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diff --git a/25931-8.txt b/25931-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..23e56de --- /dev/null +++ b/25931-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4496 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Science and the Infinite, by Sydney T. Klein + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Science and the Infinite + or Through a Window in the Blank Wall + + +Author: Sydney T. Klein + + + +Release Date: June 29, 2008 [eBook #25931] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCIENCE AND THE INFINITE*** + + +E-text prepared by David Clarke, Diane Monico, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +SCIENCE AND THE INFINITE + +Or + +Through a Window in the Blank Wall + +by + +SYDNEY T. KLEIN + + + + + + + +[Illustration: "THE MYSTERY OF THE APEX" + +VIEW NO. 3] + + + +Second Impression + +London +William Rider & Son, Limited +Cathedral House, Paternoster Row, E.C. +1917 + +First Published November 1912 +Reprinted September 1917 + + + + +TO + +THE RIGHT HON. + +ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR + + + + +PREFACE + + +In venturing to prepare this little volume for the eyes of the reading +public, I am fully aware of the difficulties of the subject and the +inadequacy of the expressions I have been able to employ, but I have +made the attempt at the request of those who have found consolation in +some of the thoughts herein embodied; and the messages left by others +before they passed away, embolden me to hope that many others may find +in this volume some points of interest which will help them to +appreciate better the "joys" which this life has for those who know +how to look for them, and that perhaps others may even gain a clearer +conception of that which awaits us beyond the Veil. + +Many of us allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the small worries and +vexations of everyday life, clothing them with a reality quite +disproportionate to their importance; we are too apt to look at them, +as it were, through a powerful microscope, piling power upon power of +magnification, until we have made mountains out of mole-hills, +whereas if we treated them at their true value we should look at them +through a telescope, in the reverse direction, when they would appear +not only trivial, but would be seen to be too remote to have any +material effect on our lives. + +The sub-title of this volume, and indeed its inception, arose from my +lately coming in contact with one of those establishments which are +doing for humanity what a mother's arms do for the child who is "sick +unto death"--a beautiful home with cheerful rooms and cheerful nurses, +where patients are tenderly cared for after severe operations, carried +through by our most famous surgeons, some cases, alas, almost hopeless +from the first. At the head of this establishment was one of those +kindly self-abnegating personalities, whose loving sympathy and +encouragement have comforted the dying and smoothed the path for many +a weary pilgrim passing from this life to the next. With immense +responsibilities on her shoulders, and after a day full of strenuous +work, the head of this establishment would often sit through the night +for hours by the couch of those whose lives could not possibly be +prolonged for more than a few days. It was a few simple answers +elicited by the questions brought to me from those poor sufferers, and +the way such answers seemed to calm anxieties connected with the fear +of death and to render the impenetrable Veil more transparent, which +suggested the title, "Through a Window in the Blank Wall." + +I do not wish to lay claim to having made any startling discovery; +similar thoughts, especially those concerning the non-reality of Time +and Space, have no doubt occurred to others, but the whole problem +"What is the Reality?" has been insistently pressing on me ever since +I can remember, and I have tried to give here in simple colloquial +language, without any attempt at rhetoric, the conclusions I have +personally come to as to what is the Truth. + +The study of ancient and modern philosophic theories is useful as +showing how impossible it is, for even the greatest thinkers of any +age, to grasp the Absolute with our understanding or to measure the +Infinite with our finite units. The propounders of all these theories +seem to me to be, without exception, looking in the wrong direction +for the "Reality of Being"; they are all arguing from the standpoint +of "Intellectualism" in a similar manner to that of the "Theologians" +referred to in View Three. Our latest expositor of this, M. Henri +Bergson, bases his theory upon "Life" being the Reality; this he +postulates is a "flowing" in Time, and _Movement_ therefore becomes +for him the Reality; and yet we know that Motion is but the product +of Time and Space, and these are only the two modes or _limitations_ +under which our senses act and upon which our very consciousness of +living depends. Surely the Absolute cannot be localised, must be +Omnipresent, and therefore independent of Space--cannot have a +beginning or end, must be Omniscient, and therefore independent of +Time; these two unrealities can therefore have no existence in +"Reality of Being." If, then, there is any truth in "Intuition," we +have, in this theory, the Reality, "Life," not only limited by the +unreal but actually dependent for its very existence upon those +limitations! In these Views I have attempted, on the contrary, to show +that Time and Space have no existence apart from our Physical Senses; +they are the modes only under which we appreciate motion, or what we +call physical phenomena, and as our conceptional knowledge is based +upon our perceptional knowledge, our very consciousness of living is +limited by Time and Space, and we must surely therefore look behind +consciousness itself, beyond the conditioning in Time and Space for +the Reality of Being, otherwise _physical motion_, the product of +these two limitations, would become the Reality of Being. + +I have also suggested reasons for looking upon physical life as a +mode of frequency, akin to Light, Electricity, Magnetism, Chemical +Action, the Vibration of a Tuning Fork, or the Swing of a Pendulum, +and therefore a transient phenomenon having to do only with the Race; +Life can under these conditions only be looked upon as a reality in +the same sense in which all other forms of energy or matter appear +real to our finite senses--namely, as the shadows or manifestations of +the Absolute on our limited plane of Consciousness. + +However strongly I may be convinced--as I am--of the truth of my +arguments, and however sure I may be that many others will not only +agree with my conclusions, but will see that in "Introspection" rather +than in "Intellectualism" lies the key to the Mystery, I do not wish +to appear dogmatic in any of the suggestions contained in this volume; +I am stating my own convictions, but at the same time I fully +recognise that the presentation of the Absolute, with its infinite +variety of aspects, must necessarily be different to every individual; +we are all of the same genus, but each individual Ego is, as it were, +a different species, and I do not therefore expect that my attempt to +solve the Riddle of the Universe will appeal to all alike. It is, +however, a true saying that "there is something to be learnt from +every human being," and if I have by these suggestions succeeded in +augmenting the number of those who have already started on the true +"Quest," and have helped, however imperfectly, to enrich some lives +with the "joy" of knowing their oneness with the All-loving, my aim +has indeed been attained. + + SYDNEY T. KLEIN. + + "HATHERLOW," REIGATE, + _1st June 1912._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + VIEW ONE + +CLEARING THE APPROACH 1 + + VIEW TWO + +THE VISION 19 + + VIEW THREE + +MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM 36 + + VIEW FOUR + +LOVE IN ACTION 71 + + VIEW FIVE + +THE PHYSICAL FILM 100 + + VIEW SIX + +SPACE 122 + + VIEW SEVEN + +TIME 141 + + VIEW EIGHT + +CREATION 165 + + + + +SCIENCE AND THE INFINITE + + + + +VIEW ONE + +CLEARING THE APPROACH + + +The proof that the Human Race is still in its infancy may be seen in +the fact that we still require Symbolism to help us to maintain and +carry forward abstract thought to higher levels, even as children +require picture books for that purpose. The Glamour of Symbolism, +Rapture of Music, and Ideal of Art, which come to us in later years, +had their beginnings when to the child every blade of grass was a +fairy tale and a grass plot a marvellous fairy forest. The great +aspiration of the Human Race is to gain a knowledge of the Reality, +the Noumenon behind the phenomenon; but the fact that from infancy we +have been accustomed to confine our attention wholly to the objective, +believing that to be the reality, has surrounded us with a concrete +boundary wall through which we can only at times, with difficulty, get +transient glimpses of that which is beyond. It is only in recent +years that we have been able to realise that it is the Invisible which +is the Real, that the visible is only its shadow or its manifestation +in the Physical Universe, and that Time and Space have no existence +apart from our physical senses, in short, that they are only the modes +or limits under which those senses act or receive their impressions +and by which they are necessarily rendered finite. + +The difficulty is that our physical senses only perceive the surface +of our surroundings, and that we have hitherto been looking at the +Woof of Nature as though it were the glass of a window covered with +patterns, smudges, flies, &c., comprising all that we call physical +phenomena and which, when analysed in terms of Time and Space, produce +the appearance of succession and motion. It requires a keener +perception, unbounded by these limitations, to look through the glass +at the Reality which is beyond. I propose then in a series of short +views, through a window not hitherto unshuttered and in a direction +which I believe has not before been attempted, to lead those of my +readers who have the necessary aspiration, patience, and, above all, +strenuous persistence, to a watch-tower, situated well above the mists +and illusions of our ordinary everyday thoughts, whence they will find +it possible to get a glimpse of a strange new country, and where those +who have by practice once attained to its clear perception, will be +able to continue the study by themselves and thus get further insight +into that wonderful region of Thought which I have called "True +Occultism"--the knowledge of the Invisible which is the Real in place +of the Visible which is only its shadow. + +Let us first try and understand the conditions under which phenomena +are presented to us. In our perception of sight, we find the greater +the light, the greater the shadow; a light placed over a table throws +a shadow on the floor, though not sufficient to prevent our seeing the +pattern of the carpet; increase the light and the shadow appears now +so dark that no pattern or carpet can be seen; not that there is now +less light under the table but the light above has to our sense of +sight created or made manifest a greater darkness. Thus, throughout +the Universe, as interpreted by our Physical Ego, we find phenomena +ranging themselves under the form of positive and negative, the +apparently Real and the Unreal. + +The Good making manifest its negative Evil. +The Beautiful " " " " Ugly. +The True " " " " False. +Knowledge " " " " Ignorance. +Light " " " " Darkness. +Heat " " " " Cold. + +But the negatives have no real existence. As in the case of light we +see that the shadow is only the absence of light, so the negative of +Goodness, _i.e._ Evil, may in reality be looked upon as folly or +wasting of opportunity for exercising the Good. Owing to their +limitations our thoughts are based upon _relativity_, and it is hardly +thinkable that we could, under our present conditions, have any +cognisance of the positive without its negative; we shall in fact see +later on that it is by examining the Physical, the negative or shadow, +that we can best gain a knowledge of the Spiritual, the positive or +real. + +The first step to a clear understanding of this, is to recognise that +it is not we who are looking out upon Nature but that it is the +Reality which is ever trying to enter and come into touch with us +through our senses, and is persistently trying to waken within us a +knowledge of the sublimest truths. It is difficult to realise this, as +from infancy we have been accustomed to confine our attention wholly +to the objective, believing that to be the reality. + +Let us try and grasp this fact. If we analyse our sense of sight, we +find that the only impression made on our bodies by external objects +is the image formed upon the retina; we have no cognisance of the +separate electro-magnetic rills forming that image, which, reflected +from all parts of an object, fall upon the eye at different angles, +constituting form, and with different frequencies giving colour to +that image; that image is only formed when we turn our eyes in the +right direction to allow those rills to enter; and, whereas those +rills are incessantly beating on the outside of our sense organ when +the eyelid is closed, they can make no impression unless we allow them +to enter by raising that shutter. It is not then any volition from +within that goes out to seize upon and grasp the truths from Nature, +but the phenomena are as it were forcing their way into our +consciousness. This is more difficult to realise when the object is +near to us, as we are apt to confound it with our sense of touch, +which requires us to stretch out our hand to the object, but it is +clearer when we take an object far away. In our telescopes we catch +the rills of light which started from a star a thousand years ago and +the image is still formed on the retina _now_ although those rills are +in fact a thousand years old and, invisible to our unaided eye, have +been falling upon mankind from the beginning of life on this globe, +trying to get an entrance to consciousness. It was, however, only +when, by evolution of thought, the knowledge of optics had produced +the telescope that it became possible not only for that star to make +itself known to us but to declare to us its distance, its size, and +conditions of existence, and even the different elemental substances +of which it was composed a thousand years ago. Yet, when we now allow +its image to form on the retina, our consciousness insists on fixing +its attention upon that star as an outside object, refusing to allow +that it is only an image inside the eye and making it difficult to +realise that that star may have disappeared and had no existence for +the past 999 years, although in ordinary parlance we are looking at +and seeing it there now. + +I have referred above to the sense of touch; it is, I think, clear +that the first impression a child can have of sight must take the form +of feeling the image on its retina, as though the object were actually +inside the head, and it could have no idea that it was outside until, +by touching with the hand, it would gradually learn by experience that +the tangible outside object corresponded with the image located in the +head; this is fully borne out by the testimony of men who, born blind, +have, by an operation, received their sight late in life; in each case +their first experience of seeing gave the impression that the object +was touching the eye, and they were quite unable to recognise by sight +an object such as a cup or plate or a round ball which they had +commonly handled and knew perfectly well by touch; in fact, the idea +of an object formed by the sense of touch is so absolutely different +to that formed by the sense of sight that it would be impossible +without past experience to conclude that the two sensations referred +to one and the same object. The image formed on the retina has nothing +in common with the sense of hardness, coldness, and weight experienced +by touch, the only impression on the retina being that of colour or +shade, and an outline; it is, however, hardly conceivable that even +the outline of form would be recognised by the eye until touch had +proved that form comprised also solidity and that the two ideas had +certain motions in common both in duration in Time and extension in +Space. + +Again, our senses of sight and hearing are alike based on the +appreciation of frequencies of different rapidity; brightness and +colour in light are equivalent to loudness and pitch in sound, but in +sound we have no equivalent to perception of form or situation in +space; it gives us no knowledge of the existence of objects when +situated at great distances, nor can movements be followed even at +short distances without having material contact, by means of the air, +with the object; sight indeed appears to have to do with Space- and +sound with Time-perception. In examining Nature by means of our +senses we find we are so hemmed in by what we have always taken for +granted and so bound down by modes of reasoning derived from what we +have seen, heard, or felt in our daily life, that we are sadly +hampered in our search after the truth. It is difficult to sweep the +erroneous concepts aside and make a fresh start. In fact the great +difficulty in studying the Reality underlying Nature is analogous to +our inability to isolate and study the different sounds themselves +which fall upon the ear, if our own language is being uttered, without +being forced to consider the meaning we have always attached to those +sounds. + +Let us now go back to the contention that it is not we who are looking +out upon Nature but that our senses are being bombarded from without; +we are living in a world of continuous and multitudinous changes, and +as our senses require change or motion for their excitation, without +those changes we could have no cognisance of our surroundings, we +should have no consciousness of living; but if we base our thought +entirely on sense perception, taking for granted that Time and Space +have reality instead of recognising that they are only modes or limits +under which those senses act, the Wall will ever remain opaque to us. +Let us try and make this clearer. If we analyse the impression we +receive from Motion, we find it is made up of the product of our two +limitations, it is the time that an object takes to go over a certain +space. We must come therefore to the conclusion also that Motion +itself has no existence in reality apart from our senses. The result +of not being able to appreciate this, is that the finiteness of our +sense, caused by its dependence on Motion for excitation, surrounds us +with illusions; one of these illusions is what we call solidity or +continuity of sensation. If you hold a cannon-ball in your hand, +perception by the sense of touch tells you that it is continuous, or +what is called solid and hard; but it is not so in reality except as a +concept limited by our finite senses. A fair analogy would be to liken +it to a swarm of bees, for we know that it is composed of an immense +number of independent atoms or molecules which are darting about, and +circling round each other at an enormous speed but never touching; +they are also pulsating at a definite enormous rate; we can at will +increase their motion by heat or reduce by cold; if our touch +perception were sensitive enough we should feel those motions and +should not have the sensation of a solid. We have a similar case of +limitation in our other senses, which we shall grasp better in another +View through our Window. We can hear beats only up to fifteen in a +second, beyond that number they give the sensation of a musical or +continuous sound. In our sense of sight we can see pulsations or +intermittent flashes up to only six in a second, beyond that number +they give the sensation of a continuous light; a gas jet, if +extinguished and relit six times in a second, can be seen to flicker, +but beyond that rate is to our sense of sight a steady flame. The +effect may also be shown by making the top of a match red-hot; when +stationary or moving slowly, it is a point of light, but, moved +quickly, it becomes a continuous line of light. + +Even apart from our senses we find Motion giving the characteristics +of solidity: a wheel with only a few spokes, if rotated quickly +enough, becomes quite impermeable to any substance, however small, +thrown at it; a thin jet of water only half an inch in diameter, if +discharged at great pressure equivalent to a column of water of 500 +metres, cannot be cut even with an axe, it resists as though it were +made of the hardest steel; a thin cord, hanging from a vertical axis, +and being revolved very quickly, becomes rigid, and if struck with a +hammer it resists and resounds like a rod of wood; a thin chain and +even a loop of string, if revolved at great speed over a vertical +pulley, becomes rigid and, if allowed to escape from the pulley, will +run along the ground as a hoop. + +Now with regard to this limit of time perception, which gives us the +phenomenon of Solidity, I have lately been able to devise an +arrangement which, acting as a microscope for Time, gives the +sensation of an increase in sight perception up to several thousand +units per second; it is based on the fact that though the eye can only +see six times per second it can see for the one-millionth part of a +second. An example of this is the well-known experiment of seeing a +bullet in its flight; the bullet makes electrical connection resulting +in a spark which illuminates the bullet when opposite the eye. The +electrical spark exists only for the millionth of a second, and as the +bullet in that time has no perceptible movement it is seen standing +absolutely still with all marks upon it quite visible to the eye. When +Sight perception is increased up to the rate at which time may be said +to flow for any particular object we apparently get into the reality, +the permanent _now_ where motion ceases to exist as a sensation. A +tuning-fork, kept vibrating, by means of an electro-magnet, at 2000 +times per second, may to our sense of sight be gradually slowed down +and, optically, brought absolutely to a standstill, for as long as +desired, and the smallest irregularity of its surface may be minutely +examined, though it continues to be heard and felt vibrating at that +enormous rate. I have made several experiments in this direction, and +some very curious facts connected with the sensation of Motion are +brought to light by means of this increase in perceptive power. If the +sense of sight is increased to 125 units per second, motion at the +rate of one inch per second is barely visible; taking the common +house-fly, whose wings vibrate about 400 times per second, its units +of perception would appear to be about two-thirds of those beats, as I +found it had no cognisance of Motion below two inches per second; you +can put your finger on any fly provided you do not approach it faster +than the above rate, it turns its head up to look at your finger but +can see no motion in it; if you approach at over three inches per +second it will always fly away before you are within a foot. I found +that a dragon-fly, whose wings vibrate about 200 times per second, had +only half the number of unit perceptions of the fly and could +apparently see motion at about one inch per second but not under. In +the converse of the above we have then the principle of a Microscope +for Time, somewhat similar to the Microscope for Space of our +laboratories. If our perception were increased sufficiently we could +slow down any motion for examination, however rapid; there would be no +difficulty in following a lightning flash or even arresting its +visible motion for purposes of investigation without interfering with +the natural sequence of cause and effect. + +If, on the other hand, our perception were decreased below six times +per second, all motion would be accelerated, until with perception +reduced to one unit in twenty-four hours the sun would appear only as +a band across the sky, and we could not follow its motion any more +than, as we have seen, we could follow the point of a red-hot match. +If perception were reduced far enough, plants and trees would grow up +visibly before our eyes. But we must leave this subject now, as this +and the Time Microscope will be treated in a later View. + +Let us try and appreciate the fact that, under our present conditions, +our conceptions of the immense and minute--namely, extension in Space, +and that of quick and slow or duration in Time--are purely relative, +and that from this arise those pseudo-conceptions which we call the +infinitely extended and the infinitely lasting. Under our present +limitations it is impossible for us to grasp the whole of any Truth, +if we could do that, there would be no such mystery of Infinity to +puzzle us; we could, as it were, see all around it, but that is again +looking through another window. We are now considering _relativity_. +If we cut off the very end of the point of the finest needle, we get +so minute a particle of steel that it is hardly visible to the naked +eye, and yet we know that that small speck contains not only millions +but millions of millions of what are called atoms, all in intense +motion and never touching each other. Try and conceive how small each +of these atoms must be, and then try and grasp the fact, only lately +proved by the discovery of Radio-activity, that each of these atoms is +a great family made up of bodies analogous to the planets of our solar +system and whose rate of motion is comparable only to that of Light. +This is not theory, it is fact clearly demonstrated to us by the study +of Radio-activity. Curiously enough, we know more about these bodies +than we do of the atom itself; we actually know their size and weight +and the speed with which they move. We do not yet know what is at the +centre of this system, but we do know that each of these bodies is as +far away from the centre as our planet is from the sun (93,000,000 +miles), and as far from its neighbours as our planet is, _relatively +to its size_. And now, for the purpose of grasping this subject of +relativity, I want you to ask yourself whether it is conceivable that +a world, so small as those bodies are, could possibly be inhabited by +sentient beings. Leaving you to form your own conclusion upon this +point, I will ask you to follow me down another path leading to the +elucidation of the same subject. + +If at this moment we and all our surroundings were reduced to half +their size and everything were moving twice as quickly, we should +absolutely have no cognisance of any change, neither could we possibly +note any difference if everything were reduced to a hundredth part of +the original size and were going a hundred times quicker; and even +when reduced a thousand or a million times, or to such minuteness that +the whole of our solar system with its revolving planets became no +larger than one of those atoms in the needle point, and the whole of +the starry universe therefore reduced to the size of the needle point, +its millions of suns coinciding with the millions of planetary systems +in that steel particle--our earth would still revolve round the sun, +though no larger than one of those minute planetary particles and +travelling at the rate of light, but we should still have no knowledge +of any change, in fact, our life would go on as usual, though it was +difficult a few minutes ago to think it conceivable that so small a +globe could be inhabited by sentient beings. + +Once more let us consider that the change is made in the direction of +expansion in space and slowing down of Time; let all our surroundings +be so enormously increased that each of the atoms in the steel point +became as large as our solar system and the steel point as large as +the visible universe, each atom therefore taking the place of a star, +and motion being reduced in proportion; it is still absolutely +inconceivable that we could know of any change having taken place, +though the length of our needle, which was at first, say, one inch, +would now be so great that light, travelling 186,000 miles per second, +would take 500,000 years to traverse its length, and the stature of +each one of us would be so great that light would require over +36,000,000 years to travel from head to foot, and that 36,000,000 +years would have to be multiplied 163,000,000 times, making 5860 +millions of millions of years to represent the time that an ordinary +_sneeze_ would take under such conditions. And yet we have only gone +towards the infinitely great exactly as far as we at first went +towards the infinitely small, and it is still absolutely inconceivable +that we could be conscious of any change, our everyday life would go +on as usual, we should be quite oblivious to the fact that every +second of time, with all its incidents and thoughts, had been +lengthened to 5860 millions of millions of years. Do we not now begin +to grasp the fact that immensity and minuteness in extension, and +motion in duration, are figments only of our finite minds, that Time +and Space have no objective reality apart from our physical senses, +that they are only the modes under which we receive impressions of our +surroundings? With perfect perception we should know that the only +Reality is the Spiritual, the Here comprising all Space and the Now +all Time. + +One more look through the window before we part, and we may see what I +consider the greatest miracle in our everyday life: The Inner-self of +each one of us, being part of the Reality or Spiritual, is independent +of Space limitations and must therefore be _Omnipresent_, is +independent of Time and therefore _Omniscient_. This inevitable +deduction will be explained more fully in another View. + +It is from this store of knowledge that our Physical Ego is ever +trying to win fresh forms of thought, and, in response to our +persistent endeavours, that Inner-self, from time to time, buds out a +new thought; the Physical Ego has already prepared the clothing with +which that bud must be clad before it can come into conscious thought, +because, as Max Müller has shown us, we have to form words before we +can think; so does the Physical Ego clothe that ethereal thought in +physical language, and by means of its organ of speech it sends that +thought forth into the air in the form of hundreds of thousands of +vibrations of different shapes and sizes, some large, some small, some +quick, some slow, travelling in all directions and filling the +surrounding space; there is nothing in those vibrations but physical +movement, but each separate movement is an integral part or thread of +that clothing. Another Physical Ego receives these multitudinous +vibrations by means of its sense organ, weaves them together into the +same physical garment, and actually becomes possessed of that ethereal +thought--an unexplained marvel, and