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k
t h e l a t e s t word- : ' m P h i l o s o p h y . The , n e w f a c t o r
ae , b r o t i g h t o g e t h e r ` a n g iv e n n w in t u - a l i nt e r s € e t ~
i R e l a t i v i t y , t h e p s y c h i c s c t e a
e v o l u t i o n , t h e n e w p h y s i c s , a n d t h e - n e
rough t h e i h t a n d _ mad e t o t e l l ' t h e i r
t h e ' l e v e r a n d g r a v i t a t i o n r e
o u h ' d i t i e n s i o n a n d i f ie " w
i c e , m y s h
the c i r c l e o & > o w ccnimon
and -Pythago ras, o Plato and ;PI
1 i s Io
s e e
± m o Q n i s r e v e a l e d .
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By the Same Au tho r
THE PHILOSOPHY OF JESUSVOICES OF THE MORNINGGLIMPSES OF THE REAL
THE STORY OF NEW THOUGHTAN ADVENTURE IN TRUTHIN THE GARDENS OF GODSONGS OF THE PEOPLEOUR HIDDEN FRIEND
THE SONG OF THE MORNING STARS
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I n v a d i n g t h e I n v i s i b l e
By
JAMES ARTHUR EDGERTON
THE NEW AGE PRESS74 IRVING PLACE, NEW YORK
NATIONAL PRESS BLDG., WASHI NGTON, D . C .
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Co pyright, 1931,
THE NEW AGE PRESS
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CONTENTSCHAPTER PAGE
XVII . CONCLUSION - - 348
PREFACEI . INTRODUCTION - - -
II . PHI LOSOPHI C AL I DEALI SM -
III . THE ABSOLUTE - - - -
IV . MYSTICISM
V. THE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MINDVI. PURPOSIVE EVOLUTIONVII THE NEw PHYSICAL THEORYVIII . RELATIVI TY -
7
- 1129
- 46
61
- 7695
- 122
1 45
IX PSYCHICAL RESEARCH - 16 4
X METAPSYCHICS - - - 19 5
XI. PSYCHOTHERAPY - 21 4
XII . THE NEw PSYCHOLOGY - 241
XIII THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES - 261
XIV A NEw SYNTHESIS - - - - 278
XV AFTERTHOUGHTS - - 3 01
XVI PRAC TIC AL IDEALISM - - 325
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PREFACE
THis ser ies of lessons has been given in
su bstance in half a d o zen citi es in the United
States and C anada, and in parts elsewher e . The
talks were all extempo r aneo us, but those deliv-
ered to a pr ivate class in Washington were taken
in shor thand and many of the chapters p u t into
shape fr o m these notes . The cor r ectio ns and
wr iting o f other chapters w ere do ne in Flor id a,
w her e there were no boo ks available, so that
citatio ns to r efer ences had subsequently to be
made in foo tnotes .
Philo sophy is rather d ifficult for the averag e
reader, fo r which reason the simple and conver-
satio nal style of the talks has been retained so
far as possible . Metaphysics is a clo sed boo k to
most, and I have long felt that the subject sho u ld
be stated mor e plainly and mad e accessible to
m ore peop le. This wo r k may seem to lack finish
and po lish for that reason, yet it is hoped that
it may at least contain sug gestio ns not entir ely
devoid of value or interest to trained philo so-
phers as well as to other seekers after tru th .
The general pl an of the boo k is an inqui r y
into and a new synthesis o f the recent d isco v-
eries of science that have a bearing on philo s-
ophy. I am aware that other and abler w r iters
have already d one this w o rk for certain o f the
7
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8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEsciences, but no one, so far as I can discover,
has sou g ht to co ver the w hole field . Amongo ther s may be mentio ned A . S . Ed di ngto n, who
confines himself lar g ely to physics and r ela-
t i v i t y ; Jo hn S . Haldane whose two boo ks o n the
sciences and p hilo sop hy embr ace most ad mir ably
bi o l o g y a nd ph ys i o l o g y , bu t r ej ec t o u t r i g h t
certain factor s of the new psycholo gy and psychic
phenomena and r each a conclusi o n wi th r egard
to immortality that I do not believe justified by
all the facts that science has bro ught to lig ht ;
and John Dewey, who has confined himselfchiefly to what I w ou ld call i nstru mentalism or
the empir ical metho d in philo sop hy . Acknowl-edgment is made to all of these and o thers, espe-
cially to Dr . Gu stave Geley, whose boo k, Fromthe Unconscio us to the Consciou s, comes morenearly to embr acing the w ho le field o f w hat I
may call the psychic sciences and evolu tio n, but
d oes not so ful ly d eal w ith the new physics .
The Positivist Philo sophy o f Aug uste Co mte
o f the early Nineteenth C entur y in a w ay em-
braced this same field of the special sciences and
on this basis evol ved a relig io n of humanity .
No fu rther reference is made to C omte, how ever,
for two r easons : Fir st, because the special sci-
ences have vastly changed since his d ay, no ne
of the new factor s dealt w ith in this boo k then
having been di scovered, and second, because his
whole treatment of the subject was in an almost
do gmatically r ationalistic and intellectualist
vein . I explain l ater w hy this method is no t
only anti-r elig io us but is one-sid ed and do es not
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PREFACE 9
r each true results from a philoso phical stand-
point .May I add that in this w o r k I have sou ght
only for tru th and have endeavor ed to eliminate
all personal bias so far as I w as consciou s of
po ssessing such . If I have seemed u nfri end ly
to mater iali sm, mechanism and ki ndr ed trends
o f mod ern thou ght, it is because I believe them
not only to have been refuted by science itself,
but to be u nw holeso me in their effects on the
pu blic mind . If a tr ee may be jud g ed by its
fru its, that tree is not g oo d, and this, on prag-
matic g r ou nds, at least, may be r eg ard ed as a
fur ther p ro of that it do es not g ro w i n the soil
of Truth .
J. A. E .
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CHAPTER IINTRODUCTION
PHILOSOPHIES have made civilizations . Stat ed
in another w ay, each civilizatio n has develo ped
its o wn philo sop hy that expr essed its basic and
fund amental character, and, because for mulated,
tended to fix and perp etuate it . Per haps ther e
is an element of tru th in both views . The phil -
o s o phy and the civ il izat i on a r e conc o m itant .
They g r o w u p t o g ether . They ar e no t so mu ch
cause and effect, whichever we place as the ante-
ced ent ter m, as they are both pro d u cts of so me
d eeper and mo r e fu ndamental cau se o r cau ses
in w hich mig ht be d isti ng u ished su ch elements
as relig io n, histor ical backgr ou nd, enviro nment,
racial characteristics, langu age, econo mic con-
ditio ns, the spirit o f the times, science and in-
ventio n and the like . Yet the force of the open-
ing statement is not diminished by these consid -
eratio ns, for while philoso phy may be the pro -
du ct of these and other factor s, it in tur n sums
them up and incor po rates them for futu re ages .
It unites, synthesizes and g ives them system and
meaning . It becomes the spirit o f the civiliza-
tion, its idea, or, to u se a musical term, its under-
lying motif .
1 1
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1 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLESome rather str iking illu stratio ns of the influ -
ence of philo sophy on civilization occur readily
to mind . In C hina C o nfucianism may be called
the national philo sop hy, for I think it is u niver-
sally recog nized that Co nf ucianism is no t so
much a religio n as a system of philo sophy, espe-
cially of ethical philosophy . One o f the pr o mi-
nent featur es o f the teachings o f C onfuciu s and
of Chinese life and r elig io n generally i s ancestor
w o r s hi p . An obvio u s effect of su ch a system
is to beget reverence for the past, to turn men's
faces to the past and thus to create fixed con-
cepts and a static or u nprog ressive civilization .
Exactly that has happened in C hina . For manytho u sands o f years, and u ntil the recent influx
of Western id eas, the Chinese civilizatio n prac-
tically stood still, or at least its pro gr ess was
vastly retarded by this very attitud e of mind .
In I ndia there was a somewhat analog ou s situ-
atio n, except that her e it w as not ancestor -
w o r ship bu t a belief in r eincarnatio n that was
the chief factor in the national philo sophy and
religio n . In a way each one became his ownancestor , but the net resul t was the same. Thetendency o f this universally held vi ew w as to
tur n people's tho ug hts to the past, and in con-
sequence Indi a was as u npro gr essive as C hina .
Here are, perhaps, the two o ld est cultu r es now
o n earth . Nothing cou ld mo re for cibly bri n g
home to us the effect of fixed co ncepts and o f a
static philosophy and relig ion than that affor ded
by these two gr eat gr ou ps, and, indeed, by all
the peo ples of the Far East, who have been fo r
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INTRODUCTION 13
the most par t und er the d ominatio n of similar
id eas .
What is here said shou ld not be interp r eted
as being antago nistic to a pr o per r everence for
the past or to the tr u th o f the d o ctri ne o f
re-embo di ment, or r eincarnation . A beli ef in
the last named id ea is, perhaps, more wid espr ead
than any other si ngl e r elig io u s tenet now held
on earth, asid e fro m faith in Go d and the im-
mortality of the soul . Du r ing r ecent year s this
d o ctri ne is invad ing the West . It w as held by
Pythago r as and Plato and by at least some of
the ear ly C hristian Fathers . There ar e seeming
r eferences to i t in the New Testament . It w as
at least sympathetically r egar d ed by some mod -
ern philo sop her s, a sympathy that is shared by
the wr iter . Ther e are many thing s to commend
it, yet if d welt u po n und ul y, the tendency o f
such an idea wo u ld be in the d ir ectio n above
po inted o u t, to tu r n men's thou g hts backwar d .
All I am trying to stress here is the influ ence of
fixed concepts and of such systems of philo sop hy
on civilizatio n .*
*Perhaps there i s something o f a tendency in the same d ir ecti on inwhat are know n as the classics, especially Latin and Greek . During theMiddle Ages, learning w as confined lar gely to su ch studies and to fixedreligious and kindred concepts, and these ages were correspondinglyunprog ressive. What little science existed w as taken on the wo rd of the
ancients, especially Aristotle . If it was desired to p ro ve that water runs
dow n hill, it did not occur to scholars of that time to go o ut and observe
a stream, but r ather learned citations w ere made of authori ties who had
wr itten on the subject .It may be countered that the Renaissance was the beginning of themod ern pro gr essive age and, at the same time, that it was a revival o f the
learni ng o f Greece and Rome, but the Renaissance contai ned o ther elements,
such as a revolt against the fixed co ncepts of that day, as it also includ edthe beginnings o f science .A rather striking proof of the view here advanced is found in theexample of Descartes, the fou nder o f mod ern philoso phy, and Bacon, the
generally r eputed initiato r o f the scientific method . Both broke with thepast, especially with Scholasti cism, and started anew . The same was trueof Kant in abandoning dogmatic philosophy .
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1 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEIn this connection, it may not be withou t in-
terest to r efer to the id eas of o ne wr iter, perhaps
it is Berg son* on the rather striking similarity
between biological and sociological pro cesses, or
between natur al and human histo r y . He refer s
to the effor t to o btain secur ity . Every species
endeavor s to pr otect itself and the devices fo r
pr otectio n are almost as wi dely di versifi ed as
l i f e i t s e l f . In o ne case it w ill be a co lo r ation
that will either d eceive the enemies of its pos-
sessor o r w ill so blend w ith the envir onment as
to make it invisible . In another it w ill be fleet
heels or swift w ings . In still another it will
consist in "playing dead," like the op ossum ; and
again it will be an armor , or hard shell, such as
wo r n by alligato rs, tor toises, snails and all man-
ner of shell- fish . It i s to this last metho d of
safeguar ding li fe that the writer mentioned par-
ticular ly refers . In his opinion it exacts a rather
hig h price, that is, pr otectio n is g ained at the
expense of fur ther evolu tion and p ro gr ess . Thespecies obtains secur ity, it is tru e, but becomes
fixed o r stationary in its hard shell o r armor -
plate, while other mo r e ventu resome species, wil l-
ing to take a chance, and to pr o tect themselves
by their abili ty to r un away, to d isappear into
bur ro ws, or to fig ht back, go on w ith their evolu -
tio nary d evelo pment . The allig ators and to r-
to ises are among the few li fe for ms that have
sur vived fro m the old reptilian age . They o b-
tained secur ity at the pri ce of pr og ress . Hethen po ints ou t hu man civi li zatio ns that have
* I have been unable to l ocate this in the wor ks of M . Bergson, but
my memor y is very defini te of the passage itself .
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INTRODUCTION 1 5
fol lo w ed an analo go us cou r se, _mentioning espe-
cially China and her famou s pr otecting wall .
Retur ning to the influence of philoso phy on
the cou rse of human development, I have referred
in another boo k* to the stri king ways in w hich
C hri stianity and Mo hammed anism have affected
the institu tio ns and histo r y of the natio ns en-
ro lled u nder their respective banners, also to the
remarkable pro gr ess of the Christian wo rld fol-
lo wi n g the Refor matio n, which, mor e sig nally
still, was most marked in those nations ado pting
the new o r r efor med faith . The tendency o f the
Refor matio n, as well as o f the Renaissance, and
the Ag e o f Enli g htenment that wer e app r o xi-
mately co ntempo r aneo u s wi th it, w as to break
u p fixed co ncepts and to fr ee the human spir it
for fur ther adventur es in the seeking o f tru th
and for advancement g enerally . This tendency
was still further accentuated by the Age of Revo-
lu tions that fo llo wed closely after , which had the
add ed effect of shattering the fixed ideas in the
realm of po litics as the others had alr eady do ne
in the spheres of religio n and science . It mu st
be understoo d in this connection that I d o not
u se the terms r eligi o n and philo sop hy inter -
changeably but the two o ver lap and what is here
said of the influ ence of the one on human civil-
ization and p r og ress appli es almost equally to
the other . I t has been sai d that, "As a man
thinketh in his heart, so is he," and it is equally
tru e that as nations and civi lizatio ns think in
their collective hearts, so are they . It shou ld
* The Philo sop hy o f Jesus, Christopher, Boston, 1928 .
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16 INVADING THE INVISIBLEalso be s a i d , per haps, at this p oint, that the
tendency of relig io us faith is to fix men's con-
cepts i n u nchangeable creed s and d o g mas . There
is something sacred abou t relig io u s concepts .
Chur ches in ever y age and fo rm o f w or ship have
natur ally cri ed, "Hands o ff," to all and sundr y
scientists and investigator s generally who w ou ld
pu t pr o fane hands o n these mor e o r less static
articles of belief . There is a conser ving valu e
in this attitud e, for the hig hest hu man ideals
canno t be held l ig htly, or the hou se o f man's
faith be bu il d ed o n the shifting sands, but o n
the other hand to o conservative an attitud e, too
blind a devotion to tradition and too static con-
cepts, even if they be termed sacr ed, r esult i n
exactly w hat has happ ened in C hina and I ndi a,
i . e . , stop the clock of human pro gr ess for co unt-
less ages .
It is evid ent that the natio ns of the West, at
least, will not stand still, and this is the hope
of the wo rld . It is likewise evident that they
are just now in a state of r evo lu tio n both in
their p hilo sop hy and relig io n . The fixed co n-
cepts o f the past have been so br o ken up by
science and by the new needs and viewp o ints o f
mod ern life that they must be recast or replaced
by mor e adequate id eas and id eals that wi ll sat-
isfy the most enlightened as well as the masses,
for it is tr ue no w as always that what the most
enlig htened believe to day, the masses w il l believe
tomorrow .
Man is natur ally relig io us, ju st as he is gen-
erally at hear t something o f a philo so pher , so
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INTRODUCTION 1 7
that he wil l alw ays have a reli gio n and a meta-
physics . His mind and heart ar e so co nstituted
that he cannot d o w ithou t them . So lo ng as
he has w o nder in his heart, so lo ng as he has
cur io sity, so lo ng as he asks as to the w hy of
thing s, so lo ng as his heart thir sts for higher
and mo r e du r able values, for the ineffable and
the perfect, so l ong as he seeks Go d and immor -
tality, for help and so lace, for ethical and aes-
thetic satisfactions, for insight and understand-
ing into the myster ies and meanings o f life, so
lo ng w ill r elig io n and philoso phy have a place
in his mind . These thing s have a pr ag matic
value, and that, accor di n g to Will iam James,
constitutes an infer ential and mor al pr oo f of
their tru th . But w hat is the relig io n of the
fu ture to be? I have alr eady expr essed the view
in the w o r k mentio ned that the teaching s o f
Jesus w il l r emain as its basis, but that they mu st
be fr eed fr o m the myths and theo lo g ical d o g mas
that have encu mber ed and misi nterp r eted them .
Then, to o , there are fu ndamental co ncepts that
are common to all r elig io ns and that have en-
d u red lo nger than histor y, such as a belief in a
universal Father, in a spiritual universe, in hier-
archies o f spir itual or angelic intellig ences that
somehow influ ence fo r g o o d the r aces of men,
in the su r vival o f the so u l after d eath, in the
advantage of a mor al li fe here on earth, in the
efficacy of faith and prayer both for o ur welfare
her e and her eafter, in the sovereig n valu e of
ri ghteou sness and g oo d wi ll and in the bro ther-hood of man. These and o ther l ike id eals ar e
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1 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEheld by all r elig io ns and these will sur ely r emain
as among the fu nd amental elements o f the re-
ligion of the future .
There ar e those who ar e co nvinced, how ever ,
that the mor e definite and specific ar ticles of
the new faith will be derived fr om science . This
is w here philo sop hy comes into the pictur e for
it is philo sophy alone that can unite the special
sciences and extr act fro m them their hig hest
and mo st general tru th and meaning . Then, too,
science and r elig io n are in co nflict and wi ll
d o ubtless remain in conflict until the material-
istic element is eliminated from science and the
mytholo g ical and d og matic facto rs d isappear
from religion. Philo so phy alone can harmo nize
these differences, fo r its peculiar pr ovi nce is to
gather d iverse elements into the unity o f a hig her
synthesis .
Novalis said so mething to the effect that phil-
o sop hy bakes no bread but d oes reveal to us Go d
and i mmor tality, and a gr eater than he stated
that man do es no t li ve by bread alo ne but by
every w o r d that p r o ceeds o u t o f the mo u th ofGod. As already r emarked , philo sop hy and r e-
ligio n overlap . A system of philosophy hastaken the place of relig io n in China . The teach-
ings o f Bud dha were largely philosop hical and
these tod ay serve as a religi on for a larg e section
o f the human race . Christianity itself contains
a philosophical element for there is a philoso phy
in the teaching s o f Jesus, ju st as there is in the
Fourth Gospel and in the Pauline epistles .
Christianity absor bed mu ch of the Platonic phil-
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INTRODUCTION 1 9
o sop hy and so mething o f the Stoi cal, altho u gh
there is a joy and regenerative pow er in the re-
lig io n of Chri st that Stoi cism never knew .
As po inted o u t elsewhere in these pag es, a
phil os o p hica l str u g g le d u r i n g the schol a st ic
perio d of the Mid dle Ages had a pr ofo und effect
in in it iat in g and g iv in g d i r ect i on t o m o de rn
prog ress. Then, too , many of the mod ern cul ts
su ch as Chr isti an Science, New Tho u g ht, Spi r -
itu alism and Theoso phy, which wil l have their
o wn co ntributio ns to make to the faith o f the
futu re, have a basis in metaphysics .
It is fo r these and o ther r easons that a new
philo sophical synthesis is so needed in the pr es-
ent transitional era . It is obviou s that the cor -
rect method of arr iving at such a synthesis is to
g ather to g ether the mater ials fu r nished by the
special sciences, especially in the last hund red
years . That is the method fo llo wed in this boo k .
Not all o f the sciences are dr awn u po n for r esults
that have a meaning fo r philo sop hy . C hemistr y
and astr o nomy, fo r example, w hile they have
made signal pr og ress du ring this perio d, are not
d ealt wi th in a separate way but ar e inclu d ed
under the new physics and r elativity .
These new facto rs, as they may be termed, fall
und er fo u r g eneral heading s : Ev o l u t i on ; the
Subconscio us, or Extra-C onsciou s Mind ; the New
Physical Theor y ; and Einstein's Relativity, w ith
mino r su bdiv isi o ns such as Psychic Pheno mena,
Psycho ther apy and the New Psycho lo g y gener -
ally . There is also a new d evelo pment in phil-
o so phy itself which has a place. I t has been
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2 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEcalled by variou s names s uch as Pragmatism,
Humanism, Instr u mentalism, etc . , bu t may be
summed up und er the general head ing of the
Philo sop hy o f Values .
A fur ther w or d shou ld be said as to method .
While I co nfine myself to science and philo sop hy
as develo ped and generally accepted in the West,
I d o no t limit this w or k exclusively to the intel-
lectual metho d . One o f Kant's g r eat contr ibu-
tio ns was in po inting o u t the bou ndari es of
r eason and its inability to d eal w ith the nou -
menon o r "the thing in itself ." This he di d in
his Cr itiqu e o f Pur e Reason and i n his famou s
antinomies . Our i ntellects are dependent on the
senses which o nly r epor t appearances and r eact
to a comparatively few of the possible stimuli
in the universe, also colo r and add their ow n
su bjective elements to what they see. Likew ise
the intellect loo ks on the part thro u gh analysis
and ,ar ri ves at its r esults by a r ather cumberso me
and inexact metho d o f in du ction . There is a
mor e universal and spir itual kind o f mind actio n
w hich Ber gso n and o ther philo sop hers call i n-
tui tion and which r elig io us peopl e refer to as
faith . This i s the metho d u sed almost exclu-
sively by the Hind oo s, and while it has its ow n
d efects, the ideal way w ou ld be a co mbination
of intellect and intuitio n, the reasons for which
are bro ug ht ou t more full y in later chapters .
Perhaps the intuitive methods are used by scien-
tists themselves mor e than they su spect . Theytake a lot of things on faith, as we all d o, and
that necessarily . The new psychology of the
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INTRODUCTION 2 1
subconsciou s i s thro wing light o n this r ather
obscure subject and is show ing the impor tance
o f the dedu ctive as well as, the ind uctive reason,
of intuition as well as intellect . It shou ld be
said at this po int, ho wever , that long stud y,
training and pr eparatio n are necessary to get
the best results fr om even the intuitive pr ocess .
The mind must be made ready and attuned to
the receptio n of tru th, ju st as a mu sician or
artist must be perfected in his technique before
harmony or beauty finds him a fitting instrument
thr ou gh which to express . Then the resul ts co me
mor e o r less spontaneo usly, just as a novelist,
after his characters are o nce created, d iscovers
that they act fo r themselves, or men in any line
or calling find that in the heat of creative wo rk
they often sur pass o r transcend themselves and
do their best wo r k, they know not exactly how .
To beget the chil d, Tru th, there must be a mar-
r i a ge of I n tellect and In t u it i o n , a un i o n of
Reaso n and Faith .
One wo rd fur ther . In the same way that those
w ho u se intellectual metho d s exclu sively need
the intuiti ve, so those who d epend o n what they
call the spir itual need a deeper gr ou ndw or k of
science and philo so phy . This app lies especially
to so me of the new sp ir itu al cults alr eady men-
tioned . They ar e based o n metaphysics bu t they
requir e a mor e thor ou gh knowledg e and tr aining
in their fu ndamentals and especially d o they
need the scientific spirit, with its love of accuracy
and its lo yalty to tr u th above any preconcep-
tions or favorite theor ies. Too many follow ers
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22 INVADING THE INVISIBLEo f all such movements are pro ne to ju mp to con-
clusio ns, to ru n off at tangents, to claim more
than they perfo r m and to pu t for th notio ns that
are perhaps ineleg antly bu t aptly d escri bed as
"half-baked . " We owe a tremendous debt toScience. It has made over our modern humanw o r l d ; and i ts wo rk has only started . H. G .
Wells has expressed the opinio n that in the com-
ing centur ies it will tur n its attentio n inward
r ather than ou twa r d and that it wi ll make as
gr eat pro g ress in di scoveri ng the finer fo rces
w ithin man as it has already mad e in revealing
the outer forces of the envir onment ; that, instead
of bui ldi ng machines, it w ill bui ld men andwomen.* That is a pro g ram in w hich all spir i-tual peop le are inter ested and w ith the accom-
pli shment of w hich they shou ld co- o perate .
Then, too , we shou ld follo w o ur ow n science
and p hilo so phy here in the Western natio ns . I
have as hig h a respect as any for the Or iental
and especially fo r the Hind o o teaching s, and
rejo ice at the gr o w ing interest wi th which they
are r egar d ed in the West. They have elements
we need, such as medi tatio n and spir itu ality ;
but, after all, they are not o u r teachings ; they
belong to a w idely different cultur e ; they are too
intro spective and d r eamy and co ntain too much
of a negative element, too much of a sid e-step-
pin g of li fe fro m so me non - being i n Nir vana,
r ather than facing lif e and making the best o f
i t ; i n a wor d are too unpro gr essive ever to make
any w id espr ead o r p ermanent appeal to the pr ac-
• I am t o l d that t h e great e l e c t r i ci a n , S t e in m e t z , e x p r e s s e d a s i m i l a r
view .
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INTRODUCTION 23
tical and energetic races of the Occid ent . Fur -
thermo re o ur ow n sciences and philo sop hy have
all fo r which we ar e seeking , if w e follo w them
far enou gh and g et at their d eeper meaning s and
values . It is, perhaps, true that we are becoming
mor e and mor e cosmo po litan and that hereafter
we shall deal in terms of the whole wo rld rather
than of particu lar nations or even of par ticular
civilizations or cultur es, and that more and mor e
we are to have wo rld religio ns and w or ld phil-
oso phies as well as wo rld po litics . I f that be
tru e, perhaps o ur futu re system wi ll be some-
thing o f a fusio n of bo th the East and the West .
Even so, it will be reached by a slo w process and
each civilization w ill fo llow its ow n evolu tionary
line to attain this mo r e general and u niversal
system ; and it is also pr obably true that then,
as no w , the pr o g r essive West wi ll d o minate the
wo rld -scene .
Some one has said that philo sop hy is its his-
tor y, or rather that we cannot know philoso phy
until w e know i ts histor y ; so that as a fitting
close of this intro du ctor y chapter we shou ld give
.a recapitulatio n, necessar ily bri ef, a sor t o f
bir d's-eye view, of the histor y of philo sophy up
to the last century . It shou ld also be said that
the contributio ns of each philo sop hy, as of each
ind ivid ual philo sop her, so far as they are gen-
er ally accepted , become incor po r ated in the
tho u ght o f the race ; an d thus that o u r wh o le
bod y of p hilo sophy has had a composite or ig in .
Emer son said that when he read boo ks of d if-
fer ent gr eat men they all seemed to have been
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2 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEw r itten by the same au thor . This is peculiarly
tru e of philo sop hy for in it, necessarily, each
writer has to transcend the self, the particular,
and to think universal tho u ghts . As Keplersaid, he "thinks God 's thou ghts after Him ." Inthis sense, philo so phy is fro m one au tho r , the
Divine Mind thinking in u s . So the recapitu la-
tio n of its histor y is something like the embryo
recapitu lating, in its o rg anism, the histor y o f
the race fr o m which it spr ing s and all the ac-
cepted featur es of which have been inco r po r ated
in its own bod y .
Philo sop hy comes fro m Gr eece . The w o rd it-
self is Greek and means love of w isd o m . There
is no t space here even to mention the names be-
fore the time of Socrates, but the evident effor t
fro m the begi nning w as to find a u nifying pr in-
ciple or element . With Pythag o r as it w as num -
ber ; wi th others it was air, or fire, or water, u n-
til finally one called it noes, by w hich he meant
spirit. One di scovered the underlying pr inciple
in lo ve and hate, attraction and repu lsion . An-o ther saw change as the do minant featur e of the
cosmos while still another too k exactly the o p-
po site view that change is o nly seeming, the one
reality being the fixed and immutable Absolu te .
These vari o u s view s seem confl icting yet each
f r o m its o wn an g l e rep resented an aspect of
tru th or an attempt at tru th and all were caug ht
u p into the compo site o f that wo nderfu l thing
called Greek philoso phy . The g o ld en age o f So -
crates, Plato and Aristotle will be dealt with in
the next chapter .
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INTRODUCTION 2 5
In the succeeding centur ies there was rather a
d ear th o f gr eat names, the two scho o ls know n
as the Sceptics and the C ynics o ccu pyi ng the
stage . Per haps these wer e not so bad as their
names, but they left little mar k o n Philo so phy
as a whole, which is all w e ar e concerned w ith
here . Then aro se the two g r eat scho o ls o f the
Epi cur eans and the Sto ics, that represented two
d iverg ent tendencies of thou ght w hich were to
r emain thro ug hou t the lo ng histor y of the Ro-
m an em pi r e an d even un t o o u r o w n d a y .
The scho o ls at Alexand r ia w ere do minated fo r
the most p art by Platonism and Neo pl atoni sm
and contained mu ch of the religi ou s and mystic-
al element . I t w as her e that Philo came and
her e pro bably Hermes Trismegistu s flo u ri shed,
that wonderful figu re of w hom so li ttle is known
but w ho was so C hri stian in his spir it and fun-
d amental teaching s altho u g h it is no t pr o bable
that he w as ever actu ally asso ciated w ith the
chu rch . Of him w e shall have mu ch to say i n
f ut u re cha pters, a ls o o f Pl o t in us, the "new
P la t o, " an d chief li g ht of the new Plat on ic
g r o u p .
At abou t this time the main str eam o f phil o -
sop hic histo r y passed i nto the chu r ch wher e it
remained fo r a thou sand years . The two g r eat
o u t stan d in g names of Ch r i st ian phil o s o p hers
were Au g ustine at the beg inning o f that millen-
iu m and Tho mas Aqui nas near its end . These
two w ere much alike in their thou ght, althou gh
Au g u stine of the "C onfessions" and the "C ity of
God ," wr ote much in the spir it o f Plato, w hile
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2 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEAquinas, "the angelic Doctor " and "the angel of
the scho o ls," leaned mor e to Ar istotle . I n the
inter im the center o f the wo r ld 's cul tur e had
shifted f r o m Greece, Ro me and Eg ypt to the new
and ri sing civilization of Western Euro pe .
Sever al centu r ies again pass . Scho lastici sm
is o n the wane and the "new learni ng" is start-
ing in Eur o pe . It w as then that mod ern philos-
o phy was bor n fr o m the br ain o f Rene Descar-
tes, who turned his back on the past and initiat-
ed not o nly a new philo sop hy and at least one
branch of a new mathematics, but a new method
as well. He do u bted ever ything that cou ld be
d o u b ted a n d r ed u ced k n o w led g e t o i t s l o w es t
fu ndamental valid ter m-"I think, therefor e I
am"-and on that cor ner stone he bui lt his sys-tem Shor tly after Descar tes came two names
equally illu strio u s, Spino za and Leibnitz, both
o f who m also fo llo w ed the mathematical method ,
and o ne of w hom, at least, Leibnitz, intro d u ced
a new branch in mathematics, although heshar ed the fame fo r this wi th Sir Isaac Newto n .
We shall have many r efer ences to Leibnitz'monads. It was his op timistic philo sop hy thatinspi r ed Po pe's "Essay on Man ." It w as Leib-
nitz also who said that "This is the best po ssible
u niverse, else Go d w o u ld have made a better ,"
as it w as he li kewi se w ho mad e the searching
rejoinder to John Locke, who had said that
"There is nothing in the intellect which was not
pr eviously in the senses," to which Leibnitz ap-
pended : "There is nothing in the intellect which
was not p reviou sly in the senses, except the in-
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INTRODUCTION 2 7
t e l l e c t i t s e l f , " a di ffer ence w hich may seem
slight at first g lance, but g ro ws as w e think of
it- becomes so big in fact that it mi g ht have
served as the basis fo r Kant's who le cr iti cal
philoso phy . There ar e o ther ill u stri o u s names
we cannot omit-Lord Bacon in England, whof o u n d ed the i n d u c t i v e phi l o s o p h y a nd m o d er n
science, Geor ge Berkeley the id ealist and charm-
ing w r iter and David Hu me, whose scepti cism
aro used I mmanuel Kant into action ; and with
Kant we come to the German idealists, with
w hom we deal later .
While the idea is a bit fanciful, and is no t in-
sisted on, there is an interesting fact about the
appearance of at least three of the great gr o ups
in this histor y . In each case there is an initial
figur e, followed by an idealist, cou nter- balanced
by a materi alist and then a final fig u r e, w ho
su ms up , g athers to g ether and harmo nizes these
tw o antitheses . I n the Gr eek g r o u p Socr ates
was the initiator , foll o wed by Plato, the id ealist,
and Demo cri tu s, the mater iali st-ltho u gh
Demo cri tus w as not o f the immed iate So cratic
g r o u p - a nd Ar i st ot le as the summer u p . In the
C artesian gr o u p, it w as Descates himself who
w as the fou nder, Spi noza, the id eali st, Lo cke,
the mater iali st, and Leibnitz who summed u p,
not o nly for these but har moni zed w ith the o ld
Scho lastic philo so phy as well . In the case o f
the Germans, Kant w as the fo r eru nner , Fi chte,
the subjective id ealist, Schelling the objective
id ealist, and Heg el the su mmer - u p, Hegel whose
pecul iar style has made him so d ifficu lt to u nder-
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2 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEstand that his w o r k has suffer ed an eclip se it
di d not d eserve . It too k o ne thou sand years fo r
the wor ld to u n derstand Aristotle and it may
requir e several centur ies for it to und erstand
Hegel, but w hen it d oes und erstand him it w ill
r eali ze that his "Phil o so phy of the Absolu te"
comes as near to deservi ng that au g u st title as
the histo r y of Philo sop hy has ever know n . Hewas not only the adequate summer -u p o f the old
philo sop hy bu t, in a sense, the pr o phet o f thenew .
In the next chapter we will go more into
detail i n examining the certain features of that
ol d philo sophy which concern ou r par ticular in-
quiry .
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CHAPTER IIPHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM
BEFORE consi der ing the new factor s in p h i l -
osop hy, i t will be necessar y to get o u r back-
gr o und , and o u r next three chapters w ill be de-
voted to that task . All p hil os o phy as w e kno w
it in the Occid ent goes back to Socr ates, as re-
po rted, elabor ated and id ealized by Plato, whose
special contr ibuti o n has beco me know n as phil-
osophical idealism . This was passed o n to u s by
the Neop lato nists w ith Plo tinu s at their head
and by the chur ch fathers, especially Augustine .
For it is a fact of fu ndamental impo r tance that
this id ealistic philosophy became the basis no t
only of very much of modern philosophy but
was in a larg e sense the backgr ou nd o f ou r r e-
lig io n, of Chri stianity itself .
In mod ern times the oustanding fig ur es in this
same g eneral g r o u p ar e Leibnitz, Ber keley and
the German id ealisti c schoo l r u nning fr o m Kant
to Hegel, the g reatest schoo l that has appeared
on earth since the days of ancient Greece .
There are several aspects, but two especially,
of what is know n as philo sophical id ealism .
Fir st, ther e is the aspect that man can o nly
know his ow n id eas . There is no w ay that he
can get outsid e of his mind to verify these. He29
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3 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEmust take the rep or ts br o u g ht to him by the
senses . We do not know how the sensor i stimu-
li cr eate imag es . What actually happens, is that
there is some stimulu s given to the sense or gans .
In the case of sight, it is supposed to be a wave
motio n in the ether . This wave moti o n sets u p
certai n mov ements in tu r n in the eye, in the
li qui d matter that constitu tes the eye, w hich
acts on w hat is kno w n as the retina and that
again acts on the ends of certain nerves . These
nerves pass back to the brai n, and affect some
brain cell or collection of brain cells . How thisstimulu s, how ever, i s translated into sig ht of
the familia r w o r ld, w e do not un derstand . It
may be by an analo g o u s pr o cess to the way that
so u nd w aves are changed into electrical valu es
in radio . These are transmitted speedily, almost
as speedi ly as li ght, thr ou gh the ether, and at
the statio n where they are picked u p ar e trans-
lated back again into so u nd w aves, ampli fied
and heard thr o u g h the r eceiving set . I n the
same way pictu res are sent by televisi on . Thismay be the metho d , or something analo g o u s to
it, by which we see . It is absolutely sur e, how-
ever , that the mer e wave mo tio n in w hatever
medi um tr ansmits the lig ht impu lses, coul d not
in itself create visio n . There mu st be in the
mind so me imaging faculty that is so stimul ated
by these symbo ls o r sug gestio ns as to bu ild the
pictur e . No w , that is all w e see of the ou ter
u niverse as far as the sense of sig ht is con-
cerned . We react to this stimu lu s fr o m the
ou tside and o ur imaging faculty bui lds the pic-
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PHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM 31
tur e and clothes it on w ith co lo r and meaning .
That is one aspect of id ealism . Growing outof this phase, it has been the contentio n of the
idealistic philo sophers thro u ghou t the ages that
all thou ght know s is thou ght ; that, in the very
n at u r e o f thi n g s i t c o u l d o n l y kn o w th o u g ht .
To know anything as alien to it as we have
imagi ned matter to be creates a d ifficu lty that
canno t be sur mou nted , because matter has been
sup po sed to be exactly the oppo site of thou g ht .
How, then, can tho u ght take hold o f it, to know
a thing utterly fo reig n to i tself? Thou ght can
only behol d what it pu ts into matter-r elation,
quali ty, appear ance, function, meanin g, use .
But we can carr y this fu rther .
We di scover fo r example, that what we call
colo r is merely a certain rate of vibration . Thecolo rs d epend d ir ectly on the reaction o f the mind .
In o ther wo rd s, the mind creates colo r, it takes
one rate of vibratio n, which it translates into the
thou ght that the col or is r ed . Ano ther set of
vibrations a little higher it translates into the
thought that the colo r is blue and still another,
that the colo r i s violet, and so o n . That is so
evident that colo r s have been called second ary
qual ities while lig ht itself has been tho u ght pr i-
mary . A little analysis w ill show , however ,
that lig ht is o n exactly the same fo oting as colo r .
Lig ht is a fr equency in the tr ansmitting me-
di um, call it ether o r what we will, and i t is the
mind that clothes the rate o f fr equ ency or vi-
bratio n wi th the qu alities that we know as lu-
minosity .
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3 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEThere are o nly cer tain very nar r ow bands o f
fr equ ency to w hich we react at all . Lig ht is a
certain series of vibratory rates in what is sup-
po sed to be the ether o f space, while sou nd i s
another narr ow band o f vibrator y rates in what
we call o rd inary matter, su ch as air , water or
whatever the transmitting medium may be .
There is a certain reaction of nerve termini that
the mind interpr ets as lig ht, still ano ther as
sou nd, taste, smell and the like . That is al l
we know o f this w ond er ful thing called sensa-
tion .
Take the sense of touch . When I pu t my hand
on the table, I seem to be tou ching a hard board ,
but as a matter of fact science know s that what
happens is that the ener g ies in my hand contact
the ener g ies of the electro ns, molecules, etc . ,
that g o to make u p the table and the resistance
of the one set o f ener gies cannot be penetrated
by the other set of energies .
I have often gi ven the illu stratio n, that a mod -
ern ra d i o in st r u ment is anal o g o u s t o o u r o w n
sense o rg ans . I may have a receiving set in thisroom. There are all so r ts o f messages passingthro u gh the r oo m fro m the d ifferent statio ns in
this and other cities ; but each of these messages
is at a different vibration frequency . I can se-
lect o u t of these the particul ar message I w ant
to hear by tu ning in my instr u ment to the same
fr equency or wave length as that of the statio n
to w hich I w ish to listen . All the other mess-
ages are there, too, but I d o not r eact to them .
Well, in exactly the same way there are all sorts
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PHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM 3 3
of vibrations passing thro ug h the ether, not only
in the range we call lig ht and l ow er d o w n in
the range we call so und but in between these and
abo ve them there are o ther r anges to w hich w e
do not react at all . If I had the same equi pment
fo r tu ning in my mind to a different frequency,I would get a different message exactlyas on the radio. Now it happens, we dohave pr ecisely the same thing in the case of the
X-r ay . It is a higher frequency . 'There is a con-
sid erable g ap betw een lig ht and the X- r ay bu t
we, by electrical means, are enabled to tune in
the eye to this higher frequency . We see a d if -
ferent wo rld , ou r color values disappear, whatwas opaque becomes transparent, we lookthro ug h our clothing and flesh and see our hearts
beat . We tune into a d ifferent fr equ ency and
all the universe is changed .
There are other bands of frequencies that exist
in the ether o f space or whatever the med iu m is
that transmits lig ht, electr icity, g ravitatio n and
energ y gener ally . They ascend all the w ay to
the cosmical rays of Pro f . Mill ikan that are sup-
po sed to be involved in the build ing o r d estru c-
tion o f atoms . Indeed, the latest suppo sition is
that the ether is no t o nly the basis o f the physi-
cal universe as we know it, but is, perhaps, the
plastic medi um that thou ght moul ds and o per-
ates, the nexus between matter and spirit . How-ever that may be, what we call li g ht is a com-
po site of ether vibrations and ou r reactions
thereto . Man is an active par tici pant in the
pr ocess . He is not merely a passive instr u ment .
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34 INVADING THE INVISIBLEThrough the kind o f sense or g ans he po ssesses
man not o nly sees a particular kind o f wo rld but
this wo rld is different for every d ifferent indivi-
dual that sees it. I have no way o f visu alizing
y o u r w o r l d . Relatively yo u u se the same terms
for what you see that I d o for what I see . Weassu me that they ar e appr o ximately the same,
but that they are not id enticall y the same is
show n by individ uals who are colo r blind. They
do not know their defect until it is po inted ou t
to them because they are familiar only with their
ow n reactio ns as we are with ou rs . In the hu -
man, the col o r r espo nses are appar ently a late
development as it is g enerally su pp osed that it
is o nly in recent ages that men have seen colo rs
in the detail that we see them . It is fairly cer-
tain that all animals do not see col or . Thusthe earth varies with the observer. To a mole it
is a place to d ig holes in . Being blind his re-
actions are entirely di fferent from those of a bug,
for example . We do not know much about thepsycho l o g y o f m o les and bu g s but ther e mu st
be some reaction because there is a perceptio n of
envir o nment and an adaptatio n to envir o nment
du e to the perception . There is an i nfinite scale
of these reactio ns . Even in the low est g rades of
life there is evidence of some form of perceptio n
and ad aptation . Thus each fo r m o f li fe sees a
di fferent wo rld , depending o n its or ganism, its
senses and i ts pr actical needs .
The wo rld I see I in part create . I c o l o r i t a n d
behold it relatively to the kind of sense organs
develop ed i n my particular o rg anism . These
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PHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM 3 5
respond only to certain bands o r ranges of vibra-
tions. A being that responded to differentranges wo ul d see a different universe, very much
as a rad io tuned to a d ifferent wave-length trans-
mits a different pro gr am .
I lo ok o n things fr om the ou tside and thus
see only their appearances . I d o not view them
as they are infinitesimally but o nly in certain
larg e agg regates . A very mu ch smaller being ,
such as a microbe, would see them differently . I
realize this w hen I lo ok thro ug h a micro scope,
which cor r espo nds w ith the micro scopi c eye o f
the animalcu lae . This reveals the relativity o f
my vision fr om another angl e . It is thus I look
u p o n what I ca ll matter . It seems soli d and
opaque. Yet loo ked at d ifferently, say with the
super-micro scope or the X-ray, it is neither . Asfor solid ity, it is so po ro us that ether passes
through it without hindrance ; and modernphysicists declare it is o nly a certain arrange-
ment of electro ns or electri cal charg es relatively
as far ap ar t as the planets . To t he sense of
sight it o nly o ffers certain l ig ht frequ encies and
to the sense of to uch certian energy resistances .
It is ou r minds that interp ret these as soli dity
and o pacity .
This br ings us to another aspect of i dealism,
that of matter accor ding to Berkeley . This go o d
bisho p has been g r eatly misu nder stoo d . He did
not say there is no matter in the sense usually
ascribed to him . He mer ely said that abstr ac-
tion is not real and the thing we call matter is an
abstr actio n mad e by the mind . We have ab-
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3 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEstracted certain qualities and app earances fr om
the universe and app lied a label, w hich we call
matter . No w all that Bisho p Ber keley ques-
tio ns is that there is any reality to that abstrac-
tion . He d o es no t d o u bt the o bjects of sense
but co ntends that what we see is r eal enou g h,
such as the ind ivi d u al chair , ho u se, etc . ; bu t
that there is this hypostatized or actualized ab-
stractio n ou t there, such as we term matter, he
denies . Science denies that also . Science has
g one far enou gh to d iscover that what we call
matter i s for ce o r g anized i n a cer tain way and
that du e to the moti o n and ener g y w e get the
resistances we interpr et as sig ht and feeling .
There is o ne r ecent d evelo pment in relatio n
to light that has a bear ing . Certain scientists
are questioning the wave theory o f lig ht and ar e
reviving the emissio n theory . No t o nly so , they
are insisting o n some sor t of emission o f matter,
still d ealing in that abstractio n called matter in
a n i ner t f o r m . The latest view is so mething
in the natur e of a co mbinatio n o f the w ave and
emissio n theo r ies . No w , as a matter o f fact,
if the emission theory be cor rect, it is an emis-
sion of energ y . That idea wo ul d fi t in readi ly
wi th the w ave motio n . For example, apply ener-
g y t o wa ter w i th an oa r an d w e start a w a ve .
Apply energ y to liqu id or gas and we start some
sor t of vibration . Thu s not o nly do es this co m-
binatio n o f emission and w ave frequ ency seem
lo gical but as a matter of fact that is the only
way mo tio n can be star ted . It is perfectly sim-
ple fro m that viewp oi nt .
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PHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM 3 7
The qu antum theor y of l ig ht is this : The o r -
bits of the electro ns in the atom, which is su p-
po sed to be made up li ke a miniatu re solar sys-
tem, chang e by defini te ju mps . With addedenerg y app li ed to the atom, su ch as heat, the
electro ns jump to a hig her or bit and in so doing
emit ener gy to the su rr ou nding med iu m and that
i s t h e b a s i s o f l i g h t . I see nothing inharmonio us
in this theory with that I have already pr op osed .
There is a second phase of the id ealistic phil-
oso phy, and now we come to the peculia r con -
tribution of Plato . It is this . Plato fou nd cer -
tain general characteristics . In fact, his who le
philo sop hy was a movement fro m the particul ar
to the gener al, thence to the mo r e gener al and
finally to the ultimate and absolute through this
same lo gi cal o r g eneralizing pr ocess . It is like
the steps of a lad der . We cli mb fr o m o ne gen-
eralization to a higher . This i s know n as the
di alectical method bro ug ht us by Plato and elab-
o r ated by Heg el . In a manner so mewhat analo -
go us, the species binds together the individuals,
the g enus, the species . Thu s all hor ses are
classified under the species of hor se ; this belongs
to a higher classificatio n of pachyderms ; these
in tur n to mammals ; all ar e generalized as ver -
tebrates ; these belong to animals, etc . Ther e
is an ever- ascendi ng seri es, bo u nd to g ether by
mor e and mo re g eneral similar ities . Thus the
concept is bo r n, desig nated i n langu age by thecommon noun. Thr o u g h all r u ns the id ea, the
general pu r po se . There mu st be in the u niverse
somewhere archetypes, that is, there is an id eal
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3 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEman o r ,an id eal of man. I r ecently r ead a Hin-
d o o w r iter w ho said that man had been latent
and pr omised fro m the begi nning o f evolu tion ;
that we find so me of his featur es and character-
istics cropping o ut here and there all alo ng the
evolu tio nary path . It is something like a theme
in music . In Wagner w e find a phrase hinted
and then later su g g ested a li ttle mor e u ntil
finally the full theme flowers o ut in a burst o f
melod y . So w ith life, we perceive it ad vancing
fro m stage to stage u ntil at last man emer g es
and says, "I AM ." In saying that he utters the
name o f Go d . ,That w hich was invo lved becomes
evolved . The divi ne id ea has fo und a voi ce .
Plato su ppo sed there is a pattern so mewhere
in the cosmos, o r in the mind back of i t, some-
w hat as a human bu il d er makes a specifi cai o n
or blue print of a building he is go ing to erect .
Plato's i deas or archetypes were something like
final causes . In the mou th o f Ar isto tle, who
stu d ied u nder him, they became entelechies, o r
realizations. A thing is o nly know n in its final
pu rp ose, or r eason of being . Plato and Ari sto-
tle differed sharply at many po ints, but w ere
alike in this . They sa w d esi g n thr o u gh o u t na -
ture . Thought was at work in the universe .
Thro u gh all things r an the idea . It manifested
in f o r m an d f unct i on . It w as specialized and
di fferentiated in the individ ual ; but the indivi-
du als were gener alized into classes ; and the
highest gener alizatio n was Go d .
The idealilst has recently entered the field of
psycho lo gy . Benedetto C ro ce finds two for ms of
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PHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM 3 9
min d actio n ; first perception . I perceive an in-
di vid ual thing, then other ind ivid uals . These
are particular . I r elate them to each other, see
the difference or likeness and begin to classify,
to d iscover r elations and quali ties and g ather
them into a concept, that is, I g enerali ze o r
universalize them . So Mr. Cr oce says, there are
these two mod es of knowing, fir st perceptio n and
second conceptio n, or generalized perception .
The same pr o cess is app li ed to the r ealm o f
the wi ll o r to min d in action . First it do es
things particularly, to g et food or for gr atifica-
tion o f some desire or appetite . That is fo r
the individual . We generalize by acting fo r the
family, the nation, o r fo r a cause, and that is
ethics . He makes the four products of mindaction fi rst, perception of indivi du al things, that
is beauty ; w hen w e gener alize in the concept,
that is tru th ; w hen we .act for indi vid ual needs,
that is use ; and w hen we g enerali ze this into
actio n for o ther s, it beco mes go od . Thus wehave as the four products of mind action-beau ty, tru th, use and g oo d . He left ou t one
metho d o f mind action, ho wever, feeling o r emo-
tion, the generali zatio n of which is r elig io n .
Throughout the Middle Ages, the war over
Platonic i dealism rag ed . It is very interesting
the for m it took . So me may think this u nimpo r -
tant but I call attention to the fact that modern
civilization gr ew ou t of it . The stru g gl e was
over this questio n : Does a common noun standfor a thing o r is it a mere convenience of human
speech? That di vid ed tw o schoo ls of thou ght
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4 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEfor five hundred years and is still d ividing them .
The realists held that commo n nou ns repr esent
actual entities . The nomi nali sts o n the o ther
hand co ntended that these classifi catio ns are
mer ely hu man inventio ns fo r the convenience o f
human speech and hu man tho u g ht ; that the only
thing which exists is the individu al. The no mi-
nalists wo n ou t, at least in part, and in so d oi ng
laid the gr ou nd w or k for indu ctive science, for
theolo g ical sceptici sm which r esu lted in the
Refor mation and for mod ern d emocracy . MayI mention in this connection another school, for
the distinctio n here is not o nly a matter o f wo rd s
but of co ncepts . This o ther schoo l w as kno w n
as the conceptu alists . The contention of the con-
ceptualists w as that there is the id ea which is
an entity in the intellegible universe, and that is
the basis of idealism .
In a way these three schoo ls have always been
in existence. In Greece the idealists were rep-
resented by Plato, the nominalists, or material-
ists, by Demo cri tu s and the conceptu alists by
Aristotle . The id ealists said that the gener al
is befo re the par ticu lar , the mater iali sts that
the general comes after the particular, but Aris-
totle too k a midd le gr ou nd by stating that the
general is in the particul ar . The tw o cannot be
separ ated . They are concomitant and accom-
pany each other . The only reason w e try to sep-
arate them is ou r habit of abstracting . We areever tr ying to abstract, to take things away fro m
their settings, divid ing the part fro m the whole .
After that we classify and bui ld u p these ab-
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PHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM 4 1
stractions i nto entities . Berkeley war s agai nst
cutting ou t the abstraction called matter and
then apostatizi ng i t into an entity . The part
has n o r eality a wa y f r o m the wh o le . The ab-
straction is only for thou ght . It may gi ve u s a
clue to r eality but is no t to be co nsidered as
anything in and for itself apart fro m that from
which it is abstracted . It o nly belongs to i ts
id ea, or rather it is o nly a phase of something
else. What we call matter i s o nly a phase o f
the whole universe . It is a function or mo de of
manifestatio n . It is the objective sid e of spir it,
a mediu m thro ug h which spir it acts . If we real-
ly und ersto od this we shou ld be on the ro ad to
overcoming the chasm between idealism andmateriali sm .
The idealisti c philo so phy means mo r e than
this, how ever . We come to Hegel in our next
chapter . He sug gested a solu tion o f this w hol e
questio n in one of his familiar d ialectical triad s .
You know the method o f taking the o ne po le and
its opp osite. The tw o to g ether g ive u s a mean-
ing that do es not belo ng to either po le alone . We
find this polar ity not only in things but in
thou ght . We cannot think without it . This
gives rise to the Hegelian thesis, antithesis and
synthesis, that is, the o pp o sites gather ed to -
g ether into u nity and meaning .
Hegel po sited the u niversal and the par ticu -
lar. These are the two po les . Now gather them
to g ether and w hat have w e? The u niver sali zed
particular . What is that? The in d iv i d u a l . If
we think of any individ ual thing in the universe,
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4 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEw e find i t contains these two elements . It is
particular, that is, this thing . At the same ti me
it is a part o f the universe just as the dro p o f
water is part of the ocean. If w e know any part
o f the universe all i n all, we know the whole
universe .
Now we have the universal-i ndivid ual . Eachone of us represents the universe fro m his view-
po int, but he only manifests so much of i t as
he knows, comp r ehend s, app reciates, uses .Whenever I hear anybody talking about theChri st in him, I o ften wo nder how much d oes he
manifest, ho w much of the thou ght is he living ,
ho w much of the tru th of C hr ist is he incarnat-
ing .
Leibnitz sai d that each monad r epr esents the
universe fro m its viewpo int, bu t repr esents it
wi th more or less confusio n . A gr eat deal of
ou r thou ght is confu sion and the whol e pr ocess
of know ing is to clarify and o rg anize it into a
living truth. I f w e co u l d b r i n g o u r k n o w le d g e
of matter to i ts ful l meaning, it wo ul d be spir it .
It is matter o nly so lo ng as there is confu sio n
abou t it .
There is yet another aspect to idealism . Theid eal is dynamic . There is nothing so po werfu l
in this universe, nothing that can so galvanize
the so ul into action, as a gr eat ideal . Jesu s
transcended others because of His ideals. Theywere an inwa rd spri n g o f healin g, pr otection
and po wer . They w ere r egener ative . They r ep-
resented the creative and renewing fo rce of the
thou ght of God , for He was in tou ch wi th the
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PHILOSOPHICAL IDEALISM 4 3
Divine, He had the divine ideal that he reflected
in His who le life, His w hole being .
Ou r i d eals have a mor al valu e also . It is to
them and because o f them that we aspi r e, and
w e co ndemn ou rselves because we fall shor t o fthem. In this aspect they constitu te o u r co n-
science. There is an element of sin in o u r fail-
u re to li ve u p to these id eals concerning w hich
w e ar e o u r o w n j u d g e s . We alo ne see that fail-
ur e perfectly and so in the last analysis our ow n
hig her thou ghts jud ge us and the ju d g ment is
inerr antly tru e . We can have no su ch a stri ct
mentor as the self j ud g ing the self . And fromthat judgment we cannot escape . Our ownid eals jud ge us . The universal w ithin u s sets
up a standar d o f perfection . It r eveals to us
w hat w e ou g ht to be. The micro cosm is a univ-
erse in itself . It may be latent, it may be po -
tential, but it is all there. Go d is i n us because
Go d is in the cosmo s . That is the visio n of the
mystic . It was the natural o utg ro wth of Plato's
id ealism .
To sum u p, there are two aspects of id ealism .
We do not d ir ectly know objective things, bu t
only ou r r eactions fro m sensori stimuli . Thereare but small bands of frequencies that affect us
a t a l l . One narr ow band w e call so u nd, another
light . Nu mero u s g aps between these and beyo nd
are unknow n, or know n imperfectly . The senses
are apparently designed for pr actical p ur po ses .
