Allan Kardec-THE Spirit's Book_ The Principles of Spiritist Doctrine (1989)

112
ALLAN KARDEC
Materialism
147. Why is it that anatomists physiologists, and in general those who apply themselves to the
pursuit of the natural sciences, are so apt to fall into materialism?
"The physiologist refers everything to the standard of his senses. Human pride imagines that
it knows everything, and refuses to admit that there can be anything which transcends the
human understanding. Science itself inspires some minds with presumption; they think that
nature can have nothing hidden from them."
148. Is it not regrettable that materialism should be' a consequence of studies which ought,
on the contrary, to show men the superiority of the intelligence that governs the world?
"It is not true that materialism is a consequence of those studies it is a result of the
imperfection which leads men to draw a false conclusion from their studies, for men may
make a bad use of the very best things. The idea of annihilation, moreover, troubles those
who profess to hold it more than they will allow to l)e seen; and those who are the loudest in
proclaiming their materialistic convictions are often more boastful than brave The greater
number of the so-called materialists are only such because they have no rational ground of
belief in a future life. Show a firm anchor of rational belief in a future state to those who see
only a yawning void before them, and they will grasp it with the eagerness of drowning men."
There are those who, through an aberration of the intellect. can see nothing in organised beings but the
action of matter. and attribute to this action alt the phenomena of existence. They have seen, in the
human body. only the action of an electrical machine they have studied the mechanism of life only in the
play of the bodily organ"'; they have Often seen life extinguished by the rupture of a filament, and they
have seen nothing but this filament. They have looked to see whether anything stilt remained, and as they
have found nothing but matter that has become inert, as they have neither seen the soul escape from the
body nor been able to take hold of it, they have concluded that everything is reducible to the properties of
matter, and that death is consequently the annihilation of all thought. A melancholy conclusion, if such
were really the case for, were it so, good and evil would be alike devoid of aim every man would be
justified In thinking only of himself, and in subordinating every other consideration to the satisfaction of
his material Instincts. Thus all social ties would be broken, and the holiest affections would be destroyed
for ever. Happily for mankind, these ideas are far from being general. Their area may even be said to be a
narrow one, limited to the scope of invidious opinions; for nowhere have they been erected Into a system
of doctrine. A state of society founded on such a basis would contain within itself the seeds of its own
dissolution; and its members would tear each other to pieces like so many ferocious beasts of prey.
Man has an intuitive belief that, for him, everything does not end with the life of his body; he has a
horror of annihilation. No matter how obstinately men may have set themselves against the idea of a
future life, there are very few who, on the approach of death. do not anxiously ask