Kingsland W. - Theosophy and Psychical Research

407 The term “Psychical Research” is one which has come into general use within the last few years to denote the investigation of abnormal phenomena in connection with our faculties of perception, consciousness, and will. There is a sort of secondary meaning attached to the term which limits it to so-called “scientific” investigation. The term appears to have been put forward, at first with many apologies, but latterly with more boldness, to cover the tentative advances of modern investigators into the region of the super-physical or meta-physical, a region which materialistic science – still much in vogue, but evidently breaking down before a mass of accumulating evidence – had postulated as non-existent. It is a curious failing of modern science, which arrogates to itself the last word and the most comprehensive theory of the universe, that where it treads in the footsteps of former investigators and is compelled to admit their facts and recognise their theories, it coins a new term and then quietly appropriates the theory under this term, and puts it forward as if it had never been heard of before. Witness in this respect the conversion of “Mesmerism” into “Hypnotism”, the coining of such a term as “Telepathy” to cover the phenomena of the “interaction of mind upon mind otherwise than through the recognised channels of sense”, and the use of the general term “Psychical Research” to cover a cautious admission of the possibility of abnormal phenomena, which until quite recently were regarded as the creations of a morbid and superstitious credulity. “Psychical Research” must in no way be confounded with “Occultism”, or with “Occult Science”.

The region in which “Psychical Research” is now groping its way has been a familiar one to students of Occult Science in all ages, and the tentative theories now advanced under new names may be found in the teachings of sages, philosophers and occultists as far back as literary 408 records can go. Rapid as has been the advance during the present century, it has been merely a recovery of lost ground, and to-day we are distinctly and essentially behind the best that was taught centuries and ages ago. This is proved by the fact that much that is now advanced in fact or in theory by modern investigators and thinkers is but a revindication of ancient doctrines.

What we are concerned with now is to show how “Psychical Research” is on the road to vindicate the teachings of modern Theosophy, which is itself but a re-presentation of ancient and almost forgotten truths; which claims to be no new doctrine, but truly and essentially the “ancient Wisdom Religion”.

In 1882 a Society was organised for the purpose of a systematic and “scientific” investigation of certain abnormal phenomena, the title of the Society being “The Society for Psychical Research”. Now it is well known that at an early stage of its history, in 1885, this Society came into conflict with the Theosophical Society through an adverse report which it issued respecting the phenomena which Madame Blavatsky performed in the presence of so many credible witnesses. That report was considered at the time, by the Psychical Researchers, to be so damaging that it would prove the death blow of Theosophy and the Theosophical Society. How far this has been from the actual event is now a matter of history. The Society lost very few adherents through that report, it rather seemed to gain in strength thereby, and to-day the teachings of Theosophy are widely known and accepted among all classes of the community.

Meanwhile the subject of Psychical Research has been attracting more and more attention, and many phenomena have come to be recognised as genuine, and have been invested with a certain amount of scientific value, which previously were ridiculed by our scientific investigators as belonging altogether to the region of “superstition”. There is still a vast amount of prejudice to be broken down in this direction, but the outspoken words of Professor Oliver J. Lodge at the recent meeting of the British Association are significant of the direction in which our scientists are likely to travel.

In 1886 three prominent members of the Society for Psychical Research published a bulky work in two volumes entitled “Phantasms of the Living”, in which are recorded a large number of authenticated instances of thought transference or “Telepathy”, and of the “projection of the double”, or “Astral Body”. In addition to this the Proceedings of the Society contain many authenticated instances of clairvoyance, of apparitions of the dead, and of mesmeric or hypnotic and other experiments.

We have now before us another goodly record of abnormal phenomena, collected and published by Mr. W. T. Stead in the Christmas number of the Review of Reviews. Mr. Stead quotes somewhat largely from the works above mentioned, but in addition to this he has collected a great number of cases which have not hitherto been published, and he has arranged and 409 classified the phenomena under various distinct groups, and invested the whole subject with a considerable amount of literary and scientific value.

All this points to something more than a mere passing interest in “occult” phenomena. There are many people who will run after the marvellous in any shape or form, with an unhealthy and morbid appetite for the “supernatural” and sensational. But the present movement is something more than this. It points to a genuine advance of human knowledge into regions which have hitherto been supposed by the majority to be inaccessible; it points to a breaking down of the arbitrary line which a superstitious religion has drawn between the natural and the super-natural; it points to a vaster and nobler conception of man’s nature and latent powers, and a deeper knowledge of his relation to the universe; it points to a speedy vindication of many of the teachings of Theosophy.

Now whatever may be the future history of the Theosophical Society as such, or of Theosophy as a distinct system of teaching, there can be no question as to the influence and predominance of the leading principles of Theosophy in the immediate future. On every hand we are making our influence felt. It does not matter that our doctrines are quietly appropriated without acknowledgment. Whether Theosophists do or do not obtain the credit due to them for impressing these doctrines upon the present century is a matter of little moment. The main thing is that humanity should recognise and act up to the nobler ideal, the fuller knowledge, which is presented to them.