probably the most wonderful +occurrence in our daily existence, especially as it often enables the +second Physical Ego to gain fresh knowledge from its own Real +Personality. Now, in connection with this, consider the fact, already +emphasized, that it is not we who are looking out upon Nature, but +that it is the Reality which is ever trying to make itself known to us +by bombarding our sense organs with the particular physical impulses +to which those organs can respond, and, if we aspire to gain a +knowledge of what is behind the physical, it is clear that all our +endeavours must be towards weaving these impulses into garments and +then learning from them the sublime Truths which the Reality is ever +trying to divulge to us. + + + + +VIEW TWO + +THE VISION + + +"Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven," is in true consonance +with the old philosophic dictum that "Everything in heaven must have +its counterpart on earth"; in other words, the Reality has all Its +multitudinous manifestations, every noumenon its phenomenon, in the +physical universe. If we now examine those traits of our surroundings +which affect us most, and best help us to reach the highest level of +abstract thought of which our nature is capable, we find that it is +the recognition of the Beauty (comprising also the Good and the True) +in everything, which constitutes the power held over our minds by what +we may call the Glamour of Symbolism, the Rapture of Music, and the +Ideal of Art. But this influence is still only _sensuous_, it does not +carry us beyond the extension of that Wonderment and Enchantment which +had their birth with our first visit to Fairyland. This is, I think, +evident, as Beauty is not the Reality; it is only what may be called +the sensuous expression of the Reality or Spiritual on the physical +plane. Although we have no words to express, nor indeed minds to +grasp, the wonders and glories of that which is behind the Veil, it is +possible for some of us to get a glimpse of it through our Window, and +to those the following pages may be helpful, but to others the Wall +will remain blank; and, here at the commencement, I should like to +warn those who have not been through a certain experience, to which I +shall refer, that no words of mine will open the Window for them; at +the same time it is probable that many of my readers, who think at +this stage that they have no knowledge of the subject of this View, +will, as we proceed, recognise in the view through the Window +something they have experienced more than once in their lifetime, and +to these I address myself. + +Let us first try to understand what we know concerning ourselves. The +longer one lives and the more one studies the mystery of "Being," the +more one is forced to the conclusion that in every Human Being there +are two Personalities, call them what you like--"the _Real_ and its +Image," "the _Spiritual_ and its Material Shadow," or "the +_Transcendental_ and its Physical Ego." The former in each of these +duads is, as referred to in our first View, not conditioned in Time +and Space, is independent of Extension and Duration, and must +therefore be Omnipresent and Omniscient, whereas the latter, being +subservient to Time and Space, can only think in finite words, +requires succession of ideas to accumulate knowledge, is dependent on +perception of movements for forming concepts of its surroundings, and, +without this perception, it would have no knowledge of existence. + +Let us go back into the far distant past, before the frame and brain +of what we now call the genus Homo was fully developed: he was then an +animal pure and simple, conscious of living but knowing neither good +nor evil; there was nothing in his thoughts more perfect than himself; +it was the golden age of innocency; he was a being enjoying himself in +a perfect state of nature with absolute freedom from responsibility of +action. But, as ages rolled on, under the great law of evolution, his +brain was enlarging and gradually being prepared for a great and +wonderful event, which was to make an enormous change in his mode of +living and his outlook on the future. As seeds may fall continually +for thousands of years upon hard rock without being able to germinate, +until gradually, by the disintegration of the rock, soil is formed, +enabling the seed at last to take root; so for countless ages was the +mind of that noble animal being prepared until, in the fulfilment of +time, the Spiritual took root and he became a living soul. The change +was marvellous; he was now aware of something higher and more perfect +than himself, he found that he was able to form ideals above his +ability to attain to, resulting in a sense of inferiority, akin to a +"Fall"; he was conscious of the difference of Right and Wrong, and +felt happy and blessed when he followed the Good, but ashamed and +accursed when he chose the Evil; he became upright in stature, and +able to communicate his thoughts and wishes to his fellows by means of +language; and by feeling his freedom to choose between the Good, +Beautiful, and True on one hand, and the Evil, Ugly, and False on the +other, he became aware that he was responsible and answerable to a +mysterious higher Being for his actions. This at once raised him far +above other animals, and he gradually began to feel the presence +within him of a wonderful power, the nucleus of that Transcendental +Self which had taken root, and which, from that age to this, has urged +Man ever forward first to form, and then struggle to attain, higher +Ideals of Perfection. As a mountaineer who, with stern persistence, +struggles upward from height to height, gaining at each step a clearer +and broader view, so do we, as we progress in our struggle upwards, +toward the understanding of Perfection, ever see more and more clearly +that the Invisible is the Real, that the visible is only its shadow, +that our Spiritual Personality is akin to that Great Reality, that we +cannot search out and know that Personality; it is not an idea, it +cannot be perceived by our senses, any more than we can see a sound by +our sense of sight or measure an Infinity by our finite units; all we +can so far do is to feel and mark its effect in guiding our Physical +Ego to choose the real from the shadow, the plus from the minus, +receiving back in some marvellous mode of reflex action the power to +draw further nourishment from the Infinite. As that Inner Personality +becomes more and more firmly established, higher ideals and knowledge +of the Reality bud out, and, as these require the clothing of finite +expressions before they can become part of our consciousness, so are +they clothed by our Physical Ego and become forms of thought; and, +although the Physical Ego is only the shadow or image, projected on +the physical screen, of the Real Personality, we are able, by +examining these emanations and marking their affinity to the Good, the +Beautiful, and the True, to attain at times to more than transient +glimpses of the loveliness of that which is behind the veil. As in a +river flowing down to the sea, a small eddy, however small, once +started with power to increase, may, if it continues in midstream, +instead of getting entangled with the weeds and pebbles near the +bank, gather to itself so large a volume of water, that, when it +reaches the sea, it has become a great independent force; so is each +of us endowed, as we come into this life, with a spark of the Great +Reality, with potential force to draw from the Infinite in proportion +to our conscientious endeavours to keep ourselves free from the +deadening effects of mundane frivolities and enticements, turning our +faces ever towards the light rather than to the shadow, until our +personality becomes a permanent entity, commanding an individual +existence when the physical clothing of this life is worn out, and for +us all shadows disappear. + +If man became a conscious being on some such analogous lines as +indicated, it is clear that he is, as it were, the offspring of two +distinct natures, and subject to two widely separated influences; the +Spiritual ever urging him towards improvement in the direction of the +Real or Perfect, and the Physical or Animal instincts inviting him in +the opposite direction. These latter instincts are not wrong in +themselves, in a purely animal nature, but are made manifest as urging +him in the direction of the shadow or Imperfect when they come in +contact, and therefore in competition, with the Spiritual. Neither the +Spiritual nor the Physical can be said to possess Free-will; they must +work in opposite directions, but this competition for influence over +our actions provides the basis for the exercise of man's +Free-will--the choice between progression and stagnation. The +Spiritual influence must conquer in the long run, as every step under +that influence is a step towards the Real and can never be lost; the +apparent steps in the other direction are only negative or retarding, +and can have no real existence, except as a drag on the wheel which is +always moving in the direction of Perfection, thus hindering the +process of growth of the Personality. + +The stages in development of the Physical Ego and its final absorption +in the Transcendental may perhaps be stated as follows-- + +The Physical Ego loquitur: + + "I become aware of being surrounded by phenomena, I will to + see--I perceive and wonder what is the meaning of + everything--I begin to think--I reflect by combining former + experiences--I am conscious that I am, and that I am free to + choose between Right and Wrong, but that I am responsible + for my actions to a Higher Power; that what I call 'I am' is + itself only the shadow, or in some incomprehensible sense + the breathing organ, of a wonderful divine Afflatus or Power + which is growing up within, or in intimate connection with + me, and which itself is akin to the Reality. Owing to my + senses being finite I cannot with my utmost thought form a + direct concept of that power, although I feel that it + comprises all that is good and real in me, and is in fact my + true personality; I am conscious of it ever urging me + forward towards the Good, Beautiful, and True, and that each + step I take in that direction (especially when taken in + opposition to the dictates of physical instincts) results in + a further growth of that Transcendental Self. With that + growth I recognise that it is steadily gaining power over my + thoughts and aspirations. I learn that the whole physical + Universe is a manifestation of the Will of the Spiritual, + that every phenomenon is as it were a sublime thought, that + it should be my greatest individual aspiration to try to + interpret those thoughts, or when, as it seems at present, + our stage in the evolution of thought is not far enough + advanced, I should during my short term of life do my best + to help forward the knowledge of the Good, Beautiful, and + True for those who come after. As I grow old the Real Ego in + me seems to be taking my place, the central activity of my + life is being shifted, as I feel I am growing in some way + independent of earthly desires and aspirations, and, when + the term of my temporary sojourn here draws to a close, I + feel myself slackening my hold of the physical until at last + I leave go entirely, and my physical clothing, having + fulfilled its use, drops off and passes away, carrying with + it all limitations of Time and Space. I awake as from a + dream to find my true heritage in the Spiritual Universe." + +If we try to form a conception of the stages of growth of the +Transcendental Self it would, I think, be somewhat as follows: + +The first consciousness} + of the Spiritual } I know that Love is the Summum Bonum. + entity would be.... } + +As it became nourished } I love. + it would be.... } + +Then.... I love with my whole being. + + +Then.... I know that I am part of God and God is Love. + + + +And lastly.... I am perfected in Loving and Knowing. + +And the above is the best description I have been able to formulate of +the development of the Mystical Sense by means of which we can get a +view of the Reality through our Window. I will try to give my own +experience of this, which will, I know, wake an echo in other hearts, +as I have met those who have felt the same. From a child I always had +an intense feeling that Love was the one thing above all worth having +in life, and, as I grew older and became aware that my real self was +akin to the Great Spirit, at certain times of elation or what might +be called a kind of ecstasy, I had an overpowering sense of longing +for union with the Reality, an intense love and craving to become one +with the All-loving. When analysed later in life this was recognised +as similar in kind, though different in degree, to the feeling which, +when in the country, surrounded by charming scenery, wild flowers, the +depths of a forest glade, or even the gentle splash of a mountain +stream, makes one always want to open one's arms wide to embrace and +hold fast the beautiful in Nature, as though one's Physical Ego, wooed +by the Beautiful which is the sensuous (not sensual) expression of the +Spiritual, longed to become one with the Physical, as the Personality +or Transcendental Ego craves to become one with the Reality. It is the +same intense feeling which makes a lover, looking into the eyes of his +beloved, long to become united in the perfection of loving and +knowing, to be one with that being in whom he has discovered a +likeness akin to the highest ideal of which he himself is capable of +forming a conception. + +As in heaven, so on earth the Physical Ego, though only a shadow, has +in its sphere the same fundamental characteristic craving as the +Transcendental Personality has for that which is akin to it, and it is +this wonderful love that, as the old adage says, makes the world go +round. It is the most powerful incentive on earth, and is implanted +in our natures for the good and furtherance of the race; it is, in +fact, the manifestation on the material plane of that craving of the +Inner self for union with, and being perfected in loving and knowing, +that Infinite Love of which it is itself the likeness. If we can +realise that everything on the physical plane is a shadow, symbol, or +manifestation of that which is in the Transcendental, the Mystical +Sense, through contemplating these as symbols, enables us at certain +times, alas! too seldom and fleeting in character, to get beyond the +Physical; but those of my readers who have been _there_ will know how +impossible it is to describe, in direct words, which would carry any +meaning, either the path by which the experience is gained or a true +account of the experience itself. I will try, however, and I think I +may be able to lead my readers, by indirect inductive suggestion, to a +view of even these difficult subjects, by using the knowledge we have +already gained in our first view through this Window. If an artist +were required to draw a representation of the Omniscient +Transcendental Self, budding out new forms of thought in response to +the conscientious efforts of, and the providing of suitable clothing +by, the Physical Ego, as referred to in View No. 1, he would be +obliged to make use of symbolic forms, and I want to make it quite +clear that the description I am attempting must necessarily be clothed +in symbolic language and reasoning, and must not be taken as in any +way the key by which the door of "the sanctuary" may be opened; it is +only possible by it to help the mind to grasp the fact that there is a +Window through which such things may be seen, the rest depends upon +the personality of the seer. + +Now bear in mind that it is not we who are looking out upon Nature, +but that it is the Reality, which, by means of the physical, is +persistently striving to enter into our consciousness, to tell us +what? [Greek: Theos agapê estin] (God is Love). As in Thompson's +suggestive poem, "The Hound of Heaven"--the Hidden which desires to be +found--the Reality is ever hunting us, and will never leave us till He +has taught us to know and therefore to love Him, and, as seen in our +first view, the first step is to try to see through the woof of nature +to the Reality beyond. To this may also be added the attempt to hear +the "silence" beyond the audible. Try now to look upon the whole +"visible" as a background comprising landscape, sea, and sky--we shall +get help in this direction in a later View--and then bring that +background nearer and nearer to your consciousness. It requires +practice, but it can be done; it may help you if you remember the +fact that the whole of that visible scene is actually depicted on the +_surface_ of your retina and _has no other existence for you_. The +nearer you can get the background to approach, the more clearly you +can see that the whole physical world of our senses is but a thin +veil, a mere soap film, which at death is pricked and parts asunder, +leaving us in the presence of the Reality underlying all phenomena. +The same may be accomplished with the "audible," which is indeed part +of the same physical film, though this is not at first easy to +recognise. As pointed out in View No. 1, there is little in common +between our sense of sight and hearing; but the chirp of birds, the +hum of bees, the rustle of wind in the leaves, the ripple of a stream, +the distant sound of sheep bells, and lowing of cattle form a +background of sound which may be coaxed to approach you; the only +knowledge you have of such sounds is their impression or image on the +flat tympanum of your ear; they have _no other existence for you_; and +again you may recognise that the physical is but a thin transient +film. With the approach of the physical film all material sensation +becomes as it were blurred, as near objects become when the eye looks +at the horizon, and gradually escapes from consciousness. + +I have tried in the foregoing to suggest a method by which our Window +may be unshuttered; it has necessarily been only an oblique view and +clothed in symbolic phraseology, but those who have been able to grasp +its meaning will now have attained to what may be called a state of +_self-forgetting_, the silencing or quieting down of the Physical Ego; +sight and sound perceptions have been put in the background of +consciousness, and it becomes possible to worship or love the very +essence of beauty without the distraction of sense analysis and +synthesis or temptation to form intellectual conceptions. + +We are now prepared to attempt the last aspect of our view--namely, +the description of what is experienced when the physical mists have +been evaporated by the Mystical Sense. Again we find that no direct +description is possible, language is absolutely inadequate to describe +the unspeakable, communications have to be physically transmitted in +words to which finite physical meanings have been allocated. The still +small voice which may at times of Rapture be momentarily experienced +in Music, is something much more wonderful than can be formed by +sounds, and this perhaps comes nearest to the expression necessary for +depicting the vision of the soul; but it cannot be held or described, +it is quickly drowned by the physical sense of audition. As the +Glamour of Symbolism can only be transmitted to one who has passed +the portal of Symbolic Thought, the Rapture of Music can only be truly +understood by one who has already experienced it, and the Ideal of Art +requires a true artistic temperament to comprehend it, so it is, I +believe, impossible to describe, with any chance of success, this +wonderful experience to any but those whom Mr. A. C. Benson, in his +_Secret of the Thread of Gold_, very aptly describes as having already +entered "the Shrine." Those who have been _there_ will know that it is +not at all equivalent to a vision, it is not anything which can be +seen or heard or felt by touch; it is entirely independent of the +physical senses; it is not Giving or Receiving, it is not even a +receiving of some new knowledge from the Reality; it has nothing to do +with thought or intellectual gymnastics; all such are seen to be but +mist. The nearest description I can formulate is:--A wondrous feeling +of perfect peace;--absolute rest from physical interference;--perfect +contentment;--the sense of Being-one-with-the-Reality, carrying with +it a knowledge that the Reality or Spiritual is nearer to us and has +much more to do with us than the Physical has, if we could only see +the truth and recognise its presence;--that there is no real +death;--no finiteness and yet no Infinity;--that the Great Spirit +cannot be localised or said to be anywhere, but that everywhere is +God;--that the whole of what we call Creation is an instantaneous +Thought of the Reality;--that it is only by the process of analysing +in Time and Space that we imagine there is such a thing as succession +of events;--that the only Reality is the _Spiritual_, the _Here_ +embracing all Space and the _Now_ embracing all Time. + +How few of us who are now drawing towards the end of our sojourn here, +have not, at certain times during our lives, experienced something +akin to what I have tried to put before you in the above! Does not a +particular scent, a beautiful country scene, a phrase in music, the +beauty or pathos in a picture, symbolic sculpture in a grand +cathedral, or even a chance word spoken in our hearing, every now and +then waken in our innermost consciousness an enchanting memory of some +wonderful happy moment of the past when the sun seemed to have been +shining more brightly, the birds singing more merrily, when everything +in nature seemed more alive, and our very beings seemed wrapped up in +an intense love of our surroundings? On those occasions we were not +far from seeing behind the veil, though we did not recognise it at the +time; but when we now look back, with experience gained by advancing +years, and consider those visions of the past, we cannot help seeing +that the physical film was to our eyes more transparent at those +times, and the very joy of their remembrance seems to be giving us a +prescience of that which we shall experience, when for each one of us +the physical film is pricked and passes away like a scroll. + + + + +VIEW THREE + +MYSTICISM AND SYMBOLISM + + +"Who can doubt that the Mystics know more than the Theologians, and +that the Poets know more than the Scientists? for this inner +apprehension is surely the highest and truest kind of Knowledge." Such +were the words written to me lately by a clergyman of great learning +and of unimpeachable orthodoxy, whose mature knowledge of the Higher +Mysteries has been gained by a life-long study of the Divine. In View +No. 1 we saw that the first step towards opening our Window, was to +grasp the fact that it is not we who are _looking out_ upon Nature, +but that it is the Reality which is ever trying to enter and to _come +into_ touch with us, through our senses, and is persistently trying to +wake within us a knowledge of the sublimest truths: but this has not +yet been appreciated by the Theologian; he is looking _outwards_ +instead of _inwards_, and asks the question, based on _intellectual_ +conception, in the form "Can I find out the Absolute so that I may +possess Him?" and the answer ever comes back, "_No_, because I am +trying to storm the _Sanctuary_ of the Unthinkable, the Infinite, by +means of a Ladder which cannot reach beyond our finite conceptions, +and can deal therefore only with the shadows, cast by the outlying +ramparts, upon our physical plane." An example of this is surely seen +in the lecture lately delivered by the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Gore) to +the University of Oxford (13th February 1912, reported in the +_Guardian_ of 16th February), when he made the statement that the +greatest difficulty we have is to recognise that the Absolute is a God +of Love. His exact words were: "I believe that there are a great many +of us who know, perhaps from bitter experience, that whatever +difficulties there are about religious belief are difficulties about +believing in a God of Love; whatever is our experience, and however +sunny is our disposition, any steady thinking will make it apparent +that thought, apart from the Christian revelation, presumed and +accepted, or reflected unconsciously, has never got at it, and even +after it has been in the world, thought is continually finding it hard +to retain the idea of God the Creator, or the truth that God is Love, +partly owing to the limitations of human thinking, partly, and even +more, owing to the experience of man and of nature." + +On the other hand the Mystic, with _introspection_, asks the question +in the form "Can the Absolute find me out and possess me and thus +make me feel that that which is within me is akin to, is, in fact, a +part of Him and that I am possessed thereby?" and the answer ever +comes back from those who are on the true Quest:--"_Yes_; because the +Unthinkable, the Hidden which desires to be found, is ever trying to +come into our Consciousness to waken the knowledge that His +_Sanctuary_, or what is called the Kingdom of Heaven, is within us, +that we are not an external but an internal creation of the +All-loving." Such a realisation is, as pointed out in "The Vision," +far above Analysis and Synthesis or Intellectual gymnastics, which can +deal only with the finite and are seen to be but Mist. How many +valuable thoughts are wrecked and lost from our inability to formulate +and describe them intellectually, even in our own consciousness. We +are too apt to lay the blame upon, and to doubt, the Truth of those +conceptions, because we are unable to find words to express them; the +very act of attempting to analyse such thoughts in Time and Space +destroys our power of carrying them to higher levels. Those who have +once realised that the knowledge of the Absolute is the true Divine +Life within us, can, as we have seen, at certain times and under +certain conditions, experience that wonderful joy of perception by +means of what I have called the Eye of the Soul; but that is missed +by those who are always asking questions, and arguing, about what that +knowledge consists in; the command "Seek and ye shall find, knock and +it shall be opened unto you, ask and it shall be given you," was not +meant for the intellect but for the Heart, not for logical controversy +but for inward discernment, not for physical enjoyment but for the +nourishment of the Transcendental Ego. All things _may_ be possible to +him that believeth, but how much more is this true of him who, as +referred to in View No. 2, is perfected in "Loving and Knowing." The +nearer we get to that consciousness of Being-one-with-the-Reality, the +more we see and can meditate upon the wonderful "joy" which permeates +all creation; but without that consciousness it is invisible, and the +world is dark and evil and unloving, and to many, alas! appears more +the handiwork of a Devil than of a God of Love. + +Mysticism is not, as the man in the street generally thinks, the study +of the "Mysterious," but is the attempt to gain a knowledge of the +Reality, the ultimate Truth in everything, especially the perception +of that wonderful Transcendental Power which is growing up within, or +in close connection with, each one of us. The study of the Physical +Sciences, as also of the various forms of Religion around us, is +useful and fascinating in the domain of "Intellectualism," but does +not take us far towards the goal of our aspirations. I shall, however, +attempt to show, in my next View, that by examining the phenomena of +Nature and realising that they are symbols only of the Noumenon, the +Reality, which is behind them, it is possible to reach a point where +we may even feel that we are thinking, or having divulged to us, what +may be called the very thoughts of the Absolute. We shall see that +this can only be accomplished by first recognising that the Invisible +is the Real, that the visible is only its shadow, that all our +surroundings are but the images, or outlines, of the Reality cast on +the Physical plane of our Senses; to accomplish this, we have to +understand the use of _Symbolic_ Thought for sustaining and carrying +conceptions to a higher level; because, as already explained, we can +only express and, indeed, think of the Invisible or Infinite under +terms of the Visible or Finite. Let me give you a glimpse at what may +be called the "Glamour of Symbolism"; it is difficult to explain to +those who have not yet thought of or felt it, but the following may be +helpful: + +Think of the loveliest story or poem you have ever read, the most +entrancing music you have ever heard, or the most beautiful paintings +you have ever seen, and think how, at the end, you experienced a +wonderful glow of enchantment with the concept as a whole, apart from +specialising any particular character or event in the story, phrase in +the music, or subject in the pictures; then do the same with one of +those wonderful cathedrals of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, the +epoch of that beautiful Gothic style which I shall show was founded +upon the highest mystical form of Symbolism possible to those who +lived at the then zenith of Mystical Thought in the history of the +world. The number of cathedrals built during those three centuries was +so prodigious that, without the documentary evidence which we have, it +would be absolutely incredible. Every part of those buildings, even to +the smallest decorations, was, as shown by any of the old writers on +Religious Symbolism, such as Durandus, planned to symbolise some +beautiful thought, aspiration, tradition, or religious belief. The +highest Thinkers, Artists, Poets, Philosophers, and Mystics in those +centuries became Architects, and, in pure contemplation of and love +for the Divine, helped to beautify design by giving up their lives and +energies to the work without reward. It was, in fact, at that period +the surest means by which they could record their ideals and +aspirations. Before the advent of the printing press, with its +facilities for spreading knowledge broadcast, they appreciated that +Tectonic Art and Iconography were the means by which they could best +permanently record and teach their aspirations to the masses. Every +beautiful thought found its expression in some symbol of artistic +design. Each Cathedral was, in fact, a beautiful complete _story_, +and, when this has been fully grasped, the enchantment of the whole, +the thread of gold running through the whole of that wonderful pile, +is what may be called the Glamour of Symbolism. + +For the last 400 years, Archæologists, Architects, and others +interested in the history of Tectonic art, have been trying without +avail to discover what is called "the lost secret of Gothic +Architecture"; even Sir Christopher Wren had a try and expressed his +opinion that it was lost for ever. They were all looking in the wrong +direction, confining themselves to the mists of physical intellectual +perception, and could not get beyond that limited