UC-NRLF 
 
 B 4 077 bTM 
 
 mv 
 
 '/■.. v> ,-. 
 
 ■■■&*■' 
 
 m' 
 
 ,■;.> ■». .»■ 
 
 \> .;•' '' : 'J.;. 
 
 
 
REESE LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 %'ceiveJ APR 19 1893 /SV, . 
 
 lil e/^ccessions No.^ i l I O . Class No. 
 
 
 :J 
 
A 
 
BIRTH AND DEATH. 
 
BIRTH AND DEATH 
 
 %B Vi Cljancjc 0f ^form of llcrccptio« 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE DUAL NATURE OF MAN. 
 
 BARON HELLENBACH. 
 
 TR ANS LA TED BY ' * F. " 
 
 ÜNIVERSIT? 
 LONDON : 
 
 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PRESS, 
 
 i6, CRAVEN STREET, STRAND, W.C. 
 iS86. 
 
EDUC. 
 
 PSYCH. 
 
 UBSABY 
 
 s^n I Ü 
 
 Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., Loudon and Aylesbury. 
 
TO 
 
 WILLIAM EGLINTON 
 
 THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION 
 
 OF THIS WORK 
 
 IS INSCRIBED BY HIS 
 
 SINCERE FRIEND 
 
 V." 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In order to understand the contents of this book nothing 
 is demanded of the reader beyond attention. I only wish to 
 say to those who are accustomed to earnest reading, that I 
 recommend them, if possible, not to break off the reading 
 of a chapter till they have finished it, because each chapter 
 forms by itself a conclusive and connected whole ; I would 
 likewise advise those who are little accustomed to concentrate 
 their attention on what they read, not to read less, but at the 
 same time not more, than one chapter at a time ; this, however, 
 they should go over twice, and it will be the more necessary 
 for those readers to do this, to whom the meaning is not clear 
 on the first perusal. 
 
 The whole book contains sixteen chapters, which will take 
 the reader from four to eight or perhaps from eight to sixteen 
 hours to get through, according to the celerity with which he 
 is accustomed to read. This sacrifice of time will not appear 
 hard to the student, inasmuch as the problems of Life and 
 Death are of universal interest, and the matter, with perhaps 
 the exception of the first chapter, is neither dry nor difficult 
 to understand ; I have, at least, spared no trouble in trying to 
 render this difficult theme as clear as possible. True, there are 
 in this work certain references and expressions, which can only 
 be justly estimated by the specialist, but these are not necessary 
 to the comprehension of the essential parts. Truth has 
 supports of all kinds, and when once unveiled, it shines by 
 its own light. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 November, 1S84. 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 In offering to the English pubhc a translation of Baron 
 Hellenbach's " Geburt und Tod als Wechsel der Anschauungs- 
 forni," — a work which has met with great success in Austria 
 and Germany, — I wish to say a few words as to the views held 
 by the author, from the spiritualist's standpoint. While 
 admiring greatly the logic, research, and reasoning powers of 
 the writer, I cannot altogether agree with him in some of the 
 conclusions he has arrived at ; and I think perhaps if he had 
 studied more of the best literature in English on the subject, as, 
 for instance, the works of Epes Sargent, Mrs. De Morgan, 
 M.A. (Oxon.), and others, besides carrying on his untiring 
 investigation of the phenomena themselves, his opinions on 
 spiritualism would be more decided than they at present are. 
 I have endeavoured to make the translation as literal as possible, 
 consistently with rendering it into readable English, beyond 
 which it has no pretensions ; and I only wish to say further 
 that I have found some difficulty in giving a good equivalent 
 for several of the words used ; two especially, which frequently 
 occur, " phänomenale " and " intelligibel." The former, the 
 author makes use of to express natural or every-day occur- 
 rences, while the English word " phenomenal," as generally 
 understood and employed, means uncommon, or out of the 
 ordinary course. The other word, "intelligibel," is evidently 
 adapted from the English word " intelligible," but is used by 
 Hellenbach in the sense of what is commonly known as 
 supernatural, a word I do not like to substitute, as we 
 
Translator s Preface. ix 
 
 spiritualists do not recognise the spiritual or unseen as 
 s«/»£?matural, but rather as being in accordance with natural 
 laws, which can be very imperfectly understood by us in this 
 sphere. It could be wished that some better typical word 
 than "supernatural" existed;. in the absence of a suitable 
 one, I have been obliged to use "spiritual," "transcendental," 
 or " unseen," as seemed to me best in the individual instances. 
 
 V. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION . ... I 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 THE MANIFESTATION OF THE TRANSCEN- 
 DENTAL BASIS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 THE MANIFESTATION OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL BASIS BY MEANS 
 
 OF PERCEPTION 12 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MANIFESTATION OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL BASIS BY MEANS 
 
 OF OPERATING AT A DISTANCE 2'] 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE MANIFESTATION OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL BASIS BY AUTO- 
 MATIC WRITING AND TRANCE SPEAKING . . . .44 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 THE SEVERANCE {''SPALTUNG'') OF THE 
 HUMAN FORM. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 THE COMPLETE SEVERANCE OF THE META-ORGANISM FROM 
 
 THE ORGANIC OR CELL BODY . . . . . .54 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE INCOMPLETE SEVERANCE 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 THE APPARENT SEVERANCE . . 70 
 
xii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER VTT. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF HISTORY 82 
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 THE THREE HYPOTHESES. 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENA RY SUPPOSING IM- 
 POSTURE 95 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENA P.Y PSYCHIC FORCE . II4 
 
 CHAPTER X, 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENA BY THE INTERVEN- 
 TION OF OTHER BEINGS I26 
 
 PART THE FOURTH. 
 THE SOLUTION OP THE PROBLEM. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 WHAT IS, AND HOW DOES ONE BECOME A FAKIR ? — {The Sobltion 
 
 of the Physical Side of the Problem) 138 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 THE RIDDLE OF OUR BEING SOLVED — {Thc Sohttioil of the 
 
 Transcendental Side of the Problem) 164 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 MY SYSTEM OF METAPHYSICS AS OPPOSED TO POPULAR BELIEFS, 
 
 PHYSICAL SCIENCE, AND PHILOSOPHY 1 83 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 MY METAPHYSICS AND RELIGION . I98 
 
 1. The Historic Personality of Christ. 
 
 2. Christ as a Fakir. 
 
 3. Christ as the Founder of a Religion. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 CONCLUSION 319 
 
BIRTH AND DEATH, ETC, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 There are three questions which more or less occupy the 
 attention of all men at some time or other : — 
 
 I. Whither am I going ? — what will become of me when my 
 consciousness as a human being has for ever vanished ? ^ 
 2. For what end am I placed in this world of sorrow and in- 
 justice ? And 3. Whence came I ? — what is my origin ? 
 
 The first question can only be propounded through egotism, 
 therefore it is the most common ; the second is dictated by 
 misfortune or misery, and therefore is frequently asked ; the 
 third concerns more especially the philosopher. He it is, who 
 before all others is called upon to answer all three questions, 
 — which, indeed, are inseparably connected with one another. 
 He who feels concerned in these three riddles will find this 
 book perhaps not devoid of interest, even if his judgment does 
 not in all points agree with it. The first title of this work, 
 indeed, gives, in some measure, an answer to these three 
 questions, which here find their signification and foundation ; 
 this inquiry will be conducted according to the rules of 
 man's theories of knowledge, and the first question will be 
 definitely answered, because our immediate future is become, 
 not only transparent or visible to us, but capable of proof. 
 To the second, — why we should fight the battle of life on the 
 surface of this planet, — there is a satisfactory, though perhaps 
 not quite exhaustive reply ; and possibly there may be other 
 solutions given by the biological process than are here 
 advanced ; this, however, is immaterial to me. The third problem 
 is insolvable, containing, as it does, the question from whence 
 the origin of all life proceeds; an answer to it would not only 
 unravel the mystery of humanity, but the whole riddle of the 
 
 I 
 
BirtJi and Death. 
 
 world. Such a problem I leave to others to guess at. The 
 immediate past has, however, become transparent to us. 
 
 The second title of this book might, on the contrary, lead 
 some of my readers astray, because it suggests the idea that it 
 concerns itself with an old theme, namely, the demonstrating that 
 man is composed of matter and spirit, or of body and soul. 
 We have nothing to do with this thankless task, — which I call 
 thankless, "because matter and spirit are vague conceptions, 
 capable of different explanations, about which many prattle 
 foolishly, but nothing sufficiently certain can be conceived of i% 
 to make an explanation possible. An idea or conception must 
 have a clear tenor and fixed range ; failing these qualities, it 
 becomes a formidable source of error, and quite useless to the 
 thoughtful inquirer. 
 
 By the expression " matter " most people understand some- 
 thing that one can take hold of, or what in some way can act 
 upon owx senses; therefore, the "matter" of philosophers is de- 
 scribed as an intuitive "cause." When, however, we compress 
 matter into a being, the atom exists no longer as an evident 
 reality, since it is neither tangible nor perceptible, and must, 
 therefore, remain indivisible and indestructible. The indivisibility 
 of atoms — from whence their name — is, however, not the result 
 of the firm articulation, whose inherent cohesion, according to 
 Schopenhauer, might allow an atom to be as big as an ox ; but 
 is caused by the want of expansion (at least in such solid s:o- 
 called elements as gold and silver). And thus is shown the law 
 of the attraction of masses, in that every atom works through 
 space. These qualities, which man is compelled to ascribe to 
 atoms, contradict, however, the general idea of matter, and if 
 they must belong to the attributes of atoms, I know not what 
 remains over for the definition of " spirit." Intangible, inde- 
 structible, without dimension, and yet operative, — such terms 
 express the general conception of "spirit." 
 
 Anything which is neither directly nor indirectly sensible to 
 us, for us does not exist ; but if it becomes material through 
 some discovered factor, then we must call the powers of 
 chemistry " spiritual," because they are just as little perceptible 
 or intelligible as atoms. The division of man into matter and 
 spirit is, however, of little practical worth, and is useless on 
 account of the obscurity of the definition. The division of man 
 into body and soul, will equally little demand our inquiry and 
 knowledge, because we have to do with an unknown quantity, 
 which should first be sought for and determined. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 One may, however, reject the subdivision of human beings 
 into matter and spirit, as well as find that of the same into 
 body and soul unsatisfactory, and yet hold fast the idea of the 
 twofold nature of man ; such has been especially believed up to 
 the present time, although neither philosophy nor physiology 
 reached the present high standpoint in order to support the 
 truth and justice of the above named acceptation. The inherent 
 desire of knowing our "causality" very early forced men to a 
 belief in their double nature — partly because they could not 
 otherwise account for wonderful dreams, visions, and other 
 inexplicable phenomena ; partly because the sorrows and injus- 
 tice incident to human existence, impressed upon them tie 
 rational belief that this life could not be the end and aim 
 of their being, but must be only a temporary and fleeting 
 condition. The position taken to-day by scientists and 
 philosophers, in conjunction with past experiences obtained 
 through the art of printing, proves that the common sense of 
 vanished generations (of scientists at least) in very many 
 instances puts the former to shame. 
 
 If a judge accepts the principle that he is bound to abide only 
 by what is written in the statute-books {quod non est in actis, 
 noil est in mundo'), he must nevertheless be well aware that 
 there exist other laws of equity and truth, not found in the 
 statutes ; and as he really gives, and is obliged to give under 
 these circumstances, a decision legally right, but which is often 
 morally false and unjust, so it happens to men of science, that 
 through pure scientific study they find themselves placed in a 
 dilemma, because there is much in the world, which they 
 cannot find in their books. Scientific men are correct only in 
 their methods, not in their knowledge ; otherwise it would be 
 quite inconceivable that they should hold contradictory hypo- 
 theses to one another, concerning chemical affinities, electricity, 
 and magnetism, as well as the molecular theory. Experience is of 
 value to them only when it does not contradict their systems ; 
 if it does, they repudiate it. Scientific men will never solve the 
 above questions, because they only concern themselves with the 
 surface of things, and do not explore the deeper matters, which 
 is the task of philosophers. Now, concerning the latter, the 
 ancient Greeks — and self-evidently their instructors, the Indians 
 and Egyptians — already recognised death as a change of form of 
 existence, and therefore had no doubt as to the twofold nature 
 of man ; but it was reserved for the great philosopher of 
 Königsberg to explain clearly and definitely the division of our 
 
Birth and Death. 
 
 personality. Kant propounded not only the question, How does 
 the position of human knowledge stand? — the answer to which 
 led him to consider the difference between " things as they are " 
 and "things as they appear," — but he gave vent to the opinion 
 that the " soul " and the " ego " may easily contain the same 
 subject, but not be the same personality. And such is, indeed, 
 the case, and so do I understand the dual nature of man. Our 
 personality can only be compared to the reflection in a mirror. 
 Body and brain give a certain stamp to the influence of the 
 outer world, through which human consciousness is defined ; 
 this is the mirror in which the soul or principle appears, not 
 only to the outer world, but also to itself, as a definite per- 
 sonality. Schopenhauer, in saying, "The world is my idea or 
 conception," has only more forcibly expressed the sentiment of 
 Kant. There is certainly a connection between the original and 
 the reflected image, but only one similar to that between the 
 body and the shadow, and between both there exists an actual 
 difference. The justice of this view will not only be proved in 
 a very thoughtful and conclusive manner, but the consequences 
 resulting from the necessary suppositions will find their con- 
 firmation step by step through experience. 
 
 Those of my readers who may be surprised, after the perusal 
 of this book, at the opposition which the so-called apparent 
 meaning of evident truths meets with, are wanting in experience, 
 such an opposition being perfectly natural. MacchiavelH says, 
 "There are three kinds of brains: the first those who find- 
 out the reason and understanding of things by their own means ; 
 the second those who recognise the truth, when pointed out to 
 them by others ; and the last those who are neither capable of 
 one nor the other." The great majority belong to the latter 
 category, and, indeed, for a very simple reason. He who does 
 not understand the worth and construction of a machine cannot 
 rightly manage it by himself, but must call in the aid of others 
 to his assistance. Without criticising, we cannot with certainty 
 judge of the limits of human knowledge ; this, however, presup- 
 poses the knowledge of Kant's philosophy, which is seldom met 
 with among scientists, who allow themselves to float along with 
 the stream of public opinion. 
 
 The parson, the professor, the newspaper, here and there a 
 modern book, — such are the authorities they consider sufficient ; 
 scarcely ever are their own knowledge and thinking powers 
 brought into requisition. He who either directly or indirectly 
 has pronounced in favour of dogmatic belief or of modern 
 
Introduction. 
 
 natural science, is obliged to confess, if he allows of the possi- 
 bility or the existence of error, that he was in the wrong. And 
 this is not readily to be expected ; for, according to Seneca, 
 men would rather hold fast to an error they know to be false, in 
 order to keep up the appearance of not having been deceived, 
 than avow that they were in the wrong. This is especially true 
 with regard to those who make their living by learning, which 
 is easily understood. If a manufacturer has established a fabric, 
 and then finds some new invention has been discovered, he 
 cannot well rejoice, for the least he has lost is part of his capital, 
 and he must now turn his attention to recouping himself. This 
 is true of the learned bread-winners, whom no one has 
 described more graphically than the immortal Schiller : " Every 
 extension in the way of the knowledge by which he gets his 
 living disquiets him, because it gives him new labour, or makes 
 that of the past useless to him ; every important discovery 
 terrifies him, as it breaks through the old school routine which 
 he has mastered with difficulty, and makes him in danger of 
 losing the whole work of his previous life. Who have written 
 more about reforms than the whole heap of learned bread- 
 winners ? Who obstruct the progress of useful revolutions in 
 the realm of science more than they ? Every light, which by a 
 happy inspiration illuminates any branch of knowledge, serves 
 to make their incapacity visible ; they fight with bitterness, with 
 malice, with desperation, because with the system of schools their 
 whole existence is threatened. Therefore there are no bitterer 
 enemies, none more envious, none more ready to accuse others 
 of heresy, than the learned bread-winners. New discoveries 
 in the circle of their activity, which these learned men disown, 
 are the delight of philosophical spirits. Perhaps they fill a gap 
 which still exists in their comprehension of the whole, or prove 
 the one stone wanting to complete the edifice of their ideas. 
 Should they, however, overturn — should a new line of thought, a 
 new appearance in nature, a newly-discovered law in physiology, 
 upset the whole structure of their scientific knowledge — truth 
 is dearer, to them than their system, and willingly will they 
 exchange the old defective form for a newer and more beautiful 
 one." Schiller read men well, and he knew his " Pappenheimer." 
 Not only, therefore, to the spiritual and academical dignitaries 
 are such additional means of proof a regular bugbear (upon 
 which, however, my philosophy is not grounded, but only con- 
 firmed by their means), but the results of my philosophical 
 researches give men of pleasure likewise little satisfaction, 
 
Birth and Death. 
 
 because they thrust aside transient joys for the sake of those 
 tliat are imperishable. Men of social position, especially when 
 this comes by birth, are under the ban of ambition ; they do not 
 like to appear ridiculous, and feel themselves unpleasantly moved 
 when the nimbus of high position grows pale, and another 
 order of precedence takes its place ; for the results of these 
 inquiries prove that those, whose feelings and understandings 
 are better and more advanced will take the highest place, and 
 even sit upon thrones ! These researches are a forbidden fruit 
 to the man of science, to the orthodox a thing to be avoided and 
 condemned, to the priest a disturber of his means of livelihood 
 or stock-ni-trade, and the workman in his narrow groove has no 
 time to inquire into, or think about, such things. Is it then at 
 all inconceivable that they all should try to ward off such a new 
 system of philosophy, upsetting, as it does, in such an uncom- 
 fortable manner, the modern mode of thought ? Is it not much 
 more wonderful that, in spite of all this opposition, either 
 premeditated or thoughtless, the facts should be more and more 
 widely acknowledged ? 
 
 That a Plato, a Kant, or a Schopenhauer should have been 
 acted on by comparatively inconsiderable experience is conceiv- 
 able, because the keener the understanding, the less material it 
 takes to stimulate it. Such independence of thought is, however, 
 rare ; and our academicians cannot see what is passing around 
 them, or that their essential theories are already in their grave- 
 clothes. 
 
 There are three w^ays of trying to account for the substance 
 of human appearances. We can by means of natural science 
 follow the origin, development, and functions of organic matter, 
 and in this manner arrive at a knowledge of our double nature. 
 The microscopic cells, as such, either simply or collectively, 
 reach a wonderful divergence and teleological comparison with 
 one another ; but they cannot bring into existence a united, 
 thinking, and sensitive "ego." Therefore one must consider 
 the representation in cells as another power or individuality, 
 under which supposition what is called "Darwinism" is alone 
 possible and admissible. This method I have set forth in my 
 " Individualism." 
 
 It is only, however, through the critical consideration of our 
 organs of sense and imaginative faculties, that we can be led to 
 think that our perceptions, our personality, even our character 
 as man, are but phenomenal pictures, behind which quite another 
 reality, — that namely of the "subject" — must be and is hidden, 
 
Introduction. 
 
 which rejoices in a very different kind of perception and per- 
 sonaUty, whereby the birth and death of man already become a 
 change of form of perception. This view I have already brought 
 before my readers in the third volume of the " Prejudices." 
 
 In the book now before us, we will proceed at first with the 
 supposition that birth and death are really only a change of form 
 of perception (as is set forth in the above-mentioned books), 
 and inquire, therefore, what conclusions must of necessity be 
 drawn from it ; after which we will examine in the department 
 of experience if these conclusions really find confirmation ; 
 should such be found, then this hypothesis must be the correct 
 one. According to the ordinary course of induction, experience 
 should precede the work of thought ; by the deductive process, 
 which we shall here follow, the train of thought goes first, and 
 experience has to ratify it. 
 
 If it is true that birth and death are indeed only a change of 
 form of perception, then a transcendental subject must be 
 contained in man, which this change developes. This is quite clear. 
 As, however, every kind of developement has its deficiencies and 
 transition state, it follows that this transcendental subject (not 
 the phenomenal " ego " of our personality) manifests itself under 
 circumstances (when the change of form of being is incomplete 
 or in a state of passivity), or that another perception or another 
 kind of operation is made apparent. This disunion will, how- 
 ever, be a very variable one, till it reaches the goal which we 
 wrongly call death. We must, then, in continuation, examine in 
 the department of experience, and ascertain whether grounds 
 for these ä priori conclusions lie before us ; the first half of the 
 book being occupied by the task of setting forth the qucestio 
 facti, while the second deals with the qucestio juris — that is, the 
 explanation advances what the connection gives proofs of. Now, 
 concerning the first part, we shall find at once, in the next 
 chapter, that dreams, our good old acquaintances, frequently 
 offer traces of a transcendental perception, which in cases of 
 somnambulism, in visions, and in other phenomena, are most 
 clearly marked. This way of inquiry is the most convenient, 
 and makes the least demand upon the learning of the reader. 
 Whether, therefore, we engage in criticism as to biology or our 
 capacity of knowledge, or whether we follow the way chosen in 
 this book, the result is just the same and of high importance as 
 well for philosophy as for practical life. 
 
 What makes experience in this department of the highest 
 importance to philosophy, is that the limits of metaphysics are 
 
8 Birth and Death. 
 
 thereby displaced. Kant has described this as a science, to 
 progress by means of reason from the knowledge of the senses 
 to that of the transcendental. We will, indeed, follow this path ; 
 but the above idea cannot be taken as a definition of metaphy- 
 sics, as it is too wide. In chemistry, for example, much is 
 found of a super-sensual nature, which does not belong to the 
 domain of metaphysics. We will, in the conclusion of this book, 
 fix the limits ; in the beginning it will suffice to the intelligent 
 philosophical reader, to point out that many of the facts 
 collected are only to be explained through the secondary nature 
 of our consciousness and the phenomenal character of our — 
 particularly notice our — conception of sense, space, and time 
 (not the absolute ideality of transcendental reasons which cause 
 it). These are, however, most important and difficult philo- 
 sophical speculations, which receive a triumphant confirmation 
 through these facts. As to what concerns practical life, my 
 philosophy is calculated to bring a conviction to the mind of 
 unprejudiced persons, which will overcome the doctrine of 
 pessimism, and will give powerful motives for a moral life, 
 because the only possible explanation, free from objection of 
 these phenomena aftbrds us a deeper insight into the nature of 
 rnan. Kant was of opinion that on the solution of this riddle 
 the welfare of mankind depended. . 
 
 ' As to the proofs of these facts, which will be drawn from them 
 in confirmation, they are such as need only the use of common 
 sense to understand ; some there are which fall more particu- 
 larly under the domain of the physician ; and finally there are 
 physical phenomena, the examination of which is, in the first 
 place, a question for the natural scientist, by whom they can 
 only be rightly estimated, so that I really have no pretext- for 
 dipping into this subject. The English physicist Crookes has 
 undertaken the most exhaustive researches in this direction, and 
 says, "We are chemists and scientists " (meaning the company 
 who assisted in these experiments) ; " our task is not to believe, 
 nor to disbelieve^ but to determine in a positive manner whether 
 this or that manifestation is, or is not, the effect of imagination. 
 This once decided, the rest does not concern us. . . . One may 
 boldly maintain that we hazard neither hypotheses nor theories." 
 Crookes and his associates were right in operating in this way ; 
 for the realisation of the materials and the explanation of their 
 connection are matters for the philosopher, and not for the 
 scientist. As, however, no one, to my knowledge, has undertaken 
 this task, I feel mj'self the more impelled to do so ; and, indeed, 
 
Introduction. 
 
 that it is my duty, as previous apparent explanations are only 
 evident commentaries, which proceed from a highly problema- 
 tical source, and often stand in contradiction to one another. 
 
 As 1 must proceed on the supposition that this will fall into 
 the hands of others besides learned and philosophical readers, 
 it appears to me necessary to explain the few expressions 
 which we cannot well do without, in order to avoid any possi- 
 bility of misconception. 
 
 Kant has shown clearly, through trial of our powers of know- 
 ledge, that the world, as it is represented in our brains, is not 
 so constituted as we imagine it to be ; out of these researches 
 contrasts originate which have received special names. The 
 first contrast is : phenomenal or physical, and transcendental. 
 The former is derived from the outer world as it appears to our 
 capacity of perception ; the different impressions and sensations 
 are sought to be accounted for, and our conception of the 
 world rests on this. Transcendental is that which goes beyond 
 our natural powers of perception. An example will illustrate 
 this. We see the movements of the stars, and are able to 
 explain and determine, by inverse duplicate ratio, the distance of 
 the attractive .power of their course. When, however, we try 
 to grasp the thought that every single invisible atom from the 
 earth to the sun will pass to the fixed stars, we pass from the 
 limits of our knowledge to the transcendental domain. We see 
 how what we call gravitation operates, but we do not know 
 what gravitation is. In the same way, that which goes beyond 
 our experience, and is only to be inferred through the intellectual 
 faculties, is called " intelligibel " (supersensual). Therefore the 
 atom can be called in a certain sense "intelligibel," as it is only 
 a necessary condition to the explanation of chemical actions. 
 One cannot perceive an atom by means of the senses. In the 
 same way, that which passes our actual physical understanding 
 is called metaphysical. The conception of " transcendental, 
 supersensual, and metaphysical," often falls under the same 
 category, yet they should not be confused, but the ideas "phe- 
 nomenal, or natural, that which can be experienced, and 
 physical," should express the opposite qualities in case of need. 
 As we proceed, these ideas will be made clearer to the reader 
 than by any amount of discussion. 
 
 History teaches us that the exceptional cases in which the dual 
 nature of living men is evinced, by means of supernormal 
 perception or influence have always occurred ; and though ft^om 
 a statistical standpoint they are exceptions, from a historical 
 
10 Birth and Death. 
 
 one they are the rule — that is, these exceptional cases have 
 ahvays occurred, as they do at the present time, and will in the 
 future. The historical materials are so ample, that a most 
 superficial student hardly knows whether most to wonder at the 
 ignorance or the thoughtlessness of the so-called " learned." 
 
 If man has really a transcendental basis,, it is clear that it 
 sometimes must be made manifest or appear ; but less frequently 
 when, as in his waking hours, he is occupied with the pleasures 
 of life, and more readily when, as during sleep, the ideas of the 
 W'Orld slumber in his brain. The first traces of the double 
 nature in man are to be looked for and found in dreams. We 
 will follow these traces till we arrive at the complete disconnec- 
 tion between the phenomenal personality and the transcendental 
 subject, the results of my own experience being confirmed 
 by that of many eminent contemporaries. When any one 
 betakes himself to an unknown territory, he does well to spread 
 out his map and study his Bädeker ; in the same way, I 
 think, my readers may follow my train of thought to greater 
 advantage, if they know in the first place what it treats of, what 
 is the object of our quest, and how it may be found. It treats 
 of no romance, no poem, or sudden surprise, but of the search 
 after truth ; and 1 will place my readers in a position to follow 
 me step by step, promising them they shall not be taken at 
 unawares, but shall be convinced. 
 
 The first half of this book undertakes the task of drawing 
 confirmation of the whole argument from practical proofs ; in 
 the second part the explanation of these proofs will be sought 
 and found. As to what concerns the first part, we will engage 
 to verify whether there is a standing- place in .experience for 
 the theory of a transcendental basis ; and we shall find that it is 
 disclosed apparently in dreams and visions in the first place, 
 and later on in the operation of telepathy. We shall then 
 gradually be able to grasp the theory of the disunion (Spaltung) 
 of the human body shown in three ways ; in this chapter 
 are included the hitherto so-called spiritualistic manifestations, 
 rejected on one side, accepted on the other. After we have 
 arrived in this manner at the knowledge of the double nature 
 of man, a look into the history of mankind may afford a proof 
 of the unbroken continuity of these experiences, and thus the 
 first part, the quastio facti, will be completed. 
 
 The second part begins with the critical examination of the 
 three different hypotheses — imposture, psychic force, and the 
 intervention of other beings, — which afford very partial explana- 
 
Int }'o duct ion. 1 1 
 
 tions. That, by the supposition of imposture the whole class 
 of experiences cannot be explained, will be most clearly demon- 
 strated ; the two other hypotheses are, however, not entirely 
 without authorisation. The metaphysical basis of man involves 
 this, that on one side it sometimes is manifested in living men 
 themselves, and on the other side is objective to man ; thence 
 it proceeds that the hypotheses of " psychic force " and of 
 " other kinds of beings " are instanced as explanations of the 
 manifestations. We will prove what they are worth. 
 
