valued as "Soul". Even the
"Purpose" of the brain, the bearer of consciousness, was for the
reproduction of the kind, for itself, one day did vanish; all the
marvellous achievements of the brain-cells, those chemical and
physical processes (Kispert's "Enkynemata") merely happened
in order to serve the perpetual species. One step in the process
of development was thought to be particularly salutary; After
the act of reproduction, the body of the higher animals could
still live on for a while. In the case of man, a species of the higher
"Mammalia", this fact grew into great significance: Because of
the better construction of his brain-cells man was capacitated
to undertake highly intellectual work, the "purpose" of which
it was thought was for the sake of facilitating the struggle-for-
life, not only for his own off-spring, but for his species in
general. This mortified the soul completely. What a fall it was
from those giddy heights to which Kant's philosophy had
brought it such a short time ago. Had it not been upheld that,
among all the living beings, man alone was capable of distinguish-
ing his surroundings? That, by virtue of his reason, the cosmos
was created out of the diaos of the world-of-appearances (Er-
scheinungswelt) and was consciously perceived for the first time;
because reason was able to arrange for him the objects of his
senses in order, as man was the conscious state of the visible
world (Erscheinungswelt)? Thus then the soul of man had fallen
from the height of heights; the height of the soul which gave
him the priviledge of holding a completely unique position in
the world. Since the soul's fall man had grown to the small
stature of being something different to the rest of the species in
that he was the last in the line of a 'differentiating' development.
He stood at the top of the Mammalia. The highest standard of
importance to which his transitory soma was capable of was
becoming the bearer of the immortal cells of reproduction.
When a world-view-point (Weltanschauung) such as this one,
is allowed to determine religious thought, it is not startling to
find that epoch lost in an abyss of soberness. The suppressed
soul is capable of rising to a certain 'social' usefulness, but in
every other way it degenerates miserably, although in a differ-
ent manner to what it does when influenced by religions that
are against reason and science. The results of this way in which
the soul is being mortified are: brutality in the general struggle-
for-existence, fraud, sly cunning, greed of money and the crav-
ing to gain advantage of others.
Let us tread different ways to all these on our journey of
observation. We shall be repayed with a wonderful cognisance
(Erkenntnis) concerning natural-death which again will lead us
to a new Godcognisance (Gotterkenntnis) according to which
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we can live our lives in that fullness which past religions sus-
pected to exist although they never could achieve it. By the
means of our Cognisance (Erkenntnis) the soul will be able to
rise again. The heights it can achieve are so exalted, that the
glorious height to which once it was raised through Kant's
philosophy will seem low; verily the august throne for the
human soul when it fulfils itself according to its divine rights.
It was not a mechanically working process of selection, but
a dawning will (as we shall soon be near proving) which deter-
mined the step towards the mortality of the somata (body-cells).
For as soon as we stop to observe the pandorina, we are able to
notice that all its cells still possess the same attributes which
belong to the germ-cells; hence, potential immortality also. Its
near relative, volvox, however, is already condemned to death.
We feel certain that, in comparison, the pandorina-state was
not less favourable than the one where, for the sake of practic-
ability in the struggle-for-life, that grand mysterious change
which has proved so full of tragedy to posterity, was necessary.
On the contrary! As the sixteen cells of the pandorina were still
capable at any time to form daughter-colonies, whereas the
volvox only once in a life time, it is obvious from this fact that
the pandorina was just as productive as its relation, so that it
strains the imagination to look at the matter from the Dar-
winian standpoint, for, if selection really counts, the pandorina
ought to have surplanted the volvox form. Conceptions, formed
in the mere light of the mechanical, fail just as completely to
throw light into the matter here as it does everywhere else in
the history-of-evolution when the fundamental idea is touched
on. (The ascent from the deepest unconsciousness to the highest
consciousness). Here the fact comes to light that only an inner
Will could have liberated that energy which caused the trans-
formations. Matters are similar in the case of the nervesystem.
The nerve-system was the carrier of all those magnificent po-
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tencies which exfoliated later into conscious soul-life. Here also
it is futile to want to explain this in the light of the mere
mechanical, for one reason, and that is that the beginnings to
the realisation of this were of no use at all to the individual in
the struggle-for-existence at that time. But clearly apparent, on
the other hand, is the immortal-will striving in its magnificent
work of development to gain the state of consciousness, not-
withstanding the fact that the single individual itself was com-
pletely unconscious of its presence. On its way to progress, the
immortal-will had to encounter a twofold circumstance of cog-
nate importance. First, there was always the danger of the
moment, and secondly the illustrious aim in view; the conscious
state of life. It seems a wonderful thing for our cognisance that
all the transformations, undertaken for the sake of this great
aim in view, were, in their first beginnings, of so little import-
ance in the struggle-for-life, that we surely can be pardoned
if we claim the conspicuousness of this fact to be especially
intended to facilitate the work of man on his way to truth.
Only from a certain stage onward did these constructions be-
come of any importance in the struggle-for-life and not until
then only could they have received any support from selection,
in the Darwinian sense. We must wait still a little while longer
before the mystery can be unfathomed; why this sublime Will
to consciousness, while remaining absent in the 'germ-cell in
perpetual existence', took sudden possession of the soma-cells
as soon as these had fallen a victim to natural-death.
In opposition to this transformation, the aim of which was
to gain a higher state of consciousness, but whose faint be-
ginnings were practically of little use to the single individual
in which it was striving to manifest itself, there was a whole
range of perfected constructions in the further process of deve-
lopment which to the species in question were certainly of use.
We are thinking here of all those characteristics which seem to
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confirm Darwin's hypothesis, the study and explanation of
which are also mainly due to his earnest study and research
(mimicry). The remarkable thing, however, about the character-
istics which Darwin specialised in is this. When compared to
the most vital constructions their importance seems incidental,
and they have no direct connection at all with the grand evo-
lution aim, which was to achieve an ascent from the darkest
state of unconsciousness to the clearest state of a conscious soul-
life.
Now, if, in our desire to remain just, we do succeed in
imagining a mechanical origin of the above mentioned charac-
teristics, even then, it appears obvious to us, that a Will was
more probable than selection in the creation of the first organs,
although of-coursc selection lent its support later on. Therefore,
in face of these incontestible facts, we cannot avoid this con-
clusion! In the ascent from the unicellular-being up to man
the part which "Selection" played in the transformation-role
was the passive one, while the Immortal-Will (or Self -Preser-
vation- Will) was the active one.
Hence, in the scientific sense, we can say: the reason, why
all the cells struck out on their way to transformation and why
the soma-cells in particular were deprived of the power to repro-
duce, and therefore, as a consequence, their immortality, was
for the sole purpose of being helpful to the a : m of evolution.
How capable did the bereaved soma-cells now prove them-
selves to be in the creation of form! The extraordinary course
which the mortal individual was now called upon to undergo
is even beyond the imagination of the most fantastically-minded.
The more the lower species increased, the greater did the dang-
er to all grow. As a consequence, certain kinds of volvox were
obliged to fasten themselves to fixed places, and by the move-
ment of their tentacles convey the food towards themselves.
There was one very great advantage gained by this. A spot
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could be chosen permanently which was certainly better than
the alternative of wandering about amidst dangers accompanied
by unfavourable conditions in respect to food, light and climate.
