A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival: The Fourth Dimension and Its ApplicationsSmith, W. Whately (Walter Whately)
Philosophy
A Theory of the Mechanism of Survival: The Fourth Dimension and Its Applications
Smith, W. Whately (Walter Whately)
Fourth dimension; Parapsychology
First then we notice that the narrator seems to have been in error
in referring to what he saw interwoven, tissue for tissue, with the
physical body, as the Ego. But this error was clearly a very natural
one.
Although the point is not brought out with precision, the record seems
to suggest that the narrator was viewing things with that internal or
four-dimensional vision which I discussed in my remarks on Clairvoyance
in Chapter III.
The process which is described as the separation of soul and body,
I should prefer to describe as the exteriorisation of the "Etheric
Double."[6]
As it happens, this exteriorisation does result in the separation of
the Consciousness from the body, but to say that it _is_ the separation
would be liable to confuse the Consciousness and the four-dimensional
vehicle with the Etheric double.
That exteriorisation should begin at the feet is only what one would
expect from the known fact that the extremities are the first parts of
the body to grow cold at the approach of death.
Throughout the account we notice the extreme plasticity of the vehicle
in which the narrator functioned. It seems to have squeezed out of the
body in a formless condition and then to have recovered its normal
shape as soon as the deforming stresses were removed.
This is entirely in accord with the properties we must postulate for a
substance which can, apparently, be moved and shaped by mere volition
or at least by "mental forces," whatever that may mean, set in motion
by the will. At first, that is to say during the process of extrusion,
the Etheric Double seems to have been under the influence of some
repulsive force acting between it and the body. This is admirably
suggested by the analogy of the soap bubble.
When extrusion was complete, however, the E.D. "fell lightly to the
floor." It was therefore composed of more or less ponderable matter,
which is what we would expect from MacDougal's experiments.
The translucency and bluish colour are entirely consonant with the
observations of Kilner on the aura, which, as already mentioned, I
believe to be closely associated with the E.D.
The part about the clothes is curious and I am not prepared to
hazard any explanation about it, beyond a very tentative proposal of
auto-suggested hallucination.
Scarcely less odd is the apparent ability to use both the physical eyes
and those belonging to the E.D.
But the fact that the latter were in operation is concordant with the
observation of Durville that the sense organs of the exteriorised E.D.
were operative in his experiments.
The small cord connecting the E.D. with the physical body is also in
accordance with his observations.
On the whole then I think it fair to claim that this case fits in
admirably with the experimental work I have quoted.
There is one other source of information which may profitably be
considered here, namely the statements of the clairvoyants and of the
Occultists.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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