/ .• C:{S^.^ yZ) \^.- T \ ■^7- ^ ^^-"^Y/^r 'i^ LIBRARY EDUC. PsrcH. UBR/iRV n PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY AS THE FOUNDATION OF A RELIGION OF NATURAL LAW V. C. DESERTIS WITH INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S. LONDON WILLIAM RIDER & SON, LTD. 164 ALDERSGATE STREET, E.G. 1909 BH lOo £DUC. PSYCH. ( ^-N ^ UBRARV "ivU^ ioX^vY Printed by Ballanttnk, Hanson of Co. At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh INTRODUCTORY NOTE Having had the opportunity of reading the proofs of the present volume (the author of which is unknown to me), I have been asked by the publisher to say a few words by way of introduction. It was well observed by the late Dr. W. B. Car- penter that new and startling facts, however well attested, are often rejected because they are held to be opposed to the indisputable conclusions of science ; hence people find that " there is no place in the fabric of their thought into which such facts can be fitted," and until such a place is made for them further evidence of the same nature is useless. One great merit of the present work is, that it over- comes this initial difficulty by showing that the facts of psychical research and modern spiritualism are really in harmony with the most advanced con- clusions of science, and especially with modern conceptions as to the constitution of matter and of ether. Taking these facts and conclusions as starting- points, the author develops, with great lucidity, a' philosophy of the universe and of human nature in its threefold aspect of body, soul, and spirit. He shows how we are thus led to a Religion of Natural Law, which, when thoroughly realised, becomes a V 615826 n vi INTRODUCTORY NOTE sure guide to right action both for individuals and communities, and often affords a clue to the solution of the most vital political and social problems. The tone of the work is throughout sympathetic and elevated. It is full of suggestive ideas and high moral teachings; and it is well calculated to raise the ethical standard of public life, and thus assist in the development of a higher civilisation. ALFRED R. WALLACE. October 1895. ^)fi^/(^ y^^ ^ NOTE TO THE PRESENT EDITION The author having referred me to the more im- portant changes in the present issue of his book, and having read the proofs of the last chapter which is wholly new, and with which I fully agree, I have much pleasure in repeating my high appreciation of his work. A. R. W. Broadstonb, Wimborne, December 15, 1908. PREFACE The writer of this book was one of the very large number of persons who, alive to the beauty of ideal Christian character, was quite unable to accept current forms of Christian dogma. While thus disturbed in mind he made the error of seeking not for Truth, but for The Truth, from the Chris- tian Churches, from modern leaders of thought, and even from Oriental faiths, whose foundations he endeavoured to reach, and whose inner meaning he sought to understand. His attention was invited to the psychic phenomena, that have now attracted the incredulous or bewil- dered notice of so many. He expected little from these things, and began the inquiry into them with entire and pronounced scepticism. But he was at last convinced that, whatever the explanation might prove to be, he was in presence of facts which promised solution to his difficulties, because these facts bear on the main problem — whether the human soul is but a name for the sum of vital functions, or has an objective existence, embodied and disem- bodied. He has attempted in this book to sum- marise the psychic facts and to show the inferences which seem to him to flow from them, in the hope that they may be of use to others. His thanks are due to Mr. D. Hevavitarna, the vii /^ viii PREFACE representative of Ceylon Buddhists at the Chicago Congress of Religions, for kind assistance regarding Buddhistic modes of thought given on pp. 298 et seq. Thus far the preface to the first edition. But psycho- logical experiment and analysis have so progressed in the last decade that some alterations in a book published in 1896 are inevitable. Physical science is increasingly busy with rays and forces of which the senses are unaware; and has shown that these senses register perhaps a hun- dredth part of the influences which nevertheless are in full play around them. Theological concepts have been largely remodelled in the light of the Kantian position that all our ideas of the Divine action are necessarily expressed and interpreted in language corresponding to the training and perceptions of writer and hearer ; and therefore that all presentments of that action must be mystical in the sense that they can only be expressed in an emblematical and "literary" way, not in the scientific diction wherein each word has one, and only one, valid sense. Spiritual realities in fact can only be adequately presented in a Perfect Life, not in words, and that perfect life will be a perfect reply to its circumstances. All these advances, however, do not contradict nor invalidate anything that the book has put forward ; but are in agreement with its conclusions. These are purposely given in language free from the technicalities which tend to reserve psychic knowledge, however vitally needed by many minds, to students or experts. PREFACE ix Another most important change must be noticed. " Modernism " has taken shape within both the Catholic and Anglican Churches, by the recognition of the relativity of language whether in the Sacred Canon or in dogmatic theology, by the acceptance of the conclusions and methods of physical and natural science, and by the recognition of psychic phenomena as facts, subjective or objective. It was the hope of the writer, when this book first appeared (1896), that just such a solution of outstanding oppositions might arise and might re- concile thoughtful men by showing so much common ground of psychological fact that remaining differ- ences should be scarcely more than healthy stimulus to thought. It should be hardly possible to take a relative truth very bitterly ! There is still room to hope that a unifying movement of this kind may take place in the English Church ; in Latin countries a period of conflict, short or long, must precede the solution. A few emendations have been made, e.g. in re- placing the vortex theory of the atom by the more perfect electro-tonic theory of the constitution of matter ; a few additions have been made here and there for greater clearness, and some omissions have been made with the same intention. The intro- ductory chapter and the last three chapters have been remodelled, but the general sense of the work is unaltered and the bulk remains much as first published. I wish further to add that personally I have no " mediumistic " powers whatever, whether visual or X PREFACE automatic, and that the book makes no demand on the credulity of the reader; it speaks with no authority; it only collates substantiated facts and draws certain inferences. The practical result of the misapprehension and misconstruction of these facts by superstition and vanity have often been subversive and disastrous. But the facts have also ' had power to convince many minds of the realit y ^of a spirit^orld and to open to them an intelligent understanding of the Bible, impaired by materialistic attacks and literalist defences, and, above all, to reveal to them that they also have direct normal access to the Creative Power who loves and guides all His children who turn towards the light. ■ The main purpose of this work is to collate the i I evidence which convinced me of the objectivity of , the soul of man. It is no part of its scope to explain such occurrences as that at East Rudham (December 1908). A collection of these will be found in M. Flammarion's book " L'Inconnu," with his inferences therefrom. He apparently was led by them, as I by parallel phenomena here cited, to a similar con- clusion. This preface to a second impression would be in- complete without my most cordial thanks to Dr. A. Russel Wallace for his most valued support. V. C. D. December 1908. u^ ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Introductory Note ...... v Preface vii A RELIGION OF LAW The rise of experimental method as opposed to dia- lectical method has revolutionised thought and is leading to a new social order. — 2. Decline of dog- matic belief is the expression of a conviction that no truths are final but that " all men must be taught of God from the least to the greatest." — 3. The democratic ideal is that true progress can only come by more and more persons thinking rightly. — 4. Changed status of women : the essen- tial "woman's question" is — What is the psychi- cal meaning of sex ? — 5. The unshaken beliefs in Morality and in Science. — 6. The intellectual need of the day is a harmonious co-ordination of all scientific facts with the laws of morality and the historic past. — 7. "Miracle" and persistence after death must be experimental if either is to be believed 3-34 ^ n r^/r?/Ki 01^9^^'^ //3 PART I THE BASIS OF EJPERIMENTAL FACT CHAPTER I The Physical Phenomena, or Outward Facts, the Evidence of the Senses 1. The claim to hold intelligent communication with the unseen. — 2. Widely admitted and accounted for in three ways. — 3. Experimental " miracle." — 4. Similar to other experimental facts. — 5, 6, 7. Historical. — xii CONTENTS PAOE 8. Subjects of experiment are variable persons not invariable objects. — 9. Much caution imperatively required. — 10. Classification of phenomena. — 11. Testimony concurrent from many sources . . 35-75 CHAPTER II The Inner or Subjective Facts — Mediumship 1. Triviality of the communications. — 2. Messages even when genuine take colour from the medium. — 3. Classifi- cation of mediumship. — 4. Physical mediumship. — 5. Hypnotic phenomena. — 6. Sensitives. — 7. En- lightenment. — 8. Evidence that "death" is no breach of continuity. — 9. " Miracle," i.e. psychic law, is an experimental fact 77-114 CHAPTER III The Morality of "Spiritualism" 1. What is the moral value of the communications? — 2. Scriptural objections. — 3. Four classes of "mes- sages." — 4. Deceptions and illusions. — 5. Descrip- tions of the life beyond. — G, 7. " Spirit Teachings." — 8. Denial of past atonement or Vicarious Sacrifice. — 9, 10. How Christianity is preached. — 11. The alter- native 115-160 PART II THEORY AND INFERENCES CHAPTER I Matter and Ether 1. The meaning of Conservation of Energy. — 2. The Principle of Continuity. — 3. Psychic facts com- pared with electrical and magnetic effects. — 4. The Ether and its modifications. — 5. The Electron atom. — 0. "Bound" Ether. — 7. The modern view of the structure of matter. — 8. Hypnotic experiments. — 9. Analogy to magnetism, — 10. Testimony by auto- matic writing in physical phenomena. — 11. Testimony on modes of automatism. — 12. Review of evidence . 161-208 CONTENTS ?iii CHAPTER II The Orders of Existence PAGE 1. Correspondence between the material and ethereal orders of facts. — 2. Truths above the material order must be expressed symbolically. — 3. The material world is dependent on the ethereal world for its energy and on the spiritual world for its life. — 4. The Platonic doctrine of Influx is identical with this. — 5. Religions die when they are literalised . 209-240 CHAPTER III The Gate of Death 1, Earth-life is a life of insulated thought. — 2. The /-) process of soul withdrawal is from each cell. — 3. Anastasis (resurrection) is immediate. — 4. The soul body shows the stage of development reached. — 5. Why like goes to like. — 6. Confirmation of the Pauline psychology. — 7. Need for the training of each circulus. — 8. Justice the law of life. — 9. Sic itur ad astra 241-272 PART III PRACTICAL MYSTICISM CHAPTER I Spirit — The Directing Will 1. livevixa 6 0e6s, GoD is Spirit, the Immanent Power which develops and sustains. — 2. This truth is the essence of mysticism in all lands. — 3. Ethic is the law of Spirit and right action the harmony between the inner and the outer. — 4. The " Kingdom of Heaven " means simply the growing polity which results from that concord. — 5. Hindu mysticism. — 0. Buddhist view of the same truth. — 7. The ptirpose and mean- ing of prayer 273-312 V xiv CONTENTS CHAPTER II The Human Family PAGE 1. The recognition of psychic verities is the key to social problems, because these are caused by frames of mind. — 2. The purpose and meaning of pain. — 8. Real prosperity — the happiness that comes of healthy life — comes of ethical conditions in which abundance of production is possible. — 4. The in- equalities of wealth — gambling — interception of profits. — 5. The cause of contention is the assertion of the lower self and its desires. — 6. The Woman's Question deals with the forces of Life. — 7. The work of the man is the practical direction of the forces and laws of Nature — the work of the woman is the practical direction of the forces and laws of Life . 313-370 CHAPTER III The True Romance 1. Marriage should be based on the recognition that the relation of manhood to womanhood is an essen- tially psychic relation. — 2. The psychic meaning of sex is that the human unit is dual. — 3. Sex in the Unseen. — 4. The realisation of the dual life. — 5. The True Romance. Hie incipit vita nova . . 371-399 INDEX .401 X PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY A . o " Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together."— Jesus Christ. •' The world would be astonished if it knew how great a propor- tion of its brightest ornaments — of those most distinguished even in popular estimation for wisdom and virtue — are complete scep- tics on religion, many of them refraining from avowal, less from personal considerations, than from a conscientious, though in my opinion most mistaken, apprehension, lest by speaking out what may tend to weaken existing beliefs, and by consequence, as they suppose, existing restraints, they should do harm rather than good." — J. S. Mill, Autobiography. PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY "Yet once more will I shake not the earth only, but also the heavens. " — Joel. 1. On all sides it is forced upon us that the present is a time pregnant with great events and unparalleled social and political changes. Standing armies un- exampled in numbers and efficiency, a progress in physical science unknown to previous time, a colossal wealth, and an activity in commerce which penetrates to every corner of the globe, all contribute to make this age full of the grandest possibilities ; and, if man can rise to the height of his trust by inspiring all this material civilisation with spiritual life, can use it as a means of moral progress and not as an end in itself, it will be one which will live in history as the greatest and most momentous of any. At no period since the rise of Christianity and the fall of the mighty empire of the Caesars have the signs of the times been so significant of transition to a new order of things. This seems a bold statement, but consideration will show its accuracy. With the middle of the eighteenth century the change began, and now, after a hundred and fifty years, it is apparent whither it is tending. The be- ginning of the nineteenth century found the States 4 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY of Europe organised on the agricultural basis which had subsisted practically unchanged for a thousand years. Its close left them dependent for their revenues on their industrial organisation. The change is more far-reaching than any political event since the fall of Rome, not only because the modes of life of large classes in the community have been profoundly altered, but because modes of thought have been changed in even greater measure. It will be well to recall briefly the nature of the change that has now taken shape. Into the old, quietly busy agricultural world, ruled by authority of King, nobles, and priests, with a re- latively small class of landed gentry and merchants, France flung the seed of an idea — "La carriere ouverte aux talens " : and England opened the career of mechanical production by the application of the powers of Nature to the service of man on the large scale. At the close of the eighteenth century Ark- wright invented the spinning frame for cottons and woollens, and Watt the steam engine to drive it. Some idea of the industrial revolution brought about by these two inventions and of the enormous power they placed in the hands of England for crushing all competition in the dawning struggle for commercial supremacy may be gauged from the calculated state- ment of Edward Baines in his History of the Cotton Manufactures :—^hat the 150,000 British workmen produced with the new machinery as much as 40 millions could have produced with the old one-thread wheels.') A single spinner produced in one day as much as he had previously produced in a year. A RELIGION OF LAW 5 Under this flood of products, as excellent as they were cheap, foreign competition was submerged and drowned. Before the foreigner could copy the British looms he was hopelessly undersold. Free Trade was for England the natural corollary, and at the very time that the British industries were being brought to perfection, the conflict between the old and the new social ideas convulsed Europe with war. So entirely did British products command the situation that at the very time when Napoleon laid his embargo on British manufactures, he had to wink at the evasion of the " Continental System " he had devised in order to deprive England of markets, and his troops " marched to Eylau clad in overcoats from Bradford, and shod with boots made in Northampton." The wealth and activity of mind thus generated inaugurated the era of applied Science, which dis- tinguishes the present time from all of which we have records. But power looms, railways, steamships, telegraphs, dynamos, and rifled cannon are not the things that most strongly mark the difference between this century and all preceding ones. Far more vital than the difference between more and less effective tools is the difference in the thought they subserve. The old current philosophy claimed to deal with final facts. Alike in religion and politics distinctions were treated as absolute and contended for as final. Intolerance and even persecution were but the logical outcome of this frame of mind. Its physical concepts were of a like kind with its politics, assigning to each object its created and inherent properties or essence. Now, the old idea that flame tended up- 6 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY wards by its affinity to the heavens, and a stone downwards by its affinity to the earth, has been superseded by the idea of Force as the one and only cause of motion. (T\Iovement, whensoever and where- soever occurring, whether due to mechanical pressure or to chemical or vital change, is the result of forces whose magnitudes and directions are capable of mathematical expression, and the orderly results of such forces are due to Intelligence standing in much the same relation to those forces as that which they hold to inert matter) The ancient "four elements" of Aristotle (still true as standing for the solid, liquid, gaseous, and ethereal states) were displaced by the discoveries of Lavoisier, Sir Humphry Davy, Faraday, Gay Lussac, and a whole galaxy of pioneers in the new fields into which these had led the way. Seventy metals and non- metals replaced the primitive four, and the permuta- tions of these under the forces of atomic attractions accounted for the myriad compounds of Nature. Laplace, using Newton's epoch-making discoveries, had given to the world the brilliant " nebular hypo- thesis," — as great a departure in celestial mechanics as Lavoisier's had been in Chemistry — when Grove, in the " Correlation of the Physical Forces," made another splendid extension of the " Principia," show- ing that definite quantities of motion, heat, light, electricity, and the like are mutually interconvertible and are essentially one — Energy — working force as contrasted with static force. From the parent sciences Geology and Chemistry were born the sciences of the physical basis and A RELIGION OF LAW 7 development of life. Another great generalisation ^ arose from the labours of the biologists, whose work is most distinctively represented by Darwin and Wallace. The constant tendency to variation in living things (setting aside teleological speculation on the purpose, or experimental research into the origin of this tendency) and the agencies whereby upward changes which make for fitness and power are rendered permanent, and downward changes are obliterated, were summarised and co-ordinated into the Evolutionary Theory. Slowly the old conceptions were dissolved. It has been well said that as the warm water fathoms deep .^ washes the submerged ice, so slowly men's ideas change. Slowly the centre of gravity of philosophy moved from theological postulates to Cartesian axioms, and from these to exact experiments on Matter and Force. There was much commotion and tumult when the inevitable reversal took place, but when it had quieted down scientific method had super- seded dialectical method. The iceberg had^ turned. This idea of " Becoming " under the action of internal and external forces has covered the entire field of Nature, from the birth and death of suns and planets to those of the smallest animalculse which the microscope can reveal. There is strong reason to suppose that the very elements themselves are not final products or fixed forms, but mark the present stage of stellar evolution. The concept has won its victorious way into the realms of social science and has modified every single department of thought. Every modern problem, V 8 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY "" whether social, biologic, or physical, is stated in evolu- ^ tionary terms of Time and Energy, and its solution is to be reached in no other way than by demonstra- tions of conformity to Law, i.e. to sequences following on causes. The day for final and ex cathedrd pro- nouncements has passed away. '' There is no need to dwell on the exegetical con- troversies of the later decades of the nineteenth century ; they are practically over ; let the dead past bury them. Leaders of thought are now agreed that varying modes of intellectual statement do not affect spiritual verities and moral values. Social co-opera- tion rather than polemic is the order of the day, " Non in dialectica complacuit Dominus." But one great generalisation and its greater corollary stand forth from the vast concepts of Matter, Energy, and Evolutionary process. (^ The generalisation is that Co-ordinated Laws, — regular sequences which make for beauty and order, — run through all phenomena of mind and matter, welding all into a cosmos or universal unity. ) • This implies that the ultimate cause of variation, and therefore of evolution, is psychic, the immanent Creative Power probably acting by and through the mind, or soul, of living things .^ The corollary is that "The Truth" is never an attainable and completed statement or series of state- ments, nor a theological formula of any kind, but is the 1 This statement that the cause of variation is to be sought in the mind or soul is of course no more than a guess in the absence of experimental proof. But if hypnotic suggestion is to the unconscious mind, a line of experiment seems indicated. A RELIGION OF LAW 9 expression of the Power behind evolution, the Way of 4 Ascent and the Conquering Life which subdues all ^ things to itself, moulding all matter to higher forms. This again implies that alike for individuals and nations " the truth " is just that small part of the whole which constitutes for them the next step along the upward way; and though the record of simple material facts may be absolute, " the truth " in all wider senses must for each person be strictly * relative to his own powers and needs. These two fundamental truths must govern the social and political changes of the near future, for they profoundly affect the re-statements which are n now taking shape. ^. Another sign of the times is the decline of belief in religious dogmaj "Our age," it has been said, " longs to be religious." But the claims of the creeds are so entirely out of line with Nature's lessons that they are felt to be impossible. ^The blood atone- ment,^ the bodily resurrection and ascension, the supreme personal devil as the source of death and evil, the eternal punishment of the wicked and the monotonous beatitude of the righteous are re- jected at once as incredible.) /"^ This incredulity marks the transition from the frame of mind which can receive only material and final facts, to that which perceives that spiritual facts cannot be expressed literally but only by symbols— hy the images most resembling them on the plane of ^ Atonement simply means at-one-ment. Compare Shakespeare — " He and Aufidius can no more atone Than direst contraries." 10 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY sense-experience. The new mode of thought recog- nises fully that the valid test to us of the existence of spiritual force is its material effect, but that all spiritual causation can only be expressed by meta- phor, simile, and trope, straining the resources of language to express the higher dramatic verity, and not by scientific terms having only one sense.^ To literalise is to degrade the whole broad and grand treatment of God and human life which char- acterises the teaching of Jesus, into formula, making it no longer truth to be known but dogma to be assented to. That religion is really insight into eternal truth as well as practice is felt by the large majority of mankind, who are only too ready to follow those who claim to possess this insight, with the view of ob- taining the pearl of great price gratis, and without the indispensable preliminary of earning it; and although there are some who may prefer Matthew Arnold's somewhat poetic definition, that it is morality touched by emotion, it is generally felt that religion must be based on external (though unseen) actualities, and that no morality, with or without emotion, could stand long if it were without a basis of external sanction. This basis of external sanction, even if not actually necessary to morality in the mass of mankind, would, if discoverable, be its strongest reinforcement; as it would be also the greatest solace to those whose ethical and intellectual conclusions are as yet out of harmony. Here again, amid the almost hopeless confusion of ^ Cf. Matthew Arnold, " Literature and Dogma." A RELIGION OF LAW 11 contending sects, philosophies, and schools, may be seen the plane of cleavage running deep through them all. Each of the current forms of thought is a variant from one of two great types, and represents, more or less logically, one of two leading ideas. On religious matters the world is divided between those who acknowledge a teaching Authority and those who see only the operation of Law ; betAveen those who acknowledge an ecclesiastical Church and those who do not ; for this, slight as it may seem, is the radical difference between Faith and Reason, using each of these words in the popular sense. The one party rests on the infallible teaching Authority of the Church guided by the Spirit of God into all truth of dogmatic statement, not merely relative to the epoch in which it was put forward, but for all time. The other re- gards all men of good- will as similarly guided by that Spirit under psychological law for their daily needs. Cardinal John Henry Newman has demonstrated the hopelessness of any via media and the intel- lectual baselessness of any form of Anglicanism rest- ing on Sacerdotal Authority. His masterly reasoning, no less than the resolute endeavour, chronicled in the ''Apologia," of a singularly logical mind to find such a tenable middle course, proves con- clusively that, granted the institution by Christ of a Church in the ecclesiastical sense, that Church is the one enthroned on the seven hills of the Eternal City, a queen for ever over the souls of men. It is unnecessary in weaker words to re-estab- lish his conclusion, or to damage his argument by condensing it; those who are fond of controversial 12 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY reading may turn to his works. His conclusion can be avoided only by denying his premise, and asserting that Christ founded no ecclesiasticism, but a gather- ing of all mankind into a fold made, not by barriers of creed, but by the practice of love to man and faith towards the All-Father. Some of the English clergy are clear-sighted enough to see this and brave enough to proclaim it, to recognise that the mission of the Church is now to lose herself that she may save mankind, and to descend from the pedestal of authority, to dis- claim any knowledge other than is the result of special study, special endeavour, and special prayer, and to be simply men and not priests, and find in the exchange an immensely increased hold on their hearers.^ If, while admitting a Church, the right of private judgment be conceded, as all the free Churches must concede it, it is clear that right reason is the only criterion of truth, that no dogma whatever can logically be insisted on as "necessary to salva- ^ Dean of Bristol, " Sermons on some Subjects of the Day." So also the Rev. Canon Fremantle in " The New Reformation," Port- nightly Revieio, March 1887 : — " The early history of the Church has been likewise subjected to a minute criticism which has been stimulated of late by the discovery of ' The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles.' The result has been to give us a simple view of the organisation of the Christian societies, and of their life and thoughts, to show the influence of various social circumstances working naturally upon them, and forming their institutions and their theology. It becomes less and less possible to attribute to the earliest period of the Church, as having been formally imposed or exclusively admitted, any of the theories of Church government which we now know, whether Episcopal, Presbyterian, or Inde- pendent, or the formed doctrines of later times, whether relating to the plan of redemptiom, or the Incarnation, or the Trinity." ■ ' • A RELIGION OF LAW 13 tion." For an appeal to Scripture cannot properly ignore the fact that the Greek text wherein are recorded the sayings of Jesus, spoken in the Aramaic tongue, was both compiled and interpreted by the Church from the very earliest times. So that the appeal to Scripture as final statement is really an appeal to the primitive Church unless we fall back on literal inspiration. The verbal authenticity and inspiration of the text of Scripture next follow, and the process ends in the evolutionary religion now known as " Modernism," which the See of St. Peter has decided to excommunicate and denounce. Anglicanism has taken the step of separation from Sacerdotal Authority. The large majority of the laymen within its pale really are more or less devout Rationalists, for in practice, whatever their theories, they acknowledge no hierarchy or apostolical suc- cession, regard no sacraments as necessary to salva- tion and no creed as of binding force, but look on Christianity as being the simple teaching of Christ Himself, as given in the gospels and in the hearts of men. This "Broad Church" is the strength of Anglicanism, for it gives free play to devotion while not restricting inquiry. The few English Churchmen who in their hearts think differently should logically place themselves under the Roman Pontiff. All deplore the conflict between what they term Faith and Reason, but Catholics only can con- sider the solution to lie in the frank acceptance of the teaching Authority of the Church, for no others can point to any teaching Authority at unity with itself. Faith, according to this last, is a supernatural n 14 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY gift of God which enables us to receive without doubting whatever God has revealed, which is known by the teaching Authority of the Catholic Church. This declares that God, of one and the same nature \j^i\(rfiii'r\\'^. with the Father, became a man, atoned for Adam's transmitted sin, purchased for us eternal life, re- ascended into heaven with His body, whose wounds He shows as memorials of His Passion, will return to judge the world at the Last Day, when all men shall rise again with the same flesh which they now wear,^ and will then award to the good unending rest and adoration in heaven, and to the evil eternal punishment in hell. It is useless blinking these things or seeking for an impossible middle course. There is none. One premise or the other must be logically followed, and either will infallibly bear its appropriate fruit. It is the new form of the con- tinual conflict between Rationalism and Sacerdo- talism. Those who maintain Authority, whether of the Church or of the literal sense of Scripture, insist that God will rectify all things ; will warm the cold- hearted, purify the unclean, pardon and cleanse the sinner ; will remove the blemishes which conditions of time and sense have caused in His Church ; will redeem and glorify and vindicate her, and that the future of all who sincerely receive her teaching is thereby assured.^ Their opponents declare that the only basis of belief is evidence , and that a traceable relation between cause and effect must be established before any such realisation can take place, and they find 1 Order of the Latin rite for the consecration of Bishops. ^ Ex opere operato : in virtue of the sacraments performed. A RELIGION OF LAW 15 that relation in the Sovereignty of Ethics, which, by immutable law withdrawing that co-ordinating power between soul and form, which is biologic "fitness," casts out from existence all that offends, and brings men, nations, churches, and systems to ruin, as they fall short of the ethical standard, quite irrespective of any dogmatic one. These recognise that all truth can only be expressed by figures of speech, which never are or can be absolute, and that the general meaning of any teacher soever, and not his particular forms of expression, must be looked to. They further allege that the devotion of mankind to material comfort is largely encouraged by the system of arbi- trary ^ rewards and punishments which (inasmuch as contrition can always secure forgiveness at death) makes the future condition to depend on an uncer- tain decision of the Deity, and not upon His un- changing law of ethics, and they maintain that dogma is intelligently apprehended not as historical fact, but as typical expression of spiritual law. frhe Churches have lost their hold on the intellecj^ ^ "Arbitrary." Lest this word should be misunderstood, it may be well to explain that it is used only in the sense of dependent on the will of another as opposed to consequence following on a cause. For instance, that a deliberate and confirmed sensualist should be punished by being cast into a " hell " or " purgatory " of fire for any period long or short, is an arbitrary punishment, because there is no organic connection between the crime and the penalty, which might with equal justice have taken such form as Dante's terrible imagery of the icy sea. But that he should be tormented in an incorporeal life by the fire of impotent desire resulting from the state to which he has brought himself, by hate of others, by remorse and self-loathing, is both justice and also a punishment the more real that it lasts just as long as, and no longer than, the mental state of which it is the consequence and the penalty. 16 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY of Europe because they have clung to a theory of perfect Creation and Fall followed by Redemption, as historical fact to be held de fide, a postulate which is opposed to all the lessons of Evolution as seen in Nature ; and because they have insisted on the literal /\^ truth of these allegories till absolutely compelled to give up statements which only showed their utter lack of insight. Isolated portions of the sacred records are cited to confute or maintain opinions of which the writers had never heard, and hence they have been the battle-ground of sects, each seeking to find therein a whole system ; not Truth, but The Truth, and pre- supposing an inspiration which makes the record infallible. Meanwhile the very ground is cut from under the feet of the disputants by the higher criti- cism, till at the present day the whole of the Mosaic cosmogony is abandoned, unless as an allegory of uncertain meaning, and the authenticity of canonical books is freely canvassed by men, who, three cen- turies ago, would have been sent to expiate their im- piety by fire and faggot. Traits and expressions, such as the Sabbath observance and the Decalogue, are found also in religions long prior to the exodus from Egypt and the giving of the Law on Sinai. Not only so, but some of the very incidents of Redemption history, the miraculous birth, the painless parturition, the baptism, and the descent of the Spirit in visible form, the sojourn in the wilderness, and others, are . found to be pre-existent in the history of Buddha or |\^^tf bVif- Krishna, or pictured in the temples of ancient Egypt. C\ Now at last giving up the surface meaning of A RELIGION OF LAW 17 Genesis, the Church, the infallible guardian and in- terpreter of Scripture, has proved unable to decide what the hidden meaning may.be, what is the real value of the record, or what is its relation to histori- cal fact, or if it has any such relation to fact at all. While affirming the undeviating justice of God, the clergy are, as a rule, unable to say wherein penalty really consists, for they have given up the "gospel of hell-fire," and have put nothing else in its place. Thus all seems shifting, all seems changing, and to many there appears no solid foothold anywhere, no certainty for any belief, and many are tempted to think chaos is coming on society. But the change is for the better and not for the worse. Not until men can realise that there is no creed which is " The Truth" complete and unadulterate, will they seek truth for themselves ; not until they feel the pain of thirst will they come to the living waters and drink. As long as the old ideas supplied a real basis for life and conduct — in a word, as long as they were truly believed — so long had they an organic connection with human spirits ; but their principles and not their forms were the vital powers that moulded the lives of saints and heroes in the days that are gone. In the world of to-day the new wine has burst the old wine-skins, the forms are unbelievable, and a closer approxima- tion between intellectual form and spiritual principle must be found. 3. Another shadow which the New Reformation casts before it is the conflict between the competitive and the mutualist systems. Here again there are two solutions, each of which is bound up with a B 18 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY whole theology and philosophy of life ; and here again we halt without a guide between two opinions, unable to resist the spiritual pressure of our time, but unwilling, or as yet unable, to give it practical effect. The modern labour-problem, like the sex- problem it involves (because the solution for women turns not on the provision of votes but of homes), may be stated as a collision between static and dynamic ideas. The old orthodoxy declared : That God who sits enthroned in " Heaven " has committed spiritual government over the minds of men to the Church, and physical or secular government to ap- pointed rulers class above class ; that each of these should order itself lowly and reverently to those set in authority over it; that it is the duty of those who have been called to such a station in life as gives them the command of wealth to succour their poorer brethren, to cover them with the mantle of charity, protecting and helping them in return for willing respect and service; that a certain amount of destitution is inevitable, not only practically, but in the very nature of things, but that those who are poor in this world and bear their troubles uncom- plainingly will be rewarded in the life to come, when God Himself shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.^ On this view strikes and labour combinations 1 The Church here again shows her essentially human character by following in the wake of public opinion instead of leading it. This is especially observable in the encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII,, which are admirable homilies to charity, but supply no manner of solution to current questions. Few of the modern victories of Humanity adorn the banner of orthodoxy. We owe the amend- ment of our prisons to Mrs. Fry, of our hospitals to Florence A RELIGION OF LAW 19 are rebellions against the order of society, and are as suicidal as they are foolish. This order of society is modelled on the heavenly pattern, and is in theory perfect ; the faults in it are due to human original sin and perverted will. The newer individualism takes its stand on the " laws of supply and demand " ; unalloyed competition apart from all ethical con- siderations, which it considers as irrelevant to inevitable economic laws. This is at once more common and less logical. For the so-called " laws " of supply and demand are merely the outcome of certain habits and temper of society, and change with it ; they are no more laws in the cosmic (and only true) sense than it is a law that men should put on more clothing in certain months of the year. Nothing can be more unreasonable than to separate the phenomenon from its cause in this way, and to erect the temporary and local product of given con- ditions into a universal law. All real laws are a part of the irreversible order of Nature. The economic " laws" are not laws at all; they are facts which any Nightingale, sanitation to our doctors, the opening of our minds to our men of science. Individual priests protested nobly, as the honest men they were, against the hideous cruelties in the Spanish Indies ; but had the chair of Peter, with its vast power, raised its thunder in defence of the oppressed, slavery in South America could not have lasted ten years; and if the English priesthood had as one man condemned the Guinea trade instead of buttressing it up by such texts as '• Cursed is Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be," &c., the Church might in the days of her power have roused the nation far more rapidly and effectually than did Samuel Wilberforce. But she would not, and her work is done for her by true leaders of men, by philanthropists and by " Socialists," who seek to make Christ's teaching a living reality and not the shadow of a dogma. 20 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY day may change with the social conditions and mental outlook which produce them.^ The antagonistic theory is, that every man and woman is a spirit coming into earth-life to fill a place in the social organism, fulfilling which it will also attain its highest possible development and progress. For the healthy development of bodily, mental, and moral nature a fair share of the wealth that ministers thereto is required, so that life should neither be spent in one long struggle for mere bread, without leisure or opportunity for social life and intellectual advance, nor in indolence, which contributes nothing to the weal of others and paralyses the spirit itself. Each unit in the community who does not forfeit the right by idleness or vice has an inherent right to such a share, and no state of society in which this cannot be obtained by all can be considered to be on a sound basis; while the present condition, under which many are condemned to hard labour all their days for mere bread, and are sometimes unable to gain even that, is quite intolerable and stands self- condemned. In this view justice comes before alms- giving, and charity means mutual love and unselfish service in the inevitable sorrows and misfortunes of earth, not the surrender of a small portion of an unearned increment or an intercepted profit which should never have been diverted into private channels. The opportunities for healthy, intelligent growth and simple refinement and happy married life should be open to all, for we each in our own case feel these 1 For the complete statement of ethical economics, see Ruskin's " Unto This Last." A RELIGION OF LAW 21 are the means of progress. This sociology proclaims that heaven and earth are under one law indeed, that of mutual love and co-operation, the only superiorities being those that arise from larger powers, greater love, higher purity, involving greater and nobler service. Through these lies the progress of the spirit from strength to strength up to the very throne of God, who is known to man not as a con- ceivable Being, an arbitrary though just King — in other words, a just man with human faculties made infinitely great — but as the moving and sustaining Power of Evolution in Nature, and as the guiding, sustaining comforter in man. Which philosophy is the truer ? The practical solution must depend on many conditions, but the ideas in conflict are those of spiritual evolution under Law and a cognisable scheme of salvation. 4. In no respect is the coming change more apparent than in the attitude of women towards social problems. Till very recent years the supe- riority of the male to the female sex was no more questioned by women than the authority of the king by his subjects. God was held to be a male, and man the image of God, and the head of the woman, who also was taken out of man's body, and having caused his fall, was naturally placed under him by divine decree. This view was not only reflected in woman's legal status, but seemed to be bound up with the physiology of generation and the seclusion of the home. Till very lately the femme couverte was the absolute property of her husband, his rights covering all but life and death, and even extending 22 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY to the power of sale. These rights were indefeasible and divine, like those of the king ; even if deserted by her husband, the wife's earnings and property became his on his return ; and even yet the award of a money compensation for an abducted wife shows plainly that she is, in a modified sense, still regarded as the husband's property. Socially, though woman might adorn the house, she was the slave of its master, better or worse treated according to his lights, and little was done by the Church to redress the inherent inequality. While inculcating the duty of kindness, she left no sort of doubt that the position of the woman should be one of inferiority and obedience ; and her favourite simile for her own relation to Christ, as Bride to Bridegroom, implies the similar relation- ship between the man and the woman, which still survives in the vow of obedience which the Church still imposes on every bride, who thus, (in many cases, begins her married life with an entirely gratuitous perjury.') The verdict of the philosophers, absorbed in a one-sided intellectual life, is even more pronounced, and philosophy can claim no honour where the Church has fallen short ; ^ and the very ^ Most systems of philosophy ignore the woman altogether, or by tacit consent treat her as a satellite to the male planet. Schopenhauer is an exception in openly stating his tenets. His views are in- structive as showing the results naturally evolved by a logical mind from the standpoint of the present life only. Large numbers of persons who, unknown to themselves, start from the same premise come naturally (for man is, spite of himself, a logical animal) to the same conclusion in practice, though here either some relic of the instinct of truth or habitual hypocrisy forbids the overt utterance that woman is a nurse, a toy, or a physical necessity, but not an A RELIGION OF LAW 23 faculties which do woman most credit, her intuitive perception and her affectionate nature, resulting in spontaneous religious feeling and unselfish love, have been almost despised as superstition and weak- ness by her partner, whose intellectual and combative development need these correctives the more that his need was unfelt by himself. The sex-problem is one of the twin difficulties which are presented to this age. The Church and the philosophers, here strangely allied, solve it by tacitly assuming or openly affirming the permanent inferiority of the female ; developing woman solves it otherwise, by proclaiming in uhi- equal friend. Those who are inclined to disbelieve what has been said above concerning the "philosophical" mind may perhaps be convinced by the following : — ''You need only look at the way in which she is formed, to see that woman is not meant to undergo great labour, whether of body or mind. She pays the debt of life not by what she does but by what she suffers ; by the pains of child-bearing and care for the child, and by submission to her husband, to whom she should be a patient and cheering companion ; the keenest sorrows and joys are not for her, nor is she called upon to display a great deal of strength. . . . " Neither for music nor for poetry nor for fine art have women really and truly any sense or susceptibility ; it is a mere mockery if they make a pretence of it in order to assist their endeavours to please. Hence, as a result of this, they are incapable of taking a purely objective interest in anything ; and the reason of it seems to be as follows : A man tries to acquire direct mastery over things either by understanding them or by forcing them to do his will. But a woman is always and everywhere reduced to obtaining the same result indirectly, namely, through a man. And so it lies in woman's nature to look upon everything only as a means for con- quering man ; and if she takes an interest in anything else, it is simulated — a mere roundabout way of gaining her ends by coquetry, and feigning what she does not feel. Hence even Eousseau de- clared : ' Women have, in general, no love of art ; they have no 24 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY versity class-lists and elsewhere her intrinsic equiva- lence. On the means of giving practical effect to that equivalence the air rings with discords, but the solution to present problems can only come by the recognition of the real relation of manhood to womanhood. This is not merely a psychic relation, it is the psychic relation par excellence. The re- lations of husband to wife and mother to child are those in comparison with which all other relation- ships are fleeting and their results transitory. For those relationships determine the ideals of the rising proper understanding of any ; and they have no genius ' {Lettre d d'Alembert). No one who sees at all below the surface can have failed to remark the same thing. You need only observe the kind of attention women bestow upon a concert, an opera, or a play — the childish simplicity, for example, with which they keep on chatter- ing during the finest parts of the greatest masterpieces. " The case is not altered by particular and partial exceptions ; taken as a whole, women are, and remain, thorough-going philistines, and quite incurable. Hence, with that absurd arrangement which allows them to share the rank and title of their husbands, they are a constant stimulus to his ignoble ambitions. This is the view which the ancients took of woman, and the view which people in the East take now ; and their judgment as to her proper position is much more correct than ours, with our old French notions of gallantry and our preposterous system of reverence — that highest product of Teutonico-Christian stupidity. These notions have served only to make women more arrogant and overbearing; so that one is occasionally reminded of the holy apes of Benares, who, in the consciousness of their sanctity and inviolable position, think they can do exactly as they please. " That woman is by nature meant to obey may be seen from the fact that every woman who is placed in the unnatural position of complete independence immediately attaches herself to some man by whom she allows herself to be guided and ruled. If she is young it will be a lover ; if she is old, a priest." — SchopenJiauer. A RELIGION OF LAW 25 generation, and these ideals determine the growth or decay of the nation. 5. Amid all the ideas which succeed one another like dissolving views, two truths endure, and sustain the hearts of men : the necessity for right- doing, and the confidence in the honest and unbiassed testimony of our healthy senses — in two words, in Morality and in Science. The first is the verdict of history and conscience, the second of experiment and intellect. If there is one lesson undoubtedly to be learned from the story of the nations, it is this : that evil doing brings its own punishment; that luxury and licen- tiousness breed weakness ; that isolation and hatred jk ^i i follow in the train of greed ; that the incessant strife v ^^ for wealth and exaltation of the material life lead by I- »*" en- sure consequence, first to the loss of simple hardihood, ■ ; , , i j : and next to the want of valour. To cast our eyes back over the centuries to any profit is to see that neither civilisation, intellectual and artistic ability, nor even military skill, can ever avert the ruin which follows on the transgression of the laws under which alone human nature can rise. Babylon, Greece, Rome, Arabia, and Spain all point the moral, and the testimony of history is not less conclusive than that of conscience. No agnostic teacher denies the necessity for morality ; Comte, Huxley, and Herbert Spencer are all agreed in laying down in the clearest terms the necessity for a moral life. But at the present time Science can give but little help to morality except the observed fact that immorality actually does en- feeble and degrade both individuals and nations, and how frail is this intellectual conviction in the presence I 26 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY of personal temptation we each of us know only too well. Morality and Science stand apart on separate ground. The attempt to bring the two into harmony, however, is perennial, and is really nothing more nor less than the inextinguishable faith in God that He will not leave us in permanent intellectual confusion, but will enlighten us through that faculty of under- standing whereby all truth is grasped, alike in the domain of morality and in that of physics. And the attempt is not hopeless ; the only condition is, that no phenomena be ignored. It will not do to look for the solution of the difficulty through physical science alone. Nothing is more striking than the helplessness of physiology when confronted with psychic problems ; and men of science, being, like theologians, simply men with a special training and bias, are frequently as contemptuous of all that will not square with their theories as divines. Nor will the solution be found by mere theorising and building of systems. The world has seen too much of that ; and fact alone, that is, phenomena cognisable by the senses, can afford a sound basis, with the proviso that the whole range of fact, physical, psychic, and historical, be appealed to, not such a selection as will sustain a theory made beforehand. 6. To find the connection between the facts of life and the laws of morality, that men may believe in right-doing as they believe in sanitation, is what is now required, that the instincts of the understanding md of the heart, no longer disparate to one another, shodd co-operate. The X^ed of the day is a belief that shall rest A RELIGION OF LAW 27 neither on dogma nor on instinct, but on insight which justifies religion in history, and so far from leading us to condemn the old forms or abjure any creed, leaves us in harmony with the past stages of evolution, gives a logical standing-ground for morality in the present, and some clue to both the practical problems and the intellectual needs of modern life ; a belief which, without imposing a creed, shall lighten the eyes and purify the hearts of those who hold it, and be to them a guiding star through the difiiculties and dangers which beset the age. But any such belief must, as Mr. Frederic Harrison says, be capable of statement in terms of the rest of our experience, and not "disparate to that world of sequence and sensation which is to us the ultimate base of all our real knowledge." No hypothesis, however dear to our hopes, however sublime, however plausible in its solution of human wants, can claim a hearing unless it can show relation of cause and effect. Such a belief need not by any means be a com- plete or final solution of our difficulties, though it must end our doubts. In science whoever heard of Quieta non movere ? New discoveries are hailed and not feared, because they are continuous with preceding knowledge. So it should be in spiritual science, which "binds together" the things of earth and heaven. For the attainment of such know- ledge we are naturally equipped ; we have — perhaps it would be more correct to say we are — the organon for correlating the material and the spiritual ; we have but to use our own powers and direct them rightly. 28 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY 7. The overwhelming consensus of humanity has decided on the validity of three great groups of faculty, known as the senses, the intellect, and the conscience, and this book assumes as axiomatic that, whencesoever derived or howsoever correlated, what- ever the constitution of man may prove to be, they really exist ; and, further, that whatsoever ministers to perfection and development on any plane of being is "good." There can be no real antagonism between body and mind. One-sided development there may be; an athlete is not necessarily an intellectual or moral man, but it is noticeable that those who do best in the university lists are not, as a rule, those who neglect athletics, and those who com- bine athletics and study are almost necessarily pure in life. That the flesh warreth against the spirit is a truth, but dramatically expressed; it is said not of the development of the body but of sensual desire, and it is notorious that such leads not to growth but to decay of all higher perceptions and activities. It is no invalidation of the positive nature of these three groups that they interact one on another, or that, besides being imperfect, they are frequently warped. Disease, accident, misuse or want of use, may derange the senses, but they are still appealed to by every healthy person. So long as the brain is the instrument of intellect, that instrument likewise may be weakened or impaired; or again, pleasure, abuse, or mere sloth may paralyse activity of mind quite independently of the cerebral condition, till mental indolence becomes intellectual disability. These two, again, sense and intellect, may by imper- A RELIGION OF LAW 29 fection or casuistry pervert conscience till its stan- dard is made intellectual instead of ethical, a matter of argument and not of perception ; and, finally, all of these may be abused and misdirected by the sove- reign will. But nevertheless, in spite of failures, it remains true that all knowledge rests on these faculties, and when swayed by a will whose chief desire is to prove all things and to hold fast to that which is good, they are felt by each man to be his real guide. ^ These are the axioms which this book brings to the examination of the psychic facts: — that the evidence of sense, the co-ordinating power of reason, and the moral instinct of conscience can be relied on, and must be equally satisfied. Do these give any'"| positive evidence of continuance after death ? And if there is such evidence, does it fall into line with the great groups of facts which are the foundation of anthropology, geology, physics, and comparative religion ? It needs no proof that having no basis in the daily evidence of the senses for such a belief (all obvious experience pointing in quite the opposite direction), immortality is rather assented to as a theorem than believed as a fact, and is referred to a future time and an arbitrary award, rather than to the present and to existing law. But if man survives death, it is clear that he is now as immortal as he ever will be, for ^ At once the most daring and the most suicidal use of faculty is the decision to surrender to the claims of any Church or creed, for the neophyte makes himself the judge of the claims of his Church on his obedience. 30 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY immortality does not mean changelessness, but rather the exact reverse. The conviction of this persistence after "death" is the intellectual warrant for all morality and all altruism. For it is clear that, if death ends the human existence, there is no wrong done by allowing the surplus population to be swept off by the operation of economic laws, as we euphemise the diseases due to overcrowding and underpayment ; nay, the logical course and the soundest morality would be to aid the survival of the fittest by active methods; to check "over-population" by devices against conception, to remove the unfit by euthanasia, and to make personal comfort the sole aim in life. There are a few who see that if the human personality did not survive the grave, this would in fact be the order of society, the unrelieved struggle for exist- ence which actually prevails in the brute creation, without even the faith and love which now brighten the dark scenes of this sad star. But for the vast number to whom this is not in itself sufficient evi- dence of immortality, some sense-evidence is urgently required, for before there can be any general change in public opinion and public morality, it is abso- lutely necessary that there be no more doubt of the real existence of intelligence entirely separate from matter as we know it, of personality which the instinct of man has rightly called spirit,^ than of the 1 "Spirit." In using this term it must be understood that no definition is intended of what spirit essentially may be, or that it is an indestructible essence, or in any sense indivisible. The word is used in its general human meaning of unembodied personality. Derivatively it is, of course, from spiroy I breathe, and simply means the breath. A natural simile derived from obvious experience has A RELIGION OF LAW 31 existence of magnetism, equally known only by its effects on matter. Till such is the case spiritual science can never be " stated in terms of the rest of our knowledge." In other words, miracle and persistence after death must be matters of experience. To some persons a claim so tremendous will seem like a contradiction in terms, for the definition of miracle as infraction of law adopted by Hume's school in the last century has been tacitly accepted by the Church, and has now filtered down to the general public, by whom it is still believed to be correct, and who, there- fore, are unable to believe in miracle at all, or even to assent to it, save by referring it to distant time and making Divine " interference " an article of faith. It is indisputable that the great difficulty of the last century and of the early years of this, is that of recognising the possibility of what is known as connected breath and life, and among all people the breath has been taken to signify the inner principle : the Sanscrit Atma, the Greek Pneuma, and the Latin Spiritus are instances in point. The word speedily put on derived meanings, such as spirit of wine, spirit of lavender, meaning that internal principle which gives the distinctive properties ; and this again was applied to abstract conceptions, spirit of laws, spirit of freedom, the inner principle producing the form of laws and pervading a free people. Similar pictorial and dramatic use of the word gives spirit of harmony, spirit of contention, &c., meaning a pervading temper. From the sense of " spirit " as synonymous with a wraith or spectre, the term has too frequently been used in the sense of " unsubstantial," and in place of connoting the formative power by which all matter is moulded, it too often conveys the idea of matter too thin for reality. Hence the term "spiritual" is too often held to mean " unreal " or " imaginary," instead of the transcendently real and operant living cause whose energy cannot die working in protoplasm as a sculptor works in clay. 32 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY "miracle." It is the miraculous element in Chris- tianity which causes most of the revolts against it. Historically this has been because an explanation, once optional or tentative, of an alleged wonder has subsequently crystallised by teaching and been super- added to the original miracle, thus doubling the difficulty of belief by insistence both on the fact and on the explanation ; but even independently of this, all feel the intense difficulty of accepting the miracu- lous with as entire a conviction as ordinary matter of experience. The difficulty must be overcome before any real progress can be made, and it must be dis- tinctly stated before it can b^ overcome. What, then, is miracle ? Cit is the physical action of an unseen intelligent agent producing results to which known laws are inadequate.