Hours with the Ghosts or, Nineteenth Century Witchcraft: Illustrated Investigations into the Phenomena of Spiritualism and TheosophyEvans, Henry Ridgely
Religion
Hours with the Ghosts or, Nineteenth Century Witchcraft: Illustrated Investigations into the Phenomena of Spiritualism and Theosophy
Evans, Henry Ridgely
Blavatsky, H. P. (Helena Petrovna), 1831-1891; Spiritualism; Theosophy
with loved ones at a distance, and the death message is often, when
psychic conditions are favorable, consciously received. The records of
telepathy demonstrate this proposition. Nay, more; they may be cited to
show that in the hour of death the soul is capable of projecting a
phantasm of such strength and objectivity that it may be an object of
personal experience to those for whom it is intended. Moreover, it has
happened that telepathic messages have been sent by the dying, at the
moment of dissolution, giving all the particulars of the tragedy, when
the death was caused by an unexpected blow which crushed the skull of the
victim. It is obvious that in such cases it is impossible that the
objective mind could have participated in the transaction. The evidence is
indeed overwhelming, that, no matter what form death may assume, whether
caused by lingering disease, old age, or violence, the subjective mind is
never weakened by its approach or its presence. On the other hand, that
the objective mind weakens with the body and perishes with the brain, is a
fact confirmed by every-day observation and universal experience."
This hypothesis of the objective and subjective minds has been criticised
by many psychologists on the ground of its extreme dualism. No such
dualism exists, they contend. However, Hudson's theory is only a working
hypothesis at best, to explain certain extraordinary facts in human
experience. Future investigators may be able to throw more light on the
subject. But this one thing may be enunciated: _Telepathy is an
incontrovertible fact_, account for it as you may, a physical force or a
spiritual energy. If physical, then it does not follow any of the known
operations of physical laws as established by modern science, especially
in the case of transmission of thought at a distance.
It is true, that all evidence in support of telepathic communications is
more or less _ex parte_ in character, and does not possess that validity
which orthodox science requires of investigators. Any student of the
physical laws of matter can make investigations for himself, and at any
time, provided he has the proper apparatus. Explain to a person that water
is composed of two gases, oxygen and hydrogen, and he can easily verify
the fact for himself by combining the gases, in the combination of H2O,
and afterwards liberate them by a current of electricity. But experiments
in telepathy and clairvoyance cannot be made at will; they are isolated in
character, and consequently are regarded with suspicion by orthodox
science. Besides this, they transcend the materialistic theories of
science as regards the universe, and one is almost compelled to use the
old metaphysical terms of mind and matter, body and soul, in describing
the phenomena.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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