CLAIRVOYANCE OF THE PAST
The third great class of clairvoyant phenomena, known as Time Clairvoyance, is divided into two sub-classes, as follows: (1) Past-Time Clairvoyance; and (2) Future-Time Clairvoyance. The characteristics of each of these sub-classes is indicated by its name.
Past-Time Clairvoyance, as indicated by the name, is that class of clairvoyant phenomena which is concerned with the perception of facts, events and happenings of past time. Whether the happening is that of five minutes ago, or of five thousand years ago, the principles involved are precisely the same. One is no more or less wonderful than is the other.
Many students confess themselves perplexed when they are first confronted with this class of phenomena. While they find it comparatively easy to see how by astral vision the clairvoyant is able to sense events happening at that moment, though thousands of miles away from the observer, they cannot at first understand how one can "see" a thing no longer in existence, but which disappeared from sight thousands of years ago. Naturally, they ask to be informed how this is possible, before proceeding to develop the faculty itself. Believing that this question is now being asked by you, the student of these lessons, I shall pause for a few moments and show you "just how" this wonderful thing becomes possible to the clairvoyant.
In the first place, it would undoubtedly be impossible to perceive a thing, even by astral vision, if it had entirely disappeared at some time in the past—this would be beyond all natural powers, astral as well as physical. But, as a matter of fact, the things of the past have not entirely disappeared, but, on the contrary, while having disappeared on the physical plane they still exist on the astral plane. I shall endeavor to explain this wonderful fact of nature to you in plain terms, although it belongs to one of the most mysterious classes of the occult facts of the universe.
In the occult teachings we find many references to "the Akashic Records," or what is sometimes called "the records of the Astral Light." Without going into technical occult definitions and explanations, I will say to you that the gist of this occult teaching is that in that high form of the universal substance which is called the Universal Ether there is found to be recorded all the happenings of the entire World Cycle of which the present time is a part. All that has happened from the very beginning of this World Cycle, millions of years ago, is preserved on these astral records, and may be read by the advanced clairvoyant or other person possessing occult powers of this kind. These records perish only with the termination of a World Cycle, which will not happen for millions of years yet to come.
To those who cannot accept the reasonableness of this occult fact, I would say that there are analogies to be found on other planes of natural manifestation. For instance, as astronomy teaches us, a star may be blotted out of existence, and yet its light will persist long after (perhaps until the end of world-time) traveling along at the rate of 186,000 miles each second. The light that we now see coming from the distant stars has left those stars many years ago—in some cases thousands of years ago. We see them not as they are now, but as they were at the time the ray of light left them, many years ago; The astronomers inform us that if one of these stars had been [*Transcribers Note: Text missing from original] sands) of years ago, we would still see it as in actual existence. In fact, it is believed that some of these stars which we see twinkling at night have actually been blotted out hundreds of years ago. We will not be aware of this fact until the light rays suddenly cease reaching us, after their journey of billions of miles and hundreds of years. A star blotted out of existence today would be seen by our children, and children's children.
The heat from a stove will be felt in a room long after the stove has been removed from it. A room will long contain the odor of something that has been removed from it. It is said that in one of the old mosques of Persia there may be perceived the faint odor of the musk that was exposed there hundreds of years ago—the very walls are saturated with the pungent odor. Again, is it not wonderful that our memories preserve the images of the sounds and forms which were placed there perhaps fifty years and more ago? How do these memory images survive and exist? Though we may have thought of the past thing for half a lifetime, yet, suddenly its image flashes into our consciousness. Surely this is as wonderful as the Akashic Records, though its "commonness" makes it lose its wonderful appearance to us.
Camille Flammarion, the eminent French astronomer, in a book written over twenty-five years ago, and which is now out of print, I believe, pictured a possible condition of affairs in which a disembodied soul would be able to perceive events that happened in the past, by simply taking a position in space in which he would be able to catch the light-waves that emanated from a distant planet at that particular time in the past the happenings of which he wanted to perceive. The little book was called "Lumen"—I advise you to read it, if you can find it in your public libraries.
Another writer has written somewhat along the same lines. I herewith give you a quotation from him, that you may get the idea he wishes to express—it will help you in your conception of the Akashic Records. He says: "When we see anything, whether it be the book we hold in our hands, or a star millions of miles away, we do so by means of a vibration in the ether, commonly called a ray of light, which passes from the object seen to our eyes. Now the speed with which this vibration passes is so great—about 186,000 miles in a second—that when we are considering any object in our own world we may regard it as practically instantaneous. When, however, we come to deal with interplanetary distances we have to take the speed of light into consideration, for an appreciable period is occupied in traversing these vast spaces. For example, it takes eight minutes and a quarter for light to travel to us from the sun, so that when we look at the solar orb we see it by means of a ray of light which left it more than eight minutes ago. From this follows a very curious result. The ray of light by which we see the sun can obviously report to us only the state of affairs' which existed in that luminary when it started on its journey, and would not be in the least affected by anything that happened after it left; so that we really see the sun not as it is, but as it was eight minutes ago. That is to say that if anything important took place in the sun—the formation of a new sun-spot, for instance—an astronomer who was watching the orb through his telescope at the time would be unaware of the incident while it was happening, since the ray of light bearing the news would not reach him until more than eight minutes later.
"The difference is more striking when we consider the fixed stars, because in their case the distances are so enormously greater. The pole star, for example, is so far off that light, traveling at the inconceivable speed above mentioned, takes a little more than fifty years to reach our eyes; and from that follows the strange but inevitable inference that we see the pole star not as or where it is at this moment, but as and where it was fifty years ago. Nay, if tomorrow some cosmic catastrophe were to shatter the pole star into fragments, we should still see it peacefully shining in the sky all the rest of our lives; our children would grow up to middle-age and gather their children about them in turn before the news of that tremendous accident reached any terrestial eye. In the same way there are other stars so far distant that light takes thousands of years to travel from them to us, and with reference to their condition our information is therefore thousands of years behind time. Now carry the argument a step farther. Suppose that we were able to place a man at the distance of 186,000 miles from the earth, and yet to endow him with the wonderful faculty of being able from that distance to see what was happening here as clearly as though he were still close beside us. It is evident that a man so placed would see everything a second after the time it really happened, and so at the present moment he would be seeing what happened a second ago. Double that distance, and he would be two seconds behind time, and so on; remove him to the distance of the sun (still allowing him to preserve the same mysterious power of sight) and he would look down and watch you doing not what you are doing now, but what you were doing eight minutes and a quarter ago. Carry him to the pole star, and he would see passing before his eyes the events of fifty years ago; he would be watching the childish gambols of those who at the same moment were really middle-aged men. Marvellous as this may sound, it is literally and scientifically true, and cannot be denied."