^^ If such can be established by the testimony of healthy and unbiassed sense and reason, the foundation for a science of spirit will have been laid. "Miracle" will have entered into terms not disparate to the world of sequence and sensation, which is to us the ultimate base of all our real knowledge, and metaphysics will have become an experimental science ; while, if the unseen intel- ligent agents show irrefutable evidence of identity, the persistence of man after death enters into the region of sensible fact. Whether he is there as foolish, as frivolous, as dense, as selfish, as set on personal gratification there as he is here — in a word, what his state may be — is not the present question. It is the fact alone, if it be a fact, that now concerns us, and whatever the conditions, the fact is of primary 1 Dr. A. R. Wallace, " Miracles and Modern Spiritualism." A RELIGION OF LAW 33 importance, as affording the necessary basis of experi- mental knowledge for a religion which shall be as entire a conviction as the belief in sanitation. Then we shall be in possession of a scientific touch- stone to many plausible statements concerning those problems of health, political action, and personal conduct where we now see but darkly: we shall know what to decide and how to act. For the solutions to the problems of the century are personal solutions. \Every great national question of disease, overcrowding, underpayment of women, physical degeneracy and the like are the direct results of mistaken personal conduct and wrong personal ideals./ Their removal can only come by replacing individual causes of ill by causes of good. If we know we are spirits veiled in flesh, for whom there is no death ; having within ourselves infinite possibilities of health and growth; having faculty to receive strength and guidance from the very Creative Spirit Himself in the silent recesses of our being ; if those glorious developments are latent in every human soul; if education consists in bringing home all those truths which make for fearless conduct and effective practice, then how differently would the world look to each one of us. We should see it as it is — the garden of God, wherein He brings flowers from corrupt and dead matter; as His undeveloped Kingdom wherein we may be His agencies whereby shall be made the new heaven and the new earth. Then we shall in truth have a religion rooted and grounded not only in Love but in scientific Law c 34 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY also, and as such in harmony with all other science. This was the case in the Middle Ages, when the human mind phrased its religion in accordance with its philosophical concepts. It is so no longer only because the new method has revolutionised the old philosophy. But religion on its intellectual side is a working philosophy, and in its ministrations to the human soul it cannot set aside the great questions of the nature and destiny of that soul and its affectional relations to the One Life of the world, and rest on bare morality. It cannot ignore the essential psychic verities and still be a religion to strengthen the intellect as well as to console the heart. The re- statement may be tentative ; surviving personalities are certainly widely different from the natural per- sonalities we know by name, but they must give a satisfactory presentment of that personal continuity of consciousness which all races have instinctively perceived and formulated in terms which, however crudely expressed, yet convey a palmary truth. PART I THE BASIS OF EXPERIMENTAL FACT I " Every fact is a solemn thing ; it is the voice of Truth in Nature." — Em eeson. "A presumptuous scepticism that rejects facts without exami- nation of their truth is in some respects more injurious than unquestioning credulity. " — H um boldt . " Before experience itself can be used with advantage there is one preliminary step to make, which depends wholly on our- selves : it is the absolute dismissal and clearing the mind of all prejudice, and the determination to stand or fall by the result of a direct appeal to facts in the first instance, and of strict logical deduction from them afterwards." — Sir John Herschell. *' The spiritualists, beyond a doubt, are in the track that has led to advancement in physical science : their opponents are the representatives of those who have striven against progress. I take for granted that there is a large body of unexplained phenomena. Imposture men and coincidence men I leave to see their king anointed, and to rejoice and say, Long live the king ! . . . What a grand resource is belief in imposture ! There are savages, we are told, who fill their stomachs with clay when food is scarce. ... In like manner the civilised man of non- neseience — a word I take the liberty of using for science, since two negatives make an affirmative — distends his theory-bag with belief in imposture till he can find something to satisfy his appetite. Self-knowledge would do better ; this valuable commodity would not only keep the wind out of the receptacle, but need not be dis- placed to make room when wholesome aliment comes to hand." — Professor De Morgan. CHAPTER I THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA, OR OUTWARD FACTS, THE EVIDENCE OF THE SENSES "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen ; and ye receive not our witness." 1. Within the last sixty years there has arisen in all countries a claim to hold direct and intelligent communication with the unseen. This claim is not a new one in the history of the world : in classic times it was regarded as magical and terrifying, limited to a few who, alike by nature and mode of life, were cut off from their fellow-men, and received honours semi-divine, such as were paid to the Pythonesses at Delphi.^ In the Middle Ages such claims were both sincerely believed in and severely punished, "sor- cerers " being burned alive. In later times the claim has been treated as proof positive of insanity, and this is the view which is taken of it by many who have little or no knowledge of its phenomena. But the spread of what is known as " Spiritualism," often unfortunately a very low and grotesque variety, is, at the present day, too wide to allow of its being treated ^ It is interesting to note the estimate of the clear-headed lawyer who wrote the essay " De Natura Deorum " on this oracle. He says, " Manet id quod negari non potest, multis sseculis verax fuisse id oraculum " (Cicero). 37 38 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY either with the indiscriminating reverence or the wholesale condemnation of the past. Like every other fact, it deserves inquiry, and the verdict should go by the evidence. The facts to which large numbers of highly intelli- gent persons, including names well known in the scientific and literary world, are now bearing witness are of the first importance. The existence of spirit, long proclaimed by the reason no less than by the superstition of man, is now said to be verifiable ex- perimentally, and many who have been repelled by the narrowness of dogmatic teaching claim to have found hght and life and rest for heart and mind in the conclusions which logically result from the things which their senses have certified. Against this positive testimony, the decision of such persons as, not having examined the facts, deny them on preconceived grounds of the possible and impossible, is as valueless as that of those who, in 1825, told Stephenson that to travel at thirty miles an hour was contrary to nature. Those who prejudge the case, and, on the ground of first principles, decide that sane and competent witnesses, starting with a contrary bias, have not seen what they depose they have seen, must be left to their prejudices. Only those who know the facts already, or approach them with really open minds, are competent to decide on the issues. 2. Those persons who have had their notice drawn to the phenomena in question, and have been com- pelled to admit the undeniable "intelligence" neces- sary to their production, offer different solutions for them according to the previous bent of their PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 39 minds. There are two principal groups observable. One is mainly composed of those who hold strongly to the ecclesiastical and dogmatic form of popular Christianity, and find it easier to believe in a local and personal election, resurrection, judgment, heaven and hell, than in ever-present spiritual laws for which these are figures of speech. These generally know the subject only at second or third hand, and consider it a medley of inane and superstitious prac- tices, moving furniture, messages of very doubtful authenticity, and alleged glimpses of the dead, and decide that, as the phenomena are too trivial, foolish, and undignified to be " from God," they must be the work of " evil spirits," otherwise " the devil." They point triumphantly in proof of this position to the frequent abandonment of dogmatic Christianity and the denial that Christ was born to complete a vicarious atonement, as the insignia of apostasy and the very brand of Satan. The other class, which mainly consists of those who have been brought into personal contact with the phenomena themselves, or who, perceiving the great importance of the facts, if true, have really studied, thought, and prayed over the subject, refer them mainly to agency only differing from incarnate human agency in that it is disembodied, as we under- stand the word. They assert that the insight thus obtained into the unseen, so far from being super- stitious, only emphasises the absolute necessity for personal effort ; that it is the deadly enemy of super- stition, priestcraft, and vicariousness of all kinds; that, so far from being immoral or devilish, it insists 40 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY on purity of heart, and on the putting away of sen- suaUty and covetousness, as the only path of progress ; that it sheds a light on all creeds alike of the present and of the remote past, and leads from human dogmas and theologies to the simple life, the pure practice, the confidence in unseen aid, and the real faith in the Father of all spirits which was inculcated by Jesus ; from a blind hope in the indulgence of an anthropo- morphic God, to trust in the uncreated Love acting by law; rewarding indeed, but by consequence; punishing indeed, but by results ; and supremely pitiful because supremely wise. They say that this insight has led them from a belief in an absolute and infallible Bible, whose contradictions must be accepted with blind faith, to a knowledge of various inspirations received in various degrees by fallible and imperfect men, written down by them or by their hearers, containing, indeed, Divine truth, but not The Truth itself. There are also those who think the whole of the phenomena to be the result of trickery and fraud, or (more charitably, but less logically) as being due to " unconscious cerebration," or some other unknown quantity or entity which may be allowed to be any- thing except an unseen intelligence external to man. This class must diminish daily under the impact of facts as these become better known, and must ulti- mately disappear as the disbelievers in mesmerism have disappeared; but as many of these objectors are honestly unable to receive all at once so large a dose of truth as the existence of an unseen world in real and organic contact with this, two conside- rations may be commended to their careful study. PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 41 The first is, that, of all the able scientific and literary- men who have really gone into these alleged facts with care and patience, the large majority have been completely convinced that they must be referred to living souls in the Unseen, whither we are all hasten- ing, or to faculties of the same living soul overriding and directing the senses. The other is, that there never has been in any country a new proclamation of any great truth or principle but it has been de- rided and decried as puerile, subversive, contrary to religion, ridiculous, blasphemous, and absurd. Galileo, Copernicus, Galvani, Luther, Buddha, Maho- met, Wesley, Socrates, Harvey, Newton, Columbus, Franklin, Young, Watt, and Stephenson, with many another of whom the world was unworthy, were all variously called visionaries, or blasphemers, or dreamers, or deluded, or subverters of established order, or enemies of God ; and at the head of the list should stand the greatest of all names, that of One who was condemned to a felon's death by a fanatical priesthood, because He had affronted the orthodoxy of the day by placing Himself in opposition to its con- ception of God, to its interpretation of the Scriptures, and to its forms and observances. No attempt is made in this book to prove the psychic phenomena, not because this is difficult, but because it has so often been done already as far as evidence can prove anything, and to begin the task would be to undertake to rewrite a library. Any one who may be seeking for valid evidence as to the facts can obtain it from the books noted below, whose writers have put forward their testimony often 42 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY at great inconvenience and loss, and have mostly published in the interests of truth only.^ In considering certain phenomena as proven we are by no means begging the question at issue, but are merely accepting a great mass of singularly unanimous and concurrent human testimony, which, moreover, is open to experimental verification. * List of books for elementary psychic study : — Introductory, I. Miracles and Modern Spiritualism. A. R. Wallace, LL.D., F.G.S., &c. \^ 2. From Matter to Spirit. Prof, and Mrs. De Morgan. t)3. Footfalls on the Boundary of another World. R. D. Owen. (^ 4. Psychic Facts. A Summary of Scientific Evidence. W. H. Harrison. Experimental and Philosophic. 5. Researches in the Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism. Prof. Wm. Crookes, F.R.S. (j 6. Transcendental Physics. Prof. Zollner. Trans. C. C. Massey. 7. L'Inconnu. Camille Flammarion. 8. Spirit Teachings. W. Stainton Moses. 9. Higher Aspects of Spiritualism. W. Stainton Moses. 10. Human Personality. Myers. ^^Lt/c^ ^^^ \>td'^* Historical. II. History of the Supernatural in all Ages and Nations. Howitt. 12. Incidents in my Life. D. D. Home. 13. Report on Spiritualism. London Dialectical Society. 14. A New World of Thought. Prof. W. F. Barrett. These are a few of the works that can be recommended on the subject ; there are many more, but there is perhaps no department of human knowledge on which a greater flood of nonsense has been poured out than on this. Excited by the vast possibilities opened out by the fact of conscious communication between the two worlds, hoping thereby to solve all their problems without further trouble, delighted at messages which seem to mark out the re- cipients as specially privileged among men, many insignificant writers have accepted their uncorroborated messages and their own wild theories as proven facts, and have exalted their own pet " medium" into a prophet. PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 43 3. Here, then, we have a basis of fact, evidence of the senses. If the phenomena are true, and if any of them are produced by unseen beings, they are neither more nor less than " miracle." Whether they are trivial or not matters little. Phenomena are principles in action, realities becoming apparent ; and little phenomena do not mark a principle as unimportant. Every fact, even the most trivial, is the voice of God speaking in actualities, the only way God ever speaks, the only way man can ever hear. It is the same power which determined the twitch of Galvani's dead frog's leg as that which carries the messages of empires across the world ; it is the same principle which gives its form and course to a dewdrop as its orbit to a planet. (Nothing is small and nothing is great in the calm view of Wisdom, for the small and the great are alike pass- ing expressions of the eternal laws which are the Will of God in action, and for this reason are never spasmodic, never suspended, never reversed y What, then, are the phenomena? They may be divided into two great groups for purposes of in- vestigation — the physical, where movement of matter in some form takes place with no immediately ap- parent cause ; and the properly so-called psychic, where information is communicated from mind to mind. Practically the two are generally combined, as when answers are given by the tilts of an article of furniture (generally, for obvious reasons of con- venience and readiness, a table) and replies to ques- tions are thus spelt out. Here are obviously two matters for thought : first, the movement of the in- 44 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY animate object without muscular effort ; and second, the nature of the message, whether stupid, frivolous, serious, or wise ; and hence the classification adopted above. A further analysis will lead to the question of the power possessed by the sender of the message and his moral nature, but this must be deferred for the present. 4. The events which have drawn attention to the possibihty of physical phenomena being produced by unseen personalities were, historically, those occur- ring in what have always been popularly known as " haunted houses," in which visible apparitions, with or without unusual sounds, have been seen, or in which there have been great disturbances of furni- ture, and various articles of greater or less weight have been violently thrown or carried from place to place. (Narratives of these have been verified and collected with great care, and by many com- petent and critical observers, both at first and at second hand, and established by evidence which in a court of law would amply suffice to procure con- viction on tEe gravest charges. ) That this evidence is not thought final on the present subject is due to the disproportionate importance with which all men regard their own personal experience, to the power of the mind to expel unwelcome truths, and to an assumed knowledge of first principles, re- gardless of the checks and rebuffs which this last must receive from a review of the scientific progress of the last fifty years. Within the domain of material Nature alone, those are now every-day occurrences which our fathers would have scouted, and did scout. I PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 45 as contrary to Nature ; but while all persons would recoil from the assertion of infallibihty in physics as from madness, there are, nevertheless, many who take precisely that attitude with regard to the matter in hand, and discredit the most intelligent witnesses notwithstanding that they are, as a rule, directly interested in the suppression rather than in the publication of facts damaging to their credibility, and from which they receive annoyance rather than advantage. Mr. Robert Dale Owen, who has given most care- j/^,- -r/i-^ ful study to the matter, and whose books contain / i^^, the best authenticated collection of these stories w ^ which has yet been published, writes: — *^ " In winnowing, from out a large apocryphal mass, the comparatively few stories of this class which come down to us in authentic form vouched for by respectable contemporary authority, sustained by specifications of time and place and person, backed sometimes by judicial oaths, one is forcibly struck by the observation that, in thus making the selection, we find thrown out all stories of the ghostly school of horror, skeleton spectres, demons with the orthodox horns and tail . . . and there remain a compara- tively sober and prosaic set of wonders, inexplicable indeed by any known physical agency, but shorn of that gaudy supernaturalism in which Anne Radcliffe delighted, and which Horace Walpole scorned not to employ. " In its place, however, we find an element which by some may be considered quite as startling and improbable — I allude to the mischievous, boisterous, [ 46 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY and freakish aspects which these disturbances occa- sionally assume. So accustomed are we to regard all spiritual visitations, if such there be, as not serious and important only, but of a solemn and reverential character, that our natural or acquired repugnance to admit the reality of any phenomenon not explicable by mundane agency is greatly in- creased when we discover in them mere whim and triviality. This non-compliance alike with the de- mands of a credulous superstition and of supernatural awe is the first indication of some kind of order or law running through the phenomena which may possibly throw some light on their cause." 5. Our business, however, is now with the facts and not with their explanation ; we must at present confine ourselves to an examination of what they really are. Without going into the oracles and the apparitions of the remote past — for in our absurd conceit we credit those ages with a superstition which their splendid monuments of literature and art and civilisation utterly belie — and referring only to well-attested events of comparatively recent occur- rence dealing with the so-called spiritualistic pheno- mena as an introduction to the experimental side of the question, Glanvil's narrative of the disturb- ances at Tedworth may be selected as one of the best authenticated. The Rev. Joseph Glanvil was a member of the Royal Society, the author of various works of theology and of a defence of the Baconian philosophy, and was chaplain to Charles II. The events were testi- fied to by Mr. John Mompesson, a magistrate of PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 47 / Tedworth, in Wilts, and were partly witnessed by Mr. Glanvil himself. These events were knocking or drumming all over the house ; strokes were given on the beds and on various articles of furniture ; shoes and such-like small objects were flung all over the rooms; and these disturbances went on for two entire years, namely, from April 1661 till April 1663, in spite of all endeavours to trace their cause, taking place often in the very room where Mr. Mompesson was watching for the supposed trickster with his little daughter, in whose presence the disturbances most frequently occurred. This, it may be observed, is the first hint that the pheno- mena are found (as a rule) to attend on certain persons young or old, known as "mediums," who, by some peculiarity of mental or physical consti- tution, are specially apt for their production. The facts were witnessed to by numbers of persons and sworn to in a court of justice. Ten years later it was reported that Mr. Glanvil had been the victim of a trick ; when he wrote : — " That I must belie myself, and perjure myself also, to acknowledge a cheat in a thing where I am sure there neither was nor could be any, as I, the minister of the place, and two other honest gentlemen deposed at the assizes upon my impleading the drummer. If the world will not believe it, it shall be indifferent to me, praying God to keep me from the same or the like affliction." Those who are curious to learn the full details of the story, which is a very charac- teristic one, must be referred to Mr. R. D. Owen's "Footfalls on the Boundary of another World," 48 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY pp. 149-157, third English edition; or, if this is not sufficient, to Glanvil's " Sadducismus Triumphatus," published in 1666, and recently reprinted, where the whole case is given at length. Glanvil's final remarks on the matter run thus : — "Mr. Mompesson is a gentleman of whose truth in this account I have not the least ground of suspicion, he being neither vain nor credulous, but a discreet, sagacious, and manly person. Now the credit of matters of fact depends much upon the relaters, who, if they cannot be deceived themselves, nor supposed any ways interested to impose on others, ought to be credited. For upon these circum- stances all human faith is grounded, and matter of fact is not capable of any proof besides but that of immediate sensible evidence. Now this gentleman cannot be thought ignorant whether that he relates be true or not — the scene of all being his own house, himself the witness, and that not of a circumstance or two, but of an hundred; nor of once or twice only, but for the space of some years, during which he was a concerned and inquisitive observer. So that it cannot, with any show of reason, be supposed that any of his servants abused him, since in all that time he must needs have detected the deceit. . . . He suffered by it in his name, in his estate, in all his affairs, and in the general peace of his family. The unbelievers in the matter of spirits and witches took him for an impostor. Many others judged the permission of such an extraordinary evil to be the judgment of God upon him for some notorious wickpdness or impiety. Thus his name was exposed PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 49 to censure, and his estate sufi'ered by the concourse of people from all parts to his house ; by the diversion it gave him from his affairs ; by the discouragement of his servants, by reason of which he could hardly get any to live with him. To which I add the con- tinual hurry that his family was in, the affrights and the watchings and disturbance of his whole house. I say, if these things are considered, there will be little reason to think he would have any interest to put a cheat upon the world in which he would most of all have injured and abused himself." (" Sadducismus Triumphatus," pp. 334-6.) 6. In the memoirs of the Wesley family published from original documents by Adam Clarke, LL.D., F.A.S., London, 1843, may be found a narrative of a very similar description extending over a year. In the rectory of the Kev. Samuel Wesley (father of John Wesley), at Epworth, manifestations occurred; drumming, moving of chairs and tables, opening doors, &c. &c., not traceable to any ordinary causes in spite of the most careful investigations. Emily Wesley shall tell her own tale in a letter to her brother Samuel. She says : — " I thank you for your last, and shall give you . . . what has happened in our family. I am so far from being superstitious that I was too much inclined to infidelity ; so that I heartily rejoice at having such an opportunity of convincing myself, past doubt or scruple, of the existence of some beings besides those we see. A whole month was sufficient to convince anybody of the reality of the thing, and to try all ways of discovering any trick. ... I shall only tell D 50 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY you what I myself heard, and leave the rest to others. " My sisters in the paper- chamber had heard noises, . . . but I did not much believe till one night, ... just after the clock had struck ten, I went downstairs to lock the doors, which I always do. Scarce had I got up the best stairs, when I heard a noise like a person throwing down a vast coal in the middle of the fore kitchen, and all the splinters seemed to fly about from it. I was not much frighted, but went to my sister Sukey, and we together went all over the low rooms ; but there was nothing out of order. Our dog was fast asleep and our only cat in the other end of the house. . . . All this time we never told my father of it ; but soon we did. He smiled, and gave no answer, but was more careful than usual from that time to see us in bed, imagining it to be some of us young women who sat up late and made a noise. As for my mother, she flrmly believed it to be rats, and sent for a horn to blow them away. I laughed to think how wisely they were employed who were striving half a day to fright away Jeffrey (for that name I gave it) with a horn. But, what- ever it was, I perceived it could be made angry, for from that time it was so outrageous there was no quiet for us after ten at night. I heard frequently, between ten and eleven, something like the quick winding up of a jack at the corner of the room by my bed-head, just like the running of the wheels and the creaking of the ironwork. This was the common signal of its coming. Then it would knock on the floor three times, then at my sister's bed's-head in PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 51 the same room almost always three together, and there stay ; the sound as hollow and loud so as none of us could ever imitate. It would answer to my mother if she stamped on the floor and bid it. It would knock when I was putting the children to bed, just under me where I sat.. ... It was more loud and fierce if any one said it was rats or anything natural. I could tell you abundance more of it, but the rest will write, and therefore it will be needless." Mr. Wesley's journal says : — " I have been thrice pushed by an invisible power, once against the corner of my desk in the study, a second time against the door of the matted chamber, a third time against the right side of the frame of my study-door as I was going in. " Our mastiff" came whining to us as he always did after the first night of its coming: for then he barked violently at it, but was silent afterwards, and seemed more afraid than any of the children." John Wesley deposes : — " Before it came into any room, the latches were frequently lifted up, the windows clattered, and whatever iron or brass was about the chamber rang and jarred exceedingly. . . . When it was in any room, let them make what noise they would, as they sometimes did on purpose, its dead hollow note would be clearly heard above them all. The sound very often seemed in the air in the middle of a room, nor could they ever make any such themselves by any contrivance. It never came by day till my mother ordered the horn to be blown; after that scarce any one could go from one room to another 52 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY but the latch of the room they went to was lifted up before they touched it." Space forbids more than a mention of other cases which have been selected by Mr. Owen as sufficiently proved, from among a vast number of others perhaps equally true, but not equally well supported. Such are the cases of Councillor Hahn and Count Kern at Slawensik, Upper Silesia, in 1807 ; of Madame Hauffe's experiences at Oberstenfeld, Wurtemberg, in 1826 ; of Captain Molesworth's house at Trinity, two miles from Edinburgh, in 1835 ; of the farmhouse at Baldarroch, Aberdeenshire, in 1838; of the chapel of Oesel, Livonia ; of M. Tinel at Cideville, Seine, in 1851 ; at the Rue des Noyers, Paris, in 1860 ; of the Fox family at Hydesville, New York, in the year 1848 ; and of many others recently collected by the industry of the Society for Psychical Research. Several traits are common to all these tales : — (1) That in nearly every case they were the source of great annoyance to the persons concerned. (2) That no physical injury was done to any one ; the agency seeming as powerless for real harm as it was potent for annoyance. (3) That, though the sounds often gave evidence of an intelligent origin, no regular attempt was made by the investigators to enter into relations. (4) That animals were frequently more powerfully affected than human beings, which seems conclusive as to the objectivity of the occurrences. PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 53 (5) That the phenomena attached themselves, as a general rule, to persons rather than to places. These observations will be seen in the sequel to contain the key to the mystery. 7. It was the case of the Fox family living at Hydesville, in the county of New York, which first demonstrated that phenomena of this class may have the object of attracting attention, and the opening up of relations between the unseen operator and the visible world. In this instance the same kind of raps, movement of furniture, noises and touches, were heard, seen, and felt, and the noises occurring first were put down to natural causes by the family, who were well-to-do farmers of good standing and repute. After many endeavours by men devoid ahke of fear and superstition, by sceptics and by clergy, to find the nature and origin of such-like troubles, after fruitless watchings, traps, and exorcisms, after many had stood on the brink of the discovery that these things were due neither to a Satan nor to trickery, but simply to human agency in the unseen desiring to open communication or to be revenged for wrongs real or supposed, the discovery itself was made by the simple sense of a girl of nine, who treated the rapping power as an intelligence to be regarded neither with awe nor with reverence, nor with hatred. " Here, old Splitfoot, do as I do," called out Kate Fox, snapping her fingers. The knocking responded: it could hear and answer. Soon it was clear that it could see likewise, for it replied to silent signs. It spelt names and dates 54 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY by a rap at the correct letter when the alphabet was recited, and " modern spiritualism " — the communica- tion between embodied and disembodied intelligences — began. 8. Soon it was found that these raps attached rather to persons than to places, and that if such persons sat quietly awaiting the phenomena they would present themselves, generally under one of two forms, either rapping sounds produced in any de- signated place, floor, walls, ceiling, table, or even on a glass held in the hand ; or movements of furniture rising more or less in apparent defiance of gravity, and answering questions by tilts or other movements. The next step naturally proceeded from the inference that if the unknown power could express itself intelligently, and could also move ordinary matter, it must be able to move a pencil and write. The ex- periment of attaching a pencil to a basket or other light object was tried, and, after irregular efforts, succeeded. More convenient devices followed, ending with the now well-known little tripod on two castors, and a pencil or pointer called a planchette or Ouija. Continued experiment produced many wholly unex- pected results. It was found that not only is such power given through certain persons, but that each "medium" has his or her own particular idiosyn- crasy; that in the presence of one, raps would be heard; in that of another, a table would tilt or musical instruments would sound ; with a third, light objects could be carried in the air; with another, apparitions might become visible or even tangible ; another could write mechanically with a planchette ; PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 55 another could perceive the nature of objects invisible to ordinary sight, such as writing sealed in an en- velope, and so on through all the varieties of what is technically termed " mediumship." These effects were produced in experimenters' own rooms which the medium had never seen, and where no possibility of fraud or collusion could remain open, and numbers of persons whose desire for truth was stronger than their fear of ridicule or their attachment to precon- ceived opinions, began to form societies and circles for the investigations of these things. Undeterred by the sneers of the pseudo-scientific, who, strong in their preconceived notions of the possible, deny the evidence of the senses, or by the anathemas freely bestowed by a clergy who consider themselves the monopolists of spiritual knowledge, they pursued their own course, the interrogation of Nature which is called experiment, that observation of results on which all true science rests. They questioned the "spirits" themselves on their nature, past lives, methods of action, and present state, compared their replies, observed certain remarkable dissimilarities and a still more remarkable vein of agreement run- ning through communications given at widely different times and places. They found with surprise how completely these communications were at variance with the personal ideas of the recipients, and counte- nanced neither a heaven of bliss, a hell of torment, an idle repose, nor annihilation. Lastly, they have found that many of the so-called "messages" proceed in- dubitably from no external source at all, but from an unexplored stratum of the writer's own conscious- 56 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY ness. They tabulated the manner of occurrence and nature of the phenomena of all kinds, and collected at last a sufficient mass of evidence on which to hazard some generalisation; in other words, to perceive a glimmering of law governing these as all other natural facts. The whole subject, then, rests on experiment. It is the objective proof that the living soul is the real man, and of the powers possessed by this soul both in the embodied and in the disembodied state. The use of these things is that all of us may obtain clearer insight into the laws which govern the development of our own souls and strengthen our own spirits by contact with truth. It is a means of learning only, not a revelation, and no greater mistake can be made than to construct a creed out of it. If spirit utter- ances are to be blindly accepted as infallible guides, it is far better to stick to the old forms, which, im- perfect as they are, have been the ark of truth to the race. The study needs a cool head and no little courage to investigate some things which the Churches declare to be sacred mysteries, and others which are deemed to be too trivial or too super- stitious for inquiry. There is only one safe temper, the perfect purity of life and conduct which has nothing to conceal, the love of truth which will twist neither facts nor conscience one iota to suit precon- ceived opinions, the set will to know truth at all costs though it lead through obloquy or contempt, and firm faith in the Father of Light, whose love ex- tends to all His creatures, and who, in response to the cry for wisdom, "giveth to all men freely and ^1^ PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 57 upbraideth not," and above all a fixed resolve never, under any circumstances soever, to seek a material advantage at another's expense, or to penetrate a personal secret. p- 9. In this temper only experiment is safe ; in any I other it is fraught with perils unknown and un- I dreamed of by those who, in trials of planchette i writing, mesmerism, thought-reading, and the like, I make themselves the playthings of frivolous or male- \ volent beings, seen and unseen, who may infuse into I their subjects a subtle soul-poison whose effects may \ be as lasting as they seem unaccountable. Medium- ship which comes ^Bt.uiaUy and is pursued in a wise temper can (like all other natural powers) be productive only of good; but its forced activity, and the constant opening of the organism out of mere frivolity, desire of gain, personal vanity, or still baser motives, to unknown influences, and to the various conditions which paid mediumship involves,, paralyses_the_will, enervates the body, and (if not jcounteracted by purer agencies opening his eyes to ithe danger) may end by reducing the unhappy Jsomnambule to the invertebrate passivity of a jelly- fish, or, by filling him with a self-conceit which blinds him to the obvious folly of the unpractical - course he is pursuing, may leave him morally if not : mentally insane. In endeavouring to popularise this great and comparatively unknown subject, which has been of such incalculable value to so many minds by showing them the law of growth of soul . and spirit, I wish to call particular attention to the ^ literal and exact truth of what I am about to state. 58 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY It is as dangerous for the unprepared experimenter rashly and in a light or frivolous temper to under- take personal investigation in this matter as for one knowing nothing of chemistry to enter a laboratory and begin unguided experiments on nitro-glycerine and the fulminates. He is dealing with real, though mental, forces of great potency, and may in sober truth attach to himself influences whose power he will feel in ways little suspected by him, and he may realise the meaning of the mediaeval fable of the student who, by repeating his master's invoca- tion, called up the devil, but could not dismiss the inconvenient attendant when no longer required. It may well be that the powers in question ^re destined to play a greater part in the development of man than those chemical combinations which, as gunpowder and dynamite, so largely enter into the uses of peace and war, and, like them, may be as powerful for good as for evil, in the destruction of the barriers between the known and the unknown, between mind and mind, as in the removal of rocks in our harbours and in the making of those iron ways which, opening up continents and bringing nations together, distribute the riches of the world. Like them, too, they may be abused to the destruc- tion of our brethren and ourselves, and are not to be played with, but to be used for wise ends. They are most safely studied at second hand, in such works as have been indicated on page 42 ante, which contain the experience and inferences of exact and careful observers on the subject; but as it is the experience of all who have investigated their PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 59 mysteries that no amount of testimony short of that of our own senses produces an adequate con- viction, the truth-seeker may do well to obtain admission to some circle where all suspicion of trickery is removed by the known good faith, the perfect openness, and the absolute disinterestedness of the sitters, where no money passes under any pretence soever, and having satisfied himself of the complete absence of any preparation or means of mechanically producing the results (a concession which every wise circle will readily grant to an honest inquirer), to accept the evidence of his own senses as to the genuineness of the phenomena he does see, and then meddle no more with them till he has fully mastered their bearings and the results which naturally flow therefrom, by which time he will probably have ceased to care for them unless he should have some definite experiments to try. ( For the one valid datum which most of us require is conclusive proof of discarnate personality. That given, all doubt of the existence of an unseen world is at an end. But no words are strong enough to condemn the base use of these powers — such palmists, crystal-gazers and automatists as flatter silly women and profess to reveal means of gain ; who drive a roaring trade in the credulity, selfishness, and superstition of decadent London, as they did in decadent Kome, showing now the same immemorial quasi-oriental fakes and frauds as once in the Mysteries of Isis, to those who might have turned to the Spirit Who is Life, instead of to " wizards who peep and mutter." n 60 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY 10. With this caution, the classification of the physical phenomena which establish the existence of an unknown power may be proceeded with, leaving for later consideration the instances in which that power manifests also the characteristics of will — high-mindedness, frivolity, dislike, or affection, and the like; in two words, of intelligent personality. These phenomena, with the exception of the luminous and non-luminous apparitions of forms and faces, are equally well observed in light as in darkness. Some of them are almost necessarily done in the light; while as for others which demand darkness, the experiments of Professor Crookes, F.R.S., and others, have demonstrated that, though a powerful light certainly has some dispersive effect on the force at work, the experiments can be . perfectly well carried out in a weak light, such as the electric glow in a vacuum tube or in the non- actinic red light used by photographers. Mr. Crookes adds that " the interfering rays seem to be those at the extreme end of the spectrum," a particularly interest- ing observation, the interference being possibly due to the quicker vibration of those rays. Class 1. The first class in order, both of facihty and simplicity, is that of sound, taps or raps occur- ring in different places. They are produced in full light or in darkness, with the medium awake or in trance, sewn into a chair, suspended in a swing, surrounded by a wire cage, or even in another room. They vary in intensity from faint raps such as might be produced with the end of a knitting- needle, to blows which shake the room, and are PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 61 as readily produced on a tumbler held in the hand of the experimenter, on distant corners of the floor or ceiling, on a sheet of glass, on a stretched wire, on a tambourine, or in a living tree (Crookes), as on a chair or a table. They seem to be produced in rather than on the surface of the object by means of which they are heard, and they will follow a code such as is used by telegraphists, or indicate a letter of the alphabet pointed to or pronounced, . /- t^ and are to a certain extent under the control of the / jp medium. ^It is as rational to ridicule this method ^/^ of communication as the raps of t^he telegraphic- V '^'^^^ sounder, which they much resemble./ '7^ Class 2. The second class consists of those pheno- ^ mena which demonstrate the application of a distinct physical. force to inanimate bodies without contact of any person. This is particularly interesting not- withstanding the slight nature of the effects, for it is actually a transference of energy by means at present entirely unknown. The frequent exhaus- tion of the medium would seem to point to him as the source of power; but if so, what is its channel ? Be that as it may, the fact remains ; a pendulum enclosed in a glass case cemented to the wall, can be set in motion, articles may be raised in the air without contact of any person, and a self- registering spring-balance may be depressed from a degree varying from a few grains to several pounds. When these experiments are performed, as they usually are, in an ordinary sitting-room, it is natural that a musical-box, a book, hand-screen, or other such light movable object should be selected, as 62 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY that a table or an arm-cliair should be chosen when a heavier Article is required. These things impart an air of puerility to the record of such experiments, but are really quite as convincing as trials with the dynamometer or the friction-brake, with which most persons omit to furnish their houses, and which, moreover, would rather create than remove suspicion in the unscientific mind. The phenomenon is one of the most common at seances,(and establishes the fact that a transference of energy from the unseen to ordinary matter is possible; and as it is certain that, if energy so passes, there must be a means or channel for the transfer, and whereas no application of gravity, cohesion, muscular power, chemical affinity, electric or magnetic force as now understood, can account for the phenomenon, it behoves us to look for another means of transference^ The only analogy in ordinary life to this movement of matter by unknown energy is a very familiar one; to wit, the movement of muscle by voluntary action in intelligent beings, and this may perhaps suggest a probable explanation. An account of some of these experiments may be found in the Report of the London Dialectical Society. Class 3. Movement of heavy bodies in contact with the medium. — This class is actually no different from the last, but is due to the same power similarly applied. It is here made a distinct class, because many observers consider that effects produced in contact with the medium, even though in such a manner as to make the transmission of muscular PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 63 power an impossibility, are necessarily different from those where there is no such contact. Experimen- tally, as to manner, it is distinct from the preceding ; essentially, as to the application of power, it is the same. Mr. Crook.es records a very remarkable concomitant of these forces: — "These movements, and indeed I may say the same of every kind of phenomenon, are generally preceded by a kind of cold air, some- times amounting to a decided wind. On some occasions the cold has been so intense that I could only compare it to that felt when the hand has been within a few inches of frozen mercury." Class 4. Levitation. — This is a rare occurrence, and consists in the medium rising into the air while standing or sitting, and in certain cases the chair may also be raised. The elevation may be only a few inches, or may be the full height of a room, and may last from a few seconds to ten minutes or more. Such things have been recorded of Catholic saints in mediaeval as well as in modern times, and have been received by Catholics as proofs of peculiar sanctity, and by Protestants with utter disbelief, but testimony is concurrent from many quarters. I have never seen it, but instances under the re- spectable guarantees of the Master of Lindsay and Lord Ad are are to be fcund in the Report of the London Dialectical Society. Class 5. Insensibility to heat. — This also is a rare phenomenon. It consists in the apparent withdrawal from a glowing hot body of its power to burn, while leaving its luminosity. Whether the temporary 64 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY change is in the hot object itself, or in the hand of the holder, or is due to the interposition of some invisible non-conductor, is not clear. When it occurs, not only can the medium handle red-hot glass or metal with impunity, but the persons to whom he gives it, or the fabrics whereon it may be put, are uninjured. This is stated on the authority of evidence given at the investigation by the Committee of the London Dialectical Society above quoted. Class 6. — Writing, either through a planchette, or by a pencil laid on paper and left there, or on paper without any visible pencil, or variations of these. None of the phenomena hitherto catalogued are necessarily intelligent effects; that is, they may have an intelligent cause (inferable from the move- ment of a heavy body among a crowd of sitters with- out touching any), but they convey no message from mind to mind. The class now under discussion is necessarily intelligent, however foolish or vapid be the matter written, for no blind force can produce words and sentences. Writing may take place in various ways : — (a) With the planchette : a small movable board on two castors, having a pencil-point as a third support. This board is used as a rest for the hands of one or two persons. Without conscious effort on their part it will presently move over the paper and trace out characters. This ability to write with a planchette is a very common form of mediumship. (6) A fragment of slate-pencil is placed between two slates fitting one over the other. After an PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 65 interval of a few seconds from the time when the first scratching sound is heard, a message is found on the slate. I know of one case where the message was signed by the usual autograph of the recipient's dead husband, and it is not uncommon that hand- writing is recognised in these messages. (c) A pencil and paper are laid on a table or are placed in a drawer, and after a short time the mes- sage is found thereon. This is much rarer than the preceding; and still more uncommon is the case of messages traced on the paper without any pencil, but possibly by some chemical alteration in the substance of the paper along the lines of the letters. Instances of both are well authenticated. (d) A much more common mode of writing is for the medium to remain entirely passive, holding a pencil, and to receive an impulse which writes independently of any volition on his part. This is generally accompanied by a tingling sensation in the arm or hand. Here the nature of the matter written must obviously be the test of genuineness, and this alone can give ground for concluding that the information received comes from an external source, or from the writer's subliminal consciousness. No doubt in many cases the " message " is distinctly the result of information acquired by the writer him- self by processes of which he may or may not be conscious, and no sort of control by any other spirit than his own need be invoked in order to account for many of the facts ; but there are, on the other hand, many instances in which this explanation does not anything like cover the ground. Books E 66 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY claiming to be written in this manner are not want- ing. That entitled "Scientific Keligion," by, or through, the late Laurence Oliphant, and that called ^ ^ " Spirit Teachings," published by the late Mr. Stain- " . ton Moses, are perhaps two of the best extant, deal- // ing with those higher possibilities of life and practice which are essential to the solution of the problems of the agC; especially the economic and sexual aspects of the social question. Both indicate a rational basis for life ; namely, that man is spirit rather than body, and that spiritual progress is not to be sought in barren contemplation apart from the active life of the world, but by foregoing all useless and ener- vating luxuries, and by a graceful simplicity wherein rich and poor might readily meet. They indicate mental riches and greater powers of soul as the object of life, rather than more of material wealth than strictly subserves a healthy development — powers not to be gained by an isolated mysticism, but by kindly co-operation, men and women working together for higher ideals than the petty vanities which make up so much of our present lives. The moral tendency of these writings falls, how- ever, more appropriately into a later chapter, the present one dealing with the actual facts themselves. The teaching is alluded to because, when opposed to the conscious tenets of the writer, it is a strong argument for an independent source; and setting aside the easily disproved hypothesis of stupid and deliberate fraud,rit supplies at once the dilemma that either the conscious personality is but a small part of the range of action of the Ego, which must PHENOMENA ^ 67 have access to sources of information quite other than those of his material experiences, or that thje^ p hysical organism can be controlled by intelligent beings from an invisible world. Either of these two positions rests on the existence of soul as a separate entity.) Class 7. Visual phenomena — Apparitions. — These, though not so common as the last, are not infrequent manifestations with certain mediums, and must as a rule be observed in the dark or in a very faint light, for a strong light not only overpowers the phosphorescence by which the appearances generally shine, as daylight overpowers the glow-worm's light, but it also seems to have a certain dissolving effect on the apparition itself, possibly connected with the nature of the ethereal body in a manner analogous to the resistance of selenium to the electric current, which is much lower in the light than in the darkness. Sometimes the appearances take the form of small luminous spheres from the size of a pea to that of a tennis-ball, which float about in the room or round the heads of the sitters; or they may be pointed flames or pale luminous clouds, which may or may not develop into faces or hands, or even into whole figures. In such cases the apparition seldom lasts more than a few minutes, and fades away as it came. Or a form, generally a head and shoulders only, may suddenly present itself with every appearance of life, except that below the shoulders it fades into misti- ness. These developed forms are not generally self- luminous, but may require to be lit in order to be 68 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY seen. A faint light such as that given by a vacuum tube, a phosphorescent lamp, or a board covered with luminous paint, is generally employed to render these visible. They may last from a few seconds to half-an- hour, and may in certain cases be photographed (Crookes). Sometimes they can speak, but generally the power is insufficient to admit of this, and it may be taken as an invariable rule (so far as my ex- perience goes) that the more perfect and complex the presentment, the greater the exhaustion of the medium, who, being in a lethargic sleep while they are in progress, frequently shows the utmost prostration on being awakened at their close. Class 8. Chemical changes. — The change of the colour of water in sealed bottles has been alleged in signed and witnessed documents. The writer has never seen any such phenomenon, and it is given only to complete the classification. Class 9. Apparent penetration of Tnatter by matter. — This is perhaps, without exception, the most diffi- cult phenomenon of all to account for in the present state of knowledge. Instances of such apparent pene- tration are not uncommon, and experiments such as sewing up a ring in cloth from which it is at once re- leased without the cloth being cut or the stitches opened, the apparent passage of a musical instrument or other solid body through the door or walls of a room, the unknotting of ropes confining an object, and such-like, are not very rare at seances, where the spectators' ignorance of physics and their knowledge of the possibilities of sleight-of-hand blind them to the true significance of the things they see. But as a rule PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 69 these phenomena occur unexpectedly, and are not preceded by sufficient precaution against illusion, nor registered with sufficient care to convince any others than the eye-witnesses. Such objections cannot, however, be urged against the carefully planned ex- periments carried out by Professor C. F. ZoUner, and witnessed by Professors Fechner, Weber, and Scheib- ner, of the University of Leipsic,^ who have braved odium which, now as in the days of Galileo and Copernicus, awaits those who announce facts which compel a change in accustomed habits of thought. Professor Zollner, following on the lead of the celebrated mathematicians. Gauss and Riemann, and also on hints furnished by such masters of the art of reasoning as Kant and Leibnitz, con- ceived it possible that experimental verification might be found for the existence of substance having interpenetrability, otherwise expressed as a fourth dimension in space. Gauss had long before pointed out that the first 1 Professor Johann Carl Friedrich Zollner was born in 1834, was professor of physical astronomy at Leipsic, member of the Saxon Society of Sciences, of the Eoyal Astronomical Society of London, of the Imperial Academy of Moscow, and has published many works. William Edward Weber, born 1804, is the author of " Electro- Dynamic Measurement," and, along with Faraday and Ampere, has had an electrical unit called by his name as an acknowledgment of his services to electrical science. Professor Scheibner, also of Leipsic University, is a well-known and esteemed mathematician. Part of Professor ZoUner's "Transcendental Physics" has been translated into English by Mr. C. C. Massey, Barrister-at-Law, published by W. H. Harris of 33 Museum Street, London 1882 from which the above particulars are mainly transcribed. ^'-> ,-t 70 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY theorem to be established elucidatory of this fourth dimension would be the tying of knots in an endless cord, and that this might be the foundation of a geometry of locality distinguished from the ordinary geometry of magnitude, or Euclidean plane and solid geometry. Professor Zollner had been attracted by the courage of Crookes and Wallace in boldly taking up the problem of modern spiritualism, and, being aware of the facts, availed himself of the presence in Leipsic of Mr. Henry Slade, to experiment in the direction which seemed to him the most promising of results. Reasoning from mathematical analogies which can- not for want of space be reproduced here. Professor Zollner concluded that if the phenomena in question were produced by beings belonging to a world of sub- stance whose properties are those of another grade of matter than ours, they should be able — (a) To tie simple knots in an endless cord. (b) To influence the other powers which per- tain to orders of substance interior to matter, such as the electric and magnetic energies. (c) To show proof of access to spaces to us appa- /\f\c^ 'I rently quite closed, such as the interior of a sealed box. These experiments were all successfully performed. It does not fall within the prescribed plan of this work to repeat the details. They may be found in the translation above alluded to. Mr. Slade, by simple contact of his hands, magnetised a steel wire, and in his pres" nee the knots were tied in a cord whose PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 71 ends had been previously sealed by the witnesses. Professor ZoUner thus concludes : — " The four knots in the above-mentioned cord, with the seal unbroken, this day still lie before me. I can send this cord to any man for examination. I might send it by turns to all the learned societies of the world, so as to convince them that . . . not a subjec- tive phantasma is here in question, but an objective and lasting effect produced in the material worl which no human intelligence with the conceptions space so far current is able to explain. If, neverthe- less, the foundation of this fact . . . should be denied, only one other kind of explanation would remain, . . , the presumption that I myself and the honour- able men and citizens of Leipsic in whose presence these cords were sealed were either common impostors or were not in possession of our sound senses suffi- ciently to perceive if Mr. Slade himself, before the cords were sealed, had tied them in knots. The dis- cussion, however, of such an hypothesis would no longer belong to the dominion of science, but would fall under the category of social decency." Finally, as materialised hands with all the apparent solidity of life had previously left their impress upon smoked paper in the manner usually employed for identification (these sheets being afterwards passed through alcoholic solution of shellac to fix them), Professor ZoUner concluded that they should be able to do this when the sheets were enclosed between two hinged slates, shut together and sealed, and this was accordingly done. The conclusion seems irresistible that such phenomena are in very fact produced by 'CUi 72 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY beings existing in another order of substance than falls within the definitions of matter which has length, breadth, and thickness only. 11. These are the main groups of phenomena that are to be witnessed at " spiritualist " circles. To the ordinary observer, who tacitly assumes that mechani- cal causes are the only real ones('even the evidence of his own senses under strict test conditions will need repetition before commanding belief and convincing him of the fallacy in his premise/ However, nothing is more certain than that these things are, unless it be that those who do not wish to believe them will not believe them, and will re-insist on every variety of proof. It is a painful experience for those who would fain leave the phenomena, and go on to what the phenomena should teach, to the great lessons of the constitution and course of nature, and to the still higher problems of human life, to be arrested on the threshold by demands for test after test.