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What Modern Science Says

There are many to whom this conception of the vibration energy of Chitta or Mind Substance may seem strange. But such persons will be still more surprised, perhaps, when they are told that modern science has practically admitted the general truth contained in the Hindu teachings concerning the same, though modern science seems to cloak the facts of the case in technical terms so that the ordinary person is unable to comprehend the real facts dwelling beneath these terms. To this latter class we specially commend the following statement made by Professor Ochorowicz, the eminent European scientist, a few years ago. Professor Ochoriwicz says:

A Living Dynamic Focus

"Every living being is a dynamic focus. A dynamic focus tends ever to propagate the motion that is proper to it. Propagated motion becomes transformed according to the medium it traverses. Motion always tends to propagate itself. Therefore, when we see work of any kind—mechanical, electrical, nervic, or psychic—disappear without visible effort, then of two things, one happens, namely, either a transmission or a transformation. Where does the first end, and where does the second begin? In an identical medium there is only transmission; in a different medium there is transformation.

"You send an electric current through a thick wire. You have the current, but you do not perceive any other force. But cut that thick wire, and connect the ends by means of a fine wire, and this fine wire will grow hot—there will be a transformation of a part of the current into heat. Take a pretty strong current, and interpose a wire still more resistant, or a very thin carbon rod, and the carbon will emit light. A part of the current, then, is transformed into heat and light. The light acts in every direction around about, first visibly as light, then invisibly as heat and electric current. Hold a magnet near it. If the magnet is weak and movable, in the form of a magnetic needle, the beam of light will cause it to deviate; if it is strong and immovable, it will in turn cause the beam of light to deviate. And all this from a distance, without contact, without special conductors.

Dynamic Correlate of Thought

"A process that is at once chemical, physical and psychical, goes on in the brain. A complex action of this kind is propagated through the gray brain matter, as waves are propagated in water. Regarded on its physiological side, an idea is only a vibration, a vibration that is propagated, yet which does not pass out of the medium in which it can exist as such. It is propagated only as far as other vibrations allow. It is propagated more widely if it assumes the character which subjectively we call emotive. But it cannot go beyond without being transformed. Nevertheless, like force in general, it cannot remain in isolation, and it escapes in disguise.

"Thought stays at home, as the chemical action of a battery remains in the battery; it is represented by its dynamic correlate, called in the case of the battery a 'current,' and in the case of the brain, I know not what; but whatever its name may be, it is the dynamic correlate of thought. I have chosen the name 'dynamic correlate.' There is something more than that; the universe is neither dead nor void.

"A force that is transmitted meets other forces, and if it is transformed only little by little it usually limits itself to modifying another force at its own cost, though without suffering materially thereby. This is the case particularly with forces that are persistent, concentrated, well seconded by their medium. It is the case with the physiological equilibrium, nervic force, psychic force, ideas, emotions, tendencies. These modify environing forces, without themselves disappearing. They are imperceptibly transformed, and if the next man is of a nature exceptionally well adapted to them, they gain in inductive action."

Answer to Skeptical Critics

The two most likely objections advanced against this conception by sceptical critics are as follows: "(1) The mental vibratory motion, or vibratory waves, are not known to science, nor recorded on scientific instruments such as the galvanometer. What is the rate of such vibrations, and what is their general character? (2) Granted the existence of such vibratory energy, or thought-waves, how and by means of what channel does the second person receive them from the first person? How are they registered or recorded?" These objections are capable of being met in a scientific manner, to the satisfaction of any fair-minded critic or investigator. We shall now give you, briefly, the gist of the answer of science to the aforesaid objections.

The World of Vibrations

It is true that the scientific instruments of the laboratory, such as the galvanometer, do not record thought vibrations. This, because such instruments are capable of registering and recording on certain rates and modes of vibratory energy. Thought vibrations are registered only by their appropriate instruments, namely, the Chitta of Mind substance of living persons. As to the "general character and rate of vibration" of these waves of mental force, we can only say that their general character is that of "mental force" as opposed to "physical force."