They tell us nothing o f the ultimate . There is
no w ay we can get ou t of o u rselves to verify and
discover w hat Kant called "the thing in itself ."
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44 INVADING THE INVISIBLEWe have taken so me steps tow ard veri ficatio n,
however , thro ug h reason, intui tio n and w hat is
know n as "instr u mentalism ." This wi ll be dealt
w ith in later chapters .
Another aspect of idealism, which is peculiar-
ly asso ciated wi th the name of Plato g ro ws o ut
of generalization . The po pu lar concept is that
there are ideal archetypes o r p atterns, such as
an abstract man or an abstract hor se, and that
individ uals are appro ximations towar d this ideal,
each one repr esenting the perfect patter n mor e
or less inadequately . This concept fu rnished the
battleg r o u n d thr o u gh o u t the Mi d d l e Ages be-
tw een w hat w ere know n as the Reali sts and the
No minali sts, the fir st contending that a co m-
mon nou n stands fo r a thing ; the second, that it
is o nly a convenience o f human speech . TheC o nceptio nalists w ere a later phase o f the re-
a l i s t s . This stru gg le laid the gr ou nd wo rk for
mod ern civilization . Mo d ern science w ill have
s omethin g t o sho w w ith reg a r d t o a r chetypa l
patterns . The latest lig ht on the subject seems
to ind icate that there is an archetype o f each
individ ual w hich is unfold ing and pr og ressive,
and that the general ideal is subsumed, or
rather incor po rated, in an indi vidu al sou l or
dynamo-psychism.
Mo d ern Id ealism has given us such names as
Leibnitz, Berkeley, Kant, and Hegel, whose
philo sop hy elabo r ates that of Plato . Hegel's
dialectic of the universal, the particular, and the
individ ual thro ws a new li ght on ol d pr oblems .
,The idealism o f Jesus is a regenerative force .
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CHAPTER IIITHE ABSOLUTE
THROUGHOUT the wor ld of life the individ ual
develo ps by feeding on that which is o utside it-
s e l f . It i s thu s that the plant g ro ws, o r the
animal . In the acorn is the germ, or potentiali-
ty of the oak. It d oes not actualize, or r ealize,
this po tentiality until i t assimilates from its
envir onment the materi als to fi ll o ut and br ing
into fo rm its latent possibilities . The same is tr ue
of the animal, of the hor se, fo r example . The germ
contains the archetype, the specificatio n, but this
must be evolved thro u g h feeding on that which
is outsid e, which is taken into its body, o r gan-
ized and made a part of itself . A similar pr ocess
occu r s in man, and strangely enou g h, not only
in man's body, but in man's mind . The egog r o w s thro u g h absorbin g the non -ego . Just as
we take fo o d i nto the bo dy, so there is o utsid e
of us what we call food for thou ght . We becomeconscio us and g ro w in conscio usness by feed ing
on o ur enviro ment, by gaining and assimilating
new kno w led g e, new i d eas . We grow by con-tactin g and know in g o u r other .
This pr ocess go es on throu ghou t natur e . Thepr oto n assimilates its other, its negative, the
electron . Chemical combinatio ns resu lt fr o m the
46
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THE ABSOLUTE 47
attractio n and ad her ence of co mplementary ele-
ments . The same method is o bser ved thro u g h-
ou t the wo rld of living things . It appears on a
hig her level in the wo rl d o f tho ug ht . As the
oak tree is po tentially and id eally in the acorn,
so the universe is potenitally and ideally in the
eg o . We realize or actualize this thro ug h know l-
edge, that is, by absor bing the non-ego into our -
selves. We come to ourselves by knowing our
other . To be conscio u s we must be conscio u s of
so mething . Hegel calls natur e the other of spir it .
The ego and the non- ego are the two po les . They
come tog ether as conscio u sness . On a higherscale Spi r it and Natur e ar e the two po les, the
un i o n bein g u n iver sa l co n sci o u sness, o r Go d .
Ou r eg o i s a child o f Go d, an emanatio n ; and at
the spi r itu al po le, as we shall see in the next
chapter , there can be endless emanatio ns w ith-
ou t lessening o r d iminishing the sou rce . That
is the nature of sp ir it . So in the ego there is a
po tential universe, cor respo nding to the actual
universe wi tho ut . It r ealizes itself through its
other, by consuming or know ing i ts other .
Speaking o f the mo nads o f Leibnitz, H. Wil -
do n Car r* says
Take then my o w n existence . I am a monad , an active
centre, an agent, the whole universe is mir ro red into that
centre, fo cussed there, and my activity co nsists of my
perceptions, but only an infinitesimal po rti on o f these
are clear and di stinct perceptio ns, the rest are massed
tog ether, co nfused, obscure and u ndiscerned . I am alsoself-co nscio us, aw are of myself as perceiving . My monad,the monad which is me, is apperceptive . But then I am
* The General Principle of Relativity by H. W i ld o n C a r r , Macmillan
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48 INVADING THE INVISIBLEin relation to a bod y, my mind is a do minant monad, and
it w or ks in complete harmo ny with the bod y, and yet this
body is to tally different and d istinct in its natur e from
the mind . What is it? It co nsists of monad s but of in-
feri o r monad s . They are infinite in number, for no pr in-
cipl e exists w hich impo ses a limitati on o n them, and yet
each is indi vid ual, an active centre mirr or ing the uni verse
fro m its ow n point of view .
N o t o n l y d o e s t h e e g o m i r r o r t h e u n i v e r s e b u t
corr esponds to it and partakes of its quality .
S i n c e t h e u n i v e r s e k n o w s i t s e l f a s m i n d , t h e e g o
a l s o k n o w s i t a s m i n d , i n s o f a r a s i t s i d e a s a r e
c l e a r .
Man's mind is ever seeking an absolute . In
t h e r e a l m s o f k n o w l e d g e h i s q u e s t i s f o r c e r t i -
tude. In the arena of action, of morals and of
l i f e h i s i d e a l i s p e r f e c t i o n . T h e h i g h e s t a t t r ib u t e
h e g i v e s t o G o d i s t h a t o f i m m u t a b i l i t y , t h e s a m e
yesterd ay, today and forever . He loo ks for ab-
solu te meaning, an absolu te end, absolute good .
H o w e v e r o f t e n f r u s t r a t e d i n r e a l i z i n g h i s a s p i r a -
t i o n s , h e s t i l l p i c t u r e s a p e r f e c t b e a u t y , a p e r f e c t
i m m or t a l i t y , a p e r f e c t b l i s s .
What is it in us that impels us to these ul-
t i m a t e i d e a l s w h i c h a r e n e v e r r e a l i z e d , a t l e a s t
insofar as ou r experience in this life is con-
cerned? Perhaps some of the philosophers may
g i v e u s a c l u e t o t h e r i d d l e , a n d a t l e a s t i f t h e y
do not answer the question, may sug gest the
r e a s o n t h a t i t i s a s k e d .
P l a t o l e d u s f r o m t h e p a r t i c u l a r t o t h e u n i v e r -
s a l , a n d i t w a s i n t h i s r e a l m o f u n i v e r s a l s t h a t
h e p o s i t e d h i s i d e a l s . In the contemplation of
b e a u t y h e a t f i r s t t h o u g h t o f a b e a u t i f u l o b j e c t ,
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THE ABSOLUTE 4 9
su ch as a beautifu l woman, and f r o m this he
wid ened the concept to beautiful objects in gen-
eral, and from these led to the acme of abstract
and id eal beauty, wo rship o f beauty in and fo r
i t s e l f. In the same w ay he dr ew o u r minds to
the concept o f universal go o d and made this the
highest attribute .
,Spino za who was called by Novali s "the Go d-
intoxicated man" soug ht God thro ug h a sor t ofmathematical reasoning and found Him in au niversal concept of su bstance . Hegel carr ied
this thought one step further and changedSpinoza's substance to su bject, i . e ., a self-know -
ing, self- acting entity . Benedetto C r o ce w ent
still fur ther and reversed o ur usual d efinitions
o f concr ete and abstract . He made the worldo f mind concr ete, while that of p henomena is
abstract . He reached his result in this way : We
kn o w the min d as a w ho le . It is o ne thing- I,
ego , the know er . The world of phenomena weonly see fractionally and fragmentari ly and then
we loo k on it from the ou tside . In other w o r d s
we see it in symbo ls, and to kno w it at all w e
have to abstract from it, i . e ., cut it up, analyze
it, and fro m ou r glimpses of particulars arrive
at some mor e or less imperfect appr o ximation
o f a complete concept .
Berg son questio ned the human intellect itself
and said that obviou sly it is a specialized for m
of mind d esigned for the creation of to ol s ou t-
side the or ganism . The lo wer fo r ms of li fe have
their i mplements in the or ganism, such as claws,
teeth and the like . The bee has a very elabor ate
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50 INVADING THE INVISIBLEset of too ls in its hind legs . Man, ho w ever , r e-
quires tools that are not an or ganic part of him-
self that he can lay asid e when not in u se . Tofabricate such too ls he had to have a mind adapt-
ed to knowi ng solid matter o ut o f which too ls
are fashio ned . F r o m t o o ls t o the machine is
only a step, and fr om that to the intellectual con-
cept o f materialism and o f natur e as a gi gantic
machine, is a lo g ical pro g ress . Berg so n says,
how ever , that this special mod e o f mind actio n
d oes n ot exha ust the ways of kn o w i n g an d o f
mental activity . In the low er animals we find
instinct, which in man becomes intui tio n . Bymeans o f intui tion w e know things fr om the in-
sid e as wholes rather than know ing them fr o m
the outside as parts .
Kant co u l d n ot f ind a p r o o f o f Go d and im -
mor tality in the theoretical reason, but did d is-
cover such a pro of i n the mor al or pr actical
r easo n, because ther e he di scover ed this same
lo nging for perfectio n, this same "categ or ical
imperative" that erects a universal standard and
jud ges the rig ht or w ro ng of an individ ual ac-
tion by this perfect criterion . Becau se man can-
not realize this longing or aspiration of perfec-
tio n in one life, there must be another ; and be-
cause of this demand in the reason, the heart and
the spir it o f man fo r absol u te meanings, values
and r eali zatio ns, there must be a perfect Go d
both to i nstil such aspir ations and to satisfy
them .
With these g li mpses o f the meaning o f the
absol u te that we gain fr o m the philo sop her s,
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THE ABSOLUTE 6 1
perhaps we are somewhat better fitted to pro -
ceed w ith our quest . What do we mean by theabsol u te? Obvio u sly it can be nothing belong-
ing to the phenomenal u niverse in w hich ever y-
thing is subject to change, is manifested in de-
grees and is contingent or accidental . What wemean by the ter m accid ental is that any gi ven
thing might have been di fferent wi thou t impair -
ing the universe . In other wo rd s it is not a ne-
cessity . It makes no di fference to the ong o ing
o f the cosmo s whether it r ains tod ay or next
week, or w hether I d o this thing o r something
else. The universe wo uld continu e even if I w ere
not here at all, o r yo u, o r this earth, or even ou r
sol ar system . These are no t necessar y thing s
in the sense of the absolute. Babylon was andis not . Mars may once have been a populouspl anet in w hich the w hole theatre o f li fe was
enacted, cul minating in man, or somehting simi-
lar to man . Su ch astro no mical evid ences as we
are able to g ain now , how ever, ind icate that
Mars has passed the stage of supporting an
abu ndant life su ch as we know . There is to o
little air and water on that planet now to supply
any elabo rate flor a and fau na, to say nothing
o f an extensive hu man civil izatio n . Planets,
therefor e, with the whole of their life prod uct,
may come and go. Fr o m the standpo int o f the
abso lu te they are ephemeral thing s . They ar e
no t necessary . In the lig ht of this and o ther
facts, it is obvio us that we cannot lo ok for the
absol u te in the things of time and space, o r in
the wor ld o f appearances . We mu st seek else-
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5 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEw h e r e , a n d t h e r e i s n o e l s e w h e r e t o s e e k e x c e p t
in the wo rld of pneumena, instead o f phenome-
na, in the "thing in itself" that Kant talked
abou t . Since the world of phenomena consti-
t u t e s t h e w h o l e v i s i b l e u n i v e r s e , w e m u s t t h e r e -
f o r e s e e k i n t h e i n v i s i b l e u n i v e r s e f o r o u r a b s o -
lute, in other w or ds in the wo rld of mind or
s p i ri t . The old Hermetic philosophy may offer
u s a s u g g e s t i o n h e r e . Its fu ndamental idea was
that the law o f po larity applies to everything
from the hig hest to the low est . This takes in
the pairs o f o ppo sites-the po sitive and nega-
tive-d ay and night- w inter and summer -man
and w o man-lo ve and hatred- g o od and evil-
light and darkness-life and death-spirit and
matter . Carr y it as far as you like . The pri-
mary pr inciple of po larity is that what we can
posit of one pole we cannot posit of the other .
Thus if we say of the phenomenal wo rld that it
changes, we must posit of the other that it is
c h a n g e l e s s . If the one is temporary, the other
i s e t e r n a l . If material is bound, the spir it is
f re e , e t c . I n o t h e r w o r d s , t h e a b s o l u t e i s n o t i n
the for m wo rld at all because for m in its very
n a t u r e a l t e r s . It is not even in an "Eternal
C i t y " l i k e t h a t s e e n b y t h e R e v e l a t o r , b u t i s a
m a t t e r o f p r i n c i p l e s a n d i d e a l s , t h e v e r y i d e a l s
that Plato talked about . I t i s l i k e r e a s o n . Athing that is reasonable in North America is
r e a s o n a b l e i n C h i n a . A t h i n g t h a t i s r e a s o n a b l e
i n t h e f i r s t c e n t u r y i s r e a s o n a b l e i n t h e t w e n t y -
second . O r i t i s l i k e c o n s c i e n c e , w h i c h f o r e v e r
h o l d s b e f o r e u s a c a t e g o r i c a l i m p e r a t i v e , a u n i -
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THE ABSOLUTE5 3
versal standard which impels us to do ri ght . I
know there is a lot o f confusio n, intentional or
otherw ise, regard ing this question o f ethics and
morals . We hear peo pl e say that w hat is r ig ht
in one cou ntry is not r ig ht in another, and what
is r ig ht in one age is di fferent in another . Butif w e examine this clo sely we find that it i s
merely the content that changes and no t the im-
pulse or direction of conscience itself. What Imean is this . Our op inio ns of r ig ht may change
wi th cir cumstances o r ed ucatio n, but whatever
it is w e think to be rig ht ou r co nscience impels
us to d o that . It is like the form of r eason that
Kant mentio ns .* The co ntent may vary bu t the
ratio nal fo rms r emain constant . I su spect that
men have delud ed themselves a bit o n this ques-
t i o n o f r i g ht an d w r o n g . They have tri ed to
"alibi" o r explain aw ay and thus to evade the
dictates of this inner monitor , this voice of God
in the soul w e call conscience, but such evasions
are neither scientific no r satisfacto r y . Thevo ice of co nscience is thus absolu te, impelling us
to do right . If ou r opi nions as to w hat is right
change, that has nothing to d o w ith this abso-
lu te moni tor , the conscience, which tells us to
d o that thing which we really think to be rig ht,
w hatever it may be . Thus we are getting o n
solid gr ou nd and d iscover that these absolu te
qualities are spiri tual and not materi al-r ig ht-
eou sness, go od will, truth, justice, duty, loving-
kindness, go od , id eal beauty, freedo m, perfec-
tio n, Go d . In the pheno menal wo r ld w e get an
* It is o bjected that a baby do es not develop a conscience, but neitherdo es a baby exercise reason .
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54 INVADING THE INVISIBLEinkling o f this absolu te in law- the mor al law,
the law o f natur e-and that in the final analysis
is the o nly absol u te and per manent factor w e
discover in this o uter u niverse of change and o f
becomi ng .
Hegel, who w as the author o f the "Philo so phy
of the Absolu te," had o ne pr inciple that he often
reiterated, "the rational is the real ." Thus heerected a universe of tho ug ht, or rather a uni-
verse that cor responds to the dialectic and logic
of thou g ht pr o cesses . He carr ied this metho d
t hr o u g h a scen d i n g l a d d er s o f t r i a d s . These
triad s consist o f thesis and antithesis, as the
two po les, and o f synthesis, as the unifying pr in-
c i p l e . Heg el started w ith his famou s triad o f
being as the thesis, nothing, or non- being as the
antithesis . The synthesis o r u nifying element
or pr inciple is becoming . The uni verse is be-
coming. Pro g r ess is a mo d e o f beco ming . Thushe laid the gr o u n d w o r k for the whole evolu -
tio nar y hypothesis . I n the same way he d ealt
w ith the age-o ld battle betw een the parti cul ar
and the u niversal that star ted w ith Plato and
Ar istotle and continued thro u g ho ut the Mid dl e
Ages . Hegel s u m med it u p i n this w ise : Theuniversal is the thesis, the particular the anti-
thesis and the unified synthesis is the individ ual,
the id ea being that the synthesis takes into it-
self both elements of the po les and unites them
into one . In other w or d s the ind ivid u al becomes
the universalized particu lar, the micro cosm in
the macrocosm, the whole quality of the ocean in
one d r o p o f sea wa ter . If this philoso phy of
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THE ABSOLUTE 5 5
Hegel is ever r eally understoo d, it will thro w a
new and r evealing lig ht o n many of the pr o b-
lems that afflict humanity, especially those that
afflict relig io n and philo sophy . To Hegel, the
absol ute w as indi cated by the subject know ing
its o bject, and thus know ing itself . In o ther
w o r d s the tr iad here mig ht be the ego , the non-
eg o , and conscio u sness, w hich is analo g o us to
the po sitive and negative electro ns joi ning to
make the atom o r the positive and negative po les
constitu ting the magnet . We could follow ou t
this triadic method almost to an infinite detail,
as Hegel in fact di d . For example, go od -evil-
mor al responsibility ; father- mother- child : the
one-the many-u nity ; spirit-matter- life, the
living u niverse ; life-d eath-i mmor tality . Thewhole universe is the only self-subsisting, self-
acting thing, and w e are self-acting o nly as we
partake of the natur e and qu ality of this u ni-
versal reality . This i s the Go d - in- man, "C hr ist
in us, the hop e of glo ry . "
So me seek the absolu te in i mmensity . They
po sit an infini te space and time, neither of which
can be thou ght, or can only be thou ght negative-
ly, as indicated by the form of the wor d i tself .
Infinite means not fi nite just as endless means
w ithou t end, both of w hich are merely the nega-
tion of limitation . That is the nearest appr oach
we can make to the absol ute fro m an intellectual
standpo int . No w , how ever, w e have d iscovered
that time and space are self-completing, or rath-
er that what we think o f as a boundless universe
becomes an almost inconceivably great, self- con-
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5 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEtaining number of "island u niverses" like ou r
ow n "milky way," all constituting a gig antic cell
self- contained and self- completed thr o ug h the
three factor s of space, time and the velocity o f
lig ht, time being ano ther space di mensio n, al-
thou gh o ur intellects fall shor t of its compre-
hensio n .
In this connectio n there ar e so me factor s in
the materi alistic astro nomy that perhaps su g-
gest the absolu te by being something else. Oneo f these is the negative and materi alisti c con-
cept that the u niverse may r u n do w n, which in
bri ef gr ow s ou t of w hat is know n as the second
law o f ther mod ynamics, w hich is that heat to
give off energ y must step do wn to a lo wer level,
ju st as steam or water to gi ve o ff energ y must
d o the same thing . As the energy of the universe
is larg ely in the form of heat, and as this heat
is fo rever being rad iated thro ug h space and is
being u sed to perfo rm wo rk, it is therefor e dim-
inishing o r steppi ng d ow n to a latent form, and
sometime the universe wi ll r un o ut o f active
heat and w ill become a cold , inert, li feless mass .
That is the theory . The only tro uble with it is
that these same materialistic scientists who hold
it also deny creation, and therefore believe that
the universe is w ithou t beg inning . If that be
tr ue, then it has been in existence an infinite
time and would already have run down . Theconclusion is log ical and inescapable . I su spect
the di fficu lty with this whole pr o po sitio n is that
these materialisti c scientists have not inclu ded
all of the factors . In other wo r ds they are like
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THE ABSOLUTE 5 7
the coll ege song of Noah who w as "a grand o ld
man," the rather ir r ever ent do gg er el ru nning,
"Old man No ah knew a thing o r two ," ,and "be-
cause he knew a thing o r tw o , he tho u g ht he
knew it all ." May w e ho pe that w hen o u r mate-
rialistic scientists know more they will know to o
mu ch to make such di smal pr o phecies? Either
time is not a factor , in this sense, or the universe
is self-r enew ing . Perhaps the real tru th of it is,
"Go d is i n His Heaven, all's r ig ht w ith the
w o r l d ."
Another o f these astronomical, negative, mate-
r iali sltic theor ies makes ou r so lar system the re-
sult o f accident . It is to the effect that some-
time in the remote ages past, another su n came
wandering this way and g ot near enou gh to o ur
ow n sun to pu ll o u t enou gh masses of the incan-
descent matter to form the planets, but that this
may not have happened anywhere else in the
universe. The tro uble with this hypothesis w ould
seem to be that if the wandering su n were strong
enough in its attraction to pu ll these masses ou t
of o u r o wn sun, it shou ld have pu lled them all
the way, since the attractio n of o ur sun w ou ld
have been gr eatest when these pl anets wer e a
part of its own bod y . After they were pulled o ut
this att ract i on w o u l d have decr eased as the
squar e of the distance . Ther efor e the other su n
wo ul d have carr ied them all the way to itself
either to disappear in its own body or to become
attendant bodies revolving aro und it as a center .
Some of these materialisti c scientists seem in-
tent on ascri bing everything to accid ent, evid ent-
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5 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEly for the pu rp ose of getting away fro m desig n,
or in other w or ds in getting away fro m God .
Our whole idea of this spatial or materialistic
infinite gets in the way of o u r r ealizing the abso-
lute . Hegel calls it the "false infinite," and a
few ill u st r a t i on s may in d icate s omethin g o f
what the false element in the concept is . As amatter o f fact we can no mor e think o f the in-
fini te than we can think of its op po site, nothing .
We can think o f the absence of any assi g nable
thing, or of all assignable things, and yet ou r
thou g hts are of so mething . Ou r compr ehensio n
of the infinite is equally negative and meaning-
less, as I have already show n . Zeno g ave u s
some famou s pa ra do xes or impo ssible pro blems
that may help to make this a little clearer . Oneo f these was of Achilles and the to r toi se . It w as
to the effect that if Achilles runs twice as fast
as the to rto ise and they are a certain d istance
apar t, bo th r u nning in the same d ir ectio n, ho w
long w ill it take Achilles to catch the tortoise?
Let us say that they are a mile apar t, w hich
Achilles can ru n in ten minutes. Whil e Achil -
les is ru nning that mile, the tor to ise has ru n
half a mi le, and w hile Achil les r u ns the half
mile, the to rto ise has ru n a quarter o f a mile,
and w hile Achill es r u ns the qu arter o f a mile,
the tor toise ru ns an eighth of a mile, and so on .
It is a true infinite series, accor di ng to the pr ob-
lem stated, and Achilles will never overtake the
tortoise. As a matter of fact, how ever , he d o es
o vertake it in exactly tw enty minu tes . Whathappens is that this w hole infinite series is taken
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THE ABSOLUTE 59
up and absor bed . It is an abstract or false in-
f i ni t e . I o nly sug gest this to sho w that the ab-
solu te cannot be reached thro ug h pu r sui ng the
wi ll- o- the-w isp of abstract infinites, or by cutting
u p the phenomenal u niverse of appearance and
change . It can only be fou nd at the o ther po le
of spir it, of i mmutable laws and pr inciples, of the
invisi ble and i neffable king d o m of cr eative
thought, of the being of Him who has beenknow n in all relig io ns and called by all names,
but to His most devout w or shippers is too p ur e
and high for man's designation, and therefor e is
the Nameless .
This is the Absolu te . There is no ne other .
The di fficulty with most of u s is that our minds
are so p r one to think in terms o f the materi al,
that any mention o f the Absol u te means a fixed
or static affair, a "frozen Absolute ." This has
no existence, except in d eath. Such a concept is
of a d ead u niverse . The only absol u te is the
w hol e mind and bod y o f Go d, the whole id ea and
its manifestatio n, the fu n dmental and i mmu-
table pr inciples of being, the Reality behind and
through all that is, the living universe .
Hegel's larg est triad takes something like the
follo win g form :
1 . (Thesis) . The pr e- existing Absol ute I dea
of the Universe .
2 . (Antithesis) . Externali zed into the
w o r l d o f Na tu r e .
3 . (Synthesis) . Reapp ear ing as mind o r Na-
tur e consciou s of itself .
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6 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEI n this pro cess of taking ou r other into the
self w e r etur n to the opening thou ght of this
Chapter , that of consuming what is ou tside us,
by w hich we come into complete realizatio n o f
ou rselves . It is thus the potential becomes ac-
tual, the latent is made active, the evolutio n or
unfo ld ment appears in fu ll manifestatio n in its
final cause or end . This renders the life process
clear and intellig ible. It all comes fro m the Ab-
solu te Id ea to which it retur ns. This it d oes by
the subject or min d absor bin g o r kno wi n g its
object which is matter, and by this method it be-
comes a consciou s entity or the full statement of
i t s e l f . Thro ug h synthesis o f the two o ppo site
po les it r etur ns into a hig her unity . It is the
conscio us universe knowi ng itself .
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CHAPTER IVMYSTICISM
THIS chapter comes as an afterthou ght . It
was not my o riginal intention to include the sub-
ject of mysticism in the pr esent book . My chief
r eason fo r the pr o po sed o missio n was that the
special sciences do not deal with mysticism, with
the po ssible exceptio n of p sycho lo g y, and even
psychologists generally explain it on physical or
patholo gical gro unds .
It w as on r equ est o f a member o f the class
that the subject was, after all, inclu ded . I nowsee that it belongs, fo r it serves to illu strate the
d iffer ence between the scientifi c and philo so phic-
al viewpo int . Science is descrip tio n ; philoso-
phy is explanatio n . Science deals w ith the howof things ; philosophy with the why . Science
thus lo oks on the material phase of the universe,
bu t philo sop hy must also includ e the spir itu al ;
and every philo sop hy that has failed to d o this
has br o ken d o w n . Science cannot d eal with mys-
ticism fo r the su bject is beyo nd i ts pale, bu t
philoso phy not o nly can, but mu st, do so .
The failu re of both science and philo sop hy to
solve the problems of the world has been chiefly
du e to their omission of the spiritual fr om their
equations, their perverse blindness, I w as about
61
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6 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEto say, to the spir itual . It w ou ld be strange,
indeed, if w e were to find polarity, the pairs of
o p p o s ites, thr o u g ho u t nat u re, and sho u l d n ot
find them at the very top o f the scale in the two
op po site po les o f spiri t and matter . But that
is p recisely the viewpo int that science, o r rather
some of the special scientists, appear to assume .
They have a ri ght to i gno re the spir itu al, per-
haps, fo r they are necessari ly dealing w ith the
material aspect of things, but they have no right
t o d eny . In that they ar e go ing beyond their
pro vince . In fact, much of the confusion in mod -
ern tho u g ht is d u e to the attempt to explai n
the universe in terms of so me one special science .
In an earlier d ay it was physics, and a mistaken
fo r m of physics, at that . Just now it is biolog y,
and an accid entalist bio lo g y, as we shall see
later . Each special science belong s to its o w n
field, but shou ld keep ou t of the general field
and shou ld not seek to explain the universe ac-
cor di ng to i ts own pet hobbies or in line w ith
gli mpses thro ug h its own p articular peephole at
reality . When it d oes that there is tro uble. Wecan only explain life, consciou sness, freedom and
the like thro ug h inclusion o f the spiritual . That
is the r easo n why mysticism belo ngs here, for
mysticism is a d irect appr oach to spirit . Yet it
has also a scientific phase .
There appears to be a basic mode of mind action
that accompanies life even in its l o w est fo r ms .
In the beginning this is undi fferentiated . Forexample, in the o ne cell o r g anism, such as the
amoeba, the cell seems to have an awar eness en-
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MYSTI C I SM 6 3
abling it to perceive foo d and to reject what is
not foo d, also to mo ve fro m place to place . I n
the higher organisms that are differentiated into
or gan and fu nctio n, the mind actio n appear s to
be differentiated also . Thus, i n an incip ient
state, star ting , or r ather p r o phesying , the
special or gans and special senses, one set of
cells become a mou th, another a dig estive tract,
a thir d, the beginning of a nervous system, a
fou rth gro up for m a circulatory system, etc . I n
the same w ay that these var io u s gr o u ps ar e de-
velo ped as to fo rm and functio n, so, apparently,
they increase in mind actio n . The term `mind
action' is not exactly descriptive of the thought
I seek to convey, fo r w hatever mentatio n ap-
pears in these low for ms of life is almost wholly
u nconscio u s and d oes not answer to the mean-
ing of mind action as we know it, yet it is intel-
l i g e n t ; t h a t i s , i t a c t s f o r a p u r p o s e , a n d i n t h i s
sense it belo ngs to the wor ld of mind, or `mind
stuff' as Prof. Clifford wo uld put it . As the or -
g anism becomes still mor e hig hly perfected and
or g an and fu nctio n emerg e into g reater d istinc-
tio n, the intelligence increases and the special
senses pu t in an appear ance . In the same w ay
we may assume that the awareness, or conscio u s-
ness, of the org anism, foll ow s a corr espondi ng
d evelop ment . In the beg inning each cell covers
all the functions, but in a low and pr imary w ay .
Later . some of these general po wers are assigned
to o ne gr ou p o f cells, while others are unused,
or left do rmant . Different functio ns may be
develo ped in another gr ou p, while in a thir d set
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6 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEspecialization takes place in still another fash-
ion . The pr o cess is in a w ay analog o u s to w hat
w e find i n soci ety, o ne set o f men being car -
penters, another farmers, still another pr ofes-
sio nal men, and the lik e . In this pro cess of
specialization, or differentiation, the go verning
factor appears to be necessity, or p ractical utili-
ty . ,The special senses emerge ou t of a pr imary,
or general sense, which may be what we now
term feeling . One set o f cells o r g anize them-
selves into an eye, responding to a certain range
o f d istu r bance in w hat w e call the ether . An-o ther set become an ear r espo ndi ng to a much
lo w er r ange o f frequ encies . Still another be-
come taste, which is useful in selecting the foo d
of the or ganism, and still another become smell,
which is like taste at a distance .
That all o f these special senses ari se ou t of
a primary sense is ind icated by two facts . First,
we all p ossess this pr imary, o r general, sense,
altho u g h in lo w d eg r ees, usu ally belo w the
threshold of consciou sness . So me of u s can feel
the presence o f another in a ro o m, altho u g h w e
do not see or hear him . In the same way wehave the same sor t o f aw a reness w hen w e ap-
pr oach a w all in the dark . In cases of blind-
ness, deafness, etc ., where one of the senses is
lo st there is what we call compensation i n the
heig htening of other senses, or i n the emer gence
of this pr imary sense. This is especially marked
in the cases o f Helen Kellar , Laur a Br id g man,
and many deaf mutes, and perso ns bor n blin d .
In the same way there appears to be a certain
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MYSTICISM 6 5
pr imary mind action, or po tentiality of r eaction
to sensation, also o f cog nition . In other wo rd s,
not only o ur special senses but o ur mod es of in-
tellectual action are special forms o f this pr i-
mary and g eneral intelli g ence that appears in
some for m or degr ee wherever life is fou nd .
Ber gso n refer s to it as instinct in the low er
fo r ms of li fe, which in man beco mes intui tio n .
So cr ates r ecog nized this element in his "De-
mon," w hich he said tol d him not so mu ch w hat
to d o as what not to d o, so mething l ike inhibi-
tion . Plato, whether co nscio usly o r no t, was
highly intuitive, and his intuitions, by the way,
have been fru itful not only in creating a philos-
o phy that has lived tw enty-fi ve hu ndr ed year s,
but in being confir med in r ather striking ways
by mod ern scientific di scoveries . In Neo plato -
nism this intu itive and i dealistic featur e came
out in still g reater relief and assumed the for m
o f mysticism . Great figu res of this schoo l, suchas Ammonius Saccas, Porphry, Proclus andPl o t in us w er e c on tem p o r a r y w i th the r i se o f
Christianity, and it is not too much to say that
Neoplatonism and the philosophical schools
that led u p to it fu r nished the philo sop hical
backgr ou nd o f C hri stianity . Pau l and John, to
say nothing of the Master himself, had a mysti-
cal element . St. Augustine drank deeply at this
fou ntain .and carr ied something o f the spir it and
even the for m o f the Platonic p hiloso phy into
Christianity . Au g u stine had mu ch o f the same
mystical viewpo int as the Neopl atonists, w hich
he thus bequeathed to all C hristendom even unto
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6 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEour own age . It has been said of this gr eat
father o f the Chur ch, that he bu ild ed a br id g e
w hich carr ied mankind acro ss the d ark ag es .
Plotinu s w as the for emost fig ur e of the Neo-
platonic school, as he was its great mystic . Hestated that thr ee o r fo u r times in his li fe he
knew the ecstasy of contact w ith the Divi ne .
Fro m his d ay to the pr esent, mysticism has had
not only a recog nized place in philoso phy, but in
religion . The annals of the C hur ch w o u ld be
po or er wi tho u t the histor y of mysticism such as
app ear ed in St . Teresa, in Eckhard t, in Tho mas
Aqui nas, in Bo ehme, w ho saw the signatu r e of
Go d in all things, and in many mo re beari ng the
most honored names in Church history . Themyst ica l element is f o u n d i n many reli g i o u s
leaders, especiall y in those who have g iven new
in sp i r a ti on an d a new d i r ecti on t o reli g i o u s
thou ght . It is especially p rominent in men like
Sw end enbor g , Geor g e Fox and John Wesley, and
in ou r o wn d ay it appears in the "Co smic Co n-
sciou sness" of Dr . Bu cke and in Walt Whitman
and Emerson.
Not only is it present in the history of C hris-
tianity, but in other r elig io ns, especially in the
Hindu faiths . Whatever the di ffer ence in ti me
or in creed, these mystic experiences are alike,
w ith similar inner states, and even an almo st
id entical symbo lism .
The mystical element is app arent in the w o r k
o f all the gr eat philo sop her s . It appeared i n
Spino za's intui tio n, or highest way of know ing .
There is a vein of it in German idealism . Even
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MYSTICISM 6 7
Kant was inter ested i n Sw end enbor g and w r o te
a little essay about him. A r ecent pu blicatio n
by the University of Califo r nia Press refers to
this same element in the early w ritings o f Hegel .
John Cooper Powys suggests that both Kantand Hegel pr obably arr ived at their conclu sio ns
by intuitive or mystical means, but because this
method w as not in vog ue in their day they after-
w ard carefully o bliterated all their tracks and
made the u sual lo gi cal appr o ach .
Mysticism is d ir ect, inner contact with Go d .
How all this r efer s back to the pr imary fo r m
of know ing, or of mind action, of spir it break-
ing thr o u g h matter , that is an acco mpaniment
o f l i f e i t s e l f ! It is as tho u gh there were a uni-
versal sea of intellig ence lying under, o r back
of, all things, which or ganizes itself into mat-
ter and thro u gh matter i nto conscio usness, with
the p o w er both t o kn o w , and t o act u p o n , its
envir o nment . In many it becomes still mor e
hig hly specialized, but w ith a subconsciou s o r
extra conscio us su bstratum, that is in some way
in contact with this u niversal intellig ence per-
vadi ng all life and all the uni verse. Mysticism is
a tapping o f this level of universal intelligence .
The Her metic philo so phy declared man a micr o -
cism of the Universe, containing w ithin himself
either actually or potentially the quality or es-
sence of the whole . Jesus said, "The King d o m
of Heaven is w ithin you ." If this is tr ue, then
our mystical contact is with the Divine principle
of o u r o wn hig her natur es, a communio n with
the extra conscio us mind that presides over o u r
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6 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEo w n or ganism, and, thro u g h this, a communio n
with the wo rld -so ul, or the intellig ence at wo rk
in the cosmo s .
We may approach this thought in anotherway. The universe is o ne thing, as indicated byits very name, and everything in it par takes o f
its life, its pow er, and its natur e . No t only so ,
but ever ything that occu r s in the u niverse af-
fects everything else in it, althou gh infinitesi-
mally. Thus each entity is aw are, in a sense, at
least po tentially, of every other entity, and o f
ever ything that happens . The whole u niverse is
accessible to each entity in it . As Emerso n said ,
we are inlets and o u tlets of the Infi nite, and all
o f i t .
We have an analogy to all this in rad io recep-
tio n, by which we select out the particu lar mes-
sage we desire and by amplification bring it into
the range of o ur sense perception . If w e cou ld
d o the same thing o n a lar g er scale w e cou ld
select and amplify any occurrence in the universe .
We are thus po tentially and essentially in p os-
session of the whole intellig ence of the cosmos .
When the sun shines the stars ar e blo tted o ut .In the same way the Here and Now makes somuch noi se w e cannot hear o r per ceive the r e-
mote either in space or time . These happ ening s
affect us i nfinitesimally, but affect us neverthe-
l e s s . As Leibnitz pu t it, each mo nad i s r epr e-
sentative of the universe fr om its viewpo int .
For pr actical r easons, how ever, we o nly respond
to that which is nearer at hand and therefore af-
fects us mor e intimately in practical life . Our
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MYSTICISM 6 9
senses are coar se and r espond to comp aratively
gr eat agg regates, yet every g reat agg regate is
made up of infinitesimal elements. Every waveis constituted of a multitu d e o f smaller w aves .
We g et a cu mul ative effect, or the averag e of
these minu te happ enin g s, w hich w e lump into
w hat w e call sense impr essio ns .
The mystical app r oach is not fr o m the ou tside
w hich loo ks o n phenomena fro m these ag gr eg ate
o r massed appearances . It is mo r e immanent,
mor e from the inner, more of the spir it and life
that actuates these ou ter manifestatio ns . It is
analog ou s to instinct in the lower fo rms of life,
of being awar e wi thou t know ing ju st how , like
the wasp that someho w senses where to sting the
nerve centers to par alyze the caterpi llar ; like
the animal that auto matically r espo nds to an
emer g ency ; or as or ganisms on every level o f
life that use an almost infinite variety of meth-
od s of pr otection . This is the pr imary fo r m of
intelligence, already r eferred to, that is not only
pr io r to special for ms of intellig ence, but in a
sense superio r to them in that they in their very
nature are limited while it is u niversal .
It mu st be understo o d that I am in no sense
condemning the intellect, or seeking to challenge
the intellectual appr o ach to tr u th . My onlyplea is that it be supplemented by the intuitive .
An eagle can o nly fly wi th two wi ngs, and the
mind needs both intellect and i ntuiti on to so ar
to the higher levels of thou ght . Withou t intui-
tio n the intellect is in peril o f dog matism, of ab-
straction, and o f the endless spinning o f theory,
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MYSTICISM 7 1
the mystical. As a matter o f fact ou r consciou s
minds ar e so co nstituted that they know o nly
symbo ls. They see things in pictu res . We havelangu age symbo ls, mathematical symbo ls, co n-
cept symbol s . We see nature in symbols and
clothe these on w ith meaning . We see not o nly
the appearance, but associatio ns which that ap-
pearance calls up . When we lo o k at a hor se we
see all that the ho r se means to us, all the essen-
tial histor y of o ur life as related to hor ses . Asavage in the mid d le o f Afri ca w hen he sees a
pictur e sees only a two d imensional thing w ith
scratches and marks o n it . He has not beeneducated into seeing its perspective and symbol-
ism, into w hat it r epresents and means. Whenwe loo k upon a pictur e we see it as it shou ld be ;
that is, we see it as the three dimensional thing
i t s i g n i f i e s . We clo the it on wi th ou r o wn es-
thetic appreciation .
In the same way mysticism at fir st comes to
u s in symbol s because ou r mind can co mpr ehend
these. In my ow n experi ence and that of o thers,
how ever , this stage passes into that of d ir ect
pe rcept i o n , o r r a ther int o the aw a reness o f
truths, ideas, and p rinciples withou t the neces-
sity of symbolic representatio n .
The reader shou ld be warned against confu sing
mysticism wi th occultism. The two are qui te d if-
ferent, as d ifferent, fo r example, as white and
black magic . Occultism carries the taint, at least
in the po pu lar mind , of having d abbled i n black
magic, as well as being a pseud o- science. Mysti -
cism is on a different plane. It is fr ee from the
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7 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEco mmer cial element . It is essentially religio us
in its nature. It i s recog nized by such mod ern
w r iters as Will iam James, Dean Ing e, Maur ice
Maeterlinck, Evelyn Underhill and others of like
standi ng, especially among the for emost r eli-
gio us and spiri tual author s .
Mysticism is a recog nitio n of the spir itu al
element in the universe and of the psychic factor
in natur e and life . It believes that the intellig i-
ble universe, the universe of mind, can only be
expla ined in ter m s of m in d an d n ot f r o m any
lo wer level of the physical . It is based o n the
id ea o f Divi ne I mmanence . It hold s that this is
a spir itu al universe here and no w , and that Go d
acts, not thro u gh special inter po sitio n, but as
o ne w ith the Co smos, so mew hat as the mind and
bod y act to g ether in man . The tw o are con -
comitant, the different phases of the same unity .
It hold s that life is a breaking thro ug h of spir it
into matter, and that no reality can be explained
o r co mpr ehended asid e fro m the spir itu al ele-ment. This is the active, as matter i s the iner t .
The reason David Hume could not understand
cause and effect, and that no o ther philo sopher
has ever r eally explained it, is that they have ap-
pr o ached it o nly fro m the materi al side. Theyhave sou g ht to po sit actio n withou t an agent .
Spir it is self-acting. It is initiative . We mustr eco g nize this element in the passage o f cau se
into effect .
Recejac po ints ou t that the only cop u la con-
necting the potential w ith the actual is "fiat ."
We cannot say that the po ssible is the actual,
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MYSTICISM 7 3
but o nly that it is mad e the actual . We mig ht use
the word becomes except that it is to o in-
definite and lacks the causal o r dynamic element .
It is li ke the pl ay of Hamlet wi th Hamlet left
ou t. An act pr esupp o ses an actor . The bri d g e
from the potential to the real does not build it-
self any mor e than there can be pu r po se and
meaning i n the Universe withou t a mind to p lan
and to compr ehend .
In conclusio n I desire to po int out two things .
In o ur last chapter w e tou ched up o n the pr in-
ciple of po larity and this ru ns not only thro ug h
all natur e, as indicated by electricity, but also
thro ug h the dialectic of thou ght . It, ther efor e,
mu st app ly to the hig hest, to w hat Descar tes
and iSpino za r efer r ed to as tho u g ht and exten-
sio n and which we call spir it and matter, the
synthesis of w hich is the living universe itself .
This sugg ests a solu tion of the wo rld -o ld philo-
sophical pr oblem which is ind icated in the query,can anything be added to the sum total ofthings? This qu estion has been br o u g ht into
the ver y foregr ou nd o f modern philo sophical
tho u g ht by the evo lu tio nary hypo thesis, and
mod er n philo so pher s have, ther efo r e, sou g ht
many deviou s ways to explain it away, or to
answ er i t . Berg son i mpli ed that time in so me
w ay is cumulative and d oes bri ng i n novel fac-
tor s or develo pments . Wil li am James even w ent
to the leng th of ad vocating "Plu r alism" in an
effor t to g et away from the issue raised by this
question of add ition, or of novelty .An adage of the old philosophy was that
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7 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEnothing fr om nothing comes, and, therefor e, that
we cannot take o ut of the universe mor e than we
put into it . Another for m of this thou g ht is
that any evo lu tio n must be pr eceded by an equal
involution . I n an absol u te sense no thing new
is possible .
May there not be a rather simple solu tio n to
this o ld pr oblem sug gested by this very idea of
polarity? I have already po inted o u t* that
spir itual things d iffer fro m materi al things in
this respect : Whereas mater ial thing s are di -
minished by divi sio n, spir itu al thing s remain
co nstant how ever mu ch they may be shared . This
is true not only of such spir itual things as ideals,
tru th, love, wisd om, freedom and the like, but it
i s a l s o t r u e o f l i f e i t s e l f , f o r t h e r e i s a s m u c h l i f e
in a cell after su bdivisio n as there previo u sly
was in the pr imary cell, and this is tru e of all
the trillions of cells in an organism, or the al-
most infinite number in all o r ganisms upo n the
earth . As already pointed o ut, the pr imary pr in-
ciple of po lari ty is that what we can posi t of o ne
po le we cannot posit of the other . Therefore, if
the material pole is bo u nd the spir itual pol e is
free. If the material pole is diminished by divi-
sio n that do es not necessarily fo llo w fo r the
spiritu al po le, as we have already seen .
No w to apply this id ea to ou r p r o blem, the
di fficul ty raised by this questio n of add itio n and
of novelty . This difficul ty belongs o nly to the
material pole, to the block universe . The spi r i-
tual fo rever increases. There is ever mor e wi s-
" The Philo sop hy of Jesus .
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MYSTICISM 7 5
d o m , more love, mor e beauty, more good.
Gro wth or u nfold ment is a spir itual activity . It
may well be that all of these vital manifestations
in the mater ial w o r ld are only caused by the
breaking throu gh of spir it into w hat we know as
org anic life and in its higher fo rms emerg ing o n
the levels o f r eason, and of conscience . In o ther
wo rd s, gr ow th, add itio n and novelty are of the
very natur e of the spir itual pole of the universe .
It is not w ithout interest, and possible rele-
vance, that the conservation theory d oes not ap-
ply to mind . That is ou tside its circle . It meas-
u res the physical act but no t the will that in-
itiates su ch act . The conservatio n o f energ y is
perfect, so far as we know, in its ow n circle or
f i e l d . Thou ght and w ill ar e o utsid e its bo und a-
r i e s .
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CHAPTER VTHE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MIND
THis stu dy is so mething like an adventur e in
tru th, and searching for tru th in tur n is like
searching for anything else. Clues are left about
that we can find i f we know w here to l oo k and
how to lo ok . In ou r lessons up to this time we
have given the backgr o u nd, o r r ather the ap-
pro ach, to ou r real inquir y . And w e have di s-
cover ed a number o f thing s- that man can not
o nly seek intellectually, but he can seek with his
w hole mind, o f w hich the intellect is o nly a
specialized for m . He can seek thro u g h intui -
tio n and in fact many of the philo sop her s have
emplo yed this method . Plato co nsistently u sed
it and called it reminiscence, which wo ul d imply
that there is something native in the mind o f man
of w hich he is not fu lly consciou s ; but he find s
r eminders i n life that br ing him some of this
o rig inal essence of truth that at least potentially
he already know s . We have also f o u nd that man
* It is difficult to find the right wo rd to d esignate the mental processes
that go on o utside the boundaries of or dinary consciousness . The uncon-scious is not qui te accurate for this mind is not wholly unconscious . Theautomatic mind is su bject to o bjections for the conscious o r habit mind,
is, also to an extent, automatic . Subconsciou s o r sub-liminal implies in-
feriori ty or a lower o rd er which is misleading also . Dubois pro tests against
this, for the unconscious is as much super-consciou s as sub-conscious . Forthese reasons and others, I ado pt the term extra-co nscious, using extranot in the sense of more but beyond . My own idea is that the super-consciou s belongs to the sou l while the sub-consciou s pertains to heredityand nature and has to do with the biological mind, if we may use thatterm, or the memory stream from our ancestors . The extra-co nscious
includ es both .
7 6
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THE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MIND 77
can contact so mething beyo nd himself . Thi s has
had var io us names . Matthew Arno ld r eferr ed to
it as a "something not o u r selves that makes for
r ig hteou sness." Spinoza named it substance ;
Plato called it an id ea ; Hegel fou nd that the
abso lu te is not in the pheno menal u niverse at
a l l . It is the idea . He follo wed Plato's method
an d r eached Plato's g o al, althou g h mor e than
two thousand years separated them and they
w r o te in co u n t r ies fa r a pa rt and in c u lt u r es
vastly di fferent .
We have di scovered also that pol a ri ty ru ns
thro ug h the univer se ; that it constitu tes the dia-
lectic of thoug ht, for the two po les are but o p-
po site statements o f the same thing and , w hen
caug ht up into unio n or synthesis, they co nsti-
tute a new po le of a higher dialectic, so that by
these method s- so mething l ike Jacob's Lad d er
that led to Heaven- w e can ascend to mor e and
mor e gener al statements and thus can app ro xi-
mate mor e fu lly to the id ea w hich both Plato
and Hegel-the two greatest minds that ever
appeared in philo sop hy-called the absolu te. In
this inquiry so far we have gotten rid of certain
difficulties or , at least, have found the false ele-
ments in the pr oblems sug gesting that, after all,
they are not pr o blems . We discovered, for one
thing, the false infi nite, the phenomenal i nfinite,
the infinite of i mmensity, the infinite r eached by
addition ; that is, the kind o f an infinite that ou r
intellects, constitu ted in the way that they are,
a l wa ys p o s it and p ict u re . And not only thefalse infinite di d w e discover in this way, that
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7 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEis, an infinite series which thro u gh this method
of d ivision and add ition, we could never reach ;
but we d iscovered the true infinite which is at
the other po le . We fou nd that exactly w hat w e
can say of matter we cannot say of spir it . Forexample, things d iminish thro ug h division in the
phenomenal wo r ld . If w e have tw o app les and
g ive one away w e have only one left, if we have
two do llar s and spend o ne we have o nly one in
ou r po ssession ; o r, "we cannot eat ou r cake and
have it." That is w hat we say o f the pheno menal
w or ld , bu t we di scover that the thing s of the
spiritual w or ld, o f the other pole, such as love,
tru th, freedo m and the ideal d o not par take of
this li mitation, but that the mor e we g ive of
them the mo r e we have . We discovered that this
is also tru e of life, and I am speaking now not
in the id eal but in the scientific sense, for there
is always enou gh life for all of the org anic cells,
whether there be one of them, or one trillion, or
one w ith a ser ies of cyphers after it extendi ng
across the ro om. This implies that ou r o ld pr ob-
lem that we can not have anything ad d ed to o u r
universe appl ies only to the blo ck universe, to
the phenomenal u niverse, to this p ole of matter .
It d oes not apply to the po le of spir it at all be-
cause the very natu re of spi ri t is alw ays to be
add ing and g iving, always develop ing, g etting
new meanings, new enlargements, new under-
standing s and new p o wer .
These and o ther thing s we have disco vered but
thus far we have only g o tten the formal part o f
kno w led g e o r o f phil os o phy . F r o m thi s p o i n t
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THE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MIND 7 9
we are beg inning o u r r eal adventu re-that is, we
are filling in this o utline of the for mal. We aregi ving it a content and not o nly a content, but
a dynamic element that wi ll br ing life into it-
mo vement, actio n .
Now , the o ld philo sop hy, we wi ll say, ended
w ith Hegel. He d ied o ne hundr ed years ago ap-
proximately, and from that point onward we
have had a century rich in scientific d iscovery .
The ol d phil os o p hy d i d n ot s o m uch dea l w ith
science because science, o r rather the special sci -
ences, had to do with the accidental o r the con-
tingent universe, and the ol d philoso phers were
o nly interested in the thou ght u niverse, the ideal
u niverse, in the universe of the necessities of
thou ght . As I have already po inted o u t, it is
not necessary that any par ticu lar event happen
so far as the cosmos is co ncerned . I t w o u l d g o
ri ght on if that event were different or if it were
not to happen at all . Yet there may be a fal se
element in this view . It requi res the whole uni-
verse to function as itself, and if anything were
left ou t, anything either in. sequence or in mani-
festation, it wo uld not be the same universe and
therefor e it wo ul d not be complete, so I suspect
that in the idea of the o ld philo sop her s as to
these things they called co ntingent or accidental
there was a possible erro r . In the mind o f Go d
everything that is, is necessary . It cou ld not be
o therw ise u nless the sequence w ere other w ise .
I n the pheno menal u niver se thing s ar e a bit
bo und , and perhaps it is o nly at the other po le
that the element of fr eedom is r ealized . Ever y-
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8 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEthing is as it must be and, as Leibnitz said , onl y
the best po ssible universe can resul t, whatever
the app earance may be .
Now , follo wi ng Hegel, first in philoso phy and
next in science, this content has been fur nished .
Scho penhauer- I d islike his p essimism-g ave the
d ynamic to this o u tlined fo r m that Heg el left
us . He gave it in the for m of will and w ro te his
gr eat wo rk o n the universe as wil l and i dea or
wi ll and r epr esentation . Here was a moto r fac-
tor , if you please . Here was a factor o f action
that Kant had alr eady discovered in his pr actical
philosophy .as par taking o f the noumena instead
o f the pheno mena o f the u niver se . For whenthere is action there must be an actor , and w hen
there is wi ll there must be an incarnatio n of that
will . Following Schopenhauer, Von Hartmanng ave one mor e clue in the Philo sop hy of the Un-
conscious . He d isco vered that no t o nly Scho -
penhauer 's w il l but id eas themselves are fr e-
quently u nconsciou s and that mental p ro cesses
g o o n in man and in the lo wer animals withou t
any appar ent for m of consciou sness accompany-
ing them. He disco vered also that these pr o -
cesses ar e not mechanical . Descartes had d e-
clar ed that animals behave like machines, and
that view was accepted fo r centur ies . It is o nly
when we get to the facts, in the truly scientific
sense, that we d isco ver animals d o not behave
li ke machines . We can g ive so me ver y famili ar
illustrations . For example, all kinds o f birds
incubate their egg s ou tside of the o rg anism but
there is a wid e variety of methods in this incu -
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THE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MIND 8 1
bation . I n most cases, especially i n cold c l i -
mates, the mother bird hovers the eggs, but w ith
the ostr ich and similar species, the father does
it, po ssibly because the eggs are laid so i nfre-
quently and it is almost impo ssible for the mo -
ther bir d to attend both to the egg - laying and
the incubation . In w arm cli mates it i s not nec-
essary to incubate eggs at . a l l , s o t h e y a r e l e f t t o
hatch in the war mth of the envir o nment and i n
some places where it is hot in the day and coo l
at nig ht, the mother o nly hovers the egg s at
night .
No w, Von Har tmann says-I have no t verifi ed
the statement but I think it i s veri fiable-that
if we intro du ce some bir ds into an incubator , or
into any war m inclosu r e w her e it is not neces-
sary that they ho ver the eg g s all o f the time,
they will not do so . If w e foll ow ou t this metho d
of fact finding , we discover o ther p ro ofs that the
instinct in animals is not w holly mechanical, be-
cause if the pr actical needs o f the situ atio n
change, the condu ct of the bir d s o r o f the ani-
mals changes accor d ing ly . But that this is not
a consciou s pur po se wo rked ou t in the minds of
the animals and of the bird s is pr oved by another
circumstance, fo r not o nly the condu ct changes,
but, if left long enou gh in the altered envir on-
ment, the stru ctur e changes also . There is some-
thing at wo r k d eeper than the mer e mind o f the
creatu re i tself .
Now , w e ar e getting at so mething we d iscov-
ered in ou r last chapter o n mysticism . There is
.a marg in o r a backgr ou nd o f mental life that
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82 INVADING THE INVISIBLEwe have not known about, so that Von Hart-
mann-and pl ease bear i n mind that Vo n Har t-
mann came befo r e the mod ern d isco very o f the
sublimal or subconscious mind-he was ap-pr o aching this thing philoso phically- Von Hart-
mann finds evid ences o f this unco nscio us mind
thr o u g ho u t natu r e . We shall have occasio n in
different connections to refer to this same factor ,
for it will crop up again and again . When wecome to the humanistic side of o ur subject, we
shall find it quite as much as in the bio lo gical,
for man has instinct, as w ell as the low er ani-
mals, and man sometimes is w iser than himself .
