Genuine Mediumship; or, The Invisible Powers. William Walker Atkinson
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objects intervened, as in the case of the X-Rays. In such a case a man might actually 'see' things at the other side of the world, by means of 'wireless electrical waves.' Theoretically these things are possible, providing that man's optical nerves are rendered more sensitive, or provided that he evolves a new set of sensory nerves and instruments of impression."
Discovery of New Worlds.
Another psychologist says: "If a new sense or two were added to the present normal number in man, that which is now the phenomenal world for all of us might, for all that we know, burst into something amazingly different and wider, in consequence of the additional revelations of these new senses." Another authority has said: "It does not seem at all improbable that there are properties of matter of which none of our senses can take immediate cognizance, and which other beings might be able to see in the same manner that we are sensible to light, sound, etc." Another writer has said: "We know that our sensory nerves are capable of transmitting to the brain only a part of the phenomena of the universe. Our senses give us only a section of the world's phenomena. Our senses usher only certain phenomena into the presence of our minds. If we had three or four new senses added, this might appear like a new world to us; we might become conscious of a vast number of phenomena which at present never have any effect upon our nervous system. It is not possible to imagine a race of beings whose senses do not resemble ours, inhabiting other worlds."
Transcendental Senses
Another writer has drawn an interesting picture, which is based upon a conjecture which is scientifically valid, as follows: "The late Professor James once suggested as a useful exercise for young students a consideration of the changes which would be worked in our ordinary world if the various branches of our receiving instruments happened to exchange duties; if, for instance, we heard all colors, and saw all sounds. All this is less mad than it seems. Music is but an interpretation of certain vibrations undertaken by the ear; and color is but an interpretation of other vibrations undertaken by the eye. Were such an alteration of our senses to take place, the world would still be sending us the same messages, but we should be interpreting them differently. Beauty would still be ours, though speaking in another tongue. The birds' song would then strike our retina as pageant of color; we should see all the magical tones of the wind, hear as a great fugue the repeated and harmonized greens of the forest, the cadences of stormy skies. Did we realize how slight an adjustment of our own organs is needed to initiate us into such a world, we should perhaps be less contemptuous of those mystics who tell us in moments of transcendental consciousness they 'heard flowers that sounded, and saw notes that shone'; or that they have experienced rare moments of consciousness in which the senses were fused organs is needed to initiate us into such a world into a single and ineffable act of perception, in which color and sound were known as aspects of the same thing."
We Sense Only Vibratory Motion.
In assimilating the strange and wonderful conceptions of the psychologists above quoted, concerning the possibility of a new world of sensation arising from the possession of new channels of sense impression, we must never lose sight of the basic fact that all sensations result from contact with vibratory motion. An eminent scientific authority has said regarding this: "The only way the external world affects the nervous system is by means of vibratory motion. Light is vibratory motion; Sound is vibratory motion; Heat is vibratory motion; Touch is vibratory motion; Taste and Smell are vibratory motion. The world is known to us simply by virtue of, and in relation to, the vibratory motion of its particles. Those vibratory motions are appreciated and continued by the nervous system, and by it brought at length to the mind's perception."
The Higher Planes of Nature
In view of the facts and principles above set forth and considered, we may begin to see that there is nothing "unnatural" in the hypothesis that there may be reports conveyed to the consciousness of man by means of higher vibrations than those of ordinary sound, or ordinary sight, providing that man has either (1) highly developed his ordinary senses of sight, hearing, or touch to a degree sufficiently high to register these higher vibrations; or else has evolved and unfolded into consciousness certain latent faculties of sense-impression which are lying dormant in the great masses of mankind. In fact, the thoughtful person will be forced to admit that this new knowledge of the nature of sensations, and of its relation to vibratory motion, renders extremely probable the truth of the great body of reports of such so-called extra-conscious knowledge which the experience of the race has furnished from the beginning of human history down to the present time. Such a person will see that it is not a sign of "credulity" for a person to accept such reports, so universally set forth; but that, rather, it is a sign of "credulity" for a person to accept blindly the dogmatic assertions of the materialistic sceptics to the effect that "there is no such thing possible in the natural world, under natural world, under natural laws—the whole thing is delusion or else deliberate fraud." Such "know-it-all" persons are usually found to really "know much that is not true," and to lack knowledge of much that is true, regarding Nature, her realm and her laws.
An Appeal To Reason.
Concluding these statements, let us say that the student of this book will find nothing contained within this book which is contrary to Nature's laws and principles. He will nowhere in it be asked to suspend the exercise of his reason, and to accept as facts things which violate all of Nature's laws. Instead, he will find at each point full natural explanations of even the most wonderful phenomena; and the appeal to accept same will be made always to his reason, and not to his blind faith or unreasoning belief. The student is urged to build his knowledge of this important subject upon this solid rock of natural law and fact, and not upon the shifting and sinking sands of mere dogmatic assertion and appeal to assumed authority ancient or modern.
PART II
Mental Vibrations and Transmissions
In the category of Nature's Finer Forces must be included that class of manifestations which are generally known as Telepathy, Thought Transference, Thought Force, etc., all of which are based upon the fact that there is present in all such mental states as Thought, Emotion, Desire, etc., a certain rate of vibratory motion, which motion is capable of being radiated from the mind of the person manifesting them in such power and force that they may be registered with more or less distinctness upon the minds of other persons are at a greater or less distance from the first person. In the more common forms of its manifestation, such mental force or power is known as Thought Force, Mental Influence, etc., and in its more pronounced and less common phases it is known as Telepathy, Thought Transference, etc., but the basic principle is precisely the same in all of such cases, simple or complex though their manifestations may be.
The Higher Forces.
We may say here, frankly and plainly, however, that the advanced occultists regard this class of phenomena as comparatively simple and elementary, and therefore not fully entitled to be included in the same category with the higher phases of Nature's Finer Forces, such as, for instance, Clairvoyance, Psychometry, Communication with the Higher Planes, etc. But notwithstanding this, we are of the opinion that any and every one of the finer forces of nature, i.e., any of the forces which are over and above the plane upon which the ordinary senses of man, normally developed, ordinarily function and operate, should be placed in one general category of the Higher Forces of Nature, particularly in a work of this kind designed for the instruction of the general public upon these important subjects. Accordingly, these lesser manifestations of the finer forces in the natural world shall be carefully considered in this part of this book, so that the student may become acquainted with the scientific principles upon which they are based, and may be enabled to