As to their rate of vibration, we can only say that this is not precisely known, not having as yet been definitely ascertained; but it should be added that there is plenty room for these vibrations in the great field of vibratory energy. Read the following paragraphs, and decide this last matter for yourself.

Uncharted Seas of Vibration

The following quotations from eminent scientists will serve to give the student a general idea of the views of science upon the question of the possibility of the existence and presence of vibratory energy of kinds and characters as yet unknown to science:

The first scientist says: "There is much food for speculation in the thought that there exists sound waves that no human ear can hear, and color waves that no eye can see. The long, dark, soundless space between 40,000 and 400,000,000,000,000 vibrations per second, and the infinity of range beyond 700,000,000,000,000 vibrations per second, where light ceases, in the universe of motion, makes it possible to indulge in speculation." The second scientist says: "There is no gradation between the most rapid undulations or tremblings that produce our sensation of sound, and the lowest of those which give rise to our sensations of gentlest warmth. There is a huge gap between them, wide enough to include another world of motion, all lying between our world of sound and our world of heat and light. And there is no good reason whatever for supposing that matter is incapable of such intermediate activity, or that such activity may not give rise to intermediate sensations, provided that there are organs for taking up and sensifying these movements."

The third scientist says: "The knowledge we gain by experiment brings home to us what a miserably imperfect piece of mechanism our bodies are. The ear can detect the slow-footed sound vibrations that come to us at the rate of between 40 and 40,000 a second. But the whole of space may be quivering and palpitating with waves at all sorts of varying speeds, and our senses will tell us nothing of them until we get them coming to us at the inconceivable speed of 400,000,000,000,000 a second, when again we respond to them and appreciate them in the form of light."

The fourth scientist says: "The first indications of warmth come to us when the vibrations reach the rate of 35,000,000,000,000 per second. When the vibrations reach 450,000,000,000,000 the lowest visible light rays manifest. Then come the orange rays, the golden yellow, the pure yellow, the greenish yellow, the pure green, the greenish blue, the ocean blue, the cyanic blue, the indigo, and finally the violet, the highest degree of light which the human eye can register, and which occurs when the vibrations reach the rate of 750,000,000,000 per second. Then come the ultra-violet rays, invisible to human sight but registered by chemical media. In this ultra-violet region lie the X-Rays, and the other recently discovered high degree rays; also the actinic rays which, while invisible to the eye, register on the photographic plate, sunburn one's face, blister one's nose, and even cause violent explosions in chemical substances exposed to them, as well as act upon the green leaves of plants, causing the chemical transformation of carbonic acid and water into sugar and starches. These forms of 'dark light,' that is, light too high in degree to be perceived by the human eye, are but faint indications of the existence of still higher and still finer vibrations of substance and energy."

The Human Wireless Telegraph Instrument

Having seen that the first question of the sceptical critics is capable of being answered in the scientific spirit, and by ideas based upon scientific investigation, we now turn to the second question of the same critics, viz.: "Granted the existence of such vibratory energy, or thought-waves, how and by means of what channel does the second person receive these from the first person? How are they registered or recorded?" This same question is also implied in the concluding sentence of one of the scientists above quoted, viz.: "There is no good reason whatever for supposing that matter is incapable of such intermediate activity, or that such activity may not give rise to intermediate sensations, provided that there are organs for taking up and sensifying these movements." Let us see what science has to tell us regarding the provision of Nature for the reception and "sensing" of this class of vibratory energy. And the easiest way to ascertain the report of science regarding this important matter is to consider carefully what representative leading scientists have said concerning the same in their writings or public addresses. We call your attention to the following quotations from such sources.