 Should the reader once have become convinced that the dual 
 nature of man, as set forth and affirmed by me, is a satis- 
 factory and complete solution of the riddle of humanity, these 
 two questions will arise : How can a living man develope the 
 capabilities of his transcendental basis ? and vice versa : 
 " From what motives, and under what conditions, can the trans- 
 cendental basis be embodied in the human form ? And it will 
 be shown that this apparently complicated and difficult problem 
 will be proved, through the title " Birth and Death are a Change 
 of the Form of Perception," to be quite easy of explanation 
 and comprehension. This position, which forms the ground- 
 work of my system of metaphysics, will then be compared with 
 the popular belief of people of all times, with natural science, 
 and with philosophical system.s and religions (especially with 
 the Christian). In this chapter it will be shown that, in general, 
 human instinct approaches nearer to the truth than human reason. 
 It will be shown likewise that Kant has lived in vain, as far 
 as the priests of natural science are concerned, who always 
 attribute the product of our form of perception to objective 
 reality, and therefore explain the law not according to iheir 
 views of nature, but contrariwise explain nature by the laws 
 firmly fixed in their own brains. We shall likewise show that 
 philosophers of these latter days, with the exception of Kant, 
 are not clear in their minds as to what we know and what we 
 cannot know, despising the " fruitful pastures " of experience to 
 " roam in the far distance." 
 
 It will be further shown that " Recognition of all duties as god- 
 like messengers " is not only a mistaken idea, but is productive 
 of evil; and finally, that human beings cannot be helped onward, 
 as long as they do not apprehend the right knowledge of their 
 destiny, to enable them to find better motives for their actions, 
 and thereby become more moral. And now that the reader 
 knows with what subjects this book deals, it is his own choice 
 whether he employs his time in reading it, or leaves it alone. 
 
PART THE FIRST. 
 
 THE MANIFESTATION OF THE TRANSCEN- 
 DENTAL BASIS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE MANIFESTATION OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL BASIS BY MEANS 
 OF PERCEPTION. 
 
 We have already in the introduction, established the argument 
 that the transcendental basis of mankind must here and there 
 be made apparent if it really exists. If birth and death are, 
 indeed, only a change of the form of perception, a transcendental 
 basis which completes it, or is interwoven with it, is a necessary 
 condition. Does, however, such a transcendental basis exist ? 
 This may easily be discovered by the great difference of human 
 development. Everything will be made clear if traces of such 
 a basis are to be found, or are anywhere apparent in the 
 department of experience ; eminent thinkers in the departments 
 of philosophy and science have recognised their necessity. 
 
 According to the assertions of a certain Julius Robert 
 Mayer, with whose philosophical or metaphysical conclusions we 
 do not always agree, the thought, feeling, and will in man is 
 accompanied by an action of the brain, which runs parallel with 
 the above named functions, but at the same time is not identical 
 with them. This assertion is only a more positive form of the 
 admission of another scientist (Dubois-Reymond), who says 
 that we do not know how ideas originate. There is wanting, 
 therefore, an unknown something, which co-operates with our 
 thought, feeling, and will, and which the brain does not 
 supply. The individuality of consciousness, in spite of the 
 atomic collectivity of the brain, and the identity of consciousness 
 through the whole of life, and in spite also of the constant 
 
Transcendental Basis by means of Perception. 13 
 
 change of tissue, are further confirmations of Mayer's assertion. 
 If our consciousness cannot be explained through the known 
 organs or functions, we find the most essential functions of 
 human nature are a riddle to us, and, according to Mayer, are 
 an unknown quantity, which we can approach more easily when 
 the parallel-running cerebral action is in abeyance ; this is the 
 case in a state of sleep. Dreamland forms the threshold of the 
 edifice which we are in the act of stepping over ; for sleep is the 
 condition in which the waking consciousness disappears, and 
 either a state of unconsciousness ensues, or a quite different 
 kind of consciousness — that of dream-life — comes into action. 
 
 The mechanism and events of our dream-pictures in many 
 instances cannot be explained, without the intervention of a trans- 
 cendental basis. Dreams often show us, as in a looking-glass, 
 the double nature of human existence ; they are the key which 
 most frequently opens to us the portals of metaphysics. Man 
 has long sought to discover in them the difference between the 
 ideas of our waking moments and those which occur in dreams, 
 that the first are called forth through some influence, the others 
 are not ; this, however, is incorrect. Because the figures in 
 dreams have not the reality which lies at the bottom of the 
 ideas of our waking hours, it does not follow that they have no 
 definite cause. The difference exists only in the fact that the 
 cause is of another kind — that is to say, that cause and effect 
 stand in another connection to one another to that they do in 
 a waking state. 
 
 As I have dedicated a long essay in my " Daybook " to the 
 subject of dfeams and their symbolical meanings, here we 
 only take into consideration those which predict events or have 
 been afterwards fulfilled ; because these prove the necessity of 
 another and higher kind of perception in the most irrefragable 
 manner. The objection, that the greater number of persons 
 have no dreams of this kind is entirely without reason, because, 
 as we shall show later on, this capability depends on a kind 
 of union between the transcendental basis and the organic 
 machine — called the body, — which connection can be, and is, 
 in different men of different quality. An example may serve to 
 make this clearer. 
 
 Let us imagine the structure of an arbour of wood or of 
 trellis-work, over which creeping plants are trained. The more 
 thickly the leaves of the plants spread, the more completely will 
 the edifice be covered. Should the plants get sickly and 
 dwindle, the under-structure will here and there be left bare 
 
14 Birth and Death. 
 
 and show through. If,, therefore, we substitute for the leaves of 
 the plants, the organism of the body, and for the arbour the 
 transcendental basis, it is demonstrated that in place of the 
 original form of perception, not quite overpowered by the 
 organism, in the case of some persons premonitory or true 
 dreams take place, and in others do not. That the above 
 comparison is an apt one is shown by the fact that those who 
 are out of health are the more liable to such dreams. 
 
 So when in the case of a man who possesses what is called 
 " second-sight " as well as two distinct kinds of perception, the 
 double nature is already proved, one is the phenomenal or 
 natural, recognised through our ordinary senses and subject to 
 the known laws of nature, the other is supernormal, not to be 
 understood by us, because it seems to exist independently of the 
 natural laws to which we are subject, but which without doubt 
 has its own lawful cause. Here we meet the prejudice of those 
 unphilosophical scientists, who take their own laws for those of 
 nature, while these are only applicable to the manner of perception 
 known to us, from which they are drawn, and which have only a 
 relative value. Everything depends on the answer to the question 
 whether there really are dreams, which demonstrate an extra- 
 ordinary power of perception, in which events happen, which 
 are not possible as to time and space through our ordinary 
 senses. History is full of accounts of dreams of this kind, 
 which have been fulfilled ; even the Jewish materialistic daily 
 press narrates such dreams; the Morgeiipost of 31st January, 
 1878, giving an account of how a married woman in Vienna 
 was discovered to be a thief by means of a dream ; and the 
 IViener Tagblatt oi 13th January, 1881, tells that the murderer 
 of a father, mother, and sister was traced and convicted through 
 a dream, etc., etc. I will only give one instance out of number- 
 less authentic examples, which gives a forcible proof that in 
 sleep a higher power of consciousness is developed, which cannot 
 be attributed to the sharpening of the senses, as some scientists 
 aver, through hypnotism, because the senses are in abeyance. 
 In William Heine's " Expedition to the Seas of China, Japan, 
 and Ochotzk, under the command of Commodore Ringold, by 
 commission of the United States, during the years 1853-56," 
 in the second chapter, which gives an account of the voyage 
 to Batavia of the ship Hangkok, conducted by F. Cooper and 
 J. Kennedy, the following narrative is given : — 
 
 " On the next morning, while we were enjoying our first 
 breakfast at sea, one of those incidents occurred which among 
 
Transcendental Basis by means of Perception, 15 
 
 sea-folk are often regarded with astonishment, and which 
 afforded materials for conversation to us all for several days. 
 With tlie exception of the officers holding the watch on deck, 
 all were assembled at table, and the ship was tacking against 
 a light easterly breeze. Mr. Samuel Potts, our hydrographical 
 assistant, told us that he had dreamed the night before that he 
 had received a trunk containing clothes, which had arrived too 
 late to be conveyed on board, and which his friend had pro- 
 mised to forward to China for him, ' I dreamed,' said he, ' that 
 we were becalmed while near a merchantman, to which a boat 
 was sent out, which returned, carrying my trunk.' During 
 some hours nothing further transpired on the subject ; till, 
 wonderful to relate, the wind fell suddenly when we were at 
 some distance from a large, deeply-laden barque, which carried 
 the American flag. ' The fellow looks as though he came from 
 New York, and might have some spare coals, and perhaps a 
 "newspaper or two on board,' remarked the third lieutenant, 
 Rüssel. ' I will ask for a boat to row over to it.' He got a 
 boat, rowed to the barque, and came back, bearing with him 
 Mr. Potts's trunk. It was the barque Roebuck, from Baltimore, 
 eighty-four days on her voyage, and laden with coals for Perry's 
 squadron." 
 
 That a trunk should come to hand on the open sea instead 
 of in China, could not possibly be guessed at or in any manner 
 communicated, but must have been a case of prevision. 
 
 Every such instance offers a proof that man does possess 
 two kinds of perception — one that of the senses, the other that 
 beyond the senses ; and that the twofold nature of mankind 
 is no fable, but a reality, even if only one firmly established 
 instance of perception outside the range of the senses was to be 
 adduced. Such instances -there are, however, by thousands, 
 under many different forms and circumstances. There exist 
 three kinds of such dreams — namely, retrospective, in which 
 past events at certain places are dreamt of, which coincide with 
 facts then brought to light ; next dreams of events taking place 
 at the same time, but at a distance ; and finally, dreams which 
 reveal the future. Schopenhauer was not far from right when 
 he spoke of " dreaming omniscience," which tries to come to the 
 aid of our " waking ignorance." Sick people have often in 
 dreams found out the right means for their cure, and a great 
 number of our remedies may in the course of time acknowledge 
 this source of inspiration. In old times (according to Perty) 
 men called what I describe as transcendental capacity " the 
 
1 6 Birth and Death. 
 
 magical power of the soul," without understanding its develop- 
 ment. We find in extraordinary dreams the first traces of this 
 power ; though, were we dependent on dreams alone, we should 
 not advance rapidly in this domain. The so-called magnetic 
 sleep of somnambulists is much better calculated to assist in the 
 inquiry and the after-proof, as it occurs periodically, and can be 
 induced by themselves. I recommend particularly the " Philo- 
 sophy of Mysticism," by Du Prel, brought out during the 
 writing of this book, which treats the subject most exhaustively. 
 In actual dreaming, be the dreams symbolical, mocking, or true, 
 lie the first signs of another kind or form of perception, which 
 later on will be much more clearly demonstrated. 
 
 The first cousin of the "true dreamer" is the visionary'. 
 Visions, whether they occur in ordinary or magnetic sleep 
 or arise spontaneously, prove the truth of Kant's frequent 
 assertion that soul and man may be the same subject, but 
 not the same person. In this double nature lies the key to so 
 many puzzling manifestations, because the transcendental part 
 of such individuals is manifested more than in the case of the 
 greater number of men, which in their normal state is quite 
 eclipsed by their earthly joys and sorrows. If visions may be 
 adduced as forcible proofs, it must only be such as can be 
 corroborated by matters of fact in connection with them ; these 
 matter-of-fact occurrences must likewise be of such a kind 
 that the visionary could not be aware of them by the means of 
 his ordinary senses. It is at all events much in favour of my 
 idea, that sick and dying persons frequently have such visions, 
 though these are of too rare occurrence, and as a rule too 
 uncontrollable, to be given as evidence of clairvoyance, as it 
 is called. There are, however, some individuals who, partly 
 through the influence of others, partly through an action of the 
 will, are able to place themselves in such a visionary condition, 
 or at all events in a state akin to it. The pictures which appear 
 before them are certainly not always correct , often they are 
 symbolical ; sometimes, however, quite to the point. There 
 exists no country nor epoch in which such individuals have 
 not been found. 
 
 An instructive instance of spontaneous clairvoyance at a 
 distance is given in Kant's narrative of Swedenborg, in Gothen- 
 burg. He writes : — 
 
 " The following occurrence seems to me, however, to offer the 
 best proof of all, and to put any imaginable doubts to flight. 
 It was in the year 1756 that Herr von Swedenborg landed 
 
Transcendental Basis by means of Perception. 1 7 
 
 at Gothenburg, returning from England, towards the end of 
 the month of September, on a Saturday afternoon, about four 
 o'clock. Mr. William Castle invited him to his house, together 
 with about fifteen other guests. About« six o'clock in the 
 evening Herr Swedenborg went ou_t, and returned to the room 
 where the company were assembled, looking very much 
 flushed and excited. He said that at that time, a great con- 
 flagration was taking place in Stockholm, at the Sodermalm." 
 (Gothenburg is distant from Stockholm about fifty miles.) " He 
 appeared uneasy, and often left the room. He said that the 
 house of one of his friends, whom he named, already lay in 
 ashes, and that his own house was in danger. About eight 
 o'clock, after he had again gone out, he returned and exclaimed 
 joyfully, ' Thank God ! the fire is extinguished at the third house 
 from mine.' This news threw the whole town, particularly the 
 assembled company, into great commotion, and the same evening 
 it was communicated to the Governor. On Sunday morning 
 Swedenborg was summoned to the Governor's presence. The 
 latter questioned him as to the matter. Swedenborg described 
 the fire anew, how it had begun, how it was extinguished, and 
 the time of its duration.- .The same day the news spread 
 through the whole town, where, as the Governor had feared, it 
 created much excitement, many people being uneasy as to the 
 safety of their friends or their possessions. On Monday 
 evening an express, sent by the merchants of Stockholm while 
 the conflagration was in progress, arrived in Gothenburg. In 
 the letter, the fire was described to have taken place exactly 
 as it had been before related by Swedenborg. On Tuesday 
 morning a royal courier arrived, bearing a record of the fire, of 
 the losses which it had caused, and of the houses which had 
 suffered, not differing in the least from the account Swedenborg 
 had given at the same time — for the fire was extinguished at 
 eight o'clock. What can one advance against the credible proofs 
 of this event ? The friend who wrote me the account inquired 
 into all the particulars, not only in Stockholm, but about two 
 months ago in Gothenburg also, where he was well acquainted 
 with the best families, and where, from the short time since 
 the occurrence, in 1756 (scarcely two years before), most of the 
 witnesses were still living, from whom he obtained every detail." 
 So wrote Kant in August 1758. 
 
 The accounts of soothsayers, priestesses, and seeresses in 
 every age are so well known to all, that we need not dwell on 
 the subject. We will only just refer to the Indian boys who 
 
 2 
 
1 8 Birth and Death. 
 
 pour a dark fluid into their hands, into which they gaze, this 
 act being accompanied by fumigations, apparently in order 
 to weaken the normal functions of the senses or the brain. 
 The boys dedicated to this purpose see pictures in the fluid, 
 which often result in singular coincidences. An English noble- 
 man, whose name has escaped me, once learnt this art, and 
 even without the aid of dervishes succeeded in hypnotising boys, 
 and apparently annihilating time and space or distance. In 
 the same manner, many years ago, it came to light through an 
 action for libel in England, that many highly estimable people 
 became hypnotised and clairvoyant by means of looking into 
 a crystal ; naturally those who had exercised this faculty laid 
 the blame or the merit on the crystal, and believed that it 
 was through its powers they saw the pictures, while really the 
 crystal was only the means or vehicle by which their powers 
 were available. The possessor of the crystal, who gained 
 money by it, was denounced as a swindler and impostor, which 
 caused him to bring an action for libel ; and so many creditable 
 witnesses came forward to prove that it was no imposition, 
 that the defendant was convicted of the libel. 
 
 A very interesting case occurred in the summer of 1883. A 
 Vienna newspaper gives the following account of it. A gentleman 
 cut alockof hisy?rt';/Cf'(?'5 hair off, unknown to her, and took it to 
 a modern "Lenormand" in Aussig, who declared the owner of 
 the hair to be, among other things, an infanticide. The lady 
 then explained that the hair was cut from some false hair she 
 had bought at the hairdresser's, Abt, in Vienna ; the gentleman 
 investigated the matter, and the lock of hair was identified as 
 that of a criminal, at that time confined in the Stein prison for 
 infant murder. I made inquiries, and found the facts quite 
 correct, and then sent some hair to the seeress through a third 
 person. The description was for the most part right, and by one 
 circumstance I found that it was not a gift of knowledge, but of 
 sight, that this person possessed. The seeress declared that the 
 owner of the hair, was forty-five years of age, but looked much 
 older ; the fact, however, was that he was fifty-seven years old, 
 very healthy, and looking much younger ; she further said that 
 at the age of thirty he had recovered from a very bad illness. 
 With regard to the illness, that was quite correct, but as to the 
 time, it would only have been right if the aforesaid person had 
 been really forty-five years of age. She had no knowledge 
 of the date of his birth according to the calendar, and yet the 
 picture she saw of him was not only right, but she said also 
 
Transcendental Basis by means of Perception. 1 9 
 
 quite truly that he was born under Libra, etc. It is quite self- 
 evident that such clairvoyance is not always at the command of 
 these persons ; their " sight " being very often obscured. 
 
 In spite of the innumerable well-authenticated instances of 
 clairvoyance, there exists a scientific coterie, who deny these 
 inconvenient facts and justify themselves on the authority of 
 the Academy of Science, in Paris, which offered a prize for the 
 reading of a sealed letter, which prize had been gained by no 
 somnambulist. Du Prel, in his remarks on the latest edition of 
 Büchner's " Power and Matter," and still more forcibly in his 
 " Philosophy of Mysticism," has exposed the whole injustice of 
 this affair. A later report was more favourable, but was not 
 allowed to be published, because by it a greater part of the 
 existing physiology would be thrown overboard ! Still it is 
 self-evident that sleep, or the condition analogous to it, is not 
 always accompanied by clairvoyance, and that in relation to the 
 manner, time, and place, as little can be determined or enforced 
 as in relation to the observer ; therefore men ought not to limit 
 themselves to one or even to several trials, but should have 
 patience and perseverance, if they would carry through an 
 experiment to the desired end. It is absurd that the testimony 
 of a small comite, consisting of a few men, should after a couple 
 of trials be considered conclusive, because it sided with their 
 already formed conviction, and that nothing should be admitted 
 as evidence when it told against them, as was the fact in the 
 case of the Academy just mentioned. There are, however, 
 many men, not inferior in moral characteristics to the members 
 of the body alluded to, and whose learning far surpasses theirs, 
 who bear witness to the fact of clairvoyance, but in this instance 
 it counts for nothing ! The assertions of numerous physicians, 
 whose observations of cases of somnambulism have extended 
 over many years, must also have great weight. The Academy 
 of Paris has rejected many things, which later on it has had to 
 accept (take, for example, the existence of meteoric stones) ; 
 and yet, in spite of these blunders, it still maintains its ground ; 
 we may, therefore, hope it will give in to this as well. It is 
 more than probable that the Academicians have not read Kant 
 and Schopenhauer, or at the most have perhaps glanced at a 
 French translation of their works. But the " De Divinatore " 
 of Cicero cannot be unknown to them, and what this author 
 partly relates himself and partly gleans from the literature of 
 his time, ought to be sufficient to startle these gentlemen. 
 
 To prove these facts is indeed not difficult ; the explanation 
 
20 Birth and Death. 
 
 of them is, however, less easy. The conditions and results of 
 clairvoyance are, really, a second capacity of perception in men, 
 which differs from that of the senses. It seems to us at first 
 difficult to understand, how another power of perception can 
 give information about things happening at a distance or at 
 another time. Though a satisfactory explanation of all these 
 phenomena will be placed before the reader in the conclusion, 
 it will be as well to give him some suggestions on the subject 
 at an earlier period. 
 
 Most of my readers will have had some experience with the 
 
 telephone, and felt the magic sensation caused by the musical 
 
 sounds coming from afar. Still the feeling of surprise is only a 
 
 result of the novelty of the experience, for in reality, it is far 
 
 more wonderful that, when looking out of window, we should 
 
 perceive certain things ; this, however, causes no one surprise, 
 
 because we are accustomed to it, and think but little about it. 
 
 The impressions thus conveyed to the ear and eye are caused 
 
 by vibrations which affect both organs. Now, concerning the 
 
 sensations of the ear, we see the wire which conducts the 
 
 electric current in oscillating waves ; the wire, however, which 
 
 communicates the vibrations of light to the eye is unperceived 
 
 by us. There must be invisible, vibrating lines of power in 
 
 use, which — indeed, from every object, from and in every direction — 
 
 serve as conductors and unite the whole world together. If 
 
 there are such lines of power, — and we will later on recognise 
 
 the necessity of their existence, — it only needs an apparatus 
 
 which can be sensible of these vibrations, and which is still 
 
 more sensitive than our eye; and the transcendental half or true 
 
 basis of our being will later on be shown to be this apparatus. 
 
 Given also, that everything existing sends out such connecting 
 
 lines, the wonder of sight as well as that of clear or far sight 
 
 ceases. The eye is more sensitive than the heel, and it is ä 
 
 priori no forbidden assumption, that a still greater sensibility 
 
 than that of the eye may be imagined. That this sensitiveness 
 
 depends on the peculiarity of our organisation, is to be inferred 
 
 from the circumstance that it is more frequently to be found in 
 
 particular families and localities, especially in Scotland and the 
 
 Faroe Islands. A native of these islands, Lucas Jacob Debesius, 
 
 in the seventeenth century, declared that second sight was not 
 
 uncommon there, and was only a gift of nature. Second-sighted 
 
 people are those " who, besides their ordinary sight, possess an 
 
 extraordinary one." The translator of the Beaumont Treatises 
 
 from the English, calls these individuals "double seers." This 
 
Transcendental Basis by means of Perception. 2 1 
 
 assumption is at all events more sensible than the opposition of 
 modern scientists against the facts themselves. 
 
 In relation to clairvoyance at a distance (with regard to 
 space) we shall be able to speak more fully in our next chapter; 
 the problem of clairvoyance at a distance of time is a much more 
 difficult one. Mankind has always had a belief in prophecy, 
 without knowing that the event is most natural, but we cannot 
 discern the connecting causes, though these yield themselves 
 one by one before the facts. Although so many things are told 
 and written of seers (like Lenormand) or somnambulists, I 
 know of no instance of such triumphant and fully-proved 
 clairvoyance as that of the following prophecy : — 
 
 In the year 1845 one of my friends was travelling from his 
 estate to Agram in very bad weather, and on the road he came 
 upon a dervish, who was going in the same direction. He 
 drew up, and invited the dervish by a motion of the hand, to take 
 a seat on the box, as the latter did not seem to understand his 
 language. His offer being accepted, he drove him to the house 
 of the Oriental Baron Hiller (who was then living in Agram, and 
 whose sister had married in Croatia), without taking any further 
 notice of him. The same day he received a letter, directed to 
 the " Emir Graf S.," in the, to him, unknown language of the 
 East, Some time after, my friend found among his family 
 archives, a similar manuscript, which puzzled him, and he sent 
 both of them to Baron Hiller, with the request that he would 
 translate them for him. The last' named writing, found among 
 the archives, was a letter of no particular importance, from a 
 Turkish chief to the grandfather of my friend, who was a 
 general. The letter of the dervish was copied by me word for 
 word from the translation of Baron Hiller, as I had them both 
 before me, and they would not give me the trouble of writing 
 from the spoken form, besides Hiller seemed to have translated 
 the letter quite literally. The translation is as follows : 
 
 " Traduction de I'adresse en idiome turque : 
 
 "Suit ci-pres I'explication' des lignes ecrites par le connu 
 dervisch, le sincere serviteur, et adressees au Seigneur, 
 I'Emir D. S. . . . 
 
 " Avant que I'astre du jour parcourra trois fois la grande 
 carriere des 4 saisons, il y aura sang et feu dans I'occident, en 
 suite de quoi vous-meme vous courrez grand danger de mort 
 violente, mais vous en serez quitte pour une grande maladie, 
 preparee en partie par de longsch ag rins, auxquels la femme, 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
2 2 • Birth and Death. 
 
 qui se trouve ä present dans la riche et grande ville allemande 
 d'un roi-poete, en chemin pour visiter une mosquee de la sainte 
 Marie, mere de votre saint proph^te Jesus, contribuera princi- 
 palement. 
 
 " Elle dissipera tous ses trdsors, et cela fait, eile se dressera 
 contre vous, mais les lignes ne se croisent pas encore, ainsi il 
 est temps encore ; sachez done la reduire et la detacher. Apres 
 qu'elle vous aura mis deja semblable ä I'image de la mort au 
 bord de la tombe, pour cette fois vous en mourirez d'une lente 
 et douloureuse maladie de coeur, sans sauver vos fils, ainsi il ne 
 vous reste autre moyen, que celui d'employer toutes vos forces 
 ou d'en devenir le martyr. Que le salut vous tombe en 
 partage, et que le bouton de la fleur de I'honneur et du bonheur 
 ne cesse ä fleurir," 
 
 In order to remove any doubts as to the genuineness of the 
 document and the translation, I have had the original photo- 
 graphed, and it is added to my " Magic of Numbers," as this 
 publication was not at that time in prospect. 
 
 The revolution of the year 1848 is well known. It is a fact 
 that my friend, as an opponent of the national party, through 
 some correspondence with the Hungarian minister, was put in 
 confinement. Still it does not seem likely to me that Banus 
 Jelacie should have dared to attempt his life. It is true that 
 he had a serious illness, and likewise that he with his wife lived 
 in very reduced circumstances; it is also true, and very remark- 
 able, that his wife without his knowledge was at that time in 
 Munich. As she was very bigoted, the other details have much 
 probability ; it is true, too, that she dissipated her very consider- 
 able fortune. My friend died nearly thirty years later of an 
 easy and sudden death. If the letter contains information for 
 which the dervish (supposing him capable of understanding 
 European languages) had been able to collect evidence in the 
 town, there are further details about which he could get no 
 evidence. Besides, it is said, as Baron Hiller confirms later 
 on, that this dervish, according to his assertion, came from, or 
 was going to, the Turkish trenches in Ofen : the last is the more 
 probable, as Sermage met him on the road south from Agram. 
 When I made this prophecy public, in the first edition of my 
 "Philosophy of Common Sense," I referred also to the prophecy 
 recorded of Count Louis Battyänyi, who was shot, and sug- 
 gested the possibility that it might have been the same dervish. 
 I, however, proved incontestably in the appendix, that the pro- 
 
Transcendental Basis by means of Perception. 23 
 
 phetical utterance on the steamboat between Pressburg and 
 Pesth was delivered by a highly respectable Turkish dervish, 
 who it was scarcely possible could be identical with the other. 
 
 That prophecies stand in close relationship with other visions, 
 because they both give evidence of another kind of perception 
 and dovetail into one another, is theoretically conceivable, as 
 well as proved by a mass of experience. A case is described 
 in the third volume of the " Prejudices," in which a woman 
 apparently dead was found to be in a trance state ; and the 
 Vienna strangers' list gives an account of a case in July 1882, 
 where a child who appeared dead woke up, and said that she 
 was not dead, but that on the Monday following all the little 
 girls would die. No importance was attached to this assertion, 
 but it is a fact that on the day named fifteen little girls died in 
 the village from small-pox. 
 
 Numberless are the reports of those who have interested 
 themselves in these phenomena. I cannot, however, engage 
 here in a discussion respecting the explanations of prophecies, 
 and the fundamental difference, which exists between the fore- 
 seeing of often unimportant events in the near future, and that 
 of some fateful catastrophe. The reader can find both in the 
 third volume of the " Prejudices " and in my " Magic of 
 Numbers." The "seeing" of something in the near future, 
 perhaps of no particular importance, is indeed a divination of 
 cause and effect, a glimpse into the course of events, into the river 
 of existence through the transcendental form of perception, which 
 has another measure of time, and is as vastly superior to our 
 ordinary perception as we ourselves are to animals. The fore- 
 seeing of some far-off catastrophe is, on the contrary, a glimpse 
 into the transcendental purpose, and from that into the motives of 
 our existence; therefore the "foreseeing," in reference to the 
 last, is much more frequently incorrect than that in reference to 
 the first ; and both these kinds of foresight have necessarily 
 another presupposition, since they both agree in the fact that 
 this foresight is the effect of an innate higher form of perception 
 in us, which in abnormal or sickly organisations is more easily 
 developed. The foretelling of different events in life coincides 
 with the development and the aim of existence ; these are purely 
 philosophical questions. Here we are only concerned with the 
 fact that such a thing as clairvoyance exists, and that it cannot be 
 explained through the normal or what we call natural condition 
 of human beings, and therefore a power of a transcendental 
 nature must be necessary. This the more intelligent among 
 
24 Birth and Death. 
 
 materialists, positivists, and exact scientists also allow, though 
 they do not admit the facts ä priori. We may therefore with 
 safety conclude that there are really " true dreams " and visions, 
 which prove the existence of clairvoyance, but which are not 
 explainable without an innate power of perception. Such a 
 power, however, a transcendental basis of human beings 
 .possesses as a necessary result. 
 