Posterity, however, gradually lost the power of ever again being
able to change their places. But their tentacles became the fitter.
In this way the plant, sometimes called the "Fettered Animal",
originated. Much indeed had been gained through the sacrifice
of freedom. Being always in the same spot the dangers en-
countered were likewise always the same. The cells, through con-
tinual differentiation, gained such practice, as to be able in the
end to adapt themselves wonderfully to those conditions in their
environment which were important to their lives. Indeed, as
danger grew less, this adaption grew supreme; so much so, that
by virtue of this fact the construction of plants, conditions of
climate, food, light and water were revealed to researchers as
if they had been written down in a book.
Algae, on the other hand, did not fetter themselves for the
sake of safety. Inspite of all the dangers, they would not forfeit
their freedom, so that they were obliged to pursue another
course of development. The continual change and the manifold
dangers they encountered did not permit of an adaptation which
was to meet a few emergencies only. This imperfection was
aptly made up for in another excellent way. The ever varying
changes which the desire for movement brought with it, gave
rise to the neccessity of a greater cell-change as well as combi-
nation of organs into cell-groups. Yet even this proved insuffic-
ient; for the multicelled being was obliged, above everything
else, to become instantly aware of what it might encounter from
out of its surroundings. Thus, there originated organs of per-
ception and nerve-cells, which gave the animal the ability to
judge from its own impressions and forewith conduct its res-
ponse. Guidance was obtained. Now this line was of such tre-
mendous issue as to completely distinguish animal from plant-
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life within the course of development. In emergency, the self-
preservation- will had demanded from each a different course.
Indeed, animal and plant-life appear to be so different in the
expression of life and its achievement, that it renders it almost
impossible for the secular-world to believe they were once of
cognate origin. Evidently, the absence of any development in
the nerve-system made it possible in the plant-kind to maintain
the original relationship between body and germ-cells, so that
it can be said, the whole life-work of the body-cells were taken
up in serving the germ-cells. What might seem however to be
rather unnatural in this relationship is the tremendous size which
many plants achieve through the mighty increase of their body-
cells (in comparison to which, the germ-cells have no size at all),
and also the long life which they have been priviledged to attain
through the sacrifice of their freedom. (They had prefered to
adapt themselves to certain life-conditions instead of roaming
from place to place.)
The soma-cells of the animals, on the other hand, appear to
free themselves from the sole duty of serving the germ-cells,
especially after the nerve apparatus has developed. They appear
to be leading a life for themselves as well. This is especially
conspicuous in the body-cells of man, who is the highest of all
the living species.
Although the nerve-system, in its first beginnings, was simply
the humble reporter of the perceptions received from the outer
world, it was vouchsafed to become the best weapon of defence
in the struggle-for-life, especially after it had attained the
higher degrees of development. Mimicry, poison gas, claws or
the swift motion given through the power of the muscles was
nothing compared to the nerve apparatus in the matter of
defence. Nevertheless, it was impossible to ban danger alto-
gether, for the development which started in all the different
animals alike was simultaneous. What happened though was;
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the struggle-for-life itself became more and more keen, so that
the self-preservation-will was practically driven to seek new
improvements.
As the development of the primitive-cell in the life of the
individual belonging to the higher species was very gradual,
inner fertilisation became necessary, that means to say, the
young, after being generated in the mother-body, were also
provided with reserve nourishment (reptiles, birds etc.). Among
the still higher organised species, the young are retained in the
mother-body and are not allowed to enter into the hostile world
until they are fully developed. Here, the 'inner fertilisation'
which demands the bodily connection of the parent-animals has
become essential. Long before, it was evident that the higher
species could not multiply to the same extent as the lower
species could, and for this reason it became imperative, should
the species not die out, to set a certain time apart which should
be dedicated to the reproduction of the kind. For this purpose,
contrary to the painless lives of their forefathers, there awak-
ened in the halfconscious creatures, the torture of sexual-desire
which simply drove them to multiply. And although this meant
a mighty step forward in the course of evolution, the unhappy
semiconscious creatures had to pay dearly for the better means
of defence! As danger was often very great when the animals
went in search of food, the self preservation-will had to be
overcome in that life, was jeopardised in order to save life from
famine. Therefore it became imperative that in these semicon-
scious beings, the craving for food should be felt so strongly as to
make them risk their very lives in order to satisfy it. Thus, for
the first time again something was being experienced which
before, in the lower species, had not been felt; the feeling of
hunger. The higher nerve-system lay like a curse on all the
animals who were blessed with its possession, in that, if it caused
craving to be felt, it also caused the pain to be felt which illness
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and the wounds received in battle caused. Yet, the more consc-
ious the soul grew, the greater the comfort grew for all the
suffering. For the first time, animals felt pleasure in the act of
reproduction. Although it might be said that this sudden feeling
of pleasure stands in no right measure to the torments of desire
which previously had been suffered, it still remains the oldest
and most mighty fountain of joy. This reveals to us how full
of pain the lives of the subconscious "higher" animals are.
Seldom do they experience pleasure. Yet there is one great
blessing which lays her kind hand soothingly over their fate:
memory is still blunt. As soon their cravings are satisfied, all
the torments which inaugurated them, sink into oblivion. There-
fore, inspite of all the pain and fighting which go to make up their
poor lives, moments are experienced which are completely free
of any pain or suffering at all. Schopenhauer declares this state
of oblivion to be the only state in which mankind could find
happiness; but that was on account of the bitterness which
sometimes overwhelmed him, and because of his persistence
in denying man's consciously living God. He could not or
would not perceive that the only state which means happiness
to mankind is the state in which he is consciously living God.
Incidently speaking, even the mating-joy raises the animal
above this zero-point.
As the nerve-system proved to be such excellent weapon
of defence in the struggle-for-life, selection, from a certain
stage onwards furthered its development. When it became evid-
ent that it helped greatly the Will which was forming and
shaping creation on its way to consciousness, its development
became simply marvellous. For instance, the sense apparatuses
became very sensitive indeed. (It was their function to report
the happenings from the outer world.) Central organs deve-
loped (spinal-cord and brain, as in the case of the vertibrates)
which were receptive, and which gave the body-cells the com-
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mand how to respond to the outer world. In the Mammalia they
gained specific importance. Those innate powers which slumber
in all living things began to reveal themselves very distinctly.
To use Schopenhauer's philosophical term, the "Thing Itself"
began to 'objectify* Itself. Here and there manifestations of
the Will could be encountered which were not exactly connected
with the self-preservation instinct. In the lower species the
instinct for food, defence or reproduction only is manifested,
but in the higher species a Will begins to manifest itself already
which decidedly has a permanent sense-of-direction, which in
man we should call 'character features' although of-course here
their origin is always still to be found in the self-preservation-
instinct.
