survival

n.

1. 1. The act or process of surviving.
   2. The fact of having survived.
2. Something, such as an ancient custom or belief, that has survived.

The continued possession of personality after the change called death. It is a fundamental doctrine of Spiritualism that Spiritualist phenomena demonstrate survival, and the investigation of that phenomena has been a major aspect of psychical research. The emergence of parapsychology represented, in part, a distinct reorientation of priorities away from survival research.

The basis of survival is the contention that mind can exist independently of the brain, that thought is not the result of changes in the brain, but that these changes (as William James suggested in his book Human Immortality, 1903) merely coincide with the flow of thought through it. The brain fulfills the role of an instrument of transmission. Thought transference and experiments in telepathy furnished the first scientific support of this contention.

The trance communications received through the medium-ship of Leonora Piper convinced many famous skeptical investigators that the communicators had survived the change of death. Even Eleanor Sidgwick admitted in her brilliant but extremely skeptical study of Piper's phenomena: "Veridical communications are received, some of which, there is good reason to believe, come from the dead, and therefore imply a genuine communicator in the background." (Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. 28, December 1915, p. 204.)

The arguments for and against survival are mainly centered around the evidential value of such communications. The first and most powerful point of attack is made on the subconscious front. The communicating personality is said to be artificial, a masquerading secondary self, and that supernormal information lies occasionally within the bounds of acquisition of the subconscious mind.

It is also pointed out that many of the communications are erroneous, of a lying nature, uncharacteristic of the dead, and easily obtainable by fraudulent means.

Those who argue for survival deny the sufficiency of subconscious powers as an explanation for communications, pointing to the distinct personalities of the communicators, their greatly differing abilities to communicate, their recognition of old friends, their behavior, temper, memories, and ability to give information outside the mind of everybody present and perhaps of everybody living.

They also point out the inconsistency of the telepathic theory in that it gradually leads to the supposition of a cosmic mind that is tapped by the telepathist, forming thereby a more far-reaching and less justified theory than individual survival. As evidence against telepathy, the results of some cross-correspondences and book (and newspaper) tests are quoted.

Philosophic speculation has often supported the concept of survival. P. G. Tait and Balfour Stewart posit in their book, The Unseen Universe (1875), that the main realities of the universe are not in matter at all, but in the ether of space. Although the concept of the ether has since been refuted, the enigma of the relationship between matter and consciousness remains, and it is feasible that consciousness continues to survive the death and disintegrating changes of the physical body. This implies that consciousness is a superior system to matter.

According to Sir Oliver Lodge, "the marvel is that we are associated with matter at all … I used to say that death was an adventure to which we might look forward. So it is; but I believe that really and truly it is earth-life that is the adventure. It is this earth-life that has been the strange and exceptional thing. The wonder is that we ever succeeded in entering a matter body at all. Many fail." (Phantom Walls, 1929). In the same book he also considers the possibility of grades of survival, stating: "Now survival only applies to things that really exist. If there is no individuality, then there is nothing to persist. Whether all human beings have sufficient personality to make their individual persistence likely is a question that may be argued. Whether some of the higher animals have acquired a kind of individuality, a character and wealth of affection which seem worthy of continued existence, may also be argued. There may be many grades of personality, and accordingly there may be many grades of survival."

The subjective experience of out-of-the-body travel or astral projection is often cited as presumptive evidence that the personality can exist independently of the body.

Sources:

Baird, Alexander T. One Hundred Cases for Survival After Death. New York: Bernard Ackerman, 1944.

Beard, Paul. Survival of Death: For and Against. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1966.

Broad, C. D. Personal Identity and Survival. London: Society for Psychical Research, 1968.

Crookall, Robert. Case-Book of Astral Projection, 545-746. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1972.

Ducasse, C. J. A Critical Examination of the Belief in a Life After Death. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas, 1961.

Garrett, Eileen J., ed. Does Man Survive Death?: A Symposium. New York: Helix Press, 1957.

Hart, Hornell. The Enigma of Survival: The Case For and Against an After Life. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C. Thomas, 1959.