 We must not believe, however, that this higher power of 
 perception readily embraces that of "seeing;" there are men 
 who have a capacity for detecting the presence of mefals, 
 because they produce in them peculiar* sensations. Accounts of 
 such instances are found in the works of Kieser, Kerner, 
 Zschokke, and others ; Perty gives the case of a hospital-director 
 of Voss and of a peasant Aymar (" Mystical Appearances," pp. 
 3034) : the first could detect some time after their departure, 
 the presence of certain people, and could even point out the 
 chairs on which they had been sitting; Aymar had the power of 
 finding springs, and was once able to help in the discovery of 
 a murder. Denton, who has written a powerful book in three 
 volumes, on the results of the high state of sensitiveness of his 
 wife and of one of his children — "Nature's Secrets, or Ps3^cho- 
 metric Researches "(Boston, 1873) — narrates among other things, 
 that a piece of an elephant's tooth, about the size of a bean, 
 which was found in California under twenty feet of lava, and 
 was brought by three persons, sufficed to give his son visions 
 of a herd of elephants and a volcano. He acknowledges the 
 possible influence of the persons present, though he has known 
 many instances in which this was not possible. We will later 
 on discuss how this sensitiveness may itself be developed, and 
 on what it depends ; at present we have only to deal with facts. 
 This superior power of perception is sometimes developed spon- 
 taneously in peculiar cases, or in circumstances of danger, as 
 not infrequently we find reported in the papers. But even in 
 ordinary life, our thoughts may be influenced by these second 
 supernatural or supersensual powers of perception. This influ- 
 ence may be made more or less available, as I have instanced 
 in my " Daybook of a Philosopher," in the case of three histor- 
 ical personages, namely, Sw'-^^cnb^"-;;, Jacob Böhme, and Kepler, 
 and I could bring forward hundreds of other examples. 
 
 An influence of a transcendental nature ma}'^ be apparent 
 without any vision or act of clairvoyance, especially in the case 
 of poets and musicians. People call this among animals 
 "instinct," — among men it is termed "inspiration." The ex- 
 
Transcendental Basis by means of Perception. 25 
 
 pression " inspiration " presupposes something which inspires. 
 Priests ascribe it to a Divine origin, spiritualists to the spirits of 
 the departed ; the materiahst must therefore appeal to the plea- 
 sures of the table or the effects of wine. I have never found 
 the thought expressed, that inspiration is brought to light, when 
 the transcendental form of perception or consciousness triumphs 
 over that of the normal. It is shown, however, unquestionably 
 through all these phenomena, that man possesses innately a 
 faculty of perception, which far surpasses that communicated 
 through our known organs. It is further certain that these 
 faculties are developed the more easily when consciousness 
 slumbers, or when the cell-organism is in an abnormal or 
 unhealthy state. That this last assertion must be accepted, is 
 clear from the fact that these faculties disappear when the 
 general health, or that of some special organ, regains its usual 
 state, as was noticed, for example, in the case of a lad (I think 
 a Saxon) who, when affected with defective sight, was often able 
 to read concealed writing, but after a successful operation lost 
 this faculty. 
 
 We shall, later on, be convinced that these faculties are not 
 confined to a state of passive perception or sensibility. While, 
 however, we cannot conceive of motion without corresponding 
 organs or means, and as we are accustomed to call the instru- 
 ments of perception and sensibility "organism," so we will 
 without prejudice, call the instrument for the production of that 
 perception and sensibility through organism not known to us, 
 by the name of " Meta-organism," which is almost identical 
 with the " Astral body " or " Spiritual body," the " Soul " of the 
 ancient mystic. Schopenhauer and Hartmann put for this the 
 common idea, which has scarcely any meaning, of " will " or 
 " unconsciousness," which not only affords no explanation, but 
 puts a stop to any further inquiries. When, later on, we speak 
 of eyes or hands, in the sense of metaphysical organs, we wish 
 to impress on the reader, that it must not be understood to be 
 the retina of the eye that sees, nor the physical hand which 
 feels. To make use of a halting comparison, we could say that 
 the natures, which are able to make even a very imperfect use of 
 their " meta-organism " are, as compared to those in a normal 
 condition, similar to a man who has opportunities of using the 
 telegraph, the telephone, or the telescope, compared to one who 
 has never either possessed or heard of such instruments. 
 
 Most authors who have written on this subject, call the 
 absolute power of the soul " magic, psychic, or magnetic power," 
 
26 Birth and DeatJi. 
 
 without further explaining it ; men in old times called those who 
 possessed these supernatural powers "magicians;" we have 
 no need any more to make use of such expressions. We shall 
 be soon able to discern the perfectly natural cause of these 
 supernormal perceptions. The reader, however, must keep 
 distinctly separate the vision (or the picture) from the fact of 
 the influence or sensation ; the first is not by any means 
 identical with the latter. Influences alwaj's exist, but they do 
 not always prove the presence of sensitiveness. We have not 
 always a conscious idea of the latter, and this corresponds still* 
 less frequently with the influence. Our task will now, therefore, 
 be to approach nearer and nearer to this transcendental basis 
 by all the means at our command, because in it the riddle of our 
 being is involved. 
 
 Those of my readers who are not contented with the scanty 
 examples here supplied, can find a fuller treatment of the subject 
 in Du Prel's " Philosophy of Mysticism." Du Frei lays the 
 difficulty on the removal of the source of sensibility and con- 
 sciousness, whereby different forms of perception become 
 possible ; he comes, in consequence, to the conclusion that a 
 transcendental subject must be inherent in man, because only 
 through this supposition the changing manner of perception can 
 be explained. I can only wish, that in the interest of inquiry, 
 Du Frei may devote as much attention to the problems, which 
 will occupy us in the following chapters, as he has done to the 
 transcendental faculties of perception, we have treated of in this 
 chapter. Through his recognition of the " ' intelligibeV subject" 
 in us, which is not concealed by the natural "ego," because the 
 first is prominent over our consciousness, he has the right key 
 in his hand — in hoc signo vinces ! 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MANIFESTATION OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL BASIS BY 
 MEANS OF OPERATING AT A DISTANCE. 
 
 We have learnt to recognise things, which contradict the usual 
 tendency of our observations by our senses, and which infer 
 undeniably an inner power of perception. There exists there- 
 fore in the human form a something, which is capable of feeling 
 and perceiving in another way than by means of the senses ; 
 only thus is it possible that men should see and narrate things 
 in the form of dreams or visions, which must be acknowledged 
 as real through the evidence of fact ; which cannot be denied, on 
 account of the corroboration of accessory circumstances, and 
 yet which are inaccessible through our ordinary senses. Men 
 of learning, who are accustomed to think for themselves, like 
 Schopenhauer, have never doubted these facts. 
 
 The question now arises quite naturally, " Can the essence 
 of the human body, evinced by means of such perceptions, only 
 operate passively, and not make itself known by some active 
 means ? Is the dual nature of man able to make itself apparent 
 only by a supersensual perception, and not by a supernormal 
 effect or influence ? We have organs for impressions and 
 movements, and we have sensitive nerves : should not this dis- 
 union or severance likewise extend to the transcendental part, 
 whose sensibility we have already learnt to recognise ? " 
 
 The history of all times and peoples answers emphatically 
 "Yes!" 
 
 Formerly, though perhaps not always rightly, the power 
 of acting or influencing at a distance was attributed to magi- 
 cians, students of the black art, witches and adepts ; later on 
 they called it magnetising ; and in our time, through the public 
 appearance of Hansen, it has become an ordinary every-day 
 affair, as up to this time the exhibition of this power was 
 confined to the secrecy of private circles. Those who pub- 
 lished accounts of it were either ignored or laughed at. Still 
 
Bu'th and Death, 
 
 worse fared magnetic healers, who were put in prison as quacks, 
 being without diplomas, even though they performed wonderful 
 cures ; it is only the official man of science who has the right, 
 by means of his incapacity, to send his patients to a better world 
 without being punished. Things would perhaps even yet be in 
 the same condition, if Hansen had not had the opportunity of 
 displaying his powers in large public buildings. The public 
 flocked to see him, ready to face the persecution that awaited 
 them, till the ever-sagacious police stepped in. It was no 
 longer, however, a case of complete silence. Since that time I 
 have published a pamphlet about Hansen ; while numberless 
 Vienna papers did not know how to protest sufficiently against 
 this frightful, this notorious imposture, and as my pamphlet was 
 soon out of print, I will now bring forward and complete the* 
 explanation that I before advanced. 
 
 There exist men, who live in the erroneous opinion that they 
 know and understand everything; therefore what at first sight 
 they cannot comprehend, they declare conveniently to be impos- 
 sible, and the facts or narration of the same to be a fraud. 
 This kind of men 'forget, or more probably do not know, the 
 saying of a learned man — I think the mathematician Gauss — 
 that if a book is thrown at a head and a hollow sound is heard, 
 it is not always from the book, but more likely from the head, 
 that this hollow sound proceeds. 
 
 Then there are men who understand scarcely anything, and 
 therefore have a particular partiality for the incomprehensible. 
 They find a satisfaction in it from the fact that others, whose 
 superiority they cannot deny, cannot with all their Latinity 
 fathom it. We need only call to remembrance, as regards the 
 first class, the blunders of scientific men in respect to the 
 systems of Copernicus and Ptolemy, the telescope, meteor 
 stones, luminous matter, caloric, etc.; with regard to the 
 second it is not worth while wasting our time upon them ; it 
 would be but a waste of our " malt and hops." 
 
 In order to form an objective opinion on this power of the 
 will to operate at a distance, it will be necessary to make some 
 remarks on the subject of gravitation, light, and heat, so that 
 the reader may arrive at the conviction, that these powers of 
 nature are neither more nor less wonderful than Hansen's 
 performances, and that they all stand in close connection with 
 one another. We are accustomed to the first, and therefore 
 do not trouble ourselves much about them ; the power of the 
 will operating at a distance is seldom presented to our expe- 
 
Transcendental Basts Operating at a Distance. 29 
 
 rience, and the consequence is that it seems very surprising 
 and difficult to understand. 
 
 Most people think that when they have advanced something 
 in explanation of- a fact, the matter in discussion is exhausted. 
 Electricity, magnetism, hypnotism, gravitation, attraction, 
 psychic force, etc., are often names used for things, which are 
 quite unintelligible, by the means used by these " enlightened " 
 people, who imagine all the time that they have completely 
 mastered the various subjects. We do not intend to concern 
 ourselves with the question, whether the performances which set 
 Vienna society in commotion were a fraud or not ; but will 
 speak of the explanation of such phenomena in a purely objec- 
 tive manner. 
 
 It can only be a question of fraud, when these phenomena 
 are brought about by collusion ; if they are proved to be the 
 result of a species of " operating at a distance," they are no 
 fraud, but a physical problem to be unravelled. And it must be 
 acknowledged that a single incontrovertible fact has as much 
 weight as a hundred. If also Hansen had not previously been 
 in Germany, but had only commenced in Vienna, — even if 
 everything that ' was exhibited in the Ring Theatre, had been 
 proved to be the work of an impostor, such unassailable results 
 as those that took place in the private circles of Vienna, suffice 
 to demonstrate the reality, as well as the possibility of his 
 effective power, whatever the kind of power may be. Allowing 
 that Hansen really possesses this power, it is a curious matter 
 of taste that he should exercise it in private saloons, and yet 
 perform fraudulently in the public Schottenring ! Thus to 
 localise fraud exclusively to the Schottenring and to the seances at 
 the Börse, may be an easy method of arriving at a conclusion, 
 but cannot be a sensible one, since we must not forget that one 
 well-authenticated case is of itself sufficient proof. If Hansen, 
 after the loss of his power, was able to replace it by fraud, 
 which indeed I do not presuppose, nothing could alter the truth 
 of earlier facts. 
 
 If I fasten a stone to a string and swing it round in a circle, 
 the stone cannot escape so long as the string does not break, 
 for it is held fast by the string. Our earth in the same manner 
 is held fast by the sun, and the moon by the earth ; we are 
 assured of that by our eyes, which, however, are not always 
 reliable. Still more, the correctness of our calendar bears 
 witness to the regular course of the law of gravitation, not 
 to refer to other proofs, arising out of astronomical laws. 
 
30 Birth and Death. 
 
 Kepler, Newton,, and Kant have recognised this invisible 
 " string," and spoken concerning it very decidedly. (Professor 
 Zöllner has collected these passages and turned them to 
 account.) 
 
 Now arises the question, wehere and what is that "string," 
 which holds fast our own and all the other planets, which is 
 never broken, even though it may cut through another of the 
 heavenly bodies, and which yet is invisible ? Can we assert 
 anything concerning this mystical band of union ? We can say 
 one thing about it, and that indeed in the first place, viz., — that 
 these cords with which we are connected to the sun, strange to 
 say, consist of many threads, of which they are composed. We 
 know indeed that attraction results in direct proportion from 
 masses, which is shown not only through astronomy, but also 
 from the movement of a pendulum, in the neighbourhood of 
 mountains ; the attraction of matter, indeed, results in direct 
 proportion to the quantity, and in inverse proportion to the 
 geometrical square of distance. No one will therefore doubt 
 that the half of the sun would only have the half, and the thou- 
 sandth part of the sun only the thousandth part of its power 
 of attraction ; with the help of Kepler's and Newton's laws, we 
 possess as many authorities for the truth of our position, as 
 there are planets in the solar system. 
 
 If, however, each kind of matter attracts in proportion to its 
 quantity, it follows that each atom of the sun reaches to the 
 earth with its power of attraction, because the increase in the 
 number of atoms does not lengthen the cord, but is only able 
 to strengthen and thicken it. It follows from this that the atoms 
 of which my body is composed likewise reach to the sun — not, 
 it is true, like a silken thread, but in their giving out of force, 
 though the massiveness of the sun may not be notably influenced 
 by them. 
 
 The law of gravitation, or the operation of matter upon matter 
 (as one is accustomed most unphilosophically to express it), 
 proves also, that when men enter a room, the mutual develop- 
 ment of force, constituted through countless billions of atoms, 
 compose in due form a net of these imaginable threads. In 
 spite of these countless sources of development of force, we are 
 sensible of none of them — and yet ! we are sensible of them,yör 
 we see one another ! 
 
 Let us examine for a moment the word " see." 
 
 The scientist is always accustomed, when he discovers a 
 power or force, to accept and search for some substance as its 
 
Transcendental Basis Operating at a Distance. 31 
 
 conductor or cause, because this seems the, most convenient 
 method, and does not overtax the understanding. So it arose 
 that at first, in order to explain the effect of light, men believed 
 in light as a positive quality (the theory of emanation). 
 Soon after, they became convinced that it was only a question of 
 vibration (theory of undulation). It vi^as just the same with 
 heat : here also we are told that we have only to do with vibration, 
 that by means of simple motion and friction we can open up 
 inexhaustible sources of heat, because we have only to call 
 vibration to our aid. To the question, what it is that really does 
 vibrate, the scientist has his answer quite ready (naturally of 
 course a "stuff") — "aether." What, however, is aether ? No 
 one has ever seen, weighed, or found it. The scientist gives to 
 this thing of his imagination all the qualities of which he is in 
 need ; and changes them according to the use he wishes to put 
 this " stuff" to ; in one word, he hypothetises a " stuff," and gives 
 it without more ado, all the qualities necessary to the com- 
 pletion of the connecting links of the phenomenon. And it is 
 just the same with this bantling as with light and heat " stuffs " 
 — it is (at least according to the received theories of light and 
 heat), not only superfluous, but an aggravation of the difficulty ; 
 this is not the place, however, to prove this. It is the same 
 thing for our position, whether the vibrations proceed directly 
 from an aether, which no one has proved, or from that invisible 
 cord by which the heavenly bodies and all matter are attracted. 
 
 Under all circumstances, it is a well-established fact that 
 wherever light, heat, or sound exist,, vibrations must also be 
 present, and that vibrating lines of power or threads (whichever 
 we like to call them) will be found likewise. We will call them 
 in future lines of vibration, and every one is at liberty, according 
 to his taste, to consider them as aether, atoms, rays of the 
 unknown, etc. That such lines of vibration must be present, 
 however, is shown by the power of attraction of matter through 
 space, and by the phenomena of light and heat. Everything 
 that we can perceive with our eyes, is either direct or reflected 
 vibration, for which we may thank our conceptions of form 
 and colour. We perceive a light-vibration at a considerable 
 distance, that of a fire much farther off; a volcano operates still 
 farther, and the radiant matter of the sun at a distance of twenty 
 millions of miles, not to speak of the tremendous conflagrations 
 of the fixed stars. If I make my eye more sensitive through 
 the aid of a telescope, which is done by collecting the rays 
 through a lens and concentrating them to one point, then I am 
 
32 Birth and Death. 
 
 able to see apparently farther, or the object is brought nearer ; 
 with a lens of twelve inches one can increase the size of any- 
 thing 1,600-fold, with one of twenty-six inches 6,000-fold. 
 
 A more complete confirmation of the necessity of these lines 
 of vibration cannot be afforded than that given by the spectral 
 analysis. Every element has its own spectrum ; even the aggre- 
 gation of forces which lie outside our solar system have their 
 own signs. Something must evidently extend from the sun 
 and the stars, and it depends only on our senses or their acutcness, 
 to be sensible of these vibrations in some manner. 
 
 The reader should hold fast to this assertion, as the key to 
 the explanation of many wonderful phenomena. We cannot 
 see the more distant fixed stars with the naked eye^ though 
 we can with a good telescope ; again, we cannot determine their 
 component parts by their light ; if, however, we make use of the 
 prism, we can at least say if any kind of nitrate is contained in 
 them. 
 
 And now we are in a position to make an actual step forwards. 
 
 If I make a movement with my arm, the movement meets 
 the reflected rays of the eye of a man advancing towards me. 
 There are millions of vibration threads, ' which change their 
 direction. Should, however, the advancing man turn his back 
 towards me, the calves of his legs would not receive the im- 
 pression, although they would equally be towards me ; it is the 
 human eye only, which is finely enough organised to be sensible 
 of the rays, and only the human intellect, which through the 
 operation of reason, gives an opinion as to the operating force 
 or object — which opinion we incorrectly designate an " idea." 
 
 We have now three factors before us : the presence of the 
 vibration threads, the quality of the celerity of the vibrations 
 (longitudinal and transverse), and the faculty of sensitiveness. 
 A piece of wood or a house may be burning, a candle or an 
 electric light may give light, and the rays or the vibrations 
 may reach my eye or my hand ; — in all these different instances 
 we shall find different ways of operating. 
 
 I must give yet one more preliminary consideration. 
 
 Sound will likewise produce displacement of the air, by 
 means of vibration, equally whether it is an organ, the strings 
 of a violin, or the human throat that causes it. The higher 
 the sound, the greater number of vibrations go to a second ; 
 we have a scale of from thirty-two to so many thousand vibra- 
 tions to the second. It is true that all men possess a vocal 
 organ, but powerful tenor voices are very rare ; I bring this 
 
T^^anscendental Basis Operating at a Distance. 33 
 
 forward in order to show that we all have this faculty of 
 Hansen'a in a certain innate manner, but that such a develop- 
 ment of the same as Hansen possesses is as rare as a fine 
 pure tenor voice. 
 
 No one can now suggest the possibility that each act of our 
 will can put in vibration, or otherwise affect, these lines or 
 threads of attraction (whose conductors we ourselves are, as 
 the sun or the earth is) ; it is true that the will or the nerve 
 power in living force is capable of displacement, which has 
 been already proved. We use this power in the movements 
 and exertions of our bodies, and are obliged by means of 
 nourishment to give heat and renewed elasticity to the 
 machine. 
 
 If we 'now admit that Hansen has greater power to bring 
 these vibration cords into play than others, and at the same 
 time that some people are more sensitive than others, we stand 
 in the presence of a wonder not greater than that of gravitation 
 or of the vibrations of light and heat, which at the distance of 
 millions of miles act upon the human body. 
 
 There are delicate people who are sensible of the influence 
 of a touch or a pass, which would be quite without effect upon 
 me. Those who have no experience about such matters in 
 their own case, or that of others, have no right to offer any 
 opinion. We are easily sensible of the warmth proceeding 
 from a person approaching us — even without contact ; — we only 
 need a greater amount of heat or more sensitiveness to be 
 aware of the same at a greater distance. 
 
 Hansen causes people to become rigid. This is without 
 doubt a condition which may also arise through illness or by 
 being wounded. It is an interesting fact that Hansen is able 
 to produce it through the power of his will alone, or by passes. 
 
 This is a subject fit for the discussion of molecular physicists, 
 pathologists, and physiologists, before whom it has already 
 been laid ; the audience in a theatre, or the reporter of a 
 newspaper, are certainly not the proper judges. It is an open 
 question if the same results could not be obtained by physical 
 means. 
 
 The extent and aim of this book do not permit of further 
 suggestions. It is a fact that some of these performances of 
 Hansen's (such as the lifting a heavy man on the outstretched 
 feet of a weak one) have been prearranged and attempted 
 without producing similar results. If Hansen were capable 
 of paralysing the muscles of the feet, it would not be more 
 
 3 
 
Birth and Death. 
 
 surprising if he could succeed in the same way with the brain ; 
 for it has long been known to be possible to make persons 
 unconscious and without sensation, and to produce dreams 
 through opium is unhappily very frequently done by Asiatics. 
 The strange part is that these things are actually performed 
 by Hansen by the simple power of the will. And not only 
 Hansen, but many others, are capable of producing great effects 
 through their will-power. 
 
 I will pass over without notice the experiments with the 
 Chemnitz professors, which Hansen undertook with certain 
 individuals. Sometimes the following experiment is successful, 
 — viz. : That two people hold a third by the hand, who with 
 bandaged eyes, after some minutes, will perform what the 
 others had previously agreed that he should do. The number 
 of such impressionable individuals is very great, especially 
 among females. The ready objection, that assistance is given 
 by pressure or look is only of value when it deals with the 
 question of direction or place, or of the acts of sitting, stand- 
 ing, or kneeling. I cannot, however, holding a person's left 
 hand, cause him by mechanical means to perform any action 
 with the right. 
 
 Now let us see what is proved by these experiments. 
 
 That the will of two men can influence the muscles of a 
 third ; but Hansen possesses the power of performing this by 
 himself and without direct contact. It is self-evident that those 
 who are engaged in the experiment must refrain from giving 
 mechanical assistance, only exerting the will to influence the 
 blindfolded person ; in the same way the latter must give 
 himself up to the unknown influence, — since, if he is firmly 
 resolved not to move from the spot, or is predetermined in 
 his own mind against the probability of success, the experi- 
 ment is scarcely likely to succeed. If several people join 
 hands and form a chain, vibrations often result, which are com- 
 municated even to objects, such as a table or a chair. Still 
 with regard to all these experiments, design and a firm will 
 must be used, as in the case of the telegraph it is necessary to 
 employ the proper conducting wire and the electric battery. 
 It is well known that a steadfast gaze has often caused the 
 person looked at to turn round. These are certainly extraor- 
 dinary phenomena ; but after what we know of the change of 
 operation of matter itself at so great a distance, without the aid 
 of Hansen we are thrown back upon invisible vibration lines or 
 power-energy, in which alone to find the conductors and means 
 
Transceitdental Basis Operating at a Distance. 35 
 
 for this power. It may appear strange that Hansen should 
 possess such an unusual gift, but, as we have before remarked, 
 it can be compared in its rarity to a pure strong tenor voice. 
 
 How then in the ordinary course of things do we communicate 
 our will to other people ? 
 
 We produce vibrations by means of our throat ; and through 
 these vibration threads we telegraph our will with the aid of the 
 tongue, the lips, and the chin. These vibrations reach the 
 whole body of the other person ; but it is not his knees, but only 
 his ears, which are finely enough organised to catch the 
 vibrations, which his understanding changes into sounds, and 
 so through the understanding and the reason the vibrations 
 become the means of communicating the will. 
 
 How does that act in the case of Hansen ? 
 
 The cords of attraction or vibration lines of matter apparently 
 connect two people ; the will must certainly exercise an influ- 
 ence over these cords and make itself felt in them ; it now 
 only becomes a question whether the influence of the will on 
 one side is strong enough, and the sensitiveness on the other 
 side is sufficiently great, for the " telegram " to be communicated. 
 Of what development the strengthening of the vibrations and 
 the sharpening of the organs is capable, the telephone is a 
 witness. That is almost, the picture of the action of com- 
 munication. 
 
 Now arises the question from whence the power comes, 
 which makes the magnetised person to do what the magnetiser 
 wills him. 
 
 In the first place I answer that not everybody is obliged to 
 do what Hansen wills them, there being only a proportion that 
 inust. I have given an account, in the second volume of the 
 " Prejudices," of my first meeting with Hansen, in which I 
 narrated that I experienced myself the influence, although 
 Hansen had said nothing about it ; my will, however, was and 
 is strong enough to withstand the influence. 
 
 I answer further that through the ear we often receive 
 results of will pov^^er, and can communicate them to others. The 
 crowning argument is that in the same way that stronger hands 
 of flesh and blood can master those less powerful, so stronger 
 vibrations of these metaphysical threads are capable of doing 
 the same thing. 
 
 The reader must for the present rest contented with this 
 answer ; for to go deeper into this subject without more pre- 
 paration is beyond my power, since it consists in the upsetting 
 
36 Birth and Death. 
 
 of the prejudices of common sense, which prejudices consist in 
 properly understanding that our perceptions of sense and matter, 
 our idea of space, even our personaUty, are of a normal kind, 
 and they certainly have some foundation in fact. 
 
 The reality which lies at the foundation of the natural world 
 was cautiously christened by Kant '^ Ding an sich" — a self- 
 existing entity, about which, according to the judgment of many, 
 especially those of the English and P'rench school (Auguste 
 Comte and Herbert Spencer), one can know absolutely nothing ; 
 this, however, is partly an over-hasty assertion, partly a pre- 
 judice. 
 
 We do not know ivliat " a thing of itself" is, nor whence it is, 
 but something we can say about it, some predications we can 
 give as to this unknown quantity (at least in respect to human 
 beings). 
 
 We must be satisfied with holding fast to the idea, that we 
 have to do with no fluid, which Hansen pours, as it were, out of 
 a bucket, and which this hypothesis upsets in the same way as, 
 in its time, the development of heat through the bore of a 
 cannon threw overboard the theory of " heat-stuft"." We must 
 not accept the "emanation-theory" put forth bona fide by 
 magnetisers, but must hold fast here to the theory of iindidation, 
 which better expresses the principle of the conservation of 
 force. Entia praeter necessitatem non sunt inultiplicanda. 
 
 The vibrations through which the magic will works, and the 
 seer perceives with the eye what is invisible, act upon the same 
 mysterious threads on which the stars hang, which are traceable 
 in all phenomena of light and heat, and which fasten us by the 
 feet to a revolving and flying ball. It took men several hundred 
 years and much trouble to believe in this last trick, or artifice, 
 but with time they succeeded ! 
 
 Because men of science deny this power of the will, and in 
 spite of the testimony of the Grecians and Romans, in spite of 
 numberless writers in every age, in spite of Mesmer and others, 
 go on denying it up to the present time (with the exception of 
 those German savants who tested Hansen), it does not, there- 
 fore, follow that this will power does not exist ; they will recog- 
 nise it in the course of time, just as they now recognise the 
 meteoric stones, whose existence they so obstinately denied and 
 fought against, with the same weapons which they now direct 
 against Hansen. 
 
 Those who are acquainted with great authors, such as 
 Newton, Kepler, Kant, or Liebig, not through the daily papers 
 
Transcendental Basis Operating at a Distance. 37 
 
 or the weekly or monthly reviews, but in the original, know 
 how cautious and discreet they are. The scientific small 
 change with which the book-market is inundated, is, however, 
 neither cautious nor modest, and spreads abroad scientific frau- 
 dulent explanations, quite forgetting the fact that there only 
 exist mathematical and logical impossibilities, and that experi- 
 ence is her own judge, and is subject to observation. We are 
 astonished at the operation of the will outside of the organism ; 
 do we know how the will inside of it acts upon the muscles ? 
 