Flammarion, in his story, called "Lumen," makes his spirit hero pass at will along the ray of light from the earth, seeing the things of different eras of earth-time. He even made him travel backward along that ray, thus seeing the happenings in reverse order, as in a moving picture running backward. This story is of the greatest interest to the occultist, for while the Akashic Records are not the same as the light records, yet the analogy is so marked in many ways that the occultist sees here another exemplification of the old occult axiom that "as above, so below; as below, so above."
I take the liberty of quoting here from my little book, "The Astral World," in order to give you some further idea of the nature of these records in the Astral Light. The reader is supposed to be travelling in his astral body, having the phenomena of the astral pointed out to him by a competent occultist acting as his guide. The occultist-guide says to the student: "Changing our vibrations, we find ourselves entering a strange region, the nature of which you at first fail to discern. Pausing a moment until your astral vision becomes attuned to the peculiar vibrations of this region, you will find that you are becoming gradually aware of what may be called an immense picture gallery, spreading out in all directions, and apparently bearing a direct relation to every point of space on the surface of the earth. At first, you find it difficult to decipher the meaning of this great array of pictures. The trouble arises from the fact that they are arranged not one after the other in sequence on a flat plane; but rather in sequence, one after another, in a peculiar order which may be called the order of 'X-ness in space,' because it is neither the dimension of length, breadth, or depth—it is practically the order of the fourth dimension in space, which cannot be described in terms of ordinary spatial dimension. Again, you find upon closely examining the pictures that they are very minute—practically microscopic in size—and require the use of the peculiar magnifying power of astral vision to bring them up to a size capable of being recognized by your faculty of visual recognition.
"The astral vision, when developed, is capable of magnifying any object, material or astral, to an enormous degree—for instance, the trained occultist is able to perceive the whirling atoms and corpuscles of matter, by means of this peculiarity of astral vision. Likewise, he is able to plainly perceive many fine vibrations of light which are invisible to the ordinary sight. In fact, the peculiar Astral Light which pervades this region is due to the power of the astral vision to perceive and register these fine vibrations of light. Bring this power of magnifying into operation, and you will see that each of the little points and details of the great world picture so spread before you in the Astral Light is really a complete scene of a certain place on earth, at a certain period in the history of the earth. It resembles one of the small views in a series of moving pictures—a single view of a roll-film. It is fixed, and not in motion, and yet we can move forward along the fourth dimension, and thus obtain a moving picture of the history of any point on the surface of the earth, or even combine the various points into a large moving picture, in the same way. Let us prove this by actual experiment. Close your eyes for a moment, while we travel back in time (so to speak) along the series of these astral records—for, indeed, they travel back to the beginning of the history of the earth. Now open your eyes! Looking around you, you perceive the pictured representation of strange scenes filled with persons wearing a peculiar garb—but all is still, no life, no motion.
"Now, let us move forward in time, at much higher rate than that in which the astral views were registered. You now see flying before you the great movement of life on a certain point of space, in a far distant age. From birth to death you see the life of these strange people, all in the space of a few moments. Great battles are fought, and cities rise before your eyes, all in a great moving picture flying at a tremendous speed. Now stop, and then let us move backward in time, still gazing at the moving pictures. You see a strange sight, like that of 'reversing the film' in a moving picture. You see everything moving backward—cities crumbling into nothingness, men arising from their graves, and growing younger each second until they are finally born as babes—everything moving backward in time, instead of forward. You can thus witness any great historical event, or follow the career of any great personage from birth to death—or backward. You will notice, moreover, that everything is semi-transparent, and that accordingly you can see the picture of what is going on inside of buildings as well as outside of them. Nothing escapes the Astral Light Records. Nothing can be concealed from it. By traveling to any point in time, on the fourth dimension, you may begin at that point, and see a moving picture of the history of any part of the earth from that time to the present—or you may reverse the sequence by travelling backward, as we have seen. You may also travel in the Astral, on ordinary space dimensions, and thus see what happened simultaneously all over the earth, at any special moment of past-time, if you wish."
Now, I do not for a moment wish you to understand that the above experience is possible to every clairvoyant who is able to sense past-time events and happenings. On the contrary, the above experience is possible only to the advanced occultist, or to the student whom he may take with him on an astral trip, in the astral body. The clairvoyant merely catches glimpses of certain phases and fields of the great astral record region or state. For that matter, the ordinary clairvoyant merely sees a reflection of the true Astral-Light pictures—a reflection similar to that of a landscape reflected in a pond. Moreover, this reflection may be (and frequently is) disturbed as if by the ripples and waves of the pond in which the landscape is reflected. But, still, even the ordinary clairvoyant is able to secure results which are wonderful enough in all truth, and which far transcend the power of the person functioning on the physical plane alone.
Past-time clairvoyance is frequently induced by means of psychometry, in which the clairvoyant is able to have "the loose end" to unwind the ball of time. But, still, in some cases the clairvoyant is able to get en rapport with the astral records of past-time by the ordinary methods of meditation, etc. The main obstacle in the last mentioned case is the difficulty of coming in contact with the exact period of past-time sought for—in psychometry, the vibrations of the "associated object" supplies the missing-link.
Lacking the "associated object," the clairvoyant may obtain the link by bringing into the imagination some associated scene of that time—something else that happened about the same time. All that is needed is to get hold of something associated in space or in time with the sought for scene. All that is needed is the "loose end" of association. Sometimes the clairvoyant senses some past-time experience, the place and time of which is unknown to him. In such cases, it is necessary for him to get hold of some "loose end" by which he may work out the solution. For instance, the picture of a certain building or personage, or historical happening, may give the key to the mystery.