But while Theosophists may, and should personally, be careless as to where the credit falls, so long as humanity benefits, there is a very natural desire to justify their teachings and their Teacher in all cases where these are attacked and discredited.

We owe our knowledge of the Ancient Wisdom Religion to Madame Blavatsky. Though we are now able to recognise its teachings in exoteric records which have long been before the world, the Key was given to us by her, and those who had the privilege of studying under her personal direction, or who have entered deeply into the teachings of the Secret Doctrine, have found the key to be one of inestimable value; one that has unlocked for them the secrets of life and death which they had hitherto perhaps despaired of penetrating.

Shall we not justify our Teacher? Many who will not openly associate themselves with the Theosophical Society are quietly adopting our teachings, and even putting them forward as their own inspirations. Whether it be in the province of science, of philosophy, or of religion, we find that the latest word is confirmatory of Theosophy, if not explicitly Theosophical. Our teachings, while ridiculed under their direct and proper appellation, are put forward in another guise.

It is somewhat amusing, for instance, to find the following in the pages of “Phantasms of the Living”, vol. I., page 231: –

“The more these little- 410 known paths of psychology are explored, the more difficult will it appear to round off the idea of personality, or to measure human existence by the limits of the phenomenal self. Now the very nature of this difficulty cannot but suggest a deeper sclution than the mere connection of various streams of psychic life with a single organism. It suggests the hypothesis that a single individuality may have its psychical being, so to speak, on different planes; that the stray fragments of ‘unconscious intelligence’, and the alternating selves of ‘double consciousness’ belong really to a more fundamental unity, which finds in what we call life very imperfect conditions of manifestation; and that the self which ordinary men habitually regard as their proper individuality, may after all be only a partial emergence. And this hypothesis would readily embrace and explain the special telepathic fact in question, while itself drawing from that fact a fresh support. By its aid we can at once picture to ourselves how it should be that the near approach of death is a condition exceptionally favourable for telepathic action, even though vital faculties seem all withdrawn, and the familiar self has lapsed to the very threshold of consciousness. For to the hidden and completer self the imminence of the great change may be apparent in its full and unique impressiveness; nay, death itself may be recognised, for aught we can tell, not as a cessation but as a liberation of energy.”

We recognise Theosophy in every line of this; it is the very essence of our concept of man as a complex being existing on several planes of consciousness; and not only does Theosophy teach this, but gives very definite instruction as to the number and relations of the various planes. As Theosophical teaching this would be of course rejected by the authors of “Phantasms of the Living”, who regard Theosophy as “merely a réchauffé of ancient philosophies, decked in novel language, and supported by ingenious fraud” (II. xlvii.); yet it is now put forward by them as a newly suggested hypothesis, the result of their own limited observations. Not only is there thus a direct confirmation of the teachings of Theosophy in this work, but even much to confirm the possibility of the very phenomena which the authors have condemned as “ingenious fraud”.

Let us examine a further quotation, vol. I, page li.:

“I claim at least that any presumption which science had established against the possibility of spiritual communion is now rebutted; and that inasmuch as it can no longer be affirmed that our minds are closed to all influences save such as reach them through the sensory avenues, the Materialist must admit that it is no longer an unsupported dream but a serious scientific possibility, that, if any intelligences do in fact exist other than those of living men, influences from those intelligences may be conveyed to our mind, and may remain either below the threshold of consciousness, or rise into definite consciousness, according as the presence or absence of competing stimuli, or other causes as yet unknown to us, may determine”.

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411 Here we have opened out the whole field of mediumship as a “serious scientific possibility”; and if we take in conjunction with this the theory which is really the basis of the whole work, that a telepathic impulse from one person to another may result in an apparently external objective form, we have a “serious scientific possibility” in connection with many of the phenomena which were pronounced to be “frauds” in the S.P.R. report.

We shall endeavour now to show more in detail how the teachings of Theosophy are supported by the latest contribution to the subject of Psychical Research, in the collection of “Real Ghost Stories” already referred to as the Christmas number of the Review of Reviews. This work forms a cheap and handy book within the reach of all, and is therefore a very convenient one as illustrating the subject. It must be understood, however, that this work is taken for reference solely on this account, and that the specific instances taken from it in illustration of any point are not quoted as absolute proof of the teachings put forward, but merely as an illustration of the evidence which is now being educed. The teachings of Theosophy are definite enough; whether they are as yet sufficiently confirmed by the evidence now collected is a matter for individual judgment.

The subject divides itself naturally into two parts, first the classification of phenomena, and secondly the theory or doctrine which the phenomena tend to confirm.