He o ften acts mor e unerr ing ly than he co u ld by
conscio us thou ght pr ocesses . In a sud d en emer-
g ency where li fe is at stake he saves himself
wi thou t know ing qui te how he does it . I su spect
that is the w ay animals act . They d o no t have
time or ability to think ou t what to d o . Theyact, as w e say, auto matically . This actio n is
intellig ent, but i t is of an o rd er o f intellig ence
that is not conscio u s . So , agai n, we have this
tremendo us thing, this universal unco nscio u s,
one phase of which we disco vered in o u r chapter
o n mysticism, and o ther phases o f w hich w ill
appear in evo lu tio n and o ther branches o f ou r
subject .
May we approach this idea from anotherangle? I have already said that natur e is always
like herself, and that everything in the universe
par takes of the essence and the quali ty o f the
whole . That is o nly another way of saying that
man is mad e in the image of God . Bo ehme d is-
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THE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MIND 8 3
covered this when he said he found a "sig nature"
in all things and Tennyson i n po etic fo r m said
the same thing w hen he spo ke of the
"Flow er in the crannied wall,
I plu ck you o ut o f the crannies,
I hold you here, roo t and all, in my hand,
Little flow er -but if I coul d understand
what you are, roo t and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is . "
I su spect that if we cou ld r eally know any
pa rt o f the un iverse, insi d e an d o u ts i d e, we
should know the whole.
No w , w hat i s i t that actuates these mother
bir d s to hover their egg s, but to cease do ing so
w hen the incubatio n can take pl ace w itho u t the
hovering , and to hover them o nly to the extent
that is necessary to bring abo u t incubatio n? I
do not say that this varied cond uct o ccur s in
any one bir d . I say it occurs if the envir onment
is changed thr ou gh two o r three generatio ns, so
that the po wer, whatever it is, has time to act .
What is that po wer ? Is it no t w hat Von Har t-
mann r efer s to as the u nconscio u s? Is it not
the universal mind at wo r k everywhere, but ever
emerg in g o n hig her levels o f realization and
p o w er?
No w , coming back to the id ea o f man as a
micr o cosm, o f man being r epresentative o f the
universe, "the measur e of all things ." Some onehas said that man in himself contains al l the
low er fo rms of life. I d o not care how it is put ;
the tru th is o bvio us . If man di d no t contain
within himself the potentialities and the quali-
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8 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEties of the universe he co ul d not kno w the uni-
verse . We cannot kno w so mething d ifferent fro m
thou ght . Tho u ght can on ly kn o w tho u ght . Wecan o nly know meaning . No w , if man is r epre-
sentative of the universe ; if man is in miniatur e
what the universe is in larg e, then shall we not
find in the cosmo s, in the universe at larg e, what
we find i n man, althou gh in natur e it w ill be
fou nd, of cou rse, in a gr eater and gr ander d e-
gree? This is the scientific approach we are nowmaking. We begin with man because we knowhim better , or think we do . Perhaps w e d o n ot
know him so w ell as we imagi ne, bu t we know
something abo u t him . We know for example,that he has a conscious and an unconscious
mind . We know also that the boundaries of
the unconscio us mind are very larg e . One ps y-
chol og ist pu ts it that man's consciou s mind com-
par ed wi th his u nconscio u s is like an iceberg
w ith seven- eighths o f its bu lk belo w the water
and o nly o ne- eig hth above . The conscio u s min d
is above the water i n the su nshine and the un-
conscio u s beneath. In other wo rd s, the consciou s
mind i s only o ne-eig hth o f the whole . It do es
not matter what the pro po rti ons but it is tr e-
mendo u sly impo r tant that we reco g nize in all
for ms of life the extra-conscious o r subconsciousmind .
We are getting now a clue to this thing called
instinct . It is not mechanical, yet it is no t con-
sciou sly mental . In o ther wo r ds, there is some-
thing bigg er than the ind ivid u al, which explains
the ind ivid ual, w hich motivates the ind ivid u al,
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THE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MIND 8 5
which pr otects the ind ivid ual and w hich i s a
necessary backgr o und of the individ ual . Someone has pu t it that this something is anterio r to
and superior to the or ganism . That necessar il y
must be tru e becau se it shapes the or g anism,
moves it and i n a way pr esid es over i t . Do weever sto p to think that the unconscio us move-
ments of ou r bod ies must have a psychic element?
Take the beating of the heart-it d oes not always
beat at the same rate ; it is not mechanical ; we
g et excited and the heart beats faster ; if w e need
mor e blo o d the hear t respo nds to that need and
r espo nd s to the mental imp u lse even befor e the
actio n takes place that calls fo r the incr eased
circulation . If w e see a bear in the w o o d s the
circulatio n starts at once, althou gh we have done
nothing, physically speaking . The mind has do ne
so mething , how ever , and the heart, being actu -
ated by this mentality, starts beating at a gr eat
rate. Ag ain, w e see a meal o n the table . Wehave no t tou ched it, yet the mo u th waters and
there are enou gh of the secretions of the whole
alimentary canal started into action to take care
o f that meal . The more we examine the bodythe mo r e we are convi nced that ther e is so me
intellig ent contro l o f every o rg an and cell, for
it behaves intelligently . I have long had a theory
that cancer w as caused by the selfi shness o f a
gr ou p o f cells that had g otten ou t of hand, and
I read in a r ecent newspaper that this has actu-
ally been bor ne o ut by a new d isco very . Fo r t u -
nately ther e was also d iscovered a remed y to
bring abou t ad ju stment. There is a socio lo gical
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8 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEanalog y to these cells acting selfishly . Let u s
sup po se a case of central contr ol being l ost in
society or in g overnment, one element of the pop -
ulation getting ou t of hand and begi nning a sel-
fish movement withou t r egar d to the welfare of
the w hol e bo dy po litic . No w , something l ike
that happ ens in the o r g anism . In other w or ds,
the or ganism has to be co- or di nated . It has to
be u nder a central g o ver nment, just as d o es
society .
This bri ngs us to a big ger thoug ht . If man is
a micro cosm o f the universe, then what w e find
in man we shall find in the universe at larg e, in
a g r a nde r and m o r e cosm ical f o r m . If we f ind
in man conscio us and unconsciou s mind, we shall
find the same in natur e . This id ea is fru itful .
It solves many of o ur pro blems . It has already
solved o ne pr oblem, that of i nstinct . Another
pr oblem that it can now solve is that of Pan-
theism . The gr eat r elig io ns have taug ht some-
thing o f the sou l o f the wo rl d . That was the
id ea of the o ld Greek relig io n and w as carr ied
ou t in its polytheism, a multip licity of g od s that
personified the for ces of nature . There w as the
g o d o r g o d s of the w in ds ; the god of the seas ;
the go d of thun d er ; the god s and go d desses of
the fru itful earth ; and other divinities represent-
i n g a l m o s t ever y p o w er d i s co v e r ed i n n at u r e .
We say that was merely superstiti on, or the cre-
ation of the child -mind of an earlier cu ltur e .
Yet it may sug g est a tru th, w hich is that in
the same way the or gans of ou r bod y are pre-sided over by mental powers-subconscious
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THE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MIND 8 7
mental powers-the beating of the heart, the
functio ning o f the kid neys and o f the liver, o f
the g land s, of the nerves, of the pr o cesses o f
gr ow th, of the pro cesses of healing, so cosmical
mind p resid se over the pro cesses of natu re as a
whole .
In the pr oper place in the chapter o n psycho-
therapy, I hop e to po int ou t how a wo und heals,
how every step in the pro cess is intelligent and,
in the same way, how everything in the o r ganism
fro m its birth to its death is intellig ent and is
actuated by mental pr ocesses, but pr ocesses that
in the very necessity o f the case are unconsciou s,
or almost so . If that is tr ue in the or g anism,
then why is it not tru e in the wor ld at larg e?
This id ea is harmo nio u s wi th w hat man has al-
ways believed, that there is a sou l o f the wo rld .
Here we have the so u l o f the wo r ld acting, but
in an extra-co nscio us w ay .
In man, ho w ever , we find not o nly a subcon-
scio us but a consciou s mind . Then, shall we no t
find the same thing i n the cosmo s? The onl y
objectio n to Pantheism, to the id ea that every-
thing is God, to the idea that natur e is ru led by
Go d , is that app ar ently these pro cesses which
go on i n the wo rl d are mechanical w hich is too
lo w a concept to be applied to the free, intelli-
gent, lovin g min d o f God . Here has been the
d i f f ic u l t y . It larg ely d isappears, ho wever , when
w e reflect that this is o nly o ne aspect of the
m in d o f Go d j ust as o u r s u bc on sci o u s m in d is
o nly one aspect of o u r o w n mind . Above that is
ou r consciou s mind . In the same way abo ve the
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8 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEsou l of the wo r ld , the unconsciou s mind o f the
universe that is functioning thro ug h org anic life
and thr ou gh natur e, is the free, lovi ng, consciou s
m in d o f Go d that r u l es it . As w e find these
two phases of mi nd i n man, so w e find them in
the cosmo s*
No w , let us take an other a p p r o a ch an d in -
q u i r e w hat this unc o n sci o u s min d i s . In anearl ier day, w hen the whol e subject was new,
the u nconscio u s mind was dealt with as tho ug h
it w ere the mind o f some other entity . That i s
d u a lity, and s o methin g w o r se . I f we inqu i re
closely we .shall find this hypothesis is not at all
satisfactor y o r necessary . There is onl y o ne
mind, but it is one mind functioning in different
ways, for p r actical reaso ns . Let us see if w e
can make this plain . We all kno w what is called
the auto matic mind . A thing that w e have do ne
a suff icient number o f times to have perfected
o u r selves in the ar t beco mes auto matic . Whena baby starts w alking i t is a painfu l pr ocess, but
if the baby has walked a su fficiently lo ng time,
he does not have to think where to put his feet
and how to balance himself . He do es that auto -
matically. Walking beco mes like breathing . Weare consciou s of o ur breathing i f we want to be .
We can still co ntro l our breath to a certain ex-
tent if we want to d o i t, but fo r the most part
we are unconsciou s of o ur breathing . We havedi scovered that we can be consciou s of o ur heart
"Judge Troward in his Edinburgh Lectures refers to the subjectivemind i n nature, but implies that it is without will o r choice, but must
follow sug gestions . In this he leaves out the conscious mind of God,or God Transcendent . I d iscover that he corr ects this omission i n hislater w ritings .
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THE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MIND 8 9
beating , and to a still mo r e limi ted extent we
can contro l that, but for the most part this pro -
cess go es on u nconscio usly . I n the same way,
w hen we get used to w alking, that beco mes u n-
conscious . Why? Because it i s no lo n ger nec-
essary to d evote the conscio us mind to the pr o -
cess, and that leaves the mind free to attend to
other things . So me men say they can think o u t
a problem or a speech better w hile taking a walk .
When I play so litair e that becomes mor e or less
auto matic, to o, and I can think better wi th the
rest of the mind while this inconsequential part
is thus o ccupied . We find the automatic or habit
mind in evid ence in other w ays . In learni ng to
op erate a typewriter, first it is very labori ou s
and p ainstaking . I leave that to any newsp aper
man who has ever been a "o ne fing er ar tist" o n
the typewr iter- I think they call it the "hunt
and p eck" system . At any rate after w e lear n
to op erate a typew ri ter it becomes auto matic .
I have seen many typists who co ul d carr y on a
conversatio n or think about a date or keep their
minds occupied in vario us w ays and still o perate
the machine-I d o no t say perfectly, but as well
as usu al . The same thing is tr ue o f music . It
is very hard to play on a musical instru ment the
first few times, not o nly hard for the operator ,
but hard fo r the hearer s, but that in time be-
comes auto matic and the artist need o nly think
of the music and the playing, we say, does itself .
It becomes then no t o nly an auto matic pr o cess,
bu t I am lead ing you a step far ther - it becomes
in a sense a subconscio u s pr ocess, and the best
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9 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEm usicians a re those in wh om the s ubc on sci o u s
emerg es into the conscio us . I am not su r e that
all g eniu s is not to some extent an emer gi ng o f
the subconscio u s above the thresho ld . We d is-
cover, then, this pr o cess of using the unconsciou s
g o in g o n in ou r every d ay lives . We can, bythinking backward , see how the whole gamut o f
w hat w e call the u nconsciou s may at one time
have been consciou s or at least conscious to some
super- intelligence that wor ked it ou t . When thep r o cess wa s c om pleted and n o l o n ge r r eq u i r ed
this laborio us attention, it w as then retired, first
into the automatic and then into the unconsciou s,
w her e it has since remained .
'There has been no d iscovery in mod ern science
that has more po ssibilities or that is mor e sug -
g estive than this very d isco very o f the u ncon-
sciou s mind . Like all new sciences, it has been
gi ven extravagant for ms . Perhaps that sho u ld
not excite ou r wo nder, fo r i t is the histor y of
all novel for ms of know ledge to have a "lunatic
fri nge" and to be fr ow ned on by really respect-
able folk . There w as a ti me when mathemati-
cians were thought not to be exactly responsible
or safe people . That w as back in the d ays o f
St. Aug ustine . There w as a ti me when scien-
tists of any sort were classified w ith soo thsayers,
wi th magicians and wi th for tune-tellers . Anynew science not only contains this element, but
is su bject to mu ch o f the same con d emnatio n .
It is d ifficult to get peop le to think new thou ghts .
Even scientists are wedd ed to the o ld and w e
di scover much of the same do gmatic attitud e in
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THE EXTRA CONSCIOUS MIND 9 1
science that we do in religio n-in certain scien-
tists that we do in certain theolo gians . This d og -
matism do es no t ar ise fro m science o r r eligi o n ;
it ari ses fro m human natur e . It arises fro m ou r
unwillingness to let go of familiar concepts ; from
ou r distru st of novelty . Yet that is not science,
and is not r elig io n, because it is devotio n more
to a p r econceived i d ea than to tr u th, and the
fir st pr inciple of science is that we shall g et rid
of pr econceived notions if they do not cor re-
spo nd to new facts that ar e discovered . If any
theor y is o u t of harm ony w ith any fact, ho w -
ever humble that fact may be, there is something
the matter, not w ith the fact, but w ith the theo ry .
No tr ue scientists, therefor e, will i gnor e any fact .
When we co me to the chapter o n psychic p he-
nomena, we shall perhaps have occasio n to r efer
to this in a more detailed way .
Now , it is no t to be wo ndered at, ther efor e,
that in the science or the psychology of the sub-
conscio u s min d, there shou ld appear extrava-
g ances . I am not at all convi nced that all o f
Freud 's theory of sex and the rest of it is sound
science or sou nd psychol og y . It has at hear t a
basis of tru th, but is carr ied too far . I believe
that mod ern psycho- analysts are to some extent
abando nin g o r mo di fyin g that theor y . I think
also there is in that id ea a tendency to d emo r -
alize human being s . If carried to o far, it may
have a bad so cial effect . That, ho w ever , is no
criticism o f the id ea itself, but o nly a criticism
of the imperfect statement and u se of it .
In the next chapter, w hich w ill be o n evo lu -
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9 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEt i o n , w e s h a l l h a v e o c c a s i o n t o s h o w h o w t h i s
s a m e m i n d , t h i s s u b c on s c i o u s m i n d i n t h e c os m o s ,
h a s b e e n a t w o r k s h a p i n g o r g a n i s m s a n d h o w i t
h a s b u i l d e d o r g a n s ; h o w it h a s , n ot o n l y i n t h e
i n d i v i d u a l o r g a n i s m , b u t i n n a t u r e a s a w h o l e ,
t e n d e d t o w a r d p r o g r e s s a n d i n t h e m a i n , t o w a r d s
p r a c t i c a l g o o d . A g a i n i n o u r t r e a t m e n t o f p s y -
chic phenomena and phychotherapy, we shall
f in d t h i s s a m e e l e m e n t . T h a t i s w h y I s a y i t i s
s o f r u i t f u l . T h e r e h a s b e e n n o d i s c o v e r y i n m o d -
e r n t i m e s t h a t c on t a i n s s u c h a w o rl d o f s u g g e s -
t i o n a n d i m p l i c a t i o ns a s t h i s d i s c o v e r y o f t h e u n -
c o n s c i o u s m i n d .
M a y I , i n c o n c l u s i o n , p o i n t o u t w h a t t h i s
m a y m e a n i n t h e b u i l d i n g o f t h e o r g a n i s m , a n d
i n d o i n g t h a t I w a n t t o r e f e r t o on e m o r e w r i t e r
w h o w a s n ot o s t e n s i b l y a s c i e n t i s t o r ph i l o s o p h e r
a t a l l , a n d y e t b e c a u s e o f t h a t v e r y f a c t a n d b e -
c a u s e h e h a d w h a t w e m i g h t c a l l a n o v e l v i e w -
p o i n t , u n a f f e c t e d b y a n y s c h o o l , g a v e , i n m y
o p i n i o n , s o m e e x c e e d i n g l y v a l u a b l e r e f l e c t i o n s
o n t h i s w h o l e s u b j e c t ; a n d t h a t i s S a m u e l B u t
l e r . H e w o r k e d o u t a t h e o r y t h a t w a s t o s o m e
e x t e n t b a s e d o n t h a t o f V o n H a r t m a n n a n d r e -
f e r re d t o e v o l u t i on , t o t h e e f f e c t t h a t a p pa r e n t l y
t h e r e i s a c on t i n u it y o f m i nd i n t h e s p e c i e s ; t h a t
i s , a s t r e a m o f m e m o r y p a s s e s d o w n f r o m p a r e n t
t o c h i l d a n d t h e b u i l d i n g o f t h e f o e t u s o r t h e
e m b r y o f o l l o w s s u c h m e m o r y . W h e n i t r e a c h e s
a n y p a r t i c u l a r s t a g e o f d e v e l o p m e n t i t r e m e m -
b e r s a u t o m a t i c a l l y - n o t c o n s c i o u s l y , p l e a s e b e a r
i n m i n d , u n c o n s c i o u s l y , s u b c o n s c i o u s l y . I t r e -
m e m b e r s w h a t i t d i d a t t h a t p a r t i c u l a r s t a g e o f
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9 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEperfected so that they can be passed over r apid -
ly u ntil the new being reaches his ow n place as
an indivi du al . Then he has to d o pi o neer w o r k,
to be, as we say, "on his o wn ." It i s so mething
like buil ding a road . We can travel a ro ad al -
ready made at 60 or 80 mils an hou r . I do n't
kn o w ho w fast au t om o biles tra vel no w , bu t a
fr iend o f mine to ld me that he went fr o m Miami
to Richmond in two days . I said , "You must
have tr aveled abou t sixty miles an hou r . " Hereplied, "Well, sometimes I slow ed do wn to six-
ty." This r o ad that has been comp leted w e pass
over very r apidly ; that is, this recapitulation
lo ng completed . When the individ ual gets to the
end o f the fini shed r o ad w her e he has to make
a ro ad for himself, how ever, his pro gr ess is re-
tard ed . That is the method u sed by the embryo .
Now all o f this ties back iii o what we were
ta lkin g abo u t a m oment ag o . All these thing s
that have been fini shed - the mental pr o cesses-
are retired into the unconsciou s becau se we do
not need to be conscious of them longer, and they
w o u l d i n ter f e r e w i t h o u r a tten d i n g t o o t her
things . Likew ise the auto matic actio n saves
t i m e , i t i s f a s t e r . This is in some sense the or i-
gi n of i nstinct, of u nconsciou s and automatic
mental p r o cesses, and o f the mechanical . It is
well to keep this in mind because in it is another
impo r tant clue that a lot o f scientists and biolo -
g ists have been stumbling o ver fo r a hund r ed
years- the mechanical id ea . They have not been
able to get beyond that, or to see why things be-
co me mechanical .
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CHAPTER VIPURPOSIVE EVOLUTION
THE theo r y p o p u l a r l y k no w n as Ev o l u t i o n ,
mor e accur ately d esignated, per haps, by the
term Transfo rmation, has revolu tionized mod ern
thou g ht . It has not o nly gi ven an entirely new
direction to biolo gy, but has pro fou ndly affected
both relig io n and philo sophy . The battle that has
raged over it has already continued for mor e than
half a centur y and is tod ay divid ing the religi ou s
wo rl d i nto two gr eat camps o f the Fund amental-
ists and Mod ernists . Of cou r se, there are o ther
questions invo lved in their contro versy, but
chief is that of evolu tio n, especially the descent
or rather ascent of man fro m low er fo rms o f
l i f e . We ar e not called u po n to take sides in
this battle of o ri gi ns, for tunately, but w hile the
general evolu tio nary hypothesis is u ndo ubtedl y
cor rect and w ill w ithstand all assaults, there is
this to be said fo r o ur Fund amentalist fri ends
They are fighting fo r sp ir itu al values and ag ainst
a materialistic interp retation given to evolu tion
by a certain scho ol , in both of which attitu des
they are right . Further it shou ld be said in all
fair ness that the brand o f "high scho o l evolu -
tio n" by w hich they are fo r the most p art o p-
po sed i s both sup erficial and atheistic and mis-
95
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9 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLErepr esents the best and most u p- to- date thou ght
of the real advo cates of the evolutionary philos-
ophy .
The one name that stands o u t above all o thers
in this field is that of Charles Darw in . To su ch
an extent is this tru e that in the pop u lar mind
the term Darw inism has come to stand for evo-
lution . Stri ctly speaking, however, that desig-
natio n do es not stand so much for the evol utio n-
ary theor y itself, as for certain features of it
know n as natural selection and the survi val of
t h e f i t t e s t . Darw in d id not o ri gi nate the theory
of evolution . As alread y remarked, the w hole
philosophy was foreshadowed and implied by
Heg el . Before Charles Darwin came his owng r andfather, Er asmus Dar w in, Bu ffo n, the na-
tur alist, Lamar ck, who by many is r eg ard ed as
the real fo under o f the evolutionary hypothesis,
and Herbert Spencer, the philo so pher . All these
were advo cates of some form o f evolu tion . Co n-
tempor ary w ith Char les Darw in was Alfr ed Ru s-
sel Wallace, w ho p erhaps antedated Darw in i n
for mulating the peculiar features of natural se-
lection w ith which the latter 's name came later
to be associated ; but Pro f . Wallace, as soo n as
he learned o f Darw in's labo rs in the same field
magnanim ously w ithd rew any claims of his ow n
as its discoverer .
In this connection it shou ld be said that none
of these fo r er u n ners and c o - w o r ke rs w ith Mr .
Darw in too k the pecu liar slant w ith r egard to
evolu tio n that has since become so offensive to
the religiou s wor ld . Lamarck n o t on ly r eco g -
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 97
nized design bu t made the pu r po si ve or teleo-
lo g ical element pr omi nent in his evolu tio nary
hypo thesis . He also str essed u se and d isu se
wi th which we wil l d eal later . The same wasalso tr u e to so me extent of Spencer . As fo r
Wallace, while he agr eed in the main w ith Dar -
w in o n the scientific phases of natu r al selection,
he was not o nly a relig io u s man but an actu al
believer in mo dern Spi ri tuali sm .
No r w as Darw in himself an extremist in the
advocacy of the views that have since been called
by his name. To o much cannot be said fo r the
painstaking tho ro ug hness w ith which he inves-
tig ated facts or the mod esty wi th which he in-
terpr eted them . C har les Darw in w as a scien-
tist in the best sense of the wo r d . He was atheart a spi r itu al man himself . Only r ecently I
w as stru ck by his w arm d efense o f C hr istian
missio naries in Tahiti, r eco unted i n his very
r eadable bo ok The Voyage o f the Beagle. Healso lamented, later in life, that his stud y of
facts and d evotio n to pu rely scientific and i n-
tellectual pu rsui ts had r obbed him of the appr e-
ciatio n of mu sic and ar t that he had p o ssessed
in his you th . He w as an intense lov er o f the
beauties o f natur e as is sho w n in almost ever y
chapter o f this same Voyage of the Beagle,
which w as wr itten in his you nger manhoo d . Hewas interested not alo ne in biolo g y, but in al-
most every field o f science, and in the humani-
ties as well . He stru g g led thro u g h the later
years o f his life against il l health, but this d id
not pr event the accompl ishment o f his mo nu-
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9 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEmental labo r s . C har les Darwin was truly agr eat man and nothing said her e in app ar ent
dero gatio n of Darw inism is meant to cast any
personal reflection on its fo und er . It w a s n ot
Darwin himself that was r esponsible for the ex-
treme attitu de which later so shocked and o ff end-
ed spiritually-minded people, but rather his fol-
lo w ers, su ch as the tw o Germans, Weissmann and
Haeckel . Frequently the disciple ru ns to gr eat-
er lengths than the master .
Perhaps at this po int I may be pard o ned fo r
,a seeming dig ressio n, since it has an important
bearing on this discussio n . I have alr eady re-
ferr ed to thr ee elements in the wo r k o f a cer -
tain school of scientists and philosophers that I
will designate as the accid ental, the mechanical
and the materialistic .
There are at least three o utstanding examples
of the introduction of the accidentalist hypothe-
sis in philoso phy ; fir st the "accidental co ncour se
o f at om s" t o f o r m the un ive rse ad v oca ted by
Demo cri tus and the Epi cur eans ; second , the ac-
cidentalist theor y of the for matio n of the solar
system bro ug ht fo rw ard by C hamberl ain, already
referr ed to ; and thir d, the accidentalist notio n
of the origin of variatio ns advocated by the neo-
Darw inians .
This w hole theory of chance or accid ent, when
analyzed and carr ied to its log ical conclusio ns
becomes so d ifficult and impr obable as to bor der
on the lud icrou s . The w o r st that o ne can wi sh
fo r its ad vo cates is that they had been endo wed
w ith a sense of hum or . It is said that Demo -
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 9 9
critu s was know n as the "Laug hing Philo sop her"
and i t can o nly be sup po sed that he was enjo y-
ing , in anticipatio n, the jo ke he was perpetrating
o n humanity by his theor ies o f "the atoms and
the void ," r efer red to in the next chapter, and
o f the "accidental co ncou r se o f ato ms ." These
hypotheses, as impo ssible as they no w seem, be-
came the basis o f the mater iali stic philo sop hy
for mor e than two thou sand years and w ere only
explo d ed near the beginning o f the Tw entieth
C entur y by the d isco very by Madame Cu r ie and
others of radi um and the radio -active pro perties
o f matter . It may be remarked, i n passing , that
not o nly has the idea of "the indivisible and in-
destru ctible" atom thus co llapsed but that "the
voi d " is d ispr oved by three consideratio ns and
inferentially by a fou rth : Fir st, no abso lu te va-
cuum has ever been produced or discovered,
which tr uth has passed into the adage that "na-
tur e abhor s a vacuu m" ; second , the insu rmo unt-
able diffi culty o f conceiving actio n at a distance
wi thou t an intervening medi u m ; t h i r d , t h e w e l l -
known scientific law o f continuity ; and fou rth,
the inferential pro of is, as pointed ou t in a pre-
vio u s chapter, that it is impo ssible fo r the human
mind to think o f absol u te nothingness . As to
the accidental concou r se of atoms to fo r m the
stars and u niverses in space, mod ern mathema-
ticians have fig u r ed o u t tables of chance, by
which it w ou ld appear that the pr obabili ty of
such an "accidental conco u r se" being tru e is
abo u t one to a nu mber so vast that we mig ht as
w e l l c a l l i t i n f i n i t y .
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1 0 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEOne other r emark in p assing : This whole ac-
cidentalist hypothesis to a mind like that of the
wr iter seems so g r o tesque and fantastic that he
can accou nt for it o n no o ther basis than that
sug gested by the Biblical text, "The mind of the
natu r a l man is at enm ity w ith Go d , " f o r the
only po ssible reason fo r this d octrine of chance
is, puting it bluntly, to get rid of God and of a
spiritual pu rpose in the universe .
As for the accidental or ig in of the solar sys-
tem, w hich has alr eady been dealt w ith, it need
o nly be add ed that the su pp o siti o n that the
throwing off of the planets was the result of an-
other su n passing too near to o ur ow n, is that
such a suppo sition wo uld requi re a similar ac-
cident to pr od uce the moo ns of each of the plan-
ets, which o n the law o f chance aver ages men-
tioned above wo ul d redu ce the pro bability in
this case also to appr oximately one to infinity .
It has been said that this who le theor y was in-
tro du ced to g et rid of the di fficulti es in the way
o f the familiar nebular hypo thesis o f Kant and
La Pl ace ; but w hy seek to avo id small d ifficulties
by intro du cing g reater o nes? The net r esul t o f
this chance hypo thesis i s to d epri ve all o ther
stars and universes of life, at least inferentially,
and thus to ru le God and pur pose ou t of the cos-
mos, an alter native that is not o nly repu g nant
to relig io us sentiment and to common sense bu t
to r ational and o rd erly thinking .
This brings u s to the accidentalist hypothesis
of the or igin of variations in evolu tion . Ever y-
o ne is so familiar w ith the Darw inian dictu m of
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 1 01
natur al selection o r the survival of the fittest,
that the briefest statement mu st su ffice here .
Each living o rg anism is sup po sed to di ffer fr om
its par ents in a nu mber o f w ays, so me o f w hich
d ifferences o r var iations may be beneficial and
some not . Su ch of them as are servi ceable and
better equi p the o r g anism to o btain foo d , to
overco me its enemies, and to sur vive in its strug -
gle for existence are transmitted to its pr og eny
and thus become per manent in the species . Onthe o ther hand those member s o f the famil y not
po ssessing these advantageou s pecu liar ities or de-
pa rtu r es fro m type will disappear . This i n a
g eneral w ay is the theor y . It sou n ds w ell and
fo r the most par t answ ers to the facts fo u nd
i n l i f e ; but there is one larg e difficulty w ith re-
gar d to i t, a difficulty that Mr . Darw in himself,
so far as I know , never tr ied to explain away
or evade :
It only acts after the variations have arisen,
bu t d oes not accou nt for the var iatio ns them-
selves .
In other w or ds it is an ex post facto proposi-
tion . Darw in recog nized this and fo und no satis-
factor y solu tio n of the pr oblem . The most hecou ld say was that the differentiation is fo r-
tuitous ; these variations just happen . Here is
w her e the accid entalist element enters . Var ia-
tio ns ar e chance affair s, co ming w ithou t rhyme
or r eason . Like To psy, they "ju st gr o w ed ." But
having once arisen, natur al selection, like a d ens
ex machin a, steps i nto the pictur e and takes
charg e . Perhaps the phrase, "Natur al Selec-
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1 0 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEtion," shou ld be capitalized f o r in some mys-
terio us way it seems to have been perso nified, to
have been clothed on wi th initiative and p o w er .
It is one of the hypostatized abstractions I have
been talking abo u t . Natur al Selectio n is no t
only erected into so me sor t of a d eity but is
made the gener al manag er o f the lif e pro cess .
That is the way wi th these materiali stic philo -
sop her s . No soo ner have they ru led Go d o u t of
the u niver se than they beg in cr eating a number
of l itle go ds to take His place . One o f these
they call Natur al Selectio n, another Chance, and
still o ther s Natu r e, Law, Mechanism and the
l i k e . Bu t they do not explain the o r ig in o f
bio log ical variations . No t o ne of them has ever
d one that . It is left to the great god, Accident .
I crave pard on for di scussing this seri ou s
pr o blem in what may seem a fri vo lo u s manner ,
but, as I view it, the particular phase of the sub-
ject here consid ered is hard ly w o r thy o f any
other kind o f discussion . Species vary accor d -
ing to need, accor ding to change of envir onment,
accord ing to use or disuse of o rg ans and facul-
t i e s . I am aware that this last is a moo t po int
and I w ill refer to it mor e fully later . The po int
I am here making is that these pr ocesses are not
all blind . The variatio ns are not all hit-o r-miss
and haphazard . In some way we do not yetunderstand they come, at least some of them, be-
cause necessar y for the preservatio n and pr og -
ress of the species . There is, there must be, a
psychic facto r i nvolved . It may be, and pr o b-
ably is, unconsciou s . The d isco very o f the sub-
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 1 0 3
conscious mind, dealt with in a previous chapter,
is thro wing a floo d of new light over this whole
subject. *
Her e we come once mo r e to the consid er ation
of mechanism which is peculiar ly bo und up wi th
the habit mind and w ith instinct, and w hich
thus has an intimate relatio n wi th one phase of
evolution . For habit becomes function and fu nc-
tio n beco mes or gan . Habit, instinct, functio n
are in a way mechanical and thus build the tools
thro ug h which they operate .
This entir e subject o f mechanism may be ap-
pr oached fro m another angl e. Man makes ma-chines . In a gener al w ay bo th the pur po se and
the pr o cess involved in the build ing o f human
machines cor respond to the like activities in na-
ture . This is r easoning by analog y, it is tru e,
but the analog y is legitimate, nay more, it is co n-
vincing and compelling . Man is a par t o f Na-
tur e and par takes of her characteristics . Natur e
build s atomic, stellar and organic machines . Man
foll o ws her as well as he may, consid eri ng his
limitatio ns and stag e of d evelopment. He build s
materi al machines . I n both cases the machine
is no t an end but a means . And in bo th cases,
we are compelled to believe, by the very nature
of the case, that the machine do es not d esig n or
ru n itself ; that its orig in, its function, its con-
tro l and its pur po se are all beyond it ; i n other
w or d s that there is something anter io r to and
sup erio r to the machine which explai ns it . I n
the case o f human machines w e know this to be
*Dr. Jung discusses at some length this subject of the psychic factor
in evolution .
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1 0 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEtrue . Man bu il d s and o perates his machines for
functions and purposes which the machinekn o w s n othing abo u t . In other wo r ds, the ma-
chines are onl y extensio ns of man . Now Na-tur e's machines are still mor e wo nderfu l than
tho se of man, and this is tr u e whether w e co n-
sid er them as laws and str u ctur es in the o r -
ganic, or as instinct and or ganism in the wo rld
o f l i f e . They too serve a pur po se and perf o r m
a functio n . Are we not, therefore, justified in
conclud ing, nay are we not in tru th compelled to
conclud e, that bo th this fu nctio n and p ur po se
ar e beyond them, that they do no t and canno t
contr ive or run themselves and that they are ex-
tensio ns of so me Pow er both anteri or to and su-
perio r to them? Only mind can ho ld a pu rp o se,
only mind can initiate, only mind can operate to
a g iven end . These pr o cesses, bo th hu man and
cosmic, are intelligent . We cannot g et ri d of
God , for if w e do, w e must erect lesser go ds to
do His w o r k and take His place, even if w e call
them "mind stuff" as di d Cl iffo rd and Haeckel,
or mechanism as do o thers o f the same schoo l .
There is yet another ap pr o ach, sug g ested by
Berg so n . Man no t only buil ds machines but he
has an intellect pecu liar ly fitted, and app arently
designed, for that purpose . Therefore, he should
be do ubly on his gu ard against interp reting the
u niverse in the mechanistic w ay to w hich su ch
an intellect wo u ld be pr o ne . Also be looks o n
things fr o m the ou tside and takes them apart i n
o r de r t o kno w them . Therefor e he shou ld he o n
his guard against the partial and superficial .
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10 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEby removal into a d ifferent climate o r envir o n-
ment, and that, often, within one or tw o g enera-
tions . This br ing s u s again to Lamarck and the
question o f use and . disuse . The denial o f the
transmission o f acquir ed characteri stics wo ul d
natur ally bar o ut also the inheriting o f better
muscles or brains du e to the education and train-
ing o f the parent, also o f the redu ced po wer o f
or g ans diminished thro u gh lack o f emplo yment .
This is no t only i n conflict w ith common sense
but w ith the experi ence o f stock breeders . It
a ls o g o es c o u n ter t o human expe r ience . Forexample, sup po se I co me fro m a race of farmers,
living fo r the most part in the o pen . Farmersuse their muscles and because of that, in time,
their mod e o f life affects their child r en and
gr andchildren until finally the tillers of the soi l
take on a character different fro m city dw ellers .
That is t r u e in a m o r e ma rke d w a y of pe o p le
who live in certain climates . If people live in
hot climates where there must be a larg e degr ee
of pig mentation in the skin to r esist the dir ect
rays of the sun, that characteristic will be passed
do wn, and it is w ell- know n that after a few gen-
er ations p eo ple livi ng in hot cli mates become
d a rker skinned, and change in cer tain other
characteristics . Now , this in itself is a pr o of o f
use and di suse . The theor y o f d isu se is that
if w e cease to emplo y any or g an, that o r g an be-
gi ns to d iminish and g rad ually atrop hies .
Evolu tion is a slow pr ocess . It d oes not oc-
c u r in mere g enera t i o n s as we kno w them, o r
even centuries . It o ften requ ir es ages to wo rk
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 1 0 7
o u t these transfor matio ns . Man has in his bod y
vestig ial o r g ans that have no t been used for
thou sands o f years . He has a muscle to w ig g le
his ears . Well, very few human beings w ig g le
their ears . Also he has an o r g an to shake his
scalp . That was pr o bably useful at o ne time
in getting ri d o f flies, or for other pu rp oses, but
man has been wearing a hat for lo ng g enerations,
and d oes not no w u se the muscle to shake his
scalp . Therefo r e that mus cle has atr o phied .
There are vestig ial muscles and o r gans thro u gh-
o u t the hu man bo d y that we can o nly conjectur e
the u se of . For example, the appendi x . It do es
not seem now to be o f very much pro fit, except
to the medical fraternity . It is p ossible that is
one of the org ans passing o ut o f use .
So that w hen the neo ; Darw inians went to the
length of denying the doctrine of use and disuse,
they wer e simply r edu cin g to absur d ity their
whole departure from the true evolutionary
theor y . The latest d evelo pments in evo lu tio n,
however, have taken a different turn . De Vri es
has discovered and w ri tten a larg e boo k o n the
subject of mutatio ns . He di sco vered that ther e
are not only variatio ns of the slig ht degree that
Darw in d ealt w ith, bu t that there ar e r ad ical
variations. They do not appear regu larly . Theycro p u p app arently at long intervals, but they
are characteristic both of the vegetable and ani-
mal wo rl d . They come wi thou t any par ticu la r
w a rnin g , but almost in one singl e gener ation
there w ill be a variatio n suffi cient, practically,
to fo und a species . I am not saying that any one
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1 0 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEm u t a t i o n w o u l d b e s u f f i c i e n t t o f o u n d a n e w
s p e c i e s - n o t t h a t , b u t t h a t t h e y a r e m u c h m o r e
r a d i c a l t h a n h a d p r e v i o u s l y b e e n s u p p o s e d a n d
t h a t o n e m u t a t i o n m i g h t s t a r t a c h a n g e w h i c h i n
a f e w g e n e r a t i o n s w ou l d r e s u l t i n a n e w s p e c i e s .
A n o t h e r d e v e l o p m e n t o f m o r e r e c e n t t i m e s i s
w h a t i s k n o w n a s e m e r g e n t e v o l u t i o n . St i l l a n -
o t h e r , a n d t h i s i s p e r h a p s t h e m o s t r e c e n t d e -
v e l o p m e n t , h a s t o d o w i t h m a n . There was an
a r t i c l e i n t h e d a i l y p re s s v e r y r e c e n t l y wi t h r e -
g a r d t o t h e s u b j e c t . I t c o n c e r n e d a t a l k g i v e n
b e f o r e o n e o f t h e n a t i o n a l s c i e n t i f i c b o d i e s i n
t h i s c o u nt r y b y it s p r e s i d e n t , a n d i t i s , i n b r i e f ,
t o t h e e f f e c t t h a t m a n h a s b e e n o n t h i s p l a n e t
v e r y m u c h l o n g e r t h a n e v e n t h e b i o l o g i s t s h a v e
s u p p o s e d ; t h a t h e h a s b e e n h e r e p r o b a b l y a t
l e a s t a m i l l i o n y e a r s o r a m i l l i o n a n d a h a l f
y e a r s ; t h a t h e h a s b e e n m a n p r a c t i c a l l y a l l o f
t h a t t i m e ; t h a t h e i s n o t i n a n y s e n s e d e r i v e d
f r o m t h e a p e s o r f r o m a n y o t h e r s i n g l e g r o u p
t h a t i s n o w o n t h i s e a r t h , a l t h o u g h i t i s t r u e ,
p e r h a p s , t h a t t h e r e i s a c o m m o n a n c e s t o r . T h i s ,
i n s o m e d e g r e e , w o u l d t e n d t o c o n f i r m t h e c o n -
t e n t i o n o f o u r F u n d a m e n t a l i s t f r i e n d s . I t i s
p u r e l y a s c i e n t i f ic d e v e l o p m e n t , h o w e v e r , a n d i s
m o r e g e n e r a l l y a c c e p t e d , I t h i nk , in t h e s c i e n t i -
f i c w o r l d n o w t h a n a n y o t h e r t h e o r y o f m a n ' s
o r i g i n . S c i e n t i s t s h a v e n e v e r f o u n d a m i s s i n g
l i n k . Wherever man is found he is man . He
m a y h a v e b e e n a v e r y m u c h l o w e r o r d e r o f m a n ,
b u t h e h a s b e e n u n m i s t a k a b l y h u m a n . T h a t i s
t h e f a c t . And the fundamental principle of
s c i e n c e i s r e g a r d f or fa c t s .
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1 1 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEand w herever there is movement, there is a mov-
i n g p o w er . Ther e can be no action w ithou t an
actor . And w her ever ther e is appar ent a g en-
eral tr end to develo p, to ad vance, to p ro gr ess,
ther e mu st be so me impu lse that cau ses that
g eneral mo vement . That, in a sense, is Berg -
son's id ea, and he gave an illu stratio n of i t that
I think is r ather interesting . He likened life to
a str eam . He said that if a str eam start, w e
wi ll sup po se, in a virg in country w here there
has never been a river befor e, the water breaks
thro ug h and fi nds a channel fo r itself . It ad-
vances, but here and there meets an obstr uctio n .
It feels its w ay and gets aro und that obstru c-
tion, or if it cannot pass arou nd, sur mounts it insome way. It g oes past or over it and seeks a
channel, starti ng here and meeting an obstacle
and co ming back, darting o ut i n another d ir ec-
tio n to meet another o bstacle and again tu rn-
ing back as a stream wo uld do in passing throu gh
a new co untry . He likens this clan v i t a l to the
gr avitational for ce moving that stream . It is
finding its way thro ug h matter, we will say, and
it meets obstru ction . It pu shes ou t and tur ns
back, pushes out a little farther in another d i-
rectio n and again tur ns back, until it fi nds o r
makes an o pen channel .and go es on to its go al .
Well, now , strang ely enou gh, life has behaved
in so me such gener al way as that, for in its early
stages we find that the devolp ment was to war d
g reat reptilian creatures, immensely larger than
anything w e have on the earth to d ay, and that
these gr eat creatur es flo u rished fo r ages, but sud -
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 1 1 1
d enly disapp ear ed . We do not know how sud-denly, but they all d isappeared utterly from the
earth . In o ther w or d s, that develo pment of life
had n ot g o tten anyw here . I t r eached the end .
It had g o tten into a p o cket because the or g an-
ism was too large . Ther e was not enou g h br ain .
There was not the po ssibility of developi ng the
brain, perhaps . Then, at a much earli er stag e,
life develo ped the insect wo r ld . The i nsect
wo rl d w as first, perhaps, or the fish wo rld , in
the oceans . In the insect wo rl d the develo pment
only reached a certain stage . It reached perfec-
tio n in that stag e, but it w as a perfectio n of
instinct, of the mechanical and cou ld not g o
farther in that d ir ection . The bee and ant hav e
apparently changed little in long ages, and while
these and o ther insect for ms have remained o n
earth to serve their pu rpo se, this vital impu lse
had to seek ano ther channel .* Thus throughtrial and err or and thro ug h eons of time so g reat
that w e cannot even imag ine them, it held itsway. It wo rked o ut u ntil at last man appeared .
Of co u r se, that is o nly a ver y g eneral and
vague descri ptio n of the thing that actually hap-
pened . To retur n to this fo rce that is in u s, this
vital i mpu lse, that causes these variatio ns, I can-
not think that it is a blind fo rce, and that is
where I w ou ld di ffer p erhaps, fro m some of the
physical scientists and evol u tionists . I say it is
not a blind for ce . I d o not mean that it is a
• Physically, the insect is very highly evolved, but its co nsciou sness is
very gr eatly in arr ear. The exclusive predominance of instinct has putthe brake on its pro gr ess tow ard co nsciou sness . There has, in this case,been what looks like spurring nature on a wrong road .F r o m t h e Un-
consciou s to the Conscious-Geley .
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1 1 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEc on s c i ou s l y i n t e l l i g e n t f or ce . I t i s t h e s a m e k in d
o f f or ce I t a l k e d a b o u t i n t h e l a s t c h a p t e r , a n
u n co ns c i o u s l y i nt e l l i g e n t f or ce . I n a l l o f t h e s e
s t e p s w e h a v e s e e n t h i s i d e a g r a d u a l l y e m e r g e -
t h i s e v i d e n c e o f a P r e s e n c e - o f a t r e m e n d o u s
s o m e t h i ng - t h a t i s b e h i n d l i f e a n d t h a t i s w o r k -
i n g o u t t h r o u g h l i f e . O u r re l i g io u s f r ie n d s c a l l
i t G o d . I wo u l d c a l l i t t h a t m y s e l f . I t i s a g o od
t e r m , b u t I a m t r y i ng t o d e a l w it h t h i s t h i ng i n
a p h i l o s o p h i c a n d s c ie n t i f i c w a y , s o I a m l e a v i ng
o u t t h e s e f a m i l i a r c o nc e p t s a n d d e s c ri p t i o n s a n d
t r y i n g t o a p pr o a c h t h e s u b j e c t d e n o v o , a s i f w e
h a d n e v e r h a d t h e s e c o n c e p t s , b u t w e r e b u i l d i n g
a n e w f r o m t h e f a c t s a s t h e y d e v e l o p . H e r e i s
o n e i m p o r t a n t c o n s i d e r a t i o n : W e f i n d f o r t h e
m o s t p a r t , t h a t t h e s e v a r ia t i o n s a r e u s e f u l. T a k e
t h e c a s e o f ra b b i t s : S u p p o s e w e r e m o v e t h e r a b -
b i t f ro m a n o r t h e r n c l i m a t e t o a s o u t h e r n . D a r -
w i n h i m s e l f g i v e s t h i s e x a m p l e . He mentions a
s o u t h e r n i s l a n d a s t h e n e w h a b i t a t , w h e r e t h e
c l i m a t i c co nd i t i o n s a r e d i ff e r e n t . I n o n l y a f e w
g e n e r a t i o n s , t h e s e r a b b i t s a r e g r e a t l y m o d i f i e d .
T h e y c h a n g e i n c o l o r . They change somewhat
i n h a b i t s . S i nc e t h e y h a v e n o t t h e s a m e e n e m i e s
a s b e f o r e , t h e y c h a n g e t o m e e t t h a t c o n d i t i o n .
T h i s h a p p e n s , I r e p e a t , i n a f e w g e n e r a t i o n s .
A r e w e t o s u p p o s e t h a t a n i n f i n i t e n u m b e r o f
v a r i a t i o n s h a p p e n e d b y a c c i d e n t a n d t h a t t h o s e
w h i c h r e s u l t e d i n a r m i n g t h e i r p o s s e s s o r s t o
m e e t t h e s e n e w e n v i r o n m e n t a l c o n d i t i o n s a l o n e
w e r e t r a n s m i t t e d ? T h a t s e e m s a s l o w a n d c u m -
b e r s o m e m e t h o d a n d i s n o t i n a c c o r d a n c e w i t h
t h e o b s e r v e d f a c t s . I t c o u l d n o t h a v e a c t e d s o
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 1 1 3
q u i c k l y f o r o n e t h i n g . I f w e e x a m i n e t h i s c a s e ,
e v e n s u p e r f ic ia l l y , w e s e e t h e a b s u r d i t y of t h a t
p os i t i on a t o n ce . I t i s a n i m po s s i b il i t y . Some-
t h i n g e l s e h a s h a p p e n e d , a n d t h i s i s t h e f a c t w e
a r e t r yi ng t o g e t a t . I t i s a f a c t t h a t c a n n o t b e
n e g l e c t e d i f we a r e t o a r ri v e a t t r u t h . In some
w a y t h e r e i s a r e s p o n s e i n t h e o r g a n i s m t o t h e
n e w c o n d i t i o n s . T h e s e v a r i a t i o n s d o n o t a r i s e
h a p h a z a r d l y b u t t h e y r a t h e r d e f i n i t e l y m e e t
t h e s e n e w c i rc u m s t a n c e s . T h a t i s t h e p o i nt I a m
g e t t i n g a t , a n d i t i s a m o s t i m p or t a n t p oi n t , i f
w e g e t i t s i m p l i c a t i on s . N o r i s i t w h o l l y h y p o -
t h e s i s . T h e r e i s n o t t i m e n or s p a c e i n t h i s c h a p -
t e r t o g i v e m o r e i n s t a n c e s b u t t h e p r o o f s a r e
f a m i l i a r a n d a r e a l l a b o u t u s . T h e r e s p o n s e o f
t h e o r g a n i s m i s p r o b a b l y a n u n c o n s c i o u s r e c o g -
n it i o n, a s a b o v e r e m a r k e d , b e c a u s e m o s t o f t h e s e
v i t a l p ro c e s s e s s e e m t o g o on u nc on s c io u s l y , b u t
t h e y a r e , n e v e r t h e l e s s , i nt e l l i g e n t , a n d t h e r e i s
i n t h i s u n c o n s c i o u s m i n d - c a l l i t w h a t w e m a y
- a n d a p p a r e n t l y i n t h e w h o l e c o s m o s t h r o u g h -
o u t a l l o r g a n i c cr e a t i o n , s o m e t h i n g t h a t r e c o g -
n i z e s c h a n g e d e n v i r o n m e n t a n d m o d i f i e s t h e o r -
g a n i s m a c c o r d i n g l y . Without that fact being
r e c o g n i z e d t h e r e i s n o a d e q u a t e e x p l a n a t i o n o f
e v o l u t i o n . O n t h a t g r o u n d I t h i n k t h e s p i r i t u a l
f or ce s o f t h e w o r l d s h o u l d t a k e t h e i r s t a n d .
N o w , I c a n n o t f o re g o a t t h i s p o in t m e n t i o n in g
a t h i n g t h a t t o m y m i n d i s a l s o of v i t a l i m p or -
t a n c e . I t u s e d t o b e s u p p o s e d b y t h e p h y s i o l o -
g i c a l p s y c h o l o g i s t s t h a t w h e r e v e r t h e r e i s m i n d
a c t i on t h e r e i s a l s o b ra i n a c t i on . Someone went
s o f a r a s t o s a y t h a t m e n t a l a c t i o n , c o n s c i o u s -
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1 14 INVADING THE INVISIBLEness, is apparently a secretion of the brain just
as the bile is a secretion of the liver . That i s
the way ou r human intellects are alw ays jump-
ing at conclusi ons and making sw eeping g ener -
alizations that are o nly appro ximations tow ard s
the tr u th, if they are even that . As a matter o f
fact, it has been discovered by laborator y tests
that at least one form of mind action is not ac-
companied by cor respon d in g brain actio n, but
that subconscio u s mind actio n is gr eatest when
brain actio n is least . So this offsets the entire
materialistic, or, rather, the physiological-psy-
chol og y theory o f an earlier d ay . We find these
two facts not only sug gestive, but they may dove-
tail together . I have told you before that we are
o n an adventur e in tru th . We are somethinglike detectives . We are lo oking fo r clues . Rig ht
here we have, perhaps, a clu e . First, in the fact
that these variatio ns are useful and, to some ex-
tent, are not only the result of some primary im-
pu lse, like Bergson's clan v it a l , bu t that they
unconscio usly seek to satisfy a need and r espond
t o env i r o n ment . Seco nd , is the fact that the
su bco nsciou s mind is no t dependent o n the phy-
sical brain . These are two impo r tant facts that
we want to bear in mind as we go along in these
investigations . Please observe that I am fo llo w -
ing the scientific method as clo sely as I can ;
that I accept it, but I want it to be a fu ll scien-
tific method , and the full scientific method con-
siders all facts without r egard to pr eviou s pre-
jud ice or preconception .
May I say in this connectio n that I r egard
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 115
psychic metho ds as coming u nder this head, i f
they are facts . They ar e ju st as mu ch entit led
to co nsideratio n in the scientific wo r ld as any
o ther facts, and i f they are ru led o u t as they
have been to so me extent in cer tain qu arter s,
that is as much dogmatism as the religious
wo rld was ever g ui lty of in all its history . I n
time such an attitud e will be rated at its tru e
wo rth-it will be ascribed to pr eju dice and noth-
i ng mo r e .
So i n this adventur e of o u rs w e are go ing to
take into consideratio n all tru th, but we are go -
ing to scrutinize it carefully and d etermine its
credentials and valid ity . I accept the evolution-
ary hypothesis, but I insist on all the facts and
this one fact of the apparent response of the or-
ganism to enviro nment, reaching o ut to adapt and
adj ust itself to that envir onment, cannot be ne-
glected . Yet it has been ig nored in the past and
if not left ou t of the theory of most of the evolu -
tio nists, has at least been minimi zed and p ut into
the backgr o u n d .
Now, Dr. Gustave Geley, in his very readableand su g g estive boo k From the Unconscio us to
the Co nscio us, has dealt with this question, and
has co me to the conclu sio n that there is so me-
thing in the invisi ble, something anter io r and
sup er io r to the or ganism, that go ver ns . It has
been su pp o sed that the cells themselves g o vern
their own development, that is, that the germi-
nal cell, in the starting o f a new o rg anism, in
some way that nobod y coul d ever find o ut o r ac-
cou nt for , has the comp lete specificatio ns for the
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11 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEnew embryo and knows just how to build it,
w h i c h i s a r a t h e r l a r g e c on t r a c t f o r o n e d i m in u -
t i v e c e l l . I t u s e d t o b e s u p p o s e d a l s o t h a t t h e
e m b r y o i s a n e x a c t p i c t u r e o f t h e m a t u r e d o r -
ganism . O f c o u r s e , t h a t i s n o t o n l y i n c o r r e c t ,
b u t i s t h e f a r t h e s t t h i n g f r o m t h e t r u t h , a s I
h a v e a l r e a d y p o in t e d o u t . I n t h e b e g i n n in g o f t h e
f oe t a l s t a g e , t h e e m b r y o o f a m a n m a y l o o k l i k e
t h a t o f a n y o t h e r a n im a l o r o f a f is h. We cannot
d i s t i n g u i s h t h e t w o a t f i rs t . A t a l i t t l e l a t e r
s t a g e , t h e y b e g in t o d iff e re n t i a t e , s o t h a t w e g e t
s o m e f e w d i s t i nc t i on s a n d , s t i l l l a t e r , t h e d i f f e r -
e n t i a t i o n g r o w s m o r e p r o n o u n c e d . I n t h i s w a y
e a c h i n d i v i d u a l r e c a p i t u l a t e s t h e w h o l e e v o l u -
t i o n a r y h i s t o r y u p t o i t s o w n p l a c e . I t i s a
m e n t a l p r o c e s s , b e c a u s e i t i n v o l v e s m e m o r y . I
h a v e a l r e a d y m e n t i o n e d S a m u e l B u t l e r o n t h i s
p o i n t , a n d S a m u e l B u t l e r w a s n o t a s p i r i t u a l
t e a c h e r a t a l l i n t h e o r d i na r y s e n s e . B u t l e r s a y s
h e c a n n ot a c co u nt f o r t h e f a c t t h a t t h e o rg a n i s m
r e c a p i t u l a t e s t h e h i s t o r y o f i t s p a r e n t s , i t s
g r a n d p a r e n t s , e t c . , b a c k a l o n g t h e w h o l e e v o l u -
t i o n a r y p r oc e s s t h a t l e d u p t o m a n u n l e s s i t r e -
members . W h e n i t h a s r e a c h e d a c e r t a i n s t a g e
t h a t i t s p r o g e n i t o r s h a d r e a c h e d b e f o r e , i t r e -
members what they did and fo llo ws the same
c o u r s e . T h e r e a s o n h y b r i d s d o n o t r e p r o d u c e
i s t h a t t h e r e i s a c o n f u s i o n of m e m o r y a n d t h e y
d o n o t k n o w w h i c h w a y t o g o .