Jacobson, Nils Olof. Life Without Death?: On Parapsychology, Mysticism and the Question of Survival. New York: Delacorte Press, 1973. Reprint, London: Turnstone Books, 1974.

Myers, F. H. Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green, 1903. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1975.

Rogo, D. Scott. Welcoming Silence: A Study of Psychical Phenomena and Survival of Death. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1973.

Salter, W. H. Zoar; or, The Evidence of Psychical Research Concerning Survival. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1961.

Saltmarsh, H. F. Evidence of Personal Survival From Cross Correspondences. London: G. Bell, 1939.

Smith, Susy. Life is Forever: Evidence for Survival After Death. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1974.

Quotes:

"The values by which we are to survive are not rules for just and unjust conduct, but are those deeper illuminations in whose light justice and injustice, good and evil, means and ends are seen in fearful sharpness of outline." - Jacob Bronowski

"Hunger, love, pain, fear are some of those inner forces which rule the individual's instinct for self preservation." - Albert Einstein

"Survival, with honor, that outmoded and all-important word, is as difficult as ever and as all-important to a writer. Those who do not last are always more beloved since no one has to see them in their long, dull, unrelenting, no-quarter-given-and-no-quarter-received, fights that they make to do something as they believe it should be done before they die. Those who die or quit early and easy and with every good reason are preferred because they are understandable and human. Failure and well-disguised cowardice are more human and more beloved." - Ernest Hemingway

"A population weakened and exhausted by battling against so many obstacles -- whose needs are never satisfied and desires never fulfilled -- is vulnerable to manipulation and regimentation. The struggle for survival is, above all, an exercise that is hugely time-consuming, absorbing and debilitating. If you create these anti-conditions, your rule is guaranteed for a hundred years." - Ryszard Kapuscinski

"If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf." - Nikita Khrushchev

"Self-preservation, nature's first great law, all the creatures, except man, doth awe." - Andrew Marvell

See more famous quotes about Survival

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - overlevelse, overleven

idioms:

• survival kit    overlevelsespakke
• survival of the fittest    den stærkeste overlever

Nederlands (Dutch)
overleving, overlevering

Français (French)
n. - survie, survivance, vestige

idioms:

• survival kit    équipement de survie
• survival of the fittest    survie des plus forts

Deutsch (German)
n. - Überleben, Fortbestand

idioms:

• survival kit    Notausrüstung
• survival of the fittest    Überleben der Stärkeren

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - επιβίωση, (μτφ.) κατάλοιπο, απομεινάρι

idioms:

• survival kit    ατομικά εφόδια επιβίωσης
• survival of the fittest    (βιολ., μτφ.) επιβίωση των ικανοτέρων

Italiano (Italian)
sopravvivenza

idioms:

• survival kit    attrezzatura di sopravvivenza, razione k
• survival of the fittest    selezione naturale

Português (Portuguese)
n. - sobrevivência (f)

idioms:

• survival kit    estojo de sobrevivência
• survival of the fittest    sobrevivência dos mais aptos

Русский (Russian)
выживание, срок существования, пережиток

idioms:

• survival kit    аварийный комплект средств жизнеобеспечения
• survival of the fittest    естественный отбор

Español (Spanish)
n. - supervivencia

idioms:

• survival kit    equipo para emergencias
• survival of the fittest    selección natural

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - överlevnad, överlevande, överlevnadsmöjlighet, fortlevande, kvarleva

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
留住生命, 残存, 生存

idioms:

• survival kit    求生背包
• survival of the fittest    适者生存

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 留住生命, 殘存, 生存

idioms:

• survival kit    求生背包
• survival of the fittest    適者生存

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 생존, 잔존, 생존자

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 生き残り, 残存, 生存者, 残存物
adj. - 緊急時用の

idioms:

• survival kit    救命袋
• survival of the fittest    適者生存

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) البقاء‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שרידה, הישרדות, הישארות בחיים, נשארות, שרידות, שריד, אימונים בשרידה בתנאים קשים‬

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Survival Kit	survival gear
Survival Knife	survival kit