499 We may arrange the various phenomena described in the Christmas number of the Review of Reviews under two main divisions: (I.) Clairvoyance – or the possibility of seeing in an objective form scenes or events which are not physically present. (II.) The existence of an “ethereal double”, “astral body”, or “thought body”, which can be separated from the physical body, and act independently of it in various ways.

Under these two heads we may classify the phenomena as follows: –

I. Clairvoyance.

(a) The possibility of seeing scenes or events of the past.
Example: – “A clairvoyant vision of a murder,” page 40.

(b) The possibility of seeing scenes or events of the present.
Example: – “Seen and heard at 150 miles range,” page 36.

(c) The possibility of seeing scenes or events of the future.
Example: – “I know it will come true,” page 46.

It must be noted in connection with these phenomena that they are sometimes coincident with the faculty of clairaudience, or of hearing words spoken at a distance. The example given above, “Seen and heard at 150 miles range,” is a good illustration of this.

II. The Astral Body, or Double.

(a) The separation of the double from the physical body may take place either consciously or unconsciously, that is to say, the 500 individual may either remember the experiences of the double while separated, or may have no recollection whatever.

Examples: – “Thought visits seen and remembered,” page 28, are illustrations of the conscious projection of the double. “A Manchester parallel,” page 32, is a good example of unconscious projection.

(b) During the separation of the double the physical body is usually unconscious (in sleep or trance), but in some instances the individual has seen his or her own double, and has even had a double consciousness, in the physical and in the astral body at the same time.

Examples: – The case of Mrs. Wedgwood in “Three other Aërial Wanderers,” page 27, is a good example of this double consciousness.

(c) The double may be objectively visible at a distant place to one or more people at the same time.

Example: – The case already quoted, “A Manchester parallel,” page 32, is a good instance in which the double was seen by three people at the same time.

(d) The double can speak and hold converse with a person.

Example: – “A dying double demands its portraits,” page 53, is a most striking example of the way in which a double can appear and act in every way as if it were a real physical personality.

(e) The double is not subject to conditions of time and space, such as pertain to our physical consciousness.

Note. – In most cases the transfer of the double to distant places takes place with the rapidity of thought.

(f) The double survives the death of the physical body, and may become objectively visible to, and hold converse with, persons in their normal state of waking consciousness.

Note. – This last division covers a very wide field, which would in its turn require several subdivisions. The question as to how far the existence of the astral body after death will account for every apparition of dead persons need not be discussed here; it is sufficient to give a typical case to which this explanation applies. Such a case is the one given on page 88, “A Ghost interested in the St. Leger”.

It may be noticed in the above classification of phenomena that there is no mention of the double having been touched. The reason for this is that there is no particular evidence in this respect in the record we are now considering. In two instances it is mentioned that the double had been shaken hands with; one of these cases being that just referred to on page 88, and another is given on page 31, “Aimless Doubles”. In each of these cases, however, doubt might be thrown on the question, and the sense of 501 touch is not an essential part of the phenomena, although in the case of the “Ghost interested in the St. Leger” the evidence appears to be very explicit on account of the loss of the right arm.

It will be observed that these phenomena, in the way in which they are here classified under the double heading of Clairvoyance and the existence of an Ethereal Double, stand naturally for explanation by means of the two Theosophical doctrines of the “Astral Light” and the “Astral Body”. Speaking of clairvoyance Mr. Stead says: –

“The fact seems to be that there is a kind of invisible camera obscura in nature, which at odd times gives us glimpses of things happening or existing far beyond the range of our ordinary vision” (page 36).

Further on, in connection with the incident of the loss of the “Strathmore”, on page 37, he says: –

“Taken in connection with other instances of a similar nature, what can be said of it excepting that it almost necessitates the supposition of the existence of the invisible camera obscura which the Theosophists describe as the astral light?”

No doubt when the necessity of postulating some such medium is at last forced upon our scientists, they will invent some new term for it, and palm it off as their own discovery; but meanwhile, to students of Occult Science, the Astral Light is a term which covers a large amount of phenomena, and possesses a deep significance; and which is indeed – even if considered as a hypothesis – as much a reality and a necessity as the ether of physics in connection with the undulatory theory of light.