 We know that a section of the nerves under the microscope 
 is just like the submarine cable ; we know the conductor — but 
 nothing further. If one of your "enlightened" men were only 
 in the position to inform me how our ideas come into being ! 
 He can follow the vibrations as far as the ear, or into the eye ; 
 he can even describe the nerves which proceed from them to the 
 brain ; there, however, they are lost, and all our science comes to 
 an end. We kfiow the attraction, can measure the power or 
 capability of the attraction, but how the will acts upon it, how 
 man thinks, determines, — that we do not know. Our "en- 
 lightened " men have no wonder to spare on it ; it is a matter 
 of daily occurrence, and they have never considered the question. 
 It is somewhat difficult to realise the darkness of a room if one 
 does not go into it. The ///co/^/rt'A^ws/Z»///^ of the phenomena 
 which Hansen puts before us, is certainly no reason that we 
 should conclude they are the result of fraud or collusion, 
 because every one has much in himself that is incomprehen- 
 sible ; a thick-headed person, however, does not always notice 
 this incomprehensibility. 
 
 We know that illness, injury, or an abnormal organisation 
 often throws more light on human nature than a healthy 
 condition of body, and men have gone so far as to put poor 
 living animals to all kinds of martyrdom in the interests of 
 science. When, however, rare and most instructive exceptional 
 cases in human beings offer of themselves, we make no use of 
 them ; we will not trust our own eyes, and not only Hansen, 
 but many thoroughly honourable and deeply-learned and 
 scientific people are stigmatised as impostors and dupes, in 
 order to leave no opening for a possible explanation. 
 
 Men should enter upon the inquiry of such phenomena in an 
 objective manner, test them, or, what is still better, have them 
 tested. For I in no way share the opinion of those who desire 
 to see everything with their own eyes, because I think that 
 outsiders can often see things better, and no one can be ex- 
 
38 BirtJi and Death. 
 
 perienccd in every matter ; I like the experience of others, 
 while at the same time I prefer to think for myself, and would 
 make this privilege over to no one else. I do not choose that 
 professors should think for me, but I willingly leave to them 
 experiments, which belong rightly to their own department. 
 Our "enlightened" men do just the reverse; they will see every- 
 thing for themselves, and are not in a condition to fulfil all the 
 requisites of such experiments ; on the other side, they blindly 
 accept the dictum of professors or reporters, which is certainly 
 a very grave mistake. The professor has often grounds for his 
 opinion, but is one-sided, the newspaper reportei^s are many- 
 sided, but very superficial. The best guides are a good book 
 and one's own reason. 
 
 The experiments of science, particularly those relating to 
 astronomy, optics, and spectral analysis, have demonstrated 
 the necessity of accepting vibrating lines of force in reference 
 to matter ; we cannot, however, understand them. When two 
 men are acting upon one another, the co-operation renders the 
 power stronger, and this effect is the more powerful the nearer 
 the bodies are to each other, while the centres of force of the 
 atoms constituting it are moved. Different organisms are, 
 however, very diverse in relation to their active and passive 
 conducting power, which is shown in the case of abnormal 
 organisations. Hansen belongs to these, possessing, as he 
 does, an abnormal organisation. He is, however, neither the 
 only one, nor the first, nor the last who has this faculty. 
 
 When these " enlightened " men try to hinder presumed 
 "impostors," be they magnetisers or clairvoyants, in the interest 
 of "enlightenment" they generally find themselves in the wrong. 
 The explanation has nothing to fear from such experiments ; 
 whose trial does not lead to the stool of repentance, as some 
 apostles of enlightenment fear or assert, but'quite the other way. 
 
 No one doubts that a powerful man can with his hands 
 force another to do many things. Hansen is to be looked upon 
 as a man who possesses farther reaching fingers than others, 
 or, more correctly, their invisible lengthening has more power 
 in Hansen than in others. For the effect of this lengthening 
 reaches every man and every atom. To determine the result 
 there are the three factors : quantity and quality on the side oj 
 the operator, capacity of sensitiveness on the other side. 
 
 These experiments are at the same time very instructive and 
 very stimulating, but neither mysterious nor wonderful, and 
 least of all are they impostures, since we have not to deal with 
 
Transcendental Basis Operating at a Distance. 39 
 
 n&\N forces, but with a new application or development of known 
 or rather existing forces. 
 
 Schopenhauer was one of those rare mortals who, free from 
 the cares of existence, with neither wife nor child, could devote 
 his whole life to intellectual study ; and those who know all 
 his writings are perfectly astonished at the extensive reading of 
 this man. This same Schopenhauer considers all those who 
 are unacquainted with the phenomena of magnetism and 
 somnambulism as ignoramuses. When we think of all that 
 he read, of all that Kant thought, of what results have been 
 obtained in the domains of experimental physics by a Weber, 
 a Crookes, and a Zöllner, and when we know how these men 
 behaved in relation to unusual facts and circumstances, the 
 scientific wrath of our "enlightened" men makes rather a 
 comic display. 
 
 Do the generality of men, however, allow themselves to be 
 convinced ? According to my modest opinion, only very few ! 
 For that presupposes an independence of thought which few 
 possess, most men adopting the ideas of others, with which 
 they are furnished like coats and shoes, and conform to the 
 fashion of the time. Examining the phenomena of magnetism 
 and of clairvoyance, they consider mauvais genre, and that is 
 enough. They would thereby, they think, forfeit the scientific 
 prestige of cultivation and enlightenment ! Oh, heavenly sim- 
 plicity ! 
 
 What is understood by magnetism in ordinary life extends, 
 however, further than what is seen in the performances of a 
 man like Hansen. The magnetiser has the power, in the case 
 of certain individuals under his influence, of producing a deeper 
 sight or vision outside the senses, which is called clairvoyance. 
 This has really given opportunity for a great deal of fraud, 
 because a so-called clairvoyant, whether magnetised or not 
 does not always see clairvoyantly, but sometimes naturally, just 
 as we have dreams now and then, which correspond with actual 
 events or circumstances, but as a rule they are simple nonsense. 
 If Hansen, for example, should produce clairvoyance in a 
 person under his influence, such a fact would be only conceiv- 
 able under the supposition that some " intelligibel" subject outside 
 the senses, and capable of observation, lay at the foundation of 
 the sentient human being, — an opinion which Kant and others 
 are well known to have shared. This " intelligibel " subject we 
 have already, however, found in the two first chapters; the 
 subject of our dreams and visions has now and then a super- 
 
40 Birth and Death. 
 
 natural sight, a supposition of clairvoyance, and numerous 
 doctors narrate of their patients that such clairvoyance, if rare, 
 does occur. In this manner the experience of one confirms 
 that of another. 
 
 According to Schopenhauer the " omnipotence," according to 
 Hartmann the "unknown," is what the ^^ intclligibeV subject re- 
 presents ; and this presents no difficulties for certain individuals. 
 Only to such as can believe in the self-development of a lump 
 of albumen, and are thereby satisfied as to their causality, do 
 such phenomena appear very inconvenient ; because in the first 
 place their perceptions cannot be brought into accord with them, 
 and, therefore, new labour must be required ; and in the second 
 their blunders are thereby brought, as it were, under a magnify- 
 ing glass, and become perceptible to the less cultured. As long 
 as the " mystical " was only a matter for pastime in saloons, 
 they could hide their heads under their wings; this is, however, 
 no longer possible, now that it is brought before thousands 
 every night in full gaslight. 
 
 Assumed enlightenment has happily come to the conclusion 
 that public opinion is sufficient, not only for deciding cases of 
 criminal law, but for higher tasks of moral principle. If these 
 t\vo stumbling-blocks can be happily avoided, one can sail on 
 the ocean of egotism regardless of consequences ; and if higher 
 natures are the exceptions in this respect, it is instinctively and 
 from right feeling that this good results. The " enlightened 
 ones " have a motive for this way of treating the subject, 
 because their horizon extends no farther than the phenomenon 
 "ego." They take the limited scope of their own intellect for 
 that of the world, and when beyond this limit something stirs, 
 they will have nothing to do with it, for it disturbs their 
 illusions, destroys their prestige, and may even cause their gains 
 and decorations which they have bought so dearly to vanish. 
 Hinc'illce lacrimce! The police are already disarmed, nothing 
 remains but the system of hushing up, and the wrathful 
 terrorism of the "enlightened," with the ^vzr-cvy Imposture. 
 
 These weapons already begin to miss fire, which is not to be 
 lamented; for with the modern opinions of the world, short- 
 sighted egotism will at the same time be laid in a well-earned 
 grave. 
 
 Unfortunately this terrorism is sufficient to hinder some 
 professors and doctors from examining into the matter them- 
 selves, when, as is often the case, they have not much courage 
 and no independent position ; for the first may lose his scholars, 
 
Transcendental Basis Operating at a Distance. 41 
 
 and the second his patients, through the riding voice of the 
 pubUc. In Germany this is not the case, at least in respect to 
 Hansen ; since the professors in that country, and not only in 
 Leipzig, seized every opportunity of making experiments, which 
 they continued to do later on without Hansen. Only those 
 indeed can give their opinions frankly on these phenomena, 
 who regard popularity and scientific prestige as worthless, and 
 admittedly mixed up with change and error, just like any other 
 human opinions. 
 
 This terrorism, which in its time the priesthood likewise 
 exercised, and even now exercises when it is able, is easily 
 understood. We have ever-increasing signs to tell us that there 
 remains much to be unravelled; earnest-thinking men exist, who 
 seek out the physical connection of these phenomena, and who 
 draw conclusions from them. Only think of the position of 
 those who speak to-day of impossibility and fraud, when these 
 new theories are accepted generally. A person may be in the 
 wrong, and may through experience come to a knowledge of his 
 errors, — that is the common lot of mankind. But the two words 
 impossibility and fraud shovAd never be used. It is a fact that 
 men now hear, see, and read all kinds of things ; the situation 
 begins to be ominous ; in one word, these gentlemen begin to 
 smell a rat! Nothing remains to be done but to consider their 
 awkward position as well and as far as it goes, at least ad dies 
 vitce. This is as yet still possible. I remember as a child seeing 
 every now and then in small Hungarian towns and villages 
 old men going about with their hair bags all their lives. 
 
 In conclusion I will just remark that when clairvoyance 
 arises of itself, its effects are harmless ; when, however, it is 
 called forth by the will of the magnetiser, it is a dangerous 
 faculty, which may produce bad consequences. 
 
 The circumstance that Hansen never attempts anything him- 
 self proves plainly that he is no impostor, because charlatanism 
 and fraud under such conditions are the easiest things in the 
 world, and the most profitable. I feel it also my duty to state 
 that Hansen has always been ready and willing to be made use of 
 for scientific aims without remuneration. That he should give 
 other representations is scarcely to be wondered at, since 
 science did not undertake the care of his existence. I think 
 that this manner of proceeding demonstrates clearly and 
 decidedly that he has nothing to fear from the light of day. 
 The phenomena of magnetism — I use the term without endorsing 
 it — are as old as mankind itself, and are no imposture ; which 
 
42 Birth and Death. 
 
 does not prevent the fact that with it much imposture does take 
 place. 
 
 A year after Hansen's exhibitions there were so many 
 magnetisers and magnetised persons, that nothing further could 
 be advanced against the facts, so obstinately denied by the 
 scientific opponents, — only they modestly gave the thing a new 
 name, and called it Hypnotism ! Why a fixed gaze should in 
 certain favourable circumstances turn so many people into seers 
 of visions or clairvoyants, or why another will should by means 
 of certain preliminary passes completely subjugate them, is not 
 explained, however, by a new name. Still, the new name was 
 necessary, in order to cover the weak point of the scientists ; 
 since the same facts had been declared in scientific circles to te 
 an imposture, these good people could not own to such a 
 palpable error ; so they let the old ship go out to sea under a 
 new flag. 
 
 The IScnc Freie Presse, in Vienna, had been among the most 
 violent in denouncing Hansen as a swindler, and was obliged 
 now to confess that it had been over hasty. If Hansen were 
 the first magnetiser,'it might be passed over; but the phenomena 
 themselves are as old as history. Greatrakes performed in the 
 seventeenth century more of such supposed wonders than all 
 the rest of the apostles put together. 
 
 If my assertion is correct that there is such a thing as operat- 
 ing at a distance {Fcrmmrkiing), which is already shown in 
 principle by the law of attraction of masses, there is no further 
 difficulty in recognising in the magnetic passes the well-known 
 healing power par distcmce, and in the same manner in declaring 
 subjugatioa of the will to be a physical compulsion through the 
 hand or the will from a distance. The magnetiser, according 
 to Cahagnet or Szapary, was able to place certain individuals, 
 the so-called Somnambulists, in a rigid or cataleptic state, 
 whereby the " intelligibel subject " became partly free ; and so 
 the higher form of consciousness was able to come into play. 
 
 If then it is taken into consideration that a man by the 
 simple power of his will can render any other devoid of sensa- 
 tion ; that he is able to constrain him in every movement, 
 even every idea ; that he also, to speak shortly, can without 
 physical contact take possession of another, — it is clear that the 
 physical body is not the Alpha and Omega of human existence, 
 but that a metaphysical basis or essence, a " meta-organism," 
 must exist, which is able to act independently of the senses. 
 And so we find once more a confirmation of the opinions 
 
Transcendental Basis Operating at a Distance. 43 
 
 advanced in the earlier chapters. The inner essence of the 
 human being lias not only another manner of perception, outside 
 the senses in relation to space and time, but also another 
 sensible, imperceptible way of operating. 
 
 It is- a fact of great importance that the influence of one man 
 over another at a distance even of miles is not hindered, when 
 the sensitiveness through frequent exercise is increased, as is 
 instanced by so many physicians, as well as in ZöUner's experi- 
 ments with Hansen. This increased sensibility and influence 
 show us (though perhaps only in misty outlines) the capa- 
 bilities in which the " intelligent subject," freed from the 
 corporeal body, rejoices ; the powers of perception increase, and 
 the barriers which limit our ideas of space fall away. One 
 might almost say that the senses of touch, taste, and smell 
 demand immediate contact, and that the eye and ear are subject 
 to the three dimensional forms of perception (in consequence of 
 the influence in inverse ratio to the square \Quadrats\ of the 
 distance) ; but that the " intelligibel subject" stands in a direct 
 connection with the three dimensional forms of perception beyond 
 the outside world. We will, however, defer drawing con- 
 clusions till later on, when we shall have a greater amount of 
 experimental material at our command. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MANIFESTATION OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL BASIS BY AUTO- 
 MATIC WRITING AND TRANCE SPEAKING. 
 
 We will now discuss two phenomena, in which clairvoyance 
 as well as an apparent action at a distance {Ferinvirkimg), is 
 sometimes to be noticed, and which may be described either as 
 a division of the " subject " into two separate personalities (as 
 in dreams), or as a seeming possession by another will ; these 
 phenomena are that of automatic writing (pyschography), and 
 unconscious speaking (trance). Most people can, if they have 
 perseverance, witness the first, if not in their own case, in that 
 of some other person, as the faculty of this writing can be 
 developed in many persons. In the earlier ages these mani- 
 festations, especially such as occurred in dreams or ecstasy, 
 were considered as Divine communications, and thence arose 
 dogmatic belief and the Divine law, and religious wars ; for all 
 of which we have to thank fanaticism. Spiritualists take these 
 manifestations for authentic communications from spirits of the 
 departed, — a hypothesis which seems the more doubtful the more 
 one examines thgse writings. That these writings, however, 
 in most instances, have an unknown origin, and in many point 
 to supernatural intervention, is without a doubt. 
 
 The following is a very remarkable instance. When in the 
 country I paid a visit to the well-known Baroness Adelina Vay, 
 and as she was occupied at that time with psychography, I 
 asked her if she could obtain for me a communication from 
 Baron Henikstein, recently deceased, who was a well-known 
 member of the Vienna clubs ; I got an answer quite in his 
 usual style and turn of thought, and towards the end of the 
 message the writing became more and more like his ; at last 
 the medium wrote the words dohrii nod; a Slavonian " good- 
 night," which he used to me especially, and the signature was the 
 usual abbreviation with which he was accustomed to sign his 
 
Automatic Writing and Speaking. 45 
 
 notes of hand at our parties of ecarte ; he was quite unknown 
 to the medium. 
 
 Schindler, speaking of this writing in his " Magical Spirit 
 Life," to which he had devoted much attention, says, "One 
 need only see this highly interesting phenomenon, to be con- 
 vinced that, as in ecstatic speaking, the use of the tongue does 
 not proceed from the guidance of the soul, the action of the 
 arm accords with the magic life of the soul." Schindler is 
 thoroughly persuaded of the double nature of man, but he is 
 silent as to the causes and results of the same. The assertion 
 that that can only be communicated through the senses which 
 exists in our intellect, is contradicted by experience. This is a 
 fact that is confirmed, not only by dreams and visions, but also 
 by automatic writing and speaking. Notwithstanding this, we are 
 not justified on account of isolated instances of clairvoyance, in 
 endowing these manifestations with a positive value ; it is much 
 more important that men should bring to these investigations 
 unbiassed and common-sense considerations ; this I most 
 strongly advise, and it is sure to produce substantial results. 
 
 If a person is suddenly possessed of the knowledge, be it 
 little or great, of something which takes place at a distance, or 
 if he gives an account of things, about which from his own 
 experience he can know nothing, he exhibits a faculty which is 
 not to be explained through the normal or natural side of our 
 nature. It is, therefore, as much a mistake to ignore the 
 wonderful nature of the phenomena, as to accept these mani- 
 festations for current coin. Spiritualists appear to me like 
 people who, standing by a piano playing of itself, are all ear 
 for the bad music, and do not consider that the piano gives out 
 sounds without being touched. 
 
 Since this work does not deal so much with the explanation 
 of these manifestations, as with the demonstration of the asser- 
 tion that birth and death are only a change of form of per- 
 ception, I will confine myself to the following general 
 observations. 
 
 It must be conceded, in the first place, that in relation to the 
 subject of these communications, a certain analogy exists be- 
 tween it and that of dreaming. They contain silly or dramatic 
 notions, and here and there traces of a higher kind of percep- 
 tion appear. Concerning their mechanism only four kinds of 
 motive power can be imagined. Either the writer uses the 
 pencil like any one else, and consciously is guilty of fraud, against 
 which, in many instances, not only his personal character, but 
 
46 Birth and Death. 
 
 also the subject-matter raises an objection ; or, in the second 
 place, the writer acts unconsciously and without will ; he is in 
 the position of a sleeper, and the answers arise out of his 
 transcendental perception, or the consciousness of those present ; 
 or, thirdl}', his brain and imagination are acted upon by some 
 foreign metaphysical influence ; or, fourthly, his hand is mechani- 
 cally guided by the same influence. 
 
 In the three last cases' this writing must without doubt be 
 due to some unknown influence, whether acting directly on the 
 muscles of the arm or upon the brain. We know from the 
 ideas which are put forth, at least in many instances, that they 
 do not proceed from the consciousness or mind of the writer, 
 though they are often influenced by this consciousness. In the 
 third volume of the " Prejudices," I have compared these 
 answers to the product of two brooks, which have different 
 water and, moreover, a different source, each brook furnishing 
 something, though in differing quantities. The thing becomes 
 the more complicated as each of these brooks may have and 
 has various little streams running into them. Had the product 
 of the representation communicated by our experience a colour, 
 such as yellow, and that issuing from our transcendental nature 
 another, such as blue, while a third, from the intervention of 
 foreign beings, was white, we should see how little was drawn 
 out of the third source (the white), and how much, especially 
 among poets and musicians, comes from the unknown region 
 (blue), even in their apparently quite ordinary conceptions. 
 
 If one could enter into our thoughts of such a spectral 
 analysis, lines out of the different centres alluded to would 
 always be found, especially in abnormal natures. The colours 
 could scarcely appear pure ; ever3^thing that is derived from 
 our consciousness would have a greenish tint, neither pure 
 yellow nor blue (if we stick to the selected colours), because 
 the brain with its normal experience can as little be overlooked 
 as the " intelligibel subject." In ordinary life the yellow colour 
 has the preponderance, while in the case of poets, musicians 
 and seers, the blue colour comes more frequently to the fore. 
 We might say, after Fechner's striking way of expression, that 
 a derangement of the source of sensation takes place. In this 
 manner it becomes clear how much that is so wonderful, and 
 also so silly and puerile, in dream life, visions and automatic 
 writing, takes place. Neither is it in the least surprising when 
 a clever man writes the silliest nonsense against his better 
 judgment, and vice versa, an ignorant man displays astonishing 
 
Atitomatic Writing and Speaking. 47 
 
 wisdom. It must not be overlooked that anotjier measurement 
 for the estabhshment of the unconscious facuhy of the writer 
 must be hit upon, as, for example, in the case of the chemist 
 Hare, whose medium never even saw the alphabet, the answers 
 being given by an index which was set in motion by the table. 
 Added to which, certain individuals have been known to write 
 answers to different persons with the right and left hands at 
 the same time, while they conversed with a third. 
 
 In the year 1 670 a great number of the children at the orphan 
 asylum at Horn became ill from an unknown epidemic, caught 
 from one of the doctors,, the seizure ending in frightful convul- 
 sions. At the time it was reported that it was a case of posses- 
 sion. The present state of scientific knowledge points to the 
 probability of some microscopical fungus, which might have 
 originated in the water supplied to the asylum, and to which the 
 symptoms might be attributed, as is the case with fever and 
 cholera, and, according to the latest results of experiments, also 
 in hydrophobia and tuberculosis. In the instance here narrated 
 this seems the more probable, as the children got better when 
 they were removed to other houses. It is, however, possible ; 
 that the disease might have arisen from another cause, that 
 the " intelligibel " essence, the meta-organism, became in some 
 measure free and acting, whereby these phenomena could be 
 observed, as in the case of the Delphic priestesses, magicians, 
 fakirs, and mediums, because from the weakness of the bodily 
 organism the transcendental faculty is capable for a time of 
 manifesting itself. Let us take one remarkable example out of 
 the many which we find in history. 
 
 According to the Netherland historian Hooft, the inmates of 
 the orphan asylum at Amsterdam, in the year 1566, were 
 similarly " possessed," as they then called it ; only in this case 
 the convulsions resulted in exhibitions of great strength, speech 
 in foreign languages, and direct vision. I will not trouble the 
 reader with further examples, though I can assure him they are 
 to be found by the thousand, and that in recent times such 
 cases have occurred and are still occurring ; the last which fell 
 under my own observation was that of two boys in 1 869. 
 
 Now what really takes place at the present time ? At the 
 present time analogous cases are brought about or induced by 
 an act of the will. There are individuals who can place them- 
 selves in such a condition, and deliver discourses or answer 
 questions in another voice to their own. As, however, every one 
 is able to do this, it is only the nature of the communications 
 
48 Birth and Death. 
 
 which can give actual proof that they proceed from an unknown 
 supernormal source ; and as in some instances this is 
 undoubtedly the case, it results in causing all the rest to be 
 received as communications of a high order. This trance- 
 speaking is much cultivated in England and America, and is as 
 fertile a source for the confusion of men, as religious delusions 
 were in ancient times, and as among savages they still are. 
 The same problem presents itself in this phenomenon as in 
 dreams, visions, and automatic writing; here and there, how- 
 ever, a trace of real clairvoyance is apparent ; but, as a rule, 
 it is only a wild dream or senseless delirium, analogous to 
 the oracles of the Delphian priestesses or the Apocalypse of 
 John ; or it is a caricature of their own idea of metaphysics, or 
 mere empty gossip. 
 
 The veil is lifted, if one allows that in some instances 
 persons through necessity or vanity sit down, give themselves 
 out as inspired, and make fools of their listeners ; that others 
 really in such a state of ecstasy or inspiration hit upon some- 
 thing ; that moreover this condition in the case of certain indi- 
 viduals is so far developed that the meta-organism becomes 
 partly free and acts involuntarily, and that now and then a 
 higher form of perception comes to light. That a similar condi- 
 tion sometimes occurs in cases of epilepsy in these days 
 physicians have been obliged to confess. 
 
 To the question whether it is not admissible that a kind of 
 possession is really manifested in this way there is a simple 
 answer. That living men can exercise such a power over others, 
 and that this power is also a manifestation of a metaphysical 
 nature, is proved in the case of Hansen ; if there exist other 
 kinds of beings than those known to us as aggregates of living 
 cells, the possibility of their co-operation is not absolutely to be 
 denied. It would in any case be very difficult to prove the fact 
 that such co-operation in certain instances exists, because 
 (assuming the fact of clairvoyance as proved) the power of the 
 " intelligibel " subject residing in us is sufficient for an explana- 
 tion. It is not to be overlooked that clairvoyance in uncon- 
 scious or trance-speaking is more easily evoked than in 
 automatic writing ; this is almost self-evident, because in the 
 case of the first, self-consciousness is extinct, while it is active 
 in that of writing. .If in illness, or when suffering froni the 
 results of some casualty, recourse is had to this source of infor- 
 mation, it is to some extent pardonable and to be understood, 
 as in rare cases assistance or comfort has been afforded ; but 
 
Automatic Writing mid Speaking. 49 
 
 those are to be pitied who seek high counsels from these com- 
 munications, or make their actions dependent on them. I must 
 acknowledge that the spiritualistic journals in England, America, 
 and Germany draw most of their spiritual nourishment from these 
 trance-addresses ; in consequence of which, the valueless and 
 often ridiculous articles repulse all earnest men from inquiring 
 into these matters, unless they should accidentally obtain infor- 
 mation concerning them from those who know and recognise 
 the facts, without being spiritualists. Theories and dogmas 
 awaken no confidence, unless they avoid dragging in such names 
 as Buddha or Plato, Schiller or Goethe, and attributing to them 
 the most trivial and unworthy communications, which are sup- 
 posed to be received by automatic writers and speakers. 
 
 It is a different thing when people refrain from regarding 
 these things as dogma or as coming from some personality ; 
 since the observation of these phenomena leads to the conclu- 
 sion that it is really possible to obtain automatic writing and 
 speaking, by means of which a supernormal consciousness 
 sometimes comes to light, which is unexplainable unless men 
 really possess an inner meta-organism. 
 
 We have found at any rate in these phenomena a convincing 
 proof of the double nature of man. I think, therefore, that the 
 title "The manifestation of the transcendental basis" has found 
 full justification in these three chapters. We are forced to 
 recognise by the experience of certain individuals, that by 
 dreams, visions, in the magnetic sleep and through automatic 
 writing and speaking, a higher power of perception is some- 
 times developed. We must bow to these facts, and have 
 indeed ourselves the power of throwing some light upon them, 
 the conditions standing, as they do, in intimate connection with 
 the universally known laws of nature. 
 
 If the attraction of masses is a truth, which is discerned 
 through the whole universe, it is a still farther truth that the 
 rays of light and heat reaching to us out of the universe are 
 vibrations ; it is, therefore, an axiom that man stands in connec- 
 tion with the whole world, and is influenced by everything that 
 exists. 
 
 The first proposition cannot be contested, because the most 
 exact of the natural sciences rests upon it, and the course of the 
 stars in our planetary system proves the truth of it. The second 
 proposition can also not be contested, because the spectral 
 analysis, in spite of many billions of miles, confirms the diver- 
 sity of the rays reaching to us. 
 
 4 
 
c;o BirtJi and Death. 
 
 The spectral analysis gives us more especially a proof, that 
 it only depends on the sensitiveness of the instrument to obtain 
 information through billions of miles ; there is no consciousness 
 only when there is no sensitiveness ; there exist no stars for 
 the blind, no music for the deaf. If we do not know everything 
 that passes in the world, the blame lies on our own organisa- 
 tion, not on the want of connection. 
 
 These propositions are so evident, that in spite of their 
 importance, any further consideration of them would be waste 
 of time. 
 
 Our experience will in the future tell us that in the case of 
 certain persons, perceptions come to light and are followed by 
 results which cannot be accomplished through our ordinary 
 senses and organs ; it tells us likewise that this supersensual 
 "capacity is more frequently evidenced when the normal functions 
 are weakest. The conclusion we must come to is, therefore, 
 quite established, that a second kind of organism is inherent in 
 man, which possesses a greater sensitiveness than that repre- 
 sented by cells. 
 
 It is not a question only of this greater sensitiveness of the 
 meta-organism ; that alone does not suffice, — the sensation must 
 correspond with 2l picture of our consciousness, the influence must 
 call forth an idea, if we, as men, would know anything about it. 
 As the influence, however, is seldom sufficiently powerful to call 
 forth ideas, it will at most only act upon our temperament ; when 
 here and there it goes beyond that, it will scarcely find a decided 
 material for ideas in our human experience, and, therefore, the 
 pictures are generally only of a -symbolical character. ■ As the 
 influence of temperament and of instinct is evident in our 
 doings, in the same way the symbolism of our dreams and visions 
 is manifested. Schopenhauer says (in his " Will in Nature "), 
 " that men in all times and among all nations have cherished 
 the opinion that, besides the physical outer connection of things, 
 a supernatural one mediates at the same time in matters con- 
 nected with our existence." This connection might be compared 
 with the telegraph conductor, which possesses a visible connect- 
 ing wire, and an invisible one, both passing to the earth through 
 the sunken plates. 
 
