DYNAMIC THOUGHT/PART 4
CHAPTER IV
LIFE AND MIND AMONG THE ATOMS
TO
the majority of persons the title of this chapter would seem an absurdity. Not
to speak of Inorganic "Mind," the idea of "Life" in the
Inorganic World would seem a ridiculous paradox to the "man on the
street" who thinks of Substance as "dead," lifeless and inert.
And, to tell the truth, even Science has held this view until a comparatively
recent period, laughing to scorn the old Occult Teaching that the Universe is
Alive, and capable of Thinking. But the recent discoveries of modern Science
has changed all this, and we no longer hear Science speaking of "dead
Matter" or "blind Force"—it recognizes that these terms are
meaningless, and that the dreams of the old Occultists are coming true. Science
confronts a live and thinking Universe. She is dazzled by the sight, and would
shade her eyes, fearing to see that which she feels must present itself to her
vision when her eyes become accustomed to the sight.
But
a few daring minds among the scientific investigators are dreaming wonderful
dreams to-day, and they tell us in broken tones of the wonderful visions that
are passing before their sight. They dare not tell it all, for they fear the
ridicule of their fellows. Their visions are of Life—Universal Life. In its
investigations of the Material, Science has penetrated so far into the recesses
of Things that its most advanced thinkers and investigators now find themselves
standing in the presence of the Immaterial.
Science
to-day is proclaiming the new doctrine—that is the same as the "old"
doctrine of the Occultists—the doctrine of "Life Everywhere"—Life
even in the hardest rock!
Before
entering into our consideration of the evidence of Mentation in the Inorganic
world, let us accustom ourselves to the idea of "something like Life"
being found there. It will be better for us to approach the subject by easy
stages. Where there is Life there must be Mind—so let us first look for
evidences of Life.
The
"man on the street" would require something more tangible than
scientific explanations of "sensation," "attraction," etc.
What can we offer him as an illustration? Let us see!
Suppose
we call the attention of "the man" to the fact that metals get
tired after considerable work without periods of rest. Science calls this the
"fatigue of elasticity." When the metals are given rest, they
recuperate and regain their former elasticity and health. "The man"
may remember that his razor acts this way occasionally—and if he talks the
matter over with his barber, his suspicions will be verified.
Then,
if he consults a musician friend, he will be informed that tuning-forks also
become tired, and lose their vibrating quality, until they are given a rest.
Then his machinist friend will tell him that machinery in factories must be
given a rest, occasionally, else it will begin to disintegrate and
"die." Machinery will go on a strike for a rest, if it is overworked.
Then
metals contract disease. Science informs us that zinc and tin have been
infected, and the infection has spread from sheet to sheet crumbling the metal
into powder—the spread of the infection resembling the spread of a plague among
animals or plant-life. Science has experimented with copper and iron, and has
found that these metals may be poisoned with chemicals, and will remain in a
weakened condition until antidotes are administered. Window-glass workers declare
that there is such a thing as "glass-disease," that will
ruin fine stained glass windows unless the infected panes are removed. The
"glass-disease" starts with one pane, and spreads gradually to the
entire window, and from there to other windows.
Metallurgists
have found that when metallic ores are put under certain forms of pressure,
they seem to lose strength, and become weak until the pressure is removed.
Do
these things mean anything to the "Man of the Street?"
Another
step in the consideration of Life in the Inorganic world, is the realization of
the fact that, after all, there is but the very finest line separating the
higher forms of Mineral "life," from the lower forms of vegetable
life, or the life of those "Things" which we may call either plants
or animals. The "Life-line" is being pushed further back every day,
by scientific investigation, and the "living" thing of today was the
"inanimate" thing of yesterday. We hear much talk in the newspapers
about some scientist, or another, "discovering life," or
"creating life," in some "inanimate substance." Bless your
hearts, you who are alarmed by these reports—no one can "create" life
in anything, for it already exists there. The "discovery" is simply
the realization of this fact.
Science,
by means of the microscope, has brought to light forms of "living
things," resembling in appearance the fine dust of inorganic minerals.
