HPB-SB-10-246

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vol. 10, p. 246

H. P. Blavatsky Scrapbooks

from Adyar archives of the International Theosophical Society

vol. 10

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Emancipation From the Flesh

Dr. Wyld’s letter, in connection with the interesting question of the psychological influence of anæsthetics, is receiving the attention among Spiritualists that it deserves. As you say, if the spirit of man can be separated from the body by the judicious use of anæsthetics, a new and easy branch of experimental psychical investigation has been opened up. And, truly, Dr. Wyld has put it plainly enough when he says: “Whether by drowning, asphyxiating gases, mesmeric asphyxia, internal breathing, on the self-imposed asphyxia of the Hindu ascetics, or the entrancements of the ecstatic saints, the modus operandi is analogous and the result identical, namely, the temporary death of the body, and thus the temporary freedom of the soul.”

This is plain speaking, but I believe it to be, to all intents and purposes, a true position, a temporary actual absence of vitality in the body, with a quickening of the spirit.

That I have expressed analogous opinions in your pages will be shown by your kindly permitting me to quote from a communication of mine in The Spiritualist of July 14th, 1876. In that letter I say:

“Let us, for the sake of argument, assume the pre-existence of the soul, that in the case of each one of us, for instance, the same soul, formerly disincarnate, is still in existence, but is now trammelled by a body of flesh; then it must follow that anything which reduces the vitality of the flesh and checks its deadening and predominating effect and influence over the soul would, logically, leave the soul nearer to its previous state, that is, more free to act and make use of its spiritual functions, more fitted to enjoy the spiritual power of sight and hearing, &c., in its own spiritual way—in the way it formerly enjoyed them in its pre-existent state, before being tied to the flesh.

“If, then, we bear in mind that anything which dulls the bodily energy may, and probably will, quicken and give scope to the spiritual energy, notably sleep, disease, or the use of certain drugs, which latter are often taken to induce such a state—haschish, for instance, prepared from hemp by the Zulus and others, and opium by the Chinese—we must also see that the reason why visions are so common just before death is because the spirit is nearing a state similar to or identical with its preexistent state. The carnal state is now on the ebb, and the spiritual on the flow; the flesh is no longer subduing the spirit, the real self, that which is our true normal status; while the course of haschish and opium, so often producing visions that are disagreeable, not to say monstrous, may well be, because the low moral state which induces this indulgence, and which state is, for the most part, vastly increased by the indulgence in such narcotics, brings with it real ghostly experiences corresponding with the spiritual state of the victim to the degraded habit. The above remark is probably equally applicable to some of the effects of delirium tremens, &e.”

By the above it will be seen that, though I had not comprehended the full light of actual temporary death assumed by Dr. Wyld, yet that I was not very far off it, and that we are greatly indebted to Dr. Wyld for his discrimination, and the results of his careful experience.

Dr. Wyld points out this great difference between a man during sleep and a man in a trance or vision of the spirit. He says: “No one in mere sleep can submit to painful operations with a smile of joy upon his face.” Personally I was never subject to an anæsthetic but once. Nitrous oxide was the agent in the case of a rather formidable array of dental operations. I expected to have bad to take the gas two or three times, but it was all over at one sitting, which makes me think that I must have been absent rather long. Many visions have been vouchsafed me, but I know of none that gave me the exquisite delight of that anæsthetic, and never did I so regret the awakening as on that occasion; and I feel now, after Dr. Wyld’s powerful elucidation, the fruit of much experience on his part as a mesmeriser, that I was then really temporarily, to all intents and purposes, dead in the body but alive in the spirit.

So I think I have been shown, now, not only that I can and shall live without the body—a fact I never doubted—but also that I can and may, and probably shall, finally live in happiness. Yet I would not have any suppose that I take to myself any honours, or assume the least superiority over the least worthy of God’s creatures on account of this my pleasing experience of the body’s death, so to speak, for a short time, or on any other account. It was simply what almost all mediums feel when in a state of catalepsy; they, too, generally feel regret at awaking. It was simply getting rid for a short time of the pains and penalties of earth life: for much of our purgatory is, I think, undergone here—a throwing off, for a very short season, the clog of the body. And surely few have more reason to appreciate this than one who, like myself, has been for many years a bodily sufferer.

No. This was the experience of getting rid of a heavy millstone, for a few minutes, that one hopes at least to throw off for a longer time when we die; an emancipation which we trust may be participated in not only by men, but by suffering animals after death, and that the same pleasant relief may be felt by them also, after death, as I felt when, so to speak, I died.

The poor omnibus horse, for example, with his average life of two years—poor, suffering, uncomplaining beast, with his pull-up, whip, and go-on so constantly repeated for man’s benefit. Poor legs! poor mouth! poor back! poor shoulders! poor heart! “Let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung.” Are they? Then there are the caged birds which will live in our climate at liberty out of doors. After a severe accident, as I lay in bed reflecting on my sins, that which weighed most on my mind was having, in earlier days, kept wild birds in cages. Then there are the scavenger dogs of Eastern countries, that all men kick and no man feeds, useful as they are. Travellers tell us how cruelly they are treated, because, forsooth, they are “unclean;” and this by specimens of humanity who never wash themselves, but still are “clean” by their religion. Happily I believe in spiritual evolution, which affects beasts as well as men; and spiritual science may one day reveal the cause of so much misery, this groan-<... continues on page 10-247 >

Editor's notes

Sources

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  London Spiritualist, No. 387, January 23, 1880, pp. 40-1