In very high forms of past-time clairvoyance, the clairvoyant is able not only to perceive the actual happenings of the past, but also to actually sense the thought and feelings of the actors therein—for these, too, are recorded on the astral plane. In other cases, the clairvoyant person is able to picture scenes and happenings relating to his past incarnations, even though he is not able to sense other past-time events and scenes. But, here again, many good past-time clairvoyants are not able to catch these glimpses of their own past lives, though able to perceive those of other persons. All these variations are due to certain technical differences into which I cannot go into detail at this place. Again some persons are able to perceive events that have happened to persons present before them, but are not able to contact past-time events in the ordinary way. There are a thousand-and-one variations in clairvoyant work. Only the highly advanced occultist is master of all of them. But, still every one may develop himself or herself, from humble beginnings.
In concluding this lesson, I wish to call your attention to the following advice from a man well advanced in the knowledge of the astral plane. He says: "It would be well for all students to bear in mind that occultism is the apotheosis of common-sense, and that every vision that comes to them is not necessarily a picture from the Akashic Records, nor every experience a revelation from on high. It is far better to err on the side of healthy skepticism, than of over-credulity, and it is an admirable rule never to hunt about for an occult explanation of anything when a plain and obvious physical one is available. Our duty is to endeaveor to keep our balance always, and never to lose our self-control, but to take a reasonable, common-sense view of whatever may happen to us, so that we may be wiser occultists, and more useful helpers than we have ever been before.
"We find examples of all degrees of the power to see into this 'memory of nature,' from the trained man who can consult the records for himself at will, down to the person who gets nothing but occasional vague glimpses, or has perhaps had only once such glimpse. But even the man who possesses this faculty only partially and occasionally still finds it of the deepest interest. The psychometer, who needs an object physically connected with the past in order to bring it all into life again around him; and the crystal-gazer who can sometimes direct his less certain astral telescope to some historic scene of long ago, may both derive the greatest enjoyment from the exercise of their respective gifts, even though they may not always understand exactly how their results are obtained, and may not have them fully under control under all circumstances.
"In many cases of the lower manifestations of these powers we find that they are exercised unconsciously. Many a crystal-gazer watches scenes from the past without being able to distinguish them from visions of the present. And many a vaguely-psychic person finds pictures constantly arising before his eyes, without ever realizing that he is in effect psychometrizing the various objects around him, as he happens to touch them or stand near them. An interesting variant of this class of psychics is the man who is able to psychometrize persons only, and not inanimate objects as is more usual. In most cases this faculty shows itself erratically, so that such a psychic will, when introduced to a stranger, often see in a flash some prominent event in that stranger's earlier life, but on similar occasions will receive no special impression. More rarely we meet with someone who gets detailed visions of the past life of nearly everyone whom he encounters. It may easily happen, moreover, that a person may see a picture of the past without recognizing it as such, unless there happens to be in it something which attracts special attention, such as a figure in armor, or in antique costume. Its probable, therefore, that occasional glimpses of these astral reflections of the akashic records are commoner than the published accounts would lead us to believe."
I would say to my students, make haste slowly. Do not try to rush development too rapidly. Perfect and develop yourself in one line of psychic power, before seeking another. Take things cooly, and do not lose your head because you happen to achieve some wonderful phenomena. Do not become conceited and vain-glorious. And, finally, do not prostitute your powers to ignoble ends, and make a cheap show of them. By cheapening and prostituting the higher psychic powers, the student frequently ends by losing them altogether. Moderation in all things is the safe policy. And it always is well for the occultist to resist temptation to use his powers for unworthy, sensational, or purely selfish purposes.
CLAIRVOYANCE OF THE FUTURE
Future-Time Clairvoyance, as indicated by its name, is that class of clairvoyant phenomena which is concerned with the perception of facts, events and happenings of future time. In this class of clairvoyant phenomena naturally fall all genuine cases of prophecy, prevision, foretelling, second-sight, etc. History, theological and secular, is filled with instances of the foretelling of the future by prophets, wise men, and others. By many, such powers are generally regarded as supernatural or divine. Without wishing to combat such theories and beliefs, I would say that the advanced occultists account for all such phenomena under the general laws of clairvoyance.
But while the phenomena itself is very well known, and is accepted as genuine in even many cases in which past-time clairvoyance is doubted, still it is even more difficult to explain than is past-time clairvoyance based on the Akashic Records or the Astral Light. To the person not well versed in occult knowledge, and esoteric principles, it is deemed impossible to intelligently account for the perception of an event before it has actually happened—perhaps years before its actual happening. While I cannot hope to make this matter absolutely clear to the person who is not an advanced student of occultism, still I shall try to throw at least some light on the underlying principles of this wonderful class of occult phenomena. The main point for the student to realize is that there are natural laws underlying this phenomenon, and that it is not a matter of supernatural power, or necessarily of divine special dispensation.
In the first place, in some of the simpler forms of future-time clairvoyance, there is merely a high development of subconscious reasoning from analogy. That is to say, the subconscious mental faculties of the person reason out that such-and-so being the case, then it follows that so-and-so will result, unless something entirely unexpected should prevent or intervene. This is merely an extension of certain forms of reasoning that we perform ordinarily. For instance, we see a child playing with a sharp tool, and we naturally reason that it will cut itself. We see a man acting in certain ways which generally lead to certain ends, and we naturally reason that the expected result will occur. The more experience that the observer has had, and the keener his faculty of perception and his power of deductive reasoning, the wider will be the range of his power in the direction of predicting future results from present happenings and conditions.
In this connection, we must remember that the ordinary clairvoyant has easier access to his subconscious mentality than has the average person. The subconscious mind perceives and notes many little things that the conscious mind overlooks, and therefore has better data from which to reason. Moreover, as all students of the subconscious know, these wonderful subconscious mental factulties have a very highly developed power of reasoning deductively from a given premise or fact. In fact, the subconscious faculties are almost perfect reasoning machines, providing they are supplied with correct data in the first place. Much of the so-called "intuitive reasoning" of persons arises from the operations of the subconscious mental faculties just mentioned.