^ Each test once stated as decisive is given, and yet on the part of the general public and from each novice is there a fresh demand for more evidence. " Tables do not 1 This is healthy up to a certain point. It is the argument that the whole subject is experimental. But the experimenter must enter on the subject with an open mind ; it is the foregone con- clusion not to be convinced that is to be deprecated. When the Eeport of the London Dialectical Society and Professor Crookes' researches were found to be in favour of the phenomena, quite apart from their cause, the press, with the honourable exceptions of the Standard, the Daily News, the Spectator, the Medical Times, and the London Medical Journal, stopped its ears. The Standard recognised that " if there is anything whatever in it beyond im- posture and imbecility there is the whole of another world in it," and the others desired further investigation. PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 73 move without muscular effort, conscious or uncon- scious; it is contrary to nature." In vain sitters declare that they do, and that in an upward direc- tion, against all muscular effort, conscious or other- wise. The demand is made that the phenomenon shall be repeated before a critical audience and with- out any contact whatsoever. It is done ; every test which ingenuity can devise is applied, and still from indifference, frivolity, or superstition, or from the materialism that disbelieves, not because of intel- lectual inability, bu^irpm aversion to a changed basis of life, comes always the same cry for more proof. Proof is easily obtained by those who will take it when it comes; and though the necessary conditions must be observed, and cannot be repro- duced at any time and place like those of a chemical experiment, the phenomena can be, and are, repeated, quite without antecedent preparation, again and again. Those who are anxious to know first of all whether they are true, leaving the question of their character to be determined later, can see for themselves ; circles are common enough now, and all who will give the subject careful attention and study, avoiding paid mediumshipi as much as possible, and mercenary 1 This is a necessary caution. Spiritual truth should not be bought and sold. "Freely ye have received, freely give," should be the watchword of all who have received gifts for the service of man. Not that all paid mediums are fraudulent ; in at least three cases out of five they are genuine, and no fraudulent medium could long impose upon any one who knew the real phenomena ; but test conditions are not always observed, and the mere fact of money- taking creates suspicion that when phenomena do not spontaneously occur, some one or other of the more easily imitable may be coun- terfeited rather than send empty away those that have paid for their show. 74 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY dealings of all kinds, will come to the conclusion of their genuineness. Year by year more scientific men are giving their attention to the subject, and the list of well-known persons who have been convinced would be a long one, and includes names on whose sanity the most determined sceptic will hesitate to reflect. Below are given the names of a few ^ who have testified to the truth of the facts, and it may be fearlessly stated that 1 The following list of witnesses for the facts will show that those who admit them can neither be slighted as of scant intelli- gence nor suspected as cheats. The persons named below have all testified to the objective truth of psychic phenomena : — The late President Lincoln, Longfellow, Mrs. Harriet B. Stowe, Dr. Kane (Arctic explorer). Lord Lindsay, Lord Dunraven, Dr. Kobert Chambers, Mr. C. F. Varley (electrician), Professor De Morgan (mathematician), Gerald Massey, W. M. Thackeray, Mrs. E. Barrett Browning, Serjeant Cox (barrister), Professor Crookes (physicist), William Weber (electrician), Dr. A. R. Wallace, F.RS., Professor ZoUner (physicist), M. C. Flammarion (astronomer), Professor Challis (astronomer), Professor William Gregory, M.D. (chemist), Professor Herbert Mayo, M.D., Lord Lyndhurst (lawyer), Archbishop Whately, Captain E. R. Burton (explorer), T. A. Trollope (author), R. D. Owens (American Minister at Naples), Florence Marryat, and many others. At the present day the psychic facts under one or another aspect have been testified to by Professors Lombroso, Schiaparelli, Charles Rubet, Aksakof, Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., Balfour Stewart, P. G. Tait, W. James, W. F. Barrett, F.R.S., and many other men distinguished in science and in literature ; while a whole school of medicine dealing directly with mind, has sprung up under the august name of Charcot ; and in philosophy the whole position which this book takes as proven is admitted by "the Newton of Mind" on whose discoveries the whole of the "Modernist" conception of religion is founded. Vide quotation from Kant prefixed to Chapter III. Part II. Those who think that they are, without examination, better judges of the facts than such persons with examination had better close this book here. Nothing that can be said is likely to move so robust a self-conceit. PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 75 there is no one who has made an impartial and pro- longed examination of them who has not been con- vinced of their reality. For the first time in recorded history, the unseen universe, miscalled supernatural, has been approached by the experimental method in answer to the crying need of an age in which, as Goethe said, scepticism has become a disease, and the results of this method promise to be vastly more far- reaching than those of physical science, which, while placing enormous possibilities within the reach of man, has left the ratio of the rich and the destitute too nearly where it was before, and has certainly aggravated its contrasts if it has not increased its magnitude. CHAPTEE II THE INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS- MEDIUMSHIP " Fear came upon me and trembling, Which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face, The hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance thereof ; A form was before mine eyes : And I heard a still (silent) voice : Shall mortal man be more just than God ? " — Job. " And I Daniel alone saw the vision : for the men that were with me saw not the vision : but a great quaking fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me : for my comeli- ness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words : and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face, with my face towards the ground." — Daniel. " Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth, unseen, Both when we wake and when we sleep." —Milton, Paradise Lost. CHAPTER II THE INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS MEDIUMSHIP " And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying to one another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilasans ? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine." 1. That the occurrences whicli have been enume- rated in the preceding chapter are believed in by thousands as objective facts on the evidence of their own senses is undeniable, and inasmuch as experi- mental verification is possible, and testimony both reliable and abundant, if we take it as proved that the phenomena actually do occur, the strange nature of the power in play is not less remarkable than the utter trivialities of its manifestations. Whether these are unexpected, and a whole household is thrown into confusion by noises and thumpings, or whether they are awaited in seance and a number of persons witness the raising of a table or the flight of a musical-box, nothing, is more obvious than the foolish and inconsequent nature of most of these events. A passing glimpse of a once well-known face, seen it may be for a few brief seconds from the surrounding darkness; an assurance of continued love, interest, and presence which serve only a per- 79 80 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY sonal end — these are, as a rule, the highest types of phenomena which come to us from the unseen. No light on the shadows of the creed, no solution to the problems of earth, no nobler conceptions of God and Nature to lift up the dull hearts of men, are generally given at '' spirit-circles " ; and though such messages, instinct with wisdom and calm power, are by no means unknown to the few whose hearts would fain rise above the petty personal detail of individual interests, whose perceptions have been cleared by purity of life, they have no place at the average seance, where flying tambourines, "spirit- hands," musical performances by no means up to fair concert level, trivial talk, and thin jests form the staple of the evening. So much is this the case that many sensible men are repelled at the outset by the fantastic nature of these occurrences, and the more earnest truth-seekers, who resolve, undeterred by seeming futility, to investigate to the end, can set on them no value whatever except as clues to an under- lying cause. When, however, it is found that this complaint of triviality is most strongly urged by those whose notions of usefulness go no higher than the nomina- tion of a winner in a horse-race, a forecast of the price of stocks that they may defraud their fellows, the cure of their own ailments, or their own material ad- vantage in some other form, or is heard from those who resent as impiety any attempt to remove the limitations of their pet creed, it may be suspected that this very triviality has a definite cause, and is perhaps less inherent in the phenomena than refer- > INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 81 [ 1 able to the mental tone of the sitters. Under the present social system the gain of one is too often the loss of another, and the very suggestions made above eiFectually show the ignoble uses to which some minds would put foreknowledge. Two considerations (both of which will in the sequel be found to be at least partially true) may throw a little light on the diffi- culty for the present. The one is, that were the phenomena of use for direct material benefit they would lose their whole value, which is, not to give to a few an unearned or dishonest advantage over their fellows, but to turn all from the material to the spiritual and to awaken attention through curiosity. The other is, that it is found that the phenomena very noticeably follow the tone of the circle in which -i,^ til ey occur. Frivolous and foolish sitters seem to give rise to frivolous and foolish phenomena, and those who do not desire above all things to know the glories of truth, who care not for the sorrows of earth, who are not oppressed by the discord, the confusion, and the strife in the world and in their own souls ; those who are idly curious or selfishly indifferent, or who set the solace of their own sufferings and their own petty interests above all things — nay, even those who desire first of all their own intellectual advance- ment or aim at an individual salvation, and cannot be nobly self-forgetful, all such shall in vain seek for exalted communications, or think to hear a clarion voice calling them from their lethargy to truths they have neither sought nor desired. In the previous chapter an endeavour has been made to show the nature of the phenomena and y 82 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY to group them, with the object of bringing out how Httle they answer to the effects of any inanimate force, or to those of any fortuitous mental causes. Their trivial and mundane character is admitted. But, as has been said before, little phenomena do not render a principle unimportant, and it is in the discovery of the directing power, and in the proof of the existence of mind independently of matter as we know it, that the entire value of these things consists. """^TTwo^ leading features in these phenomena at once attract attention, and both point to the con- nection with mind: the one is the necessity for the presence of a peculiar organism known as the "medium," a person in an exceptional, though not necessarily an unhealthy, state; and the other is the distinct evidence of external mind, whereby information foreign alike to the medium and the experimenter is conveyed. It is remarkable that the facts point almost as strongly to the connection between the message and the medium's mind as to the existence of the external power. While the subject-matter of the messages is, as has been said, seldom much above the intellectual level of the medium and sitters, especially of the former, the information given is frequently a cause of surprise to all present. The spelling (in the case of an uneducated medium) and the diction may be the medium's own, at the same time that the evidence of external personality is overwhelming. Thus in the case of the Fox family : Before any set system of communication had been devised, when oDe rap was taken for assent and silence for negation, the sounds alleged that they were produced by a spirit ; by an injured spirit ; by a spirit who had been injured in that house between four and five years before ; not by any one of the neighbours whose names were called over, but by a former occupant, one John C. Bell; that the spirit was of a man thirty-one years of age; that he had been murdered in the bedroom, for money, on a Tuesday night at twelve o'clock; that no one but the mur- dered man and Bell were in the house at the time, Mrs. Bell and a girl named Lucre tia Pulver, who worked for them, being both absent; that the body was buried in the cellar on the night after the murder. All these particulars are duly attested in written depositions under oath, and were largely confirmed by circumstantial evidence, including the finding of human bones in the cellar buried in quick- lime. It is difiicult to resist the evidence of ex- ternal personality here. Many others equally strong might be given ; those who wish to know them are referred to the books of which a list is given in the footnote to page 42. It now remains to consider how the external mind shows itself in the person who is the channel of the power. Phenomena of this order are not less real than the preceding because they are internal, sub- jective, and psychic rather than external, objective, and material ; they are simply different in kind and demand a wholly different class of tests, the principal of these being consistency. By consistency is meant harmony of character, or some kind of 84 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY sequence and regularity running through entirely independent communications, through the words and acts of differe^at mediums in different times, places, and nations. (If this consistency is found, if medial phenomena occurring under such widely diverse con- ditions present similar features, the evidence against simulation is irresistible, for it is all but mathemati- cally impossible that frauds should be so frequently alike as to simulate laws. This consistency actually exists?) A study of the subject will show that Ameri- can, German, English, Italian, and French mediums display markedly the same characteristics, which do not obscure their own personal and national traits, but are superinduced on these latter. Their methods are everywhere the same; they are limited by the same conditions and develop in the same way. The gradual development of the phenomena from simple raps to more intelligent methods of communication, and of the medium from unconscious passivity to new and active perception (clairvoyance, &c.), is everywhere similar ; it is always progressive if not abused, beginning in simple manifestations and going on to true spiritual growth. Thus the description of " spirits " given by the clairvoyants of any nation is substantially identical and in striking contrast with current notions. Neither white enshrouded figures nor diaphanous forms with wings and aureoles, neither imps nor cherubs, are described, but (so far as I know) always forms corresponding to the living person,^ whose description could be recognised by /^ 1 " Exempli gratia : Mrs. Chase, wife of Dr. Chase of Philadelphia, ( a clairv oyante who could ' see spirits ' in her normal state, described INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 85 his friends. So with regard to the future state. Neither the Protestant heaven with harp and crown, nor the CathoKc ecstasy of the Beatific Vision, nor the penal fires of hell, nor the sufferings of purgatory are represented. As an image and figure of speech the latter comes much nearest to the ideas given, but the descriptions differ widely from the doctrinal presentment usual among Catholics. It is incredible that mere imagination should con- sistently reflect neither the subject's own training nor the current opinions of his day. At the same time the evidence of the part played by the medium is also strong ; the language in which the description is given is the medium's own, and seldom rises to flights of style and diction much above his normal capabilities. It is the object of the ensuing paragraphs to discuss the intellectual characteristics with the view of reaching some conclusion as to the nature of the power in action. At this stage the trustworthi- ness of the communicating intelligence is not touched upon. Moral truth belongs to a higher order than the psychic, and as the preceding chapter was not concerned with the nature of the intelligences, but only with the physical manner of their manifestation, one near a gentleman (who afterwards gave evidence before the Dialectical Society) as a tall, thin young man with brown hair, slight whiskers by the ears, with a stoop and a cough, and as stating that he had died of consumption. The witness recognised ( the description as fitting one Michael C , an intimate friend of his, and added that he had only just landed in America, and that both he and his friend's existence were entirely unknown to Mrs. Chase " {Report of the London Dialectical Society, p. 130). 86 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY so this deals with their psychic features and not with their truth or untruth, and leaves it for the present an open question whether they can be referred to either evil or good agencies or divided between the two with every shade of variation and degree. 3. These subjective and internal phenomena known as mediumship are in some persons so intermingled that it may be difficult to refer each case to its definite class, but the powers themselves fall naturally into four very marked orders. Class 1. — Includes all varieties of physical effects as have been detailed in the last chapter. Such mediumship, from its passive attitude, is perhaps best summed up by the term, Subjectivity. Class 2. — To this belong the healing and the mes- meric powers, and generally all effects which imply direct action by one organism on another and the transfer of thought and influence without visible channel. The theory of hypnotism which finds most favour at present is, that no such transfer of influence takes place. This is notably due to the fact that mechanical methods of hypnotisation are perfectly successful in bringing the patient into the sug- gestible state, and that many of the phenomena are demonstrably due to forces latent in the organism and not transferred to it. But it seems hasty to conclude that, because there resides in a person a power that can still his own normal activities, this power cannot be transferred, and the phenomena of " thought-reading " and telepathy seem to show pretty conclusively that some influence is communicable. All such influence involves, of course, the transfer of INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 87 energy, and this is a direct action of mind on mind. The view that there is a real force, which, by analogy to steel-magnetism, has been called animal mag- netism, has been favoured (since Mesmer) by Chaza- rain, Deloncle, Durville, De Rochas, and Barety; also so distinguished a physiologist as Reil took the same view ; so does Ed. von Hartmann and Liebault. The matter must be considered as being still suh judice, but there seems ample justification for the present classification. The effects produced under this class are entirely, or almost entirely, under the control of the will. Class 3. — Covers the faculty of seeing, hearing, or being influenced by forces invisible, inaudible, and intangible to humanity at large, faculties which are known as clairvoyance, clairaudience, somnambulism, and automatic and impressional writing or speaking. A very strong distinction is observable between auto- matic and impressional writing ; in the former abso- lute passivity on the part of the medium is essential, and trains of thought may be expressed in a diction entirely foreign to him, or even in a tongue with which he is unacquainted ; but in the latter the language is always much more strongly tinctured with the medium's own personality and the diction is invariably his own, though the specific ideas may be inspired to him when he begins to write or speak, and are often forgotten soon after. It frequently happens that Sensitives (as this class of mediums may be called) are so entirely dominated by the influence as to fall into trance. They then speak or write more in the manner of the controlling power 88 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY and less in tlieir own. It is noticeable that there is a tendency of this phase to pass into the next if assisted by an unselfish and well-balanced mind. Class 4. The enlightened. — This highest class of all mediumship comprehends those whose spiritual faculties are open, and who are in more or less con- scious communication with the unseen world, and draw thence the wisdom that is called enlightenment or the gift of prophecy, a word which is usually misunderstood to mean the faculty of foreknowledge, but is really the per cept ion of^e principles whereby events come about. These neither speak nor write in a personality other than their own ; nor do they forget what they have said from time to time, for they speak from their own knowledge. They may indeed be helped and guided, as a child is helped and guided, and this help may be by suggested thought, or by con- scious communication either sleeping or waking, but however it is given, it is that perception of principles which is also called inspirajion. The medium of this class may have the other faculties in addition ; he may have reached this stage by development through the lower phases, or he may attain it quite otherwise, but its continuance seems very much more dependent upon sincerity and purity of life than is the case with lower forms. These four classes will now be considered in rather fuller detail. To treat of them adequately would demand not less than a volume apiece. 4. Physical mediumship. Subjectivity. It has been already mentioned that this form is but little under the direct control of the will. Though INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 89 the physical phenomena occur only in the presence of certain persons, these cannot produce them at will. Fixed hours and quiet attention (which is preferably not "expectant") assist in their production, and scepticism in the onlookers is no hindrance pro- vided it be open-minded scepticism and not mental opposition. '^ There is apparently no index whatever to the pecu- liar constitution that favours this class of medium- ship. Old men and children, men and women, the robust and the delicate, sanguine and nervous, fair and dark, may any or all exhibit the power. It is sometimes involuntary and quite unsuspected by its possessor, as in the case of the Wesleys and of the Fox family. It is variable in degree, increasing with the general health and vigour of the subject, by no means augmented by a hyperexcited condition of the nervous system, but rather the contrary. Over- strained attention or too great anxiety will often stop the phenomena altogether. The usual procedure of such persons about to exercise their powers is, on entering the room where the sitters are gathered, simply to sit down and silently to await effects, endeavouring also to bring about a harmony of feeling by singing or sometimes by prayer. Mediums of this class can hardly be said to show much personal effect till the phenomena are over. Sometimes none is apparent, the medium sitting at the table in full light and putting questions which are replied to by raps, by writing, or otherwise. But as a rule, when the effects are at all powerful, and especially when they consist of visible forms, 90 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY the medium sinks back in a deep lethargic slumber or trance, and on recoyery has no knowledge of what has taken place, but shows signs of severe nervous strain by extreme pallor, cold sweat, and sometimes by fainting; the exhaustion being greater with the duration and success of the seance. These facts seem to indicate that his function is to supply somewhat, either substance or power, involving the expenditure of energy. Mathematically speaking he "does work," the results of which may vary from slight weariness to the severe exhaustion above de- scribed, and it is remarkable that the visual effects cause greater fatigue than others which would seem to involve more exertion. When these semi- material forms are produced in rapid succession the exhaustion of the medium is generally very marked indeed. These phenomena assume very varied forms, as has already been described, and regarded as ends in themselves are freakish in the extreme, not to say contemptible ; their use is entirely the experimental one. When conducted as a regular scientific ex- periment is conducted, in an orderly and regular manner, so as to close every loophole for doubt and to lead to well-defined results, they supply the basis of sense-evidence whereon all conclusion must ulti- mately rest. 5. Magnetic and mesmeric phenomena. The pre- vailing theory tends to refer these phenomena to the "faith" or soul-power, i.e. to a particular mental state of the subject rather than to any action of the mesmerist, whose function no doubt is often little INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 91 more than that of applying the external stimulus and suggestion. There is, however, a residuum of unexplained facts where power seems definitely transferred from the operator to the subject, and for the present the classification of these phenomena as a separate kind may be maintained. That certain persons have the faculty of producing results which cannot be referred to conscious " faith " in the patient or to "imagination" in the spectators is very well supported.^ Studied under the name of Hypnotism, ^ One instance may be cited from "Matter to Spirit" (De Morgan): — "A baby ten weeks old, which from its birth had been unable to hold up the feet in their natural position at right angles to the legs, was brought to me by its mother, who wished to be taught how to bandage the legs. . . . The feet were quite powerless in a line with the legs. While I was considering the best way of bandaging such very small limbs it occurred to me to show the mother how to mesmerise them. A few passes were made, perhaps twelve, at most twenty in all, from the knees to the end of the little feet. After about six passes the feet began to rise, and immediately /~^ gained their natural position. I went on ; the muscles gained a power which they never had before ; the bandages were returned to the hospital, and the cure was complete." Such cures of children whose surface personality is far too young to receive suggestion, as in this case, were the grounds on which Liebault founded his belief in the existence of a real influence proceeding from the operator to the patient. The following from Sir Charles Isham, Bart., appeared in the Echo, November 19, 1891 :— " Sir, — In a Times leader of last week, in a reference to the earlier days of mesmerism, the following paragraphs occur : — * No patient was cured of any disease ; ' ' The utter fruitlessness and barrenness of mesmerism.' May I, in admiration of that maligned power, be allowed to describe an unpublished case of forty years' standing, cured by my brother-in-law, the Kev. John Vaughan, cousin of the Dean of Llandaff and rector of Gotham? I can testify to this gentleman having cured his parishioner, Mary Hol- land, of a diseased knee by non-contact passes alone. The young 92 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY its true nature will daily become more apparent, and it will probably also become more and more apparent that the hypnotic facts point less to a particular state of the nervous system than (a) to the influence of mind on mind in the eclipse of the external senses ; and (b) to the influence of subliminal mind on organised matter whereby physical changes are effected rapidly instead of in the slow manner which is called normal, the agent in either case being the same, the vital (i.e. psychic) power. Unconsciousness in the subject is not required, but rather lively and intelligent co-operation with the magnetiser, who concentrates his attention by passes or otherwise on i the seat of the disease. The effect produced seems directly proportional to the operator's will-power and general health, and to the patient's receptivity. Faith (i.e. sincere belief by the patient) undoubtedly plays a very large part in such cases, woman, after having for many weeks suffered intense agony in the Nottingham Infirmary, was condemned to have the leg amputated. For this she was most anxious. Holland, as was the usual custom, was sent into the country to regain strength previous to the opera- tion. Mr. Vaughan, who had but recently discovered his power, commenced making passes down the leg, in hopes of mitigating the pain in some degree, when, to his astonishment, the girl imme- diately felt the greatest relief, and in the course of two or three months she was perfectly recovered. Holland remained in the family twenty years as housemaid. She eventually married, and when recently heard of was well. This was one out of many of Mr. Vaughan's cures; he seldom failed. Health caused him to relinquish the exercise of his gift, which might have remained undeveloped had not attention been called to it a short time pre- viously by a visit to Dr. EUiotson's Mesmeric Infirmary, at the instigation of yours faithfully, Charles Isham. *'3i Wellington Crescent, Ramsgate." INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 93 though it is rash to affirm that this is the sole agent in the cure. Muscular energy in the operator seems to have little or nothing to do with the matter, but anything that lowers or tends to lower the standard of his health is injurious. This statement is made in the widest sense : methods of life which encourage a coarse, gross bodily condition, habits of self-indul- gence which involve a slothful and selfish spiritual state, indifference to the wants of others, and, in short, anything which militates against perfect health, energy, and activity of the body, against vigour and clearness of the intellect, and against the glow of human love and devotion to the Father of all, each in its degree impairs the healing " magnetism " which, all its conditions being complied with, found its full realisation in the person of Jesus, whom Christians profess to imitate, and whose promise that they should do greater works than He ^ they profess to believe. 6. Sensitiveness, or Receptivity. This class of 1 John xiv. 12. This is an excellent instance how the Church has hidden Christ by lifting Him above the clouds, and relieved man from the full force of His example by asserting Him to be the Creator come down to earth. We are told that His works of power were due, not to the pre-eminent way in which He was permeated through and through by Divine power, acting in a thoroughly purified human will, the Father working in Him, as He said, but to His being God in person. We are told that the age of miracle is now past, withdrawn by the mysterious dispensation of God. It is past, doubtless ; but it is ready to return when we comply with the laws of purity and self-denial and high knowledge under which miracle is always possible, and will vanish again with the loss of these qualities. Jesus' words are simple and human, and are not blasphemed by the method of His operation being known. They are true, not that His brethren should have individually greater powers than He, but that they might by co-operation form 94 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY mediumship is by far the commonest, if indeed it does not ultimately prove to be a condition of mind in which all persons share to a greater or less extent. When developed it consists in being open to impres- sions from sources which produce no visible effect upon the average of mankind, or whose effects are spoken of only as premonitions and inexplicable feel- ings at certain crises or on certain occasions. The sen- sitive can sometimes perceive from the touch of an article which has been long in contact with any given person that person's nature and some of his habits, or he may even be able to visualise or describe him ; or he may be receptive to thought, and be able to re- ceive the unspoken thoughts of others with or with- out physical contact; or, again, he may show the effect of the power behind his conscious personality by automatic writing, or by the faculties termed clairvoyance, or the like. A clairvoyant can see with bandaged eyes not only the things around him, but those far removed from ordinary vision, and can describe events occurring at a distance or hidden by natural barriers. A noted clairvoyant thus describes the process : — " The sphere of my vision now began to widen. . . . Next I could distinctly perceive the walls of the house. At first they seemed very dark and opaque, but soon became brighter, and then transparent ; and presently I could a more suitable environment in a purified world and should be aided by increasing power from the Unseen. No one need call Christ's power " magnetic " unless the term pleases him ; all that is meant is, that there was a real power which he could feel, a real somewhat in contact with those who felt its effects; the name given to it matters but little. INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 95 see the walls of the adjoining dwelling. These also immediately became light, and vanished — melting like clouds before my advancing vision. I could now see the objects, the furniture, and the persons in the adjoining house as easily as those in the room where I was situated. At this moment I heard the voice of the operator. He inquired ' if I could hear him speak plainly.' . . . He desired me to convince some persons who were present by read- ing the title of a book with the lids closed behind three or four other books ; tightly securing my bodily eyes with handkerchiefs, he then placed the books in a horizontal line with my forehead. I then saw and read the title. ..." The phenomenon of crystal seeing is a kindred one. The sensitive looks into a transparent globe or ovoid of glass or other substance, and sees therein images of past and present events which succeed one another in living action. Probably the only use of the crystal, silvered globe, drop of mercury, or other reflector is to concentrate the mind, and to produce a kind of self- hypnotisation by which the soul faculties are awake in the sleep of the bodily senses. But whatever the condition of the sensitive, the impression niiust be the effect of some stimulus which, when it deals with things unknown to the ordinary consciousness, must needs be external. The degree of objective reality of these visions is, it must be remembered, a matter of experiment, as with all the phenomena hitherto de- scribed, and abundant testimony of its reality may be found by those who care to examine all things before rejecting any. 96 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY Clairaudience is analogous to clairvoyance, the sensitive declaring that sounds and voices inaudible to others are clearly perceived by him. He states what " spirits " say, that he hears music, and so forth, reminding the observer strongly of certain death- bed scenes where similar hallucinations (as they are termed) have occurred. A very interesting instance of similar development of another sense has been told me by a person of great truthfulness, who did not profess to explain it, and considered the case at once inexplicable and ludicrous. A young girl in a school at W G , North London, then aged about seventeen years, had the extraordinary faculty of foretelling the approach of death in a manner which she referred to the sense of smell. This faculty, which she could not further describe, was discovered as follows : A child belonging to the principal of her last school was taken ill, but no anxiety was felt on its account, the ailment being apparently trifling. As Miss passed the door of the child's room with one of the governesses she looked frightened, and said, " Oh, I smell death ! " The governess was much surprised, and questioned her, but as she could not in any way explain herself, she was sharply reproved for talking nonsense on serious subjects ! The child died quite unexpectedly at 5 p.m. of the same day. This young lady could also tell the approach of a funeral when quite out of sight, she being in an upstairs room whence the road could not be seen, and this fact was verified more than once by my informant. Clairvoyance and these kindred faculties can be INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 97 exercised to a certain degree in the normal state,^ over and above the bodily senses, with which they in no way interfere, and, little as it may be believed, are, as a matter of fact, so exercised by some persons who see and can describe " spirits " quite recognisably to their friends, a certain dreamy abstraction being the only sign of the exercise of the abnormal faculty. But frequently the sensitive or psychometrist, being absorbed (like the passive thought-reader) by the effort to make the mind a blank, and by means of the nascent faculty to receive impressions, loses sight and sound of the external world to a greater or less degree. Recovery of normal consciousness is immediate, and but little exhaustion seems to follow. In such trances the sensitive often speaks in a personality not his own, reminding the observer strongly of the hypnotic sleep. These are called "controls," and seem re- markably like action under suggestion from another mind. That on waking from these trances the sub- ject remembers nothing that has taken place, and can stand the most searching cross-examination without a doubt being raised ; that while entranced he can describe persons, places, and events with which he is normally unacquainted, but which per- tain to the personality in which he is speaking, are facts which admit of no denial by those who have studied the subject experimentally. Some of the trance communications received are 1 Vide p. 84 supra, Mrs. Chase. The faculty is far more common than is supposed. The standard case for hallucination, that of the German bookseller Nicolai, was quite possibly one of objective perception. It is paralleled by many others. G 98 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY extremely coherent, and quite bear out the claims they make on belief so far as internal evidence goes, being in style and matter just what might be ex- pected from the character of the alleged source. This is especially noticeable in the case where the sensitive speaks in the name of deceased friends of the inquirer, whose relations, friends, and history are accurately specified, the controlling power making no mistake among the names and relationships of persons of whom the medium has never heard ; but those who give speeches purporting to come from men distinguished in science and letters by no means come up to the level of the authentic writings of these last. Some characteristics of style are some- times preserved in these messages given by sensitives who have no literary knowledge, but poor Emerson must have deteriorated sadly in the next world if the following sentence is an unadulterate message from him : — " The thinkers who existed before the Christian era have been resurrected in this age, reincarnated in certain individuals; and what I taught of truth was not the truth of to-day, but the truth that sprang into existence thousands of years ago ; which, like corn buried with the Egyptian mummies — lying dormant two thousand years, yet retaining its life- principle — finding in the nineteenth century a suit- able soil, on being planted after its long sleep in the catacombs, springs up and flowers ; and thus again is the food that germinated before the Christian era given to the world." Charles Darwin, too, must be suffering from great INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 99 mental weakness for him to state as a known fact, that "the invisible formless atom, subjected to the magnifying lens, is found to possess a shape of won- drous mechanism, and to move instinct with life." ^ When has an atom been seen under any lens ? And if formless, how can it possess a shape? It may possibly be true that, under the conditions governing disembodied life, the atoms invisible to us may there be visible, and though the atom is by us not generally associated with the idea of form, but rather with that of substance, it may be found that the " mass " which seems to us the essence of matter is but its attribute, and that all motion is essentially the same as that aggregate of motions which we call life; but if so, the idea is very ill expressed, and does not at all answer to Charles Darwin's well-known accuracy of thought.2 It is not to be hastily assumed that these com- munications are frauds of the medium, or even ^ "The Next World" (*' Communications through Mrs. Susan G. Horn. Burns "), 1890, p. 147 ; also pp. 164 and 223. Such have given rise to epigrams like Saxe's witty squib : — " If in your new estate you cannot rest, But must return, oh ! grant us this request : Come with a noble and celestial air, And prove your titles to the names you bear ; Give some clear token of your heavenly birth ; Write as good English as you wrote on earth ; And, what were once superfluous to advise, Don't tell, I beg you, such egregious lies ! " 2 It is, however, worth notice that since 1890 the electric theory of matter has been developed. This regards the atom as a form fixed by revolution of electrons, much as the solar system is a fixed form, and as such an " atom." See p. 178. 100 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY entirely self-deceptions, or that there is not a perfectly adequate explanation of these facts; but it is most important not to slur over this phase ot the subject. Those who, from the usual practical materialism of this life, come to the certain know- ledge of unseen powers around them, very frequently rush to the other extreme of blind confidence, and receive as heaven-sent, messages which, when stripped of their turgid language, contain no thought of any value, and are certainly not such as to inspire a cool judgment with confidence in their alleged origin. Thus it is that the numerous claims to inspiration that have been made in modern days have origi- nated. Jacob Boehmen, George Fox, and Sweden- borg are instances in point. They were neither impostors nor insane, but were simply mediums of various degrees of enlightenment. In later times, Thomas Lake Harris, Andrew J. Davis, Eliphaz Levi, Mrs. Anna Kingsford, and ^Madame Blavatsky"' will occur as instances which incontestably prove how various may be the moral level of mediums, and that the possession of occult powers is no proof whatever of sanctity or guarantee of correct insight. Ignorance of this fact among the general public is the cause of the great influence such persons possess. That influence may be wisely used and the knowledge may be pure and true, but the occult powers neither make it so nor prove it so, for these powers are not miraculously conferred, but are inherent in every human soul, and are, in fact, its latent senses, which can be brought out, if thought desirable, by appro- priate means. INNER OR SUBJECTlt.ErJ^A,GtS ; U04 Exalted pretensions, if untrue, can end only in disillusion and disgust. " Revelation " is less to a man than in a man, by the growth of perception, and it may safely be laid down that " controls " are mainly of value as evidence and not as teaching, and that the natural process of slow development of human faculties by use directed to wise ends is far healthier than any swamping of the sensitive's own personality by an unknown power. This gradual unfolding of the spiritual faculties from within as opposed to domination by some will-power from without is one mode at least of arriving at the fourth class of mediumship, which I have called Enlighten- ment. 7. Enlightenment. The difference between this and other forms of mediumship has already been briefly explained. It, like the others, exists in various degrees and comes by different methods, but, however developed, it seems always to be gradual. The history of all true prophets, from Elijah to Jeanne d'Arc and Wesley, who are far above mere " controlling " influence, shows that scorn of creature comforts, indifference to personal suffer- ing, intense prayer, earnest will, simplicity of life, and self-discipline are the preliminaries to heavenly aid. IJNo breach of continuity, no violation of law, no work done by an external agency independently of interior process, confers on any child of man powers, perception, or knowledge from without.) These are developed from within, and partaking largely of the natural qualities of the mind, are a part of the history of its growth. Natural traits and :M ;-'; y} -^/pBYCMg '.PHILOSOPHY the images with which the mind is stored are not effaced, nor is acquired knowledge immediately super- seded, but these are worked up into new forms, and there is frequently contradiction between the idea and the images by which it is expressed. Poor human minds look to the language rather than to the idea ; they cling to the notion of a full revelation of truth ab extra; they fix their eyes on the image while overlooking the thing signified, and disregard the meaning while disputing over the words. But those who have, by whatever path, developed their faculty of perceiving principles under phenomena can see the folly, the insanity, of these disputes over the letter of any revelations ; disputes which really turn on the particular degree of insight possessed by the writer in the first place, and by the commentator in the second. (They know that all knowledge on earth — ay, and in the after-life — however seemingly full, must be but partial, for final truth is no more possible to a marTTEian for him to hold the sea in his palm ; that mortal language is inadequate to express at all the order of things above its own, all its images being drawn from time and sense, and they would not, if they could, impose their forms of thought on others, as in any sense final. VTo do this is to blaspheme, by arrogating to a few poor units of weak humanity the attributes of the Absolute. One thing, however, is clear to them: that en- lightenment umst ever be that union of knowledge and love which together are called wisdom ; that it is the denial of the lower nature for the higher, the ^''' INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 103 renunciation of the things of sense for the things of spirit, that leads to the perception that the things that are seen are but the expression of the fashioning power which is unseen, that phenomena change but laws are immutable, for tKeyare the sequences which express the method of God's working in the universe and in man. Enlightenment is the perception of principle, not given to the soul, but revealed in it. As the eye is related to external colour, so is the mind related to external truth ; it learns indeed, but it learns concerning what it first perceives. It is conscious of weakness and ignorance, but is troubled by no doubts, for it knows itself on the upward path and feels its daily growth. It presumes not to declare any knowledge of God as He is in Himself; such knowledge is too excellent for it; but it sees the work of His messengers and rejoices therein; it views the fair face of earth, the wonders of the humblest flower, the changing seasons, the panorama of nature, the abyss of space with its circling suns and planets, the cycles of history, and the depths of love and emotion in the human heart, and it recog- nises the organic evolution as the manifestation of the psychic, and the psychic or intellectual evolution as the necessary preliminary to that moral develop- ment which is the special manifestation of God in the world of time and sense. Thus it is that this enlightenment, in whatever degree, leads to a fixed mind which rises above the changes and chances of this mortal life, because it knows spirit as the forming reality and matter as the plastic material, and though conscious of weakness, it also feels its 104 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY own strength and knows that its foot is on "the world's great altar-stairs, that slope through dark- ness up to God." When this perception of cause underlying pheno- mena has been attained, the aspirant begins to realise with terror and dismay his true place in the scale of existence. Not the monarch of the universe, the specially beloved of Heaven, whose thought carries to the confines of space and whose powers extend to the analysis and definition of the Divine, but a literal crawler on the earth, seeing but a few yards around him, open only to the succession of pheno- mena, painfully inferring their causes; hearing the vibration of matter only ; deaf to the voice of angels ; doubly, trebly deaf to the Voice Divine; speaking the imperfect and man-dividing language of symbols ; dumb in that powerful speech that is the projection of thought itself; clutching at the vanities and illusions of the senses, soiled by the impurities of the body, by the lust of the flesh, and by the desire of dominion, and giving to " dust that is a little gilt more laud than gold o'erdusted." But they know also that, in spite of his folly, his conceit, and his imperfections, he is loved as well as pitied by those who have risen into purer conditions than those of earth-life, for they who are the ministrants in nature of the Eternal Will see in him a being whose de- velopment is progressing, and who, sooner or later, his school-time ended, will pass into new life. They see the chrysalis whence shall break the true Psyche, leaving the husk of dead matter behind; they know also that death brings no change to the w'^~?i^ ^^.^(^yif -»*^4 ' ^ INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 105 I nature of the spirit, but only of its surroundings, I and is but the reveaUng of its true self, and they see I clearly the dangers around this spirit maturing under I the veil of matter, that it may prove to be evil and I not good, foul with the stains of sensual desire and I not bright with the sunshine of wisdom and love, I tending to earth and matter, thus forsaking spirit and I God, leaving its Father's house for the far country I of wilful self-indulgence and feeding on the husks I of the senses. '^ Enlightenment implies the highest toleration, and denounces the severest penalty of outer darkness and inward fire against those who brand their brethren as " heretics," ^ for it knows that, absolute truth not being within the reach of man even in the simplest matters, it is sheer insanity to insist on the literal exactitude of any intellectual defini- tions of the Divine action. It knows that no know- ledge rightly so called is opposed to any other, that^^ ^i/'&kjuj. seeming_coiitradictions merely imply partial insight, / and that each one standing before the sun of truth C^^cy />u can see just so much as corresponds with his own %J (,4,^ faculty and no more; that the aim of man should be the development of power, and not wrangling as to its origin. " Leave disputing in the darkness ; come forth into the light and see ! " cries Wisdom to her children. Drink of the living water, and find abounding knowledge springing up from within to everlasting life ! Awake, thou that sleepest in matter and sense, and live to the spirit in deed and ^ Matt. V. 27, Moreh, the word used by Moses at the waters of strife, means a rebel against God, a heretic. 106 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY in truth ! All theories are temporary, all systems are provisional, myth or dogma is eternal truth manifested under images and figures; they change and perish all; but He remains, the Pure Spirit, the all-embracing Love, "glorious, incorruptible, bodi- less, omnipresent, untouched by evil, who has dis- posed all things rightly for eternal years." ^ Creeds and religions are steps on the path upwards, and the crown of all is the ineffable love whose human reflection is the love that suffereth long and is kind, envieth not, seeketh not her own, rejoiceth not in the faults of others, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, that love that never faileth, but goes with the growing spirit up the paths of light, from strength to strength, and is found at last to be the very smile of God. 8. Far, far different to this temper of love and aspiration is that of the ordinary " spirit-circle " ; and inasmuch as it is natural that mental phenomena should be governed by the condition of the mental instrument, as physical phenomena by those of material ones, there is little cause for surprise at the low intellectual tone of the occurrences which afeTeen iit most circles. By these, however, looked at with discrimination, the nature of the power in play must be judged, and so far, though the effects have been classified, no answer has been given to the question : What is the intelligence behind such phenomena as are not explicable by any conscious- ^ "Vagasaneyi Upanishad ; Sacred Books of the East," vol. i. p. 312. :> i INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 107 ness (subliminal or other) of the operator ? Is it sub-human, superhuman, or akin to our own? Seeing that this intelligence claims to be a real personality, it may be as well to ask it concerning itself, not to the end of blind belief, but to obtain fresh material for reasoning. The answer is plain and categorical ; whether it is credible must be decided on a review of the phenomena. , When questioned, the " spirits " say that they are men and women who have passed through earth-life into the unseen.^ As proof of their identity, they give their names, state when they passed away, specify correctly the relationships ; of those with whom they claim affinity, throughout , long communications alluding to relations of all degrees without error or slip ; they recall the persons, places, and events of earth-life, and give every proof A\i \ that can be demanded, extending in certain cases where the conditions are suitable to the visible face and form and the manual impress ^ and autograph, evidences of identity which seem absolutely over- whelming. 1 ■f 1 A very curious circumstance which may really be considered too strange not to be true is not infrequently observable. Con- scious of itself and unable to realise any life apart from matter, the " spirit " finds a difficulty in comprehending the change that has passed on it, and looks on those in bodily life as the only real existences, and those others who are, like itself, in the dis- embodied state as hallucinations, speaking of them with fear and dislike. Having during earth-life regarded death as cessation, or at any rate as quiescence, they find it impossible at once to readjust their ideas, and, ghosts themselves, they cannot believe in the ghostly ! 2 "Transcendental Physics," p. 132. The phenomenon has been spoken of in Chapter I. 108 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY These facts seem to leave us in face of two sup- positions only. Either the " spirits " are what they say they are, and the future life testified to by human consciousness throughout the ages is now a widely known fact within the realm of sense, or there must exist unseen personalities whose knowledge of our lives is so intimate as to enable them successfully to impose themselves as relations, and whose intel- lect is so powerful as to enable them to perceive or recollect past events in minutest detail, while at the same time their mental attainments are so slight as to move educated minds to contempt. At the same time these impostors must be admitted to have such powers that they can present to us not only the living lineaments of a dearly beloved face, but the very folds of skin in the hands and the facsimile of the autograph which expressed the character in earth-life. Between these theories it is not hard to say to which side the weight of evidence inclines an un- biassed mind. That we should expect noble, holy, and elevated communications from the spirit-world is simply due to theological teaching influencing our minds even when it has ceased to command assent, a teaching that tacitly assumes a miracle worked on us at death, transforming our tastes, desires, and aspirations, and our very inmost selves, making the sensual, pure ; the covetous, unselfish ; the hard-hearted, loving; the inditFerent, aspiring; and generally to raise us to the celestial level, to fit us for heaven and "the presence of God," an ex- pression which would be atheistic as far as this world is concerned if it were not so unmeaning. INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 109 Hard facts show that this is a baseless dream. These communications are the proof that there is no breach of continuity between the hither and the farther side of the grave, and we shall, if we are wise, remodel our theories to fit the facts, and not clip the facts to fit our theories. It need cause us no surprise, but rather the reverse, that so many communications should be frivolous and empty. SLet us look round about us. Without passing judgment on any individual except ourselves, it is impossible not to see that the great majority of men and women are almost entirely absorbed ,., in their bodily life, and completely indifferent to ' , ' ^ all things not convertible into worldly advantage. ^^^'^^^^ KOur lamentable lack of conversation is the symptom /Zi-r^^^ of our empty-headedness. ) Amid the treasures of , ;^^^: /v^^ ancient art, the priceless lessons of history, the ' splendour of modern science, the wide conquests of man in the domain of nature, in spite of the material for knowledge brought up to our very doors and accessible for a few shillings, it is com- \ paratively rare to find any person who has reasoned '{ opinions on education, architecture, painting, music, i history, physics, or any consistent view of the purpose '7(^4^ ^n'> /^ of his own life. (The average man adores the idol j. *-7%- of the market-place. Whatever he cannot turn to ' '' ' ^ ' trade, to use, as he calls it, he despises and neglects; ^ . , ,^ out of the shop or the office his pleasures are almost ^j UrJ/J. en^irely^^of Jhejbody. ^ A tenth of the money many ' d ' of us spend on wine would store our minds with '^^ ''jJ^^lfL' knowledge from the finest literature of modern times. And our religion ! How far is it anything more 110 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY than a reaching up after a personal blessing ? What do we know or wish to know of the spiritual powers in the human mind, of the false and the true aims of life, of the struggles and growth of the Church, of her conflict with heathenism and with the vice of decadent Kome, of the bitter faction of the Arian times, the savage persecutions over almost impercep- tible differences of dogma, of the strife for place and power among Const antine's worldly prelates, of the stand made against the growing corruption by the saints of the Church, the increasing decadence, the mediaeval revival by men like St. Bernard and St. Francis d'Assisi, of the revolt of intellect against the Roman ecclesiastical system ; in fine, of that whole splendid panorama of human history which Goethe calls the conflict of Faith and Unbelief, which should, on the popular theory of Providence, be especially the record of God's dealings with man ? Are we interested in it ? Do we care to draw thence the living truth which must by some means or other be laid hold of before we can ascend into higher intellectual life? Do we see in each epoch its lesson ; the re-birth of eternal truth from the dead forms of the old myths, the futility of dog- matism, the very truth itself becoming a lie in the furious passions of the sectaries, and when crystallised into definitions; the canker of worldliness when spiritual truth is bought and sold ; the irrecon- cilability of monasticism with the healthy growth of man in spirit, soul, and body; the power of real belief, the impotence of mere dogma, the inevitable results of a sacerdotal system, and all INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 111 the wonderful lessons which are enshrined in these archives of man ? Do we aim at directing our own hearts by the warnings of the past ? What wonder, then, if the ''spirits" be indeed those who have gone from earth-life, that the con- versation of most is vapid ? What have we, spirits incarnate as we are, to speak of or think of when sport, our neighbours' faults, our own doings, dress, money, houses, lands, party strife (which is not politics), trade, and social show shall be stricken clean out of our lives? What interests have we beyond the day ? What lasting truth do we love ? The one task of quick and '' dead " is the service of the Kingdom of God by unselfish help, by wise action, by true art, by right teaching, by prayer. How far are we using it ? " Out of the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh " : what is our conversation ? Truly the stupidity of the " spirits " should be no bar to our recognising them to be — ourselves ! The identity with those spirits who still walk the earth clothed in flesh and blood is still more marked when "religious" points are raised ; they still, many of them, confound religion and creed, and actually claim to be of the same denominations as they did in earth-life. The dark- ness of sectarianism is still found in but too many disembodied minds ; but though the Roman Catholic spirit does not describe himself as being in the orthodox purgatory, in heaven nor in hell ; though the evangelical dissenter who died in the firm con- viction that he should certainly " go to Jesus " never describes himself as being with Christ, or rarely, 112 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY if ever, as having seen Him, yet on all points which are not touched by their actual experiences they still maintain the old doctrines, and often give the same explanations concerning God and Christ as they might have given in the flesh. On all matters of fact regarding their actual state on which alone they can give what may be called legal evidence, they unconsciously corroborate the statements of the old seers, whose intuition showed them but one resting-place for all the earth, where the small and the great, the orthodox and unorthodox, should meet together, and the slave be freed from his master ; ^ where the proud ruler of Babylon should be looked upon by his erst despised subjects with scornful wonder that he who made the earth to tremble should be in truth so weak and so worth- less.2 The whole tenor of their communications answers fully to the idea of a mind placed in new surroundings, but itself unchanged, and, save by t its own thought and labour, unchangeable. I 9. Whether this will be accepted or not will turn I on each reader's receptivity to evidence. It has I been objected: Would God permit spirits to de- I ceive and to play pranks with furniture ? The I answer is simply : Would He permit men to do so I in this life ? ^ If this and much worse is permitted I in this life, then why not in that ? ' The fault is in I our point of view, in our habit of subordinating all I things in heaven and earth to our temporal and I personal desires.