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 spiritualism of Nature 
 
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 THE FORMULA AND FACT OF THE INVISIBLE 
 
 CO-RELATIONS OF NATURE'S ELEMENTS, 
 
 ENERGIES, AND FORCES, DISCOVER 
 
 AND DEMONSTRATE LIFE AND 
 
 INTELLIGENCE BEYOND 
 
 THE GRAVE. 
 
 *P4 
 
 BY 
 
 PROE W. M. LOCKWOOD, 
 
 OF CHICAGO, ILL. 
 
j$ 
 
 51573 
 
 Copyright, 1899, 
 By W. M. Lockwood. 
 
SECOND ou» J <t two copies received, 
 
 Library of c 
 Off J 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Much valuable time has been wasted in the speculations 
 of mankind upon the origin of nature and cosmic processes. 
 Time, which if spent in an effort to honor humanity by ex- 
 tending the boundary of human knowledge, and discovering 
 the value of intellectual development, and in the application 
 of this unfoldment to the existing affairs of this life, would, 
 centuries ago, have made fraternal and co-operative the 
 commercial, political and philosophical interests of mankind, 
 and the moral well-being of the units of civilization a reali- 
 zation of the greatest importance. History records that in 
 all ages since the introduction of the priest and priestcraft 
 into the political, social and economic affairs of life, that 
 the temporary welfare and progressive interests of the human 
 have been made subservient to the platitudes of this hier- 
 archy, by the promotion of the welfare and worship of the 
 gods, unknown and unknowable. * So widely has this pag- 
 anism prevailed, that writers, to become popular, and those 
 claiming to be instructors in the public arena, have sought 
 first to placate public opinion, by assenting to these mythical 
 ideals of a primitive age, that their thought, however worthy 
 or unworthy a place on the page of progress, would at least 
 have recognition and approval of the time-serving priest and 
 God worshipers of the age. - 'Everything for the glory of the 
 gods," has been inscribed upon the banners of religious 
 thought in India and Egypt, chanted by priest and friar in 
 Persia and Greece, and sung by creeds of all nations, while 
 dissenting man has been sacrificed in ignominy and shame 
 to these ideals, and the wheels of a progressive civilization 
 held in the ruts of pagan barbarisms. 
 
4 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 THE FIRST GREAT CAUSE. 
 
 What a sentiment of impossibility to apply to infinitude? 
 What an inconsistent and unqualified vagary to attach to 
 the origin of space and time considered as limitless duration 
 and extension? What incoherency of thought, what unbal- 
 anced mentality discourses the origin of the infinite? No 
 cogent reasoner can think of a time when space considered 
 as infinite extension, did not exist. It is beyond the limita- 
 tions of the human intellect to think of a period when dura- 
 tion as a succession of periods, did not obtain. 
 
 The logical mind cannot think of an entity that is not 
 bounded by space and time; or of an intelligence however 
 powerful, that is not subject to these cosmic factors. If 
 any of the deities of the past ever had an existence apart 
 from human imagination, it must have existed in time and 
 space, hence could not have created them. The intellect 
 cannot conceive of empty space in the progressions of time, 
 or of an infinite boundless void. A realm of endless noth- 
 ingness, with points of nothing is a thought transcending 
 even the speculative imagery of the modern metaphysician. 
 
 THE PROVINCE OF SCIENCE. 
 
 It is the province of science to trace the unknown through 
 the aid and analogy of the known; hence to affirm that 
 something was made or created from nothing, is contrary to 
 known facts and unthinkable. To affirm that a god 
 created time and space and the elements of cosmic pro- 
 cess from nothing, being himself bounded by these factors, 
 is an expression of inconsistent zeal. The postulate of 
 science that the elements of nature have eternally existed, 
 with infinite duration and extension, is the accepted ideal 
 of the scientist who is unbiased by religious schisms, and it 
 is the written premise of nearly every text-book in natural 
 physics throughout the civilized world. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 NATURE SELF-EXISTENT. 
 
 This is taught, and has been taught as the premise of 
 Brahmic theism* and theosophy, since the inception of the 
 vedic Aryan race. The ancient Brahmin taught that nature 
 is the " grand cause," not the first cause, but the only cause 
 of all existencies. It is spoken of as * ' that which is invis- 
 ible (as a principle) is unsizable, without origin, all-prevad- 
 ing, self-existent, without color, eye or ear, eternal mani- 
 fest in all visible creation, and the cause of all created things 
 and beings." This ideal is voiced also in the traditions and 
 mythologies of pre-historic Egypt, and chanted in the songs 
 to Osiris. It is the premise of the known and knowable, 
 the basis of science and the source from which natural phil- 
 osophy has obtained its truths. Hence we affirm that the 
 aphorism that something can be evolved or created from 
 nothing, is not only at variance with the observed facts and 
 data of all known cosmic processes, but is antipodal to for- 
 mulas of reasoning and is opposed to the rational thought 
 of past ages. 
 
 In tracing the order of the unknown in nature, science 
 employs analogy, logical inference, and the deductive and 
 inductive methods of reasoning. But analogies so applied, 
 must contain three or more points of parallel coincidence, 
 the logical inference must be in keeping with syllogistic for- 
 mula, and every deduction must contain one or more induc- 
 tive demonstrative facts. 
 
 Thus in tracing the invisible attributes of nature we note 
 in the evolution of water, that although the gases oxygen 
 and hydrogen are invisible, yet they are co-related, since 
 their union by the aid of the electrical spark, promotes the 
 phenomenon of visibility; hence, we deduce that the realm 
 or plane of their co-relation is in a chemical spectrum, or 
 dimension of space beyond human vision; and inductive ex- 
 *Brahma (neuter) means the principles of nature. 
 
6 . INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 periment demonstrates the fact. Now we note in this evolu- 
 tion of water that something is evolved from somethings, 
 which science has named oxygen and hydrogen, and classi- 
 fies them as elemental substances. However few or many 
 may be these substances, we are obliged to consider that 
 only a very small realm of infinitude has as yet contributed 
 its data of elements, and extended discoveries may add to, 
 rather than diminish the variety of these substances found 
 in nature's laboratory of infinite art. Discoveries of the 
 modern spectroscope invite the attention of the student to 
 the fact that the variety of color motion seen in spectrum 
 analysis, as is witnessed in chlorine or other element of 
 nature, is suggestive of the possibility that these elements 
 and substances contain within themselves diverging molec- 
 ular states, since each color or spectra must be the result 
 of some special attribute locked up in the molecular struct- 
 ure of each elemental factor. 
 
 If in the progressions of physical science, this thought 
 should be sustained, it will greatly multiply the substances, 
 energies, forces and modes of motion entering into, and pro- 
 moting the vast and diversified forms and phenomena of 
 infinitude. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing evidence of the automatic 
 character and factors of time and space, we must add math- 
 ematics, as a system of deductive art ; since its data enter into, 
 and equation all cosmic processes. That these principles of 
 numerical notation could be created, that there was a time 
 when they did not exist in the eternal order of things, is a 
 concept beyond the lucid imagination of man. Twice two 
 are four, applied to physical things, and this simple equa- 
 tion, like all equations of the physical world, exists as a 
 principle, eternal in itself. Now we shall affirm that if 
 these data of the known be true, or if any one of them be 
 true, that a creative power or overruling intelligence con- 
 sidered as a first cause, is an impossible and untenable 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 7 
 
 concept. If God considered as an entity of intelligence or 
 power could not and did not make the space he exists in, 
 if he could not and does not evoke the duration we call and 
 measure as time, if the equations of mathematics are self- 
 existent, if the factors called elemental substances be the 
 result of continuous action and reaction taking place in the 
 laboratory of infinitude and have eternally existed, if one 
 or all of these are self-existent, the gods of human con- 
 ception and adoration possess none of the omnipotence or 
 intelligence ascribed to them by the children of men; and 
 we shall be obliged to look more deeply into nature's store- 
 house for the spiritual sublimity and divinity manifest in 
 cosmic evolution. 
 
 But before we enter into this research let us establish 
 postulates by which truth may be verified, and formulas of 
 reasoning, by which the inductions of philosophy are known. 
 
 THE HUMAN INTELLECT. 
 
 A thorough analytical comprehension of the mental func- 
 tions qualifying human intelligence will be necessary here 
 in order that we may determine cogency and logical con- 
 sistency of thought, from the vagaries and incoherent spec- 
 ulations existing on the mental page of time. Since the 
 era that gave us the thought of Reid and Kant, Berkeley 
 and Bacon, since the writings of Samuel Bailey %i On the 
 Human Understanding," since the expressed thought of 
 Descartes, Spinoza and Sir William Hamilton, there have 
 been discoveries in mental cerebral physiology that modify 
 the data and conclusions of these able thinkers and writers 
 upon the formulas of human knowledge. 
 