N ow , i t i s c l a i m e d t h a t t h i s m i c r o s c o p i c c e l l
- t h i s g e r m i n a l c e l l - c o n t a i n s a l l t h a t h i s t o r y
and memor y . H o w c a n t h a t b e ? I t i s t h e d i f -
f ic u l t y s u c h a t h e o r y p r e s e n t s t h a t c a u s e s G e l e y
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 117
to s u p p o s e there i s so mething in the invisible
that go verns, something su perio r and anteri or to
the or ganism . In other w or d s, somewhere ther e
is a spiritual or etheric entity carr ying the whole
race histor y of that or ganism, and also its ow n
par ticu lar psychic content, that shapes the o r -
ganism for its use. This is tru e not only of man
but o f all f o r ms of life, to the extent that there
is a psychic co ntent . The organism can only
contain w hat there is to contain, w hether that
be simple consciou sness or self-consciou sness . I n
either event there is so mewher e in the back-
g r ou nd and i n the invisible beyond the rang e of
o u r senses this so mething that not o nly d eter-
mines the or g anism but that motivates it, that
gives it its full power . This is not entir ely a
new i d ea . We or di narily call this thing i n the
backgr o un d sou l . We cannot accou nt for it, but
w e say that Go d makes the embryo . We expl ain
it by familiar concepts and generalizations with-
ou t inqui ring fu rther . We see child ren g r o w ,
and say it is their natur e . That do es no t say
anything at all . Nature is just a big wo rd un-
der w hich we hid e ou r ig nor ance . What arethese pr o cesses? What ar e these facto r s? What
is it that makes an or ganism repeat itself, w ith
variatio ns, in the offspr ing? We see a child. Weperceive its likeness to the parent . Yet it has
its own differentiations . What is this wo n der -
ful fo rce that accou nts for all o f these? Why is
it that the child hold s tru e to type? We can
always tell an oak fr om any other kind of a tree .
We seld o m mistake one animal sp ecies fo r an-
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1 1 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEother, or one insect species . There is so me lit-
tle variation . In the same w ay w e meet a mil-
lio n men ; many of them wil l have faces mu ch
alike, but there is always something to d istin-
gu ish each individ ual fr om every o ther . Whatis this?
Someone has said that each cell of the or g an-
ism co ntains the histo r y, the pictu r e, and the
po tency o f the whole or ganism . We can likenthat to a social or ganism . That is, we will say,
each man in a nati o n, each Ameri can, fo r exam-
ple, is the pictur e of his nation, mor e o r less
perfectly ; he has the general characteristics of
his cou ntry ; and as a cell o f that particular so-
cial o r g anism he contains the histo r y, the pic-
tur e, and the po tency of the o r g anism ; t h a t i s ,
he has the Ameri can spi r it . So w e find these
analog ies . In the same way each of the cells o f
the bod ily o r ganism contains the pictur e, the
po tency and the histo r y of that or ganism, which
id ea w o u ld seem to be bor ne o u t by this o ne-
cell beg inning o f a new o rg anism so mu ch like
the o ld . Yet that cannot expl ain all o f the
pr ocess, because, returning to the analog y of the
social or ganism, I do not know of any Ameri can,
if he were left alo ne in some new envir o nment,who could reproduce another America . Hewo ul d need a multitu de of helpers . Even if w e
say he had the histor y, pictu r e and p o tency of
the whole nation, he w o u ld have them so i mper-
fectly, so sketchily, that he wo u ld leave ou t a
multitud e of factor s . He co u l d n o t r e p r o d u c e
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION - 119
a l l the machinery fo r o ne thing . I coul d not
begin to repr od uce mor e than an infinitesimal
fraction of i t, and I d o no t know of any other
individual who could d o it alone. I shou ld think
there would be the same difficu lty in starting o ut
with this one biolo gi cal cell . So I fancy we may
be compelled, soo ner or later, to conclud e that we
have to g o to the invisible to account for this em-
bryonic pr ocess, that is, that there is something
-so mew here-call it an etheri c wo rl d, call i t a
psychic wo rld , call it w hat you wi ll- there is
somewher e, as Plato said , but in a mor e vital
way than Plato ever d reamed, the specifications
and the archetype, a so mething g r eater than
the o r ganism that determines it .
Witho u t that we have not g o tten even an ap-
ro ach tow ard a philo sop hic co mprehension of
this theor y of evolutio n . Yo u know , the philo s-
op hy of a thing is the why of it, and to g et the
why of it, of course, we have to fo rm an hypothe-
sis, which in this case is difficult . The only
way a science goes for war d is to for m hypotheses
in its o wn special field . These ar e wo r king hy-
po theses . Scientists get a fact here and a fact
there and by relating these facts they build an
hypothesis . If that hypothesis is fr uitful, that
is, if it wo rks in o btaining new facts and in
making progress, then, in that special science it
is used . No w , philo so phy do es exactly this same
thing fo r all o f the special sciences, that is, it
r elates them to each other and ar r ives at gen-
era l la w s and c oncl us i on s . It takes physics,
chemistr y, biol o g y and the rest, gener alizes
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12 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEthem, and fo llo w s exactly the same pr ocess on a
larg er scale . It makes hypo theses that will ex-
plain them, by which we can g o fo r war d into a
higher synthesis and a hig her g eneralizatio n .
That is what we are attempting to d o in this
case . We can make hypotheses but we cannot
get anywhere in the visible w o rl d w ithou t re-
cou rse to the invisible. We cannot determinethe nexus between the will, which is a mental im-
pu lse, and the lifting o f the arm, for example,
w hich is a p hysical pr o cess-w e cannot estab-
li sh the connectio n between these tw o w ithou t
recou rse to the invisible . We cannot accountfor the gro wth of the embryo wi thou t recou rse
to the invi sible. We canno t expl ain the attrac-
tion o f gr avitation w ithou t recou rse to the in-
v i s i b l e . We cannot explai n the tr ansmissio n o f
lig ht wi thou t recour se to the invisible. We can-not explain energ y w ithou t r ecou rse to the in-
v i s i b l e ; i n fact, we have only made pr o gr ess in
science by ou r invasion o f the invisible . This
invasion has go ne on in w ays that are perfectly
apparent . When we invented the micr o scop e,
we invaded the invisible, that is, w e invaded the
w o r ld that was to o i nfinitesimal to be seen by
our natural eyes, and brought that into the field
of vision . When w e invented the X- r ay, w e in-
vaded the invisible, that is we invaded a, range
o f fr equ encies above the r ange of l ig ht . Webro u g ht them into the field o f visio n, so that
thing s that wer e o paqu e became tr anspar ent .
When we invented the telesco pe, w e invad ed the
invisible, and stars that had been in the heavens
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PURPOSIVE EVOLUTION 1 2 1
f or mi l l i on s a n d b i l l i on s o f y e a r s , b u t h a d n e v e r
b e f o r e b e e n k n o w n b y m a n , s w a m i n t o t h e f i e l d
o f o u r k e n . A n d , i n t h e s a m e w a y , e v e r y s t e p
o f p r o g r e s s w e h a v e m a d e i n e x p l a i n i n g t h e v i s -
i b l e u n i v e r s e h a s b e e n m a d e t h r o u g h t h e i n v a -
s i o n of t h e i n v i s i b l e . N o w , w e h a v e t o g o a s t e p
f a r t h e r , i n t h i s c a s e , b e c a u s e h e r e w e a r e n o t
a b l e t o i n v a d e t h e i nv i s i b l e t h r ou g h m i c ro s c o pe s
a n d X - r a y m a c h i n e s a n d t e l e s c o p e s , b u t w e h a v e
t o d o i t t h r o u g h h y po t h e s e s , w h i c h i s a l e g i t i -
mate way so long as we keep o ur hypotheses
a s n e a r t o t h e f a c t s a s w e c a n , a n d k e e p t h e m
i n h a r m o n y w i t h t h e f a c t s . T h a t i s t h e o n l y
w a y s c i e n c e o r p h i l o s o p h y m a k e s p r o g r e s s .
S o, a s a f i n a l t h o u g h t I s u g g e s t t h i s : T h e r e i s
a n u n c o n s c i o u s i n t e l l i g e n c e i n t h e o r g a n i s m
w h i c h g o v e r n s i t s f u n c t i o n i n g a n d i n t r o d u c e s
v a r i a t i on s t o b e t t e r a d a p t i t a n d i t s p ro g e n y t o
e n v i r o n m e n t .
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CHAPTER VIITHE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY
IN ou r last chapter we d iscovered that pro g-
ress has been made in science by the invasion of
the invisible . This invasi o n has been br o u g ht
abo ut in mor e than one way . The mod er n scien-
tifi c method has been thro u g h exper iment and
the u se o f impr o ved equi pment . Through the
micr o scop e w e have invaded the infini tesimal ;
thro u g h the telescop e we have invaded the im-
mensities ; thro u gh the laborato r y we have in-
vaded the physical and chemical ; thr o u gh
vari o u s means w e have d isco ver ed o ther fi elds .
Now , this not o nly has wid ened the bou ndary o f
know ledg e but has given us increased facili ties
in fur ther investigations. Befor e this invasi o n
star ted the earth was fiat and, so far as we know ,
o utsid e of a few ancient philo sop hers, nobo dy
questio ned that fact . Befor e this invasion st ar t -
ed we believed in atoms as the ultimate units of
matter . There had been no ad vance in the atom-
ic theo r y since the days o f Democr itu s w hen he
po stul ated the theo r y of the atom and the vo id ;
that is, that the material u niverse is mad e up
o f atoms that were indestru ctible and of which
ther e was alw ays a fixed nu mber i n existence .
These atoms, accor d ing to the theo r y of Demo-
1 2 2
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 1 2 3
c r i t u s , came to g ether accidentally . There is a
certain schoo l i n science that seems to favor the
fortuito us or the accid ental, evid ently with the
id ea of escaping d esign . These have been no t
only materialists but fo r the most part atheists,
because design means a d esig ner and, if we o nce
admit pu r po se, or final causes in the universe,
w e must admit some mind i n which the pu r po se
and the final causes can ari se .
The atomic theo r y, as pr o po u n ded by Democ-
r itu s and d evelo ped by the Epicu reans, w as held
thr o u gh o u t the Mi d d l e Ages and u p u n t il the
time almost o f the beg inning o f the Twentieth
Century. It w as held by Newto n, and yet New-
ton cou ld never u nderstand how action cou ld
come abou t at a d istance becau se that meant
action thro ug h a void . Newton di d not attempt to
explain that ; he said he cou ld not explain it .
Now, wi thin thir ty years, that whole theor y has
been revo lu tio nized - abando ned fo rever . Thiscame abo ut pr imari ly thro ug h the di scovery of
radi o-active substances . It w as fou nd, for ex-
ample, that radium-and since that time the
same pr o perty has been discovered in some other
elements-not only g ives off electro ns, but that
the character o f the element changes, so that
w e have Rad iu m- One, Rad iu m-Tw o , etc . Final-
ly, after ag es, that pro cess continuing , rad iu m
beco mes lead ; that is what is know n as a satis-
fied element ; ther e is an equi li briu m betw een
the po sitive and the neg ative electro ns in the
atom o f lead w hich makes it inert and static .
Ato ms are something like peopl e . There ar e
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1 2 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEsatisfied peop le, bu t I w ou ld be lo ath to think of
peop le being as i ner t and satisfied as an element .
C hemical action as w ell as electr ical actio n
takes place in the unsatisfied elements, and if
all the elements were content in that sense, we
shou ld have no pheno mena in the physical u ni-
verse . Bo th chemical combinatio ns and elec-
tri cal phenomena wo ul d be well- nig h impo ssible .
With the demo liti o n of the o ld mater iali stic
theor y of the atom and the void , cer tain other
changes have taken pl ace that have been qu ite
as revolu tionary . I d o not want to bor e the
r ead er by sketching o u t what is know n as the
electro nic theor y of matter . It is familiar to
ever ybod y and yet, perhaps, we cannot qu ite
cover o ur subject unless we refer to i t bri efly .
The electro nic theory is, in a few words, this
That in some pr imar y substance- call i t ether
o r w hat w e may-ther e are electr ical char g es .
It i s not yet know n whether w hat w e call the
electro n and the pr o ton- the pr o ton being the
po sitive electro n-are matter in the or dinary ac-
ceptatio n o f the ter m o r w hether they ar e mere
charg es of electrical fo rce, but it is suspected
by most scientists that they are charges . What-ever they are, the pr oton has an immensely gr eat-
er mass than the electro n, and it is no t know n
why this is tru e . My ow n view is that it is a
pr actical arr angement to keep the nucleus stable
so that the negative electrons revolve about it .
Other w ise the pr oto ns and electro ns w o ul d r e-
v o lve abo u t each o ther and the atom, as no w
constituted, w ou ld be impossible .
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 1 2 5
May I d ig r ess in this connectio n to say that
the late Pro f. Ed g ar Lucian Lar kin o f Mt . Wil-
son Obser vator y called the pr o ton a "mentor s,"
and i mpli ed by the name that it co ntained a
psychic facto r . It is no t wi thou t interest in
this connection that the Hindo o s say that every
atom contains something of the spirit, something
of min d. Prof. Cliffor d talked of "Mind Stuff,"and li e implied that this mind stuff may be in
the ato m . P r o f . Er nest Haeckel had the same
id ea, altho u gh he did not express it in exactly
the same w ay . What the pr oton is, science d oes
not know, except that it d raws to itself the neg-
ative electro n . The hydr o g en atom is co mpo sed
o f a pair - and, by the way, this hydr o g en atom
constitutes all the elements, in this w ay, that
ever y element is a multi pl e of the hydr o g enatom .
The ascending scale of the elements is deter-
mined by the nu mber o f pr o tons and electro ns
in the atom, and is a r eg ul ar nu meri cal series .
The heavier elements, su ch as rad iu m and o ne
o r two others at the to p o f the scale, that ru n
into the nineties, are the ones that shoot off their
electrons . Apparently, they are so heavilypacked that they beco me unstable . Ther e are
abou t ninety, I think that it is eighty-eight elec-
tro ns in r adi u m, and there are some elements
above that . No w , the atomic weig ht cor r espo nds
a lm ost exactly t o the number of p r o t on s an d
electro ns in the atom . There are several gr o ups,
that is, there are several elements that were notknown when this discovery was made, but
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1 2 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEthrough this table, this series, that was estab-
li shed mathematically, cer tain new elements
were discovered in the places that they ou ght to
be, in the same way that the aberr atio ns of Nep-
tune sug gested to the astro nomers that there was
another planet o u t beyond , and they fo u nd the
planet in the place where it ought to be because
o f these aberr atio ns .* In the same way, thro u g h
mathematics, these new elements w ere d isco v-
ered i n the places wher e they belo ng ed in this
numerical series . That was a fur ther verifi ca-
tio n of the theory .
It is not only the number of pr oto ns and elec-
tro ns, however, in the atom that determines its
atomic weight and its place in the scale, but the
excess or deficiency of the negative electrons fur -
ther d eter mines the character o f the ato m . If
the atom has too few electro ns, it is alw ays
hu n t in g f o r m o r e, and i t therefo r e r o bs any
other substance that it comes in contact with of
its extra electrons . If it cannot take them aw ay
altog ether, it fo rms a u nion and satisfies its ap-
petite fo r mor e electro ns by sharing w ith an-
other atom . That makes a compound . Thushydr o g en and oxyg en unite to for m water, and
o ther elements unite to make o ther comp o u nds .
There is no end to the comp o u nds that ar e made
in this way . Not only that, but if there is an
excess of electro ns over the pr oto ns-and this
excess o r deficiency may run as hig h as three in
an atom i n the heavier su bstances- ther e is an
"An astro nomer r ecently ascribed the find ing of the new planet to ac-
cid ent, but admi tted that it was fo und where the late Perci val Lowell
p r e d i c t e d . At least Neptu ne was mathematically l ocated i n advance which
wo uld make good the illustration .
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1 28 INVADING THE INVISIBLEo ther, and that gives off a wave mo tio n, which
is the sou rce of lig ht-the lig ht o f the universe .
Ret u r n i ng f o r a mo m ent t o o u r i n v as i o n o f
the invi sible : That invasion has only g o ne, ap-
parently, a little way . There are several g aps
that it has not covered . The fir st gap is between
p r im o r d ia l s ubstance-ether, o r whatever y o u
w ill - and matter , and the second is betw een in-
or ganic matter and o rg anic matter, that is, liv-
ing matter .
I n the mid d le o f the Nineteenth Centur y,
w hen the evolu tio na ry theo r y was new, there
were a gr eat many scientists who believed in the
spo ntaneo u s g eneration of li fe and they expect-
ed, with the great strides being made in science,
to d iscover this in shor t or der . That belief, so
far as I know , is no lo nger held . It w as ver y
tho ro ug hly shattered by Pasteu r . Up to the time
o f Pasteu r i t was g enerally thou g ht that the
fung i and mo ld s that for med on d ecaying matter
were the result of spo ntaneou s generation of life
and that co r ru ptio n, gener ally speaking , br ed
these things, no bod y knew ho w . Pasteu r ga ve
o u t a d efinite statement that there is no li fe
withou t antecedent life, and, thro ug h a long life
of investigation, proved it . So that the theo r y
o f spo ntaneo u s g eneratio n has never been held
since Pasteur's time, and the resultant gap, r e-
lating to the genesis of life fr om matter, has not
yet been filled and probably w ill never be filled
until there is a fu rther invasio n of the invisible ;
we have to d iscover mo re facto r s .
There is ano ther hiatus between the plant ,and
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 1 2 9
the animal , becau se the animal enter s ano ther
di mension . The plant i s fixed , but the animal
is fr ee in a new d imensio n of space . It go es
fro m place to place . Ther e is a fur ther unex-
pl ained i nterval between the animal and man ;
that is, between bio lo gical pr ocesses and psycho-
lo gi cal pr ocesses . No t o nly can man think and
speak, but there are certain new facto rs in man
that do not app ear , even in embryo, d o w n the
scale . I am not referr in g to reason, because
animals do show some sign o f reason . I am not
talking o f lang u age, because animals have cer -
tain cries that mean certain things, and that is
a primary for m of langu a ge ; but there are hig h-
er factor s that, so far as I can di scover, the
animal d oes not po ssess . I r efer especially to
self- conscio usness . We d o no t di scover self-
conscio usness as we know it, in any animal ;,and
a further thing is value . You may say that an
animal do es value foo d . If the term is u sed in
that sense, you may say that, but I think it is a
vio lation of meaning to apply it in that way, be-
cause what is o r d inari ly meant by valu es are
esthetic values, ethical values, life values, reli-
gi ou s values ; all the things that go to make up
hu man life . Then again man forms concepts .
He has invaded still another d imensio n . He is
time-binding,* just as the animal is space-bind-
ing . Man is time-binding and all of his pro gr ess,
if w e analyze it, comes to this : He can accu mu -
late his experiences, make a recor d of them, and
• Credit should b e given t o C o u nt Horzybski, for t h i s i d e a , which t o
so well expressed in his M a n h o o d o f H u m a n i t y .
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1 3 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEthro ug h compar ison he can di scover their law s,
relationships and qualities . He thinks, and by
means o f know ledg e and tho u g ht he can mod ify
his envir o nment, which is another thing no ani-
mal can do . I t is said that a monkey can be
taught to u se a stick to knock frui t off a tree,
but it has to be taught . So far as I kno w, i t d oes
not do this of its ow n volition . Asid e fro m that,
I d o not know of any animal that uses a tool
o utsid e of the or ganism, especially if it has to
fashio n the too l . There is ano ther facto r be-
cause man not o nly is time-bindi ng and accumu-
lates his experiences until he makes pr og ress in
geometri cal ratio w ith the accumulatio n, but he
uses tools outside of the organism, which is best
evidenced by ou r who le mechanical civi lizatio n,
the machine age w e have hear d so much abou t .
Machines are o nly to o ls . All o f that is paren-
thetical .
Ret u r n in g t o o u r i d ea : These g aps have no t
yet been filled and I suspect they will not be filled
until there is a much mor e radical invasion o f
the invisible than has been possible so far . Be-
tw een pr imo r d ial su bstance and matter , between
the inor g anic and o r g anic, betw een plant and
animal, and between animal and man are nodo ubt connections, but w e do not yet know what
they are. Each step in the series brings us to a
new and hig her level .
I have called attentio n to the Hermetic phil-
o s o p h y . That is o ne of the o ld est o f w hich we
have know ledg e . It is so o ld that we do not
exactly know the or ig in of it . There w ere six
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 1 3 1
or seven fu ndamental id eas of the Her metic
philoso phy . I have already g iven two . Now Iam go ing to intro du ce a thir d . The first of these
fund amental ideas is polar ity ; the seco nd i s
what I call likeness, the third i s rhythm . Please
und erstand that these postu lates were given ou t
long befor e the modern scientific age, and every-
one of them has been proved true in rather start-
ling w ays . Polari ty is the whole basis of atom
build ing, the pro ton being one po le and the elec-
tro n the other, and i t is thro ug h the union o f
these two p oles that the physical u niverse is at
all possible . We discovered i n ou r philosophy of
the absolu te, with Hegel, that this exact process
is used in thou ght . That is the basis of the fa-
mou s di alectic- the two po les and the synthesis
- the u nio n of the po les in a synthesis . Thethesis, antithesis and synthesis w ere u sed by
Fichte, and were the basis of Hegel's philo sophy .
We d o not need ag ain to r efer to them in de-
tail, but so me o f these famou s tri ads by which
Hegel ascended to higher thou g ht levels have a
bear ing . One synthesis beco mes the po le o f an-
o ther tr iad , and so he ascended step by step,
much as life ascends fro m level to level . I have
already mentio ned what to me is o ne of the most
illuminative of these triads, that is the univer-
sal as one po le-land the particular as the other .
The union is the ind ivid u al, such an ind ivid ual
as you o r I . We find in o u r selves the unio n of
both of these po les . We wo u ld not be man wi th-
o u t the universal element . It is that which en-
ables us to r eason, to or ganize ou r percepts into
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1 32 INVADING THE INVISIBLEconcepts . It is the basis of all r easoning . It is
that which g ives us lang u age, because langu age
is a series of symbols applied to concepts . Lan-
g u age is a mor e fund amental thing than we have
imagi ned . It gr ow s ou t of ou r ability to think ;
that is the r easo n man has langu ag e and no
o ther fo r m of l ife has it in that way . Whileanimals have cr ies that ind icate cer tain app e-
tites, so far as is know n there is no animal that
has any sor t of a cry or a sign that indicates con-
cepts . The animal is incapable of fo rming a con-
cept . This is another factor, and it is distinct-
ive. It arises fro m a form o f po larity-what we
might call the po larity o f thou ght .
We find o ther pr o ofs of the fundamental ideas
o f the Her metic philo so phy . The second is like-
ness or cor respond ence . That is stated in this
way : As above, so belo w ; as in the little, so in
the great ; as in the microcosm, so in the macro-
cosm ; so, as someone else has put it, nature is
alw ays like herself . This pr incip le has been ver i-
fied in like startling w ays, and I po int to this
significant thing : We are dealing in this chapter
wi th the atom w hich is a miniatur e solar sys-
tem. As in the little, so in the gr eat ; as in the
atom, so in the sol ar system . This is the sec-
on d fun d amental po int .
The thir d factor is r hythm, and that has been
pr o ved by modern scientific discovery in quite
as startling a way . With that id ea we take up
another par t of the new p hysical theor y . Noto nly d oes this nu mer ical series id ea, that is
P y tha g o r a s' o l d i d e a o f n u m ber , r u n thr o u g h
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 1 3 3
this entir e gamu t of the elements we call mat-
ter , but the phenomenal u niverse is made u p o n
the basis of r hythm . So u nd i s a rhythm, bu t a
rhythm in a very low range of matter itself, that
is, in bou nd ether, w e mig ht call it . Then, there
is a wi de range above sou n d o f which we know
little, but we are begi nning to di scover some-
thing abou t it, for electrical and magnetic fre-
quencies, rad io waves, etc ., occur in this r ange,
and then far u p the scale, we find another r ange
to w hich another o ne o f o u r senses reacts, and
that is the heat range . We feel heat . Clo sely
associated w ith that, ru nning above it, and in
part o verlapping it, is light . Ou r eyes r eact to
light . On beyo nd the li g ht rang e, we have di s-
covered so me others . One is the X-r ay . I have
already po inted o u t ho w that changes o ur con-
ception o f color values . In fact, it abolishes col-
o r alto gether . Not only that, it banishes opac-
ity. With it, w e can see thr o u g h a wall ; w e can
see thro ug h our bod ies ; w e can see thr o u gh many
substances that are or di narily o paque ; t h a t i s ,
w e see thro u g h ever ything w hose frequ encies we
tr anscend . Ther e are so me thing s o paqu e, even
to the X-ray, but if we cou ld go u p the scale far
enou g h, we mig ht tr anscend them, so they also
would become transparent . If we went fareno u g h beyo nd, they wo u ld perhaps not be there
a t a l l ; the who le phenomena wo u ld be go ne . Atleast this i s a p ossible inference. This rhythmd iscovered by mod er n physics striking ly paral-
lels the ideas and the w ays in w hich the Her-
metic philoso phy invaded the invisible, but d id it
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13 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEby a di fferent method-through mysticism, o r
intuition . The Hindoos have d o ne something
alo ng the same line. Their s is another fo r m of
know ing , but has reached similar resu lts, at least
in a g ener al w ay . All o f this has a meaning fo r
us, a greater meaning, perhaps, than ou r g enera-
tion will succeed in extracting and making avail-
able. Yet even so new as we are in this science,
we can get some meaning o ut o f it ; w e begin to
see whither it is leading .
We all l o ve m us ic but I w o n de r if w e kn o wwhy. Mu sic is the lang u a ge o f the cosmi cal
pr ocesses ; it is analogous to the cosmicalrhythm. It cor responds to what is go ing o n inplanet bui ld ing, in life bui ld ing ; i n ma k i ng a
pheno menal u niverse, in w hich sentient beings
can be o r g anized, can kno w , and co me to them-
selves . This new science of o u r s means mo r e
than that. I t means that ther e is so mew here a
substance back of what we call the visible ; that
is, back of matter .
That is the second g reat lesson w e are to learn .
The Hind o o s say that ther e is mo r e than one
ether . Let u s analyze that statement . In o r d er
that there may be mo r e than o ne substance oc-
cup ying a g iven space, o ne of the su bstances
must be g r an ula r ; that is, we can have air and
ether in the same space because air is g ranular ;
is made up of mo lecu les and ato ms, electro ns,
e t c ., wid ely separ ated, so that there is plenty of
room between ; it is not continuo us . Now, it
there be mor e than one ether, all of them except
one must be granular, else they cou ld not occupy
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 1 35
the same space at the same time . We cannothave two continu o u s substances ; that is obviou s .
Well, that su g gests ano ther thou ght : What i s a
g r anular substance? A g r anular substance is a
state of so me other substance, that is ,all - a con-
ditio n . It is not a thing o f itself . It is a cond i-
tio n of something else . Ther e is no vacuu m in
the universe . There is continu o u s substance ;
ther e must be. This is necessary so that there
can be actio n at a distance . No t o nly d o es the
ra d i o wa ve t ra vel but it m ust have a med i um
thr ou g h which to tr avel . Lig ht is tr ansmitted
betw een the pl anets thr o u g h w hat was su pp o sed
to be empty space . There must be a mediumthro ug h which it is tr ansmitted . I w i l l c o me
come back to that thou ght later .
In o ther w o r d s, what we call matter , then,
is a state, a conditio n, an or ganization of some-
thin g m o r e p r im a ry . What that more primarysubstance is, w e d o no t know . It is generally
called the ether o f space, but the theory o f the
ether has been attacked, and science teaches us
little mor e than that there is so mething - weknow not what . We have little co ncept o f its
natur e . At one time it was said that the ether of
space must be not o nly contin uo u s but so lid ;
that is, in or der that it should manifest itself
with all of its physical attributes, all of its ener-
gy, all o f its r esistance, it had to be substance,
in a ver y real way . But then, if that be tru e,
how is it that there can be motio n thr ou gh this
s o l i d s ubstance? Ho w can w e thin k of m ot i o n
thro ug h solid substance? That has been a co -
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1 36 INVADING THE INVISIBLEnundrum for science, that science has never
solved. We are almost for ced, wi th that fur -
ther consid eration, to the id ea that the visible
u niverse is a state- w hat w e call matter is a
state of that pr imar y substance ; a state that is
movable and gi ves us what we call mo tio n . Theearth revolves aro u n d the sun ; and the so lar
system has a general mo tio n that appar ently in-
clu des the whole stellar universe, and all w ith-
ou t friction . We cannot co nceive o f anything
passing thr o u g h a mater ial su bstance su ch as
air w ithout friction, and high rates of velocity
create a ver y consid erable fri ction . Aviatio n
has to meet that pr o blem ; even railw ay trai ns
have to meet it, and auto mobiles . That is the
r eason for the stream- line au tomo bile bod y ; i t
is necessary to have as little air -resisting sur -
face as possible . Just the same thing is true, to
a gr eater d egr ee, in water . That i s the reason
for the shape of a fish, po inted w ith ro u nded
sid es, because these encounter the least resist-
ance in the medium through which the fishpasses . Evid ently, ether is no t that kind o f a
med iu m because not o nly the ear th, which is a
ro un d bod y, but any other fo rm o f a materi al
bod y, can pass thr o u g h ether w ith app arently
no r esistance whatever and no fr ictio n . I amonly mentioning these facts to su ggest that this
is no t as simple a pr o blem as w e imagine, and
we are far fr om having r eached any solu tio n as
yet . We are still g ro ping i n ou r adventur e in
truth ; w e are still hunting fo r clues, and we find
some here and there, but they are only clues . We
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 1 3 7
have not yet discovered anything like a solu tion .
This su g g ests ano ther question . What is i t
that hold s the planets in their orbits? The gen-
eral suppositio n is that it is a nice counterbal-
ancing of the centrifugal and centripetal forces,
of the tendency to fly o ff into space as against
the attractio n of the sun . Bu t wi ll this theor y
hold ? Not if space is empty, fo r then the bal-
ance wo u ld have to be so perfect as to be d is-
tur bed by a hair . Ind eed it wo ul d have to be
absolute, which is a practical impossibility . The
slightest thing w ou ld di sturb the equilibriu m
w ith the resul t that even if the balance were
vari ed by the smallest deviatio n such as might
be caused by a severe earthquake or by the at-
tractio n of o ther bod ies such as a stray comet,
the result w ou ld inevitably be to destro y this
hair line equi libri u m and to cause the planet to
fly off i nto space, or to g o crashing into the sun .
It is r eflections such as these that sug gest the
necessity o f the theory that each planet is car-
ried in an ether stream or an ether vortex .
We cannot do without an ether of space .
Scientists were practically agreed o n this po int
until the time of Einstein and in the next chap-
ter I shall tr y to show how the Einstein hypo -
thesis has been misinterpr eted o n this point and
ho w it d oes not necessarily di spr o ve the exist-
ence of an ether, o r ethers as the Hind o os wo uld
have it. By the w ay, some o f o u r Western math-
ematical p hysicists are now inclining to this
same view that there may be more than oneether , or as I have alr ead y made plain, mor e
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13 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEthan one different state of ether . One of these
states might very w ell be an ether that wo u ld
beco me the med i u m f o r the v o r t ic ia l m ot i o n s
necessary to the physical u niverse, the smaller
vor tices being the atoms and the larger the solar
systems, or the ether str eams necessary to carr y
the planets safely in their orbits . May I sayhere that this is not alone my id ea. It w a s p u t
for w ard by Descar tes, by Sir William Thomp son
and others, and is again brou ght into pr ominence
by so me o f the latest investigatio ns recou nted
by Eddington in one of his books on the physical
universe .
The latest statement o f the electro nic theor y
of matter is that the ultimate unit o f matter is
id entical w ith the ultimate unit o f electrical en-
erg y . Now , a unit o f electrical energy is merely
an electri cal charg e and r equ ir es some med iu m
to carry the charg e. We canno t charg e no thing
or a void . These charg es ar e supp o sed to be in
rapid r evolution . What is that bu t a vo r tex
in a mediu m o r substance?
May I app r o ach this subject fr o m another an-
gl e? I have mentioned this p o int befor e bu t
want to dr ive it home . Man's intellect is so made
that it d eals in abstractions . What we call mat-
ter is such an abstraction ; that is, we gather to-
g ether a lar g e nu mber o f exper iences, of sense
impressions and percepts-all o f these that have
to d o wi th bod ies in space ; w e l um p them t o -
gather and p ut a label o n them, in the way that
our intellects do, and call it matter . Now, thefir st thing to consid er abou t an abstraction is
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 1 3 9
this : It i s o nly a convenience of thou g ht, and
has no reality outside of thoug ht . I w ant us to
get that clear ly, because withou t it w e are not
in a positio n to make any advance in philo sop hy .
I su pp o se Berkeley has been laug hed at by mo r e
people who did not understand him than any
man who ever w ro te on philo sop hy . When `Bish-
op Berkeley said `There is no matter' and proved
it, 'tw as no matter what he said ."* As a matter
o f fact Berkeley d id pr o ve his hypothesis . No-bod y has gainsaid him fro m his d ay to this. They
tried but gave it up . No w , Berkeley, when he
said "There is no matter" said only this, and he
explained i t w ith painstaking care, but someho w
nobod y could get the point . "There is no r eality
in an abstraction ." That is all he said . He did
not deny vision o r sense impressions . He assert-
ed these things more definitely than almost any-
bod y else. It i s the habit o f man to make ab-
stractio ns, and the big g er the abstractio n the
more he stresses it, labels it, gives it a name, and
to so me extent perso nifies it . He may do thisunconsciou sly, but lie hypostatizes or actualizes
it and clo thes it w ith pow er . He makes hi s ab-
straction an entity . That is the reason there is
aSanta Claus ; that is the reason there is an Un-
cle Sam ; that is the reason there is matter ; t h a t
is the reason there are many of these personified
generalizations . We get an abstracti o n, set it
apart, put a label on it, and to some extent make
it a thing in and fo r tiself . Ther e is valu e in
that, per haps. It i s an aid to thinking. I am* Byro n .
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1 40 INVADING THE INVISIBLEnot minimizing this valu e . I am only trying to
show its limits . Berkeley saw tho se li mits, and
said that w hen we ascr ibe to matter ; t o t h i s a b -
straction ; to this thing that is only .a convenien-
ce of thou ght, to this thing that has no r eal ex-
istence, when we ascri be reality to matter and
say that it do es things, we are talking abou t a
mer e appearance that is relative to o u r w ay of
seeing . That was all o f Berkeley's phil oso phy,
and that is the basis o f C hristian Science . Inthe fu ndamental sense it is absol u tely tru e .
These generalizatio ns, these abstractio ns, these
perso nified things have no real existence except
in human tho u g ht and have no p o w er except as
human thought gives them power . They are
ghosts-philo sophic and scientific ghosts .
I call attention to a fu rther reflection along
this line : Mo d ern science deals w ith symbo ls,
and fo r the mo st par t they ar e symbo ls having
numeri cal equ ivalents, w eight, measur e, fre-
quency, etc . The scientific u niverse is nothing
like ou r famili ar u niverse of sense perception .
It has har dl y anything that we can reco gnize incommon. The scientist does not talk abou t thew or ld of appearances any mor e. He talks abou t
relationship ; he talks about qualities ; he talks
abo ut atomic w eig hts ; he talks abou t electrical
equivalents ; he talks about atoms ; he talks
about electrons ; he talks abou t protons ; h e t a l k s
abou t fields o f fo rce ; he talks abou t relativities .
This universe in which you and I live ou r every-
day lives has well-nigh disappeared as a scienti-
fic, and as a philo sophic reality . As soo n as we
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 14 1
d isco ver how w e think w e r each the po int where
w e can transcend o u r limitatio ns and see what
is beyond them . That is ano ther thi ng that
science has been do ing . It has been transcend -
ing all these limitations in this invasion of the
i n v i s i b l e ; i t has been g etting aw ay fro m these
sense limitatio ns-and thro ug h that pro cess it
has been disco vering the real universe, the uni-
verse of cosmic forces, and energy values, and it
may be that in that pr ocess, it has been disco v-
eri ng the spiri tual u niverse .
The new physical theo r y, therefor e, not o nly
has a philo sophic value but it has a value for us
as truth stud ents . We are only at the begi nning .
The hu man r ace up to this ti me has never been
in a position to go any distance in the empir ical
or scientific d iscovery of the finer forces. I have
alr eady mentio ned the statement of H . G . Wells,
made a few years ag o , that du ri ng the last cen-
t u r y mankind has ma de t remen d o u s p r o g r ess in
the physical sciences, that is, i n d isco vering en-
vir o nment, but that in the next centur y o r two ,
in his o p in i o n , w e w o u l d make equa l o r even
g r eater p r o g r ess in the internal sciences . In-
stead of discovering for ces without, we will dis-
cover the forces within, and he said o u r p resent
position compared to ou r attainment after a cen-
tury o r tw o o f that sort o f pro gr ess will be as
the Eskim o's ig lo o to the Woo lw o r th Bui ld in g
or as an Ind ian's du go u t cano e compared to the
mod er n o cean liner . That is an ambitio u s pr o -
gr am and yet anyone who do u bts ou r ability to
r eali ze it, and mo r e, has only to lo o k back at
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1 4 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEwhat we have actually d o n e in the last o ne
hund red or one hund red and fifty years in phys-
ical science . In the old d ays ou r fastest mod e
of loco motio n was the hor se and coach . Weknew nothing about steam . All we knew ofsteam was when we saw it spo u t ou t of a tea-
kettle . We knew nothing abo u t electri city ex-
cept that w e had thun d er and lig htnin g . Weknew n othin g o f the f o r ces l o cked u p in the
atom ; in fact, we di d not think there were any
fo rces in the atom . We thought the atom hadlasted and wo uld last thro ug h all eternity ; we
knew little of chemistry o r o f physics or of any
of the things no w of most familiar use that go
to make u p human life. Man has accomp li shed
all of this. Why can't he know himself? Whycan't he kno w his r eal internal po w ers? Why
can't he learn how to utilize the power of
thou ght? Thou ght is the or ig inal pow er of the
universe. Positive thou ght is the gr eatest con-
stru ctive for ce we know .
The new physical theor y is gi ving u s add ed
lig ht as to matter and is revealing to u s that it
is no t mater ial at all i n the w ay that w e have
used that term but that it is o r ganized energ y,
and that this energy has been organized by
tho u ght just as ener gy in hig her w ays is o rg an-
ized by thou ght in or ganic bod ies .
The Hind o o s call the physical u niverse Maya
or Illusion . C o u nt Her mann Keyser ling find s
its u lti mate r ealities are tensio n and r hythm
in so me pr imar y substance or ether . Our ownscience d eter mines it to be energ y char g es and
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THE NEW PHYSICAL THEORY 1 4 3
stresses in this same ultimate ether ic su bstra-tum. Man sees it as an appearance, du e to hisow n reactio ns . Relativity still fur ther appr oves
this id ealistic viewpo int and shows that matter,
moti o n and space-time are not u ltimate but are
relative to the observer's frame of r eference. All
o f these tend mor e and mo re to r end er matter
"an insubstantial pageant," and to bring us near-
er to the views of Bishop Berkeley and i dealism .
There is another viewp o int, how ever , held by
Leibnitz, that matter is merely the mode of com-
munio n, of o bjectivity and o f activity o f themonads.
This bri ngs to mind the mod ern Monistic for -
mula which, as nearly as I remember it, r uns as
follows
M a t t e r t o i t s e l f i s m i n d . M i n d a s i t e x p r e s s e s
i t s e l f t o a n y o t h e r m i n d , i s m a t t e r .
Perhaps, that is a bit o bscu re and needs com-ment. "Matter to itself is mind ." If matter isanything to i self it must be mind , because mind
alone is consciou s . "Mind, as it expr esses itself
to any other mind, i s matter ." The w ay I com-
municate wi th you is thro ug h materi al symbol s,
signs, sounds . Yo u d o not see me, bu t my bo d y .
The eg o I experi ence as myself is behind and
beyo nd this, an elu sive so mething that even I
myself d o n o t kno w . Ho w , then, can you know
i t ? The o nly w ay, or at least the customa r y
way, in which I co ntact you is thro u gh this me-
d iu m called matter .
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144 INVADING THE INVISIBLEWe are spir its clad in veils
Soul by soul was never seen .
Al l o u r d eep c omm un i n g fai l s
To remove the shadowy screen .
P r o f . W. K . Cli ffor d p uts it in this wayThe universe, then, consi sts entir ely of mind -
s t u f f . Matter is a mental p ictur e in w hich
mind -stu ff is the thing represented .
On the abo ve stat ement Dr . Paul Car us com-
mentsThe thing in itself is the inner, i . e . , s u b j e c t i v e
reality, which appears (so as to become percep-
tible, as motions or-o uter, i . e . , objective reality . *
In c oncl us i on may I a p pen d my o w n def in i -
tion
The so u l is an emanatio n of God , bu t only as
latent or po tential . Matter is the objective mod e
by which also it completes itself thro ug h evolu -
tio n, expr essio n and know ledg e of the universe,
o f which it is representative .
" T h e S o u l o f M a n , by Dr . Pau l C ar us . Open C o u r t Publishing Co.
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CHAPTER VIIIRELATIVITY
Follo wing o ut ou r thoug ht of the invasion of
the invisible, we have disco vered that there are
sever al w ays in which we do this . First, there
is the method of reason w hich takes up ou r sense
im p ressi o n s and o r g a n izes them, ga in in g f r o m
them infer ences and impli catio ns and u nitin g
them into co ncepts, co mpa ri n g them, and thu s
getting their relatio nships and d iscoveri ng the
law s that go vern their phenomena .
There is another method to which we have
had r efer ence and w hich w e call i ntui tio n that
seems to r elate back to so me pr ima ry mo de o f
mental actio n that is both anterio r to and sup e-
rio r to o ur specialized intellectual fo rms . It ap-
pears to be a universal intelli gence thr o ug hou t
natur e .
Then there is a thir d w ay in w hich w e invade
the invisible, and that is thro u gh experimenta-
tio n by which we find ou t ho w things act in all
po ssible ways, and thu s try to d iscover their
real nature .
There is a fo u r th w ay, and that is thro u g h
mathematics . We have to d eal w ith that w aynow. The var io u s new d isco veri es w e have beentou ching here are r evolu tionary : They are of
fir st impo rtance, and I have classified them to-
145
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14 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEgether as co nstitu ting the new facto rs in phil .
o s o phy . The chief o f these has been the extr a-
conscio us min d ; the second i s evolu tion ; t h i r d ,
the new physical theo ry ; and, fou rth, relativity .
Relativity is not a new term in phil o so phy .
Befo r e the time of Einstein there w as ano ther
philo sop hy o f r elativity advanced by Sir Wil-
liam Hamilto n chiefly, and this r eferred to the
evident fact that man know s the universe as it
relates to himself and cannot g o beyond that re-
lationship . It i s another phase of id ealism .
We have alr eady disco vered that the universe we
see we at least in par t create, in this w ay : C olo r,
f o r example, is d u e t o o u r react i on s . So i s
l i g h t i t s e l f . We loo k at certain lar ge agg regates .
We d o not see infinitesimals yet all natur e is
made u p o f infinitesimals . We lump these to-
gether . In o ther w o r d s , the phen omena l u n i -
verse is an appearance caused by the reactio n of
o u r o r ganisms, and that is the reason there has
always been this question of d uali ty and of the
u nreality of w hat we see . It is not u nreal in
o ne sense but it has an appearance relative to u s,
the beholders . Not only d o we see it in accor dance
wi th the reactions of o ur sense o rg ans, but w e
clo the it o n w ith the meanings that it has for
us d ue to ou r p eculiar o rg anizatio n and expe-
rience . That is only a sug g estion o f the old er
relativity theory of philo sophy .
Now, the Einstein theory is different althou gh
it has some of the same suggestio ns and implica-
tions. It is that our universe is du e to ou r frame
o f r eference . There is no absol u te motio n in
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RELATIVITY 1 4 7
the sense we have talked abou t, because there is
no reference to determine it . Ther e is no thing
that is absolu tely static . There is no fixed po int
to w hich we can refer any given motio n, bu t
thing s move r elatively to each o ther , and this
r elative moti o n deter mines the constitu tio n of
things in a peculiar way . I can perhaps best
illu strate that by mass . Mass is d ependent on
motion ; mass inc reases w ith m ot i o n ; the in-
crease is only slight if the motion is relatively
slo w, but if the increase approaches the velocity
of lig ht, the cur ve is much sharper, that is, the
mass beco mes gr eater ; and if the motion reaches
the velocity of light the mass becomes infinite .
Einstein has bro u g ht one new fact befor e the
physicists of the wo rl d that is not no w qu es-
tioned, so far as I know , which is that the ulti-
mate velocity is the velocity of light . There i s
no g reater velocity . It is a p p r o x im ately one
hund red and eighty-six thou sand miles per sec-
o nd . That w o u ld impl y this to be the rate of
moti on o f the free ether . The Einstein theo r y
o f relativity is based o n the d iscovery o f Pro f .
Albert Michaelso n and Pr o f . Mo r ley . The ex-
peri ment was r epeated by other s . It w as con -
d ucted by means of mir r or s and a suffi ciently
sensitive apparatus to get the velocity of lig ht,
fir st, in the d ir ectio n of the earth's moti o n, and
then transversely to that di rectio n. It w as ex-
pected that there wo uld be a difference but- to
the astoni shment o f the experi menter s and the
whole scientific wo rl d, there w as no d ifference .
In other wo rd s, the motio n of lig ht is not only
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1 4 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEthe highest rate of mo tio n in the universe, but
it is constant without r egard to the motio n of its
apparent sou rce or of the behold er .
As a result o f this experiment, Pro f. Einstein
w o r ked o u t his famo u s theor ems that have be-
come the basis o f w hat is kno w n as relativity,
and he also wo rked ou t still fur ther a pr op osi-
tio n that had been advanced by the mathemati-
cian Minkowski with regard to time as thefou r th di mension of space . It is difficult for
anyo ne to u n derstand r elativity who i s not a
higher mathematician . There is scarcely lan-
guage to expr ess it and there are few intellects
that can co mpr ehend it, w ithou t mathematics .
It has been wo r ked o u t mathematically, how -
ever , to the po int w her e the dimensions o f the
u niver se have been co nfid ently stated . These
d imensio ns are so immense that w e cannot even
think o f them . They can o nly be expr essed i n
lig ht years, and there are u niverses up on u ni-
verses invo lved . The near est island u niver se to
o u r o w n is s u p p o se d t o be almost one milli o n
lig ht years aw ay. Whatever the d istance, it i s
almost immeasurable-beyond our comprehen-sion, and there are other, and still other island
u niverses beyond that .
No w , the theor y of the fo u r th d imensio n is
philoso phically impor tant for several reasons .
First, it gets us away fro m the static method of
i n t e l l e c t . We have been thinking as three- d imen-
sional beings . The kind o f a u niverse we have
been pictur ing is a three-d imensio nal u niverse .
So tru e is this that w e cannot even think of a
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RELATIVITY 1 4 9
fo u r - d imensi onal universe and can o nly arrive
at it mathematically . We cannot pictur e it, but,
using the simple method that I have used before,
in illu strating this, I w ill appr oach it in this
way : One d imensio n, leng th, is ar r ived at by
taking the lo w est mathematical po int, a mere
po sition, and mo ving that point . That makes aline. That is o ne d imensio n . The second d i-
mensio n is mad e in exactly the same w ay . Wetake the line and mo ve it at right angles to it-
s e l f. That makes a pl ane, leng th and br ead th .
The thir d d imension i s reached by a simil a r
pr ocess . We take the plane and mo ve it at r ig ht
angles to itself . That makes a so lid , length,
breadth, and thickness .
Now , how w ou ld w e reach the fou rth dimen-
sio n? App arently, by fol lo w ing the same method .
we take the solid and move it . We cannot think
of mo ving a soli d at r ig ht angles to itself, but if
we could think of it, the result wo uld be du ra-
tio n, that is, time . Now, time answers every
mathematical r equir ement of the fo u r th d imen-
sion, and not o nly that, it is necessary in order
that we may have movement. Ther e canno t bemovement without time-succession, in which
that movement may take place, and from the
aspect I mentio n, that itself is a d imension .
In o ther w o r d s, w e have been thinkin g three-
d imensio nally, that is, w e have been think-
ing statically . In order to think we had tocut a thing u p, kil l i t, that we mig ht beho ld
it . I have said that there is no fixed thing
in the u niverse, except o u r min ds, and i t is
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1 50 INVADING THE INVISIBLEfor that r eason w e have been tr yin g to g et a
living, moving, develop ing u niverse-a spir itual
u niver se-fr o m the standpo int o f the materi al,
that is, the blo ck universe-the three dimensio n-
al universe a nd w e c o u l d n o t d o i t . That is
the impor tant aspect of this subject fro m a phil-
oso phical view . The w hole develop ment of mo d -
ern philo sop hy has been aw ay fr o m the static
and toward a living, moving and becominguniverse . That is the philo sop hy of Ber g son .
That was the philo sop hy implied but not stated
by Kant and the German id eali stic schoo l end-
ing in Heg el, and that is the u niverse of Ein-
stein . For pr actical pu rp oses Einstein's cor -
r ectio ns of New to n in measur able di stances are
negl ig ible . It is o nly in almost infinite di s-
tances and i n thinking beyo nd o r d inary limi ts
that they become imp o r tant, and that is exactly
the po int at which o u r o ld l imited three-d imen-
sional, fixed, static view of things broke do wn .
May I d ig r ess at this po int to mentio n some
rather interesting things that are su g gested by
this new appr oach? We never cou ld think o f
the infinite, and o ur failu re to d o that, at least
in part, grew o ut o f this very di fficul ty I have
mentio ned ; in o ther wo rd s, there is so mething
false in ou r method o f arr ivin g at the whol e
thr o u g h its par ts, because the par t is nothing
except in its incor po ratio n in the whole . That is
the difficulty I have pointed ou t in that old pr ob-
lem of Achilles and the tortoise . It is a simple
eno u g h pro blem, if w e loo k at the distance be-
tween Achilles and the tor toise as a whole, but
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RELATIVITY 1 5 1
the minute we try to g et at it thro ug h an infinite
series, we are in tro uble because that is an in-
finite series of par ts, and involves this very thing
I have been talking about-our intellectual
m etho d o f c u t t i ng thi n g s u p , o f m a k i ng u p a
whole fro m an agg regatio n of its parts . Thewhole is an entity in itself, and because of its
integr ation, it emerges on a higher level . The
whol e is mor e than the sum of its par ts ; i t i s
i t s e l f ; it cannot be di vid ed into p arts in that
sense. If we really g et that viewpo int it so lves
a number o f ou r o ld pr oblems, philo sophical and
s c i e n t i f ic . I d o no t know ju st how I can make
this plain and yet it is, in my view, su pr emely
impo rtant . If we take this tr ue infinite series
a s a w h o l e we transcend it easily just as Achilles,
fro m a pr actical standpo int, transcends it and
catches the tortoise in a definite time . Ever y
infinite series is of like nature and is reached
thro u g h the same method . That is the one w ay
we think of i nfinity . It is a negative pr ocess and
we appr oach it thro ug h a seri es . We think a dis-
tance in sp ace, fo r example, and then, o f the
d istance beyo nd that . Thinki n g i n this w ay,
w hich is the method o f a seri es, we can never
reach the end . Yet the universe is a w hole thing .
It must be, in the nature of the case, and God 's
tho u g ht tr anscend s it because He deals w ith it
as a whol e .
Einstein has su g g ested mathematicall y what
this w hole is . As I say, w e cannot think o f it
thro u gh the intellectual appr oach of an infinite
series . We can onl y app r o ach it mathematical-
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1 52 INVADING THE INVISIBLEly . Nevertheless I am convinced that relativity
has made a new d evelo pment and a new d epart-
u re in scientific pro gr ess as great, perhaps, as
that of C op ernicus o r Newto n .
That w e may even appr o ach a comp r ehensio n
o f Einstein it i s necessary to clear the gr ou nd of
o ne or two misconceptio ns . First, as to the ether
of space . I t has been sai d by some that Mr .
Einstein rejected the theory of an ether and that
the Michelso n-Mor ley experiment d ispr o ved its
existence . Neither statement is tr ue . The facts
ar e these : The Michelson- Mo r ley experi ment
seemed to d isp r o ve a statio nary ether , bu t was
harmo nio u s w ith the theor y o f an ether stream
movi ng w ith the earth, such as was advo cated
by Descartes and Lord Kelvin and which wehave alr eady fou nd to be necessary .
As fo r Einstein, he ignor ed the ether theo ry
in his special r elativity treatise but ap pr oved it
in his later general relativity hypothesis, as he
did also, at least by implication, in his still more
r ecent paper o n fields of fo rce, in w hich he iden-
tifi es electri cal ener g y with energ y generally .
The conception o f a field o f force is impossible in
empty space. There must be a substance o r me-
diu m in which the field of force manifests .
This view is pr o ved cor r ect by ano ther con-
sideration . Mr. Einstein speaks of a cu r vatur eof space and pro ves that there is a slight curva-
tur e of lig ht rays in a gravitational field . Nowspace, as has already been po inted o ut, is an ab-
straction and i s in that aspect unr eal . There
cou ld not be a curved abstraction . Su ch a ter m
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RELATIVITY 1 5 3
has no meaning . What actually exists is sp ace
and its co ntents whatever these may be . Tosuppo se a curvatur e of empty space is to sup -
po se a cur vatur e of nothing, fo r that is exactly
what empty space w o ul d be . Thus w e find that
Einstein's cu r vatur e o f space amou nts to this-
a cur vature in the contents of space, in the ple-
n um, which wo ul d be a vo r tex in the ether . This
pr o ves the vor tex theory valid fr om another ap-
p r o a ch .
We have d i sc o vere d f r o m va r i o u s c on s i de ra -
tio ns that an empty vo id is u nthinkable and im-
po ssible . What exists is the universe, continu -
ou s and r elated i n all its parts . The o nly r eason
the human mind ever enter tained su ch an er r o r
tho u ght as empty space is d ue, fir st, to its meth-
o d o f abstraction and, second , to the fact that
the ether o f space is invi sible and u ndi scoverable
by any of o ur senses. Mr. Einstein's famou s cur -vatur e of space, and especially that for m of i t
which he invokes to explain gravitation, resolves
itself into a vor tex in the content of space ; and
the "w arp" o r d istor tio n of space by w hich he
accou nts for gr avity is only a special vor tex or
tension in a g ravitational field, w hich is not only
in accor d w ith the vor tex theo r ies of Descartes
an d Lo r d Kelv in but ha rm on izes w ith a ll the
know n facts of the stellar universe .
One of the most r eadable books on this su bject
is by Char les No r d man, astro nomer o f the Pari s
Obser vator y .* P r o f . No r d man go es into this
*Einstein and the Univer se b y Charles Nordman . Trans . by JosephMcCabe . Henry Holt & Co. , New York .
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1 5 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEmatter so l uci d ly that I am quo ting him at some
length . He says
The phenomenon o f s t e l l a r aberr atio n pro ves that the
medi um w hich transmits the lig ht of the stars to o ur eyes
d oes not share the mo tio n of the earth as it revo lves
ro und the sun. This medi um is kno wn to physicists as
ether . Lo r d Kel v i n, wh o w as hon o re d by bein g bu r ie d i nWestminster Abbey not far from the tomb of Newton,ri ghtly r egar d ed the existence o f interstellar ether as
pr o ved as fu lly as the existence of the air we breathe ;
for wi thou t this mediu m the heat of the sun, mo ther and
nur se of all terrestrial life, wou ld never r each us .
In the history of S pe c i a l R e l a t i v it y , Einstein, as we saw ,
interp rets phenomena without i ntro d u cing the ether, or
at least withou t intro du cing the kinematic pr op erties
which are usually attributed to it . In o ther w or ds, Special
Relativi ty neither confir ms nor denies the existence of the
classic ether . It ig nores it .
