Ross Winn

“ Continuous conscious personal existence presupposes the survival of memory. If, in the future life, we do not remember the present life, we lose our connection therewith—we simply become a separate consciousness. ”

“ A physical organization is not self-consciousness. The life-force is not self-consciousness. But the life-force added to physical organization produces self-consciousness. Therefore, self-consciousness is the effect resultant of the union of two forces, viz, life and physical organization. Self-consciousness, instead of being a thing of eternal existence, is but a transitory effect of a creative cause. And tho matter and life and intelligence are eternal, that individual expression of intelligence which is called the ego—the soul of man—is not eternal because it is not self-existent. ”

“ We, all of us, the wise and the foolish and every sage and seer and philosopher profound, and each little shirtless Southern pickaninny as well,—are here for no other reason than that God just wants to try, by experiment, to find out which is fit for heaven and which deserving of hell. ”

“ That which is eternal is self-existent. Intelligence is; it is self-existent; it is eternal. But individual intelligence is a form of expression; forms are transitory. Organization has limitations; that which has limitation cannot have eternal existence: Matter is eternal, without organization, and without limitation: The soul of man is a form of expression ”

“ Two waveless seas of black oblivion.
Life and death. These are the two eternal mysteries. If a man die, shall he live again? This query has trembled upon the lips of man thru all the centuries, and as yet remains unanswered. ”

“ There is a heaven and a hell. If you believe certain dogmas and perform certain rites, you will go to heaven when you die. But if you honestly disbelieve the things a belief in which is necessary to your salvation, and neglect to perform the required rites, your certain destination will be the other terminus, with no return ticket. According to this church doctrine, human destiny has two ultimates, and the world is a stage of probation. ”

“ Whatever begins, ends. Nature has no miracles. I do not know that death ends conscious personal existence, neither do I know the contrary. I do not believe, because I do not know. I am an Agnostic.
Thru all the centuries man has sought for the evidence of eternal life. ”

“ Belief in theological dogmas does not effect a man's character here. There are bad people all churches. Why should belief be the first condition to salvation? When God gave man a free will, was there a string to it? ”

“ However, consistency is an insignificant element in Christian theology. Contradictions in fact and logic do not worry theologians. When they discover a fact that does not fit their theology, it is bad for the fact, but it doesn't disturbe the theology. ”

“ We cannot rely upon the natural impulses and longings of the human mind as trustworthy testimony. Man most desires that he does not possess. The very fact that the human mind aspires to a continued conscious personal existence tends rather to prove that it has not been attained. ”

“ The chief trouble with mankind is that he, it or they have always lacked sufficient sufficient discriminative ability to separate theories from the facts. Man has mixed his facts and theories, with the result that he got mentally mixed himself. ”

“ And because of this eternal seeking, those who believe in continuous personal existence contend that life is eternal—that man's very impulse to grasp it proves the thing exists. But if man has sought for eternal life, he has also avoided death ”