But, you may say, this is very interesting, but it is not clairvoyance. Certainly, good student, but still clairvoyance plays an important part even in this elementary form of prevision and future-seeing. You must remember that by clairvoyant vision the real thoughts and feelings of a person may be perceived. But, unless the attention of the clairvoyant is specially directed to this, the conscious mind does not note it, and the matter reaches the subconscious faculties without interference or conscious knowledge on the part of the clairvoyant. This being so, it will be seen that the subconscious mind of the clairvoyant is able to reason deductively, in such cases, far beyond the power of even the subconscious mind of the ordinary person—it has fuller data and more complete material to work upon, of course.
It has become a proverb of the race that "coming events cast their shadows before"; and many persons frequently have little flashes of future-time seeing without realizing that they are really exercising elementary clairvoyant powers. The combination of even a simple form of clairvoyance and an active subconscious mind will often produce very wonderful results—although not of course the more complex phenomena of full clairvoyance and prevision. Some persons have claimed that even this form of prevision implies something like fate or predestination, but this is not fully true, for we must remember the fact that in some cases it is possible to so act in accordance with a clairvoyant warning of this kind that the impending calamity may be escaped. But, on the other hand, we must also remember that every event is the result of certain preceding events, without which it could not have happened, and which existing it must happen unless some new element intervenes. There is such a thing as cause and effect, we must remember—and if we can reason clearly from one to the other with sufficient clearness, then we may actually prophesy certain things in advance, always making allowance for the intervention of the unexpected.
An authority says on this phase of the question: "There is no doubt whatever that, just as what is happening now is the result of causes set in motion in the past, so what will happen in the future will be the result of causes already in operation. Even on this plane of life we can calculate that if certain actions are performed, certain results will follow; but our reckoning is constantly liable to be disturbed by the interference of factors which we have not been able to take into account. But if we raise our consciousness to the higher planes we can see much further into the results of our actions. We can trace, for example, the effect of a casual word, not only upon the person to whom it was addressed, but through him on many others as it is passed on in widening circles, until it seems to have affected the whole country; and one glimpse of such a vision is more efficient than any number of moral precepts in impressing upon us the necessity of extreme circumspection in thought, word, and deed. Not only can we from that plane see thus fully the result of every action, but we can also see where and in what way the results of other actions apparently quite unconnected with it will interfere with and modify it. In fact, it may be said that the results of all causes at present in action are clearly visible—that the future, as it would be if no entirely new causes should arise, lies open before our gaze.
"New causes of course do arise, because man's will is free; but in the case of all ordinary people the use which they make of their freedom may be calculated beforehand with considerable accuracy. The average man has so little real will that he is very much the creature of circumstances; his action in previous lives places him amid certain surroundings, and their influence upon him is so very much the most important factor in his life-story that his future course may be predicted with almost mathematical certainty. With the developed man the case is different; for him also the main events of life are arranged by his past actions, but the way in which he will allow them to affect him, the methods by which he will deal with them and perhaps triumph over them—these are all his own, and they cannot be foreseen even on the mental plane except as probabilities.
"Looking down on man's life in this way from above, it seems as though his free will could be exercised only in certain crises in his career. He arrives at a point in his life where there are obviously two or three alternative courses open before him; he is absolutely free to choose which of them he pleases, and although someone who knew his nature thoroughly well might feel almost certain what his choice would be, such knowledge on his friend's part is in no sense a compelling force. But when he has chosen, he has to go through with it and take the consequences; having entered upon a particular path he may, in many cases, be forced to go on for a very long time before he has any opportunity to turn aside. His position is somewhat like that of a driver of a train; when he comes to a junction he may have the points set either this way or that, and so can pass on to whichever line he pleases, but when he has passed on to one of them he is compelled to run on along the line which he has selected until he reaches another set of points, where again an opportunity of choice is offered to him."
But, interesting and wonderful as this phase of future-time clairvoyance undoubtedly is, it pales before the fuller and more complete phases. And, in the latter, we must look elsewhere for the explanation—or approach to an explanation. The explanation of this higher form of future-time clairvoyance must be looked for in a new conception of the nature and meaning of time. It is difficult to approach this question without becoming at once involved in technical metaphysical discussion. As an example of this difficulty, I invite you to consider the following from Sir Oliver Lodge, in his address to the British Association, at Cardiff, several years ago. While what he says is very clear to the mind of a person trained along these lines of subtle thought, it will be almost like Greek to the average person. Sir Oliver Lodge said:
"A luminous and helpful idea is that time is but a relative mode of regarding things; we progress through phenomena at a certain definite pace, and this subjective advance we interpret in an objective manner, as if events moved necessarily in this order and at this precise rate. But that may be only one mode of regarding them. The events may be in some sense of existence always, both past and future, and it may be we who are arriving at them, not they which are happening. The analogy of a traveller in a railway train is useful; if he could never leave the train nor alter its pace he would probably consider the landscapes as necessarily successive and be unable to conceive their co-existence * * * We perceive, therefore, a possible fourth dimensional aspect about time, the inexorableness of whose flow may be a natural part of our present limitations. And if we once grasp the idea that past and future may be actually existing, we can recognize that they may have a controlling influence on all present action, and the two together may constitute the 'higher plane' or totality of things after which, as it seems to me, we are impelled to seek, in connection with the directing of form or determinism, and the action of living being consciously directed to a definite and preconceived end."
Sir Oliver's illustration is somewhat akin to that of a person who sees a moving-picture show for the first time, and does not know how it is produced. To him it looks as if the events of the pictured story actually were developing and happening in time, whereas, in reality the whole picture is existing at one time. Its past, present and future is already pictured, and may be seen by one who knows the secret and how to look for the past or future scene; while, to the ordinary observer, the scene progresses in sequence, the present being followed by something else which is at this moment "in the future," and therefore, unknowable. To the senses of the ordinary observer only the present is in existence; while, in fact, the "future" is equally truly in existence at the same time, although not evident to the senses of the observer. Think over this a little, and let the idea sink into your mind—it may help you to understand something concerning the mystery of future-time clairvoyance, prevision, or second-sight.