 Briefly expressed, these discoveries lead up to the fact 
 that man's conscious ego or consciousness (sometimes called 
 the soul principle), is the real entity that receives impres- 
 sions from without through those avenues or electrodes of 
 sensation called the five senses, and that the formula of 
 
8 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 these sensations are best comprehended by the term ' 'modes 
 of motion," by which is meant that different molecular im- 
 pressions made upon the centers or electrodes of vision (the 
 eye) evoke the variety of sensation the human has in seeing. 
 The different sounds one hears are the result of varying modes 
 of motion impacted upon the auditory tract. Each avenue 
 of sensation has its especial centers or electrodes, connect- 
 ing the conscious principle of man through these avenues to 
 his environment. As these electrical avenues vary in char- 
 acter and quality of function on account of purely structural 
 conditions, it will follow that an ever-varying series of sen- 
 sation sequence human existence. Furthermore, it is dis- 
 covered that man has no conscious sensation until his con- 
 scious ego has been impressed; and these impressions may 
 be reflected from his surroundings or external environment; 
 they may be the act of volition, or evoked by the co-rela- 
 tions of ganglionic character belonging to his vascular system. 
 
 CONSCIOUS VOLITION, THE REAL WORKER IN 
 THE CITADEL OF THE HUMAN BRAIN. 
 
 Human volition is seen to be a servient attribute of con- 
 sciousness, having the power to evoke into action in the 
 normal brain the centers connecting to the motory system, 
 to call up memory, and reflect, to employ comparison, to 
 mentally weigh, to discriminate, balance and decide. This 
 conscious ego of man, or soul principle, is the real thinker, 
 and the avenues for the promotion of sensation evoking 
 feeling, sentiment and emotion are bio-plasmatic structures 
 in which his real ego is evolved as a formative principle, and 
 to which it is structurally co-related as an invisible mag- 
 netic entity and force. Hence it will occur to the close 
 student in comparative anatomy and physiology, that with 
 diverging structures obtaining in these ganglionic tracts of 
 the human race, there must be a great variety of sensations 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 9 
 
 and thought, of emotion and mental impressions, qualifying 
 human environment. 
 
 With all these diverse impressions, thoughts and opin- 
 ions the result of diverse structure, how shall we determine 
 from the multiplicity of human experiences, what is truth 
 and what is error. First let us inquire how we may know 
 truth when found, and, having some infallible method to 
 discern it, we will know its antithesis by the absence of 
 some or all of the facts and data, determining the premise 
 upon which truth rests. 
 
 POSTULATE OF TRUTH. 
 
 With this idea in view, then, we postulate that When- 
 ever an order of thought, written or orally expressed, agrees 
 with the unerring formulas of nature in the analysis of its 
 phenomena or the demonstration of a principle, civiliza- 
 tion claims the discovery of truth; because there is no 
 variation in its hypothesis and in its methods of intelligent 
 analysis, or the sequences of eternal verification. 
 
 SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 The pursuit of truth in its application to human advance- 
 ment, has necessitated an orderly classification of known 
 data, and this has given rise to the terms "science" and 
 "philosophy," which imply not only an intelligent arrange- 
 ment of ideas, but the specification and proof of the ideas 
 upon which science depends, in order that philosophy may 
 sequence the completeness of rational and analytical thought. 
 
 Philosophy in ancient time was a mixture of speculation, 
 of practice and sentiment; but in modern times the pursuit 
 of truth has taken a well-defined method separating the 
 speculative from the established forms, and it employs to this 
 end science ; and our modern civilization regards both 
 science and philosophy as " reasoned truth." If, then, 
 
IO INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 science and philosophy be u reasoned truth," we shall affirm 
 that all systems of thought that are not in accord with this 
 premise, are speculative and untenable. Hence it will fol- 
 low that all philosophy and truth must have their basis in 
 the eternal principles of nature, and coincide with its facts, 
 or be rejected as unproven and dogmatic assumptions. 
 
 Before we can determine whether Modern Spiritualism 
 can rest securely upon this natural basis of science and 
 philosophy as "reasoned truth," let us inquire what the 
 term means, and to what it applies. We will make this 
 inquiry the subject matter of our next chapter. 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM, -SPIRITUALISM/ 
 
 The records of history indicate that the term -Spirit- 
 ualism " is of very ancient origin, and had its inception in 
 speculations upon the character of the human mind con- 
 sidered as a separate entity from that of the physical organ- 
 ism, and representing the conscious, thinking and intellect- 
 ual part of man. If we set aside the traditional and 
 mythological views representing the thought of prehistoric 
 Egypt and Greece regarding the character of mind, we shall 
 find the concept of Spiritualism as an ideal, outlined in the 
 metaphysical speculations of the - Ionian school of philos- 
 ophy, " and represented by Anaxagoras, who was born five 
 hundred years before the commencement of the Christian 
 era. Anaxagoras, affirmed "that all bodies are simply 
 aggregations of atoms, and that a bar of gold or iron or 
 copper was composed of inconceivably minute particles of 
 the same material; but he did not allow that objects had 
 taken their shape through accident or blind fate, but through 
 the agency of a shaping spirit," or -Nous," which he 
 described as ' ' infinite, self -potent and unmixed with any- 
 thing else." - Nous," he again says, -is the most pure 
 and subtle of all things and has all knowledge about all 
 things, and infinite power." 
 
 This system of thought makes matter or atoms qualita- 
 tive; and it was opposed by Democritus, who, although 
 holding to the atomic theory, affirmed -that all atoms were 
 eternally possessed of a primary motion, and that the vary- 
 ing or quantitative relation of these promote the basis or 
 
 ground work of nature." 
 
 ii 
 
12 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 Thus there originated diversity of thought and opinion 
 regarding the character of matter as well as of the mind, 
 which, under the gorgeous, but untenable imagination of 
 Plato's mentality gave birth and direction to a distinct 
 school of speculative philosophy, voiced in his Theaetetus 
 and Sophistes, in which he makes mind and idealism the 
 dominant factors of the universe as well as of knowledge. 
 This formula of speculative philosophy, in a measure, was 
 held in check by the dignified but logical method or induc- 
 tion established by Socrates, whose system of reasoning a 
 little later on, was supported by the precise and analytical 
 system of Aristotle. The Platonic school, viewing nature 
 from the realm of mind, received the name of Idealism; 
 while the system of thought originating with Socrates and 
 Aristotle, viewing nature from the without, from the plane of 
 the supposed real — the objective, became known under the 
 term realism. We have not time in this article to trace the 
 progress of these respective systems of thought, but the ad- 
 vocates of Plato's school of Idealism, long before the advent 
 of Christianity, gave it the name of " spiritual" because it 
 represented the realm of mind, and the same school partly in 
 derision, and partly from the assumed position of its oppon- 
 ents, classified the inductions of Socrates and the philosophy 
 of Aristotle, as crude and materialistic. Christianity itself was 
 a political compromise between Greek skepticism (embracing 
 Judaism and Platonism) and paganism. The Christian 
 holds to the priority of mind over matter, and in this sense he 
 is Platonic. But he also holds to the concept that a super- 
 natural power apart from nature which he calls God, molds 
 matter, and this concept is distinctively a pagan platitude. 
 As ecclesiasticism embraces in all of its forms something of 
 the Platonic ideal, and voices a supernatural Deity as the 
 creator and cause of all things — a God who operates through 
 the potency of spirit and matter, it has assumed the name 
 of a spiritual belief, and its supporters and advocates are 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 1 3 
 
 called Spiritualistic, and these beliefs and creeds, however 
 diverse, were known under the formula or name of Spirit- 
 ualism centuries before the pantheism of Spinoza or the 
 dissertations of Descartes were known. Gradually the 
 term "spiritual" has been applied not only to all forms 
 of ecclesiastical belief, but to atheistic Buddhism with its 
 Sankhya system of pessimistic speculation, and to the men- 
 tal vagaries of Oriental Brahmanism, with its doctrine of 
 Yoga and its ascetic Yoga practices and reincarnations. 
 
 Thus far, our effort has been to trace the inception, origin, 
 and final introduction of the terms ''Spiritual,'' "Spirit- 
 ualistic" and "Spiritualism,'' as applied to mental con- 
 cepts, religious ideals and pagan dogmas since the time of 
 Anaxagoras, Let us now apply the yard-stick of inductive 
 logic, and the test tube of common sense, and see if any 
 of these so-called spiritual beliefs, mental ideals and relig- 
 ious propagandisms, come within the mental realm of truth, 
 as voiced in a former chapter. 
 
