innate tendencies? Such a thing as intellectual heredity does not
exist. Take two children of the same parentage, receiving identically
the same education, surrounded by the same care, and having in every
respect similar environments. Now examine each of them. Are they equal?
Not in any way; equality of souls does not exist. The one is born with
pacific instincts and great intelligence. He will be good, learned,
wise, illustrious perchance, amid the thinkers of his age. The other
one brings with him a domineering, envious perhaps, or even a brutal
instinct. His career defines and accentuates itself as each year
passes, and will lead him eventually to high rank in military life, and
will give him the honour (little to be coveted, though still admired
upon the Earth) which is attached to the title of an official assassin.
Whether feebly or strongly pronounced, this dissimilarity of character,
which depends neither upon family, nor upon race, nor upon education,
nor upon material conditions, is manifest in every man. Reflect upon
this at your leisure; you will arrive at the conviction that it is
absolutely inexplicable, and can only be accounted for by belief in an
anterior life of the soul.
[Sidenote: Creation of the soul.]
_Quærens._ Have not most philosophers and theologians taught that the
soul and the body are created at one and the same time?
_Lumen._ And which, pray, is the precise moment of its creation? Is
it at the moment of birth? Legislation, enlightened by anatomical
physiology, knows that a child lives before being delivered from its
uterine prison, therefore the destruction of an embryo of eight months
is regarded as murder. At what period do you then suppose, that the
soul appears in the fluid brain of the foetus or of the embryo?
_Quærens._ It was thought in olden times that the real spiritual
quickening of the human being took place during the sixth week of
gestation, but the modern belief is that it occurs at the moment of
conception.
_Lumen._ Oh, bitter mockery! In accordance with this view you would
have the eternal designs of the Creator dependent in their execution
upon capricious desires, upon the intermittent flames of two amorous
hearts! You would dare to admit that our immortal being is created by
the physical contact of two human beings! You would be disposed to
believe that the Divine Head which governs the worlds, is influenced by
intrigue, by passion, even by crime! You would think that the number of
souls depends upon the number of flowers impregnated by the touch of
the sweet pollen dust borne to them on golden wings?
Is not such a doctrine, such a supposition, an outrage upon the Divine
dignity and the spiritual grandeur of the soul itself? And would it
not, besides, be the complete materialisation of our intellectual
faculties?
_Quærens._ And yet----
_Lumen._ Yes; that seems so to you, because upon your planet no soul
can incarnate itself otherwise than in a human embryo. It is a law of
life on the Earth. But you must look through the veil. The soul is not
an effect. The body serves it only as its garment.
QUÆRENS. I admit that it would indeed be singular that an event of such
dire importance as the _creation_ of an immortal soul should spring
from a carnal cause, should be the result of casual unions, more or
less legitimate. Also, I agree with you that organic causes do not
explain the different degrees of capacity with which mankind is born
into this world.
But I ask, of what use would be these various existences if, on
beginning a new life, we retain no remembrance of those that precede
it? Also, if it is really desirable to have in prospect a journey
without end through endless worlds, and an eternal transmigration?
For at last there must be an end to it all, and, after many æons of
voyages, we must some day finish our existence and seek repose. Would
it not be as well to do so after one existence only?
[Sidenote: The unknown.]
LUMEN. O men! You do not comprehend either time or space. Do you not
know that outside the movement of the stars time no longer exists,
and that eternity is no longer measured? Do you not know that in the
infinite extent of the sidereal universe space is but a vain word, no
longer measurable? You ignore all; principles, causes, all escape you:
atoms upon a movable atom, you have not any exact appreciation of the
universe; and yet, despite ignorance so dense, and comprehension so
obscure, you would attempt to judge all, to envelop all, to seize all!
But it would be easier to put the ocean into a nutshell than it would
be to make you, with your terrestrial brain, understand the law of
destiny.
[Sidenote: Nothing created, nothing annihilated.]
