MOTION FROM INHERENT ENERGY.--"LEAD ME DEEPER INTO THIS EXPANDING
STUDY."
"I partly comprehend that such would be the case," I said.
"If a series of knife blades on pivot ends be set in a frame, and turned
edgewise to a rapid current of water, the swiftly moving stream flows
through this sieve of metallic edges about as easily as if there were no
obstructions. Slowly turn the blades so as to present their oblique
sides to the current, and an immediate pressure is apparent upon the
frame that holds them; turn the blades so as to shut up the space, and
they will be torn from their sockets, or the entire frame will be
shattered into pieces."
"I understand; go on."
"The ethereal current that generates the magnetic force passes through
material bodies with inconceivable rapidity, and the molecules of a few
substances only, present to it the least obstruction. Material molecules
are edgewise in it, and meet no retardation in the subtle flood. This
force is a disturbance of space energy that is rushing into the earth in
one form, and out of it in another. But your mind is not yet in a
condition to grasp the subject, for at best there is no method of
explaining to men that which their experimental education has failed to
prepare them to receive, and for which first absolutely new ideas, and
next words with new meaning, must be formed. Now we, (by we I mean those
with whom I am connected) have learned to disturb the molecules in
matter so as to turn them partly, or entirely, across the path of this
magnetic current, and thus interrupt the motion of this ever-present
energy. We can retard its velocity without, however, producing either
magnetism (as is the case in a bar of steel), electricity, or heat, but
motion instead, and thus a portion of this retarded energy springs into
its new existence as motion of my boat. It is force changed into
movement of matter, for the molecules of the boat, as a mass, must move
onward as the force disappears as a current. Perhaps you can accept now
that instead of light, heat, electricity, magnetism, and gravitation
being really modifications of force they are disturbances."
"Disturbances of what?"
"Disturbances of motion."
"Motion of what?"
"Motion of itself, pure and simple."
"I can not comprehend, I can not conceive of motion pure and simple."
"I will explain at a future time so that you can comprehend more
clearly. Other lessons must come first, but never will you see the end.
Truth is infinite."
Continuing, he said:
"Let me ask if there is anything marvelous in this statement. On the
earth's surface men arrest the fitful wind, and by so doing divert the
energy of its motion into movement of machinery; they induce it to turn
mills and propel vessels. This motion of air is a disturbance, mass
motion transmitted to the air by heat, heat in turn being a disturbance
or interruption of pure motion. When men learn to interrupt this
unperceived stream of energy so as to change directly into material
motion the spirit that saturates the universe, and that produces force
expressions, as it is constantly rushing from earth into space, and from
space back again, they will have at command wherever they may be an
endless source of power, light, and heat; mass motion, light and heat
being convertible. Motion lies behind heat, light, and electricity, and
produces them, and so long as the earth revolves on its axis, and
circles in its orbit, man needs no light and heat from such indirect
sources as combustion. Men will, however, yet obtain motion of molecules
(heat), and material mass motion as well, from earth motion, without the
other dangerous intermediate force expressions now deemed necessary in
their production."
"Do you wish me to understand that on all parts of the earth's surface
there is a continual expenditure of energy, an ever-ready current, that
is really distinct from the light and heat of the sun, and also that the
imponderable bodies that we call heat, light, electricity, and
magnetism are not substances at all?"
"Yes," he replied.
"And that this imperceptible something--fluid I will say, for want of a
better term--now invisible and unknown to man, is as a medium in which
the earth, submerged, floats as a speck of dust in a flood of space?"
"Certainly," he replied.
"Am I to infer from your remarks that, in the course of time, man will
be able to economize this force, and adapt it to his wants?"
"Yes."
"Go on with your exposition, I again beg of you; lead me deeper into
this expanding study."
"There is but little more that you can comprehend now, as I have said,"
he answered. "All materials known to man are of coarse texture, and the
minds of men are not yet in a condition to comprehend finer exhibitions
of force, or of motion modifications. Pure energy, in all its
modifications, is absolutely unknown to man. What men call heat,
gravitation, light, electricity, and magnetism are the grosser
attributes attending alterations in an unknown, attenuated, highly
developed force producer. They are results, not causes. The real force,
an unreached energy, is now flooding all space, pervading all materials.
Everywhere there exists an infinite sea of motion absolute. Since this
primeval entity can not now affect matter, as matter is known to man,
man's sense can only be influenced by secondary attributes of this
energy. Unconscious of its all-pervading presence, however, man is
working towards the power that will some day, upon the development of
latent senses, open to him this new world. Then at last he will move
without muscular exertion, or the use of heat as an agent of motion, and
will, as I am now doing, bridle the motion of space. Wherever he may be
situated, there will then be warmth to any degree that he wishes, for he
will be able to temper the seasons, and mass motion illimitable, also,
for this energy, I reiterate, is omnipresent. However, as you will know
more of this before long, we will pass the subject for the present."