Besides that permanent sense-of-direction, and those conscious
feelings of pain and pleasure which we have already mentioned,
there are still other feelings which already at this stage are
perceptible for their independence of the self-preservation-will
of both the individual and the species. In these feelings the soul
expresses itself, although, of-course not half so clearly and
distinctly as in man, and it requires a long time to observe them
at all. When the higher species of mammalia become domestic-
ated they become very noticeable, I should like to say: awak-
ened. The reason for it is the closer association with the consc-
ious soul of man. A good example of what I am trying to
explain is the dog. How often it will happen that the dog's
feeling of attachment to its master will cause it to overcome
its own indomitable Will-to-life, in order to save its master, a
deed, by the way, which otherwise would only save the life of
its brood. In general, it is the human-being, and not one of its
kind that is capable of inspiring such a keenly awakened feeling
of sympathy within the dog. The attitude of a dog, mourning
at the grave of its dead master, discarding even its food, tells
us with an authority unimpeachable, that there was something
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in the life of that dog which was certainly of more value to it
than its own life was.
Finally that stage arrives when memory awakens. At earlier
stages, already, that faculty existed which could form concept-
ions of the impressions conducted by the sense-apparatuses and
maintain them in the soul. But gradually it grows stronger.
Soon, the way its own actions affected its surroundings remains
in the animal's memory, and its subsequent behaviour is the
manifestation of what we should call the experience-of-life.
Soon the power of understanding awakens. Although quite un-
consciously, it begins to apply the laws of causality. It arranges
its life-experience into time and space, although it is quite
unconscious itself of these facts. Conceptions of what goes on
around it begin to collect in its brain. But they just come up
to suit the animal-brain. This collection is divided into three
groups. All the objects which have proved of use in the life of
the animal belong to the first group. All which has done it harm,
to the second; the third group is composed of the rest, which
is of so little importance to the animal, that it is incapable of
forming any conception of this at all. Thus it can be truly said
of the animal: Nothing exists at all besides the useful or harm-
ful. The third group to the animal is the "to unov" (non-ex-
isting) of the Greeks. Although the sense-organs receive the
impression of them the brain does not think them worth storing
so that, in reality, they are not perceived at all. Why indeed
form conceptions of anything of such petty importance! That
which is merely useful or harmful alone fills the small humble
world in which the animal lives. The useful as well as the harm-
ful are very attentively watched, one might be tempted to say,
studied. Images of them are then imprinted on the memory
which are at once clear and ineffaceable. These images or con-
ceptions are not true to life of-course, neither are they composed
of the characteristics essential which go to make up an object,
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for they carry the stamp of the mere animal mind. They are
composed solely of those signs which are important to that
animal whose attention they are just attracting. For instance,
the mouse and the dog will both possess ideas of the "cat", but
most probably both the ideas are very different from one
another. Each animal collects its own special kinds of concept-
ions. The lion's collection is different to the mole's, so that, in
truth, each lives in its own world, which is 'quite different* to
the others. In the brain of each different kind of animal there
exists a different image of the world. It is of infinite importance
for us to try and understand this sufficiently, for as soon as
we succeed, we shall also understand that each of our fellowmen
lives in a world of his own making. The conceptions which the
human-being also forms differ both in their nature as well as in
their profundity. A man whose mind sways only to the rhythm of
the struggle- for-life, and who is always bent on making a good
bargain, has little in common with a man who is filled with
a great sense of the Divine. Something else we shall understand
better if we observe the animal-soul closely. We know that
man has sprung originally from the very same stages of deve-
lopment, but some men there are who seem to have remained
just where the animal is. Although in school, already, these had
been given the benefit to learn and form conceptions of the
cultural-life, irrespective of their useful or harmful qualities
in the concern of earning a living, yet still they let these con-
ceptions all go, (sometimes already) while they are still young,
and put in their stead the old way of grouping, characteristic
to the animal. We know these three kinds of groups already.
They are the useful, the harmful and the indifferent. It is
simply amazing how narrow-minded a man can grow. Inspite
of all his good bringing-up, he will shrivel back into the animal
stage, and, more the shame, even beneath this, It is even more
amazing to watch how keen he will grow to know what is of
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use to him or what of harm and how oblivious and indifferent-
he is to everything else. The very best example for the fall of
man can be found in the Darwinian period. Thanks to the
doctrine which taught that man belonged to the class of animals
that suckle their young, industrious endeavours were made to
justify it. Observe then this. Man, by the virtue of his spiritual
capacities really belongs to a class which is higher than the
animal species. His conception- world, however, has the power
to drag him back again to the animal state of mind, although
unlike the animal, he must retain the power of his memory,
for never again can he forget the past, or be oblivious of the
future. He has descended to become merely a bastard-like being,
which is neither man nor animal, but which is decidedly in-
ferior to the animal. During our discourse the occasion will
be given to us to occupy ourselves very often with such a kind
of human individual, for it is very important in respect to
certain other things to know well what his petty world of
conceptions is like. Therefore let us set to, to observe the
image which the animal-mind forms of the world around it.
When compared to the bounteous soul-life which has been
given to man, the intellectual-life of the mammalias appears
very meagre indeed. Yet, this state of soul-awakening which
has been attained in the animal is indeed sublime, as the be-
ginning was from a state of the deepest unconsciousness. Al-
ready such a change has taken place, as to make it appear as
if a tremendous gulf separated the beings with the awakening-
soul and the others which exist still in the monotonous state of
complete unconsciousness, so much so, as to make it almost be-
lievable that the antagonism could be felt, which exists between
mortality and the serving attitude of the body-cells towards
the eternal germ-cells. However the animal-world is still un-
encumbered. It has no need at all to solve the mystery concern-
ing life, for it knows nothing of a future. Even the most in-
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telligent of its kind can never know that death awaits it and
is inevitable.
If we start from this last stage of evolution and wander up
the path leading to man's origin the discord is obvious which
the soma-cells caused when they determined, for the sake of
life, to give up their immortality and differentiate instead.
This discord has existed ever since; and as men failed to perceive
the idea of its origin, in that it was a part of evolution itself,
the mystery which hovered around it was never successfully
solved. All the hopes and desires of men in the ponderings of
their philosophies were in vain; all the soft deceptions contained
in the myths and the religious beliefs were of no avail. Now, as
we have already seen, it roots right back into the ages. Long
before animal and plant-life separated to strike out on different
paths the dice had fallen; at that time, when the cells of the
algae once divided into two of a different kind and when later
a daughter colony escaped with the rupture of the parent wall
(death). Therefore, the yearning for immortal-life should not
surprise us, for it is older than the hills. It existed in the breast
of man long before he could even think. The melancholy reali-
sation of death has brooded over his soul since times imme-
morable. We know that the Self -Preservation- Will or the
Immortal-Will is the essence of all life. We also know that it
exists just as well in the body-cells as it does in the germ-cells,
or else these would lack the impetus necessary to serve willingly
in the struggle-for- existence. Therefore we also know all about
the yearning for immortality which is rampant in the soul of
man. But simply because the desire is there, indeed even the
'aprioristical' certainty, this is not sufficient reason for us to
take it for granted that immortal-life exists. In every case, we
are obliged first, for the sake of truth, to allow for the possi-
bility of this. The certainty which men feel that immortal-life
exists is merely a 'memory' (Mneme) of a once experienced
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immortal-life, a memory which now lies deep down in the
subconsciousness of mankind.
