CHAPTER
XVI.
VITALIZED DARKNESS.- THE NARROWS OF SCIENCE.
" In studying any branch of science men begin and end with an unknown. The
chemist accepts as data such conditions of matter as he finds about him, and
connects ponderable matter with the displays of energy that have impressed his
senses, building therefrom a span of theoretical science, but he can not
formulate as yet an explanation regarding the origin or the end of either mind,
matter, or energy. The piers supporting his fabric stand in a profound invisible
gulf, into which even his imagination can not look to form a theory concerning
basic formations- cornerstones.
" The geologist, in a like manner, grasps feebly the lessons left in the
superficial fragments of earth strata, impressions that remain to bear imperfect
record of a few of the disturbances that have affected the earth's crust, and he
endeavors to formulate a story of the world's life, but he is neither able to
antedate the records shown by the meager testimony at his command, scraps of a
leaf out of God's great book of history, nor to anticipate coming events. The
birth, as well as the death, of this planet is
beyond his page.
" The astronomer directs his telescope to the heavens, records the position
of the planets, and hopes to discover the influences worlds exert upon one
another. He explores space to obtain data to enable him to delineate a map of
the visible solar universe, but the instruments he has at command are so
imperfect, and mind is so feeble that, like mockery seems his attempt to study
behind the facts connected with the motions and conditions of the nearest
heavenly bodies, and he can not offer an explanation of the beginning or
cessation of their movements. He call neither account for their existence, nor
foretell their end."
" Are you not mistaken?" I interrupted; " does not the astronomer
foretell eclipses, and calculate the orbits of the
planets, and has he not verified predictions concerning their several
motions?"
" Yes; but this is simply a study of passing events. The astronomer is no
more capable of grasping an idea that reaches into an explanation of the origin
of motion, than the chemist or physicist, from exact scientific data, can
account for the creation of matter. Give him any amount of material at rest, and
he can not conceive of any method by which motion can disturb any part of it,
unless such motion be mass motion communicated from without, or molecular
motion, already existing within. He accounts for the phases of present motion in
heavenly bodies, not for the primal cause of the actual movements or intrinsic
properties they possess. He can neither originate a theory that will permit of
motion creating itself, and imparting itself to quiescent matter, nor imagine
how an atom of quiescent matter can be moved, unless motion from without be
communicated thereto. The astronomer, I assert, can neither from any data at his
command postulate nor prove the beginning nor the end of the reverberating
motion that exists in his solar system, which is itself the fragment of a system
that is circulating and revolving in and about itself, and in which, since the
birth of man, the universe he knows has not passed the first milestone in the
road that universe is traveling in space immensity.
" The mathematician starts a line from an imaginary point that he informs
us exists theoretically without occupying any space, which is a contradictions
of terms according to his human acceptation of knowledge derived from scientific
experiment, if science is based on verified facts. He assumes that straight
lines exist, which is a necessity for his calculation; but such a line he leas
never made. Even the beam of sunshine, radiating through a clear atmosphere or a
cloud bank, widens and contracts again as it progresses through the various
mediums of air and vapor currents, and if it is ever spreading and deflecting
can it be straight? He begins his study in the unknown, it ends with the
unknowable.
" The biologist can conceive of no rational, scientific beginning to life
of plant or animal, and men of science must admit the fact. Whenever we turn our
attention to nature's laws and nature's substance, we find. man surrounded by
the infinity that obscures the origin and covers the end. But perseverance,
study of nature's forces, and comparison of the past.with the present, will yet
clarify human knowledge and make plain much of this seemingly mysterious, but
never will man reach the beginning or the end. The course of human education, to
this day, has been mostly materialistic, although, together with the study of
matter, there has been more or less attention given to its movingspirit. Newton
was the dividing light in scientific thought; he stepped between the reasonings
of the past and the provings of the present, and introduced problems that gave
birth to a new
scientific tendency, a change from the study of matter from the material side to
that of force and matter, but his thought has since been carried out in a mode
too realistic by far. The study of material bodies has given way, it is true, in
a few cases to the study of the spirit of matter, and evolution is beginning to
teach men that matter is crude. As a result, thought will in its sequence yet
show that modifications of energy expression are paramount. This work is not
lost, however, for the consideration of the nature of sensible material, is
preliminary and necessary to progression ( as the life of the savage prepares
the way for
that of the cultivated student ), and is a meager and primitive child's effort,
compared with the richness of the study in unseen energy expressions that are
linked with matter, of which men will yet learn."
