Genuine Mediumship; or, The Invisible Powers. William Walker Atkinson
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of the existence of great plane of being and life beyond the range of the ordinary senses of man—planes surrounding us on all sides, occupying the same space as we do, yet unseen by us, and we largely unseen by those dwelling upon such planes.
The Higher Senses of Men.
There are found persons who, while admitting the possibility of other and finer planes of being and life, yet question the possibility of communication between these planes of existence. They say, with apparently sound logic, "How is it possible for the human being, with his ordinary senses, to 'sense' things or being, dwelling on finer planes of being?" If this were all that there is to the question, we might well echo "How, indeed?" and agree with the critic. But, this is not all that there is to it—not even the beginning of the end of the tale. For not only may things on the finer planes become perceptible to human beings by means of the lowering of the vibrations of these finer vibratory objects in certain ways, but human beings may develop and cultivate an increased power in their senses of sight and hearing, and thus raise their vibrations so as to "sense" the things of the higher vibrations; and, still more, human beings may, and often do, develop and cultivate certain latent powers of "sensing" which are inherent in every one of us, and thus directly "sense" the sights and sounds of the higher planes of existence, almost if not quite as clearly as they can sense the objects and events of their own plane of existence. To understand how this can be, it is necessary to carefully consider the question of "sensing" in general, so as to understand just what enables us to "sense" anything at all. Once understanding this, it is but a step further to understand this supernormal sensing referred to. Let us then examine this matter of "sensing" in general.
The World of Sensation.
The reports of our sense organs are called "sensations." A sensation is defined as "an impression, or the consciousness of an impression, made upon the mind through the medium of a nerve or one of the organs of sense. The term 'sense' is defined as 'a faculty possessed by animals of perceiving external objects by means of impressions made upon certain organs of the body, or of perceiving changes in the condition of the body.' Our senses have been well said to constitute 'the doors to the outside world.' Unless our attention is specially directed to the subject, few of us even begin to realize how completely we are dependent upon these 'doors' to the outside world" for our knowledge of that outside world. It is only when we stop to imagine how completely shut in, or shut out, we would be if all of our sense channels should be destroyed, that we can even begin to realize just how dependent we are upon our senses for our knowledge of the world in which we live, and move, and have our being.
A Senseless World.
A writer on the subject has said: "Psychologists have pointed out to us the fact that if a human being were born without sense organs, no matter how perfect a brain he might have, his life would be little more than that of a plant. Such a person would exist merely in a dreamlike state, with only the very faintest manifestations of consciousness. His consciousness would not be able to react in response to the impact of sensations from the outside world, for there would be no such impact. And as consciousness depends almost entirely upon the impact of, or resistance to, outside impressions, his consciousness would be almost entirely inactive. He would be conscious of his own existence, but would probably never realize the fact fully, for he would have nothing else with which to compare himself, and his self-consciousness would never be aroused by contact with things outside of himself. Such a person would not have even the memories of previous sensations or experiences to arouse or heighten his consciousness or thought, and consequently he would have no imagination to use. He would be, to all intents and purposes, a living corpse. Helen Keller has only two doors of sensation closed to her—the sense of sight and the sense of hearing. Touch, taste, and smell, however were left to her; and each was quickened and heightened in order to help so far as possible to perform the world of the defective senses. The reaching of the consciousness of this girl is considered by science to be akin to a miracle—yet only two senses were missing. To appreciate the full meaning of the importance of the senses, one has but to think of Helen Keller as having been also deprived of the sense of touch."
The Elemental Sense.
Science informs us that all of the five senses of man, viz., the respective senses of touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell are but modifications of one elementary sense namely the sense of touch; and that the other senses have been gradually evolved from that one elementary sense. This is seen to be the case when it is realized that the only way that we "sense" the presence of an outside object—be that object either a material substance, a vibration of the air, or an etheric vibration of light—is by that outside object coming in contact, directly or indirectly, with one or more of our sensory nerves, the latter conveying the report of the contact to the brain, which translates the sensation into what is called a "perception." This is true of the sensations of touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell, and of senses higher than these and which as yet are not recognized by science. Consequently, the consciousness of the presence of an outside thing arises from contact with that outside thing through the channel of the sense of touch, or of some of its more complex evolved phases.
The Raw Material of Thought.
From what has been said, it is seen that we can know only those things concerning the outside world which are capable of being reported to us by means of sense impressions, simple or complex—all of our thought regarding the world is made up from "the raw materials of thought" which psychologists have termed sensations. Consequently, if an individual is deprived of one or more of his ordinary senses, his knowledge of the outside world is decreased to just that extent. And, likewise, if the individual were to be given one or more additional senses, his knowledge of the world would be increased in the same ratio. The same result, at least in a certain degree, would be attained if the existing senses of the individual were to be increased in power so as to register higher rates of vibration than they now consciously register and record.
The Evolution of the Senses.
This subject of increased sense-powers has always been a fascinating one for the psychologists, and much speculation has been indulged in concerning the increased consciousness of mankind were additional senses opened to it. We ask you to carefully consider the following quotations from psychologists possessing the "scientific imagination."
A psychologist says: "All the senses have been evolved from the elementary sense of Touch. All of our senses are but modified, specialized, and more complex forms of the sense of Touch. The elementary life-forms possessed merely the sense of Touch; and that but faintly developed—but a faint sensitiveness to outside impressions. Then developed the sense of Taste, from which later evolved the sense of Smell, the latter even now being closely associated with the former. Then evolved the sense of Hearing, or the consciousness of the contact of air vibrations called 'sound.' Then evolved the sense of sight, or the consciousness of contact with the light waves of the other. And it is not impossible, or even improbable, that the human race will eventually develop other and more complex senses—in fact, many even now claim that the development of extra senses is now under way in the race, and that the same are now manifesting the presence and their powers in exceptional cases."
Unfoldment of New Senses
The same writer continues as follows: "Even as it is man is able to perceive only a limited number of sound vibrations—there are many sound vibrations above and below his scale, and which he is unable to perceive, but which are registered by delicate instruments. Likewise, man is able to perceive only a limited range of light vibrations, there being enormous fields of such vibrations above and below his range. Again, man is unable to sense electrical waves, or magnetic waves—though, theoretically, he should be able to sense these as well as light waves, the difference between these respective fields of etheric vibrations being simply different rates of vibration. Imagine what a new world would be opened to man if he could sense the waves of electricity. In that case he could 'see' things as far away from him as the waves of electricity could travel, and even though