Can you not, then, by making a legitimate use of the faculty of
induction which has been given you, gather the direct consequences
resulting from observation supported by reason? Observation, sustained
by proof, shows conclusively that all are not equal on coming into this
world; that the past is not unlike the future; and that the eternity
which is before us is equally behind us; that nothing is created in
nature, and that nothing is annihilated; that nature includes all
things existing, and that God, spirit, law, number, are no more outside
nature than matter, weight, motion; that moral truth, justice, wisdom,
virtue, exist in the progress of the world as surely as its physical
reality; that justice decrees equity in the distribution of its
destinies; that our destinies are not accomplished upon this earthly
planet; that the empyrean heaven does not exist, and that the Earth is
a star in the sky; that other inhabited planets soar with ours in the
vast expanse; opening out to the wings of the soul an inexhaustible
field of vision, and that the infinite in the universe corresponds, in
the material creation, with the eternity of our intelligence in the
spiritual creation.
[Sidenote: Unknown forces in nature.]
[Sidenote: Affinities.]
Are not certainties such as these, followed by the inductions with
which they inspire us, sufficient to liberate your mind from ancient
prejudices, and to open out, to an enlightened judgment, a panorama
worthy of the vague yet profound desires of our souls? I could
illustrate this general sketch by examples and details which would
surprise you still more. Let it suffice for me to add that there are in
nature other forces than those you know, which, both in essence and in
mode of action, differ from electricity, attraction, light, &c. Now,
among these natural and unknown forces there is one in particular,
the study of which will ultimately lead to singular discoveries in
elucidating the problems of the soul and of life. This is the psychic
force. This invisible fluidic force establishes a mysterious bond,
unknown to themselves, between living beings, and already in many
cases you have been able to recognise its existence. Take the case of
two beings _in love_ (as the saying is). It seems impossible for them
to live apart. Should circumstances lead to their being separated, our
two lovers become absent-minded, and their souls as it were leave their
bodies, and span any distance which prevents them re-uniting with one
another. The thoughts of the one are shared by the other, and they live
together despite their separation.
Should any misfortune touch one, the other becomes immediately
conscious of it; and such separations have been known to end in death.
How many facts have been stated by trustworthy witnesses of the sudden
apparition of a person to an intimate friend, of a wife to a husband,
of a mother to a son, and _vice versâ_, just at the moment of death,
even though many leagues might separate them! The most captious critic
cannot in these days deny facts thus circumstantially proved. Twin
children living ten leagues apart, and under very different conditions,
are stricken at the same time with the same malady, or if one is
excessively fatigued, the other feels the same without apparently any
assignable cause. And so on. These facts prove that ties of sympathy
exist between souls and even between bodies, and give room for the
repeated reflection, that we are far from knowing all the forces
operating in nature.
If I communicate these views to you, my friend, it is chiefly to show
that you can not only have a foretaste of truth before death, but
also that earthly existence is not so entirely deprived of light, as
to prevent one's reason recognising the chief characteristics of the
moral world. Besides, all these truths will be emphasised by my further
narration, when you learn that it is not only the previous existence
before my last one that I have seen again, thanks to the slowness of
light, but also my ante-penultimate planetary life, inclusive of more
than ten existences preceding that one in which we came to know each
other upon this Earth.
II
[Sidenote: Plurality of lives.]
QUÆRENS. Reflection and study had already inclined me, Lumen, to
believe in the plurality of the existences of the soul. Yet this
doctrine lacks proofs, logical, moral, and even physical, as numerous
and as weighty as are those in favour of the plurality of the inhabited
worlds. I own that until now I had grave doubts on the subject. Modern
optics and marvellous calculations, which enable us to touch, as it
were, the other worlds, show us their years, their seasons, their days,
and make us acquainted with the varieties of nature living on their
surface. All these elements have enabled contemporaneous astronomy to
establish the fact of human existence in the other worlds on a strong
and imperishable foundation. But I repeat that it is not so with
palingenesis, though I am strongly inclined towards the doctrine of
the transmigration of souls in the actual heaven, since this is the
only way by which we can gain an idea of eternal life. My desires,
however, need to be sustained by the help of a light, and inspired by a
confidence I do not yet possess.