 If nature be infinitude, if all the mutations of time and 
 space qualify infinitude and are natural, then we reach the 
 conclusion that infinitude had no beginning, no genesis, no 
 first cause as a pivot or center of development, and no First 
 Cause as a creator or overruling intelligence, hence no 
 supernatural deity, since there can be nothing supernatural 
 in natural infinity. Therefore we deduce that all systems 
 or schools of thought, that lay their premises of belief in 
 super-nature, whether representing a God as a first great 
 cause, or a metaphysical realm apart from natural modes of 
 motion, are not only untenable, but are impossible postu- 
 lates, since the infinite of possibilities is included in infini- 
 tude. 
 
 This criticism applies to ecclesiasticism in all its forms, 
 to Buddhism, Brahmanism, Theosophy ancient and modern, 
 and to all liberal so-called religions that lay claim to an 
 overruling intelligence, or oversoul, and it will appeal 
 
14 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 to all consistent thinkers as correct reasoning whose zeal 
 for their God and public approbation does not invite men- 
 tal perjury, and outrage common sense. A first cause to 
 infinitude, is an impossible concept, and the supernatural 
 or super-nature apart or outside of the infinite of infinitude 
 is a theological lie. 
 
 LET THE THINKERS THINK. 
 
 Since the time of Anaxagoras and Plato, since the specu- 
 lations of the early fathers of the church Catholic, since the 
 writings of Spinoza and Descartes, there have been great 
 discoveries in physical science, disclosing the errors of 
 religious thought, changing the entire mental aspect of the 
 physical universe, and qualifying human understanding 
 with a broader comprehension of man and his environment, 
 and with nature's order of evolution. In no department of 
 natural physics have these discoveries been more significant, 
 than in the realm of cerebral mentology. The establish- 
 ment and localization of the cortical centers of the motory 
 and sensory system, the discovery that cerebral activity is 
 accompanied by cerebral waste, and that mental processes 
 are accompanied by continuous molecular change in the 
 material convolutions of the brain, overturns, unseats and 
 annihilates the data upon which Plato postulated his Theae- 
 tetus and subsequent writers their discussions upon the 
 order of Human Understanding. These discoveries demon- 
 strate that the mind, strictly speaking, is not the thinking 
 part of man. Human intellect consists of a thinking 
 entity, and mental fiber connecting incoming modes of 
 motion, to the citadel of conscious sensation. Cerebral 
 fiber and cells do not possess without the aid of the con- 
 scious principle, sensation per se. They do not possess 
 memory, volition, or intelligence. They cannot, as will be 
 seen in the nature and order of their structure. If it were 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. I 5 
 
 so, sensation memory, volition and intelligence would die a 
 molecular death with the molecular death of the cells and 
 fiber; and the mortal would have to wait until new cells in 
 the order of evolution could be newly functioned, and this 
 process in the mental realm would be an impossibility. The 
 human would become an incoherent, inconsistent, and 
 senseless bioplasm in an hour's mental effort. If fiber and 
 cell did possess memory and intelligence, we could easily 
 account for the vagaries of humanity since the continuous 
 wasting of cells and fiber would continually change normal 
 brain action into cerebral incongruities. 
 
 But these discoveries in cerebral physiology are lending 
 additional emphasis to the fact that the complex structure 
 of cells and their fiber throughout the cerebral organism 
 possess the characteristics of what may be called mental 
 electrodes, connecting man's conscious ego to objective 
 nature, by which incoming waves from without impress his 
 conscious life principle, evoking thought and mind, hence 
 these physical structures in all of their varied co-relations 
 qualify the character of thought evolved within, and in 
 varying degrees limit the boundary of human experiences, 
 by the functional structure of the sensory system. The 
 motory system is also environed and circumscribed by anal- 
 ogous limitations of structure. 
 
 All of the phenomena of what is called <% double con- 
 sciousness " and the various phases and mental idiosyncra- 
 sies of humanity can be more fully comprehended in the 
 analysis of this deeper, and more extended view of cerebral, 
 and physiological anatomy. In the light of these induc- 
 tions, the prevailing opinion that mind is the thinker, will 
 have to give way to the greater truth that man's con- 
 scious ego is the real thinker — the real entity that is im- 
 pressed, and thought and mind are the result of these 
 impressions. In proportion as man's conscious ego is im- 
 pressed by data susceptible of verification, he touches the 
 
l6 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 realm of truth; and in proportion as his cerebral physical 
 and functional brain and conscious ego are lacking in molecu- 
 lar rhythm, or are psychologized with erroneous instruction, 
 he remains a slave to error, and undemonstrable dogma. A 
 knowlege of nature's evolutionary processes will give us a 
 key to these deeper truths, and make evident the errors of 
 religious idealism, and consign to the waste basket of time 
 the supernatural and its metaphysical assumptions, as taught, 
 indoctrinated and postulated as the basis of spirituality and 
 ethical ideals. For eventually it will appear that neither 
 spirituality, Spiritualism nor intelligence can be predicated 
 upon the unreal — ignorance is not the mother of truth. 
 
 Having traced the origin of the term " Spiritualism," and 
 having seen its thorough misapplication in the realm of 
 supernaturalism, as voiced in the religious dogmas, creeds, 
 cults and schisms, of past and present forms of thought, 
 let us seek in the sublime records of nature a place more 
 fitting, than is found in the realm called supernatural, and 
 ascribed to the gods. This research will take us into a new 
 field of thought and inquiry — a field untraversed by creeds 
 and cults, a field largely ignored by the ecclesiastical and 
 popular mind, a realm of mental somersaults for the theoso- 
 phist and theologists, a realm largely ignored and unac- 
 counted for by the reincarnationist, but nevertheless to him 
 a place or plane, where the laboratory of infinitude is chiefly 
 interested in the manufacture of human bodies, as stepping 
 stones, or rungs in the ladder of time, to get "sparks of 
 Infinite Intelligence" back to their primary luster and om- 
 nipotence. 
 
 Most wonderful, most careless and capricious is the 
 "Theus" (god) of theosophy, and transcendently sublime and 
 miraculous is their system of evoluting away from material- 
 ism, from carnal and sensual desire, by constantly reincar- 
 nating into it. We suppose that the process to be con- 
 tinued through the cycles and planetary systems of infini- 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 1 7 
 
 tude, may be regarded as real evolution by perpetual in- 
 volution. 
 
 But whatever an investigation of the page of nature may 
 reveal, we shall not find the " Theus " of theosophy, or the 
 Deus of ecclesiasticism; neither shall we find matter (sci- 
 entifically speaking) the basis of material things — hence of 
 materialism. From the time of traditional Gonzarte, said 
 to be one of the most distinguished alchemists of ancient 
 Greece, down to the time of Paracelsus, it was the opinion 
 particularly of that class of investigators who laid the foun- 
 dation of modern chemical science, by seeking to penetrate 
 the obscure in nature's processes, that invisible substances 
 to which they gave the name of k ' spirit," were the basis of 
 all forms and types of matter. Some of these ancient 
 thinkers and experimentalists, regarded as matter all solids, 
 fluids and gases, and spiritual substances as the elemental 
 forces underlying these forms of structure and organization. 
 Now they did not consider spirit as a nonentity, nor as a 
 homogeneous substance, but as entities ''invisible to the 
 eye and undiscermble to the senses," each one possessing 
 special characteristics. The idea of spirit as a nonentity 
 came from the priest alchemist, and so the term "im- 
 material," without proper qualifications has been applied 
 to these forces by modern popular writers and pulpiteers, 
 thus continuing to befog the public mentality as to the 
 real nature and character of etheric substances. If in 
 science and philosophy, we should employ words and terms 
 to express our exact concept, then it will follow that a sub- 
 stance or its life principle ought not to be used as a synonym 
 for matter, for the same reason that we do not call an egg 
 a chicken, or a pile of lumber a cottage. Such careless 
 misuse of terms is not in accord with the facts characteriz- 
 ing the formula of philosophical evolution. Matter, con- 
 sidered in its evolutionary sense, is a term representing 
 a cojnbination of elemental substances y and may be used to 
 
1 8 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 express a gas, a fluid, or a solid, while the term spirit 
 applies in this connection to the life principle of elemental 
 substances. So it will be seen that the term spirit is a 
 general term applied to the invisible active principle of 
 all elemental substances, however diverse these maybe in 
 their character and mode of acting, the same as matter is 
 a general term, representing the diversified forms of cosmic 
 structure. Hence, spiritual, invisible life substances are 
 the builder, and matter in all of its cosmic forms, the re- 
 sult of these in combination. The careful thinker will here 
 note, that if invisible substances in combination promote 
 form and visibility, then all forms of matter are the result 
 or phenomena of spiritual substances in combination. 
 
 NOUS. 
 
 Many of these facts were noted by the ancient alchemist, 
 as will be seen by a careful perusal of the history of the 
 life of these philosophical savants. The " shaping spirit " 
 called " Nous " by Anaxagoras, was a concept in this direc- 
 tion and the "primary motion " attributed to matter by 
 Democritus, would have been a truth, if matter was pri- 
 mary. The discoveries of the elemental substances had 
 not been made at the time Democritus wrote. Had he 
 said that each substance underlying cosmic process pos- 
 sessed a primary motion of its own, he would have an- 
 nounced the greatest fundamental truth in cosmic physics. 
 