But this ind ifference to o r di sdain o f the ether di sap-
pears in the theor y of General Relativity . We saw in aprevio us chapter that the trajector ies of g ravitating bod ies
and o f lig ht are d irectly du e, on this theory, to a special
cur vature and the non-Euclidean character of the mediu m
which lies close to massive bodi es in the void -that is to
say, ether. This, therefo re, tho u gh Einstein d oes not g ive
it the same kinematic properties as classic science di d, be-
comes the substr atum o f all the events in the univer se . I t
resu mes its impo r tance, its objective reality . It is the
continuo us medi u m in which spati otempor al facts evolve .
Hence in its g eneral for m, and in sp ite of the new kine-
matic attitud e which is ascribed to i t, Einstein's general
theory admits the objective existence of ether .
Stellar aberr atio n show s that this mediu m is statio nary
relative to the or bital mo tion o f the earth . The negati ve
result of Michelson's experiment tends, o n the contrar y,
to p rove that it shares the earth's motio n . The Fitzgerald -
Lor entz hpyothesis solves this antinomy by admitting that
the ether d oes no t really share the earth's motio n, but
saying that all bod ies sud denly displ aced i n it are con-
tracted in the dir ectio n of the movement . This contr ac-
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RELATIVITY 155
ti o n incr eases with velocity in the ether, which explains
the negati ve resul t of the Michelso n experiment .
Lor entz's explanation seemed to Einstein inadmissible
on accou nt of certain imp r obabilities which we pointed
o u t, and especially because it assu mes that there is in
the universe a system o f pr ivileged references which re-
calls Newto n's "absolu te space ." Einstein taking his stand
on the principle that all po ints of view are equally relative,
do es not admit that there are in the universe pr ivileged
spectator s-- spectator s who ar e stationar y in the ether-
who cou ld see things as they are, whereas these things
wo uld be defor med fo r every o ther observer .
Then, w hile preservi ng the Lor entz contr actio n and the
for mulae in which it is expressed, Einstein says that this
contraction, while it really exists, is only an appearance, a
sor t of o ptical illu sion, d ue to the fact that the light
w hich show s us objects do es not tr avel instantaneo usl y,
but w ith a finite velocity. This spread o f li g ht foll o ws
laws o f such a nature that appar ent space and time are
changed in p recise accor dance with the for mulae of Lor -
entz. This is the fo und atio n of Einstein's Special Rela-
tivity .
Hence the two immedi ate possible explanatio ns of the
negative resul t o f the Michelso n experiment are :
1 . Moving objects are contracted in the stationary
ether, the fixed substratum o f all p henomena . This con-
traction is r eal, and it increases with the velocity o f the
body r elatively to the ether . That is Lor entz's explana -
tion .
2 . Movi ng o bjects are contracted relatively to any o b-
server whatso ever . This contractio n is only app arent, and
is du e to the laws of the pro pagation of lig ht. It increases
wi th the velo city of the moving bod y relatively to the ob-
server. That is Einstein's explanatio n .
But there is at least one other p ossible explanatio n . It
intr od uces new and strang e hypo theses, but they are by
no means absur d . Indeed, it is especially in physics that
truth may at times seem improbable. This explana tio n
wi ll show how we may accou nt for the resul t of the Michel-
son experiment apart fr om either Lor entz or Einstein .
This third explanator y hypo thesis is as fo llo ws . Everymateri al body bears alo ng w ith it, as a sor t of atmos-
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156 INVADING THE INVISIBLEphere, the ether that is bou nd u p w ith it . There i s , i n
add itio n, a stationary ether in the interstellar spaces ; an
ether i nsensible to the motio n o f the material bod ies that
move it, and which we may, to d istingu ish it fro m the
ether bou nd u p w ith bod ies, call the "su per- ether ." This
sup er- ether occu pies the w hole of the interstellar sp ace,
and near the heavenly bodi es it is superimp osed u po n the
ether w hich they bear al o ng . The ether an d the su per -
ether i nterp enetrate each other ju st as they penetrate
matter, and the vibrations they transmit spr ead independ-
ently . When a mater ial bod y sends o ut seri es of w aves
in the ether w hich sur ro und s it, these mo ve relatively to
it w ith the constant velocity of lig ht . But when theyhave traver sed the relativ ely thin str atum o f ether bou nd
up wi th the material bod y, which merges gr adu ally in the
super-ether, they spread in the latter, and i t is relatively
to this that they pr og ressively take their velocity .
It i s like a boat cr ossi ng the Lake of Geneva at a cer-
tain sp eed . Abo u t the mid d le of the lake it has this
speed relatively to the narr ow cur rent which the River
Rhone makes there, and then it r esumes it r elatively to
the stationar y lake .
In the same w ay the lumino us r ays of the stars, al-
thou gh they come fro m bod ies which are appro aching or
r eced ing fr o m us, have the same velo city when they reach
u s, and this wi ll be the commo n velocity w hich the sup er-
ether imp oses up on them . Thus, also , on the other hand,
the stellar rays that reach our telescope w ill be transmit-
ted to us by the super- ether, wi thou t the very thin stra-
t um o f mobile ether bound up wi th the earth being able
to d istur b their pro pagation .
These hypo theses explai n and r econci le all the facts :
(1) the fact of stellar aberratio n, because the rays w hich
reach us fr om the stars ar e transmitted to u s unaltered by
the sup er- ether ; (2) the negati ve resul t of the Michelson
exper iment, because the lig ht which we pr od u ce in the
labor ator y travels in the ether that is bor ne alo ng by
the earth, where it o ri gi nates ; (3) the fact that, in spite
of the app ro ach or recession o f the stars, their li g ht
r eaches u s wi th the common velo city w hich it had ac-
qui red i n the super-ether, shortly after it started .
Prof. Nordman speaks of the earth carrying
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RELATIVITY 1 5 7
the ether str eam when as a matter of fact it is
pr obably the ether str eam that carries the earth .
He also confi r ms the conjectur e that there is
mor e than one ether, o r rather d iffer ent states of
one ether .
It w ill be noted that not o nly is motion rela-
tive but space also . The space measu r ements ar e
sho r tened in the d ir ectio n of mo vement . Theamo unt o f the shor tening is neglig ible for all
o r di nary speeds but increases w ith their accel-
eratio n and w o u ld become absol u te if the speed
of light were attained, in the same way that mass
wo ul d become infinite und er like cond itio ns. Toa person traveling o n a planet, let us say, this
shortening w ould not be observed, because every-
thing wo ul d change in exact ratio includ ing his
foot- ru le and vision . To make plain Mr. Nor d -man's allusio ns to the d iffer ences between Lor -
entz and Einstein on this subject, it shou ld be
said that Lo r entz co ntend s that the shor tening
is absolu te, while to Einstein it is only appar ent,
that is, it is shor tened compared to another sys-
tem moving in an op po site dir ection and there-
for e having a d ifferent frame of reference .
It i s not o nly space- valu es that change thu s
but time-va l u es a lso - n o t on ly f o o t - r u les but
clocks . If a tr aveler attains a speed appr o ach-
ing that of lig ht his time is very different fro m
that of o ne remaining relatively stationary, and
if this speed actually reaches that of li ght, time
becomes static or stands still . The velocity of
lig ht, which is the velocity of waves in the free
ether, thu s is no t only the ultimate velocity, but
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1 5 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEi s a factor in the curvatur e of the uni verse,
w hose di mensio nal fr ame is the space- time con-
tinuum. To amplify this statement it is evidentthat the speed of li ght is the frequency rate in
the free ether of i nter - stellar space and that the
three factor s in o ur equatio n to determine the
cur ve are space, time and this velocity .
To illu strate the relativity of time, some fami-
li ar examples may be cited, su ch as dr eams in
which long episodes are experienced by the
d r eamer in the instant betw een sleepin g and
waking; the recalli ng o f the memo r ies of a li fe-
time in moments preceding or threateningd eath ; the feats of mathematical pr o d ig ies who
see their whole pr oblem in one act, and o f chess
players w ho visu alize their entir e game in the
same fashio n ; o r Mozart's well-know n statement
that a sympho ny came into his mind as a whol e
with no time-interval or sequence .
A yet better example is the life of so me insects
which lasts for a few days or at best a season .
Yet so rapi d ly d o these minu te fo r ms act that
appar ently their time-valu e is on an entir ely d if-
ferent basis from o ur ow n, so that it is possible
their lives seem as long to them as ou rs d o to u s .
Kant mad e time and sp ace su bjective . Theywe re o u r a priori or necessary frame for percep-
tion and thou ght .
To Leibnitz space was merely the or der o f co -
existences while time w as the or d er o f su cces-
sions . Bo th w ere relative . Einstein confir ms
these id ealisti c views but d o es it as a mathe-
matical physicist . In fact Einstein's entir e theo-
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RELATIVITY 1 59
r y is a confir mation of the ol der i dealism . Onthis po int H . Wild o n Carr * of the University of
Lond on says
It seems to me, therefore, that the principle of relativity
is a philosop hical pri nciple which is not o nly called for
by the need o f mathematical and physical science for
gr eater pr ecisio n in the new field of electro -magnetic theo-
ry in w hich it is continu ally advancing, but is d estined to
g i ve us a new w o r l d - v ie w . It will be fou nd, as it has al-
ways been fo und , that the po ets with their mythical inter-
pr etatio ns, and the philo sop hers w ith their speculative
hypo theses, have led the way in this new ad vance. Thecontinuity o f the universe can only be a continu ity o f
consciou sness, and the mod e of this continu ity is imagin-
atively pr esented to u s in the ol d eastern myth of the
t ransmi g r at i on o f the s o u l an d (may we n ot al s o say? )
in the Chr istian mystery o f the Incarnatio n .
I co nclud e, then, that in every reflection o n ou r actu al
experience we are d i r ectly consciou s of an objectivity
which we disting ui sh fro m ou r su bjective activity ofknowing. Whether w e appr o ach the pr o blem of that ob-jectivity fro m the abstract standpo int o f physical science
or fro m the concrete standpo int of philo sophy, the result
is the same. Ultimately, in spite o f its claim to ind e-
pendence, all that an object or event is in substance or i n
for m, it derives from the activity of the life or mind fo rwhich alone it possesses the meaning which makes itan object or event. This is no t a mystical do ctri ne,
nor ' is it esoteric . If we adopt in mathematics andphysics the principle of relativity (and have we any
choi ce?) the obstinate, r esistant fo r m o f the objectivity
o f the phys i cal w o r l d d i s s o l ves to thin ai r an d d i s ap -
pears . Space and time, its rigid framework, sink toshadow s . Co ncrete fou r- di mensio nal space-time becomes
a system of wo rld -l ines, infinitely deformable . And thesewo rld -li nes, do no t they at last bri ng u s in sight of an ir-
red uci ble minimum o f self-su bsistent objectivity? No .
The wo rl d- lines are not things- in-themselves, they are only
an expressi on fo r w hat is or may become common to d if -
ferent observers i n the r elations between their stand -
* The General Principle of R e l a t i v i t y b y H . W i l d o n O a r r . Macmillan .
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160 INVADING THE INVISIBLEpoints . Carr ied to its log ical conclusion the principle of
relativity leaves us wi thout the image or the concept o f
a pu re o bjectivity . The u ltimate reality o f the universe,
as philosophy appr ehends it, is the activity w hich is mani-
fested in life and mind, and the objectivity of the universe
is not a d ead core serving as the substratum o f this activi-
ty, but the perception- actions of infinite indi vid ual crea-
tive centres in mutual relation .
A closing il lu stratio n wil l perhaps serve better than ar-
gu ment to bring home to the reader the philo sophical
meaning o f the principle. On a frosty morning we maysee the w atery vapo u r i n the air w e breathe cond ense into
a small clou d and then rapi dl y disappear, r eabsor bed i nto
the atmo spher e . Imagine that at such a moment wesho u l d un d er g o a s u d d en t ransf o r mati on of al l o u r p r o -
po rtio ns so that our new d imensio ns become infinitesimal
in comparison w ith our p resent state . Would it appearto u s that we ou rselves had changed? The pr incip le of
relativ ity declar es that the change cou ld no t possi bly be
experi enced by us as chang e in ou rselves because wi th
the alteration in p ro por tions the ratios r emain constant .
The change wo uld expr ess itself in the new d imensio ns of
objects . The little globules of water which composed
the clou d w ou l d no w appear as stars and planets at im-
mense distances from one - another, u nderg oing a slow
age-lo ng evolu tion and obeying the law o f the inverse
square. The change would be a new space and a newtime .
Thus the new d iscoveries in science are pro v-
ing the id eali stic philo so phies whether these
or ig inated in Hindo o intuitio n or wi th Plato,
Her mes, Leibnitz o r Berkeley . It i s only the
mater iali stic p hilo so phies that have been ex-
plo ded, and that once and fo rever .
Another phase of the relativity theory is that
the universe is fou r - di mensional and that there
are not static things in a static space, but that
there are movi ng events in a space-time conti-nuum ; that there is nothing at r est, but that
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RELATIVITY 1 6 1
ever ything is mo ving relatively to ever ything
else .
There is no straig ht line in natur e . We getou r idea of a straight line fro m a ray of lig ht,
but a ray of lig ht has been proved to cu rve in a
gr avitational field . We also d eri ve ou r id ea of a
straight line from our eye in what we call
"sig hting," w hich is o nly ano ther for m of the
light ray. Our id ea of rest arises fro m the fact
that we sometimes move at the same rate as ou r
envir o nment, also fr o m the coar seness of o u r
visio n which do es not r eveal the motio n of elec-
tro ns, atoms, etc .
Mo tio n may be r apid eno u g h to g ive the sense
of solidity . F o r example, we may fall s w i f t ly
and strike the su rface of a bod y of w ater wi th
sufficient for ce to make it seem solid , or in hy-
d r a u l i c m in in g, a str eam may be hu r le d w ith
such velocity that one cannot cu t it with an axe ;
or , again, a soft candl e or a frag ile straw may be
shot i nto o r even thro u gh a boar d .
We d o n ot kn o w matter but o n ly o u r i dea of
i t ; w e do not even sense matter but sense ou r
neu r al r eactio ns to certain fr equencies and
energy resistances . What w e call matter i s an
abstractio n der ived fr o m these sense r eactio ns
and massed app ear ances . All these thing s ar e
relative to u s, the behold ers . A d ifferently o r -
g anized being, o r o ne w ith a d ifferent frame of
refer ence wo u ld beho ld di fferent phenomena .
Our id ea of infinity is also r elative. There i s
no space- line or time-li ne as such but a line in a
space-time continuu m that if follo wed to its ul-
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RELATIVITY 16 3
We have now cleared the gr o u n d fo r what is
to follow
The uni verse, or cosmos, i s a clo sed system
w hich is self- sustaining and self- renew ing . I t
kno w s itself which is pr o ved by the fact that
man kn o w s it . Man is only a part of it and the
part cannot be gr eater than the whole . Man only
know s it in part, but the universe, being w ho le
and complete in itself, must know itself wholly
and completely .
Finally, the universe know s itself as mind,
w hich is p r o ved by the fact that only mi nd canknow. We have alr ead y d emonstr ated that theuniverse know s because man know s and no w w e
d emo nstrate that it must kno w itself as mind .
Therefor e, if man knew the u niverse who lly and
completely, he w ou ld know it as mind . Manonly thinks of it as matter because his ideas are
confu sed and i ncomplete . In other w o r d s , man
is in p r ocess and as fast as he evolves o r expand s
he finds his universe evol vin g and expand in g
w ith him . The goal of this pr og ress is complete
spir itual realizatio n .
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CHAPTER IXPSYCHICAL RESEARCH
Herber t Spencer, in his F i r s t Principl es, said
in effect that any id ea that has been held by
larg e numbers of people over a considerable pe-
ri od of time must contain some reality, and this
is especially tru e if it is p erennial and well-nig h
universal .
Psychic p henomena co me und er that descrip -
tion . The follo wers of practically all relig io ns
in the histor y of the w or ld , and, p resumably,
even before the dawn o f histor y, as well as most
philo sop her s, have believed in i mmor tality .
Among civilized and even pr imitive peoples, it
is safe to say that ninety-five per cent have held
to so me fo rm o f this belief . Not onl y so but there
have been pheno mena thro u g hou t the ag es that
sug gested so me such inter pr etation . Only w ith-
in r ecent times, however, has there been any at-
tempt to make a scientific stud y of these pheno-
mena. In ancient d ays there g r ew u p w hat wer ecalled the occult sciences, but in those days near-
ly every science was occult . Chemistr y w as then
alchemy ; astro nomy was astrolo gy ; even mathe-
* "And thus it i s wi th human beliefs in general . Entirely wrong asthey may appear, the implication is that they germinated out of actual
experience-originally contained, and perhaps still contain, some smallamount of verity. More especially may we safely assume this, in thecase of beliefs that have long existed and ar e wid ely diffu sed, and most
of all so , in the case of beliefs that are perennial and nearly o r qu ite
universal." Herbert Spencer-First Principles .
164
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 6 5
matics was lo o ked at a bit askance, and psychic
pheno mena natur ally had abo u t the same scien-
tific standing in those times as the other "o c-
cult" sciences .
What I mig ht call a systematized effor t to in-
vestigate this subject pr obably began with Eman-
u el Sw ed enbor g , who , himself, was a scientist .
He spent the first fifty years o f his life in varied
activities ; as a metallu rgist, and as a scientist in
other kind red lines, and w as a man of note in
that field. Not o nly so, but he was in cou rt cir -
cles and an adviso r, to so me extent, to the King .
It w as only at the advanced age of nearly sixty
years that Swedenbo r g had an ,aw akening o f his
spiritu al natur e. He lived to be nearl y eighty,
and d ur ing the last twenty years o f his life de-
vo ted himself almost w ho lly to- we cannot call
it exactly a scientific investiag tio n of this sub-
ject because it w ent beyo n d that- to w hat he
termed revelatio ns on the psychic and spi r itu al
pl ane . So larg e a stir d id he make in the wor ld
that he attracted the attentio n o f I mmanu al
Kant, w ho w r ote o ne brief treatise concer ning
him, and I am tol d he also attracted the atten-
tio n of Hegel, the g reatest philo sop her o f that
ag e .
The fir st bo o k to w hich I call attentio n-and
it preceded the Fox Sisters and the rise of what
is known as modern Spiritualism-is that of
Rober t Dale Ow en . In fact, he w r o te mor e than
one boo k, but one especially I have read, Foo t-
falls on the Bowndaries o f Another World, in
w hich he r eco u nts the experi ences o r , r ather,
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1 6 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLEpsychic pheno mena that w ere not at that time
susceptible to scientific investigation, yet he gath-
ered the facts as carefully as he could and threw
abou t them as much of the scientific atmosphere
and safegu ard s as it was possible to do und er
the cir cu mstances . These inci d ents concer ned
appari tio ns and p sychic experiences of vario us
w ell- know n peop le that wer e authenticated and
were generally o f wi despread noto ri ety, at least
in the sections of the world in which they occur -
r ed , and so me o f them w er e inter nationally
knownI have already mentioned that this seri es of
lessons concerns modern scientific develo pments,
especially su ch develo pments as have a bear ing
o n philo sop hy, and p sychic pheno mena cer tainly
have a ver y inti mate beari ng o n this su bject .
The scientific i nvestig atio n o f su ch phenomena
has go ne on now fo r mo re than fifty years, start-
ing in Engl and and spreading to the continent,
to Fr ance, Germany, Italy, and o ther cou ntri es
in Eur o pe and to the United States . These in-
vestig atio ns have been carr ied o n by men that
w er e w id ely know n in other fi elds o f science,
u nder the most ri g id cond itio ns and subjected
to the same tests to w hich other scientifi c inves-
tig ations ar e co mmonly subjected .
I am not attempting to g ive any larg e num-
ber of instances. For this I refer the reader to
the annals of the Society fo r Psychical Research
in Eng land , in Ameri ca, and o n the co ntinent,
and to boo ks giving d ig ests of su ch investiga-
tions . There is a lar ge literatu re on the subject .
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 6 7
May I say in connection w ith Spi ri tuali sm it-
self that none of these investig ator s was, in the
beg inning , a Spi r itu alist in the commo n accep-
tation o f that ter m . Practically ever y one of
them was a skeptic and almost w ithou t excep-
tio n he was converted befo re the end of his re-
searches . Unqu estio nably there was frau d , a
gr eat deal of fr aud , in connectio n with Spir itual-
ism . I, myself, years ago , was prejud iced against
this whole subject as a result of attending a few
seances in my you th, most o f w hich, I w as con-
vinced then and am co nvinced now , contain ele-
ments of fr a ud . That is not sur pr ising, how-
ever, in so obscu re a subject where the tempta-
tio ns tow ard chicaner y wer e so evid ent as they
w ere, and are, in p sychic p henomena . F o r ex-
ample, a medium might have genuine psychic
po wer, but this do es not come on command . It
is not always pr esent ; it is a rare thing, and
since these med iu ms, unfo r tu nately, w ent into
this as a matter of busi ness and since the phe-
nomena w ere not alw ays, for thcomi ng, the temp-
tatio n to simulate them was o bvio us .
I call attentio n to o ne fact, ho w ever , that
there is never a cou nter feit u nless there is a
g enuine co in . In the fir st place, there is no in-
centive to make a counterfeit if it is to have no
value, and, second, if there is no g enuine, there
is no model the counterfeiter can imitate .
So much inter est w as aro used by tho se early
Spiritualistic phenomena that first one scientist
and then another w as challeng ed . Here was anew set of facts, and the pro vince of science is
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1 6 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLEto i nvesti gate facts . Finally a society wasfor med of some of the leading scientists of Eng-
land . Among them were the two Balfours and
many mor e of almo st equal fame . One was acler g yman o f the C hu r ch of England w ho had
been very o r th o d o x . His name was StaintonMoses and he, through a long series of years, ob-
tained tru ly r emarkable results . Another wasSir Will iam Cr o o kes whose investig ations An
other fields o f science had attracted the atten-
tion of the wo rl d and w ho g ot r esults equally
r emarkable, not o nly in p hysical p henomena,
such as movement of o bjects withou t contact, or
withou t sufficient contact to effect the results
by physical means, but also a celebrated case of
alleged materialization .
Some of the most impo rtant scientists of mo d -
ern ti mes have d ealt wi th psychi c pheno mena
and, almost w ithou t exceptio n, they appr o ached
it in a skeptical, if no t a hostile, frame of mind
and also, almost w ithou t exceptio n, were co n-
verted . Many names mig ht be menti o ned . Su ch
men as Sir Oliver Lo d ge, Sir Will iam F . Bar-
r ett, Camille Flammar io n, Cesar e Lo mbr o so,
Van Schrenck- No tzing , and o ther German scien-
tists of almo st equal standing ; Richard H . Hod g-
son and Will iam James, w ho w as interested but
who never to ok so pr on o unced a stand as per-
haps so me of the o ther s, w hich statement also
appli es to Henri Ber gso n, the prince of philo s-
op hers . Ano ther w as J. H . Hyslop w ho w as pr o-
fessor of psycholo gy i n Co lumbia University and
a man of hig h standing in the scientific wo r ld .
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 6 9
In o ther fields o f hu man tho u g ht w er e names
a lmost equa lly ill u st r i o u s - Willia m T. Stead,
the British jou rnalist, Editor of the Lond on Re-
view o f Reviews ; Pro f. Alfr ed Russell Wallace,
co-d iscoverer o f evolutio n ; Sir Arthur ConanDoyle, one of the greatest novelists and writers
o f his d ay, and many mor e .
Of cou rse, no theory and no system of philo so-
phy is p r o ved by the character o f the men w ho
espouse it .and yet this array is impressive . I t
is all the mo r e impr essive to me since I have
stud ied w ith co nsiderable care their w or k and
w hat led them to their conclu sio ns . Ther e are
several develo pments in this field that I cannot
g o i nto in this brief review . The conclu sio n
fro m all of it is still more difficult to state . Tomy mind it verifies what I alr eady believed, and
what I therefor e was predisposed to believe, the
immor tality of the individu al soul . I d o believe
that most tho ro ug hly, bu t I believed it befor e .
I think I had no t r eached, how ever , the intel-
lectual assent to it that I have arr ived at now .
Intellectually, I was not alw ays sur e, but I can
say now w ith my whol e mind I believe . As to
t o the m o d e I am not s o , s u r e. We have ourfamiliar concepts of Heaven, among w hich are
that of g o ld en streets, angels that are constru ct-
ed something o n the plan of bir ds- ju st why, I
do not know-playing upon harps. Accordingto that theory peop le who cou ld not play a Jew's
har p here beco me perfo r mer s befo r e Go d and all
the hierarchy o f the angelic hosts, which wo u ld
be a most d isting u ished aud ience, come to think
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 7 1
One thing seems fair ly su re : There is an ethe-
r eal bod y as well as a mater ial bod y . That i s
called by different names, in d ifferent systems .
St. Paul called it a spir itual body, the Theoso-
phists speak of an astral bo dy, althou gh they
also posit several di fferent bod ies, or shall we say
states? An etheri c bod y is necessary fr o m va-
ri ou s standpo ints and fits in wi th some of the
o ther d isco veries we have made . It gives a nex-
u s between mind and matter, a contact po int, if
you please . In actual l abo rator y experiments it
has been disco vered that tho u g ht creates fo r ms
in mater ial called ectop lasm . I am talkingabou t labor ator y exper iments, especially con-
du cted in France and o n the continent . It has
been d iscovered in these that tho ug ht for ms are
created . This g ives us a clue not o nly to the
bu i l d in g o f the embry o f r o m the i dea o r the
tho u ght for ce that shapes it, but su g gests a meth-
o d of healing by means of the etheric bod y . As-
sert the superior ity of the etheric body over the
material and l et its perfection shine thr ou g h .
This i s the permanent bo d y- the hou se no t made
w ith hands . It i s here that mind , not o nly is
creative, but mind is permanently incarnated .
No w l et u s retur n to psychic phenomena . I n
this co nnection I want to cite certain instances
that I r emember o u t of this w hole mass o f evi-
d ence and to g iv e these fr o m scientists that
w ere unbelievers .
First, I refer to Pro f . Theodo re Flou rno y, a
psycholog ist of wo rld -w ide repute, a follower o f
William James, and a native of Sw itzer land .
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1 7 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEFlou r noy d evelo ped o ne o f the most remarkable
med iu ms the wo r ld has ever seen . He called her
Mademoi selle Smith . She not o nly was a w o n -
der ful med iu m but her r esu lts covered both com-
m unicatio ns fro m the dead and memor y of pr e-
viou s incarnations ; and so me o f her phenomena
concerned, or seemed to concern, another planet .Mr. Flou rnoy was as admirable a repo rter as she
was a med iu m, and while he did not believe that
these were actual communications from thedead, o r actual memor ies, or actual interp lanet-
ary tr ansmissio n of i ntelli g ence, he w as frank
eno u g h to say that so me of the phenomena he
cou ld not explain, on his theor y o r any other .
His theor y was a d r amatizatio n by the su bco n-
sciou s of the medi um ; that is, the very fact of
her d evel o pm in g med i u m ship w a s a su g gest i on
to her subconsciou s to bri ng fo rth communica-
tions, and so fo rth .
As to these communicatio ns, there is at least
one to w hich I direct especial attention . It w as
from two Frenchmen, one of whom had been a
magistr ate in o ne of the smaller pr o vinces in
France to which province the medium, Made-
moi selle Smith, so- called, had never g o ne, nor
had Mr. Flou r noy, nor anybo d y co nnected w iththe gr o u p . These co mmunicator s, w hile they
w er e know n locally, w er e not know n beyond the
pro vince . One of them gav e his name, and said
he had been a magistr ate o r some minor o fficial
of similar du ties in that pro vince . He o ffered
other facts w hich were afterw ard s verified . Acommunication fr om a fr iend of his bor e this
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 7 3
o ut and the id entity of this fr iend was also veri -
f i e d . Mr. Flou rno y, very fr ankly, after g iving
this accou nt, said he cou ld not explain i t .
As to the memor ies, this Mademoi selle Smith,
in her pr evio u s incarnatio n, claimed to have
been Marie Antoinette and not only did she
assu me the char acter and show ed so me o f the
manner isms, so far as cou ld be di scovered, of
the character, but knew people Mari e Antoi nette
had unquestionably known . Back o f that she
went to another incarnation i n Indi a . She wasthe wife of a certain small r eig ning p ri nce in o ne
of the Hindu pr ovinces, and there was a verifica-
tion of that also . This place w as finally fo u nd
after months of searching . The language was
similar and the incidents, so far as they can be
deter mined , had o ccur r ed very much as she re-
membered them or clai med to have r emember ed
them.Concerning her communications from theplanet Mars- this boo k is called From Indi a to
the Planet Mars, there is no way in whichscience or any o rd inary human investigation can
ver i f y o r r ef ute s uch c omm un icat i on s, s o we
shall have to leave them ou t of o u r account .
The second w itness I am go ing to call is also
adverse, and that is Thomson J . Hud son, o ne o f
the best known psycholo gical wr iters of America .
P r o f . Hu d son w r o te a bo o k in w hich he advanced
the gr ou nds o n w hich he believed in immor tali-
ty . First, he .di scovered the pow ers of the sub-
conscio u s mind, and w ro te several bo oks o n that
subject, among w hich his best known is The Law
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17 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLEo f Psychic Phenomena . He d isc o vere d p o we rs
in the subconscio us mind, su ch as perfect memo-
r y and perfect dedu ctive reasoning. We do notd e pen d o n o u r s u bco n s c i o u s m em o r y - n o t o f t en
-i n common everyd ay affairs ; w e d o no t need
to do so .
No w , he said , there is never a faculty o r an
o r g an develo ped that d o es not have some use,
either past, present, or pr ospective, and that if
there is a perf ect memor y in the subconscio u s-
w hich is not do u bted no w by any psycho lo g ist-
that perfect memor y must have some u se no w , o r
after a while. He cou ld not d iscover any such
use for it in this life, and that to him was pr oo f
that there mu st be ano ther li fe in w hich that
perfect memory-that perfect subconsciou s
memor y-w ill be of u tility .
He also believed thor o u ghly in telepathy. Hewas a scientist and to ok a rig id scientific atti-
tud e, and o ne o f the thing s he laid d ow n as a
pr imary pr inciple of science is that w e shoul d
never seek to expl ain a thing by remo te o r u n-
known causes when it could be explained by
r easons better kno w n-r easo ns that are simpl e .
In other wo rd s, we shou ld no t attempt to explain
pheno mena by commu nicatio ns or by the activi -
t ies of an o ther an d u n kn o w n w o r l d w hen they
mig ht be explai ned by the activi ties of this w o r ld
which is know n . Hu dson, as I say, believed in
telepathy . He gave vario us reasons for that be-
l i e f . He said that ju st as ther e must be a use
somewher e for the perfect memor y o f the sub-
conscio u s, so there must be a use for the pow er
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 7 5
to communicate wi tho ut physical means of co m-
m un icat i on . That is w hat telepathy amou nts to .
We d o not need telepathy in this life. We cantalk, write, make sig ns or , in these days, we can
telegraph, use the radio-we have abundantmeans of commu nicatio n withou t resor t to this
r ather o bscur e and u ncer tain metho d know n as
telepathy . Therefo r e, r easons Dr . Hud son, the
existence of telepathy sho w s that somew her e
there is a purp ose for it or it wo uld not have
been develo ped i n the or g anism ; and since there
is no u se in this life for it-no practical pur pose
-it must be used i n another life .Dr. Hud son, how ever, r ejected ou trig ht occultpsychic phenomena o r inter- commu nication be-
tween the dead and the living . Now, he left what
seems to me a w id e g ap in his reasoning , and I
want to po int that ou t . I have never seen it
poi nted ou t befor e . Therefo re, it seems neces-
sary and entirely ju stified to show exactly what
this gap is. Dr. Hu d so n said that he had r eadall about Spiritualism in his day-that was
pr obably fifty years ago - that he had r ead abou t
psychic pheno mena, and he was no t co nvinced
by the facts brought to his notice of any genuine
co mmuni catio n between the d ead and the li ving .
Yet he believed in immor tality, and believed in
it for the reasons I have cited, among others . He
also believed - and this was a necessary par t of
his whole theory, that telepathy is the method of
commu nicatio n between di scarnate entities- be-
tw een one d iscar nate entity and another . If
this is a faculty of o ur subconsciou s minds, like
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1 78 INVADING THE INVISIBLEI think I sho ul d say in this co nnection that
one of the ways in which the skeptics have tried
to co mbat the theo r y of co mmuni catio n between
the dead and the living is to say that it is all
due to telepathy between the living, a po wer that
most of the do ubters never admitted at all until
d r iven to the necessity o f so me alternative by
the overw helming evidence piled u p in favor of
the commu nicatio n theo r y . If they wo uld in -
clu de telepathy between the dead and the living,
they w o u ld have a better case . Bu t ther e are
many pheno mena that telepathy between the li v-
ing alone will not explain . There ar e instances
cited by Rev . Mino t J . Savag e, another celeb-
r ated Amer ican, w ho became co nvinced by his
o w n researches along this li ne . Prof. Hyslo p
g ives a number o f cases that cou ld not be ex-
plai ned by telepathy, wher e no li ving perso n
pr esent knew o f the facts and in some instances
w her e no p erso n livi ng anywhere knew o f them .
I cannot remember all o f these incidents offhand
and I wo ul d not w eary the reader wi th them if I
cou ld - I am cover ing the g eneral subject .
May I also say that no less a man than Luther
Bu r bank, the plant wi zard , w as a believer in
telepathy and p ublished his experiences in this
connection bro a dcast in magazines and news-
papers thro u g hou t the cou ntry . He said the
members o f his family d epend ed o n this metho d
habitu ally to commu nicate w hen o ther means
w ere not avail able or even w hen they w ere and
that they had so tr ained themselves in this
method that they got sur e results .
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 7 9
Retur nin g to o u r i mmed iate subject of psy-
chical research : There are also a few o bjections
to the theor y of co mmunication between the dead
and the living that I think shou ld be mentioned .
In a s o cia l cl ub o ne d a y we ha d as a g u est,
Ho u di ni, and at that time he w as in a contro -
versy with the Spir itualists of the City of Wash-
ington . He was ful l o f his subject and o ffered
at this lu ncheo n, at which only the member s of
the C lu b w ere present, ten tho u sand d o llar s to
any psychical p henomenist, o r to anyo ne else
w ho w o u l d p r o d u ce a psychic phen omenon that
he cou ld not r epr od u ce by natur al means . Thato ffer, I u nder stand , has been repeated in so me
magazine by another man in Hou d ini' s same pr o -
fession, and i t was repeated by Hou di ni du ri ng
his lifetime on vari o us o ccasions . Now, such athing as that is rather staggering to the average
beli ever in p sychic pheno mena . It w as to me .
After I had had time to think it o ver, how ever,
and had co nsidered the remar kable things Ho u-
di ni had accomplished, I cou ld understand how
no o ne wo uld ri sk ten thou sand d ollars against
his r epr o d ucin g anything of any kin d i n that
spher e o r any o ther . Some of Hou di ni's feats
have never yet been expl ained, and fo r a mere
layman to g o "u p against" these things requir es
mo r e temer ity than the averag e layman po s-
sesses .
There are certain other consid eratio ns-e r -
tain other o bjections- that I think we sho ul d
take into consideratio n also . One is that mo st
o f these communications have slight valu e. They
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1 8 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEare such as people on earth could not only repro-
duce, but in most cases in better for m, with mor e
evidences of a cultur al backgr ou nd, and o f mor e
innate wo rth . Yet we have to admit this : Manyo f them are ju st such co mmunications as w e
wo uld get fro m our fri ends as contacted in
every-d ay life, and o n the theor y that peop le
o ver there are like peop le here, perhaps the char-
acter of these communicatio ns in many instances
is mor e convincing than wo u ld be mor e poli shed
and better for mulated messages that wo ul d show
the result of midnig ht oil and of careful pr epara-
tion . I mentio n these o bjectio ns to g et the
whole subject before us .
Now , I am go in g to refer to one other co n -
sid eratio n that to me is fund amental . Whilether e have been cr o ss- r efer ences ; while there
have been evid ences o f id entity that w ere con-
vincing , and these in numberless instances, there
is so mething abou t the whol e su bject that im-
pr esses every investigator wi thout exceptio n, so
far as I have r ead and so far as I know in my
o wn experience, and that one facto r is the only
d o u btfu l thing i n my ow n mind at the pr esent
time . I cannot explain i t in any w ay except
this, that after death people are in a mor e sub-
jective state than they ar e here . That is o ne
conclusion . I !am deser tin g now the realm o f
fact for the realm of hypothesis ; I am trying to
explain this elusive factor. In connection w ith
it attention i s d ir ected to the later testimony
o f C o l . DeRochas and others regarding the"gaps" between the lives of hypnotized su bjects .
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18 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLEwould not o nly live over the life he remembered,
but d o u btless var y it i n the ways that might
have been. He cou ld thu s wo r k over the mate-
rials left by the last earth life and extract fr om
them all their po ssible lessons and essence of
wi sdo m, which cou ld thu s be taken into the
thought textur e of the sou l as an immor tal herit-
ag e .
Another view I find shared by most investiga-
tors is that the subconsciou sness of the mediu m,
to some extent, go verns the co mmunicatio n. Inother words, we can get a communicationthro ug h an or ganism only such as it is p repared
to transmit . We are her e dealing, not w ith a
mer e mechanism, bu t w ith a thinki n g perso n,
u sing l angu age and co ncepts o n a cer tain level
of conscio usness . Obviously, we cannot getthrough such an organism, through such atho u g ht content, messages that very much tr an-
scend it .*
To return to ou r evidences : We co me next to
o ne o f the most r emarkable do cuments o n this
subject I have ever r ead . It is fr o m the pen ofWilliam T. Stead and is entitled, How I KnowThat the Dead Return . Mr. Stead, himself,was an automatic wr iter, and most o f his mess-
ages came through his own hand-not all ofthem. He g iv es here many instances of co mmu -
• By the very fact of co mmunicating, the communicator experiences apsychic di stur bance ; a fact which has been specially noted by Englishand American investigator s . In borrowing substance from the medium,the being takes on li mitations as it d oes at birth by taking o n a bod y
of the substance of his mother. By the fact of communication on thematerial plane he underg oes a kind o f relative and momentary r eincarna-
tion ; accompanied, as in nor mal reincarnation, by oblivion of his real
situation and by the suppr ession of the gr eater part o f his conscious ac-
quisitions. From the Unco nsci ou s to the C onsci ou s.-Geley .
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 8 3
nicatio n both from the living and the dead . The
communications fro m the living w er e verifiable .
In many instances the living subject was not con-
sciou s of the communication, and yet it related
to events in his o r her life that pr oved tru e . One
instance he gives of an especially intimate char-
acter . It w a s of a la dy wh o w a s on a ra il wa y
jo u rney in which she was subject to insu lt . She
decided to tell no bod y abou t it, but Mr . Stead
go t the whole story i n an au tomatic communica-
tion fro m this lady, g iving incidents, every o ne
of w hich w as veri fied w ith one trifl ing exceptio n .
She said she bro ke the man's u mbrella o ver his
head , and i t tur ned ou t to be her o wn u mbr ella .
With that one vari atio n, the cir cumstances were
veri fied in absolu te detail . He g ives o ther cases .
I mention this because it do vetails so perfectly
into this theor y of Thomson J . Hud son, of which
I have already spo ken this telepathic co mmuni-
cation betw een the living and the living - the
subconscio us minds o f these living p er sons and
the su bco nsciou s mind o f Mr . Stead w ho w ro te
it ou t withou t any conscious direction of his own
hand in do in g so . I w ant to get the scientific
sid e of this befo re us .
I n the same w ay, Stead r eceived co mmuni ca-
tio ns fro m the dead, o ne of which I r efer to in
detail. He had heard of spir it photo gr aphy, in
which he conceded there are all so rts o f o ppo r-
tunities for fraud . These are the cou nterfeits,
but he beli eved there are also so me genui ne cases .
One spi r it ph ot o g r a pher, w a s an o l d man w ho
w as almo st in p o verty because he had this me-
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1 84 INVADING THE INVISIBLEd i u m ist ic p o we r and l e t it interfere with his
business and yet wou ld not tur n it to commer-
cial accou nt . Mr. Stead so u g ht ou t this pho-
tog rapher w ho said there was a very fierce-l oo k-
ing man, a beard ed man, w ho had come into the
stud io the day befor e brandi shing a gu n, until
the medium cried, "I don't want you around
here ; I do n't like gu ns." The appar iti on there-
u po n departed, but w hen Mr . Stead came in the
photographer said, "There is that same man
again, but he has not the gun this time ; he came
in with you ." Mr. Stead sat for his photo g raphand w hen the neg ative was d evelo ped, there was
this beard ed war ri or standing by his sid e, a man
he had never befo re seen. Stead sai d , "Ask him
his name . " The photographer did this inthou g ht, and the answer came "Piet Bo tha ." Mr .
Stead, w ho had kno w n vari o u s men by the name
o f Botha, had never heard o f Piet Botha . Hehad so me questio n abo ut the matter but kept the
photog raph, and fo r some years had no verifi-
catio n . Finally some Bo er p eo ple fro m So u th
Africa came to London and Mr. Stead show edone of them his photo g r aph . The man almostju mped o ut o f his seat . He said , "Where di d
you get that? I did not know you knew PietBotha." Mr. Stead said he di d not know him,
and told how this incident occur red . The man was
skeptical ; he wanted the real accou nt of it . Mr .
Stead to ld him that was the real accou nt . This
man departed in so me anger, but he referr ed the
matter to o thers o f his gr ou p w ho verifi ed the
occur rence in every particular . This was a pie-
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 8 5
tr u e of Pi et Bo tha that they had kno w n . Hewas one of the first commanders o f the Boers and
fell i n the Battle of Kimber ly ; his name w as
Pietru s Jo hannes Botha ; this was a pictur e of
him, but u n like any kn o wn p hot o g r a ph .
As a thir d instance, Mr . Stead had a steno g -
r apher o r secretary to, w hom he r efer r ed asE.M., and w ho was so p ecu lia r he thou g ht o fdi smissing her . Hi s w el l - k no w n c o r r e s p o n d e nt
fro m the other side was a wo man he called Julia,
and it happened that Julia was a friend ofE.M . She u sed Stead' s hand to w r ite "Do not
di scharg e E .M . ; she means well , and she wi ll
o nly be with you a year ; she is coming over
her e." Under the cir cu mstances, Mr . Stead r e-
tained her . Every few d ays Juli a wo ul d repeat,
in o ther co mmunicatio ns, "Please remember thatE.M. is coming over this year ." It happened inthe summer that E.M . had a very serio us acci-dent, and Stead thought this a fulfillment of the
pr o phecy, but Juli a wr o te, "No, she is not co m-
ing now. " E.M. r ecovered to the sur pr ise ofever yo ne, and several mo nths passed . The year
was almost up when E.M. fell i ll w ith pneumo -nia and Stead ag ain thought this the fulfillment
ment of pr op hecy, but once mo re Julia tol d him,
"No, she is coming not fr o m illness." Withintwo days of the end of the year, E.M . , i n a d e l i -
ri um, threw herself ou t of the wi n do w o f the
hospi tal and w as kill ed instantly . No w , this
do es not g o o n Mr . Stead's word alone . He called
the attentio n of his other secretari es to these
pr o phecies as they were mad e thr o u g h his hand ,
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 1 8 7
came to Minerva." I pr otested that the message was ab-
surd . My hand persi sted and said that her fr iend w ou l d
und erstand it I felt so chagr ined at the absur di ty of the
message that for a long time I refused to d eliver it. Whenat last I di d so her fr iend exclaimed, "Did she actually
wr ite that? Then it was Ju lia herself, and no mistake . "
"How ," I asked, bewildered, "cou ld you come to Minerva?"
"Oh," she rep l ied, " o f c o u r se, yo u d o n ' t kn o w anythin g
abou t that. Juli a shor tly befo re her d eath had besto wed
the pet name of Minerva u p o n Miss Willard , the fou nderof the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and hadgi ven her a bro och w ith a cameo o f Minerv a . She never
afterw ard s called her anything but Minerva, and the mes-
sage which she wro te wi th you r hand w as substantially the
same that she gave to me on the last time w hen Minerva
and I came to bid her g oo d- by on her d eathbed . "
Her e again ther e was a slig ht mistake . Minerva hadcome to her instead o f Julia g oing to Minerva, but o ther-
wi se the message was co rr ect .
Mr . Stea d says he then p r o p o sed t o t ry f o r
mo re messages, and asked Julia, as another test
of her id entity, if she cou ld use his hand to call
to her fr iend 's memor y some incid ent in their
m utu al li ves o f w hich he knew no thing . Hereis his accou nt
My hand wrote : "Ask her i f she can remember w hen w ewere going home together when she fell and hurt herspine ." "That fills the bill," I remarked, as I read o ut the
message, "for I never knew that you had met with such an
accident ." Loo king acro ss the table, I saw that my friend
was utterl y bewil dered . "But, Julia," she objected, "I never
hurt my spi ne in my life ." "There," said I , add r essing
my hand r epro achful ly, "a nice mess you have made of it .
I o nly asked you for one ou t of th thousand little incidents
you both must have been thro ug h together , and yo u have
go ne and wr itten what never happened . "
Impertu rbably, my hand w ro te, "I am quite rig ht ; she
has for go tten ." "Anybod y can say that," I r etor ted ; "can
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188 INVADING THE INVISIBLEyou bring it back to her memor y?" "Yes," w as the reply .
"Go ahead," I answered ; " when was it?" Answer : "Seven
years ago ." Where was i t?" "At Streator , in Illino is . "
"How di d it happen?" "She and I w ere going home from
the office one Satur day afternoo n . There was snow on the
gro un d . When we came opposite Mrs. Buell' s hou se sheslipp ed o n the cu rbstone and fell and hur t her back . "
When I r ead these messages alo u d her fr iend exclaimed,
"Oh, that's what you mean, Jul ia . I remember that qu ite
well . I w as in bed for two or three days with a bad back ;
but I never knew it was my spine that was hurt."
These are little things, but such as happen be-
tween people in li fe as w e kno w it . Mr. Steadsays he never w ou ld pu blish any of this until
some member o f his ow n family had p assed o ver .
When his son d ied, w hom he had trai ned to take
his place in the wor ld and take up his w o r k,
o ne w ho w as closer to him per haps than son and
father usually are-when this son died, Mr .
Stead w o u ld not tr u st his o w n hand because he
thou ght too much of his own personality wo uld
enter into the messages, bu t thro u g h other s he
go t communications so characteristic of the boy,
so evidential in minor details, that he wrote
After this I can dou bt no mor e . For me the pr oblem is
solved, the tru th is established, and I am glad to have this
opp or tunity of testifying publicly to all the wor ld that, so
far as I am concerned , no d o ubt on this subject is hence-
for th impossible .
I can only echo w hat Mr . Stead has said, that
to any o pen-min d ed man who stud ies this su b-
ject really and honestly, do ubt will become im-
po ssible . I have already mentio ned that when
I entered this stud y I was pr ejud iced against
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19 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLEis the wi nning factor in life? Again it is per-
sonality . One of the Hindoos that StanleyJones encou ntered i n his missionary w o rk said ,
in effect, "I have no u se fo r the C hristi an
C hur ch, bu t there is something w inso me abo u t
Jesu s that dr a ws me to him ." Now, winsome-ness is a mark o f personality .
Per sonality is the hig hest pro du ct of evolu -
tio n-the flo w er on the tree o f life. I am notnow speaking of you r particu lar personality, ormine. I a m r e f er r i n g t o thi s thi n g th r o u g h
which spir it manifests itself in all o f its di ffer-
entiations and all o f its infinity of forms . Is the
universe to travail throu gh eons of time, to d e-
velop thro u gh the evol u tio nary pr o cesses ever
higher fo rms of life, finally culminating in man,
o nly to annihilate them? Is su ch a tho u g ht ra-
tio nal? Fu r thermor e, I d o no t believe Mr . Hal-
d ane or others who talk in his vein have really
thou ght this thing o ut . What i s my i d entity?
Is it n o t my hist o r y, my mem o r y? I wa s bo r n
in a certain p lace that I have been tol d abo u t .
I w as reared i n certain surr ou ndings, wi th cer-
tain parents, certain members o f a family ; w ent
thr ou gh certain schoo ls ; had certain affairs of
the heart and exper iences that were peculi ar tome. Now, thro u gh all these memor ies, I id entifymyself as myself . That constitutes my con-sciousness ; that and the other id entifying aw are-
ness-i f I may use the w o r d - that I have in my
conscio u sness. Mr. Haldane impl ies, and cer -tain other author s have said expr essly, "It may
be that all o f these memo r ies go into a com-
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 191
mon storehouse." My answer is that any com-
mon storehouse that receives my experiences, my
memory, all these identifying marks of my in-
dividuality, becomes one with me, is identical
with me, and is myself.
What is God? Is he not in all things and all
things in Him? Does not His universe partake
of His nature? Is man, the highest product
and, so far as we know, the only rational crea-
ture in this universe, excluded from such par-
ticipation? Are we not taught in all religions
and all philosophies worthy the name that God
is in us? Yet, says Mr. Haldane, God is im-
mortal. Then is not the God in us immortal?
It may be that only the Godlike of us lives on,
or that we are immortal in the degree that we
are Godlike; but to place personality beyond
the divine pale would seem to involve a very
distorted and peculiar view of what personality
is. Perhaps Mr. Haldane objects: to the wordand would prefer, with some others, the term
individuality. But, whatever we call it, there
is a core of reality in man, and this core of reali-
ty belongs to God and is necessarily eternal.
Now, in conclusion : Immortality is proved by
two considerations; first, continuity. That isfound everywhere in nature. We may not seeit, but that is because of a defect in our senses
.
Continuity is discernible; there is no break .
Everything proceeds out of something else. Iam a fact. Shakespeare is a fact, or Plato, or
Jesus. They were facts before me. If they are
facts, they are facts before birth and facts after
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192 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
death, because the continuity cannot be broken.
Not only so, they were very conspicuous and
tremendous facts in the intelligible universe,
and the intelligible universe is quite as real as
the phenomenal universe, perhaps more so, for
it partakes more of the divine nature.
That is the first convincing proof of immor-
tality The second is conservation . As far as
we can discover in the physical universe, there
is perfect conservation. That is reasonable be-
cause nothing can disappear. There is nowhere
for it to go. It cannot get out of the universe.
That is a closed system. The universe itself is
all of it, all the time. Therefore, there can be
no real loss. Nothing can get out of this closed
system It is all there; it was all there from
eternity. It must be so in the nature of things
Now, experience is a thing It is the highest
thing in the human world and, so far as we
know, the highest thing in any world. Likepersonality, it is a flower on the tree of evolu-
tion.* Science believes in the conservation of
energy. It cannot prove that because it could
only be proved empirically, that is, it could only
be proved through examining all the energy in
the universe, and that is impossible. But it is
reasonable, and it works well. The theory of the
conservation of energy has been very fruitful in
the scientific world. It has never failed. It has
enabled science to find more facts and, therefore,
it is used and held true. Very well; I believe
* Mr . F. H Bradley concludes that the universe as we know itconsists of experience.
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PSYCHICAL RESEARCH 19 3
in the conservation of experience. I cannot
prove it, but it is reasonable and works well. The
only way there can be conservation of experience
is through personal immortality. If you say I
transmit my experience through books or
through talks, newspapers, or conversation, I
say I transmit only a very small fractionof it in that way If you say I transmitit through my children, the answer is, Itransmit only a very small fraction in that
way also, and that, indirectly and not conscious-
ly. Even if I have transmited all of it in that
and other ways, however, science teaches that
some day the world becomes uninhabitable ; it
freezes up; it becomes too cold to sustain life ;
therefore, it becomes a dead world as the Moon
is now and as Mars is on the way to becoming .
Very well, then; if I transmit all my experience,
it is only for a brief time ; finally it dies out and
all is lost. Such a thing is unthinkable.
Intellect is proving what intuition always
knew-man's immortalityThis brings us to the final, or pragmatic, argu-
ment. A belief in immortality is inferentiallyand morally proved valid because it is best for
man. That is again inferentially proved by thefact that most men hold it. Conversely anyone
who seeks to undermine it, through mere pride
of intellect, is an enemy of truth and good, as
well as of human happiness
Those materialists and atheists who interfere
with the natural faith and hope of the young in
our colleges are insofar anti-social and enemies
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194 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
of man. They adulterate and infect the humanmind with the negative elements of doubt and
despair. After all Reality consists of experience
and of human values and these exist only in a
person. Hereafter Philosophy must occupy this
high ground of Humanism in an effort to con-
serve experience and values. There is a will to
believe as William James discovered . He whodisturbs and defeats this will is to that extent an
enemy of God and Man, and he does it all for
a negative purpose. In other words he is doing
the devil's work of destroying hopes and ideals,
especially in the young The occultists tell us
that the forces of darkness thus endeavor to con-
found and confuse human ideas and progress .
And we are told on a better and higher authority
that it were better for him who thus offends that
a millstone were tied about his neck and he were
sunk in the midst of the sea .
For the good of man we must hold aloft the
banner of God and Immortality.
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CHAPTER XMETAPSYCHICS
The study of psychic phenomena is becoming
a special science, or, to be more exact, a group
of special sciences. These have to do with the
inner forces of man, the powers of the soul itself.
They include clairvoyance, clairaudience, tele-
pathy, psychometry, the creation of thought
forms in ectoplasm, materialization, soul memo-
ry of past lives, communion with the dead, etc .
In Paris there is already in existence an Inter-
national Metapsychic Institute devoted to the
study of these and kindred subjects It was
founded by such well-known scientists as the late
Dr. Gustave Geley ,and Prof. Charles Richet andcounts among its supporters other scientists
equally celebrated, members- of the nobility and
some of the most noted men in France. It has
now devoted many years to the investigation of
clairvoyance, materialization, psychometry and
especially the creation of living organisms and
other thought forms out of ectoplasm. These
researches have been carried on in truly scientific
spirit, carefully safeguarded, and whenever pos-
sible, the materializations and ectoplastic formshave been photographed. Similar work has been
done in Warsaw and also in Germany by VonSchrenck-Notzing and others . Several large
195
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19 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
books giving the records of these experiments
have already been published in French and Ger-
man and some of them have been translated into
English.
It is impossible longer to ignore these activi-
ties . They are being carried on all over the
world. They indicate that mankind is on the
borderland of a new knowledge. They consti-
tute one more approach to the spiritual universe,
which we have already been nearing through the
new physics and relativity. In past ages men
have depended on religion, and faith, on poetry
and indealistic philosophy to tell them about
the things of the spirit. Now these surmises and
dreams are to be placed on a more secure basis.
The things of the soul are to be as definitely
known as the objective world of matter and of
sense-reactions
There are certain other facts that have been
developed along a slightly different line. I have
already referred to memory of other lives. Mae-terlinck writes of investigations carried on by
Col. A. DeRochas. Among other things, ColDeRochas hypnotized several people, and one of
his experiments was to carry back the subject
to his past life, to the memory of details . In
this way he carried one subject back to infancy,
but did not stop there, and the things remem-
bered antedated even his objective memory. Most
people do not remember objectively until two or
three years of age, but these memories went back
into babyhood, and back of that. Then, there was
a gap . I call especial attention to this : There
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METAPSYCHICS 1 9 7
was a gap, and then the subject awakened in a
new incarnation and spoke, in one case, the same
language, but it was a different personality of,
say, a century or more before . It went back
through that life, after which there was another
gap, and the subject went back through a third
life. Col. DeRochas did this, not only with one
subject, but with at least two, and I think more.
Maeterlinck, as I remember, gives two or three.
They were duplicated by experiments carried on
in this country. These were in New York, and
I believe have been published . I have heard
something like them, but I heard of these as a
result of a private conversation with an army
officer, somewhat well-known, who participated.