LUMEN. It is precisely this light which we have under consideration,
and will be brought out by this interview.
I have, I own, an advantage over you, since I speak _de visu_, and
that I strictly limit myself to interpret with exactitude the events
with which my spiritual life is actually woven. But since you can see
the possibility and probability of the scientific explanation of my
statement, you cannot fail as you listen to increase your light and
augment your knowledge.
QUÆRENS. It is for this cause chiefly that I am always eager to hear
you.
LUMEN. Light, you understand, is the means of giving to the
disincarnated soul _a direct vision_ of its planetary existences.
[Sidenote: Constellations.]
After having reviewed my earthly existence, I saw once more my life
previous to my last one, upon one of the planets of Gamma in Virgo,
light bringing to me the former only after 72 years, and the latter
after 172 years. I see myself at present from Capella as I was upon the
earth 72 years ago, and as I was upon Virgo 172 years ago. Thus two
existences, both _past and successive_, are here shown me as _present
and simultaneous_, by virtue of the laws of light which transmit them
to me.
[Sidenote: Andromeda.]
[Sidenote: Effects of perspective.]
Nearly five hundred years ago, I lived upon a world whose astronomical
position as seen from the earth is precisely that of the left breast
of Andromeda. Assuredly the inhabitants of that world do not suspect
that the denizens of a little planet in space have joined the stars
by fictitious lines, tracing figures of men, women, animals, and
divers objects, incorporating all the stars in figures more or less
original, in order to give them a name. It would greatly astonish
some of these planetary people if they were told, that upon the
Earth certain stars bear the names of Heart-of-the-Scorpion (what a
heart!), Head-of-the-Dog, Tail-of-the-Great-Bear, Eye-of-the-Bull,
Neck-of-the-Dragon, Brow-of-Capricorn. You are, of course, aware that
neither the constellations drawn upon the celestial globe, nor the
position of the stars upon that globe, are either real or absolute, but
are only the result of the position of the Earth in space, and thus are
simply a question of _perspective_. Go to the top of a mountain and
fix upon a map the respective positions of all the summits surrounding
you in that circular panorama, its hills, its valleys, its villages,
its lakes; a map so constructed could only serve for the place from
whence it was drawn. Now transport yourself ten miles farther; the same
summits are visible, but their respective positions in regard to each
other are different, resulting from the change in perspective. The
panorama of the Alps and of the Oberland, as seen from Lucerne, and
Pilatus does not in the least resemble that seen from the Fulkhorn,
or from the Schynige Platte above Interlaken. Yet these are the same
summits and the same lakes. It is exactly so with the stars. The same
aspect is seen both from the star Delta in Andromeda and from the
Earth; but there is not a constellation that can be recognised, because
all the celestial perspectives have changed; stars of the first
magnitude have become of the second and of the third; whilst others, of
lesser magnitudes, seen nearer, shine with increased brilliancy; and,
above all, the respective situation of the stars as regards one another
has completely changed in consequence of the different position of that
star and of the Earth.
QUÆRENS. Therefore the appearance of the constellation which one has so
long believed to be ineffaceably traced upon the vaulted sky is only
due to perspective. In changing our position we change our perspective,
and our sky is no longer the same. But, then, ought we not to have a
change of celestial perspective every six months, since during this
interval the Earth has greatly altered its position, having removed
to a distance of seventy-four millions of leagues from the place it
formerly occupied?
LUMEN. This objection proves that you have perfectly comprehended the
principle of the deformation of the constellations as one moves in any
direction in space.
It would be, as you suppose, if the Earth's orbit were of a dimension
sufficiently vast for the two opposite points of this orbit to change
the view of this celestial scenery.
QUÆRENS. Seventy-four millions of leagues--
LUMEN. Are as nothing in the order of celestial distances, and can
no more affect the perspectives of the stars, than taking a step in
the cupola of the Pantheon would change the apparent position of the
buildings in Paris to the eye of the observer.