^ We look at life as the Ptolemaic % I 1 Job iii. 19. 2 isa, xiv. 9-20. " 3 Wallace, "Miracles and Modern Spiritualism," p. 219. INNER OR SUBJECTIVE FACTS 113 philosophers looked at the sky, from a supposed fixed standpoint, and imagine all creation to centre round ourselves. The whole subject is experimental. It matters not whether we think it reasonable for spirits out of the body to be as idle and frivolous and false as some of those in it ; the facts prove that they often are so. Week by week hundreds of men and women pass into the unseen from all over the ^arth. There are all possible combinations among them ; not only the strong, the brave, and the pure, the men who have dared for truth and the women who have endured for love, but also many whose lives have been made up of self-seeking in one form /T" . or another. There are the loving but foolish, the strong but selfish, the able but cruel, the honest but sensual, as well as the frivolous, the heartless, the ^f' thoughtless, tricksters and cheats, liars and hypo- / ' crites, the earthly and the aspiring, the noble and the base. So among the spirits are found the same; very few utterly bad, but also, alas ! few who show the sorrow for the world-sickness, the horror of evil, the abounding desire to help, and that resolute will to stand for truth which shows the dawn of the Christ-life, brave, strong, pure, and true to the death, which is the goal of upward development for us all. The fact is a tremendous warning, the taunt that "spiritualism" is unspiritual is but too well de- served, but it is ourselves that make Jt trivial and foolish by supplying crowds of trivial and foolish spirits ; it is just what we are. y^ This, however, does not touch the main fact that \^ intelligences of a human type can and do communi- H ;/^ / -i" 114 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY cate with us here. Minds which are open to evi- dence can no longer deny that there are unseen agents around us who can and do influence mind and matter. In other words, miracle has entered into the region of experience and the foundations of a truly imperial science have been laid, a metaphysic which is above and beyond physics, transcendental indeed, but, like her younger sister, the fruit of reason and experiment. Those who cannot but see that there are only two intelligible positions in face of the phenomena, either to deny the evidence of the senses as a safe guide or to admit the action of unseen intelligences (which may well be called spirits according to ordinary parlance), will have no great difficulty in choosing between the alternatives, and will probably accept the account which spirits give of themselves as well borne out by facts, ^o these our thesis is established ; there actually is in the world of to-day an experimental basis for re- ligious belief; "miracle "is an established fact, not as a violation of law, but as demonstration that the action of unseen intelligences falls within it ; and survival of the change called death is a matter of experienc§) / -^ ^ ' CHAPTER III THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM n How pure at heart and sound in head, With what divine affections bold. Should be the man whose thought would hold An hour's communion with the dead ! In vain shalfc thou or any call The spirits from their golden day, Except like them thou too canst say, ' My spirit is at peace with all.' " — In Memoinam. To-day abhorred, to-morrow adored, So ever the round we run ; And ever the truth comes uppermost, And ever is Justice done." Love me, beloved ! for both must tread The threshold of Hades, the home of the dead. Where now but in musings strange we roam We shall live and think, and shall be at home, The sights and the sounds of the spirit-land No stranger to us than the white sea-sand. Than the dawn of the day, or the eye of the moon, Than the crowded street in the sunlit noon. I pray thee to love me, beloved of my heart ! If we love not truly, at death we part, And how would it be with our souls to find That love with the body were left behind ? " — Geo. Macdonald. ,^/ju ?rf^^at<»^ At iSX^/'Z^e^^^/a^T^i/^ ^^^ CHAPTER III THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" " Are all apostles ? are all prophets ? Are all workers of powers ? Have all gifts of healing ? Do all speak with tongues ? Do all interpret ? But desire earnestly the greater gifts, and a still more excellent way show I unto you." — St. Paul. 1. In the last two chapters the leading phenomena, objective and subjective, have been summed up and classified. It can hardly be too often repeated that no claim is made on the faith of the reader. Tha t these things have occurred is matter for evidence in the strictly legal sense of the word ; that they can be repeated is matter for experiment in the strictly scientific sense. N one are to blame for scepticism, but wilful disbelief brings its own penalty, the penalty of losing truth it might have made its own /^ i^ — a heavier penalty than some will even imagine. / Put whoeve r believes or disbelieves, the logical de- duction from the facts is unshaken that the action of unseen i ntelligences is proved, and that in this sense miracle is an experimental fact. - But this miracle, be it noted, is not an invasion but a reve - la tion of Law. It opens up a new domain in the interaction of mind and matter, of which one instance is familiar to us all in the movement of muscle under 117 0^ 118 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY the influence of will. The whole subject is in reality neither more nor less wonderful than the every-day manifestation of the effect of soul-power in the binding of inert carbon, water, and lime into a living body ; no more a violation of natural sequence than the hatching of an egg. Some persons will concede thus much, but a more important question then rises before them and de- mands an answer. The unseen powers, they will say, may be considered proved, their faculty of read- ing our thoughts may fill us with comfort or dismay as the case may be, their subtle influence may pervade our whole lives, but the most important question still remains : Are they good or bad, helpful or noxious ? Can we learn from them anything of permanent value ? In a word, what is their morality ? Is this thing one more creed veiling the unknown Reality, one more quicksand by the narrow road of life, one more snare, one more marsh-light from the slough of ignorance ; or is this knowledge such as to turn men from the false fairy gold which, if it do not wither in our grasp, must surely be forsaken, to the true riches of knowledge and love; to awaken us from the lethargy of sensuous enjoyment to the life of inward growth; to guide, to purify, and to make the one communion of quick and dead an actual, present, and living reality ? 2. A very common objection of religious people is, that it is not right to pry into what God has hidden, and, moreover, that this matter is expressly forbidden in Scripture by such texts as Deut. xviii. 10 and Isa. vii. 19. Now it is very difficult to answer '^. i^'- J ^i^^in^i^ THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 119 effectively any one who thinks a text any argument at all, for such persons forget that injunctions are not right because they are in the Bible, but are in the Bible because the writers of the books thought them right at the time and place where they were set down {e.g, Deut. xx. 14 and xxiv. 1). Every sect supports its tenets by texts, and there is neither end nor profit in the picking out of passages to suit a special purpose. Nevertheless such objectors are almost unapproachable except from this side, and as they are in earnest, some answer must be made. In the first place, the objection begs the whole question by assuming that God has " hidden " any- thing ; and, in the second, it is not permissible to select one text and to ignore others on the same subject. If the Mosaic injunctions on this head are valid, and "spiritualism" is witchcraft, then mediums are sorcerers, and should be publicly stoned in accordance with Exod. xxii. 18 and Deut. xiii. This was seen and acted on in the Middle Ages, which treated the Church as absolutely inspired by God, and were not afraid to be logical by persecuting all who presumed to set themselves up against her teaching. Further, if the Mosaic law is binding on us in this respect, so it is in every other which is not purely ceremonial; for morality does not alter, and what was right then is right now, and we are equally bound to permit polygamy and to stone to death every woman who does not come up to the bridal standard of Deut. xxii. 14-23; and it will here be observed that the offence is not against chastity, but against the supremacy of the male. 120 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY 6/ttj^ But the whole objection rests on fallacy, a fallacy that has been advanced again and again on the physical plane; there at last given up only to reappear here in psychic matters. If the Divine Power had hidden anything, it is safe to assume that the veil would have been far too effective for our scrutiny. But God has concealed nothing, and His works are no more secrets from us than our politics are secrets from the nearest ant-hill; the whole question is one of faculty, and every conception of God as "hiding" and ''revealing," and choosing times and persons, is unworthy and degrading unless it be at the same time clearly understood that human or anthropomorphic imagery is used to make clear to simple minds the process of Law. The history of the growth of the Jewish religion (mainly by the strife of the prophet against the priest), from human sacrifice to the Golden Rule, is a most valuable and interesting source of knowledge, but that know- ledge consists in the view of human character and development in the nation whose sacred books have been adopted by Europe as shown in and by their Scriptures, but not in certain infallible dicta of Jehovah preserved on parchment. Those who find Scriptural references indispensable, may consider St. Paul's instructions for dealing with the noisy and disorderly form of public mediumship which grew up among the speculative and licentious Corinthians, 'or St. John's instructions in his first epistle to " try the spirits " and not to believe in all, which plainly shows that mediumship was then habitually practised. They may also look up the records of the Old THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 121 Testament as to the sanctioned modes of divination in Israel, by dreams, by Urim and Thummim, and by " prophets of the Lord," who, we are expressly told, were simply " seers," or mediums of clairvoyant powers, who were consulted on such mundane matters as strayed asses, and were paid mediums to boot, for Saul objected to his servant that " the man of God" would not supply his clairvoyance gratis (c/. 1 Sam. ix. 6-14). The constant allusions of the Bible to intercourse with "spirits" are too frequent to be overlooked, and it seems strange to have to insist on the fact that the present existence of another, and to us invisible, world is the main thenie alike of the New Testament and of the Old.^ 1 Those who disbelieve the facts of spiritualism and profess to be- lieve the Bible are in a curious mental attitude. To quote Mr. S. C. j Hall on " The Use of Spiritualism " : " They refuse to believe that Mr. \ Home and others have been raised without hands and floated about 't a room ; but they say they believe that Philip was taken up and con- I veyed from Gaza to Azotus, and they credit Ezekiel when he says, i\\lylj^ ^ * He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my • , head ; and the spirit lifted me up between the heaven and the earth.' , / /? ,: They will not believe that a simple, uneducated peasant girl has ^ I written Greek sentences, and a man from the plough delivered a Latin oration ; but they say they believe that on the day of Pentecost apostles and disciples spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utter- ance. They will not credit the healing powers of the Zouave Jacob, of Dr. Newton, and others ; but they say they believe that at the gate of the Temple, called Beautiful, a man was made to walk who was impotent from his mother's womb. They will not believe that a heavy table has been raised from floor to ceiling without touch of human hand ; but they say they believe that the stone was rolled from the door of the sepulchre. They will not believe that voice-music has been heard continuously when no living lips were moved ; but they say they believe that shepherds heard voices praising God in the highest. They will not believe in modern trance mediumship ; but they say they believe Ezekiel when he wrote, ' And the Spirit entered with me / ^ 122 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY / In truth, the difficulty is not to find Scriptural answers to the objection, but to choose between the wealth of them, and nothing is easier than to reply- out of the Bible. For to take the Transfiguration : If this was real, it was a case of communing with "the dead" on the part of our Exemplar and Pat- tern ; if not real, what are we to call real and what figurative ? The prohibition in Deuteronomy has a meaning, and a very clear one. In the first place, the Jewish idea of the jealous God forbade the when He spake unto me, and set me on my feet that heard Him that spake unto me.' They will not believe in the cold breeze and vio- lent shaking of rooms that frequently precede communications when spiritualists are ' with one accord in one place ' ; but they say they believe in the rushing mighty wind that shook the house wherein the apostles were assembled. They will not believe in the direct voice, . , . though they say they believe in the voice heard by Paul on the way to Damascus, which some of the attendants ' heard not,' and in the voice that hailed our Lord, heard by some, though others said it thundered. They will not believe in the direct spirit-writing, although the Bible states that Jehoram received a written communi- cation from Elijah four years after he had been taken from the earth. They will not believe that writings and drawings are now produced without draft, design, or will ; but they say they believe that David thus received instructions how to build the Temple. They will not believe that in our day hands have been known to write v/hat has been afterwards read, but they say they believe in the handwriting on the wall at the feast of King Belshazzar. They will not believe that a coal of fire has been placed on the head of a white-haired man with- out singeing a hair ; but they say they believe that three men were thrown into a fiery furnace from which they issued unscathed," In short, so long as these things are thrust far away into the recesses of history, and made out to be sporadic and isolated actions of God given by Him at special times and for special purposes, they will assent to them, forgetting that, if these things ever happened at all, they must have been under definite law, and that the justification of extraordinary revelation which seems at this distance so adequate was often derided at the time. THE MORALITY OF ''SPIRITUALISM" 123 consultation of oracles (then considered divine) after the manner of other nations; (and, secondly, it is to-day as true as ever that reason and conscience are our guides in life, that their growth to fuller power is the only method of progress for man, and to abandon them to outside personalities, whether in or out of the body, is the most fatal intellectual mistake a human being can commit.^ It was a real danger to the Jews, it may be a real danger to us ; and those who cannot draw the line between intelligent inter- course and giving their lives into the hands of " the spirits," will do well to follow Moses' injunction. It will, however, be only common charity in them to admit with St. Paul that all things are lawful, and that others are as good judges as they of what is expedient.! f- But Scripture arguments may be bandied to and I fro to everlasting ; they generally fail to convince, for i so few look to Scripture with open minds, forgetting ; that the books of the Bible were written by idealists i for idealists, using every bold paradox and glowing metaphor to present the many-sided phases of mean- ing by which spiritual truth must always be taught, and not by externalists to express literal facts in one ■ only way. It is useless to pursue the argument further. 3. The answer is almost a foregone conclusion to those who receive as final the evidence of identity recorded in Chapter I., for it can hardly be seriously ^ I am indebted for some of this argument to an excellent little book called "Higher Aspects of Spiritualism," by M.A., Oxon. (H. W. Allen & Co.). A better summary will be found in pp. 8-11 of Prof. Barrett's book " On the Threshold of a New World of Thought." 124 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY maintained that intercourse with them in the body- is necessary and rational, but becomes wicked and insane as soon as they have passed from the body. A better guide, however, is the objective nature of the phenomena and teaching, looked at by the ordinary lights of every man who can examine with- out prejudging in any way, and can consider simply what they are in themselves without being led off into any side-issues respecting the use made of these things by advocates and special pleaders either for or against them. The physical phenomena, in so far as they are independent of volition, are not properly moral or immoral, but, except for the strange and unknown forces involved, merely trivial; so trivial that it needs no scientific mind to consider them at all. In themselves they are valueless except as ground for experiment. If sitters go to them as somewhat more amusing than conjuring tricks, they fail of their true use ; but if those who see them are led from the effects to their causes, and from the causes to the altered view of life and consequent change of conduct which are logically involved in the idea of a future life organically continuous with this, the phenomena are pure good. In any case they supply a basis for inference, the undeniable evidence of the senses ; and it is a fact that they have been the means of turning thousands from whom the creeds gained but a languid assent or a scornful indifference to the perception of the intense reality of the unseen, thus opening their eyes to the dominant fact of human life, that man is in his inmost being a spirit, the child of one Father in THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 125 heaven, the member of one family, the citizen of one country, and his healthy life one continual progress from material phenomena to their causes, from Mani- festation to God. That there are some who get no further than the phenomena is undeniably true ; but even these, who have their own indolence to thank for the fact, are to this extent benefited, that they know for certain that a future awaits them in which they will be just themselves and not beings re- created by vicarious suffering ; than which there is no teaching better fitted to encourage spiritual sloth in the unloving. But it is the oral and written communications rather than the physical that are the special subjects of this section, for to them the term morality is more strictly applicable. These fall naturally into four classes — {a) the bad, (6) the trivial, (c) the personal, (d) the didactic ; the first being comparatively rare, the second and third forming the great mass of the communications, and the fourth on the whole as yet the rarest of all, but perceptibly more common now that so many persons are coming to perceive that no religion can be learned through mere teaching, but consists of a personal insight which none, whether man or spirit, can give. The teacher may point out the beauties of a flower or demonstrate a mathe- matical problem, but he cannot force his pupil to see or understand. Tales of gross obscenity or blasphemy occurring at spirit-circles are occasionally told, and these may in some instances be true ; ^ but ^ A case was stated to me by a medical man, Dr. F. R. of Fakenham, Norfolk, in 1890. A party of medical students were 126 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY if so they are rare, and in a somewhat extended experience none such has ever come under my notice. They could only occur with a medium or a whole circle of very low moral tone. 4. Deception is, however, common enough, and how it may play on the tenderest feelings is shown by the following story which happened to myself, and is given exactly except as to names : — While living at Vizagapatam my wife and myself were brought into contact with a young native gentleman, also deeply interested in the subject. On explaining to him the method of planchette-writing, he expressed a desire to try, and, in conjunction with me, placed both hands on the instrument. He was certainly quite unaware of how many children we had in England, and had never heard their names, or those of any other of our relations. The following questions and answers were given : — Q. Who has a message to give ? A. Alfred (naming a recently deceased brother-in- law of my own). Q, To whom ? engaged in rapping or planchette-writing ; I forget the exact method used. A spirit announced itself as Nurse N , a young woman recently deceased, who, while outwardly decent and re- served, had had immoral relations with several of the students, one at least of whom was then present. She gave, my informant told me, a communication so filthy as to shock the not very delicate susceptibilities of the circle, which broke up in fear and awe. The explanation is clear. Though momentarily under the spell of a new sentiment, the prevailing nature of the circle was gross ; the woman had been of strong passions, restrained outwardly by hypo- crisy or fear; that removed, there was nothing to mask her indecency, which was to some extent favoured by the tone of the circle. THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 127 A. Alice (his sister's name). Q. What is it ? A. Go to England. Q. Why? A. Gladys is sick (a little daughter at home). Q. How? A. Enteric fever. Q. Since when ? 4. June 30th (the day on which the message was given was July 14th). Q. Is there anything more ? A. Trust in God ; all will be well. Q. What, then, can Alice do ? A. She can nurse. The news went to the hearts of father and mother ; but knowing how frequently false messages were given, they telegraphed to England, and received a satisfactory reply to the effect that the child was quite well. Mrs. D., who could write automatically, took the pencil. I questioned. Q. Who are you ? A. Alfred. Q. I do not believe you. Why did you write that ? A. Alfred is sorry. Q. In the name of the most merciful God, speak truly. Who are you ? A. It is the same person writing. Q. In the name of the most merciful God, speak truly. What is your name ? . A. My name is Wall Mahomed. Q. Who are you ? I never knew you ? A. I was your servant. 128 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY Q. Why did you deceive us ? A. I wanted to beguile you. Q. But why ? A. You wronged me. Q. If I did, I am sorry. But how ? A. You struck me. Q. If I did, you probably deserved it. But if I wronged you, I am sorry. I forgive you. Do you forgive me ? Where did you die ? A. At Sharigh. Q. What of? Answer illegible. Trivial and tricky communications such as the foregoing abound, and here again, as under intel- lectual aspects of the phenomena, it is very noticeable how the general morality of the circle tinges that of the utterances. While the average communica- tions are rarely bad, they are very frequently empty, inflated in language, and pretentious in style. An instance will show what is meant, and will serve as a warning to those who, treading in this path without the staff of humility, think that special revelations are accorded to them to save them the trouble of using and educating their own reason and judgment. A Swedish- American family in frequent communica- tion with the unseen is said to have received the following, among many others of the same kind, by the method of slate-writing, through the mediumship of Mrs. Lizzie S. Green : — *' October 17, 1881. "The blessings of the Most High God and the benedictions of His holy angels and spirits on you THE MORALITY OF ''SPIRITUALISM" 129 and yours. What I most desire to say to you to-day is, that since our last interview here I have partici- pated with others in a discussion relative to a recent scientific discovery in the spirit-world, which, when imparted to the world of embodied man, will strike the learned savants of your life with mingled feel- ings of awe and consternation. Our recent experi- ments were exceedingly satisfactory, and the questions that remain open are, when, to who {sic), and through whom it shall be given to the children of earth. The general expression of our society favoured some time towards the close of the coming year as best adapted. In this view I concurred for many reasons. My revered friend, let me say to you to-day, with great and positive emphasis, that the year 1882, earth- time, will be the most marvellous year of the world's history, and will be characterised by the most stupendous events in all the circling centuries of past time {sic). In that year, and in the succeeding one, astounding spiritual revelations will be made to the denizens of this earth, utterly upsetting old effete theological doctrines and mercilessly demolishing now considered well-established scientific conclu- sions, and your scientists' tests, self-complacent and arrogant in their pretensions and possessed most fully of the spirit of vaulted {sic) ambition, the creation of their self-conceit, will awake to the con- sciousness that they have been mere pigmies in scientific research, and that on many subjects may have been so superficial as not to penetrate beyond the shadows and surface of things. I promise you that when the proper time arrives for this disclosure I 130 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY you shall not be overlooked or neglected. Bound to you in fraternal relation of a common brotherhood embracing in grand reciprocation the inhabitants of both the mundane and supermundane worlds, I am yours, devoted for the truth, "Emanuel Swedenborg." Now this contains little but what is false and foolish. The sum and substance is, that there is to be a revelation of a scientific principle in a given year, and the hearers' interests shall not be lost sight of, but they shall obtain, without trouble, a share in the credit or profit, or both. This message, the words bigger than the thoughts, turgid in style, involved in structure, with its misquoted similes, its ungrammatical sentences, its reckless prophecy, and its bombastic close, is a fair sample of what is produced under imperfect conditions and blindly accepted by some deluded hearers as really coming from a high source. The good faith of the medium is, I assume, unimpeachable; and the circle is not deceiving, but deceived. The whole tone of the message shows, by its promise of special revelation, by its poverty of thought, and by the Americanisms of its style, that it is the work of some personating influence anxious to swell his own importance by assuming a great name, and probably favoured by that desire (in the circle) for a special and exclusive revelation, which is one of the most serious difficulties in the way of a true spiritualism. Such communica- tions as the above undoubtedly indicate a low tone of morality in the spirit, and tend to encourage a similar THE MORALITY OF ''SPIRITUALISM" 131 one in the circle, unless checked. Such should be questioned kindly but firmlj^ the fault of personation pointed out, and a confession elicited ; or, failing that, intercourse forbidden. It would then benefit the circle by enlarging experience, judgment, and resolution. With regard to these false and mixed communica- tions, and to personating spirits, it has been remarked by one who had great experience of these spirit- messages : — " Among the means which such spirits employ, the most prominent, as well as the most frequent, are those which have the aim of arousing cupidity, such as the pretended indication of hidden treasures, the announcement of inheritances, or other sources of wealth. All predictions giving fixed dates and all precise announcements relative to material interests should be very strongly suspected, and any action prescribed or advised by the spirits, unless its object be eminently rational, should be avoided. So, also, no one should be dazzled by the names which such spirits take on to give an appearance of truth to their words ; no one should place trust in the scientific theories and systems that are put forward, or, in fine, should trust any that are outside the moral purpose of the manifestations." ^ The communications, in short, are to be received as evidence, not as authority, just as we receive the communications of the embodied spirits around us, believing those who seem to be truthful on matters that are within the scope of their own experience, and allowing due weight to their reasoning, but not giving 1 A. Kardec, " Livre des Mediums," Paris, 1869, 11th edit., p. 419. 132 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY ourselves into the hands of any. Sometimes messages trivial in themselves are inferentially very terrible. I heard a new spirit speaking at a seance to which he had been brought by his friends, and the question was asked him what those present could do for him. In a weak, quavering voice he poured forth an un- heeding complaint of the newness and strangeness of his surroundings, ending with a request for drink. The more thoughtless of the sitters, of whom I my- self was one, laughed at the absurdity; and it was not till afterwards that the horror of a spirit new- born to the life beyond, but still tormented by the desire for stupefying alcohol, struck me with the ghastliness of retribution under Law. Indirectly this brought a great lesson, but as a rule little good can come of intercourse with spirits of a low type unless efforts are made to raise them. Those only can effectually do this who are so genuinely unselfish as to be unaffected by the ideas of worldly advantage which obviously still dominate those whom they would help. Persons who can be tempted by the hope of acquiring advantages that they have not earned, and still more those who seek guidance in commercial speculations, run the very greatest risk of being befooled by spirits who, reading the thoughts of all, can see plainly enough that such have not acquired the right to teach them. It may be stated broadly that all communications which deal with the recipient in a manner calculated to flatter vanity, to imply a special privilege, or to recommend any creed or system, or which profess to give special and reserved truths not for the mass of THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 133 mankind, are at best of very doubtful value ; and all who foretell events and prices, for whatever alleged motive, are to be entirely distrusted. 5. It is scarcely necessary to touch on the mes- sages of love which come to the bereaved or doubtful from the unseen, and still less to give instances which can so very easily be imagined. The assurances of happiness, of the intense reality of the spirit-life, and the exhortations to belief and cheerfulness are generally just what might be expected. But a very strange and earthly element runs through many of these communications, so strange that it produces a kind of mental vertigo and throws all our ideas into confusion. They actually speak of this world as being a kind of prototype of that ; of houses and gardens, flowers and fields, fruit and food, in so graphic a manner that it is by no means clear whether these words are used as symbols for real things of which our language supplies only these analogies, or whether it is intended to imply all the functions which the existence of these things would seem to involve, or, lastly, whether the language and the thoughts are due to the imperfection of the medium. A little help to the understanding of this will be found in the experiences of Mrs. De Morgan, who writes the following account of the explanation given to her through a well-educated medium after fruitless endeavours through others less trained : — Q. Are the house and the fountain and other beautiful objects real and palpable to you as the objects on earth are to us ? A. Yes, yes. 134 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY Q. Are there really pictures of your family in your house? A. They are pictures on the walls of memory. Q. Is the whole symbolical, and drawn in this way merely from the impossibility of expressing it otherwise through the medium ? A. All in my soul; that is the house. And they are internal, as they project themselves from the inner. As I gain knowledge one representation after another takes the form of the beautiful things I draw. Q. Do you mean that things in your degree are as real to you as the outward objects in our state are to us ? A. Can you not see that as soon as the life- principle in trees and flowers becomes external it is real to you, but is in fact no new creation. The painter, the sculptor, and the poet, as rapidly as they embody their ideal on canvas or in marble . . . I cannot express all I would, but the fact of their embodying any existing ideal, however high or low, awakens a more perfect life of conception deeper in the soul; thus here as well as with you the arts are living and eternal progressive realities. The clue to this may be found in the writings of more than one metaphysician, notably in Plato, Berkeley, and Kant, who treat the "noumenon," or unseen cause, as the permanent reality, and the " phenomenon," or material effect, as the transitory appearance; but it does not fall within our plan to enlarge upon it here. A further elucidation may, however, be taken from the book above quoted THE MORALITY OF ''SPIRITUALISM" 135 (" Matter to Spirit "), which will throw some light on the problem if only the reader will forbear to think of reality and materiality as interchangeable terms. In answer to a question as to how such descriptions of spirit-life are to be understood, it was written : — " I say that what such spirits write and reveal is what can only be compared to looking through glasses that distort. They think they see, and when they are unable to find suitable words, they use what they think most analogous. Even on the lower regions of heaven there is no distress to the bodies of spirits. All their wants are spiritually supplied ; ^ there are no chairs, no sofas, no temples, no canopies; nothing, in short, that your limited language can describe ; and it is only a vain attempt to comfort the left-behind relations to write such things. I can give you no better idea of the state of the part of heaven where I am staying than to ask you to shut your eyes and think of the glowing colours of the sunset which have remained in your recollection. There was red, and blue, rather purple perhaps, almost green where the gold tinged the blue ... all these things have names on earth as colours; but the colours themselves, where wilt thou find them ? Not in your tin boxes. . . . Thus heaven has its couches, its rests, its coverings, its comforts ; none need mourn for those of earth ; but attempt to name them with the equivalent of earth and the resemblance dies away . . . the words fail us as well as the ideas. A belief in the power of ''■ In the same sense that our wants are materially supplied. 136 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY writing by spirits will increase as the world grows older ; and when once that has become more general, the spirits will be less afraid to say the truth, that of all heavenly things granted to spirit-life, none can be revealed. " I said that spirits far advanced in heaven were shy of beginning relations with those on earth, and that numbers were waiting on the confines of the land they had left with regret, ready to communi- cate under any name they could take to ensure attention. I also said that numbers were occupied with watching the entrance on to heaven of spirits released from earthly bodies. You are right in believing that the spirits have their bodies, and they spend ages, according to earthly calculation, in this frivolous, though to a certain extent in- teresting, occupation before they attempt their own road upwards. For I must compare the ascent into the higher heaven ... to a succession of hills, each summit revealing a higher grade of ascent. This is, so far as I know, for I have only overlooked the beginning of the ascent myself. . . . Only those who learn content amid life's hardest lessons, or are con- stitutionally contented, begin spirit-life with any amount of life-happiness. . . . Not idle content, how- ever. . . . Spirits are always sure of being together when love has united them on earth; and when spirits are awfully distant from one another it is the fault of one or other of them. God permits union, but He does not compel it; and the good, or the better — for many are better who cannot justly be called good — are able to go to the less good. . . . THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 137 There are occupations and amusements in heaven suited to every spirit for their recreation, and a great many spirits do nothing at all for a long time after they come through death to heaven; and if you wonder at this, I think you will be still more surprised to learn that one of the most idle spirits of heaven is the one who writes by your hand ; and the cause is that the dissatisfaction of spirit-life is so great that there is a feeling of utter despair at the impossibility of working into better life. But this diminishes slowly, very slowly. . . . Then comes the wish to be better ; it comes quicker to some than to others ; . . . and the companionship of others is instrumental in awakening the wish, without which heaven is as the slumber of the grave. And there is not so much inaccuracy as some think in speaking of the sleep of death ; but it is not a necessary con- dition of spirit-life, and there are some who pass at once into enjoyment ; for it is not enjoyment to be doing nothing, while the better are at once em- ployed, and progressing into higher states of spiritual happiness." This, it must be remembered, is from one un- progressed spirit speaking from his own experience only. He calls his own objectless existence " heaven " because this is more pleasing to him than any other term, and if he does not keep back anything (which may be doubted), he is describing so many of man- kind, natures weak and colourless except in pursuit of personal gratification, of no wilfully evil proclivi- ties, but as yet, ignorant and ignoble. To understand the description fully it would be necessary to know 138 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY the kind of thoughts in the questioner's mind to which it is a reply, as well as the force which the writer attaches to the words he uses; for this is not a didactic message in which an effort is made to present the future life systematically, but a per- sonal reply to a personal question, and cannot be taken as a full description even of the spirit's own case. It would be as rational to conclude that what he says is applicable universally as to obtain a letter of the same length from a Frenchman of unknown parentage and education, and thence to assume a particular knowledge of life in France. Nay, the latter would be safer ; for we know that in its main outlines human bodily life is the same in all lands, while as to the spirit-world we know nothing a priori, and it is only by the comparison of many reports given through truthful mediums that any ideas of it can be formed. Messages of personal affection are so common and so dear to the recipients that it is inadvisable to reproduce them. But they mostly dwell so much on the value of this present time for soul- training and on the evils of disputes and dogmatism that it is necessary to mention the fact in the present connection. Whether their insistence on the super- fluity of any " creed " other than the Fatherhood of God and the necessity of love to man and of constant effort to see truth on all matters, will be considered moral or immoral, will depend on the standpoint of the reader ! Whatever may be thought of it, the fact is so.^ ^ e.g. "Soul to Soul" and "From Over the Tomb, being Per- sonal Messages from a Husband in the Spirit to a Wife on Earth." J. Burns. Is. THE MORALITY OF ''SPIRITUALISM" 139 There is yet another phase of automatisra — when messages pass between two persons both in the body. Sometimes these are most curiously ilhistrative of the fact of a hidden soul-hfe beneath the outer consciousness. One is as follows — all names being suppressed on account of the very private nature of the confidences made to the writer. A wife who was in the habit of receiving automatic " messages " was startled by a communication pur- porting to be from her own husband who was living with her a life apparently quite uneventful inwardly or outwardly. The communications urged her in his name and for his sake to limit indulgences which were said to be injuring and obscuring the growth of his higher nature. The wife was much perplexed between the persistently contrary demands of the husband's normal and his alleged inner personality. After much hesitation she obeyed the automatic instruction, which prescribed daily exactly how to deal with the disturbed state of family life which followed for a somewhat prolonged period. In the end the result was a much closer unity of thought and purpose than had ever obtained before. Many instances of intercommunication between friends at a distance might be given ; but the faculty is always liable to interference, and unless guaranteed by experience and safeguarded by prayer its results are unreliable. 6. With regard to the messages which have been called didactic, as dealing generally with life and morals, it is, so far as my experience goes, observable that in any circle that is not entirely frivolous or 140 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY wonder-hunting tliey are always somewhat above the general level, though sufl&ciently near it to show strong similarity. This, if we accept the statement that the spirits are but men and women not highly removed above their past lives, is intelligible enough. No sensible man speaks above the heads of his audience in this life, nor addresses them on subjects which they do not care for, but continues the con- versation they may originate. The preceding paragraphs will have shown some of the many varied characteristics of the communica- tions received, and the risks to which blind credulity is exposed. A more pleasing task remains — to give the general tenor of the advice and instructions which have been deduced from the comparison of many communications. It is not intended here to touch more than absolutely necessary on what spirits say of the future life, of the mode of inspiration, or of their methods of action, but rather on such parts of their teaching as strictly affect the conduct of the hearer and bear upon practical life, for this only properly comes under the head of morality. It is difficult to give this at all fully and at the same time in reasonable compass, but the general view given of life and nature may be fairly stated as follows : — All life is progressive and involves development, and is therefore imperfect, for development proceeds from lower to higher forms of expression under im- pulse from the power which expresses itself in and by matter. The purpose of the inanimate world is to subserve life, and the purpose of all physical life THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 141 is to subserve character. Greater adaptation secures survival, and it is the business of each individual maSnto^ develop his powers here in healthy simplicity and tor do his part in bettering the world so far as hes m Jtiim, physically, intellectually, or. morally. This can only be done by the improvement of the individual character, for a man's work is necessarily the presentment of himself; and therefore, though personal advance is at once the means of the general development and the salvation of the individual, it must be sought, not as an end, but for the sake of the development of moral and mental faculty wherein it consists, for the purpose of doing better and more effective work in the world. There is no reward reserved for the righteous after death. This is but a figure of speech, for heaven and hell are states of mind, and are, on the one hand, the perception of God in and by His works, the deep joy of love and wisdom, strength, energy, and high purpose ; and, on the other, the exaltation of the lower nature to the exclusion of duty and helpfulness ; the Dead Sea fruit of animal desire. Evil is negation, limitation, perversion. It is the misdirection of energy to ignoble and selfish uses, and therefore it is essentially the ignorance that misdirects and the limitation that is unable to per- ceive. So body is inferior to soul because more limited in all its faculties and perceptions ; and soul to spirit, for soul (or mind) is the guiding principle of the brute creation, whose law is the internecine struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest, 142 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY a law which is carried out without compunction or remorse. Soul, as distinguished from -spirit, is scarcely capable of unselfish devotion; its percep- tions are essentially egoistic. The spirit entering into material conditions is bound by the laws and limitations of matter and loses the consciousness of its own sphere; this is the meaning of conditioned existence. Heredity and environment are the limitations placed on the growing soul by the consequences of remote and recent acts of its own and of others, and each act goes to form a part of the environment that we make for ourselves and for those about us, and of the heredity we transmit to our children. Man is a triune being, body, soul, and spirit, each connected with the other by the laws of causation, for all "body" is the expression of spirit through the agency of the animal life-power which is called soul. For this reason the perception of spiritual truth pertains to the moral rather than to the mental nature. A man attached to sensuality or pride, and reriolved to justify his ways, will in vain seek to grasp the purpose of life by his intellect alone. The analogy with sight is perfect ; he who is determined not to change his attitude cannot see all round. To quote from one who sends his ex- perience back to us from the farther side : — "As we observe the conditions of the body we have Nature on our side ; so if we observe the law of the soul we have God on our side. He imparts truth to all men who observe these conditions ; we have direct access to Him through reason and THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 143 conscience. Through these channels and by means of a law, certain, regular, and universal as gravitation, God inspires men, makes revelations of truth ; for is not truth as much a phenomenon of God as motion is of matter ? Therefore, if God be omnipresent and omniactive, this inspiration is no miracle, but a regular mode of God's action on conscious spirit, as gravitation on unconscious matter. It is not a rare condescension of God, but a universal uplifting of man. To obtain a knowledge of duty a man is not sent away outside of himself to ancient documents for the only rule of faith and practice; the word is very nigh him, even in his heart, and by this word he is to try all documents whatever." ^ Death is the casting off of the outer envelope, and to the healthily developing personality the soul then becomes the outermost with all its appropriate faculties, expressed in and by a body of organised ether as now by a body of organised matter. In the course of evolution and eventually a new principle nearer to the divine may be developed in its inmost recesses and take the place which spirit proper now holds, the highest reflection of God. For healthy development here the culture of spirit, soul, and body is requisite, each in its appro- priate place and degree. A strong and healthy body is required because a frame enervated, worn, or diseased is not a fit instrument for mind, on which it reacts ; a trained and intelligent mind is needful because an ignorant soul can see the operation of the 1 Message from Theodore Parker, "Events in the Life of a Seer." Boston, U.S., 1887. 144 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY eternal love only in the distorting mirror of its own limited anthropomorphism ; and these both minister to the advance of the spirit, the real Ego which is to grow to the likeness of the Christ, the Archetypal Man. Self-indulgence tends to degradation, for it swamps the higher faculties in the lower, and im- prints on the soul passions and desires which after death chain it to earth and involve more suffering and sorrow by enfeebling its powers. Forms of creed are of little moment, and are often, even when most seemingly diverse, the same truth as seen in different minds through the imagery due to national characteristics or individual history ; but the key to life is right action, which develops in man the faculties whereby he becomes nobly self-forgetful, and so expands his mind to embrace larger interests than make up the little selfish lives of the majority. Sympathy with others and the love of truth are the great safeguards, but to be of any personal value truth must be known and really perceived. It is better to see but a little, to know one-sidedly and imperfectly, than to profess the most perfect creed without understanding it and realising it. Till the man understands that which he professes, truth is external to him and is not in his heart. 7. Such, in briefest outline, is the substance of "spirit" teaching as gathered from a large com- parison of such writings, but it is not given by them as of authority, but commended to reason. Some, given through mediums who are also devout church people, are more Christian in form and less icono- clastic than the foregoing, but the form is never THE MORALITY OF ''SPIRITUALISM" 145 insisted on in either case, but the truth which the form enshrines, and this is always taught under the images which most appeal to the recipient. Many of these teachings are published, and a quotation from one of the best known is here added. It will ^1 bear out what is stated above : — ^/^ 'I7fj^ ''Religion, the spirit's healthful life, has twS^^^^ ' aspects — the one pointing to God, the other to man. ^^^JX4^ ^ What says the spirit-creed of God ? ... It does not i.J 1^ \I recognise any need of propitiation towards this God. ^^^*-^ fr^ It rejects, as false, any notion of the Divine Being l^i vindictively punishing a transgressor or requiring ' ^ a vicarious sacrifice for sin. Still less does it teach t *^^Sit this omnipotent Being is enthroned in a heaven where His pleasure consists in the homage of the elect, and in view of the tortures of the lost, who are for ever excluded in quenchless misery from light and hope. No such anthropomorphism finds any place in our creed. God, as we know Him in the operation of His laws, is perfect, pure, loving, and holy, . . . the centre of light and love, . . . the object of our adoration, never of our dread. We know of Him as you cannot even picture in imagina- tion; yet none has seen Him, nor are we content with the metaphysical sophistries with which prying curiosity and subtle speculation have obscured the primary conception of God among men. We pry not. The first conception with you even is grander, nobler, more sublime. We wait for higher know- ledge. You must wait too. " On the relations between God and His creatures we speak at large. Yet here too we clear off many of K 146 PSYCHJC PHILOSOPHY the minute points of human invention which have been from age to age accumulated round and over a few central truths. We know nothing of the election of a favoured few. The elect are they who work out for themselves a salvation according to the laws which regulate their being. "We knoAV nothing of the potency of blind faith or credulity. We know, indeed, the value of a trustful receptive spirit, free from the littleness of perpetual suspicion. Such is God-like and draws down angel guidance. But we abjure and denounce that most destructive belief, that faith, assent to dogmatic statements, have power to erase the traces of transgression; that an earthly lifetime of vice and sloth and sin can be wiped away and the spirit stand purified by a blind acceptation of a belief, of an idea, of a fancy, of a creed. Such teaching has debased more souls than anything else to which we can point. "Nor do we teach that there is a special and potent efficacy in any one belief to the exclusion of others. We do not believe that truth is the perquisite of any creed. We know, as you do not, the circumstances which decide to what special form of faith a mortal shall give in his adherence; . . . we deal with religion as it affects us and you in simpler sort. Man — an immortal spirit, so we believe — placed in earth-life as a school of training, has simple duties to perform, and in performing them is prepared for more advanced and progressive work. He is governed by inevitable laws, which, if he transgresses them, work for him misery and loss ; THE MORALITY OF -SPIRITUALISM" 147 which also, if respected, secure for him advancement and satisfaction. He is the recipient of guidance from spirits who have trod the path before him, and who are commissioned to guide him if he will avail himself of their guidance. " He has within him a standard of right which will direct him to the truth if he will allow himself to be guided to keep it and to protect it from injury. If he refuse these helps he falls into transgression. . . . This mortal existence is but a fragment of life. Its deeds and their results remain when the body is dead. The ramifications of wilful sin have to be followed out, and its results remedied in sorrow and shame. The consequences of deeds of good are similarly per- manent and precede the pure soul, and draw around it influences which welcome and aid it in the spheres. '' Life, we teach you, is one and indivisible ; one in its progressive development, and one in the eflbct on all alike of the eternal and immutable laws by which it is regulated. None are excused as favourites ; none are punished mercilessly for errors they were unable to avoid. Eternal Justice is the correlative of eternal Love. Mercy is no divine attribute. It is needless ; for mercy involves the remission of a penalty inflicted, and no such remission can be made save when the results have been purged away. " Pity is God-like. Mercy is human. We know nought of that sensational piety which is wrapped up in contemplation to the neglect of duty. We know that God is not so glorified. We preach the religion of work, of prayer, of adoration. We tell you of your duty to God, to your brother, and to yourself — soul 148 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY and body alike. We leave to foolish men, groping blindly in the dark, their curious quibbles about theological figments. We deal with practical life, and our creed may be briefly written : — " Honour and love your Father, God } t^ . . r^ , .• \ J- Duty to God. (worship) . . . . ) Help your brother onward in the } t^ . ^ . , , i-u c /T- xi 1 1 . r Dnty to neighbour, path of progress (brotherly love) ) Tend and guard your own body" (bodily culture) Cultivate every means of extending knowledge (mental progress) . Seek for fuller views of progressive truth (spiritual growth) . . "-Duty to self. Do ever the right in accordance with your knowledge (integrity) Cultivate communion with the spirit- land by prayer and frequent inter- course (spiritual nurture) . > "Within these rules are roughly indicated most Y that concerns you here. Yield no obedience to any \ sectarian dogmas. . . . God reveals Himself as truly now as He was revealed on Sinai. . . . "You will learn also that all revelation is made through a human channel, and consequently cannot but be tinctured in some measure with human error. No revelation is of plenary inspiration. None can demand credence on any other than rational grounds. Therefore to say of a statement that it is not in accord with what was given through a human medium at any stated time is no derogation, necessarily, from the truth of that statement. Both may in their kind be true, yet each of different application. Set up no human standard of judgment other than right reason. THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 149 Weigh what is said. If it be commended by reason, receive it ; if not, reject it. If what is put before you be prematurely said, and you are unable to accept it, then in the name of God put it aside, and cling to aught that satisfies your soul and helps its onward progress. The time will come when what we lay before you of divine truth will be valued among men. We are content to wait, and our prayers shall join with yours to the supreme and all-wise God that He will guide the seekers after truth, wherever they may be, to higher and more progressive know- ledge, to richer and fuller insight into truth. May His blessing rest on you I " ^ 8. In this teaching the militant aspect of Spiri- tualism is forced on us. One and all they deny any sacrificial atonement. Not that it is necessary to shake the faith of those who have no doubts. If they in very truth have no misgivings as to ecclesiastical dogma; if the perfect creation by an omnipotent but defeated Deity, the Fall, the institu- tion of blood-sacrifice till the coming in the fulness of time of a perfectly innocent Victim and His im- molation to satisfy the justice of an offended God, seems to them a satisfactory solution to the world- problem, and if they can simply regard all adverse human discovery as antagonistic to absolute truth finally revealed by God, that is almost a proof that their ^ This, and much more automatically written, will be found, together with the history of the method of its production, in " Spirit Teachings," by the hand of the late Mr, Stainton Moses (" M.A., Oxon."), published by E. W. Allen, 1883. This book shows in the plainest manner the conflict between the ideas of the medium in his normal state and those of the communicating spirit. 150 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY knowledge must be gained in another sphere of exist- ence. If they truly believe that evil is so abhorrent to the Deity as to need the greatest of sacrifice on His part to annul it and to raise man out of it, their lives will be right, they will feel acutely the sins and evil of the world, they will love those who differ from them, and will do all that in them lies to help their brethren. There is no need to disturb such. But the message is to the doubters and to the apathetic ; to the one it brings solution, to the other awakening. There must be no cowardly shirking of difficulties by those who have received new light. It may be in the highest degree repugnant to stigmatise as formally untrue the anthropomorphic forms which are the only garb in which many minds seem able to realise religion at all, but there must be no disguising of what the spirits' evidence affirms and what it denies, no weak pretence that it does not differ much from the popular forms after all, because it is quite compatible with a view of them as images built up by generations of men to realise the eternal verities in a form intel- ligible to them. It is for hearers to weigh the whole evidence, scientific, antiquarian, and exegetical; to look round on the warring sects which each claim to be in sole possession of The Truth ; to decide on the course that commends itself to their own reason, and to follow that without bitterness or fanaticism. It takes two sides to make any quarrel, and students of these things, whose watchword should be, before all others, Milton's maxim of free thought and free speech, need never allow themselves to be drawn into polemics. ^. -/.,;_• '^/ ' " ' . ■ " fOo^^ tiiti &^c^,(t^t^ THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 151 Nevertheless, the denial of the Atonement of Christ as a past event distinct from the birth of the Christ-life in each soul making at-one-ment between it and God, and of the identity of Jesus with the Creator of the universe in any definable sense other than that He was the glory of God made visible, and the image of His Person on the plane of time and sense, and that the Father worked in Him to will and to do, will be the theme round which the bitterest disputes will rage in the near future. Again will be seen the spectacle of men contemning and anathematising in the name of the Lord of Love ; and, curiously enough, those who pay the least attention to the practical precepts of the Sermon on the Mount will be among the loudest in crying *' Blasphemy " on those who assert that the altruism that is the foundation of that teaching is the only remedy for the evils of competition under which the world is now groaning, and attempt to put that altruism into practical shape. 