Let us now continue the history of growth. In doing so, let
us not give way to our own petty hopes and desires, or else our
vision will be marred and the truth we shall not perceive. The
animal-mind is so adequate (for-instance in the higher-species)
to cope with the dangers which surrounds the animal, that it is
really a kingly sight to watch the bravery of the animal when
it is in danger. However, two kinds of danger seem beyond its
powers to cope with. Man is the first danger, as he is far superior
in everything, and the second are the powers of nature because
the animal is utterly incapable of comprehending them. If man
should make use of the latter, he can overwhelm the bravest
beasts-of-prey. See how the tiger is cowed when it is encount-
ered with fire. Its expression is full of fear. (Human beings
look the same when they are in a similar situation and are
afraid of the devil). We can understand now why the animals
are apt to be restless and full of fear when a thunderstorm is
threatening.
The powers of nature were the sole enemies which could not
be overcome in the ages before man existed, for the simple
reason that all knowledge about them was lacking; in order to
lead a successful combat against the cosmical powers, the very
first essential is knowledge of the laws-of nature. A little more
is required, however, than the mere unconscious application
of the laws of causality and the arrangement in time and space
as the animal-mind achieves it. A fully conscious application of
these is necessary.
In just the way in which the Self-Preservation-Will sought
consciousness in ascending stage by stage in order to escape
death, the final mighty step in evolution was also made neces-
sary through the fear of death. The animal-mind was found
wanting. The happenings of nature were too great for it. So,
in that terrific time of the first ice-period, when hecatombs of
animals were being sacrificed, the self-preservation-will in one
of the exceptional few of those subconscious ancestors of ours
awakened to the state of consciousness which alone was com-
petent to venture the combat against the cosmic-powers. The
soul had awakened a degree higher; understanding had become
reason. And although the evolving changes might have been little
noticeable at the time, the effects themselves were tremendous.
No other step in the progress of evolution, not even the differ-
entiation of the algae-species was of such infinite importance
as this step was, for it gave man, as a token of it, the bounteous
kingdom of his thoughts. The becoming conscious of the causal-
coherency which linked the visible-world together gave birth
also to the ability which enabled man, not only to perceive the
visible-scene, but also to keep it in his memory, as well as form
conceptions of it. These conceptions stood objectively in di-
stinct relationship to one another. The possibility was hereby
given to form a conception consciously. This, of-course, was
of tremendous importance, especially when the conception of
"Self" could be formed, for then the cognising powers could
strengthen. Soon the feelings of time and space added them-
selves and were applied consciously like the law-of-causality
had been applied. In memory, events accordingly were arranged
in time and space. Past and future became recognised until, at
last, men were capable of creating a cosmos out of the chaos
of their surroundings. Now, the being able to apply consciously
the laws-of-causality was a great prerogative, but with one
stroke it changed the position of man completely. He stood
suddenly opposed to nature. This contract, the intellectual
sciences call the natural and unnatural actions of man. Now
this at first seems absurd as reason, together with all its logical
conclusions, is itself part and parcel of nature. Well and good,
but reason is not infallible. It is somehow, always open to de-
ception; it is always as likely to judge according to false appear-
ances as not. Erroneous assumptions as to the real cause are
frequently made. Thus, men are induced to come to false con-
clusions and false sims in life just as much as they will come
to false conclusions about the laws-of -nature and the meaning
of their own lives. This explains the reason why the innate
spiritual faculties are just as liable to shrivel up as they are to
exfoliate.
Yet, notwithstanding all the damage which man has been made
to suffer through the half -knowledge his reason will sometimes
gain; the benefits he has gained decidedly outweigh all his
sufferings. For instance, look how reason has facilitated the
battle for life. No end of possibilities have been opened to him.
Thanks to his reason man became the master of all the rest of
life. He put everything to his own use, in order that his life
might be maintained. Is this all?
If we take the trend of Darwinian thought to be right this
is all the advantage which man gained over the animal. And a
bitter conclusion we should have to come to as well, which would
be, that the stalwarts of finance, the multimillionairs, who, also
can be the heartless and cunning masters of so many of their
fellowmen, would represent the culmination in that grand ascent
which once happened between the unicellular-being and man.
Fortunately for us all, however, the precious soul- treasures of
by-gone cultures reveal just the opposite. The origin of anything
which is of cultural value will never be found in the struggle-
for-life. Culture has nothing at all in common with strife.
Behold, therefore, how everything which is good in culture
tells a different tale to the materialists. Culture reve'als how
the soul in man awakened when the powers of nature were
threatening to annihilate him and reason was born, which taught
him the life of his own rich soul. Indeed, the final step higher
from mammal to man was more than a mere ascent, for it
'95
taught man to live consciously the Self which was within him,
and enabled him to make the cosmos out of the chaos. Thus a
being had originated which was completely new to whatever
had been, and can resemble therefore the higher species of
animals that suckle their young, only in the form and shape
of the body, and in that the same physiological-laws govern that
body. Just as we might say that volvox, which was the first
mortal many-celled-being resembles still in many ways its one-
celled ancestor. The deeper insight into nature reveals what a
tremendous gulf separates the mammal from man, so that the
arrangement of man among the mammalia as being one and
the same species is certainly a scientific error. By the division
of the species into classes, it should be remembered, in face of
all the physiological likenesses, that a tremendous gulf separates
man from all the other multicellular species; a gulf say, which
is just as sufficient to separate, as the gulf does which divides the
uni-cellular-species from the multicellular species. Now this kind
of arrangement will first bear conviction when our edifice of
thought is being concluded, yet in order to pursue our further
observation with intelligence, we must ask the reader to take
it already as a given fact. We distinguish the classes a little dif-
ferently to the usual scientific habit. They follow thus:
1 Unicell = Protozoan
2 Multicell = Metazoan
3 Man = Hyperzoan.
We know not when or where man was first capacitated to
distinguish his "Self" out of the motley of his surroundings.
Nor when he was aware for the first time that there was a past
and future, so that the force of death was born on him, in that
he saw how plant and animal died, and knew then that death
awaited him also. But one thing we do know, and that is; when
all this was happening, simultaneously there sprang into the
breast of man the longing and hope for Eternity and the pain
196
and tear ot the incomprehensible mixed up with his own tate.
Thus we are justified in saying: in that man succeeded in per-
ceiving the force of death, and that death was in accordance
with nature, the possibility was given to him to become a
hyperzoan.
It comes hard to-day to imagine what the effects were like
which such knowledge must have liberated at that time, because
we were taught in childhood to believe that a conscious life
existed after death, and this at a time when little interest in death
exists a all. Out of the ages, however, in a time when the decept-
ive errors concerning the existence of a heaven were still un-
known, there comes a grand song sounding, which tells of the
overwhelming effects caused by the certainty of death. Patient
stone has preserved the dirge. Among the collection of stone-
tables which once belonged to the Assyrian King Assurbanipal,
there is a cuneiform inscription on one of them. It is the Epos of
Gilgamesh, the man of sorrow and joy. (Translated into German
by George E. Burkhardt, Insel Verlg. Leipzig). First, the life of
the joy-man is described, who was the perfect hero and master
of Uruk, and whose life was filled with heroic deeds which were
inspired by the joyous feelings within his soul. When the death
of his friend Enkidu happened he suddenly changed and became
the man of pain. In his anguish he, "who was like unto a lion",
raised his voice which sounded like the howl of the lioness when
she is struck down with the spear. He tore his hair and strewed
it to the winds; he tore off his garments and put on instead gar-
ments of mourning. Time could neither heal his sorrow nor his
despair. His whole nature was transformed. The unfathomable
mystery of death left him no peace at all. "Shall I also die as
Enkidu has done? My soul is torn with pain, for I have grown
fearful of death. I must hasten over the steppes to the almighty
Utnapischtim, who has found eternal-life. I will raise my head
and voice to Sin the moon, to Nin-Urum who is the Lady of the
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Castle-of-Life, to the most bright one among the gods. I will
pray thus: "Save my life* 1 . There seems nothing more which
can ever entice him to do heroic deeds; he has become instead
"a wanderer of long ways", for in the ineffaceable sorrow of
his soul, the problem of death concerns him alone. On his terr-
ible journeying he repeats the monotone dirge to everyone he
meets. He is not afraid to pass the dark weird chasms which lead
to "Utnapischtim, the far off one". But here, neither, can the
mystery be solved for him. As we reach the last of the twelve
tables we learn that his wish at last has been granted to him.