[Sidenote: The charts of the Middle Ages.]
QUÆRENS. Certain charts of the Middle Ages represent the Zodiac as
an arch in the heavens, and place some of the constellations, such
as Andromeda, the Lyre, Cassiopea, and the Eagle, in the same region
as the Seraphim, the Cherubim, and the Thrones. That, therefore, was
simply fancy, since constellations have no real existence, but are
simply appearances due to perspective.
LUMEN. Certainly the old heaven of theology has no legitimate place
to-day, and simple common sense shows that it does not exist. Two
truths cannot oppose one another; it is a necessity that the spiritual
heaven should accord with the physical heaven, and the object of my
various conversations is the demonstration of this truth. Upon the
world of Andromeda of which I speak, there is nothing resembling
the constellation of Andromeda. Seen from the Earth, those stars
which appear joined and have served on the celestial landscape to
distinguish the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopea, are in reality
spread out in space at all sorts of distances, and in every direction.
One cannot find either there or elsewhere the least vestige of the
tracings of terrestrial mythology.
[Sidenote: The poetry of the heavens lost.]
QUÆRENS. All its poetry is lost.... I shall feel, however, a certain
satisfaction in believing that for a part of my life I have rested
on the bosom of Andromeda. It is a pleasant fancy. There is in it a
mythological perfume and a comforting sensation. I should like to be
transported there without fear of the monster, and without solicitude
for the young Perseus bearing the head of the Medusa, and mounted on
his famous Pegasus. But now, thanks to the scalpel of science, there is
no longer an unveiled princess bound to a rock on the sea-shore, nor a
virgin holding an ear of golden corn, nor Orion pursuing the Pleiades;
Venus has vanished from our evening sky, and old Saturn has let fall
his scythe in the night. Science has caused these ancient myths to
disappear! I regret its progress.
[Sidenote: The facts of astronomy grander than its fancies.]
LUMEN. Do you, then, prefer illusion to reality? Do you not know
that truth is immeasurably more beautiful, grander, and infinitely
more marvellous than error, however that may be embellished? What
can be comparable in all the mythologies past and present, to the
rapt scientific contemplation of celestial grandeurs and the sublime
movements of nature? What impression can strike the soul more
profoundly than _the fact_ of the expanse crowded with worlds, and the
immensity of the sidereal systems? What voice is more eloquent than
the silence of a star-lit night? What wild flight of imagination could
conceive an image surpassing that, of the interstellar voyage of light,
stamping with the seal of eternity the transitory events of the life of
each world?
Throw off, then, my friend, your old errors and become worthy of the
majesty of science. Listen to what follows:--
[Sidenote: Description of the world of Andromeda.]
[Sidenote: The elements.]
By reason of the time light employs in coming from the system δ of
Andromeda to Capella, I have seen again, in this year of 1869, my
ante-penultimate existence, already ended five hundred years ago.
That world is very singular according to our ideas. It has only one
kingdom on its surface, and that the animal kingdom. The vegetable
kingdom does not exist there. But that aδnimal kingdom is very different
from ours, and of a superior kind, although it is endowed with five
senses similar to those on the Earth. It is a world without sleep and
without fixity. It is entirely enveloped in a rose-coloured ocean,
less dense than terrestrial water, and more dense than our atmosphere.
It is a substance holding a middle place as a fluid, between air and
water. Terrestrial chemistry does not produce any similar substance,
therefore it would be in vain to try and represent it to you. Carbolic
acid gas that can be held invisible at the bottom of a glass, and can
be poured out like water, will give you the nearest idea of it. This
is due to a fixed quantity of heat and electricity held in permanence
upon that globe. You are aware that the composition of all things upon
the Earth, whether mineral, vegetable, or animal, is in three states,
solid, liquid, and gaseous, and that the sole cause of these different
conditions is the heat radiated from the Sun upon the surface of the
Earth. The interior heat of the globe has now hardly any appreciable
effect upon its surface.