A Great Scientist's Theory

Let us begin with that great master of modern science, Sir William Crookes, the inventor of the celebrated "Crookes' Tubes," without which the discovery of the X-Ray and Radio-Activity would have been impossible. Several years ago, this eminent scientist, addressing the Royal Society, at Bristol, England,—a gathering made up of distinguished scientists from all over the world, most of the members being extremely sceptical concerning occult phenomena—said to the brilliant gathering: "Were I now introducing for the first time these inquiries in the world of science, I should choose a starting point different from that of old (where we formerly began). It would be well to begin with Telepathy; with that fundamental law, as I believe it to be, that thoughts and images may be transferred from one mind to another without the agency of the recognized organs of sense—that knowledge may enter the human mind without being communicated in any hitherto known or recognized ways. * * * If Telepathy takes place we have two physical facts, viz., (a) the physical change in the brain of A, the transmitter, and the analogous physical change in the brain of B, the recipient of the transmitted impression. Between these two physical events there must exist a train of physical causes. * * * It is unscientific to call in the aid of mysterious agencies, when with every fresh advance in knowledge it is shown that ether vibrations have powers and attributes abundantly able to meet any demand—even the transmission of thought.

"It is supposed by some physiologists that the essential cells of nerves do not actually touch, but are separated by a narrow gap which widens in sleep while it narrows almost to extinction during mental activity. This condition is so singularly like a Branly or Lodge coherer [a device which led to the discovery of wireless telegraphy] as to suggest a further analogy. The structure of brain and nerve being similar, it is conceivable that there may be present masses of such nerve coherers in the brain, whose special function it may be to receive impulses brought from without, through the connecting sequence of ether waves of appropriate order of magnitude. Roentgen has familiarized us with an order of vibrations of extreme minuteness as compared with the smallest waves with which we have hitherto been acquainted; and there is no reason to suppose that we have here reached the limit of frequency. It is known that the action of thought is accompanied by certain molecular movements in the brain, and here we have physical vibrations capable from their extreme minuteness of acting direct upon individual molecules, while their rapidity approaches that of internal and external movements of the atoms themselves. A formidable range of phenomena must be scientifically sifted before we effectually grasp a faculty so strange, so bewildering, and for ages so inscrutable, as the direct action of mind upon mind."

Human Electro-Magnetism

Professor Bain, another eminent authority, tells us: "The structure of the nervous substances, and the experiments made upon the nerves and nerve-centres, establish beyond a doubt certain peculiarities as belonging to the force that is exercised by the brain. This force is of a current nature; that is to say, a power generated at one part of the structure is conveyed along an intervening substance and discharged at some other part. The different forms of electricity and magnetism have made us familiar with this kind of action."

Professor Draper, another eminent authority, says: "I find that the cerebrum is absolutely analogous to in construction to any other nervous arc. It is composed of centripetal and centrifugal fibres, having also registering ganglia. If in other nervous arcs the structure is merely automatic, and can display no phenomena of itself, but requires the influence of an external agent—the optical apparatus inert save under the influence of light, the auditory save under the impression of sound—the cerebrum, being precisely analogous in its elementary structure, presupposes the existence of some agent to act through it."

Prof. M. P. Hatfield has said: "The arrangement of the nerve-envelopes is so like that of the best constructed electrical cables that we cannot help thinking that both were constructed to conduct something very much alike. I know that there are those who stoutly maintain that nerve force is not electricity, and it is not in the senses that an electrical battery is not the same thing as a live man; but, nevertheless, nerve-force is closely allied to that wonderful thing that for want of a better and clearer understanding we agree to call 'electricity.'"

Human Etheric Force

Professor Haddock, a popular writer along the lines of scientific psychology and kindred subjects, in a part of his work in which he was considering the idea that thought may be communicated by means of ether-vibrations, forcibly says: "The ether is accepted by science as a reality, and as a medium for light, heat, electricity, magnetism, etc. The nervous system is certainly comparable to an electric battery with connecting wires. Communications of thought and feeling without the mediation of sense-perceptions as commonly understood, is now established. Inanimate objects exert, now and then, 'strange influences.' People certainly carry with them a personal atmosphere. The representation of the condition of these facts by a psychic field, compared to the magnetic or electric field, becomes, therefore, if not plausible, at least convenient. As such a 'field' exists surrounding the sun, so may a 'field' be assumed as surrounding each human individual. 'We have already strong grounds for believing that we live in a medium which conveys to-and-fro movements to us from the sun, and that these movements are electro-magnetic, and that all the transformation of light and heat, and indeed the phenomena of life, are due to the electrical energy which comes to us across the vacuum which exists between us and the sun—a vacuum which is pervaded by the ether, which is a fit medium for the transmission of electro-magnetic waves.' By means, then, of a similar theory applied to mind and brain and body, we may find reasonable explanations of many otherwise insoluble mysteries of life, and, which is of more importance, deduce certain suggestions for the practical regulation of life in the greatest individual interest."