The Astral Light has many aspects. It is one of the deepest mysteries and greatest potency of “Magic”. Much has been written about it by students of Occult Science in all ages, yet there is little real information as to its nature and functions; for since its use for a wrong motive is the most powerful adjunct of “Black Magic”, our teachers are very reticent about it, and much that is given out is more calculated to mislead than to instruct. It is sufficient to say in connection with our present subject that the Astral Light is an aspect of Âkâsha, or primordial substance – its inverted image so to speak. It corresponds to the Archæus, or formative power of nature, and also to Anima Mundi. It is defined by Hartmann (Paracelsus, 30), as follows: –

“A universal and living ethereal element, it is at the same time an element and a power, containing the character of all things. It is the storehouse of memory of the great world (macrocosm), whose contents may become re-embodied and reincarnated in objective forms; it is the storehouse of memory of the little world, the microcosm of man, from which he may recollect past events. It exists uniformly throughout the inter-planetary spaces, yet it is more dense and more active around certain objects on account of their molecular activity, especially around the brain and spinal cord of human beings, which are surrounded by it as by an aura of light. It is this aura around the nerve-cells and nerve-tubes by which a man is enabled to catch impressions made upon the astral aura of the cosmos, and thereby to ‘read in the Astral Light’. It forms the medium for the 502transmission of thought, and without such a medium no thought could be transferred to a distance. It may be seen by a clairvoyant, and as each person has an astral aura of his own, a person’s character may be read in his Astral Light by those who are able to see it. Every living nerve has its astral aura, every mineral, every plant or animal, and everything of life, and the glorified body of the spirit is made to shine by its light.”

This will be seen to cover all that need be said about the Astral Light in connection with the phenomena of Clairvoyance which we are now considering. What is required in addition to this medium, wherein are to be found the images of events past, present, and future, is the faculty to cognise them. The photographic plate, whereon is registered the likeness of a dead friend, is of no use to a blind man; and so to the average human being at the present stage of his evolution, the pictures and images of the Astral Light are non-existent, simply because he has not the faculty to perceive them. Yet the possession of this faculty by a few individuals points to the possibility of all possessing it at some distant date, when the course of evolution will have carried the race forward to a point where the humanity of to-day will appear no better by comparison than the anthropoids appear to our present enlightened age. Is it not eminently absurd for our physicians to treat as a disease those abnormal cases which point to the line of evolution, which show what are the possibilities in the growth of our faculties, which open up a vista of human progress and development which will make man, in comparison with what he now is, a god?

It is very difficult to say what it is, in individual cases, that gives the faculty of clairvoyance. The investigations of the Society for Psychical Research, so far as they have gone, show that one person in every nine possesses this faculty in some degree, or at least that they see or hear what is not explicable by any known laws, so that it is much more general than is usually supposed. Many persons are almost continuously clairvoyant, others have had a few occasions, or perhaps only one on which they have become possessed of this faculty. The faculty again may be induced by mesmerism, and often occurs in the state of consciousness which we call sleep. All this goes to show that the power is dormant or latent, rather than undeveloped. It exists in that sub-consciousness, in those inner depths of our nature, of which our ordinary waking consciousness is but a very partial and limited expression. It is just here that we touch the fundamental and essential concept of Theosophy as to man’s nature, and we shall now see how singularly our teachings are confirmed by the latest words that psychical research has to say on this subject. The fundamental concept of Theosophy is that of the unity of the universe as consciousness; that is to say, that the universe is embodied consciousness, or that it is a fundamental unit of consciousness manifesting in an infinite diversity of external forms, Thus our mere personal or individual consciousness, that 503 which we call “ourself”, is an illusion produced by the limitations of those physical faculties through which this consciousness is for the time being acting or functioning. Our personal consciousness, that which manifests through our physical body during our waking state, is only a surface consciousness, limited and conditioned by the plane on which it is acting. Behind it lies a deeper consciousness, and behind that a still deeper one, this consciousness becoming at each remove more extended or universal, until at last it becomes merged in the All, that Ever-Present, Eternal, “Rootless Root”, from which all proceeds, and in which and through which we live and move and have our being.

This conception gives rise naturally to the idea of planes or degrees of consciousness. We do not jump at once from our personal surface consciousness to the universal consciousness, there are many intermediate grades, each exhibiting its own special characteristics. The classification which Theosophy adopts of seven macrocosmic planes, corresponding to the seven “principles” of man, rests upon this basis; and whatever may be said for or against the use of the number seven, it is at all events a scientific necessity that some numerical classification should be adopted.

In connection with the subject of psychical research we do not need to go further back than the plane which lies immediately beyond the physical, that with which we are already familiar as the astral plane. Before considering, however, the relation of our consciousness to this plane, and its bearing upon the phenomena we are discussing, we may quote some remarkable words by M. Fouillée. He gives the following as the latest word of the French psychologists.

“Contemporary psychology deprives us of the illusion of a definitely limited, impenetrable, and absolutely antonomous I. The conception of individual consciousness must be an idea rather than a substance. Though separate in the universe, we are not separate from the universe. Continuity and reciprocity of action exist everywhere. This is the great law, and the great mystery. There is no such thing as an isolated and veritable monad being, any more than there is such a thing as an invisible point, except in the abstractions of geometry.”

The close correspondence between these words and the Theosophical doctrine is most remarkable, and thus in due time will our teachings be vindicated by contemporary psychology.

W. Kingsland, F.T.S.

(To be continued.)

Footnotes