Again, through hypnotism the same thing was
done, as by Col. DeRochas. In the instance here
mentioned, a man bridged the gap to another life
and awakened, speaking a different language-
speaking French. He was a soldier in Napoleon's
army and had been killed in a certain action .
He especially mentioned a lieutenant of his com-
pany and the incident of this lieutenant's death .
He described the scene ; he described the build-
ings; he gave the lieutenant's name, as I recall,
and other incidents, which were afterwards veri-
fied in detail. Now, I mention these cases be-
cause they have a bearing on the subject of re-
incarnation. That is not, perhaps, in the or-
dinary acceptation of the term, a branch of psy-
chic phenomena, but it has a relation thereto .
I have given three instances, and these were all
developed by scientific investigation. First, that
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METAPSYCHICS 1 9 9
in continuity of consciousness beyond the grave .
In other words, we carry our identity over. Not
only so, but most of us believe that the state
after death is more desirable than the one here .
We call it heaven, and the very connotation of
that term, heaven or paradise, means everything
that the soul can desire, as a recompense for all
we have suffered or lost or sorrowed over here.
Now, I want the reader to follow me : Rebirthmeans, therefore, another death with a loss of
continuity or identity, and a passage into a less
desirable state. That would be infinitely worse
than death ! Let us be honest; think it out ;
face it; image it. We can only get truth by
facing all facts
There is one other difficulty about this doc-
trine of reincarnation, and this is a sociological
reflection. I point it out in the introduction. Abelief in reincarnation, like ancestor worship,
turns men's faces to the past, the result of which
is a static civilization. As a proof of that, con-
sider the Orient . Under ancestor worship,China has stood still for five thousand years ;
India has done practically the same thing. Theprogress of the world has taken place in the Oc-
cidental nations . China and India were flour-
ishing civilizations when Europe was populated
by savages, yet today the civilization of Europe
has gone far in science and philosophy, in art, in
literature, in discovery, in invention, in socio-
logical and scientific progress. In two thousand
years the Occidental nations have progressed
more than the Orient has done in ten thousand
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200 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
years "Better fifty years of Europe than a
cycle of Cathay."
I only mention these things to get all the facts
before us. I am sympathetic with the idea of
reincarnation; it appeals to me in many ways
and yet, in a philosophical study of this or any
other subject we must have no pre-conceptions,
no prejudices, but must seek only for truth.
That is the spirit in which this whole study is
being made .
If reincarnation is true and we do return to
earth in other bodies, then it must be that we
are: unconscious of our past lives for practical
reasons; that memory would distract our minds
and interfere with the purposes of our being
here; that such memory, when it comes, is in a
way a gift of God and a divine awakening ; and
that in consequence there should be no attempt
to force it before its time.
There is one more obstacle in our way, as sin-
cere truth seekers, in this whole idea. It grows
out of the fact that most of those who claim to re-
member past lives, are seemingly only content
to identify themselves with illustrious people.
That might not be surprising, for fame is a re-
ward of service and only those who have greatly
served, we might say, would have gained im-
mortal memory. Yet there is a further difficulty
Many of those who claim to remember, think
themselves the same person. Very many, forexample, think themselves Napoleon . This is
evidently illusion in which both the ego and sub-
conscious are involved .
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METAPSYCHICS 2 0 1
Swedenborg says somewhere that he beheld
spirits of the great giving off emanations of
themselves which were later incarnated in the
new-born on earth. At least, that is my memory
of the passage, although it has been years since
I read it and I am not now in position to verify
the reference. This idea might be regarded as at
least plausible for four reasons : First, these
emanations would be like those the older reli-gions suppose God to give out ; second, they
would be analogous to the influences radiating
from the lives of great men on earth ; third, they
would correspond to earthly parentage, which
may involve a number of offspring; and fourth,
they would account for these folk who think they
remember themselves to have been the same fa-
mous personage. Swedenborg's idea, as far as I
remember it, is that each of these emanations is
in a way a reincarnation and yet, after the na-
ture of emanations, does not diminish the soul
from whom it proceeds, who remains with his
complete identity in the other world .
This does not necessarily represent thewriter's view which will be developed later, but
it does indicate something of the difficulties sur-
rounding this entire subject ; and, also suggests
the practical wisdom of the Christian, Moham-
medan and Hebrew religions in leaving out this
factor, at least until the final "unrolling of the
scrolls" when the divine mystery is made plain .
The consideration in favor of reincarnation
are that it coincides with the rythmical move-
ment we behold throughout nature; that it fur-
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2 02 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
nishes a logical and understandable scheme for
immortality; that it is based on essential jus-
tice ; that it accounts for seeming inequalities,
as well as for great souls; and that it har-
monizes with what many regard as their own
soul memories.
Here is another consideration. The supposed
memories of these hypnotized subjects of Col .
DeRochas and the New York group, as well as
those of "Mademoiselle Smith" would indicate
that the length of the period between death and
birth is about equal to that between birth and
death, which is what we should expect in a regu-
lar rhythmic movement, and would correspond
to the rhythms of nature such as winter and
summer, sleep and waking, etc. The subjective
state would also dull the terrors of rebirth, if it
did not blot them out altogether, rendering the
transition more or less unconscious and auto-
matic. As to the Theosophical belief in a period
of fifteen hundred years between lives, this idea
is now generally abandoned, one reason being
that it does not represent a true rhythm. Inas-
much as the time value is utterly changed in a
subjective state, the discarnate period might
seem relatively much longer . Some such hy-pothesis would seem necessary to account for all
the facts.
One: evening in Florida I submitted the ques-tion of reincarnation to an automatic writer
with a result that was somewhat startling. Theviews not only differed from those of all pres-
ent, but in some particulars, from any I have
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METAPSYCHICS 203
ever read. This is the answer that camethrough :
The truth is that you of that plane are not expected to
know too much for your own good; but that, if you would
know, then the following extract from the local conven-
tion can be given to you
"Life is continuous and is ever changing ; but to let a
small (word marked out and illegible) agreement into
your lives we can say that to live is a privilege to some
but only to some is this granted. You are fortunately
favored for a definite purpose but to suppose that all souls
reincarnate is merely supposition and has no real basis
in fact. Let those who are ready for this take heed for
small groups of men and women come often to the earth
for a certain definite purpose, and to this end few are
granted the privilege. So you see that a greater lifeawaits the soul that is sufficiently aroused on other planes
of being than the torturous one of earth."
Give this message if you wish to quote us, but remem-ber that we, too, are seeking a definite rule for all life
and we, too, are seeking to reincarnate in this manner .
Life is a small beginning for the soul. The birth, you
might say, for it is in growth, that it gains strength on
other planes. The promise of rebirth is denied to those
who are not serving God in some way, but life is always
continuing, never fear for that
If we give the above credence, it would indi-
cate that those on the other side of life know
little more about reincarnation than we do here .
It would also suggest a possible and rather in-
teresting explanation Suppose that the view
of the Theosophists is right, that in the great
majority of cases the period between births is
very long, as long as fifteen hundred years. Inthat event it is altogether possible that entities
on the other side, at least those recently dead,
would know nothing about it. But suppose fur-
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20 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
ther that a smaller group reincarnated muchmore frequently for a special work. There might
be knowledge of these especially if, as in this
case, there was actual contact with one of such
special group, who was making inquiry andthus calling attention to the subject. Some suchpossible interpretation is indicated by the state-
ment in the supposed communicaiton : "You are
fortunately favored for a definite purpose," etc.
All of this is more or less conjecture. Personal-
ly, I am only sure of one thing : That the indivi-
dual does not begin with birth any more than
he ends with death.
As to the other branches of metapsychicscience, the mass of data has grown too great to
be disregarded. There are now records of clair-
voyance that are so circumstantial and well-au-
thenticated as to be convincing even to the most
sceptical. There is something in some men and
women analogous to radio-receptivity that en-
ables them to see and hear at a distance. Whilethere may be only a comparatively few mediums
gifted with "second sight" in these the faculty
is so clearly and definitely proved that science
must take note of it. When we come to analyze
this faculty, the possession of it in people of
sensitive organization is not so surprising as it
would at first appear. If every sight and sound
has its effects, even though infinitesimal, regard-
less of distance, what is to prevent a sufficiently
sensitive organism from selecting out and ampli-
fying these minute disturbances or vibrations in
the ether exactly as is done by radio? Especial-
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METAPSYCHICS 20 5
ly would this appear possible, if kindred interest
or thought sharpened and heightened the perci-
pient's receptivity. At any rate, the fact is sure,
whatever the explanation may be . Science is
only invading the invisible universe a step or
two further to bring these added phenomena to
light.
The same is true of psychometry . What isthis but a finer and higher kind of photography?
Not only has the Metapsychic Institute estab-
lished cases of unquestioned psychometric abi-
lity, but the American Geologist, Prof. WmDenton, Dr. Joseph Rodes Buchanan and many
others had previously brought to light evidences
of this supernormal faculty in some people. If
a specially sensitize film may take a record and
hold it indefinitely, why may not other forms
of matter? And if the eye may behold these
records when developed into photographs why
may not some finer sense detect them without
this objective picturing? It has long been a
matter of common belief that a record of events
is impressed on the surroundings, that every
room carries a history and that even handker-
chiefs and other inanimate objects bear the aro-
ma of their possessors and all that is needed is
a higher degree of sensitivity to detect these.
If a dog may follow a faint scent for long dis-
tances, why may not a deeper and finer soul
sense discern even more intangible clues and
traces? These things are not new. They havebeen known for ages. Now they are only being
systematized and verified .
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METAPSYCHICS 207
probable also that everything which comesthrough the medium originates with the medium
and with these psychic entities ; except telepathic
impressions If it is true that nearly all me-
diums are more or less neurotic and on the
verge of dissociation of personalities, so that
something akin to a secondary self dramatizes
the part of the so-called discarnate entity, that
in no way invalidates our theory as to telepathic
communication with our dead. The part of the
medium is simply to bring the message over from
the subconscious to the conscious.
The name metapsychic is fortunate in another
way. All these higher powers belong to the souland not to the organism. Again they are from
a realm above the psychic. In mental healing
we are learning more and more to depend not on
the brain-mind with which psychology has to
deal but on the Absolute that works through the
spirit. Here is also where clairvoyance, clair-
audience and the rest of these soul-powers origi-
nate. This is the realm of the super-conscious .
This is the higher mind, the better self, the
Christ in us. Here is to be found soul memory.
Here resides the man out of heaven .
One evening while playing solitaire, it occur-
red to me that the cards are only symbols and
that, when shuffled or in a state of chaos, they
represent nothingness. Chaos, caprice, change
all represent negativity or nothingness. Onlythought is reality. This introduces order and
meaning. From this I went by degrees into astate of ecstasy in the realization of Reality. I
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2 08 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
seemed to transcend time and space, to compre-
hend all time and space as one. My mind seemed
to merge into the Absolute. I thought I could
not continue to live as a man in that state so
gradually I again built up a barrier or differen-
tiation in my thought. But for those rare, ex-
alted moments I was veritably in the conscious-
ness of God and thinking God's thoughts. Andfor days thereafter I was unconsciously refer-
ring everything to the Absolute. I was looking
with more or less wonder on the fact that I was
this man in this place, was seeking to search
out the roots of all thought and to discover the
origin of self and of difference. Birth and death
were swallowed up and I was in a state of joy
unspeakable
After I had becolme familiar with this new
sense, I knew that it was with me for life and
that I could not live in any other consciousness.
Everything on which I looked became God . I
knew what Jesus meant when he said, "I and the
Father are one."
We are told that "He descended into Hell."
Hell is a condition of mind in which there is no
order or meaning in anything. It involves the
keenest agony conceivable to the mind of man
It is insupportable and yet must be supported
"He ascended into Heaven." Here He beheldeverything divinely in order and therefore every-
thing gave pleasure. "And God looked upon all .
that He had made and behold it was very good."
The lost word is the Absolute. So long as we
do not see everything in the light of the Abso-
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METAPSYCHICS 2 09
lute the meaning of the word is lost to us, and
the meaning is the word .
Many years ago I saw the universe as a seam-
less robe being woven in the loom of time. Everand ever it grew in everlasting unfoldment .
Years later one morning I awoke with the sense
of a new kind of motion. It was from within
outward, a motion of becoming, like an evolv-
ing or unfolding spiral. It came into manifesta-
tion, containing its own other in the form of
all possible variation and complexity .
There is a wonderful new book that I especial-
ly commend to all readers of Invading the In-
visible . It is The Projection of the Astral Body
by Sylvan J. Muldoon and Hereward Carrington,
London: Rider & Co., Paternoster House, E. C. ,
1929 . This covers a subject that may well be
added to our special psychic sciences which we
are considering under the general heading of
this chapter on Metapsychics and that should
certainly be included in the wonderflul new
Spiritual Science being given to the world. It
concerns the projection or exteriorization, of
the astral, or etheric, body, .and lays down meth-
ods by which this may be brought about. It is
entirely scientific, since Mr. Muldoon has been
using these very methods for very many years,
and through them has succeeded not only in ef-
fecting a multitude of such projections of his
own etheric double, but has been able to retain
complete consciousness in a great many in-
stances during the whole enchanting process .
By all means read this most remarkable book,
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METAPSYCHICS 211
other intermediate speeds down to that of or-
dinary walking, how it penetrates and passes
through all ordinary matter, how it slightly
contracts or expands the etheric body and levi-
tates it to any desired height, how this body is
covered by an aura from which thought cancreate any desired apparel, how it emits its own
light, how it communicates telepathically with
other entities and how it may see and hear,clairvoyantly or clairaudiently, at a distance .
He verifies the experiments of those who have
tested the weight of the etheric body and deter-
mines it to be about 21/4 ounces. He shows how
there may be obsessions and that many cases of
insanity are due to such. He verifies the teach-
ings of Jesus in another startling way. I quote
The phantom must learn to think correctly, for a man's
thoughts govern him. It is thought which sustains the
astral body! Do you think the astral phantom walks upon
the floor of a house because the floor holds him up? No!
Never that! He is independent of the floor; he does not
make contact with the floor at all. Yet he can walk upon
it. Why? Merely because his thoughts sustains him .
He has always walked upon floors in the physical, and,
through force of habit, thus learned in the physical-
habit rooted in the subconscious mind-he is sustained.
The habit of walking upon a floor permits a phantom todo that in the astral-holds him on the line of the floor
So, the desire to walk upon an upper floor could sustain the
phantom and allow him to do that. The subconsciousWill regulates the weight of the astral body, causing it to
rise, to fall, or to remain at any given elevation. Theconscious Will can do the very same thing also .
All this can never be explained by mortal mind-how
thought creates or makes "reality" in the astral world .
Imagine walking on the upper floor of a house, as if that
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212 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
floor sustained you, and yet not make contact with the
floor! You would naturally suppose this would be astrange sensation. But it is not. In fact, it is unnoticedby the phantom; but if one begins to think about it as I
have, many times-down through the floor one goes. Why?Merely because the projector thinks that the floor, not
making "contact" with him, cannot sustain him!
One goes along, unconsciously walking in this manner,
because the subconscious Will, through habit, actually holds
the body in its position. You do not think of walking in
the physical, do you? Neither do you in the astral. It is
habit; in other words subconscious expression. Similarly,
when you walk upstairs and downstairs, in your astral
body, you are not aware that you are not actually stepping
upon the stairs. But think of it, and down you go!
All this has a striking resemblance to the Bible story,
in which Christ walked upon the water-His thought sus-
tained Him; but when Peter, who stopped to think about
it, tried to do so, down he went! There is not the slightest
doubt that Christ could do this. He could do it in the
physical body by levitation. He could do it in the astral
body naturally-merely by thinking. He could; and Histhought sustained Him, as thought will sustain each and
every one of us when we depart from our physical anchors .
The new spiritual sciences are making prog-
ress. Man, by invading the invisible, is entering
a New AgeAmong these new spiritual sciences are not
only the various branches of metapsychics dealt
with here but a more spiritual psychology, phys-
ics and medicine, a more Christian form of gov-
ernment and sociology Spiritual healing,
brotherhood, peace and everything in the plan
and program of Confucius, Buddha and Jesus,
that leads up to the Kingdom of God on Earth
and the more Divine Civilization will be parts
of this new Culture.
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METAPSYCHICS 213
This is a work for a new and higher kind of
institutions of learning. Education in the past
has been one-sided. It has left out the spiritual
and moral nature of man . The new education
will more nearly train the whole man. It will
teach us how to remain well, physically, ethically
and spiritually well. It will teach us how to heal
the body and know the soul, how to govern our-
selves and love our neighbor, how to remember
things of the spirit and to find God .
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CHAPTER XIPSYCHOTHERAPY
As we progress in this inquiry we get on more
familiar ground and our factors are of more
practical meaning and use in everyday life .
In almost every age of the world's history,
even among primitive peoples, mental or spiritu-
al healing has been practiced . Among theAmerican Indians, this was one of the standard
methods employed by the medicine men. Simi-
lar conditions obtain among many primitive or
semi-civilized peoples. In Greece, where the
modern science of medicine had its rise, spiritu-
al methods were quite as much in vogue as mate-
rial remedies. This condition continued through-
out the Middle Ages, to some extent In the
Catholic Church, which was the only church of
those days, miracles were wrought by means
of sacred relics. We now know that it did not
matter whether these sacred relics were genuine
or not so long as the patient believed them to
be so. In the same way the magic practiced
among primitive peoples, in many cases quite
elaborate, was intended to impress and influence
the patient, and if it did this, the result was the
same, however irrational or fantastic we may
regard the method to be .
In our own day, interest in this subject was214
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 215
revived by what we now know as hypnotism, at
first called mesmerism and by various other
names. During the investigation of this subjectit was discovered that there was a therapeutic
factor involved and that hypnotic subjects could
be healed by the suggestion of the operator.
Out of this discovery has grown the modern
movement. Thomson J. Hudson, whom I mentioned in my last chapter, wrote one of the most
illuminating of the early books along this line
The Law of Psychic Phenomena-in which he
deals, from the scientific aspect, with the power
of the subconscious mind over the organism, and
identifies this method of healing with that used
by Jesus Christ. I advise everyone who has not
read that book to do so. It is in one sense a
primer of this whole philosophy of mental or,
spiritual healing .
Since that time the new philosophy has ex-
tended into many different cults and into prac
tically every land upon earth. Christian Science
numbers its disciples by the hundreds ofthousands, if not the millions . New Thought,Divine Science, Mental Science, The HigherThought, The Unity Movement, The Church ofTruth Movement, Homes of Truth, healing cir-,
cles in orthodox churches, etc., have all grown
out from this original development. It is impos-
sible that so many people would follow an un-
fruitful philosophy for so long a time . There-
fore, the mere fact of the growth of this method
of healing, which has not been equalled, so far
as I can discover, since the days of the early
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216 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
church, is, in itself, a proof of its efficacy and
the validity of its truths .
Now, science has entered into this field, and
that is the reason I am considering the subject,
because this series of lessons is an attempt to
gather up the recent results discovered by scien-
tists, and give them a universal meaning. To-day, we can scarcely pick up a medical treatise
that has not one or more chapters on psycho-
therapy. The method employed by the scientific
world in treating this subject is somewhat dif-
ferent from that of these various new religions,
as they are sometimes called, that I have already
mentioned. In the scientific world, suggestion
is the sovereign method. Suggestion takes the
place of hypnotism. It was found that hypno-
tism was no longer necessary ; that there are
certain undesirable elements in hypnotism, such
as subjection to another will and robbing the
subject, therefore, of the right to his own or-
ganism; the right to the control of his own life,to some extent. As I say, this has been discov-
ered to be unnecessary-the same results can
be obtained if the subject has faith. That is the
point. The only thing that hypnotism did was
to remove the objective mind out of the way with
its doubts and skepticism and erase its wrong
education-its belief in the material, and other
complexes that entered into the objective con-
sciousness. It is my contention that complexes
can appear in the objective as well as in the sub-
jective mind. We are all more or less subject
to such complexes.
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218 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
necessary to get the message over to the sub-
conscious. All I can say is that if those doses
had any such effect on the subconscious that
they did on the conscious, the message got over .
And the message, let me add, was supplemented
by suggestion, either expressed or implied, that
those doses were good for what ailed me .
So we discover that even without intention
mental methods were employed then. I begin to
suspect that they have entered into the practice
of medicine from the beginning more largely
than we thought. I remember a case in my own
boyhood when I thought I was ill. They sent for
a doctor and as soon as I knew he was on the
way I got better. The doctor was usually a
cheerful individual, benign, benevolent, who ra-diated. confidence. The very fact of his supposed
learning and mastery of the ills of the flesh was
a suggestion to the patient in itself. That musthave been a facotr, in view of the ways in which
material medicines have changed during all of
these years. At about this same time in my boy-
hood I remember that the patient was hermetic-
ally sealed up. They thought fresh air harmful,
especially night air-that was poison . So the
windows, in effect, were nailed down and the
doors kept closed. Then, again, the patient was
not fed, especially in fever cases. It was thought
fatal to feed a fever patient because that added
to the fever. At the same time the neighbors
had a way of showing sympathy that I cannot
but now suspect had in it an element of malice
and a propensity to glorify in one's own escape
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 21 9
from the ills of others. There is something in
the human mind that, as we say,, pats itself on
the back because it Is not as unfortunate as
somebody else. This factor may have entered
into the minds of those neighbors, chiefly old
ladies who went in to cheer up the patient and,
in so doing, practically wept over her and told
how some other patient whom they had knownhad had similar troubles, and the dear soul had
passed on. As I say, all of this was intended in
the best way, perhaps,, to cheer the patient up,,
but the suggestion was one at which the mod,
ern psycho-analyst or psycho-therapist would
stand aghast.
I mention these methods of an earlier day, and
I go no further back than my boyhood, to showw
how they have been revolutionized. Today, wedo not give large and bitter doses of drugs. I,
was in a tuberculosis sanitarium in the State
of New Jersey a few years ago and they told
me there that they no longer used drugs to any,
extent They had a few specifics which they
employed rarely. I asked them as to their meth-
od. They said, "Well, first we give the patients
all the fresh air possible, night and day, winter
and summier. They sleep with the windows wide
open. They go out for long hikes if they are
able, in the snow, as well as in the sunshine.
They are fed liberally and they are not allowed,
to talk to anybody about their symptoms. Their
minds are diverted to other and more cheerful
subjects."
In every one of the four particulars I have
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22 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
mentioned the methods in use in that sanitarium
were exactly the opposite to what they were
when I was a boy. If we go still further back
we will find changes as radical. I live within a
few miles of Mount Vernon, and it is a tradition
in the countryside that George Washington was
bled to death. Washington was a particularly
illustrious patient and therefore, no doubt, the
doctors were more numerous and more assiduous
than they would have been in other cases, and
they bled the General for a slight cold that had
been contracted in riding about his plantations
in inclement weather. Today, we do not bleed
patients ; on the contrary we bleed other people,
and infuse their blood into the patient's veins.
So there again, the method is exactly opposite to
what it was then. Someone tells a very touch-
ing little incident of a case of transfusion in
New York. There was a litle girl who was pro-nounced a victim of anaemia. She had a rosy-
cheeked brother and the doctors, therefore, de-
cided that there should be a blood transfusion
from the veins of the healthy boy into the veins
of the anaemic little girl. The two small figures
were strapped side by side on their cots and,
as is usual in such cases, the doctors first asked
the boy if he were willing to have the operation
performed. He gulped, but nodded his assent,
and thereupon an incision was made and theblood stream flowed from one child to the other
The doctors were all eyes for the patient and
practically forgot the litle boy but one of them,
glancing at him, saw that he was under a very
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 2 21
great tension. He was growing white, and final-
ly, the little chap plucked the arm of the interne
and whispered "Doe, when do I croak?" It ap-
peared that he had heard that blood is the life-
stream, and that one who loses blood must die.
Yet he had given his assent in face of that be-
lief. "Greater love hath no man than he whogives his life for his friend." There is another
Bible text that also applies to this case: "The
Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a little child."
With this continual change in the methods of
material practice it must be that the factor of
faith of the patient in his physician and in his
remedies has been a therapeutic agent in the
past as now. In contrast to that, I refer again
to the methods of spiritual healing which have
not changed, either in method or in principle,
from the days of Jesus Christ to our own. Weall remember the house that was builded on the
rock and that builded on the sand. I think each
of you can make his or her own application .
Now, there is a philosophy of healing and I
prefer to illustrate this by a simple everyday ex-
ample. Take the case of a common wound. Wewill suppose that I have a cut in my body. What
happens? First, there is a great blood flow, but
that gradually assuages itself. The bloodthickens and clots form a protective covering.
We call it a scab, which serves the double pur-
pose not only to prevent the further effusion
of blood but to protect the wound from outside
infection. Then, there is a fever set up at this
point which indicates intense activity, and this
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 2 2 3
ly delicate and marvelous, yet all of these are
builded into their right places.
The first point of this process is that every
step in it is intelligent-highly intelligent-and
intelligent action, or a series of intelligent acts
directed to a given end, presupposes an intelli-
gent agent. The only intelligent agent we know
anything about is mind. Therefore, we are jus-
tified in assuming that mind is at work in this
whole healing process. Not only that, but there
must be a pattern or an archetype or a specifi-
cation on which this new tissue is builded. That
pattern cannot be physical because the physical
pattern was expelled with the suppuration of the
injured tissue. Where, then is it? Where isthis pattern-this model-on which the newtissue is erected so accurately and put in its
exact place? Again, we must resort to mind-
the only thing that can fashion a specification or
a model. It exists somewhere, therefore, in the
thought. We are not conscious of it, but it is
more intelligent than we could devise with our
conscious minds Now, the whole amazingprocess revolves around such simple examples
as I have given. A few years ago we werethrilled-I was-by the fact that the engineer,
Mr. C. M. Jacobs, succeeded in driving a tunnelunder the North River, starting a gang of work-
men on the Jersey side and another gang of
workmen on the New York side and having these
gangs, that worked independently of each other,
meet under the middle of the Hudson Riverwithin an inch or two, both horizontally and
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 225
other forms of life. I wonder if we have ever
reflected seriously on the power of thought-
and I refer now to our human world? Thought
builded this city ; thought builded this civiliza-
tion; thought made all the inventions that are
for the convenience and comfort of modern man ;
thought gave us, in our own day, the telephone,
the electric motor, the steam engine, the air-
plane, the radio-thought is the most powerful
force man knows. If this is true in the human
world, why is it not more true in the world at
large?
If man is, therefore, a mental being, then he
should not only be master of his environment,
but master of his organism for in one aspect his
organism is a part of his environment-'the
most important and vital part of his environ-
ment That he can do this is proved by the
slight advances we have so far made in this art .
May I inject at this point a correction? Wehave talked a great deal about the subconscious
mind or the unconscious mind or the extra-con-
scious mind. All of these terms, in a sense, are
misleading, for there is only one mind . Forpractical reasons, this functions in different
ways, butt am convinced that what we call the
unconscious mind is never wholly unconscious .
This is proved by a very simple illustration. You
set yourself to awaken at a certain hour, andgenerally do so. I have tried that experiment in
a number of ways and have had striking results .
It did not always work, but it worked in enough
cases to convince me that it could not be due
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2 26 INVADING. THE INVISIBLE
to chance. Now, what is the probable truth of
all of this : The reason we can awaken at a cer-
tain hour is that we are, to a certain extent,
conscious all the time. We do not know justhow this is true, but if we can go back to some
of our previous chapters we shall discover that
there is a primary method of knowing-of mind
action-that is present wherever life is present .
It is not conscious in the way that we are con-
scious. Our consciousness is due to a very high
development and of a special form of mind ac-
tion. This more primary form of mind action,
however, is discovered all through nature . It
is discovered in the birds that fly for thousands
of miles from the south to the north, or in the
opposite direction, every year, and that go ac-
curately back to their old nests or old habitats
in the north or in the south. How? It cannotbe by observation of landmarks because, fre-
quently, the flight is for a considerable distance
over water where there are no landmarks. Thebee does the same thing for shorter distances,
and we speak of the "bee-line." The same thing
applies to the cat that returns even though it
is taken in a blind-fold condition or in a bag for
twenty miles or more . How? How does in-stinct arise, or the change of organism due to
a change of environment or of needs for the pre-
servation or the development, of that particular
species? Wherever we look, we find mind act-
ive, but we find it acting in a more wonderful
way in the building of these organisms, each
one covering the whole route, from the primal
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228 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
slight loss of weight at death, which has been
verified by a number of experiments ; sixth, to
explain why nearly all religions on earth be-
lieve in some such body; seventh, to correspond
with the idea of the ether of space that we found
necessary in the formation of atoms, as an ether
stream to carry the planets, as a transmitter of
light, heat, electricity, radio waves, gravitiation
and energy generally; and to coincide with facts
reported by various psychic observers who saw,
or said they saw, the etheric body withdraw
from the physical at death. By the way, myson, James C. Edgerton, who is well-known in
aviation circles and who never had any previous
psychic experiences, permits me to relate the
following. rt is in his own words
This experience, which absolutely convinces me of a
future personal life, was produced by an anaesthetic in
preparation for an operation for appendicitis. There wasno conscious background for the experience, as it was
totally dissimilar from any with which I am familliar .
In the first place please let me say that I was in full
possession of my faculties, as there was no fever or other
mental deterrent present. As is usual I was strapped to
the operating table and was given an anaesthetic through
a face mask which completely obscured vision. I wasfully conscious of inhaling three full breaths . On thesecond breath, however, an unusual train of circumstances
started which can best be described by the statement that
my physical senses seemed suddenly to shift to a body
other than physical . With no mental lapse whatsoever,
I was clearly conscious that I was half sitting up and
that my eyes seemed to take on X-ray qualities, which
reduced my physical body to a mere shadow with theankle and knee joints slightly more prominent. I saw an-
other body within this shell, glistening brilliantly, and as
I watched this new body of which I seemed to be a part,
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 22 9
and which was more objective to me than my physical
body had ever been I slid out of my fleshy envelope with
rapidly increasing acceleration .
During this interval my other senses were also func-
tioning, the sense of feeling being concerned with a soul
shaking wrench which seemed to extend to every cell of
the body. To my ears came a beautiful sine wave note
corresponding to middle E on the piano, which increased
from zero to a volume which seemed to fill the universe.
Following this I heard a voice to which I seemed to re-
spond as to any physical voice, which repeated these
words: "You are now suffering all the pangs of violent
death. You are in the hands of friends and everything
will be all right. "
I did not lose consciousness until I was entirely separate
from the physical body, which I knew beyond any question
I had left
Wecan learn another lesson from material
medicine. I refer to treatment by serums . In
most cases the serum is developed in some in-
ferior organism that is given the same disease
it is sought to combat. What does that mean?This inferior organism, be it a cow, a guinea pig
or a rabbit-arouses itself to throw off the en-
croachment of that disease and, in so doing,
gives us for our blood-stream the value of that
intelligent reaction of its organism and the
secretion created thereby to combat the disease
in question. The same thing is true of vaccines .
Vaccination for smallpox, for example ; what is
that? It is the same thing in a different form ;
that is, we are given a mild case of smallpox,
called vari,oloid., so that our own organism can
combat this attack and, in so doing, fortify it-
self against a greater attack of the smallpox it-
self The whole philosophy of Hahnemann's
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 23 1
examination in Vienna of one thousand bodies
showed lesions in the lungs of a large percent-
age, my memory is a majority. In most cases
these healed without the knowledge of the pa-
tient or of anyone else. Now, such healing, ac-
cording to the usual accepted theories of psycho-
therapy, is under the direction of the subcon-
scious mind; and might in other similar in-
stances respond to mental or suggestive treat-
ment. Such healing involves only the customarymetabolism which itself would seem to be con-
nected with the unconscious mind of the organ-
ism
That this is mental power is proved, not only
by all the considerations we have had before us,
but by many more. In the lowest form of life-
in the infusoria-we find evidences of mentality .
In the plant, we see reaction to environment .
In the sunshine the leaves take on a different
shape than, in the rain. A tropical tree, taken
gradually into a northern climate, adapts itself
to the change of environment . It will not do
this if the transition is too sudden because there
is more of a change than that organism canovercome or adapt itself to, but in a sufficient
time, some evergreen trees in the south will be-
come deciduous and thus adapt themselves to
the colder climate of the north . Similar proc-
esses are going on continuously in nature. All
of this evidences either mind in the organism
or mind in the cosmos that shapes, adapts, modi-
fies and protects the organism. That same mind
is available to man. Aye, it is doubly available
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 233
not that ye be not judged." When we learn just
what hurtful criticism may do, we see that in-
dulgence in it is unscientific-just: as unscienti-
fic as it would be to put our hands in the fire
or to jump over a cliff. Mental and moral laws
are as real on the higher level as physical laws
on the lower. We have to discover that action
and reaction are equal, not only in the material
universe but in the moral universe. At the last,
they become justice-Theosophists call it "Kar-
ma," which is only another statement of the
same principle. What, we give out, we receive .
That is the law of compensation. When welearn this, really, so that it becomes a part of
character and a part of habit, life is trans-
formed. In that aspect, we no longer have en-
mities, for we know that an enmity is a disease
of relationship just as much as pneumonia in
our physical organism is a disease on its plane .
Lack of means is a disease of circumstances
That, on its level is just as destructive and hurt-
ful as mere illness in the body. So it goesthroughout all life
What we have to learn, therefore, is healing on
the higher plane. We have to become, in a way, the
builders of our own life. I am convinced that
nothing can come into anyone's life that is not
invited or permitted. We are king in our own
realm and if we are on the job in a royal capaci-
ty, we do not permit insurrections or disorders
or other hurtful conditions in the realm over
which we rule. This is, in a way, figurative lan-
guage based on analogy, yet it contains a deeper
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 23 5
are representatives of the universe, or sons 'of
God. That is what life means ; it is a progres-sion from the unconscious to the conscious. That
truth, also, has a bearing on our present subject,
for this mastery is not a thing alone of sugges-
tion; it is not a thing alone of a mechanical ap-
peal to the subconscious. It is a conscious sha-
ping of all the forces of life, inner and outer .
This point is supremely important. Whatevermay be the destiny of the individual, I am con-
vinced that until this lesson is thoroughly
learned, assimilated, and made a part of our
personal characters, we must go on with our
schooling. In other words, our adventure is an
infinite one. It is not for one life ; it is for
an eternity.
The dialectic, to which I have been referring,
is analogous to the dialectic that we meet every
day that we live. We have problems or opposi-
tions, chaotic conditions, or adverse circum-
stances, that we have to overcome, transcend,
and convert into the gold of experience-life is
like that. It is, in common, everyday, practical
life, a surmounting of self. In the last analysis,
the only thing we have to transcend is self. In
this whole process we are transcending self ;
first, in gaining universal ideas in the tran-
scending of the selfish individual consciousness ;
next, in surmouting the material, we surmount
it through understanding, through seeing that
it is only a symbol, a function, an object. Real-
izing this truth, we can know ourselves and
know the universe, and can transcend these con-
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2 3 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
ditions through knowledge . In the same way,
we transcend our diseases ; we transcend our
complexes ; we transcend our inadequacies ; we
transcend our defects ., We gain mastery only
through the method of mastery ; that is, through
mastering our own lives, our own ailments, our
own social and financial conditions, and tran-
scending our tendency to belittle our brother .
In the highest sense our brother is our other
s e l f . He is that not only in a metaphysical and
religious way, but in the social aspect . Until
we learn this and gain all there is to gain
through love, appreciation and service, we have
not finished with our brother .
This all comes, in the last analysis, to what
I have treated in another book under the title
The Philosophy of Jesus . I discovered that
Jesus was scientific, that His whole philosophy
is an integral thing, and that we cannot know
it until we see it as a whole . It includes non-
resistance, love of enemies, healing of the body
and healing of our neighbors, brotherhood, for-
getfulness of self, innocence, a very receptive at-
titude to the spiritual universe . Jesus taught
that the Kingdom of Heaven does not belong to
some other state of being, but is here and now .
The Kingdom of Heaven is within us, and when
we know our inner life as the Kingdom of Heav-
en, it is outside of us, too, because the inner is
manifested in the outer ; not as a condition, but
as a plane of consciousness . Jesus gave us a con-
sciousness and a life, and this consciousness and
life, when we once learn it, is regenerative on
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 23 7
every plane; on the moral plane, on the physical
plane, on the spiritual plane. That is the phil-
osophy that we are learning in psychotherapy ;
for, after all, this state of consciousness is not
a matter of observation; and observation is the
method of science. Science is descriptive. This
is a matter that goes deeper ; it goes into the
very spirit of man and opens him to all of the
life-giving energy of the universe including the
renewing, regenerative power of God .
In conclusion: I had one little experience in
my life that is not out of place here. Just be-
fore retiring one night, I uttered a prayer in
my heart that I might be given a simple phrase,
in a few words, that would describe this whole
healing process. I awoke in the morning withthese two words in mind, "Jehovah reponens ."
I did not know the meaning of reponens at that
time. Two or three days later, however, I got
to a place where a Latin dictionary was avail-
able, and I discovered repono means I renew,
and that the phrase, therefore, could be trans-
lated, "God renewing." The more I thought of
that the more it meant, for all life is a process
of renewal. That is what distinguishes living
matter from dead or inorganic matter. Everyorganism has the power of renewing itself an']
of reproducing itself. We talk about reincarna-
tion ! Why, we 'are reincarnated every dayWhat does reincarnation mean? Literally, it
means entering a new body. That is what weare,doing with every breath we draw, with every,
meal we eat, with every moment we live. Our
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2 3 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
body is a different body from what it was an
hour ago. I have likened the ,flesh to a stream
of water. It keeps a certain form because the
banks hold it in check, but the physical part of
that stream is forever moving. The body main-
tains 'a certain form because the etheric body,
or soul, holds it in that form ; but the matter in
it is forever changing. All the flesh changes in
about a year, and even the bones change in a
few years. So I liken this stream-the middle
-of it, where the current is swift-I liken that to
the flesh that is changing all the time, and the
shores, where the force is retarded, is like the
bony structure that changes more gradually, yet
it all changes, it all flows and it forever renews
itself. This power of the universe-the creative
intelligence-is forever renewing. It is part of
the spiritual universe that breaks through into
the material and fashions all organisms and
heals all life.
We hear much of glandular treatment,through surgical and electrical agencies. Whyconfine such treatment to these crude and me-chanical methods when the same result can be
attained by thought?
The glands respond to mental impulses even
before there is any physical need of their activi-
ty. For example, when we are told a piece of
sad news, the tear ducts flow. Nothing has hap-
pened to us except an idea. A man may be inperfect health, but he receives a telegram from
which he falls dead. Nothing has happened to
him except a thought. We go out walking on a
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PSYCHOTHERAPY 23 9
pleasant morning in'the woods and meet a bear .
The adrenal glands immediately throw into the
bloodstream a 'secretion that serves a double
purpose. It gives the whole organism endurance
and it tends to stop the bloodstream in case of
wounds We see a meal upon the table: Ourmouths water and all of the digestive juices are
accumulated in quantities to take care of that
meal. In the case of the bear and in the case
of the viands, nothing has happened to us except
a thought We can each picture in his ownmind how other glands respond at a mere visual
image, but it is not even necessary that the
visual image be there. If we can imagine with
enough realization, the same result will take
place Herbert 'Spencer, following Mansel,speaks of a vivid stream of images and a faint
stream, the vivid stream responding to the ob-
jective reactions from the senses and the faint
stream to our memories thereof or our recon-
struction in imagination; but that the difference
between the faint and the vivid is not caused by
the mere presence or absence of the objective
stimuli, is proved by the fact that if our aware-
ness of the absence of these stimuli is somehow
blotted out, as in a dream or hallucination or
hypnosis, the faint stream becomes vivid at the
mere actuation of thought ; and this demon-strates something else-that it is not the existence
of the objective stimuli that accounts for the viv-
idness or the faintness of these impressions, but
only our inhibitions. It is due to the fact that
we know the faint stream to be unreal that
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2 40 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
makes it faint. The moment we think it is real
it becomes as vivid as the other . The samething is true of the ductless glands . They re-
spond to thought and respond to nothing else,
but the degree of 'their response is due to the
degree in which we believe that we need them .
The same thing is true of healing. If you have
faith, nothing is impossible to you, for this is
a thought universe-organized by thought, vivi-
fied by thought, explained by thought and taken
into reality of functioning by thought.
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CHAPTER XIITHE NEW PSYCHOLOGY
PHILOSOPHY is the mother of the special
sciences In the pre-Socratic days they were
merged Thales thought that the unifying or
primary substance in nature is water and others
following him identified it with other substances
such as air, fire, attraction and repulsion, and
so forth
The first of the special sciences to be organ-
ized in its own behalf, perhaps, was physics, and
following this, biology or, as it was known in
the earlier days, zoology, although biology has
a wider meaning in that it includes the plant
world as well as the animal . Then astronomyemerged from the common background and, la-
ter, chemistry. After that came the other phy-
sical sciences and, last of all, psychology and
the social sciences. It is not surprising, there-
fore, that psychology is still in a more or less
formative stage. We have many forms of psy-
ch-ology We have behaviorism, of which DrJohn B. Watson is the foremost authority. Wehave introspectionism. We have what is known
as the Gestalt psychology, of which Dr. Wolf-
gang Kohler is the spokesman. We have analy-
tic psychology, with Freud and Jung as the out-
standing figures. We have applied psychology,
and I am not now referring to the popular form241
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THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 2 45
As to the differences between Freud and Jung,
chief among these is that Jung does not stress
sex, but also includes the ego, or ego-maxima-
tion, but lack of space forbids going into these
matters in detail . I am not seeking to treat
psychology except as it has a meaning for phil-
osophy and, therefore, what I say will necessari-
ly be general. Psycho-analysis is a part of the
general movement that is giving to the world
a whole new mental background and outlook . It
is removing some of our old inhibitions, fears
and phobias. It is bringing these things out
of the shadows into the light of day and, like
all noxious growths of the dark, they cannot
stand the sunlight. They disappear as soon as
subjected to the aneasthetic of publicity. Whenwe turn over a stone, all sorts of bugs and noi-
some creatures underneath scurry for another
cover. We find, in like manner, various social
monstrosities growing in the darkness. The mo-
ment they are brought into the light they flee
or are destroyed. According to the doctrine of
correspondences what we find on one plane we
find in some similar form of manifestation on
other planes. I sometimes liken our sins and
pet errors to these forms of life that grow in the
darkness. Often, we are not conscious of them .
They have not emerged into the light of our own
awareness, much less into that of public observa-
tion, and the moment they are brought forth, the
moment the stone is overturned and the sunlight
introduced, they flee or are dissipated .
Dr. Phineas P. Quimby, who was perhaps the
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2 46 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
founder of mental and spiritual healing in the
modern age, stated that in some way that he
could not wholly explain he entered sympa-thetically and telepathically into inner commu-
nion with his patient, became en rapport, to use
a spiritualistic term, and through this means
learned of the seat of the trouble. He further
testified that the very moment he came to a
knowledge of these hidden sources, the cure
started. If we reflect, we are surprised to find
that was the method used by Jesus Christ. Hesaid repeatedly, "Thy sins are forgiven thee ;"
and what is that but a canceling or dissipation
of some -complex that the patient perhaps knew,
but was careful that nobody else should know?
Or the complex might have gone deeper-itmight not have been known to the subject, but
in his subconsciousness these words had power,
and the work was done by the method of the
substitution and suggestion.
As I stated, psycho-analysis was at first a
therapeutic agent but now it is being used more
and more in the way that academic psychology
had been used before Instead of charting a
curve of reflexes and reactions, each individual
is being examined as to his conscious and sub-
conscious history, so that the springs of action
may be discovered and, through this method, nor-
mality or, at least, the normal trend of that in-
dividual, may be discovered . We cannot talkof normality in a standard fashion because there
is a norm for each individual. We do not react
in the same way because we are not organized in
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2 48 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
at a moment's notice-the moment they cease to
workIt is obvious that with this method scientists
may believe much more than they state. Theyhave a body of public opinion among their con-
freres that is always a check on too exhuberant
or fanciful conclusions. A scientist who becomes
what we call a "cloud chaser" is in danger of not
being taken seriously 'by his co-workers It is
obvious, therefore, that we cannot depend on
general conclusions from any special scientist
because he does not speculate. That is a primary
principle . Much of the confusion of modernthought is due to this very fact, that true scien-
tists are negative about anything they cannot
quantitatively measure, weigh, demonstrate and
use. Philosophy, on the other hand, lives upon
the very food of speculation. It must do so in
the nature of things and in this youngest child
of philosophy-psychology-the tendency hasbeen, as is always the case, with one obtaining
his majority, to declare his independence more
than he means. He is like a new people in revolt
who are much more bitter towards the mother
country than toward any other, whatever the ties
between them may have been .
Psychology has 'been hampered further in
using the physical method of quantitativemeasurement, and in seeking to observe phy-
siologically rather than from any deeper level
or stratum of consciousness. The great trouble
with physiological psychology and, to an extent,
with behaviorism, is that it has taken the
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THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 2 49
"psyche" out of the word and has given us"psychology without a soul ." Take the simple
matter of visual reflexes. I have already com-
mented on the fact that the universe we see is
due quite as much to our organization and our
reaction as to the thing in itself. No one hasever discovered how it is that we see, and the
more we analyze the organ of sight, the further
we appear from our goal of understadning. Thepicture on 'the retina is reversed. It is upside
down How is it that this reversed picture is
analyzed by nerves and carried back to some
cortex in the brain and there reconstructed into
the familiar world? For, please bear in mind
that each one of these nerve fibres carries only
a section of the picture, if it carries even that .
Perhaps what it does carry is a section of the
stimulus from the particular point in the retina
that it contacts
We can approach this subject through the an-
alogy of television. How many of us, I wonder,
are familiar with the method of sending pictures
by radio, and I speak now of still-life pictures .
That is quite commonly done now-a-days. Pic-
tures have been radioed from Europe and from
various parts of the world. The method is the
analysis of that whole picture by a pencil of
light projected through holes or lenses spirally
arranged on a revolving disk. This pencil sweeps
from left to right cutting the vertically moving
picture into strips of varying light intensities .
The light values are then transformed into elec-
tricity, just as is done in the case of sound trans-
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2 5 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
formed into electrical values, which are trans-
mitted by radio and transformed back again into
light values and the picture reconstructed .
Applying this process to that of the human
eye, it is obvious, with an end nerve touching
each cell of the retinal wall, that in some similar
fashion the stimulii from this picture are car-
ried back through each one of these individual
nerves to the principle brain cortex, where the
whole thing is reassembled right side up and in
its proper place . There are still more striking
features of this process. One would say that we
should see the picture subjectively or inside the
brain cortex or at least as it appeared on the
retina. We do nothing of the kind. We not only
reconstruct it but we put it out where it belongs
and see it in the objective world. That is what
actually happens. So that if our introspection-
ist friends are seeking to remove all of the sub-
jective elements fromm our sense reactions, they
have quite a way farther to go . First, they would
have to eliminate all color values because these,
peculiarly, are due to the reactions-the subjec-
tive reactions of the organism-but they would
not stop there . I suspect that they would have
to eliminate the whole picture ; it is an organic
whole. The picture method belongs to our or-
ganism, our reactions .
Now, the Gestalt psychology seeks to behold
things from the standpoint of the organic whole,
and not only the organic whole of the subjective,
but the organic whole of the thought process that
organizes the objective and brings it into the
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THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 251
consciousness . When we come to reflect we dis-
cover that is the peculiar function of thought-
it organizes .
Perhaps it may illustrate what I mean to re-
fer to what I have called "the accidentalist
theory," from another angle : A gas is chaotic .
We talk of gas pressure. What does it mean?It means that the molecules of the element or
the compound that makes up the gas are bom-
barding the sides of the container, and the more
heat that is introduced into the gas, the more it
vibrates and the more violent is the bombard-
ment until, finally, these molecules-these in-
finitesimal molecules-beat the sides of that con-
tainer with such force that even though made
of triple iron or steel they are cast asunder .
Now, to ascribe any organizing ability to this
chaos is beyond conception but that is, original-
ly, what the physical universe is . It is incan-
descent and all the molecules, atoms and elec-
trons are in violent commotion . There is some
element that imposes order on this chaos and or-
ganizes it, and since the only thing we can dis-
cover in the universe that has this organizing
ability is thought, we must conclude that thought
is involved in this process and that somehow,
somewhere, there is purpose, co-ordination and
organic action behind it, constraining the chaos
to bring it into system . We discover a similar
process throughout nature . I play solitaire, and
I discover that there is a cosmic process in-
volved even here . Shuffling the cards reduces
them as far as possible to a chaotic condition,
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25 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
and the game is to bring them back into order .
To the extent I accomplish this I win the game.
Nature, again, is like herself, and we discover
everywhere reminders and clues to this riddle
and puzzle .
In this same way, thought organizes its per-
ceptions, that is, it organizes the raw material ;
takes it up, sees what it is made of, compares it,
classifies it, systematizes it, organizes it into a
meaning-that is the thought process TheGestalt psychology not only considers organic
wholes but considers the organic thought process
by which we comprehend them. That which dis-
tinguishes an entity, a whole thing, from the
mere sum or addition of its parts is the co-or-
dinating factor, that intangible something that
makes it an entity, and this factor is necessarily
spiritual.
I have already remarked that psychology is
a young science. It has to go through the same
stages already passed by other sciences. Physics
is relatively an old science. When psychologyhas attained an equal age I hope, and even pre-
dict, that it will make as great advancement in
its own field as physics has made in its field .
Physics, as already remarked, has led us to the
very doors of the spiritual universe. Psychology
should be peculiarly adapted to an equal or a
greater progress in the same direction because
it is in a more peculiarly mental field. It will
reach that goal when it ceases to imitate physics
and emerges on its own level by using qualitative
as well as quantitative methods. There is hope,
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THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 25 5
but to surmount all obstacles. Can we wonder,
then, at evolution; can we wonder that life, al-
though seemingly thwarted and beaten back-de-
feated by the glacial age; defeated by the violence
of the elements; defeated by the chaos in the
early world ; by the constant earthquakes, erup-
tions, fire and poisonous gases of the primeval
ages-yet pursues its way, not only surviving
but progressing, emerging on new levels until
at last it crowns itself with rational conscious-
ness. Life appears in the most impossible places,
under the most untoward conditions . There is
no nook or cranny it does not invade. It or-
ganizes and adapts itself to all environments .
We find this organizing feature again in psy-
chology, in the extra-conscious mind, and evenif the classic psychologists are unfriendly, it has
so woven itself into the whole texture of this
science that never again can it be ignored . It
may happen in this age, as it has happened so
often before that those scientists who restrict
themselves too closely to familiar concepts will
be discredited, just as reactionaries in every age
have been left behind and have passed intooblivion. It is not a mark of superiority to re-
ject the new simply because it is new. If we ex-
amine the history of science we discover that it
is only those venturesome minds who are ready
to seize the new as a vantage point for further
discovery that have made science what it is .
There were so-called classic scientists in Galileo's
day, and they laughed him to scorn; they refused
to look through his telescope. That impresses us
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2 5 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
now as amusing, but, if we stop to reflect, men
in our own day are doing the same thing-and
very advanced men, presumably, at that-some
of the greatest scientists in the world. I have
met them-men who will not consider psycho-
analysis because, perse, it is novel and does notfollow beaten paths.
The very essence of reactionism is fealty to
familiar concepts and that is true whether it is
applied to religious, scientific or political con-
cepts Precisely as no advancement has ever
been made without an invasion of the invisible,
so no advancement has been made without em-
bracing novelty
In conclusion: Psychology points beyond it-
self . I have already mentioned the method ofthe sense of vision . I have tried to show how
radio-vision is reached through the analysis or
cutting up of the picture and the transmission
of it line by line. Perhaps in the same way, the
light values, or stimulii, are analyzed and re-
constructed by the optic nerves in the brain, but
what or who is then the observer? It cannot be
a mere brain cortex because t h e b r a i n
cortex itself is an object and an instru-ment That is all we can say for it. Anobject and an instrument cannot have con-sciousness. A machine exists for a function that
is beyond the machine, and this cortex is only a
machine The function is beyond it. It is a
method of carrying the material to something
that reconstructs it into a picture. What is that
something? We cannot answer the question
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THE NEW PSYCHOLOGY 259
ure, and yet that is always present and belongs,
I am convinced, to a level and an order of life
that science has never yet considered and of
which even philosophy has only touched the hem
of its garment. We find this everywhere present ;
in all of the lower orders of life ; we find it in
history
This brings us to imagination, or, more proper-
ly, to the imaging faculty. This is involved in
perception, for it is a necessary part of building
the picture. Again it is concerned in building
the concept, in generalizing and classifying the
individual percepts. Again it is an essential
part of memory; and, more important still, it is
of the very essence of the creative process, or
what we call imagination proper. Coue says
that we heal through imagination. Perhaps it
would be more correct to say that we healthrough imagination, intuition and faith. Im-agination is at the root of genius. It is the facul-
ty that distinguishes the exceptional mind from
the mediocre. It is that which enables men to
construct the perfect in art .
One of the greatest emperors of India ascribed
his own pre-eminence to the fact that he saw
things not as they are but as they ought to be .
Jesus had the same faculty. He looked beyond
the appearance to the reality. He saw thingss as
they exist in the mind of God, in the Absolute
Idea. This very perception banished all unreali-
ty, all defect and disease. This power of vision-
ing the ideal belongs in some degree to all of us .
Men know more than they suspect. They have
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26 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
not been left without some reminder of whatthey are and what they ought to be; and what
they ought to be is a prophecy of what they will
be, given time, understanding and character, so
that through merit and as a part of their own
internal worth and their own divinity, men can
become that which they ought to be. Their very
recognition of obligation indicates that God
wants them to become these better men they
vision and through His grace they can and will
at last succeed. They are not left without some
prescience, premonition or sacred reminder of
this We find, therefore, in all ages religions
arising and, however diverse the circumstances
under which these religions emerge, they are
much alike; if we get beneath the creeds and the
forms, we find a surprising number of factors
that are common to them all, and these must
arise from that deeper consciousness, that mar-
gin beyond all of these measurable or observable
things, of the spirit in man .
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CHAPTER XIIITHE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES
THEworld as man experiences it is a complex
of phenomena, of interpretations and of human
estimates and values. The physical universe is
a mere abstraction from this world of expe-
rience. That applies also to the biological world .
It is only a section of the world man knows .
Values and interest are purely on the human
plane. There are many of these values. There
is a pragmatic value; that is the value of use.
On this basis William James wrote a philosophy
the keynote of which is that a thing or an idea
is judged by the way it works. Mr. James saidthat he believed in God and immortality be-
cause both ideas work well ; they make better
men and women; they give a dynamic to thesoul ; they hold out hope, and offer meaning. We
can judge of our values somewhat on this basis .
What effect do they have on character? Do they
advance civilization? Do they help human beings
to go forward? Do they offer incentives? Do
they give inspiration?
We have another philosopher in America who
collaborated with Mr. James before his death,
John Dewey who has written a book recently
on The Quest for Certainty, in which he takes
a step in advance even of pragmatism. The old261
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26 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
philosophy, in his opinion, was based on static
ideals-the same yesterday, to-day and forever .
Mr. Dewey regards the course of human progressas rather a venture in which we are discovering
new things, and we are doing this by means of
experiment, of observation, of laboratory tests,
of special equipment, such as the test tube, the
microscope, the telescope, the X-ray. Throughthese means man corrects his sense-reactions.
There has been a question of the phenomenal
universe, which is the reason the Hindoos refer
to it as mirage or illusion because it is a com-
plex of stimuli from the outer world and man's
reaction thereto. In other words, the phenome-
nal universe is created by us quite as much as it
is received by us, and that gives the impression
of duality. Through the means of instrumental-
ism, however, we correct whatever defects there
may be in our senses and approach nearer to
reality By empirical methods we see howthings behave under various conditions and seen
from different angles, and thus gain a clue as to
the validity of our observations .