9. That the idea of the vicarious sacrifice of the God-man is still made the keystone of English popu- lar Christianity (though, except by a straining of the plain sense of words that puts them at variance with His whole life, it finds no place in the teaching of Jesus) is abundantly evident. Take, for instance, the form in which our missionaries place Christianity before the natives of India, whose intellectual attain- ments compare favourably with those of our own young men, and who, if less practical, are certainly more metaphysically acute. That it may not be thought that the case has been overstated, I extract 152 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY the following from a tract which fell casually into my hands, entitled " Short Papers for Educated Hindus," published by the Madras Press of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge : — "IV. The results of the Examination. How anxious young men are to pass the university examination ! And yet it is not so very important a matter after all. A man may be M.A. and yet a poor man, or in ill-health ; he may lose his dearest relations, and live a disappointed and miserable life. On the other hand, many men who have failed in their examination have led very happy and useful lives. Yet, in spite of this, how eager men are to pass ! What would it be, then, if the results of the examination were more marked ? If, for instance, every successful candidate received 100,000 rupees, and every unsuccessful candidate were sent to the Andaman Islands,^ — if this were the case, with what intense anxiety would the students wait for the appearance of the lists, and with what eagerness would they strain their eyes to see if they were to be rich men or transported criminals for life ! " What, then, shall we say as to the issues of the Great Examination ? Those who pass it shall re- ceive, not a lakh of rupees, which must be parted with in any case at death, if not before, and which even when possessed cannot make a man happy, but they shall receive Eternal Life. ^ The Indian penal settlement : an amusing comment on the writer's idea of the justice of God. The blasphemy of imputing such an intention to the Creator would not seem to have occurred to the worthy writer of the tract, nor to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge which published it. THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 153 "Such will be the blessedness of those who pass the Great Examination — and what of those Avho fail ? Here again let us listen, not to man's word, but to God's. Hear what Jesus Christ says — the meek and loving Jesus : ' Then shall the King say to them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into ever- lasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these shall go away into Everlasting Punishment, but the righteous into Life Eternal.' "Such are the solemn and momentous issues of the Great Examination — eternal life or everlasting punishment, endless happiness or endless woe. Since, then, this great examination is before us, the time for which has been fixed by God, and which may take place any day — at which we must every one of us be present, and give an account of all that we have done and said and thought and felt ; at which God Himself will be the Examiner, and the issues of which will be everlasting punishment or eternal life — surely it is of the utmost importance that we should all most earnestly consider the all-important question — " V. How to pass the Examination. " At the university examinations there is only one way of passing, namely, learning properly the ap- pointed subjects.^ But if there be the same inflexible rule at the Great Examinations, no man, woman, or child on the face of the earth could hope to pass it, ^ How terrible an irony on the blindness to which a system can reduce minds ! Men can perceive that on earth to learn the appointed subjects is only just, but to support the dogma of the Atonement they will set at naught the primary ideas of morality, which are more stable than the heavens themselves. 154 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY because we are all sinners. When, therefore, the infinitely holy and just God examines our actions, He will find that we have committed sins without number ; when He examines our thoughts and feel- ings, He will find them even worse than our actions, for we often purpose evil we cannot carry out. . . . How, then, can any one hope to pass ? Blessed be God's name, He has devised a way by which even the sinner may be accepted as righteous. He sent his own Son Jesus Christ into this world to live and die for sinners. Jesus took the sinner's place. He lived a perfectly holy and righteous life, and then, though sinless, and therefore not deserving death, He suffered death on our behalf and in our stead. "Now this glorious doctrine of substitution is God's plan whereby sinful man can pass the Great Examination of which we have been speaking. At that great day it will be vain to plead innocence, for we are all guilty. It will be vain to say that we are better than others, because the question is whether we are as good as God requires us to be. There is only one thing we can do. We must in the present life accept God's invitation and obey His command, ' Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.' We can cast ourselves entirely on God's mercy through Christ, and trust in Him to save us." It is true that a short paragraph is added, probably by a kind of instinct for the truth, to the effect that true faith leads to holiness of life ; but its logic is quite at variance with the main argument, for how holy must a man be before the Great Examiner will consent to close His eyes ? THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 156 Could there be a much lower presentment of the Father of Love than this of the Great Pedagogue conniving at " cribbing " on a grand scale in the case of all who, for various reasons, could not, or would not, learn the lesson of life ? How can we wonder that the educated (or uneducated) Hindus decline to forsake a religion which traces its history for four thousand years and the grand philosophy which en- thralled one of the greatest of modern thinkers, for a theory so ludicrous as that of the All-Mighty and All-Merciful practising a trick on His own nature. 10. This aspect of popular Christianity will be so strenuously denied by those who nevertheless assume it tacitly as the whole basis of their practical belief, that I cannot resist quoting from one who, himself an inspirational medium, came through death to life, and whose works now follow him, — the cutting words in which he declared this same fact, that Christians, generally, give no thought to that life of the soul which is really all-important, but trust to vicarious sacrifice to make them other than they have made themselves : — "* But the object of the last revelation was not to reform the world, but to save it,' he replied. * Thanks, B , for having put in rather too epigrammatic a form, perhaps to please those who believe it, the most diabolical sophism that was ever invented to beguile a Church — the doctrine that a man can be saved by opinion without practice; that a man's practice may be bad, and yet, because his faith is good, his salvation is sure ; that he can, by such a miserable philosophy as would disgrace the justice of 156 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY the earth, escape the just sentence to be passed upon all his deeds. The result of so fatal a dogma must be a Church that tends to atheism and that loves corruption. ... If these ideas are not correct, Christianity will soon cease to exist even in name ; but if they are, then it contains within it a regene- rating power hitherto undeveloped whereby the world may absolutely be reformed. I will venture to assert that the Christian nations will make no moral progress so long as they cherish the pagan superstition that religion consists in trying to save themselves by virtue of a creed, rather than to save others by the virtues of a life. . . . There is a promise that greater works than these shall they do who believe. Why . . . have these works . . . never been attempted ? (* Because people don't believe in the tremendous power of disinterestedness, and they can't face the severe training which the perfection of self-sacrifice involves.'^ . . It is only thus by re- maining in the world and yet resolutely refusing to concede a jot to it that ... it is possible to acquire the internal isolation and strength of will necessary for the achievement of these ' greater works.' Depend upon it, the task of performing them is not hopeless because it seems stupendous. There are spiritual forces now latent in humanity powerful enough to restore a fallen universe ; but they want to be called into action by fire." Thus wrote Laurence Oliphant at a time when he was first brought into contact with the transcendent reality of the psychic power as exemplified in Thomas Lake Harris, and before he had learned by painful THE MORALITY OF "SPIRITUALISM" 157 experience that the possession of spiritual gifts does not confer on any man the right to dominate the reason and conscience of another, nor to command his actions ; and that a medium may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have all faith so as to "remove mountains," and yet be under the dominion of spiritual pride ; may do mighty works and have the name of Christ always in his mouth, and yet be none of His, and be utterly unreliable as a guide of life and practice. He had not then learned the lesson which he afterwards declared well worth the cost to him of career, family, and worldly esteem — that there is not, and never can be, any pivotal individual on whom turns the salvation of man, or through whom final revelation can be made, but that to LIVE THE LIFE of truc disinterestedness is the only means of securing that revelation in the soul which is enlightenment. In other words, though the perception of the supreme importance of the soul-life over bodily comforts and prosperity may come through the intellect, the putting this con- clusion into practice can only result from the strength of will that turns from the selfish enjoyment of the things of time and sense to a readiness to be utilised in the service of our brothers and sisters, in whatever form that service can be given. 11. It must now be left to the reader's judgment whether of these two systems is the likelier to exert a moral force on covetous and sensual men and on frivolous indolent women; the idea that an appeal to Christ at the last, when the body is racked with suffering or torpid from weakness, can avail to save 158 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY from the natural effects of the sins of a lifetime, or the sure knowledge that the consequence of sin is decadence of soul; that as in this life we see the drunkard's habit written on his face, so in that life every soul shall carry the open blazon of its erewhile secret sins, and that, under pain of sinking lower and lower, it must sooner or later, even with enfeebled powers, retrace its steps ; must in the life beyond see the terrible widening circles of sorrow and suffering which its own acts have set in motion, and must labour at the undoing of the harm it has done. Which is the stronger incentive to effort, the idea that at our entrance to the next life we are to be decreed ecstatic beatitude or Titanic suffering, and regarded as protagonists in the world's drama, en- during the vengeance or tasting the joys of the Almighty, or that we are simply seen as we ake, all our squalid ambitions, self-seeking meanness, indo- lent selfishness, or swinish sensuality bare and open to the pitying disgust of the noble and the brave ? Whether is more calculated to give pause to the selfish, the theory that those whom we have wronged, engrossed in praise or pain, have forgotten us and our doings, or the knowledge bred of observation that the girl we have betrayed, the family we have ruined by our skilfully floated bubble company, the companions we have enticed to excess, the men whose lives we have dragged into the mire by vanity and unfaith and ill-temper, are waiting with hearts corroded with hatred to pursue us there till they too have learned that lesson of love to enemies which we have done our best to render harder? Whether is THE MORALITY OF ''SPIRITUALISM" 159 more deterrent, a hell in which no one outside the nursery believes/ or the knowledge that the bodily desires cultivated in this life are a fire in the disem- bodied spirit, unquenchable save by an effort for which it has no inclination and barely enough power ; that the empty head and vacant heart can never be filled save by personal effort, by knowledge of the laws of growth, and by love for others; and that paltering with the laws of God is impossible, for no refined and calculating selfishness, no doing good in order to save one's soul, can ever take the place of the sublime charity which suffereth long, seeketh not her own, and rejoiceth in the truth ? Does it not appeal most effectively to all that is noble in man, urging him to leave his selfish terrors and manfully to begin the work of reformation in his own heart, to know that Hate can only be ended by Love, that the injunctions of Jesus to feel only regret at the misguided acts of our enemies is the only method whereby these enemies can be made friends, for they cannot be destroyed in this life or in any other, as " there is no death " ? Which is the greater encouragement to effort, the idea that God will at some cataclysmal day set all ^ And few in it. I was told an amusing tale of a little child being taught by her elder sister of the awful penalty of '• naughti- ness " : — "What! burn for ever — always?" said the innocent sceptic, "Yes, always; one year after another, never ending," was the answer in hushed and impressive tones. " What ! always, and never be burned up?" "Yes, dear;" — and then in an awe- struck whisper, "God keeps them from ever being burnt up!" To which the Voltairian in short frock and sash triumphantly rejoined, " Then I don't believe it ! ! " 160 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY wrong right and make a new heaven and a new earth, or that man is the appointed agent for the coming of the Kingdom of God, and that by his efforts alone can it be estabhshed ? His soul is now the arena where the good and the evil strive together, and is also the realm of spirit in which that Kingdom consists, so that there can be no " salvation " for any apart from the race, for the " new earth " can only be produced by that renovated spirit of man which it shall reflect in its laws, its society, its art, and its philosophy. And then, if these questions are answered against what seems to us the sequence of cause and effect; if there are those who can, from honest conviction and not from mental indolence and dread of change, think that the spirit teaching that has been sum- marised is erroneous, let them by all means keep to their own standard — and live up to it. No wise man will quarrel with them. PART II THEORY AND INFERENCES n "Science is simply a higher development of common knowledge, and if science is repudiated, all knowledge must be repudiated with it. '. . . Men of science throughout the world subject each other's results to the most searching ej^amination, and error is mercilessly exposed and rejected as soon as discovered. . . . And still more conclusive testimony is to be found in the daily verifica- tion of scientific predictions,, and in the never-ceasing triumphs of those arts which science guides." — Herbert Spencer. " About twenty years ago, the fact that surgical operations could be performed on patients in the mesmeric trance without their being conscious of pain was strenuously denied ^y most scientific and medical men in this country, and the patients, and sometimes the operators, were denounced as impostors ; the asserted pheno- menon was believed to be contrary to the laws of nature. Now, probably every man of intelligence believes the facts, and it is seen that there must be some as yet unknown law of which they are a consequence. When Castellet informed Reaumur that he had reared perfect silkworms from the eggs laid by a virgin moth, the answer was. Ex nihilo nihil fit, and the fact was disbelieved. It was contrary to one of the widest and best established laws of nature ; yet it is now universally admitted to be true, and the supposed law ceases to be universal." — A. R. Wallace. " For he should persevere until he has attained one of two things ; either he should discover or learn the truth about them (pheno- mena), or, if this is impossible, I would have him take the best and most irrefragable of human notions, and let this be the raft upon which he sails through life." — Plato's Phccdo. " Happy the man whose lot it is to know The secrets of the earth. He hastens not To work his fellows hurt by unjust deeds, But with rapt admiration contemplates Immortal Nature's ageless harmony, And how and when her order came to be. Such spirits have no place for thoughts of shame." — Euripides. CHAPTEH I MATTER. AND ETHER J.' Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari." — Vergil. 1. It is not strictly within the province of the nar- rator of fresh facts to form them into a connected theory. He bears his witness to them irrespective of their credibiHty, which depends on the temper and knowledge of his hearers. But to be in possession of a large mass of unsorted facts lying loose in the mind, and to form no theory about them, is very diffi- cult, and complete suspense of judgment is well- nigh impossible. Any person who is convinced of the existence of unseen personalities, and of the high pro- bability that these are merely our forerunners across the border, cannot but feel much curiosity to dis- cover some kind of explanation of facts which are our only clue to the conditions under which they live. But to form any sort of theory worthy of the name by indicating the method of action of these strange manifestations of power is exceedingly difficult. All that can be done as yet is to connect them with the normal experience of life by suppositions which are supported by evidence and in harmony with physical 164 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY laws. The subject bristles with perplexities ; it is not half explored ; and not only so, but another great obstacle to clear understanding is to be found in the usual careless use of language. Thus if it is said that two masses attract each other with a force varying inversely as the square of the distance between them, this may be understood either as a statement that a certain effect is perceptible, or as a theory that the force is resident in and inherent in the said masses. It is often, nay usually, impossible to find out what minds who have never trained themselves to accuracy of thought and diction really do mean, and when dealing with disembodied minds equally untrained, acting through it may be still more ignorant mediums, it is yet more difficult to get at the idea under the forms in which it is cloaked. The same difficulty obscures the specula- tions of antiquity. Thus when Thales asserts that all bodies are compounded of earth, water, and air, the ideas present to his mind were probably not of chemical composition, of which he knew nothing, but of the solid, liquid, and gaseous states for which he uses these words as ideograms, and he probably meant that all matter could exist under these forms. In dealing with transcendental subjects it is most important to use words in their strict sense only, and some education in exact physics is essential to any comprehension of that which lies beyond. We must proceed from the known to the unknown, from the physical to the psychic, and too much care can- not be taken to discriminate between facts and in- ferences. The general reader may at once abandon MATTER AND ETHER 165 any hope of being able to apprehend the true nature of the phenomena so long as he is unable to realise that, by whatsoever chemical or mechanical devices, it is entirely beyond human power to call into exist- ence the smallest particle of matter or the minutest amount of force. All that man can do is to change the form in which either is manifest, and though this may involve the one becoming impalpable and in- visible and the other quiescent, neither can be created nor destroyed. For instance, when a paper is burned, all that is really destroyed is the visible material form. The substance of the paper may, if the heat is sufficient, be entirely converted into invisible vapour and gas : its constituent elements having passed into the gaseous state, their form is changed. But they are not destroyed. Similarly with the forces of cohesion and chemical affinity which held the paper together; they have been converted into heat or are still resident in the products of combus- tion, but they have not been annihilated any more than the matter has been annihilated. So when motion is arrested, that motion is con- verted into heat, whether it be the motion of a railway-train, where the quantity of motion is so large as to show visible sparks under the braked wheels, or that of a fly impinging on the window- pane — the amount of heat generated is exactly equi- valent to the amount of motion arrested. These facts are summed up in the Law of Conser- vation of Energy. Energy is power of doing work, of altering the state of anything in nature. A weight raised has work stored up in it; so has a heated 166 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY object, or one charged with electricity or magnetism. Force, in its relation to external matter, is energy in process of transfer ; it is that which does work, and the measure of any force is the rate at which the work is done or tends to be done, the rate at which the weight is lifted, the boiler heated, or the elec- tricity produced. cThe Law of the Conservation of Energy declares that no force is ever destroyed ; it is merely transformed into another kind^} Thus water in a reservoir may turn a wheel, which may run a dynamo furnishing electricity, which may be put to various uses to supply light, heat, power to run machinery, chemical force for electro-plating, and so on, but there will always be a quite definite amount of electricity consumed corresponding to the definite amount of heat, light, magnetism, or chemical energy produced. This truth of the Conservation of Energy must be thoroughly understood before any intelli-*> gent view of psychic or of physical phenomena can be gained. When a well-known face appears in the air and vanishes, this looks like a creation and disappearance of matter, but is not necessarily so any more than the formation of rain and snow from invisible water vapour. When a heavy object is raised or some other phenomenon occurs involving motion without any apparent means of its communication to the thing moved, energy is expended which must come from somewhere.^ But there is no ground to assume ^ The profound exhaustion of the medium after many physical phenomena certainly seems to point to him as the source of much, if not all, of the energy expended. Where the matter of " materiali- MATTER AND ETHER 167 that, because the source of the energy is unknown, it is contrary to nature or that it is unknowable. Here, as always, the method of knowledge is experiment, and the patient examination of the phenomena will assuredly put the clue in our hands. 2. There is one preliminary generalisation whiclr| can be accepted as a guide with a high degree of/ certitude. It is called the Principle of Continuity. This is not easy to explain, for it is not, like the Law of the Conservation of Energy, one that can be proved experimentally, but is rather that universal experi- ence of mankind upon which the value of all experi- ment depends, the constant fact that precisely similar effects follow precisely similar causes, and that each effect has a necessary and proximate cause in actual contact with the result. y* The whole of human knowledge, both exact 'and practical, depends on this being true. If, for instance, any possible reaction of the hydrocarbons which form the bulk of our food could produce arsenic, no case of poisoning could ever be proved. If metals pre- pared from the same ore with equal care by the same process turned out sometimes pure and some- times alloyed, commerce and engineering would be hardly possible. The principle that the same causes always produce and are necessary to the same effects is one which, though the vast sweep of its general application is sation " comes from it is less easy to infer. For some astounding descriptions, and the obvious inference from them, the curious reader may refer to " There is no Death," by Florence Marryat (Mrs. Ross-Church), p. 112, 5th edit. ; Griffith, Farrau, & Co. 168 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY not easy to grasp, is nevertheless so fundamental to human intuition as to be universally believed, and (unlike other " beliefs ") it fulfils the only criterion of genuineness, it is universally acted upon. The Principle of Continuity may be illustrated by any phenomenon soever. Thus, to take the instance of a town lit by the little glow-lamps now in general use. The filament of carbon in the lamps is raised to a high temperature by reason of its resistance to the passage of the electric ''current," resistance always causing the arrested electricity to be converted into heat. The electricity comes from the motion of a steam-engine ; the steam-engine derives its motion from the expansion of water into steam by heat ; this heat is transformed chemical energy due to the com- bination of the carbon and gases of the coal with air ; the coal derived this locked-up store of chemical energy from the sun which shone on the forests in the morning of the world ; and the sun derived its energy from, let us say, the falling together of cosmic masses of whose previous history practically nothing is known. But a history it is certain there is, and each event in the chain is strictly continuous to and dependent on those that precede it, both as to quantity and nature of the effect produced. Now it will be seen how this generalisation under- lies the Law of the Conservation of Energy. It is the statement of energy as a real thing flowing through the universe of matter. For every step can be traced by which the solar heat and light reappear in the lamps. It is true that not all of it so reappears. If the coal could have the whole of its heat applied MATTER AND ETHER 169 to the water in the boiler, none being lost in hot smoke and radiation; if the steam could be recon- verted into cold water by giving up all its motion to the engine; if the engine and dynamo had no friction; and if the wires had no resistance to the electric current, then the whole of the solar energy stored up thousands of years ago would be converted into light and heat in the electric lamps. As it is, most of the energy is wasted at each step, but this waste in no way affects the principle that each event in the chain of production is exactly referable, both as to kind and quantity, to that which went before. This includes the losses ; for at each step the amount of loss can be accurately measured, and the sum makes up the exact equivalent of the chemical energy of the coal. In each of the phenomena the proximate cause ^an be stated both quantitatively and qualitatively.^ T 3. A study of physics, however, soon reveals the fact that it is not among visible effects that continuity is to be looked for, but only among causes. When limpid solutions of, say, chloride of sodium and nitrate of silver are mixed, and a heavy white solid is produced from the two clear liquids, this is an event which to sense is not continuous to the pre-existing forms ; or when a large sun-spot is reported from the observatory, whose instruments show it as an out- ^ It may here be observed how crude are the physical methods on which the twentieth century plumes itself — that our best engines can only convert into motion about 30 per cent, of the energy of their fuel, and of this motion about 70 per cent, is wasted in the coils of the dynamo, in friction, as well as in heating the leads and the lamps themselves, the light-vibrations being a bare 5 per cent, of the total power. 170 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY burst of glowing gas compared to which earth's wildest cyclones are gentle zephyrs, and all the telegraphic instruments of three continents are con- vulsed in magnetic sympathy, these look much like breaches of continuity and actions at a distance. But the chemist knows that the appearance of the precipitate is strictly continuous to the two facts, that silver has a stronger affinity for chlorine than for nitric acid, and that chloride of silver is insoluble ; and in the light of the physical discoveries of the last thirty years, anticipated by the insight of the despised mystics from the earliest times,^ there can be no doubt in any trained mind that if the ether were absent which places sun and planets in con- tact as surely as by an iron bar, no effect would be produced on earth by any solar changes. Care is also necessary to avoid associating continuity with duration. The explosion of the charge in a can- non and the flash of light when the shot strikes an armour-plate are brief experiences, but the one is strictly continuous to the chemical affinities locked up in the powder, and the other to the energy of motion arrested. Mere duration has nothing to do with continuity or discontinuity, which deals with the 1 "Khandogya Upanishad," vi. 2, 3: " That which is the begin- ning, one only without a second, thought — May I be many, may I grow forth. It sent forth Fire (Terras)," elsewhere explained as Ether {dkdsa)^ of which fire is the manifestation. There are many / such allusions. Jung Stilling, half a century before Eeichenbach I and Rumford, and a hundred years before Grove and Thomson, \ says : — " Light, electricity, magnetism, galvanic matter, and ether i appear to be all one and the same body under different modifications. CThis light or ether is the element which connects spirit and body, and the spiritual and material worlds, together." So also Bohme. MATTER AND ETHER 171 chain of causes alone, and the suddenness or unex- pectedness of any appearance, whether of a precipitate, of a magnetic storm, or of a visitant from the unseen, is no evidence of a breach of continuity. The overwhelming weight of evidence leads to the conclusion that action at a distance without a transmitting medium is impossible. All the positive testimony of the centuries points one way, and if we consider the general human inability to conceive of the transmission of motion from one body to another ^ without a transmitting medium in contact with both, and are firmly resolved that belief shall follow evi- dence, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that in all cases of seeming action at a distance, whether of gravity, electricity, magnetism, mesmerism, or will-power, the medium for the -transmission of the energy will sooner or later be found, and with it the proximate cause of the phenomena.^ The converse of this view is magic, which involves ^ It should be borne in mind that all influence is motion, whether of the molecules or of the mass. ^ It is not to be forgotten that the whole of this argument rests l/ft^\j^ j^/l on the assumption that there is no interruption in that orderly ^ \ succession of phenomena or their causes which are termed laws "^^^ (K U^'^-^' of nature. This position has been attacked by demonstrating the fallibility of induction, and Babbage's machine has been brought in to show a change of law after a vast cycle of phenomena. But the conclusion reached cannot be upset by any proof that the law may change for aught we know to the contrary, but only by the clearest proof that it does change. The conclusion can only be defeated by showing one undoubted fact necessarily involving a suspension of law ; but this demonstration has never been given. We seem here perilously near the old abyss of miracle as infraction of law instead of miracle as fact due to unknown or spiritual causes ; but the difference between the two is just this, that the one gives a foot- hold to reason and the other does not. 172 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY the paralysis of reason by shutting the door on any attempt to explain either method or purpose of action. This is the ready explanation of the savage (both primitive and civilised) for every effect whose cause is to him inconceivable, and the "explanation" is always announced as final; the thing is either the fiat of God or the machination of the devil, as suits best with the prejudice of the speaker. This " explanation " is beyond reasoning with ; it does not deal in causes; and the idea that charms and incantations can find gold, confer health, foretell the future, and blast enemies ; or that rites, observances, and beliefs can remove sins and dispel evils, or, in a word, can produce results without strictly causing them, belong one and all to the magical category, and denote that temper which, having parted with the criterion of truth, can no longer tell what to believe or to disbelieve, and actually fears the in- fliction of the most terrible penalties by the Divine Father for the use of man's honest reason. Even here, however, human nature has asserted itself, and given an explanation of magic by the intervention of " genii," " devils," " fairies," or such-like, a hypo- thesis that mixes up true and false and makes confusion worse confounded. Rejecting, then, the no-reason involved in the supposition of final action without a means of trans- mission of power, and that of energy created for the occasion, and holding to the evidence of the senses that the phenomena detailed in Part I. actually do occur, we must look for the channel of the power displayed, not merely for the intelligent cause one MATTER AND ETHER 173 step removed, but for the naethod whereby these act on our senses. No one can be long in contact with these things without perceiving the close analogy that exists between many of them and the hypnotic facts re- cently established, as well as between these latter and electric and magnetic effects ; while the intimate part played by heat and light in some of the mani- festations has already been glanced at. This suggests the possibility at least that all these things are con- nected by some common mode or modes of action, and also makes it clear why any attempt to under- stand the problems involved must be preceded by some knowledge of the four great forms of energy known as heat, light, electricity, and magnetism, and of the medium by which they act. What this medium is we shall now endeavour to show. 4. To begin with, it is not matter, if this be defined as that which is separable into the ordinary chemical elements. Experiment shows that all objects in nature, except metals and such others as are already elements, can be split up into other constituents, known as elements, which are thirteen in number, or, including metals, about seventy.^ All these, be- 1 Edward Frankland, D.C.L., F.R.S., "Lecture Notes for Chemical Students." Weight is not included, because, though it appears to be inherent in the masses weighed, this is by no means necessarily the case. Weight is the force with which a given mass is attracted earthwards. In the complete absence of any other matter in the universe one body would have no weight, but it would still have mass ; so that weight is a relation between two or more bodies, not a property of one alone. It is the measure of mass at the surface of the earth, and is hence commonly used as the equivalent of mass, but when we buy a pound of butter we 174 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY sides the properties that distinguish one from another, have certain properties in common — extension (or mass), viscosity, colour, chemical combining power, and atomicity, irrespective of whether they be solids, liquids, or gases at ordinary temperatures and pressures. The common properties above named are distinc- tive of the elements as being matter, and are there- fore shared by their compounds also. Some, such as certain gases, are spoken of as being colourless, but this only means in small quantities ; all matter has some colour, though it may be very little, just as the thinnest hydrogen has some viscosity. Every one of the elements and every compound, that is to say, all matter, has these properties. But with heat, light, electricity, and magnetism we enter on quite a new order of things. These are unmistakably real, but they have none of the properties by which matter is defined, except per- haps extension and inertia. They are not, like the elements, inconvertible, but can readily be changed into one another. They cannot be isolated ; heat without any hot object or magnetism without any magnetic one are unknown. They have therefore been thought of as mere properties of matter, but this will not quite do, for they come through inter- planetary space, where no matter is. They permeate matter freely in most cases, but when they do (and all matter is transparent to one or other of them) ^ don't want as much as will exert a certain attraction, but a given mass or quantity thereof. 1 Thus glass, though allowing electric radiation to pass through MATTER AND ETHER 175 its mass and weight are unaffected ; a hot pound of iron weighs neither more nor less than the same mass cold, and the same is true if it be charged with magnetism or electricity. They can and do occupy the same space at the same time, and are not excluded by the densest substances. The in- fluence of matter extends only as far as its own boundary planes, but heat and its cognates radiate in all directions. Neither are they stopped by the most perfect vacua, which some of them pervade as freely as they do ordinary matter, a fact which can be proved either in the laboratory in miniature or seen in nature on the grandest scale, for it is well known that at quite a small distance from the earth there is less air than in the most perfect vacuum that can be made; and heat, light, mag- netism, and perhaps electricity pass freely from the sun to the earth.i it, is opaque to electricity itself, but transparent to light and heat ; all metals are opaque to light and transparent to electricity ; almost all substances are transparent to magnetism ; while others, such as rock-salt, are almost opaque to heat while transparent to light. Tourmaline is the oddest of all, for it allows only half the light to pass, those vibrations which are in one plane only, stopping all the transverse waves. 1 This is not to say that these agents pass from the sun to the earth as such. Light is invisible except in conjunction with matter, perhaps except with solid matter. If any one doubts this, let him bore a hole in the shutter of a darkened room, so that a beam of sunlight may stream through. The light will then be seen by the dust in the ray. Now hold the smokeless flame of a spirit-lamp in the ray, and dense clouds of apparently black smoke will be seen. These are due to the burning up of the motes in the beam, leaving nothing to reflect the light, and therefore producing Nature's deepest black. So "spirits" tell us that the interstellar spaces would be to our senses cold and dark. It is quite possible that 176 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY As the first two certainly, and the second two probably, are vibratory in their nature, and as action at a distance without a connecting medium has been ruled out of court as magical, it must be inferred that all space is filled by some medium closely related to these four forms of energy. This hypo- thetical substance is called the Ether. That it is frictionless is evident from the unretarded motion of the planets in it, but it has inertia or something like it, because, among other reasons, to start a current of electricity requires some (though a very little) time. The same conclusion, that there exists an ethereal medium which transmits heat and light, is arrived at by another series of facts. Light is a vibration in two planes, as is revealed by the polariscope, and a ray may be represented in section by a Greek cross +, of which the horizontal and vertical lines are each one plane of vibration. This double vibra- tion is transmitted through the atmosphere and through interplanetary space alike at the unrealis- able speed of 185,000 miles per second.^ No material the energy streaming from the sun may be converted into the forms under which we know it at contact with the surroundings of earth, and that every one of these forms of energy is, like gravity, of the nature of an interaction. 1 3 X 10^° centimetres per second, as accurately as can be mea- sured (Fizeau, Michelson). These experiments were in air; that the same speed prevails in space is known from the observations on Jupiter's satellites, by comparing the real and the visible times of occultation. The only action that seems instantaneous is that of gravity, for this seems to act even at planetary distances and velocities just as if the attracted body were at rest, the greatest speed in no way diminishing the accelerative pull. MATTER AND ETHER 177 substance is found able to transmit vibration at anything like this speed, and there are absolute mathematical reasons why it is impossible that it should do so. Also, no fluid can transmit cross vibrations at all ; it can transmit motion in parallel planes, but not in two planes at right angles. To do this a substance having a certain rigidity is required. There must therefore be something other than matter which brings the solar and stellar light ; and the existence of transparent matter of all kinds, solid and gaseous, in which light travels at near the normal speed, shows (1) that all transparent substances must be freely interpenetrated by the ether, for this ether within them is alone capable of carrying the light, and not the molecules of the glass or other substance within which the light is carried ; and (2) that the ether must possess a certain rigidity. This rigidity has been calculated by Lord Kelvin as about one 9,000,000,000th part of the rigidity of hard steel. We are forced therefore to the conclusion that to be transparent to light a substance must be interpenetrated by the light-carrying agent, and as light is convertible into heat, magnetism, &c., this applies equally to substances called opaque. Let us then think of the ether as ''of a con- tinuous frictionless jelly possessing both inertia and rigidity." " We have to try and realise the idea of a perfectly continuous, subtle, incompressible substance pervading all space and penetrating between the molecules of ordinary matter, which are embedded in it and connected to one another by its means. And we must regard it as the one universal medium M 178 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY by which all actions between bodies are carried on. This then is its function — to act as the transmitter of motion and energy." ^ 5. Yet another chain of experiment and reasoning leads to a similar result. Speculation has from a very early time been busy with the constitution of matter. That matter has a grained structure of not infinitely small dimensions is proved by the separa- tion of white light into its constituent colours when refracted through a prism (for if homogeneous all wave-lengths would be equally affected), by the phe- nomena of capillarity, and by those of contact elec- tricity. ^ The atom is a logical necessity, for finding experimentally that water, for instance, consists of oxygen and hydrogen, if we could take a drop of water and continuously halve it, a limit must be reached (grained structure being proved), when the next division would separate it into its component parts ; that is, when the smallest possible mass which is yet water has been reached ; and there is ample experimental proof that the elements have a definite though very small unit of chemical combina- tion, which is called the atomic weight. The early conception of the atom (Democritus, circ. B.C. 400, and Lucretius, B.C. 99-55) was that of a hard grain, round or variously shaped ; and this has more or less kept its ground till lately, in spite of the obvious difficulty that the only limit to the possible division of such atoms must be the theoretical deli- 1 Professor Oliver Lodge, " Modern Views of Electricity," p. 339 ; London, 1889. 2 Professor P. G. Tait, " Unseen Universe," p. 138 ; London, 1884. MATTER AND ETHER 179 cacy and power of the supposed dividing instrument, for there can be nothing so hard or so small as not to be divisible by suitable means. In other words, the hard atom of finite size yet indivisible is a breach of continuity. But in recent years the researches of Sir William Thomson (the late Lord Kelvin) and James Clerk Maxwell have proved that the atom has inter- nal motion. AVith the Rontgen rays and the epoch- making discoveries of Becquerel and the Curies has come the further proof that the atom is not a simple mass in motion, like a " vortex ring," but a very complex structure whose parts rotate under the action of central forces. From these discoveries a whole series of profoundly interesting experiments have shown conclusively that the motion in the atom is not vortex motion, but much more nearly resembles that of the sun and planets. Air drawn from near a glowing metal is found to contain certain small bodies called "ions" charged with positive or negative electricity. When the temperature of the metal is a yellow heat, and the air round it at normal pressure, these ions are posi- tively charged ; when the temperature is a white heat and the pressure nearly a vacuum, negatively charged ions come away. Both kinds can be filtered out. Now the laws of electrical charge, like those of gravity, are always the same whatever the size of the charged masses ; and applying the mathematical laws two facts come out : — (1) The positive ions have each the same mass and charge as a hydrogen atom. 180 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY (2) The negative ions have but a thousandth part of this mass, but have the same charge. Applying the electrical law which connects mass and speed, the mass of these " electrons " or units of negative electricity is found to be yrfsi gi'^ms, and their speed 10,000 to 90,000 miles per second. Now these facts point to an altogether new theory of the constitution of matter ; namely, that the atom is a sphere or shell of positive electricity within which, or possibly outside which, groups of electrons, in varying numbers for each kind of element, revolve with planetary velocities under electrical attractions and repulsions. It would be impossible here to give even a small part of the facts in chemistry, astronomy, and physics of which this "electro-tonic theory" of matter gives satis- factory explanations ; those who would seek further should refer to the book named below, ^ to which I acknowledge my obligations. Let it suffice to say that though the theory has of course no claim to finality, but is rather a new starting point, it fulfils all the requisites of a sound theory in that it explains much that has hitherto been unexplained. At the begin- fv\^v.. ning of the nineteenth century Dalton discovered the atom, and the discovery gave birth to modern chemistry, " the grammar of the physical sciences " : the twentieth century opens with the discovery of the electron and the prospect of release of the inter-atomic energy accumulated within the atom during the millions of years of the evolution of the chemical 1 " The New Knowledge," R. K. Duncan. Hodder & Stoughton. MATTER AND ETHER 181 elements. In comparison with this vast source of energy steam is a child's toy. May we hope that the discovery how to release this stupendous power will be delayed till men have reached so much spiritual development as will cause them to use it to maintain life and not to destroy it ; to strengthen the many and not to enrich the few. The atom then, besides being chemically the smallest amount of matter which can enter into combination, is physically a fixed form : fixed by rapid internal motion just as the solar system is a fixed form, a physical atom. 6. But strange and fantastic as these explora- tions of science will seem to those who are accustomed to regard matter as a final fact and its properties as inherent, still more remains behind. Light is found to travel more slowly in denser substances than in less dense. It travels more slowly in water than in air, and more slowly in glass than in water, though its speed in glass is far in excess of anything the A - glass itself could transmit. Not only so, but whereas light of different colours (i.e. different wave-lengths) seems to be transmitted through the free ether of space at the same speed, this is not the case with re- gard to its travel in dense bodies like glass or water. It has already been shown that it cannot be the glass or water that transmits light, but the ether within them, so that the facts above noted show that the ether within these bodies is somehow in a different state to that outside. It must certainly be less rigid than free ether or more dense. Fresnel thinks the latter, and that distinguished physicist has put 182 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY forward the hypothesis that some of this ether is entangled as it were in the atoms of matter, and is, so to speak, " bound " up with them. That something of the sort is the case is proved by another experiment. If there is actually ether bound up with matter, of course when the latter is moved its " bound " ether must move with it, and the light should be transmitted through the moving matter faster or sloAver as the mass is receding from or approaching the source of light; in fact, light, like sound, should move faster with a stream than against it. With water Fizeau proved experi- mentally that this is, in fact, the case; light does, in fact, travel faster with a stream than against it. This experiment has been repeated by Michelson with the same result, proving that the ether in- side matter is actually in a different state to that outside.^ The phenomena of colour, otherwise inexplicable, are elucidated in the same way, and tend to prove the existence of bound ether. Coloured light, as is well known, consists of vibrations or waves ranging from 4 X 10^* vibrations per second (red) to 7 x lO^* vibrations per second (violet). There are others both faster and slower, which the photographic plate can register but not the eye, and as these colour-waves travel faster or slower through bound ether according as they are short or long {i.e. more or less of them 1 Professor Lodge, " Modern Views of Electricity," to which the reader is referred for very interesting details on this most interesting subject, and to which the above paragraphs are largely indebted. MATTER AND ETHER 183 per inch), they can be sorted out by this property. A prism of glass is in effect a prism of bound ether, which, retarding the short waves more than the long ones, and therefore bending them more out of their course, separates the colours. When a ray of light falls on such a prism, its different wave-lengths are sorted out as shown in the rainbow. What is it that causes these differences of wave-length in the ether ? Simply this, that every elementary atom has its own particular period or frequency of vibration, just as each tuning-fork has its own tone. The vibrating atom communicates its vibrations to the free ether outside, and a minute ray of coloured light is the result. The more of the substance the greater the amount of colour. From the sun all wave-lengths arrive together, producing the sensation of white light. Colour in external objects is simply their power of reflecting the particular rays to which they are attuned, so to speak, just as each one of an octave of tuning-forks will take up its own note out of a chord sounded on an organ. All these phenomena tend to show the existence of a universal ethereal substance, which under one per- manent modification is the cause of matter itself, and under transient modifications, of its accidental properties. 7. The view that is gaining ground among scientific men is, then, somewhat as follows : — The origin of matter is not by creation ex nihilo, but by evolution ; by the action of unknown force on pre-existing sub- stance. This substance is not broken or interrupted by masses of matter, but pervades them, and is, com- 184 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY pared to matter, vastly more fine-grained. It is not a fluid properly so called, because it has rigidity. It is like a perfect fluid in being Motionless, like a solid in being somewhat rigid, like a gas in being exceed- ingly penetrable. Thus it combines some of the pro- perties of solid, liquid, and gaseous substances. It has been compared to an elastic jelly devoid of friction, and this perhaps conveys as fair an idea as possible, but no analogy can be at all complete, for until impressed with revolving motion, it differs from matter suo genere and belongs to quite another order of existence. Portions of this ether have, it is not known how, been impressed with rotary motion, and are now atoms of diverse sorts and sizes composed of + electricity and — electrons, and of these all material objects are built up. In them are entangled other portions of ether, to which other observed properties of masses of matter are due, and by means of all these properties the universe becomes perceptible to human senses. Yet other portions of this substance round about the earth and planets are in simple vibratory motion carrying energy radiated from the sun, which energy is manifested as heat, light, elec- tricity, and magnetism. Ether is the medium or carrier of all energy in and to matter. There can be no doubt that the properties of the ether are of a very high order, and comprehend much for which matter has no analogues ; and as we are now in face of a new order of existence, there can be no reason to suppose that as a whole it must be less complex and its variations fewer than those of the small part MATTER AND ETHER 185 of it that is differentiated from the rest by rotary motion and by us called " matter." It is impossible to do justice to the whole weight of evidence for the existence of the ether in the very brief sketch here given. The nature of proof for an alleged unseen entity must always be cumulative, and a theory must be tested by the number of facts which it sets in order and explains. Suffice it to say that the foremost minds in the ranks of science per- ceive that this theory introduces order and method among very diverse phenomena ; that there is every reason to believe that the electricity is but one mode or vibration of the ether; that light is the same vibration but of a different wave-length, heat another, and magnetism yet another ; that the only hopeful attempt at an explanation of gravity runs on the same lines, and that the hypothesis perceived as necessary by Newton,^ that master-mind, whose in- ^ Newton, in his Queries appended to the " Opticks," says: — " Qu. 18. If in two tall cylindrical vessels of glass inverted, two little thermometers be suspended so as not to touch the vessels, and the air be drawn out of one of these vessels, and these vessels be carried out of a cold place into a warm one, the thermometer in vacuo will grow warm as much and almost as soon as the ther- mometer that is not in vacuo. Is not the heat of the warm room conveyed through the vacuum by the vibrations of a much subtiler medium than air, which, after the air was drawn out, remained in the vacuum ? And is not this medium the same with that medium by which light is refracted and reflected, and by whose vibrations light communicates heat to bodies ...?... And is not this medium exceedingly more rare and subtile than air, and exceed- ingly more elastick and active 1 And doth it not readily pervade all bodies ? And is it not (by its elastick force) expanded through all the heavens 1 " Qm. 21. And in passing from them (the planetary bodies) to 186 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY sight almost amounted to revelation, has justified itself more and more, standing the tests of two cen- turies of unparalleled progress in physical science, till it is now the received solution of many problems, and, like the Copernican theory in the past, it is daily receiving confirmation from fresh facts un- known at the time of its inception, and is more and more seen to be a necessary consequence of the principle of continuity. We stand to-day in this position : — That Science, though not as yet fully and unreservedly accepting the views of the constitution of matter above set forth, has nevertheless passed the boundaries of materialism and admitted the high probability that matter is a dual entity compact of invisible intangible substance and differentiating force, and that to this great distances doth it not grow denser and denser perpetually, and thereby cause the gravity of those great bodies towards one another, and of the parts towards the bodies ; every body endeavouring to go from the denser parts of the medium towards the rarer ? And though the increase of density may at great distances be exceeding slow, yet if the elastick force (pressure) of the medium be exceed- ing great, it may suffice to impel bodies from the denser parts of the medium towards the rarer with all the power which we call gravity. " Qu. 22. May not planets and comets and all gross bodies per- form their motions more freely and with less resistance in this sethereal medium than in any fluid ...?... And may not its resistance be so small as to be inconsiderable ? For instance, if this JEther, for so I will call it, should be supposed 700,000 times more elastick than our air, and above 700,000 times more rare, its resistance would be (300,000,000 times less than that of water. And so small a resistance would scarce make a sensible alteration in the motions of the planets in ten thousand years." Latin edition of the " Opticks." Abridged from the quotations of Professor Lodge. MATTER AND ETHER 187 latter it owes all properties whereby it is apparent to the senses.^ This amounts to no less than an admission of the soul of matter, for it means that the whole physical universe is conditioned by, and draws its law from, an unseen universe which is not matter, nor evident to the senses of the material body. If this can be soberly claimed for inanimate things, is it an absurd demand for the animate ? 8. Simultaneously with the advances on the physical side above glanced at, a great series of ex- periments have been made from the psychologic or biologic side ; and after being ridiculed for half a century, mesmerism has, under the new name of hypnotism, passed into the region of accepted fact. As yet, indeed, medical men hesitate to do more than classify their observations in this new field, partly from laudable scientific caution, partly iVom inbred 1 The net result of seemingly conclusive experiments is that to ethereal vibrations or wave-lengths of •000012 to -000016 inch are due chemical energy. •000016 to -000030 „ „ light. ? to -000120 „ ,, radiant heat. ? to yards and miles ,, electricity. If these results are correct, the whole problem of the transformation of energy works down to this : — Given ethereal wave-lengths of one kind, to transform them without loss into another kind, and when that problem is completely solved energy will be convertible into dark heat, cold light, electricity, or motion, without any portion being simultaneously converted into any of these but the one which it is desired to produce. In the living organism these transformations do actually occur ; cold light, for instance, is produced by many insects, and is sup- pressed at will, and in the electric eel electricity is similarly produced directly. This would explain, too, why all energy is necessarily interconvertible. 188 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY materialism and reluctance to admit soul (mind) as a real substance and as the source of both growth and healing. This seems to arise in great part from a misconception similar to that of the Ptolemaic days. As it was then assumed that the earth and the heavens were in some way antithetical and not part of one great universe of matter, so it is now assumed that mind and matter are in some way antithetical and not parts of one great universe of substance. The phenomena of hypnotism have been studied with every scientific care to secure reliable results, and all the particulars which follow may be taken as thoroughly substantiated. The hypnotic states, their causes and symptoms, are classified by medical men as follows : ^ — 1. The first stage, the Lethargic. Under sensorial excitement, fixed attention and gaze at one object, by heat, by a steel magnet, or by the mesmeric pass, there is produced a series of symptoms of which the lethargic is ordinarily the first. The eyes of the patient are closed, the face is expressionless, the body relaxed, the limbs flaccid. The mind is dormant, the patient in no way responds to spoken suggestion, the blood-vessels are dilated, and the apparent volume of the body increases. A steel magnet held a little way from a nerve or muscle excites it locally, so also does friction or heat. 2. The second stage is the Cataleptic. This may be produced by continuing the mesmeric pass, by opening the eyes of the lethargic subject to the light, 1 " Animal Magnetism," Drs. Binet and Fere, Triibner's Scientific Series. MATTER AND ETHER 189 or by the application of a steel magnet to the epi- gastric region. The subject is now open to " sugges- tion " by the magnetiser, the brain is partially awake, but the personality is in abeyance, he thinks and acts at the will of the operator, he is insensible to pain, so that a surgical operation can be performed on him unfelt. His limbs will remain for a long time rigid in any position in which they may be placed, the ex- tended arm taking a quarter of an hour or so to drop to the side.^ This rigidity may be ended by verbal suggestion, or by a gentle electric current applied to the limb. Catalepsy may be limited to the right or the left half of the body, and in such cases the application of a steel magnet transfers the catalepsy from the right to the left half or vice versa. Cata- leptic patients are exceedingly open to suggestion; not only will they then and there obey the mes- meriser, but an action can be suggested to them to be done after awakening, in some cases as much as six months after : though unconscious of the sugges- tion, they will, when the time comes, perform the act. Not only mental but physical effects can be produced by suggestion, stigmata, a blister, cutaneous eruptions, &c., being produced under the hallucination, his body taking the form of his mental conviction.