Northwestern
University Library
Evanston,
Illinois 60201
A Vision
Invisible
AN ALLEGORY
2d EDITION
BY HBNRV FRANK
|A ApS AIAIA AfA A A /
A Vision of the Invisible,
AN ALLEGORY.
By Henry Frank.
Herein is written down a truthful and un¬
adorned account of a Curious Vision of the
Author, which professes to explain the ab¬
struse teaching of idealism, explode the bub¬
ble of agnosticism, and explain the spiritual
substantiality of the universe.
PUBLISHED BY
The Independent Literature Association,
" Stanniscourt," 30-32 West 27th Street,
New York.
Copyright, 1900, by
Independent Literature Association.
PRE-NOTE.
The first edition of this little venture flew
out into space so rapidly that I began to sus¬
pect there were other Dreamers in the world
beside myself.
And more Dreamers are still flocking to me
desirous of going to the Mountain-height and
read the Vision-in-the-Skies, which came to
me.
To gratify this popular appetite, therefore,
I am bringing out another edition handsomer
than the original, although in substance quite
the same.
These few pages are intended to introduce
the general reader into the realm of Ideal Phil¬
osophy, and yet not to tangle his brain or
"queer" his Common-Sense, with unintelligible
Metaphysics or phraseological Vagaries.
The words here written will lift the Veil of
Mystery from much of Life's Problem, for him
who reads with understanding.
The Spiritual Speculations, herein con¬
tained, are founded on the strictest Scientific
deductions.
Since the first edition was published there
3
has appeared a little book from the pen of
Professor Elisha Gray, on "The Miracles of
Nature" in which I find these suggestive
words:
"There is much food for speculation in the
thought that there exist sound waves that no
ear can hear and color waves of light that no
eye can see. The (to us) long dark soundless
space between 40,000 and 400,000,000,000,000
vibrations per second and the infinity of
range beyond 700,000,000,000,000 where light
ceases, in the universe of motion, makes it pos¬
sible to indulge in the speculation that there
may be beings who live in different planes
from ourselves and who are endowed with
sense organs like our own, only they are tuned
to hear and see in a different sphere of mo¬
tion."
It is the effort of this little book to specu¬
late not so much upon the peculiar beings or
personalities which may inhabit this supposed
sphere of space as upon the Universal Presence
(call it by whatever name you please) which
permeates and animates it.
Henry Frank.
Stanniscourt {30-32 West 27th street), New
York City, October i, igoo.
4
A VISION OF THE INVISIBLE.
AN ALLEGORY.
For so long Religion, like a tender plant,
lay drooping beneath the withering
rays of ruthless science that all savans
had despaired of her life. She was
seemingly young, despite her nameless
years, and wholly incapable of resist¬
ing the merciless blows of criticism that
fell upon her bare head. She knew
naught but contemplation, and all
through the live-long year she held aloft
her weeping eyes and gazed into the un¬
responsive skies awaiting her deliverer.
But the sun .stared down with cold yel¬
low rays upon her, and the stars at night
affrighted her with their suggestive eyes
of glittering green.
She seemed devoid of thought Her
brain apparently was undeveloped. Her
brow was low and wrinkled with dis¬
tress. She wailed through her beautiful
lips a heartrending groan that pierced
her most merciless foe with poignant
grief.
" O, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me ? My bones are turned to wax
and melt in my flesh ! Save me for the
deep waters are upon me and I have
fallen in the deep mire. I am lost, O my
God. They puff out their lips and mock
at me. My tongue is paralyzed j my
mouth is sealed. O my God wilt thou
not come to my rescue and slay them one
and all, that my enemies may be thine
and thine honor shall be upheld ? "
So groaned the pitiful Daughter of the
King, wandering in darkness and far
from her Father's house.
6
But one night, worn and weary wxfert
grief, she fell into a profound sleep, and
ere awaking she dreamed. She beheld a
faint vapor like a mist of lace floating
before her eyes. The world and every
distinguishable object had vanished from
her vision. The vapor was more trans¬
parent than the lucent air. And yet she
could behold it, for it seemed to be trans¬
lucent to some mysterious light that shone
through it It was a homogeneous mass;
No single molecule could be dis¬
tinguished from another. It was as if
vacuous space had taken form and be¬
come luminous, though what it was that
shone or though what it penetrated
seemed inexplicable.