My guide slowly moved the lever. I sat in deep reflection, beginning to
comprehend somewhat of his reasoning, and yet my mind was more than
clouded. The several ambiguous repetitions he had made since our journey
commenced, each time suggesting the same idea, clothing it in different
forms of expression, impressed me vaguely with the conception of a
certain something for which I was gradually being prepared, and that I
might eventually be educated to grasp, but which he believed my mind was
not yet ready to receive. I gathered from what he said that he could
have given clearer explanations than he was now doing, and that he
clothed his language intentionally in mysticism, and that, for some
reason, he preferred to leave my mind in a condition of uncertainty. The
velocity of the boat increased as he again and again cautiously touched
the lever, and at last the responsive craft rose nearly out of the
water, and skimmed like a bird over its surface. There was no object in
that lake of pure crystal to govern me in calculating as to the rapidity
of our motion, and I studied to evolve a method by which I could time
our movements. With this object in view I tore a scrap from my clothing
and tossed it into the air. It fell at my feet as if in a calm. There
was no breeze. I picked the fragment up, in bewilderment, for I had
expected it to fall behind us. Then it occurred to me, as by a flash,
that notwithstanding our apparently rapid motion, there was an entire
absence of atmospheric resistance. What could explain the paradox? I
turned to my guide and again tossed the fragment of cloth upward, and
again it settled at my feet. He smiled, and answered my silent inquiry.
"There is a protecting sheet before us, radiating, fan-like, from the
bow of our boat as if a large pane of glass were resting on edge, thus
shedding the force of the wind. This diaphragm catches the attenuated
atmosphere and protects us from its friction."
"But I see no such protecting object," I answered.
"No; it is invisible. You can not see the obstructing power, for it is
really a gyrating section of force, and is colorless. That spray of
metal on the brow of our boat is the developer of this protecting
medium. Imagine a transverse section of an eddy of water on edge before
us, and you can form a comparison. Throw the bit of garment as far as
you can beyond the side of the boat."
I did so, and saw it flutter slowly away to a considerable distance
parallel with our position in the boat as though in a perfect calm, and
then it disappeared. It seemed to have been dissolved. I gazed at my
guide in amazement.
"Try again," said he.
[Illustration: "THE BIT OF GARMENT FLUTTERED LISTLESSLY AWAY TO THE SAME
DISTANCE, AND THEN--VACANCY."]
I tore another and a larger fragment from my coat sleeve. I fixed my
eyes closely upon it, and cast it from me. The bit of garment fluttered
listlessly away to the same distance, and then--vacancy. Wonders of
wonderland, mysteries of the mysterious! What would be the end of this
marvelous journey? Suspicion again possessed me, and distrust arose.
Could not my self-existence be blotted out in like manner? I thought
again of my New York home, and the recollection of upper earth, and
those broken family ties brought to my heart a flood of bitter emotions.
I inwardly cursed the writer of that alchemistic letter, and cursed
myself for heeding the contents. The tears gushed from my eyes and
trickled through my fingers as I covered my face with my hands and
groaned aloud. Then, with a gentle touch, my guide's hand rested on my
shoulder.
"Calm yourself," he said; "this phenomenon is a natural sequence to a
deeper study of nature than man has reached. It is simply the result of
an exhibition of rapid motion. You are upon a great underground lake,
that, on a shelf of earth substance one hundred and fifty miles below
the earth's surface, covers an area of many thousand square miles, and
which has an average depth of five miles. We are now crossing it
diagonally at a rapid rate by the aid of the force that man will yet use
in a perfectly natural manner on the rough upper ocean and bleak lands
of the earth's coarse surface. The fragments of cloth disappeared from
sight when thrown beyond the influence of our protecting diaphragm,
because when they struck the outer motionless atmosphere they were
instantly left behind; the eye could not catch their sudden change in
motion. A period of time is necessary to convey from eye to mind the
sensation of sight. The bullet shot from a gun is invisible by reason of
the fact that the eye can not discern the momentary interruption to the
light. A cannon ball will compass the field of vision of the eye, moving
across it without making itself known, and yet the fact does not excite
surprise. We are traveling so fast that small, stationary objects
outside our track are invisible."
Then in a kind, pathetic tone of voice, he said:
"An important lesson you should learn, I have mentioned it before.
Whatever seems to be mysterious, or marvelous, is only so because of the
lack of knowledge of associated natural phenomena and connected
conditions. All that you have experienced, all that you have yet to meet
in your future journey, is as I have endeavored to teach you, in exact
accordance with the laws that govern the universe, of which the earth
constitutes so small a portion that, were the conditions favorable, it
could be blotted from its present existence as quickly as that bit of
garment disappeared, and with as little disturbance of the mechanism of
the moving universe."
I leaned over, resting my face upon my elbow; my thoughts were
immethodically wandering in the midst of multiplying perplexities; I
closed my eyes as a weary child, and slept.