Time, you know, is far more relative than we generally conceive it. It is a scientific fact that a person in the dream state may cover years of time in a dream that occupies only a few seconds of time. Persons have nodded and awakened immediately afterwards (as proved by others present in the room), and yet in that moment's time they have dreamed of long journeys to foreign lands, great campaigns of war, etc. Moreover, a loud sound (a pistol shot, for instance) which has awakened a sleeping person, has also set into effect a dream-state train of circumstances, constituting a long dream-state story which, after many events and happenings, terminated in the shot of a firing-squad—and then the man awoke. Now in this last mentioned case, not only has the dreamer experienced events covering a long time, all in the space of a second of time; but, also, the very sound which terminated the dream, also induced it from the very beginning—the last thing caused the first things to appear and proceed in sequence to the last! Persons under the influence of chloroform, or "laughing gas," have similar experiences—often the first sound heard at the moment of recovering consciousness seems to be the last thing in a long dream which preceded it, though the long dream was really caused by the final sound. Now, remember, that here not only did past, present and future exist at the same moment of time; but, also, the future caused the past and present to come into being.
On the physical plane, we have analogies illustrating this fact. It is said that in every acorn rests and exists, in miniature, the form of the future oak. And, some go so far as to say that the oak is the "ultimate cause" of the acorn—that the idea of the oak caused the acorn to be at all. In the same way, the "idea" of the man must be in the infant boy, from the moment of birth, and even from the moment of conception. But, let us pass on to the bold conception of the most advanced metaphysicians—they have a still more dazzling explanation, let us listen to it.
These occultists and metaphysicians who have thought long and deeply upon the ultimate facts and nature of the universe, have dared to think that there must exist some absolute consciousness—some absolute mind—which must perceive the past, present and future of the universe as one happening; as simultaneously and actively present at one moment of absolute time. They reason that just as man may see as one happening of a moment of his time some particular event which might appear as a year to some minute form of life and mind—the microscopic creatures in a drop of water, for instance; so that which seems as a year, or a hundred years, to the mind of man may appear as the happening of a single moment of a higher scale of time to some exalted Being or form of consciousness on a higher plane. You remember that it is said that "a thousand years is but as a day to the Lord;" and the Hindu Vedas tell us that "the creation, duration, and destruction of the universe, is as but the time of the twinkling of an eye to Brahman." I shall not proceed further along this line—I have given you a very strong hint here; you must work it out for yourself, if you feel so disposed. But there are certain consequences arising from this ultimate universal fact, which I must mention before passing on.
The high occult teachings hold that there is a plane of the higher astral world which may be said to carry a reflection of the Universal Mind—just as a lake contains a reflection of the distant mountain. Well, then, the clairvoyant vision at times is able to penetrate to the realm of that astral reflecting medium, and see somewhat dimly what is pictured there. As the future may be discerned in this reflected picture, by the clairvoyant mind, we see how future-seeing, prevision, and second-sight may be explained scientifically.
A writer has said: "On this plane, in some manner which down here is totally inexplicable, the past, the present, and the future, are all there existing simultaneously. One can only accept this fact, for its cause lies in the faculty of that exalted plane, and the way in which this higher faculty works is naturally quite incomprehensible to the physical brain. Yet now and then one may meet with a hint that seems to bring us a trifle nearer to a dim possibility of comprehension. When the pupil's consciousness is fully developed upon this higher plane, therefore, perfect prevision is possible to him, though he may not—nay, he certainly will not—be able to bring the whole result of his sight through fully and in order into his physical consciousness. Still, a great deal of clear foresight is obviously within his power whenever he likes to exercise it; and even when he is not exercising it, frequent flashes of foreknowledge come through into his ordinary life, so that he often has an instantaneous intuition as to how things will turn out."
The same writer says: "Short of perfect prevision we find that all degrees of this type of clairvoyance exist, from the occasional vague premonitions which cannot in any true sense be called sight at all, up to frequent and fairly complete second-sight. The faculty to which this latter somewhat misleading name has been given is an extremely interesting one, and would well repay more careful and systematic study than has hitherto been given to it. It is best known to us as a not infrequent possession of the Scottish Highlanders, though it is by no means confined to them. Occasional instances of it have appeared in almost every nation, but it has always been commonest among mountaineers and men of lonely life. With us in England it is often spoken of as if it were the exclusive appanage of the Celtic race, but in reality it has appeared among similarly situated peoples the world over, it is stated, for example, to be very common among the Westphalian peasantry.
"Sometimes the second-sight consists of a picture clearly foreshowing some coming event; more frequently, perhaps, the glimpse of the future is given in some symbolical appearance. It is noteworthy that the events foreseen are invariably unpleasant ones—death being the commonest of all; I do not recollect a single instance in which the second-sight has shown anything which was not of the most gloomy nature. It has a ghastly symbolism of its own—a symbolism of shrouds and corpse-candles, and other funeral horrors. In some cases it appears to be to a certain extent dependent upon locality, for it is stated that inhabitants of the Isle of Skye who possess the faculty often lose it when they leave the island, even though it be only to cross to the mainland. The gift of such sight is sometimes hereditary in a family for generations, but this is not an invariable rule, for it often appears sporadically in one member of a family otherwise free from its lugubrious influence.
"There may be still some people who deny the possibility of prevision, but such denial simply shows their ignorance of the evidence on the subject. The large number of authenticated cases leave no room for doubt as to the fact, but many of them are of such a nature as to render a reasonable explanation by no means easy to find. It is evident that the Ego possesses a certain amount of previsional faculty, and if the events foreseen were always of great importance, one might suppose that an extraordinary stimulus had enabled him for that occasion only to make a clear impression of what he saw upon his lower personality. No doubt that is the explanation of many of the cases in which death or grave disaster is foreseen, but there are a large number of instances on record to which it does not seem to apply, since the events foretold are frequently trivial and unimportant."
In the following chapter I shall present to your consideration some very remarkable cases of future-time clairvoyance, prevision, or second-sight; some of these are historical cases, and all are vouched for by the best authorities. I quote these cases not merely for their own interesting features, but also to give you an idea of how remarkable some of these instances are; and also to give you a clear conception of the way in which this form of clairvoyance tends to manifest itself.
