lifting power of a magnet when attracted to a fixed rail of steel. He
arranged a series of magnets under a miniature car running on a steel
railway track. The magnets were insulated and attached to the bottom of
the car so that they came under the rail and about an inch below it.
Then he turned on enough electricity to make the magnets active. They
rose upward toward the rail, lifting the car bodily in the air. The
weight of the train was thus simply overcome!"
The electro-magnetic train has demonstrated its principle to the
satisfaction of scientific engineers. Professor Roberts, in charge of
the chemical works at Niagara Falls, says of it:--
"It is the electrical discovery of the age, and so simple in
application that the marvel is that it has escaped us so long. The
lightening power of magnetism has been known for years, the
greatest saving power to overcome gravity, but it seems it had to
wait for Doctor Albertson to discover it."
The air-ship promises, however, to eclipse the greatest and swiftest of
latter-day steamers. The air, rather than the ocean, is to be navigated.
All these marvellous developments in scientific activity correspond to
the developments of man's mental and spiritual powers. Telepathy
establishes its communication from spirit to spirit, as wireless
telegraphy establishes its sending of messages without visible means. On
both planes,--the physical and the psychical,--the subtle and finer
forces are being utilized, and the horizon line of the unknown
continually recedes before the progress of man.
Sir Oliver Lodge, LL.D., presented a new phase of the problem of
personality in an address in London, in the following statement of a
speculative belief:--
"To tell the truth, I do not myself hold that the whole of any one
of us is incarnated in these terrestrial bodies; certainly not in
childhood; more, but perhaps not so very much more, in adult life.
What is manifested in this body is, I venture to think likely, only
a portion--an individualized, a definite portion--of a much larger
whole. What the rest of me may be doing, for these few years while
I am here, I do not know, perhaps it is asleep; but probably it is
not so entirely asleep with men of genius; nor, perhaps, is it all
completely inactive with the people called 'mediums.'
"Imagination in science is permissible, provided one's imaginations
are not treated as fact, or even theory, but only as working
hypotheses,--a kind of hypotheses which, properly treated, is
essential to the progress of every scientific man. Let us imagine,
then, as a working hypothesis, that our subliminal self--the other,
the greater part of us--is in touch with another order of
existence, and that it is occasionally able to communicate, or
somehow, perhaps unconsciously, transmit to the fragment in the
body something of the information accessible to it. This guess, if
permissible, would contain a clue to a possible explanation of
clairvoyance. We should then be like icebergs floating in an ocean,
with only a fraction exposed to sun and air and observation: the
rest--by far the greater bulk--submerged and occasionally in
subliminal contact, while still their peaks, their visible peaks,
were far separate."
That which Doctor Lodge expresses in the form of a speculative theory is
by many realized as an actual experience; an absolute consciousness that
over and above and outside of the ordinary intelligent consciousness is
another being more one's self than is his conscious self; with whom he
is in a very varied degree of communion; clearer and more immediate at
times; clouded, confused, even shut off by some dense state at others;
intermittent always, yet often sufficiently clear and impressive to
compel his attention to the phenomena and compel recognition of the
truth. In fact, as one comes into still clearer recognition of this
"other" self,--which is far more the true self than is the lower and
lesser manifestation,--one comes to absolutely realize that his larger,
higher, more comprehensive life is being lived in this higher realm, or
condition, and that his entire being on the plane of the lower
consciousness is a series of effects of which the causes lie in this
other larger and more real life. That is, the individual has two lives
not precisely corresponding in chronological sequence. The experiences
of the day are his because, _before the day has dawned_, they have been
the experiences of the higher life lived in the larger realm. The
spiritual self has realized that train of experiences in the spiritual
realm; therefore, and as a result inevitable, these experiences
precipitate themselves into the physical life, and are manifested on the
physical plane of being. One does a given thing to-day, or meets a given
event, _because_ his spiritual or subliminal or even real self has
already done that thing or met that event on the higher plane. The real
being is all the time dwelling in the more real world. As all planes of
life are spiritual planes,--even that which we call the physical, being
but the cruder and denser quality of the spiritual,--it makes the theory
clearer to designate the realm just above our present one as the
ethereal. In this ethereal realm dwells the ethereal body. A certain
portion of its consciousness animates the physical structure and works
through the physical brain. It lies with ourselves as to how closely we
may establish the relation between the higher and the lower self. This
relation may constantly be increased in the degree of receptivity of the
lower to the higher self by living the life of the spirit. And what is
the life of the spirit? The life of joy and peace; and the life of
study, thought, and endeavor; the life of both intellectual and
spiritual culture; the life in which the physical body is subordinated
to its true place as a mechanism, an instrument for carrying out the
will of the spiritual self.
