So-called Religion in all time has almost hopelessly mixed and confused these problems.
The various concepts and doctrines of rewards and punishments hereafter, have put ulterior motives in the place of actual values, weakened the will and hindered man from doing his best.
A still further confusion follows, in the measure of assets, that leads to time-serving and false values.
Satisfy the average individual that “death ends all” and he will cry, “Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die,” notwithstanding the fact that he sees others who have “gone the pace,” realized only “dust and ashes,” declared it “all a mistake,” and that if they had the chance they would “do it all the other way.”
Remember, we are dealing with actual values here and now, divested of both fear and anticipation of the hereafter.
On the other hand, who ever saw an individual die, who had led a clean, upright, kindly life, indulge in regret or remorse, or declare life a disappointment or a failure?
The first is anchored to the physical plane by insatiate appetite and passion, or desire to reform, which might soon be forgotten.
The other has found sweetness and joy in life, in conscious growth, in doing good; and his soul is illumined and transfigured as the body fails and he approaches another plane, and this often independent of any formulated religious belief.
It all depends on what the man is within himself, his intrinsic character, his real self; and no matter where he goes, that character, that self, goes with him. It is Himself.
The “change in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” is not in the man and cannot be. It is in the plane, or sphere, or world he inhabits, or to which he goes. It is a change of garments, of habitat, of houses in which we live—if we live at all.