 Men never make a greater mistake than when they go to 
 sleep over important resolutions, or hope, in spite of their 
 inertness, to rouse and quicken their higher powers of perception, 
 or when, by means of prayer or appeal, they hope to excite the 
 ittention of invisible powers ; the conductor is there, it only needs 
 
Automatic Writing and Speaking. 51 
 
 for both to work well together through the connecting apparatus. 
 A seeress once gave utterance to the idea that " we send our 
 thoughts out into the universe upon numberless electric lines." 
 Perty finds this absurd, which it certainly is, if we take it 
 literally ; but as a symbolical picture it is not so bad. In this 
 wise it is imaginable, that clairvoyance, far-off influence, and 
 even communication at a distance are possible ; it is clear that 
 these communications are generally in the form of dreamlike 
 symbolisms, and that a true clairvoyance is very rare, 
 
 The truth, and also all the unavoidable fraud in connection 
 with the supernormal consciousness and influence, through our 
 dreams, visions, and the manifestations of so-called animal 
 magnetism, become evident to us in this manner. 
 
 The analogy is most remarkable which exists between the 
 phenomena of a state of magnetism (in a physical sense) and 
 that of clairvoyance. If I break a magnetised piece of iron in 
 two, each piece retains the character of a magnet with south 
 and north poles ; it is a fact, therefore, that the polarisation of a 
 bar of iron exists in the smallest piece that can be broken from 
 it. If I wish to make this evident, I can find no illustration 
 more apt than that of the molecule of a round form like a nut 
 being converted into an oval or egg-shape. It is known that a 
 bar of iron may be polarised or made magnetic by an electric 
 stream or through contact with a magnet. Is it so wonderful 
 that the displacement in men of normal influence, perception, or 
 sensibility may result from another kind of a supernormal 
 character, induced by passes from a magnetiser, or by sitting 
 with a circle ? 
 
 There are besides individuals who are naturally magnetic, and 
 who are capable, through an act of the will, of placing them- 
 selves in a condition of supernormal consciousness, as I have 
 known in the case of Miss Fowler and others, which is not 
 to be confounded with the thought-reading of a Cumberland, 
 although in some cases even this is not without claims to some 
 kind of an inner perception or consciousness. 
 
 Cumberland, some years ago, called himself a medium, but in 
 consequence of his very limited psychic powers, soon gave up 
 his pretensions. Through a concatenation of circumstances, 
 and to answer the purpose of certain not very wise people, 
 he was enlisted under the banner of the anti-spiritualists in 
 Vienna, in the beginning of the year 1884, and made a splendid 
 thing of it, being paid by the simple Viennese 20,000 florins' 
 for what they could as easily have obtained in many private 
 
52 Birth and Death. 
 
 circles ; but it was " the rage," and that was enough for the 
 multitude. The suggestions that the laying the hands on 
 Cumberland's forehead might involuntarily guide his motions, 
 and hints be given him by the eyes, were triumphantly refuted 
 by the fact that his eyes were bandaged, though by a not very 
 thick bandage, that he guessed the thoughts correctly, and that 
 the performance took place in a private circle, where collusion 
 was out of the question. After Cumberland's departure 
 thought-readers sprang up like mushrooms in all directions, 
 some of whom even surpassed Cumberland in expertness. It 
 is remarkable that a young girl, who possessed the power of 
 automatic writing, read thoughts at the first trial, without once, 
 in spite of her different conductors, making a mistake, — a proof 
 that this gift stands in connection with the transcendental side 
 of human nature. Perty was personally acquainted with a 
 Frau von V., who was in the habit of talking in her sleep, and 
 in this condition frequently became clairvoyante ; yet her 
 husband could not communicate with her in this state without 
 taking hold of her hand or foot, without which she did not 
 hear him. This thought-reading must, however, be distinguished 
 from clairvoyance in the true sense of the word. 
 
 It is quite another thing, when my ideas, instead of setting 
 the air in vibration through the movement of my vocal organs, 
 and in this manner reaching the ear and brain of my neighbours, 
 are communicated by means of the hand or a wire ; and again, 
 it is quite another thing if I, as Crookes did, should lay my 
 finger on a newspaper on the table behind me, and the person 
 standing before me should give the word covered by my finger, 
 which I myself was ignorant of. In the same manner it must 
 be distinguished from the second sight of Englishmen, about 
 which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was a 
 whole literature written. The inhabitants of Scotland and the 
 Faroe Islands offered most numerous examples of this faculty. 
 Professor Lucas Jacob Debesius, living in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, says very sensibly, that " it is among these people a 
 simple gift of, nature " (as we before recounted), and those 
 so gifted were named, on account of their visible forms, 
 "hollow men," as Virgil called them : cava sub imagine fornice. 
 The historians of that period said roundly, "They" (second- 
 sighted people) " were designated twofold seeing persons, 
 because they possessed an extraordinary sight in addition to 
 the ordinary one." Altogether many instances of clairvoyance 
 are related of them, and such individuals were said besides to 
 
Automatic Writing and Speaking. 53 
 
 be able to impart this gift to others, as long as they themselves 
 mflnenced them, which would seem to point to a kind of 
 magnetism. 
 
 I hope that the reader already begins to have some insight 
 into my purpose, and that the mystic cloud is lifting. If he 
 will only consider the phenomena without prejudice, he will 
 perceive out of this cloud a beneficial light already streaming 
 forth upon the riddle of our being. 
 
PART THE SECOND. 
 
 THE SEVERANCE {''SPALTUNG") OF THE HUMAN 
 
 FORM. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COMPLETE SEVERANCE OF THE META-ORGANISM FROM 
 THE ORGANIC OR CELL BODY. 
 
 The three chapters in the first part have furnished proofs from 
 experience, that the so-called " astral body " of the ancient 
 Indians, Egyptians, Greeks, Cabalists, and Mystics, is no empty 
 fable, because it becomes evident through our perceptions and 
 actions outside the senses ; therefore it is a logical and admis- 
 sible assertion, that the activity of the meta-organism is not 
 limited to the functions of sight and hearing, and that, if it exists, 
 it must have other, more suitable organs than those of the eye 
 and the ear. 
 
 The farther we advance in the study 'of biology, the more we 
 become persuaded that the meta-organism has proper organs 
 also in our hands and feet, because it could not manifest itself 
 without the aid of such organs. (In a later chapter we shall 
 give a striking proof of this.) I refer to my " Individualismus," 
 and will now proceed to place the question before my reader 
 through an experience of my own. 
 
 I generally enjoy a good sound sleep of from six to seven 
 hours' duration, without moving and without interruption. So 
 it happened one morning that I woke with the sensation, as 
 though my right arm had gone to sleep. The arm and wrist 
 rested upon my right foot, and I possessed no power over 
 them. 1 had apparently been lying in this position all night. 
 I wanted to bring life back into the arm through rubbing, and 
 as I felt for it with the left hand I could not find it, although I 
 
Severance of Meta-Organism from Cell Body. 55 
 
 was sensible of its being there. The room was quite dark ; I 
 sought for my arm and came upon a strange fist Uke that of a 
 dead person, and as I followed the course of the arm attached 
 to it, it became evident that this strange arm was connected by 
 the elbow to my body, whereby my reason told me that it must 
 really be my arm ; and presently I began to feel the usual 
 pricking sensation in the arm lying on my lap. This may have 
 lasted perhaps for some seconds, when I suddenly experienced 
 a feeling as though the arm lying on my lap returned into the 
 one of the flesh, and the severance came to an end. From this 
 it is to be noticed that I had no command over either arm ; it was 
 as if the arm of flesh, from which the soul had gone, were dead, 
 while the will with its nerve-power had no command over the 
 invisible and intangible arm. This was certainly a subjective 
 sensation, which I never experienced either before or since, and 
 which is to me, though it may not be to others, a strong proof 
 of this power, and is sufficient in some measure to explain 
 what follows. 
 
 The arm of my " ego " was not the arm of flesh and blood, 
 which seemed to me dead, because the " life " had gone out of 
 it, but another intangible arm. (I cannot say invisible, because 
 this happened on a winter morning, when the shutters were 
 shut and everything was invisible to me.) It is further worthy 
 of notice that this " severance " took place at a time when, 
 through the stoppage of the circulation of the blood, my fleshly 
 arm had gone to sleep. One begins to understand why seers 
 and fakirs prepare or fit themselves by fasting. Now what was 
 a fit state for my arm might be equally applicable for the whole 
 body. Let us examine now the different possible and imagin- 
 able relations, in which this meta-organism can stand to its 
 organic body. 
 
 The connection of the meta-organism with the cell-body may 
 be thought to be so intimate, that all independent perception 
 and operation is denied to it, and it is absolutely identified with 
 the organic body. Such is man in a healthy, normal condition. 
 There are persons who cannot be magnetised by any magnetiser, 
 whoever he be. 
 
 This connection can be loosened so far, as that it may be 
 possible for the meta-organism to have direct sensations, and 
 under certain circumstances, to bring these sensations to con- 
 sciousness in the form of presentiments or symbolical pictures. 
 To this category belong thought-readers, ecstatics, visionaries, 
 seers, somnambulists, etc. 
 
56 Birth and Death. 
 
 It may, however, also be thought that the meta-organism 
 can operate outwardly, and indeed the activity of the meta- 
 organism both in and out of the body is to be recognised in 
 several forms. 
 
 I. The meta-organism can act with the organic body in 
 the usual manner, as it does in ordinary life ; 2. The meta- 
 organism can do the same in an unusual manner for our normal 
 " ego," as in the case of sleep-walking ; 3. The meta-organism 
 can act partly independently of the organic body, as happened 
 with my arm ; 4. The meta-organism can completely issue forth 
 and leave the body in a lethargic sleep; and 5. The meta- 
 organism can leave the body entirely to a state of corruption ; 
 this is the so-called death of the human body. 
 
 I and 5 are the normal states, 2 and 4 the abnormal. If 
 this conception is the right one, it will find its confirmation 
 in experience, for it is not to be thought that no exceptions or 
 transition periods find place among the millions of human 
 beings. I can assure the reader that thousands and thousands 
 of cases have witnessed to the fact of the abnormal absence of 
 the transcendental subject from the body. I will limit myself 
 to one example from a foreign source, because it serves best 
 as an exemplification. 
 
 A Scotchman, named Robert Bruce, was first mate on board 
 a merchant vessel which sailed to and fro between Liverpool 
 and St. John's, in New Brunswick. While busy with the 
 ship's chart and discontented with the results, he called out to 
 the captain, whom he supposed to be in his cabin : " What 
 do you make it ? " Receiving no answer he entered the cabin, 
 and there saw a perfectly strange face looking straight at him. 
 Bruce started back, and finding out the captain, they both 
 went in together ; no one was to be seen, but on the captain's 
 table was written in an unknown handwriting : " Steer 
 towards the north-west ! " The captain, who at the worst 
 could only lose a few hours by altering his course, steered to 
 the north-west, and came across a wreck. As the boat 
 returned, bringing the unfortunate people it had been de- 
 spatched for, Bruce recognised among them, with horror, the 
 face he had seen. He made the man write on the other side 
 of the table the words, " Steer to the north-west," and found 
 the handwritings identical. The captain of the vessel going to 
 Quebec related that the writer about midday fell into a deep 
 sleep, and woke in about half-an-hour, exclaiming, " To-day 
 we shall be rescued." He had dreamt he was- on board a 
 
Severance of Me ta- Organism from Cell Body. 57 
 
 ship, sailing towards them, which he described, and everything 
 coincided with his description. If the handwriting had not 
 been there, or if the underwriter Bruce had been asleep, the 
 severance, or the operation of the meta-organism, would not 
 have appeared necessary as an explanation. He who shakes 
 his head over this narrative, may read in the thirty-seventh 
 volume of the collected works of \A^ieland (Leipzig, 1805), page 
 239, and he will find recorded that a dying woman said smiling, 
 " Now it is time that I go and take leave of Pater " (an old 
 friend); she fell asleep and woke after a while, spoke a few 
 words, and then departed this life. On the same day, and at 
 the same hour, the sounding-board of a " Pandora " in Pater's 
 reading-room sprang open, and he saw the dying woman 
 clothed in white. Wieland draws from this the following 
 conclusions : — " It is in the first place possible that our soul, at 
 least shortly before its complete separation from the body, can 
 quit the latter, and make its presence known elsewhere ; 
 secondly, that the appearance of the figure of Frau v. K., as it 
 is difficult to account for it in any other manner, must be taken 
 as a proof that it was she herself, who appeared to him in this 
 form ; thirdly, that she must either have had the gift of building 
 up in haste a new body, exactly like her own earthly one, or 
 that the astral body is a fact, and possesses the power through 
 the will of the soul of drawing to itself in a few minutes so much 
 material out of the atmosphere, as to make itself visible. Now, 
 the first solution seems to me less probable than the last " 
 (rightly !), " and I accept the last, and think also that this appari- 
 tion of Frau v. K. is a great addition to the evidence of the 
 existence of the astral soul-organism." 
 
 Any one who possesses independent reason, and does not 
 allow it to be imprisoned in the straight-jacket of " public 
 opinion," will take the same view of such a striking case, that 
 Wieland did ; and such cases exist by thousands ! 
 
 This or that story may be looked upon as wholly or partly 
 proved ; it is, however, a fact that somnambulists during a deep 
 sleep can make apparent visits, predicted beforehand, leaving 
 the body behind, and sometimes extinguish the light, as a 
 proof of the reality of their appearance or true power to operate 
 from a distance (see " Magicon," iv., 195). Franz von Baader 
 writes (in the fourth volume of his collected works, p. 252) : "I 
 received from C. v. Eckartshausen an example shortly before 
 his death, of the foolish trick of making a still living man 
 appear in another place, in which state he is not only cataleptic 
 
58 Birth and Death. 
 
 or apparently dead, but is in danger of his life, if certain pre- 
 cautions are not observed, which are necessary not to intercept 
 or to hinder the rapport between the Luftbild (astral body) 
 and the man." The Countess von Sabran in her letters recorded 
 similar things of Cagliostro ; and like things have been related 
 of the ancient magicians and the still living adepts and Jogis, 
 which last were recognised as a separate sect before a council 
 composed of English commissioners. 
 
 If I were to write an account of all the narratives of an 
 apparent leaving of the body {Fernwirkimg), which appear in 
 the literature of all peoples and times, ten such volumes as the 
 present would not suffice to contain them. We do not expect 
 a sensible man to believe all these tales, and we should be 
 very cautious as to what we accept ; but to discredit the 
 truth of all of them would be still more unwise, and only the 
 pharisees are forced ex officio to fly in the face of the history 
 of the world. 
 
 We are able, however, to make test experiments with still 
 greater certainty. 
 
 If the meta-organism can during lethargic sleep come forth 
 and give evidence of its independent existence, the question 
 arises if the fact is proved by experience, that (with or without 
 the help of a so-called medium) a form in human appearance 
 with independent movements has been seen, which was not and 
 could not be identical with that of a living man. 
 
 The range of such facts is in a manner before our eyes, so 
 that I need not point them out. I will only extract one example 
 out of thousands, which, on account of the character and per- 
 sonality of the spectators, as well as through the duration and 
 manner of the experiment itself, seems to me the most calculated 
 to set the fact of the existence of such phantoms beyond a 
 doubt. 
 
 The principal persons concerned in this experiment were 
 the medium Miss Cook, and the two English physicists Crookes 
 and Varley. A friend of Miss Cook's family. Miss E. Kisling- 
 bury,writes concernihg her to Professor Perty, on June 2ist, 
 1876, as follows : — 
 
 "In the spring of 187 1, when Miss Cook was fifteen years of 
 age and still a school-girl, she went to drink tea with some 
 friends ; it was proposed they should try table-turning, but 
 Miss Cook, who was a pious girl, would not take part in it, 
 because it was said to be the work of spirits, and not a right 
 thing to do. However, she consulted her mother afterwards 
 
Severance of ]\Ieta-0rganis7n from Cell Body. 59 
 
 about it, who said she thought it was only a harmless joke. 
 The next time she visited her friends the most extraordinary- 
 things happened ; the table became quite unmanageable, and Miss 
 Cook, who was dreadfully frightened, was lifted up in the air. 
 She and her mother now commenced sitting at home by them- 
 selves, and one day Miss Cook's hand was moved to write ; the 
 writing could only be read by holding it before a looking-glass, 
 as it was written backwards. The message was to the effect 
 that she should go to a certain bookseller's, and there inquire 
 about the Dalston association. (They had never either of them 
 heard anything up to that time about spiritualism.) The meeting 
 of the society would take place in a few days, the editor of the 
 Spiritualist would be there, and she would be able to make 
 his acquaintance. It all happened as had been written, and 
 Miss Cook joined the seances of the Dalston society for some 
 time ; soon, however, the manifestations became too strong for 
 a public assembly ; Miss Cook was carried above the heads of 
 the gentlemen and ladies, invisible hands in the darkness took 
 her clothes off, and replaced them, and Mrs. Cook resolved to 
 only allow her to sit at home with herself She often became 
 entranced, and in this condition spoke in a different voice, and 
 said it was not Florence Cook who was speaking, but Katie 
 King, who had lived on earth two hundred years before, and 
 was the daughter of John King, who had manifested hims^f 
 frequently through Williams and other mediums. She would 
 remain three years with Miss Cook, and reveal many strange 
 things. 
 
 "At that time news came from America, where spirit-faces 
 were often seen and sometimes recognised. Flands were fre- 
 quently visible to us in England, and why not faces ? The 
 medium was told that she must sit apart from the spectators. 
 They, therefore, hung a curtain before the open door, bound 
 the medium in a chair, and remained sitting outside. Faces 
 appeared, at first shadowy, but with a sort of light of their 
 own ; they were seen to appear and disappear like glimmering- 
 stars. One could not swear that they were living, they might 
 be masks, but soon they became more distinct, more living, 
 and an entire head was visible at the opening. A hand came 
 out, not like that of Miss Cook, who habitually bit her nails,' 
 but which could scratch sharply, as she made those feel who 
 doubted. At last Katie bade them, through the voice of Miss 
 Cook lying entranced, to construct a cabinet. 
 
 " As at first, only faces and hands, both black and white, 
 
 r UNIVERSITY 
 x^ Qai iprkRN\^' 
 
6o BirtJi and Death. 
 
 sometimes tivo right hands at the same time, appeared, which I 
 myself saw. At last as they were sitting in the family circle 
 and only one friend, Mr. George Tapp, was present, Katie 
 ordered them to open the folding-doors, and she would appear 
 in her whole form. This was done, and an account of what 
 took place appeared in the Spiritualist of February 28th and 
 May 15th, 1873. 
 
 "The young medium was much exhausted, and it was resolved 
 that the seances for the future should only be dedicated to 
 the purpose of scientific inquiry. William Crookes undertook 
 the responsibility of receiving the medium for some time into 
 his family, and tested in his own study the personality of 
 Miss Cook and Katie King, till the last, according to her word, 
 after a series of seances in the spring of 1874, to which she 
 herself invited certain persons, took her leave. Florence, now 
 Mrs. Corner, went to China in 1876 with her husband, a sea- 
 captain." 
 
 So much as to the personality of Miss Florence Cook ; whom 
 Crookes and Varley are needs not to be told, as they are phy- 
 sicists of European celebrity. Crookes has seen and touched 
 the phantom named Katie King and Miss Cook at the same 
 time, notwithstanding which both physicists determined to 
 make a decisive test experiment. (A complete account of this 
 is to be found in " Psychic Studies," 1874, p. 341-349 : Wallace.) 
 Perty relates the following, p. 154 of his work "Spiritualism 
 at the Present Time " : — 
 
 " In order to decide for a certainty if the entranced Miss 
 Cook was inside the cabinet, while Katie showed herself to 
 the assembled company, Varley determined to send a weak 
 current through the body of the medium, during the whole 
 time of the manifestation, and to observe its variation in the 
 outer room. In the presence of William Crookes he placed 
 on each arm of Miss Cook a piece of blotting-paper, moistened 
 with a solution of nitric acid and ammonia, and upon each 
 piece a sovereign was laid and connected with the battery by 
 means of a platinum wire ; elastic bands kept the pieces of 
 gold in their place. In this way the body of the medium was 
 in the electric stream, with a reflecting galvanometer and two 
 rows of resisting rolls. During the entire seance the stream 
 flowed through the galvanometer, and showed that the circle- 
 current had never for a moment been broken, as must have 
 happened if the wires had been moved from Miss Cook's 
 arms ; had she herself, or any one else, taken them off and 
 
Severance of M eta-Organism fr oin Cell Body. 6i 
 
 bound the wires together, the augmented stream, on account of 
 the removal of the electric resistance through the body of the 
 medium, would have considerably increased, at the same time, 
 the divergence of the needle ; but only a slight and irregular 
 alteration took place, occasioned probably through the partial 
 drying of the moistened paper. Katie's movements in the 
 drawing-room were such, that the variations of the needle 
 must have been from ten to thirty degrees, if the wires had 
 been fastened to her arms, instead of which only a very slight 
 oscillation took place. Crookes left only sufficient loose wire 
 over, so that Florence, if she had moved, could not have 
 approached nearer than the opening of the curtains. Katie, 
 however, came from six to eight feet right into the room 
 before the curtain, no wires were attached to her, and the 
 electric test was quite satisfactory. He had also got Katie 
 to dip her hands in a chemical solution, and no diversion of 
 the galvanometer ensued, as it must have done, had the wires 
 been attached to her, because the solution would have offered 
 a shorter way to the current. Crookes bears witness to the 
 complete integrity and truthfulness of Miss Cook, who willingly 
 consented to the most stringent tests ; the experiments proved 
 to him incontrovertibly that she was inside the cabinet, while 
 Katie was outside of it." 
 
 The medium Miss Fay was likewise acted upon by the electric 
 stream by Crookes in a different way. (" Psych. Studies," 
 1^75; P- 289, 350.) Miss Cook was at that time a young girl, 
 who must have been incapable of deceiving two physicists of 
 the first rank, in such well-authenticated and simple matters 
 during the space of years. Under such circumstances it is 
 almost laughable to speak of deception and imposture, not to 
 mention similar accounts of materialisation under the most 
 stringent test conditions, which would fill a thicker book than 
 the present. 
 
 I have thought it necessary to give this account before I 
 enter on my own experiences. I believe that the double 
 nature of man cannot be illustrated in a more forcible manner, 
 than by showing that, on one side, the meta-organism issues 
 forth, while the body lies like a corpse, and on the other side, 
 human forms appear, which cannot be personated by any living 
 beings. There is yet another proof at our disposal, which 
 above all possesses the advantage of being more accessible. 
 So much is certain, that the complete severance of the human 
 form ( into the vis formativa ct motrix, on the one side, and the 
 
62 Birth and Death. 
 
 organic machine called a body, on the other) is as well esta- 
 blished as any other fact; that this is denied by the men of 
 science I can quite understand, because they must otherwise 
 confess their error, and such greatness of soul they have yet 
 to acquire. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE INCOMPLETE SEVERANCE, 
 
 When the separation of the human form is incomplete, it is not 
 so easy to find an explanation for the things that then occur. 
 They are not so clearly defined, so that it cannot always be said 
 whether the facts are to be explained by the magic power of the 
 will, through the operation of the meta-organism of the medium, 
 or through that of invisible beings. 
 
 At the present time it will have been remarked in cases of 
 ecstatics, somnambulism, so-called possession, and the pheno- 
 mena of " Spooks," that such occur in the seances of spiritual- 
 istic circles and societies. It is difficult to find a satisfactcfry 
 explanation of these phenomena, because it is usual to look at 
 them from a subjective and one-sided standpoint. Some (partly 
 from prejudice and partly from cowardice) deny altogether the 
 actual occurrence of these manifestations, and put them to the 
 credit of fraud and imposture, in spite of the testimony of 
 millions of men ; others see in every unexplained manifestation, 
 and in every incomprehensible event, the operation of a spirit ; 
 a third will ascribe everything to the power of an unknown and 
 undefined " psychic force," which really explains nothing, and 
 serves only for a confession of ignorance. Such conclusions 
 Jead the less to any practical result, because all three parties are 
 right in some instances. There can be no doubt that fraud is 
 frequently at the bottom of such manifestations, or that they are 
 brought about through the physical organs of some of the 
 persons present, intentionall}^ or unintentionally ; still, at the 
 same time, there are phenomena, which may be produced through 
 transcendental powers and operations. Where the motive- 
 power is to be found, and whether the operating and active force 
 is to be sought in or apart from the medium, can only be deter- 
 mined in certain cases. 
 
 There are individuals in whose presence undoubted pheno- 
 mena of a physical nature occur, for the explanation of which 
 
64 Birth and Death. 
 
 the higher capabihties of the essence. or soul of the human body 
 scarcely suffice, in which cases, it can be easily imagined that 
 the fakirs of ancient and modern times are right in ascribing 
 them to the co-operation of other kinds of beings, such being 
 the simplest and, in fact, the only satisfactory solution of the 
 difficulty. We will later on occupy ourselves with the explana- 
 tion of these facts ; we have, indeed, already brought forward 
 instances, in which not only the meta-organism under certain 
 circumstances is able to operate or act, but which prove as well 
 that there are beings round us who can assume the human form. 
 One thing, however, is certain, that the meta-organism of a 
 human being is proved by experience to be capable only of 
 independent action, when the body is in a state of sleep. Now, 
 however, we come to certain manifestations, when the persons 
 present have their full consciousness. Crookes has seen hands 
 developed out of apparent masses of mist, and again vanish ; he 
 has held such hands in his own, which have evaporated while 
 he held them ; he has even taken impressions of them in lamp- 
 black. Jacolliot recounts the same things happening in India, 
 and thousands of earnest and cultivated men vouch for the 
 occurrence of such facts ; the evidence for them, however, has 
 been established by no one so firmly and incontrovertibly as by 
 Friedrich Zöllner in Leipzig. 
 
 Zöllner had drawn upon himself the attention not only of 
 the scientific, but also of the philosophic world by his work 
 " The Nature of Comets," in which he proved himself a man of 
 independent thought and original ideas. A man may make 
 many useful and important researches by industry, perseverance, 
 and technical knowledge, with the aid of the telescope and 
 microscope, or in chemical and physical laboratories, but we 
 have few only to thank for gifted and novel conceptions in the 
 departments of science and thought. Such a rare and thoughtful 
 work has Zöllner given to the public in his comet book. But 
 he has gathered laurels also in the field of experimental physics. 
 I look upon it as a duty not to lose sight of the progress made 
 in science, and, therefore, I have frequently come upon references 
 in the latest astronomical and spectroscopical works to the 
 " gifted Zöllner," to whose unusual penetration, not only observa- 
 tions but also aids and additions to the science are indebted ; no 
 one will doubt the justice of this, who is acquainted with his 
 scientific treatises. If, therefore, such a specialist as Zöllner 
 undertakes to examine physical occurrences, nothing can be 
 advanced against at least the existence of the phenomena. 
 
The Incomplete Severance. 65 
 
 Zöllner knew that in the interest of true inquiry he must keep 
 his eyes open to everything, and, therefore, did not hesitate to 
 make a series of experiments with the well-known American 
 Slade. 
 
 Those who took part in Zöllner's seances in Leipzig were 
 professors of that place : the well-known William Weber, 
 Scheibner, and others. When Zöllner witnessed the extra- 
 ordinary movement of a magnetic needle, he determined to find 
 out to what the motive-power was to be attributed, and, 
 therefore, placed another magnetic needle on the table, which, 
 however, manifested a quite reverse movement, by which it was 
 evident that they could not possibly be influenced by a magnet 
 concealed under the table. On this occasion Zöllner felt a 
 hand touching his knee, notwithstanding the hands of all 
 present lay on the table ; to make this fact certain, Zöllner 
 placed a dish filled to the brim with flour under the table, with 
 the intention and hope that the hand which took hold of him 
 might leave an impression in the flour, which indeed happened. 
 The impression in the flour (which I saw myself) was that of a 
 much larger hand than Slade's or others', while all their hands 
 were without a trace of flour. The result of this experiment, 
 which pointed undoubtedly to the intervention of other beings, 
 determined Zöllner to try the following one, which, according to 
 my opinion, is the most conclusive and important that this 
 century has ever produced, since it proves without the pos- 
 sibility of a doubt the existence of unseen human beings ; and 
 this is of the most decisive importance in the range of biology 
 and philosophy, besides which it demonstrates in a peculiar 
 manner the ideality of our conceptions of space. 
 