Thus, by study, thought, and prayer, may one more and more consciously
and entirely control and determine his active life, and constantly
refine and exalt it in quality. As this is done its potency increases,
for spirit alone is power.
Of telepathy Doctor Lodge says:--
"Telepathy itself, however, is in need of explanation. An idea or
thought in the mind of one person reverberates, and dimly appears
in the mind of another. How does this occur? Is it a physical
process going on in some physical medium or ether connecting the
two brains? Is it a primary physiological function of the brain, or
is it primarily psychological? If psychological only, what does
that mean? Perhaps it may not be a direct immediate action between
the two minds at all; perhaps a third intelligence is in
communication with both."
Will this theory furnish the basis for a true interpretation of
telepathy?
The relations between the individual and the forces of the ethereal
realm are also determining as regards health.
[Sidenote: Health and Happiness.]
For health and illness are by no means the mere and exclusive
consideration of the physical life. Health, in its complete
significance, is mental and even moral, and involves, in its higher
aspects, the entire question of the spiritual life. Health, successful
achievement, and happiness are an indissoluble trinity, when interpreted
in their full integrity and in their inter-relations. Ideally
considered, they are in closest interpenetration. As a matter of actual
fact each is often partially manifest,--good physical health without any
special achievement; or a high degree of achievement with defective
health; or both, without much resultant happiness; or happiness even,
without outward success or physical health, resulting only from a deeper
spiritual insight and recognition of eternal laws. Still, ideally
considered, as this world goes, health should be the basis of successful
achievement, and this achievement should rest on health; and the union
of both should produce the inflorescence of happiness; for the true
sense of all successful achievement is in that it makes for the forces
of righteousness, and a successful swindler or criminal could hardly be
included under these general definitions. And so, to have good health,
and to achieve good and noble work, must produce a good degree of
personal happiness as inevitably as that certain numerical combinations
produce certain numerical results. So much we may concede. The question
is then before us: How can we secure and hold unvarying, from day to
day, from year to year, this basis of physical health on which the
superstructure of all endeavor and realization must rest? Just how shall
one be well and keep well?
It is certainly a question not restricted to the physician nor yet to
the metaphysician. For health is not merely a physical condition. It is
the question of the poise, the harmony of the entire psychical being.
Professor John D. Quackenbos has recently said of Hypnotism:--
"Investigations extending over many years have led me to a belief
in the dual personality of man--that is, each human unit exists in
two distinct states of superior consciousness. One of these states
is called the primary or superliminal consciousness,--the
personality by which a man is known to his objective associates,
which takes cognizance through the senses of the outside world, and
carries on the ordinary business of every-day life. The second or
subliminal personality is the superior spiritual self, the man's
own oversoul, which automatically superintends all physical
functions and procedures, and influences mental and moral
attitudes.
"It happens to be a fact of mind that in sleep--natural or
induced--this subliminal or submerged self may be brought into
active control of the objective life. My experiments have forced me
to the conclusion that there is no difference as regards
suggestibility between natural sleep and the so-called hypnotic
trance. In the induced sleep the subject is in _rapport_
exclusively with the operator; in natural sleep only with his own
objective self, perhaps with a multitude of discarnate
personalities, who think and feel in common with him, and, in case
he be of superior parts, possibly with all well-wishing
extra-human intelligences."
Here we have the basis of truth. That condition of vigor, poise,
vitality, and harmony which we call good health depends on the degree of
control exercised over the physical body by that "second or subliminal
personality, the superior spiritual self, the man's own oversoul,
which," as Doctor Quackenbos so truly observes, "superintends all
physical functions and procedures, and influences mental and moral
attitudes."
The problem, then, becomes that of bringing the psychical body into this
receptive relation to the physical self? How shall the perfect spiritual
supremacy be established? This question reveals, of itself, to how great
a degree health is a mental and moral as well as a physical affair.
Perhaps the initial step is that of clearly realizing--of holding the
luminous conception--of one's self as a spiritual being in the psychical
body, _temporarily inhabiting_ a physical body,--a spiritual being using
as its instrument a physical body so long as it is at work in the
physical world, or on the physical plane. One may thus conceive of his
physical body as being really as objective as is the pen of the writer;
the palette and brushes of the painter; the machine, or mechanism, or
instrument used by any one. And the moment one learns to thus hold the
physical instrument objectively, he thus brings it under the control of
thought. He is no longer so a part of it; so entangled and involved in
it that he cannot control it. The moment he holds this clear, vivid
mental realization of it as his instrument, he is in command. This may
be illustrated by an electric car and a motor-man. If the man were bound
up and entangled among the cogs and wheels he could not guide and
control the car; but in his place, free from all its mechanism, his hand
on the motor, the course and the degree of speed obeys his mental
direction applied through his control.
