Blavatsky H.P. - Electroscope and Astral Doubles: Difference between revisions

We are not told how many miles distant is Flemington from Melbourne; but were one in the moon and the other on earth, it would astonish us as little and would seem as natural as though Flemington were in the same street where the experiment is said to have taken place. Not being informed so far of the principles of electricity acted upon in this particular instance, we cannot compare the means {{Page aside|489}}adopted for the projection of the ''astral'' “hosts of active beings” on the disk of burnished metal, with those used by the adepts and high Chelas to project the reflections of themselves upon any given point of space. If one is purely electrical, the other is magneto-electrical; but we suppose that, perhaps, with the exception of the magnetic currents of the earth, the principles must be the same. If the invention, and its experiment are no fiction—and we do not see why they should be then science is, indeed, on the verge of a partial discovery of adept powers: we say, advisedly, “partial,” for, of course, physical science can never discover the part played in the adept’s self-projection by her psychological sister—{{Style S-Small capitals|will}}, even though she were inclined to verify the actuality of such powers. And yet having found out and admitted that space and even time could be annihilated by physical apparatuses, we really do not see the great difficulty of taking a step further and admitting at least the possibility of psychological potencies in man; potencies capable of replacing successfully physical forces and using these but as a basis of, and a complement for, objective manifestations. The most serious impediment in the way of such recognition is the complete ignorance of physical science of all the potentialities contained in the astral light or akasa She admits the existence of ether, hypothetical though it still remains for her, simply because were its actuality to be rejected, the theories of light, heat and so many other things would be nowhere, and that her most scientific expositions would be upset. Why not admit on the same principle the possibility of spectral apparitions, of the materializations of the spiritualists, of the ''double'' or the “doppelgängers” of living persons, etc., rather than encounter the tremendous difficulty of setting to naught the collective evidence of the ages, and that of 20 millions of modern spiritualists, all eyewitnesses to various phenomena who certify to their actuality. We would be glad to learn whether the spectral appearances upon the disk cast any shadows? This is a great point with the occultists, many of whom can testify that the astral bodies of living men—''do not''.