These low forms of life exhibit but the simplest vital processes, the same very
closely resembling chemical processes, although just a shade higher in the
scale. Living creatures have been found which could be dried and laid aside
like dust for several years, and then revived by being immersed in water, when
they would resume their vital process as if they had been awakened from a sleep.
Forms of life, called "Baccilli" have been discovered that can pass
through degrees of heat and cold that can be expressed only by vague symbols or
figures, the heat and cold being so intense that the unscientific mind cannot
imagine it.
In
appearance the "Diatoms" resemble the chemical crystals. These
"Diatoms" are minute one-celled living "Things," having a
hard but thin siliceous covering or shell, of extreme delicacy. They are what
are known as "microscopic" creatures—that is, visible only through the
microscope. Some of them are so small that it would take a thousand or more to
cover the head of a pin. But, remember this—the microscope reveals them as
"living creatures" performing vital functions. They are found in
the deep waters of the ocean. To the naked eye they appear like fine sand or
"dirt," but under the most powerful microscope, they are seen to
comprise many species and varieties, exhibiting many peculiar shapes and
forms—in fact, they have been called "living geometrical forms,"
their shapes and appearances almost exactly resembling those of the chemical
and mineral crystals.
Science
informs us that these and similar microscopic creatures, number thousands of
families or species,—and it is thought that the varieties of microscopic
creatures outnumber the varieties of creatures visible to the unaided sight.
And, remember, that there is probably a still greater world of
"sub-microscopic" creatures, that is a world invisible even when the
most powerful microscope is used. Who knows what wonders are to be found
there—what forms of creatures live, and move and have their being there.
In
passing by the subject of the resemblance between the outward forms of living
things and the crystals, it is interesting to note how the crystals of frost
and ice resemble the forms of leaves, branches, flowers, foliage, etc.—the pane
of glass covered with these frosty forms, resembles a garden. The disk of
saltpeter, under the effect of polarized light, very closely resembles the
form of the orchid.
Recent
scientific experiments have shown that certain metallic salts, when subjected
to a galvanic current, group themselves around one of the poles of the battery,
and assume a mushroom-like shape and appearance. At first, they seem to be
transparent, but gradually they assume color, the top becoming a bright red,
with the under-side showing a pale rose color, the stem being of a pale straw
color. The discoverers of these peculiar forms, called them by the German
equivalent for "inorganic mushrooms," but even this term seems
scarcely worthy of them, for they even show a trace of something like organs.
Under the microscope they are seen to have fine canals or vein-like channels
running through their stems, from top to base. And through these
"veins" the "thing" absorbed fresh material and actually
"grew" like low forms of fungus-life. Were these things merely
minerals or chemical-substances, or were they low forms of organic life? The
lines between the Inorganic and the Organic are being wiped out rapidly. The Supreme
Power that caused Life to Be, caused it to All, and did not
divide Its manifestations into Dead-Things and Live-Things, but breathed into
all the Breath of Life. And the more clearly we see the actual evidence of
this, the greater does that Supreme Power seem to us.
A
very low form of living creatures called the Monera, is held by Science to be
the one of the strands of the connecting link between the organic and inorganic
worlds. The Monera are the lowest and simplest form (at least so far known) of
organic life. They may be said to be "organic" creatures without
organs—being but little more than simple cells—tiny globules of plasm,
surrounded by a thin membrane—their sole vital function being the absorption of
nourishment through the pores of their covering (just as a piece of chalk would
absorb water) and the consequent conversion of the nourishment into material
for growth, the whole process resembling chemical action. The Monera reproduce
their kind simply by cleavage or separation of the substance of the mother cell
into two, and so on, being little more than the "growth" of crystals.
The Monera are everywhere recognized, without question, as "living
creatures," but they exhibit merely a trace more of life than do certain
forms of crystals.