^ If the 1 It is sometimes asserted by those who have never performed these experiments that simulation plays a considerable part in them. Those who think this explanation of the cataleptic state a plausible one may be invited to stand with an extended arm for a quarter of an hour. Two sets of sphygmographic tracings taken by Drs. Binet and Fere of a true and a simulated cataleptic may be compared. 2 If the cause of variation is really psychical, and proceeds from 190 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY cataleptic patient is left alone the phase passes off in sleep. 3. Somnambulism is the name given to the third stage. It is not readily producible in all subjects. In those who are susceptible it is produced by con- tinuing the passes, rubbing the scalp, or breathing on the cataleptic subject. He becomes exceedingly sensitive to impressions of all kinds except those of colour. Sight, hearing, and touch are greatly quickened, and he may continue either quietly sitting with closed eyes, or arise and walk about showing no outward symptoms of hypnosis, but in either case still under the power of the operator. He can, however, resist suggestion to a certain extent (which varies with different subjects), and can justify and invent reasons for an action, criminal or other- wise, done under suggestion. Memory is greatly quickened, the patient remembering not only his past life, but also previous mesmeric sleeps and their events, but on awakening he is entirely oblivious of all that took place while under influence. Occasionally the mind of the somnambule escapes from the control of the mesmerist, and passes into conditions which the Paris school regards as abnormal to the hypnotic state, but which appear to be simply clairvoyance, when the bodily senses are in abeyance and are superseded by the soul-senses for a while. The doctors, while setting aside this latter condition for further study, freely admit that the three states the unconscious mind, and if in hypnotic trance that mind is teach- able, with all its power to modify body, a most interesting line of experiment seems indicated. MATTER AND ETHER 191 above described cover only a part of the phenomena observable. Hypnosis in all grades is facilitated by repetition, and a peculiar physical liking for the magnetiser is a frequent accompaniment of repeated mesmerising.^ 9. These are well-established facts. It will have been noticed that electricity, heat, magnetism, and light are all definitely connected with the production, change, and removal of the states, and remember- ing that these are now demonstrated to be forms of the ether, there is every reason to think that the mechanism of these so-called occult phenomena will be revealed when the nature of that substance is better understood. To say that hypnosis is merely a state of torpor induced by fatigue of a nerve-centre does not cover enough of the facts to warrant its being called a theory. The magnetic action of one person on another may be illustrated as follows : — An ordinary unmagnetised steel bar can be shown (as may be seen in any text- ^ Enough has been said to show any intelligent person the danger of submitting to casual experiments in willing and hypnotism. If all persons were healthy and strong-willed this danger would per- haps be but slight, for resolution, a mental refusal to surrender the will, or the entering upon a train of thought, can, so far as I am aware, always prevent the influence being established. But weakness of will and want of principle are themselves diseases of the present time shown by the prevalence of neurosis and hysteria, and in the case of the sensitive organism of even a healthy woman the harm done may be incalculable, for it is quite unknown to what extent suggestion may be transmitted or how long it may last. The irregular practice of hypnotism has already been made penal in France and Belgium. Enlightened public opinion and a knowledge of the possibilities of its misuse must be our safeguard in England for the present. 192 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY book on magnetism) as consisting of particles which are already magnets. In the unmagnetised bar all those molecules face at random and very little or no magnetic effect is apparent. But by stroking the bar with an already formed magnet it becomes magnetised (more or less according to its con- stitution), the magnetic particles now face round one way, and if the bar is perfectly magnetised all contribute to the same result. Nothing, however, has left the stroking magnet, nor has anything been added to the new magnet, only the forces resident in the latter have been directed. A certain amount of energy has been expended by the operator, but after the experiment the stroking magnet is not weakened. The healing and mesmeric power may be similarly illustrated. It is not intended to assert that the human body is composed of magnetic molecules of the same quality as those of the iron bar, but that the regular polarity of the living body may be similarly shown. The idea it is intended to express is, that in illness the animal magnetism is irregular and self-destructive, whereas in health it is regular and co-operant ; and just as the degree of magnetism communicated to the steel bar depended both on its quality and on the power of the stroking magnet, so the human subject whose magnetism is ill dis- tributed will be more or less affected by the healing power of the mesmerist according to the energy of the operator and his own receptivity. It must be once more repeated that this is but an analogy drawn in order to show that mesmeric MATTER AND ETHER 193 healing may be as strictly a natural process as the magnetisation of a steel bar: it is not meant to assert that the two processes are identical or that the illustration is an exact representation of the facts, though it is strikingly borne out by the healing effects; and it is noteworthy that sickness in the operator renders him a useless instrument, just as no magnetism can be regularised by steel which is not already itself magnetically regular. That the analogy, however, is well founded, and that there is some very close connection between animal and steel magnetism, is shown by such ex- periments as those of Reichenbach, in which the sensitive was able not only to draw aside the compass needle, but also to magnetise a steel bar.^ The same analogy will help towards the under- standing of hypnotic control. For, consider a steel magnet and a simple piece of soft iron in contact. The magnet has, strictly speaking, no attraction for the iron itself, but only for the contained magnetism,^ which it faces round all one way or polarises, thereby turning it for the time into a magnet. It " controls," ^ Vide "Transcendental Physics," transl. C. C. Massey, p. 25. It will be considered retrograde by some to quote Reichenbach, but even at this risk I would be permitted to observe that though conclusions may, at any time, be superseded by fuller knowledge, experiments are not. An effective experiment can never be out of date. 2 That this is so may readily be proved by the fact that one piece of iron of given size may be much more attracted than another of the same bulk. If the attraction were simply pro- portioned to the masses, as in the case of gravity, there would be no reason for this variation, nor for the fact that there is a magnetic saturation point beyond which a piece of steel cannot be magnetised. N 194 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY in fact, the magnetism (" soul ") in the iron, and every variation in the strength and quality of the polaris- ing magnet is faithfully reproduced in the secondary iron. Now if thought be an ethereal disturbance propagated in or by the animal magnetism, the similar polarisation of two organisms might go far to explain the transfer of thought between them ; though, again, it is not to be imagined that any simple inorganic material like iron or steel can reproduce the complex conditions of an animate body. As an illustration it will serve, though the actual detail of what does occur can only be reached by long and careful experiment and much sifting of results; and, as has been mentioned before, there is reason to suppose that the modifications of ether are fewer or simpler than those of matter which make up the varied world presented to our senses. This possibility becomes highly probable when we remember that what we call our senses are simply the report of nerves correlated to certain vibrations, and that many vibrations are known to exist of which our senses give no report. Not less striking than the analogy between organic and inorganic magnetism is the resemblance of automatic writing and speaking to the hypnotic facts. This suggests the explanation that both are really similar phenomena, only that, instead of the operator being visible, he is (at least sometimes) in the unseen, and that in all such cases the sensitive is mesmerised, either in part, as when the arm writes automatically independently of the brain, or wholly, as in trance and personating controls, when the MATTER AND ETHER 195 medium speaks in the personality of the controlling spirit, whose " magnetism " causes the changes which the acts and words of the medium involuntarily follow. Similarly, in the cases where phenomena purely automatic are presented, and perceptions of the un- derlying consciousness as precognition, clairvoyance, clairaudience and the like are brought to the surface, it is not unreasonable to infer that the power dis- played is simply that receptive faculty of the soul by which, like the receiving instrument in the wireless telegraph, it gathers up vibrations unper- ceived by the normal consciousness ; and that these soul-senses may be dimly felt by the outer personality when amid the whirl of outer life, it gives itself time to pause for intro- cognition. 10. Let us now turn to "the spirits" themselves for evidence as to their methods of operation, and compare their statements with the results and analogies of experimental science. This has been fully done by "Allan Kardec" in France about 1860, by the method of automatic writing. Many other observers in other countries have obtained similar replies on this head, and it is remarkable, to say the least of it, that explanations widely separated by time and place should be in such close agreement with each other and with physical discoveries then not yet made, and some very little known. The state- ments may be summarised as follows : — The spirits declare that they themselves and all that exists, including soul, spirit, thought, and even emotion, is substantial (in the sense that all that 196 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY is consists necessarily of substance), for substance only can have any attribute or can change its state ; that there is an all-pervading fluid which they liken to electricity ; that this is capable of great variations, and may be more or less akin to material things. It is, they say, the pre-existing substance out of which all matter is formed, and in its normal state it bears the same relation to their present invisible bodies (that is, to soul) as matter does to the animal body, and is one form of that of which animal magnetism is another. It has much higher properties than matter, and, being all-pervading, is used by spirits to move material objects whose "pores" it fills. It can be perceived by faculties which are of the same order as itself, but not by any faculties which belong to the material order, such as bodily sight, hearing, and touch. When a table moves it is not raised by invisible hands, but being permeated by the magnetic influence, is acted upon by a means of which our only physical analogue is electrical or magnetic attraction. Nevertheless, the disembodied cannot,' as a rule, act directly on the fluid in the material object without the addition of an animalised or vitalised variety of the same fluid, drawn from a peculiar organism which can serve as a link between the ethereal operator and the gross matter; this organism is called the medium. This is, no doubt, somewhat obscure. Perhaps what is meant is something of this kind: that the liberated soul can act directly only on another soul, but not on matter, or even on the bound ether within matter, without employing " animal magnetism " MATTER AND ETHER 197 evolved by human bodies, and it is this which the intermediary or medium supplies. The animal mag- netism polarises the ether in the inert matter to be moved, causing attractions and repulsions, and all three, the unseen power, the medium, and the bound ether in the inert body, act together under the im- pulse of the first named. The explanation of materialisation or visible pheno- mena of the 7th class (Chapter I.) is rather more difficult, and has given rise to all kinds of curious speculations, such as " psychoplasm," "nerve spirit," &c. ; that the medium throws off a highly material form of effluvium which is worked up by the " spirits " present into a condition such that they can enter into and animate it for the time being. Various considerations, such as the extreme solidity which some materialisations can, it seems, assume, tell strongly against this notion, but it is noteworthy that the intelligences do speak of drawing somewhat from the medium for such manifestations, that they say that the co-operation of several spirits is generally required, and that they hand on the material whereby they manifest from one to another in order succes- sively to appear under forms visible to ordinary sight. But several experiences are decidedly against this as a final solution. The reader may consult the experiments of Professor Crookes, F.R.S., and the solid materialisation there chronicled, with the pre- cautions taken by the writer to assure himself of the validity of the results. In one case (reported in ' The Medium and Daybreak," December 16, 1892) 198 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY some sitters cut off and retained a piece of the drapery in which one of the forms at the seance were visibly presented. At the conclusion of the sitting a piece of woollen material was found to be missing from the medium's petticoat ! Stay a moment, all scoffers who are about to cry out that here is proof positive of imposture! The garment was of thick striped material, the abstracted portion of the veil was much larger and of thinnest woollen gauze, so that the quantity of stuff in the missing piece and that of the portion cut off from the veil seemed about the same. If the account given is trustworthy (and names, place, and date are fully stated), the facts would seem to show that the material had been actually removed from a very ordinary source and worked up into new form. The remarkable evidence of Mrs. Ross-Church (Florence Marryat) at p. 112 of her book, "There is no Death," as to the actual shrinkage and coma of the medium while materialisations were in progress, would, if substantiated, leave no doubt that in some cases at least matter is actually taken from the medium's body, impossible as this may seem. But this matter is far too important for the evidence of any one witness or of any dozen of witnesses to be considered conclusive, notwithstanding strong conviction of their competence and truthfulness, and much more experimental verification is here required.^ 1 Surprise is often expressed that the spirits' explanation of their methods is so loose and unscientific ; and this is natural till it is remembered that they can generally only use for expression the words and ideas wherewith the medium's brain is stored. Now supposing that there are a hundred well-developed mediums in MATTER AND ETHER 199 Quite as astounding to our present conceptions of the possibilities of matter are the occurrences which have been placed in classes 5, 7, and 9 of Chapter I., and the attempt to explain them at all seems almost hopeless. The only hints of a solution are (1) that the tying of a knot in an open cord would be as im- possible to beings living in two dimensions of space only 1 as the tying of a knot in an endless cord seems to us who live in three dimensions ; and (2) that in purely chemical experiments matter does seem to penetrate other matter, and even to disappear in it.^ England in a population of forty million, and say two thousand persons well versed in physics ; then there would be one medium to four hundred thousand persons, and the probability of his being also a scientific man, already infinitesimally small, is still further reduced by the fact that the large majority of mediums are women. When education deals less with formal instruction and more with things as they are, and the laws of nature and habits of obser- vation and inference are taught to every boy and girl in the land, temperate reasoning on these matters will be more possible than it is now. There is, moreover, no reason at all to assume that dis- embodied spirits have a greater acquaintance with their physics than we embodied spirits have with ours. All experience goes to prove that the change called death confers no scientific knowledge on those that undergo it, but of course this does not invalidate their evidence, which is governed by the same principles as in life. They are reliable witnesses as to their own sense-perceptions though not as to inferences. Therefore their answers may well be as loose and inaccurate as our own. Ask the average man or woman for an explanation of the simplest physical phenomenon, such as rain, and see if the reply is more correct than those of the spirits. Let it be remembered, too, that the one speaks of well-known things, whereas the other speaks of things for which the very words are often wanting in the language of his hearers. 1 See an excellent little book, " Another World," by A. J. Schofield ; Swan, Sonnenschein, & Co., 1888. Also " Throughth," by Mr. W. T. Stead. 2 " Thus the metal sodium is of such a density that 1 gram occupies 1-015 cubic centimetres at ordinary temperature ; the 200 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY / As a circle would appear a perfectly closed space to a being conditioned by two dimensions of space, but seems to us an open one, it is just possible that access to the interior of spaces which seem to us absolutely closed may be due to fourth dimensional powers, which are no more really mysterious than the three dimensional, and do not involve any real interpenetration of matter by matter. It will be subsequently shown that the fourth dimension may possibly be more accurately referl:ed to substance than considered as an axis of measurement in space. Two things are remarkable in Zollner's experiments — (1) That the substance apparently passed through another is heated in the process (which points to arrest of motion of some kind or the breaking down of some resistance) ; and (2) that the concealment from sight cannot apparently last very long. Whether the converse is also true seems more doubtful. In any case, the statement that matter can be created or destroyed, whether for a few seconds or per- manently, is more unbelievable than anything else, and must not be received without absolute mathe- matical proof, all possibility of collection of pre- viously existing matter being rigidly excluded. element oxygen at - 200° C. is of such a density that 1 gram occupies 0*807 c.c. Now these two elements combine in such proportion that 46 grams of sodium occupying 46'7 c.c. unites with 16 grams of oxygen occupying 12*9 c.c. The sum is 59-6 c.c. But 62 grams of the compound occupies only 21*7 c.c. Is not this interpenetra- tion of matter? No less than 37'9 cubic centimetres seem to have disappeared. Pressure will not solve the difficulty, for both the sodium and the liquid oxygen are practically incompressible. So also the phenomena of solubility where both the solvent and the body dissolved are incompressible " (Professor Oliver Lodge). MATTER AND ETHER 201 11. The mental and subjective phenomena are, however, much more intelHgible. The great diffi- culty is the function of the medium, and it is upon this point that light is most required. The first necessity is complete passivity; that the sugges- tion of the unseen will be reflected as in a mirror. Obedience to the guidance is not by any means a condition. The moment a message has been re- ceived it is open to the recipient to exercise his reason upon it, but in order to receive it passivity is a sine qua non. So far from " expectant atten- tion " giving rise to messages, it is often a decided bar to their reception. A better explanation can hardly be given than the following conversation given by a spirit through a writing medium. It is translated from Kardec's second volume (" Livre des Mediums ") : — "Whatever be the nature of a writing medium, whether automatic, semi-automatic, or simply in- tuitive, our method of communication does not essentially vary. In fact, we communicate with spirits incarnate as well as with those properly so called by the radiation of our thought. " Our thoughts do not need the garment of words in order to be understood by spirits, and all souls can perceive the thought which we desire to impress by the mere fact that we are directing that thought towards them,^ and thus perception is in the direct ratio of their intellectual faculties; that is to say, 1 This, as will be seen in the sequel, is a fact of primary importance in after-death relations, causing all of like nature to congregate together. 202 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY that a given thought can be understood by such an one according to his degree of advancement, while to others the thought, awakening no remembrance, no corresponding knowledge in heart or brain, is not perceivable by them. In the present case (that of the part played by the medium) the embodied soul who serves as a medium is more fitted to in- terpret our thought to other embodied souls than could be any soul disembodied and nearer the earth- plane than we are, for the earthly being places his body at our disposal as an instrument, which the wandering soul cannot do. " So, when we find a medium whose brain is fur- nished with knowledge acquired in his present life, and whose soul is rich with anterior knowledge now latent, suitable to facilitate our communications, we make use of such an one by preference, for with him communication is much more easy than with a medium of more limited intelligence whose previous knowledge is more imperfect. . . . With a medium whose active or latent intelligence is well-developed, our thought is communicated in an instant from soul to soul by a faculty proper to the essence of soul itself [i.e. he receives the thought subconsciously and translates it into his own diction]. In such case we find in the brain of the medium the elements suitable to the clothing of our thought in words, and that is so whether the medium be intuitional, semi-automatic, or automatic. For this reason, whatever be the diversity of the spirits who com- municate through a given medium, the matter dictated through him will always bear the stamp MATTER AND ETHER 203 and tinge of his personality although proceeding from different spirits. Even though the thought may be strange to him, though the subject treated of may be outside the usual range of his thoughts, although what we have to say is in no sense origi- nated by him, nevertheless he still influences the form by the qualities and properties which are ap- propriate to his individuality. . . . We are in the position of a composer who, having written or wishing to improvise a melody, has, it may be, a piano, a violin, a flute, a bassoon, or a penny whistle. It is clear that with any of the first three our piece might be executed in a manner comprehensible to the audience ; although the sounds would be dif- ferent in each case, . . . the composition would be essentially the same. "In point of fact, when we have to make use of ignorant mediums our work becomes much longer and harder, because we must have recourse to in- complete forms, must decompose our thoughts, and proceed word by word and letter by letter, which is both wearisome to us and a real obstacle to the rapidity and development of our manifestations. . . . When we wish to proceed automatically we act on the brain, on the unconscious memory of the medium, and collect our materials from those he can furnish us with, and this is done unconsciously to him. . . . But when he himself wishes to interrogate us in a given manner, it is well that he should reflect before- hand in order that he may put his questions methodi- cally and facilitate our replies. For, as you have already been told in a preceding discourse, your 204 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY brain is often in an inextricable disorder, and it is as painful to us as it is difficult to move in the labyrinth of your thoughts. Certainly we could speak mathematically through a medium who seems entirely a stranger to that science ; but often the medium possesses the knowledge in a latent form — that is to say, personally to the ethereal being and not to the material one, because his material body is a refractory or insufficient instrument. It is the same with astronomy, poetry, medicine, and foreign languages, and with all knowledge peculiar to humanity. Finally, we can at need use the trouble- some method of selection of letters and words as type is set up for printing." ^ 12. There is therefore, according to this, a satis- factory reason why no final truths can be communi- cated by spirit-intelligence. However exalted the knowledge of those who originate the message, it can only be received according to the capacity of the instrument, and in language which is at best figurative, for all language is based on the metaphors of matter and sense, and also corresponds to the intellectual level of the persons who use it. Keve- lations, therefore,, are conditioned not only by the communicating spirit, but also by the receiving medium, by the tongue wherein they are written, and by the intellectual level of the nation in which they are given. It is never absolute, and is neces- 1 All Allan Kardec's controls teach or imply reincarnation, of which he makes a special point. This, it need hardly be said, must receive much independent corroboration before it should be accepted. MATTER AND ETHER 205 sarily complicated by imperfection and error. The meaning is conveyed as our terrestrial meanings are conveyed, by word-painting and parable, by metaphor and illustration; words are used accord- ing to their temporary and local value and in such senses as will best convey the idea to the mind of the recipient, and not absolutely, with fixed scien- tific meanings. This is presumably the general law ''for all revelations, whose imperfections manifestly bear it out, and it shows at once that none can ever be plenary or final, it allows for contradictions and errors, and at the same time emphasises the value of the meaning rather than the letter, and preserves the just mean between superstitious reverence on the one hand because of its supramundane origin, and slighting indifference on the other because such revelations do not tell men all they would wish to know. This shows also why all revelations require not only care and trouble for their comprehension, but yet more an intelligent sympathy with the position and surroundings of those who received them. Revelation is a great fact, but it is the result of a purified spiritual perception, not a body of unalter- able truth once for all given to the world, and this clue will be found to make plain and easy the use of the revelations which are recorded in the sacred books of all nations, and to assist in forming a just estimate of their value. No higher inspiration exists than that which is to be found in the writings of prophets and apostles, for in them the dominant note is not the mystical Indian philosophy which 206 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY loses itself in speculation, nor the hard-and-fast legality which lays down dogma as final truth, but the spiritual insight which perceives practical righteousness and sincere love as the one great purpose for mankind. But men think lightly of this. It does not sufiice to them to enter into the fruits of the labour of their fellows who have striven and suffered and prayed and received the answering light from heaven. Human effort looking upwards to the Eternal Love and Wisdom, aided by spirit-mes- sengers and perfected through error and pain, they will have none of. They must, forsooth, have a plenary revelation direct from God Himself, absolute truth on the phenomenal plane of Time and Sense, comprehension of the scheme of heaven and earth for those who are ignorant how a drop of rain is formed and why it falls; and anything less they will scorn and contemn. But assure them that they have this in a cult, in sacrificial rites, in a system, in a book; teach them from early youth that their religion is absolutely true, and they will bow before their idol, quarrel with those who own another "absolute truth," and think too often that they are loving God when they are only hating their fellows. Enlightenment may truly rise to any height; not only so, but it is the hope of mankind; but not till a man can stand up and utter the tre- mendous challenge, "Which of you convinceth me of sin?" may he dare to believe himself charged with a divine mediumship. For the Be- MATTER AND ETHER 207 loved, the true Son of God, there are no rules; but He is not perfect because He is Christ, but, being made perfect through suffering, becomes Christ by being perfected ; His perfection is the measure of His Sonship : He is begotten of God, regenerate, born anew to life for evermore. A review of the evidence establishes : — That scientific men are agreed in admitting the existence of a whole realm of nature which is not chemical matter, whose manifestations are electricity, magnetism, light, heat, chemical affinity, and probably also cohesion, and gravitation. That these forces are conveyed by the Ether, which interpenetrates ordinary matter, in a way which may be likened to the inter- penetration of the body by the soul. That the properties of matter are due to this un- conscious " soul " (much as character is due to conscious soul). That unseen intelligent personalities, who, if the strong proofs of identity which they give % can be believed, certainly knew nothing of ^ physics in earth-life, declare that they live in a world of substance "like electricity," and that their " bodies " are organised of that same substance, as our bodies are organised of matter. That their whole senses are adapted to the world in which they move, as ours are to the material world, and that with them the distinction exists between bodies of ether 208 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY and their animating principle or spirit properly so called, as with our bodies of matter and their animating soul. This is not unreasonable, and can only be con- sidered strained by those persons who would have matter the sole existing entity, a position which has very few notable thinkers to support it since the days of Lucretius. The opposite view, referring the origin of matter to spirit on grounds of pure reason, can quote not only the general consent of all religions, but such names as Plato, Aristotle, Bruno, Averroes, Descartes, Spinoza, Berkeley, Leib- nitz, Kant, and Hegel, to say nothing of the entire body of Oriental philosophy, which rests on no other ground. It can hardly, therefore, be considered an un- warrantable working hypothesis to accept the theory outlined above, and it remains to be seen whether this will justify itself by bringing a solution to the mental difficulties which have arisen in the present day by affording a more effective recon- ciliation of the demands of the intellect with those of the conscience than the popular Christianity which, in its anxiety to make the Old Testament consistent with the New, has overlaid the Sermon on the Mount with the mass of dogma under which its sublime ethics are now so entirely buried that the competitive individualism on which modern society is founded is not even seen to be incom- patible with the teaching of Christ, which is regarded as an impracticable ideal and a Utopian dream. ^ CHAPTER II THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 209 "There are four universes, or orders of existence, cognisable by- man ; the Divine or Archetypal, which is the origin of all — Atziloth. Thence proceeds the world of creation, the celestial world of heaven, also called The Throne, or Briah : its powers are more limited than those of the Divine Archetype, but are of purest nature, without admixture of matter. This world gives rise to the world of forma- tion, the ethereal universe, Jetzirah, the abode of angels of less pure substance, but still devoid of matter. Finally from Jetzirah emanates Asiah, the material universe, limited by space and form. Man belongs to each of these worlds, by his body and his animal life (Nephesch), by his soul or mind (Ruach), by his spirit (Nes- chamah), and by the Idea of God and bis spirit (Chiah). The Nephesch is immortal by the renewal of itself through the destruc- tion of forms ; the Ruach is progressive through the evolution of ideas ; the Neschamah is progressive, without forgetfulness and without destruction. The soul is a veiled light. Light per- sonifies itself by veiling itself in a body, and the personification is stable only when the veil (the body or realisation) is perfect. The Image, which is the person, is a sphinx which propounds the riddle of life." — Philosophy of the Kabalah. " The intelligent being in man . . . whose form is light, whose thoughts are true, whose nature is like ether, and from whom all works, all desires, all sweet odours and tastes, proceed, who never speaks and is never surprised, he is my Self within the heart, smaller than a corn of rice . . . smaller than a mustard-seed. He also is my Self within the heart, greater than the earth, greater than heaven, greater than all these worlds." — Khandogya Upanishad, iii. 14, 2 ; Sacred Books of the East, vol. i. " For the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit."— St. Paul. CHAPTER II THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE " For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things which are made. . . . For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." — St. Paul. 1. The evidence of the maligned " spirits," then, agrees with physicists and philosophers in presenting matter as a dual entity composed of substance and force, and in referring all properties whereby it is manifest to variety of motion in the invisible impal- pable ether whereof it is composed and wherewith it is associated. "Body" in its widest sense is actually caused by forces that pertain to the invisible and supersensuous world, without which it would have no properties whatever, neither colour, solidity, form, nor weight, and this view of all matter as the union of substance and force may be said to refer all its dis- tinctive properties to the ether or soul resident in it. "Law" is a metaphor for the order or sequence which a study of phenomena reveals, but the law is not the cause of the phenomena; that cause must always be force or energy ; the " law " is merely the human perception of effects invariably following on appropriate causes.^ Similarly all "evolution" is a ^ This is the difference between the clerical and the scientific use of the word. To the clerical mind " law " is a figure of speech for 211 212 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY process, and neither a cause nor a force of any kind. That there is a sequence, and an unbroken sequence, of cause and effect few persons will now care to deny- after the past history of the successive conflicts be- tween creed and discovery which have "strewn the path of science with the corpses of dead theologians " ; and whichever meaning be assigned to Natural Law, it will be only logical to admit that the First Cause invariably works through secondary causes. But this unbroken sequence of cause and effect must itself be due to the very constitution and nature of things. The key to it is given in the observed inter- dependence of matter and ether, the higher invisible energy conditioning the lower visible substance, and making it more and more complex as we rise from the inorganic to the vegetable, to the animal, and to the human. Each step of the integration of matter which is Evolution, is a manifestation of a higher form of psychic energy. It is the inner life which enables each to mould matter to his own presentment and to image forth the soul whereby it grows, for this soul is the integrating and evolving power. This involves the conclusion that teleologically matter exists for the purpose of manifesting order the will of a law-giver ; to the scientific mind it is merely an observed sequence whose cause must be sought elsewhere. All arguments must necessarily fail to convince when the disputants are not agreed on the meaning of their primary terms. But, as all human minds really work alike, these are fundamentally the same perceptions, though seemingly different. For, as Faraday says, all force is essentially will-force as to its nature and origin ; the two ideas meet on the spiritual plane. THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 213 and beauty, that is, mind ; and this again implies a close correspondence between the material and the psychic orders of Being, the former being the present- ment of the latter. It need therefore cause no sur- prise to find that spirits declare that their world, or order of existence, is fashioned on the same pattern, and that one law runs through all, that spirit is to soul what soul is to body, the bringer of life and energy from a higher order, and that the world of mind exists in its turn to manifest the moral order which pertains to spirit. Each order of existence is therefore naturally a reflection of higher orders, and as it is clearly impossible to assign any limit at which force originates, or any intelligible sense in which it could do so, it is hardly possible to avoid the con- clusion that the philosophy of the spirits is logical, and that eternal progress necessitates a succession of interdependent and interpenetrating universes, or orders of Being, which draw their life through each other from the Source and Father of all. The psychic facts are objective proofs of intelli- gence and power in the disembodied state, and support the inference that this physical universe, with all its complex phenomena, is but one link in a chain of causation, necessarily implying another universe (unseen only because not correlated to man's present faculties) out of which it was de- veloped, and this again another, till the chain passes beyond the range of the cerebral intellect (which fails at the very first step, the conditions of the experimentally demonstrable psychic world), but also of the imagination, which speedily flags in its 214 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY attempt to explore the depths of Being and to stand face to face with eternal causes whither the Prin- ciple of Continuity must ultimately lead us both in theory now and in sober fact hereafter. Under such an aspect it is but natural that there should be correspondence between the ethereal and the material orders of existence, and that the same laws should characterise both. It is not merely that there would naturally be found points of resemblance, but that the lower must in all cases be the reflection of the higher, with definite limitations, due to the different nature of the material worked upon. So, when imagination endeavours to rise one step higher, however difiicult it may be to form any concept of a spiritual which stands in the same relation to the ethereal or psychic as does this latter to the visible universe, it is nevertheless not hard to per- ceive that spirit may well find in the degree next below it a far more docile material for its present- ment than it can in gross and intractable matter. That there actually is correspondence between the psychic and the material order is readily observable. Not only are the faculties of disembodied souls ob- viously similar in kind to those of the embodied state, though their scope greatly transcends these latter, but their other perceptions are, as it were, exaltations of other human faculties. Thus — they hear ideas in the mind where we need spoken words, for as with us language is a disturbance of the air whereby communication is possible between indi- viduals at some distance, so with them thought seems to be a disturbance of the ether round them to which THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 215 their senses are attuned (precisely analogous to tele- graphy without cables), and that " attuning " is vastly more far-reaching than our fleshly sense of hearing. This "correspondence" throws a little light on the bewildering fact that they speak of spirit-gold, spirit-marble, spirit-houses, spirit-pictures, and so forth as if these were tangible realities. Not, of course, that these are sublimations of corresponding objects on earth or were ever existent thereon, but different as to material, and yet sufficiently like to be called by the same name. In other words, these spirit-objects are expressions in a different vehicle of the nature which is to us externalised as gold, marble, &c. 2. This fact, of the realisation of the same " nou- menon" or originating power in different ways, is at the root of all symbolism. It is impossible to express psychic things adequately in direct language, for the simple reason that our words are images drawn from material things and their correlated effects. Immaterial things and the life beyond must therefore generally be described by symbols rather than by literal words, and these symbols, whether seen in vision or presenting themselves to the mind in the normal state, partake less of the seer's idio- syncrasies than any direct language would do ; for exterior facts are seen and known of all men, but each man's vocabulary, diction, and power of collo- cating words depends on his education, heredity, and mental conditions.^ A symbol of a thing is not the 1 All language is pictorial and materialistic to a high degree ; e.g. this last sentence. " All" refers to summation ; " language," 216 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY thing itself seen in vision, but an image whereby the thing signified may best be understood. All high spirits seem to communicate in this manner, the ideas being suggested to the mind of the seer by means of familiar images. St. John, who was *' in the spirit," i.e. in trance, was under " control," probably by Jesus Himself, who showed to him, under the images appropriate to his mind, the heavenly state. What more beautiful symbol of worship and adoration could be presented than that of the bending angels with wing-veiled faces and the company of those who had come through the tribulation of life casting their honour and glory in fealty before the throne of Go]) ? What more sublime image for the fact of severance between the good and the bad than the terrible picture of the Assize of the Nations standing before the Ancient of Days ? How poor and tame if considered as literal elders ceaselessly casting down metal crowns ! how commonplace the interminable procession of sen- tence on millions of individuals from bulky books of record ! These are the images and the symbols of causes. There are no harps, nor crowns, nor wings, nor glassy sea ; no visible fiery form of God, that which comes from the tongue, langut ; "pictorial," like a painting; "high" involves the analogy of place, and "degree" means simply a step. In no such terms can psychic verities be expressed at all adequately, and when, ascending to the spiritual, the endeavour is made to explain principles in direct language, as by the statement that God is, not a true, loving, and pure Being, but Truth, Love, and Purity themselves, few persons can form any clear idea of what is meant. The idea, in fact, transcends the power of the vehicle of expression, just as a painting can express a solitary action but not an epic. THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 217 no great white throne, no books of record, nor gathering for judgment ; one part of the description is no more material than another. The whole is given to convey verities for which words do not exist by means of symbolism; and when we take the symbols for actualities we falsify the meaning. In the prophetic writings of Daniel and St. John and in St. Augustine's De Civitate Dei the state of blessedness is symbolised by a polity, a united and co-operant society in a beautiful and harmoniously ordered city wherein is nought to offend ; its dura- tion, by the symbols of incorruptible gold and gems ; a conquering terrestrial empire, built on rapine and cemented by blood, is typified by a wild beast ; its power, by a beast's natural weapon, a horn ; a ruler of the celestial order or a beneficent earthly king, by a star or heavenly light, the allusion being an astrological one — to a guiding destiny ; the conflict between the Logos, the efHux from God which is light and life to the spirit-world and the darkness of materialism is given under the likeness of a war in heaven, the leader of the armies of the living God in conflict with the Dragon and his angels, which is in its turn a symbolism derived from another now-forgotten symbolism, the dragon of the constellations, which rises on the decadent year, presiding over the reign of darkness and death. The imagery which makes the lion the type of strength; the lamb, of purity; the dove, of swift rushing flight; the earthquake, of cataclysmal change ; hail, of widespread desolation ; drunken- ness, of that perversion of sense which puts the 218 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY image and material form for the living power which made them, and whoredom for the joining of the higher self to evil and becoming kin with it, are all too obvious to need more than passing allusion. There is also a more recondite symbolism which is common to all speculative religions, which puts Water for the primal substance and Light for celestial force. Limpidity and homogeneity seem to be that which it is desired to express by the former, and an attempt to be more explicit is seen in some references to Fire as primal matter, which seems contradictory, but is not so; for the latter wording is an attempt to express, not a symbol, but an actuality, the ether, to wit; and this is attempted by one of its modifications, whereas water is used only as a symbol. So also " light " is used as a symbol of Truth, Kighteousness, and clear know- ledge, a symbol drawn from the psychic realm to convey the idea of spiritual reality, the manifestation of the Divine Power. The symbol of effulgence or "glory" as moral beauty and intellectual power is in constant use ; that it is allegorical is evident, for the Deity can have no more to do with physical light than with physical form. So also heat stands for love, a fire burning up the dross of life, and the God who is Love is also a consuming Fire. All myth is symbolism, an attempt to express psychic and spiritual causes as simple phenomena, stripped of the complex and adventitious concomi- tants which disguise them in this world. Therefore all religions are necessarily symbolical and anthro- pomorphic, for man cannot go outside his own THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 219 faculties, and must express his sense of all higher than himself by known forms. He naturally turns to the two sublimest phenomena human conscious- ness bears witness to, the boundless expanse of the heavens with their myriad worlds, and the ideal humanity, and uses both as symbolism of the higher he still reaches after. Hence it is that the solar mythos underlies the religious symbolism of all lands, and its true origin was the perception that the renewal of man could be well imaged forth by the annual renewal of the earth by the solar light and heat, and not the fantasy of assigning per- sonality to the orb of day and feigning it to be a celestial charioteer. The desire for finality which is a failing of all human minds speedily literalises all myths and all symbolism. Feigning it to be histori- cal, man makes it ridiculous, and turning the sun into Apollo, the New Jerusalem to an actual gold- paved town, heaven into a place, and God into a vast man, angry, chiding, hating and loving, loses sight of the meaning, and so changes the truth of heaven, hard-won by prophet and seer, into literahsm, idolatry, and falsehood. The successive orders, material, psychic, and spiri- tual, are hard to understand because, living on the material or phenomenal plane, we cannot readily apprehend reality apart from matter. They are frequently illustrated by the ascending scale of mineral, vegetable, and animal apparent to earthly experience ; but these being all of this material order, such an illustration must be very partial at best. It may, however, help to bring home how each must 220 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY be to the one below it miraculous wbile it is causa- tive also. For though the illustration fails at the point where organic life should be the determinant of inorganic properties if the analogy were perfect, yet an analogy exists, and the vegetable world does show itself as an active operating cause of events and changes in the inorganic sphere by processes quite miraculous to the latter, treating it as its absolute slave, using, assimilating, and rejecting, with all the supremacy of a dominant will acting on passive matter ;i as when the first rootlet appeared in the inorganic world of a planet. The process is re- peated on a more extensive scale by the animal to the vegetable, and each is to the class below it in some degree both an external providence and a mira- culous cause of phenomena, often causing the dis- appearance or the survival of entire races.^ It must be noticed, however, that though the lower forms the basis of existence to the higher (for no vegetable can exist without carbonic acid, and no animal without vegetable food directly or indirectly), yet the higher is not a source of force to the lower, and here the analogy fails, as all analogies between things of the same order must fail when applied to illustrate the facts of different orders. 1 Thus the vegetable root acts on the solids and gases dissolved in the water ; the leaf takes from the air the carbonic acid it con- tains, appropriates and rejects with absolute dominion, and is to the inorganic world a miraculous cause quite outside its laws. So the animal to the vegetable. It is to be noticed that the power which enables the vegetable to do this comes to it " from above," from the ethereal world, for it is the sunlight which is to it the highest realisation of the divine. 2 As in the fertilisation of certain plants by the agency of insects. THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 221 A better illustration, which is more than a mere analogy, can be drawn from mathematical ideas, and may assist in presenting the orders of existence comprehensibly. By referring the mathematical dimensions to substance rather than to space the idea is immensely simplified and becomes compara- tively easy. To remain faithful to the postulate with which this book began, and not to attempt to go behind the evidence of the senses, it is clear that the dimensions of length, breadth, and height must be considered as dimensions of something, and the fourth and higher dimensions which mathematical science reveals should have more or less comprehensible physical analogues. Let us see whether this is so, and if the mathematical analogy will make clearer the constitution of successive orders of being, and the relation between them. A point self-centred, having no dimension,^ neither length, breadth, nor thickness, when combined with motion traces a line, having one dimension, length, bounded by two points, its ends. A line of one dimension by its motion traces out a plane, having two dimensions but no thickness, bounded by lines, its sides. A plane in its turn by motion traces out a cube, a cylinder, or other "solid figure," having three dimensions, length, breadth, and thickness, bounded by planes, its walls. But it must here be observed that no reference whatever is made to the interior of this " solid," which is a mere fixed form, a figure unrealised in substance, and as imaginary as the point of no dimension and the plane of no thickness. Analogically there should be a body 222 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY which is generated by the motion of a form, which body should be bounded by fixed forms and visible by means of them only, for each dimension is made visible by means of the next lower, the line by points, the plane by lines, and the figure by planes. This body is, on our analogy, neither more nor less than Matter. All matter is, on the electro- tonic theory, made up of solids, atoms, which are small but definite spaces, forms fixed by rapid motion, retaining their form because of their motion, and for the same reason centres of force — that is to say, having properties which react on other matter, such as mass, chemical affinity, colour, and so forth. To go one step further, there should be also a " somewhat " which is manifest by matter in motion. This "somewhat" is energy, and this brings us at once to the ultra-material world. For, though energy is ordinarily apparent by the visible motion of matter, it is not necessary that the motion should be visible as such, any more than the motion of the atom is visible, but only that fresh motion of some kind be super- added to matter. We here touch organising " soul," and it is noticeable that the mathematical analogy still holds, and material organisms such as nucleated cells are its boundaries, and limit soul just as forms (atoms) limit matter, planes limit forms, lines limit planes, and points limit lines ; for each vegetable or animal soul is confined within the bounds of its own body, though it may radiate influence outside it. In each of these cases the addition of new motion raises the manifestation one degree, and in each instance THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 223 the persistence of the form depends on the persistence of the originating motion. 3. A similar, or rather the same, analogy holds with regard to " apparitions." Any number of lines may surround a point-world which is conscious only of that which lies within its own limits (supposing it of finite size for purposes of illustration), and not till the line enters these limits is it in any way apparent to the point, whose consciousness is bounded by its own self. Similarly, in a line-world whose inhabi- tants are cognisant of north and south as the only possible directions, any number of planes may sur- round them, of none of which would they be aware till such should actually enter their world, that is, their range of observation, and in this world of theirs the plane would be apparent only as a succession of lines suddenly coming from free space and disappear- ing into it again. So in a plane-world whose denizens can understand east and west in addition to north and south, a figure of three dimensions could only be known by that portion of it within the range of their faculties. Thus a sphere passing into a plane- world would be apparent as a small circle growing till the maximum diameter were reached, diminishing in the same way and vanishing. Similarly, any higher entity must put on the material form or " body " in a world of forms before it can be apparent to the inhabitants of a material world, who are conditioned by matter, and whose senses are the report of material nerves. Such persons can infer something of supersensuous con- ditions, but they cannot present them, just as the 224 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY plane might reason out some of the properties ot the sphere, but would be unable to realise it in substance. Such phenomena would necessarily always be " transcendental." Just as each dimension is perceptible only through the instrumentality of the next lower, so all "soul" or energy can only be expressed in and by form, i.e. matter; and as the sphere appears in the plane-world as a circle (plane figure) suddenly coming from free space, so an objective ^ apparition from the psychic world can appear under a material form only, of greater or less tenuity, but still material ; and this is precisely what does occur, both with the living forms of men and animals, and in seance rooms, though in the one case the material form is assumed for what we call a long period, and in the other for a short one. In either case soul is imaged forth by a body and only perceived by it. This indeed it must always be, whether the apparition be objective or subjective — forming cause can only be presented by form. Now it is clear that "dimensions" of length, breadth, and thickness are not entities in them selves, but simply aspects of substance. Line, plane, and solid figure are all unreal in themselves, and, except by the aid of substance, inconceivable. They are not representatives of an unseen point-world, line- world, &c., but are represented by means of matter in the only world that is known. With this restriction ^ Probably most apparitions are subjective, the effect being pro- duced by a power acting on the brain of the percipient which inter- prets in terms of sight and hearing. '* L'Inconnu " (Flammarion). THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 225 the analogy may be used, and it is remarkable, in the first place, that motion of the third dimension brings us to interiorness in some sense — that is, to resistance caused by fixed forms which cannot be cut nor their shapes otherwise destroyed — and that this is precisely the chemical rotating atom of modern science. All souls must take form — that is, must be clothed in matter — before they can be externalised and made apparent in a material world ; and similarly the higher spiritual manifestation must in its turn be anthropomorphic, for no other would be under- stood. Psychic power may indeed act without the aid of matter, but if it does men must necessarily be blind to it ; and when by association with matter it becomes apparent, they call it an " apparition " or "miraculous," and are astonished that it should seemingly come from and disappear into free space, forgetting that the cause of each such apparition may all the while be just as contiguous to our world when unseen as when visible, and indeed not merely contiguous, but within and around it. For as the manifesting line was above and below the percipient point, the manifesting plane on either side of the line, and the sphere all round the portion of the plane into which it entered, so the ethereal or soul-order is around and within the material order. But this soul-order is not referable to any place, but is manifest in any place by and in appro- priate substance. There is thus given a glimpse of the orders of existence. Men on earth know one, the material, P 226 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY fairly well, in the variations of inorganic and organic nature; they have some knowledge of the next superior order, the ethereal; though the investi- gation of this is attended with so much difficulty that the large majority of mankind does not even know of its existence. But the proofs of its nature and properties are daily accumulating, and the fore- going paragraphs will, it is hoped, have shown why the communications of the next higher to the next lower must always seem miraculous to the latter; and that a third term anywhere in the series cannot be comprehended by an undeveloped first, except by means of the intermediate one, any more than a man can reveal himself to a cabbage, not for want of will in the former, but of a quality in the latter. Each, moreover, can only apprehend those above it in the scale by means of the similarity resident in itself, and at the same time under the limitations imposed by its own analogies. The point knows the line as a series of points; the line knows the plane as a series of lines; the plane perceives the solid figure as a succession of planes; the solid, or third dimension, knows matter as a variety or succession of forms ; while matter knows soul as the succession of phenomena which manifest life; and the soul can apprehend God only as acting in Time and producing phenomena, while the spirit realises Him as pre-eminently spiritual — as Power and Love. To take another simile : the plant, were it conscious, would know of animal life under vege- table analogies (and how imperfect these would be a moment's thought must show); the animal THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 227 knows man under brute analogies, and man knows God under human analogies, and makes God in his own image from the Australian aborigine to the Christian archbishop. Man can apprehend the Divine only by means of the God-like spark in himself, though not in its absolute nature, but under human similitudes, and as the divine germ grows in our spirits this realisation becomes truer by growth of faculty. But this is necessarily less possible to the merely intellectual or psychic nature than to the moral or spiritual one ; it is not perceived by theological definitions but by moral lives, which are principles (or spirit) in action. The idea is the same as that expressed by St. Paul in terse and lucid language, imperfectly rendered in our English version : " For what among men com- prehendeth the things of a man save the spirit of the man which is in him ? Even so the things of God none comprehendeth save the Spirit of God ; " and, he continues, only in the measure in which we are partakers in that divine order, and have the mind of Christ, He ^ born in us, can we understand 1 "It" might be used if the pronoun were not derogatory. " Spirit of God " is here used in the sense of character (which we do understand) and not of personality (which we do not). Never- theless in the spirit- world proper all entities are personal and things are attributes, though not in quite the same way as with us. It is not the man Jesus that makes atonement for man and lives in him, it is the Christ-character, begotten of God in us as in Him, which transforms lives to its own image and makes at-one-ment with the Divine. This character is eternally generated in men of goodwill, by the eternal procession of the Spirit, and is essentially one with its Archetype. This seems hard, but it is the kernel of true Chris- tianity, and it is of the nature of things that the higher order should be mysterious to the lower. The Pauline epistles absolutely teem 228 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY its conditions ; which is, after all, only another way of stating Herbert Spencer's conclusions that the Absolute is unknowable, without, however, placing a barrier at the limits of the material world, as some of his followers do. The analogy is instructive at all points. ^Nothing lower than human nature can understahd the human, nothing lower than the Divine can understand God; the degree of partici- pation in the nature marks the degree of com- prehension. ) So the " natural " or " psychic " man of Pauline phraseology who chooses to live on the brute plane of self-indulgent animalism cannot know the higher things, which must be " foolishness " to him, fancies, unrealities, dreams, follies, the vain creations of human minds and mere intellectual fashions. While the splendour of this great truth, the Golden Chain of Being, shows us our true place in the universe and emphasises the fact that we are but just emerging from the animal ideal of competitive struggle for existence into the spiritual world of high thinking and mutual co-operation, it withers up the anthropomorphisms of all creeds, and leaves us stricken with awe and faint with adoration before Him whose ways are not as our ways nor His thoughts as our thoughts, infinitely above us not only in degree, but also in kind. This is spirit-teaching, and while it brings home to us our own gross nature and the impossibility that God should ever communicate with man directly on the with allusions to this birth of the Christ-character in man as the means of renewal. Cf. Rom. vi. 11 ; Gal. ii. 20 and iv. 19 ; Eph. iii. 17 ; 1 Cor. ii. 16 and iii. 16 ; and many more. THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 229 phenomenal plane (were He to do so it would be physical death to the recipient), it shows also that the path wherein we must walk to attain to Him is that of developing faculty: understanding, courage, truth, and, chiefest of all, Love ; and that thus only can we grow, by the sunlight of His Love flooding our spirits, in strength and worthiness and power and beauty towards the Eternal Arche, the Type and Father of all, till His moral glory be revealed in us as it was in Jesus the Christ. It is only by the develop- ment of spiritual character, and not by any " forgive- ness " or phenomenal " Redemption," neither by creed nor by ritual, but by the action of the' Spirit of God moulding men's minds that they enter the Kingdom of Heaven, which is neither in the ethereal world nor in the future time, but anywhere and everywhere that the spiritual Law of Altruism moulds all things to itself unresisted by wayward wills. 