[Sidenote: Degree of heat fixes the condition of matter.]
[Sidenote: Effect of the Earth flying off at a tangent.]
Less solar heat would liquefy gases and solidify liquids. Greater heat
would dissolve solids and evaporate liquids. A more or less quantity
of heat would produce liquid air (yes, liquid air), and marble would
be turned into gas. If by any cause whatever the earthly planet were
one day to fly off from its orbit at a tangent, and rush away into the
glacial obscurity of space, you would see all the water on the Earth
become solid, and gases in their turn become liquids; then as to solids
themselves ... you would see! No, you could not see this by remaining
upon the Earth, but you could from the depths of space witness this
curious spectacle, should your globe ever indulge in the freak of
escaping from its orbit at a tangent. And note further, that should
this colossal cold ever take place suddenly, all creatures would find
themselves immediately frozen on the spot, and the globe would carry
into space the singular panorama of the whole human race, and every
animal immovably congealed for all eternity, in the various attitudes
assumed by each individual and each creature, at the moment of the
catastrophe.
[Sidenote: Worlds in a glacial state. Life arrested.]
[Sidenote: The awakening out of glacial repose.]
There are worlds now in this state. They are eccentric worlds,
the life of whose inhabitants has been insensibly arrested by the
rapid flight of their planet away from the Sun, and they have been
transformed into millions of statues. Most of them are lying down
asleep, seeing that this profound change of temperature takes many
days in its accomplishment. There they are by millions, pell-mell,
dead, or, to be more accurate, sunk in a complete lethargy. The cold
preserves them. Three or four thousand years later, when the planet
returns from its dark and frozen aphelion to its brilliant perihelion,
towards the sun--whose fertilising heat caressing its surface with
welcoming rays will rapidly increase--and when it has reached the
degree which betokens the normal temperature of these beings, they will
be resuscitated at the age at which they were when overtaken by sleep;
they will take up their affairs from the moment of their interruption
(long interruption indeed!) without any consciousness that they had
slept a dreamless sleep for so many ages. One may see some continuing
a game, or finishing a phrase whose first words have been uttered four
thousand years ago. All this is perfectly simple, for we have seen that
time does not in reality exist. This, on a large scale, is exactly
what passes on a small one on the Earth when you revive infusoria,
which take a fresh lease of life under the rain, after several years of
apparent death.
[Sidenote: World of Andromeda.]
But to return to our world of Andromeda; the rose-coloured and
quasi-liquid atmosphere, surrounding it entirely as an ocean without
islands, is the abode of living beings, who are perpetually floating in
the depths of that ocean which none have ever sounded: from their birth
to their death they have not one moment's repose. Incessant activity is
the condition of their existence. Should they become stationary they
would perish. In order to breathe, that is to say, to enable this fluid
element to penetrate to their bosom, they are constrained to keep their
tentacles in unceasing motion, and their lungs (I use this word the
better to be understood) constantly open.
[Sidenote: Process of nourishment.]
The external form of this human race resembles that of the sirens
of antiquity, but is less elegant, and their organism approaches
that of the seal. Do you see the essential difference between their
constitution and that of terrestrial man? It is that _on the Earth we
breathe without being conscious of the act_, and obtain oxygen without
exertion, not being compelled with difficulty to convert venous into
arterial blood by the absorption of oxygen. Upon this other world, on
the contrary, this nourishment _is only obtained with labour_ and at
the price of incessant effort.
QUÆRENS. Then this world is inferior to ours in the scale of progress?
LUMEN. Without any doubt, seeing that I inhabited it before coming
upon the Earth. But do not think that the Earth is much superior by
reason of our being able to breathe whilst we are asleep. Doubtless, it
is a great advantage to be furnished with a pneumatic mechanism, which
opens involuntarily every time that our organism needs the least breath
of air, and which acts automatically and unceasingly night and day. But
man does not live on air alone; his earthly organism requires to be
nourished with something more solid, and this solid something does not
come to him involuntarily as does air.
[Sidenote: Labour of life on the Earth.]