range of thought. I +propose now, in illustration of this View, to show what this secret +was. It has the making of a fascinating Romance; it is the most +wonderful example of what I will call "the Evolution of Thought as +depicted by Human strivings after the Transcendental in Mediæval +Mysticism." I shall give it in a brief form, touching only on those +essential points which require a very slight knowledge of Geometry, +but those interested in the subject may refer to _Ars Quatuor +Coronatorum_ (vol. xxiii., 1910), where I have given the whole +subject, _in extenso_, under the title "Magister Mathesios." + +To understand the subject it is necessary to recognise fully the place +Geometry held, not only among Mediæval Builders, but also in Classical +times; it was recognised in those early times as the head of all the +Sciences, and was the A, B, C of Hellenic Philosophy. Come back with +me 2300 years, to the time when the "Greek Age of Reason" was at its +zenith, and Plato, the greatest of the philosophers, was teaching at +Athens, working thus, let it be known to his honour, solely for the +love he bore to science, for he always taught gratuitously. What +qualification was required of those who attended his Academy? Look up +over the porch, and you will see written in large capitals these +words: + + [Greek: MÊDEIS AGEÔMETRÊTOS EISITÔ + MOU TÊN STEGÊN.] + +"Let no one who is ignorant of Geometry enter my doors." + +At the root of Socratic teaching was the idea that wisdom is the +attribute of the Godhead, and Plato, for twenty years the companion +and most favoured pupil of Socrates, was imbued with that doctrine, +and, having arrived at the conclusion that the impulse to find out +TRUTH was the necessity of intellectual man, he saw in Geometry the +keystone of all Knowledge, because, among all other channels of +thought, it alone was the exponent of absolute and undeniable truth. +He tells us that "Geometry rightly treated is the Knowledge of the +Eternal"; and Plutarch gives us yet another instance of Plato's +teaching concerning this subject, in which he looks upon God as the +Great Architect, when he says, "Plato says that God is always +geometrising." Holding, therefore, as Plato did, that God was a great +Geometer, and that the aim of philosophy was the acquisition of a +knowledge of the Eternal, it is natural that he should make a +knowledge of Geometry imperative on those wishing to study philosophy. +This was continued also by those philosophers who succeeded Plato in +the management of the Academy, as we are told that Zenocrates turned +away an applicant for admission, who knew no geometry, with the words: + + [Greek: poreuou, labas gar ouk echeis tês philosophias.] + +"Depart, for thou hast not the _grip_ of philosophy." + +In connection with the idea that God was a Geometer, must be taken the +contention held by the Egyptians, and after them the Greeks and Arabs, +that the Right-Angled Triangle symbolised the nature of the Universe; +it was called the law of the three squares, because in every +Right-Angled Triangle, as expounded by the Pythagorean Theorem, the +squares, formed on the two sides containing the Right Angle, must +together be exactly equal to the square on the third side, whatever +the shape of the triangle may be. The Right Angle at an early date +gave its name to the odd numbers, which were called, by the Greeks, +gnomonic numbers, as personifying the male sex, and the Right-Angled +Triangle was also called the Nuptial Figure, or Marriage, the +Pythagorean Theorem receiving the name, [Greek: to theôrêma tês +nymphês] (the Theorem of the Bride). Plutarch, in his _Osiris and +Isis_, tells us in explanation of this, "The Egyptians imagined the +nature of the Universe like this most beautiful triangle, as Plato +also seems to have done in his work on the _State_, when he sketches +the picture of Matrimony under the form of a Right-Angled Triangle. +That triangle contains one of the perpendiculars of three, the base of +four, and the hypotenuse of five parts, the square of which is equal +to the squares of those sides containing the right angle. The +perpendicular (three) is the Male, Osiris, the originating principle +([Greek: archê]); the base (four) is the Female, Isis, the receptive +principle ([Greek: hypodochê]); and the Hypotenuse (five) is the +offspring of both, Horus, the product ([Greek: apotelesma])." The +central feature of this triangle, upon which its property is based, +is the Right Angle. The Greeks gave to this Right Angle the name of +_Gnomon_ (meaning Knowledge), and it has ever since been, under the +form of a carpenter's "square," the emblem or symbol of an Architect, +the Master Mason, as personifying the Great Architect of the +Universe--namely, He who has the knowledge of Geometry; and, as the +Right-Angled Triangle represented the Universe, it was upon the +_perfection_ of this Gnomon, or knowledge, that the very existence of +the Universe depended, because the law of the three squares only holds +good when that angle is perfect. + +The Secret handed down in the Craft, from Architect to Architect, was +how to form a perfect right angle, or, as it was called, the "Square," +without possibility of Error, and this I have called "the Knowledge of +the Square." Vitruvius, who, at the beginning of our Era, wrote his +thesis on Tectonic art, which is still the text-book of Architecture +for Ancient buildings, says Pythagoras taught his followers to form a +gnomon, or square, as follows: "Take three rods, of three lengths, +four lengths, and five lengths long; with these form a triangle, and, +if each rod be squared, you have 9, 16, and 25, and the areas of the +two former will be equal to the latter." + +Now let us come to the closing years of the tenth century. What a +strange condition of the building craft was to be seen all over +Europe; not a church was being built, nor had been built, for the last +twenty years; the thousand years after Christ was drawing to its +close, everybody was waiting for, and expecting, the world to come to +an end; no new undertakings were begun. How much money went into the +hands of the Monasteries and other Religious Houses, as peace +offerings for the future welfare of the givers, nobody can say; it was +probably enormous. When, however, the eleventh century was well +started and the crisis was over, churches were built on a large scale, +as shown by the numerous remains we have of Norman buildings of the +last half eleventh century, and building was probably at its height +about A.D. 1140 to 1150; but at this period an extraordinary thing +happened. Hitherto the arches in the Norman style were round-headed +and their columns enormously thick to carry them; but suddenly the +style changed into the beautiful Gothic all over Europe. No single +country can claim precedence, it was almost simultaneous; churches +half finished in the round style were not only completed in the +pointed, but had parts already built altered to the new style. What, +then, determined this sudden change, resulting in a wonderful +accession of beauty to Architectural design? We must go to the +Monasteries and Religious Houses to find the explanation. These Houses +had become the Patrons of Masonry, the providers of the funds for +building Cathedrals, &c.; it naturally followed that, growing up +alongside the Operative Science, there was a Religious symbolism being +gradually formed which attached itself specially to the tools used by +Masons, and thus formed the basis of Moral teaching--"to act on the +Square," "to keep within the bounds of the Compasses," "to be Level in +all your dealings," &c., &c. A wonderful, new, and Mystical form of +Symbolism was opened to them with the advent of Geometry. The +text-book of Geometry was unknown throughout the whole of Europe, +omitting Spain, from the sixth to the beginning of the twelfth +century; it was, as I have pointed out, well known in Greece before +our Era, and continued to be so up to about the sixth century A.D. In +the fourth century lived the Greek, Theon of Alexandria, so well known +for his edition of Euclid's Elements, with notes, from which all Greek +MSS. which first came to light in the sixteenth century were taken, +being entitled [Greek: ek tôn Theônos synousiôn], "from Theon's +Lectures," and which he probably used as a text-book in his classes; +but these MSS. had all been lost before the seventh century, and were +not recovered again until the sixteenth century, when Simon Grynæus, +the greatest Greek scholar on the Continent, and companion of +Melancthon and Luther, discovered a copy in Constantinople. Meanwhile, +Theon's edition had been translated into Arabic, and thus preserved by +the Mohammedans, and it was only at the beginning of the twelfth +century that Athelard of Bath, who had been travelling in the East, +came to study at Cordova, in Spain, and there found the Arabic MSS. of +Euclid; these he translated into Latin, and this translation must have +come into the hands of the patrons of the building craft at the very +time when the Gothic style had its origin; it was the only Latin +translation known in Europe, and was, some centuries later, the +text-book of the first printed edition of Euclid. + +The Operative Masons had always formed their Right-Angled Triangles by +means of mundane measures of 3, 4, and 5 units to each side +respectively, as was done by the Harpedonaptæ of Egypt 5000 years ago, +and 2500 years later by Pythagoras, and this same method continues to +be used to this day; but to those of a religious turn of mind, who had +only lately become conversant with Euclid, and looked upon Geometry +not only as the height of all learning, but, as they progressed in the +knowledge of its bearing on the Science of building, actually made it +synonymous with Tectonic Art (the old MSS. which have come down to us +from that time _invariably_ state that "at the head of all the +Sciences stands _Geometry which is Masonry_"), there must have come a +wave of wonderful enthusiasm when they first discovered that the +Geometrical way of creating a Right Angle, as given in Euclid I. ii., +was by means of an Equilateral Triangle, by joining the Apex with the +centre of the base. This Equilateral Triangle was the earliest symbol +we know of the Divine _Logos_ in connection with that wonderful figure +the Vesica Piscis; and as the Bible declared that the Universe was +created by the Logos (the Word), so the Square which represented the +Universe was naturally created by means of the Equilateral Triangle. A +great mystery this must have appeared to those who, like the Hellenic +philosophers, postulated that everything on Earth has its counterpart +in Heaven, and who, in their religious mysticism, were always looking +for signs of the transcendental in their temporal surroundings. + +But in what awe and reverence must they have held Geometry, when they +further found that the Equilateral Triangle, representing the Logos, +was itself generated, as shown in the _first_ Problem of Euclid, upon +which the whole Science of Geometry was therefore based, by the +intersection of two Circles! These two Circles were held by the +Greeks, at the beginning of our Era, to represent the Past and Future +Eternities generating the Logos; but the whole figure (Euclid I. i.) +was at the time we are now dealing with looked upon by Mediæval +Architects as representing the Three Divine _personæ_, and that part, +or _cavity_, of the figure which is bounded by the Arcs of the two +circles, and which takes to itself one-third of each of the two +generating circles (making its perifera exactly equal with that +remaining to each of the two circles, all three therefore being +_co-equal_), and in which the Equilateral Triangle is formed (_vide_ +frontispiece), was naturally held by the Mediæval Architects, and +indeed from earliest times, as the most sacred Christian +Emblem--namely, that of _Regeneration_ or "New Birth." + +The Cavity is evidently referred to in the Mystical Gospel of St. John +(iii. 16), in the question by and answer to Nicodemus, and it was the +eye of the needle referred to in St. Mark x. 25, in answer to the +question in verse 17, and again in St. Luke xviii. 25. In later ages +this symbol was extensively used by the Christian Church to surround +the "Soul of a Saint" after death (illustrated in _Magister +Mathesios_). The date of the birth of a Saint was always given as the +date on which he or she died and had been born again in the Spiritual +Life, and the Saint was depicted in a Vesica Piscis, the vulva of the +_Ruach_ or Holy Spirit, representing this new birth. To show the +extraordinary reverence and high value attached to this symbol, it is +only necessary to remember that, from the fourth century, when Theon +of Alexandria lectured on Geometry, and onwards, all Seals of +Colleges, Abbeys, Monasteries, and other religious communities, as +well as of ecclesiastical persons, have been made invariably of this +form, and they continue to be made so to this day. It was also in +allusion to this most sacred ancient emblem that Tertullian, and other +early Fathers, spoke of Christians as "Pisciculi." It was called the +"Vesica Piscis" (Fish's Bladder), and named, no doubt, by the Greeks +at the beginning of our Era, for the purpose of misleading the +ignorant from the true meaning of the Figure. + +One can well understand the object which led the learned Rabbi +Maimonides, the greatest savant of the Middle Ages, when addressing +his pupils in the twelfth century, to command his hearers: "When you +have discovered the meaning thereof, do not divulge it, because the +people cannot philosophise nor understand that to the Infinite there +is no such thing as Sex;" but later on the noted writer on Symbolism, +Durandus, in the introduction to his book, is more explicit, and gives +the real meaning as follows: "The Mystical Vesica Piscis ... wherein +the Divinity and, more rarely, the Blessed Virgin are represented, +has no reference, except in name, to a fish, but represents the +Almond, the symbol of Virginity and self-production." + +The Vesica Piscis, and its name, is intimately connected with the +discovery, by Augustus Cæsar in the century preceding our Era, as +narrated by Baronius, of a prophecy in one of the Sibylline books, +foretelling "a great event coming to pass in the birth of One who +should prove to be the true 'King of Kings,' and Augustus Cæsar +therefore dedicated an altar in his palace to this unknown God." +Eusebius and St. Augustine inform us that the first letter of each +line of the verses from the Erythrean Sibyl containing this prophecy, +formed the word [Greek: ICHTHYS] (a fish), and were taken as +representing the sentence: [Greek: Iêsous Christos Theou Huios +Sôtêr]("Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour"). Based upon this +discovery arose that extraordinary enthusiasm, during the second, +third, and fourth centuries, for hunting up further prophecies in +Pagan sources, resulting in a great number of Sibylline verses being +invented, giving the minutest details in the Life of our Lord. These +fabrications seem to have been at that time generally accepted by the +masses as true prophecies, though we know now that they were written +some centuries after the events they were supposed to foretell. + +Let us now return to the Vesica Piscis. In the paintings and +sculptures of the Middle Ages, we find it constantly used to +circumscribe the figure of the Saviour, especially whenever He is +represented as judging the world and in His glorified state. Many +beautiful examples of this in Anglo-Saxon work of the tenth century +may be seen in King Edgar's Book of Grants to Winchester Cathedral and +the famous Breviary of St. Ethelwolfe. Numerous illustrations of these +and other pictures of the Middle Ages, as also diagrams of the +properties of the Vesica Piscis, can be seen in the volume I have +already referred to dealing fully with this subject. + +The building fraternity was a purely Christian community; the First +Crusade raised a great enthusiasm for building Christian Churches, and +brought in large gifts of money for that purpose. Up to 1140 Norman +Architecture held sway, having the "Square" for its unit, its greatest +symbol being the _Gnomon_, representing knowledge; but about that +time, as we have seen, arose from the study of Geometry, the head of +all learning, a Mystical form having the mysterious figure of the +Vesica Piscis, the true Gothic Arch, with the Equilateral Triangle +enclosed as its unit, and symbolising the Trinity in Unity. The +recognition of the import of the Trinity was paramount throughout +those early days; all important documents began with an Invocation of +the _Tres Personæ_, or were garnished with symbolic illustrations +thereof; all the old MSS., already referred to, which have come down +to us from that period, invariably commence with "In the name of the +Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." + +It can therefore be readily understood what determined the sudden +change between 1140-1150, resulting in that wonderful accession of +beauty to architectural design which we find in the Gothic. The +incentive had to be a strong one, and of an eminently religious +character, to accomplish the radical change of throwing over so +absolutely the Norman, and commencing to build entirely on what are +called Gothic lines. A careful examination of the proportions of the +structures themselves, and the character of the decorations found in +the finest examples of buildings representing that style, at once +shows us that the incentive was the symbolism attached to the +mysterious figure called the Vesica Piscis, which appears to be not +only the principal feature upon which the whole style rests, but is +also employed, as a symbol of the Divine, wherever we have Gothic +Architecture, either in painted windows or mural decorations. Every +Cathedral has its Vesica Piscis, often of enormous dimensions. +Geometry was synonymous with Masonry, and the very _foundation_ +of the Science of Geometry, as expounded by Euclid, was his +_first_ proposition. _Every single problem_ in the whole of his +books necessitates for its construction the use of this one +foundation--namely, "how to form an Equilateral Triangle," and this is +the Mystical form of "the Knowledge of the Square." This triangle, +symbolising the Logos, is therefore not only the _beginning_ of the +Science of Geometry, and therefore of Masonry, the Head of all the +Sciences, but it is by that triangle that all Geometrical forms, and +therefore forms of knowledge, are _made_, and it became the most +mysterious and secret symbol of the Logos, for is it not written by +St. John that "In the beginning was the Logos, and by it were all +things made"; so the Vesica Piscis, the cradle of the Logos, became +the great _secret_ of Masonry, the foundation as we find it upon which +Gothic Architecture was evolved, the means by which its wonderful +plans were laid down, and the most reverenced figure in Religious +Symbolism, as shown by its use in seals, engravings, sculptures, +pictures, &c., throughout the Middle Ages. + +Let me make this clearer. The more one examines the typical points in +the Saxon, Norman, and Gothic styles of Architecture, the more clearly +one sees that the Architects of the two former used circles and +squares on their tracing-boards, as units for their proportions, in +drawing up both ground plans and elevations, with here and there +suggestions only of the Equilateral Triangle having been made use of +in some of the smaller details; whereas the Gothic Architects seem to +have used the Vesica Piscis almost entirely. This explains the reason +why true Gothic buildings have always been said to be built mainly on +the basis of the Equilateral Triangle; this naturally follows, because +the use of the Vesica creates, and therefore necessitates, the +appearance of the Equilateral Triangle in every conceivable situation. +The following quotation is typical of the leading essay writers on +this subject: "The Equilateral Triangle enters largely into, if it +does not entirely control, all mediæval proportions, particularly in +the ground plans. In Chartres Cathedral the apices of two Equilateral +Triangles (_vide_ frontispiece to these Views), whose common base is +the internal length of the transept, measured through the two western +piers of the intersection, will give the interior length, one apex +extending to the east end of the chevet within the aisles, the other +to the original termination of the Nave westward, and the present +extent of the side aisles in that direction. With slight deviation, +most, if not all, the ground plans of the French Cathedrals are +measurable in this manner, and their choirs may be so measured almost +without exception. Troyes Cathedral is in exact proportion with that +of Chartres, and the choirs of Rheims, Beauvais, St. Ouen at Rouen, +and others are equally so. Bourges Cathedral, which has no transept, +is exactly three Equilateral Triangles in length inside, from the East +end of the outer aisle to the Eastern columns supporting the West +Towers. Most English Cathedrals appear to have been constructed in +their original plans upon similar rules." White's Classical Essay on +Architecture compares the Norman with the Gothic, where he says: "In +what is usually called the Norman period, the general proportions and +outlines of the Churches are reducible to certain rules of setting out +by the plain Square. As Architecture progressed the Square gradually +disappeared, and the proportion of general outline, as well as of +detail, fell in more and more with applications of the Equilateral +Triangle, till the art, having arrived at its culminating point, or +that which is generally acknowledged to be its period of greatest +beauty and perfection in the thirteenth and the beginning of the +fourteenth centuries, again began to decline. With this decline the +Equilateral Triangle was almost lost sight of, and then a mode of +setting out work by diagonal squares was taken up, for such is the +basis found exactly applicable to the work of the fifteenth century, +since which time mathematical proportions have been generally +employed." And after referring to numerous scale drawings of Churches, +windows, doors, and arches, he points out that every student of Church +architecture must pronounce those of the untraceried and traceried +first point to be the most beautiful of all, those of the Norman to be +a degree less so, and those of the perpendicular and debased to be far +inferior to either, and in that analysis we find that the Equilateral +Triangle was used almost exclusively for determining one order (the +Gothic), the Square for another (the Norman), and the Square +diagonally divided for the other (the debased). + +Now let me try to describe the wonderful properties of the Vesica +Piscis, so that you may understand the mystery which shrouded it in +the minds of those Mediæval builders. The rectangle formed by the +length and breadth of this figure, in the simplest form, has several +extraordinary properties; it may be cut into three equal parts by +straight lines parallel to the shorter side, and these parts will all +be precisely and geometrically similar to each other and to the whole +figure,--strangely applicable to the symbolism attached at that time +to the Trinity in Unity,--and the subdivision may be proceeded with +indefinitely without making any change in form. However often the +operation is performed, the parts remain identical with the original +figure, having all its extraordinary properties, the Equilateral +Triangle appearing everywhere, whereas no other rectangle can have +this curious property. + +It may also be cut into four equal parts by straight lines parallel to +its sides, and again each of these parts will be true Vesicas, exactly +similar to each other, and to the whole, and of course the Equilateral +Triangle is again everywhere. + +Again, if two out of the tri-subdivisions mentioned above be taken, +the form of these together is exactly similar, geometrically, to half +the original figure, and again the Equilateral Triangle is ubiquitous +on every base line. + +Again, the diagonal of the rectangle is exactly double the length of +its shorter side, which characteristic is absolutely _unique_, and +greatly increases its usefulness for plotting out designs; and this +property of course holds good for all the rectangles formed by the +original figure and for the other species of subdivision. But perhaps +its most mysterious property (though not of any practical use) to +those who had studied Geometry, and to whom this figure was the symbol +of the Divine Trinity in Unity, so dear to them, was the fact that it +actually put into their hands the means of _trisecting_ the Right +Angle. + +Now, the three great problems of antiquity which engaged the attention +and wonderment of geometricians throughout the Middle Ages, were "the +Squaring of the Circle," "the Duplication of the Cube," and lastly, +"the Trisection of an Angle," even Euclid being unable to show how to +do it; and yet it will be seen that the diagonal of one of the +subsidiary figures in the tri-subdivision, together with the diagonal +of the whole figure, actually trisect the angle at the corner of the +rectangle. It is true that it only showed them how to trisect one kind +of angle, but it was that particular angle which was so dear to them +as symbolising their craft, and which was created by the Equilateral +Triangle. All these unique properties place the figure far above that +of a square for practical work, because even when the diagonal of a +square is given, it is impossible to find the exact length of any of +its sides or _vice versa_; whereas in the Vesica rectangle the +diagonal is exactly double its shorter side, and upon any length of +line which may be taken on the tracing-board as a base for elevation, +an Equilateral Triangle will be found whose sides are of course all +equal and therefore known, as they are equal to the base, and whose +line joining apex to centre of base is a true Plumb line, forming at +its foot the perfect right angle, so important in the laying of every +stone of a building. + +In the volume referred to I have given a skeleton plan upon such a +scale of subdivision that a tracing-board, of 5 feet by 8 feet, would +be divided up into over one million parts, and, as all these +subdivisions are perfect representations of the original Vesica figure +with all its properties, the design of the largest building, with the +minutest detail, could be drafted with absolute accuracy. There are +many other curious properties of this Figure, but they are difficult +to explain without diagrams. I will, however, give one more example of +its creative power. The problem of describing a Pentagon must have +puzzled architects considerably in those early times, but this was +again easily accomplished by means of the Vesica. Albrecht Dürer, the +great designer and engraver, who lived at the end of the fifteenth +century, refers to the Vesica in his works (_Dureri Institutune +Geometricarum_, lib. ii. p. 56) in a way which shows that it was as +commonly known in his time as the Circle, Square, and Triangle. His +instructions for forming a Pentagon are: "Designa circino invariato +tres piscium vesicas" (describe with unchanged compasses three vesicæ +piscium). Three similar circles are described with centres at the +angles of an Equilateral Triangle, forming the three Vesicæ, by means +of which the Pentagon is drawn, and from which also we get a beautiful +form of arch very common in the thirteenth century (_vide_ +illustrations in _Magister Mathesios_). This is also the method used +in that old manuscript of the fifteenth century named "Geometria +deutsch." In this old MS. it is also shown that the easiest method for +finding the centre of a circle, however large, or any segment of a +circle, is by means of the Vesica Piscis. And just as we see so many +Cathedrals of the Middle Ages are stated by antiquarians to have been +planned on the Equilateral Triangle, so do we find the Pentagon +appearing as the basis of Architectural designs of buildings of a +later date, such as Liverpool Castle, Chester Castle, and other +similar structures; but the true means by which each were laid down, +as in the case of the Equilateral Triangle, was again the Vesica +Piscis. A beautiful example of decoration, on the basis of the Vesica, +is seen in the tomb of Edward the Confessor in Westminster Abbey. + +I will conclude this subject by quoting from the summing up by Prof. +Kerrich (Principal Librarian to the University of Cambridge in 1820), +in his masterly Essay on Architecture, where he gives the different +forms of what he calls the "Mysterious Figure," used in the most +noted Gothic buildings: he says, "I would in nowise indulge in +conjectures as to the reference these figures might possibly have to +the most sacred mysteries of religion; independently of any such +allusion, their properties are of themselves sufficiently +extraordinary to have struck all who have observed them." + +From earliest Christian times the principal _doctrine_ based upon the +Mysticism of the Neo-platonists and the Kabalists was what was called +the [Greek: Gnôsis], the Knowledge of the All, and the fundamental +basis of this, as of all esoteric teaching from the beginning of +History, was _Procreation_. From the first dawn of civilisation the +"Great One" always had an enemy with whom he had to fight; having +conquered, he married that enemy, and their offspring was Life or +Duration. In the oldest forms, as in Persia and ancient Egypt, it was +Light and Darkness, "Ormuz and Ahriman," "Osiris and Isis," the Light +conquering Darkness, the Day conquering Night, resulting in Time and +duration. In the Eleusinian Mysteries it was the "Sun and Earth" +producing Vegetable Life, and in the [Greek: Gnôsis] it was the +"Ainsoph and Ignorance," resulting in True Knowledge or Everlasting +Life. + +In the Vesica Piscis (_vide_ frontispiece) we see two Equilateral +Triangles formed on the same base, similar to what we found in the +ground-plan of Chartres and other Gothic Cathedrals; these two +triangles symbolised to the Mediæval Builders the Divine and Human +Natures of the Logos, the Word, the Creator; they are both procreated +and enclosed in the Vesica; the one having the Apex pointed upwards, +represented Divine or Spiritual Life, and in that I have placed the +"Tetragrammaton," the Word or name of God (Jehovah), which, throughout +the Jewish race for thousands of years, was held to be so sacred that +they did not dare to utter it aloud. It was, at this time, depicted in +the Equilateral Triangle, the symbol of the Logos, becoming thus the +Masonic Word of the Middle Ages, and was probably used, exoterically, +for purposes of recognition among members of the Great Building +Societies, with the introduction of Gothic Architecture; but the +_esoteric_ teaching, which was known only to the élite of the Craft +and not by the Ordinary Operatives, was the mystical _procreation_ of +that triangle, the doctrine of Spiritual