158. I. The Spirituality Of Mind.
I. The Spirituality Of Mind. So much was said upon this question in our anthropological argument for the truth of theism that the less is here required.
1. Falsity of Materialism.—Materialism is an unprovable hypothesis. It is such because, in order to the proof, it must be shown, not only that mental facts have an adequate ground in matter, but also that they have their actual source in matter. Neither is a possibility. We have no empirical knowledge of matter as a substantive reality. On the observation of its properties or phenomena our reason affirms it to be such a reality. But materialism can admit no such form of reason. Its purely empirical philosophy limits knowledge to the mere surface of things. It deals with phenomena, and can know nothing deeper. Hence it cannot even affirm the reality of matter; much less, discover therein the adequate ground of mental facts. Nor can it show that such facts spring from matter. It may be shown that certain actions of the brain or sensory nerves are coincident with certain mental activities; but not the slightest proof could thus be furnished that the former are the cause of the latter; not any more, indeed, than that the latter are the cause of the former. Such co incidence cannot be made to mean any thing more than a present conditioning relation of the nervous organism to such mental activities; but such relation is utterly short of being their ground. A spiritual nature in man is the only adequate ground of mental facts. That its presence cannot be discovered in any empirical way is no proof against its existence. The scientific definitions of matter and mind give us two distinct and widely different sets of facts: the physical and the mental. Their difference is so real and deep that they must have essentially different grounds. Otherwise, we might interchange their definitions or use either for both. Materialism assumes this right. “In itself it is of little moment whether we express the phenomena of matter in the terms of spirit, or the phenomena of spirit in the terms of matter: matter may be regarded as a form of thought, thought may be regarded as a property of matter—each statement has a certain relative truth. But with a view to the progress of science, the materialistic terminology is in every way to be preferred.”[845] Materialism is constrained to assume all this. That it is so constrained is conclusive of its falsity. The phenomena of matter cannot be expressed in the terms of spirit; neither can the phenomena of spirit be expressed in the terms of matter. To attempt it is to ignore all the laws of scientific definition. Materialism is constrained, as appears in the above citation, to prefer the materialistic terminology, and thus to dismiss all terms expressive of the activities of mind in the forms of thought, sensibility, and volition. All must be reduced to the physical plane, and expressed in the terms of matter. Such necessity is quite conclusive of the falsity of materialism.
[845]
Materialism cannot account for the facts of mind. Any attempt to render such account must proceed either on the ground of the ultimate particles of matter or on some form of their combination. In the light of reason it is not possible that the primary atoms, as discrete entities, should be the original of mental facts. The possibility would mean either a distribution of the mental powers to as many separate atoms, or that one atom should possess the wealth of a mind. Neither is possible. With such a distribution of the faculties there could be no unity of action between them, and hence no mental life; for such a life is possible only with the element of unity. That a single atom cannot be the seat of a complete set of mental faculties needs only to be stated. No assumption of such a possibility needs any further refutation. The combinations of the atoms, whether in cohesive, chemical, or organic forms, can originate no new powers, whatever powers previously latent may thus find the conditions of their activity. But to say that mental powers thus find the condition of their action is to assume their prior existence in the atoms. Hence materialism, in attempting to account for the facts of mind on the ground of matter, is forced back to the impossible alternatives previously noted: either that the powers of the mind must exist distributively in an equal number of atoms, or that all must exist in one atom. The absolute impossibility of accounting for the facts of mind on the ground of matter is conclusive of the falsity of materialism.
2. Truth of Spirituality.—The materialist must face the reality of mental facts. That we think and reason; that we have sensibilities which are active, not only in the secular relations of life, but also in moral and religious forms; that we freely determine the ends of our action and voluntarily work for their attainment, are as real and certain as the properties of matter or the forces operative in physical nature. If the properties of body mean a substantive matter, our mental facts mean a spiritual mind. Their only sufficient ground is in such a mind. We saw elsewhere the perplexities of materialists at this point; how they confessed the impossibility of materialistic evolution, indeed, declared the utter absurdity of the theory, on the ground of the traditional doctrine of matter. It was openly conceded that only a new definition of matter, which should include mental facts as well as the physical, could render the theory possible or even tolerable. But matter is not changed by any new definition; its properties remain the very same. Defining matter in the terms of spirit does not make it spiritual or invest it with any of the properties of spirit. There is still the same contradictory opposition of the two sets of facts; so that the two cannot combine in the same ground. And it is still true that, if physical properties mean a substantive matter as their ground, mental facts mean a substantive spirit as their ground. Indeed, the proof of a spiritual mind in man is just as clear and sure as the proof of a substantive matter in the physical universe. In the continuity of consciousness the personal self ever abides as the self-conscious subject. I am personally the same in the experiences of to-day that I was in the experiences of ten, twenty, or fifty years ago. In the light of consciousness nothing is more certain to me than this fact. Such is the certainty of every man respecting himself, as he gathers up in memory the experiences of his past life. No length of life nor changes of experience, however extreme, can in the least affect his certainty. That the personal ego ever abides as the self-conscious subject of the experiences of the longest life is a fact which no subtlety can disturb. But it is a fact which can have no possible ground in materialism. The reason is obvious. Matter in the bodily organism of man, just as in every other form, is in perpetual flux and change. Not an atom of a present human brain will remain in it a few years hence. Thus in the progress of a long life many complete changes occur. With such changes the continuity of self-consciousness would be absolutely impossible on the ground of materialism. Spiritual mind, ever abiding in simple unity of essence, is the only possible ground of such consciousness. The fact of such consciousness is, therefore, conclusive of a spiritual mind in man.
3. The View of Scripture.—The Scriptures very clearly distinguish between the soul and the body, and as clearly mean the spirituality of the former. Such is the case in the account of the creation of man. Nothing less can be the meaning of his creation in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). There is no possible ground of a likeness to God in any creature without a spiritual nature. The account further is that God formed the body of man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, whereon he became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). That inbreathing means the creative act of God whereby he gave existence to the spiritual nature of man. “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8). Other words are even more explicit: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). The addition of one more text may here suffice: “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59).