I am not unfamiliar with the dogma of at
least a certain school of philosophers to the ef-
fect that empirical science has no proper place
in philosophy. It may be due to this very dogma
that philosophy has practically stood still for a
century while all the special sciences have so
signally advanced. Be that as it may, the ob-
jection to the empirical element in philosophy
has not the pith in it that it had of yore. Notto speak too disrespectfully of logic-chopping,
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES 263
cobweb-spinning, hair-splitting and other fami-
liar metaphysical and epistemological disciplines
of an earlier day, it is yet a fact, welcome to some
of us at least, that philosophy, if not made exactly
popular, has been humanized and brought into
the field of actualities
'There are language values. Man forms con-cepts and labels these concepts by words. Thushe builds a system of communication, and ex-
pression. This may not perfectly coincide with
the reality of things, yet it is the only way man,
through the language method, can progress. Hegets concepts and relates them to words. It has
been said that we think in language. In other
words, without these labels, these designations,
we have nothing for the mind to take hold of .
We think, not this time by the picture method
but by the label method-think the signs that
stand for the concepts. Yet out of this grows
various values-literature, poetry, oratory, the
spoken and the written word. These have cul-
tural advantages, and differentiate man from all
the lower orders of life .
Again, we have esthetic values-in art, in mu-
sic, in the drama. We build up a world that is
acknowledged to be fictional, and yet it may be
real in the idealistic sense . It belongs to the
intelligible universe Dickens' characters are
quite as real to us as folks we have met. I can
see Nickelby in my mind's eye, or Sairy Gamp,
or David Copperfield, and all of these characters
might represent truth more nearly than TomJones, John Smith or other people that we con-
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264 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
tact in the flesh. In other words, they are typi-
cal of human qualities, and the author does not
see them alone from the outside as we: see most
of our fellows in ordinary circumstances, but
through constructing his characters he gets an
internal view and reveals this to his reader.
Then, we have ethical values-the moraluniverse. We can only measure the meaning of
these in the building of character, in testing the
fibre of the individual, in giving him a contact
with the moral ideals of God. Immanuel Kant,as I have mentioned before, could not discover
God by intellectual methods, but he did discover
Him by the practical approach of ethics and
morals, because there he found an entity acting
and, whereas reason discovered only the pheno-
menal universe, this Moral Being, in his rela-
tions to his brother and to his Maker, touched
noumenaAgain, we have economic values-in business
and industry. Indeed, we use the word value
as a measure of price That is not the sense,
however, in which we mean it in this discus-
sion because it involves a commercial element
which appeals to the lower self, and these values
we are discussing transcend the self and are in
the ideal world, in the intelligible universe
We have political values-security, democra-
cy, Government. Without the State man would
be subjected to every sort of hazard from those
who do not have his ethical and moral viewpoint .
He could not function at his best. We might say
that in entering political relations we have to
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES 2 65
surrender some of our natural rights. We haveto obey the laws. We have to subordinate the
individual to the public good. Looked at from
that viewpoint, it would seem that we are placed
in bondage by the State but, through this bond-
age we purchase freedom from the selfish and
lawless members of society. We are enabledthrough law to gain a larger liberty .
Then, again, there are play values. It is not
an accident that we refer to sports as recrea-
tions. The meaning of the word "recreation" is
that we renew ourselves, and we do this by es-
caping from routine and refreshing the mind,
or reviving interest. That is one phase of sport,
and another is that we play the game of life,
and this whole adventure that we are taking in
the infinite is a form of playing the game. There
is one feature of sport to which I call special at-
tention-that of fair play. It gives us a clue to
what our conduct should be in other affairs of
life . The sportsman who seeks to win by re-
tarding or injuring his opponent is ruled out of
the game. If that were true in business we should
have a distinctly better world, and yet we rec-
ognize the principle in business. I used to be
a buyer, and if a salesman came to me with an
attempt to injure his competitor, I was placed
on guard at once. He was invoking a wrongprinciple. He was invoking a method that, if
used in sport, would eliminate him from the com-
petition. The rule is the right one that we
should do everything we can to excel, but Mat
we should place no bar in the way of our com-
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26 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
petitor. Indeed, the more efficient our opponent
is, the more it is a challenge to us to do our
best. That is the object of playing the game on
any plane. Our competitor, therefore, is our
helper. If he does his best he brings out all of
our resources and our ability to excel him.
We have social values, of which the most con-
spicuous is represented by the family. We can-not measure what family life has done for civi-
lization. It has been called the cornerstone. It
is a breeding-ground of ideals, of moral values,
of love, trust, companionship, and all of the most
precious things that develop in our humanworld There is nothing finer in civilization
than the Christian, home . The destruction or
the impairment of it would be a loss to civiliza-
tion that we cannot measure. Especially, would
it be a loss to the child. The child builds his
whole world of ideals around the home, around
the estimate he puts upon his parents, around
the affection that he gives to other members of
the family
Then, again, there are religious values . Wehave all read of economic determinism. We aretold that men are actuated by economic motives
and this, to some extent, is true, but there is a
higher determinism . I call it spiritual deter-
minism Let me illustrate what I mean : Our
country was made what it is by spiritual ideals .
I defy you to find in history any groups that
in their accomplishments and their motives ex-
cel the groups we discover in the history of the
Christian church, those who builded the struc-
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES 267
ture of Christianity with the cement of their
own blood, the martyrs ; those who for con-
science's sake and for their ideals, were fed to
wild beasts, burned-living torches, their bodies
soaked in oil-were not actuated by any com-
mercial or material motive. In our own coun-
try, we have as our most precious heritages the
results of a similar spirit ,and consecration. Wein this day make light of the Puritans, and yet,without the Puritan revolution in England, and
without the idealistic substratum that was fur-
nished to our civilization through the Pilgrim
Fathers, this republic would have been impos-
sible. You say these men were ruled by econo-
mic determinism? They came into the wilder-
ness where they lost all economic advantages
possessed in their own countries. A large por-
tion of the Pilgrims who settled at Plymouth
Rock died in the first winter. They came into
a wilderness that they had to clear before they
could cultivate ; settled in the midst of a rocky
and inhospitable environment where they were
subjected not only to crop failures and famine
and all manner of misfortunes including sick-
ness and death, but were exposed to savage foes
that massacred them, burnt their houses and
held them under a continual reign of terror .
Do you say that economic motives actuated these
people? You have not read their history if you
imagine that they were even influenced by such
things. It was a case, purely, of spiritual and
idealistic determinism.
This brings us to perhaps the highest value
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268 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
that has been known in human civilization. I
do not exalt Jesus Christ and His philosophy be-
cause he happens to be the founder of the reli-
gion of this country and of our special groups .
I exalt Him because He has been the greatest
force for progress, for spirituality, for human-
izing mankind, for teaching gentleness and kind-
liness, just dealing, love of our neighbors and
even of our enemies, that this world has ever
known There is a regenerative power in the
very consciousness that He has given to the whole
world, not only to His own followers but to all
men; He founded democracy, as we know it. Hegave freedom to the human spirit .
There is another phase of the subject to which
I wish to devote the remaining portion of thischapter : That is what we call the value of the
practical. This goes a step beyond pragmatism
or the practical philosophy which has always
been interpreted as moral philosophy. What Imean by the practical is that everything in the
world, including man, seems to be governed by
practical purposes. We have already discussed
the protective devices that appear in all the
orders of life, such as a protective armor, a pe-
culiar coloration, or fleetness of foot, or teeth
and claws, to repel attack . In every one of
these defensive mechanisms, we discover prac-
tical purpose. We can even go beyond thatinto the inorganic world. How many of us have
reflected on the narrow range of temperature, for
example, in which life can thrive? There is a
range of possible temperature running into the
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES 2 69
thousands of degrees. The zero of space is some
thing near four hundred degrees below 0, F .
The temperature of the sun is supposed to run
to fifty million or more. There is a range' of
more than fifty million degrees. Man and otherforms of life can only exist within a narrow
range running from, say, about one hundredthirty degrees F. to sixty degrees below zero,
which would cover not more than two hundred
degrees out of a possible fifty million, four hun-
dred. Yet life has gone on upon this planet for
countless ages in which the temperature has not
varied sufficiently to make it impossible. Thiswas true, even in the ice age .
I call attention to another striking factor in
the inorganic world. Almost every element orcompound known in nature contracts when itsolidifies, with the one exception of water-that
expands. Were it not for this fact, life as we
know it would be impossible. Ice, if contracted,
would sink to the bottom for its specific gravity
would be such that it would displace an equal
volume of water. That means that the streams
in the north or in the temperate and frigid zones
of either hemispheres would freeze solid, and
while the sun might thaw them to some extent in
summer, they would be like the glaciers-they
would not be wholly melted. Not only so, but
many of the common uses of water would be-
come impossible. We find that the arrangement
is a practical one
We can discover the same thing in the organic
world. Take, for example, the love of a parent
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2 70 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
for a child, which is not peculiar to the human
family. It exists among all mammals. It exists,
indeed, wherever it is necessary that it should
exist, but, where it would make little or no dif-
ference to the preservation of the young, it is
not present in the same degree, and in the lower
orders of life, among the mammals, it is only
present so long as the young need the -protection
of the mother. When a cat weans her kittens,
she will have nothing more to do with them .
This same feature is found among almost all
animals. Again it is a practical arrangement
for the preservation of the species. While the
young are immature and defenseless, they have
the mother love. When that no longer is neces-
sary-I am speaking now of the lower orders of
life-it disappears. In man, love possesses other
values and there are other practical reasons why
this affection should continue, for it is the
foundation of the family life and, in a sense, of
the whole social fabric. Therefore, it does con-
tinue.
Again, we find that there are practical reas-ons, even in psychic phenomena, in death itself,
and in loss of memory in successive lives. Letme point that out in detail. There is a practical
reason for death. It is in the interests of prog-
ress. If an entity remained always in the same
organism, it would become fixed in that organ-
ism, or in the thought content, or both, and thus
would stand still .
I used to be greatly disturbed because I could
not know for sure as to life after death. And
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES 271
-to do myself justice-it was not wholly a self-
ish reason I think it is so with any human
being. All of us have loved ones that have passed
through the valley of the shadow. We want toknow about them We long for a comforting
word from the cold lips ; for a reassurance of the
identity of those who have been more precious,
in many instances, than our own life itself. I
wondered why I could not know for sure about
these things. Then, I reflected, if it be true that
man has lived before and shall live again, why
is it we cannot remember? And I wondered,still again : If there is in us a subconscious mind
that controls the organism, that presides over
the organs of the body, that heals us-why could
I not know this in my conscious mind? Theanswer to all these questions came to me in my
heart: It would not be practical. If we knewof everything that the subconscious mind is do-
ing in the body, with all the cells and organs, a
boiler factory would be a 'Sunday School com-
pared to the resultant confusion and chaos. Our
minds would be incapable of attending to any-
thing else. So all of this is retired into the sub-
conscious for a purpose. It leaves our conscious
minds free to attend to other duties .
Again, if we could continually communicate
with the other world, and we found it more de-
sirable than this, or imagined it to be so, and if
our loved ones were there, we might become dis-
contented with staying here. Therefore, we
would lose all of the value of life in the way of
training, education, character-building and,
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272 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
even if we did not desert, we might be so dis-
tracted as to lose our efficiency. There is noth-
ing that is such an incentive to man as interest,
and we might lose interest in life . The samething would presumably be true if we remem-
bered past lives. There are any number ofthings that might discontent us. If, in the last
life, or in some previous life, we had been more
fortunately situated than we are now, that
would tend to discontent us and if, in a pre-
vious life, we had been less fortunate than we
are now; for example, if we had been in jail be-
cause we deserved to be there, that too would
depress and shame us. Therefore, it would not
be practical. In fact, when we come to examine
the matter we do not need all the lumber of adetailed memory because we have digested that
experience-that past experience, assimilated it,
incorporated it into our very soul texture, in
character, and we have thrown aside the mere
detail of the experiences as useless excess bag-
gage. To change the figure, we have sucked that
orange dry ; we do not need the rind. In ceasing
to remember details, we have not lost anything
except the mere identification with events which,
for the most part, would now have no meaning
and no interest, or slight meaning and interest,
their purpose having been served .
We find the practical ruling in almost every
plane of life. That gives a new and a valid ar-
gument for design, for practical purpose is only
design in another form. We cannot turn any-where in Nautre that we do not find design .
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES 27 3
What does design mean? Order, plan, purpose .
Sometimes these purposes and the operations to
realize them are so marvelous that we cannot
account for them in any other way than that
some intelligent agent supervises them with final
ends in view. I have already mentioned the
wasp that paralyzes the caterpillar by stinging it
in certain nerve centers so that the young wasp
may be hatched in the caterpillar's body andfeed on the living tissue; also the moth whose
back looks like the eye lof an owl and whose
enemies happen to be afraid of owls. Thereare also the adaptations of the eye to light and
of sex in two different organisms. Purpose meets
us on every level of life. It is so plain that only
the blind-and there are "none so blind as those
who will not see"-can fail to discover it. Inour own organisms we find these purposes evi-
denced in striking ways. For example, in the
foot the tendons that govern the toes pass
through the curve of the ankle. What keepsthem from straightening out in the way a string
does when pulled by two ends? These tendons
are only finely organized strings, one end of
which is anchored in the muscles of the leg, the
other end in the toes and bent almost at right
angles at the ankle joint. What holds them at
right angles? Exactly the same sort of a device
that you or I would adopt under like conditions.
If we wished to keep aa string or bundle of
strings from straightening out we would tie an-
other string about it or them. That is precisely
what has been done in this case; and this string
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2 74 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
that is tied about the tendons in the foot is not
in any way a part of the tendons themselves .
Maeterlinck has a very wonderful chapter on
the ways that bees form a honeycomb. Someof the different materials necessary to the manu-
facture are exuded from their bodies. The nec-
essary tools for its manipulation are also in
their bodies. The mathematical form of the cells
is so marvelous that mathematicians have won-
dered at it. One methematician worked out the
form in which the greatest economy -of space
could be attained and found it corresponded al-
most exactly to these cells made by bees. It is
not a matter of mechanical instinct alone, how-
ever, for only certain kinds of honey bees make
cells in this way. Other bees do not make them
so accurately. Moreover, if the form of the hive
is changed, the design is changed to match. The
comb is adapted to hollow trees or to tree
branches in the. open air. Cases have been known
where the cells, were placed upside down when
the form of the receptacle required it. All this
varied conduct requires intelligence . The bees
apparently have engineers that superintend the
operation, just as they have specialized workers,
each performing its own allotted part of the
task.
Yet the bees do not appear to be conscious and
to work out all these purposes for themselves.
The only explanation left would appear to be
design. This has a meaning for our study. Wecan no longer leave the practical out of our
equation in searching for truth ; it is a factor in
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES 2 75
our philosophy. Hegel's motto-"The rational
is the real," I amend to read : The practical is
the real.
There is another value and that is in truth it-
self. Herbert Spencer once said, in effect, that
if man could adjust himself perfectly to his en-
vironment, he could know all things and live
forever Truth is an adjustment to environ-
ment. We have to know before we can adjust .
We have to 'be in right relations through know-
ledge. We have to be in right attitudes. I some-
times think that people are not purposely ma-
licious or wicked or selfish; that when we find
selfishness, it is because the individual needs
something and, therefore, he is reaching out to
grasp after a satisfaction of that need. I have
seen really educated and wise people who made
no effort to -seem educated or wise. They did not
need to do so. Having the reality, they did not
need the appearance . I have seen others: whc
were less wise and less educated who appeared
or tried to appear more so, because they had a
need. In a way, it was a defense mechanism to
shield them from displaying their lack of know-
edge to the world. In the same way, men whohave great wealth, do not need to appear to have
it ; for the most part they seek to conceal it.
They can wear old clothes; they can evendisregard the conventions ; they can disport
themselves pretty much as they please, be-cause having the reality and being secure,they do not need to seem. On the otherhand, those who have less, frequently appear to
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276 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
have more because they have the need of it and
they do not want to advertise that lack. Wefind this throughout life. In the same way, it
is altogether possible that those who are for-
ever grasping, do so because of soul poverty,
or character poverty, of poverty as human en-
tities-they are seeking to supply their own
inner need .
Now, returning to the value of truth : In every
science, in every art, in every philosophy, and in
every religion, we find folks who do the work for
the work's sake. They do not look for rewards ;
they do not even look for results, but, like the
sportsman who plays the game, they serve only
because of interest and the ideal of seeking
truth for its own sake . That is somewhat the
sort of an adventure on which we are em-barked . There are no goals in sight, no re-
wards, no plaudits, butt there is a satisfaction
that is perhaps deeper than any achieved by
these external and ephemeral things, a satisfac-
tion in knowing for the sake of knowing, for the
sake of the value we gain from a right judgment
and a right assessment of life ,and of what it has
to offer Therefore, in this, our adventure, I
am happy from my own viewpoint that I amfree. I do not have to ,conform to any sect or
to any restraint. I can seek truth for its own
sake and have no inhibition or prohibition except
such as my own sense of the fitness of things and
of what is right imposes on me. Therefore, I pro-
pose as a motto of our study an old legal formula .
We cannot live up to it exactly perhaps-man
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THE PHILOSOPHY OF VALUES 277
never does live wholly up to his ideals; but we
can put it before us as a shibboleth and standard,
and it is this : "The truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth."
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CHAPTER XIVA NEW SYNTHESIS
ANDnow we approach the end of our adven-
ture in truth and are ready for our conclusion.
What do all these scientific discoveries mean?
Can we relate and bring them together into
unity? Do they dovetail into each other to
form a system, and if so what is its interpreta-
tion? Do all our clues lead to a discovery? Can
we gather up our materials into a coherent and
intelligible whole? What is our new synthesis?
Perhaps, before we seek to arrive at any uni-
versal conclusion it will be well to examine fur-
ther, and to arrange, just what we have found.
First, we have discovered that the basis of
what the world called Materialism has crumbled.
Matter is not what it seems. It is only organ-
ized energy. Our previous concept of it was due
to an appearance and an abstraction, neither of
which was real in any ultimate sense .
This is most important. The World War wasdue at least in part to the materialism of the
Nineteenth Century. This materialism was un-
dermining religious faith, undermining moral
values, undermining idealism. It paralyzedspirituality, denied freedom and spontaneity,
made man a slave of a blind and insensate neces-
sity, tended to bring everything to its own low278
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 2 79
physical level, and reduced thought to the static,
the partial and the three-dimensional, to
straightline logic, to the block universe. It rec-
ognized only one kind of mind action, the intel-
lectual, stressed the inductive, as against the de-
ductive reason, and looked from outside at parts
rather than from within at wholes. In a wordit beheld the symbol instead of the thing sym-
bolized, the letter instead of the spirit .
Second, we have looked behind and beyondthat twin appearance, Mechanism. The ma-chine has its place, but only as the toolof mind which is its creator and operator.
This is true whether we speak of ,a wheelbarrow,
or a solar system ; of an atom or of a universe
of laws. The organism is a machine, as is habit,
instinct and the automatic To recognize this
truth is important in order that we may have
the right mental perspective and shall not re-
gard the machine as something in and for itself .
The effects of mechanism and of a mechanis-
tic view of life are widely ramifying . Theytouch not only philosophy and almost all the
special sciences but art, literature, politics, edu-
cation, industry and even religion. Formalismand ritualism are like prayer wheels, a sort of
mechanism It is not a mere figure of speech
to refer to a political or a governmental machine,
or to a mechanical performance in music, poetry,
oratory, the drama, or the graphic arts. Mech-anism kills art as the letter may obscure the
spirit. Of its effects in the practical fields of so-
ciology and industry I will speak later. Of the
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2 8 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
deadening effects of a too mechanistic view in
philosophy and science I have already treated.
The machine has its place but as subordinate .
It is only a tool and this is true whether it is
human or natural. It is an extension or a con-
venience of mind. It is like a symbol, it stands
for something else . Man who beholds thingsfrom the outside is prone to mistake the form
for the substance. He must look beyond the sign
for the thing signified and beyond the tool for
its purpose and use. Else he may get a mechan-
ical view and that is as deadly in philosophy
as it is in art. In both the fault lies in super-
ficiality-there is not enough depth, not enough
soul, either in the art or the philosophy .
Standardization and uniformity are a formof mechanism and too much of either kills spon-
taneity. There is nothing quite so hideous as a
row of houses exactly alike, except geometrical
figures in gardening. There is something in the
free spirit of man that revolts against that sort
of invasion by the machine into fields where it
does not belong. If carried too far, it becomes
ludicrous, and excites laughter, which is a sort
of escape valve from our reactions to the absurd
or incongruous that otherwise would be too pain-
ful to bear. Bergson says that one of the chief
sources of humor lies in making man into a man-
nikin, or the introduction of too much of the
mechanistic into human behavior. The error in
the machine philosophy betrays itself from va-
rious angles and points of view.
Kindred to materialism and mechanism is ac-
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 28 1
cidentalism or the doctrine of chance. I have
already shown how this has been responsible for
serious errors in physics, astronomy and biology .
The random element has its place but not as the
organizer of a universe. When we build a house
we do not leave it to chance to bring together
the materials and put them into place . Chaos
does not become cosmos without constraint and
direction . Construction and co-ordination aremental activities .
It is probable that this random or indeter-
minate element is a factor in the process of dif-
ferentiation. Apparently it runs all through
nature, as pointed out by Leibnitz and more re-
cently by Eddington. Leibnitz said that there
are no two things exactly similar in the universe,
else they would be identical. For example, no
two leaves on a tree are alike. This statement
caused the ladies of the court, where Leibnitz
was stationed in some capacity, to compare the
leaves in the court gardens in an effort to prove
the philosopher wrong. We now know that notwo finger-prints are alike and no two snow-
flakes. Eddington supposes that this variation
extends to cells, molecules and even atoms. They
not only differ in form but do not even behave
exactly alike. We see great masses of them,
however, and on the average these masses act ac-
cording to a norm and it is thus that we can
predicate laws. This point may have a bearing
on free will as we shall see later. We shouldbear in mind, however, that while the random
factor may enter into differentiation, there is
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2 8 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
no possible chance that it could produce order.
Thus the doctrine of the fortuitous goes into the
limbo of abandoned theories along with sponta-
neous generation, empty space, materialism,
mechanism, et al.
Having cleared the ground of these negative
factors, we are in better position to consider
some of the affirmative results of our inquiry.
First among these is the presence of the extra-
conscious mind in living organisms and pre-
sumably throughout nature. This we have found
is a factor in psychic phenomena, in mental heal-
ing, in instinct, in forming the embryo and in
giving direction to the evolutionary processes.
It is probably incorrect to suppose this mind
wholly unconscious, but whatever consciousness
may accompany it is infinitesimal and does not
often arise above the threshold of ordinary
consciousness. We find its submergence andemergence to be governed bypractical considera-tions like most other things in nature. The ex-
tra-conscious is not, essentially different from
conscious mind, for one may pass into the other,
or be influenced by the other . The extra-con-
scious mind does not depend on brain activity,
however, for it may be greatest when brain
action is least .
If man is an image of the cosmos and the ex-
tra-conscious mind is, therefore, present in na-
ture, as facts seem to indicate, this would solve
many problems, including that of Pantheism .
The extra-conscious mind in the phenomenal
universe is only one phase of the Divine Mind,
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 283
corresopnding to what the theologians designate
as God Immanent, while the conscious phaserepresents God.Transcendent.
The second great principle we have discovered,
or rather re-discovered, is polarity. It is found
in atom building, in electricity and magnetism,
in the pairs of opposites throughout nature, in
sex, and in the dialectic of thought . Therefore
it must be universal and in its highest formwould naturally appear as the two poles of spirit
and matter. The fundamental basis of polarity
is that the two poles complement or balance each
other and that what we can say of one we cannot
say of the other. Of the pole of matter we posit
privation, or diminution through use, but in
spirit everything remains constant, however
much used or shared ; ,a.nd this applies not only
to such ideal goods as truth, wisdom, love, joy,
etc., but to life and even to energy, if the con-
servation theory is true. Indeed, the things of
the ideal or intelligible universe actually in-
crease through use, which suggests a solution
of the old problem of addition or novelty. W eadd constantly to our thought and wisdom. Onthis plane all things are ever new .*
Again we posit of matter inertia, while spirit
is eternally active. It is mind that initiates .
Herein lies another disproof of materialism and
mechanism since there is nothing in this inert
thing called matter that could move or build
* Bertrand Russell, the philosopher and mathematician, implies thatthis same principle applies to infinite numbers, and quotes others in con-firmation . He says that the new idea of infinity is that it still remainsinfinite even after a number is subtracted from it . In other wordsinfinityis spiritual and is inexhaustible like all other spiritual things .
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284 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
itself, just as there is nothing that could fashion
or use machines. In the same way that matter
is inert, so it is bound by necessity and is deter-
mined by something beyond or outside itself,
while spirit is self-acting and free . It will be
observed that these new elements and viewpoints
in philosophy are suggesting ,a solution to some
of the old problems and revealing false elements
in others that remove them from the category of
problems. Now we approach the most debatedof all these questions, that of free will. Cassius
J. Keyser in his Mole Philosophy gives us a
rather amusing dialogue on freedom whichbrings out the fact that man is at least free to
deliberate, which ends the discussion. Yet free-
dom to deliberate without freedom to decidewould have no meaning One of Mr. Keyser'sdebaters points out that all our jurisprudence
is based on man's freedom and moral responsi-
bility and he might have added that all history,
especially that of recent centuries, including the
wars for liberty, has a like basis. Thus do prac-
tical facts refute the hair-splitting doctrinaires,
just as Zeno's false problem of Achilles and the
tortoise was settled by the certain fact that
Achilles does overtake the tortoise .
How does the principle of polarity affect this
problem of free will? At the pole of the physi-
cal we find things necessitated and determined .
Then at the spiritual pole they are not neces-
sitated and determined, for, according to our
postulate, conditions are exactly reversed at the
two poles. It thus becomes apparent that those
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 285
who deny freedom are looking at the question
solely from the physical standpoint. Whenthey speak of the weight of motives they even
use physical terminology. History again refutes
them, for as man has progressed toward the
spiritual, he has also progressed toward an ever
greater freedom. I am reminded here of twoscriptural texts : "The truth shall make youfree" and "Where the spirit of the Lord is there
is liberty." Mr. Haldane's remark is againapropos that each science must be treated on its
own level. Life cannot be dealt with in terms, of
physics nor value and interest from the stand-
point of physiology. The freedom of the will
cannot be decided by the weights and measures
of the block universe Even Thomas Paine,whom most people regard as anything but reli-
gious, employs the phrase : "So celestial an ar-
ticle as freedom."
Without freedom the moral universe wouldcrumble, our courts and law books would be a
mockery and human history would have nomeaning and no goal. From a practical stand-
point the freedom of the will simply has to be
true; and any kind of reasoning that makes it
seem untrue proves, not freedom, but itself to be
defective. Seen by the light of this principle
of polarity, the defect in it becomes plain. Neces-
sity belongs to the pole of matter, the argument
for it comes from the materially minded, while
the "celestial article," freedom, pertains to the
spirit .
The random or indeterminate element already
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2 86 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
mentioned, which we found is a probable fac-
tor in differentiation, no doubt has a bearing
on this problem of freedom. Individual men are
differentiated and therefore would incorporate
this indeterminate element, which would give
them personal freedom, at least to an extent . If
we observed ,great masses of them we should
find, as we did in lower orders of animate or in-
animate entities, that their average behavior
would approach a norm, but this would leave a
margin for freedom or indeterminateness of in-
dividual choice and action. At any rate, man
knows in his heart that he is free and every prac-
tical consideration proves it
Next we approach the problem of cause and
effect. There is a false element here, also, as we
shall discover • It consists in assigning partial
causes. In the last analysis nothing less than
the whole universe is the cause of everything,
or anything, in it No wonder David Humefound no nexus of necessity between events but
only sequences; and no wonder the older philos-
ophers were driven toinvent four different kinds
of causes. I repeat that the whole universe is the
cause of everything in it, and that means the
whole universe not only in space but in time ; and
the whole universe in time necessarily involves
purpose and end. It is not only an efficient, but
a final cause. This is the only way to get rid of
the difficulties raised by Kant in his infinite re-
gression of causes .
Which brings us to Kant's famous antimo-
nies One will suffice to illustrate the four,
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 287
since they are all based on the same principle .
'The first one proved that the world must have
had a beginning; and conversely, and by equally
'valid logic, it proved that the world could not
have had a beginning. Obviously both state-
ments could not be true. Just as obviously Kant
knew this, so that the net result of his logical
foray was to prove the defect of the intellectual
methods of approach to the ultimate, the limits
of reason. What is the defect? Well, here is a
suggestion. In this instance, and in the other
three as well, Kant is dealing with a straight-
'line infinite, which we are now convinced ins anillusion
As already remarked, Kant could nat provethe existence of God by the intellectual method
but did prove it, to his own satisfaction, by the
practical. He implied that it had never been
'intellectually proved. Perhaps it does not need
to be proved, for in one form or another, and
in varying terminology, every man admits it .
He must do so, as .a basis for rational thought .
If a proof be demanded, I submit, with all humi-
lity, the one suggested or implied at the end of
the chapter on Relativity, which is in somewhat
different terms, as follows
Proposition 1. The Universe knows itself .
Proof. Man knows the Universe, of whichhe is a part; but since the part cannot be great-
er, or wiser, than the whole, the Universe must
know itself.
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28 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
Proposition 2. The Universe knows itself as
mindProof. Mind alone knows, hence, if the Uni-
verse knows itself at all it must know itself as
mindProposition 3. The Universe knows itself as
perfect and universal mind.
Proof. Man, being partial, knows the Uni-
verse in part; but since the Universe is whole
and perfect it must know itself as whole and
perfect; and since it knows itself as mind it
must know itself as perfect and universal mind.
Proposition 4. Perfect and universal mind is
GodProof. No proof needed, since that is the
definition of God .
As to Zeno's problems, I have already dealt
with one, and the only other I remember is that
of the moving arrow which Zeno proves does not
move at all, since at any given instant it is sta-
tionary, etc. This contains two false elements-
bath abstractions : First, the assumption that
anything is ever motionless when nothing is
motionless in nature; second, the abstracting of
parts and the approach to the whole movement
of the arrow from this lower and partial level
There is an intellectual trick in Zeno's prob-
lems.
It has been observed that the spiritual hypo-
thes1s has been fruitful in solving a number of
problems that can not be solved without it. Inother words, it works, and thus answers the
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 2 89
final test by which we determine the validity of
any hypothesis. My contention is that by this
method which is the identical method employed
by science, I have proved the existence of spirit
beyond reasonable doubt .
We have learned certain other things in our
adventure in truth-for one thing, rhythm, the
basis of sound, light, electricity and apparently
of the whole phenomenal universe, also of the
periodicity of day and night, winter and sum-
mer, life and death and apparently of successive
lives, interspersed by periods of rest and assim-
ilation. We have likewise discovered the ether
of space, which is responsive to thought and one
state of which is thus organized, through op-
posite polarities, into vortices and tensions that
are the basis of atoms, solar systems and island
universes Next we have learned of relativity
both that of subjective idealism and that of the
frame of reference due to the motion of the ob-
server compared to that of other systems. Bound
up with relativity we have discovered that time
is the fourth dimension of space, which should
help to rid us of our static and three-dimension-
al ways of thinking and of our false infinities .
Also we, have had suggestions as to the use of
both intellect and intuition, each correcting the
defects of the other and giving us an insight in-
to the nature of things from a double approach .
We have learned of values and interests, of the
advantage of considering things in their in-
tegrity as wholes, of the pragmatic method of
evaluating ideas by the way they work, or of
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290 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
judging a tree by its fruits; of the help of instru-
mentalism in supplementing the senses, inva-
ding the invisible by the aid of special equip-
ment and discovering how things behave under
varying conditions and viewed from different
angles. We have discovered how the practical
governs in nature and in our own lives, how this
is a new and valid proof of design and how
the practical element cannot be omitted from
our equation if we are to reach correct philo-
sophical results. We have found proofs of im-
mortality in the law of continuity, in the theory
of conservation, in the evidences brought us by
psychical research, in telepathy, in the perfect
memory of the extra-conscious mind, in the mor-
al nature of man and in the longings for per-
fection in our own hearts which point to uses
and satisfactions in another life. Finally wehave found with Plato that the crown of all
things is the Good, that all our discoveries paint
to God as the one reality ; that this is a spiritual
universe here and now, and if our vision were
clarified we should see it to be such, as God sees
it ; that we only regard it as imperfect because
we behold it fractionally and fragmentarily both
in space and in time, but viewed completely in
all its dimensions and with its purpose and final
ends unfolded, we should know it as the best of
possible worlds. These realizations regenerate
us from within, heal us in body and mind, and
give us a happier and more confident outlook on
life both here and hereafter .
We have made one other significant discov-
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 291
ery : Not only that the new knowledge has very
effectively exploded the old materialistic philos-
ophies of Democritus and the Epicureans onwhich all the other materialistic systems are to
some extent based; but on the other hand it has
added vitality and validity to the intuitive and
idealistic systems. As examples, I cite the Hin
doo philosophy with its different states of ether ;
Pythagoras, with his basic principle of numbers,
corresponding to the number of electrons in the
atom and the numerical series of frequencies
underlying all phenomena; Plato and his arche-
types on which I shall have a final word later ;
and especially the Hermetic system to which
such frequent reference has been made, the basic
principles of which are here summarized as fol-
lows : (1) "The Universe is Mental." (2) "Asabove so below ; as below so above." The Prin-
ciple of Correspondence. (3) "Nothing rests ;
everything moves; everything vibrates." Theprinciple of vibration. (4) Everything is dual ;
everything has two poles ; everything has its pair
of opposites; like and unlike are identical in
nature but different in degree ; extremes meet."
The principle of Polarity. (5) "Everything
flows out and in; everything has its tides ; all
things rise and fall ; the pendulum "swing mani-
fests itself in everything; the measure of the
swing to the right is the measure of the swing
to the left; rhythm compensates." The prin-ciple of Rhythm. (6) "Every cause has its ef-
fect, every effect has its cause; everything hap-
pens according to law; chance is: but a name for
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29 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
law not recognized; there are many planes of
causation but nothing escapes the law." Theprinciple of Cause and Effect. (7) Sex is found
throughout the universe .
I know of nothing more striking in the whole
history of human thought than the perfect way
in which all seven of the fundamental Hermetic
principles mentioned above coincide with mod-
ern scientific discoveries made nearly twenty
centuries after these principles were promul-
gated. Everyone of them is vital and true to-
day I have already commented on most ofthemAs to the principle of correspondence Sweden-
borg dealt with this quite fully and found these
analogies or similarities throughout Nature. I
doubt not that was the thought of Henry Drum-
mond when he wrote, Naituiral Law in the Spir-
itual World.
The first of the Hermetic principles is that
the Universe is mental ; it consists of thought.
That is the basis of the whole Hegelian philos-
ophy, as it was also of the Platonic philosophy.
The seventh of the postulates of Hermes is
that there is sex throughout the universe. I was
at first disposed to ignore that as merely a va-
riant of polarity. As I thought about the mat-
ter, however, I saw light. Sex is polarity acting
through rhythm. I saw the significance of God
being called the Father and began to suspect
that matter may be from the same root word as
mater, a like thought being conveyed by the
term, "Mother Nature." God is the father prin-
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 2 93
ciple, the primordial substance is the mother .
Through rhythm or energy and motion they be-get atoms and all the phenomenal universe .
This series of lessons in one aspect is based on
the Hermetic philosophy and is a modern state-
ment or interpretation of its principles .
Before we have our materials complete there
is one other question that must be introduced .
How does thought shape and control matter?What is the connection between mind and body?
The subjoined quotation is from Gustave Geley.*
He refers repeatedly to laboratory experiments
in which thought forms were created in what he
calls ideoplastic substance and in an appendix
gives reproductions of twenty-three photographs
of such thought-forms in various degrees of de-
velopment. He suggests this as an explanation
of the power that shapes the embryo. The un-conscious thoughts and memories that comedown from the parents form an etheric bodyor a body in the ideoplastic substance. The
force that forms this is called a "dynamo-psy-
chism." The pattern he calls a "cadre" which
Webster defines as a "Nucleus, frame-work,
skeleton, or scheme." Dr. Geley says
The rational concept of the individual in accord with
all the facts is as follows :
For the genesis of the individual the essential dynamo-psychism objectifies itself by gradual primoridal represen-
tations successively conditioning one another .
* From the Unconscious to the Conscious, by Dr . Gustave Geley . Trans .
by S. DeBrath . Harper & Bros ., New York .
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294 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
According to our present knowledge the primordial
representations are:
1. The purely mental ;
2 . The Vital Dynamism ;
3. The single organic substance
These primordial representations constitute themselves
into secondary representations: The mental, by states ofconsciousness and thoughts ; the unique substance by cells
and organs. These primordial representations are cadres
which remain the same from the birth to the death of the
grouping which constitutes the individual. The secondary
representations, on the contrary, are perpetually renewed.
The cells of the organic complex are born, die and succeed
each other very rapidly. The states of consciousness and
thoughts follow on one another in the same way, associat-
ing, opposing, converging or diverging in a chaos which is
co-ordinated only by the directing Self .
In a footnote Dr. Geley adds
It is curious that the schools of thought called occultist
have reached by intuitive or mystical paths a systematiza-
tion not unlike this.
He could have added that these thought bodies
are like the Platonic archetypes except that in
actual life the general type or pattern is modi-
fied to fit each individual .
Dr. Geley makes a superior dynamo-psychismresponsible for the universe and interprets evo-
lution to be a progressive emergence into con-
sciousness of God's purposes and thoughts origin-
ally incorporated in the cosmos that is, His rep-
resentation. In the lower orders of life intel-
ligence is in an instinctive or dream state. Inman this intelligence becomes conscious, while
at the same time, for practical reasons, a reverse
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 295
stream of perfected thought processes pass into
the habit mind or into the unconscious
These are our materials, our new factors that
strikingly enough recall old factors arrived at in-
tuitively or otherwise by lovers of wisdom in the
remote past. Thus brought together, they point
to their own interpretation, their own synthesis .
One truth they indicate is that we can have no
philosophy worthy the name that omits the spir-itual factor Without it we are dealing with
half-truths with appearances and mechanisms
that have little meaning until we look behind
and beyond them. Without it we are encounter-
ing unsolvable problems, that under the alembic
of the spirit are dissolved and. disappear from
our path. The spiritual is not discovered by
observation or by the intellectual approach
alone I have already likened it to a margin
beyond the edges of sense-perception and pheno-
mena. It is like the sun in eclipse. When theeclipse is total, there is yet a corona or rim of
light that does not leave the world in complete
darkness. So when the spiritual seems eclipsed
by the physical universe, there is yet this margin
of light
To complete our synthesis we must venture on
a further invasion of the invisible, and this we
must do through hypothesis. Yet we are not left
to theory alone. We have not only this "margin
of light," but all these new facts gathered for
us by the special sciences, as well as the con-
jectures of the old idealistic philosophies that
such facts have confirmed . All these elements
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2 96 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
have indicated the direction we shall take, and
in general outline have shown the form of our
hypothesis.
It has already been demonstrated that the cos-
mos knows itself as perfect and universal mind
and is therefore identical with God. The phe-
nomenal universe is His representation .
In this study I am not attempting to recon-
struct the Cosmos. That has been done before
and is too ambitious a program for one humble
individual. Nor am I trying to tell the attributes
of God. I leave that to the theologians. Here I
am. only seeking to set forth the implicationsand interpretations of the facts we have ob-
tained. As a first step, they fairly compel us
to acknowledge that God is. That is enough.
As to what He is, we are left to grope. To meHe is all. He objectifies Himself in Nature. He
multiplies Himself in His emanations, in His
children, but this, according to the nature of
the spiritual universe, does not subtract from
His own being These emanations are whatLeibnitz calls monads. There is one feature of
Leibnitz's system that I cannot accept, however .
He calls God the chief monad, which wouldmake Him the member of a series. God is the
One, and there is none other. The emanationsor monads are derived from Him, just as the
phenomenal Universe is representative of Him.
In the language of the conventional cosmog-
ony, I should now say, "in the beginning ;" but
there is no beginning. "From everlasting to
everlasting I am God." The curve of space-
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 297
time returns upon itself but is endless in both
directions . The eternal process is not depend-
ent on time. God is forever renewing and ani-
mating the Universe, which is His object, or His
other It is a present tense action . I do not
like the word, "creating" for it implies making
something out of nothing, which is a human
concept having no meaning.
In the pairs of opposites, at the very top of
the scale, let us posit mind as the positive and
primordial substance as the negative pole, the
nexus between them being energy The first
product is the movable ether, the basis of the
physical universe . This is polarized into posi-
tive and negative electrons which start the vor-
tices called atoms, and set up not only vortexial
movements but strains and tensions in the ether,
or attractions and repulsions, which grow in
force as the atoms are massed together. At the
same time cadences and rhythms are generated,
one range of which is light. "And God said let
there be light." In the same way that the elec-
trons revolve about their nucleus, so, when the
atoms mass themselves into suns, planets are
carried about these in their own vortices and
moons about the planets. None of these things
happen by accident, but according to law, the
laws corresponding to God's eternal purposes .
When any planet is ready for life, the spirit
breaks through into matter in the form of pro-
toplasm and cells, the matrices or cadres of
which are formed in the ideoplastic substance,
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298 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
which may be another ether, or state of the pri-
mordial substance .
Now begins the long ascent of Transforma-
tion or Evolution. As the first single-cell enti-
ties associate themselves in more and more com-
plex organisms, the cadres or forms in the ideo-
plastic substance advance correspondingly, be-
ing formed by the extra-conscious, or dimly con-
scious mind that is breaking through into mat-
ter and pervading it from the spiritual pole of
being. The process goes forward not in any
mechanical or preordained way, but through
trial and error, and by ever-larger accretions of
spirit, as the organism becomes fitted to express
mind in ever-unfolding degrees of intelligence .
The one-cell entities are in a sense immortal,
since they multiply by sub-dividing, but as soon
as the organisms become at all complex, death
appears so that the entity may not remain fixed
in the organism and so impede its progress. Atthe same time the forms or cadres in the ideo-
plastic substance advance in the same way and
participate in the rhythm of life and death .
These etheric doubles are the permanent bodies
or rather thought-forms of each entity, but there
is ~so slight a consciousness involved that we can-
not call them immortal until man emerges into
true self-consciousness . They are all eternal,
but not consciously so. Immortality is conscious
eternality. We thus arrive at the human plane,
which has already been treated so fully that it
need not be recapitulated here.
This in brief outline is our hypothesis. It is
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A NEW SYNTHESIS 2 99
only offered tentatively as a working basis for
further study and investigation. From my ownviewpoint, it is not wholly theory It is justi-
fied by the facts we have discovered and is neces-
sary to harmonize and explain them. The proc-
ess goes forward under the direction of the ex-
tra-conscious mind of the cosmos, the elan vital
of Bergson. This, or its emanations or cor-
respondences in the entities, is at first almostwholly unconscious, but gradually advances into
some sort of dim awareness until in man it
bursts into flower in intuition and reason .
For practical purposes the entities seem inde-
pendent and separate. This is a necessary part
of the scheme since individuation or differentia-
tion is a feature of the life-process. On the hu-
man level it comes into full manifestation as
self-consciousness . Yet there is an element of
illusion, as well as of impermanency, in this idea
of separateness. Here we must again revert to
the principle of polarity. If things seem divided
on the physical plane they are united on the
spiritual. The line is individual but merged in
the universal.
God rules over all by a sort of pre-established
harmony, as Leibnitz called it. He is not special
to any form of life bust His powers are available
to all to the extent that they are practically
needed and consciously or unconsciously in-
voked. He does not rule through any special
intervention but by a telepathic pervasion of all
the universe of mind with His Universal Love
and Goodness. Being the Absolute He contains,
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3 0 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
in idea, all within Himself, including the per-
sonality of man, and responds to every entity
according to its nature and to the degree of its
unfoldment. He knows the Cosmos as His own
Divine Mind, which is pictured and objectified
by His other, the phenomenal universe, and
which is mirrored in the lives and souls of all
His creatures.
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CHAPTER XVAFTERTHOUGHTS
ANUMBERof questions have been left "up in
the air," so to speak, and our next two chapters
will be devoted to these, the present one being
occupied with a further discussion of physics
and relativity and the last with an application
of our results to practical problems.
As to the greater mass of the proton compared
with the electron in the atom, it has already
been suggested that this is apparently a practi-
cal arrangement to insure the relative stability of
the protons while the electrons revolve about
them as a center. It may be that this greater
mass has something to do with attraction, al-
though Mr. Einstein has ascribed gravitationalattraction to the "warping of space," which we
have already identified with vortex motion in
the content, or ether, of space, since space itself
is only a frame or dimension.* We find a vortex
has this very property belonging to gravitation,
since it draws everything into its center. Wealso observe that all matter tends to vortical
motion.
By the way, if we are looking for purpose in
" In Mr. Einstein's later paper in which he identified electrical energywith gravitation and energy generally he implies that attraction may beelectrical or rather magnetic which would seem to be borne out by attrac-tion of the positive and negative electrons. Inasmuch as this is, in asense, an organizing activity and as organization is the peculiar functionof mind, it may be after all, that there is a psychic factor involved.
301
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3 0 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
Nature, where can we discover a more signal
evidence of it than in the mass -of the proton,
without which neither the atom nor the physical
universe could be constituted in the way it is.
At the same time no physical or mechanical
reason is apparent which would account for
the tremendous disparity in the mass: of the
two types of electrons. If they are only positive
and negative electrical charges, this mass should
be the same. Whether or not there is a psychic
factor in the proton, as some have supposed,
there is certainly something mysterious that
may explain much if it is ever known; and there
is just as certainly purpose revealed by this
whole arrangement.
The atom has been called the building block
of matter, but that carried the thought of mate-
rial atoms, whereas the probability is that these
are only vortices of energy . Although mixing
metaphors a bit, a scientific friend refers to
them as "solar systems of the elemental world"
and "outposts of the phenomenal universe." Heproposes a theory that would explain electricalconduction and some other phenomena. I have
taken the liberty to condense his statement. Herefers to the "proton or nucleus, central to or-
bital vortices traveled by individual points of
energy or bound ether, which we term electrons,"
and infers that their rate of revolution, or rath-
er speed, decreases as they approach the center,
since these inside orbits are smaller .
His hypothesis is that the atom is "the source
of the entire upper frequency range of vibra-
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 303
tions. It is a hetrodyne of frequencies," being
able "to convert one band of frequencies into
one or more bands of a different order." On the
quantum theory of internal displacement, or the
jumping of the electrons to orbits arranged in
a series, he claims that "an element is not re-
sponsive to a given frequency range unless there
are electronic orbits in the atoms composing it
which are in resonance therewith."
Applied to the light range, this theory operates logic-ally . If a given substance appears red to our eye, it
means that there is only one electronic orbit responsive
to the light frequencies and this happens to be the one
known to our eye as red. A white substance would there-fore be responsive orbitally to the entire light range .
Black would be just the reverse. Half tones, intermediate
to the primary colors, could be accounted for by indirect
resonance or the law of harmonics .
The range of vibrations above light also respond to
the same laws of orbital resonance, the space-time factor
simply being correspondingly smaller. This would seemto be proven by the Millikan ray hypothesis, whichplaces the origin of these rays in inter-stellar space, the
source being matter of extreme density, which wouldmean atoms of great complexity and a wide orbital reso-
nance range
This theory clearly applies to the electrical range. Wecan find here a reasonable explanation for electrical con-duction. An electrical conductor presupposes atoms whose
electronic orbits are resonant to the given electrical fre-
quency Each atom composing the conducting mediumresponds through its resonant orbit and transmits the im-
pulse to its neighbors . Partial conduction, shown by
resistances, infers the lack of direct orbital resonance, de-
pending on minor harmonics for transmittal. So insula-tors indicate a lack of practically all electrical resonance .
We see from the above how the atom may transmit vi-
brations It also has an apparent role as a converter .
Such applications of energy to a substance as friction re-
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3 0 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
act on the molecule and thence on the atom . Continued
friction produces radiant heat and light . This probably
means that the energy application is transformed into
successive ranges of vibration by orbital resonance, as
before. Sudden impacts may have the same result. Itis significant that frictional energy may produce heat
and static electricity . Here another orbital resonance
comes into play .
There is an additional factor I must introduce
at this point. It is from Eddington.* He calls
attention to a feature of the quantum theory
that we have not yet considered. It involves what
lie designates as "the atom of action," which is
a product of energy multiplied by time, i. e., the
amount of energy multiplied by the period of
vibration. He mentions sodium and after deter-
mining the amount of energy emitted by one
atom multiplies this by the vibration period
which is five hundred and ten billions to the sec-
ond and gets a product in what are termed "erg-
seconds." This is referred to as the quantum h
He proceeds :
The remarkable law of Nature is that we are con-tinually getting the same numerical results. We maytake another source of light-hydrogen, calcium, or any
other atom. The energy will be a different number of
ergs ; the period will be a different number of seconds ;
but the product will be the same number of erg-seconds .
The same applies to X-rays, to gamma rays and to other
forms of radiation. It applies to light absorbed by an
atom as well as to light emitted . . . Evidently h is a kind
of atom-something that coheres as one unit in the proc-
esses of radiation ; it is not an atom of matter but an
atom or, as we usually call it, a quantum of the more elu-
sive entity action . Whereas there are ninety-two different
kinds of material atoms there is only one quantum of
* T h e N a t u r e o f P h y s i c a l W o r l d b y A . S . E d d i n g t on , M a c m i l la n , N e w
Y o r k .
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 30 5
action-the same whatever the material is associated
with I say the same without reservation. You mightperhaps think that there must be some qualitative differ-
ence betwen the quantum of red light and the quantum of
blue light, although both contain the same number of erg-
seconds; but the apparent difference is only relative to a
frame of space and time and does not concern the abso-
lute lump of action .
We thus discover that time is not only the
fourth dimension of space, the dimension in
which motion and life occur, but it is the co-
efficient of energy in producing the absolute
atom of action, and the measurer of the vibra-
tion-frequencies that give us all the phenomena
of the universe. By the way, this result fur-
nishes an added proof of Einstein's theory.
There is one thing about time, however, that
is not yet made plain. To it there are two pos-
sible clues. One is that mentioned by Edding-
ton regarding erg-seconds and the quantum h .
.The other is much more familiar. It is the prin-
ciple involved in the lever. The same principle
is found in the inclined plane, the wedge, the
cog-wheel, the pulley, etc. It consists in a mul-
tiplication of power at the expense of time, that
is, a relatively fast connected with a slower
motion. Suppose we examine this clue first .
Time is the dimension of motion. Both seemto be involved in any kind of multiplication .
When we multiply a number we say so many"times" that number. Two times two are four
Is this a mere figure of speech or is something
more fundamental involved? In the case of the
lever, etc., our power is multiplied by a faster
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30 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
compared to a slower motion, i .e . , the frame of
reference of the time factor is changed. Thespace factor is also involved. If the length of
one arm of the lever is four times that of the
other, a force of ten pounds will lift forty, but
the arc described by the long arm is four times
that of the short-the space factor-and the
rate of its motion is four times as fast-the
time factor. The load lifted is four times the
force exerted-the energy factor .
Just what does this mean? Why do we saythat power is gained at the expense of time? Thepower is multiplied. Why do we say in all mul-
tiplication so many times? The physicists, the
mechanical physicists, know this principle. They
have known it since- the days of Archimedes, but
so far as I am informed they have not explained
it. They have taken it for granted. That is the
way with science, and it is a perfectly legitimate
way; science describes; but it cannot be the waywith philosophy ; and nothing, perhaps, could
better illustrate the difference between the two .
Philosophy must have the meaning, the explana-
tion, as well as the description .
Now, why is it that a faster motion multiplies
power as against a slower motion? We knowthat it does this in the lever, the pulley, etc
We know also that the longer and shorter move-
ments of the corresponding ends of the lever,
occurring in the same time interval, involve a
change in the relative time and space values .
We know, for a third thing, that any sort of mo-
tion is like a vibration frequency. Are we get-
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 3 0 7
ting an inkling, here, of the nature of space
and time, or space-time, as related to motion
and energy?
To answer this question we must have re-course to our first clue, the quantum h, or the
atom of action. We have already found thatthis quantum is constant, however the two fac-
tors of time and energy vary. These exactly
balance each other. If the energy is greater the
time of the vibration is shorter and vice-versa
But there is another factor involved in the
equation, that of space . A vibration cov-
ers not only a time interval, but also aspace interval. Eddington seemingly over-looked this fact, but the oversight meantnothing in his problem for the reason that the
variation in the time and space interval exactly
corresponded. A shorter time interval was ac-
companied by exactly that much shorter space
interval . In other words, it became literally
a space-time interval in the meaning of the four-
dimensional theory.
That condition does not apply to the problem
of the lever, however. Here the exact coordina-
tion or correlation of the time and space factors
ceases. They are violently driven asunder, we
might say, by mechanical means. Or, in the
Einstein phrase, they are "warped" asunder.
The time interval remains the same on both ends
of the lever but the space interval is different .
This variation must be compensated. How? Bya variation of energy or power, the only remain-
ing factor. In other words our two factors are
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3 08 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
space-time and energy. The time factor decreases
exactly as the energy factor increases so that
the product 'of the two is always the same ; but
in Mr. Eddington's problem the space factor de-
creases exactly as does the time factor, so that
it does not affect the result, which would have
been the same if the space interval had been
used as the multiplicand instead of the time in-
terval. The two remain in union as the space-
time factor; but in the lever problem, the space
interval is only one-fourth on the load end of
that on the power-end, while the time element is
the same on both, therefore the enrgy or power
factor is four times as great .
Even this does not answer the question as to
what space-time, motion and energy are. It mere-
ly takes one step in that direction by identi-
fying the principle underlying the lever with
that involved in they atom of action. It also
gives one additional example of correspondence
-"as below so above."
There is yet another interesting fact with re-
gard to the quantum theory. The atoms do not
give off light continuously. The action is inter-
mittent, a period of emission followed by a pe-
riod of rest. It was by contrasting the twothat the quantity of energy given out was meas-
ured. The fact that half of the atoms are thus
out of action is not visible to us for the reason
that we look at great masses of them and get the
average effect
Apparently these periods of rest are neces-
sary to replenish the atom's stock of energy .
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 3 09
From what source? Possibly from the sur-
rounding atoms and possibly from the general
storehouse. We have already mentioned the sec-
ond law of thermo-dynamics which is that heat,
in doing work, steps down to a lower level and
finally becomes latent or static. Now, a motion
in one direction generally implies a return mo-
tion in the other direction, so, to balance this
descent of energy into the static, there must be
an equal ascent of other energy units or ergs
into the kinetic. Here is a possible source for
the restocking of the atoms, or it may even be
that the atoms themselves act as converters, as
already indicated. Latent or static energy is
probably only a low rate of vibration and the
rapid motion of the electrons in the atom would
raise the vibration of the static energy and con-
vert it into active or dynamic, somewhat as, fric-
tion generates electricity. In this way the atoms
themselves would renew the kinetic energy of
the universe. There must be some such process
to restock the energy of the atoms so that they
can again give off light. This suggests a clue
to the nature of energy itself. In one aspect
it is only a vibration frequency like electricity,
heat and light. This is further suggested by the
constant relation between the amount of energy
and the wave-length involved in they atom of
action or the quantum h. (After all, the space-
time continuum is only a sort of frame for its
content, the ether.) In this aspect the amount
of energy is the vibration frequency, so that the
energy volume and the wave interval would only
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310 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
be different phases of the same thing, and their
product would necessarily remain constantLikewise, this would be true of both the space-
interval and time-interval since the two accom-
pany each other and are but different dimen-
sions of the same wave-motion, another proof
of the four dimensional theory.* Strictly speak-
ing, however, there are only two dimensions,
space and time, since the three dimensions of
space are more or less arbitrary.
We now see why the amount of energy, orerg, is exactly measured by the space-time inter-
val, but in a reverse way, since the higher the
vibration, the greater the energy. We have thus
taken another step in the direction of determin-
ing the nature of energy, but have not yet ar-rived at the goal .
Do we find an additional clue in the name,
the "atom of action?" Action means an actor
and, in the last analysis, the only actor is mind .
