958. Why has man an instinctive horror of the idea of annihilation?

"Because there is no such thing as nothingness."

959. Whence does man derive the instinctive sentiment of a future life?

"From the knowledge of that life possessed by his spirit previous to his incarnation; the soul retaining a vague remembrance of what it knew in its spirit-state."

In all ages, man has occupied himself with the question of a future beyond the grave; and it is natural that he should have done so. Whatever importance he may attach to the present life, he cannot help seeing how brief it is, and how precarious, since it may be cut short at any moment, so that he is never sure of the morrow. What becomes of him after death? The query is a serious one, for it refers, not to time, but  to eternity. He who is about to spend many years in a foreign country endeavours to ascertain beforehand what will be his position there; how, then, is it possible for us not to inquire what will be our state on quitting our present life, since it will be for ever?

The idea of annihilation is repugnant to reason. The most thoughtless of men, when about to quit this life, asks himself what is going to become of him, and involuntarily indulges in hope. To believe in God without believing in a future life would be illogical. The presentiment of a better life is in the inner consciousness of all men. God cannot have placed it there for nothing.

The idea of a future life implies the preservation of our individuality after death; for what good would it do us to survive our body, if our moral essence were to be lost in the ocean of infinity? Such a result would be, for us, the same as annihilation.