c compounds can realize the condition of the brain when the body
was already beginning to stink. But the ancients did not even know
that the brain was closely connected with consciousness, let alone its
structure. Of the character of the economy of the body, they knew
practically nothing; they dealt with wholes, not with parts. How
different this miracle appears from these two stand-points! It is the
same only in name. It may be of interest to note that this miracle,
characteristic of John, is very evidently related to illustrate the
principle that Jesus as the Logos is the resurrection and the life. It
is a demonstration miracle.

Our answer to the question, Do miracles happen? must be in the
negative. While there is nothing {137} irrational in the idea in
itself, it does not fit the world as experience presents it. The
assertion that God performs miracles, like the similar assertion that
he created the world, is purely hypothetical and unverifiable.

{138}

CHAPTER XI

THE SOUL AND IMMORTALITY

The hope of immortality is an essential feature of practically all
modern religions. Even those oriental religions which lack its clear
presence postulate a dim kind of personal continuity. Buddhism has
always been a puzzle to the optimistic Westerner who is in love with
himself and does all his thinking in terms of personality and personal
relations. The idea of re-birth in accordance with a rigid moral law
is alien to his traditions; while the impersonalism of the whole
process leaves him cold. It is not untrue to the facts to call
Buddhism an atheistic religion. Yet it is a religion because it
postulates the objective efficacy of moral categories. Freedom from
the wheel of re-birth is gained by the Eightfold Path of right beliefs
and right acts. Enough of the idea of a soul and enough of the idea of
immortality exists even in this religion to make these assumptions
important. But what have modern science and philosophy to say about
these age-old ideas? Is the soul any longer in favor?

Here, again, an historical approach is worth while, because it gives
the proper perspective. If we can understand why people in the past
developed and fostered these ideas, we can judge their reasons pretty
objectively, even though we realize that we have been strongly affected
by the beliefs erected upon them. {139} Destroy the roots of a tree
and the foliage will wither before long. Has science dug so sharply