And yet through all a faint zephyr
seemed to stir. A slight ripple was vis¬
ible. The breath of action moved upon
the bosom of abysmal space.
Anon that which seemed to be but one
homogeneous mass slowly began to fall
7
Alto several parts. Here and there small
nodu/es of vapor gathered into groups.
Smart masses assuming strange velocity
whirled away into invisible space and
remained apart from all.
Little by little odd lights appeared in
the distance. Space began to be easily
distinguishable between the severing ob¬
jects, and the heavens assumed a rare and
wondrous glory.
Erst she seemed to float through vast
vacuity, then suddenly to halt in the
presence of phantasmagoria which en¬
thralled her.
She beheld the forming of a world.
The slow mantling mist began to
gather in cumbrous folds and settle upon
the lower stratum of air as if to hug some
object in its embrace. Swiftly she was
carried through this dense dark mass and
whirled on and on through unknown
regions.
Years, ages, aeons, seemed to pass—
8
still nothing could be discerned but thick,
black night;
The chill breath of a fierce wind ever
and forever shrieked through the dismal
gloom, as if to chant the dirge of everlast¬
ing doom.
Anon a strange faint flicker played
upon her eyelids. She gazed, stared,
wondered. What could it be ? Little by
little, though ages swept along, she be¬
gan to discern objects with that vague
dimness of one who after years of blind¬
ness slowly renews his vision. '
The bleak wind seemed to be the
messenger of the Light.
For he was the one only busy agent of
all that then existed. And then she re¬
membered the words of one who had said,
" The wind bloweth where it listeth and
ye know not whence it cometh nor
whither it goeth.''
Anon the black fuliginous air rolled up
into separate masses of portentous gloom,
9
wnose outer edges were dimly tinted with
faint hints of color.
Months, years, ages, swept on and on.
The ghastly green light of some un¬
seen orb fell athwart the scene,but whether
prophecy of gloom or glory, who should
say ?
Swifter and swifter the vampire clouds
rushed by ; fiercer and bleaker the dank
wind blew and shrieked and howled, as
if it were some cosmic maniac tearing
worlds asunder and leaving in its track
but universal ruin.
And then a thing most strange was seen.
She heard the terrible sough and roar
of waters such as human ear had never
known. It seemed as if all the waters in
the world were suddenly pouring into one
place, carrying within their torrent bosom
all substances of form and matter.
She fioated on and on, fearful each
moment the sweeping tide would deluge
her.
10
At length, trembling, panting, swoon¬
ing, she fell upon the peak of some vast
projection, which loomed upward from
the unknown and held her suspended
between the upper and the nether firma¬
ments.
Aroused by a warmer breath that
kissed her cheeks, (she knew not how
long she had lain there in trance), she
wiped her moistened brow with her di¬
sheveled locks, and brushed the mists
from her eyes, and gazed with transport¬
ing rapture on the wondrous scene that
now entranced her.
Where was she ?
The air no longer held her feet ; she
was not afloat upon the atmosphere ; she
rested on solid substance and walked with
easy balance.
She beheld the waters far removed
within their pit of fathomless depth. She
viewed the sun and the stars in the dis¬
tant heavens, and she recognized a world,
11
within which she at ode, all separate from
all other worlds on high.
She beheld grasses in the plains and
beasts that' browsed upon them. She
saw monsters flying through the air
whose proportions were so vast they
shrouded the sun from view as they
passed. The atmosphere was thick with
buzzing, crooning, winged things that
danced with unrestrained joy.
Anon, she saw a form of wondrous
symmetry and beauty move slowly in the
distant valley, so different from all other
things that she could but marvel and be
silent. He walked erect; not like the
stooping, hoofed monsters, from which he
seemed to flee. What was he ? Whence
came he ?
