A Journey in Other Worlds [86]
spirits
that tried to become embodied, we see but one, namely, you?"
"That," said the shade, "is because no natural law is broken. On
earth one man can learn a handicraft better in a few days than
another in a month, while some can solve with ease a mathematical
problem that others could never grasp. So it is here. Perhaps I
was in a favourable frame of mind on dying, for the so-called
supernatural always interested me on earth, or I had a natural
aptitude for these things; for soon after death I was able to
affect the senses of the friends I had left."
"Are we to understand, then," asked Cortlandt, "that the reason
more of our departed do not reappear to us is because they
cannot?"
"Precisely," replied the shade. "But though the percentage of
those that can return and reappear on earth is small, their
number is fairly large. History has many cases. We know that
the prophet Samuel raised the witch of Endor at the behest of
Saul; that Moses and Elias became visible in the transfiguration;
and that after his crucifixion and burial Christ returned to his
disciples, and was seen and heard by many others."
"How," asked Bearwarden deferentially, "do you occupy your time?"
"Time, replied the spirit, "has not the same significance to us
that it has to you. You know that while the earth rotates in
twenty-four hours, this planet takes but about ten; and the sun
turns on its own axis but once in a terrestrial month; while the
years of the planets vary from less than three months for Mercury
to Neptune's one hundred and sixty-four years. Being insensible
to heat and cold, darkness and light, we have no more changing
seasons, neither is there any night. When a man dies," he
continued with solemnity, "he comes at once into the enjoyment of
senses vastly keener than any be possessed before. Our eyes--if
such they can be called--are both microscopes and telescopes, the
change in focus being effected as instantaneously as thought,
enabling us to perceive the smallest microbe or disease-germ, and
to see the planets that revolve about the stars. The step of a
fly is to us as audible as the tramp of a regiment, while we hear
the mechanical and chemical action of a snake's poison on the
blood of any poor creature bitten, as plainly as the waves on the
shore. We also have a chemical and electrical sense, showing us
what effect different substances will have on one another, and
what changes to expect in the weather. The most complex and
subtle of our senses, however, is a sort of second sight that we
call intuition or prescience, which we are still studying to
perfect and understand. With our eyes closed it reveals to us
approaching astronomical and other bodies, or what is happening
on the other side of the planet, and enables us to view the
future as you do the past. The eyes of all but the highest
angels require some light, and can be dazzled by an excess; but
this attribute of divinity nothing can obscure, and it is the
sense that will first enable us to know God. By means of these
new and sharpened faculties, which, like children, we are
continually learning to use to better advantage, we constantly
increase our knowledge, and this is next to our greatest
happiness."
"Is there any limit," asked Bearwarden, "to human progress on the
earth?"
"Practically none," replied the spirit. "Progress depends
largely on your command of the forces of Nature. At present your
principal sources of power are food, fuel, electricity, the heat
of the interior of the earth, wind, and tide. From the first two
you cannot expect much more than now, but from the internal heat
everywhere available, tradewinds, and falling water, as at
Niagara, and from tides, you can obtain power almost without
limit. Were this all, however, your progress would be slow; but
the Eternal, realizing the shortness of your lives, has given you
power with which to rend the globe. You have the action of all
uncombined chemicals, atmospheric electricity, the excess or
that tried to become embodied, we see but one, namely, you?"
"That," said the shade, "is because no natural law is broken. On
earth one man can learn a handicraft better in a few days than
another in a month, while some can solve with ease a mathematical
problem that others could never grasp. So it is here. Perhaps I
was in a favourable frame of mind on dying, for the so-called
supernatural always interested me on earth, or I had a natural
aptitude for these things; for soon after death I was able to
affect the senses of the friends I had left."
"Are we to understand, then," asked Cortlandt, "that the reason
more of our departed do not reappear to us is because they
cannot?"
"Precisely," replied the shade. "But though the percentage of
those that can return and reappear on earth is small, their
number is fairly large. History has many cases. We know that
the prophet Samuel raised the witch of Endor at the behest of
Saul; that Moses and Elias became visible in the transfiguration;
and that after his crucifixion and burial Christ returned to his
disciples, and was seen and heard by many others."
"How," asked Bearwarden deferentially, "do you occupy your time?"
"Time, replied the spirit, "has not the same significance to us
that it has to you. You know that while the earth rotates in
twenty-four hours, this planet takes but about ten; and the sun
turns on its own axis but once in a terrestrial month; while the
years of the planets vary from less than three months for Mercury
to Neptune's one hundred and sixty-four years. Being insensible
to heat and cold, darkness and light, we have no more changing
seasons, neither is there any night. When a man dies," he
continued with solemnity, "he comes at once into the enjoyment of
senses vastly keener than any be possessed before. Our eyes--if
such they can be called--are both microscopes and telescopes, the
change in focus being effected as instantaneously as thought,
enabling us to perceive the smallest microbe or disease-germ, and
to see the planets that revolve about the stars. The step of a
fly is to us as audible as the tramp of a regiment, while we hear
the mechanical and chemical action of a snake's poison on the
blood of any poor creature bitten, as plainly as the waves on the
shore. We also have a chemical and electrical sense, showing us
what effect different substances will have on one another, and
what changes to expect in the weather. The most complex and
subtle of our senses, however, is a sort of second sight that we
call intuition or prescience, which we are still studying to
perfect and understand. With our eyes closed it reveals to us
approaching astronomical and other bodies, or what is happening
on the other side of the planet, and enables us to view the
future as you do the past. The eyes of all but the highest
angels require some light, and can be dazzled by an excess; but
this attribute of divinity nothing can obscure, and it is the
sense that will first enable us to know God. By means of these
new and sharpened faculties, which, like children, we are
continually learning to use to better advantage, we constantly
increase our knowledge, and this is next to our greatest
happiness."
"Is there any limit," asked Bearwarden, "to human progress on the
earth?"
"Practically none," replied the spirit. "Progress depends
largely on your command of the forces of Nature. At present your
principal sources of power are food, fuel, electricity, the heat
of the interior of the earth, wind, and tide. From the first two
you cannot expect much more than now, but from the internal heat
everywhere available, tradewinds, and falling water, as at
Niagara, and from tides, you can obtain power almost without
limit. Were this all, however, your progress would be slow; but
the Eternal, realizing the shortness of your lives, has given you
power with which to rend the globe. You have the action of all
uncombined chemicals, atmospheric electricity, the excess or