"Is not a man superior in sense to an ox? Has he not a mind to direct
his actions?"
Commoro. - "Some men are not so clever as an ox. Men must sow corn to
obtain food, but the ox and wild animals can procure it without sowing."
"Do you not know that there is a spirit within you more than flesh? Do
you not dream and wander in thought to distant places in your sleep?
Nevertheless, your body rests in one spot. How do you account for this?"
Commoro (laughing). - "Well, how do YOU account for it? It is a thing I
cannot understand; it occurs to me every night."
"The mind is independent of the body; the actual body can be fettered,
but the mind is uncontrollable; the body will die and will become dust,
or be eaten by vultures, but the spirit will exist for ever."
Commoro. - "Where will the spirit live?"
"Where does fire live? Cannot you produce a fire (The natives always
produce fire by rubbing two sticks together.) by rubbing two sticks
together, yet you SEE not the fire in the wood. Has not that fire, that
lies harmless and unseen in the sticks, the power to consume the whole
country? Which is the stronger, the small stick that first PRODUCES the
fire, or the fire itself? So is the spirit the element within the body,
as the element of fire exists in the stick; the element being superior
to the substance."
Commoro. - "Ha! Can you explain what we frequently see at night when lost
in the wilderness? I have myself been lost, and wandering in the dark, I
have seen a distant fire; upon approaching, the fire has vanished, and I
have been unable to trace the cause - nor could I find the spot."
"Have you no idea of the existence of spirits superior to either man or
beast? Have you no fear of evil except from bodily causes?"
Commoro. - "I am afraid of elephants and other animals when in the jungle
at night, but of nothing else."
"Then you believe in nothing; neither in a good nor evil spirit! And you
believe that when you die it will be the end of body and spirit; that
you are like other animals; and that there is no distinction between man
and beast; both disappear, and end at death?"
Commoro. - "Of course they do."
"Do you see no difference in good and bad actions?" Commoro. - "Yes,
there are good and bad in men and beasts."
"Do you think that a good man and a bad must share the same fate, and
alike die, and end?"
Commoro. - "Yes; what else can they do? How can they help dying? Good and
bad all die."
"Their bodies perish, but their spirits remain; the good in happiness,
the bad in misery. If you have no belief in a future state, WHY SHOULD A
MAN BE GOOD?