At length she meets him, and him she
questions:
" Who or what art thou, strange and
marvelous wonder, so much more beauti¬
ful and intelligent than all that else I
have beheld ? ''
12
He answers and at his words she stands
amazed :
" I came as all things else have come
which thou dost see. All that is is but
the outreaching of that all-compassing
Spirit which thou didst hear in the mov¬
ing, shrieking wind. This is the curious
fact over which men will for ages beat
their brows and worry their minds. They
will look for the origin of all things that
exist and they will invent all manner oj
notions and explanations. Some will say
that the origin is undiscoverable and
none shall know thereof. Others will in¬
sist that there is no origin ; that all
things have been as they are from all
time ; that there is no beginning and no
end. Others will contend that there was
somewhere in the universe a special and
mighty personage who by the skill of his
cunning and the omnipotence of his sway
hath made all things from nothing, and
Him they will worship as the Almighty
13
—the Creator—the Architect—the Su¬
preme Lord of all Worlds.
'' But all these will end in doubt and
error and will not know the truth.
'' To him that knows, there is no crea¬
tion in Nature; there is process, and
order only ; there is unfoldment, as the
skein is unravelled from the spool—as the
web is woven from the substance of the
spider. All that is has always been.
All that shall come to be shall be only
that that already is !
'' From Nothingness all things have
come and into Nothingness shall all
things go."
But she, faltering, could not longer
endure such offending utterance, and, in¬
terrupting, asked :
'' How sayest thou ?
'' Nothing is the maker and Nothing
shall be the destroyer ? This to me is
ignorance.
"How can aught be derived from
14
naught? How can the cipher produce
the digit ?''
" I ask Ihee not for faith," he an¬
swered ; '' have but patience and thou
shalt comprehend. Thou dost not yet
know the Nothing. That which thou
seest is to thee somewhat. Thy senses are
thy guide and thy informer.
'' But there is a realm whither thy
senses cannot wander and in whose
bosom abide all truth and knowledge.
" Canst thou see the light? Thou an-
swerests yes. And yet I deny.
'' For thou canst not see the light in the
darkness. Yet the light shineth in the
darkness.
" Thou dost not believe ? See. How
many hues dost thou behold within the
rainbow ? Seven, thou sayest. But why
dost thou count only seven ? I will tell
thee, ignorant one, there are more. There
are as many more colors as there can
be made eyes of such delicacy as can be-
15
hold them. Thou canst not see the light
that even the inferior animals discern.
The cat is thy master in the night The
eye of the feline is so made that she can
behold rays which to thee are but dark¬
ness, and yet were thy eyes like hers,
thou, too, couldst behold them and thou
wouldst declare that what to thee is now
darkness were then light.
" Seest thou not, then, that the light
shineth in the darkness and it is but the
fault of thy structure that prevents thy
vision ? When thou shalt have passed
through aeonic evolutions still to be, thou
shalt be finer built and then what is now
to thee unseen will be beheld with ease.
'' Now knowest thou there is a realm of
light which to thee is dark !
" But, again, lift thy ears and hear.
Are not these sounds beautiful ? I play
for thee upon an instrument to thee un¬
known. The music charms thee, does it
not ? Thou sayest well.
16
'' And now, art thou not still charmed ?
See, I play upon this ethereal instrument
such glorious tunes as thine ear hath never
heard.
'' What, thou art silent ? Thou art not
enraptured ? Is it possible thou canst not
hear this symphony? What, thou dis-
believest ? I make no sounds ? I am
deceiving thee ? But I will prove it to
thee.
'' Seest thou yon insect ? It will not
move unless disturbed by some noise,
however delicate. Behold it rests at
ease. Now, see, I play. It begins to
flutter its vague wings and instantly it is
gone upon the air. The sound was too
harsh for its delicate ear and yet thou—man
("in apprehension how like a GodI")
—couldst not hear its tremor. After ages
of ignorance shall have been passed, the
dwellers of this earth will learn that the
commonest insect hath finer auditory or¬
gans than hath man, and hears sounds
17
which to the ear of man are ever un¬
known. *
"Thus hast thou learned that there is a
realm of sound to which the sense of man
hath not access.
'' Thus seest thou that the slightest in¬
sect hath sensations so much more delicate
than thine that it abides in a universe
wholly distinct from thee and knows a
realm which to thee is a void.