 Now these truths conceived and suggested by the ancient 
 alchemist, receives an endorsement in the experiments of 
 the modern physicist, since all forms of matter can be 
 reduced to invisible primary states, and no one knows bet- 
 ter than your clear-seeing chemist physicist, that the active 
 life principle of all elemental substances are better known to 
 science as " invisible modes of motion," and the different 
 names that science or circumstance has given them, is in 
 consequence of some special quality or function witnessed 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 1 9 
 
 in their mode of action, or of being acted upon m process 
 of combination. The continuous and extended discoveries 
 of these elemental substances by modern investigators, the 
 principle of polar affinity which each of these possesses, 
 for some substances and of polar repulsion for others, 
 establishes the truth of molecular co-relation, as the basis 
 of cosmic art. 
 
 The discoveries along the line of spectrum analysis, which 
 will eventually ring the death knell of the atomic theory, 
 by proving that a change in the polarity of all substances 
 takes place before they can enter into a new combination, 
 are important features in this new truth. If a substance 
 gives up its original polarity when it enters into the forma- 
 tion of a new compound, it gives up its atomic structure 
 and characteristics, and this fact is thoroughly demonstrated 
 by spectrum analysis. Now this fact in combining processes 
 does not prove that matter is a homogeneous substance 
 as very many seem to think, neither does it prove that ele- 
 mental substances are, or ever w 7 ere homogeneous; it only 
 proves a base of polar affinity belonging to, and qualifying 
 all types and conditions of matter, and molecular co-rela- 
 tion in consequence of it. 
 
 Let us suggest to all scoffers at the spiritual philosophy 
 and spiritualism, that we shall be able to demonstrate that 
 :he relation the human holds to life beyond the grave, finds 
 its premise and data in the immutable principles of the 
 universe we live in, and this relationship could not be dem- 
 onstrated unless infinitude was in its fundamental essences, 
 infinitely spiritual and infinitely co-related, and man him- 
 self a spiritual evolution. 
 
20 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 THE SPIRITUAL CHARACTER OF NATURE'S 
 FORCES. 
 
 A general popular error obtains regarding the meaning 
 and application of the terms " Spirit" and " Spiritual," as 
 applied to cosmic evolution. The prevailing thought, in- 
 troduced by theologians and expressed in all ecclesiastical 
 formula, is that the term spirit represents the act of voli- 
 tion or will of an almighty God, who exists as a supernat- 
 ural cause to all cosmic processes. They tell us with won- 
 derful assurance that their God is so omnipotent, that his 
 mere volition created the suns and systems of time and 
 space, and all types of fish and fowl belonging to the deep 
 seas and oceans, and all species of beasts, cattle and 
 creeping things that live upon the land. But into man 
 he breathed the breath of life and "he became a living 
 soul." When we ask them "if this act of volition on the 
 part of their God is to be understood as a spiritual act ? " 
 we are invariably answered in the affirmative. Now, if we 
 accept this postulate of the origin of nature, then as sure as 
 mathematics, their God is the author of matter and material 
 things. If he created all things, if "without him nothing 
 was made that is made," if he operates through law which 
 he established, then God is the author of materialism, and 
 the materialists, and not the Christians, are his chosen 
 people. To get around these logical conclusions, they tell 
 us that since the curse of Adam, that matter has been 
 1 'dead, " ' 'crude, " and ' ' inert, " because their God cursed the 
 ground and all living things, and that since that time matter 
 requires the "active power" of his presence and divine spirit, 
 to mould it into form. If we accept this platitude of a curse, 
 then we are obliged to note that God cursed all the creations 
 made by his former spiritual volition, even his own breath of 
 life that made man a living soul. Hence we have a right to 
 conclude that God cursed a portion of himself, and if mat- 
 ter be dead and crude and inert, then just so much of the 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 21 
 
 original spirit of God is now dead and crude and inert. 
 However inconsistent and incongruous this pagan concept 
 seems, it is the prevailing ideal of the age, in all Catholic, 
 Protestant and ecclesiastical countries of modern times. 
 And upon this primitive fetichism and Oriental concept is 
 postulated the duality of matter and spirit, — matter the 
 material to be worked into form, and spirit as an intelligent 
 force that moulds it into being and gives it life. To this 
 pagan vagary the entire school of ecclesiasticism and the- 
 ology and theosophy give assent. During the last twenty- 
 five years we have asked hundreds of theologians where 
 matter came from if it were dead and crude? Now, they 
 know that if they admit that it came originally from God 
 the question will arise: Then what makes this part of God's 
 original spirit crude? then they will crawfish and evade 
 the question. A few, however, notably the Catholics, and 
 here and there a Protestant clergyman, will refer to the 
 curse of the ground, as a part of "the divine plan" the 
 same as they refer to the incest of the Holy Ghost with an 
 unsoliciting Jew maiden as a part of ' 'the divine plan. M It 
 seems an unaccountable mental phenomenon that so large 
 an element of civilization (?) adhere to this Oriental and 
 untenable concept, when every scientific college and every 
 laboratory of chemical physics in the civilized world dem- 
 onstrates the errors of these barbarisms. Come with me, 
 dear reader, into the experimental department of l,s 
 modern chemist physicist. Here are two jars containing 
 separately oxygen and hydrogen. We unite them with 
 an electrical spark, and with something of a crash and 
 clash as the two elements meet in combintaion, there 
 is formed upon the receiver a tiny drop of water. We 
 witness the experiment and phenomenon with interest. Let 
 us ask our physicist a question. "Did God mould these two 
 elements together by the immediate presence and applica- 
 tion of his power?" "No." "Was there any 'original intel- 
 
22 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 ligence ' in either the oxygen or hydrogen gas before they 
 were united ? " " No." " Is there any intelligence or con- 
 sciousness in the water now?" "No." "Then tell us, 
 Mr. Physicist, what did unite these two diverse elements ? ; ' 
 "A principle of reciprocal polarity belonging to each ele- 
 ment." g< Can you prove it ? " "I can. But to do this I 
 shall have to break up this drop of water into its original 
 elements and weigh them." Thanks to the accuracy of 
 modern science, we can do this and save the minutest par- 
 ticle of each. Again, we apply electricity in a little dif- 
 ferent manner than in our former experiment, this time 
 to decompose the water, and are rewarded by securing 
 the original elements. Now, we will weigh them with a 
 pair of scales so nicely adjusted that we can detect the 
 presence or absence of the one-hundredth part of a grain. 
 We find by actual weight that we had oxygen 88 T 9 F 
 parts and hydrogen I iy 1 ^ parts. So we reach the conclu- 
 sion that it takes precisely 88^ parts of oxygen by weight 
 to overcome the individual and original polarity of the 
 hydrogen; and in the reaction of the hydrogen it only takes 
 ii y i_ part of it to overcome the individual polar tension of 
 the oxygen in this combination. The polar tension of each 
 element being mutually overcome, a new order of polarity 
 is established by these combining elements, bringing with it 
 or evolving the phenomenon of water, and this principle of 
 polar equipoise in process of combining elements and their 
 arithmetical proportions, is the real base of 
 
 THE CHEMICAL BALANCE, 
 
 for here we see expressed polar "action and reaction" ; 
 and here originated the term, that in nature's processes of 
 evolution, "action and reaction are equal;" and this 
 truth is the premise of all chemical equations. 
 
 44 Mr. Physicist, were these elements homogeneous in 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 2X 
 
 their structure before they were united? " N : H ; 
 
 do you know it?" "First, by the way they individually 
 act and are acted upon in other combinations; and, second, 
 by spectrum analysis." "Is the water you have evoked a 
 homogeneous compound?" "It is." "Then how do you 
 account for this homogeneity when it is composed of two 
 diverse substances? 5 * "By a change taking place in chemical 
 combination, known to chemical science as a change of 
 chemical spectrum, 9 which means in this experiment that 
 the two elemental substances have entere i intc a : : ml in - 
 tion promoting visibility, whereas formerly they were in- 
 visible gases. It also means that the molecules of each of 
 these substances have been raised to a higher molecular 
 tension by the action of electricity — to a plane of molecu- 
 lar rhythm — when they unite in the formation of something 
 entirely unlike themselves. " "Has oxygen and hydrogen 
 Lire : "In a manner! Each of these elements possesses 
 an active principle of its own, which is known under the 
 term of k life principle/ and science sometimes calls this 
 kind of life ' molecular life ' to distinguish it from some of 
 the higher and more complex forms of existence. But the 
 better term for all elemental substances is 4 the active prin- 
 cir'.e." s::::e *.ve : :: e.-.shy : : ::;r:e::eni :::i: :he ac::ve prin- 
 ciple of oxygen is entirely unlike that of nitrogen or any 
 ::; e: eLe—en:." •Mr. P~ys:::s:, v.-'na: i: y:u ::.ei:: by the 
 :er::; polarity "It has been discover ei thai all ener- 
 
 ^;:5 :'.:::.:::l substances a.ni :--'.. ::::r.s :: :r. = ::e: ;_re 
 capable of acting and of being acted upon in chemical an i 
 physical combination. This fact demonstrates the universal 
 principle of attraction and repulsion, characterizing all forms 
 of energy, and to it has been given the name of polar:: 
 
 ithout polar attraction there could be no molecular affin- 
 ities, and without polar repulsion there could be no special 
 formative processes in nature. And without reciprocal 
 polarity all substances and forms of matter would be in 
 
24 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 reality dead; since none of them could act or be acted 
 upon. Reciprocal polarity is the rhythm of infinitude. It 
 is the basis of the beautiful in form in evolutionary proces- 
 ses, in leaf and flower, in plant, tree or man. In mental 
 realms, it is the foundation of a true system of social ethics, 
 making wider the plane of social art and enjoyment, and it 
 is the key to happy conjugal relations and harmonious 
 offspring. 
 