 Zöllner had, from the standpoint of higher mathematics and on 
 cosmological grounds, determined that there was an error in the 
 conception of the three dimensional forms of space, particularly 
 on account of the contradictions which arose from the finite and 
 infinite conceptions of matter and space. If there is, however, 
 a higher variety of space than the three dimensional forms 
 known to us, it is an open question that there should be a 
 higher dimension of space than the limited one of three dimen- 
 sions. Encouraged by the success of the well-known experi- 
 ment of tying knots in an endless cord, he took two slates with 
 frames, laid within them two sheets of paper prepared with 
 lamp-black, closed the slates and bound them firmly together ; 
 without letting them out of his hand, he took them to the 
 seance, and held them the whole time on his knees. He then 
 
 5 
 
66 Bii'th ana Death. 
 
 expressed the wish that an impression should be made inside 
 the slates, to which no human hand could penetrate without 
 their being unfastened ; he felt a strong pressure, opened the 
 slates — attd found the impression of a human foot ! 
 
 These and many other facts are so simple and clear, that it 
 scarcely required a Zöllner to put an end to all doubt. For me, 
 the question had already been decided ; the hands which I saw 
 and felt in the presence of Fowler and Slade, and later on with 
 others, the impressions of hands and feet in flour and on 
 blackened paper, under the most absolute test conditions, 
 gave me sufficient proofs that the higher powers of conscious- 
 ness which meet us in dreams and visions belong to a meta- 
 organism, which also forms a basis for our hands and feet to 
 operate, and that the former representation of cells, protoplasm, 
 albumen — what you will — is, and must be, an already existing 
 individuality ; otherwise it could not be imagined how the cells 
 alone could bring such a complete organism into being. An 
 organism can never originate from a diseased cell-formation, 
 such as of an ulcer ; the cells always form a mass in which 
 every single cell tries to pass outwards. 
 
 If it were only a question as to the reality of these preliminary 
 events, this book might be brought to an end as far as proving 
 the facts goes ; but as fresh experiences are easily produced 
 from which to draw still further conclusions, and to which end 
 unsuccessful seances and public exposures are particularly 
 serviceable, we will seek further confirmation for "my philosophy ; 
 the more so, as I wish not only to convince my reader, but to 
 give him practical instruction, or, in other words, to lift the veil 
 from the philosophia occulta of Agrippa, to whom in the then 
 condition of natural science (300 years ago), and with the 
 scanty materials for precise experiments at his disposal, it was 
 impenetrable. 
 
 The publication of such instructive and interesting facts, the 
 importance of which was recognised by the two greatest 
 thinkers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,* brought 
 upon the courageous as well as gifted Zöllner the hatred and 
 persecution of the learned professors, according to Schiller, as a 
 matter of course ; and as I stand in personal relationship to 
 Zöllner, I have learnt to know the pitifulness of his opposers. 
 There is no doubt that there are exceptions in every nation 
 and every caste or religious sect ; inasmuch, however, as no 
 
 Kant and Schopenhauer. 
 
The Incomplete Severance. 67 
 
 knowledge is possessed of particular individuals, so as to 
 recognise them as exceptions, it is quite right to accept the rule 
 as a general principle. This sets forth that the learned pro- 
 fessors are on an average one-sided, vain, and arrogant men, to 
 whom ignorance might be more justly attributed than learning, 
 and it is the duty of all courageous and independent men to 
 emancipate public opinion from their dominating influence ; and 
 since so many of these gentlemen did not hesitate to assert that 
 Zöllner was crazy or imbecile, I here declare that I had frequent 
 intercourse with this man, that I corresponded with him, that 
 I received a letter from him a few days before his death on the 
 subject of my " Magic of Numbers " — an earnest and thoughtful 
 theme ; — and that not the slightest foundation exists for the above- 
 named stigma. Zöllner possessed great quickness of thought, 
 an over-great liveliness of spirit, and was in his last days 
 deeply wounded and embittered by the treatment of his 
 colleagues, whose assaults he took too much to heart (though I 
 repeatedly said and wrote to him, that they were quite beneath 
 his consideration) ; Zöllner, hozvfver, was in perfect possessiojt of 
 his intellect till his last breath. If Schopenhauer could not pardon 
 the "frock-coat professors of philosophy," as he nicknamed 
 them, for ignoring him, it is not astonishing that Zöllner felt 
 himself injured by the treatment he received from his colleagues. 
 To me the antagonism of the professors is a matter of as perfect 
 indifference as their approbation or their silence would be ; I 
 am only of opinion that the mask should be torn from the faces 
 of these Pharisees, with the help of which they impose upon 
 public opinion. 
 
 1 do not intend giving an account of my own experiences, 
 as they are to be found in my earlier writings, and some of 
 them will be alluded to as we proceed further on ; I will only 
 here mention one case. I was sitting opposite Slade on one 
 occasion, divided from him by a large table, which he could 
 not reach across ; on my left, between us, sat Graf v. Bombelles, 
 on my right there was no one. A slate floated about under 
 and close to the table, and I tried to discover how Slade could 
 possibly manage it himself, while I could see both his feet 
 under the table, and his hands were upon it. At this moment 
 the slate touched my ankle, and crept up while my eyes were 
 upon it, pressing me closely from the foot to the hand ; it 
 described a crooked line, could not be guided, and evidently no 
 impression could be made upon^ it. I knew enough ! Since, 
 however, there are people who caft never be convinced through 
 
68 Birth and Death. 
 
 objective grounds, because they lack decided judgment, and 
 think more of the personality of the medium than of the facts, 
 I can assure such doubters that there are many persons, even 
 of the highest social position, in whose presence movements 
 of objects, rappings, and even direct writing, automatic drawing, 
 and the disappearance of objects may be seen. In deference 
 to prejudice 1 do not feel myself justified in making public the 
 sacred experiences of a family circle ; in the chapter on the 
 development of esoteric natures, we shall return to the conside- 
 ration of the wandering fakirs, who indeed themselves know 
 nothing about it. I have mentioned the existence of unpro- 
 fessional mediums, because there are many educated people, 
 who lay great stress on the circumstance that a medium 
 receives payment, from which they argue that he is unworthy 
 of confidence. This objection rfiakes the same impression on 
 me as if a man were to say, he would listen to an amateur 
 playing, but not to a paid artist. A medium cannot live upon 
 air, nor travel without money ; an unprofessional medium is for 
 the most part unapproachable. to outsiders, and useless for the 
 purpose of inquiry, because he will not devote himself unre- 
 servedly to the exploration of the phenomena, as I know from 
 experience. A professional medium wishes an account to be 
 made public, a non-professional medium will not allow this ; I 
 must in such cases be silent. The whole of this objection 
 proves that people will rest the validity of the facts on the thin 
 thread of the honesty or dishonesty of a man, which is most 
 illogical ; the guarantee must consist in the objective facts 
 themselves. On this account I much prefer to have to do with 
 paid and proved mediums than with others ; against imposture 
 I know how to guard, when sufficient time is allowed for the 
 experiments. Once, at a seance with an unprofessional medium, 
 it was rapped out loudly that we should lay the medium on the 
 sofa, and after from fifteen to eighteen minutes we should see 
 a materialised bust. Nothing, however, came of it, because the 
 medium and his friends did not like to go so far, and were 
 afraid ; a professional medium would rejoice at such a proposi- 
 tion. In this lies the whole difference ; imposture is equally 
 possible with either, though from different motives ; the pro- 
 fessional medium, if he practised deception, would act under the 
 pressure of necessity, and the unprofessional medium would be 
 actuated by vanity. Why the most stupendous manifestations 
 should take place in the presence of a professional medium, or 
 of an Indian fakir, will become clear to us, when we shall have 
 
The Incomplete Severance. 69 
 
 made more inquiry into the questions of unsuccessful sittings, 
 exposures, and the accounts of the development of mediums ; 
 only in this manner the mystical web can be in some measure 
 unravelled. 
 
 I think I may consider that I have now fully proved from 
 experience what is set forth in the title, namely, that birth and 
 death are only a change of form of perception. The trans- 
 cendental basis which this change fully developes is manifested 
 through perception and actions outside the range of the senses ; 
 nor are there wanting numerous proofs of the severance, not 
 only of both forms of consciousness, but of the huitian form 
 itself, which in some cases is manifested clearly and completely, 
 in others again only partly and incompletely ; whence the 
 question often arises, whether the transcendental intervention 
 has to do with a person present, or with another order of 
 beings ; and as the disunion of the organism from the meta- 
 organism is not manifested so distinctly as in the cases recorded 
 in an earlier chapter, I have prefaced this one with the title 
 " Incomplete Severance." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE APPARENT SEVERANCE. 
 
 We have found that people can write and speak quite otherwise 
 than as they think, and that they are even unconscious of so 
 doing ; still more surprising is the fact that they see things 
 otherwise than as they really are. For instance, in America 
 the opinion is held that it is not always a case of division 
 between the phantom and the medium, but that this latter is 
 himself transfigured ! This expression is unhappily chosen, 
 and calculated to bewilder the brain ; for no one could believe 
 in a sudden actual transfiguration of an organism, or be able to 
 understand a mere change of outward appearance. If a satis- 
 factory explanation is to be found for this " collective vision," 
 we must examine carefully every imaginable hypothesis, and 
 compare them with the results of experience. 
 
 Several different kinds of possible explanations of these 
 visible forms may be imagined, as well with the supposition of 
 the bodily co-operation of the medium as without. If the idea 
 of the bodily co-operation of the medium is excluded, five 
 possible explanations of the phenomena of these phantoms are 
 open to us. 
 
 1. The figures are hallucinations of the spectator, without 
 any real foundation. This hypothesis can only be taken into 
 account when only one person sees a form ; when, however, 
 a whole company, in full possession of their senses, simul- 
 taneously see this form (which is usually the case), or when 
 objective traces of the reality of the apparitiofi remain, which 
 frequently happens, this explanation goes for nothing. 
 
 2. It is the psychic force of the medium which produces all 
 these illusions, consequently it is a transcendental swindle ; 
 this would be decidedly the most convenient conclusion to come 
 to, but at the same time a clear confession that no explanation 
 can be given. One might just as well quote chemical or 
 mechanical force, etc. We always find the expression " force " 
 
The Apparent Severance. ' 71 
 
 used, where no further explanation is really known. We shall 
 dedicate an entire chapter to this " psychic force " later on, and 
 show how unsatisfactory it is as an explanation of this form of 
 manifestation. 
 
 3. It is the meta-organism of the medium which comes 
 forth, somewhat like the appearance of the stranger found 
 seated in the captain's cabin in the story related (p. 56). This 
 explanation has in some cases an air of probability. The first 
 figure that Crookes saw had an extraordinary resemblance to the 
 medium ; as a rule, however, they are as unlike the medium as 
 the people we meet in the street. If, however, it might be this 
 " spiritual body " (according to the Apostle Paul), or the 
 " sidereal body " (according to Paracelsus), which now and 
 then appears or acts, this hypothesis is completely shattered 
 in the case where two figures are seen at the same time. It is, 
 however, very clear that this explanation proves the existence 
 of a morphological scheme after death, and it is much easier to 
 imagine the spirit operating when freed from the body, than the 
 meta-organism while still encumbered by the organic body. 
 
 4. The figures are projections or reflections out of imperceptible 
 space (similar to reflected optical illusions). In this way the 
 existence of phantoms is admitted ; still, this explanation falls 
 short when one touches the figures, or when any object is 
 moved by them, carried away, or brought back. 
 
 5. The figures are really existing beings, which borrow from 
 the medium some sort of material for the time, in order to 
 make themselves tangible and visible to us. 
 
 It is quite a different thing if the physical body of the medium 
 is supposed to co-operate ; in this case two ideas may be 
 examined : — 
 
 (i.) The figures are intentional disguises of the medium by 
 natural means. Such cases do occur. Still, though there is 
 little difficulty for a needy impostor to dupe men by imitating 
 these appearances, a whole series of cases of detected impostures 
 would not invalidate the numberless cases that have been 
 thoroughly proved under strict test conditions. Almost in all 
 productions of nature, art, and industry, the original and the 
 imitation exist. Such phantoms have often been taken hold 
 of, which, in some instances, melted away, in others were found 
 to be the medium, though at the same time the phantom 
 vanished. I only know one instance personally, in which an 
 ou-t-and-out fraud was confirmed by the discovery of the 
 materials. That this kind of imposition must necessarily be of 
 
72 Birth and Death. 
 
 rare occurrence is to be imagined oh account of the difficulty 
 which would exist in changing the clothes, putting on masks, 
 altering the proportions of the body, etc., in complete darkness, 
 let alone that the imitation would be so easily recognised by 
 experienced persons. 
 
 (ii.) The figures are unconscious metamorphoses of the medium. 
 This hypothesis is inadmissible when the medium is separated 
 by a partition from the phantom, or is visible at the same time 
 with the phantom, or when two figures appear together. There 
 exists, however, no ground for believing in the medium's meta- 
 morphosis, let alone the difficulty of such an assumption ; this 
 idea has been suggested because, in some isolated cases, when 
 the phantom was seized the medium was discovered, — an ex- 
 planation of which was afterwards satisfactorily given by 
 reason of their close connection and nearness to each other ; 
 but we shall discuss this subject later on. 
 
 Out of the seven suggestions here advanced, only three can 
 be taken into consideration, according to the results of experi- 
 ence up to the present time : personation by natural means 
 {i.e., imposture), materialising a being otherwise invisible to us 
 at a certain distance from the medium (materialisation), and 
 the same not distant from the medium (transfiguration). We 
 shall devote a special chapter to the consideration of imposture, 
 as well as to the hypothesis of other beings, by investigating 
 how far a belief in their existence is warranted. In this place 
 we will treat of the supposed transfiguration of the medium, 
 and we will, therefore, in the first place, take for granted the 
 possibility of the existence of other beings, and look for the 
 conditions under which they can be made visible to us. The 
 existence of beings in human form, and the conditions under 
 which they can be seen, are such important questions, that one 
 cannot enter upon them with too great care. 
 
 Of whatever kind these other beings may be, one thing is 
 certain, that is, that they have two great difficulties to overcome 
 if they would make themselves visible to us ; they must render 
 themselves sufficiently material to act upon our senses, and 
 they must enter into our perception of space. Now that it has 
 been proved by experience that such phenomena can be called 
 forth in the presence of particular individuals, the notion has 
 been suggested, not without reason, in Asia, America, and 
 Europe, that at least a portion of the material substance is 
 taken from the bodies of men. At all events, the medium- is 
 the centre of operation of the whole process. Without going 
 
The Apparent Severance. 7Z 
 
 into an explanation of this suggestion, I think I can put the 
 matter more clearly before the reader by means of a comparison ; 
 the rather, as we still remain so much in the dark as to the 
 physical part. 
 
 If I were to place myself in a sack, I should be able only 
 to act outside of it according to the size, power of expansion, 
 and softness of the sack, and in any case my operations would 
 be extremely limited, as there is no denying that I should be 
 much fettered. If the sack is large, soft, and fine, I can to a 
 certain extent use my fingers through it, which I cannot do if 
 it is narrow and harsh ; if it were of solid material, and, there- 
 fore, not a sack, but a cask, I could not go beyond rapping. 
 
 We can think of the medium in the light of the sack, or, 
 better still, as the person who supplies the sack, through whose 
 help another kind of being is thus placed in a condition to 
 manifest itself (though as handicapped as a swimmer in a 
 strange element), the sack preventing him from using his 
 faculties with all their ordinary strength and completeness. 
 It is, therefore, not astonishing that the disposition, proximity, 
 and distance of the medium should exercise an influence in 
 the same manner that the elasticity and fineness of the sack 
 determines the amount of activity available to the person 
 inside it, so the condition or organisation of the medium deter- 
 mines the amount of power produced by his means. In some 
 seances I have noticed' the efforts of the forms to advance 
 further than ordinary, but something seemed to restrain them, 
 and they sank back. Americans are, therefore, in the wrong 
 in making a fundamental distinction between materialisation 
 and transfiguration, because the visibility of the phantom 
 depends on the degree of materialisation, and the distance 
 on the greater power of the forms unknown but visible to us. 
 I have myself experienced that this unseen power can abstract 
 certain constituent parts from a living body (zride pamphlet on 
 Slade, p. 9). In reference to the second point, our limited co«- 
 ception of space, a comparison may likewise be of some help. 
 
 If I fill a vessel to the brim with some fluid, so that the 
 least movement would make it run over, and if a person who 
 is accustomed to movements in the three dimensional space 
 wishes to move or push this vessel (not to lift or lower it) 
 without spilling the fluid, he would have a difficult task and 
 require very steady hands. What is, however, such a steady 
 movement in a horizontal direction ? Nothing more than a 
 movement of a twofold variety in the second dimension of 
 
74 Birth and Death. 
 
 space ; as soon as the vessel totters ever so little, it already 
 enters into the third dimension of space. Just so must beings 
 who move in unlimited space need a great deal of dexterity 
 if they wish to display their powers in the space visible to 
 us. This is very much as though we should perform something 
 which should be . visible to every one, though we ourselves 
 could only be seen by a looking-glass, or as if we were diving 
 in a strange element and feel our powers extremely limited. 
 
 If, therefore, there exists a kind of transcendental beings, 
 invisible to. us, and they wish to give us signs of their presence, 
 they must assume a higher degree of materiality ; and since this 
 condition seems to depend on the condition of the medium at 
 a given moment, the great diversity of the manifestations is 
 easily understood. Returning to our analogy of the sack, 
 phantoms and mediums will be able to be more or less 
 distant from each other the more elastic and mobile the sack is. 
 
 We find many people who write automatically, and according 
 to their sensations assert that their hands are guided by an 
 unseen power, which may be the less doubted as numberless 
 instances exist in which such individuals have been known 
 to write with both hands at once, while conversing with another 
 person. It is the medium writing, though the thoughts are 
 from another source. In England and America seances daily 
 take place in which persons in an unconscious state ask anti 
 answer questions ; however unconnected these communications 
 may be on the averaige, numberless instances arise in which, 
 from the nature of the communications or from other circum- 
 stances, the inquirer believes them to come from the direct 
 intervention of persons indicated by himself. It stands beyond 
 doubt that cooks have spoken in Latin, and Hindu girls in 
 ancient Greek. We stand here before the question of possession, 
 which is much more difficult to decide than the subjugation 
 and occupation of hypnotised persons through Hansen. It 
 is not to be denied, however, that there is a certain affinity 
 between these phenomena. 
 
 History affords us rich materials for the observation of 
 so-called " possession," which has been thus named, because 
 a superhuman perception, acquainting them with things un- 
 known to themselves and sometimes in foreign languages, 
 was manifested in certain persons, and because, also, the so- 
 called " Spook phenomena " frequently occurred. If it is con- 
 sidered that these circumstances once happened, and continue 
 to happen from time to time, and that at the present day 
 
The Apparent Severance. 75 
 
 individuals are frequently to be found who have periodical 
 conditions of abnormal consciousness, even with strong con- 
 tinuous remembrance, it is conceivable that this description or 
 designation is nearest the truth. 
 
 Scientific men were certainly quite right in saying that in 
 earlier times common diseases, such as epilepsy and convulsions, 
 were ascribed to possession; and that the Church made itself 
 ridiculous with its attempts at exorcism. Where, however, 
 these wise gentlemen are not right, is in ignoring at the same 
 time symptoms which are often noticed in cases of supposed 
 possession. I will only instance those of floating in the air 
 and speaking foreign languages, which are as fully established 
 as any other official facts. Much may be advanced in support 
 of the hypothesis of possession, from the circumstance, that 
 in the case of many persons in an unhealthy condition, the 
 periodical change of consciousness knows no bridge of remem- 
 brance between the two conditions. Different faculties are 
 apparent, so that it seems as if two distinct beings were 
 present ; these manifestations are not, however, a result of 
 the double nature of man, as Du Prel, in his " Essay on the 
 Power of Memory," has forcibly proved. If an idea recurs to 
 the consciousness, it should be termed reproduction, and not 
 remembrance. The assumption that our ideas are only stored 
 up in the brain is in contradiction to many ordinary and 
 extraordinary facts of our consciousness, which we cannot 
 enter further upon here, and which Du Frei takes a right 
 view of, in thinking that man must have a second transcendental 
 storehouse for his impressions, besides the changing material 
 of the brain. To prove this assumption, he brings forward 
 a large number of examples of severance of personality in 
 one individual. 
 
 It cannot be a matter of wonder, in the face of such pheno- 
 mena, that the privileged interpreters of the Bible should have 
 ascribed to the devil what the Grecian priests declared to be the 
 work of Apollo. This idea may be thrown on one side, but it 
 is not quite exploded, and it would have been better if scientific 
 circles had sifted the matter to the bottom, instead of ignoring 
 completely the inconvenient facts. 
 
 Not long since (in the year 1869), several hundred persons, 
 including counsellors, officials, and professors, witnessed the 
 performances of two somnambulistic boys at lUfurth (near 
 Strassburg), who gave as undoubted proofs of clairvoyance, 
 knowledge of strange languages, and other phenomena of all 
 
76 Birth and Death. 
 
 kinds as in days of old. It is nothing to the purpose that one 
 or another story is put down as an imposture or an ex- 
 aggeration, since there are thousands recorded, which are 
 authentic. We see persons write and hear them speak in the 
 same way as though not they, but some other person, were 
 writing or speaking ; a change of individuaHty is here apparent, 
 whose origin it is not, however, so easy to determine. It is 
 somewhat similar as regards the phantoms. 
 
 We have, however, still one point by whose help we may 
 approach nearer the problem. It is very often the case that 
 one member of a circle (particularly in the dark) sees a hand 
 which is invisible to the others ; such seers are persons whose 
 natures are free and unrestrained, or (to use another expres- 
 sion) who possess a transcendental lucidity. These hands some- 
 times seem to proceed from the medium. It has often happened, 
 however (especially with Bastian, of whom more later on), that 
 the medium comes before the curtain and is recognised as such 
 by every one, but at other times it has occurred that opinions 
 have differed, and that some aver they saw the medium, and 
 others a phantom. If a medium really comes forward, but 
 appears to be other than himself to the spectators (of course, 
 where there is no question of imposture), they call this in 
 America " transfiguration," in contradistinction to those figures 
 who undoubtedly appear separate from the medium, and who 
 are called " materialisations." In the case of a seizure of the 
 medium as a phantom, it may be supposed that the union of the 
 phantom and medium takes place at the last moment ; therefore, 
 the so-called transfiguration cannot in this way be brought 
 forward as evidence ; I have, however, established the identity 
 of the phantom and medium without any seizing, in the case 
 of individuals, with whom I had witnessed complete severance • 
 as well. This is decisive ! No opposition will alter the fact. 
 The phantoms become visible to us through being materialised, 
 and the whole difference between the complete and the apparent 
 division is caused by greater or less distance ; the latter case 
 may be described, at all events, as visible possession. 
 
 This being disposed of, we will proceed to certain observa- 
 tions, which will prove that every form of severance may be 
 arrived at with one and the same person. 
 
 I invited Frau Töpfer, of Leipzig, to come to Vienna. The 
 seances I had with 'her were in many respects very instructive, 
 because the phenomena were at one time of a character sug- 
 gesting imposture, and at another of the most convincing 
 
The Apparent Severance. yj 
 
 nature, so that it would be difficult to find such contradictory 
 opinions about one and the same person. 
 
 Frau Töpfer was a small, undersized woman, who, in spite 
 of her frequent seances, was stouter than such people generally 
 are. In her earlier days she only cultivated automatic writing ; 
 later on she developed the most wonderful rappings, which, 
 at least according to my experience, occurred without the 
 necessity of seances, mixing themselves in ordinary conversa- 
 tion ; this happening indeed during the first visit she paid me 
 at my house. These rappings were as loud as though some 
 one was knocking at the door, and could not possibly be pro- 
 duced by any muscular movements. I heard them as often and 
 as long as I was associated with Frau Töpfer. It must also 
 be remarked that these rappings were not only heard on the 
 chairs or the table, but also on. the floor, on neighbouring 
 objects, and, what is the surest proof of their genuineness, 
 on the chairs, and even on the soles of the boots of those 
 present, in such a way that people not only heard the sound, 
 but felt the vibration under them. This telegraphic intercourse 
 with an invisible intelligence was obtained more easily with 
 Frau Töpfer than with any other known medium ; physical 
 manifestations through inanimate objects formerly obtained in 
 Vienna being far behind fhose I have read of in her presence. 
 
 The most instructive features of these seances were doubtless 
 the materialisations. There appeared in all, three female figures, 
 all about the same size, but all from two to three inches taller 
 than the medium, besides the figure of a child, which, however, 
 was not always a child's form, but was sometimes represented 
 by Frau Töpfer herself. This little figure almost always mani- 
 fested and lisped out answers to every question with the greatest 
 readiness. The figure was always closely veiled, and only twice 
 the veil was sufficiently transparent for me to distinguish the 
 features, which the first time bore a resemblance to those of the 
 medium, but not on the second occasion. As the appearances 
 of the little figure, with few exceptions, gave rise to a possible 
 suggestion of its being the medium herself, I formed the idea 
 of trying a test, which before her arrival in Vienna she had 
 never been subjected to. A ribbon was fastened round Frau 
 Töpfer's waist, and then was tied in double and triple knots 
 about two inches apart, and both ends fastened to the floor by 
 seals. It is perhaps possible that the medium could loosen 
 these knots, and by so doing make the loops wider; this test 
 may, therefore, not be considered severfe enough. The figures 
 
yS Birth and Death. 
 
 appeared, and if previously there had been occasion for some 
 suspicion, this seance at least may be described as perfectly 
 successful, for the knots and seals were untouched. The first 
 suspicious circumstance I had noticed was that the little figure, 
 called Abilla, which usually stood in the opening of the curtains, 
 once laid her hand on my shoulder, and that this hand was not 
 that of a child, which was certainly in favour of the theory of 
 imposture. The next was a most interesting circumstance ; one 
 of the tall figures once of itself raised the curtain, and as it 
 seemed to us, there were visible the black dress and the white 
 fichu, as well as the white bandage of the medium ; but the 
 medium herself was invisible ; one of the company, a sceptic, im- 
 mediately rushed through the opening and felt the sofa through 
 the clothes, which gave him enormous satisfaction. A minute 
 after the curtain again opened, and disclosed the medium lying 
 dressed on the sofa. This seance gave me occasion to declare 
 to Frau Töpfer that the rappings were a most interesting 
 phenomenon, that even her disappearance and sudden reappear- 
 ance in her clothing and bandages was a most remarkable 
 thing ; nevertheless, that she must undergo still more stringent 
 test conditions, or abandon her seances in Vienna. Frau Töpfer 
 hesitated, because the physical manifestations came much less 
 readily in Vienna than formerly, and these conditions were 
 quite a new thing to her. However, she agreed to one more 
 trial. 
 
 It was determined to place Frau Töpfer in a sack, but as the 
 one brought for the occasion was too narrow and too thick to 
 confine a person in during the space of an hour, we made use 
 of a net, five metres long and four broad, with which we covered 
 the medium sitting on a sofa. The four corners of the material 
 were tied strongly together and fastened with three nails to the 
 floor,besides being fastened down by several other nails round it. 
 Some of the nails were bent, while the others were hammered 
 in straight, and I paid particular attention to these differences, 
 as well as to the folds of the net. All in vain ! The mani- 
 festations took place as before, my hairbrush was found inside 
 the bandage, the white net of the medium outside, just as it 
 was before the seance took place. As towards the end of the 
 seance rappings were heard, a sceptic tried to draw the con- 
 clusion that the nails were being refastened down, but in my 
 opinion the sounds did not proceed from where the medium 
 was. It was quite clear to me that only a third person could 
 have nailed Frau Töpfer down again, because she could not 
 
The Apparent Severance. 79 
 
 have drawn the nails out ; the utmost she could have done 
 was to tear the net, and she could not possibly have 
 fastened the nails while inside the net, on account of the 
 close confinement and narrow space, not counting the fact that 
 this was the first time she had been exposed to such a strict 
 test. I myself could not have driven in the nails in so exact a 
 manner in the dark. In order, however, to meet this objection, 
 I made the following arrangements at our next sitting : I laid 
 the net on the floor, placed the easy chair upon it, upon which 
 the medium then sat down ; the net was then drawn over it to 
 the back, tied together, and sealed. Frau Töpfer was, therefore, 
 in the net with a very large armchair, and could not possibly 
 reach the knots, still less open the seals without injuring them. 
 All, however, was of no avail! The manifestations were 'the 
 same as before. As, however, the close pressure of the net 
 was very bad for the health of the medium, I thought of 
 the following method of confining her. 
 