or New Birth, symbolised by +that mysterious figure which we have seen was the very foundation +stone of Geometry, and therefore of Tectonic Art, the Head of all +learning, and the great Secret of Gothic Architecture, called for +esoteric purposes "Vesica Piscis." The Triangle, having the Apex +pointing downwards, represented Human or Physical Life, and I have +placed therein a representation of _sacrificial_ death, which we shall +see was introduced, as a necessity, for the good of the Race. + +As "everything in Heaven has its counterpart on Earth," so may we see, +by introspection, that the _reflecting_ surface, the thin, physical +film between the Human and Divine, is represented by that Base, and +Human Life then becomes truly, as it should be, the reflection of the +Divine. + +One more glance through the Window at what I will call-- + + "The Mystery of the Apex." + +The earliest forms of Life, the unicellular "Beings," whether animal +or vegetable--for both divisions, if they can be said to be divided, +have the same protoplasmic cell as basis of life--were, and are still, +immortal except for accidents; they are not subject to natural death +as we know it; they multiply by fission and not by "budding." It was +only with the building up of cell upon cell into communities, and the +advent of polycellular beings of greater and greater complexity of +structure, that the "Wisdom" behind natural laws introduced death as +an _adaptation_, to prevent monstrosities in the shape of mutilated +specimens being perpetuated on the earth. Life is purely physical and, +in conformity with the modes under which our physical senses act, has +the appearance of tri-unity. As white light is seen to be composed of +but three primary colours, as Music is based on the Triad, as Space is +known to us in three dimensions only, and Geometry, "the Head of all +Learning," is based upon the Circle, Square, and Triangle, so may we +see life in its three primary aspects: the Animal, Vegetable, and +Material. The last-mentioned aspect, though long suspected, from the +investigation of Crystallography, to have in some mysterious way a +common basis with the animal and vegetable, was not fully grasped +until, in the last few years, we have been able to study in our +laboratories the actual evolution, or more correctly devolution, of +matter from one form to another; and as all plants and animals are +found to be built up of the same identical protoplasmic cells, so are +we now able to break down and analyse not only these cells but even +the very structure of matter, and find that all substances are built +up of exactly the same bricks, the different forms known to us as +Elements being the _designs_ of the great Architect upon which each +structure has been built; and these completed designs again are used +and become the "ashlars" of the higher forms of plant and animal +structure. As Evolution in the Animal and Vegetable Kingdoms has +given us Species, so in the Material it has developed Elements. The +structures of animal and vegetable life are of comparatively recent +formation, and are still apparently progressing in the direction of +complexity, whereas the structures of matter appear to have long +passed the stage of highest complexity, and the elements are now +undergoing the retrograde process of being transformed, by +radio-activity, from the more complex into simpler elements of lower +atomic denominations--namely, having fewer bricks in each atom. + +All these material designs are more or less radio-active--namely, +changing into other elements, but some, like radium, polonium, &c., +are active to an extraordinary extent. Each molecule or atom may be +looked upon as an _aperture_, more or less open, through which we have +flowing the equivalent of what may be called a leak from the Infinite, +the changing of one element into another being represented by the +change of shape or activity of that aperture. Countless ages ago these +apertures were, by evolution, growing more and more complex in shape, +but when the limit of complexity was reached and the _Apex_ was +passed, an adaptation, somewhat analogous to death in the animal and +vegetable, must have come into play, with the result that these +apertures are now becoming more and more simple in their shape and +activity. The Infinite referred to above may be diagnosed by some as +being in the fourth dimension of space, or it may even be comprised +within the Ether of our known three dimensions, for the discovery of +radio-activity has enabled us to see that Ether is not only as dense +as iron, but millions of times denser than that metal, every cubic +foot, or probably cubic inch, being capable of supplying millions of +horse-power if it could only be tapped. A homely simile of this leak +from the Infinite may be seen in a glass of aerated water, where an +irregularity of surface, a crumb of bread, or a grain of sand becomes +the means by which carbonic-dioxide escapes from the interstices of +the water. + +Radio-active substances then are really forges for forming new +structures of matter or forms of energy, rather than quarries from +which they are cut, and we seem to get a glimpse of the origin of +life, perhaps itself the cause of "retrogression" in the material, +coming through from the Reality, the Infinite beyond the physical +Universe. + +Life and its processes are well symbolised by a triangle, the base of +which is the "Divide" between the Real and its reflections or shadows +on the Material plane, and through which all energy percolates. One +side of the triangle represents anabolism, or the process of building +up, and the other katabolism, the process of breaking down, and at the +Apex is the Mystical "Terror of the Threshold," the "Ainsoph" (_vide_ +frontispiece), which introduced _sacrificial_ death to the Physical, +as an adaptation in the evolution of, and for the good of, the Human +race. With the death of the Physical, the rending of the Veil, as we +have seen in View Two, all Shadows and Reflections disappear, and, in +place of "seeing as through a glass darkly," the Soul has its true +birth, and at last enters upon its heritage in the Divine Life, face +to face with the Reality, the Good, the Beautiful, and the True. + + + + +VIEW FOUR + +LOVE IN ACTION + + +In the preceding Views we have seen that Time and Space have no real +existence apart from our physical senses; they are only modes or +conditions under which those senses act, and by which we gain a very +limited and illusory knowledge of our surroundings. Our very +consciousness of living depends upon our perception of multitudinous +changes in our surroundings, and our very thoughts are therefore also +limited by Time and Space, because _change_ is dependent on those two +limits, the very basis of perceived motion being the time that an +object takes to go over a certain space; we must therefore look behind +consciousness itself, beyond the conditioning in Time and Space, for +the true reality of Being. We have seen that man is the offspring of +two distinct natures--the Spiritual or Transcendental and the Material +or Physical; the former is the Real, the latter is only a shadow. If +we now try to consider the connection between these two natures, we +have to recognise that, with all our advance in Knowledge during the +last hundred years, we are indeed still as children playing with +pebbles on the sea-shore, knowing neither why we are placed there, nor +what those pebbles are, or whence they came. Though we seem ever to be +discovering fresh truths concerning their relations one with another, +when arranged in different patterns, built up into new forms, or split +up into smaller fragments, we have to acknowledge (substituting +thoughts for pebbles) that we are still only learning our alphabet and +the simple rules of multiplication, addition, and division, which must +be mastered before we can hope to take the real step towards +understanding. + +We are surrounded by mysteries; we are indeed a mystery to ourselves, +we do not even know how the Physical Ego is connected with the +physical world; how the sense organs, receiving the impression of +multitudinous and diverse frequencies of different intensities, +transmit them to the brain, and how the mind is able to combine all +these impressions and form concepts. But by examining the Physical +Universe, we seem to see clearly that the only Reality is the +Spiritual, the Here, and the Now, that our real _Personality_ being +Spiritual is independent of Space and Time limitations, and is +therefore Omnipresent and Omniscient; it may indeed be not only +connected with the Physical Ego of this World, but be in close working +connection with other Physical Egos in the Universe, and may, in some +wonderful process, through its affinity with the Great Spirit, be +helping them to progress in other directions possibly quite beyond our +power to conceive under the conditions we are accustomed to here. + +A great forest tree forms each year a multitude of separate buds; each +of these buds is an independent plant which has only a temporary +existence and has no present knowledge of the other buds, but it is by +means of all these buds and the leaves they develop, that the tree is +nourished and increases from year to year. Still more wonderful is the +fact that it is these temporary existences which, in accordance with +the general law of life-production, form special "ovules," which we +call seeds, each of which has the potentiality for growing up into a +great forest tree, which, in its turn, is capable of pushing forth +temporary existences in countless directions. We have, in the above +process of creating a forest tree, a likeness on the Physical Plane to +what I would suggest is the process not only of the creation of the +Race, but, on the Transcendental Plane, the multiplication of +permanent personalities by means of, or in connection with, the +temporary and Space-limited Human Physical Ego. + +Again, as the human mind forms a thought, clothes it in physical +language, and sends it forth in such a form as not only affects our +material sense of hearing, but conveys to the hearer the very thought +itself, so the whole Physical Universe is a temporary and +Space-limited representation of the Reality which is behind, is in +fact the materialisation of the Will or Thought of the Great Spirit. +The "taking root" or advent of the Spiritual to the genus homo, made +it possible for man to interpret the Good, Beautiful, and True in the +phenomena of nature, and, as we, by studying these materialisations, +gain knowledge of the Reality, and our personalities become real +powers, so may we at length approach the point where we may feel that +we are thinking, or having divulged to us, the very thoughts of God; +and, though it may never be possible in this life to form a full +conception of the Reality, we may, I think, even with our present +state of knowledge, aspire to understand the messages conveyed to us +in some of the multitudinous forms, under which these thoughts are +presented to us, and I propose giving an example of this later on in +this View. + +Once more, in the case of a picture, it is possible, by examining and +comparing a number of certain short lines in perspective, to discover +not only the position occupied by the Artist, but also the point to +which all those lines converge; so by examining and combining certain +lines of Thought on the Physical Plane, and following them as far as +we can with our present knowledge towards the point where our Ideals +of the Good, Beautiful, and True intersect, we may reach the position +from which we may be able to form, although through a glass darkly, +even a conception of the Great Reality, and therefore of Its Offspring +the Transcendental Ego, and its connection with the Universe. + +As the whole of Nature is the temporary and Space-limited +manifestation of the Reality, so the individual Physical Ego is the +manifestation in Time and Space of the Transcendental Ego or true +Personality. The Physical Ego is its transient expression and has no +other use beyond this life. Each Physical Ego helps, or should help +forward, the general improvement of the Race towards perfection. Each +generation should come into being a step nearer to the Spiritual, +until it can be pictured that at the final consummation, there will be +nothing imperfect, no shadow left; the full complement of Spiritual +Personalities being complete in the Great All-Father. + +Do we not then see clearly that the Physical Ego, comprised in what we +call "I am," "I perceive," "I think," "I conceive," "I remember," is +transient, and has only to do with the progress of the Race? It is the +Shadow or Image in the Physical Universe of that Personality which +Transcends Time and Space. Take away a small portion of the Brain, the +organ of the Mind, and Memory is wiped out, remove the greater part of +it and the manifestation of the Physical Ego is destroyed; though the +body is as much alive as before, there is apparently nothing left but +the physical life, which it has in common with all animals, plants, +and probably, as strongly suggested by late discoveries in +Radio-activity, even with what is called inorganic matter. The Brain, +and therefore the Ego, is not a necessity for Physical life; this is +clearly seen in the lower forms of life--it would be difficult to +point out the brain of a Cabbage or an Oak Tree. + +In the last forty years we have entered upon a new era of religion and +philosophy; we hear no more of the old belief that the study of +scientific facts leads to atheism or irreligion; we begin to see that +Religion and Science must go hand in hand towards elucidating the +Riddle of the Universe, and such a change enables us even to aspire to +show, as I now propose to do, that it is possible, by examining +certain phenomena in Nature, to reach that point where we may feel +that we are listening to and understanding, though through a glass +darkly, what may be called the very Thoughts of the Great Reality. I +will take for examination the subject most intimately connected with +the title of this View--namely, the nature of the growth of the +Transcendental Personality, upon what that growth depends, and how we +may understand that the attainment to Everlasting Life is dependent +upon that growth. + +I have already pointed out in View Two that the Transcendental +Personality, being Spiritual, and therefore akin to the Great Reality, +may be said to have no free-will of itself. Its will or influence must +always be working towards perfection in the form "Let Thy Will, which +is also my will, be done"; the efficacy of its influence with the +Great Reality depends on its growth or nourishment by the knowledge of +the Good, Beautiful, and True ever bringing it more and more nearly +into perfect touch or sympathy with the All-loving. The power of +prayer therefore depends upon two conditions; it must be in the form +of "Let thy Will be done," and that which prays must be capable of +making its petition felt, by having already gained a knowledge of what +that Will is. I am, of course, not referring to that form of prayer +which, alas with so many, seems to be the attempt to get as much out +of the Absolute as is possible, with the least amount of trouble. + +If now we carefully examine the Phenomena around us, we make the +extraordinary discovery that this power to influence is the very basis +of survival and of progress throughout the universe. In the organic +world all Nature seems to be praying in one form or another, and only +those that pray with efficacy, based upon the above two conditions, +survive in the struggle for existence. The economy of Nature is +founded upon that inexorable law the "Survival of the Fittest"; every +organism that is not in sympathy with its environment, and cannot +therefore derive help and nourishment from its surroundings, perishes. +Darwin tells us that the colours of flowering plants have been +developed by the necessity of attracting the bees, on whose visits +depends the power of plants to reproduce their species; those families +of plants which do not as it were pray to the bees with efficacy, fail +to attract, are not therefore fertilised, and disappear without +leaving successors. Flowers may also be said to be praying to us by +their beauty, or usefulness, and in some cases, as with orchids, by +their marvellous shapes. We answer their prayer by building hot houses +and tending them with care, because they please us, and therefore we +help them to live; while, on the contrary, those plants that have not +developed these qualities are not only neglected, but, in some cases, +as with weeds, we take special trouble to exterminate them, because +their existence is distasteful to us. + +Charles Darwin also tells us that Heredity and Environment are the +prime influences under which the whole Organic World is sustained; in +other words, every organism has implanted in it by heredity the +principle of life, but the conditions under which it will be possible +for that life to expand and come to perfection, rest entirely upon its +power to bring itself into harmony with its environment. This +principle of life does not come naked into the world, it is fortified +by heredity, with power gained by its parents in their struggle for +existence, and in their persistence to get into sympathy with their +environment. The knowledge they gained, by this struggle, they have +handed down to their offspring, and given it thereby the possibility +of also gaining for itself that knowledge of, and power to get into +sympathy with, its environment, upon which its future existence will +depend. So may we not see that in the Spiritual World, these two +conditions dominate, and that it is only by the clear comprehension of +their reality that we can understand how all-important it is for the +soul to bring itself nearer and nearer into harmony with its +environment, the Spiritual, and how the efficacy of prayer depends +upon the Knowledge of what is the Will of God? + +We have received from our Spiritual Father the principle of +Everlasting Life, and the aspirations which, if followed, will enable +that life to expand and come to perfection; but, as in the case of +physical organism, the gift is useless unless we elect to use those +aspirations aright, and gain thereby a knowledge of our Spiritual +Environment, which alone can bring us into sympathy with the Great +Reality. Without this "Knowledge of God," we can see by analogy on the +Organic Plane that Everlasting Life is impossible--we are as weeds and +shall be rooted out. This is no figment of the imagination, it seems +to be the only conclusion we can come to if Nature is the work of +Nature's God, and Man is made in the image (spiritual) of that God. +Herbert Spencer came to the same conclusion when defining everlasting +existence. He says: "Perfect correspondence would be perfect life; +were there no changes in the environment but such as the organism had +adapted changes to meet, and were it never to fail in the efficiency +with which it met them, there would be Eternal Existence and Eternal +Knowledge" (_Principles of Biology_). + +The power of influence, by sympathetic action, may also be seen in +another direction; consider the fact that if we are in a room with a +piano and we sing a certain note, say E flat, we not only hear that +note coming back from the piano, but, if we examine the strings, we +find that all the E flats are actually vibrating in sympathy, because +they are in perfect harmony with the note given out by the voice; but +none of the other strings are responding because they are out of +harmony. With this simile in mind, let us consider the curious fact +that a moth always lays its eggs on that particular plant upon which +the caterpillars, when they hatch out of these eggs, must feed. The +study of the Life History of Insects has always been of great interest +to me, as I firmly believe that we are on the verge of a great +discovery, and that the first indications are being revealed to us +through the investigation of the Biology of Insects. Some of you may, +perhaps, have watched this progress of ovipositing, as I have done, +and noticed how the female moth will hover in a peculiar way over +different plants, but does not alight until she comes to a plant near +akin to the one she is seeking. She then alights, but remains, on +tip-toe as it were, with legs outstretched and wings quivering, and +soon mounts again into the air; it is only when she alights on the +proper food plant that she shows unmistakably that she knows her quest +is ended and her eggs are laid. This particular plant has no other +attractions for her, she takes her food irrespectively from any other +flower which secretes honey, and yet, when she is ready to fulfil her +destiny, she is unerringly drawn towards that particular plant which +must be the food of her offspring. What is this wonderful sense? We +call it instinct, a name which is made to cover all other senses in +the lower animals, of which we have no cognisance ourselves. Let us +take our own senses as a guide: we find that they are all based on the +appreciation of frequencies, of greater or less rapidity, by means of +organs specially adapted to vibrate in sympathy with those pulsations, +and thus we gain knowledge of external things. Two tuning forks or two +organ pipes when vibrating close to each other, give out a pure +musical note when they are in perfect harmony, and they then have, as +it were, "rest" together; but when one is put even slightly out of +harmony, there is, in place of a pure musical note, a rise and fall of +sound in heavy throbs, strangely characteristic of "quarrelling"; in +fact, discord and "unrest." + +In our sense of hearing we can only appreciate up to 40,000 vibrations +in a second as a musical sound, whereas, with Light and other +electrical phenomena, as we shall see in a later View, we can +appreciate sympathetic frequencies of not only many millions, but +indeed millions of millions in a second, and yet it is possible that, +in the sense (of insects) we are now examining of life appreciating +life, we may be in the presence of frequencies as far removed from +light as light is from sound. If, then, we may follow the analogy from +our highest senses, we seem to get a clear explanation of the mystery +of insect discrimination. The insect, in her then state, could have no +pleasure in the presence of certain plants, their modes of frequency +being out of sympathy with that particular Insect Life, and, it may be +conceived that, not only is there no inducement for the insect to +alight on that plant, but that even in its near proximity that insect +would feel discomfort or restlessness; when, however, a plant is +reached which is near akin to the one required, less antipathy or +unrest would be felt, and, when the true species of plant is reached, +all would be harmony, pleasure, and rest, the functions of Insect Life +would be vivified, and its life-work accomplished under the influences +of sympathetic action. + +I have made several other investigations on this subject, but I must +only give one more to illustrate the higher form of Animal Life +appreciating Animal Life. There is a large class of insects, called +Ichneumonidæ, which lay their eggs in the bodies of caterpillars, and, +as in the case of a moth laying its egg on the special food plant upon +which its caterpillar can feed, so does each species of these insects +unerringly lay its eggs in the body of a particular kind of +caterpillar. It must be a wonderful sense which can enable an +Ichneumon Fly to do this; it has never seen that caterpillar before, +as the egg, from which its own caterpillar was hatched, was laid +inside the body of one of those caterpillars, and the caterpillar upon +which it fed had been eaten up and disappeared at least six months +before the Ichneumon Fly had even made its way out of its own cocoon; +and yet this insect is not only forced, by some mysterious power, to +lay its egg in the body of a caterpillar, but there is only one +species which will serve its purpose, and it has to hunt up this +particular caterpillar from among thousands of other different +species. + +Let me put before you what is, perhaps, the most mysterious +illustration which we have under this heading, wherein the Ichneumon +Fly cannot even get sight of its prey, nor employ any sense similar to +our own for its detection. There are several species of moths whose +caterpillars live in the very heart of trees. We will take the case of +the caterpillar of Zeuzera Aesculi, the Leopard Moth; the egg of this +Moth is laid in a crevice of the bark, and, when first hatched, the +small larva penetrates through the bark into the centre of an apple, +pear, or plum tree, and then commences to eat its way upwards, forming +at first a very small tunnel, but gradually increasing it, as the +caterpillar grows larger, into a passage of about half an inch in +diameter. In such a position, surrounded as it is by solid wood, the +thickness of which would probably not be less than one and a half or +two inches, we might suppose that the caterpillar would be safe from +its enemies, but it is not: there is a large Ichneumon Fly which +cannot propagate its species unless it can lay its eggs in the body of +this particular caterpillar. This Ichneumon Fly can, from outside, not +only tell that inside the stem of that tree there is a caterpillar, +but can locate the exact spot, and, still more wonderful, is able to +determine whether or not that caterpillar is the particular species it +is in search of. There are numerous other species of moths whose +caterpillars feed in the centre of trees, and yet this female +Ichneumon is able to mark down as her prey, although far out of reach +of any sense known to us, that one species which alone can serve her +purpose. As soon as she has located the exact position of the +caterpillar, she unsheathes a long delicate ovipositor, with which +she is provided, and drills it right through the intervening solid +wood until it pierces the body of the caterpillar; she then lays an +egg down that long tube into its body and repeats the process two or +three times. The caterpillar itself does not appear to feel any +inconvenience from this process and continues to feed and grow larger; +but it has the seeds of death within itself, and the two or three +little caterpillars, which hatch out of the eggs of the Ichneumon, are +also growing rapidly inside it. At last, when the time comes that the +large caterpillar should have been full fed, and it has eaten its way +outwards until it rests close under the bark, preparatory to turning +into a chrysalis, its enemies finish their destructive work, and, if +the tree is then opened, the empty skin and cartilage skeleton of the +large caterpillar is found, together with two or three large cocoons. +These cocoons, if kept, will produce in due time specimens of the +Ichneumon Fly, and these will in their turn go about their murderous +work as soon as their proper hunting season comes round again. + +This is only an isolated case out of thousands of similar occurrences +in every locality; in fact, if you walk along any palings in the +country in the early summer, you will see at every few steps the +evidence of similar tragedies. Those of you who live in the country +must often have seen on palings little heaps containing a dozen or +more of the small yellow Microgaster Cocoons, and if these are +examined carefully they will be found to be surrounding the skin of a +caterpillar. These minute cocoons may be kept under a wine glass and, +from each a minute Ichneumon Fly, with (if a female) its sharp +ovipositor, will emerge in due time. It is curious what mistakes can +be made even by intelligent persons. I have had the skin of the +caterpillar and this little heap of yellow Microgaster Cocoons sent me +to examine, and have been seriously asked whether this was not a true +case of Parthenogenesis; the suggestion being that the caterpillar had +actually laid eggs, instead of waiting until it had become a moth, and +that its efforts, to alter the course of nature, had been too much for +its constitution and it had died in the act! There are other +illustrations I should have liked to give but space will not permit, +the most remarkable being, perhaps, the knowledge a Queen Bee +possesses of the proximity of another Queen, even when that other is +still in the pupa state, sealed up in a waxen cell. I have made +numerous experiments with Queens of the common black English Bee +(_Apis mellifica_), and also the yellow-striped Italian Bee (_Apis +ligustica_), which belong to the same order (_Hymenoptera_) as the +Ichneumon Flies, and the same marvellous sense of life appreciating +life at a distance, and through solid matter, is experienced. + +If we now follow the same Thought by examining the Inorganic, we make +the extraordinary discovery that this power to influence, based on +sympathetic action, is the very mainspring by which physical work can +be sustained, and upon it depends entirely the very action of our +physical senses. Our senses are based upon the appreciation of +Vibration, in the Air and Ether, of greater or less rapidity, +according to the presence in our organs of processes capable of acting +in sympathy with those frequencies. The limits within which our senses +can thus be affected are very small; the ear can only appreciate +thirteen or fourteen octaves in sound, and the eye less than one +octave in light; beyond these limits, owing to the absence of +processes which can be affected sympathetically, all is silent and +dark to us. This capacity for responding to vibration under +sympathetic action is not confined to Organic Senses; the physical +forces, and even inert matter, are also sensitive to its influences, +as I will now demonstrate to you. + +In wireless telegraphy it is absolutely necessary that the transmitter +of the electro-magnetic waves should be brought into perfect harmony +with the receiver--without that condition it is impossible to +communicate at a distance; again, a heavy pendulum or swing can, by a +certain force, be pushed, say an inch, from its position of rest, and +each successive push will augment the swing, but only on one +condition, namely, that the force is applied in sympathy with the +pendulum's mode of swing; if the length of the pendulum is 52 feet, +the force must be applied only at the end of each eight seconds, as, +although the pendulum at first is only moving one inch, it will take +four seconds to traverse that one inch, the same as it would take to +traverse 10 feet or more, and will not be back at the original +position till the end of eight seconds; if the force is applied before +that time the swing of the pendulum would be hindered instead of +augmented. Even a steam engine must work under this influence if it is +to be effective; there may be enough force in a boiler to do the work +of a thousand horse-power, but, unless the slide valve is arranged so +that the steam enters the cylinder at exactly the right moment, +namely, in sympathy with the thrust