4. But as the material world is dependent upon the ethereal order for its energy, so is the ethereal de- pendent upon the spiritual realm for its life. A dim perception of this fact is traceable in all the old cos- mogonies, though not perhaps in that view of them which sees in them histories and not symbolisms. The Hebraic, though not the most distinct, is so much the most familiar that it will perhaps be best suited for exemplifying this fact, and the comparison of the two views that are given in the first and second chapters of Genesis should alone be sufficient to prove that it is not primarily a description of how a Divine Artificer made this planet, but the collated perceptions of seers expressing principles by allegori- 230 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY cal histories. Such histories are not by any means necessarily composed by any one man, but may be the outcome of national selection, as the Homeric poems are the composite production of the Greek mind. These Hebrew allegories, however they may have been mutilated by successive externalist renderings and by their combination into one book by priests who are nearly always in strong opposition to the prophetic perception (almost necessarily unorthodox), are still substantially the same in meaning. "In the beginning," in Arche, as it is translated in the Septuagint, that is, in type, in principle, rather than in Time, Elohim, the origin of Force and Substance, Masculine and Feminine, creates the heavens and the earth. And the earth is formless and void, and darkness is upon the face of the Abyss, and the Spirit proceeding from the Elohim moves upon the Abyss, or, as the A.V. has further literalised the Hebrew word, "the waters." The idea of the action of the First Cause, the birth from Water and the Spirit, is given in the fewest possible wordS; and by a symbol which was afterwards used to express the Divine power operating to the new birth of a human soul. The Hebrew " Debar," which is used throughout the Old Testament for the power emanating from God, is here involved by the use of the expression, " And God said," and is trans- lated as " the Word," following the Greek sense of the Logos, the spirit, or active reason. It is curious that those who claim to expound the meaning of these scriptures should have relieved themselves of this duty by insisting on the literal sense, or no-sense, THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 231 of the allegory, and thus have involved themselves in endless contradictions between the first and the second chapters of Genesis, in consequence of setting aside the symbolism and turning it into history. The " Word " in this sense is causative and not imperative, as is usually " explained," and the meaning is that of real force operant both externally and internally to matter, which, like clay in the hands of the potter, is the plastic substance expressing ever in new forms the spiritual power without which matter, whether cosmic or organic, must always decay and disinte- grate and become formless and void, like the body when its life is withdrawn. It would far exceed the limits of this book to develop the history how the Persian symbolism of a six- period creation, and its subsequent marring by the serpent of evil, was brought by the Jews from Babylon,! and woven into their own sacred story, 1 That the Jewish canon in its present form is not anterior to the post-Captivity era, circa B.C. 457, is admitted by Biblical scholars mainly on the following grounds : that the Persian cosmogony has been largely worked up into the Book of Genesis ; that consider- able portions of the story of the wanderings of the tribes in the desert for forty years are arithmetically impossible and clearly written long after the events to which they refer ; that the Hexateuch contains strong internal evidence of compilation from three distinct and sometimes incompatible sources ; that the lan- guage and diction of the latter portions of the Book of Daniel are of much later date than the former and than the time when they were formerly supposed to have been written ; that the account of the discovery of the Law among the Temple records is incom- patible with the regular practice up to that time of the same code ; and, finally, that Ezra, in the fourteenth chapter of 2 Esdras, says that the Law was burnt, and that he was inspired to rewrite all that had been done since the beginning of the world, and that he did so. Doubtless the orally transmitted legends of the Jewish nation were much older, but how much they suffered in this transcription 232 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY and how this symbolism (at first purely astrono- mical) was literalised and turned into history in precisely the same manner as was the case in Egypt with the Osirian legend. But the cosmogony is a metaphysical and not a physical history; and in a purer age, when the Jews had outgrown the childish literalisms which were the natural outcome of their degradation and materialist idolatry, as de- scribed by their own prophets, their commentary on Genesis shows that they had realised this. It is insisted on in the Kabbalah thus : — " Woe be to the son of man who says that the Law con- tains common sayings and ordinary narratives ! For if this were the case we might in the present day compose a code of doctrines which would in- spire greater respect. If the Law contains ordinary matter, then there are nobler sentiments in profane codes. But every word of the Law has a sublime sense and a heavenly mystery. . . . When it descended on earth, the Law had to put on earthly garments in order to be understood by us, and the narratives are its garments. There are some who think that this garment is the real Law. . . . The Law, too, has a body; this is the commandments, which are called the body of the Law. This body is clothed in garments, which are the ordinary nar- ratives. The fools of the world look at nothing else but the garment, which consists of the narra- may be inferred from the palpable contradictions with which they abound, as, for instance, in the genealogies, and in many other passages wherein deep spiritual insight alternates with obscene fables prompted by Jewish hatred of Moab and other Gentiles, such as the filthy and impossible story of Lot and his daughters. THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 233 tives of the Law; they do not see any more, and do not see what is beneath the garment. But those who have understanding look at the body beneath . . . while the wisest, the servants of the Heavenly King, look at nothing else but the soul (i.e. the inspiring principle), which is the root of all the real Law" ("Kabbalah Zohar," iii. 152a; Dr. Gins- burg's translation). The Kabbalah, which is a despairing attempt to preserve the idea of a divine revelation ah extra when the surface deficiencies are patent, by working up into a system the spiritual truth which every- where underlies the narratives, necessarily failed, as all partial expositions must fail, because it ignored all that it did not find to its purpose, and while insisting on the plenary inspiration of the Old Testa- ment canon, it could only utilise small portions of this all-perfect code to build up the spiritual system, which it referred not to human insight and its own logical merits, but to the Authority of the Book whose verbal inspiration it was determined at all costs to save. As the Kabbalist philosophy supplied cogent answers to many intricate intellectual prob- lems, and also upheld the plenary inspiration of the canon, it obtained great currency during the four- teenth century, reinforced as it was by the Christian Fathers, Clement of Alexandria and Origen, but ultimately passed into oblivion, less because of the ban of the Church than because the deductions drawn did not flow from the premises. The Kabbalah attempts to show to man, not the Godhead, but the veils of symbolism which hide the 234 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY Eternal. Firstly, as the inmost depth to which the intuition of man can pierce, Negative Existence, wherein lies all creative potency. Secondly, the Limitless, the Unconditioned, whether by Time, Space, Matter, or Attribute — Pure Being. Thirdly and lastly, the ocean of limitless glory, the streaming energy that is the life of the world, the all-embracing, all-pervading, all- sustaining, uncreated Light. These are not God, but are the cloud-veils that conceal Him. From thence emanate the living attributes of God, concentrated and combined in His more com- prehensible forms, as in Tetragrammaton, IHVH, Jehovah, whose name is said to be unpronounceable by man,i but whose image is reproduced in suc- cessively feebler degree in the four universes of which man is cognisant; in the celestial or divine; in the spiritual, as moral nature, love, and righteousness ; in the ethereal, as truth (or Reason, the organon of Truth); and in the material world, as Beauty; the first named being not an absolute ultimate, but ultimate to human faculty. The idea which under- lies the whole is that of correspondence between the orders of existence, each being the expression of the next higher; and this is the final outcome of the theology of the most vigorous-minded people on earth, whose books, but not their understandings, have been adopted by the Christian nations. 5. The same perception of influx of power moulding matter and of efflux from the Divine is seen in the 1 Meaning, according to Eastern imagery, that His nature is not to be understood by man ; for a name, to be rightly such, must express a nature and not be a mere label of unmeaning sound. THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 235 Sanscrit Kalpas, where Prajapati, the divine spirit, descended from the unconditioned existence of pure Being, into conditioned Hfe, and, like the Mosaic " Spirit," brooded " on the waters," and thence pro- duced all things ; the generation being, as in the first example, from Spirit and Substance, here symbolised as Light and Water. Prajapati, having descended into active existence, produced Hiranyagarbha, " the golden germ " of the worlds, and the active principles which gave them birth are reflected in all their pro- ducts, each being a type of some attribute, thus corresponding to its spiritual cause and imaging it. An intelligence "falls" or becomes evil by re- garding life as a property of matter, impersonal, not- being (ah-h4ti), and matter only as real ; thus it cuts itself off from the communion of all with all; it thinks that it lives from itself and not in dependence on the life of the world ; it becomes self-centred and like to its idea, negative and emptied of life. The Gods, or superior intelligences, regard life as pre- eminently " Being," and so become like unto Him. The belief in causative spirit is the path of the Gods, of light and life; the belief in matter, regarding it as eternal and independent, is the way of demons and of death. All rising in the scale of being is by influx, by the inbreathing of Prana, the Supreme Soul, and union with Him is the final goal of man.^ So the Platonic doctrine that God made the world by the Logos, the Divine Reason, through the Mons (al(ove<;), which are successive outpourings of spiritual power, each realising itself in some new law or pro- 1 " Khandogya Upanishad." " Sacred Books of the East," vol. i. 236 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY perty of matter manifest by new forms of existence. Everywhere is found the same philosophy as the result of the highest human perception, the idea of a wave or influx of power giving rise to new con- ditions. Inasmuch as such a process can hardly be imagined by man otherwise than as successive, each of these terms, from the Hebrew evening-morning to the Persian ''day" of a thousand years and the Hindu Kalpa of many centuries, came to mean an "age," a period in which the particular influx was dominant. The notion of influence eternally acting in all spheres and stages of being and modelling visible efiects according to the receptivity of the object, is so much more difficult of apprehension than that of successive outpourings of spiritual power and phases of creation that it has always been pre- ferred, and thus it has come to pass that the central idea of "influx" in the word "aeon" or sevum has been almost lost in the acquired idea of "period." There are, however, some few cases in which the original meaning has been preserved, as when Horace says : — "Crescit occulto velut arbor sevo Fama Marcelli," comparing the growth of the renown of Marcellus to that of a tree growing by secret power. So when Jesus said that His power or presence should rest on His followers to the end of the aeon. His words mean till the appointed work of His influence should be done and the world should be purified by its reception, a result as yet very far from attainment. THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 237 It is easy to see how this has passed into " the end of the world " in the sense of a cataclysm, a crude rendering quite unsupported either by reason or natural law. This influx as the meaning of Evolution, psychic power moulding matter to its expression, by the gradual development of more and more perfect forms, may be seen in all things: from the up- springing of a blade of grass to the life of the world itself. In the birth of a child, in the healthy life of a man, and in the historical life of a nation the same process is manifest. The communicated life expanding from within, throwing off the casing of ante-natal life (placenta), becomes the outward man. The soul of the child, at first absorbed in the outward world, then becomes conscious of causes, and at last, after a struggle with natural materialism, looks beyond mere phenomena, perceiving last the transcendent beauty of Wisdom, which is knowledge and love combined ; the fire of youth, the intellect of manhood, and the wide charity of age showing each successive influx growing fuller and higher till the worn-out body no longer serves the needs of the growing life within, and is cast aside, while the real man goes on to higher development in the life beyond. So also a religion, which, to be vital, must embody a nation's highest perceptions of spiritual truth, is also a growth by influx and stage. As each new perception dawns on the world it comes into violent conflict with much that has gone before. The imagery, bright with meaning and instinct with 238 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY life, wherein the old seer set forth the realities made known to him, becomes fixed in creeds and formularies which are claimed to be truth rather than to contain it under temporal and material symbolism, and men begin to try to see at second hand by receiving a ready-made " belief," And as this can never be, as spiritual truth disappears from any form, creed, or mythos, when the dogma is insisted on as absolute, the body or outward form of religion dies and must be cast off, while its truth not only lives on because it is causative and eternal, but rises from death to a higher embodiment than it had before. Each revelation by the power of the prophet is followed by a fall, the literalising the spiritual truths into events of sense, dragging Truth down to the coarseness of man instead of raising man to the higher level of perception. But as spiritual is above mere psychic life, in due time comes the Redeemer, the fresh influx, embodied it may be in one man or poured out on many, showing a higher, truer form than the popular creed ; and so humanity progresses by its sins, its sorrows, its errors, and its sufferings towards truth and per- fection. But at each era, when the old dead forms and symbolisms are attacked, all the guardians of the temples, all the priests of the mysteries whence (for the many) the meaning has died, all the devout persons who reverence the past and love the old ways, unite with the baser sort who find their profit in the old religion, and with the indolent who hate being reminded of spiritual things, and they all run together with one accord and cry, "Great is THE ORDERS OF EXISTENCE 239 Diana of the Ephesians," and the innovators are beaten, persecuted, burned alive, outlawed, despised, abused, or otherwise called on to testify to the genuineness of their inspirations and the honesty of their purpose. So, again, in the growth of soul and spirit. Influx is of all degrees according to the order to which it pertains, from the solar radiance which is life to the plant, to the "grace" which is life to the spirit of man. There is psychic as well as moral influx, the opening of the soul-faculties, as well as of those inmost senses which are collectively named the Intuition, and the development of a medium is a phenomenon of the same kind. It is the greater or less awakening of soul-senses in this present life as a means of development and as a sign to the age by a power coming from the unseen. That trance occa- sionally supervenes in the process need cause neither surprise nor alarm, for did it not, the confusion be- tween the reports of the inner and the outer sense might at first be so great as to involve danger to sanity, and of the organism breaking down under the strain. These inner senses, whether exercised in trance or otherwise, as in crystal- vision or other forms of visualisation, often perceive things that are them- selves but images of psychic "noumena" that can- not be described in direct language. The less the personality of the seer intervenes the simpler are the visions, the images being drawn rather from the common stock of humanity than from the individual training from the medium. But this can never be entirely eliminated ; a Semite will always see and 240 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY use Semitic symbols, and a European those which his peculiar education has rendered familiar to him, though many forms may be common to both ; and it is remarkable how the straining after exactitude which is so characteristic of modern psychic research and religious seeking is giving rise to a new order of corresponding symbolism, historical, biologic, and magnetic. But the truth conveyed must always be imaged forth by symbols, because the absolute cannot be expressed in direct language. It is beyond the reach of man simply because its expression is nothing less than the whole Kosmos. And even such spiri- tual Truth as man can attain to must be sought after, searched for, fought for, suifered for, and loved with a heart's whole devotion before she will crown her champion with her favour and grace him with the gift of Herself. The enterprise brings pain doubt- less, but it brings also rich reward; the quest of the Grail never was and never will be easy, and it is only by the suffering of the lower nature that the man is perfected. He who, as prophet and seer, is a light to the world must despise its com- forts, and, in the vigorous hyperbole of Jesus, must hate father, mother, wife, and children, yea, and his own life also, before he can take upon him the task of revealing God to man. CHAPTER III THE GATE OF DEATH There is no death — what seems so is transition. This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the Life Elysian Whose portal we call — Death." —Longfellow. I sent my soul through the Invisible Some letter of that After-life to spell, And by-and-by my soul returned to me With — 'I myself am Heaven and Hell.'j Heaven but the vision of fulfilled desire, And Hell the shadow of a soul on fire Cast on the darkness into which ourselves, So late emerged from, shall so soon expire," —Omar Khayyam. "It is therefore as good as demonstrated, or it could easily be proved if we were to enter into it at some length, or, better still, it will be proved in the future — I do not know where and when — that also in this life the human soul stands in an indissoluble communion with all the immaterial beings of the spiritual world ; that it produces effects in them, and in exchange receives impres- sions from them, without, however, becoming humanly conscious of them so long as all stands well."— Kant, WerJce, vol. vii. p. 32. CHAPTER III THE GATE OF DEATH " For now we see in a mirror (by reflection of spirit in matter), in a riddle ; but then face to face : now I know in part ; but then shall I know even also as I have beentknown." — St. Paul. 1. That this life is the seed-time of the life to come every race and religion agrees, though this truth has been obscured by being represented as an isolated interlude instead of a part of the regular order of psychic evolution, and the fact is so widely dis- regarded only because religions do not show the process by which it is brought about, but present the future state of the soul not as the result of in- evitable law, but as the award of a Judge ; a figure of speech which at once opens the door to the notion of penalty, and therefore of pardon, for the misuse of opportunity. But if the after-life involves the condition of open perception of each other's thoughts, it is easy to see why the development of the imperfect spirit can be best accomplished here; chiefly because the material body, while it obscures the soul, also insulates and protects it from the warring influences around till its will-power is grown, and enables it to live ex propria motu to a greater degree than would 243 244 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY be otherwise possible to weak wills. Moreover, the mask of the body now spares us the open shame to which we are exposed in the after-life, and allows the spiritual germ to expand in darkness and silence within the recesses of existence. / 2. " Death " is, then, according to the evidence, I simply a change of state, and to use the old old ' simile so beautiful and so true, is but the breaking of the chrysalis and the escape of the winged Psyche into fuller, freer life ; it is the birth of the ethereal body into its proper world and fuller expression, no longer bound by matter. This is the normal path of its development — woe to it if it have not grown its wings ! This inference, which follows from the experiences of survival already alluded to, is also stated in direct terms by communicating spirits. The extract which follows is from Mrs. De Morgan's book, "From Matter to Spirit " : — " When we found that so many unexpected explana- tions came by the hand of the young medium (a young child) who drew the sketches of spiritual impression, I begged for as clear a description of the process of death as could be given. Having myself read some American accounts of visions, dreams, &c., referring to this subject, I had a rather vague notion of the spirit breaking away from its earthly covering and floating at once on high in a body prepared to enter into the happy spheres. Reports of visions which had reached me confirmed this belief. I was, therefore, pleased and surprised when, by the draw- ing, a wonderful and systematic process, coherent THE GATE OF DEATH 245 in all its parts, and making no extravagant demand on our powers of belief, was unfolded. "The person by whom the drawing was made was too young to have thought on the subject, and his hand moved without, as in some cases, being touched by that of another person. The pencil traced a recumbent figure evidently meant to re- present a dying person. From many points of this figure the hand, of the medium formed long lines which met at a point carefully placed at a short distance above the figure. As the lines were multiplied the point was also increased in size till it became a small globe or circle, and from that circle other lines were drawn out to represent the body and limbs of another and smaller figure. The larger figure below and the smaller one above were then numbered, and notes to correspond with the numbers were written below. From this dia- gram it appeared that the process of death and the entrance into another state is as natural (in the sense of orderly) an event as the birth of a child. No more real mystery, nothing more supernatural (in the sense of miraculous) accompanies a departure from than an entrance into this world. . . . The lines drawn from the recumbent figure and meeting above represent the ' spiritual fluid.' This will be recognised as that visible element of the body which, drawing nourishment from its surroundings, is the essential agent of vital force. ... It will afterwards be seen that these vital forces are what constitute the soul in its most material . . . elements. "The 'spiritual fluid,' then, was represented as 246 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY coming from every portion of the frame, its streams meeting near the heart — I think at the great solar plexus — and, having passed away through the brain,^ uniting again above the body, there to form the new body which is destined to form the future dwelling of the spirit. These streams appeared by the draw- ing to carry from the material body each its own type of life, by which I mean that each minute current is adapted to fill one place and form one specific portion only in the new combination. . . . This is the teaching given by our invisible com- panions, by means of the involuntary writing. The clearest explanation came by the hand of a young person who had no preconceived ideas on the sub- ject; but similar descriptions have been given by many seers and mediums, each one ignorant of what has been said by others." It would serve no purpose to repeat other accounts in which the clairvoyant faculty has established the rising of the soul from the body, and the resurrection (dvdaraaL^; — standing up) of the new man following on the death of the outer form. Fx uno disce omnes ; they are all more or less alike, whether given by the clairvoyant perception or by automatic writing, or by any other means. 3. Resurrection,^ then, according to spirit-testi- 1 This curiously corroborates some of the ancient mysticism which could hardly have been known to the writer, the transla- tions referred to being published long afterwards. Vide Kbandogya Upanishad VIII., vii. 5, and Ait. Aranyaka, Commentary II., iii. 8. " Sacred Books of the East," vol. i., 1879. Also Kabala Denudata : Ha Idra Rabba Qadisha, chap, xxvii. (Mathers, 1887), p. 177. 2 The word *' resurrection " has unfortunately become associated with the body, because we now associate both life and personality THE GATE OF DEATH 247 mony, is immediate, and is no breach of continuity. The converse idea of a resurrection of the flesh can be traced back to the Egyptian reHgion, in which an ultimate resurrection of the actual corpse was a cardinal belief so firmly held as to cause the people to take the most unheard-of pains to preserve the body intact against the return of the spirit. Jesus found it already developed among the Pharisees at the time of His ministry, and agreeably to His practice of accepting and remoulding erroneous forms of belief into more adequate expressions of truth, when the Jews confronted Him with an animal resurrection with animal desires (a perfectly sound objection to the pharisaic and material theory), He lifted up their gross conception to a higher plane, and told them that they knew neither their own Scriptures nor the power of God, and that their with the body. It carries the emphasis on the rising again instead of on the rising. The Greek word used by the New Testament writers is far truer, the avdo-Taais, or "standing up" of the dead. But no language is doctrinal, for the simple reason that soul-verities can only be expressed in language derived from our ideas of time and space, and therefore no text as such proves anything even if the Greek rendering of words spoken in Aramaic could be relied on. Still, the language used in Matt. xxiv. 31 is far more appropriate to the ethereal than to the animal frame. In the present connection see Luke xx. 34 (R.V.), where the sons of the age or aeon are spoken of. This aeon, as has been explained before, is the wave of spirit- power which descends into Time, and soul-development is its phe- nomenon. But the primary meaning has no relation to time nor even to soul-phenomena, much less to matter-phenomena or to a local heaven or material resurrection ; and it may be observed, not as an argument, but as a curious fact, that in the answer to the Sadducees, while the questioners use the future tense, Jesus is stated to have replied in the present, that the dead are raised, not that they shall be. Vide Revised Version. 248 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY patriarchs were even then living, and not sleeping with their fathers. If we may trust the form of the narrative, He spoke of the consummation of the present order, and of a gathering of His people from the four winds of heaven, in language far more appropriate to the call of the ethereal legions from the upper air than to the gathering of corpses from the corners of the earth; and He illustrated His teaching in His own person by His immediate return and materialisation soon after the crucifixion, under conditions whose counterpart is to be found in spirit- circles where the phenomena presented depend on the nature of the spirits present and on the recep- tivity of the sitters who are gathered together in one place, precisely as was the case in the upper room of A.D. 29. The whole of our Lord's recorded words on this subject deal with truths which are present, not future, realities, because they belong to that which is independent of space and time, the spiritual state or aeon, as He is reported to have phrased it. St. Paul, whose flashes of inspirational insight took him far higher than the more materialist conceptions of the less trained disciples, was yet (if his writings have not been interpolated to bring them into accord with fixed tenets) not free from the bias of the pharisaic schools in the matter of a cataclysmal resurrection. He could realise that the spiritual body is a present entity,^ and could accurately ^ 1 Cor. XV. 44, et seq. : " It is sown a psychic body (body for the soul, cataclysm; continuous, not detached; the result of SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 293 the cleansing of all hearts and the opening of all eyes, for the mind of man is the field wherein grows the spiritual corn, and all outward religions, govern- ments, and social systems are but the expressions of that inward life. When characters become noble, then religions and governments will become noble also, and the Kingdom of God will have come. There is also a future sense to the individual man, when, leaving the body, his true self is manifest by his entrance on spirit-conditions. It is to this aspect that Jesus alludes when He says that the righteous shall shine forth as the sun ; shall inherit the Kingdom, pre- pared indeed from the foundation of the world, for it belongs to conditions where Time has no place; that they who not only teach but do shall be great therein ; and that from out of it shall be gathered all things that offend, for all who have passed into that blessedness can be touched by no evil.i In the light of the philosophy that Spirit must be realised in men's lives by its great attributes, all questions whether the sorrow and misery of the world do not tell again the theory of its moral governance are seen to be beside the mark, because all such questions imply a government on the phenomenal plane of interference. This has not been, and never can be, for it would violate that continuity which is the premise of all sound reasoning. The Kingdom of Heaven is the rule of Spirit over mind, and can only come about by 1 Cf. Wisdom of Solomon, ch. iii., iv., v. (Apocrypha), for the similar view of the Old Testament. 294 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY the operation o± regular causes here and in the unseen. The parables refer to the fact and not to the method. It is not arbitrary. Its laws are the same for its minutest beginnings in the depths of the heart, and for its most glorious manifestation when it shall shine as lightning across the expanse of heaven. The one is no more possible without the other than is the river without the spring ; they are continuous manifestations of the same inner life. The conditions of entrance to the new kingdom are ever the same, the new birth by cleansing and by the Spirit, the death of the lower nature and renewed life in the higher, involving indeed much tribulation, but when patience shall have brought forth her perfect work, becoming to that soul a crown of glory that fadeth not away, a well of water springing up to everlasting life. But while human methods keep up an endless supply of undeveloped spirits passing from this earth to the unseen, this can never be. All fruits must grow from the tree ; they proclaim its nature ; and high action can only come from high character, whether in the present or in the future life. That the mere passing through the change called death in no way alters character there is ample experi- mental proof. Those who were stupid are stupid still, those who were aspiring are aspiring still, even those who were filthy are filthy still, until they turn to the cleansing Power. We are apt to think that, once there, we shall surely feel the serious- ness of life and love the beautiful and the true. Experience shows that it is not so. We see in this SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 295 or in any life just what we bring eyes to see. The nature around us, so full of the marvellous interac- tions and the beautiful adaptations which manifest the laws of God, is carelessly disregarded. Science is " dry " and history repellent, and we spend our lives over ephemeral trivialities, and struggle, not to be capable and noble, but to get wealth and praise. The spirit-world seems awful and mys- terious only because it is unexplored. But when, by death to this life, the dull, the apathetic, the covetous, and the mean are brought into contact with it, that likewise seems stale, fiat, and unpro- fitable. In every stage of existence man brings to it just his own faculties, and as the undeveloped mind here is blind to the beauty and the meaning of Nature, so there it is blind to the loveliness of spiritual unity. 5. That the mind of man is the seed-ground for the power that shall re-create the world because it is the special channel for the activities of Spirit, has been prominent in every world-religion. This union with God or living to the Spirit is " mystical " only because it is uncommon among men, but the wise in all lands and all ages have seen this, and this only, to be the answer to all the perplexities that beset men here. It is the kernel of the philo- sophy of the Upanishads, and the Song Celestial wherein, centuries before Christianity, Indian mystics had faced the difficulties of faith and works, of effi- cacious grace and predestination, and all the maze of questions which perplex Christian theologians because they persist in fixing their eyes on dogmas 296 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY rather than on psychic laws and their effects. Let us hear the Vagasaneyi Upanishad from the White Veda, summarised and paraphrased into modern speech : ^ — 1. All must be surrendered to God. Our life must be hid in Him. 2. The consequence of earthly acts does not cling to him who has this highest knowledge. {Because a 7nan''s destiny depends not on arbitrary 'punish- ment for past acts, but on what he is in himself.) 3. Mere ritual and observance end in darkness after death. (Because the r)ian who regards these things as in tJiemselves acceptable to God sees them as ends, not as means,) 4. God, the Highest Spirit, or Supreme Self, is One, unnamable, above sense, causing sense, the all-pervading Spirit. 5. This Spirit is cause and effect, internal and external to all things; external as their cause, internal as their life. 6. The man who realises this never falls away. {Because he must have obtained kinship with that Spirit before this realisation is possible to him.) 7. He is above sorrow. {For no earthly accident can touch him who truly knows that he is, not will be, immortal.) 8. The pure Spirit is all-embracing, glorious, in- corruptible, bodiless, self- existent, omnipresent, un- touched by evil ; He has disposed all things rightly for eternal years. 1 Cf. the literal translation: "Sacred Books of the East," vol. i. p. 311. SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 297 9. All who worship forms and ritual and abide in works go to darkness. They who worship knowledge only go to greater darkness. {Because the 'pride of intellect which regards its perceptions as final truth blinds all such more than the humble who, though ignorant, know their own insufficiency, and on the farther side of the grave are readier to learn.) 10. Both together are necessary, knowledge and intuition. 11. Death is overcome by spiritual principle, and immortality is obtained by knowledge of Spirit. (Cf. This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.) 12. All who worship aught but the true cause enter into darkness ; they who consider an external deity only enter into greater darkness. (Because their con- ceptions of an anthropomorphic God blind them to the laws of Spirit.) 13. The reward of sacrifice (observances) is one thing ; the reward of knowledge is another. 14. He who understands the true relation of matter to Spirit has attained to life. 15. His face is covered with a golden disc. (He becomes as the sun in physical nature, covered by rays of glory.) 16. Thou who art the only Seer, Judge of all men, I see the glory of Thy light. 17. In the hour of death my life to the immortal and my body to ashes. 18. God of being, of the sacred fire, lead us to Thy true riches, keep far from us crooked evil, so shall we offer Thee fullest praise. 298 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY 6. The same teaching is the corner-stone of Buddhism. Some five centuries before Christ, the Prince Siddartha, oppressed by the griefs of the world, renounced all to seek their remedy. In the forest and the desert truth came to him. He saw with clear spiritual perception that the one cause of misery is Desire, the strife for wealth, honours, place, power, and sensuous ease. He saw that all these are the results of living to the flesh instead of to the Spirit; and moulding his teaching on the lines of the Brahmanic philosophy in which he had been nurtured, he took its idea of rebirth as the means of expression. The exact sense in which this is true or untrue is not now the question; that is but an accident of his teaching; its essential meaning is the dominion of Spirit by the perfect law of Love. This is " The noble Eightfold Path ; it goeth straight To peace and refuge. Hear ! Manifold tracks lead to yon sister-peaks Around whose snows the gilded clouds are curled ; By steep or gentle slopes the climber comes Where breaks that other world. Strong limbs may dare the rugged road which storms, Soaring and perilous, the mountain's breast ; The weak must wind from slower ledge to ledge With many a place of rest. So is the Eightfold Path which brings to peace ; By lower or by upper heights it goes. The firm soul hastes, the feeble tarries. All Will reach the sunlit snows. The first good level is Eight Doctrine. Walk In fear of Dharina, shunning all offence ; In heed of Karma, which doth make man's fate ; In lordship over sense. The second is Right Purpose. Have goodwill To all that lives, letting unkindness die SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 299 And greed and wrath ; so that your lives be made Like soft airs passing by. The third is Right Discourse. Govern the lips As they were palace-doors, the king within ; Tranquil and fair and courteous be all words Which from that presence win. The fourth is Right Behaviour. Let each act Assoil a fault or help a merit grow : Like threads of silver seen through crystal beads Let love through good deeds show." — Light of Asia, p. 229. How this sublime teaching became degraded it is easy to trace. As man is everywhere the same and always debases lovely principles, first into more or less incorrect dogmatic " truths," and then into mythical past phenomena, the after-history of this beautiful religion came to be the same as that of Christianity, to which it offers a truly remarkable parallel. Siddartha was not born perfect Buddha (The En- lightened) any more than Jesus was born the perfect Christ (The Anointed). He became such by growth in wisdom, and he also was made perfect through suffering. No sooner had the Lord departed this life than the first councils of the Church were called, the one at Ragagriha (circ. B.C. 477), the other at Jerusalem (circ. a.d. 30). The words of the Master were collected into a body of doctrine, which, how- ever, seems to have had no fixity in either case, neither canon, definitions, nor creed; the idea was still to preserve meaning, not to compose formulas. What Buddhist writings there may have been were, like the many versions of the gospels, unauthorised. Other councils followed, and a patriarchate was founded (" Sacred Books of the East," vol. x. p. xliv.). 300 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY Each man who felt impelled to write did so, and reverence for what was written did not exclude alterations by transcribers — the sacred text was still fluid, the doctrine becoming more and more elabo- rated, with the natural result of a multiplicity of heterodox sects, exactly as orthodox Christianity grew up among Gnostics, Nicolaitans, Carpocratians, Donatists, Arians, and the crowd of ''heresies" of the early centuries. What Constantine did for Christianity, Asoka did for Buddhism; he adopted it and made it a State religion. All Asoka's in- scriptions which, with the zeal of a convert, he set up all over India, tend to show that Buddhism was still but little removed from pure ethics, the aboli- tion of sacrifice on humanitarian grounds being a leading feature in the cult. But as in the one case so in the other. Imme- diately upon entering on wealth and honour, council after council met and defined orthodoxy. About B.C. 88-76, some three centuries after Buddha's death, the canon was compiled, just as the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 381, and of Carthage, a.d. 397, decided what writings should be held to be the Christian New Testament. Thenceforward the crystallising process is seen in full activity, morality being more and more relegated to the second place, and during the next four centuries we find the Prince Siddartha represented as born of a virgin queen, come to earth as fore-ordained saviour of men, translated to heaven, and made identical with the one primal and universal Cause and incarnated on earth to save mankind. SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 301 When in either case dogma had been established, as Gregory the Great (a.d. 590) made the Christian system into an ecclesiastical polity, so Nagarjuna^ (circ. B.C. 50) similarly founded the Mahayana or Great Congregation as opposed to the Hinayana or primitive doctrine. Till the time of Hildebrand (a.d. 1073) the Roman system and hierarchy was incomplete; the priesthood was still allowed to marry, and was part of the laity in the sense of being unorganised. After that time it became a separate order.^ So under Buddhaghosha (a.d. 420) the Buddhist system was perfected in all its parts and became thoroughly crystallised ; the priesthood segregated from the laity, having a regular liturgy, sacraments, and a monastic system. Steady social deterioration, following on thie mechanical routine of pardons and indulgences, led in the former case to Luther's attempt to restore the Christian Hinayana ; in the latter it raised up Sankara Acharya, a.d. 850, who revived the Vedic Scripture as the basis ot faith, and cut off the excrescences which had been grafted upon it.^ 1 The Tibetan T^ran^tha (qu. Vassilief ), " Le Bouddhisme," places him between B.C. 14 and a.d. 28. But Nagarjuna was the ruling spirit in Kanishka's council. Kanishka was the Tartar king of Northern India, and he erected a tope at Manikyala, in which, round the relics, he deposited a number of Koman coins which date from B.C. 73 to B.C. 33. 2 As late as the Council of Trent the Emperor Charles made the proclamation known as the Interim, by which married clergy were allowed to retain their wives pending the final decision of the Council. 3 This parallel is summarised from Ferguson, who remarks that the Life of Buddha, to which modern knowledge is most indebted the " Lalita Vistara," is the exact counterpart of the " Legenda 302 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY In both religions the same cause of rise and fall is evident. The degradation of spiritual truth to a system in order to bring it down to men, instead of raising men to it by insisting on its free appre- hension under all metaphors, was followed by the same results — loss of spirituality, and therefore, in the long-run, of power over the hearts and lives of men. In later India, Buddhist " nuns " would seem to have been so generally lax in their morality that offences against their persons were actually placed on the same legal footing as those against prosti- tutes; and what was the state of monasticism in England and on the Continent just before the Reformation as given by the sincerest supporters of the Roman Church may be read in the pages of Froude ("Short Studies," vols. i. and iv.). At the present day in Buddhist countries all life is sacred except human, and in Christian lands the altruism of Jesus is practically denied in all social life. Buddhism and Christianity have each become a formula, and in spite of many sincere believers who find in each comfort and strength, neither is to the many a living power, but rather a necessary badge, with little or no practical bearing. But the inner meaning which won them the allegiance of millions is not dead, for it is the eternal power of Spirit which causes men in all lands to turn from dead formulas with the heart-cry, " My soul is athirst for God ; yea, even for the Living God," and to find for themselves the living waters that flow direct from Him. Aurea" and similar works of the Christian Middle Ages. J. Ferguson, D.C.L., F.R.S., "Serpent Worship," 1873. SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 303 7. Coloured by the Vedic philosophy, which regards all being as a manifestation of the Supreme Soul and contemplates this under its aspect of impassive and universal force rather than as the source of spiritual emotion, Buddha seems to have passed over in silence the personal presentment of God as impossible to human knowledge. Jesus, bringing personal con- tact with the Father in Heaven within reach of the poor and needy, dwelt rather on the personal and affectional than on the philosophic idea of Deity. His clear insight and pure soul rejected the tribal Jehovah, delighting in blood and sacrifice, the "jealous God" who was the especial guardian of the Jewish race, who rooted out the heathen and planted them in, gave them increase of corn and wine and oil, hating other nations and scattering them before His chosen people; and He presented to men the beautiful fact of the Father in Heaven, sending His rain on the evil and the good. His sunshine on the just and the unjust, the Spirit of universal power indeed, but of universal love also. Neither aspect excludes the other, and both are true, the one being the truth of power, the other the truth of love. But it will always be asked. What room is there for prayer in any pantheistic cult which sees God as an immanent Cause in all things good and evil,i and conceives of Him as never for one instant ^ Not of the evil, which is negative, but of positive being. In so far as things are at all, they are by virtue of developing power. The very will that misdirects and the intellect which misunderstands exist by virtue of God, as does the highest archangel ; but the one is filled with the fulness of the Divine life which the other rejects in 304 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY departing from the regular order and sequence of cause and effect ? Perfect Wisdom, ruling accord- ing to law, not from outside the world, but from within it through successive orders of power, seems to presuppose the uselessness of prayer, and in such teaching where can the universal instinct which cries out for the touch of a guiding Hand find a place ? Is it not hard and cold, without power to sustain crushed and bleeding hearts, giving no refuge from sorrow, no help in times of trial ? The answer to this is decisive. I f by pray er is meant n request Tor plicnoincual interference for selfish ends, for the grant of wealth, success, and generally of all those pleasant temporalities which men so often pray for, it is useless. Is the testimony of the centuries unavailing to show men that these prayers are always futile, that God does not " inter- fere " to save men from their own acts or the result of violated law ? Did He stretch forth His arm to save the orthodox Syrian Christians from Amrou's cavalry ? Or the African Church of Augustine from the fire and sword of the Ausurians? Was not Christianity stamped out in either case ? What was the fate of the Vaudois and of the Lollards ? Did the Heavenly Power discriminate between true and false in the Papal schisms ? Or did it avenge the deaths of either Lutheran or Roman martyrs ? Where is the sign of His approval among a hundred warring sects ? Does not each declare in its prosperity that its higher developments. The one exists physically, intellectually, and spiritually in harmony with the Divine ; the other, physically only. Transgression of all law is literal annihilation. SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 305 this is the mark of God's favour, and when ecKpsed and cast down, when the pretended blessing is pro- claimed by rivals as the stamp of Divine approval, does it not point to texts that the Lord's people are tried and outcast? Cannot men draw the obvious conclusion from the constant succession of flood, \ earthquake, tempest, drought, and disease, sweeping '^ off thousands decade after decade through all history? It is indeed futile to pray for peace in our time while I wanting the advised patriotism which guards the ' Motherland. .^The average of casualties at sea has diminished since the legislation against overloading, and rises or falls with the seaworthiness of the vessels in the hands of our sailors, quite apart from suppli- cations. Th( Y sarcasm of Diogenes when shown the votive offerings of those who had escaped shipwreck is still deserved. " See," said the votary, " the mar- vellous powers of God ! " " True," said the cynic ; " but where are the offerings of those who were j^^ic^ drowned ? " We can see the absurdity in a temple of Poseidon, but not in a Christian Church.^ , The universal experience is that the heavens maintain their eternal composure, and safety comes by courage and foresight. Were it otherwise men would be put to permanent intellectual confusion, no effect could be referred to its true cause, and weak supplication would everywhere take the place of skill to plan and strength to execute. To declare that we stand in the presence of Infinite Wisdom, Knowledge, and Love, and yet need to inform Him of our desires and remind Him of our interests, should need no refutation. u t^ 306 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY But there is a principle which sets all these con- tj'adictions at rest. Y In every living thing there is a power which f modifies cells and marshals them juato the places they are to occupy in the organism. 1 This power is known to Medicine as Chemotaxis. "^o we human cells are fitted for our places in the body politic, which is healthy in the exact measure in which each unit fitly fills its place. It is a necessary consequence of the principle of Immanence that the Divine action is never an Interference with natural law but is always its prime mover. That action therefore ex- tends to the minutest details of life. It is the essence of vitality. Prayer is the turning to this Creative Power for guidance and strength in the actual cir- cumstances in which we are placed. We may use the very simplest language, or no words at all, as we put ourselves into conscious appeal to the Power that ^ both makes the world and leads it, acting in minutest \ . detail as well as guiding the destinies of nature.^ ';5 Does not the intellectual difficulty vanish when ^^ we realise that the development of character is pre- Y *Jcisely this recognition of purpose in our lives and "^ **- movement of will to fulfil it; that we can draw S >^t^ consciously on the Wisdom and the Power of God, l^ Y^not to change our duties but to do them ; that to ' *^ those who are working in obedience to that Wisdom ^ > all things needful shall surely be added, and all >^ things contrary shall surely be refused, however • desirable they may seem. The prayer for strength and guidance is always granted, for it is here that Spirit can normally act. SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 307 Wisdom is never refused ; the water of life is free to all; knock and it shall be opened, seek and ye shall find, ask and receive. But this asking must be untainted by the self-will which seeks its own confirmation, and must also be in the realm of the spiritual and the causative, for the realities of Spirit, which stand far above the petty and sordid gains on which we fix our eyes, far above rewards and punishments in a life to come, far above release from pain before we have learned its great lesson — ^*^ to look for the real causes of evil and riplac ejhem f by causer^^ ood?'"^"""*'^'*'''''^^^ L '^]jKr need we arrogantly assume that we know the j( limits of the possible action of that Power whose I ways are not as our ways nor His thoughts as our * thoughts. We are His children, let that sufiice — and if each one of us in sickness or suffering, mental or bodily, in anxiety, even in sleeplessness, will lay our- selves in the Everlasting Arms and wait in patience, turning to Him in quiet appeal, we shall not be long in doubt whether prayer is answered or not, whether healing and rest and peace are given to us through its means. There is only one condition — the higher is not the servant of the lower, and it will not serve the body nor help us to misuse times and seasons. We have not to persuade the Creative Power to do our will but to ask for strength to do His Will. But, apart from greater needs of soul development. His will is always for health and strength and beauty and good, for these are the manifestations of the One Life. True prayer, when it is not an aspiration, is a 308 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY temper rather than an act, and in its quietness and confidence we shall find our strength. This is the mystic union with Christ — the de- velopment of unity of character — for thus alone are spirits united. " Nearness " in spiritual matters is a figure of speech. Nearer to Christ does not mean " creeping into refuge where we can be safe." It means victory over temperament, the power to say No to wrongful desire. Those who perceive the same principles and desire the same unselfish ends, the establishment of the Kingdom of God, sympathise with a strong, deep love unknown to us foolish selfish men and women here; their aims, their hopes, their thoughts are one; their work, their successes, their disappointments are the same ; they are comrades and brothers, and in that world, where state of being stands for place with us, growing identity of character means growing identity of circumstance. This character is the great need of man; the development of the powers of his spirit is the path of perfection; and this must be for all, for in exact proportion to the lack of development of each unit is the retardation of the organism as a whole. This is the object of life. It is not health, for that may coexist with savage brutality ; nor material progress, for we die and leave all that behind ; and even in this life the weight of civilisation often oppresses. It is not knowledge, for life is too short to acquire it, and all know- ledge can be at best but relative; but it is the " more excellent way," that development of character SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 309 that is manifest by Love. This is the source of health of body, strength of mind, and keenness of intuition, and they who have these things are neces- sarily successful whatever their lot in life ; to them all other things are added by natural operation of the Spirit, " that worketh in all to will and to do." But neither material possessions nor intellectual knowledge will suffice to man. As with those who exalt matter into the highest place and enthrone its desolate emptiness as God, so with those who worship mind only. " The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the ear with hearing; of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter — fear God and keep His command- ments," which are, not any Sinaitic code, but the law written on the fleshly tables of the heart — fealty to the Sovereignty of Ethics, which is the law of Spirit. Health and knowledge are of all but priceless value, but as means, not as ends : health is the basis of all activity. Intelligence is needed to direct activity wisely, but both exist for Righteousness as their purpose and end. Man as the spiritual being is the fleld for the manifestation of God. Mind in matter, spirit in mind, God in spirit, such is the chain of descending power. The Kingdom of God is within, and acting thus from the inmost nature, it subdues all things to itself, not by external cataclysm, but by vital process ; man is the agent, and development of character is the method. This result, like material civilisation and intellectual progress, is necessarily brought about by co-operant 310 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY human action. Our ethical standards are formed on those of our fellows whether we will or no, and even the hermit represents the best ideas of the world from which he has fled. We can see the ab- surdity of an individual civilisation, but such is our moral cretinism that an individual salvation actually seems a reasonable theory ! " Diet sans Faict a Dieu deplait ! " says the old French proverb. The evil in the world is caused by man, and by man it must be ended. There are two practical means of ending it, by treading down selfish- ness, anger, pride, and lust in ourselves, and by help- ing these "little ones." This little book deals with the principles rather than with the practice of a religion of law, but one hint is so obviously appro- priate that it must be given. There are many ex- cellent institutions for saving poor children out of the mire of our civilisation, that mire which we have all helped to make by mutual competition, and setting them forward upon life's way. In the training-ships and schools of the National Refuges for Homeless and Destitute Children ^ a great work is being done. If every family that can afford it, nay, if every father and mother who have lost a child for whom they must have provided, would undertake to keep one only, to save one of "the hopes of earth " (it can be done for £16 per annum, the price of a very few dozen of wine or two dresses), one fruitful source of the pauperism of England, the upgrowth of a reckless, improvident, and criminal class, would be forthwith removed. 