Have we arrived again at the doors of the spiri-
tual universe? We had already decided that the
two poles are mind and primordial substance
and that the nexus between them is energy ; and
now, from a different approach, we arrive at an
indication of the same truth. Mind acts on the
primary ether through polarity which in turn
produces the positive and negative electrons,
which start ether vortices, or atoms. The rapid
revolution of the electrons generate a vibration
*It may be objected that I am assuming this exact correspondence
between the time and space factors in vibration frequencies, and this i s
true; but it stands to reason and, so far as I am informed, is in accordance
with the facts empirically determined ; and I am further assuming that, iffor the reasons mentioned, or any other, there is a distortion of this perfect
correspondence, there must be an energy compensation.
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 313
true of a magnet passed behind the sheet, or
of an electric charge, if our visual reaction andtime value were so changed that we could see it .
In fact, the electric charge, or current, is most
suggestive. An electric current passing through
a wire, for example, probably consists of a mere
progressive change of state of the atoms .
What is the ether and how does motion take
place in it? When most of us are faced by such
a fundamental question, we either dodge behind
some Spencerian unknowable, or lump the whole
thing into a large abstraction that makes noth-
ing plain except our own mental poverty. Wesay either that man does not and cannot know
anything about it, or that Nature does it, or God
does it, etc. That gets us exactly nowhere. Are
we to make a plea of "we cannot know" and let
it go at that, or are we, manlike, to wrestle
with the problem, even in the face of almost cer-
tain defeat, and attempt to obtain some inkling,
or suggestion, of the truth?
The question is so elusive and difficult that
perhaps the best we can do is to make various
approaches and tentative suggestions .
First, as to the ether, we have alreadyagreed that it must be continuous so that there
may he action at a distance, and that it must be
susceptible to strains, tensions, vibrations, mo-
tions, etc., to account for the other phenomena
of the Universe. Now, a continuous substance
would necessarily be indivisible. We might think
of it as being sufficiently elastic to permit of
strains, tensions and vibrations, although even
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31 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
these present difficulties, but to think of it as
being sufficiently elastic to admit of the con-
tinuous rotation and orbital revolution of the
planets increases these difficulties practically to
the point of impossibility. It is this feature that
has necessitated the postulating of more than
one ether, or ether state.
We encounter a like difficulty with vibration
frequencies. We have identified enough of theseto indicate that they cover a gamut, or ascend-
ing scale, running all the way from zero to in-
finity . We have already localized the sound
range, the radio band. of frequencies, the electric
and magnetic field, the heat and light spectrum,
the ultra-violet, the X-ray, the Millikan or cos-
mic ray, etc. There must be still higher ranges
for if telepathy is true there must be some me-
dium or band of frequencies to carry thought .
Indeed, we seem to be encountering a gigantic
form of polarity here with the phenomenal uni-
verse at one end of the scale and the spiritual
at the other. This is not altogether a new idea
for it has been suggested both by religious and
scientific writers. One authority supposed that
matter, or physical energy, is only spirit slowed
down, and another that the biological cells con-
tain a feature analogous to the hetrodyne that
transforms or "steps down" the spiritual fre-
quency ranges to those we call the physical .
Now here is our difficulty. If this theory be
true, or something in a general way correspond-
ing to it, how can one ether simultaneously car-
ry all these almost infinite ranges of vibrations
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 31 5
and activities? Does not this hypothesis also
call for more than one ether state?
Granted that this is true, our hypothesis no
longer presents insuperable obstacles, for the
ether states, like the frequency rates themselves,
are in a sense only varying phases of the one
primordial substance and there is no principle
that imposes a limit on these phases or frequen-
c i e s .
Even accepting all this, we have not yet ac-
counted for motion . Here is a clue, the same
we found in the atom of action : Motion implies
a mover and there is no mover we can think of
except mind. Thus we are again led to the doors
of the spiritual universe . The identity between
vibration-frequencies and more extended move-
ments has already been indicated, for it matters
not whether a motion be in the form of a wave,
a vortex, or a continuous progress, the principle
involved is the same .
There may be some who will object that I my-
self have resorted to an abstraction in indicating
the above answer and if I had nothing further
to offer, this might be granted ; although we have
found the spiritual necessary from so many dif-
ferent angles that it is no longer an empty ab-
straction, at least, but a working hypothesis .
There is, however, a further word, which is this
Motion is the phenomenal universe. As: v i b r a •
tion-frequency we have already found it insepar-
ably bound up with energy, of which space-time
is the measure . We thus arrive at the funda-
mental unity of ether and energy, whose syn-
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31 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
thesis is motion, the basic reality of the objective
universe .
The above conclusion is verified in another
way. Motion is but one aspect of becoming, orevolution, which Hegel implied and HerbertSpencer, Bergson and practically all modern
philosophers have accepted as the basic activity
of nature. It also harmonizes the outstanding
oppositions of the old Greek philosophy. Hera-
clitus made motion or becoming the fundament-
al truth of the universe, while Parmenides coun-
tered that it is not motion but the absolute.
Both were right, their only defect being that
each failed to specify which universe, or, rather,
which pole of the universe, he meant.
Motion is the fundamental fact of the phenom-
enal universe while the absolute is the basic
truth of the Spiritual Universe-the Absolute
Idea.
Of the two Spirit holds priority, for it alone,
of all the factors in the Universe, can initiate
motion .
The truth that motion is the basis of the phe-
nomenal universe is verified from many different
directions. We have already agreed that if any-
thing came to absolute rest, both within and
without, it would pass out of the visible world
which is proved by the fact that our senses re-
spond only to frequencies and resistances, both
of which are forms of motion. The atom consists
of motion, energy is produced by motion, light,
heat and electricity are motion, mass is governed
by motion, sensation is a reaction to motion,
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 31 7
evolution is a progressive motion, activity is mo-
tion, space-time is a measure of motion, and sowe might continue indefinitely.
Mr. Einstein's relativity has to do with mo-tion, a change in which alters the frame of ref-
erence and affects all values . Life is motion,
the difference between a living and a dead body
is expressed by motion or the lack of it. Reso-
nance, to which we have already referred, is mo-
tion. The cycles of all things are measured by
motion.
Here is the summing up of the matter
The Absolute Idea is the dynamic of the Uni-
verse, and toward it motion is a progressive un-
foldment.
The question of attraction has yet to be con-
sidered, especially gravitation . Mr. Einsteinsuggests that it is a warp or a hump in space-
time in the vicinity of masses of matter. In his
last paper, however, he identified gravitation
with magnetism, etc. We have seen evidences
that vortex motion is also a factor. Let us see
if we can work out all of these clues and har-
monize the seeming paradoxes.
In the lever problem we found that where
there is a longer and shorter connected motion
in the same time-interval there must be a com-
pensation in the only other factor, energy. Inthe revolution of a vortex, such as an atom., a
planet, or a solar system, the outside is moving
more rapidly than the inside. To illustrate, the
earth is approximately eight thousand miles in
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318 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
diameter Therefore in its revolution or the
revolution of the vortex, a point on the surface
will move more rapidly than a point, say four
thousand miles from the center and this relative
retardation or slower motion will become more
pronounced as we approach still nearer to the
center. In other words there is a greater space
interval, or arc, at the surface which interval is
shortened in a graduated series all the way to
the center, yet the time interval remains the
same This is the "warp." In the lever we
found that this distortion was compensated by
energy, i . e . , the shorter space interval was ac-
companied by increase of power. Exactly the
same thing happens here. There is a constant
increase of energy as we approach the center,
hence: the attraction of gravitation
As to magnetism, resonance is also apparently
a factor. Things are only attracted by magnet-
ism that are in resonance with the electromag-
netic range of frequencies As to gravitation
the earth covers every frequency range and
therefore attracts everything .
In a vortex the "warp" is between the time
and space values caused by the concentric cir-
cles or orbits, each inside orbit being smaller
than the next in series, resulting in a progress-
ive decrease of the space factor and a consequent
increase in the compensating energy factor,
hence the pull. When I identified this changing
time and space value with the multiplying of
power as manifested in the lever, I at first doubt-
ed it to be a true lever principle since the ful-
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 3 19
crum is at the center of the vortex. The doubtwas resolved, however, by the reflection that the
load may be between the power and the fulcrum
as well as on the opposite ends of the lever with
the fulcrum between.
Thus all the factors seemed to be harmonized .
The space-time "warp" or "hump" of Einstein,
the vortex motion, the atom of action, the lever
principle, and all the other elements were in-
cluded. This not only verified Einstien's theory
but made it plain.
It should be stated at this point that all these
suggestions are merely tentative. They are not
offered as absolute solutions but as possibly in-
dicating directions in which solutions may be
obtained. I have had no means for testing their
validity, but leave this to others. I only offer
them for what they are worth.
Nor does this hypothesis account for all at-
traction. I have already pointed out how chem-
ical attraction may be caused by too few elec-
trons in the atom, etc. The present suggestion
relates particularly to gravitation and magnet-
ism. In the case of the magnet, the familiar
experiment with iron filings indicates the pres-
ence of the vortex principle
There is one possible objection to our gravita-
tional hypothesis which is that gravity decreases
on the ratio of the inverse Square, which means
that it increases at the same rate, while with the
lever the power only increases by simple multi-
plication. It should be remembered, however, that
the lever only describes a circle while the planet
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3 2 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
is a sphere Therefore the planet, or other
gravitational body, no doubt, involves a com-pound or spherical vortex . The circumference
of a circle increases by simple multiplication,
two r times pi (2ti x ir) while the surface of the
sphere increases with the square, four pi r sq .
( 4 , x x tie) . As yet we know little about vortices,
but the law of harmonics involving nodal points,
is suggestive, also the action of a magnet which
creates a sphere with decrease or increase of
power also on the ratio of the square. We havealready seen, with Einstein, that magnetism, in
its limited resonance range, is similar to gravity,
which is universal .
The principle of the gravity pull itself would
seem simple and plain The need for compen-
sating energy at the center of the vortex would
draw energy units from the outside, which, so
moving, would be what we call matter, since
we have already determined matter to be moving
energy
The will of God is energy which produces
action in the phenomenal universe, just as the
will of man produces action in his more limited
sphere. All resolves itself finally to the infinite
will and idea as seen by Schopenhauer .
God's idea is executed by His will which ener-
gizes the primordial ether, polarizes the protons
and electrons and begets matter which is the
moving energy or energized state of the basic
substance. Apparently the same law of the vor-
The same principle may be observed in the spinning top or gyro-
scope, and develops the tremendous energy at the center of the cyclone orwaterspout. Men blindfolded walk in circles, which fact is suggestive .
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 3 2 1
tex is at work in the atom in the attraction of
the protons and electrons .
As to repulsion that is sometimes accounted
for by similar polarity, an overplus of either
positive: or negative electrons in two repellant
atoms, also, perhaps, a matter of discordant
resonance, etc. Philosophy can only suggest in
matters such as these, leaving the verification
to scientific experiment. If any of these tenta-
tive suggestions are deemed of interest, such de-
tails of verification are left to those better fitted
by training and equipment to conduct them .
In these closing chapters perhaps one word
further should be said as to method. My onlyclaim is to employ the intuitive as well as the
intellectual method and to include the spiritual
as well as the physical factors. Lest there be
any misapprehension, however, may I add that
by spiritual I do not mean psychic? In my own
person I have never had a psychic experience,
which I recognized as such. I have only offered
one previously unpublished psychic message in
this entire book and I believe this to be wrong .
Some reference was made to mystical experien-
ces, but these were wholly internal and related
to thought, the only sort of spiritual experiences
I have ever had or sought.
As to the difference between the psychic and
spiritual, here is a possible suggestion that may
be helpful :
The psychic corresponds to the sub-conscious,
the spiritual to the super-conscious
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322 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
To sum up this chapter, we have identified the
Absolute as the Absolute or Divine Idea at the
spiritual pole of the Universe. It is the dynamic
that begets motion or becoming as the funda-
mental reality at the other pole of the phenome-
nal. Herbert Spencer once went so far as to
identify this ultimate material factor with force
or energy, which in a sense is the same thing,
since we might designate force as motion in the
making, or motion as the manifestation of force .
In other words: force or energy is only possible
motion. The proof that motion is the ultimate
reality of phenomena becomes absolute when we
reflect that all man's sense reactions are from
the stimulus of motion which thus becomes the
means by which we know objects In reality
motion is the only objective universe we do know .
On the other hand, mind begets motion and thus
acts on the physical. The fundamental reality
from both viewpoints is motion, or, to follow the
thought a step farther, action.*
When Descartes and Spinoza referred tothought and extension as the two fundamentals,
they were talking of a static universe, that being
the three-dimensional aspect in which things
were then regarded. Now we have the four-dimensional way of thinking, which gives us, not
a static, but a living and becoming universe, the
great common denominators of which are pur-
pose or idea and motion or action.
We have also learned that heat, light, electri-
*The identity of motion and action suggests the identity between the
physical and spiritual universe. Motion is the physical universe, action
is the spiritual universe. Thus, as both Leibnitz and Berkeley saw, every-
thing resolves itself back to God's action
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AFTERTHOUGHTS 323
city and all other forms of energy are vibration
frequencies of which space-time is the measure,
so that the amount of energy multiplied by the
frequency period gives a constant product, but
that when space and time are warped asunder
by a lever or other similar mechanical device,
which thus changes the relative space and time
values, there is an energy or power compensa-
tion; and that precisely the same thing happens
in the case of a vortex with progressively dimin-
ishing orbits. This gives us attraction toward
the center of the vortex where the compensating
energy is greatest. Gravitation is this vorticial
attraction on a magnified scale. It attracts all
objects, since it is in resonance with all bands
of frequencies. Magnetism only attracts those
objects resonant to the electro-magnetic band .
On the same principle, only those metals are
electrical conductors which are resonant to the
same range
There is an obscure factor right here. Whydoes not any form of energy act universally on
all objects? We have already determined that
energy is~ only a vibration frequency and evident-
ly any form of it does not act universally unless
it covers and includes all frequency ranges.
We have likewise seen that the universe of
motion is what we might call the kinetic phaseof the primordial ether and that there is no
principle imposing a limit on either the phases
or frequencies of this ultimate substance. Ap-parently the frequency rates extend all the way
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32 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
from the zero of space to the telepathic rates of
thought and the spiritual universe .
I must beg the reader's pardon for these rep-
etitions, but the subject is so difficult that I have
adopted the policy of restating things in various
ways to make sure that they are understood, or,
at least, understandable
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CHAPTER XVIPRACTICAL IDEALISM
WEnow approach the practical application of
our results which will involve a slight shifting
of terms
Our philosophical synthessis points beyond
itself to a religious synthesis . It has removed
some of the obstacles and cleared the road to a
harmony between science and religion It has
made plain that the Universe is mind and mo-
tion, that Nature is the outpicturing of mind,
and that life is the process through which mind
acts and becomes conscious of itself .
Man has always known these truths, not clear-
ly and in detail, but dimly and in general out-
line. He only becomes doubtful when confused
with too much minutiae which he fails to relate
properly to the general scheme. He has always
known God and immortality, as is proved by all
religions and practically all philosophies. I say
always, but this knowledge has been progress-
ive and has grown clearer as man has advanced
in intelligence. As already remarked, God'sideas are telepathically present in His universe
and are available to us as we ascend the scale
and become more receptive. Even Jove hurling
the thunderbolt is a somewhat crude and con-3 25
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32 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
fused recognition of Divine Mind building mat-
ter through the use of electrical energy .
We need more spirituality. That is our key-
thought The spirit alone is immortal, the
spirit alone is self-active, the spirit alone is life,
love, wisdom and truth. In it we reach our great-
est common denominatorWe have referred to matter as the antithesis
of spirit, but in the course of these studies, we
have reduced matter to motion and becoming.
We must seek an apter and more: descriptiveterm. We could call it Nature, but that is not
sufficiently distinctive. Nature includes the sub-
jective as well as objective element Perhaps
the right word is mechanism, which is organized
motion. If we examine the phenomenal universe
more attentively, we discover that it behaves like
a machine, a gigantic cosmical machine . That
gives us our opposite key-word, or common de-
nominator.
The special sciences have to do with this ma-
chine. They busy themselves with analyzing
and describing it. They observe the perfect co-
ordination of its parts and laws. They and their
votaries are lost in wonder, so lost that many
of them forget or ignore the other phase of be-
ing altogether. In effect they deify the machine
and erect altars to it in the form of a mechanis-
tic philosophy which is manifested outwardly ina machine age. And all the time they are omit-
ting from their equation the simple and obvious
fact that mechanism by its very nature is only
a function of something else. It is not self-act-
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 327
ing, not original; it is derived. Any philosophy
based upon it is a cart-before-the-horse philoso-
phy. It results in such strange inversions as
placing behavior before its mental cause, brain
before mind, the implement before the user, and
the part before the whole. It turns the Universe
into a mindless automaton . In the name ofscience, it adopts a method so unscientific as to
ignore the biggest and most apparent fact of all,
the very fact by which science itself proceeds,
the presence of mind in man. As a consequence,
it also ignores or denies mind in the whole of
which man is a part. It will not work. We can-
not substitute a machine in place of God .
A friend who is of a scientific turn of mind
objects to my use of the word spirit, as the other
term of our equation. He says it smacks of the
old philosophy. He proposes the word life as,
at least, more modern. Terminology is a bit ar-
bitrary, at best, but in this instance there is , areal reason for using the word, spirit, since
there is no other term that has quite the samefundamental and comprehensive significance .
The word life refers especially to biological
processes. In a way it unites both poles, while
spirit belongs to the one. The word mind is amore perfect synonym, but mind is popularly
identified with the human intellect, which again
is essentially different from the spiritual. Prob-ably the exact meaning of spirit is indicated by
an idea already mentioned, the mind of Godtelepathically present in His Universe. We can-not do without the word spirit any more than
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32 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
we can do without the fact for which it stands.
For the purposes of this discussion, however,
I am disposed to adopt the word mind as the op-
posite pole to mechanism, but it must be under-
stood that it is universal mind that is meant.
I adopt it for two reasons, first on the scientific
principle that we should employ a known term
rather than one less well known and, second,
because mind is the most perfect antithesis to
machine. It should be explained that the two
poles shade into each other and have varying de-
grees connecting them, as for example, light and
darkness, or cold and heat with all the shades
of luminosity or degrees of warmth between .
Mind as it approaches mechanism passesthrough degrees such as habit, instinct, the sub-
conscious, etc., and conversely mechanism, as it
approaches mind, developes use, function, organ
and the like
We are agreed, then, that our two poles, or
antitheses, for this present discussion, are mind
and mechanism, which are a humanized form ofthe absolute and motion. We have discovered,
likewise, that these have a most intimate rela-
tion to life, especially in this age. To the dis-
cussion of a few of the questions thus suggested,
the remainder of this chapter will be devoted .
The machine is intended to free man, not to
enslave him. I have already pointed out how
this is brought about. The processes that have
been perfected are delegated to organs, conscious
or unconscious instincts, habits, or to tools and
machines proper outside of the organism. By so
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 329
delegating these tasks, the conscious mind is
left free to attend to other things, exactly as the
head of a factory or a business is left free to
attend to large affairs by delegating the routine
tasks to subordinates or to mechanical devices .
This principle is of immense importance at the
present time, in what has come to be known as
the machine age. Julius Barnes said he could
measure the advancement of a civilization by the
number and quality of the machines in use. To-
day, especially in Western Europe and America,
the output of each worker is multiplied manyfold-some estimate as high as twenty or thirty
fold-,by mechanical equipment. This is notalone due to machines but to system, standardi-
zation, improved technique, etc., which them-
selves contain a mechanical element, in the
broad sense in which I am using the word . All
this should not only result in liberating, but in
otherwise enriching and bettering the workers,
as well as the employers and the general public .
It does do this to some extent, and would do it
to a greater degree, except for the element of
selfishness that tends to divert orappropriate to
the few the benefits that should go to the work-
ers and in a degree to all citizens. Yet approx-
imately a century ago we had in England an in-
dustrial revolt against the introduction of ma-
chines that, it was charged, were taking the
"bread out of the laborers' mouths," and today
we are having a national strike in India largely
for the same reason. At the same time there is
unemployment in many lands, overproduction
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33 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
and distress among farmers and workers indica-
ting that they have not duly shared in the in-creased prosperity brought about by labor-
saving devices, all of which would indicate that
our economic and social welfare development has
not kept pace with our mechanical .
Other counts in the indictment against the
machine, especially as it concerns industry, are
that, it stifles initiative and excellence of work-
manship; that it makes man himself a cog in amachine, limiting him to some slight detail in
the process of manufacture; that it robs him of
pride in the product and so of interest in his
work, beyond the mere physical demands of ma-
king a livelihood; that it tends to standardiza-
tion in every line which in itself is a mechanical
process; that it results in overproduction and
so throws men out of work; and, last, and worst
of all, that it tends to exalt the machine and
machine methods at the expense of flesh and
blood and of the human spirit .
In both business and industry another tend-
ency is apparent that is in a sense mechanical
and is an inevitable product of the machine age .
I refer to the organization of ever greater aggre-
gations of capital, such as trusts, corporations,
combinations in restraint of competition, chain
stores, chain banks, etc., that not only stifles
individual enterprise, since it forces the greatmasses of men and women into the employeeclass, but also discourages community building,
drives the small merchant out of business, and
cheapens not only products but life and the high-
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 3 3 1
er values of the mind. Through this over-or-
ganization of capital, the unquestioned econo-
mies that result from mass production and from
more efficient methods of distribution are not
equitably divided but go more and more to the
increased enrichment of a class.
All these and other charges, one other charge
against the machine being that it tends to make
everything artificial and leads men away from
the simple life, are brought against the machine
and machine methods, and while the picture may
be overdrawn, there is enough truth in it to
cause genuine disquiet among thinking people .
In some degree, no doubt, the evils complained
of are due to lack of adjustment. Science and
invention have been moving so rapidly during
the past century that it has been impossible to
keep up with them and to adjust our social or-
ganism to the changes they have necessitated .
What is the remedy? Obviously we cannot
scrap or abandon the machines and go back to
more primitive methods of production and trade .
That would not be in the direction of progress .
The mechanizing trend has: been going on from
the beginning of manifest life, first in biological
processes, then in sociological. It is a part of
evolution. There is nothing evil in the machine
per se Rightly used, it makes for convenience,
speed, leisure and a higher level of life and cul-
ture. But man must never allow it to enslave or
subordinate him. Rightly understood it is only
a tool or extension of mind. We must regardthe whole question with the right perspective
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33 2 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
and sense of proportion. Neither the machine
nor the corporation, we say, has a soul. Yet
that is no reason the people who utilize them
should not have souls. Perhaps the remedy lies
in spiritualizing our thought and humanizing
our methods Democratize the machine andmake it impossible for selfish groups and blocs
to control it exclusively. Selfishness belongs to
our animal natures. Spiritualize mankind and
all these questions will take care of themselves .
Not only are business and industry affected
by the machine age but politics and government .
The names political and governmental machines
are descriptive. Much of the misgovernment of
our cities is due to the machines and machine
politicians. Today in America we have two po-
litical parties that correspond to no natural divi-
sion in public opinion and are only kept alive
apparently by the force of tradition and the
tendency of a machine or any other organic en-
tity to perpetuate itself There is also a tend-
ency of these entities toward aggrandizement
through more and more elaborate organization .
The almost inevitable result is to overorganize.
We apparently have an example of that in the
centralization and multiplication of bureaus at
Washington, just as they had a few years ago
in the bureaucracy of Russia and as is found,
to some extent, in most of the nations of the
world. Some one has remarked that it is easy
to start a new governmental bureau, but almost
impossible to stop it when once started . Theover-produciton of laws in the United States
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 3 33
and other nations is another illustration. Thenational and state legislatures are organized to
make laws. That is their reason for being. Sothey all continue to grind out this product till
the statute books will not hold the avalanches of
laws and neither the courts, nor lawyers, much
less the common citizens, can keep track of them .
This process defeats its own end, for if there are
too many laws, the tendency of the people is to
ignore all of them . Over-organization reaches
its practical limit here, as elsewhere
A similar trend is observable in armies, navies
and war machines generally. Having been or-
ganized for that special purpose, that is the
special purpose they follow. The same is true
of professional patriotic societies whose stand-
ardized product is patriotism. If the peoples of
the world really want peace, they should take
this factor into consideration and not listen too
much to the professional patriots and war-ma-
kers. The machine is headed in a certain direc-
tion, just as is the psychology of those who run
it, and it and they have a tendency to keep on
the customary course even against the better
judgment of the world. That may be one reason
the peace conferences encounter such difficulties
The military and nationalistic machines are or-
ganized the other way and tenaciously hold on
to both their habits and equipment . The late
World War was fought by mechanical methodsand was started by a military machine.
Not only does mechanism tend to over-ag-
grandizement and over-organization but forgets
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3 3 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
its maker, which is mind, and throttles or
thwarts the free spirit of man. It becomes a
Frankenstein to destroy its author. While on
the subject of government, I suspect that Bol-
shevism in Russia is also too mechanistic. It
depends too much on force and too little on the
spontaneous movement of the human soul toward
betterment. It is too atheistic and, like the
French Revolution, will break down from that
and kindred causes. Man cannot build up a per-
manent order on such an inverted truth as eco-
nomic determinism. Neither can he force the
sort of communism on the world that does
violence to the love of natural justice. Eachman is entitled to that which he produces, or its
equivalent, or to the equivalent of the service he
renders. All these forced Milleniums (or Mil-
lenia, as you prefer) are too mechanical and ar-
tificial to be lasting. Sovietism, as is also true
of Karl Marx Socialism, contains another false
element, class consciousness. This involves a
doctrine of hatred, which is destructive, not con-
structive. We need not altogether wonder at it
in Europe, for it is obviously a reaction, a re-
verse swing of the social pendulum, from the
centuries of aristocratic class consciousness. An
abuse in one direction usually breeds a similar
one in the other direction, another example of
the antithesis. Even though intelligible, how-
ever, class consciousness is not intelligent and
cannot be defended. Bolshevism has served one
good purpose-as an object lesson .
Scarcely any developments of life have been
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 3 3 5
left unaffected by mechanism and the moderntrends with which we are dealing. Even educa-
tion and art are-I am almost tempted to say-
their victims. Not only have great institutions
of learning been endowed-or subsidized--bythose who have grown rich by the methods of
big business, which fact, even without intention,
may involve a subtle kind of propaganda, but
is there not too much of a tendency toward
standardization and uniformity, to develop the
deepest and finest in the pupils? Can we con-
ceive a Lincoln coming out of one of these
schools, or a Shakespeare, or Socrates? Build-
ing character and genius is not a matter of dead-
level uniformity or mechanical standardiza-
tion.
As for art, that belongs to the realm of the
spirit and does not mix with the mechanical any
more than the proverbial oil with water. Whenever I see one of these futuristic monstrosities
with its chaos of blocks I have an uneasy feeling
that it is symbolical of Art being invaded by
the Materialism of the block universe. In the
same way jazz music is built around the beat
of a drum and gives me an atavistic feeling of
the jungle, the wild orgy and voodoo. Someone has said that when a drum beats man stops
thinking. In a way all these things are the
by-products of the machine age. No one willever get anywhere in art by a mechanical per-
formance whether in poetry, painting, music or
the drama No matter how perfect the tech-
nique, or how "faultily faultless" the product,
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3 3 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
if it lacks soul or meaning, it has no message or
appeal to the human spirit .
Mechanism has even invaded religion, pro-
ducing standardized prayers, formalistic wor-
ship and iron-clad creeds and dogmas . Themechanical is quite as deadly to devotion as it
is to art. Even sectarianism smells of the party
convention and the armed camp. If it is replied
that differentiation belongs to all life, it must
be admited that is true on the biological plane
but not on the heavenly. There we expect con-
cord and unity Sectarian division recalls the
warfare of the animal, not the peace of the
spirit. Splitting over technicalities is a favorite
pastime of the intellect, and those who indulge
in it advertise themselves as subjects of the
kingdom of the intellect and not of the realm of
divine grace . Human brotherhood, like free-
dom, is a celestial product .
The thing that did more than any other one
thing to discredit the argument for design was
that it contained a mechanistic element which
left man no choice. It was too much like fatal-ism. We should substitute for the harsher word,
design, the gentler word, purpose . God winsthrough love rather than compels through force .
No one can look at Nature with any insight or
understanding and fail to see purpose staring
him in the face from every forest nook and from
every pair of eyes that are the windows of life.
Purpose in Nature becomes absolute determin-
ism, because there is no principle to oppose it ;
but in man it is moral determinism, because of
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 3 3 7
free will. This removes Bergson's objection to
design that it means fatalism, like predestina-
tion or foreordination, because moral determin-
ism leaves a margin for choice. Absolute deter-
minism would itself be mechanical and would
make man only an automaton, but since man is
spiritual and a child of God, he partakes of
God's freedom. Returning to religion, when it
rids itself of mechanism and of the spirit of
faction and condemnation it will become truly
representative of the spiritual universe.
There is one important characteristic of over-
organization we should not forget. It may reach
a point where it breaks down of its own weight .
There is a limit in every organism to its too
great elaboration. Just as there is a practical
reason for death which is that we may not be-
come fixed in our own mechanism, so there is a
practical reason not to become fixed in these ar-
tificial mechanisms. Even the nautilus aban-
dons its old shell when outgrown.
Referring again to the effects of mechanism inthe various departments of life, here are a few
suggested remedies
As to the industrial problem, one answer is
democratic ownership and management. Let the
workers own stock, share in the profits, govern
themselves through what is known as the Beth-
lehem plan, or something similar . Under theBethlehem plan the workers have an assembly
of their own in which they settle most of the
grievances and complaints that come from their
own ranks, only appealing to the executives in
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3 3 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
the more difficult cases. They also have a voice
in shop managementEncourage the general public to own stock in
these great plants. These remarks also apply
to business. It is fortunate that there is already
a decided trend in this direction in America, es-
pecially among the railroads and big industrial
enterprises. Finally, apply the Golden Rule to
business and industry, as was done so success-
fully by the late Arthur Nash. Such measureswill increase interest and good will both among
the employers and employees and will tend to
prevent strikes. One other remedy that natu-
rally suggests itself is to enforce the laws against
the trusts, chain stores and the like, yet we
have been trying to enforce such laws for nearly
fifty years without any very signal results .
The answer to the political problem is like-
wise more democracy Public spirit and true
devotion to service will also help. Finally there
should be sincere love of country, or real pa-
triotism, as opposed to the professional or ma-chine variety.
The same answer in a general way applies to
education. Let the pupils govern themselves;
as has been done with such signal success in
many schools. Elective studies, manual training
and practical training for real life as we find it
are other steps in a progressive direction. Final-
ly, eliminate machine methods, as far as pos-
sible, also the poison of subtle propaganda.
Thus far we have found democracy to be our
common denominator. Democracy is a spiritual
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 339
product. It came as a protest against the old
machine methods of monarchy and aristocratic
class rule. It contains the elements of equality,
fraternity and liberty, all of which are spiritual.
It is harmonious with the teachings of Jesus
Christ, who was rightfully called "the first demo-
crat." It frees the human spirit, not only poli-
tically but psychologically, i .e . , from class dis-
tinctions and inferiority complexes which is
most important.
As to art, religion, peace, etc., these all belong
peculiarly to the spiritual realm, so that the
remedy must be spiritual. As already pointed
out spirituality would dissolve sectarianism and
mechanical worship.
My final plea is, therefore, a repetition of one
already uttered. It is for spirituality. Justgovernment plus spirituality will end war. En-lightened science plus spirituality will banish
disease Right thought plus spirituality will
dissipate doubt and fear. Interested toil plus
spirituality will remove poverty and failure.
We need the tonic of a right philosophy. Weneed eyes far-sighted and clear-sighted enough
to discern the reality from the seeming. We need
intellect yoked to intuition-intellect that is a
bad master but a good servant-that with the
aid of this twain we can look behind the mask of
appearance and see the loving face of God .
One last word on Psychic Phenomena! There
are several objections to the spiritistic hypo-
thesis, some valid and some not. One takes the
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 3 4 1
of contact with undesirable entities; and, third,
they distract us from dependence on the one God-the God within-and cause us to rely on in-
ferior intelligences which is not only a weaken-
ing process, but possibly one of enslavement ;
fourth, the whole spiritistic approach is neither
practical nor entirely wholesome. I am not at-
tempting to answer these objections, but instead
am giving my own view on this entire subject,
which in brief is this
The method of communication between thedead and the living is: telepathic. This is im-
plied by Dr. Hudson and proved by Mr. Stead.
Moreover it seems to harmonize with, and ex-
plain, all the facts. In suggesting telepathy as
the true method of spiritual communion, this
should not be confused with the argument of
those who would confine such telepathy to the
living. I mean it especially to apply to inter-
communication across the border between the
two planes
Telepathic communication is through the ex-
tra-conscious mind . Mr. Stead thus commu-nicated with both the dead and the living. Themessages from the living were verified and those
with the dead were proved on the basis of anyrules of evidence of which I have knowledge. But
both were telepathic. Moreover every religion,
as well as the universal experience of mankind,seems to approve the telepathic method aswholesome, helpful, ethical and practical.*
*I do not question that a discarnate entity may, to an extent, controlthe organism of the medium . What I do question is that this is whollydesirable or produces t he beat results .
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3 42 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
From the practical standpoint there is little
or nothing to be gained by dabbling in the psy-
chic Our real communion with the dead and
with the spiritual universe is telepathic and this
sort of communion man has always enjoyed. It
is not tinctured with fraud, commercialism,
"signs and wonders," or dramatization by the
conscious or sub-conscious mind of the medium.
Its results may be rare, but they are right and
reasonable
What, then, are we to say of reincarnation?
Dr. Gustave Geley approaches this questionfrom the scientific angle He shows how thewhole evolutionary process is a movement from
the unconscious to the conscious. The divine
emanation, or monad, is representative of the
universe, but at first unconsciously and only in
potency. Then the latent mounts into thekinetic, in a way analogous to the ascent of en-
ergy, and, like energy again, it rises through
rhythmic movement More and more the pos-
sible becomes actual, the unconscious becomes
conscious. This process we call evolution. Atfirst it is outer, or manifested by changing form,
but when the level of self-consciousness is
reached and the monad emerges as man, the evo-
lutionary stream turns inward. While this stage
is being traversed, however, the memory is un-
conscious as the mind powers were in earlier
stages. At the long last, the whole monad emer-
ges, with its possibilities become realities, in-
cluding the memory of all its lives and it knows
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 343
itself, "even as it is known," a full-fledged son of
GodSays Dr. Geley
What, then, does death matter? It destroys only a sem-
blance, a temporary representation. The true and in-destructible individuality assimilates and so preserves all
the acquirements of the transitory personality; then bath-
ed for a time in the water of Lethe, it materializes anew
in personality and thus continues its evolution indefinitely
Yes, that is what Nature teaches us very clearly and
Nature never lies .
Every new life necessarily implies a temporary re-
striction of the individuality. Every embodiment, or rep-
resentation on the material plane implies a limitation of
all psychic activities by the field of cerebral action and its
organic memory .
But below that cerebral memory, the profound memory
remains indelible and permanent, retaining all its past
acquisitions, though these are for the most part cryptoid .
lly own view, which is confirmed by memories,
or seeming memories, is that a soul carries the
same character from life to life and, to some ex-
tent, the same appearance; that a sudden or
violent death, before the life impulse is spent,
means a correspondingly early return and that
the memory is carried, but infinitesimally, so
that it does not arise above the clamor of the ob-
jective life .
It is also my view that nothing is practically
gained by over emphasizing the question, until
the soul does come into its own and its past and
future are unfolded. Until that time dwelling
on this matter by the sense-mind may lead to
distractions and even hallucinations .
Another word should, perhaps, be said on
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3 4 4 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
psychotherapy or spiritual healing. This is of
value not only from the standpoint of truth but
from that of the practical . It is a mistake to
think that the best results can be reached in
this field by scientific methods alone .
Faith is the medicine of the psyche, and noth-
ing arouses the full power of faith like religion
and the awakening of the spirit. The power
that created the organism alone can repair it .
In this connection, however, I desire to pay my
tribute to scientific medicine . I could not be one
hundred percent loyal to the truth and do less .
Any method of healing is divine, and in my own
humble view the practical idea we should hold
in view is a union of the two methods-faith and
science-in order that the sick may have thebenefit of all possible curative agencies .
In this connection a member of my class in
Washington by self-treatment and spiritual
methods alone was healed in a rather remark-
able way. I have her permission to mention anaccount of this in her own words. I vouch for
the facts, of which there is no question
One of my demonstrations made two years ago last
June may be of help to someone who is burdened with
the wearing of glasses I wore them continuously fromSeptember 23, 1903, to June 1927, a period of approximate-
ly twenty-five years, for nearsight and astigmatism, and
was almost blind on the street without them, and could
not distinguish the features of anyone in any average
sized room being able to tell where the features were sup-
posed to be only by the lights and shadows-all was a
blur. I was then in my forty-ninth year, when according
to the old orthodox idea, one naturally expects the eye-
sight to fail because of advancing years, necessitating new
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 345
and stronger glasses. While I was giving myself Truthtreatments, the old race thought told me that advancing
years was my trouble, but in this instance procrastina-
tion saved the day for me, as in the meantime I discov-
ered that I could see just as well without my glasses as
with them, so I put them away, and have not seen them
since, which freedom has been one of the great joys of
my life; also the realization that by myknowledge ofmetaphysical or Universal laws, and contact with my own
Divine inner forces, I had been able to accomplish that
which the finest eye specialists in the world could not do,
namely, to round out the faulty curvature of the cornea,
which according to Funk and wagnall's Standard Dic-tionary, is the cause of astigmatism. I have not yetlearned what corrected the nearsight, but, that too, has
disappeared .
No treatment of the practical would be com-
plete without a reference to moral philosophy
and the question of evil. On the basis of polari-
ty, evil is only the opposite of good. It is there-
fore more of a question for the individual than
for metaphysics. It is a test of and a discipline
for, the soul. It is our means of strengthening
the moral nature, as work is that of gaining
bodily strength. It is only through a free choicebetween good and evil that man gains moralworth and escapes being an automaton. Activi-
ty is the very nature of the spirit and of the
universe it animates and it is through work and
through moral activity that man touches the
noumemon or "thing in itself" and becomes one
with reality. This is the soul's pathway to God,
as marked out by the "Way,Shower," the great-
est moral force that ever came into this world,
Jesus of Nazareth.
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346 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
We are at the beginning of a new age; a new
age in religion; a new age in philosophy; a new
age in world politics. Science, that has done so
much in shaping environment, in providing out-
ward comforts and conveniences-science, atlast, is to turn its attention to the finer and the
higher forces within. As we make progress in
that science we shall gain power to make great-
er progress, and no man can measure the results
of another century or of the many centuries that
are before us. This prospect not only invites us
but challenges us, for we are, in a peculiar sense,
the builders of that new world. We are pioneers
but are more fortunately situated than thepioneers in earlier days because they not only
had to meet neglect and lack of appreciation and
understanding, but more active forms of hostili-
ty. They were stoned, reviled, imprisoned, cru-
cified and met with every form of misunder-
standing, persecution, misrepresentation and
hatred, and all this from those they sought to
heal and save and to whom they gave the rich-
est treasures of their lives. Out of all this we
hear one cry that rings down the ages, "Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Because of their sufferings we are safe. Fromtheir agony they left us a heritage of security.
We do not now meet these active forms of hos-
tility and opposition. The world has becomeless hostile to new ideas because it has found
the value of inventions and discoveries, the prac-
tical utility of truth. These things have worth
because they work to produce good results in
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PRACTICAL IDEALISM 3 47
ways that can be measured and understood by
the masses
We started this study, not knowing exactly
where it would lead, but I trust we leave it with
a larger vision and a surer hope .
Our first lesson was Philosophical Idealism,
which we have subjected to the test by fire of
examination and use, to have it come forth as
the pure gold of Practical Idealism .
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CHAPTER XVII
CONCLUSION
In Plato's celebrated allegory of the cave he
represents life as a play of shadows. This al-
legory in condensed form follows
Behold! human beings living in an underground den,
which has a mouth open toward the light Here they
have been from childhood, and have their legs and necks
chained so that they cannot move, and can only see be-
fore them. Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a
distance, and between the fire and prisoners there is a
raised way, a low wall built along the way, like the screen
which marionette-players have in front of them, overwhich they show the puppets. Men are passing along the
wall carrying all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures
of animals which appear over the wall. Some of themare talking, others silent like ourselves, and they see only
their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which
the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave. Of theobjects which are being carried in like manner there are
only the shadows. Suppose further that the prison had
an echo which came from the other side, and when one
of the passers-by spoke the voice seems to come from the
passing shadow. What will naturally follow if the prison-
ers are released and disabused of their error? At first
when any one is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand
up and turn his neck around and walk and look toward
the light, he will suffer sharp pains ; the glare will dis-
tress him and he will be unable to see the realities of
which in his former state he had seen the shadows. Con-
ceive someone saying to him that what he saw beforewas an illusion, but that what now he sees is a clearervision. What will be his reply? Will he not fancy that
the shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the
348
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CONCLUSION 349
objects which are now shown to him? If he is compelled
to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in
his eyes which will make him turn away to take refuge
in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he
will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which
are now being shown to him?
Suppose once more that he is reluctantly dragged up a
steep and rugged ascent and held fast until he is forced
into the presence of the sun himself, is he not likely to be
pained and irritated? When he approaches the light his
eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see any-
thing at all of what are now called realities. He will be
required to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper
world. At first he will see the shadows best, next the re-
flections of men and other objects in the water, and then
the objects themselves ; then he will gaze upon the light
of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven ; and
he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the
sun or the light of the sun by day
Last of all he will be able to see the sun, and not mere
reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in
his own proper place, and not in another; and he will con-
template him as he is .
This entire allegory represents life ; the prison-house
is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, the
journey upward is the ascent of the soul into the intel-
lectual world. In the world of knowledge the idea of good
appears last of all and is seen only with an effort, and
when seen is the universal author of all things beautiful
and right, parent of light and of the lord of light in this
visible world.
Emerson said that an institution is the length-
ened shadow of a man, and in the same way we
may speak of the universe as the lengthened
shadow of God. It is in this sense that the phe-
nomenal world is shadow or illusion, or, as the
Hindus call it, Maya .
Let us suppose another allegorical representa-
tion : The realities of this universe are the posi-
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350 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
five attributes of God-absolute good, beauty,
truth, wisdom, life, health, supply, love, free-
dom, joy and the other qualities that go to make
up the idea of perfection . W e will suppose that
each of these qualities and of all of the other
real things of God's perfect idea are reflected
outwardly from the center of things in shadows
that extend to the very bounds of the universe,
but each shadow becomes darker and thus less-
ens in degree as it proceeds farther from the
center so that at the other pole or outermost cir-
cumference the original quality of good, beauty,
truth, etc., appears as nothingness, or as evil,
ugliness and error .
It requires some such figure to make clear to
us what happens in the world of phenomena, forhere we find everything in degrees . We findeverything adulterated with nothingness. Herewe also find a show or representation of things,
a shadow world on a three dimensional plane .
Things are limited, impermanent and forever
changing into something else. We also find the
chaotic elements of chance, caprice, indetermin-
ateness and variation.
"God geometrizes," said Plato, and thethought is echoed by Einstein and by the great
modern astronomer, Sir James Jeans, who not
only revives the idealism of Plato but that of
Berkeley In the Rede Memorial Lecture inCambridge, 1930, Sir James said, as reported in
the New York TimesNeither biology nor engineering has been successful in
helping to fathom the mysteries of the universe Nature
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CONCLUSION 351
is more closely allied to the concepts of pure mathematics,
structures of pure thought
To my mind the laws which nature obeys are less sug-gestive of those which a machine obeys in its motion than
of those a musician obeys in writing a fugue or a poet
in composing a sonnet. The motions of electrons andatoms do not resemble the parts of a locomotive so much
as those of dancers in a cotillion .
If all this is so, then the universe can best be pictured
-though still very imperfectly and inadequately-as con-
sisting of pure thought, the thought of what for want of
a better word we must describe as a mathematical thinker.
We discover that the universe shows evidence of a de-
signing or controlling power that has something in com-
mon with our own individual minds-not emotion, morali-
ty or aesthetic appreciation, but a tendency to think in
a way which for want of a better word we describe as
mathematical .
Sir James, who as an astronomer has explored the fron-
tiers of human knowledge, reaffirmed the belief of BishopBerkeley, in the early eighteenth century, that "all the
choir of heaven and the furniture of earth, all those
bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world,have not any substance without the mind . "
In trying to picture the vastness of the universe, Sir
James adapted an image of Plato's, saying that "man is
still imprisoned in a cave, with his back to the light and
can only watch the shadows on the wall . "
Sir James reverted to Plato's image of the shadows "to
explain the inconsistencies in the present theories of
space and time."
Just as the shadows on the wall form the projection of
a three dimensional reality into two dimensions, so the
phenomena of the space-time continuum are four dimen-
sional projections of realities which occupy more than
four dimensions.
Sir James elaborates this idea in his bookThe Mysterious Universe . Many of the later
publications on physics, relativity, the higher
mathematics, etc., sound a similar note. In other
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352 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
words, modern science and philosophy are redis-
covering God .
To make clearer what all of this implies an-
other hypothesis may be helpful . Let us sup-
pose that man in his present life is under a sort
of hypnosis-self-hypnosis, if you will . This
dream state is induced by his special form of
mind action that we call intellect, and has to do
with the universe relative to man's present mode
of functioning. Because of our specialized
forms of sense reaction responding only to cer-
tain bands of frequencies, or of wave motions,
in the ether of space, this universe is phenome-
nal ; that is, comes to us as a show or appear-
ance . It seems to be solid or material, in order
that man may act upon it, cut tools out of it,
etc . In other words, the suggestions that come
to us in our state of hypnosis concern a material
world that is independent of our thought and to
which we are subject . So long as our dreams
are normal this is all well and good, but we may
get warped or delusive ideas, fixed notions, com-
plexes, which result in defective or abnormal
states of thought, and of manifestation. Thesewe call disease . So identified are we with our
organism and with this hypnotized state of our
thoughts that these things seem real to us,
whereas they are but a part of the dream or the
hypnosis. How happy it would be were theresome cosmical operator who could suddenly cry,
"Right," and snap us out of it . Then we should
discover that it had only been a bad dream and
that we are as we always have been, a part of
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CONCLUSION 3 53
God's perfect idea, spiritual beings in a spiritual
universe, like the man in the story, The Sleeper
Awakes
None of these analogies, or figures, is perfect,
but they indicate the truth, or, at least, point
the direction in which truth may he found. AsBishop Berkeley indicated, the Universe is God's
action and man's picture and concept of it rep-
resent his reactions to this Divine activity. Be-
cause God is infinite His forms of manifestation
are infinite. They represent every possible level
and variety of life .
It may help us to think of each individual as
a monad This monad plus its environmentmakes up the universe. It not only represents
the universe but corresponds to it. It knowsitself by knowing its other, or to put it differ-
ently, it comprehends its own nature by com-
prehending the cosmos. It is infinite in poten-
tiality and essence but only realizes this univer-
sal element within by realizing that without .
This is a progressive or evolutionary realization,
that runs the whole scale from nothingness to
the absolute or from zero to infinity. The monad
thus passes through degrees, in which it retains
its own identity as a particular self or person-
ality but in which it also realizes its universal
quality through knowledge, thought and action .
In his great book, Appearance and Reality,
Mr. F. H. Bradley proves by logic that there isnothing real except the Absolute and that this
is not many but one. This is not a frozen Abso-
lute, not a dead level of uniformity, not a mere
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354 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
being in which there are no distinctions, not a
"night in which all cows are black," but a uni-
verse irridescent and luminous in which the
beauty of variety is brought out in vivid dis-
tinctness, containing all the multifarious glory
of the living universe, but which is yet harmo-
nized and included in the One-Life. Aside from
the Absolute all else is appearance even in-
cluding the self and self-consciousness, all these
are reflections, representations or shadows of
Reality, adulterated with nothingness, chaos,
confusion and defect . They are ever striving
more closely to attain to the Real, however, and
this begets motion in them, change and becom-
ing. This is also the basis of thought which is
ever seeking also to comprehend more fully andso long as it fails to do this it is still merely
thought. But when it succeeds completely in
understanding or comprehending its subject, it
passes over into it, ceases to be thought and be-
comes the thing in itself. It then incarnates,
identifies itself with the thing, ceases to be mere
thought and ceases to be conscious since it is no
longer practical or necessary that it be so. Inother words, its other exists only so long as not
completely known. When it is perfectly known,
it ceases to be Other and becomes the self. Godis Other to us only so long as we do not entirely
know Him. When we do so know Him He be-comes one with us. The seeming opposites are
caught up into a higher unity. It was Him wewere seeking all the time for there is no other .
We sought Him in our brothers and tried to
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CONCLUSION 35 5
know and so to merge with and possess them .
We sought Him in nature and in revelationswhere He was represented. When we completely
know ourselves, we are That, as the Hin-doos say. The more perfectly we know and rep-
resent Him, the less defect is in us and the less
of pain and negation . There is only the Abso-
lute and we are only real so far as we incarnate
the Absolute. Christ knew this and so could say
"I and the Father are one." This is true of all
of us and is the only Truth. The world is only
other to us, objective and material because we do
not perfectly know it. The moment we do knowit in all its detail, it is spiritual and subjective .
It is only the mechanism through which thought
manifests and acts. When we transcend theduality and the illusion, we are in Nirvana. Wehave ceased to pass through the rhythm of mo-
tion, of birth and death, and have emerged into
the Truth and Liberty of our real selves, or
rather of our real Self, for the sense of separa-
iton belongs to the illusion. "The dewdrop slips
into the shining sea." The prodigal has re-
turned unto his Father's house .
We are God's thinking, not God thinking, for
the Universe is not a series or a multiplicity but
a unity. We, as seemingly separate and inde-
pendent, are derivative and representative .
"Thou shalt have none other gods before Me ."
In this whole series of studies we have been
discovering God. The supreme need of theworld today-and by the world we mean all na-
tions and all departments of human life-is to
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3 5 6 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
know and relate itself anew to Him. He alone
can heal individuals and nations; He alone can
unify mankind and establish peace ; He alone
can give us a starting point from which to inter-
pret and build a greater science, philosophy and
religion that will be deep and broad enough to
fit this new time into which we are now enter-
ing. Having found God let us use Him as our
point of departure, as the great corner stone of
our structure, the first premise of our deductive
system. We start, then, with God Transcendent .
In all religious systems and most philosophies
we are told that His first expression is the Word .
"In the beginning was the Word and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God." Wehave called this form of the Divine expression
God immanent. In other words, this is God in-carnating Himself as the great first cause of
the universe. He becomes His other, or repre-
sentation, the objective pole of the Divine Mind,
which in turn becomes the Great Unconscious
or basis of the habit mind, Law or Mechanism
of the universe In other words, God thinks
Himself into an Infinite expression which be-
comes the Word Since this expression must
have all possible variety it becomes the many.
God thus gives forth an infinite number of eman-
ations or monads, each being the representation
or image of Himself. These, however, are all un-
conscious or potential since they are not yet ob-
jectified and, therefore, cannot know themselves,
because they cannot know their other Then,
the universal process starts, first in building the
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CONCLUSION 3 5 7
physical universe, next in evolving a universe
of life and finally in perfecting a universe of
self-conscious human units. In this process we
find correspondences or analogies, also the dia-
lectic method of polarity caught into unity. In
the very beginning polarity appears in the pro-
ton and the electron, which correspond to the
thesis and the antithesis of thought. God's ac-
tion or will appears first as union which catches
up these two apparent opposites into unity, this
unity being the atom, or the building block of
the physical universe. In the way of this dialec-
tical method this synthesis becomes the thesis
of a new step upward. Our next polarity is be-
tween the physical universe and the psychical,
and the result here is the cell, the building block
of the universe of life. We can carry this meth-
od out further-almost as much further as we
like. The third great triad in the human world
might be called the man and the woman, whose
union or synthesis constitutes the home, which
becomes the building block of the sociological
structure, or the beginning of God's Kingdom
on Earth.
Aristotle's teaching was that we only know a
thing in its outcome, or end. We have alreadyseen that the Word became creative mind-an-
nima mundi, soul of the world . In the begin-
ning this was the great unconscious, or the mind
manifesting itself in nature and in the creatures,
but at the long last it becomes man . Natural
man is not its highest or final expression, how-
ever, for he does not realize God's idea, or full
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35 8 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
purpose This only becomes manifest in Christ,
the perfect or spiritual man . Thus it is abso-
lutely correct to identify Christ with the Logos
or Word. He is the perfect fruit of the creative
process, and He is G od's realization of Himself
as the God-Man made in His image, the human
prototype and final fruit of the absolute idea
Thus the coming of Christ made a new era in
the human world just as the coming of man madea new era in the universe of life and the coming
of life made a new era in the physical universe .
Each of these are steps on the stairway leading
to God. Each of these are new scenes in the
Divine drama, new levels in the ascending evo-
lution .
Thus it is our healing is through Christ, and
thus it is that the new civilization, the coming
of man to himself, the awakening of the sleeper,
takes place through the Christ . We know our-
selves in Him, know ourselves as the children
of God. We are awakened from the dream ofthe material, of limitation, and of the self-hyp-
nosis of the intellect, and of specialized and rela-
tive modes of thinking, by knowing ourselves
even as we are known in Christ
The only path through which the monads
could ascend was that of the self, or self-con-
sciousness. This has been both our prison and
our liberator . It is in the self that all error
and sin have arisen, all disease and death . In
order that we might not be fixed in our organ-
ism, and in our complexes, we have had to pass
through the rhythm of life and death-death to
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CONCLUSION 3 59
free us for a new adventure, and life to objectify
us into a new experience. At the long last, how-
ever, we are now transcending this limitation
and are beginning to see that the whole process
is one of life, life vibrating between subjective
and objective, or between the two planes of be-
ing, just as all energy vibrates in its ascent to
higher forms of energy, or manifestation . Man's
cure is the absolute idea that is his Creator, that
is his Reality, that is Himself . The sleeper is
awake and the hypnotic dream vanishes with the
shadows of the world of appearances . Man looks
upon the sun and knows Reality .
Our adventure is over, we have found the One .
There is no Other This One is the many ;
this One is the universe of life; this Oneis our beginning and our end, our Creator,our Healer, our Savior, our Immortality.
Only so much of us as belongs to His goodness,
His truth, His beauty, His perfection, survives
the "wreck of matter and crash of worlds ." All
the rest belongs to the dream and the hypnosis,
the appearance, the dance of shadows . God is
and we are in Him .
The way to Him and the way to health andhappiness is not alone through our specialized
form of mind action known as intellect, but more
especially through the forms of mind action such
as intuition, imagination and faith. We find this
truth represented in the universal religion of man-
kind and in science and philosophy as well. Wediscover the clue in man's speech, in the very root
words of his language . We discover it in the
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3 6 0 INVADING THE INVISIBLE
traditions of all civilizations and in the vision
of all hearts. God has not left us without re-
minders of Himself, without answers to the rid-
dle of life .
After all it is the practical test that counts .
We go back to that. We know a thing through
its use The highest philosophy in the end
comes to that which belongs to the practical and
to the common sense of the race. As a summingup of our adventures from this phase we find
these net results
We cannot account for the physical without
recourse to the spiritual universe . Mechanismpresupposes mind as its inventor and operator
Everything points to God and all the new scien-
ces, as well as physics and mathematics, are
ever becoming more harmonious with religious
and philosophical idealism. In this study we
have scrutinized the new factors in humanknowledge and have found that science, quite as
much as religion, reveals God. In our adventure
we have really invaded new territory. We havediscovered the mystery of the lever and of gravi-
tation, seen something of the nature of en-
ergy, and have even caught glimpses of the crea-
tive process itself We have seen God in Na-ture, have gotten a more rational view of the
identity of the Logos, have seen Christ as His
perfect fruit and revealer to man, and have dis-
covered anew Christ's healing and regenerative
power in the soul. We came to study science
and end by studying spirit, love, life, truth .
What have we learned? For one thing we have