 The armchair which the medium used for materialisation 
 seances is very deep, both seat and arms slanting backwards, so 
 that any one when leaning back in it would be in a reclining 
 position. The two arrris of the chair were supported in front 
 on pillars. I took a strong rope, passed it tightly round the 
 medium's body, and fastened it behind with a fourfold knot, one 
 end of which I fastened to the right, the other to the left arm 
 of the chair, so that the knot could not be moved ; I then tied 
 the two cords together behind the back of the chair in a strong 
 knot, and sealed them to the floor. The knot at the back of the 
 medium could not be untied or loosened, because the fastening 
 at the back of the armchair was quite out of her reach ; and she 
 could not get free from the noose. In the sitting, or indeed 
 almost lying position, bound as she was to the armchair, it was 
 impossible for the medium to extricate herself. In this con- 
 strained position three seances took place, at the la*st of which 
 a physician and two members of a learned body were present. 
 It was on this occasion that I myself made the proposition not 
 to bind the medium at the next sitting, because we were 
 convinced that the bandages were not favourable to the pro- 
 duction of the phenomena, and that we should have more 
 chance of good manifestations if the medium were not bound. 
 I made this proposition principally because it began to dawn 
 upon me why the seances were accompanied by such different 
 results. I found I was not deceived. 
 
 A figure appeared with black hair, came out into the room, 
 
8o Birth and Death. 
 
 and allowed itself to be touched. As it disappeared behind 
 the curtain, I asked if it would lead me to the medium. The 
 curtain opened, and we went in. By the light which entered 
 it was possible, not only to see the sleeping medium and the 
 figure standing by her side, but to observe them for a long 
 time. The latter moved the illuminating quicksilver tube 
 before the medium's face. It was unusually pale, and the arms 
 lay on the arms of the chair, the hands being distinctly visible ! 
 This was the first case, to my knowledge, in Europe of the figure 
 and the medium being seen at the same time by several persons. 
 The physician, who was named Dr. Fieber, is since dead ; I will 
 not tell the names of the two others, as it would be easy for 
 them to lose their offices ; terrorism is the only weapon at the 
 command of the adversaries of truth, and certainly they use it 
 unscrupulously. 
 
 Certain as this fact is, it is equally certain that Frau Töpfer 
 often appeared bodily as the figure behind the curtain. The 
 difference between materialisation and transfiguration cannot 
 be very clearly defined, but it consists in nothing more than 
 that in favourable conditions the distance is greater and the 
 condensation stronger. We do not know in what manner 
 certain organisms are capable of making these phantoms 
 tangible and visible to our senses, but we shall yet penetrate the 
 mystery. We shall return to that later on. It can be well 
 understood, however, that opinions differ in such circumstances 
 as to the value or worthlessness of this medium. The earlier 
 seances, at least as regards materialisation, awakened rather 
 mistrust than confidence. It may be ascribed to these cir- 
 cumstances that Frau Töpfer always got poor results from 
 those sittings, on account of the precautions taken against 
 fraud, sometimes unjustly charged against her, as was afterwards 
 proved. It is seen how, according to the disposition of the 
 spectators, sceptics and partisans may come away from the 
 seances equally satisfied. Let us now proceed to the con- 
 clusions to be drawn from the observation of these different 
 phenomena. 
 
 The three chapters of the first part have established the fact 
 without doubt, that a transcendental subject exists in us, whose 
 form of perception surpasses that of our organs of sense ; 
 that a change of both forms of perception is not uncommon ; 
 and that only the peculiarity of our organisation separates us 
 from the transcendental world. These three chapters prove 
 that our existence in living cells is only a special instance of 
 
The Apparent Severance. 
 
 the numberless modes of existence possible to the transcen- 
 dental subject in us. For just as a vessel may be filled with 
 insects, grains of wheat, or any kind of fluid, so the possibility 
 of various developments of the meta-organism cannot be denied 
 ä priori; this will be satisfactorily confirmed by experience. 
 Granted that space offers no difficulties, there can exist no 
 reason why the " subject " in us should not bring from the 
 planet Mars living or inanimate material for the formation of 
 suitable representations. We see how right Kant and Scho- 
 penhauer were in looking for light in this direction to solve 
 the riddle of humanit}^, and can only wonder at the short- 
 sightedness of inquirers and savants who fly from this source 
 of knowledge. Is it, however, shortsightedness only ? I 
 believe that in many cases it is absolute cowardice. 
 
 This is without doubt a materialistic age in its views and 
 aims, in its morals and want of consideration ; hence the brutal 
 fight for being ! If our age were not a materialistic one, the 
 pecuniary results of the writings of a Vogt and a Büchner 
 would be quite impossible, for the errors of their arguments, 
 and principles are most patent. This materialism is fostered 
 by the daily press as a matter of course, and it can be no 
 accident that the press is in the hands principally of the Jews, 
 whose views and aims have always been recognised, as a well- 
 known fact, to be materialistic, and whose want of discrimination 
 is proverbial ; it is proved by the criminal statistics that these 
 materialistic proclivities are not favourable to ethical develop- 
 ment. Professors, however, prefer to bow before the daily// 
 press, instead of emancipating themselves from it ; so thatf' 
 we can scarcely blame the general public for doing the same. 
 
 The formidable range of proof drawn from experience makes 
 it our duty to sift, not only the facts, but their explanation. 
 As to the first, the reader must find them for himself in the 
 literature on the subject ; the next chapter will give him an 
 insight into the history and literature, as well as prove the 
 unbroken continuity of these occurrences. Criticism is the 
 surest way to arrive at an understanding of these phenomena, 
 not only for the adversary, but for the adherent, and this we 
 shall endeavour to enter upon in the next part. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF HISTORY. 
 
 The reader who has followed me so far will be obliged to 
 confess, that the facts drawn from experience are frequently 
 of a peculiarly clear and convincing nature, so that millions of 
 people believe in the reality of them, and are justified in their 
 belief, as their own experience confirms that of a Crookes, 
 a Varley, a Wallace, a Zöllner, a Weber, and a Fechner ; in 
 the later chapters we shall see moreover that these phenomena 
 are grounded in human nature. It might, therefore, be thought 
 that against the facts, as such, no opposition would be raised ; 
 yet such is not the case. The priests of public opinion, of the 
 Church and of science, even against their better knowledge, 
 exercise such a pressure against them, that it is worth the 
 trouble to expose at least the last-named on the pillory of 
 ignorance. The daily press resembles the flexible branch, 
 which bends to every breeze, and its want of thought and 
 judgment is so well recognised on all sides, that we need not 
 take the trouble to combat it. The opposition of the Church is to 
 be understood, since the natural solution of the miracles, which 
 form the groundwork for its dogmatic beliefs, cannot be in the 
 interest of its order. It is another thing with men who lead 
 public opinion, who declare these manifestations to be an 
 epidemic of the nineteenth century, which broke out in America 
 some forty years ago, and has now infested Europe. Against 
 the dictum of these gentlemen the history of all peoples and 
 periods of the world must be arrayed. If Asia is looked upon 
 as the cradle of the human race, still more surely may India be 
 described as the mother of every philosophical and religious 
 idea. It is, therefore, quite right to begin the historical part 
 of our theme with this land of wonder. Everything that we 
 have hitherto recorded about uncommon facts falls far behind 
 the performances of fakirs and jogis, who are, however, only 
 scholars of the Brahmins, which latter are described by all 
 
The Testimony of History. 83 
 
 English and French narrators as the masters of "occult 
 knowledge." The resemblance, one may say the identity, of 
 the phenomena which are produced in India by or through 
 the fakirs in England, and mediums in America, was what 
 induced me to examine more closely into the * history and 
 customs of the Brahmins, at least as far as it was possible 
 for an European living at a distance to do, and I must 
 confess that I have learnt more from the little I have been 
 able to master of these mysteries, than from all the later 
 written philosophia occulta of Agrippa, or the spiritualistic 
 literature of the present time. In any case, it cannot be 
 denied that in all times and in every part of the globe such 
 phenomena (or impostures) have taken place; among the 
 Brahmins, however, the exercise of these mysteries is brought 
 into a religious and scientific system. Indeed, the initiation of 
 a young Brahmin is nothing more nor less than a spiritualistic 
 seance, in which the candidate has to manifest himself as a 
 suitable member of such an association. The teaching which 
 he receives coincides exactly with the advice given to a medium 
 in this country, in order to call forth the transcendental portion 
 of his nature ; dietetic rules of conduct and an ascetic life are 
 to be observed, in order that the future Brahmin may thereby 
 come into communion with " the Pitris," be accompanied by 
 them, and if he proved himself worthy, would also be instructed 
 by them. In all their dogmas and ceremonies the Pitris, that 
 is, the souls of their dead ancestors, play the principal part. 
 All fakirs and mediums agree in this, that they themselves do 
 nothing, but that everything is done by the Pitris or spirits 
 whose aid they invoke. From this it is certainly evident that 
 many strange things are done in a manner unknown to the 
 living fakirs ; but whether other kinds of beings operate in 
 every instance, is another question. It is a quite unimportant 
 distinction that a medium silently gives expression to an act 
 of the will, while the fakir accompanies the same with loud 
 incantations. The principal difference between mediums and 
 fakirs is, that the latter strive after a transfiguration of their 
 organism through fasting and discipline, and thereby are able 
 to know and perform more than European mediums. 
 
 Indians distinguish four degrees of this extraordinary con- 
 dition or of the magic power. The first is that in which the 
 soul is raised into a situation, which renders it capable of 
 communicating with the Pitris, — the same thing almost as in 
 Western countries we call becoming a medium. The second 
 
84 Birth and Death. 
 
 degree is that of supernatural vision, the elevated power of 
 perception which is often seen in somnambulists, which I have 
 described as a lessening of the natural organic powers, and Du 
 Prel rightly as displacement of the source of impressions. 
 The third degree only consists of an increase of this power, 
 which is manifested more particularly in reading the future. 
 The fourth degree is that of death itself, after which the normal 
 or natural manner of consciousness by means of the senses is 
 of course extinguished, and the transcendental one takes its 
 place absolutely. 
 
 The Indian sages had such a clear and correct conception of 
 the normal nature of man's ideas in our consciousness (which 
 may vary very much), that we can quite concur in the opinion 
 of Colebrock, who had studied this subject during thirty years, 
 that they were the instructors of the Greeks in philosophy. If 
 the Vedas say that nothing has a beginning or ending, but that 
 everything is only modified and transformed, and that life and 
 death are only necessary conditions for these transitions, the 
 propositions of the Pythagorean schools, originating in India, 
 quite correspond with them. In the same way the Kabbala 
 bears unmistakable traces of Indian origin. 
 
 The ten zephirot are founded upon the ten pradjapatis, and 
 the mystery of the number 7, as well as the conception of the 
 Trinity, likewise have their origin in India. 
 
 All travellers agree that fakirs are thin and pale, which 
 peculiarity nearly all physical mediums whom I have known 
 possessed. An exception to this was that of two female 
 mediums, who, though very pale, were not thin. This is the 
 better understood, as through these special manifestations the 
 assumption cannot be withstood, that the organism of the 
 medium is very much exhausted. Indian sages assert that a 
 substance is drawn from the fakirs which they call "agasa," by 
 means of which the Pitris procure themselves organs, in order 
 to render themselves perceptible to others. These scanty 
 records suffice to enable me to recognise the analogy between 
 the Hindoo, the mediaeval and the modern mystics, and 
 particularly to enter into the manifestations of Hindoo fakirs 
 and Buddhists. 
 
 Concerning the phenomena themselves, these are, as a rule, 
 the same as those produced in England and America ; the cool 
 breezes, the flying about of objects and playing of instruments, 
 the formation of figures out of clouds of mist, and direct writing, 
 etc, ; even the miraculous growth of flowers and plants of all 
 
The Testimony of History. 85 
 
 kinds have been seen in Asia, America, and Europe; eyewitnesses 
 to these things existing by hundreds and thousands. The only 
 difference is that tjie productions of fakirs are certainly much 
 prompter and more certain than those of mediums, and this is 
 to be explained from the fact that Indians go to the business 
 with religious inspiration, and resemble accomplished artists, 
 while Western mediums rely upon it as a livelihood, and may in 
 comparison be called amateurs ; but the principal reason is that 
 they hold such sittings much oftener than fakirs, whereby they 
 exhaust and diminish their powers. The reader will dis- 
 tinguish this for himself Jacolliot narrates that a fakir put a 
 young girl, set apart for this purpose, to sleep, and then 
 demanded of him to think of something quickly ; Jacolliot 
 repeated mentally the first verse of the Iliad in Greek, and the 
 Hindoo girl immediately spoke the verse out loud. In the 
 same manner a small stick wrote what Jacolliot thought of in 
 the sand, etc. There is a great difference between this kind 
 of clairvoyance, and that witnessed in Europe under similar 
 circumstances. There can, therefore, be no doubt that nothing 
 takes place in modern spiritualistic seances for physical mani- 
 festations, but what the Hindoos practised a thousand years 
 ago, and which forms the foundation of their religion and 
 philosophy, namely, the conviction of the existence of an in- 
 telligent unseen world, identical in being with ourselves, 
 from which we derive our origin, and to which we return, while 
 our world in fact is only a world of ideas, which necessarily, 
 by means of different perception, can be represented differently, 
 since there are as many different worlds as ways of existence. 
 Everything that I have written about the world, space, time, 
 and our natural perceptions, is really contained in the scanty 
 and dogmatically-given words of the Kabbalists, who are appa- 
 rently followers of the Brahmins ; these latter have only lately 
 become better known to me, and their teachings have found a 
 certain analogy of expression in my writings. " The whole nether 
 world is formed after the likeness of a higher. Everything which 
 exists in the higher world, appears here as the reflection of a 
 picture, and yet it is one and the same thing " (Zohar) ..." Thou 
 must know that between the corporeal and spiritual world the 
 same relation exists as between our shadow and our body." . . , 
 Zöllner and other mathematicians could have had as little 
 knowledge as myself of this passage, when they speculated 
 concerning the acquirement of the conception of space. Kab- 
 balists have arrived by means of experience at the same 
 
86 Birth and Death. 
 
 solution of the riddle as I have. When I say that man is the 
 incarnation of a kosniic being in living cells, the above conclusion 
 is arrived at by itself (see vol. iii. of the " Prejudices "). They 
 are not only the same facts, but the same explanation of them, 
 which took place a thousand years ago. 
 
 The preparations which in India are necessary for the pro- 
 duction of these kind of manifestations differ very little from 
 those of English and American mediums. Jacolliot, a high 
 official of the French colony in India, who, having a knowledge 
 of the language, occupied himself with this subject during 
 several years, cites ten points: — i. The fakirs give no public 
 representations, where, for instance, several hundred persons 
 might be present ; 2. They never have any assistance ; 3. They 
 appear completely naked, with the exception of a cloth round 
 the loins ; 4. They neither know nor have any paraphernalia 
 like jugglers ; 5. They have nothing except a seven-knotted 
 bamboo cane (an Indian order), and a little pipe, which they 
 stick in their hair, being, as said, without clothing ; 6. They 
 perform their ceremonies according to the wish of the spectators, 
 sitting or standing, on the ground, on a stone, or a mat; 
 7. When any one is wanted for the phenomena of magnetism 
 or somnambulism, they take any one present, master or 
 servant, Indian or European ; 8. If any object is required, 
 sudi as a musical instrument, a stick, paper or pencil, etc., 
 they ask it from some oi>e present ; 9. They repeat their 
 performances according to the pleasure of the control ; 
 10. They ask for no remuneration, and are content with what 
 is given them. Certainly, in similar situations all European 
 conjurers would make a fiasco. The only difference in these 
 conditions from those imposed on European mediums are in 
 numbers 3 and 10. Mediujris undress themselves, indeed, in 
 the presence of witnesses, but dress themselves again, and the 
 remuneration is often conventional. Mediums do not, however, 
 belong to an order of spiritualistic beggars, as those in the East, 
 whose members are accustomed to privations, indeed are vowed 
 to poverty, and, as a rule, have no means of subsistence, except 
 the privilege of begging, and what they receive from the 
 reverence of the multitude. 
 
 We have now grounds for the assertion that the West offers 
 nothing of greater value in this respect than the East ; that is, 
 there is no further need to compare the facts occurring at the 
 present time in both parts of the world with one another, 
 since we find theories of the Indian philosophers, which are 
 
The Testimony of History. '^'j 
 
 not only older, but indeed better than the explanations of 
 spiritualistic literature. This is become available to us, because 
 a " Theosophical Society " is established in India, which extracts 
 from the original writings everything connected with those 
 subjects, and gives forth the result of their researches in their 
 own organs. The first thing I would notice is, that the ancient 
 Hindoo philosophers recognise a difference between what the 
 fakirs and jogis produce from their own esoteric natures, and 
 what may be placed to the account of other intelligent beings. 
 The jogi is in India what we call an " adept " (not in the sense 
 of the alchemists) ; he is not only a medium, in the Western 
 sense of the term, but likewise a man who possesses a know- 
 ledge, perception, and power of operating beyond our compre- 
 hension ; he is a controller of spirits, a magnetiser, and a seer. 
 The genuine jogi seeks to obtain this knowledge and power, 
 not for the sake of gain or to produce a sensation, but in the 
 interest of his own purification, and (according to his belief) 
 to escape a further life on this planet. In the Vedas an 
 appendix is found concerning jogism, upon which the Indian 
 philosopher Pantajoli has written a commentary. I have found 
 to my great satisfaction in the little I have had at my disposal, 
 that, according to the Hindoo belief, the faculties necessary to 
 become a jogi are latent in every one, which faculties can be 
 developed only, however, by great energy and perseverance, 
 and often at the cost of health. That is what I have always 
 imagined. Every man can in a certain sense bring the 
 intelligent kosmic essence of his being by the power of his 
 will, and by using the right means, more into play, and 
 thereby obtain clearer presentiments, a higher power of per- 
 ception, exercise influence over others through supersensual 
 means, and draw upon himself the attention of another world 
 as far as it exists. It is only a difference of organism, which 
 stands between a jogi and an ordinary man, namely, whether 
 the esoteric and the " intelligiber' or the sensual and natural 
 havethe preponderance. It is highly interesting and instructive 
 to notice the analogy in this with the sensitiveness existing 
 in a sick person, which disappears with the illness. The 
 journal Licht mehr Licht has the following in an article 
 on. this subject : " To attain this end, the jogi must before 
 everything be pure in thought and action, must have overcome 
 every passion of the senses, since every relapse stops for a long 
 time his progression, and must finally look upon the world with 
 contempt (?), and must be endowed by nature with a strong will." 
 
88 Birth and Death. 
 
 It is self-evident that the jogi must overcome his natural 
 proclivities through a solitary and ascetic life, because it is by 
 this means that the transcendental faculties are 'able to dawn ; 
 it is, however, nothing more than dawning. According to the 
 Hindoo belief, the jogi has the power of diminishing or increas- 
 ing to our perception the astral body, or what I call meta-organ- 
 ism, of making it manifest and independent of gravity. It is 
 most interesting to note that this sect sets gravitation upon 
 the diflference between electric or magnetic polarisation, and 
 asserts that the body has a different polarisation to that of the 
 earth, so that they become reversed ; that is, as both have 
 the same polarisation, the body becomes free to rise in the 
 air. It is clear that it is not a question of electricity or 
 magnetic polarisation, in our known physical sense, otherwise 
 we should have remarked something of it before. It is further 
 worthy of remark that the Indian has different names for his 
 astral body (the "spiritual body " of the Apostle Paul), according 
 to the degree of its freedom from the body : niayavi, riipa, 
 kamarupa, iwatma, and Liiigadcha. The attributes belonging 
 to these definitions are not sufficiently clear to me, to enlighten 
 my reader on the subject. 
 
 A fact well worthy of remark is the harmony of the Indian 
 natural philosophy with the views of Plato. These set forth 
 that the souls of material, sensual beings are after death 
 confined to the surface of the globe, not perhaps for ever ; 
 the preponderance of the lower instincts of nature over the 
 higher spiritual proclivities is the cause of this, and in the 
 same way the reversing of the conditions affords the means 
 of rising to higher regions. It is known that Indians consider 
 that improvement and development are to be gained by a 
 frequent return to this life. Physical manifestations are very 
 difficult for higher beings. According to the opinion of the 
 heads of the learned Indian castes, jogism is a science, and 
 not a speculation ; it rests upon a deeper knowledge of the 
 forces of nature, which every one can attain to more or less, 
 though he will have to dedicate his whole life to this calling, 
 which few are ready to do. 
 
 The powers of the jogi may be described in the following 
 manner : he can put himself in telegraphic communication with 
 another jogi at a distance ; he can read the thoughts of other 
 people ; he can transport himself in the spirit with inconceivable 
 rapidity to another place ; he can pass over water or through 
 the air; and he can reduce the process of life to a minimum. 
 
The Testimony of History. 89 
 
 In the examination which was inaugurated by EngHsh officials 
 on this subject, they found a distinction was to be made among 
 jogis ; indeed, they were of two classes : Hatha-Joga, and Raja- 
 Joga. The first comprised mediums for physical manifestations, 
 and the second seers, such as are described in the first and 
 second parts, "The Manifestation of the Transcendental Basis," 
 and " The Severance of the Human Body." 
 
 It is likewise said of the jogis that they must not only have 
 an earnest will, but must have conquered all human passions ; 
 the preface says, Pure nourishment, pure air, purity of life, and 
 solitude. This is quite according to the school of Pythagoras 1 
 Who cannot recognise even in these scanty records the red 
 thread which runs through all systems of religion, — the 
 mysticism of the Middle Ages, and the spiritualistic communi- 
 cations of the latter days ? 
 
 Among the Asiatic princes who were present at the corona- 
 tion in Moscow was the Crown Prince of Bokhara, in whose 
 suite was a learned Mussulman, named Alime Jounouscof. 
 Prince Adeka learnt through him that in the centre of Asia 
 a brotherhood had existed for centuries under the name of 
 " Muridismus," whose adepts busy 'themselves with so-called 
 spiritualistic phenomena ; they have clear and far seers, healing 
 and physical mediums. (Extract from a letter which appeared 
 from Prince Adeka in the Revue Spirited 
 
 If we go further east than India, we shall find in most 
 parts of China altars to Khungfutsö, who is represented 
 as having a familiar spirit, who speaks in his ear, pointing to 
 a belief in spiritual communications among the Chinese. In 
 such near neighbours of the Indians this is not to be wondered 
 at. It is certain that they were long acquainted with table- 
 turning ; for the purpose of psychography they used a table, 
 spread with flour, over which two persons held a basket, sus- 
 pended to the edge of which a pencil was fastened ; the basket 
 moved, and the pencil wrote in the flour, {Illustr. Zeitung, 
 Bd. 22, No. 587.) It is told in Astley's "Collections of 
 Voyages," that the mystic phenomena of human nature are as 
 well known among the Chinese as in other parts of the world. 
 We find in Asia similar facts, and not only the same classifica- 
 tion, but almost the same explanation. 
 
 The fact that all the islands in the Pacific Ocean have the 
 same phenomena is well proved, though it cannot be altogether 
 asserted that this belief of the islanders originated from tradi- 
 tions out of the East. Now it is proved by the depth of the 
 
go Birth and Death. 
 
 sea, and more particularly by the similarity of the fauna, that 
 Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Appertinenzian were, once con-, 
 nected ; but it is equally certain through the depth of the sea, 
 and dissimilarity of the animals and vegetation, that Guinea and 
 Australia were never joined to the abo\e, not counting still 
 further islands lying to the east. The French materialists said, 
 just in the time of the greatest enlightenment (!) (" Ozeanien," 
 3 vols., translated by Domeny de Rienzi), " It is a re- 
 markable thing, which those who have no belief in ghostly 
 appearances cannot understand, that this belief is universal 
 among the South Sea Islanders ; and it is not to be taken for 
 granted that these ideas have come to them from the old 
 world." In the general acceptation dreams are to be looked 
 upon as the common mother of all conceptions of the world of 
 spirits ; this, however, does not suffice when we examine into 
 the details of religious ideas and manifestations ; the New 
 Zealanders believe in all the magic common to the Middle Ages, 
 which they call " Makatu ; " they have their incantations, and 
 their priests are seers, whose dreams are significant. Poly- 
 nesians hold the opinion that the priests possess supernatural 
 knowledge, are able to read the future, to communicate the will 
 of their gods, expound dreams, and heal sickness. There are 
 certain people in the Nukahiva Archipelago, whom the natives 
 believed, and indeed still partly believe, to have the strength of 
 Atlas, that is, of a higher being ; such individuals live quite 
 secluded from the world, and devote themselves to contempla- 
 tion. Next stands the Rahna. With changed voice he is 
 heard to ask and answer questions, his limbs move convulsively, 
 his eyeballs roll, and he asserts that his god has carried him 
 through the roof. The neophytes of the " Jahnas " perform 
 all the ceremonial offices done among us by the ordinary priests. 
 In the Tonga Archipelago the bearing of the priest, when he 
 is in a lucid state, is thus described : he begins to speak with 
 a changed voice, his limbs tremble violently, sweat pours from 
 his forehead, his lips swell and tremble with a convulsive move- 
 ment. This is, in fact, the same phenomenon that is exhibited 
 in India, Europe, and America through mediums in a state of 
 so-called " trance." Dreams foreboding death are not only 
 recorded, but there .are accounts which seem to prove them to 
 have come true. Even the magic arts of the ordinary witches 
 are related with all the same details. Purer and more pro- 
 bably truer, is the " Kabe," which corresponds with the 
 malocchio or magic look or will. They know the "sieve- 
 
The Testimony of History. g i 
 
 twisting," or " ring-swinging," only there a cocoa-nut was used 
 in the circle. Their priests are privileged, and have, though 
 only during their time of inspiration, a high and prominent 
 position, to which even the king himself must give place. 
 Christmann and Oberländer, in their works on Oceana, in these 
 times, narrate that inhabitants of the Fiji Islands and Tonga 
 have the same ideas on these subjects. The correct and ob- 
 jective ideas of Finau, a gifted chief of Tonga, about these 
 matters are most interesting. He did not believe in the oracles 
 of their priests, whom, however, he considered inspired, though 
 they frequently palmed off their own ideas on people as those of 
 the gods. He believed further that the gods trouble them- 
 selves very little about our affairs, and could not see why they 
 should do so ; he believed, moreover, in eternal life. How 
 superior is this savage to our modern academicians ! He knew 
 well enough that there' is always chaff, but had sufficient dis- 
 cernment to see the wheat mixed with it. There exist snake- 
 charmers, also, in Oceana, according to Cunningham's reports. 
 It is a recognised and universal belief, that by means of a firm 
 will and a retired and contemplative life, a higher power of 
 perception, as well as intercourse with other beings, is to be 
 acquired, at least in certain natures. Naturally superstition, 
 priestcraft, and abuses go hand in hand with this, just as 
 with us. 
 
 Modern spiritualism is nothing more than a new religion, 
 founded on old, well-known facts, which religion, however, has 
 no claims to the merit of being better than the old ; as to what 
 is advanced against the facts as such, it is undoubtedly of the 
 greatest importance that they have the testimony of millions, 
 not only of living persons, but of bygone generations. We 
 have not here to deal with an American swindle of thirty years' 
 duration, but with an unbroken chain of facts, which form the 
 groundwork for the Indian, Egyptian, Kabbalistic, and Chris- 
 tian beliefs. And it is not only the savages of Polynesia, nor 
 the cultivated Asiatics, who possess such natures among them ; 
 the classic people of Rome and Greece had likewise their fakirs, 
 though they went by another name. 
 
 The same phenomena were known also to the Greeks and 
 Romans ; this I have set forth in my treatise, " Mystic Natures 
 in the Past," in the " Day-book of a Philosopher." The mani- 
 festation and operation of the transcendental basis is represented 
 as well as the severance of the human form. Exactly the same 
 things take place at a later epoch. 
 
