An excerpt from the beginning:

I

OUR IDEA OF DEATH
IT has been well said: "Death and death alone is what we must consult about life; and not some vague future or survival, in which we shall not be present. It is our own end; and everything happens in the interval between death and now. Do not talk to me of those imaginary prolongations which wield over us the childish spell of number; do not talk to me – to me who am to die outright – of societies and peoples! There is no reality, there is no true duration, save that between the cradle and the grave. The rest is mere bombast, show, delusion! They call me a master because of some magic in my speech and thoughts; but I am a frightened child in the presence of death!"1

1 Marie Lenéru, Les Affranchis, Act III., Sc. IV.

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CONTENTS

I. Our Idea Of Death
II. A Primitive Idea
III. We Must Enlighten And Establish Our Idea Of Death
IV. We Must Rid Death Of That Which Goes Before
V. The Pangs Of Death Must Be Attributed To Man Alone
VI. The Mistake Of The Doctors In Prolonging The Failings Of Death
VII. Their Arguements
VIII. That Which Does Not Belong To Death
IX. The Horrors Of The Grave Also Do Not Belong To Death
X. When Contemplating The Unknown Into Which Death Hurls Us,
Let Us First Put Religious Fears From Our Minds
XI. Annihilation Impossible
XII. The Survival Of Our Consciousness
XIII. It Seems Impossible
XIV. The Same, Continued
XV. If It Were Possible, It Would Not Be Dreadful
XVI. The Survival Without Consciousness
XVII. The Same, Continued
XVII. The Limited Ego Would Become A Torture
XIX. A New Ego Can Find A Nucleus And Develop Itself In Infinity
XX. The Only Sorrow That Can Touch Our Mind
XXI. Infinity As Conceived By Our Reason
XXII. Infinity As Perceived By Our Senses
XXIII. Which Of The Two Shall We Know?
XXIV. The Infinity Which Both Our Reason And Our Senses Can Admit
XXV. Our Faith In Infinity
XXVI. The Same, Continued
XXVII. Shall We Be Unhappy There?
XXVIII. Questions Without Answers?
XXIX. The Same, Continued
XXX. It Is Not Necessary To Answer Them
XXXI. Everything Must Finish Exempt From Suffering