of the piston, no work is +possible. + +To understand the next example I want you first to recognise that, +apart from its physical qualities, every material body has certain, +what may be called, traits of character, which belong to it alone; +there is generally one special trait or "partial," namely, the +characteristic which it is easiest for the particular body to +manifest, but I shall show you that by sympathetic action others can +be developed. I have several pieces of ordinary wood, used for +lighting fires, each of which, according to its size and density, has +its special characteristic; if you examined each by itself you would +hardly see that they are different from one another except slightly in +length, but if I throw them down on the table, you would hear that +each of them gives out a clear characteristic note of the musical +scale: to carry this a step forward, I have a long, heavy, iron bar, +about 4 feet long and 2 inches thick, so rigid that no ordinary manual +force can move it out of the straight, and, from mere handling, you +would find it difficult to imagine that it would be amenable to soft +influences. But I have studied this inert mass, and, as each person +has special characteristics, some being more partial than others to, +say, Literary pursuits, Athletics, Music, Poetry, Engineering, +Science, or Metaphysics, so I am able to show that this iron mass has +not only a number of these "partials," some of which are +extraordinarily beautiful and powerful, audible over long distances, +but that by the lightest touch of certain small generating rubbers, +not more than an ounce in weight and tipped with cork or leather, +each of which has been put into perfect sympathy with one of those +traits, I can make that mass demonstrate them both optically and +audibly; but, without those special sympathetic touches, it is silent +and remains an inert mass. This result is obtained by physical contact +between the instrument and the mass, but we will now carry this +another step forward and deal with the subject of the action of +Influence at a distance, or what may be called Prayer, between two of +these rigid masses. From what we have already seen, it is clear that +the Soul of man could not possibly pray with efficacy to a graven +image; there is nothing in sympathy between them, and, without +sympathetic action, influence is impossible; but it is quite possible +for Matter to pray with efficacy to Matter, provided the material +soul, if we may use the analogy, is brought into perfect sympathy with +the material god, and I can now put before you an experiment showing +this taking place. + +I have another heavy bar of iron, not so long but of the same +thickness as the one already described, and have found its strongest +characteristic; I have another small rubber, fashioned so that its +characteristic is in perfect sympathy with that of the bar, namely, +that the number of vibrations, in a second, of the instrument are +exactly equal to those of the iron mass, and it is, therefore, as we +saw in the last experiment, able by contact to influence the bar +sympathetically. The slightest touch throws the bar into such violent +vibration that a great volume of sound is produced, which can be heard +a quarter of a mile away. The result of this sympathetic touch is far +from being transient, in fact, the bar will continue to move, audibly, +for a long time. This movement in the mass of iron was started by +physical contact, but having once started the bar praying, willing, or +thinking, whichever you like to call it, that bar now has the power to +affect, without contact, another rigid bar of iron even when removed +to great distances, provided the second bar possesses a similar +characteristic, and that that characteristic has been brought into +perfect _sympathy_ with that of the first bar. I have a second bar +which fulfils these conditions, and, although, at the outset, it had +no power whatever to respond, it has been gradually, as it were, +educated, namely, brought nearer and nearer into sympathy with the +first bar, until it is now able to respond across long distances; it +has acted across the whole length of one of the largest halls in +London so strongly that it could be heard by all present. We will now +reverse the process of bringing these bars into sympathy, and I will +throw the first out of harmony by slightly changing its +characteristic; the change is extremely small, quite inappreciable to +the human ear, the bar giving out as full and pure a note as it did +before the alteration was made; in fact, the change is so slight that +it can still, with a little force, be stimulated by the same +generator, and yet the whole power to influence has been lost; the +first bar, although it is praying with great force, gets no response +from the second bar, and, even if the bars are now brought on to the +same table and put within a few inches of each other, there is still +no reply, there is no sympathetic action, the efficacy of prayer +between the two has been completely destroyed. + +Do we not then see the principle upon which the efficacy of Prayer +depends, that the whole object of a Human Soul, when using the words +"Thy Will be done," is to bring itself closer and closer into perfect +sympathy with the Absolute? When that is accomplished, we may +understand, from our simile, that not only shall we and our +aspirations be influenced by the Will of the Deity, but that then our +wishes, in their turn, must have great power with God, and it becomes +possible for even "Mountains to be removed and cast into the midst of +the sea." + +How truly the Philosopher Paul at the beginning of our Era recognised +that the knowledge of God, which Christ Himself tells us is +Everlasting Life, may be gained by the study of the material creation; +His words were sadly overlooked by many who, half a century ago, were +afraid that the discoveries of Science were dangerous to belief in the +Divine. He says: the unrighteous shall be without excuse because "The +invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly +seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His +everlasting power and divinity" (Romans i. 18 to 20, R.V.). + +We have seen the truth of this wonderful statement, we have traced the +reflection of the greatest attribute of the Deity, Divine Love, on the +material plane. What has been the result of our investigation? We find +that throughout the whole of Nature the one great universal power is +Sympathy. + +'Tis verily "love that makes the world go round." What a marvellous +conclusion to our investigation! Let us see where it leads us. The +whole of creation is the materialisation of the Thoughts of the Deity; +we have, therefore, in the forces of Nature, the impress of the very +Essence of God. Our Innermost Self is an emanation from Him, and +Prayer, which, at the beginning, is only a striving to bring ourselves +into harmony with the Deity, must, as the Soul grows in strength and +knowledge, become a great power working under the wonderful principle +of Sympathy. True prayer, indeed, becomes "_Love in Action_," and, +under certain conditions, Prayer may actually be looked upon as the +greatest physical force in Nature. But let us carry this one step +further: can we, by our analogy of Matter praying, understand why "the +knowledge of God is Everlasting Life"? Look at the first iron bar, and +watch how, as long as it keeps on vibrating, the second bar, _because +it is in sympathy_, will be kept in motion. If it were possible for +the first bar to vibrate for ever, the second bar would, speaking +materially, have everlasting life, through its being in perfect +sympathy with the first bar; without this connection the bar would be +lifeless. Now apply this to our Transcendental Personality; it is +being nourished, the knowledge of God is increasing, it is at last +pulsating in perfect harmony with the Deity, and when, for it, the +Material Universe disappears, its _affinity_ to Infinite Love must +give it Everlasting Life. Everything that has not that connection is +but a shadow which will cease to be manifest when the Great Thought is +completed, the volition of the Deity is withdrawn, and the Physical +Universe ceases to exist; nothing can then exist except that which is +perfected, that which is of the essence of God--namely, the +Spiritual. Perfect harmony will then reign supreme, such happiness as +cannot be described in earthly language nor even imagined by our +corporeal senses; hence, in the many passages referring to that +wondrous Life hereafter, we are not told what Heaven is like but only +what is not to be found there: + + "Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, + Neither have entered into the heart of man + The things that God hath prepared for them + that love Him."--1 COR. ii. 9. + +There are several other phenomena which I might have examined, but I +chose this particular aspect of the Reality, as best illustrating the +subject I am trying to elucidate in these Views, though it was +probably the most difficult one to bring home to the general reading +public. There are, I know, from personal knowledge, many of my readers +who will have been able to follow and appreciate what I have attempted +to demonstrate, but to those who have not grasped the connection +between the Infinite and Finite, the Transcendental and the Physical +Ego, the Real and its Shadow, a few more words of explanation may be +helpful. + +It is easy to see that the negatives, Cold, Ignorance, Falsehood, +Ugliness are manifestations of their positives, as given in my list +in View One, and it is also not difficult to show that Evil or Sin is +dependent upon Good in the same way as the Shadow depends upon Light +for its manifestation. Do not let me be misunderstood; I have never +suggested that these negatives or negations have not the appearance of +realities to us, under our present conditions of existence; they +indeed have to be dealt with by us as realities, but they are only +manifested as phenomena on the physical plane, because our Senses, and +therefore Thoughts, are limited by Time and Space and therefore +dependent upon _relativity_. + +Let me put the case of Good and Evil before you, as analogous to, say, +Light and Shadow. Moral laws and responsibility thereto are dependent +upon the existence of Goodness; the purely animal Homo was, as I have +pointed out, free from sin or responsibility until the advent of the +Spiritual made manifest, in that animal, the physical Ego and raised +him far above all other animals. Man thus became a responsible moral +being, a living soul, aware of Right, and therefore of Wrong, and +certain acts then became for him sin that were not sin before. Thus +the advent of Christ, and, in a less degree, the coming into the world +of every good man, so raised, and is raising, the level of moral +rectitude that things become sin that were not sin before; St. Paul +himself specially recognises this when he says that without law there +is no sin. The Goodness, then, brought into the world by Christ, did +not create sin but made it manifest, and gave it the appearance of +reality under our present conditions of life and thought. How well the +Mystic Paul understood that the Invisible is the Real, and that the +Visible--namely, the phenomena of nature--is only dependent upon Time +for its manifestation. His words are: "For the things which are seen +are temporal, but the things which are not seen are Eternal." + +I have tried in these Views to use only simple everyday language, and +am fully aware how inadequate are the words I have employed; but my +readers will have, I hope, recognised how difficult, and in many cases +impossible, it is, in treating these metaphysical subjects, to find +words to express the exact meaning; we have to describe the Infinite +in terms of the finite, and by use of imperfect finite analogies to +get a glimpse of the otherwise unthinkable, and even then it requires +a mystical sense, or what St. Paul called spiritual discernment, to +see beyond the physical mists. If the whole of the phenomena of Nature +must be looked upon as the manifestation of the Divine Noumenon, it +follows that Matter is as divine as the Spiritual, though not as real; +it is His shadow, or the outline of His very image, thrown upon the +material plane of our sensations; and the principle of sympathetic +action, upon which, as we have seen, the whole power to influence +depends throughout the Universe, becomes surely the best symbol we can +use for understanding the efficacy of prayer and the connection +between our Transcendental Self and the All-loving. Realise that the +Transcendental Ego is a Spirit, and therefore akin to the Great +Spirit, not only in essence, but in "loving and knowing communion," +then look at my last experiment, where we saw two material bodies +(remember they are shadow manifestations of the Reality) which could +influence each other from the fact that they were akin, not only in +substance, but in perfect sympathetic communion. + +If now we watch the shadows of two human beings thrown upon a wall, +and see those shadows shaking hands and embracing each other, are we +not justified in concluding that those images give us a true +explanation of what is really taking place? and is not that exactly +what I have done? have I not shown, as I proposed to do, that it is +possible by examining the phenomena of Nature (the shadows of the +Reality) to reach that point where we may even feel that we are +listening to, or having divulged to us, some of what may be called the +very thoughts of the Great Reality? + + + + +VIEW FIVE + +THE PHYSICAL FILM + + +We have seen in former Views that the whole Phenomenal Universe, as +perceived by our senses, and all intellectual thoughts or concepts +based on those perceptions, are, in reality, only mists or shadows; +they have no existence apart from our physical senses, and may be +likened to a thin film, which at death is pricked and passes away like +a scroll, leaving us face to face with the Reality. We thus seemed to +grasp that all phenomena, including our Physical Egos, are but the +shadows or outline of the Reality, as depicted on our limited plane of +consciousness; but these phenomena, having Motion for their basis, are +none the less real to us under our present outlook, limited as it is +by conditioning in Time and Space, and we have to deal with them as +realities in our everyday life. I want to make this distinction clear +in the present View. + +Those of us who were youngsters in the 'sixties, and were fortunate +enough to be taken to that land of wonders for children, the London +Polytechnic, will remember seeing what were called Professor Pepper's +Ghosts. By means of a large sheet of glass on the stage, the +_reflection_ of a human being (otherwise invisible), which we will +call the "_unreal_," was, by the audience, seen walking alongside the +people on the stage, and it was impossible to say which was the real +and which the unreal. When the unreal was made to appear further back +on the stage, it was apparently seen through the real figures and they +appeared as ghosts, for they were seen to be transparent. If now we +fix, perpendicularly on a table, a small pane of glass, and place, +say, an orange in front and another orange behind it, we can arrange +so that an observer, looking through the glass, sees two oranges +alongside each other, one being the real and the other the unreal, +and, with proper lighting and dark background, it is impossible to +determine which is which, as they are both apparently real oranges. We +will call the real, A, and the unreal, B; we now also introduce a +human hand on both sides of the glass, and again we have apparently +two real hands close to the oranges; if the real hand is now seen to +try to touch the B orange, it passes through it, but it can take up +the A; and the same result is seen when the unreal hand tries to grasp +them, except that it can grasp the B but not the A; it is, in fact, +only the unreal that can apprehend the unreal, and the real the real. + +The above simile may help some of my readers to understand how the +phenomena of Nature, though having no real existence apart from our +senses, have the appearance of reality to us, because both we and the +whole Phenomenal Universe are the unreal of our analogy, namely, the +reflection or shadow of the Real on the physical plane. If we run +against a stone wall, which is also part, with us, of the shadow, we +hurt ourselves and acknowledge its existence, but to the Real it would +not be an obstruction at all, it is not there. We know that this wall +is not really solid, it is made up of Atoms revolving round each other +but never touching, but the man in the street would give as the reason +why it hurt, that it was dense, or what is called hard; if the wall +were made of hay, or cotton wool, or of sunbeams, we should not suffer +by running against it; in fact, the denser anything becomes, the more +it shows its character of being real to our senses. If we take this as +the true explanation for the Physical Universe, we are met with +something quite beyond our powers of comprehension, when we try to +form a conception of the all-pervading Ether; unless we may look upon +it as actually a _presentation_ of the Reality itself. If we wave our +hand, we can feel the obstruction of the air, but we cannot feel the +Ether. We think our earth very solid, and we know it is rushing round +the sun at the enormous rate of 60,000 miles per hour, but it finds no +obstruction in the Ether, there is no retardation of its velocity; and +yet the study of Radio-Activity has quite lately shown us that that +Ether is not only as dense as iron, or a hundred or a thousand times +denser, but millions of times denser than that metal; and yet it +permeates all matter like a sieve. In Sir Oliver Lodge's words, "the +Ether is so dense that matter by comparison is like a gossamer or a +filmy imperceptible mist." We can, therefore, by again using our +"Ghost" analogy, understand why matter cannot obstruct the Ether, or +vice versa; there is no perceivable friction between them, unless, as +I shall presently suggest, we may find something akin to obstruction +by Matter, not to Ether itself, but to its pressure, in the phenomenon +of Gravitation. + +The evidence we are gradually winning from Radio-Activity seems to be +leading us to the conclusion that all forms of matter are but +different motions or strains in the Ether (perhaps, as Lord Kelvin +thought, in the form of vortices), that the different atoms of which +matter is composed are, as suggested in View Three, _apertures_ of +different complexity of outline--namely, those points at which Ether +is absent or its density attenuated. Have we not apparently here +another example of Positive and Negative, the Invisible the Ether, as +the Real, and the Visible, the Material Universe, as its Negative the +Unreal, similar to our list of Positives and Negatives in View One? +Ether itself cannot be explained by any of the known dynamical laws, +though it is probably the very root and cause of all of them; it is +absolutely beyond our plane of perception or conception. We can only +perceive certain effects of its presence when it comes into our +limited world of consciousness, under the aspects of Time and +Space--namely, in its movements, which we classify as forms of matter +and modes of energy. + +It is only lately that we have been able to see clearly that the +effects known to us as Light, Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism are +caused by pulsations or rills of different rapidity in the Ether (this +will be referred to in a later View); it is also probably the cause of +what we call Gravitation, and we shall see that the action of +Gravitation may, after all, be not in the direction of a pull but must +be looked upon as a pushing force. Gravitation is common to all +matter; in common language, every particle attracts every other +particle with a force directly proportional to its mass, and +inversely to the square of its distance; it is a very weak force +compared with others we know, and difficult to measure except when a +large mass of matter is involved. Perhaps this will be clearer, and +not far from the truth, if I say that the force of Gravitation exerted +between two masses of matter compared with that which we find acting +between the constituents of matter--namely, in chemical affinity, is +comparable to the difference existing between the density of matter +and the density of Ether. + +The latest calculation of the pressure of the Ether is almost +inconceivable--namely, about 25,000 tons on the square inch, or +3,600,000 tons on the square foot; it may well therefore be that, in +the degree of permeability of matter by the Ether, when we can +calculate it, will be found the explanation of what we call +Gravitation between two masses; they are each shielding the other from +Ether pressure, in its own direction, with an obstructive force equal +to its mass. The reason why the earth appears to attract us, is that +it is shielding us from a certain amount of pressure in its direction; +and we know that we are also apparently attracting every particle of +the earth with a force proportionate to our mass, because we are, +however slightly, shielding the earth from pressure in our direction; +if this is the true explanation, Gravitation is a phenomenon of the +Ether; it will be seen to be a movement of matter in the line of least +pressure, and is therefore a push and not a pull. + +Let us now come down to what we understand better concerning the +subject of this View. + +The question, "What is Truth?" "What is the Reality?" goes to the very +root of the Riddle of the Universe. We are all trying in one direction +or another to answer this question. As knowledge increases, old +theories become untenable and have to be discarded, and, in their +place, fresh ones are formulated to account for new phases of +phenomena. There seems a general impression, among even thinking +people, that scientists are wedded to, and always trying to find +proofs for, their last theories, but this is not the case. The +endeavour of the true seeker after truth is not so much to discover +fresh facts which coincide with existing theories, as to find +phenomena which cannot be explained thereby; there is indeed more joy +over one fact which does not agree with preconceived theory, than over +ninety-nine facts which are found to fall under that heading. In our +everyday life we have become so accustomed to take for granted that +what we see, hear, or feel by touch must be real, that it is difficult +for the man in the street to realise that our senses woefully deceive +us; that perception without knowledge often leads us astray into false +concepts, and these false concepts lead us into difficulties which +require fresh concepts to be formed, and these again demand further +and more exact knowledge to be applied to perceived phenomena. This +necessity for overcoming difficulties is the greatest incentive we +have for gaining fresh knowledge of our surroundings. Owing to the +fact, as already pointed out, that our sense perceptions are based +upon the appreciation of change or motion, and must therefore be +limited in Time and Space, and that the trueness of our conceptions of +the Reality is dependent upon the knowledge which can be brought to +bear upon those perceptions, we are forced to postulate two aspects of +the Universe; one of these is what may be called the Visible, Finite, +or Physical, which indeed carries the appearance of Reality to our +limited senses, though it has no real existence for us apart from +those senses, and the other is that which transcends our utmost +conception, which we call the Invisible, the Infinite, or Spiritual. + +At the outset of all investigation, we are forced to recognise that +the only way we can approach conception of the Infinite is necessarily +in the form of a negative, the negative applying to those things of +which we have cognisance; we carry our thought to the utmost limit +possible with our present knowledge, and, when we have come to a +standstill, we conceive the Infinite to be not that but something +further on. As our knowledge increases by small steps, that something +further on seems ever to be flying from our grasp by mighty strides, +until we are forced to bow our heads and recognise that we are in the +presence of, though still not in sight of, the Reality. A divine +impulse is ever urging us forward to greater conceptions but +shattering our hopes, and giving us a feeling akin to despair, if we +arrogate to ourselves a greater power of conception than we have +knowledge to sustain; we have to approach the study with, indeed, that +feeling of elation which the consciousness of our origin and destiny +wakes within us, giving us a feeling of certainty that we are capable, +in the hereafter, of attaining to the highest summit of knowledge, but +with that humility, in the present, which makes us acknowledge that he +who knows most knows most how little he knows. In this frame of mind +let us now examine our surroundings. + +We are living in a world of continuous and multitudinous changes; in +fact, without change, we could have no cognisance of our surroundings, +we should have no consciousness of living. We have become so +accustomed to certain sensations that we are apt to take them, as +facts, and scoff at the suggestion that they are non-realities. I +propose, however, to show that what we perceive are not Realities, and +true conception of our surroundings depends upon the knowledge which +we can bring to bear to interpret the meaning of these sensations. It +is only in response to our conscientious endeavours to form new +concepts that knowledge is being daily revealed to us; the more we +progress in Knowledge the more we see that Perception alone without +Knowledge leads to false concepts, and these in their turn create +fatal obstacles and difficulties to our progress towards the true +appreciation of the Universe. Let me give a few examples. + +In early times the Sun and the Stars were seen to revolve round the +Earth once every day, and, without Knowledge of Astronomy, this was +taken for granted as an absolute fact, and was looked upon as a +reality; later on, however, it was noted that the Stars never changed +their relative positions; this necessitated a new concept, namely, +that they were fixed on the inner surface of a huge globe, which was +also revolving. This false concept brought other difficulties into +play, the question arose as to what was beyond the globe, and also the +difficulty that, when the Stars as well as the Sun were found to be +at such enormous distances from the Earth, their rates of motion were +quite inconceivable. Even in the case of the Sun the motion represents +over twenty-five million miles per hour, and the apparent motion of +the Stars is thousands of times faster than Light travels. These +insuperable difficulties were not swept away until, by the advance of +Knowledge, the falsity of Conception, based only upon appearance, was +made manifest, and it was seen that it was the Earth which revolved +and not the Stars. Even then, owing to its supposed antagonism to what +was stated in the Bible, the new Conception was opposed with great +bitterness, it being long looked upon and denounced as a sacrilegious +invention, and anybody daring to promulgate such a doctrine was +threatened with death. + +Our present Conception, that the Earth turns round on its axis once +every day, and rolls in its orbit round the Sun once in every year, +may be called a Reality to our finite Senses; but I shall show later +on that, except for the finiteness of our senses and the imperfection +of our Knowledge, the Concept is not a true one. With perfect +Perception and perfect Knowledge we shall see that, apart from the two +limitations or modes under which our physical senses act, there can be +no such thing as Motion, because the very essence of Motion is but +the product of those limitations, namely, Time and Space. + +We are so accustomed to take everything for granted, that it may +perhaps seem strange to question whether it can even be asserted that +we have ever seen matter. Let us turn towards a common object in this +room. We catch in our eyes the multitudinous impulses which are +reflected from its surface under circumstances somewhat similar to +those in which a cricketer "fields" a ball; he puts his hand in the +way of the moving ball and catches it, and, knowing the distance of +the batsman, he perhaps recognises, by the hard impact of the ball, +that the batsman has strong muscles, but he cannot be said to _see_ +the batsman by that impact, nor can he gain thereby any idea as to his +character. So it is with objective intuition; we direct our eyes +towards an object, and catch thereby rays of light reflected from that +object at different angles, and, by combining all these directions, we +recognise _form_, and come to the conclusion that we are looking at, +say, a chair. The eye also tells us that rays are coming in greater +quantity from some parts of it, and we know that those parts are +_polished_; the eye again catches rays giving higher or lower +frequencies of vibration, and we call that _colour_; our eyes also +tell us that it intercepts certain rays reflected from other objects +in the room, and we know that it is not _transparent_ to light; and +those are our sight perceptions of a wooden chair. + +We may go a little further by "pushing," when we know, by the amount +of resistance compared with the power exerted, what force of gravity +is being exerted by and on that chair, and we declare it heavy or +light, but by these means we get no nearer to the knowledge of what +matter is. By tests and reagents we can resolve wood into other forms +which we call Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, &c., which, because +we cannot divide them into any other known substances, we call +"Elements," but we can only look at these in the same way as we are +looking at the chair. Chemists, however, carry us a little further, +and show us that the Elementary substances have not only their likes +and dislikes, but their passionate desires and lukewarmness to others +of their ilk, and, when opportunity offers, they break up with great +violence any ordinary friendship existing between them and their +neighbours, and seize on their coveted prey with a strength of will +surpassing anything experienced in the Organic World; and this new +association they maintain, until they, in their turn, are +dispossessed, or they encounter another substance of still greater +attraction, when they leave their first love and take up new +connections. + +I shall touch upon the subject of what matter is later on; meanwhile +let us consider how, owing to our senses being limited by the +considerations of Time and Space, we are surrounded by inconceivables, +and yet it is those very inadequate conceptions which force us to +acquire Knowledge; the greatest incentive we have to pursue our +investigation is, as we have seen, the