--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Harris, Frank S. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 17 number: 3 published: 1914-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Frank S. Harris, "After Death, What?," *Improvement Era* 17, no. 3 (January 1914): 196–198.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1703unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1703unse start_page: 196 end_page: 198 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1703unse publication_year: 1914 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # After Death, What? After Death, What? BY FRANK S. HARRIS. PH. D.. OF THE UTAH AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE At one time or another every normal individual thinks seriously about what will become of him after death. The fact that it is impossible to demonstrate to the natural senses the exact condition of the future state, makes the problem all the more perplexing. It is probable that no two individuals have exactly the same conception of heaven. The ideas held may be grouped, however, into a number of large classes. A person's religion is determined largely by what he believes regarding man's state of being' after he passes from this earth. Each of the great theologies of mankind has its own teachings concerning heaven. These are exceedingly diverse. THE MAN WITHOUT FAITH There is a certain class of individuals who believe in no life whatever after death. They consider the body when it enters the grave, to be as a broken reed or a crushed piece of pottery which can never be repaired.. It is as a candle snuffed out. never to be relighted. Life, to them, is one brief span of understanding, followed by an endless darkness which can never more be penetrated by the light of consciousness. Living, so far as the individual is concerned, is entirely in vain ; for after a brief period, he must be completely dissolved and lost to the universe of intelligence. How dismal is the outlook! To live, to have, and hope, and then to be entirely dismembered and robbed of self! There can be nothing more foreboding, for if man has one distinct attribute it is the desire for continuity. He wishes to remain himself forever. NIRVANA AS THE GOAL There is a great group of mankind following the Buddhist religion who believe in the transmigration of souls and a final state of rest in Nirvana. They believe that a person may appear successively as a horse, a hog, an elephant, a human being, etc., till he has had all possible experience, when he may finally have his individuality lost in that vague reservoir of intelligence which the\ call Nirvana. AFTER DEATH, WHAT? 197 This way of thinking has given us all kinds of fanciful stories of enchantment where princes have become swine which they had to remain till released by some magic sign. Those who follow this religion hold life to be of little value, and they are willing to subject themselves to all manner of personal suffering so they may have a more favorable birth the next time. Even their state of final rest seems so foreign to what intelligent individuals might wish, that its desirability may be greatly questioned. THE ABODE OF RESTLESS SPIRITS Many people believe that after the body dies, the spirit leaves it and becomes an intangible wanderer in space, seeking that comfort which it never finds. They do not believe in a resurrection of the body, or that the spirit has the attributes of the individual whose body it left. These indescribable somethings are supposed to move through space alone or in groups without purpose, or without a knowledge of earthly ties. They may at times torment those living in the flesh, and they are supposed to hover near the scenes frequented by their earthly tabernacles. The idea of such a hereafter is so repulsive that one would rather think of being buried once for all and have the task finished. SECTARIAN HEAVEN AND HELL Many of the Christian sects believe that all people after death will be placed in two groups, those who are saved and those who are damned. The assignment to one gr the other of these classes may be due to a mere "turn-of-the-hand." In one case a person, on having asserted his belief in the saving grace of Christ at the close of a wicked life, might find rest in heaven, while another person who had never had the opportunity of hearing of the Savior would forever be consigned to the horrors of burning brimstone. The followers of these ideas often describe heaven to be a place where all will be given wings with which to fly through space as butterflies flitting through the air. One minister, in commenting on the subject, said he expected to spend the first ten million years flying through space playing a harp and singing praises to God, then after rest he would ■ spend the next ten million years doing the same thing. Many hold that in heaven we shall not know each other, that there will be no family ties, and no such thing as sex. They believe that those who are fortunate enough to attain this happy state will devote themselves to contemplating the glory of the throne of God, and singing praises to his name. There is noth- 198 LMPR0VEMEN1 ERA ing in this scheme, wherein the experiences gained on earth will he of service. PROGRESS IN BEAVEN To a Latter-day Saint, the ideas of heaven so far described seem undesirable and inconsistent with the fundamental attributes of human nature, lie is taught that the condition after death will be determined entirely by the kind of life led during mortality. "If a person has been righteous he will he righteous still, and if he has been filthy, he will he filthy still." To him heaven is a place of orderly progress where a person will retain his individuality and have opportunity of using to advantage all the experience and intelligence he may have been able previously to acquire. It is is believed that we shall know and 1).' known. There will he a continuity of family ties and the continued joys of association. One of the most prominent traits of human nature is to advance and acquire new intelligence, and it is taught that this trait will be retained throughout all the ages of eternity. In short, heaven will not be a place of quiet rest, but a condition of active service. Why should man, after 1 n rwing the joys of building and the happiness of learning, be deprived of this opportunity after his three score and ten years on earth? If he is to continue to have a being beyond the grave, why should he not be permitted to continue learning and doing throughout all the ages of eternity? The universe is full of laws. There are infinite chances to learn and create, and why should God not be willing to have his children follow in his footsteps? In answer to these questions the boy Prophet taught that man was really made in the image of his Father in heaven and that he will have the opportunity of continuing to grow till he can, by faithfulness and diligence, become even as God now is. I Tow much more glorious is such an outlook than a dissolution at the grave, a blending into Nirvana, wandering as a lost spirit, or even forever singing before pearly gates! 1 AN. UTAH Who Walks the World with Soul Awake Who walks the world with soul awake finds beauty everywhere; Though labor be his portion, though sorrow be Ii is share, lie looks beyond obscuring clouds, sure that the light is there! \nd if. the ills of mortal life gro*vn heavier to bear. Doubt come with its perplexities and whisper of despair. He turns with love to suffering men — and, lo! God, too, is there — The Outlook.