 Now, Mr. Physicist, we want to ask you another question. 
 Do you believe that these invisible active or life principles 
 of elemental nature are of spiritual character ? It will be 
 necessary in answering this question, that we fully under- 
 stand each other. If you mean by the term 4i spirit," the 
 breath of a supposed God who is said to be superior to 
 nature, or if you mean that the mental act of volition of this 
 God, is spirit, then I shall answer without qualification, No! 
 But if you mean that the active life principles of oxygen, hy- 
 drogen, nitrogen, or carbon, or any of the seventy elements 
 already discovered, are of spiritual character, I shall enter 
 a strong affirmative, for the following reasons: Physical 
 science had its inception with the ancient alchemists. These 
 philosophical savants laid the foundation of chemical physics, 
 and with limited appliances and apparatus, divided nature 
 into four forms of expression — solids, fluids, gases, and 
 spirit. The term spirit was applied to the invisible of 
 nature's attributes. With the alchemist the term spirit 
 meant the invisible, not because it was thought to be the 
 breath of a God, or any part of a deity, but simply a term 
 expressive of the active, invisible life principle of a sub- 
 stance or element of nature. 
 
 It is said that the Egyptian Hermes, who was worshiped 
 as a god in the eleventh Egyptian dynasty, attributed to 
 matter a spiritual force. And Paracelsus of the fifteenth 
 century witnessing the incineration of solids and the evap- 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 2 5 
 
 oration of fluids exclaimed ' ■ Alla-geist ! Alla-geist! " all 
 is spirit, all is spirit. 
 
 Now the modern chemist discovers that these invisible 
 " active principles" of elemental substances, are the actu- 
 ating energies operating in the promotion of every phe- 
 nomenon of nature. Thus, the active principle of oxygen 
 gas upon the glands of respiration of all breathing animals, 
 and upon the capillary structures of all forms of plasmatic 
 character in process of evolution, is to sustain the life and 
 assist in the development and perpetuation of the animal 
 or plant. What the active principle of oxygen really is, 
 no chemist or physicist knows. That it is an energy that 
 assists in the promotion of life is certain, and that as an 
 energy it is as spiritual as the life it sustains, whether that 
 life be plasmatic or bio-plasmatic, is equally certain; other- 
 wise, it could not be co-related to it upon planes of recipro- 
 cal polarity. 
 
 Furthermore, the modern chemist finds that every ele- 
 ment thus far discovered, has the power to act, and to be 
 acted upon, hence, as before stated, they are polar, and are 
 thus able to enter into chemical combination and the evo- 
 lution of form. 
 
 Until science finds some other term more applicable as a 
 general definition to these invisible active forces of nature, 
 we shall affirm that the term " spirit" and " spiritual " are 
 the most consistent and expressive of any thus far known. 
 This position with its definition will appear concise and 
 logical, when the human intellect comprehends that all 
 forms of life and matter are infinitely co-related to these 
 chemical factors of time and space. There can be no phe- 
 nomenon either physical or psychic without the support of 
 these elements. We know that there is a large class of 
 pseudo Spiritualists who claim that chemical forces have 
 nothing to do with spirit, that " spirit is something es- 
 sentially finer than mere chemical force" ; thus making a 
 
26 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 distinction without demonstration, in nature's order and 
 formula of growth and development, and ignoring not only 
 all cosmic facts, but the very fundamental truth of the 
 spiritual philosophy, and the continuity of natural principle. 
 How limited the intellect that cannot discern in the phe- 
 nomena of objective nature, the presence of the spiritual 
 forces expressing themselves in rhythmic combination in 
 every flower and tree, — in the sublimity and art of nature's 
 crystallizations, and in the evolution of her plasmatic 
 and bio-plasmatic forms of life ! What indifferent ignorance 
 is this, that inhales the breath of oxygen, and exhales car- 
 bonic gas — that drinks water and eats bread, yet has not 
 reflected that the invisible spiritual forces of these com- 
 pounds support his physical life through process of assimi- 
 lation ? What mental delusion is this, that amid all the 
 demonstrations of modern science, still continue to teach 
 the supernatural and mysterious, the metaphysical and im- 
 possible, as the premise of progression, and the basis of 
 life here and hereafter ? 
 
 LET THE THINKERS THINK ! 
 
 With a wider, deeper and truer consideration of nature 
 and her spiritual forces, the metaphysical bridge that tran- 
 scendentalists and ecclesiasticism invented to span twixt 
 spirit and matter, will be found a delusion — an invention of 
 the priest metaphysician to exact toll from mortals, before 
 they cross to the other side. A cunning device, and an 
 artful patent granted as claimed, by an unknown God to a 
 worthless hierarchy — a bankrupt compact. A clearer view 
 of nature and her invisible attributes, reveals that we 
 live now in spiritual infinitude, where all forms of matter 
 and all types of existences are only the ever-changing and 
 varying phenomena of invisible spiritual forces, elements 
 and energies, and that these are infinitely co-related, is 
 shown in all analysis of matter and motion and form. 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 27 
 
 It will be a day of real intellectual growth to the theo- 
 logian and theosophist, when, sensing that ail elements and 
 energies of nature, combine upon a plane of reciprocal 
 polarity in the promotion of every form and type of life, 
 they discover that " Involution " with its theories of " un- 
 rolling" and "unfolding," is a mental delusion, for the 
 reason that whatever unites in nature's crucible of develop- 
 ment, must conform to these inexorable principles of recip- 
 rocal polarity. No spark or molecule of n divine intelli- 
 gence " can act upon matter or substance without first 
 becoming polar to it, and then it will have to look out for 
 reactions. 
 
 No soul of a Socrates can possess the mental fiber of a 
 child, without first becoming polar to the embryotic cell of 
 mental convolutions. Such an effort on the part of Socra- 
 tes, would kill the child and damage Socrates' soul. The 
 law of "The Conservation of Energy," depends upon prin- 
 ciples of reciprocal polarity. 
 
 A DAY OF SAVING GRACE. 
 
 It will be a day of real saving grace, for the Christian 
 saint and sinner alike, when, sensing that all of nature's 
 elements and forces are polar, and that they combine upon 
 this inherent principle, they discover that their God is 
 out of a job; and " Overruling Intelligence" ceases longer 
 to rule. If this God made the principles of polarity for the 
 elements of infinitude, he lost his job by that act, for the 
 reason, that he can no longer overrule, without breaking 
 up existing polarities. A change in the polar tension of 
 oxygen, would kill all forms of life, and promote chaos in 
 all spheres. Let the Thinkers Think, and Give God a Holi- 
 day. 
 
28 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF FORMATIVE PRINCIPLES 
 AND OF FORMS OF MATTER AND LIFE, BY 
 THE ACTION AND REACTION OF FORMATIVE 
 OR SHAPING ENERGIES, COMPRISE THE REAL 
 EVOLUTION IN NATURE'S LABORATORY OF 
 SPIRITUAL ART. 
 