fact that Perception without +sufficient Knowledge leads us into difficulties. Let me give you two +instances of these inconceivables. Infinite Space is inconceivable by +us, but it is also quite as inconceivable, or perhaps even more so, to +think of Space being limited, and yet we are forced to declare that +one of these two must be true. Again, Matter is either composed of +ultimate bodies, of a certain size which cannot be divided, or is +infinitely divisible; both of these are inconceivable, the latter for +the same reason as that of the Infinity of Space, and the former +because it is inconceivable that the ultimate body could not be +divided into two parts by a sharp edge forced between its two sides, +or by a stronger force than at present holds it together; it has +indeed been suggested as an explanation that, if an atom could be +divided, it might cease to be matter, that its parts would have no +existence, but it is difficult to conceive how two nothings can form +one something. + +Another example of Perception leading to a false Concept is our Sense +of Pain; we apply a red-hot coal to the tip of one of our fingers and +our Perception would have us believe that we feel intense pain at the +point of contact, but we know this to be a false Concept, as it can be +shown that the pain is only felt at the brain: there are in +communication with different parts of our body small microscopical +nerve threads, any of which may be severed with a pen-knife close to +the base of the skull, with the result that no pain can then be felt, +although the fingertip is just as much alive and is seen to be burning +away. + +Another example is our Sense of Hearing. A musical sound is made up of +a certain number of pushes in a second, but each push is silent. It is +only, as we have seen, a musical sound to our Sense when the pushes +recur at intervals of not more than the sixteenth part of a second. +The prongs of a tuning-fork, vibrating 500 times per second, seem to +be travelling very quickly, but are really only moving at the rate of +10 inches per second, or not much over half a mile per hour, when the +amplitude is the hundredth part of an inch, which gives quite a loud +sound. + +Light is also composed of rills in the Ether, but the rill itself is +not Light, it is only Light when these rills strike, with a certain +enormous frequency, on a special organ adapted for, we might say, +counting these frequencies, and if these frequencies fall below that +certain number, or above twice that number per second, there is no +Sense of Sight. + +How few people have ever realised what a wonderful Counting Machine +they possess in their organ of Sight! I think the best method I can +adopt, to bring this clearly before you, is to take our tuning-fork, +vibrating 500 times per second, a rapidity which to some will be even +difficult to comprehend, and then ask you to consider how long that +fork must continue to vibrate before it has accomplished the full +number of frequencies, which must necessarily impinge upon the eye in +one second of time, before the phenomenon of sight becomes possible. +That tuning-fork would have not only to continue its vibrations +without diminution for seconds, minutes, hours, weeks, months, years, +or hundreds of years, but for 30,000 years before it has accomplished +the full number of pulsations which, as Ether waves, must strike the +eye in one second of time, to give the impression of Light; the +calculation is easy, the rills of Red Light are so small that 40,000 +of these only cover one inch of length, and light travels 186,000 +miles per second. If therefore the number of inches in 186,000 miles +are multiplied by the 40,000, and the product is divided by the 500 +times which the tuning-fork vibrates in one second, you have the +number of seconds that tuning-fork must vibrate, before it has +completed the number of impacts which, in one second of time, must +fall on our retina to give us the impression of red light; and that +tuning-fork would have to vibrate nearly twice as long, say 50,000 +years, to reach the number of impulses which strike the eye in one +second of time and give the impression of violet light; and between +these two limits are situated the colours--Orange, Yellow, Green, +Blue, and Indigo. + +What a marvellous sense then is Sight, when we find that, not only can +it grasp these innumerable vibrations, but can actually differentiate +colours, appreciating as a different colour each increase of about +one-tenth in these multitudinous frequencies; and it is principally by +means of this Sense of Sight that we gain a knowledge of what is +happening around us. And yet what strides we have made in the last two +hundred years to improve upon that instrument! With all its wonderful +capabilities, we shall see later on that the eye is a very imperfect +instrument for seeing very small objects, or even large objects when +at a great distance. With the present compound Microscope, only +developed in the last hundred years, and its apochromatic lenses, +invented only in the last forty years, we are able to see and +photograph objects of a minuteness immeasurably beyond the power of +the human eye, and, with our telescopes, we can see and photograph +stars far beyond the possibility of vision by the unaided eye; and +yet, by the stellar spectroscope, we are actually able to examine and +identify the very atoms of which that distant star is composed, or +rather was composed hundreds of thousands of years ago; we can compare +those atoms with the same atoms in our laboratories, and we find that, +though the former are hundreds of thousands of years older than the +latter, they show absolutely no signs of wear or loss of energy, +though they have been for that enormous time, and are still, pulsating +at the rate of not only millions but billions of times per second; and +though the pulsations they emit have travelled across such a vast +depth of space that the mind cannot even imagine the distance, there +has not been any diminution in the numbers of pulsations per second, +nor the slightest slowing down of the rate of flight at which they +started on their journey from that far-off world. If there had been +the _slightest_ change we could detect it at once by means of the +Spectroscope. + +With another instrument we are able, not only to hear but to converse +audibly, as long as we like, with another human being a thousand miles +away, who is also sitting comfortably in his own arm-chair and +speaking to us with as much freedom as though we were both in the same +room. With another instrument we can go further, and exchange +thoughts, in a few seconds, with a being on the other side of the +world, by means of a thin wire that is itself fixed, and does not +move, and we have lately invented another means by which we can do the +same, over several thousands of miles, without even a connecting wire. +With another instrument we have gone far beyond the facility with +which the Printing press enabled us to communicate our thoughts to our +fellow human beings, we can actually imprint our very words and +laughter upon a wax cylinder and send it to the antipodes, and our +friends there, with a similar instrument, can not only hear and +recognise our very voice, but can make that voice repeat our thoughts +audibly, to a thousand others at the same time, and can repeat that +process for hundreds of times without exhausting that voice. With +another instrument we can depict on a film, not only the images of our +friends but their very actions, which may also be sent to any +distance, and the persons, thereon depicted, may be seen by their +relatives alive and going about their everyday employments, with every +movement exact to life. We can cross the Ocean against the wind and +waves by means of harnessed sunbeams, without any exertion of our own, +at the rate of an express train, which train, by the by, is also moved +by the same means; we can dive to the bottom of the sea and journey +there for hours, in perfect safety, without coming to the surface, and +we are even developing wings, or their equivalent, which from +immemorial tradition we were not to possess before we had finished +doing our duty properly in this world and had gained admission to the +next. + +We can do all these things, but how ignorant we still are in the +commonest doings of Nature! By giving up our whole lifetime, and +spending millions of pounds, we could never make a grain of wheat or +an acorn, and wherever we turn we find ourselves confronted with +mysteries beyond our power to explain from a finite material +standpoint; even in material vibrations we meet a mystery almost +beyond our power to comprehend. Take for instance those small insects, +of the family of Grasshoppers, which make the primæval woods of +Central America give out a noise like the roaring of the sea, a +wondrous sound never to be forgotten by those who have heard it. By +means of a kind of rasp one of these insects creates a sound which +Darwin states can be heard to the distance of one mile: these insects +weigh less than the hundredth part of an ounce, and the instrument by +which the noise is made, weighs much less than one-tenth of the total +insect; it is less therefore than one thousandth part of an ounce in +weight, and yet it is found, by calculation, that this small +instrument is actually able to move at the enormous rate of a thousand +vibrations per second and keep in motion for hours, from five to ten +million tons of matter, and it does this so powerfully that every +particle of that enormous bulk of matter gives out a sound audible to +our ears. But even these millions of tons are not its limit of action, +for we know that these vibrations must go on until, in the end, every +particle of matter connected with this earth has been affected by each +of those vibrations. + +All our difficulties of understanding the true meaning of these and +other phenomena around us are, as I have already pointed out, caused +by our inability to recognise that vibration or motion has no reality, +it is a pseudo-conception arising from the fact that our senses are +entirely dependent upon the two modes or limitations, Time and Space, +for their very action, and that, as conceptional knowledge is based +upon perceptional knowledge, our very consciousness of living is also +dependent upon these same limitations. We have seen that Motion is +nothing but the product of these two modes of perceptions, and, in my +next Views, I shall examine these elusive limitations, these two +mysteries of Time and Space, the forever and the never-ending; I shall +trace them to the utmost limit of our conception, and try to gain +thereby a clearer insight into the fact, not only that the whole +Physical Universe is but a transient and Space-limited phenomenon, a +thin film which our senses have erected and which divides us from the +Reality, but that, if our power of _introspection_ were fully +developed, we should know that the Reality is nearer and dearer to us, +and has much more to do with us, even in this life, than has the +physical. + + + + +VIEW SIX + +SPACE + + +We have seen that our very thoughts, and therefore consciousness of +living, are limited by Time and Space, but we cannot with the utmost +endeavour conceive a limit to Time and Space; they are two twin +sisters, alike in many respects but different in others, and we shall +realise later on that they are readily interchangeable. The sensuous +aspect of Motion is, as we have seen, the time that an object takes to +go over a certain space--namely, what is called the rate at which it +passes from one point to another, and we cannot imagine Motion unless +it contains both of these modes in however small a quantity; we may +have the greatest imaginable space traversed in a moment of time, or +the smallest imaginable space covered in what may be called, for want +of a better word, an eternity, but we still have to postulate what we +call Motion; this, of course, follows from the fact that our thoughts +require both these modes for forming concepts. If we compare our +conception of Matter with that of Time and Space, we see that the two +latter are not separately the object of any sense, but are the modes +or conditions under which all our senses act, to a greater or less +degree, and these conditions cannot therefore carry the same +impression of objectivity to our senses as Matter does, except perhaps +in the sense that all physical phenomena are simply motion, and motion +is the product of both of these limitations but not of either of them +separately. + +If we analyse our conceptions of Time and Space we seem forced to +postulate that they are both infinitely divisible and infinitely +extensible; they are both what is called continuous and not discrete, +we cannot conceive any minimum in their division; both duration in +Time and extension in Space can be reduced, as it were, to a +mathematical point; nor can we conceive any maximum in either duration +or extension. They are both therefore comprised in every conception +possible to our consciousness; all parts of Time are time and all +parts of Space are space; there are no holes, as it were, in Space +which are not space, nor intervals in Time which are not time, they +are both complete units; Space cannot be limited except by space, and +Time cannot be limited except by time. So far they are alike, but, on +the other hand, Space is comprised of three dimensions--namely, +length, breadth, and depth, whereas Time has the appearance to us of +comprising one dimension only--namely, length. + +Under our present conditions we can only think of one finite subject +at a time, and, at that moment, all other subjects are cancelled. We +can therefore only think of points in Time and Space as situated +beyond, or in front of, other fixed points, which again must be +followed by other points; we cannot fix a point in either so as to +exclude the thought of a point beyond; we can only in fact examine +them in a form of finite sequences. + +The Idea of Infinity, which we shall refer to in a later View and show +to be a false conception, is therefore a necessary result of the +limitation of our thoughts; our physical Ego cannot conceive beyond +the Finite as long as we are conscious of living under present +conditions. With every act of perception by our senses, we have +therefore not only intuition of the Visible or Finite, but we become +at the same moment aware of an Invisible Infinite beyond. Time appears +to us as an inconceivable, intangible something, which gives us the +impression of movement without anything that moves it. Space is an +omnipresent, intangible, inconceivable nothing, outside of which +nothing which has existence can be even thought to exist. Let us now +try and get an insight into what we mean by perception of distance in +space. + +The appreciation of distance depends upon what is called _parallax_, +or the apparent displacement of projectment of an object when seen by +our two eyes separately. If you hold up a finger and look at it, with +each eye separately, you will see that the finger is projected by each +eye on to a different part of the background; the angle which the +lines of sight, from each eye, make when they meet at the object, is +called the angle of parallax, and the further the object is away the +smaller that angle becomes; it is, in fact, the angle subtended, at +the object, by the distance between the two eyes. As the object is +brought nearer the eyes have to be inclined inwards to impinge on that +object; the appreciation of distance then, in our sense of sight, is +dependent upon our perception of the amount of inclination of those +two lines of sight, and is therefore an acquired knowledge. The +distance between the eyes is about 2-1/2 inches, and this is a very +short base line upon which to estimate distance; in fact, without the +help of perspective and known dimensions of surrounding objects, it is +doubtful if anyone could by its means estimate distance beyond a few +hundred yards. The object would, of course, also have to be an unknown +one, as, otherwise, the converse of the above comes into play, and the +distance could be estimated by the angle which the known diameter of +the object subtends at the eye; but this necessitates the size of the +object being known beforehand and the employment of perspective. + +We can extend our perception of distances by, ourselves, moving from +one place to another, gaining thereby a longer base line, and noting +the displacement of projection of the object on a distant background; +by that means, distance up to several miles can probably be +appreciated. But, when we try to determine the distance of, say, the +Moon (240,000 miles away), we are helpless, especially as we have no +marked background, except in the case of occultations of the Sun or +Stars. But the Astronomer at once comes to our aid; a distance of +several miles is carefully measured on a level plane, and, by placing +telescopes at the extremities of that known line, we can mark the +inclination of those telescopes to each other when focussed upon a +particular mountain peak on the moon; by this means we know the angle +of parallax (180° less the sum of the two angles of inclination), and, +from this and our known length of base line, we can calculate the +distance. When however we go a step further and attempt to calculate +the distance of the Sun (93,000,000 miles), we find our last base line +again absolutely inadequate. But the astronomer helps us again; we now +separate our two telescopic eyes by the whole diameter of the earth +(7900 miles); this is accomplished by taking from the Equator two +simultaneous observations of the Sun, at its rising and setting; for +when the Sun is setting, at say the Equinox, it is at that moment +rising at exactly the other side of the earth; the inclination of the +two telescopes, directed to a certain point on the Sun, will now give +the distance approximately, though even this base line is too short +for exactitude. When however we attempt to go still further and try to +ascertain the distance of stars, which are a million times further off +than the Sun, such a base line is quite out of the question. How then +can we get a base line for our telescopes longer than the whole width +of the earth? The Astronomer again provides the means. The earth takes +one year to complete its vast orbit round the sun, and the diameter of +that path is 186,000,000 miles. This is made our new base line for +separating our telescopes; an observation of a star is taken, say, +to-day, and after waiting six months, to enable the earth to reach the +other extremity of its vast orbit, another observation is taken, and +yet it is found, as we shall see later on, that the distance of the +nearest fixed star is so _stupendous_ that even this base line, of +186,000,000 miles, shows absolutely no inclination between the two +telescopes except in about a dozen cases, and even in those the angle +of parallax, perceivable, is so minute that no reliable distance can +be calculated; we can only say that the star is at least as far away +as a certain distance, but it may be much farther. + +Let us now try by other means to get a clearer insight into the +subject of this View, by tracing Space to the utmost limit of human +conception. I think the best method I can adopt will be to take you, +in imagination, for a journey as far as is possible by means of the +best instruments at our disposal. + +We will start outwards from the Sun, and glance on our way at the +worlds involved in the Solar System. Let us first understand what are +the dimensions of our central Luminary. The distance of the Moon from +the Earth is 240,000 miles, but the dimensions of the Sun are so great +that, were the centre of the Sun placed where the centre of the Earth +is, the surface of the Sun would not only extend as far as the Moon, +but as far again on the other side, and that would give the radius +only of the enormous circumference of the Sun; another way to +understand its size is, to remember that, light travelling 186,000 +miles per second, would actually take five seconds to go across its +disc. Let us now start outward from this vast mass. The first world we +meet is the little planet Mercury, only 3000 miles in diameter, +revolving round the Sun at a distance of 36 million miles. We next +come upon Venus, at a distance of 67 million miles. She is only 400 +miles smaller in diameter than our Earth, and, with the dense +atmosphere with which she is surrounded, animal and vegetable life +similar to that on our Earth would be possible. Continuing our course, +we arrive at our Earth, situated 93 million miles away from the Sun. +Still speeding on, a further 50 million miles brings us to Mars, with +a diameter of nearly 5000 miles, and accompanied by two miniature +moons. The sight of this planet in a good instrument is most +interesting. Ocean beds and continents are visible, and the telescope +shows large tracts of snow, though not necessarily formed from water +(perhaps carbonic dioxide), surrounding its polar regions, which +increase considerably during the winter, and decrease during the +summer seasons on that planet; but there are no canals! The fact that +our largest and best telescopes failed to show these imaginary canals, +was an insurmountable barrier to the advocates of these markings, but +the "Canalites" made their contention ridiculous when they actually +suggested that the reason for this failure to perceive them was that +our telescopes were too large to see such small markings! How such a +statement could have been made is incomprehensible on any supposition, +as everybody knows that the whole use of size, or what is called +aperture, in a telescope, is to help us to see more clearly small and +faint markings. + +The distances we now have to travel become so great that I shall not +attempt to give them; you can, however, form an idea of the tremendous +spaces we are traversing when you consider that each successive planet +is nearly double as far from the Sun as the preceding one. + +In the place where, by Bode's law, we should expect to have found the +next world, we find a group of small planets, ranging in size from +about 200 miles in diameter down to only a few hundred yards. They +pass through nearly the same point once in each of their periods of +revolution round the Sun, and it has been suggested that they are +fragments of a great globe rent asunder by some mighty catastrophe; +over 400 of these little worlds have been discovered and have received +names, or are known under certain numbers. + +We now continue our voyage over the next huge space and arrive at +Jupiter, the largest and grandest of the planets. This world is more +than 1000 times larger than our Earth, its circumference being +actually greater than the distance from the Earth to the Moon. It has +seven moons, and its year is about twelve times as long as ours. +Pursuing our journey, we next come to Saturn. It is nearly as large as +Jupiter, and has a huge ring of planetary matter revolving round it in +addition to seven moons. Further and further we go, and the planets +behind us are disappearing, and even the Sun is dwindling down to a +mere speck; still we hurry on, and at last alight on another planet, +Uranus, about sixty times larger than our Earth; we see moons in +attendance, but they have scarcely any light to reflect; the Sun is +only a star now; but we must hasten on deeper and deeper into space. +We shall again, as formerly, have to go nearly as far beyond the last +planet as that planet is from the Sun. The mind cannot grasp these +huge distances. Still we travel on to the last planet, Neptune, +revolving on its lonely orbit; sunk so deep into space that, though it +rushes round the Sun at the rate of 22,000 miles per hour, it takes +164 of our years to complete one revolution. Now let us look back from +this remote point. What do we see? One planet only, Uranus, is visible +to the unaided eye; the giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, have +disappeared, and the Sun itself is now only a star; practically no +heat, no light, all is darkness in this solitary world; the Sun is +1000 times smaller than we see it from the earth, and gives, +therefore, only one-thousandth part of its heat and light. Thus far +have we gone, and, standing there at the enormous distance of +3,000,000,000 miles from our starting-point, we can begin to +comprehend the vast limits of the solar system; we can begin to +understand the ways of this mighty family of planets and satellites. +But let us not set up too small a standard whereby to measure the +Infinity of Space. We shall find, as we go on, that this stupendous +system is but an infinitesimal part of the whole universe. + +Let us now look forward along the path we are to take. We are standing +on the outermost part of our Solar System, and there is no other +planet towards which we can wing our flight; but all around are +multitudes of stars, some shining with a brightness almost equal to +what our Sun appears to give forth at that great distance, others +hardly visible, but the smallest telescope increases their number +enormously, and presents to our mind the appalling phantom of +_immensity_ in all its terror, standing there to withstand our next +great step. How are we to continue on our journey when our very senses +seem paralysed by this obstruction, and even imagination is powerless +from utter loneliness? One guide only is there to help us, the +messenger which flits from star to star, universe to universe; Light +it is which will help us to appreciate even these bottomless depths. +Now, Light travels 186,000 miles per second, or 12 million miles every +minute of time. It therefore takes only about four hours to traverse +the huge distance between our Sun and Neptune, where we are now +supposed to be standing; but to leap across the space separating us +from the nearest star, it would require many years for Light, +travelling at 186,000 miles every second of that time, to span the +distance. There are, in fact, only fifteen stars in the whole heaven +that could be reached, on the wings of Light, in sixteen years! + +Let us use this to continue our voyage. On a clear night the human eye +can perceive thousands of stars, in all directions, scattered without +any apparent order or design; but in one locality, forming a huge ring +round the heavens, there is a misty zone called the Milky Way. Let us +turn a telescope with a low aperture on this, and what a sight +presents itself! Instead of mist, myriads of stars are now seen +surrounded by nebulous haze. We put a higher aperture on, and thus +pierce further and further into space; the haze is resolved into +myriads more stars, and more haze comes up from the deep beyond, +showing that the visual ray was not yet strong enough to fathom the +mighty distance; but let the full aperture be applied and mark the +result. Mist and haze have disappeared; the telescope has pierced +right through the stupendous distance, and only the vast abyss of +space, boundless and unfathomable, is seen beyond. + +Let us pause here for a moment to think what we have done. Light, +travelling with its enormous velocity, requires on an average +considerably over ten years to traverse the distance between our Solar +System and Stars of the first magnitude, but the dimensions of the +Milky Way are built up on such a huge scale that to traverse the whole +stratum would require us to pass about 500 stars, separated from each +other by this same tremendous interval; 10,000 years may therefore be +computed as the shortest time which light, travelling with its +enormous velocity, would take to sweep across the whole cluster, it +being borne in mind that the Solar System is supposed to be located +not far from the centre of this great star cluster, and that the +cluster comprises all stars visible arrayed in a flat zone, the edges +of which, where the stratum is deepest, being the locality of the +Milky Way. + +Let us once more continue our journey. We have traversed a distance +which even on the wings of light we could only accomplish in many +thousands of years, and now stand on the outskirts of our great star +cluster, in the same way, and I hope with the same aspirations, as +when we paused the last time on the confines of our Solar System. +Behind us are myriads of shining orbs, in such countless numbers that +human thought cannot even suggest a limit, and yet each of these is a +mighty globe like our Sun, the centre of a planetary system, +dispensing light and heat under conditions similar to what we are +accustomed to here. Let us, however, turn our face away from these +clusterings of mighty suns, and look steadfastly forward into the +unbroken darkness, and once more brace our nerves to face that +terrible phantom--_Immensity_. + +We require now the most powerful instruments that science can put into +our hands, and by their aid we will again essay to make another stride +towards the appreciation of our subject. In what, to the unaided eye, +was unbroken darkness, the telescope now enables us to discern a +number of luminous points of haze, and towards one of these we +continue our journey. The myriads of suns in our great star cluster +are soon being left far behind; they shrink together, resolve +themselves into haze, until the once glorious universe of countless +millions of suns has dwindled down to a mere point of light, almost +invisible to the naked eye. But look forward: the luminous cloud to +which we are urging our flight has expanded, until what, at one time, +was a mere patch of brightness, has now swelled into a mighty star +cluster; myriads of suns burst into sight--we have traversed a +distance which even on the wings of light would take hundreds of +thousands of years, and have reached the confines of another Milky Way +as glorious and mighty as the one we have left; whose limits light +would require 10,000 years to traverse; and yet, in whatever direction +the telescope is placed, star clusters are to be seen strewn over the +surface of the heavens. + +Let us take now the utmost limit of telescopic power in all +directions. Where are we after all but in the centre of a sphere whose +circumference is 100,000 times as far from us as one of the nearest +fixed stars, a distance that light would take over a million years to +traverse, and beyond whose circuit, infinity, boundless infinity, +still stretches unfathomed as ever? We have made a step, indeed, but +perhaps only towards acquaintance with a new order of infinitesimals. +Once the distances of our Solar System seemed almost infinite +quantities; compare them with the intervals between the fixed stars, +and they become no quantities at all. And now when the spaces between +the stars are contrasted with the gulfs of dark spaces separating +firmaments, they absolutely vanish away. Can the whole firmamental +creation in its turn be nothing but a corner of some mightier scheme? +But let us not go on to bewilderment: we have passed from planet to +planet, star to star, universe to universe, and still infinite space +extends for ever