The father out of the depths has heard his prayer, and has sent
the shadow of Enkidu to him. Hopes fill our breasts that surely
now poor, despairing Gilgamesh will receive words of comfort
and redemption, for Enkidu will surely describe to him, how
through wonderful liberation into the beyond, he has found
eternal life! But nothing of the kind happens. The grand Epos
concludes in a strain of despair at the terrifying fact that death
is ultimate and inexorable. It concludes with the words, "Each
recognised the other, but remained at a distance". They spoke
to each other. Gilgamesh called and the shadow answered in
quivering tones. Gilgamesh began to speak thus:
* Speak, my friend, speak! Tell me about the laws of the earth
you have seen!"
"I cannot, my friend, I cannot. Did I tell you about the law
ot the earth, I saw, you would sink down and weep."
"Then let me sink down and weep all the days of my life!"
"Behold the friend you once touched, the friend who once
gladdened your heart, the worms are eating, as if he were an
old garment. Enkidu, the friend who once touched your hand
has become earth, has turned to dust. To dust he sank, to dust
he has returned."
Enkidu vanished before Gilgamesh could ask any more quest-
ions.
198
Gilgamesh returned to Uruk, the town with the high walls.
High rises the temple of the holy Mountain.
Gilgamesh lay himself down to rest. Death befalls him in the
glittering halls of his palace.
Here, in stone, fragments have been preserved which relate
the terribly earnest apprehension of death. And a poet of our
century has been priviledged to reconstruct it perfectly for our
benefit! How insignificant the pitiful lot of the semi-conscious
animals that forget the pain quickly which indeed they have felt,
appears now, when compared with the appalling lot of those
unfortunate human-beings who were fated to be the first to
experience the bitterness of death. Their soul-lives were utterly
incapacitated to find balm for their sorrows, for they possessed
neither the strength to bear the thought of life being fleeting nor
the ability to beautify their lives through the knowledge of
death.
Allowing for the difference between man and the mammal to
be but a gradual one, there could still be nothing more shatter-
ing or crushing than the experience of that moment when the
soma-cells of the multicelled individual (man) recognised for
the first time how ultimately they had been robbed of that
immortality which they so deeply yearned for; that, although
they might escape death here and there, it was certain that
they would age one day, decay and return to dust. To be aware
of all this, and to want still to cling to the inner being or the
Immortal-Will is really in itself an impossibility. That long
and grand evolution-process would undoubtedly have ended
in the self-annihilation of the higher animal, called man, had
the spiritual development of man meant truly nothing more
than a better equipment for the struggle-for-life. As it really
is, however, within the course of the thousand years of the hist-
ory of man, very few in comparison have been able to subdue
their Self-Preservation-Will so far as to seek voluntary death.
199
The soma-cells, embued with the Immortal- Will, are con-
tinually concerned, from the very first moment of their lives, in
the industrious occupation of maintaining the cell-state for the
protection of the germ-cells, to be defrauded of immortality
when their work is done, however. Now, where the animals are
concerned, this thought is reconcilable, in as much as their
nonknowledge permits them to labour under the complacent
belief they are serving in the aim of their own self-preservation.
And if we keep before our eyes the lives spent by the higher
animal-species and dwell for a while on their trivial comforts
and short moments of a painless state or actual joy, we must
confess, that, were these even given knowledge of their own
fate, it would still mean the negation of life, not yet the affirm-
ation. This impossibility, which is also an absurdity, is very
noticeable in the state-builders, such as the ants. For the sake
of protection each of these has given up its individual independ-
ance and joined together in a community, building a state as
it were. The struggle-for-life has been made easier. Yet never-
theless, for them, life means nothing else than one continual
burden, which is without the slightest compensation. A chase
towards death, as it were, waylaid with multitudinous troubles.
Now were these to possess the slightest knowledge of their own
fate, it would mean the sure annihilation of life itself, as there
would be no want to live as a consequence.
Man, however, has remained the affirmer of life he is, inspite
of his knowledge of death. And the basis of this affirmation of
life does not rest on the fact that it is a physiological impossi-
bility for man to overcome his self preservation-will, for volunt-
ary deaths do (although seldom) occur, giving evidence of this.
Thus then, the step from mammal into achieved man must have
brought a benefit with it other than a mere better equipment
for the struggle-for-life, a benefit indeed, in so much, as it served
to counter-balance his transitory lot, or effaced the conflict in
200
his soul completely. There is still another possible alternative.
If there could be found no counter-balance at all nor anything
which was adequate to appease the conflict raging within his
soul, nevertheless there crept within his soul a feeling, very
vague no doubt, which inspite of his knowledge of death and all
the tribulations he seemed bound to suffer, was able to sustain
him. It whispered to him thus: There is something indeed, which
I too am capable of attaining.
But after all is said, does the inevitable fate of death (which
awaits all men) really make the world men live in so diconsolate?
Do not the majority of us face this fact in a blind attitude and
absolutely unenquiringly? When we think of Gilgamesh, who
because he loved his friend so well, was made to stagger before
the stern fact of death, afterwards experiencing neither joy not
peace but dedicated his whole life to the solving of its mystery,
we can hardly span the gulf at all which lies between such
divergent attitudes. Well now, the hero of the legend belongs
to those rare kind of men, who dedicate their thoughts to the
ultimate things of life as soon as they are caught in the webs of
their mysteries. Such deep longings and ponderings are beyond
the spiritual powers of the ordinary indifferent individual. It
seems a tremendous pity that such rare sensitive souls, like
Gilgamesh was made of, could not have been spared, at so
primitive a stage of intelligence, the knowledge that death was
inevitable. It was the consciousness of Self and the conscious
application of that 'aprioristical* feeling of time, space and
causality which awakened in that time of dangerous combat
against the cosmical powers, which led to the sure knowledge
of death. This occured at a very primitive stage when com-
prehension of the laws of the universe was not far above the
level of the higher animal species. But something more was
required as we shall see in the course of the following, to cope
adequately with the conflict between immortality and natural
201
death. This was an exalted state of cultural development, to-
gether with a high degree of world-knowledge which could be
obtained through the powers of reason only. A few suspected
it and sensed it, although these factors were of little aid leading
to clarity, so that thousands of years were doomed to pass and
were wasted in futile attempts to solve this mysterious apparent
absurdity. As a consequence of all these false attempts, appeared
the deviation and return to paths and ways that were only
partially right, and the change from flourish to decline of once
promising cultures. Like the butterfly will burn its wings and
die when it flies into the light, non-cognisant of its harmful
nature, the cultures of by-gone ages also have fallen to ground
with burnt wings, because they flew into the glaring light of
knowledge. If any were saved, it was not due to the correctness
of their flight in the drive for truth, but because of their stolidity
which kept them creeping animal-like upon the ground; to have
the priviledge afterwards, however, of being upheld as the
superior ones in life.