This realization of the true relation of the spiritual man to his body
is the initial condition of health, and this involves as a matter of
course the spiritual relations with the Divine Power, and receptivity to
the infinite energy.
It also involves an intelligent care of the physical mechanism. A
clogged pen would repress the recording of the noblest sonnet or epic; a
defective brush, or pigment, would ruin the picture of the greatest
artist; a broken wire would prevent the transmission of the most
important telegraphic or cable message. And so, however intelligently
and completely one holds the faith of supremacy of the spiritual over
the physical, he must realize the absolute necessity of fidelity to
hygienic laws. Food, in its quantity and quality; bathing, exercise,
fresh air, sleep,--these are the conditions on which the state of the
physical mechanism depends, and which involve that perfection of health
which determines exhilaration, power, achievement, and happiness.
Canon Scott Holland of St. Paul's Cathedral has ably discussed these new
problems of the finer forces in the ethereal realm; and in a discourse
entitled "Other World Activities" he drew the following analogy:--
"The text is from the Book of Daniel, a Book which takes us into a
world of visions and trances and mystical imagery. There is a world
within the world; a life beyond life. That world is not only the
sphere of God, but of recognizable beings, meditating presences
subject to rule, with organization and degrees, activities and
authorities. It is a host, a kingdom, swayed by law and purpose. In
the Bible there is much of this, learnt probably by the Hebrews
from their captors. They had gone far afield: their horizon had
been widened: they had been taught how to enter largely into this
mysterious region. But, fortunately, they dealt soberly with this
weltering flood of occult knowledge. These hosts of unseen
presences are marshalled into order: they are not mere genii,
fantastic and magical; they pass under the control of the sole
directive will of the Most High. They are solemn instruments of
spiritual destiny: they are semi-human, and the record is, 'one
like unto a man touched me.'"
Canon Holland proceeds to arraign modern teachings. "We have drifted
from this tremendous reality," he says. "We have tried to isolate the
field of known experience, and to cut it off from disturbing
supernatural imaginings. We have set ourselves to purge out from our
scheme of things anything that seemed to interfere with it. The unseen
was the unknown and the unknowable. But our agnostic programme has
broken down. Facts have been too much for it. The isolation desired by
it is impossible. In and out of the life that we can cover with our
rationalized experiences, there are influences, forces, powers which are
forever at work, and belong to a world beyond our scientific methods. We
float in a mysterious ether to which no physical limitations apply.
Sounds, motions, transmit themselves through this medium, under
conditions which transform our whole idea of what space or time they
mean. Through and beyond the semi-physical mystery, a world of spiritual
activity opens upon us. It has capacities of which we have never
dreamed. It allows of apparent contact of spirit with spirit, in spite
of material distance and physical obstruction. There are modes of
communication which are utterly unintelligible to our ordinary
scientific assumptions, yet which actual experience tends more and more
to verify."
Yes, as Canon Holland well says, "Facts have been too much" for those
who would cling to the old and the less intelligent ideas of the future
life. The ethereal world will even cease to be mysterious before
advancing scientific investigation and knowledge. Through the ether, as
Canon Holland notes, sounds and motions transmit themselves "under
conditions which transform our whole idea of what space or time may
mean." In the realm of present life the same assertion may be made. Who
can contemplate wireless telegraphy without having opened to him a range
of activities and conditions undreamed of heretofore? "We become sure,"
continues Canon Holland, "that both above and below our normal
consciousness we are in touch with mysteries that travel far, and that
we lie open to spiritual acts done unto us from a far distance, that we
assimilate intimations and intuitions that reach us by inexplicable
channels.
"This world of spirit powers and activities has been opened afresh; and
now even physical science is compelled to recognize the evidence for it,
and a new psychological language is coming into being to describe its
phenomena. We are only slowly recovering our hold upon this life of
mystic intuition, of exalted spiritual communications; we are only
beginning to recognize the abnormal and exceptional spiritual condition
with which Saint Paul was familiar, when, whether in the body or out of
it, he could not say,--God only knows,--he was transported to the third
Heaven and heard unutterable things."
This remarkable sermon is an initiation of a new era of religious
teaching. The light is breaking and the full illumination is only a
question of time.
Life is exalted in its purpose and refined in its quality by holding the
perpetual consciousness of the two worlds in which we dwell; by the
constant realization that
"The spirit world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmosphere...."
This atmosphere is all peopled, and it is magnetic with intelligence.
Every spirit-call for aid, for guidance, for support, is answered. If a
man fall on a crowded street in the city, how instantaneous is the aid
that cares for him. He is lifted and conveyed tenderly to his home, or
to a hospital, or to some temporary resting-place if the ill be but a
slight one. Strangers or friends, it matters not, rush to his rescue.