beyond our grasp. We have gone as far towards the +infinite as our sight, aided by the most powerful telescope, can hope +to go. Is there no way then by which we can continue our journey +further towards the appreciation of this infinity? A few years ago we +should probably have denied that it was possible for man to go +further; but quite lately a new method of observation has been +developed, and we will try and use this to continue our flight. + +The reason why, to our sight, an object becomes apparently smaller and +smaller as it is withdrawn from the eye, until it at last disappears +entirely, is that the eye is a very imperfect instrument for viewing +objects at a great distance; it can only form an image of an object +when that object is near enough to subtend a certain angle, or, in +popular language, to show itself a certain size--the rays of light +must converge--in fact, the eye cannot single out and appreciate +parallel rays: could it do this, objects would not appear to grow +smaller as they are removed. A pencil might be removed to the Moon, +240,000 miles away, and would still appear to the eye the same size as +it does here close to you; with perfect vision there would be no such +thing as perspective, but, with our present conditions of sight, the +result would be inconvenient. We should never be able to see, at one +and the same time, anything larger than the pupil of our eye. The +beauties of the landscape would be gone, and our dearest friends would +pass us unheeded and unseen; everyday life would resolve itself into a +task similar to that of attempting to read our newspaper every morning +by means of a powerful microscope; we should commence by getting on to +a big black blotch, and, after wandering about for half an hour, we +might perhaps then begin to find out that we were looking at the +little letter "e," but anything like reading would be quite out of the +question. We may, therefore, with our limited aperture of sight, be +thankful that our eyes have the imperfection of not appreciating +parallel rays. But we will now consider how this imperfection may be +remedied by science. + +There are two different ways of doing this--viz., first, by increasing +the amount of light received, by means of telescopes of great +aperture; and secondly, by employing an artificial retina a thousand +times more sensitive than the human. Now, the human retina receives +the impression of what it looks at in a very minute fraction of a +second, provided of course that the eye is properly focussed, and no +further impression will be made by keeping the eye fixed on that +object; but in celestial photography, when the telescope is turned +into a camera, the sensitive plate, having received the impression in +the first second, may be exposed not only for many seconds, or +minutes, or hours, but for an aggregate of even days by re-exposure, +every second of which time details on that plate new objects, sunk so +deep in the vast depths of space as to be immeasurably beyond the +power of the human eye, even through telescopes hundreds of times more +powerful than the largest instruments that science has enabled us to +construct; and yet here is laid before us a faithful chart, by means +of which we may once more continue our journey through space. A short +exposure will show us firmaments and nebulæ just outside the range of +our greatest telescopes, and every additional second extends our +vision by such vast increases of distances that the brain reels at the +thought; and yet, as we have seen, exposures of these sensitive plates +may be, and have been, made not only for seconds, but for thousands +and even hundreds of thousands of seconds! And still there is no end, +no end where the weary mind can rest and contemplate; the finite mind +of man can only cry out that there is no limit. In spite of all its +strivings and groping by aid of speculative philosophy, the finite +cannot attain to the Infinite, nor get any nearer to where the mighty +sea of time breaks in noiseless waves on the dim shore of eternity. + +In this journey through space we have apparently exhausted our power +of conception of the _extension_ of this View. Although we have +travelled in one direction only, our flight was applicable to every +possible known direction _outwards_ into the vast abyss of Infinite +space. But there is another path, by which we can also travel with +profit to our understanding of this subject, running in the opposite +direction--namely, _inwards_. Just as the outward journey seemed to +take us towards the appreciation of what our finite senses call the +infinitely great, so does this other path appear to intend to +infinity, in the opposite direction, leading us to appreciate what is +called the infinitely small. We have already considered this direction +in View One, under the heading of "Relativity," and by combining these +two experiences, we may see still more clearly that our very +conception of Space is one of the modes only under which motion or +physical phenomena are presented to our consciousness. + + + + +VIEW SEVEN + +TIME + + +In the last View I referred to the mysteries of Time and Space as +twin-sisters; they have, as we saw, many aspects in common, and are +the two modes or conditions under which all our senses act and by +which our thoughts are limited. We arbitrarily divide each of these +two mysteries into two parts, which parts are separated from each +other, in either case, by a point which has, apparently, as its +centre, our very consciousness of living. In the case of Space we call +this point the HERE, and on one side of it, as we saw in our last +View, we have extension towards the infinitely great, and, on the +other, intension towards the infinitely small. In the case of Time we +call the middle point the NOW, and on one side of this we place the +duration of Time towards the future, and, on the other, we place what +we call the duration of Time towards the past. In the case of Space we +have the here and the _overthere_, equivalent in Time to the present +and the _future_, but, though Time and Space are, as it were, +twin-sisters, upon whose combined action depends our very +consciousness of living, we do not treat them both equally. + +It is a remarkable fact that the human race on this particular world +has, in some inexplicable way, come to look upon the future as +non-existent until we arrive at, and are able to perceive, with our +senses, what is happening there; this is all the more inexplicable +when we realise that in traversing Space we certainly have to _move_ +to get anywhere, but in traversing Time we have nothing equivalent to +movement. This curious way of looking upon the future as non-existent, +may be another sign that our race is still in its infancy, but is more +probably caused by human beings having always hitherto looked upon +Time not only as a reality but as actually moving or extending along a +line from past to future eternity; whereas, under our present outlook, +we have no consciousness of the existence of Time except by intervals +between successive thoughts; our consciousness of the very existence +of Time is based upon our Physical Ego repeating the _present_, by +saying to itself the words, Now--Now--Now; but there is nothing that +can be called movement in this, any more than if you are standing +still and saying, Here--Here--Here--relating to Space. Time is, as it +were, "marking time," and as the present in time is common to all +space, Time is "marking time" everywhere, and the Now therefore +includes the whole of the past and the whole of future eternity +everywhere. We shall get a clearer understanding of this later on; +meanwhile, we are face to face with the fact that we look upon the +future as non-existent. + +This curious state of things is probably only accidental to the +present stage of development of the human mind, and may, at any time, +be rectified by perhaps either a slight rearrangement of that slender +network of nerves upon which depends our faculty of thinking, or the +joining together of a few microscopical filaments attached to the +cells in the grey cortical layer, or even a single bridge thrown +across from one convolution to another of the brain; a very slight +alteration would open up to our consciousness the present existence of +the future. The prime perceivable difference between our brains and +those of the Apes and lower animals is the larger number of +enfoldments, or convolutions, that are developed by the Human. Each +new line of thought, or sequence of thoughts, requires, and is +provided with, a new wrinkle or small convolution, and it probably +only requires the attention of the human race to be fixed, for a time, +on the consideration of this subject, to evolve the slight alteration, +or bridge, necessary to enable us to see that the future, as also the +past, does actually exist and is included in the Now. It may make this +a little clearer to consider that if you maintain that, in traversing +the duration of time, the future does not exist until you arrive +there, you should also in fairness insist that, in travelling through +the extension of Space, your destination, say Rome, does not exist +until you get there and can see it with your senses. + +As we have, in the former six Views, been gradually mounting above the +mists and illusions of our everyday thoughts, and can look through our +Window with, I hope, a clearer vision, I shall venture in this present +View to carry the subject of the _Future_ still further, and show +that, just as we have now before us and can read the papyri which were +written 5000 years ago, so it is possible to conceive that books, +written and being written and printed 5000 years hence, are _at +present_ in existence, and that it is even possible the human race has +actually already read them; whether we shall be able to see them and +read them in our own lifetime may be open to question; that may again +depend upon the development of special cross-circuiting of brain +filaments. Meanwhile, in order to carry our present View to the utmost +limit of our conception, in a manner somewhat similar to what we did +for Space, I will again ask you to join me in a thought-flight +towards the appreciation of this second great Mystery. + +With this object in view we will first consider the human senses of +sight and hearing, commencing with sound, or the vibrations which +affect the tympanum of the human ear. Sound travels in air at about +1130 feet per second, and if the vibrating body, giving out the sound, +oscillates sixteen times in one second, it follows that, spreading +over this 1130 feet, there will be sixteen waves, giving a length of +about 70 feet to each wave. This is the lowest sound that the human +ear can appreciate as a musical note, and is, what may be called, the +fourth Octave above one vibration in one second. When the number of +vibrations in a second sinks below sixteen, the ear no longer +appreciates them as a musical sound, but is able to hear them as +separate vibrations or beats. The easiest way of illustrating this is +by means of a revolving disc, with sixteen holes pierced at regular +intervals round the edge, and a jet of high-pressure air, which is +forced through each of the holes successively as they revolve. When +the disc does not quite complete one revolution in a second, only +fifteen puffs come to the ear in a second of time, and they are heard +as puffs; but when the rate reaches one revolution in a second, the +sound, as if by magic, changes into the lowest musical sound. The same +result may be obtained in a more pronounced form by means of +explosions or pistol shots; when these are slow and heard separately, +they are painful and almost unbearable to the ear, but, as soon as +their rapidity, namely, at sixteen per second, gets beyond the power +of the ear to differentiate between the explosions, the impression, as +if by magic, changes into a continuous or musical sound, like a +thirty-foot pipe note of an organ. + +To go back to our disc. The octave above this lowest musical note is +obtained by doubling the rate of puffs, namely, by revolving the disc +twice in one second, and the next octave by revolving four times in a +second, and so on, doubling each time, until, at about the thirteenth +octave, the sound has become so high that the majority of listeners +cannot hear it, and fancy it must have stopped, whereas a few will +still be saying: "How shrill it is!" At last, at about the fourteenth +octave, when there are 20,000 beats to the second and each wave is +about half an inch long, it passes beyond human audition, and, +although we can show that the air is still vibrating, all is silent, +the human ear being incapable of hearing so many beats in a second +even as a continuous sound, though I have evidence to show that many +insects can hear probably considerably beyond this limit. It is, +however, possible to make these higher vibrations perceptible to our +senses by means of what are called sensitive flames: we can actually, +by these, measure the length of these silent waves, and as we know the +rate at which they travel, we can at once compute the number which +occur in a second of time, and thus ascertain their pitch. By this +means we can follow for about three more octaves above the audible +limit, namely, up to 160,000 pulsations per second, with a length of +wave of one-twelfth of an inch. + +Two and a half octaves above these numerically, _i.e._ at about the +twentieth octave, we reach the frequency of Electro-Magnetic Rills, +used by the Marconi System of wireless telegraphy, which pulsate at +about 950,000 per second, and have a wave-length of something like +1000 feet. The reason for this great increase in length of wave is +caused by these frequencies being propagated in the Ether at the rate +of 186,000 miles per second, instead of, as with sound waves, in the +air, at only 1130 feet per second. We can trace these particular +frequencies, called, after their discoverer, Hertzian waves, for about +fifteen octaves, when we arrive at the frequency of 32,000,000,000 in +a second, with a wave-length decreased to a quarter of an inch; we +can render the effect of these waves visible, but have no physical +organ by which we can feel these pulsations. After this, however, we +get into the region of frequencies which, though still of exactly the +same kind, we know and can feel as Radiant heat; these are situated in +the next fourteen octaves, and bring us up to those subtle frequencies +which affect another of our sense organs, and which we appreciate as +light; these we have already seen have the enormous frequency of +530,000,000,000,000 pulsations per second for red light, up to +930,000,000,000,000 per second for violet, and having wave-lengths so +small that it takes 40,000 and 70,000 of them respectively to cover +one inch in length. There is only a little over half an octave that +the eye can appreciate as light, and then all is darkness; but we can +still go on further by the help of Science: beyond the violet we have +the actinic or chemical rays, which are used in photography, and which +enable us to trace the frequencies for a further two octaves. Beyond +this we cannot pierce with our present knowledge; but there may be, +and probably are, latent in our nature, senses which, properly +developed, will be able to appreciate still more subtle vibrations, +and organs which, perhaps, even now are being prepared for the +reception of these influences. + +We have no organs yet developed for receiving and appreciating what +are called Wireless waves, but we have already been able to devise +physical Receivers, of wonderful sensitiveness, for them and other +waves of the same nature, such as those of Radiant heat. In the case +of Radiant heat, the Bolometer invented by Professor Langley has been +able to receive and record a change of temperature of the one +millionth of a degree Centigrade, and can easily make visible the heat +of a candle at a distance of one and a half miles. In wireless +telegraphy also the Receiver, perfected by Marconi, is affected by +rills, made by a splash of electric discharge, over 3000 miles away. +If our eyes were sensitive to these frequencies, both of which are +composed, as is also light, of electro-magnetic rills, we could see +anything that was happening anywhere in the world, for they go through +matter as though it did not exist, as light passes through glass; +indeed, if our region of Sight waves was only put an octave lower we +could not use glass in our windows, it would be too opaque, we should +be obliged to have our windows made of thin slabs of carbon or other +substances permeable to Radiant heat waves. Science indeed steadily +points to electricity and magnetism being a form of motion, and it may +be that in these invisible rays we may some day discover the nature +of those mysterious forces; and, even far beyond those, as suggested +in View Four, we may in the not far distant future be able to +appreciate Physical Life itself as a mode of frequency. + +We want, as it were, a special "Time Microscope," which I have already +referred to, to examine these vibrations, and a method similar to that +already mentioned in "Space," under Celestial Photography, by which we +may traverse and examine hundreds or thousands of octaves by each +second of exposure; for, although the path extends to infinity, we +have already arrived at the utmost limits of our finite senses, and +find that after all we can only appreciate fifty-one octaves, a few +inches only, as it were, along the line of Infinite extent, reaching +from the finite up to the Reality; and even so it must be borne in +mind that we have only travelled in one direction, whereas the path we +have taken extends in the opposite direction also to infinity. We +started with sixteen vibrations in a second, as the lowest number of +beats we human beings can appreciate as a musical sound; let us now +descend by octaves. The octave below is eight vibrations in a second, +and there are probably many animals that can only hear these as a +musical sound; the next octave is four, then two, and then one +vibration in a second. But we do not stop there; the octave below +this is one vibration in two seconds, then in four seconds, eight +seconds, sixteen seconds, and so on, until it is possible to conceive +that even one frequency in a million years might be appreciated as a +musical sound, or even as one of the colours of the spectrum, by a +being whose time sensations were enormously extended in both +directions, but still finite. + +Once more we must call a halt. Our finite minds become bewildered in +attempting even to glance at these infinities of time. + +We measure space by miles, yards, feet, and inches; we measure time by +years, hours, minutes, and seconds; and by these finite units we try +to fathom these two marvellous infinities. With our greatest efforts +of thought we find, however, that we can get relatively no distance +whatever from the HERE of Space and the NOW of Time. It is true that +the present, as a mathematical point, appears to be hurrying and +bearing us with it along the line stretching from the past to future +eternity, but in reality we get no further from the one nor nearer to +the other. Let us change our view and examine this subject under a +different aspect. + +First of all, look round a room and note the different objects to be +seen. Even in a small room we do not see the objects as they really +_are_ at this instant, but only as they _were_ at a certain fixed +length of time ago. The present time is common to every point in space +and each person is in the present, but only to his own perception; to +everyone else in the room, each individual is, at this moment, being +seen acting in the past; those objects which are further away are +being seen further behind in point of time than those that are nearer; +in fact, however near we are to an object, we can never see it as it +is but only as it was. We are dealing with very minute differences +here, they being based upon the rate at which light travels; but they +are differences which are known with a wonderful degree of accuracy. + +We have here another example of how perception without knowledge leads +to false concepts. When anyone views an extended landscape, he thinks +that his sight shows him that the same point of Time, which he is +experiencing, is common to every man, animal, plant, or material +visible there, but we know now that he is seeing every part of that +scene in the past compared with himself. Just as all objects therein +are situated at separate distinct points of space, so to our vision +the objects of that scene are acting or existing in different epochs +of time. An Artist gives us on a flat surface a picture of that +landscape, and his representations of all objects in that scene +appear therefore to us as being in the same moment of Time, but to get +that effect he has to draw objects at a distance smaller than those +close at hand; a fly in the foreground has to be drawn larger than a +horse supposed to be in the distance, though both are on the same flat +surface; they have the same parallax and are therefore the same +distance from the observer, and as this produces a similar image on +our retina, we accept it though we know it is only a make-believe; it +serves its purpose by giving us an impression on our retina which we +have learnt to interpret as representing that landscape, but such a +picture would indeed be a marvel of absurdity to a being who had +perfect sight, such as we have already referred to, and who could +appreciate parallel rays; in such a vision there would be no +perspective, no vanishing point in perception. + +Now let us take a wider landscape. The Moon is 240,000 miles distant. +We do not, therefore, ever see her as she is but as she was 1-1/4 +seconds ago. In the same way we see the Sun as he was eight minutes +ago, and we see Jupiter as he was nearly an hour ago. Let us look +still further to one of the nearest fixed stars. We at this moment +only see that star as it was more than ten years ago; that star may +therefore have exploded or disappeared ten long years ago, and yet we +still see it shining, and shall continue to see it _there_ until the +long line of light has run itself out; all around us, in fact, we see +the appearance of blazing suns not as they are now but as they were +thousands of years ago, and, by the aid of the telescope and of our +sensitive plate, we are only now recording the light which started +from clusters and firmaments probably millions of years ago. + +Now let us take the converse of this. To anybody on the moon at this +moment the earth would be seen from there not as it is, but as it was +1-1/4 seconds ago, and from the sun as it was eight minutes ago, and +if we were in Jupiter, and were looking back, we should, at this +particular moment, be viewing what was happening on this earth, and +seeing what each of us was doing an hour ago. Now let us go in +imagination to one of the nearest fixed stars, and looking back we +should see what was happening ten years ago; going still further to a +far-off cluster, the light would only just now be arriving there, +which started from the earth at the time when man first appeared; or +we might go to so remote a distance that the scene of the formation of +the Solar System would be only now arriving there, and all the events +which have taken place from that remote time to the present would, as +time rolled on, reach there in exactly the same succession as they +have happened on this earth; and remember that we should be looking, +from that great distance, at all these past events with the same +intuitional advantage as though we were actually present here in time, +for however near we are to an object, we never see it as it is but +only as it was in the past. + +Let us but turn to any point of space and we shall find at each point, +according to its remoteness, the actual scenes of the past being +enacted, in fact it may be said that throughout infinite space every +event in past eternity is now indelibly recorded. + +A murder committed hundreds of years ago, in a country house, may +never have been found out, the criminal and his victim have alike +turned to dust, the blood has been washed from the floor, the very +house and its surroundings have crumbled and disappeared, and in their +place a waving corn field is all that can be seen, but at this very +moment if we were at a certain point in space, we should now be +witnessing there, the whole actual living scene from beginning to end, +as though we were present _here_ hundreds of years ago: the murderer +standing over his victim, the knife driven in and the blood gushing +out. If we went further away we should at this same moment be seeing +the criminal just arriving and knocking at the door of that house, +then going upstairs into the room, and the same terrible scene with +all its minutiæ would again be enacted. From a point still further +removed, we should now see him, say, having lunch at a country inn +some miles away, concocting his villainy, then he would be seen +walking across the fields towards the house, again knocking at the +door, mounting the staircase, and once more would that murderous scene +be enacted before our eyes, and so on for ever; the scene, with the +house and its surroundings, have indeed been completely swept away +from the present _here_, but the whole tragedy will always be acting +in the future _there_ in the presence of the Reality. + +Let us now come, in imagination, towards the earth, from some far-off +cluster of stars. If we traverse the distance in one year, the whole +of the events from the formation of this world would appear before us, +only thousands of times quicker. Make the journey in a month, a day, +an hour, a second, or a moment of time, and all past events, from the +grandest to the most trivial, would be acted in an infinitesimal +portion of time. + +When we have fully grasped this we recognise that Omniscience is +synonymous with Omnipresence, and some may find, in this thought, a +glimpse of that Great Book wherein are said to be registered every +thought, word, and deed, which, in the direction of the Reality, has +helped to nourish, or, in the direction of the shadow, has tended to +starve the personality of each one of us; for we know that every word +we utter, or that has been uttered from the beginning of the world, +and every motion of our brain connected with thought is indelibly +imprinted upon every atom of matter. If our sense of perception were +greatly increased we need not go to Palestine to see on the rocks +there the impressions of the image of Christ and His disciples, or of +the words they uttered as they passed by, but any stone by the wayside +_here_ would show His every action and resound with every word He +uttered. In fact, every particle of matter on this earth is a witness +to that which has happened, every point in space and every moment of +time contains the history of the past in the smallest minutiæ. The +_Here_, embracing all space, and the _Now_, embracing all time, are +the only realities to the Omniscient. + +Let us once more change the scene and we may grasp even more clearly +that Time and Space are not realities but are only modes or conditions +under which our material senses act. A tune may be played either a +thousand times slower or a thousand times quicker, but it still +remains the same tune, it contains the same sequence of notes and +proportion in time, the only characteristics by which we recognise a +tune. And so in the same way with our sense of sight, an event may be +drawn out to a thousand times its length or acted a thousand times +quicker, it is still the same scene. An insect vibrates its wings +several thousands of times in a second and must be cognisant of each +beat, whereas we have seen that we, with our Senses of Sight and +Hearing, can only appreciate respectively at the most seven and +sixteen vibrations in a second as separate beats. That insect must +therefore be able to follow a flash of lightning under the conditions +of a Time microscope magnifying a thousand times compared with our +vision. The whole life of some of these insects extends over a few +hours only, but owing to their quick unit of perception it is to them +as full of detail as our life of seventy years; but to them there is +no day and night, the Sun is always stationary in the Heavens, they +can have no cognisance of Seasons. + +I have already referred in View One to the curious results of +increasing our unit of perception by a Time Microscope, and I will now +carry the investigation of this subject a step further. + +As conceptional knowledge is based on perceptional knowledge, and we +can only perceive about six times per second, and as the principal +forms of knowledge are gained through the eye, we are conceiving +progress in phenomena under a very restricted outlook; we cannot +recognise such slow motions as, for instance, the hour-hand of a +watch, the growth of a tree, or rise of the tide, except by noting the +change that has occurred after a long interval; there is therefore a +whole world of events which we cannot see. Owing to this limit, in our +unit of time perception, we also cannot perceive events which are +taking place beyond a certain quickness, they become blurred and give +the impression of continuity, and constitute another world of events +lost to us. For the same reason there is a whole world of sensation +lost to us by our limited unit of sound perception; we cannot follow +separate sound-events if they occur quicker than sixteen in a second, +beyond that they become blurred and give the impression of continuity. +If, on the other hand, our units of perception were increased a +thousandfold, as is probably the case with some insects, our conscious +lives would contain a thousand more events than they do at present, +and, as the consciousness of length of life is dependent upon the +number of events that have been perceived, we should under these +conditions have passed on this earth a life equivalent to, say, 70,000 +years under our present restricted unit; every second of that long +period would have been as full of events for us as is a second in our +present life of seventy years. If, on the other hand, our unit of +perception were decreased a thousandfold, our length of life, based +upon perception of events, would be no longer than 25-1/2 of our +present days; if our life were actually reduced to that period (so as +to regain our present units of perception) we should be old and +grey-headed before the sun had risen for the twenty-fifth time since +our birth. If our unit of perception, with our length of life, were +again reduced a thousandfold, the whole of our life of seventy years +would now only be equal to forty-three minutes, and, in the whole of +that life, we could only see the sun move ten degrees, namely, twenty +of its own diameters in the heaven; if we were born, say, at noon on +midsummer's day, we could never have any idea of anything but daytime, +and neither our fathers, nor grandfathers, nor great-grandfathers