View source for Life After Death (article 5 november 1918)

''Life After Death'' is an article written by [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] published in [[The Daily Chronicle]] on 5 november 1918.


== Life After Death ==
[[File:the-daily-chronicle-london-1918-11-05-p4-life-after-death.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[The Daily Chronicle]] (5 november 1918, p. 4)]]

'''SIR A. CONAN DOYLE ON SPIRIT MESSAGES.'''

'''"IN A HIGHER OCTAVE."'''

By Sir A. Conan Doyle.

Your representative expressed my views so admirably in your recent issue that I hesitate to return to the subject of psychic religion. I should like once, however, to state the consecutive propositions which are the most tremendous which have ever engaged the mind of man, and which are, in my opinion, clearly proved with a definite precision which has never before been known in spiritual matters. A silent revolution has been going on for the last 70 years which now, at the moment of the  world's need, reaches a climax and puts religion in the forefront of reconstruction. The propositions are as follows:

'''''First:''''' That the Physical Phenomena have been proved beyond a shadow of possible doubt.

Before denying it, let a man read as a general view of the subject, Barrett's "Threshold of the Unseen," and as a more particular instance Crawford's "Reality of Psychic Phenomena." These are recent. Among older books, let him read the Report of the Dialectical Society and the Life of D. D. Home, written after his death by his second wife.

The London Library contains these books, or they could be got at the Alliance Library, 6, Queen's-square, W.C. There are literally hundreds of volumes upon the subject, but these four should be conclusive to any man who can appreciate evidence. With such a wealth of material available, it is hardly reasonable for any man to generalise on the strength of some single individual experience, as is done by the Rev. G. T. Sadler in your columns. His case is better, however, than those who generalise without any experience at all. 

'''VALUE OF PHENOMENA.'''

I repeat, then, as my first proposition that, in spite of all the excesses which we admit to have been perpetrated by the unscrupulous camp-followers of the movement, the reality of the phenomena has passed beyond the region of argument. Having this firm ground under us, let us advance to

'''''Second:''''' That these phenomena are of no religious value in themselves, but are of vital importance as drawing attention to the messages which are pouring through from some unseen source.

The wonder-seekers, scientific or otherwise, who concentrate attention upon the material phenomena might be compared in a group of men who are so interested in the telephone bell that they forget to take the message which is coming through the wires. In the old days a prophet was expected to produce "a sign" as a guarantee of his supernormal powers and of the truth of his message. These phenomena are "the sign." But having done their part they are of minor interest, and it is the message that counts. Let us concentrate therefore upon 

'''''Third:''''' The Messages.

These messages are so mixed up with the phenomena, proceeding often from the same medium and at the same sitting, that the truth of the phenomena goes some way to strengthen our belief in the messages. They are also frequently mixed up with provable details concerning this life which also reinforce their credibility. 

'''MESSAGES TRUE.'''

If, for example, Raymond Lodge can tell us of a photograph no copy of which had reached England, and which proved to be even as stated, it gives us reasonable ground far belief that he is telling the truth when he describes the conditions under which he actually exists. Or when Mr. Arthur Hill receives messages from folk of whom he never heard, and afterwards verifies that they are true in every detail, is it not a fair inference that they are speaking truth also when they shed a light upon their present condition?

When on the top of this the genera! scheme outlined by these messages is in the main very much the same from various sources in different countries, and when we find that it is essentially different from any preceding scheme, then we have another strong argument for its truth.

That the messages are diabolical is a proposition on which surely confutes itself. If the devil is engaged in proving that materialism is a fallacy, that life carries on, and that our happiness in the next world depends upon our spirituality in this one, then he is indeed a reformed character. 

What do the messages amount to?

They revolutionise, as it seems to me, all our conceptions of death. They teach that what St. Paul calls our spiritual body is the exact counterpart of our present one at its best, that the mind carries on as it was before, and that the Bishop of London expressed it very happily when he said that the man was the same five minutes after death as five minutes before, save that the cloud of illness has passed.

'''"SOMETHING GRANDER."'''

He is in a world which is very analogous to our own, raised, as it were, to a higher octave, and expressed in terms of ether rather than of denser matter. It is a world of brightness, of intense intellectual activity, of pleasant work, of homely comfort, of sympathetic and loving companionship, all enhanced by the consciousness of God's tender care.

This is the temporary ante-room to something even grander beyond. Such is the normal destiny of the average human being. For the wicked there are chastening spheres, which should be regarded rather as the hospitals for crippled souls than as places of punishment, though their cure comes through sorrow.

I have no space here to outline all the detailed information collected on this all-important subject, but would refer the reader to Moses's "Spirit Teachings," Stead's "After Death," "I Heard a Voice," by a K.C., "Across the Barrier," by H. C. Dallas, and a host of other witnesses. For a general view of the subject I know nothing better than Desartes's "Psychic Philosophy," or Mrs. De Morgan's "From Matter to Spirit."

There is the argument in a nutshell. The phenomena are proved. The phenomena guarantee the messages. The messages are a fresh ...ring of revelation from the source of all knowledge. It need not be a new religion. Let present religions find room for it and it will be well. If they do not it will exiss independently, and at their expense, but it will always be associated with the magnificent spiritual conception of the Christ which can only be realised and made reasonable upon these lines.






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