I shall, in connection with vocal utterance, have occasion to call
attention to numerous divisions of as positive a character as a wall
of living tissue, of which there is not a trace to be seen by external
vision; these divisions being channels, constantly used in one and
the same direction, some for ingoing, others for outgoing streams of
air and sounds. Of these channels, also, being invisible to the outer
surface of the eye, science has never taken any notice. These invisible
agencies are connecting links, mediating between cause and result, in
connection with material-spiritual or spiritual-material phenomena of
whatsoever nature brought to our consciousness. Hence the inability
of science, in its ignorance of these agencies, to reconcile the one
with the other by the aid of such material only as has been heretofore
at its disposal. We may _see_ proceedings going on which are mediating
between cause and effect, by the assistance of the inner surface of
our eyes. They disappear altogether, as well as any other "vision,"
upon an attempt being made at seeing them with the external surface of
our eyes. Yet we may see inwardly with our eyes open, as we do when
absent-minded, etc.
If we could invent a microscope by the aid of which we could look into
ourselves in a _spiritual_ sense, that is, through posterior surfaces,
_all_ the secret springs of our nature might be revealed to us. This
ability to become cognizant of physiologico-psychological processes
by the aid of the inner surfaces of our organs of sense, reveals
a peculiar functional exercise of their faculties. In matters of
memory they are not intended to aid in conveying to our consciousness
impressions made at the _present_, but those made at a previous time.
These impressions having been made on the soft tablets of our brain,
either during our individual existence or that of our progenitors, and
transmitted to us by dint of heredity, are brought to our consciousness
by the aid of these inner surfaces, _phonographically_. They are
awakened by association; and that organ of sense by the aid of whose
anterior surface they were first received and _recorded_, now reawakens
them by the aid of its posterior surface. Visions, consequently, are
reflections made on the inner surface of the eyes, from impressions
previously made upon the brain, in a similar manner to that by which
sounds come forth from a phonograph. They could not assume shape if
they were not thus reflected. It is owing to the nature of these
reflections that they are more fleeting and evanescent than those made
by the objects themselves upon the external surface of the eyes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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