Super-physical Faculties —But whatever the value of the conclusions of others, every true scientist after assimilating them, desires to read the Book of Nature for himself. Sooner or later he examines the ground of his own first-hand knowledge, and here he well may start with the positive knowledge “I AM.” This, certainly, he knows of himself. Next, he discovers there is something else than I AM: The Universe Exists. This he Feels. It is from these feelings that he endeavors to determine the nature of that universe in relation to himself; to the one who feels and knows. And here he discovers the dimly felt presence of the super-physical senses and is almost sure to learn that in his community is someone claiming to possess these senses in a more marked form. Through this person, or others of the same sort, the earnest scientist supplements the knowledge gained from physical research with the further knowledge to be gained from psychical research. It is probable that his first experiments will be inconclusive; but if he persists over a sufficiently extensive area, he will discover beyond the shadow of a doubt—as has every scientist who has done thorough work in this field—that there assuredly are faculties, principles, and forces as yet undreamed of by materialistic philosophers. With this conviction he becomes an occult scientist. The Inadequacies of Physical Science —Already in the realm of physical science he has found its advocates making claim to knowledge they can in no way substantiate. He knows that the things conceded to be the very bulwarks of scientific accuracy and precision are very far from it when put to the test. Such discrepancies between theory and practice are not loudly announced to the general public, because the bread and butter of scientific men depend upon their reputation for knowledge and accuracy. For example, the Law of Gravitation, which is the basis of all astronomical and mechanical reckoning, and is stated thus—The attraction of Gravity between two bodies is directly in proportion to the product of their masses and inversely as the square of their distance—does not give precision in celestial calculations. By all the teachings of physical science the planets should exert an influence upon each other which could be exactly measured according to this law. But as a matter of experience it is found that a decimal must be added to the squares of their distances, and even with this tampering with figures to make the answer coincide with observed results the actual positions of the planets continue to vary from their calculated places, and there is a continual alteration of the mathematical formulas in an attempt to get the correct answer. Again, take the theory of the tides as accepted and taught in the schools of the land. One might suppose, from the definite way it is set forth, that this theory is the essence of scientific accuracy. But in actual practice the tides do not at all coincide with their theoretical rise and fall; indeed, the divergence is sometimes so wide that the Moon apparently repels the tides instead of attracting them, and they occur at points almost opposite those at which they would theoretically be calculated. Therefore in actually predetermining the tides for practical purposes their fluctuations are frankly calculated from past observations. It is the case of getting the right answer without knowing why, like a schoolboy working a problem whose answer is given in the back of the book. Noting this familiar performance on the part of men of standing in the scientific world, our occult investigator is not surprised to find that there are many claims advanced by enthusiastic students of occultism also that can not be verified. But he no more throws over all of occultism when he makes this disconcerting discovery, than, under similar circumstances, he casts aside all the findings of physical science. The Proof of the Pudding Is in the Eating —At this stage, his attention may be called to Astrology. No one can seriously and thoroughly investigate this occult science without becoming convinced that certain positions of the planets coincide with certain characteristics and events in the life of men. No psychic sense is needed for such a demonstration. It is purely a matter of experiment. For if a certain angular relation of two planets coincides always with events of a certain nature, and enough birth-charts of persons having this position can be secured to prove it to be much more than a coincidence, no amount of theoretical argument can refute the facts. Physical science is reluctant to accept such conclusions, or even to make the necessary experiments to verify them, because it has so far found no adequate theory to account for them. Isabel M. Lewis, of the U.S. Naval Observatory, writing in Nature Magazine for April, 1931, says: “It is doubtful, indeed, if any astronomer would know how to cast a horoscope or make astrological predictions of any kind.” Yet these same astronomers, ignorant even of how to set up a birth-chart, freely pass judgment that astrology must be false because they have no theoretical grounds by which to explain it. Alchemy may next claim the attention of our investigator. Although he knows it is stigmatized as an exploded science, he no longer accepts as final the dictum of a school he has found to be often prejudiced, a dictum, moreover, pronounced by men without knowledge of the subject they condemn. He finds that the two chief tenets of alchemy, as laid down by the ancients, are that there is a Primitive First Substance of which all physical matter is composed, and that it is possible to transmute one or more metals into another totally distinct metal. Such ideas have been ridiculed by chemists until within the last few years. Now, however, it has been proved that all atoms are built up in a special way of particles of electricity, some negatively charged, others equally positively charged, all held within a certain volume by the interaction of the attraction between the negative electrons and the positive positrons. Thus has electricity been demonstrated as the Primitive First Substance. Furthermore, radium decays into helium and lead. Professor Ramsey has transmuted copper into lithium; and other scientists, through bombarding the atoms of one or two elements, much as radium bombards on its own, occasionally score a direct hit and smash out a piece of the nucleus of the element and thereby transmute each part into an atom of some other element. Thus the very theory and processes of alchemy, so long scoffed at by material scientists, have now been demonstrated in their own laboratories. By methods as experimental as theirs, under conditions as strictly scientific, the Occult Scientist has demonstrated Magic, Astrology, and Alchemy. This makes him reluctant to discard any branch of occultism without first giving it a thorough investigation. He approaches different methods of divination with, perhaps, a good deal of skepticism; but even in this he is surprised to find results that can not be attributed to coincidence, and he is forced to conclude that there are laws underlying such matters totally ignored by physical science. But then, he reflects, physical science has never determined the laws governing the source of the sun’s heat. Every theory it has formulated to account for this phenomenon—and, for that matter, for numerous others—has been torn to shreds by later investigation. It is not astonishing, then, that it has failed to discover the mental laws governing divination. But just as the true scientist finds the material sciences oppressed by many erroneous ideas and theories, so also he finds speculation and supposition so largely covering the facts of occult science that he can gain very little through reading the current works upon such subjects. Mystical folly and absurd and conflicting doctrines meet him on every hand. Everyone whom he consults has an opinion, but usually quite unsupported by experimental facts. His only recourse seems to be to advance, step by step, applying the methods of experimental science to psychical and spiritual things, and so gain knowledge at first hand. He knows that to do this requires application, effort, keen discrimination and, finally, the development of the senses of the unconscious mind. Although intuition and thought transference undoubtedly are activities or perceptions of the unconscious mind, because they so commonly reported the phenomena of the physical plane the ancients classified them as physical senses, along with the other five. But whether five or seven, the experience gained through these physical senses is the foundation of all knowledge of physical life. The Seven Psychic Senses —There are also seven psychic senses by which the phenomena of the world interior to the physical are reported to the unconscious mind, and from thence may be raised into the region of physical consciousness. The experience gained through the use of these psychic senses is the foundation of knowledge of life on the inner planes. Nor are they so rare as to make this manner of investigation a practical impossibility; for more people than is generally supposed possess at least one of them in a more or less advanced stage of development. The number is unknown because the ridicule that follows the announcement that one possesses such a faculty frequently deters people from making their psychic ability known. Nevertheless, even a little candid investigation will reveal the fact that such senses exist, and that by their use worlds other than the physical may be explored and understood, even as the physical world is explored and understood through the reports of the physical senses. Moreover, even as the physical senses may be developed to a state of keenness and accuracy, so may the psychic senses be roused from their dormant condition and be educated to a state of efficiency. In this education, either one of two methods may be followed. One is negative, mediumistic, passive and destructive to the individuality. It brings a train of evil results and should never be allowed. The other method is positive, controlling, active, and tends to build up the Will and Individuality, increasing the power of the mentality and bringing greater vigor to the body.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 00:10:44 +0000
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