 The greatest discoveries in modern science, are those 
 that give us a deeper insight into nature's secret processes, 
 enabling the thinker to trace in greater exactitude the won- 
 derful rhythm qualifying the beautiful and the sublime, 
 operating in the domain of the invisible attributes of phy- 
 sical nature. For untold ages the world's ablest and most 
 philosophical thinkers and savants, have mistaken the 
 physical world we see, for the real world. For unknown 
 centuries, they have regarded the phenomena of nature, 
 with something of superstition, and clothed it with inco- 
 herent speculations. Besides, the pulse of social approba- 
 tion, comes in closest touch to him, who thinks most closely 
 in unison with the popular mind. Then again, the philo- 
 sophic Thinker is human, is not possessed of insane egotism, 
 and is liable to conclude that the concensus of public opin- 
 ion is more wise than he, hence he drifts along with its tidal 
 wave. But during the last quarter of a century so many 
 discoveries have challenged the attention of the Thinker, 
 have stimulated the physicist to closer investigation and 
 aroused the chemist to deeper analysis, and the physiologist 
 to renewed investigation of the functions of the vascular 
 system of man, and the structural anatomy of flowers 
 and shrubs, until the deeper recesses of nature have 
 yielded sufficient evidence against old systems of assump- 
 tive speculation, as to challenge their value in the higher 
 consideration of a true civilization. The result of these 
 discoveries are such, that the modern physicist will tell 
 you that we live in a realm of physical and psychic 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 2 9 
 
 phenomena. Physical in its external appearance only, but 
 psychic (molecular) in its method of acting upon, and im- 
 pressing human consciousness. 
 
 The modern chemist tells us that in his laboratory of 
 experiment, that in the compound forms of matter that are 
 visible, he has discovered an invisible actuating energy, as 
 the result of the combination. Hence the compound we 
 see is only the phenomenal expression, of an invisible 
 formative principle or force. Thus, "pure lime " is the 
 oxide of the metal calcium, and is a white caustic alkaline 
 powder. Nov/ the powder we see is not the real entity or 
 life principle of lime. The eye cannot see caustic proper- 
 ties. The real life of the lime is an invisible spiritual 
 energy or force, the result of those chemical reactions from 
 which this form of matter is evolved, and what we do see 
 is only the phenomenon of invisible forces in combination. 
 Lime has very great resistance to heat. We cannot see 
 this property of resistance, any more than we can see its 
 caustic characteristics. Both of these factors are an invisi- 
 ble molecular combination, comprising the active principle 
 of the compound we do see. Thus everywhere we turn 
 and look upon objective nature, we are confronted with the 
 phenomena of invisible forces and energies, promoting 
 visibility of form, — the form force being actuated into 
 physical expression by a combination induced in an invisi- 
 ble chemical spectrum. Let us amplify this truth by refer- 
 ring the reader to the evolution of water, with which per- 
 haps he will be acquainted. The basic elements of water, 
 as is well known, are oxygen and hydrogen gas. Each of 
 these gases is invested with an active principle, known as 
 ' * the life principle" of these elements. These gases cannot 
 be seen, but when they are united by a current of electricity, 
 the two active principles of these elements unite and form 
 a visible fluid. The real action and reaction of the com- 
 bining molecules have taken place (in scientific language) 
 
30 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 in an invisible chemical spectrum. Zollner, called this 
 spectrum "The Fourth Dimension of Space." The first 
 three dimensions being, according to this savant, "length, 
 breadth and thickness," while his fourth dimension meant 
 the invisible reactions obtaining in the molecular structure 
 of the combination, that promoted, length, breadth and 
 thickness. The constant expression of this phenomenon of 
 invisible forces promoting visibility of form, has led up to 
 one of the greatest inductions of all ages. It is this, that 
 in the laboratory of infinitude 
 
 NATURE EVOLVES FORMATIVE ENERGIES 
 
 as her real evolutions, while what we see of objective 
 nature, is only the visible temporary garment, of the invisi- 
 ble structure within. It has taken the physicist and chemist 
 a long time to fully comprehend the significance and value 
 of this truth, although it is manifest in all objective nature, 
 and demonstrated in every experiment that can be made. 
 
 Let us apply a little inductive reasoning to confirm this 
 fact. It is a postulate of chemical science ' ' That the cen- 
 tral tendency of elements in combination, is to unite in the 
 evolution of something entirely unlike the elements per se." 
 This postulate is the accepted basis of chemical physics 
 throughout the civilized world, and its verification is wit- 
 nessed in all chemical compounds. 
 
 Accepting this postulate as a fact, we witness the con- 
 tinual growth and evolution of all species of flowers and 
 shrubs, and all types of existences, which phenomena could 
 not occur unless there was evolved in each species a forma- 
 tive energy of shaping and protecting character, qualifying 
 each form of matter and each type of life, for the reason, 
 that the action or impress of each element upon the flower 
 and shrub, would continually change the entire character or 
 the growth. If we mix salt into water, the combination is 
 no longer water, or salt, but the union of the two. If we 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 3 1 
 
 again mix into this salt water sugar, its chemical character 
 is again changed from its former condition. Here we see 
 operative the postulate of chemical combination given above. 
 But we can turn upon the plant life, water, salt water, 
 sweetened salt water, ammonial water, and very many 
 other compounds, and amid these reactions and other cata- 
 clysmic changes of elemental kind it grows and retains its 
 individual type and form and characteristics. 
 
 Here also we witness the expression of the principles of 
 polar attraction, by which the plant attracts from the 
 etheric atmospheres of space those elements necessary for 
 its growth, and of polar repulsion, by which the plant repels 
 and refuses to assimilate elements and compounds not 
 suited to its individual development. All of these facts 
 attest the evolution of a "formative energy" as ' 4 a shaping 
 force," as the real entity evolved; and this " formative 
 energy " protects the life principle of the plant in its normal 
 evolution, from the encroachments of non-rhythmic ele- 
 ments, and as a ' ' shaping force " its tendency is to preserve 
 the integrity and character of the type of life and structure 
 evolved. 
 
 Wherever we turn, in whatsoever realm of evolution we 
 seek, whether in geological stratas of rock formation, in 
 mineral formations, in the structure and character of soils, 
 in vegetable life, in tree or forest, in the lower forms of 
 articulate life, in vertebrate and invertebrate species, in 
 mammal and man, we sense the evolution of this forma- 
 tive life principle as the real entity evolved ; and amid the 
 constant reactions of invisible elemental forces, and the per- 
 petual changes incident to each type of cosmic growths, we 
 stand face to face with the fact, that the infinite of cosmic 
 growths is promoted by the omnipotence of nature s spirit- 
 ual energies, and that these combine in a spectrum invisi- 
 ble to human vision, in the formation of every type of 
 energy, and every expression of form simple and complex. 
 
32 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 This truth being evident in every manifestation of nature, 
 we deduce: That the real actuating energies and forces of 
 nature, are of spiritual character, invisible to the eye, and 
 their action and reaction, and combination, being in an in- 
 visible chemical spectrum, evokes a formative principle and 
 a shaping force, which although unseen in its molecular 
 characteristics, is a magnetic entity per se, and the form it 
 promotes, is the ever-changing phenomenon of visible 
 growth, through which throbs in molecular rhythm this 
 magnetic entity as its real life principle and force — its soul 
 in process of development. 
 
 Before this sublime truth of nature in evolution, let 
 shortsighted materialism uncover its head in humiliation; 
 and theology in all of its pagan forms, stand abashed, and 
 theosophyin its sensuality of reincarnations, bow in divine 
 recognition of nature's superior art. Let the gods of human 
 imagination and passion, retire with their ghoulish caprice 
 to the mountain darkness of the supernatural, where they 
 had their birth — there let them die. And let humanity 
 rise from its long servitude of ignorance and read in this 
 morning light of a new century, its complete intellectual 
 emancipation. 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 33 
 
 NATURE'S SPIRITUAL ELEMENTS AND FORMA- 
 TIVE FORCES, INFINITELY CO-RELATED UPON 
 THE PLANE OF POLAR RECIPROCITY. 
 
 It was not our intent in the limit of a treatise of this 
 character, to point out the order of cosmic evolution, but 
 rather to trace the infinite truth of co-related spiritual ener- 
 gies, so far as modern physical science has been able to 
 note and determine. We have seen in a former chapter 
 that all elements of nature, and compound forms of matter 
 are capable of acting and of being acted upon, and this fact 
 gave expression to the terms polar and polarity. We have 
 also noted that science has to admit the evolution of a 
 formative principle as the real entity evolved, and that this 
 entity of individuality, — this shaping life force is of mag- 
 netic character, the life that promotes the form we see. 
 We shall be able to understand these life forces better, if 
 we regard them as electrodes capable of action and reaction, 
 of attracting and repelling. We see these factors of formative 
 character expressing through their infinite variety of struct- 
 ure, the phenomena of time and space. Some of these forma- 
 tive processes are simple, many are complex in their molec- 
 ular organization. Whether manifest in the crystallizations 
 of rocks, stones, metals, soils, or noted in the great variety 
 of plasmatic or bio-plasmatic forms of life, each formative 
 and shaping electrode of life character, attracts under nor- 
 mal conditions what is necessary for its growth, and repels 
 elements not polar to its invisible magnetic individuality. 
 This we note in the development of bulb, plant, tree or 
 animal. During the day there is impacted upon the plant, 
 shrub or tree, through the action of light and heat, ele- 
 ments reciprocal to its growth. * Night comes with her seance 
 
 *L,et the scoffers at spirit materialization learn a lesson from this fact 
 in nature's art. By a change in chemical spectrum the plant assumes 
 visibility. By a change in chemical spectrum the silver held in solution 
 
34 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 chamber of molecular change, and the spectrum of invisi- 
 ble forces and elements that were impressed during the 
 action of light and heat materialize into forms of growth, 
 visible to the eye. This process of attraction and accretion, 
 whether manifest at certain points of crystallization in rock 
 and soil, or noted in the capillary reactions of plant life, 
 or traced through the assimilative glands and processes of 
 animal life, indicates the formative and shaping process 
 obtaining within. 
 