. "Thou hast thus learned enough to
* The drums of insect ears, and the tubes, etc.,
connected with them, are so minute that their
world of sounds probably begins where ours
ceases. . . We begin to hear such vibrations as
continuous sounds when they amount to about
thirty per second. The insect's continuous
sound probably begins beyond three thousand.
The blue-bottle may thus enjoy a whole world
of exquisite music of which we know nothing.
. . . There is no gradation between the most
rapid undulations or tremblings that produce
our sensation of sound and the slowest of those
which give rise to our sensations of gentlest
warmth. There is a huge gap between them,
18.
know that thy senses are but acquired
faculties. Hadst thou been differently
developed by diverse environment the
world were wholly different to thee than
what it now seems to be. Thou canst
not say that the universe is as it appears
to thee, for thou knowest it only through
thy senses and these are ever deceptive,
and are ever transforming according to
the changing vicissitudes through which
they pass.
"Beyond thy senses there is the uni¬
verse of—Nothingness ! Yet, that realm
wide enough to another world of motion,
all lying between our world of sound and our
world of heat and light, and there is no good
reason whatever for supposing that matter is in¬
capable of such intermediate activity, or that
such activity may not give rise to intermediate
sensations, provided there are organs for taking
up and sensifying these movements. In such a
world . . . the insect probably lives. — Short
Chapters in Science, by M. Iff. Williams, pp.
8, 10, II.
19
of nothingness is in fact a realm of the
most certain reality, whose activities are
never quiescent, but are ever forging to
still other realms of finer delicacy, which
are undiscemed by the nether realms of
coarser make.
" Hence I say ;
'' Out of Nothingness have all things
come and into Nothingness shall all
things again return !
" But that, only, is Nothingness to him
who cannot perceive it. To him who can
behold it, it is Reality.
" What sayest thou, then, shall the un¬
known realm of Nothingness forever re¬
main to thee unknown ? Canst thou not
conceive that thy faculties can be so de¬
veloped that what thou canst not now see,
thou shalt sometime behold ?
'' Out of blindness hath thy vision
come. Thou sayest this is a paradox?
Thou canst not comprehend ?
"Well, knowest thou not that the
20
crystalline visual orb of man was not al¬
ways as perfect as is thine ? Knowest thou
not that once it was but so partially de¬
veloped that while in appearance it bore
a semblance to its present form it was in¬
capable of absorbing the luminous rays,
and could not, therefore, image upon its
mirror the reflection of the outward ob¬
ject? Only slowly, slowly through
countless ages, has thine eye been so un¬
folded that it at last became capable of
receiving the light and reflecting the
image so that thou couldst thyself in¬
wardly behold it.
" If then out of blindness thine eye was
slowly developed, so that at last it could
behold the coarser rays of sunlight, why
should you doubt that there is force
enough in the realm of the unknown to
continue so to develop thine eye that
sometime it will be capable of absorbing
a finer ray than that of the suri, and
thus of focalising objects upon the newer
21
retina that cannot be beheld by the now
common visual orb of man ?
'' And thus shalt thou learn that at the
last all things shall pass into the realm of
the Nothing—for that Nothing is the
undiscerned substance which underlies
and sustains the universe, but which
must always be unknown to the faculties
that traverse the coarser realms of time
and sense.
'' In the last analysis that which thou
seest is the U7iseen. The only real is,
therefore, the unreal.
" Ah, now, sayest thou, I speak in
riddles ?
"Not so. For what beholde.st thou
with thine eye ? Yon tree ? How say¬
est thou ? Stands not that tree erect ?
Assuredly.
'' But how now does thine eye behold
it? To it the tree is inverted and is
really resting on its branches and not
upon its roots. Yet, marvel of marvels,
22
thou sayest that thou seest the tree stand¬
ing on its roots ? But see, I will open
for thee one of these strange things you
call the eye, and you yourself shall see
that what I have said is the truth. Every
eye contains the image of the object
which is impinged upon it I will there¬
fore tear open this bull's eye, whose car¬
cass lies yonder.
'' Now, behold !