And yet, inspite of all the paths of error and deviation from
truth over which the mind of man wandered in his grave at-
tempts to overcome the conflict between his Will-to-Immortality
and the fact that natural death awaited him, we can easily
perceive how the soul of man from times immemorable seemed
to feel so rightly of its own accord where redemption really
lay although the feeling itself was so faint and feeble. It finds
expression in almost all the myths of the primitive folks, and
more especially in the different kinds of religions professed by
the so-called cultural folks; in a manner so adequate that one
might be tempted to believe the myths alone would have
sufficed to have directed mankind towards the right way to
redemption. But alas! we were obliged to witness how this right
feeling went astray through the very gift of knowledge, or let
us say rather through "false knowledge" (which became ob-
202
tainable through the powers of reason). For, the explanations
and arguments which reason was forever apt to bring forth,
together with its fatal habit of conducting the laws-of-causality,
time and space to realms which lay beyond this form of intellect,
were a grave misapplication, which of a necessity led, not only
the believers but also the very creators of the myths themselves
astray! Thus then, through the destructive work of intellectual-
reasoning, all the beneficial effects which the images of art and
the religions aimed at, became futile. After a period of cultural
flourishment, or flight towards liberation, a race would sink
to earth with burnt wings, at the best to give place to another
which would but repeat the attempt and decline in the same
way.
The critical point for them all arrived at that time, when
reason having reached a state of half-knowledge and refusing
to be fooled and mortified by the mode of thought offered in
the myths, became bold enough to decry altogether the Immor-
tal-Will and the Divine, ridiculing the affirmation of these as
being sheer nonsense! The crisis in the disease of the cultures
was marked through the disdain mankind showed for the wis-
dom of the poets because of the obvious errors (always inter-
woven with the truth), which they perceived. As a consequence
these were totally ignored and the once honoured gods forsaken,
and there being nothing else ready to substitute the old faith,
the emptiness which had been left behind in the soul of man
remained. The 'man of culture' then, at such times, owing to
the silliness of his reason's half-knowledge, was less capable of
coping with the spiritual state in which he found himself to be,
where his Immortal- Will was in constant conflict with natural
death, than ever his predecessors were who still believed in the
myths. In fact he was even more helpless than his very ancient
predecessor, Gilgamesh, who had no myth at all to give him
spiritual strength, but who, inspite of this, instinctively felt
203
that to understand he meaning of death signified the solution of
the soul's mystery.
Before we concern ourselves further with all the erroneous
paths once trodden by those unique human souls whose habit
it became, in their eager search for liberation, to ponder over
the ultimate matters as being the main ones in life, let us stop
for one moment to visualise all the consolations man created
for himself. We must first clearly understand, and our powers
of discrimination will be of help to us in doing so, that the
Immortal-Will, in reality, has nothing to do with the longing
in the soul for happiness, a fact which natural science has par-
ticularly clearly given utterance to, in having termed this the
"self preservation instinct". This aims at living on without any
interuption, or final end. It simply wants to exist, independent
of any accompanying emotions of pleasure or pain. Hence it
happens that the animal is driven to bear unswearingly the
miseries of its joyless life like the man who enjoys the full of
his life. The fact that the Immortal-Will was non-identical with
the will for pleasure or "Happiness" (that is the desire to realise
as often as possible the strongest possible pleasurable sensations)
explains the reason why the average individual could, and still
can find, in happiness, the full compensation for immortality,
and in a mad chase after happiness apparently overcomes the
conflict. Moreover, as the soul of man was endowed, not only
with a higher state of consciousness but also with the gift of
reason, an ability was likewise given him to escape that unfa-
vourable state of mind of the higher mammal-species, which
suffers long periods of pain and enjoys, relatively speaking,
very short spans of pleasurable sensations. It was reason which
aided man in sparing him from suffering periods of alternate
famine and abundance. He divided his quantities of food-stuffs,
so that, actually speaking, the majority have never once ex-
perienced what hunger means. Man was not compelled even
204
to stop at this. It lay in his power to give manifold change to
his food. He did so, considering his own personal taste with
such devotional care as to make food become a veritable fount
of the greatest of all pleasures, meaning happiness its very self.
He felt indeed fully compensated for the transitoriness of his
own life. There is still another sensation of pleasure existing
which has the prerogative of rendering greater recompense.
Before reason awakened it became essential, as we have already
seen, that a certain pleasurable sensation should be accelerated,
in order to find its satisfaction in the function of reproduction,
thus assuring its fulfillment; and as the vertibrates for the better
protection of the coming generation took to the inner fructificat-
ion a bodily-sexual-intercourse became necessary. And although
within the course of evolution, through the gradual association of
the pairing- will and the soul-life, tremendous spiritual benefits
were gained, the majority of mankind are still incapacitated to
emancipate above the dull form akin to the animal when indulg-
ing in sexual-happiness. And yet, this primitive form was in
itself sufficient to mean 'life's happiness*. Contrary to the ani-
mal, man's intellect aided and abetted him in the invention of
all manner of ways and means to repeat at will his sexual
sensations of pleasure. (We shall come back to this later.) Hence,
there is every justification to say that the sensations of sexual-
pleasure signifies the greatest recompense to the majority of
mankind.
These "delights" (beautifying existence) were not the only
results, however, which the ascent from mammal to man be-
queathed to mankind. Man is often tempted to consider aging,
decaying and final death more in the light of a blessing than
otherwise as it puts an end to the many tribulations of man on
earth (spared fortunately to the animal-kingdom). For instance,
the increase in population, effected through man's inventive
powers in gaining means to protect him from danger in emerg-
205
ency, gradually accelerated to over-population making the
struggle-for-existence for the majority almost unbearable. Many
were subjected to others greedy of power and gold, which caused
their lives to become a state of veritable misery. By its very law,
the keen sensitiveness of man's own soul has been also the means
of much of the pain and misery in the world, so that Schiller
was justified when he made the utterance. "Everywhere the
world is perfect, where man with his pain is not." This subject,
incidently, is of such profundity, that it has a right to be treated
very minutely. We can mention here, in short, where the roots
of the evil lie. The greatest fault lies with memory above
everything else, inspite of its apparent harmlessness. Unlike
the animal-memory, by the very virtue of its keenness, it is
incapacitited to forget either any suffering or hate towards an
enemy. The higher animal-species forget as soon as danger has
passed. According to our observation, the average individual,
(as the fruits of his higher consciousness) is able to pile up his
pleasure, considering them to be the sole worthy contents of
his life. Of a necessity must this also bring a second appalling
effect with it. Man is not only capacitated to understand and
keep in his memory his own sufferings. He can extend these to
the pleasures of others. In this way "Envy" arises, poisoning
his surroundings. And verily the life of most people consists
in a continual hoarding up of their own-made miseries, so that
the creed which documents that the earth is 'a vale of tears'
has apparently found its justification at all times. Besides the
consolations of indulging freely in the bodily sensations of
pleasure, a second one appeared in opposition. Natural death
or the certainty of the transitoriness of life became something
worth looking forward to; it was taught in fact to be a consol-
ation and reconciling certainty which gave man the strength
to bear life's tribulations. Not only do all those who are per-
secuted with pain follow this sheer negative form of consolation,
206
but also, (curiously enough) all those others called the "Hedo-
nist", who consider the aim and affirmation of life to be in the
massing up of as much pleasure before old age and illness steps
in to be a hinderance. In the end it can induce man to ignore
his Immortal- Will as being but an idle desire. It can drive
poor weak-willed creatures even to commit suicide.