The
difficulty in considering crystals as "living things" is partially
due to the outward form and substance, so different from the form and
substance of the higher "living things." But we have seen that the
Diatoms took on shapes of crystals, and that the outer shell or covering was
similar to silicia, a mineral, the inner substance being but a tiny speck of
plasm, similar to that of the substance of a plant cell. And then we may look
to the tiny bit of chalk dust which was once the skeleton-form of a living
creature. The same is true of coral. In the very low forms of life, the
skeleton, or form, is the thing most apparent, the plasm of "living
substance" being still smaller, and less apparent. And yet, the skeleton,
or shell, was formed by the vital processes of the creature, and was a part of
its "body," just as is the skeleton or bony structure of the higher
animals. And, in the same sense it is "living substance." And,
remember, that there is but little difference between these "bodies"
of the low forms of life, and the bodies of crystals. And the chemical
constituents of its plasmic inner body is but slightly different from that of
the crystals. And its nature and vital process are by a shade higher in the
scale than those of the crystals.
You
may ask why we have said so much of Crystals. The reason is just this—Science
has begun to think of Crystals as semi-living things, and its most advanced
investigators and thinkers go further and assert that "the Crystals
are alive—Crystallization is an evidence of life process."
Crystals
arrange themselves in well-known and well-defined shapes, direction and order
of formation being observed implicitly. Each crystal follows the laws and
habits of its kind, just as do plants and animals. Its lines of crystallization
are mathematically perfect, and according to the laws of its being. Not only
this, but some substances have a range of six or seven different forms of
crystal-forms possible to them. In some cases a chemical element assumes one
form of crystallization when it manifests as one mineral, and a second form
when it manifests in another form—in each case however, it manifests along
well-known and recognized courses of action, movement, and shapes.
Crystals
may be "killed" by a strong electrical discharge—that is, they are so
affected that they disintegrate, their atoms separating to form new
combinations, just as is the case with the "bodies" of higher forms
of life. Some scientists have gone so far as to claim that they had discovered
something akin to rudimentary sex-action in certain crystals, resembling the
sex-process of the lowest plant-life. But this has not, as yet, been
positively established, although it seems probable and reasonable. A
recent writer in one of the magazines has said, "Crystallization, as we are
to learn now, is not a mere mechanical grouping of dead atoms. It is a
birth." This may seem mere "scientific poetry" until the process
of crystallization is carefully studied, when it will be seen to give evidence,
not only of something like vital and mental action, but also something very
much like reproductive functioning of the lower forms of "life."
There
is an "assimilation" of material to build up the crystal in the first
place, just as an animal assimilates matter to build up its shell—or a tree to
form its bark. The "form" of the crystal is truly its
"body," and behind and in that body there is "something
at work" that is not the body, but which is forming it. And, later on,
that crystal increases in size, and then begins to separate into two, throwing
off a smaller crystal, identical in form with the parent crystal. This manner
of reproduction is almost identical with the process of reproduction in the
lower forms of "life," which consist merely of a like separation of
the parent form into two, and the throwing off of the offspring.
The
principal difference between the growth of crystals and of the Monera, is that
the Crystals grow by absorbing fresh matter and attaching it to their
outer surface, while the Monera grow by absorbing fresh material and growing outwardly,
from within. But this may be accounted for by the difference in the density of
their bodies, the Crystal being very solid, while the Monera is like a thin
jelly. If the Crystal had a soft interior, it could grow like the Monera or
Diatom, but then it would be a Diatom.
The
process of crystallization is accountable only by the theory that in the
crystal there exists something like life and Mentation. There is something more
than mere "mechanical motion," or blind chance at work here. Does not
the process of crystallization look like rudimentary purposive action? It may
be said that it is movement and action in accordance with some established
"Law of Nature"—granted, but is not that also true of the physical
processes and growth of higher forms of life? Is the forming of the
Crystal-form to be considered as a "mechanical effect," and the
forming of the "shell" of the Monera to be considered a "mental
and vital action?" If so, wherefore?