"The object that impinges his iris is
yonder hut, wherein I live. But, see, I
cut away the outer coatings and upon the
retina I discover a picture of the hut rest¬
ing on its thatched roof and not on its
base- How say you, am I not right ? As
the eye sees the world it is upside down.*
* Seeing that the image of all objects appears
on our retina upside down, the student is natu¬
rally disposed to ask how it happens that we do
not see them in that position. Phj siologists and
natural philosophers have advanced many theo¬
ries on the subject. . . . The student who takes
an interest in the structure of this important
23
" The eye of the soul alone sees the in¬
visible tree which is erect and not as the
eye of the sense beholds it.
"Therefore, I say, we really see the
invisible. The unseen is the only realm
of which we are cognizant. The invisi¬
ble abides ; the visible shall pass away."
Here sweet Religion vaguely recalled
certain words that were long written in
her memory :
We look not at the things zvhich are seen,
but at the things which are not seen ; for
the things which are seen are temporal,
but the thinsts which are not seen are
eternal. They impressed her with a dif¬
ferent meaning than they had ever before
suggested.
organ would do well to procure a sheep's e3-e
from the butcher, and dissect it carefully with
a sharp pen knife and a pair of scissors. The
image formed on the retina may be easily seen
by cutting away the sclerotic and choroid coat¬
ings at the back of the eye.—F. Marion: " Won¬
ders of Optics," p. 28.
24
But the man of wisdom continued :
"Manifold are the wonders of Noth¬
ingness ! For behold, all things are
nothing ! Ah, now you marvel. But
think ! Hast thou seen aught that hath
not vanished from thy vision ? Yon
mountain, whose foundations seem to be
eternal, shall crumble into dust. The
wondrous worlds on high, the pageantry
of stellar splendor, this great globe and
all its glory, what are these but bub¬
bles on the ocean's bosom—a puff of wind
—they are no more !''
At this, pensive Religion remembered
the words of the master singer of the
pagan thought and discerned therein
wisdom she had not ere this perceived ;
Like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself.
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve.
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. ' We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
25
Again, the Man of Wisdom :
'' Whither have they flown ? Are they
not returned into the bosom of the Noth¬
ing ? But have they been destroyed ?
Not so. The substance from which they
came abides forever. Into this primal
substance have they but returned.
'' Thou canst resolve all matter into
the units your Men of Knowledge call
atoms. But these atoms live not in
matter but in mind. They are only
ideas which your teachers dream of and
accept by faith, in order that they may
better explain that which they do not
know
'' But where abides the atom ?
"To thy sense self—in the realm of
the Nothing. To thy mind—in the realm
of Reality.
" Therefore, if thou knowest the world
but as thy senses depict it, there abides
nothing but Nothingness, and Nothing¬
ness is the substance that sustains all.
26
'' Believest thou this, fair woman'
Great is thy faith, I know, but greater
still shall it become ere thou knowest the
Truth.
"Thou deniest the Nothing because
Nothing is unknowable. Sweet Reli¬
gion, thou art thyself more agnostic than
are thine enemies.
'' Why shouldst thou deny the
Nothing? Thou art ignorant because
thou beholdesl only with thine eyes. But
hath not thy Mind eyes that can pene¬
trate deeper into the arcana of Truth ?
"All matter is resolved into Nothing¬
ness. Nevertheless, Mind apprehends
the Nothingness as substance, knowing
that out of Nothing naught but Noth¬
ingness can come. Therefore the soul
knoweth that Naught cannot exist ; that
in nature there are no contradictions ;
that the non-existent cannot be existent.
" Nothingness is unknowable because
it is not a thing to be known. Noth-
27
ingness is unthinkable. There is no
Nothingness.
'' That only is nothing which stands
in the absence of something that is. ,
'' We speak of cold, yet cold is in
reality no thing. There is no cold in
nature. Cold is but a degree of heat
Heat is motion. More or less motion :
more or less heal. Less heat, cold;
more heat, warmth.
"Thou canst not discern Nothing in
the universe. Being Naught, it cannot be.
Only that which exists can be known.
