The Chemical Region

If one who is capable of consciously using his spiritual body with the

same facility that we now use our physical vehicles should glide away from

the earth into interplanetary space, the earth and the various other

planets of our solar system would appear to him to be composed of three

kinds of matter, roughly speaking. The densest matter, which is our

visible earth, would appear to him as being the center of the ball as the
br /> yolk is in the center of an egg. Around that nucleus he would observe a

finer grade of matter similarly disposed in relation to the central mass,

as the white of the egg is disposed outside the yolk. Upon a little closer

investigation he would also discover that this second kind of substance

permeates the solid earth to the very center, even as the blood percolates

through the more solid parts of our flesh. Outside both of these mingling

layers of matter he would observe a still finer, third layer corresponding

to the shell of the egg, except that this third layer is the finest most

subtile of the three grades of matter, and that it inter-penetrates both

of the two inner layers.



As already said, the central mass, spiritually seen, is our visible world,

composed of solids, liquids and gases. They constitute the earth, its

atmosphere, and also the ether, of which physical science speaks

hypothetically as permeating the atomic substance of all chemical

elements. The second layer of matter is called the Desire World and the

outermost layer is called the World of Thought.



A little reflection upon the subject will make clear that just such a

constitution is necessary to account for facts of life as we see them. All

forms in the world about us are built from chemical substances: solids,

liquids and gases, but in so far that they do move, these forms obey a

separate and distinct impulse, and when this impelling energy leaves, the

form becomes inert. The steam engine rotates under the impetus of an

invisible gas called steam. Before steam filled its cylinder, the engine

stood still, and when the impelling force is shut off its motion again

ceases. The dynamo rotates under the still more subtile influence of an

electric current which may also cause the click of a telegraph instrument

or the ring of an electric bell, but the dynamo ceases its swift whirl and

the persistent ring of the electric bell becomes mute when the invisible

electricity is switched off. The form of the bird, the animal and the

human being also cease their motion when the inner force which we call

life has winged its invisible way.



All forms are impelled into motion by desire:--the bird and the animal roam

land and air in their desire to secure food and shelter, or for the

purpose of breeding, man is also moved by these desires, but has in

addition other and higher incentives to spur him to effort, among them is

desire for rapidity of motion which led him to construct the steam engine

and other devices that move in obedience to his desire.



If there were no iron in the mountains man could not build machines. If

there were no clay in the soil, the bony structure of the skeleton would

be an impossibility, and if there were no Physical World at all, with its

solids, liquids and gases, this dense body of ours could never have come

into existence. Reasoning along similar lines it must be at once apparent

that if there were no Desire World composed of desire-stuff, we should

have no way of forming feelings, emotions and desires. A planet composed

of the materials we perceive with our physical eyes and of no other

substances, might be the home of plants which grow unconsciously, but have

no desires to cause them to move. The human and animal kingdoms however,

would be impossibilities.



Furthermore, there is in the world a vast number of things, from the

simplest and most crude instruments, to the most intricate and cunning

devices which have been constructed by the hand of man. These reveal the

fact of man's thought and ingenuity. Thought must have a source as well as

form and feeling. We saw that it was necessary to have the requisite

material in order to build a steam engine or a body and we reasoned from

the fact that in order to obtain material to express desire there must

also be a world composed of desire stuff. Carrying our argument to its

logical conclusion, we also hold that unless a World of Thought provides a

reservoir of mind stuff upon which we may draw, it would be impossible for

us to think and invent the things which we see in even the lowest

civilization.



Thus it will be clear that the division of a planet into worlds is not

based on fanciful metaphysical speculation, but is logically necessary in

the economy of nature. Therefore it must be taken into consideration by

any one who would study and aim to understand the inner nature of things.

When we see the street cars moving along our streets, it does not explain

to say that the motor is driven by electricity of so many amperes at so

many volts. These names only add to our confusion until we have thoroughly

studied the science of electricity and then we shall find that the mystery

deepens, for while the street car belongs to the world of inert form

perceptible to our vision, the electric current which moves it is

indigenous to the realm of force, the invisible Desire World, and the

thought which created and guides it, comes from the still more subtile

World of Thought which is the home world of the human spirit, the Ego.



It may be objected that this line of argument makes a simple matter

exceedingly intricate, but a little reflection will soon show the fallacy

of such a contention. Viewed superficially any of the sciences seem

extremely simple; anatomically we may divide the body into flesh and bone,

chemically we may make the simple divisions between solid, liquid and gas,

but to thoroughly master the science of anatomy it is necessary to spend

years in close application and learn to know all the little nerves, the

ligaments which bind articulations between various parts of the bony

structure, to study the several kinds of tissue and their disposition in

our system where they form the bones, muscles, glands, etc., which in the

aggregate we know as the human body. To properly understand the science of

chemistry we must study the valence of the atom which determines the power

of combination of the various elements, together with other niceties, such

as atomic weight, density, etc. New wonders are constantly opening up to

the most experienced chemist, who understands best the immensity of his

chosen science.



The youngest lawyer, fresh from law school knows more about the most

intricate cases, in his own estimation, than the judges upon the Supreme

Court bench who spend long hours, weeks and months, seriously deliberating

over their decisions. But those who, without having studied, think they

understand and are fitted to discourse upon the greatest of all sciences,

the science of Life and Being, make a greater mistake. After years of

patient study, of holy life spent in close application, a man is

oftentimes perplexed at the immensity of the subject he studies. He finds

it to be so vast in both the direction of the great and small that it

baffles description, that language fails, and that the tongue must remain

mute. Therefore we hold, (and we speak from knowledge gained through years

of close study and investigation), that the finer distinctions which we

have made, and shall make, are not at all arbitrary, but absolutely

necessary as are divisions and distinctions made in anatomy or chemistry.



No form in the physical world has feeling in the true sense of that word.

It is the indwelling life which feels, as we may readily see from the fact

that a body which responded to the slightest touch while instinct with

life, exhibits no sensation whatever even when cut to pieces after the

life has fled. Demonstrations have been made by scientists, particularly

by Professor Bose of Calcutta, to show that there is feeling in dead

animal tissue and even in tin and other metal, but we maintain that the

diagrams which seem to support his contentions in reality demonstrate only

a response to impacts similar to the rebound of a rubber ball, and that

must not be confused with such feelings as love, hate, sympathy and

aversion. Goethe also, in his novel "Elective Affinities,"

(Wahlverwandtschaft), brings out some beautiful illustrations wherein he

makes it seem as if atoms loved and hated, from the fact that some

elements combine readily while other substances refuse to amalgamate, a

phenomenon produced by the different rates of speed at which various

elements vibrate and an unequal inclination of their axes. Only where

there is sentient life can there be feelings of pleasure and pain, sorrow

or joy.