Before passing on to these interesting cases, however, I wish to remind you that in future-time clairvoyance, as well as in past-time clairvoyance, the phenomenon may be manifested in many ways and according to several methods. That is to say, that in future-time clairvoyance the vision may come in the state of meditation or reverie; it may come along the lines of psychometry, some associated object or person supplying the connecting link; or, again, it may come as the result of crystal-gazing, etc. This is as we might naturally expect, for this form of clairvoyance is merely one special and particular phase of clairvoyance in general, and of course, comes under the general laws and rules governing all clairvoyant phenomena.
Future-time clairvoyance, prevision and second-sight may, like any other form of clairvoyance, be developed and unfolded, by means of the same rules and methods that I have already suggested to you in the preceding lessons. It is all a matter of attention, application, patience, exercise and practice. I may say, however, that the strong desire and wish for the perception of future events, held firmly in mind during the practicing and exercising, will tend to unfold and develop the clairvoyant faculties in this particular direction. Strong desire, and earnest attention in the desired direction, will do much to cultivate, develop and unfold any psychic faculty.
Just as meditation and reverie about past times and things tend to develop past-time clairvoyance, so will meditation and reverie about future time and things tend to develop prevision and the seeing of future things. This, indeed, is the very first step toward the attainment of this form of clairvoyance. The attention clears the psychic path, over which the astral faculties travel. In the astral, as on the physical, the rule is: always look where you are going—look ahead on the path over which you wish to travel.
SECOND-SIGHT, PREVISION, ETC.
Notwithstanding the difficulties in the way of an intelligent explanation of the phenomena of future-time clairvoyance, second-sight, prevision, etc., of which I have spoken in the preceding lesson, the human race has always had a lively reminder of the existence of such phenomena; and the records of the race have always contained many instances of the manifestation thereof. Among all peoples, in all lands, in all times, there have been noted remarkable instances of the power of certain persons to peer into, and correctly report from, the mysterious regions of the future. Passing from the traditional reports of the race, and the minor instances known to almost every person, we find that the scientific investigators of psychic phenomena have gathered together an enormous array of well authenticated cases of this class. The reports of the Society for Psychical research contain hundreds of such cases, which the student may read and study with interest and profit.
It is not my intention to present a full history of the reports of this character. Rather, I shall call your attention to a few striking cases, in order to illustrate the phenomenon clearly and forcibly. There is such a wealth of material of this kind that it embarrases one who wishes to select from it. However, I shall do the best I can in that direction. Following, to commence with, I give you extracts from a well known case reported by a prominent member of the Theosophical Society, which has attracted much attention. It was related to this person by one of the actors in the scene. It happened in India. A party of English army officers was entering a dense jungle. Then follows the story, as below:
"We plunged into the jungle, and had walked on for about an hour without much success, when Cameron, who happened to be next to me, stopped suddenly, turned pale as death, and, pointing straight before him, cried in accents of horror: 'See! see! merciful heavens, look there!' 'Where? what? what is it?' we all shouted confusedly, as we rushed up to him, and looked around in expectation of encountering a tiger—a cobra—we hardly knew what, but assuredly something terrible, since it had been sufficient to cause such evident emotion in our usually self-contained comrade. But neither tiger nor cobra was visible—nothing but Cameron pointing with ghastly haggard face and starting eyeballs at something we could not see.
"'Cameron! Cameron!' cried I, seizing his arm, 'for heavens sake speak! What is the matter?' Scarcely were the words out of my mouth when a low but very peculiar sound struck upon my ear, and Cameron, dropping his pointing hand, said in a hoarse, strained voice, 'There! you heard it? Thank God it's over!' and fell to the ground insensible. There was a momentary confusion while we unfastened his collar, and I dashed in his face some water which I fortunately had in my flask, while another tried to pour brandy between his clenched teeth; and under cover of it I whispered to the man next to me (one of our greatest skeptics, by the way), 'Beauchamp, did you hear anything?' 'Why, yes,' he replied, 'a curious sound, very; a sort of crash or rattle far away in the distance, yet very distinct; if the thing were not utterly impossible, I could have sworn that it was the rattle of musketry.' 'Just my impression,' murmured I; 'but hush! he is recovering.'
"In a minute or two he was able to speak feebly, and began to thank us and apologize for giving trouble; and soon he sat up, leaning against a tree, and in a firm, though low voice said: 'My dear friends, I feel that I owe you an explanation of my extraordinary behavior. It is an explanation that I would fain avoid giving; but it must come some time, and so may as well be given now. You may perhaps have noticed that when during our voyage you all joined in scoffing at dreams, portents and visions, I invariably avoided giving any opinion on the subject. I did so because, while I had no desire to court ridicule or provoke discussion, I was unable to agree with you, knowing only too well from my own dread experience that the world which men agree to call that of the supernatural is just as real as—nay, perhaps even more real than—this world we see about us. In other words, I, like many of my countrymen, am cursed with the gift of second-sight—that awful faculty which foretells in vision calamities that are shortly to occur.
"'Such a vision I had just now, and its exceptional horror moved me as you have seen. I saw before me a corpse—not that of one who has died a peaceful, natural death, but that of the victim of some terrible accident; a ghastly, shapeless mass, with a face swollen, crushed, unrecognizable. I saw this dreadful object placed in a coffin, and the funeral service performed over it. I saw the burial-ground, I saw the clergyman: and though I had never seen either before, I can picture both perfectly in my mind's eye now; I saw you, myself, Beauchamp, all of us and many more, standing round as mourners; I saw the soldiers raise their muskets after the service was over; I heard the volley they fired—and then I knew no more.' As he spoke of that volley of musketry I glanced across with a shudder at Beauchamp, and the look of stony horror on that handsome skeptic's face was not to be forgotten."
Omitting the somewhat long recital of events which followed, I would say that later in the same day the party of young officers and soldiers discovered the body of their commanding officer in the shocking condition so vividly and graphically described by young Cameron. The story proceeds as follows:
"When, on the following evening, we arrived at our destination, and our melancholy deposition had been taken down by the proper authorities, Cameron and I went out for a quiet walk, to endeavor with the assistance of the soothing influence of nature to shake off something of the gloom which paralyzed our spirits. Suddenly he clutched my arm, and, pointing through some rude railings, said in a trembling voice, 'Yes, there it is! that is the burial-ground of yesterday.' And, when later on we were introduced to the chaplain of the post, I noticed, though my friends did not, the irrepressible shudder with which Cameron took his hand, and I knew that he had recognized the clergyman of his vision."