This, which occurs in the tangible and visible world, is but a feeble
illustration of the more profound tenderness, the clearer
understanding, the more potent aid that is given instantly to man from
the unseen helpers and friends in this spirit world which floats like an
atmosphere around this world of sense. It is all and equally the help of
God; it is the Divine answer to the call; but the Heavenly Father works
through ways and means. If a man fall on the street God does not cause a
miracle to be wrought and a bed to descend from the clouds, but He works
through the sympathies of the bystanders. Is it not equally conceivable
that the appeal for leading and for light sent into spirit spheres meets
the response of spirit-aid; that it awakens the interest and the
infinite tenderness and care of those who have passed from this life
into that of the next stage beyond, and that they are, according to
their development and powers, co-workers with God, even as we who are
yet on earth aim and pray to be?
Now it is just this faith that is so largely pervading the religious
world to-day. Spirituality includes all the convictions that constitute
ethics. Spirituality is the unchanging quality in all forms of organized
religion. And it is found, in greater or in less degree, in every sect
and every creed. Outward forms come and go; they multiply, or they
decrease, and the change in the expression of religious faith is a
matter largely determined by the trend of general progress; but the
essentials of religion, under all organized forms, remain the same, for
the essential element is spirituality. In and around Copley Square in
Boston, within the radius of one block, are several denominations whose
order of worship varies, the one from another. The Baptist believes in
immersion as the outer sign of the inner newness of life; the
Episcopalian holds dear his ritual; the Unitarian and the Presbyterian,
and perhaps a half-dozen other sects in close proximity (which express
the various forms of what they call "new thought"), each and all exist
and have their being by virtue of the one essential faith held in common
by all,--the one aim to which all are tending,--that of the
spiritualization of life. The larger recognition of the spiritual
universe includes the recognition of this interpenetration of the life
in the Seen and the Unseen. Every thought and decision is like an
action on the spiritual side. A thought has the force of a deed, and
there is a literal truth in the line,--
"The good, though only thought, has life and breath;"
and in Lowell's words:--
"Ah! let us hope that to our praise
Good God not only reckons
The moments when we tread His ways,
But when the spirit beckons."
The thought-life is, indeed, the most real of the two lives, and
dominates the other. The events and achievements, held in thought and
will, precipitate themselves into outer circumstance and action.
To live in this perfect sympathy of companionship with the forces and
the powers of the unseen world is to dwell amid perpetual reinforcement
of energy, solace, and sustaining aid, and with faith vitalized by
spiritual perception.
All scientific problems are ethical, and even spiritual, problems. They
are discoveries in the divine laws. "Can man by searching find out God?"
Apparently he approaches constantly to this possibility, and finds that
"--through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns."
Every succeeding century brings humanity to a somewhat clearer
perception of the nature of the Divine Creation. However slowly, yet
none the less surely, does the comprehension of man and his place in the
universe and his oneness with the Divine life increase with every
century. Jonathan Edwards taught that while Nature might reflect the
Divine image, man could not, as he was in a "fallen" state, until he was
regenerated. Putting aside the mere dogma involved in the "fall" of man,
the other matter--that of regeneration, of redemption--is undeniable,
even though we may interpret this process in a different manner from
that of the great eighteenth-century theologian. The redemption, the
regeneration of man, lies in faith. In that is the _substance_ through
which and by means of which man comes into conscious communion with God.
It is by the intense activity possible to this mental attitude that he
conquers the problems of the universe, that he advances in knowledge,
and advances in the increasing capacity to receive the Divine messages
and to follow the Divine leadings.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: A New Force.]
Of late years a new force has been discovered in the line of
ethico-spiritual aid in the higher order of hypnotism, as discovered and
practiced by Doctor Quackenbos, who may, indeed, without exaggeration,
be called the discoverer of this higher phase of applied suggestion. "I
have been brought," he says, "into closest touch with the human soul.
First objectively; subsequently in the realm of subliminal life, where,
practically liberated in the hypnotic slumber from its entanglement with
a perishable body, it has been open to approach by the objective mind in
which it elected to confide, dynamically absorptive of creative
stimulation by that mind, and lavish in dispensing to the personality in
_rapport_ the suddenly apprehended riches of its own higher spiritual
nature."
Of the nature of this power, we again find Doctor Quackenbos saying:
"Hypnotic suggestion is a summoning into ascendancy of the true man; an
accentuation of insight into life and its procedures; a revealing, in
all its beauty and strength and significance, of absolute, universal,
and necessary truth; and a portraiture of happiness as the assured
outcome of living in consonance with this truth." The learned doctor
regards hypnotism, indeed, as "a transfusion of personality."