" I comprehend some of this," I replied; " but I am neither
prepared to assent to nor dissent from your conclusions, and my mind is not
clear as to whether your logic is good or bad. I am more ready to speak plainly
about my own peculiar situation than to become absorbed in abstruse arguments in
science, and I marvel more at the soft light that is here surrounding us than at
the metaphysical reasoning in which you indulge."
" The child ignorant of letters wonders at the resources of those who can
spell and read, and, in like manner, many obscure natural phenomena are
marvelous to man only because of his ignorance. You do not comprehend the fact
that sunlight is simply a matter-bred expression, an outburst of interrupted
energy, and that the modification this energy undergoes makes it visible or
sensible to man. What, think you, becomes of the flood of light energy that
unceasingly flows from the sun? For ages, for an eternity, it has bathed this
earth and seemingly streamed into space, and space it would seem must have long
since have been filled with it, if, as men believe, space contains energy of any
description. Man may say the earth casts the amount intercepted by it back into
space, and yet does not your science teach that the great bulk of the earth is
an absorber, and a poor radiator of light and heat? What think you, I repeat,
becomes of the torrent of light and heat and other forces that radiate from the
sun, the flood that strikes the earth? It disappears, and, in the economy of
nature, is not replaced by any known force or any known motion of matter. Think
you that earth substance really presents an obstacle to the passage of the sun's
energy? Is it not probable that most of this light producing essence, as a
subtle fluid, passes through the surface of the earth and into its interior, as
light does through space, and returns thence to the sun again, in a condition
not discernible by man?"
He grasped my arm and squeezed it as though to
emphasize the words to follow. " You have used the term sunshine freely;
tell me what is sunshine? Ah! you do not reply; well, what evidence have you to
show that sunshine ( heat and light ) is not earth-bred, a condition that exists
locally only, the result of contact between matter and some unknown force
expression? What reason have you for accepting that, to other forms unknown and
yet transparent to this energy, your sunshine may not be as intangible as the
ether of space is to man? What reason have you to believe that a force torrent
is not circulating to and from the sun and earth, inappreciable to man,
excepting the mere trace of this force which, modified by contact action with
matter appears as heat, light, and other force expressions? How can I, if this
is true, in consideration of your ignorance, enter into details explanatory of
the action that takes place between matter and a portion of this force, whereby
in the earth, first at the surface, darkness is produced, and then deeper down
an earth light that man can perceive by the sense of sight, as you now realize?
I will only say that this luminous appearance about us is produced by a natural
law, whereby the flood of energy, invisible to man, a something clothed now
under the name of darkness, after streaming into the crust substance of the
earth, is at this depth, revivified, and then is made apparent to mortal
eye, to be modified again as it emerges from the opposite earth crust, but not
annihilated. For my vision, however, this central light is not a necessity; my
physical and mental development is such that the energy of darkness is
communicable; I can respond to its touches on my nerves, and hence I can guide
you in this dark cavern. I am all eye."
" Ah!" I exclaimed, " that reminds me of a remark made by my
former guide who, referring to the instinct of animals, spoke of that as a
natural power undeveloped in man. Is it true that by mental cultivation a new
sense can be evolved whereby darkness may become as light ?"
" Yes; that which you call light is a form of sensible energy to which the
faculties of animals who live on the surface of the earth have become adapted,
through their organs of sight. The sun's energy is modified when it strikes the
surface of the earth; part is reflected, but most of it passes onward into the
earth's substance, in an altered or disturbed condition. Animal organisms within
the earth must possess a peculiar development to utilize it under its new form,
but such a sense is really possessed in a degree by some creatures known to men.
There is consciousness behind consciousness; there are grades and depths of
consciousness. Earth worms, and some fishes and reptiles in underground streams
( lower organizations, men call them ) do not use the organ of sight, but
recognize objects, seek their food, and flee from their enemies."
" They have no eyes," I exclaimed, forgetting that I spoke to an
eyeless being; " how can they see?"
" You should reflect that man can not offer a satisfactory explanation of
the fact that he can see with his eyes. In one respect, these so-called lower
creatures are higher in the scale of life than man is, for they see ( appreciate
) without eyes. The surfaces of their bodies really are sources of perception,
and seats of consciousness. Man must yet learn to see with his skin, taste with
his fingers, and hear with the surface of his body. The dissected nerve, or the
pupil of man's eye, offers to the physiologist no explanation of its intrinsic
power. Is not man unfortunate in having to risk so much on so frail an organ?
