Before discussing the main doctrinal formulations of
the idea of
immortality, a few preliminary remarks will
be useful.
In order to be a satisfactory solution to the problems
arising in connection
with the fact of death, immor-
tality must
be first a “personal” immortality, and sec-
ondly it must be a
“pleasant” one. Only pleasant and
personal
immortality provides what still appears to
many as the only effective
defense against the fear of
death. But it is able to accomplish much more.
It
appeases the sorrow following the death of a loved
one by opening
up the possibility of a joyful reunion
in the hereafter. It satisfies the
sense of justice outraged
by the premature deaths of people of great
promise
and talent, because only this kind of immortality offers
the
hope of fulfillment in another life. Finally, it offers
an answer to the
question of the ultimate meaning of
life, particularly when death prompts
the agonizing
query, “What is the purpose of this strife and struggle
if, in the end, I shall disappear like a soap
bubble?”
(Tolstoy, A Confession, 1879).
It is important to realize, however, that the notion
of a pleasant
immortality for all and sundry runs coun-
ter to
the sense of justice which otherwise plays such
a prominent role in man's
claim to immortality. While
it was felt that it would be an
“injustice” if man were
condemned to total
annihilation, it did not make sense
that evil men should enjoy the same
privileges in the
hereafter as did the good ones. Thus we find in all
doctrines of immortality some restrictions as to the
enjoyment of a
blissful afterlife, be it a permanent
exclusion from it of those guilty of
crimes, or a merely
temporary one, allowing for rehabilitation,
expiation,
or purification. The main difficulty with personal im-
mortality, however, is that once the naive
position
which took deathlessness and survival after death for
granted
was shattered, immortality had to be proved.
All serious discussion of
immortality became a search
for arguments in its favor.
The three main variants of the idea of immortality
are the doctrine of
reincarnation, or transmigration of
the soul, the Platonic theory of the
immortality of the
soul (which also admits the possibility of transmigra-
tion), and the Christian
doctrine of resurrection of the
body, which includes
“Platonic” immortality. Histori-
cally they seem to have appeared in the Western
world
in that order. But we shall begin with the doctrine
of the
immortality of the soul as expounded by Plato,
partly because his position
was the best argued, and
because it is around it that in subsequent times
most
serious discussions revolved.
