Part 7 (2/2)
Magnetism may be cla.s.sed under three heads: Terrestrial, Aerial, and Ethereal or Spiritual Magnetism. These are only different modes or grades of expression of the same thing; and may be compared, in their order, to earth, air and ether;--heat, force, and light;--or root, stock, and flower in plants.
Ethereal Magnetism is the medium of thought, as is clearly proved by what is sometimes called telepathy, or mind-reading, and by well attested facts of communication between persons widely separated. It is also known to Mesmerizers that, when they have established magnetic relations between themselves and their subjects, they can often control them without reference to distance.
Outside of the domain of this subtle fluid, there can be no connection between the seen and the unseen worlds, or between any of the individual forms of life. More attenuated than Electricity, it holds the same relation to life that Terrestrial Magnetism holds to the grosser particles of matter. It enables what we call intellectual force to command and control all forms.
Through it, Thought, which is the Principle of everything, builds and unbuilds; clothing itself in material garments, and filling the earth with countless millions of individual beings, made visible to our outward senses.
The process by which this is accomplished is the same, whether done instantaneously or extending through a series of years. Materialization, then, is only the manifestation of a law everywhere acknowledged, with this difference: the external forms, under a superior force and intelligence, are more quickly wrought.
It is the question of time, more than anything else, that challenges our skepticism. That which we call progress, or evolution, is only so many steps by which mind exerts itself, with increasing force, over matter.
We are in the habit of regarding matter as a solid substance; whereas, in its primitive state, it is invisible. It is only by different combinations, in its aerial form, that it becomes solid. In a fluidic state, it probably pervades all s.p.a.ce. In this condition, spirits, it would seem, have power to condense it and shape it at pleasure.
Existing as individual beings, complete in their organization, many of them are able, under certain conditions, to draw from their surroundings sufficient matter to clothe themselves in garments, for the time being, as substantial as any forms in life.
I have witnessed the processes of materialization and of dematerialization in the middle of the room, several feet from the cabinet,--have taken hold of the hands of these beings, and gone down with them to the floor, until the last things that disappeared were the hands that were in mine.
I have been taken into the cabinet by one of these forms, and, with my left arm around the form (to all appearance as solid as my own), have put my right hand on the entranced medium, and while in this position have seen a white, luminous cloud rise slowly from the side of the medium until it reached the height of nearly six feet. I could have pa.s.sed my hand through it without resistance. In a few seconds it condensed into a human form that cordially greeted and shook hands with me, having a hand as substantial as my own. It was the form of ”Auntie,”
the control, who greeted me with ”How do you do? What do you think of this?” At the same time, there were many hands patting me on the head and shoulders.
All this occurred in a cabinet where a confederate was impossible. Was I deceived,--laboring under a state of hallucination? Not if I now have or ever had any knowledge of myself.
I have studied these things as quietly as I would have studied a statue or a picture; have not been satisfied with witnessing them once, but have had them repeated many times, that I might feel certain that I had given them a thorough investigation. If I have been mistaken, those who come after me will have small chance of better success. I have stated some things positively, because I know that they are true, and can be scientifically demonstrated.
We may discover and accept the conditions that best enable these beings to reach and communicate with us, thereby extending our knowledge and our a.s.sociation with them, but neither our observation nor what they may tell us will enable us to comprehend what our experience has not fitted us to understand.
At best we have only established our pickets on the other side of the river. The problem of life still remains unsolved.
The erroneous ideas so generally entertained regarding beings of another life render it important that we should fully understand that no one, whether on this or the other side of life, can set aside the laws necessary to our individual growth.
The a.s.similation of thought; the gestation of ideas, the mental digestion which is a.n.a.logous to the process of physical growth, must ever remain the source of a healthy development. To abandon this to the dictation of authority, whether real or supposed, or to accept anything in violation of these laws, only leads to disorder and mental dyspepsia.
What we most desire does not always come; but in its place, often, something unexpected and surprising. The power which operates suffers no dictation or control; and, like the reflection of an object in water, the phenomena become distorted the moment the magnetic currents are disturbed.
Forced, by the acc.u.mulation of facts that cannot be set aside, to acknowledge the existence of these beings, they are, nevertheless, shrouded in mystery. That they are from the other life is more than probable; no other theory will, in the long run, be found tenable.
Whether they are our departed friends and relatives must be determined by the exercise of those faculties which enable us to settle the relations of objects in this life. While they exhibit no feelings of selfishness or jealousy in their a.s.sociations with us, the same cannot always be said of ”the control.” For some reason which we do not understand, but which may be a necessity, the controlling spirit of the seance exercises a more or less despotic power over the manifestations; sometimes denying the privilege of manifestation, and forcing back spirits who have been accustomed to appear at other seances. In other words, there seems to be a good deal of human nature in their make-up, and the likes and dislikes of the medium or manager, are often shared by ”the control.”
While the theory is correct that the medium is nothing but the instrument through which the spirits are evoked, there can be no question that his or her mental and moral atmosphere affects the quality of the manifestations.
Your personal relations with the medium are known to the controlling spirit, and if the medium is prejudiced against you, you are, in most cases, debarred from any satisfactory results. On the other hand, your relations to these beings are known to ”the control,” but not necessarily to the medium,--never unless the controlling spirit thinks best to communicate them.
What you learn of the character of these beings depends upon your personality,--the magnetic atmosphere that surrounds you. Many of them, if they are able to penetrate your atmosphere, are so exhausted by the effort that they cannot talk much with you; while others, overcoming all obstacles, are able to throw themselves around you with all the abandon of childhood, talking freely, and often so fast that it requires the closest attention to follow them. In such cases, however strong the resemblance may be to the medium in the outward form, the mental characteristics are as different as it is possible to be between any two individuals.
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