for +fifteen generations before them could have seen the sun rise; but +there would have been a tradition, handed down from a far distant past +generation, that a long time ago, beyond the memory of man, there was +no sun at all, everything was pitch dark, and that time was called the +"Great Shadow." If their records could have gone still further back +for the same length of time they would have heard that, before the +"Great Shadow," the sun was always shining in the heavens, and that +that great "Sun" day lasted twice as long as the great shadow. + +To understand more clearly this subject of Time perception let me put +another aspect before you; we are looking, say, at an insect whose +wings are beating several thousand times per second, and, with our +vision limited to six times per second, it would be impossible to +count the number of hairs on that wing, or to see which of those hairs +were split, or were bent from the straight, but, if we travelled away +from that insect into space at the rate of light, and were looking +back, the present would then always be with us; the wing, although +still vibrating at that enormous rate, would appear to be stationary, +and so would every other moving thing on the earth, however quick its +movement, and everything would continue in that motionless state for a +million years, provided we continued our flight with the rays of +light. If we travelled a little slower than light, say one minute less +in a thousand years, the same scene would be presented to us, but, +that which was acted upon this earth during one minute of Time, would +now take a thousand years to accomplish; the swiftest railway train +would appear standing still, it would take 5-3/4 days and nights to +cover each inch of ground. It is thus possible to again understand how +the flight of a bird or the lightning flash might be examined under +conditions of time which would lead to the discovery and tracing of +even the principle of life itself. But let us go one step further and +increase our flight beyond the rate at which light travels: scenes +would now progress in the opposite direction to that which we are +accustomed to; men would get out of bed and dress themselves at night +and go to bed in the morning; old men would grow young again; tall +trees would grow backwards and enter the earth, embedding themselves +in the seed, and the seed would rise upwards to the branch that +nourished it; the blood would turn into chyle, into food in the +stomach, into the piece of meat, which would be transferred from the +mouth to the plate, and would then be cut on to the joint, the joint +would go down to the kitchen and be uncooked, would be carried to the +butcher to be cut on to the carcase, and the animal would come to life +and go out into the fields. Human bodies would be formed in the ground +from the dust of the Earth, passing through what we call corruption to +incorruption, the dead would be taken from their graves, brought back +to their homes and put to bed; the Doctor would arrive, a miracle +would happen, the patient would come to life; though this would hardly +be a feather in the cap of the Doctor, as it would be seen that the +medicine came out from the mouth of the patient, would be put into +bottles to be thrown away, and it would be the Doctor who had to pay +the Fee, and the bigger the Doctor the bigger the Fee he would have to +pay. The future would in fact change places with the past, the effect +would give birth to the cause as presented to our finite senses, and, +though it is difficult to realise, it is indeed just as true, or +untrue, that we come into this world through the grave, instead of in +the way we are accustomed to, because to the Reality there is no +change, the Here and the Now comprising all beginnings and ends, all +causes and effects. + +In this flight on the wings of light we did not in reality depart in +the least from the Here, because there is no such thing as space, it +is all included in a mathematical point, the Here; and as the whole of +time is included in the Now, the Future, however remote with all +events therein, is existent in the present; the writers of books 5000 +years hence are therefore writing them now, and the Human Race has +read and is reading them _now_; we have always hitherto maintained +that these things are only "going to happen" 5000 years hence, but in +reality all events in the future are events in the same Now in which +we are living at the present moment, and, as it is just as true, that +time is flowing from the Future to the Present and on to the Past, as +in the contrary direction (of our present outlook), so it is quite +conceivable that we may some day, in the not far distant future, not +only realise that the future exists already, but that we may even be +able to handle and read the books written 5000 years hence, in a +similar manner to that which enables us now to handle and read those +which were written 5000 years ago. + + + + +VIEW EIGHT + +CREATION + + +In our first View we saw the necessity of clearing away the weeds, the +moss, and the lichen from the stem of our Real Personality before that +Transcendental Self could send forth fresh buds for the advancement of +_conscious_ thought to higher levels; we found that the first step +towards this clearing the approach to our window, was to recognise +that a knowledge of the Truth was to be gained by the use of +"Introspection" rather than by Intellectualism--to realise, in fact, +that it is not we, with our intellects, who are looking out upon +Nature, but that it is the Absolute looking into us and ever trying to +teach us divine truths concerning the "Reality of Being." We saw that +the phenomena, which our senses would have us believe to be the +reality or solidity of our material surroundings, are illusions +created by the fact that those senses are limited in their perception +to that which is conditioned in Time and Space, necessitating _motion_ +as the basis of our perceptions, and that, when the rate of motion +exceeds our units of perception, we have the impression of continuity +of events, which we accept as the objective existence of matter; we +also saw that the duration of Time and extension of Space had no +existence for us apart from those senses, our very consciousness of +these two non-realities depending upon "relativity"--they could, in +fact, be increased or diminished indefinitely, without our knowing +that any change had been made. + +In our second View I attempted to take another step forward by showing +how, by means of this "Introspection," it was even possible to +understand that these two limitations might be eliminated from +consciousness; we then realised that the whole Physical Universe is +but a thin film, set up by our finite Senses, between our +Consciousness and the "Reality of Being"; we saw that this could only +be understood when, by the Mystical Sense, we realised that physical +phenomena were but symbols or shadows of the Reality or Noumenon +underlying them. + +In our next View I gave an example of the use of Mystical and +Symbolical thought, leading, in the fourth View, to the subject of +Everlasting Life and the Efficacy of Prayer, wherein I tried to show +that by examining the phenomena of Nature, as depicted on the Physical +Film, it is possible to reach a point where we may even feel that we +are actually listening to, or having divulged to us, the very thoughts +of the Absolute. This led to the next View, where we examined the +Physical Film itself, and this we analysed in the next two Views into +those component parts, by means of which this Film presents to our +senses the impression of the whole Physical Universe as an objective +reality. + +We have seen that it is the Invisible which is the Real, that the +visible is only its shadow; that the Invisible, as distinguished from +the Visible, is not in a place apart from the Physical, but is the +Reality of which the visible constitutes the boundary lines or planes +in our consciousness, as lines and planes are the visible boundaries +of solids. The Kingdom of Heaven is not a locality but a _state_ of +Divine "loving and knowing communion"; it is within us in the sense +that we are interior and not exterior entities of the "Reality of +Being." + +We have now arrived at a point where we can better realise that the +Absolute cannot be localised or bounded by space, and must be +Omnipresent--cannot be conditioned in Time, and must therefore be +Omniscient--the Here comprising all Space, and the Now all Time in the +"Reality of Being." + +With these conclusions before us I will ask you to form a new +conception of Creation. All creation around us is the materialisation +of the Thought of the Deity. He does not require time to think as we +do--the whole of the Universe is therefore one instantaneous Thought +of the Great Reality; the forming of this world and its destruction, +the appearance of man, the birth and death of each one of us are +absolutely at the same instant; it is only our finite minds which +necessitate drawing this Thought out into a long line, and our want of +knowledge and inability to grasp the whole, which force us to conceive +that one event happened before or after another. In our finite way we +examine and strive to understand this wondrous Thought, and at last, a +Darwin, after a life spent in accumulating facts on this little +isolated spot of the Universe, discovers what appears to be a law of +sequence, and calls it the evolution theory; but this is probably only +one of countless other modes by which the _intent_ of that Thought is +working towards completion, the apparent direction of certain lines on +that great tracing board of the Creator, whereon is depicted the whole +plan of His work. + +Let me give a simple example of Creation by a "word," which even our +finite minds can grasp. When I utter the word _Cat_, it starts a +practically instantaneous thought in your minds, the power of that +thought being dependent upon the knowledge you have gained. If you +analyse it you will find that, though practically instantaneous, it +comprises all the sensations you have ever felt on that subject +throughout your life. It commenced, perhaps, when you were only a year +old, and, sitting on your mother's knee, your hand was made to stroke +a kitten, and you felt it was soft and it gave you pleasure. Later on, +when you were older, you had it in your arms, and you felt the first +intimation of that wonderful "[Greek: storgê]," which manifests itself +in most children in their love for dolls; you found it delightful to +cuddle and that it purred. Later on, you found that it played with a +reel of cotton, and that it could scratch, make horrid noises, and +countless other things, which not only make up the life of a cat, but +connect it with the world around us. All these thousand and one facts +are now drawn out, by analysis in Time and Space, into a long line, +and are placed one in front of the other; but the thought started by +the word Cat was a fair example of an instantaneous creation. + +One other example of an instantaneous thought. Let us suppose a large +room fitted with, say, a hundred thousand volumes, comprising all the +knowledge gained by every Specialist in every Science concerning the +plan of Creation. In our finite minds, under the limits of Time and +Space, the word representing the contents of that library would start, +when uttered, an instantaneous thought analogous to that of our last +example, according to the knowledge that each individual had already +acquired of the contents of those books; but this knowledge had only +been gained by taking down each volume separately and reading one book +at a time, beginning at the beginning and taking each page and each +word in succession, and a lifetime would not suffice to enable us to +read them all; whereas, if our knowledge were _complete_, the word +representing the contents of that room would start an instantaneous +thought, comprising not only every book, but every chapter, page, +word, letter, and punctuation contained in that library, or in one +which comprised all knowledge from the beginning to the end of Time. + +It is a well-known fact that at the approach of death, when the +perceptive senses are completely, or almost completely, in abeyance, +as in the "self-forgetting" referred to in "The Vision," the duration +of Time appears to have no reality; in numerous cases of drowning, +where the person has been no more than one or two minutes under water, +the whole of a long life, with every forgotten trivial occurrence and +the multitude of thoughts attached thereto, have been brought vividly +before the mind, as it were, instantaneously; those also who have been +put under nitrous-oxide gas, though the life of the body is not +affected, know how, with departure of sense perception, the sense of +Time is completely annihilated. I have myself experimented under such +conditions, and attempted to realise the duration of time by counting +steadily, one, two, three, four, &c., and had no knowledge whatever +that between, say, "four" and "five" there was a complete hiatus of +several minutes when, for me, time had vanished; I was still counting +steadily when the anæsthetic had passed away, and it was quite +impossible to realise that such time had elapsed, as I had not reached +more than the twelfth count, whereas, according to the time expired, I +should have reached the fiftieth or sixtieth. A number of examples of +what may be called instantaneous thoughts created in the mind of a +sleeper have been collected, and many of us have had similar +experiences. I give one as an example: "Maury was ill in bed and +dreamed of the French Revolution. Bloody scenes passed before him. He +held long conversations with Robespierre, Marat, and other monsters of +that time, was dragged before the tribunal, was condemned to death, +and carried through a great crowd of people, bound to a plank. The +guillotine severed his head from his shoulders. He woke with terror to +find that a rail over the bed had got unfastened and had fallen upon +his neck like a guillotine, and, as his mother who was sitting by him +declared, at that very moment." + +In the above case the whole scene was started instantaneously in his +brain, but in waking his mind analysed it in Time and Space and spread +it out into a long historical record. The opposite process to this, +namely, the building up a thought-picture, is what we do every day +when we form and combine our conceptions under the dominion of Time +and Space, until we have accumulated in our minds a multitude of +concepts which form as it were a single subject, somewhat analogous to +a painter when he has completed his picture, a writer his book, an +architect his house, or even a mechanic his machine. An interesting +example of a musician constructing a thought-picture is given by +Mozart himself: + + "When I am all right and in good spirits, either in a + carriage or walking, and at night when I cannot sleep, + thoughts come streaming in and at their best. Whence and how + I know not, I cannot make out. The things which occur to me + I keep in my head, and hum them also to myself--at least + others have told me so. If I stick to it, there soon come, + one after another, useful crumbs for the pie, according to + counterpoint, harmony of the different instruments, &c. This + now inflames my soul, that is if I am not disturbed. Then it + keeps on growing, and I keep on expanding it more distinctly, + and the thing, however long it be, becomes indeed almost + finished in my head, so that I can always survey it in spirit + like a beautiful picture or a fine person, and also hear in + imagination, not indeed successively, as by and by it must + come out, but all together. That is a delight! All the + invention and construction go on in me as in a fine strong + dream, but the overhearing it all at once is still the best." + +With these illustrations before us may we not carry the analogy even +further, and see that, as our conception of a Cat was made up of +numberless small acquisitions of knowledge, some of which had to be +discarded, or eliminated as errors, from our minds as our knowledge +grew, and as each true fact became confirmed and impressed upon our +brain it made itself a _permanent_ record and became a centre to be +used for gaining further knowledge; so in this wonderful Thought of +the Great Reality, whose mind may be said to be omnipresent, each +individual soul is a working unit in the plan of Creation; each unit +as it gains a knowledge of the Will of the Deity forms for itself a +_personality_ helping forward the work towards its fulfilment; +without that knowledge there can be no personality, no unit in the +great completed thought, no life hereafter. + +The True Life is fulfilled by him who has progressed so far in the +knowledge of the Divine as to realise that he is the offspring of the +Absolute, and therefore stands face to face with his Transcendental +Personality, his [Greek: Christos], of which the Physical Ego is only +the outline or boundary form visible in the physical universe. Each +individual has free will to define his own boundaries, his own +limitations; he builds up the walls of the house in which he lives, +and he has power to brick up or open out the windows through which he +may see the Truth; happy are those whose windows are open, but many, +alas, choose to make the wall opaque by confining their attention to +the physical shadows, or by strangling their spiritual intuition and +preventing all advance in thought by blind subservience to obsolete +dogmas. + +We are instruments of Divine purpose in the scheme of Creation. Each +individual Physical Ego seems to be a Micro-Cosmos, imaging the +Universe, the Macro-Cosmos. As the phagocytes, the policemen of the +blood, flock to a breach in the human body to overcome any invasion of +the enemy, whether poisons or bacteria, which would otherwise detract +from that progress of cell formation upon which the scheme of human +life depends, so do the true lovers of the Divine meet, by active +resistance, any attempt of the enemies of the Good, Beautiful and True +to retard the advancement of the scheme of Creation to its ultimate +goal of perfection. The human body is composed of innumerable cells +and several special colonies of cells, which we call organs, each of +which has its special work to do, and secretes and discharges special +fluids necessary for the welfare of the whole body. All of these cells +are alive, and myriads of them are moving on their own account, +apparently quite independent of, and in complete ignorance of, the +feeling and perception of the whole body; they are, however, +microscopical units of that body, and its welfare depends upon their +contribution of work; it is, in fact, only through their ceaseless +activities that the life in that body is maintained--a phenomenon +analogous to that described in the simile of a Forest Tree in View +Four. So are we integral parts of the scheme of Creation, and each +act, either in accordance with the Divine purpose or the reverse, is +helping forward or retarding the completion of that Thought, though +like the cells we are ignorant of the end which Creation has in view. + +In this life we seem indeed to be only, as it were, in embryo! The +study of embryology has lately shown us clearly how the clothing of +our Physical Ego has been formed, during the past millions of years, +from the lowest forms of life. Each one of us has, during what may be +called his lifetime, gone through all the different stages of +evolutionary development which, since the beginning of life on this +planet, have been employed to build up the human body in its present +form. Embryology has shown us that, during gestation, each human +embryo is a _replica_ of the past; it passes through the different +Imago stages from protoplasm to man, being unrecognisable at certain +stages from a monad, an amoeba, a fish with gills, a lizard, and a +monkey with a tail and dense clothing of hair over the whole body. The +human embryo has also, at an early stage, the thirteenth pair of ribs, +which is found in lower animals and is still seen in a rudimentary +form in anthropoid apes, but which disappears from the human embryo +before birth. Each generation, under evolutionary development, will +witness a further advancement in the clothing of the Physical Ego, +until it may be conceived that a hundred thousand years hence our +present stage of development will be seen only as one of the stages +through which the embryo has to pass before birth at that distant +time. May we not even glimpse at the future to which evolution is +carrying us? For in any of these stages we see organs forming whose +use only comes into play long after that stage has been passed; so +also, in the new rudimentary forms of thought which are started by +every fresh discovery may we not some day be able to descry the +heights which we are destined to attain if we earnestly seek after +Truth? + +Radio-Activity has shown us that all forms of matter are but different +combinations of one primal brick; by synthesis thousands of new forms +of matter, unknown in Nature, are actually now being built up in our +laboratories, and the number of such combinations cannot conceivably +be limited; so do we also see that all the known forms of energy in +nature are interchangeable, one with another, with exactly known +equivalents and ratios, pointing to their being only different +combinations of one unit of energy. If such is the case, it would seem +to follow that there are countless other forces of which we at present +have no cognisance, but which may at any time come within our field of +investigation. + +In our life here we are steadily progressing from the lower to the +higher form of being, from the purely Physical towards the +Transcendental, each generation starting from a higher level; the +boundary line between the Physical and Transcendental is being +continually advanced towards the latter, and it may well be, as I +have already suggested in View IV, that we are even now on the eve of +discovering a new force, or aspect of Creation, which will open a +wider view and give us a clearer knowledge of the goal which we are +destined to reach hereafter. + +Each generation will, according to the teaching of Embryology, +gradually come into the world at a higher stage of development than +its predecessors, until the last Physical Ego, at its birth, will +coincide with the final stage of development, when there will be no +more physical clothing, the disintegration of Matter being completed, +and, it can be pictured that at the final consummation, there will be +nothing imperfect, no shadow left, that all will be spiritual. The +object of Creation would therefore appear to be the population of the +Real Universe with spiritual entities, until the whole Spiritual +Universe will be taken up by Transcendental Personalities, which will +be one with the Reality, and the Great Thought completed. + +Once more let us recognise that we are dependent for knowledge of +surroundings upon our perception of movements, and that as our +conceptional knowledge is based on perceptional knowledge, our +thoughts are limited by Time and Space and can only deal with finite +subjects. From this arises all our difficulty of understanding the +Infinite; we cannot under our present conditions know the whole +Truth; if we could do that we should be able, as it were, to look all +round the subject, and Infinity would then be seen to be a +pseudo-conception of our finite thoughts. We can only think of one +finite subject at a time, and, at that moment, all other subjects are +cancelled; we can, in fact, only think in sequences, and, taking the +particular Infinities of duration and extension which we have been +examining, we can only think of points in Time and Space as existing +beyond or before other fixed points, which again must be followed by +other points. We cannot fix a point in Time or Space so as to exclude +the thought of a point beyond; the idea of an Infinite is therefore a +necessary result of the limitation of our thoughts. The whole Truth is +there before us, but we can only examine it in a form of finite +sequences. A book contains a complete story, but we can only know that +story by taking each word in succession and insisting that one word +comes in front of another, and yet the story is lying before us +complete. So with Creation; we are forced to look upon it as a long +line going back to past eternity, and another long line going on to +future eternity, and, with our limitations, we can only think of all +events therein as happening in sequence; but eliminate Time and we +become Omniscient, the whole of Creation would be before us as an +Instantaneous Thought of God. + +Accordingly under the dominion of Time we appear to be in a similar +position to that of a being whose senses are limited to +one-dimensional space--namely, to a line; we can only have cognisance +of what is in front and behind, we have no knowledge of what is to the +right or left, we appear to be limited to looking lengthwise in Time, +whereas an Omniscient and Omnipresent Being looks at Time crosswise +and sees it as a whole. A small light, when at rest, appears as a +point of light, but when we apply quick motion, the product of Time +and Space, to it, we get the appearance of a line of light, and this +continuous line, formed by motion of a point, is, I think, analogous +to the Physical Universe appearing to our finite senses as continuous +in Time duration and Space extension, though really comprised in the +Now and the Here, the whole of Creation being therefore an +Instantaneous Thought. + +A consideration of our limitation in Space may also be useful to show +how impossible it is for us to hope to see by our senses the Reality +or by our thoughts to know the Spiritual. Our senses and thoughts are +limited to a Space of three dimensions, and we can therefore only see +or know that part of the Absolute which is or can be represented to +us in three dimensions; a being whose senses were limited to a +Universe of one dimension--namely, a _line_, could have no real +knowledge of another being who was in a Universe of two +dimensions--namely, a _flat surface_, except so far as the +two-dimensional being could be represented within his line of +sensation; so also the two-dimensional being, on a _plane_, could have +no true knowledge of a being like ourselves in a Universe of three +dimensions. To his thoughts, limited within two dimensions, a being +like ourselves would be unthinkable, except so far as our nature could +be made manifest on his plane; so can it be seen that we, limited by +our finite senses to Time and Space, and our consciousness dependent +upon that limited basis of thought, can only know that aspect of the +Reality which can be manifested within that range of thought--namely, +as Motion, or what we call physical phenomena. + +Let me attempt just one more view before we part, which may make this +conception of Creation, as an Instantaneous Thought, even clearer to +our finite senses. Imagine a Spectator endowed with the same sense of +vision that we have--namely, limited to six units of perception per +second, but able to look on, as it were, from outside the Universe, +without himself being affected by any alteration that takes place in +what may be called the flow of time. Consider some of the changes he +would witness if Time were gradually eliminated from phenomena. The +inhabitants, who at first were seen walking by slow, successive steps, +would soon be seen gliding from place to place, the movement of their +legs having passed beyond the sense of vision; the next stage would +see the inhabitants unrecognisable as human beings when walking, +although they would still be visible if they stood still, they would +be moving too fast for sight, they would be seen only as lines or +bands extended between their points of departure and destination; then +day and night would be following each other so quickly that soon the +day would only be a flicker of light, till, when the week became equal +to one second of the Spectator's time, day and night would disappear +as separate phenomena; then the week, the month, and the year would in +turn flicker, solidify, or become continuous, and disappear with all +the multitudinous events contained therein; human life would then be +affected, would flicker, and follow the same course; to the Spectator +the birth of each individual would become coincident with his death, +and Nations would be seen to rise and progress towards their +destination without any evidence of individual existence; the Human +Race itself would next succumb, then the whole of planetary life, +then the formation and destruction of Solar Systems, then the +gathering together and dissemination of firmaments, and, finally, the +beginning and end of the very Universe would coincide. Motion, or +Physical phenomena, and therefore Matter, would vanish, and the Great +instantaneous Thought be complete. We seem to have been able to +glimpse from our Watch Tower, though through a glass darkly, the whole +Truth, and to see that the Infinity of Time is a figment of our finite +senses and is comprised in the Now. The same treatment, followed by +the same result, may be applied to the Infinity of Space, and we again +see that all Space is comprised in the Here; it is only by the +conditions of our existence in this physical universe, _insisting_ on +our analysing everything in Time and Space that Motion or Change +become the very basis of our Consciousness. + +We have seen that the Idea of Infinity is a necessary result of our +finite senses, that the only Reality is the Spiritual, the Here and +the Now; that the Riddle of the Universe is not to be solved by the +_Intellect_ but by that method which is employed by those who are +earnestly following the "Quest of the Grail"--namely, by realising +that our True Personality or Transcendental Ego is an emanation from +the Absolute; that we are one-with Him, and that it is by following +the old Hellenic command "[Greek: Gnôthi seauton]" (Know +thyself)--namely, by _Introspection_, that we can hope to attain to +the understanding of what is the Reality of Being. + + +FINIS + + * * * * * + +PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY NEILL AND CO., LTD., EDINBURGH. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + + Page 27: Braces } on multiple lines represent one large brace + encompassing those lines. + + Page 53: Huios or Hyios. The Rule doesn't seem to address the + possibility of upsilon coming first in a diphthong: upsilon iota + is not common, but "Hui" looks more plausible than "Hyi". + + Page 176: The word amoeba had an oe ligature in the original book. + + Page 184: Typo Gnôthe changed to Gnôthi. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SCIENCE AND THE INFINITE*** + + +******* This file should be named 25931-8.txt or 25931-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/5/9/3/25931 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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