Such meagre consolation can hardly be considered as a fit
recompense for the Immortal-Will, no matter how apt reason
was to become reconciled to the idea in certain conditions of life.
The feeling of the soul itself, when it awakened that time to
consciousness, was a better consolation. Decrying bravely all
reason's wisdom, it relied solely on the mneme inherited from
the unicell, which told of the surety of immortality. And al-
though the fact of inevitable death could not be contradicted, it
denied that death was death in the real sense of the word. It
proclaimed that only the visible or the outward appearance
died, but not the invisible or soul (the "Thing Itself") which
animated the outward appearance. One curious fact, however,
is, that the myths contained in most of the religions, account
immortality to man alone among all the rest of the visible world,
inspite of the fact that reason had had evidence enough that man
as much as the animals was subject to the laws of death in as
much as all his cells, (like those of the animal) after a process of
gradual burning, which is called decay, become again the simpl-
est of organic matter. This conception could not be shattered.
The invisible, albeit animate in man, contrary to that in the
animal, had part in the beyond! Later on, we shall see how true
that presumptive feeling was which said the animals were un-
redeemable!
And so alarmed, apparently, was the Immortal- Will over the
fact that death was obligatory, that it created for itself (in the
myths) a perpeptual conscious life; an idea to reason quite
appalling. And so it came about that in the myths the actual
207
world was represented as an illusionary world, a vale of tears,
which could prove of great impediment to eternal bliss but which
unfortunately we had to pass through if we wanted to gain our
eternal home. Now, the vigorous will-to-live, deeply mortified
at the fact of death, started to decorate the beyond with every-
thing that seemed worth living for. (How touching for example,
are all those visions of a beyond which the 'primitive peoples'
have imagined for themselves.) As reason compelled both anticip-
ation and myth to build their beyond in the spheres of space,
the Immortal- Will one day, was bound to perceive its heavens
laid in ruins, as a consequence of the progress of intellectual
knowledge. It was, furthermore, forbidden to exist even beyond
the clouds. It was roughly brushed aside after Copernicus had
indicated the spheres where stars in systems circle. And even
still undaunted, the Immortal-Will was able to reconstruct out
of the ruins another mythical heaven. This time it lay even
beyond the universe 'whose unendlessness of space was of no
significance to the soul delivered of its body*.
And once again, as result of our study, reason has shattered
the mythical heaven, this time in its very foundations, for our
reasoning-powers have accomplished facts which are of a deeper
significance than a mere spherical disarrangement of the firma-
ment. The powers of intellect, having been priviledged so far
as to be able to penetrate into the coherency of the evolution
history, have as a consequence, been also able for the very first
time, to point out the fact that the Immortal- Will must essent-
ially be innate in the mortal soma-cells too, for were it not
so, these would hardly have let themselves be called upon to
sacrifice themselves so entirely for the sake of the eternal germ-
cells. On the other hand, there is also sufficient evidence, that
all the different kinds of the soma-cells (or body-cells), including
of -course the brain-cells belonging to the multi-celled individual
(man included) have no part in the immortality of the germ-
208
cells. The history of evolution furnishes ample witness why
and how it happened that a transitory individual, such as man
is, without possessing the characteristic of immortality, could
yet be so sternly conscious of the fact of his own immortality.
It was owing to these facts, that the history of evolution under-
mined most cruelly the foundations upon which the heavens
of the past were built; those foundations which had even defied
reason so long, the argument being: "If a human-being be really
doomed to pass away for ever, how could the strong desire and
certainty of eternity which certainly exists within him be ac-
counted for?"
Now, if truly mneme, or the sub-conscious memory, which
of a necessity, in the progress of evolution permitted the soma-
cells to retain their Immortal-Will, inspite of inevitable death,
was alone responsible for the certainty of immortality here
manifested, then indeed one could be obliged to say that reason
had gained the victory over the myth of immortality. And man
would have nothing left to do than habituate himself to the
fact of inevitable death. As it is, however, in sharp contradiction
to Darwinism, one thing remains certain, and that is; while
guarding ourselves implicitly against the error which reason
makes when it forms actual conceptions of god as being a person
there is every evidence for believing in that invisible, unfathom-
able, nature lying in all things, which of-course can only
be felt or experienced and is generally known by the name
of God, the "Thing Itself", the Divine or Genius etc.; a
belief too which moreover can bear the full light of the history
of evolution without its being shattered to pieces. Here there
can be found no negation of the Divine, on the contrary, it is
verified in such a grand manner as never before. We have already
been priviledged to recognise that all the explanations in the
light of the mere mechanical only which have been put forth
in regard to the history-of -evolution are errors. Instead, abund-
209
ance of evidence is always proving that a will, animated with
a distinct aim in view, at every significant stage in the ascent
of man, enforced form for itself in every living thing, albeit this,
itself was utterly unconscious of the fact. Hence, the history-
of-evolution has benefitted us in a wonderful way, for we are
no more called upon to say, "I believe in God" but "I know
that every animate and inanimate being belonging to the uni-
verse, is the visible appearance of the invisible-Divinity existing
within it, and that this innate godlikeness of the mortal body-
cells enforced its own manifestation in the appearance of the
manifold forms and shapes unique to the different multi-celled
beings, a process, moreover, which signified the wish to ascend
from the deepest kind of unconsciousness to the highest form
of consciousness in man."
Faith in immortality can also deepen into knowledge of
immortality. After the intuition I had experienced of the truth
of the immortality of man, I was easily facilitated to complete
the edifice of my thought, placing facts so neatly together that
it appeared afterwards as if it had fructuated from intellectual
thought and not from an intuitive source. Now, when intuition
rings true, reason subsequently is able to build up the steps which
leads to it. But at a time as this, when reason is so tremendously
overrated, and the soul-awareness (Erleben) of truth not enough
appreciated, it would be a great injustice were the following fact
not stressed, which is, that the powers of reasoning in this case
were very limited, in as much as they were most certainly
capable of indicating rightly the way to the wisdom we expound,
but, on the other hand, absolutely incapable of solving the con-
flicting mystery existing between natural death and reason
itself. First, a time of deep contemplation into the myths of the
different folks, and also a deep contemplation of the soul were
necessary, before light could be thrown into the sequence of
matters. So let us now ponder this time together to make sure
of the fact that a sufficient study of the myths, when unin-
fluenced by Darwinian thought, will lead finally, not to their
rejection, but to a high appreciation of them, albeit their con-
tents be as full of errors as of truths.