 The ether of infinitude seems to be the repository for all 
 the spiritual substances and factors in nature's laboratory 
 of cosmic art. All types of matter can be reduced to 
 invisibility, and in this form possess an attraction for the 
 ether of space. And from out this ether of space, contain- 
 ing as it does the spiritual elements and substances of cos- 
 mic character, the electrodes or centers of formative char- 
 acter, attract the elements necessary for its development, 
 by invisible modes of molecular motion and co-relation. 
 But it will be asked, where did these electrodes or centers 
 of formative character come from ? To this we answer, 
 By the blending and union of spiritual energies upon a 
 plane of polar and molecular rhythm, induced by heat, 
 light and electro reaction and reciprocal tension in the com- 
 bining molecules. Let us look at this fact. By the electro 
 tension of oxygen and hydrogen upon a plane of polar 
 reciprocity, requiring just an exact number of parts and 
 fractions of a part of each element by weight we have the 
 
 materializes into metal in the art of electro-plating. By a change in 
 chemical spectrum the landscape scene or other picture, materializes 
 into visibility, from invisible modes of action, by development on the 
 photographic plate. By a change of chemical spectrum disease ma- 
 terializes into pathological form. By a change in chemical spectrum 
 the spirit life of those out of the body, may materialize and be seen, by 
 the same eternal principle of nature. And by a change of chemical 
 spectrum in mental realms, civilization hopes to evolve rational thought 
 in -the pulpit and pew. There is no phenomenon in nature without 
 change in chemical spectrum. 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 35 
 
 phenomenon of water — an evolved, visible fluid from invisi- 
 ble elements. Here we see operative the shaping energies, 
 that evolves the visible from the invisible.* The common 
 sponge is a low form of vegetable life. Its anatomical 
 structure is composed largely of silex, a chemical com- 
 bination of silicon with oxygen. This form of silicon is 
 known to be the result of the combining proportions of 
 these elements entering into its structure, the same as other 
 forms of silicon obtain by other elemental combination. 
 Between the spicula of the sponge structure we find a pro- 
 toplasm containing largely oxygen and hydrogen. Here 
 again is manifest the shaping energies contained in this es- 
 pecial combination, which qualifies and individualizes 
 sponge life, as an evolution from spiritual substances. A 
 study of the Polypi, particularly of the variety known as 
 anthozoa will furnish data of value here. The polyp-home 
 (polypidom) is a calcareous deposit of its own secretions, 
 and contains carbonate of lime and a trace of calcium con- 
 tained in the water of the ocean. The polyp itself, a species 
 of zoophyte, possess an oval-shaped body, which it is capa- 
 ble of projecting out of its home, and withdrawing it at 
 pleasure, has a mouth in the anterior or fore part of its 
 body, which is surrounded by a fringe. This mouth is the 
 only opening of its digestive system or canal. Its food is 
 sea water and the microscopic forms of life it contains. 
 A close analysis of the body of the polyp, discovers pro- 
 toplasm, oxygen and hydrogen, calcareous substances, and 
 a trace of calcium in solution. It grows by gemmatioji, 
 {budding) although in the germinal sacks of one variety 
 are found ova, and in another of the same species sperma- 
 tozoa. Here is manifest the evolution of life possessing 
 
 *A combination of sal-ammoniac with a carbon or of sulphuric acid 
 water with a carbon and many other chemical compounds with a carbon 
 evolves light, heat, electricity and chemical action. All of these are 
 u shaping- energies." 
 
36 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 sensation, by and through the co-relations of spiritual ener- 
 ergies and forces of nature as found in certain tracts of 
 ocean life. When you change the thermo of coral life, 
 gemmation ceases, and coral life per se ceases to mani- 
 fest. Let us ask the reader and thinker, are not the warmth, 
 the protoplasm containing oxygen and hydrogen, and the 
 calcium and calcareous substances, shaping factors in this 
 evolution ? And are not these factors rhythmically and 
 arithmetically co-related to this species of cosmic life ? * 
 
 Let the Thinkers Think. 
 HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS, 
 
 AND ITS CO-RELATIONS. 
 
 Thus far, we have only briefly pointed out the reciprocal 
 co-relations of elemental energies and forces that promote 
 the infinite expression and variety of form and type of mat- 
 ter, found in cosmic evolution. We have shown that no 
 element or substance of nature grows by its own inherent 
 reactions, — only as it enters into partnership called 
 co-relation does it aid in the promotion of form. It does 
 not increase its own substance by this combination, contra- 
 wise, it gives up its individuality — its polarity, when it 
 enters into the evolution of matter, and assists in evoking 
 a formative energy. As this process of combining takes 
 place in an invisible spectrum, it was called psychic, by the 
 ancient Greek savant, which means, "breath" or "soul," 
 or the general life principle as he conceived all development 
 
 *But there is a large class of idealists who will affirm that it takes 
 "something else" besides chemical reactions to induce life per se. Now 
 there is no evidence of this " something else," and if there was, it would 
 only be a factor with other factors and subject to similar chemical reac- 
 tions. Frost or heat in their omnipotence kills the germ of life in seeds, 
 and overrules "Divine Mind' * and "Overruling Intelligence " and this 
 1 'Something Else ' ' in the life manifest in an incubating egg. 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 37 
 
 of physical form to be the result of psychic influences. 
 Modern science employs the term " molecular," in speak- 
 ing of these combinations, meaning an invisible co-relation 
 obtaining between the molecules of combining elements. 
 As science finds this formula of invisible co-relation and 
 combination to be universal in every realm of space, we 
 have affirmed the term " spirit" as a term of general and 
 specific import, to be most expressive of elemental sub- 
 stances; and the term ' ' spiritual, " equally applicable to 
 express the invisible " modes of motion," by which all sub- 
 stances are related. This conclusion will seem both rational 
 and logical when we sense that without these substances 
 nothing was evolved that is evolved, and without these 
 modes of motion there can be no expression of energy or 
 force — in brief, no phenomenon in infinitude. 
 
 Let us now trace human consciousness as an evolution in 
 nature to the same order of cosmos in process of develop- 
 ment. The modern physicist finds that the blending of 
 reciprocal magnetic spheres of combining elements, to be 
 the basis of a new form. So in human evolution the blend- 
 ing of reciprocal magnetic spheres in the laboratory of 
 human art, is the basis and starting point of individual 
 human existence. The principles of human development 
 have always existed, but the evolution of the individual has 
 its inception the same as other types of matter and life. 
 His soul or life principle is a combination of shaping ener- 
 gies belonging to, and qualifying the vital and mental states 
 of parentage. When these vital forces combine upon a 
 plane of physiological or functional polarity, we may expect 
 thoroughly vitalized offspring. When these magnetic 
 spheres blend in mental and intellectual rhythm, as well as 
 in vital, we may consistently expect children that will 
 develop brain power and the genius of mental action. 
 When the vitality of parents is overtaxed, or is low and 
 diseased, and when the mental states of father or mother 
 
38 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 are discordant, we may as certainly expect the birth of the 
 demented or some of the incongruous mental and physical 
 types of human existence, which, while increasing a nation's 
 numbers, they never add to its genius or aid its civilization. 
 They comprise a very large portion of the human popula- 
 tion and may always be known by irascibility of tempera- 
 ment and disposition, by their tendency to court the mar- 
 velous and mysterious, and to entertain vagaries and incon- 
 sistent ideas. The ecclesiastical element representing this 
 irrational tendency of mentality, are easily cajoled into the 
 idea and belief that one of the Gods of mytholgy of incest- 
 uous nature, once had an immaculate Son; and a belief on 
 this son and his power to persuade or coax (called i ' interces- 
 sion ") his father saves their miserable half-born souls from 
 the Hell of Ignorance. "Like promotes like," was a prin- 
 ciple in nature, before it zvas known to philosophy. 
 
 From the blending of the spermatozoon into the female 
 ovum, we can trace to-day the evolution and changes 
 evoked in the maternal matrix, until the embryo reaches 
 the realm of the human, in shape and form. And through 
 successive evolutionary changes until this form of love art is 
 born into an atmosphere of oxygen, and begins its mortal 
 career its changes of development are known. Its sym- 
 metry of form and perfect mold of limb indicates the won- 
 derful ability of the divine artist Nature, when operating in 
 accord with vital processes and reciprocal polar economy. 
 A glance at the brain convolutions already outlined in the 
 infant, is sufficient to determine that under the protection 
 of intelligence, a genius is born to sway the age. 
 