The
point is that Crystals act as if they are "alive," and capable of
assimilation, growth, and reproduction, in a manner and degree differing but
very slightly from corresponding functioning of the lower forms of
"life." Verily the Crystals are "alive"—and if alive they
must have at least a trace of "Mind." Does it not appear that they
exhibit something very like both? Quoting from a recent writer, let us notice
that: "Recent investigations in the new department of science, which has
been termed 'plasmology,' show in crystals phenomena which are absolutely analogous
to vital phenomena—so much so that photographs of certain forms produced in the
changes of crystals appear to be almost exact duplicates of those in the
various lower forms of microbes. The question has been raised as to whether the
microbe is no more alive than the crystal, or the latter equally endowed with
life as is the former."
And
now another step, in our search for Life. Remember, that the hardest rocks are
composed of crystals of certain kinds. And, if the higher crystals have Life,
then it is only fair to suppose that the lower and cruder forms are likewise
endowed, even if in a still lower degree. And if all crystals are endowed with
Life, then the most solid rocks, being composed of aggregations of crystals
must be masses of Inorganic Life—and consequently, of Inorganic Mind. A
Crystal, according to Webster, is "the regular form, bounded by plane
surfaces, which a substance tends to assume in solidifying, through the
inherent powers of cohesive attraction."
That
definition of Webster tells the whole story, and we see that a
"Crystal" is merely a "regular form" of a
"Substance," which the substance "tends to assume in
solidifying"—that is in re-assuming a solid form after being in a liquid
or melted state, and that is just what all the rocks of the earth did when they
emerged from the melted state in which they existed in the early days of the
world's history. And this "tendency" that caused them to solidify,
and assume certain crystal forms, and which must have existed potentially through
the melted state—what of that, what is this "tendency" or force. The
definition answers: "the inherent powers of cohesive attraction."
So,
here is "Cohesive Attraction," that we shall consider fully in
forthcoming chapters of this book. "Inherent," too, the definition
says. What is "Inherent?" Let us see, Webster defines
"Inherent" as "permanently existing." So this power of
Cohesive Attraction "permanently existed" in the Substance or else in
connection with it. Let us take another look at Cohesive Attraction.
Cohesive
Attraction is that form of Universal Attraction that causes the Molecules of a
body to draw together—that "invisible power of" the Molecule, by
which it draws another Molecule toward itself, and itself toward the other, the
manifestation of which power by several Molecules tends to draw each of them
together. (We shall learn of these particles of Substance called Molecules
before long.) It is a primal cause of Motion, this mutual Attraction, and
drawing-power. Now is it reasonable to suppose that this wonderful
"power" is a mere blind-force? Is it not more reasonable to think of
it as a form of vital-action—life-action? "Dead" things could not
manifest this force and action.
And
if this Cohesive Attraction is an evidence of Life, then all substance must
have Life manifesting through it. Not only the rocks, but the soil and earth
and dirt, for they are but crumbled rock.
And,
when we thus consider Substance, as being the "body" through which
Life is Manifesting, we must not lose sight of the Molecules and Atoms, in our
consideration of the Mass. A bit of rock; crystal; or dirt; is but an
aggregation of countless Molecules, grouped together in certain crystallized
shapes and forms, each having characteristics of its own. These Molecules
cling together, in accordance with their mutual Attractive powers.
And
each of these Molecules is composed of a number of Atoms, which cling together
in accordance with Chemical Affinity, or Chemism—but which is but another name
for Attraction, or Cohesion—and which form a little family, called a Molecule.
And these Atoms are composed of Corpuscles. We will waive the consideration of
the Corpuscle, for the moment, but even if we consider it, we only carry the
subject back a step farther. What we wish to say, could be said even if there
were ten further divisions of Substance—or a million, for that matter.
The
point we wish you to consider now, is that we must separate the Mass into its
constituents—its Molecules, Atoms, and even Corpuscles—in our search for the
Life in the Mineral and Chemical World. If there is Life in the Mass, there
must be life in the Molecule, Atom, or Corpuscle. Now, do we find it there?
Certainly, for the tiniest Atom manifests its Attractive Power, and not only
does it draw other atoms to itself by virtue thereof, but it even goes a step
further, and shows a "preference"—a degree of "liking" in
its mutual relations with other atoms.