Among all the various fantastical religious poems which
belong to the different folks of the earth, there are four different
major kinds of myths which occur over and over again. Of
these, two are concerned with the past and two with the future
fate of the soul.
The myth of the history of creation relates how, through the
will of a higher invisible being, all the manifold creatures seen
on earth originated at a period of the earth's history in quick
succession, and that man, among all the other beings stood in a
special relationship to this invisible being, a being "of the
spirit of Brahman, the most pervaded one". Furthermore, that a
like creation-process never again will occur; the Indian myth
goes even so far as to tell of the affinity and uniformity of all
the visible-scene. The observation which we have made ourselves
of the history of evolution, compells us to confirm the truth
this myth contains, in as much as we strictly avoided viewing
it in the narrov Darwinian outlook, and concerned ourselves
with just the essential part, discarding deliberately all the fan-
tastical images and those contents which were concerned with
a personification of the Divine.
The second myth concerned with the past is the fantastical
description of a "Paradise-Lost". Here the poets sing of a time
when the earth knew of no aging, decaying nor death; a time,
in fact, in which men lived in eternal youth without sufferings
of pain or desire. This the doctrine of evolution confirms to be
true also, for, indeed, there lived in the hearts of the poets a
faint remembrance of the potential immortality of our one-celled
predecessors that felt neither pain nor desire, and knew nothing
of 'age* nor death.
211
14+
Then there are two myths which are very deeply concerned
with the future of man and the destiny of his soul. A belief,
peculiar to the Germanic race, and of which strong traces can
be found in the religious conceptions in the ancient Indian
Vedas, is the faith in reincarnation. In the Edda, an echo of it is
still to be found, clothed in language of great poetical beauty!*
Here we are made aquainted with the hero, called Helge, who,
as a single exception, was once given back to life. The song,
however, concludes with the firm belief in the reincarnation
of the ancestors. Helge and Siegrun are born again as Helge
Haddingenheld and Kara. The Vedas cling still even more
lovingly to this myth, and it is varied in every way. These
recount the stories of the soul's reincarnation, how it appears
on earth fettered first in animal nature, and how afterwards,
at every new birth it takes on a more god-like form. The
doctrine of reincarnation is truth likewise, in as much as it is
identical with the "mneme", or true remembrance, which is
revealed in the process of evolution and is the fate which the
soul has actually passed through. This must have been a very
faint remembrance, much fainter than the remembrance, of
the "paradise lost", which is the life once experienced by all
the protozoa, so that the remembering animate-being, although
it is a descendant of discrepant germ-cells has inherited from
the ancestral cells the remembrance of the once universal prime
and immortal ancestor as well. The remembrance characteristic
of the once experienced life of any animal or man may not
simply be attributed to the brain cells and left at that, for the
germ-cells from which the remembering brain-cells descend, are
not the descendents of single individuals only, but of a multi-
tude, which all bear promiscuous heritage. New synthetic hypo-
theses are not essential to support this as being a scientific fact,
as this kind of memory springs likewise into existence in exactly
* Gorsleben Edda P. 41. Publishers Heimkehr Verlag Miinchen-Pasing.
212
the same way as the "mneme" does in the case of the inherited
instinct which belongs to the animals, which everywhere is
accepted by science. (Nest-building instinct of the birds). Since
this means, as regards to the single individual, that the inherited
substance of the germ-cells is of a necessity associated with the
brain-cells, it also means that it is also associated with the soul
of the bird which is nest-building. It was only along these lines
that it was made possible for the capacity of nest-building to
be bequeathed to succeeding generations at that time when it
was being done for the first time by one of its kind. Now, our
own souls are no unpromiscuous descendants of single individ-
uals, and owing to this we are liable at times to have visions
or feel as if we had experienced certain conditions in a former
life already. They are of a mere fleeting and passing kind for
the reason that our own souls have no affinity whatever with
the ancestral-being. Within us we contain, so to speak, innu-
merable bits of memory of the experiences which once belonged
to each one of our ancestors, and which has been transmitted
to us in a promiscuous collection. It was the force of these
facts which made it impossible, at all times, to give up the
belief in one's own immortality and replace it with the belief
in the immortality of the kind. It is a thing impossible to trans-
mit our own personality unadulterated to succeeding generations;
at the very best, only a few characteristics can be transmitted,
but even these are liable to be mixed with other traits which
are wholly alien to our nature. So that, seen from a scientific
view, the belief in the reincarnation cannot find any support
through the fact of the "mneme", nor could it bear so much
conviction as the belief in the other myths did, as for instance
the myth of a lost paradise, or as it is called in the Edda*
*I refer the reader here to my work f entitled^ "Eadi Folk's ^own r Song to
erei
ing
cipatu
* 1 refer the reader nere to my wprx enmiea: cam rom s own oong 10 vjoa
wherein I have attempted to point out in chapter "The Religions Fall from their God-
living Heights" how bad-reasoning and misconceptions has helped to distort this anti-
cipation once described in the myth making antigodlike error out of it.
"Midgard" where the state of immortality was granted to our
ancestors.
The last of the four myths is the best known and is considered
in general as the most significant and is revered accordingly.
This myth is concerned wholly with the immortal state, or
belief in an eternal-life (after death). Now, if nothing else than
the strong feelings of nostalgia and assurance of immortality
were expressed we should have no cause to take increased
thought in this matter, as we have seen that the process of
evolution gave sufficient foundation for them. What made us
stop to ponder more deeply, is the fact we encounter every-
where, and which we have already hinted; the exclusion of the
animals from partaking in a life hereafter, for, according to
our faith in the process of evolution, in which sense the "Mneme"
confirms strongly the uniformity of man and animal-fate, the
reverse could be expected. And further, curious though it sounds,
we encounter the repeated assurance that heaven is not for
every one; that first, a certain spiritual state is essential before
any one can enter heaven. Also that a place in heaven can be
lost forever. This conception has gained such influence over the
divergent religions, that eternal torments for the ones excluded
(in hell) have been added which, of-course, reveals how appall-
ingly the myth itself has been distorted.
The myth of a "Beyond", in which only the few can take
part who, of their own accord, have had the power to gain it,
cannot be traced in its origin to the remembrance, or memory,
which has been inherited from our most ancient forefathers;
for it stands in contradiction to all the facts of the historical
evolution of the past, as demonstrated by natural science, which
is intent on proving the animal-kingdom and man to be one.
Let us assume for the sake of an explanation, that once upon a
time, some, out of the depths of their own inner experience,
composed the myth about the beyond and afterwards succeeding
214
generations were pleased to sing these compositions, especially
as it awakened to life again something which had been the
spiritual experience of their fore-fathers and was now theirs.
Before, it had slumbered within them as an unconscious memory.
May be the poets themselves had been prompted to compose
their mythical poems out of the spirit of remembrance also,
which had been handed down to them out of the times when
man was being born. Or were they composed as the result of an
experience which the poets had consciously lived through?
As the first three myths have given proof that their piths are
in accordance with truth, they have given us reason to give
our full attention, in our following process of thought, to the
myth concerned in the beyond.
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