Chapter XVII (part 6)

206 everything that lies usually in the remote depths of memory, in the past; all that lies at a remote distance from him; all that lies in the future. C. H. Hinton very well says, in regard to beings of other sections of the world: By the same process by which we know about the existence of other men around us, we may know of the high intelligences by whom we are surrounded. We feel them but we do not realize them. To realize them it will be necessary to develop our power of perception . The power of seeing with our bodily eye is limited to the three-dimensional section. But the inner eye is not thus limited; we can organize our power of seeing in higher space, and we can form conceptions of realities in this higher space. And this affords the groundwork for the perception and study of these other beings than man. We are, with reference to the higher things of life, like blind and puzzled children. We know that we are members of one body, limbs of one vine; but we cannot discern, except by instinct and feeling, what that body is, what the vine is. Our problem consists in the diminution of the limitations of our perception. Nature consists of many entities toward the apprehension of which we strive. For this purpose new conceptions have to be formed first, and vast fields of observation shall be unified under one common law. The real history of progress lies in the growth of new conceptions . When the new conception is formed it is found to be quite simple and natural. We ask ourselves what we have gained; and we answer: Nothing; we have simply removed an obvious limitation. The question may be put: In what way do we come into contact with these higher beings at present? And evidently the answer is: In those ways in which we tend to form organic unions —unions in which the activities of individuals coalesce in a living way. The coherence of a military empire or of a subjugated population, presenting no natural nucleus of growth, is not one through which we should hope to grow into direct contact with our higher destinies. But in friend-ship, in voluntary associations and above all in the family, we tend towards our greater life. Just as, to explore the distant stars of the heavens, a particular material arrangement is necessary which we call a telescope, so to explore the nature of the beings who are higher than we, a mental arrangement is necessary. We must prepare a more extended power of looking. We p. 207 want a structure developed inside the skull for the one purpose which an exterior telescope will do for the other. ______ This animism of nature takes the most diverse directions. This tree is a living being. The birch tree in general— the species is a living being. A birch tree forest is a living being also. A forest in which there are trees of different kinds, grass, flowers, ants, beetles, birds, beasts—this is a living being too, living by the life of everything composing it, thinking and feeling for all of which it consists. This idea is very interestingly expressed in the essay of P. Florensky, The Humanitarian Roots of Idealism . ( The Theological Messenger , 1909, II, p. 288. In Russian.) Are there many people who regard a forest not merely as a collective proper noun and rhetorical embodiment, i.e., as a pure fiction, but as something unique, living? . . . The real unity is a unity of self-consciousness. . . . Are there many who recognize unity in a forest, i.e., the living soul of a forest taken as a whole—voodoo, wood-demon, Old Nick? Do you consent to recognize undines and water-sprites—those souls of the aquatic element?