1 lt)4 Shaftesbury Avenue, W.C. SPIRIT— THE DIRECTING WILL 311 Evil impulses must be developed into good. None will do it for us, not even God. We have a glimmer- ing light why He cannot do it for us, for it is through the instrumentality of man that He will end evil, for it is in man that Spirit consciously works. The more work is done here the less pain for all in the life beyond. Then there is pain for all in the life beyond 1 Yes, th ere is pain, and evil too. It may tie depressing, but it is true. It is chilling to know that tlie~cohflict is still to go on. We are disap- pointed to find our heaven of untroubled rest as unreal as the Elysian Fields or the Scandinavian Valhalla. We long for peace without the battle, for the end of difficulty, for calm and repose. We would fain have our work done for us and enter on an unearned reward ; we cannot realise the '' war in heaven," the unending conflict between princi- palities and powers in spiritual states, the strife between forming spirit and reluctant mind, and we shrink from the prospect. This, if weak, is natural ; but happily it is but one aspect of the facts. Rest is our own misapprehension. There are two ways of relieving weariness; one is repose, the other is to gain endurance. The strong need little rest, for they feel little weariness, and half of ours is due to the fevered pursuit of riches, and to wanii._a£.. trust in the immutable laws of GoD, which must surely give the victory to good, which is real and positive^^over evil, which is negation. Love con- quers all. When we shall steadily fulfil the object of our lives, like the stars unhasting yet unresting, we shall know how short-sighted are our aspirations 312 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY after a Nirvana of inaction ; and if this gospel of work seems at first sight but a dismal version of the new heavens and the new earth, let us think what is a life here without work and without objects, compared to one spent in the honourable effort which earns the love and esteem of friends; and then let us acknowledge that this gospel is borne out by the universal lesson that effects follow on their adequate causes, and on them alone ; and then this conception of Law acting in things spiritual will be found no cold agnosticism, but the star of Hope lightening the darkness and proclaiming that though the conflict be long, yet the victory is sure. CHAPTER II THE HUMAN FAMILY " So to the calmly gathered thought The innermost of truth is taught, The mystery dimly understood That love of God is love of good, And, chiefly its divinest trace In Him of Nazareth's holy face ; That to be saved is only this — Salvation from our selfishness, From more than elemental fire The soul's unsanctified desire. From sin itself, and not the pain That warns us of its chafing chain ; That worship's deeper meaning lies In mercy and not sacrifice, Not proud humilities of sense And posturing of penitence, But Love's unforced obedience ; That Book and Church and Day are given For man, not God — for earth, not heaven — The blessed means to holiest ends. Not masters but benignant friends ; That the dear Christ dwells not afar, The King of some remoter star. But here amidst the poor and blind, The bound and suffering of our kind, In works we do, in prayer we pray, Life of our life. He lives to-day." — Whittier. " Beloved, let us love one another : for love is of God ; and every one that loveth is born of GoD, and knoweth GOD. " He that loveth not, knoweth not God ; for God is love." — 1 John iv. 7, 8. CHAPTEE II THE HUMAN FAMILY " Homo sum, nihil humanum a me alienum puto." — Seneca. 1. The philosophy of spirit-life is, then, the recog- nition of Man as one social organism, every member acting more or less directly on every other, both here and in the unseen. He is not shown as the protagonist in a world-drama, the cynosure of Heaven, a God claiming possession of each soul and helping its separate progress upwards, a Satan striving to drag it to the pit ; but as one great family working out its own salvation by the operation of Spirit in many minds, a salvation which is the release from sin and evil; not the reward of progress, but the progress itself, each member aiding that end by mutual help and co-operation, or hindering it by selfishness, greed, lust, and strife. Every one of us influences others directly and indirectly — each one is helping or hindering the Coming of the Kingdom, which is the blending of all purified perceptions in the reign of co-operant love, and this none can avoid here or hereafter. No saving one's soul, no personal progress, is held up as the chief end of man, but mutual help. It is true that personal progress follows, but it is the reward inseparable from duty done. Every faculty truly 816 316 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY attained, passes into the subconscious nature, and, whether courage, acuteness, scientific discrimination, or poetic insight, perseverance, wisdom or unselfish- ness of heart, is one step upwards, once truly gained never to be lost, for no virtue excludes another, and each reaps its own reward by consequence, the most terrible of all penalties, but also the most blessed of all hopes, for it represents the sure judgment of God working by known laws. But this personal progress is not the end, but the means, for the philosophy of Spirit — that spiritual evolution is at once the purpose and the originating cause of physical evolution, is, as has already been said, a calculus which will solve all those problems of the hour which provoke such endless discussions on the plane of mere intellect and expediency. The study of occultism, as such, is of limited and doubtful value. More than that, perverted to the service of the selfish ends of the lower nature it is the greatest of all dangers. It has been the death of many religions and the ruin of many lives. But from the moment that it is perceived to be the study of the forces which everywhere underlie visible human evolution it becomes a guide to that enlighten- ment which accepts things as they are, looks to their hidden causes and facilitates that healthy personal and private action which in the aggregate makes healthy national action. It justifies the intuitions and revelations of the past, not always as subsequently interpreted in their letter, but in their essence, and it shows that all our social problems are just so many means of spiritual development, — the environment THE HUMAN FAMILY 317 of trial and difficulty which produces higher types of intelligence and character by the conquest over adverse circumstance. The practical solution of many vexed questions lies in the recognition of psychic verities because this recognition can alter the temper which would degrade all things to minister to bodily claims and material conditions. No great or heroic measures are to be looked for or even aimed at, but the leaven of abiding truth re-stated in scientific form ; so that there can be no more doubt of the essential validity of psychic than of physical science even though the former must long be expressed by images and figures drawn from material life. Thus the only efficient solutions to all the great questions become matters of individual spiritual conviction based on the firm ground of scientific causation. Where the causes are so com- plex there will always be differences of appreciation, but the general truths will be found sufficient to give abundant common ground for united action and belief. Let us apply it in a few cases. What are the lead- ing problems of modern life ? One is the standing problem of the purpose and meaning of pain in the world; another is the industrial problem — the diffi- culty of finding employment for all and outlets for the industries which maintain the national wealth. Another is the present terrible inequality in the distribution of that wealth. Another is militarism and the limitation of armaments. Yet another is the position of women. How is spiritual principle a guide in these questions? Yet if all suffering is 318 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY the consequence of violated laAv, and if spiritual science claims to reveal the laws of human nature, it should be able to point unhesitatingly to the answers. And it can; all that is required is that the logical premises be fairly stated in each case together with the psychic conditions that underlie all sound human relations. The one thing that we owe to others is Justice in the very widest application of the word. This involves Truth and open dealing in every relation of life. As it is by the industry of others that my civilised life is possible, I owe it to others to do my share in maintaining that civilisation. As I owe my intellectual training to the thoughts of others, I owe it to them to contribute my share also, which can only be done by complete honesty towards all with whom my thought is brought into contact. Justice, too, demands that what I desire for others should be the same as what I desire for myself — all that contributes to well-being and development of body and mind ; and ray standard should be what I, a just man, justly desire that others should do unto me. I justly want the fullest opportunity for my own activity. So do others. I justly want everything that I can use, not merely enjoy, but use for the higher, fuller life of a healthy body and a growing mind. So do they. I want opportunity for work and leisure. So do they. This is the statement of the ethical principle of Justice, Love altogether apart; for Love needs no arguments, grudges no efforts, and scorns the nice balancing of obligations or the asking for the precise definition of its duties. THE HUMAN FAMILY 319 Complete truthfulness, exact accounting, no secret commission, open statement of all profits would go far to bring about that Justice which would give the social and political harmony we seek. 2. This problem of the purpose and meaning in pain is perhaps the first of those with which life confronts every awakening mind. The sorrow of the world, the vain endeavours, the crushed hopes, war, tumult, disease, and misery, with death as the end of all, the only peace the only rest. There are times when this cry of the painful earth seems unanswerable and prompts the unending dilemma which generation after generation propounds on the material plane for its answer to the Spirit of God who giveth sight to the blind and wisdom to the simple — Aut nolit toller e Tnalum aut nequit ; and the completed syllogism — If He will not He is not good, if He cannot He is not omnipotent. But to right reason there is an answer if psychic data are taken as part of our premises ; psychic law gives the clue to just such problems. In Nature, every race of beings, from the humblest lichens to the oak-tree, from the insects that assist the decay of the fallen giants of the forest and bring dead matter of all kinds back into the stream of life, up to man, all are dependent on some, and subser- vient to other, existences. A great deal too much has been made of the " cruelty " which this fact is supposed to involve. The rapine of nature, the ceaseless preying of the stronger on the weaker, the incessant war of races, is only terrible to beings that have self- consciousness. To others the pain is 320 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY exceedingly brief. The chickens feed on as quietly as before when the gliding hawk has passed on- wards with his prey; the cattle who flee from the tiger begin quietly to graze as soon as the brindled marauder has selected his victim ; while lower forms of life do not even know that their fate is ap- proaching, and are extinguished even before they are aware of being threatened. The dominant notes in Nature are of joy; disease among actual fercB naiuTCB is well-nigh unknown, unless it comes sweeping off at once whole races ;i and it is only human imagination, looking before and after, which sees misery and apprehension in this interchange of life. Conflict is shocking only among moral beings ■rbo know a higher law than the animal instinct of self-preservation, and the true aspect of Nature is one of beauty and order and mutual dependence, as well as of general movement upwards to higher and more perfect forms of life. It is the distinctly human life that is the field of pain, because in the mind of man the psychic laws and their manifestations are consciously reflected and in them discord appears between the purposes and the means of life. But pain has been the starting-point of knowledge in quite ordinary ways. Medicine in all lands has been the first step in the knowledge of Nature and of Man : Science has her humble birthplace in the hut of the medicine-man, at once doctor and priest, his raison d'etre — plague, pestilence, and famine. From these came the dis- 1 As the African rinderpest. THE HUMAN FAMILY 321 covery, first of fancied, and then of real, properties in words and things, in charms and drugs. The genealogical tree from the fetish to the moral law on the one side and from the incantation to antiseptic surgery on the other, is easy to trace ; the laws of causation becoming ever clearer and clearer both on the physical and moral plane. To the evolutionist the historical uses of pain are clear enough. A perfect world might indeed be created, but it would necessarily be stationary. It could not be developed. Hunger has been and still is the great incentive to effort; whether the effort of the labourer to earn a livelihood or of the explorer to open up a new continent ; even the discovery of America arose from the desire to find a trade route which should avoid the Turk; and machinery is improved for the sake of improved return. It is only when strong love of knowledge, of order, of beauty and of goodness have arisen in the mind — pure science, pure literature, pure art, pure religion — that effort proceeds from higher incentives than un- satisfied desires. Till then, the incentive to learning, the revealer ot Law, the origin of science, of self-control, of sym- pathy, of religion, is pain. The origin, but not the end ; for if care for the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to be unspotted from the world remains the truest definition of religion, none can deny that the afflictions of widow and orphan arise from the injustices which need a strong pro- tector ; and the mire of the world is but the abuse of permitted things. Perimus licitis. And it is a X 322 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY fact that we much more readily feel sympathy with sorrow than with joy. It may be a mark of our low development, but it is so ; the vivid realisation that we are all members one of another comes by the fact that if one member suffer all members suffer with it. There are also some natures, generous and headstrong, which forget all too soon the lessons of their own pains, but are strongly moved by the havoc they may have wrought in other lives. These seem unable to learn save by the pain of others. The Cross is not less but more of a reality when we understand that it was but the visible end of a chain of causation whose last link was the arrogance of the dogmatism which disbelieved all guidance but its own creed and its own policy, and substituted its reasons of State for welcome to the Guiding Light born into the world. That the Perfect Man should die for the sins of the nation, and not for that nation only but for the whole world, is not less but more true when we see that the rejection of Him was historically, and is still, the rejection of all that is true and beautiful and sane for the sake of the lower dominion. So the higher nature in a base world ever suffers for the lower, and is itself made perfect through suffering. Only when it rises again to the Kingdom of Spirit it is unassailable and victorious, though even yet liable to be crucified afresh. Pain can only cease in the new heaven and the new earth filled with the know- ledge of God as the sea with its waters, for then alone can it be the abode of the Righteousness which needs no law but Love. Till then the world will THE HUMAN FAMILY 323 be full of suffering, both direct and " vicarious " and redemptive. But the help we need is less with philosophic questions than how we should use our own inevitable personal pains. What practical aid does this psychic law give us ? Here the solution is simple : — We must look for its cause. This will nearly always be found in some infraction of the laws of health, the laws of solidarity, or the laws of love : chiefly in our own mental states which lead us to these infractions. The evils of disease come in the main from the domination of mind by matter, of soul by food and drink and luxury ; by fretfulness ; by want of faith, allowing mind to be dominated by body; by the weakness of will to conquer each our own sensations and to direct our nerves. The pains of poverty and the terrible inequalities of wealth in the modern state arise chiefly from the desire to gain without earning, to have rather than to be, to dominate others rather than to share. The sufferings of the lascivious and the unloving arise from the abuse of the greatest thing in the world. f Let us look then for the cause of our pain first in ^ our own personal action and error, and then in our | own mental reaction to the errors around us, being overcome by evil instead of overcoming evil with good — and let us carry our pain to the Father of I Lights quite simply, without self-torturing question] or curious analysis. He will speak to the inner] silence of the soul, giving freely wisdom and upbraid- ing not, and we shall find that wisdom to be not| merely external knowledge of causes, but vivifying 324 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY power also. Nothing is more marvellous than the rapid healing of sickness (whether external injuries or internal lesions) by those who turn in trust hour by hour and day by day to the Creative Power which works in us when we will but stand and wait in patient receptivity. Nevertheless when all is said in justification of pain, when its necessity in leading us to effort, to conscious dependence on and appeal to one Divine Father has been demonstrated beyond cavil, the great truth remains that it is of the earth, earthy ; it is negative not positive, it is transitory not per- manent. It may rouse discovery, it may be the proximate cause of human sympathy, but it renders the sufferer useless for the time being ; it takes him out of the stream of usefulness, and sorrow is sorrow whatever uses God working in us may put it to. The joy of a healthy soul is like a child's joy — not the contrast with suffering, but a rising out of the normal of passive health into sheer delight. The great causes of pain are individual, not cosmic, and their abolition rests with each one of us, through the guidance of the Spirit. Last of all is the pain of separation and death. Who that has walked through the deserted streets of Pompeii or the silent cities of the East has not felt the pathos of the vanished lives which toiled and suffered therein ? Who has not felt in looking down on gathered thousands in our own busy towns that in a few short years each one of these lives, so full of action and of hope, will lie down in the eternal silence? Who has not felt in his own life THE HUMAN FAMILY 325 the desire for the touch of the vanished hand — the bitter regret that he did so little for the loving patient heart which has gone Beyond. But if the laws of spirit reveal that each one of these units is a spirit come into earth-life to fulfil a certain purpose in the world and finding in that fulfilment each his own lesson, acquiring just those qualities of which he stands in need; if it is de- finitely proved the persona ^ that we see is just the living '' mask " of that spirit which goes on to higher activities, to fresh fields and pastures new, taking with it all of positive achievement that it has won in this phase and leaving only the tenantless husk behind, why then, who cannot see that the pain is transient, the joy eternal, the separation short, and reunion certain, and the joyful message that God is not the God of the dead but of the living is the light in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Meanwhile Pain must be our teacher only so long as we will not learn by listening to the guidance of that Spirit of Love who is also the Divine Reason. Pain is but the shadow of human error. The violation of physical law generally brings early and visible results ; violations of intellectual law — errors in thought or illogical action — give rise to conse- quences which are both more remote and are masked by the effects of right action in details; while the infraction of principles whose effect is always par- tially and tentatively righted by the varied currents of human action separately rectifying obviously bad results, requires long periods in which to bear its ^ Latin : persoTia = a mask for actors. 326 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY fruit, and its slow but lasting effects endure when the causes from which they sprang are forgotten. But whether injustice be wilful or not makes no difference; Justice works out its sure results, and shows its kinship to the eternal world of spirit by its awful and majestic course, which, regardless that the wrong-doing generation has gone to expiate its faults elsewhere, visits by strict consequence the acts of the fathers upon the children, convincing them of wrong by pain. This chapter may seem to present a pessimistic view. That is not so ; but the statement of great evils is necessarily a statement of one side of the case. Civilisation in all lands is the work of intel- ligent, brave, honest men, and of loving, kindly, cultured women. The bulk of commerce is sound and honest and beneficent; the majority of homes are beautiful with patience in trial, and joy in the growth of healthy life. But there is enough which falls so far below that standard as to make very real and pressing problems, and each one of us who ever steps aside (and who does not) from the right line of complete probity and wise and joyful simplicity is contributing somewhat to them. We have each to admit " Homo swin nihil humanum a me alienv>7n puto," and the admission of kinship with all is a confession also of kinship with those on whom our severest censure falls. Surely we shall each feel this ; and while we may admit with joy that the great mass of human action is for good, we shall know also that the dulness and the apathy and the selfishness and the greed and the vanity which THE HUMAN FAMILY 327 distil bitterness into the cup of life are to be sought each in our own hearts, and the corrective of these things is found in the realisation that we are essen- tially spirits doing, in all our life-building, the work of the Father of all. Then we may realise the essen- tial unity of quick and " dead " and gladly render to others that full measure of Justice which we rightly ask for ourselves. 3. What then lets that this Justice is not the practical rule among men ? The complete answer can be given in one word — Materialism : — the temper which refuses to look be- yond physical causes, and desires sensuous pleasure without moral responsibility. It is this temper which degrades the honourable exchange of products to a competition of over- reaching and the holy relationship of man and woman to a social poison. This temper, setting down all aspirations beyond bodily needs as mere fanciful unreality, persistently inverts every problem by making mind the servant of body and power the servant of pleasure. It denies the mutualist principle which is the origin of justice and therefore of peace among men. The commercial difficulty is the first great social problem of modern life. How are commerce and manufacture to be extended and harmonised with the mutualist principle ? Commerce is the interchange of products, and products are the natural raw material of the world elaborated and perfected by labour. The competitive idea demands that every person through whose hands a given product passes in the 328 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY course of trade shall obtain it for the smallest and pass it on for the largest exchange possible. Value rendered does not enter into the question at all further than that the undue pressing of prices may- deter purchasers or send them elsewhere. Those whose means do not admit of forming a *' corner " or " ring " to force up prices by an artificial scarcity are reduced to wait for favourable turns of the market, to snatch a profit from its fluctuations, or to seek the cheapest markets for their purchases and the dearest for their sales. Between each man's desire to raise the money value of the article that he sells and to lower that of all that he buys, there arises a mean which is known as the current price, a mean which is created by the operations of each day, and is nothing more than a statement of the rates at which the day's bargains have been made. Value, which is primarity based on the cost of production, is the ratio between currency and any given commodity for the time being. These are the data of what Ruskin calls " catallactics " — the science of mere individual gain as contrasted with that real " political economy " which declares the means of national wealth and well being. When markets are free to all a relatively large volume of commerce implies a low level of prices. This can be obtained in three ways : — (a) By abundance of production. (As in manu- facturing England of 1800-1850.) (6) By scarcity of money and abundance of food- stuffs relatively to other nations. (As in the India of 1870.) THE HUMAN FAMILY 329 (c) By lowering the cost of production through greater skill, improved machinery, smaller wages, or any of these. (As by the Continental inroads on some of our manufactures.) Only under the first condition are low prices a benefit. Under the second the inequality so pro- duced tends rapidly to disappear by competition for profits and by influx of currency into the cheap country where prices will steadily rise, as has been the case in India for the last thirty years; while under the last the number of persons benefited tends to decrease, and when machinery has reached nearly the limit of improvement, the scale of wages becomes the only factor to be clipped, with the immediate effect of reducing the purchasing power of the wage-earners. It is often said that low prices mean advantage to the working man in so far as he is a consumer. If prices fell quite uniformly in all trades, and contracts and rates of wages were recast from day to day, there would be neither gain nor loss ; but as this is not, and never could be the case, fall in prices in any particular trade tells against all persons who produce more than they consume, and in favour of all who consume more than they produce of the article in question. Poverty increases among these producers, and is only stemmed by strikes, which react on national trade and diminish its volume, at the same time that the absorptive power of the home market is lessened. The result is a glut of commodities, and while the need for products among the poorer classes is wide and urgent, all markets are overstocked. Protection, 330 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY Fair Trade, and Free Trade are invoked in turn, and upheld as remedies by apologists who shut their eyes to the plain fact that the evils complained of, ex- cessive competition and the poverty of the farmer and small trader, are as widely felt in protective America as in free-trading England. In the one country there are those who would like to see a tariff, in the other those who would repeal the tariff already existing, while in both there are thousands able and willing to give the energy and the skill which transforms raw material, but who are debarred from producing the necessaries whereof they and their fellows are in extreme need. For the hard fact which gives its strength to Socialism remains, and cannot be evaded — that if every mill in the country were run at its full power, if every man in the community who is able and willing to work were at liberty to do so, and if waste due to the over-large numbers of mere distributors were checked, the excess of workers over drones is so great, that the abundance of products would be such that the healthy wants of all might be supplied. The competitive principle is the lion in the path. The more competitors there are for a stationary or contracting market, the less the margin of profit and the greater the tendency to force down wages to the limit of subsistence. Not only are competitors forced into an ever keener and keener rivalry to secure customers, thus giving more and more power to the great accumulation of capital to undersell small producers, but the lowered wages of large masses extinguish their purchasing power. THE HUMAN FAMILY 331 A large volume of production can only be main- tained by an ever-increasing purchasing power in the home market, that is among producers them- selves, as well as in foreign markets. These latter are always more or less precarious : the former is constant and is sure. Moreover under present con- ditions the competition among distributors for the margin of profit in bringing goods to the consumer is yet keener, and leads to the recovery of profit by deterioration of quality, an evil now very widely felt. In open competition, both of production and over- reaching, intellect divorced from morality has said its last word, and this is the moral deadlock to which it has brought us, " the struggle for existence " and " the survival of the fittest." Its only solution is to let the superfluity of workers die, and to limit the population. Meanwhile in all lands the proletariat differ from the prosperous as to who are the super- fluous, and raising the issue by dynamite as being the only argument that is listened to, sow the deadly crop of hatreds which silence Reason. Ethics or spiritual law can alone solve the diffi- culty, and this points to the ultimate solution by a largely increased number of actual producers, and that no earnings be diverted. Following the analogy of all nature, it declares that the prime factor in all wealth is energy or labour, and that the very phrase "over-production" is an absurdity while there are men needing products. Personal industry applied to the effective plant and machinery which is " capital," is in fact the one source of wealth to a nation. All the gamblers and manipulators of 332 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY markets do not add one penny to tlie national wealth — they prey upon it. Every middleman who is not really needed as a distributor of goods merely enhances their price and curtails their use, thus actually reducing production and enjoyment. The available labour in a country is its potential wealth, and the very meaning of thorough prosperity is that all be usefully employed, not in making useless and enervating luxuries, but in that production which ministers to the health and well-being of all. The more is produced by a nation the greater its wealth, and its prosperity lies in utilising the whole of the labour it has at command. Socialism seeks to bring in this solution far in advance of the very high level of morality which could alone make it practicable. The national or municipal workshop would be feasible enough if working men's public opinion were set on a fair day's work for a fair day's wage and not to get the maxi- mum of the latter for a minimum of the former ; if the management were honest, never manipulating accounts to suit theories; and if political reasons were left outside the factory gates. The want of common honesty and of the single eye to effective- ness has been the ruin of all such experiments since the time of Fourier onwards to the latest municipal peculations. The municipal workshop might be effective enough (a) if the management were both skilful and honest ; (h) the heads of account true to fact; (c) if every lazy worker were remorselessly expelled. The mentality of greed is the bar to Socialism. It is a matter of ethics. At our present THE HUMAN FAMILY 333 ethical level, maintenance of men in comfort irre- spective of work done invariably results in a greatly lowered level of individual performance both in quality and quantity, and defeats the proposed end. In 1848 national works were opened at Paris, and there were soon half a million of men on the pay- roll. Needless to say the amount of effective work was small, and when the works were closed the men naturally regarded this as an act of oppression and resorted to violence. There is no greater danger at the present time than that half-educated men, ignorant of the forces of Nature and the lessons of History, seeing nothing beyond the supposed im- mediate interests of Labour or their own theories, should be able to impose regulations and restrictions on free development. This must in the end swamp initiative and liberty alike, and cast away the Empire which our fathers have won — an Empire which now means not national dominion but national oppor- tunity. "The edifice is even now being reared in which every man will be a veritable slave to the State — the State itself a universal monopoly and trust. Then every life will be regulated to infinitesimal details, and the working population of the whole West find themselves situated just as men in factories or on railroads are situated. The trust will be nominally for the universal benefit, and must for a time so seem to be. But just so surely as human nature is not perfect, just so surely will the directing class eventually exploit the wonderful situation, just as some Roman rulers exploited the world." 334 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY This statement of Mr. Hearn's may be falsified as a prophecy, but it is certainly true as an anticipation if Socialist theories of right to employment by the state were admitted. Such a situation, predicted by Herbert Spencer, can only be avoided by the free growth of personal character, and this is fostered in the atmosphere of equal opportunity, free education, and a social sys- tem which sternly represses intercepted profits and gambling gains. Such a situation was realised in ancient Peru, where every tenth man was engaged in the surveillance of the nine ; that supervision extending to minute details of domestic life and education. The result was the rearing of a race so o devoid of sense of duty and of initiative that they went down like a house of cards before a handful of foreign adventurers. A healthy individualism is the only road away from this enervating end. As one of the greatest of modern rulers has recently said : " I believe emphatically in doing everything that can be done by law or otherwise to keep the avenues of occupation, of employment, of work, of interest, so open that there shall be, so far as is humanly possible to achieve it, a measurable equality of opportunity — equality of opportunity for each man to show the stuff that is in him. But when it comes to a reward, let him get what by his energy, foresight, intelligence, thrift, courage, he is able to get with the opportunity open. I don't believe in coddling any one; I would no more permit the THE HUMAN FAMILY 335 strong to oppress the weak than tell a weak man or a vicious man that he ought by rights to have the reward due only to the man who actually earns it." Very properly we in this country set our faces against privilege. "There can be no grosser example of privilege than that set before us as an ideal by certain Socialistic writers — the ideal that every man shall put into the common fund what he can, which would mean what he chose, and should take out whatever he wanted ; in other words, this theory is that the man who is vicious, foolish, a drag on the whole community, who contributes less than his share to the common good, should take out what is not his, what he has not earned; that he shall rob his neighbour of what that neighbour has earned. This particular Socialistic ideal would be to enthrone privilege in one of its grossest, crudest, most dis- honest, most harmful, and most unjust forms. Equality of opportunity to render service, — ^yes, I will do everything I can to bring it about. Equality of reward, — no, unless there is also equality of ser- vice. If the service is equal, let the reward be equal, but let the reward depend on the service. And mankind being composed as it is, there will be inequality of service for a long time to come, no matter how great the equality of opportunity may be, and just so long as there is inequality of service it is eminently desirable that there should be inequality of reward. '' But in securing a measurable equality of oppor- tunity, let us no more be led astray by the doctrinaire 336 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY advocates of a lawless and destructive Individual- ism than by doctrinaire advocates of a deadening Socialism. As society progresses and grows more complex, it becomes desirable to do many things for the common good by common effort. No em- pirical line can be laid down as to where and when such common effort by the whole community should supplant or supplement private and individual effort. Each case must be judged on its own merits. Simi- larly, when a private or corporate fortune of vast size is turned to a business use which jeopardises the welfare of all the small men, then in the interest of everybody, in the interest of true individualism, the collective or common power of the community must be exercised to control and regulate for the common good this business use of vast wealth ; and while doing this we must make it evident that we frown upon envy and malice exactly as we frown upon arrogance and oppression." ^ That the existing social system needs reform all who study the facts are agreed, and that there are such wide divergences as to the desirable method need not, must not, cause us to set aside the problem and think to deal by mere repression with the wretched who are driven to outrage to gain a hearing. The problem must be faced, and when men see clearly the end to be reached they will find some practical means of reaching it. But the primary means of its reform must be the growth of a healthy public opinion, and nothing is more likely to help towards this than two considerations. First, that Justice 1 President Roosevelt, Underbill Celebration, July 1908. THE HUMAN FAMILY 337 between man and man, and not mere '' freedom of contract," is the sovereign law which, if violated, works out its own sure punishment in class enmities and the insensate clash of discordant "interests"; and, second, that the personal results of a life spent in ministering to mere bodily desires (quite apart from any criminality) is an empty soul such as hundreds of those who haunt circles to whom they are unable to give one noble or elevating thought. This is a selfish fear, it may be replied. Yes, it is selfish, but it is both less selfish and more true than the ideas now current (and progress must always be gradual) ; while in proportion as men realise the first of these two truths, the dim light of desire for personal progress will be quenched in the dawn of the growing day — the desire to build an enduring political fabric. When it is clearly understood that the result of not denying the baser self is simply to have that self with us in this and the after-life un- denied, and not any penalty which it is hoped the Judge will be too merciful to inflict, nor a lapse into unconscious nothingness, then there is a chance that men will seriously endeavour to amend their own selves, will perceive that the constant struggle for wealth at the expense of others is a suicidal mistake, and that the essence of happiness is not for a few to get, but for all to be, the best that is possible. 4. Closely connected with the extended employ- ment which is the use and correlative of extended production, is the question of the equitable dis- tribution of the wealth that commerce earns. The colossal evils of pauperism and unemployment are 338 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY warning lights calling on us to alter our course. Energies which should be building an unassailable polity are making a top heavy structure, like those of the old commercial republics — Carthage, Genoa, Venice — which perished in their prime. A polity is always compact of ideals, aims, thoughts and emotions, and only by the laws of psychic develop- ment can it be understood. Wealth is created by industry discovering and applying natural laws. Its just distribution is the meaning of Political Economy. A true political economy is a science of life, for it should show how a nation can be healthfully and happily maintained. It is the science of the greatest health for the greatest number. The ethical and biologic factors cannot be eliminated without com- plete falsification of meaning of economy; it is oikonomia — house management, the science which is concerned with the use of the means of life.^ The wealth of a nation is the aggregate of its products which maintain healthy life — its food, its clothing, its houses, roads, railways, telegraphs, banks, factories, and all their contents, machinery, books, pictures, statuary, music — all, in short, each in its propor- tion and degree, which maintains the strength and re-creates the energies of a strong beautiful life. All these are measured in money, but could just as well be enjoyed if there were no means of measuring their value. The total wealth of a 1 For a complete and consistent statement of the whole argument see " Unto this Last " (Kuskin). It would be useless to attempt in far weaker words to reproduce a statement so lucid and in such complete agreement with psychological laws. THE HUMAN FAMILY 339 country can be stated in pounds sterling, not that it would fetch that valuation if suddenly flung on the market, but because each article would severally cost its valuation under normal conditions. To make these products requires ceaseless and closest co-operation of brain and hand, of capital and labour. The shares of each in the resulting pro- ducts are perhaps best determined by that process of give and take between just men which is known as " the open market." But if, by means of accumulated interest or the power of mere money, any unproductive units receive more than their fair share, those units can only be gratified by diverting to them some portion of the share of others. If, then, it is true that at the present time the large invested fortunes are growing larger, and the number of the relatively poor is increasing, this can only be at the expense of those who by brain and hand produce the real wealth for which the gold counters are exchanged. It is the illusion of mone- tary value which makes it hard to see that the quantity of wealth in a nation being at any moment a finite quantity, the operation of any steadily acting cause whereby great fortunes increase automatically, must inevitably be at the expense of the makers of the articles purchased by the wealthy. By reason of this inequality it is now exceedingly, and perhaps increasingly, difficult for hard-working competent men to gain a position in which they can bring up a healthy family safe from want, and this is a fact which more perhaps than any other menaces the stability of the nation. 340 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY The vast wealth earned by the past and present accumulated industry of the nation is so unequally divided that there are said to be four million persons daily in England who do not know where their next meal is coming from. It is only necessary to look at the miles of mean streets in all our great towns to realise the vast numbers of those who are dependent on weekly wages ; and whether the statistical tables which declare that half the wealth of England is in the hands of one- twentieth of her population are exactly correct or not, the contrasts of enormous wealth and abject poverty meet the observant eye in every street. These mean streets, in a time of commercial stoppage due to panic or invasion, would inevitably disgorge starving thousands whose necessities would compel rioting and pillage. They have no reserves and they are the peril of every manufacturing State. How do these terrible contrasts come about ? What remedy can psychic knowledge propose for such vast evils and dangers? Given that moral and ethical development is the entire purpose of civilisation, to discern the answer to the former question will go far to answer the latter. The chief causes are two : — Interception of profits, and Gambling. The interception of profits is the natural outcome of competition unrestrained by justice — laissez faire. But we must not look to abolish the unjust distri- bution of wealth by any single measure ; it can only be removed by the joint operation of several. (a) By the action of trade unions and collective THE HUMAN FAMILY 341 bargaining. Labour as well as capital must be allowed its aggregate weight, and collective action not merely be allowed but welcomed, whatever its early mistakes may be. (6) Education. The more intelligent and far- sighted the leaders of labour, the more justice will reign in their councils. Opponents of the free edu- cation which has such success in America forget the great truth that real progress comes from more and more persons in a nation thinking rightly; it does not matter what class these are drawn from; the larger the area of selection the greater the number that will profit, and the greater the benefit to the country. (c) Profit sharing. Whether by such schemes as those in full operation at Port Sunlight, at Reading, and elsewhere, or by raising capital in readily trans- ferable £1 shares. The soberly and soundly adminis- tered joint-stock company is one of the most potent factors in redistribution. This, with intelligent and honest management, would enable every careful worker whose adequate payment is secured by collective bargaining to be- come in his degree a capitalist. Such investments would in the aggregate be world-wide and would bring home to the many, solidarities of which they are now crassly ignorant. It will presently be seen why joint-stock under- takings with limited liability, which have been so great a source of wealth to the prosperous classes, are for the present inapplicable to the working man, to whom they might be as great a boon. 342 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY {d) Taxation. By one means or another wealth is at present undeservedly unequal. It is but fair that taxation should fall mainly on those who have super- fluities. These four means would operate towards a better distribution of wealth, mainly because they cannot be put into operation without intelligent discrimina- tion, knowledge of causes past and present, probity, and respect for contracts, in a word, without char- acter. Spoliative legislation is as much a tactical mistake as any other spoliation. It behoves therefore all who would learn and apply spiritual verities, to recognise that unearned inequalities are sources of evil, to extend a large- hearted welcome to all means whatever whereby existing inequalities can be lessened, and to be ready to judge of all measures without the bias of supposed personal interests, or the blind and fanatical enthusiasm which neglects the lessons of history for new forms of old experiments in govern- ment. Spiritual discernment does not over-ride reason, but only supplies wider premises than the natural man perceives. Gambling is an even more fertile cause of in- equality than interception of profits. Not the gambling which dissipates a fortune in the card- room. This is mere dust in the balance, and, how- ever foolish, may actually tend to redistribution. Even the gambling which maintains twenty thou- sand " bookmakers " whose profits represent perhaps ten millions of money annually wasted (mostly by the trading and working classes) is not the chief THE HUMAN FAMILY 343 factor in causing inequalities. The money might have gone for recreative amusement and to brighten many homes ; it creates an eminently unproductive class, it sustains a few vulgar prints which prey on the gullibility of the many and sometimes on the reputations of the few, it maintains an army of touts, loafers, and agents, but all this is a minor matter compared with the gambling in trade. Sound commerce deals in actualities — cereals, cotton, metals, and the like. Its business is to con- vey these from the field and the mine to the con- sumer by the shortest and most effective routes. It rightfully retains for the grower, the manufacturer, for the railway, the steamship, the merchant, and the shopkeeper each his earned profit. The amount of that profit is best determined by the free com- petition of trained individuals under the public opinion of an enlightened community repressing by law all forms of fraud. Under such circumstances only work and intelli- gence can make a man pre-eminent among his fellows. But in our Exchanges, whether for corn, cotton, metals, or stocks, great dealings take place which have no relation to the supply or demand of the public. Certificates and delivery slips pass for genuine transfers, differences are the object of the transactions, and the whole game is a war for plunder. It is not even a lottery, for the spoils are to the victors in a barren strife of wits.^ ^ The difficulty of establishing a legal distinction between gambling and genuine contracts is great. Nevertheless it has 344 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY It turns hundreds of young men from honest workers to fevered speculators. A young merchant or a clerk makes in a morning's lucky " speculation " more than he can earn in a month ; the attraction is irresistible, and he goes on, sometimes losing, some- times winning, till all zest in honest work has left him. Then comes some " crisis " and he goes under, henceforth dreaming of riches as sudden as ruin, unable and unfit for prosaic work. And the whole of money so "made" comes from some other men, and ultimately, by sure arithmetic, from the men who have really created the wealth by farming the land, working the mine, or saving the money which bought the bonds. Hence the steady growth of riches in the hands of those who use wealth as a weapon to rig the market by fictitious news, "matched orders," and other devices of the gambler who loads the dice. Nor is this the worst. Company law which, rightly used, is a most powerful means for the equalisation of wealth, has become the means whereby the savings of many are swept into the coffers of the few. A company is started with a prospectus setting out in florid, but perhaps substantially true, language the possibitities of an enterprise, — for coal mining, developing a motor industry, building a health resort, or the like. The coal is there, the opening is there, the reasons are valid, the engineers are competent, been met with respect to Bank Stock in which gambling has ceased, and is about to be met for marine insurances wherein persons having no real interests in ship or cargo now gamble on risks and impede the legitimate business of re-insurance. THE HUMAN FAMILY 345 the labour is willing and abundant. Nothing is wanting but honesty — character. The concessionary rights are acquired by some " financier " and his syndicate. They divide the shares (which are never meant to bear interest to the in- vestor), they issue to a credulous public as many of these shares as can be let go consistently with retaining a controlling majority at a shareholders' meeting. Large sums are spent in ostentatious ad- vertisement, and in unostentatious improvements, as far as possible out of sight. Then the thing is left awhile, no dividends follow, value depreciates, the company has served its purpose. The concern goes bankrupt or is voluntarily wound up by the syndicate in their capacities of shareholders and proxy-holders. They then, with the addition or omission of a few insignificant names, form a new company. They pay," as vendors, to themselves (as the new purchasing company) the bulk of the money with which a con- fiding public entrusts them and start the game afresh. When it is played out, the original "financier" in his private capacity buys up the third or fourth "reconstruction" and works it in earnest or retires with his plunder. This is but one of several common "financial" methods. Such schemes grow up like mushrooms by the hundred every year and divert the earnings of the industrious into the pockets of unscrupulous knaves. The ultimate results of many such " speculations " is that of some hundreds of companies registered in England in prosperous years over 70 per cent, fail, and many millions of hardly won savings change 346 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY hands, and depression sets in, which is treated as if it were due to cosmic causes and not to human misdirection. The issue of small shares might be a most potent factor of contentment, because it would enable savings to be invested in much more productive forms than the 2^ per cent, savings bank to which a middle class which aims at 6 per cent, would confine the savings of the poor. Such frauds as those sketched above are in France rendered impossible by a better devised Com- pany law. But to invite similar small investments in England under present conditions could only mean the opening of a new field to the depredations of the company promoter; and the consequences of the spoliation that would assuredly ensue would cer- tainly be to inflame to fury' the dormant passions of the plundered poor. Enough has been said to show how gambling and fraud operate as a steady drain on the classes who earn. Inasmuch as all wealth is created by them this means that of the total wealth of the country — necessarily finite — a very considerable percentage is annually diverted. Stop this process, which is condemned by all sound morality, and the repulsive and gross inequalities will soon disappear. Inequality there will always be as long as desert varies, but no man of character who has the wherewith to main- tain a simple happy home will violently begrudge the wealth of the mansion and the park. This, plus real religious belief, was the secret ot old-time contentment in the cottage: it was before the era of the predatory " speculator " and of gam- THE HUMAN FAMILY 347 bling on the Exchanges, when the wealthy class was that of large landowners who freely admitted their duties as well as rights, and when men believed in the Divine Government of the world. What matter that this belief was expressed in crude anthropomor- phisms — the essential truth was there and bore its fruit, just as disbelief in that Government produces hooligans and " Apaches." Contentment can be restored by the growth of character, by the hatred of gambling which comes of the discernment of spiritual values. It will then express itself in public opinion and in legislation, as well as in private conduct. There is no royal road, no " Morrison's pill" to give health to the community. Legislative measures are of little avail till they are the natural expression of general public opinion; and a sane public opinion is the result of individual moral development and of sincere religious belief. As Herbert Spencer told us, we need not expect golden public conduct from leaden private character. Modern political methods do not allow of men being well governed unless they can govern themselves well, and this they can only do by knowledge and personal advance, necessarily a somewhat slow pro- cess. Until it has taken place, however, there is " no more reason to look for a high standard in the combination of men known as the House of Commons than in those other combinations known as the several markets," as if the former body were less biassed than the electors it so admirably represents. The House of Commons is not '• wiser than any man in it " ; it is much less wise than its best members. 348 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY For its acts are the result of just so much wisdom as is common to a majority. 5. " Give Peace in our time, Lord." So rises the heartfelt prayer in the churches of a Europe which maintains forty thousand regiments, and applies every fresh discovery in physical science to the destruction of life. What has spiritual law to say to this great ano- maly ? What are the causes of wars and fightings in the Human family where peace and goodwill should reign ? The answer must begin rather far back and cover a good deal of ground, though it must inevi- tably come back to that given by St. James — we desire and have not : we kill and covet and cannot obtain. We ask and receive not, because we ask amiss that we may spend wealth and energy on our pleasures. The cause of contention is the assertion of the ambitions of the outer personality. To an Intelligence who should have over all causes the same knowledge that an astronomer has over the apparently confused motion of sun, moon, stars, and planets, all consequences which flow from those causes would be present. This Laplace showed long since by reasoning ; and unless we are prepared to admit uncaused effects in the psychic world after rejecting them in the physical, we must recognise Determinism there also. Experimentally, every competent palmist, every case of precognition, is a standing proof that the causes which bring about events are already in full opera- tion, and that the soul of man, belonging to the world of Force and Causation, can sometimes antici- THE HUMAN FAMILY 349 pate the normal course of cerebral consciousness which sees the succession of events. This Deter- minism is a very different thing from fatalism. Determinism recognises the internal psychic causes in human affairs — the working of loves and hates, negligences and ignorances, pride and prejudice, joy and fear, the subconscious, directive action of the human spirit, with the Divine guidance over all — as causative of personal and social facts. Those whose hearts are set on peace will seek peace and ensue it; they will look for the causes of peace; and their prayer for it, like all true prayer which is not adoration, will be in the realm of causation. Nor does the certainty that our daily choices of action spring from psychic causes, hamper in the smallest degree the action of the outer consciousness which lives in Time and the succession of phenomena, as if that choice were predetermined for us by a Fate outside ourselves. It is also of the essence of psychic law that individual soul is the cause of in- dividual form, both transitory and permanent. The subconscious mind is the channel of the Creative Power and forms body to its own expression. The conscious mind modifies that form by its habitual modes of thought. Dispositions make expressions ; and habitual expression becomes physiognomy, both bodily and mental. These are admitted biologic facts, and their results have been classified as the fixed and mobile ex- pression of every person. Our fixed expression is written all over us — on the proportions and shape ot our bones, on our faces, in our hands, our form and 350 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY symmetry. Mental defect is closely associated with moral defect. Even among the horses in a cavalry regiment, as in a school of children, the trained eye will at once recognise the fixed expressions which indicate docility, intelligence, sensitiveness, and good temper, or their opposites. The beautiful soul in an ugly body may exist, as the depraved mind in a Phryne, but both are rare, and when they are found the one is being modified upwards, the other down- wards by daily acts. This fixed expression is being continually changed by our frames of mind. Understanding, self-control, power, courage, trust, love will smooth the brow, clear the countenance, and impress their dignity on the whole person. Ill-temper, fretfulness, sensuality, excess, vanity, will sharpen or bloat the features, alter the walk, degrade the postures, distort the form. We speak of the traces of age, and charge on time the loss of beauty; but that is scarcely true. Time makes permanent the dominant expressions, or dissolves form under the succession of conflicting emotions. The body is the creature of Time; it does but reflect its circumstances. If the greater portion of our waking hours are spent in fretfulness, or worry, or self-seeking, the lines of selfishness will form about mouth and eyes. The " lean and hungry Cassius " is as distinctive of an habitual frame of mind as the jolly, fat, dissolute knight. Mobile expression moulds the face of the scold and the shrew, or of a St. Genevieve or a Jeanne d'Arc. In the world of soul acts form habits, habits become character, and character becomes destiny. In the fixed expression THE HUMAN FAMILY 351 heredity is but one factor — the main factor is recep- tive and forming soul. As in the individual so in the nation. The dis- position to art, literature, philosophy makes the Greek type of character ; the talent for engineering, discipline and war the Koman ; enterprise and love of fair play gave England her mission ; clarity of reason- ing and scientific accuracy of thought is typically French ; painstaking thoroughness in applying means to ends is the secret of German success; and so through all the nations which make a world ; each has some definite function to fulfil which no other fulfils so well — these are the fixed expression of the national characters, while its political actions are the mobile expression varying the former. Hence arise many differences of ideals. But these differences of ideals need not be causes of conflict, as they too often are, and we are already half way to recognise this fact when we perceive that it is the balance of ideals which makes a world-polity, and admit that each has its place; for we are then in the frame of mind which desires to understand and give due weight to ideals which are not our own. Civilisation is a vital, not an arithmetical, aggregate of ideals and temperaments. Peace, concord, agreement imply differences. Har- mony is not unison. Peace Societies can do little to promote the causes they have at heart by dwelling on the horrors of war. Happily, men in masses have never been deterred from war either by its horrors or its costliness when they have had before them a plain alternative between an honourable risk or 362 PSYCHIC PHILOSOPHY a disgraceful submission. The Peace Societies must set in motion the causes of peace if they are to succeed in their aim, and these causes begin in the readiness to hear others and get at their real meaning under the veil of words ; to recognise the attendant circumstances which make the same measures liberty in one time and place, and license at another time and place; to disregard errors in an antagonist's words in order to get at his essential meaning, and, above all, to do justice and love mercy in every relation of life. And as peace, like strife, comes from the re- lationships of souls and minds, each of us who would serve Peace must cultivate just this habit of sym- pathetic seeking for the real intention of all with whom we come in contact. Let us beware of con- tending for words. Let us realise interpreting cir- cumstances for those with whom we disagree in our own homes ; we shall then be able to apply the same process in Ireland or Bengal, or to Germans and Latins. We shall often have to take a firm stand, but we shall do so without bitterness. The faculty which can take calm strong political action is trained in daily contact with its fellows, and in that habitual sacrifice of unimportant inclination which is both the best manners and the highest wisdom. Every honest-minded man is worth listening to ; and if, as is undeniably the case, the sum of human knowledge is demonstrably the total of healthy mental action, and is not to be packed up in any formula ; if it is not by the letter of any law but by the spirit of discernment that truth is to be reached. THE HUMAN FAMILY 353 careful attention to another's real meaning becomes a necessity of logic as well as of courtesy. How very relative to consciousness and circum- stance expressions of opinion may be, a few examples will show. Contrast the attitude of Christian and Secularist as shown by Dante and by Voltaire. Who does not see that the one is looking beyond the present confusion into the kingdom of moral causes, the other frames the abuses of his day into gene- ralisations. One man is sure of immortality, another of anni- hilation ; may not the divergent attitude be merely a question of the locus of conscious personality? If the body is imagined to be the Self, annihilation is a necessity of chemistry ; and if there is no con- sciousness of a soul how can personality be supposed to subsist ? noXXot? B'tcfidLfMOVs i/'V)(as "Ai'St Tzpotaxpev *Hpwo)v avrov