We
shall see, in future chapters, that there is "desire,"
"love," "marriage," and "divorce" among the
chemical Atoms. We shall consider the flirtations, and love-affairs of certain
Atoms. We shall see how an Atom will leave another, and fly to a new charmer.
We shall have many evidences of the Atom's power to receive sensations,
and to respond to the same. Nothing "dead" about this, is there?
The Atom is "very much alive." The Attraction; Affinity; and Motions,
of the Atom, give a certain evidence of something "very much like
Life," as we see it in higher forms. In the Atom exists all the Life that
causes crystallization. And in the Atom lies that which causes Force and Motion
to manifest. Verily, the Atom lives and moves and has its being.
And,
so our journey is ended—we have traced Life to its last stages of
manifestations—and we have found it there, and at each step of the journey.
But, stop, we have not completed our journey—we have but begun it.
"Why," some of us may cry, "how can we go back of the Atom, or
Electron?" The answer is "INTO THE ETHER"!
Yes,
back of the Atom and the Corpuscle, is said by Science to lie that wonderful,
paradoxical Something they call The Universal Ether—that Something that Science
has considered the Womb of Matter and Force—Something that is different from
Anything ever known or dreamed of by Man,—that Something which Science has
labored so diligently to build up, and which it has used as an
"explanation" for so much phenomena, but regarding which, of very
recent date, there has begun to grow a distrust and a suspicion, owing to the
discovery of Radiant Matter, and things that followed in its train. But,
notwithstanding these shadowy suspicions, Science still asserts in belief in
the constancy and integrity of The Ether, and it behooves us to investigate
that wonderful region in which it dwells, in order to see whether Life and Mind
are also to be found there. We think that, in the words of the street, we shall
find that they are "very much there."
And, so in later chapters of this book, we shall consider the Etherial Region very fully. But before doing so, we had better give Substance and Motion, in all their forms, a careful consideration, for a correct understanding of them is vitally necessary for an intelligent conception of the ideas underlying the philosophy to be herein set forth.
Now,
pray do not leave this chapter with the belief that the writer has said that
the Particles of Inorganic Substance are endowed with Conscious reasoning
powers. Nothing of the kind has been said—nothing of the kind is meant. The
Life and Mind evidenced in the Particles are but the faintest glimmerings. There
is no sign of "consciousness" or "reasoning"—the Mind
exhibited is less than that of the plant, yes, less than even that of the cell
of the plant. The Life is evidenced by power to move, and the Mind is evidenced
by the ability to receive impressions and to respond to the same by evidencing
Force and movement.
There
is no evidence of "consciousness" or "understanding" in
these mental processes. Consciousness is not an essential attribute of Life or
Mind-action. In fact, but a small part of even the Mentation of Man is
performed in the field of consciousness. Nearly all of his bodily functions are
beneath the field of consciousness—one does not consciously regulate the
beating of his heart; the circulation of his blood; the digestion and
assimilation of his food; the tearing-down and building-up work of the cells;
the work of the organs, etc., etc. Yes, these processes are all mental
processes, and far from mere "mechanical movements," or chemical
processes, as some imagine. Let the spark of Life leave the body, and the
processes stop, although all the chemicals are still there, and the
"mechanical movements" might go on unhindered.
The
Particles of Substance have enough Life and Mind to enable them to move,
receive and respond to impressions, and to exert force in accordance with the
Law of Attraction—but there it stops. The Crystals show signs of something like
taking nourishment, but the real taking of food may be said to commence with
the Monera. Not until very high degrees of Life and Mind are attained, do "creatures"
begin to exhibit Consciousness, and that which is called
"Understanding" is still higher in the scale, and not until Man is
reached does the faculty of turning the mental searchlight inward manifest
itself. These matters are mentioned here merely to prevent misunderstanding and
misapprehension.
But
still, do not forget—the Particles of Substance receive impressions and respond
thereto—they act and exert Force and Energy—they manifest Life
and Mentation.
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