It is precisely on this point that in the most highly developed
religions there is the greatest falling off from the original
conception of the after-effect of human conduct on the soul, and the
most astounding things are inculcated by the Koran and other works
with respect to this.
But here again we may separate the true kernel from the artificial
shell, and reach the conclusion that good conduct is advantageous for
the soul after the death of the body, and that bad conduct is
detrimental. In no other way can the Mohammedan paradise or the
Christian hell be explained than as sheer anthropomorphic realizations
of these facts, which can appeal even to the densest intellect.
What then is good conduct, or bad?
The question is easily asked, but without reference to external
circumstances impossible to answer. _Per se_ there is no good or bad
conduct. Under certain circumstances a vulgar, brutal murder may
become a glorious and heroic act, a good deed in the truest sense of
the word; as, for example, in the case of Charlotte Corday. Nor must
the view of one's fellow creatures be accepted as a criterion of good
or bad conduct, for different parties are apt to cherish diametrically
opposed opinions on one and the same subject.
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