The story concludes with the statement that in all the little details, as well as the main points, the scene at the burial of the commanding officer corresponded exactly with the vision of Cameron. This story brings out the fact that the Scotch people are especially given to manifestations of second-sight—particularly the Highlanders or mountain people of that land. It is hard to find a Scotchman, who, in his heart, does not believe in second-sight, and who has not known of some well authenticated instance of its manifestation. In other lands, certain races, or sub-races, seem to be specially favored (or cursed, as Cameron asserted) with this power. It will be noticed, usually, that such people dwell, or have dwelt in the highlands or mountains of their country. There seems to be something in the mountains and hills which tends to develop and encourage this power in those dwelling among them. The story is also remarkable in the fact that the impression was so strong in the mind of Cameron that it actually communicated itself by clairaudience to those near to him—this is quite unusual, though not without correspondence in other cases. Otherwise, the case is merely a typical one, and may be duplicated in the experience of thousands of other men and women.
George Fox, the pioneer Quaker, had this faculty well developed, and numerous instances of its manifestation by him are recorded. For instance, he foretold the death of Cromwell, when he met him riding at Hampton Court; he said that he felt "a waft of death" around and about Cromwell; and Cromwell died shortly afterwards. Fox also publicly foretold the dissolution of the Rump Parliament of England; the restoration of Charles II; and the Great Fire of London—these are historical facts, remember. For that matter, history contains many instances of this kind: the prophecy of Caesar's death, and its further prevision by his wife, for instance. The Bible prophecies and predictions, major and minor, give us semi-historical instances.
A celebrated historical instance of remarkable second-sight and prevision, is that of Cazotte, whose wonderful prediction and its literal fulfilment are matters of French history. Dumas has woven the fact into one of his stories, in a dramatic manner—but even so he does not make the tale any more wonderful than the bare facts. Here is the recital of the case by La Harpe, the French writer, who was a personal witness of the occurrence, and whose testimony was corroborated by many others who were present at the time. La Harpe says:
"It appears as but yesterday, and yet, nevertheless, it was at the beginning of the year 1788. We were dining with one of our brethren at the Academy—a man of considerable wealth and genius. The conversation became serious; much admiration was expressed on the revolution in thought which Voltaire had effected, and it was agreed that it was his first claim to the reputation he enjoyed. We concluded that the revolution must soon be consummated; that it was indispensible that superstition and fanaticism should give way to philosophy, and we began to calculate the probability of the period when this should be, and which of the present company should live to see it. The oldest complained that they could scarcely flatter themselves with the hope; the younger rejoiced that they might entertain this very probable expectation; and they congratulated the Academy especially for having prepared this great work, and for having been the rallying point, the centre, and the prime mover of the liberty of thought.
"One only of the guests had not taken part in all the joyousness of this conversation, and had even gently and cheerfully checked our splendid enthusiasm. This was Cazotte, an amiable and original man, but unhappily infatuated with the reveries of the illumaniti. He spoke, and with the most serious tone, saying: 'Gentleman, be satisfied; you will all see this great and sublime revolution, which you so much desire. You know that I am a little inclined to prophesy; I repeat, you will see it,' He was answered by the common rejoinder: 'One need not be a conjuror to see that.' He answered: 'Be it so; but perhaps one must be a little more than conjuror for what remains for me to tell you. Do you know what will be the consequences of this revolution—what will be the consequence to all of you, and what will be the immediate result—the well-established effect—the thoroughly recognized consequences to all of you who are here present?'
"'Ah' said Condorcet, with his insolent and half-suppressed smile, 'let us hear—a philosopher is not sorry to encounter a prophet—let us hear!' Cazotte replied: 'You, Monsier de Condorcet—you will yield up your last breath on the floor of a dungeon; you will die from poison, which you will have taken in order to escape from execution—from poison which the happiness of that time will oblige you to carry about your person. You, Monsieur de Chamfort, you will open your veins with twenty-two cuts of a razor, and yet will not die till some months afterward.' These personages looked at each other, and laughed again. Cazotte continued: 'You, Monsieur Vicq d'Azir, you will not open your own veins, but you will cause yourself to be bled six times in one day, during a paroxysm of the gout, in order to make more sure of your end, and you will die in the night.'
"Cazotte went on: 'You, Monsieur de Nicolai, you will die on the scaffold; you, Monsieur Bailly, on the scaffold; you, Monsieur de Malesherbes, on the scaffold. 'Ah, God be thanked,' exclaimed Roucher, 'and what of I?' Cazotte replied: 'You? you also will die on the scaffold.' 'Yes,' replied Chamfort, 'but when will all this happen?' Cazotte answered: 'Six years will not pass over, before all that I have said to you shall be accomplished.' Here I (La Harpe) spoke, saying: 'Here are some astonishing miracles, but you have not included me in your list.' Cazotte answered me, saying: 'But you will be there, as an equally extraordinary miracle; you will then be a Christian!' Vehement exclamations on all sides followed this startling assertion. 'Ah!' said Chamfort, 'I am conforted; if we shall perish only when La Harpe shall be a Christian, we are immortal;'
"Then observed Madame la Duchesse de Grammont: 'As for that, we women, we are happy to be counted for nothing in these revolutions: when I say for nothing, it is not that we do not always mix ourselves up with them a little; but it is a received maxim that they take no notice of us, and of our sex.' 'Your sex, ladies' said Cazotte, 'your sex will not protect you this time; and you had far better meddle with nothing, for you will be treated entirely as men, without any difference whatever.' 'But what, then, are you really telling us of Monsieur Cazotte? You are preaching to us the end of the world.' 'I know nothing on that subject; but what I do know is, that you Madame la Duchesse, will be conducted to the scaffold, you and many other ladies with you, in the cart of the executioner, and with your hands tied behind your backs. 'Ah! I hope that in that case, I shall at least have a carriage hung in black.' 'No, madame; higher ladies than yourself will go, like you, in the common car, with their hands tied behind them.' 'Higher ladies! what! the princesses of the blood?' 'Yea, and still more exalted personages!' replied Cazotte.