Therefore as Nothingness is unknowable
it hath no existence. When thou sayest
that aught hath entered into Nothingness,
thou canst but mean that it hath entered
into the invisible Eternal ! For Nothing
ever was nor ever shall be.
" That, therefore, which becomes
nothing becomes eternal! ''
At this Religion awoke from her swoon
and wore a visage of fear and horror.
28
"O woe is me," she cried. "Gone,
gone, forever gone is my peace of mind.
My soul's love hath vanished ! My faith
is buried in the dust of doubt and Satan
hath slain my hope ! Woe ! woe ! woe ! "
But ere long peace reigned within
her soul and she began to reason with
her Doubt. Either she will slay her
enemy or she herself shall perish. And
then she thought :
" But, halt, hath not Satan spoken to
me of greater faith than aught I had yet
known ? I' truth I begin to see he was
right. My faith had been in yon Jehovah,
whom never have I seen nor ever shall.
Who that face beholds shall perish. Says
not so the ancient oracle? What can
this mean but that that face will never
be beheld by men of earth. This means
He cannot be ; He is but a figment of
the mind. For if He be, indeed, and
after His image are we made, then might
He be beheld by the soul of man.
29
" But was there not much of beauty in
the doctrine of the Nothingness which
that Vision hath taught me ?
•' W/ty should not this Nothingness be
in truth that God for whom I have
sought so long in vain ?
'' He taught me that what we call the
Nothing is the eternal Something. If
we wish to know the real we must dis¬
cern the unreal. The only reality is the
invisible. This is the eternal. Ah, now
I begin to recall the dream and it grows
more beautiful with each remembrance.
I have found that God now in whom all
children of the earth may place their un¬
bounded faith, for He will appeal as well
to the man of science as the man of wor¬
ship. What can be more worshipful than
the unseen Eternal ?
'' How beautiful is the access to this
Eternal! We approach Him in the
corridors of the Invisible. We enter but
within ourselves and there we discern
30
the unseen. He is never far from us, for
He is ever within. Ah, now, how beauti¬
ful become the words of him who assured
us that he was not of this world, and that
the Kingdom of Heaven was within
us. Now I see, now I understand !
'' Matter to the senses becomes as
nothing, for it passes away into the invisi¬
ble substance from which it evolved. We
know matter only in terms of mind.
Matter is to us mind-stuff and nothing
more. Therefore in the last analysis
matter is simply mind-energy.
/' Mind is, then, the Mother of all. Mind
is eternal. It lives in everything. It is the
only thing in nature that never vanishes.
'' The grand oak falls in the forest and
crumbles in the dust of ages. The dust
dissolves into vacuous invisibility. But
not an iota of its material is lost. In
each invisible atom into which it dis¬
appears the universal, potent Mind still
inheres and laboriously toils.
31
" Yes, thou shall die; but these almighty forces.
That meet to form thee, live forevermore ;
They hold the suns in their eternal courses,
And shape the tiny sand-grains on the shore."
" Mind is the Sysiphus of worlds.
Its task is ever beginning, never ending.
Who can put his finger on a spot in the
universe where toils not this everlast¬
ing spinner ?
" Mind is the mighty Demiurge. It
fashions worlds and whirls them, like
players' balls, ' down the ringing grooves
of change.'
'' Here, then, have I found my God—
the ever-working Mind—the all-present
Spirit, whose breath is the soul of things
and inspireth every atom ! Spirit is God.
Ah, how falsely have I read—' God is
a Spirit.' Some even aver God is
Spirit.
" Not so. I say Spirit is God.
'' The everlasting breath of the uni¬
verse—the all-pervading Knowledge that
32
hath formed all things and transformed
nothingness into reality — the cosmic
Mind which inheres within and moulds
and transforms and re-establishes the ever-
changing forms of matter—this, this is
my God.
"To this New Shrine of Worship I
call all the sons of men.
" Here will we banish the base super¬
stition of the past—the rugged bigotry
of ignorance, the swinish Walhallas and
bloody Tartaruses of false religions, and
welcome in the name of Science and Re¬
ligion the adoration of the Truth and
the Temple of Wisdom 1"
33
244 F82
5556 001 556 513
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