 During youth, and through the coming years of life, we 
 note the evolution of the "formative life ego "through 
 glands of assimilation. This formative life ego and shap- 
 ing energy, in conformity to nature's universal formula of 
 development, grows the physical body in size, and changes 
 its functional status with incoming years, assisted by the 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 39 
 
 oxygen of the atmosphere, by water and foods. The con- 
 scious ego assimilates the spiritual character of these sub- 
 stances and compounds, and without these supports, the 
 life principle of the human could not be maintained in the 
 body. 
 
 This fact of itself is evidence of the spiritual character of 
 elements, substances and compound forms of matter which 
 as foods, grow into larger physical expression the body, and 
 and stronger magnetic power, the spiritual ego of man. 
 The human brain as a mental electrode, now thoroughly 
 developed in its cerebral convolutions, becomes a central 
 station, through the structure of which, his conscious ego 
 is impressed, and in which it is affined and co-related. The 
 magnetic co-relation between "man's conscious ego" as 
 a formative principle, and the cerebral fiber and cell which 
 it evolves, qualities cell and fiber with electro tension, by 
 which his consciousness is impressed through the sensory 
 system, and through which as the real worker and active 
 agent, volition commands or induces energy and motion in 
 the motary system. Disturb or impair these cell centers 
 and their connecting fiber in the sensory tracts, and con- 
 sciousness is only feebly connected to the outside or object- 
 ive world; hence consciousness is not clear-visioned or 
 clear-sensed. If the human is born with imperfect sensory 
 tracts in the cerebral realm, his consciousness is less con- 
 scious, and he is a dullard, a fool or an idiot, in mental ex- 
 pression, in proportioyi as the sensory structure lacks sj m- 
 metry and high mental tension. When the Thinker under- 
 stands that the formative and shaping force that induces 
 this abnormal structure, is largely and generally the prod- 
 uct of parentage — of hereditary weakness, of carelessness, 
 disease, vice, abnormal sensuality and appetite, he will 
 have a correct view of the importance of intelligent gener- 
 ation and gestation as a basis for intellect and moral life. 
 A belief in sensual gods and sensually begotten saviours, 
 
40 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 and sensual virgins, never has, and never will save this 
 element of humanity, from the errors incident to incoher- 
 ency of consciousness and animalistic tendencies. Let us 
 educate these careless teachers and promulgators of vice — 
 these dealers in " cheap certificates of atonement," "for 
 cash down," to a plane of rational, natural philosophy; or 
 relegate them to the workshops of honest men. 
 
 When the cells and fiber or connecting ganglia of the 
 motary system are abnormal, imperfect, or become para- 
 lyzed, volition can no longer evoke it into normal action. 
 
 But with a high order of brain power, which a highly 
 and intelligently tensioned formative process evokes, human 
 consciousness is not only in closer and reciprocal touch with 
 objective nature and its environment, but it is clear-visioned 
 and able to sift the demonstrative and knowable, from the 
 speculative and unknowable. Man's consciousness is con- 
 nected to the universe of phenomena, by reciprocal modes 
 of motion, known as molecular in character, invisible in 
 their action, spiritual in their inception and impression 
 upon the active, thinking soul, or life ego of the human. 
 Nature has only one method of impression and it is molec- 
 ular in its character, and is as applicable to mental spheres 
 as to physical. Nature has only one method by which she 
 transmits her energies, whether they be in what we call the 
 physical domain or in the conscious realm; and that method 
 is through the electro tension of matter and substance. 
 
 The rap of the telegraphic key that unites consciousness 
 to consciousness is a proof of this fact, and the "spirit 
 rap" uniting consciousness to consciousness is an expres- 
 sion of the same truth, through analagous principles of 
 electro nature. The transferrence of thought by the com- 
 mercial telephone is evidence of the electro relationship of 
 conscious thought to the molecular structure and tension of 
 the wire and earth current. The central station for the 
 expression of this phenomenon, is in the citadel of conscious- 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 4 1 
 
 ness, and volition is the active agent. The central receiv- 
 ing station is also in the citadel of human consciousness. 
 The apparatus employed and the wire are only an electrical 
 mechanism, connecting electro centers of the brain through 
 which volition operates in promoting speech and vocal 
 action. 
 
 Thought transferrence, sometimes called mental teleg- 
 raphy, is the same phenomenon operating through other forms 
 of electro matter and substance. Psychic research has dem- 
 onstrated this fact in thousands of instances, and wireless 
 telegraphy additional evidence to the scientific and natural 
 basis for these mental phenomena. A new discovery in 
 physical science, lends additional emphasis to this great 
 truth of thought transferrence. It is known as the * * The 
 Spectra Telephone," by which individuals in telephonic 
 communication can see each other, in a mirror attached to 
 the electrical circuit. Only the thickness of a glass seems 
 to separate friends, that in reality are a thousand miles 
 apart. All nature is an X-ray in her reciprocal relations. 
 The pleasant thought and kindly solicitude, the anxieties, 
 cares and pains of friends remote who are mentally polar 
 and reciprocal to us, are impressed upon the receptive 
 human brain and consciousness. This natural truth when 
 fully comprehended, will broaden and enoble and elevate 
 the mortal, who has evolved into intellectual spheres, and 
 away from barn-yard proclivities. As all nature is an 
 X-ray, which truth is based upon the reciprocal polarities 
 of matter and substance, it will be seen that there can be 
 no secrets in nature. The individual whose brain and 
 being throbs with desire and intent to commit crime, or who 
 has committed it, imparts this mental and physical condi- 
 tion to everything in his environment. All nature records 
 through molecular reciprocity these facts, and eventually it 
 will be seen that a very large class of mediumistic mind can 
 catch these vibrations, as easily as the average human 
 
42 SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 
 
 catches malignant disease. Both states are transferred by 
 principles of electro molecular induction. 
 
 INFINITUDE IS AN X-RAY OF SPIRITUAL CO-RELATIONS. 
 
 And upon the sublime data of these truths we affirm life 
 and individual consciousness beyond the grave. The rela- 
 tion the spiritual ego holds to the earth plane, is based 
 upon nature s eternal principle of molecular reciprocity. 
 This is the relation held as we have seen, between sub- 
 stance and matter, and form in process of evolution in all 
 the realms of the known universe. And this same truth 
 extends to spheres immortal and co-relates individual con- 
 sciousness to consciousness on the mortal plane. The 
 analysis of every truth in physical science attests this fact, 
 and in the demonstrations of nature's phenomena, none are 
 more thoroughly proved than this. The same principles of 
 deductive reasoning and inductive demonstration, that 
 establishes any fact in science and philosophy, will prove 
 this truth as included in nature's equations and in her 
 mathematics of reciprocal energies. And the reason why 
 it has not been discovered before, is because ecclesiasticism 
 and oriental dogmas, called religion, have sought to estab- 
 lish life beyond the grave in supernature, thereby inviting 
 its devotees to believe a lie and a cosmic impossibility, as 
 a basis of morality here, and a ransomed life hereafter. 
 These two systems of thought are as antipodel as the known, 
 and the demonstrable are to the unknown and impossible. 
 The philosophy of The Spiritualism of Nature has no rela- 
 tion to these vagaries of the Orient. The principles of 
 affinity, of co-relation and spiritual reciprocity, uniting all 
 cosmic realms was a fact before the gods of mythology and 
 immaculately conceived Saviours were known to human 
 consciousness. The mathematics of nature and her inex- 
 orable principles made "The Spiritualism of Nature " a 
 truth, and life beyond the physical form a fact, and co-re- 
 
SPIRITUALISM OF NATURE. 43 
 
 lated it to the earth plane, before Bibles, Sacred Cosmog- 
 onies and religious formula had been invented to enslave 
 the human intellect. These two systems are as diverse as 
 the poles of our solar system. They cannot be interblended, 
 and all effort in that direction during the last half century 
 has proved abortive. You cannot weave into a principle 
 of nature a fetich of supernature. The religion of Chris- 
 tianity and the pagan ideals from which it was taken, have 
 been a blight in every age and filled the world with discord, 
 misery, and agony. Its postulates are at variance with 
 known data, and elude analysis. The Spiritualism of 
 Nature when understood liberates the intellect, extends 
 the boundaries of human knowledge, unites in more frater- 
 nal union the efforts of mankind, broadens the channels of 
 charity, binds us to those we love here in stronger bonds of 
 human sympathy, lifts the veil of superstition disclosing a 
 spiritual infinitude, where continued individual existence 
 and progression, is nature s free gift to the sons and daugh- 
 ters of mankind. 
 
i.ki!.5,S£. RY of congress 
 
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