"Here a sensible emotion pervaded the whole company, and the countenance of the host was dark and lowering—they began to feel that the joke was becoming too serious. Madame de Grammont, in order to dissipate the cloud, took no notice of the reply, and contented herself with saying in a careless tone: 'You see, that he will not leave me even a confessor!' 'No, madame!' replied Cazotte, 'you will not have one—neither you, nor any one besides. The last victim to whom this favor will be afforded will be—' Here he stopped for a moment. 'Well! who then will be the happy mortal to whom this prerogative will be given?' Cazotte replied: 'It is the only one which he will have then retained—and that will be the King of France!'" This last startling prediction caused the company to disband in something like terror and dismay, for the mere mention of such thing was akin to treason.
The amazing sequel to this strange story is that within the six years allotted by the prophecy, every detail thereof was verified absolutely. The facts are known to all students of the French Revolution, and may be verified by reference to any history of that terrible period. To appreciate the startling nature of the prophecy when made, one needs but to be acquainted with the position and characteristics of the persons whose destinies were foretold. This celebrated instance of highly advanced future-time clairvoyance, or prevision, has never been equalled. The reason, perhaps, is that Cazotte indeed was an advanced and highly developed occultist—the account mentions this, you will notice. This class of persons very seldom prophecy in this way, for reasons known to all occultists. The ordinary cases recorded are those in which the manifestation is that of a person of lesser powers and less perfect development.
Advanced occultists know the danger of a careless use of this power. They know that (omitting other and very important reasons) such revelations would work a terrible effect upon the minds of persons not sufficiently well balanced to stand the disclosure. Moreover, they know that if the average person knew the principal details of his future life on earth, then he would lose interest in it—it would become stale and would lose the attraction of the unknown. In such a case, the pleasant things to come would lose their attractiveness by reason of having been dwelt on so long that their flavor was lost; and the unpleasant things would become unbearable by reason of the continual anticipation of them. We are apt to discount our pleasures by dwelling too much upon them in anticipation; and, as we all know, the dread of a coming evil often is worse than the thing itself—we suffer a thousand pangs in anticipation to one in reality. But, as I have intimated, there are other, and still more serious reasons why the advanced occultists do not indulge in public prophecies of this kind. It is probable that Cazotte decided to, and was permitted to, make his celebrated prophecy for some important occult reason of which La Harpe had no knowledge—it doubtless was a part of the working out of some great plan, and it may have accomplished results undreamed of by us. At any rate, it was something very much out of the; ordinary, even in the case of advanced occultists and masters of esoteric knowledge.
Another case which has a historic value is the well-known case concerning the assassination of Spencer Perceval, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in England, which occurred in the lobby of the House of Commons. The persons who have a knowledge of the case report that some nine days before the tragic occurrence a Cornish mine manager, named John Williams, had a vision, three times in succession, in which he saw a small man, dressed in a blue coat and white waistcoat, enter the lobby of the House of Commons; whereupon another man, dressed in a snuff-colored coat, stepped forward, and, drawing a pistol from an inside pocket fired at and shot the small man, the bullet lodging in the left breast. In the vision, Williams turned and asked some bystander the name of the victim; the bystander replied that the stricken man was Mr. Spencer Perceval, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The valuable feature of the case, from a scientific standpoint, lies in the fact that Williams was very much impressed by his thrice-repeated vision, and was greatly disturbed thereby. His anxiety was so great that he spoke of the matter to several friends, and asked them whether it would not be well for him to go to London for the purpose of warning Mr. Perceval. His friends ridiculed the whole matter, and persuaded him to give up the idea of visiting London for the purpose named. Those who had a knowledge of the vision were greatly startled and shocked when several days afterward the assassination occurred, agreeing in perfect detail with the vision of the Cornishman. The case, vouched for as it was by a number of reliable persons who had been consulted by Williams, attracted much attention at the time, and has since passed into the history of remarkable instances of prevision.
In some cases, however, the prevision seems to come as a warning, and in many cases the heeding of the warning has prevented the unpleasant features from materializing as seen in the vision. Up to the point of the action upon the warning the occurrence agree perfectly with the vision—but the moment the warned person acts so as to prevent the occurrence, the whole train of circumstances is broken. There is an occult explanation of this, but it is too technical to mention at this place.
What is known to psychic researchers as "the Hannah Green case" is of this character. This story, briefly, is that Hannah Green, a housekeeper of Oxfordshire, dreamt that she, having been left alone in the house of a Sunday evening, heard a knock at the door. Opening the door she found a tramp who tried to force his way into the house. She struggled to prevent his entrance, but he struck her with a bludgeon and rendered her insensible, whereupon he entered the house and robbed it. She related the vision to her friends, but, as nothing happened for some time, the matter almost passed from her mind. But, some seven years afterward, she was left in charge of the house on a certain Sunday evening; during the evening she was startled by a sudden knock at the door, and her former vision was recalled to her memory quite vividly. She refused to go to the door, remembering the warning, but instead went up to a landing on the stair and looked out the window, she saw at the door the very tramp whom she had seen in the vision some seven years before, armed with a bludgeon and striving to force an entrance into the house. She took steps to frighten away the rascal, and she was saved from the unpleasant conclusion of her vision. Many similar cases are recorded.
In some cases persons have been warned by symbols of various kinds; or else have had prevision in the same way. For instance, many cases are known in which the vision is that of the undertaker's wagon standing before the door of the person who dies sometime afterward. Or, the person is visioned clad in a shroud. The variations of this class are innumerable. Speak to the average dweller in the highlands of Scotland, or certain counties in Ireland, regarding this—you will be furnished with a wealth of illustrations and examples.
This phase of the general subject of clairvoyance is very fascinating to the student and investigator, and is one in which the highest psychic or astral powers of sensing are called into play. In fact, as I have said, there is here a reflection of something very much higher than the astral or psychic planes of being. The student catches a glimpse of regions infinitely higher and grander. He begins to realize at least something of the existence of that Universal Consciousness "in which we live, and move, and have our being;" and of the reality of the Eternal Now, in which past, present and future are blended as one fact of infinite consciousness. He sees the signboard pointing to marvelous truths!