The physiologist can not tell why or how the nerve of the tongue can distinguish
between bitter and sweet, or convey any impression of taste, or why the nerve of
the ear communicates sound, or the nerve of the eye communicates the impression
of sight. There is an impassable barrier behind all forms of nerve impressions,
that neither the microscope nor other methods of investigation can help the
reasoning senses of man to remove. The void that separates the pulp of the
material nerve from consciousness is broader than the solar universe, for even
from the most distant known star we can imagine the never-ending flight of a ray
of light, that has once started on its travels into space. Can any man outline
the bridge that connects the intellect with nerve or brain, mind, or with any
form of matter? The fact that the surface of the bodies of some animals is
capable of performing the same functions for these animals that the eye of man
performs for him, is not more mysterious than is the function of that eye
itself. The term darkness is an expression used to denote the fact that to the
brain which governs the eye of man, what man calls the absence of light, is
unrecognizable. If men were more magnanimous and less egotistical, they would
open their minds to the fact that some animals really possess certain senses
that are better developed than they are in man.
The teachers of men too often
tell the little they know and neglect the great unseen. The cat tribe, some
night birds, and many reptiles can see better in darkness than in daylight. Let
man compare with the nerve expanse of his own eye that of the highly developed
eye of any such creature, and he will understand that the difference is one of
brain or intellect, and not altogether one of optical vision surface. When men
are able to explain how light can affect the nerves of their own eyes and
produce such an effect on distant brain tissues as to bring to his senses
objects that he is not touching, he may be able to explain how the energy in
darkness can affect the nerve of the eye in the owl and impress vision on the
brain of that creature. Should not man's inferior sense of light lead him to
question if, instead of deficient visual power, there be not a deficiency of the
brain capacity of man? Instead of accepting that the eye of man is incapable of
receiving the impression of night energy, and making no endeavor to improve
himself in the direction of his imperfection, man should reflect whether or not
his brain may, by proper cultivation or artificial stimulus, be yet developed so
as to receive yet deeper nerve impressions, thereby changing darkness into
daylight. Until man can explain the modus operandi of the senses he now
possesses, he can not consistently question the existence of a different sight
power in other beings, and unquestioned existing conditions should lead him to
hope for a yet higher development in himself."
" This dissertation is interesting, very," I said. " Although
inclined toward agnosticism, my ideas of a possible future in consciousness that
lies before mankind are broadened. I therefore accept your reasoning, perhaps
because I call not refute it, neither do I wish to do so. And now I ask again,
can not you explain to me how darkness, as deep as that of midnight, has been
revivified so as to bring this great cavern to my view?"
" That may be made plain at a future time," he answered; " let us
proceed with our journey."
We passed through a dry, well ventilated apartment. Stalactite formations still
existed, indicative of former periods of water drippings, but as we journeyed
onward I saw no evidence of present percolations, and the developing and erosive
agencies that had worked in ages past must long ago have been suspended. The
floor was of solid stone, entirely free from loose earth and fallen rocky
fragments. It was smooth upon the surface, but generally disposed in gentle
undulations. The peculiar, soft, radiant light to which my guide referred as
" vitalized darkness" or " revivified sunshine," pervaded
all the space about me, but I could not by its agency distinguish the sides, of
the vast cavern. The brightness was of a species that while it brought into
distinctness objects that were near at hand, lost its unfolding power or vigor a
short distance beyond. I would compare the effect to that of a bright light
shining through a dense fog, were it not that the medium about us was,
transparent- not milky.
The light shrunk into nothingness. It passed from existence behind and about me as if it were annihilated, without wasting away in the opalescent appearance once familiar as that of a spreading fog. Moreover, it seemed to detail such objects as were within the compass of a certain area close about me, but to lose in intensity beyond. The buttons on my coat appeared as distinct as they ever did when I stood in the sunlight, and fully one-half larger than I formerly knew to be. The corrugations on the palms of my hands stood out in bold serpentine relief that I observed clearly when I held my hands near my eye, my fingers appeared clumsy, and all parts of my person were magnified in proportion. The region at the limits of my range of perception reminded the of nothingness, but not of darkness. A circle of obliteration defined the border of the luminous belt which advanced as we proceeded, and closed in behind us. This line, or rather zone of demarkation that separated the seen from the unseen, appeared to be about two hundred feet away, but it might have been more or less, as I had no method of measuring distances.