I address myself more especially to those who imagine they believe in eternal life, though they do not even believe in a past life previous to birth; the result being that, instead of fixing their faith in eternal life, in reality they believe in nothing but a future life following on death.This contradiction with their alleged faith in eternal life, which ought to take into account both the life previous to birth and that following on death, combined with this confusion and identification of the future with the eternal, ...
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I address myself more especially to those who imagine they believe in eternal life, though they do not even believe in a past life previous to birth; the result being that, instead of fixing their faith in eternal life, in reality they believe in nothing but a future life following on death.This contradiction with their alleged faith in eternal life, which ought to take into account both the life previous to birth and that following on death, combined with this confusion and identification of the future with the eternal, prevent them from understanding the present life, the bond between the past and the future, and from practising it, as does the man who really believes in that life eternal which includes past, present, and future.\I also address myself to those who fervently and legitimately maintain the perpetuation of their individuality or personality, of what they call the future life and the salvation of the soul, forgetting that there neither is nor can be, by the utmost stretch of fancy or imagination, any individuality separate from the environment from which it is ever drawing, and to which it is ever giving, its own life.Consequently, my object is to make people understand and feel that any belief in the perpetuation of the personality, unless it implies belief in the simultaneous perpetuation of the environment in which the personality is living, is nothing more than a fatal abstraction, a selfish dream separating an individual from what he ought to love, man from his fellow-men, being from all that is not IT.I believe in life eternal, i.e. past, present, and future.I believe in the perpetuation of my personality, i.e. both of itself and of the environment which completes its life, and without which it could not be, and so could not perpetuate itself.I believe that what is contains the r???sum??? of what was-its grave-and the germ of what will be-its cradle; and that the progressive union of this r???sum??? and this germ, i.e. of both past and future, constitutes the present life, that which is more specifically designated as life.I believe that all religions antecedent to Christianity were founded on tradition, on the life of the past, the inspirations of ancestors-in a word, on the Father.I believe that Christianity, on the other hand, drew its strength from prophecy, the future life, aspiration towards the new man, towards the Son.I believe that what we now have to do is to unite these two life-springs in the one real consciousness of the present life, which must be the union of past and future lives, the link between tradition and prophecy, the spirit of peace and tolerance that has come to reconcile children to their ancestors, the bond between Father and Son, which Christians have named the Holy Ghost and which consists of the love of every human being for his neighbour, the love of all for God....
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Add this copy of Life Eternal: Past-Present-Future to cart. $2.99, very good condition, Sold by Books From California rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Simi Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Independently published.