The Brain-Battery

The same writer says: "All states of body and mind involve constant molecular and chemical change. The suggestion arises that the brain, with its millions of cells and its inconceivable changes in substance, may be regarded as a transmitting and receiving battery. The brain being a kind of battery, and the nerves being conductors of released stored-up energy to different parts of the body, by a kind of action similar to the actions of electricity and magnetism, it is suggested that, either by means of the ether, or of some still finer form of matter, discharges of brain energy may be conducted beyond the limits of the body. If the nerve-track corresponds to wires, this refined medium may correspond to the ether-field supposed to be employed in wireless telegraphy. As electrical movements are conducted without wires, or other visible media, so may brain-discharges be conveyed beyond the mechanism of the battery, without the intervention of nerves—except as they may constitute a part of the battery. Generally speaking, such discharges would originate in two ways, viz., by direct mental action, or by mental or physical states—perhaps by a combination."

A Peculiar Organ

So much for the conceptions of modern western science, which agree in the main with those of the ancient oriental occultists, although of course different names and terms are employed. But, we think it worth while to call your attention to the fact that the western scientists have failed to note the significant presence of a peculiar organ in the human body, which is regarded as most important in its functions and offices by the oriental teachers, and which we believe has a very close connection to the subject just discussed by the western scientists. We refer to that strange organ or gland known to western science as the Pineal Gland. Let us see just what this is.

The Pineal Gland

The Pineal Gland is a mass of nervous substance which is found located in the human brain in a position near the middle of the skull, almost directly above the extreme top of the spinal column. It is shaped like a small cone, and is of a reddish-gray color. It lies in front of the cerebellum, and is attached to the third ventricle of the brain. It contains a small quantity of peculiar particles of a gritty, sand-like substance, which is commonly known as "brain sand." It derives its scientific name from its shape, which resembles a pine-cone. Western physiologists are at sea regarding the function and office of this interesting organ, or gland, and the text books generally content themselves with stating that "the functions of the Pineal Gland are not understood." The oriental occultists, on the other hand, claim that the Pineal Gland, with its peculiar arrangement of nerve-cell corpuscles, and its tiny grains of "brain-sand," is intimately associated with certain forms of the transmission and reception of waves of mental vibrations. Western students of occultism have been struck with the remarkable resemblance between the Pineal Gland and a certain part of the receiving apparatus employed in wireless telegraphy, the latter also containing small particles which bear a close resemblance to the "brain-sand" of the Pineal Gland; and this fact is often urged by them to substantiate the theory of the oriental occultists concerning the function and office of this interesting organ of the human body which is located in the brain of man.

Transmission of Thought

Many other facts set forth by modern western science could be cited in our consideration of the question of the existence of any possible organ for the reception of thought vibrations, but it is thought that sufficient evidence of this kind has already been submitted to your attention—sufficient to remove any reasonable doubts, and to give the student at least a clear and open mind on the subject. Summing up such evidence, we may say that modern science is fast approaching the position which is so well expressed by Camille Flammarion, the eminent French scientist, as follows: "The action of one mind upon another at a distance—the transmission of thought, mental suggestion, communication at a distance—all these are not more extraordinary than the action of the magnet on iron, the influence of the moon on the sea, the transportation of the human voice by electricity, the revolution of the chemical constituents of a star by the analysis of its light, or, indeed, all the wonders of contemporary science. Only these psychic communications are of a more elevated kind, and may serve to put us on the track of a knowledge of human nature. What is certain is this: That Telepathy can and ought to be henceforth considered by Science as an incontestible reality; that minds are able to act upon each other without the intervention of the senses; that psychic force exists, though its nature is yet unknown."