92 Bi7'th and Death. 
 
 A publication of many volumes would be necessary to give 
 an account of all those who were deemed workers of the black 
 art during the earlier centuries in the last thousand years. 
 The detailing of their names alone would occupy a considerable 
 space. These are so many in number, because not only those 
 necromancers are included whom to-day we call fakirs or 
 mediums, but those who in conjunction with -similar natures 
 occupied themselves in the same kind of phenomena. Thus 
 Robert of Normandy, the father of William the Conqueror, was 
 regarded as a necromancer, because he had a companion of so 
 extraordinary a kind that he was looked upon as the devil. 
 Just the same with the well-known Faust ; I select this instance 
 out of many, because his existence stands beyond doubt, 
 possessing as we, do the fullest information about him, and be- 
 cause his history, though distorted, is universally known. ' That 
 Faust possessed an abnormal nature I can from the accounts I 
 have of him prove with certainty ; but he had more indepen- 
 dence than some other poor devils, who exercised their mystic 
 gifts for the pastime of princes, popes, and other grandees. 
 The best source of information concerning Faust is (when used 
 with discretion) Widmann's book, published in the year 1599. 
 He not only criticised the first and older essays on Faust, but 
 he knew some of his contemporaries, and had also seen the 
 original manuscripts of Faust's literary remains. On the other 
 side, one must not forget that he was a rabid Protestant and 
 opponent of the papacy, as well as that in the second half 
 of his book he accepted all the legendary lore and exaggerations 
 which were common among the superstitious people. 
 
 Faust himself said that the spiritual world was attracted to him, 
 and it was told of him in early times that shadows on the wall 
 and lights were seen in his presence, accompanied by muttered 
 whisperings. I cite this, because it is very similar to facts 
 related by Agrippa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, 
 as well as by others (Schrepfer, St. Germain, Cagliostro, etc.), 
 and which any one can himself witness in the present day, if 
 he cares to take the trouble. It is related of Faust, partly by 
 himself and partly by others, that he occupied himself much 
 with the visions in crystals (the hypnotising of modern times); 
 that things that he vouched to having seen and heard came true, 
 and people were often rendered speechless by him, — a speciality 
 likewise of our somnambulists and magnetisers. We find also 
 in Faust, as in the case of many other individuals, a super- 
 normal power of perception ; we find as well the same faculties 
 
The Testimony of History. 93 
 
 which we have learned to recognise in the chapter on " Fern- 
 wirkung " (operating at a distance), and we find finally the same 
 physical manifestations which can be witnessed at the present 
 day, and which more than a million of living men declare they 
 have witnessed. 
 
 In reference to his " Spiritus familiaris" there is not a single 
 instance given by Widmann to prove that it was ever seen by 
 anybody, although Widmann related everything that he heard. 
 The existence of Mephistopheles is simply mentioned, while the 
 above facts not only resemble those mentioned in history and 
 in the Bible, but are almost invariably given on the authority of 
 persons who were present at the time, among whom were 
 Isenburge, Schvvarzburge, and others, or from the writings of 
 well-known persons, and from letters and other sources. It can 
 be also positively proved that Mephistopheles, as a visible 
 companion of Faust, rtcver existed, but that Mephistopheles, 
 as Widmann calls him, personifies the controlling spirit or 
 " Spiritus familiaris," common to all fakirs and mediums, though 
 not perhaps as a familiar or attendant devil. We see that the 
 historical basis of Faust is the same as that of all his prede- 
 cessors among the prophets and magicians, only that his 
 personality and the age in which he lived have imprinted a 
 special type in him. It would be too tedious, both for my 
 reader and myself, to enj;er into the criticism of the details of 
 trickery in this case. My reader can himself judge as to the 
 amount of exaggeration or utter fraud in certain instances ; he 
 will know that a man so organised could be carried upwards on 
 a cask (I have seen the same on a chair : see Slade pamphlet), 
 but that the full cask and the riding through the air from the 
 cellar through a narrow door were doubtless an exaggeration. 
 He will know that exotic flowers have under certain circum- 
 stances been seen to grow up in a few minutes, but that a 
 blooming permanent garden of such is only possible under 
 glass houses, which Faust must have had (and easily may have 
 had), if there is any truth in the story of the garden. Under 
 shelter of the proposition "Fama omnia accresciV^ we can 
 always in time separate the wheat from the chaff". 
 
 In the days in which Faust lived, the Church mixed itself 
 up in legal matters, as may be seen in the accounts of persecu- 
 tions of witches ; it had a foreboding that coming evil to itself 
 dawned in these phenomena. The Saxon ordinance imposed 
 the punishment of death itself upon certain kinds of soothsayers 
 (1572 and 1667). How great was the number of these poor 
 
94 Birth and Death. 
 
 victims to human stupidity and wickedness, is past counting ! 
 Later on occult science was cultivated by branches of Free- 
 masons, which are known under the names of Rosicrucians, 
 Andreas-brothers, and lUuminati ; at the present time it is the 
 province of spiritualists ; and as earnest people occupy them- 
 selves with it, they become subject to the terrorism of the 
 Jewish and consequently eminently materialistic press. 
 
 I have cited John Schrepfer in the above-mentioned essay 
 (" Day-Book of a Philosopher "), who lived in the last century, 
 and amongst the papers of Count Paul Festitics, whose great- 
 grandfather was a schoolmaster, I have found letters from eye- 
 witnesses, which fully confirm my opinion that Schrepfer 
 experienced the same things which take place at seances at the 
 present time. Any one who wishes to be convinced of the 
 multitude of witnesses and facts, will do well to examine the 
 works of Kieser, Perty, Enemoser, and Kerner ; the reports of 
 the Dialectic Society will afford the shortest and best information 
 as to the events of the present time. But the proofs that can 
 be the most relied on for exactness are found in the records of 
 Wallace, Crookes, and Zöllner. 
 
 What can be said to this witness of history ? For more 
 than two thousand years supernatural vi-sion in space and time, 
 acting from a distance {Fernwirkung), unconscious speaking, 
 often accompanied by clairvoyance, and all the phenomena of 
 the severance of the human form have been observed, and yet 
 the " learned " speak of a " modern swindle " ! Because part 
 of these records may be the result of invention, and another 
 part may be fraud, those things which are proved beyond doubt 
 are altogether ignored by scholars, though they stand on equally 
 historical grounds, for such men were ever the opposers of new 
 truths ! This quite answers the picture which Schiller, Goethe, 
 and Schopenhauer have drawn of these professors ; and the 
 conclusion, that the unreliability of some facts proves the un- 
 reliability of all, is just as logical as it would be to say that, 
 because some men wear wigs, therefore no one has any hair ! 
 
 The history of mankind, therefore, completely establishes the 
 fact, that everywhere and in all times there have existed men, 
 who must have possessed a supernormal perception and power, 
 to account for which faculties no other explanation and no 
 other factor can be given than the transcendental subject in man ! 
 
PART III. 
 THE THREE HYPOTHESES. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENA BY SUPPOSING IMPOSTURE. 
 
 Error and antagonism lead readily to the discovery of the 
 truth, because it is by the close examination that they invite, 
 that the real facts and explanations are brought to light. We 
 must betake ourselves the more readily to this examination, as 
 it deals with the answer to the question, whether these explana- 
 tions really prove that which they are said to ; the facts them- 
 selves cannot be disputed ; it can only be asked, if they can be 
 made clear to the understanding by supposing that only natural 
 means, according to modern discoveries, have been used. 
 
 There exist at the present time three kinds of explanations 
 of this sort : imposture, psychic force, and the intervention of 
 other beings. Each of these modes of explanation has its 
 justification in some instances, but not any of them suffices to 
 account for the whole series of experiences in this department, 
 and (what must be particularly remarked) not any of them is a 
 real explanation. When I find something I cannot understand, 
 if I appeal to an unknown manipulation, an unknown force, or 
 an unknown being, I spare myself the trouble of thinking, but 
 nothing is really explained. 
 
 The most convenient way of solving the riddle is undoubtedly 
 that of denying the facts, or attributing them to fraud. This is 
 done, when men declare those natures to whom these pheno- 
 mena particularly belong, be they men, women, or children, 
 professional mediums or private persons, to be conjurers or 
 impostors, who were capable of deceiving even physicists of the 
 
96 BirtJi and Death. 
 
 first rank through a course of years. The proof, however, that 
 they were deceived, and how, remains to be established. There 
 are imitations in everything ; we have talmi-gold, China-silver, 
 and acorn coftee ; we are acquainted with false banknotes, false 
 pearls, and false teeth, etc., etc., ; but no one, therefore, con- 
 cludes that there are no real banknotes, pearls, or teeth. In 
 the face of the many imitations and forgeries which we come 
 across, we may say with truth that they are nowhere so rarely 
 to be met with as in this department, allowing, however, that 
 some individuals are to be found who play the part of spiritual- 
 istic mediums without any trace of transcendental speciality. 
 
 It is another matter when the question is put, if mediums 
 are quite free from charlatanism, and if they quite dispense with 
 extraneous aid. There being no grounds for concluding that 
 mediums are exempt from vanity or self-interest, I do not 
 doubt for a moment that such assistance is often made use of; 
 it is self-evident that in many instances it is very difficult to 
 determine if this is quite excluded, because the phenomena are 
 rarely of such a kind that human assistance is utterly impos- 
 sible. The most extraordinary thing about it is, that, according 
 to the condition or organisation of the spectators, the phenomena 
 can assume an overpowering or suspicious character, without any 
 fault of the medium. Often, too, at seances they do not take 
 place at all. One thing may be considered as certain : all the 
 phenomena of which we have spoken in the first part, and 
 which are to be explained by the manifestation of the tran- 
 scendental basis in man, such as clairvoyance and influence 
 at a distance {Fernwirkung), may easily be witnessed in any 
 society, when the medium is so disposed. The greater portion 
 of the phenomena of the severance, which we studied in the 
 second part, cannot be controlled by the medium, but depend 
 entirely on the constitution of the assembly. The reason for 
 this will be made clear to us later on. On this circumstance 
 rests the possibility that in the East supernatural manifesta- 
 tions of the highest order, and genuine conjuring, are to be 
 found united in the same individuals, because such natures 
 exist in every situation of life, and when one sets to work to 
 earn his living or to obtain a triumph, it is natural that he 
 should employ all the means within his reach to obtain success. 
 It is this that leads our materialistic press to seize every oppor- 
 tunity of combating facts, which tend to the confusion of exist- 
 ing popular opinions. Successes are ignored, while failures, 
 either real or apparent, are brought forward ostentatiously. 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 97 
 
 The exposures of mediums, so willingly published by them, 
 afford, however, in reality a deeper insight into the mechanism 
 of these phenomena ; in this instance, as in every other, 
 antagonism and opposition (as is natural) become the means of 
 arriving at the truth. 
 
 When a fakir throws a string up into the air and it remains 
 suspended/ as though some one had caught it and held it fast, 
 so that the fakir has to climb up after it, such a simple fact is 
 a strong argument in favour of the operation of an incompre- 
 hensible force ; still, the physical explanation remains unknown 
 to us all the same. The success of such experiments puts an 
 end to our doubts, but the failure teaches us that we may learn 
 something of the conditions under which success or non-success 
 is obtainable, and compare and examine them. For myself I 
 have to thank the unsuccessful seances and expos'ures for a 
 good deal of elucidation on the subject, as well as the observa- 
 tions I have made of mediums in a state of development, about 
 which state we shall have something to say later on. When I 
 speak however of instructive exposures, of course I do not refer 
 to the exposure of those individuals who have no pretensions 
 to supernatural or abnormal powers, but to the exposure of real 
 mediums, who have drawn upon themselves the appearance of 
 fraud with or without fraudulent intention. 
 
 It has* often been the case that mediums who have given 
 undoubted proofs of their speciality for certain phenomena 
 have laid themselves open. to a suspicion of imposture, as, for 
 instance. Miss Florence Cook. We have studied the researches 
 of Crookes and Varley ; yet we know that once a phantom was 
 grasped, which melted away (which grasping caused Miss 
 Cook an illness of months), while at another time she was herself 
 seized. The knots with which she was bound were found to 
 be still tied, but stripped off her in an incomprehensible manner, 
 and nothing could be found which could have served for the 
 disguise of the figures. Still 'more, the young lady held a 
 seance the same evening, at which two forms appeared for her 
 justification ; but in vain, for it is needless to say that the 
 newspapers were silent about that. The daily press and public 
 opinion equally, of course, found Miss Cook, or rather Mrs. 
 Corner, guilty of intentional imposition, and looked upon all 
 earlier figures, which could not possibly have been represented 
 by the medium, as mystifications. No one put the question to 
 himself, " Where lies the reason that at one time a figure 
 appears which is the medium herself, and another time a 
 
 7 
 
qS Birth and Death. 
 
 figure which is not, and cannot be, the medium ? " (For both 
 cases are facts, not only noticed in the case of Mrs. Corner.) 
 In certain instances it has been alleged that when the mediums 
 have no power, they call other means to their aid, and no one has 
 sought for another and deeper ground for these facts. 
 
 In an earlier chapter we have seen the great difference there 
 existed in the manifestations of Frau Töpfer ; my experiences 
 with Bastian are still more instructive. It is a fact that I, in 
 company with others, have seen figures, when Bastian" was quite 
 apart from the phantoms (for further details see my pamphlet, 
 "Kundgebungen"). There is no doubt whatever that he 
 possesses an esoteric nature ; still, the following interesting 
 instance proves that his bodily co-operation was not always 
 excluded. 
 
 Preparations were made for a seance in a private house ; these 
 were as follows : An apparatus was connected with the easy-chair 
 in which Bastian sat behind the curtain, which gave signals from 
 a bell on the floor above, as long as any one was sitting in the 
 chair; the master of the house had another apparatus in his 
 hand, by means of which he could give a signal to the room 
 above at the same time. In this upper story a friend was 
 stationed, and was told that the master of the house would give 
 the signal when any apparition appeared, so that he could 
 observe if at the same time the signal was likewise' given by 
 the apparatus connected with the easy-chair. 
 
 The idea of procuring convincing and undeniable evidence as 
 to these puzzling manifestations, by means of wires and bell- 
 signals, is not a new one ; it was carried out successfully by 
 Crookes, Varley (the layer of the transatlantic cable), and my 
 humble self, but never in this way, as a test of this sort is no 
 use with controls in regard to weight, because nothing can 
 be weighed accurately, unless it can be ascertained with 
 certainty that no irregularity takes place to alter the position 
 of the scales. It has often been attempted to weigh mediums 
 as well as figures, but this never succeeds, as the scales act as 
 though someone were playing a joke by turning the indicator 
 back, or raising or depressing the scales. Every one has read 
 in history that the lessening of the weight, and even the action 
 of rising up in the air, was a proof of witchcraft, and for centuries, 
 as well as at the present time, such phenomena (particularly in 
 cases of so-called possession) were, and are still tobe, observed. 
 Nevertheless, I have no doubt whatever that the signals were 
 actually given while the chair was empty. These signals were 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 99 
 
 recorded in writing by the apparatus, which record gives a 
 valuable insight into the details of the time taken for the per- 
 formance. 
 
 According to the table the seance lasted twenty-two minutes. 
 Of these twentj-two minutes Bastian passed the first four 
 minutes sitting on the chair (with the exception of three 
 very slight interruptions, signalised at the commencement, 
 which under the supposition of conscious action was quite 
 superfluous, as he might certainly have employed these four 
 minutes in preparation for trickery, and not have wasted the 
 time). 
 
 One minute and forty-five seconds he was not on the chair ; 
 
 And during the next thirty seconds three figures appeared ; 
 
 And as each figure remained visible for some seconds, he 
 had not certainly much time for his personation ! 
 
 After forty-five seconds the fourth figure appeared. 
 
 After thirty seconds the fifth. 
 
 After one minute the sixth. 
 
 After another minute the seventh. 
 
 After fifteen seconds the eighth. 
 
 After a minute and a half the ninth. 
 
 After another minute and a half Bastian sat down, 
 
 He remained sitting a minute and a half, then stood up. 
 
 And after another minute and a half the tenth figure ap-. 
 peared. , 
 
 After a minute he sat down again, 
 
 Remained sitting one minute, 
 
 Stood up for two rrtinutes. 
 
 Sat down for two minutes and fifteen seconds, and then 
 the seance terminated. 
 
 Total : twenty-two minutes — sec. 
 
 The instructive portion of the proceedings lies in the inquiry 
 into, and answer to, the question, why Bastian should have stood 
 up ; whether this always happens, and in what cases. Let us 
 admit first that he did this consciously and intentionally. 
 
 The first thing to surprise us is the division of the time. 
 We have only ten minutes from the appearance of the first to 
 that of the last figure ; that this time is not equally divided, 
 though a certain periodical division should be noticed. Who 
 can believe, however, that Bastian, if he wished to represent ten 
 different figures' in the space of twenty-two minutes, would 
 spend twelve minutes in sitting in the chair? It would likewise 
 be quite incomprehensible that any one could personate three 
 
lOO 
 
 IhrlJi and Pcatli. 
 
 tiil/iri'nt npjiirrH within thr* r-.pnrr of thirty MrronH«. l.rt tin, 
 howrvcr, ()vrrl(i()l< this dillii iilly, ;iii(l oo iipy (iiir;.rlv<H with lin' 
 (|ii(-sti(iii hiiiv thin ciiiiid he ;i('('<iin|ih Jiid in .my kiinwii iiiiiiiinr 
 iilKJ hy ii.'iliii;il iiK-iiiis. 
 
 It is within tlic liiii^c of iin.'i^iiialioii th;il ;i (D.tntiir iiii^lil he 
 cominrsscd into ^■n Mni.tli a coiiiiiiiMH as to !)<• ((tiiccai'd iiiidi r 
 n coat, cviii a ( (ini|in üHcd iVamrwork of wirr may ho conceived 
 an poHHihle ; hill llii' |)OHHe:'.'.i'iii orten iiia'tl«?; for (ai-cH, witli tlie 
 iiecesHaiy wire ria!Mew<)rl< iind < o.liiiin ■,, ihr heardM aii<l vvi)<s, 
 tal<iiiK into aeeiiuiil also liie darlviie:>H in whieli Hastiaii roinid 
 liiiiescir, and lastly the diversity and rapidity of tlie personatiftns, 
 }.;ive ;i man «il "sonnd edniinon Henw" HonietliinK to lliiniv ahoiil, 
 I Inloi tiinalely ev<-ii these iinsatislaetoiy sii|.'j',esl ions ni I'avonr 
 ol ihr throry o| ( tiir.i ioin. |iri ,(iii,ii ion le.idl ill iiothiiif.;; since 
 the oii^inator of ihr iiii|iii sinn- ihroiy hiinsrlj ( (lnle^,',r', tlii- 
 loilowing, in a lir.ilisr ol whirh only ;i hw (d|iirs w« rr pi inlrd : 
 " Th«; (imireH niove(l ()iiite iiidepemli nil y, ii<l our rmild oin n 
 Hi-e the lonii of the lej-;; Ihidiij'Ji iIm di.ipriy; in mir vvoid, 
 tliere existH nol ihr mimII« ,1 doidil Ih.il Ihr .r we're living heings," 
 There can he, tlnnloir, no (|iir,iion ol ihr wire riaiiiewoil; 
 the app<'arance in no (ij<nre, hni ,i living heiiij^, who opens ihr 
 eiirtaiii'-,, walk"., look',, :uid iiio\( , his Ik ai|. < )iir niii t, iImk loir, 
 eonrhidr il r, rilhri ;ni ,iiiloni;ilon, or I'i.isti.iii in prison; Iml 
 Heeiiig that automata r;inno| he ( ,n i ii d in ;i (ii;it poikrl, that 
 idea must he iihandoned, sinrr li.islian mji .1 h.ive li;id a iiiimlur 
 ol' thr-jii. I'lic rollowilig gocM to prove llldt il IVtts illl/xissihlillidl 
 it wtis lir liinisrl/, who kiiowiiif-dy personated tlii-He lif^nres. 
 
 Aller the aiithoi ol ihr .doi r inrnlioned Irealise ackliowlcflf^ed 
 rightly that they -.wr liviii)', hriiigs, I say "rightly," hee;ill',r I 
 myseir have ollrn srrii tin ill ipiite cloH(!ly, UH Well as l( Il tin in, 
 lir dr',( I ihrs the ligiii e:, worthy of noii( r : 
 
 I. Man with hiaek liockeeul ,iihI vvliilr necktie, ^.llavrd, 
 yonii)-,, only ihr lni'.t viwihle oiilMide the curtain. 
 
 '. A vvoiiLin, with loiif«, hiack hair, tall, the |;icr rather iixlis- 
 linclly srrn hy me liom the opposite s.iih;, 
 
 J. A yoiniggill ahoni twelve years ol age, hlonile, ill while 
 
 ganticnlH with a giollr. 
 
 /). An Indian wilh a tiiihan and llowinp, hranl, sr\(ii lect 
 high, only visihie hetvveen the cintaiiis. 
 
 5. A III. Ill in .1 lioi kio.it .ind while ci.i\;il, while stockings, 
 beardless. 
 
 6. A inin, dic'.'.ed in white. 
 
 I ask now, how is il po;,.,ihle thai .1 iii.in like r>,istiaii, who i'. 
 
Explanation of tJic Pheno7nena. loi 
 
 about five feet two inches high, couhl appear as a fair little girl 
 of twelve years old and an Intlian seven feet high, who both 
 " without doubt are living beings" ? In su|)port of this idea no 
 kiittling down or standing on a stocvl would do, since tliat would 
 not gi\'i' \\\v. proportions and symmetry of th»- faces and figincs, 
 and the nunements, the coming and going, would be quite 
 impossible. 
 
 ICven if a conjurer had more time and suitable materials at 
 his disposal than Bastian had, how could he perform all this, 
 when the co-operation of oIIh is and an optical apparatus were 
 beyond his reach ? 
 
 Hut now a circumstance nuist be noted, which bears particu- 
 larly (jn the matter. The Indian is too marked a person to be 
 confounded with any other appearance. This Indian, however, 
 a[ipeared on two other occasions, when it was imponaihlc that 
 Jiaslian could have ptrsotiatid him. (See pamphlet " Kundge- 
 bungen.") The inventor or oiiginator of the alxjve mentioned 
 apparatus cannot be permitted to doubt the authenticity of these 
 last appearances, because the proving of them was by a much 
 simpler process than that of his arrangement of wires, under 
 the control of a person separated from the spectators ; and as I 
 do not doubt for a moment that his ajiparatus and functionaries 
 did their duty |)y him, so he cannot and will not doubt for a 
 moment that either the locked iViime of the dooi- coidd be taken 
 away, or that the thick net remained uninjured. If this stand- 
 point is not adniiU<-d, all iii(|uiiy and discussion must come to 
 an end. 
 
 May tlicie not exist some probability that the same two 
 identical ligiucs may not be ])roduced by tlu- same means or in 
 the same way ? (Jan one imagine for a moment that the Indian 
 at one lime was a true and at another a false |)hanlom ? Does 
 it not follow that by the act of standing u[) and by the confine- 
 ment of nets and bandages, something remains to be made 
 cle;ii-, which is a cause of the difference between materialisation 
 and tr;nisli!;nr.ition ? II it is to be conceived possibh-, that 
 tlu'ouj^h some power the chair was raised, whilt; Bastian was 
 sitting in it, and that the same power pressed on the chair when 
 he stood up; if it were even imaginabk' that the conducting of 
 the current were under the control of other beings (see ZAilner's 
 experiments with Shule) in such a mannei that the apparatus 
 always showed the weight, even when Bastian was not sitting 
 on it ; — in one word, if this apparatus affords no positive proof, 
 either for or against, then no one will accept this most unlikely 
 
I02 Birth and Death. 
 
 state of things, but be certainly convinced that Bastian was 
 standing up; this is without doubt the most natural explana- 
 tion of the interruption of the telegraph, but does not explain 
 the problem. 
 
 Undoubtedly these facts are against the probability of 
 Bastian's consciously personating the figures, either sitting or 
 standing, with the means at his command in his normal state ; 
 namely, the limited space of time, the character of the appear- 
 ances, and the identity of the figures. This is the y?rs/ thing 
 gained by the exposure. In any case this experiment was very 
 instructive, because by it the theory of the different degrees of 
 severance was established. We gain another important fact 
 through the record kept of the time of the intervals, as well of 
 the development of the phantoms and of the standing up, which 
 we shall make use of in the chapter on the development of 
 exoteric natures. 
 
 We will now proceed to the account of an attempt at ex- 
 posure, which created a great sensation in the beginning of 
 1884. When Baron Münchhausen wished to give his hearers 
 an idea of the intense cold he had suffered in Russia, he 
 related that while driving in a sledge, he had blown into a 
 post-horn, in order to excite the attention of the people at the 
 inn he was nearing, but in vain — the post-horn gave forth no 
 sound. When, however, he was comfortably settled in the inn, 
 suddenly the post-horn, which was hung up, began to play ; 
 Baron Münchhausen then became aware that the sound had 
 been frozen up through the frightful cold, and thawed when in 
 the warm room. This anecdote always recurs to my mind 
 when I read the objections and arguments of continental 
 novices on this subject. That which has been long since 
 examined, refuted, or accepted by veterans in England and 
 America, emerges years afterwards like a new melody on the 
 Continent. 
 
 English physicists of repute have acknowledged the genuine- 
 ness of materialisation, when subject to the most rigid test 
 examination ; the fact of the apparent transfiguration is con- 
 firmed in the same way by numerous experiments and incidents, 
 but all in vain ; the same old tune is heard again and again. 
 Hundreds of sittings have taken place, in which the phantom 
 has been seized. In many instances nothing has been retained 
 in the grasp, but in others the medium has been held, and it 
 seems as though nothing could in this way be arrived at, 
 because it has often happened that the very same medium who 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 103 
 
 one day was seized, the next would be brought forward by the 
 phantom itself. Of course, the newspapers keep silent about 
 this latter fact, but when a medium is seized (though nothing 
 else is found as a proof against him), the press raise a terrible 
 outcry ! 
 
 I was asked by a person in high position if I could procure 
 hint the opportunity of seeing some of those phenomena, which 
 form the basis for the theory of spiritualism. I expressed my- 
 self willing, and guaranteed results on the condition that a 
 certain number of seances should take place in a closed room, 
 with a select number of spectators, and that the successive 
 increase in the test conditions should be with my consent 
 (which conditions, however, were not carried out). I explained 
 to him that there were persons to be found in the kingdom in 
 whose presence supernormal phenomena took place, but that 
 they would not consent to a long-continued series of experi- 
 ments, and that for the purpose of a systematic, objective inquiry 
 only professional mediums were serviceable. If he wished it, 
 I must get one to come from a foreign country. I proposed for 
 this purpose two Americans and a German medium. Atnong 
 the first was Harry Bastian, although his powers in 1 882 had 
 become very weak, and he had decided to hold no more seances. 
 The following was the cause of my selecting him, in spite of 
 these circumstances. 
 
 I learnt through a third person that Bastian had found 
 another occupation in England, and for sixteen months had 
 only held one (a very successful seance) with some American 
 friends who visited him on July 4th, 1883. I learnt further 
 that Bastian was in very poor circumstances. All this decided 
 me to ask Bastian through a third person if he felt sufficient 
 power to hold a seance once a week. As I received an answer 
 in the affirmative, I sent him an invitation. In the first place, 
 however, I explained that the seances with Bastian must not be 
 of an exhausting nature, though they would doubtless be very 
 interesting ; and that for the more particular phenomena 
 stronger individuals would be selected, who could exhibit their 
 powers in full light. 
 
 At the first dark seance nothing particular occurred ; at the 
 light seance several figures appeared, who, however, did not 
 come beyond the curtain, and whom I could not see, as I was 
 standing at the side, and the curtains were quite away from 
 the wall, and being opened, came out still farther, so that I 
 only saw the left shoulder of a single figure, which seemed in 
 
I04 Birth and Death. 
 
 no way to resemble the appearances of former years. It should 
 be remarked that before the seance Bastian was searched by 
 two members of the company. 
 
 At the second dark sca)ice the proceedings were more in- 
 teresting, since some occurrences took place which could not 
 be accounted for by natural means. That the gentlemen 
 surrounding Bastian received objects from the table proves 
 nothing, because no one in the company could say for-certain 
 that the objects were on the table before the beginning of 
 the seance ; less easy of explanation is the distributing flowers 
 from a basket outside the circle. Two of tl^e company asked 
 for certain flowers which they were thinking of ; one of them 
 received the one he wanted, the other, however, got another ; 
 this last declared afterwards that he found the one he wished 
 for in the basket after the seance, injured ; whether the leaves 
 were fallen off or it was broken, I do not know. The fact the 
 most difficult of explanation was, that during the dark seance 
 one of the company pushed the bell which was lying in the 
 circle, under his seat outside the circle with his foot, and de- 
 manded that the bell should ring, upon which the bell flew 
 back ringing within the circle, although Bastian could not know 
 where the bell was to be found, and must have felt with his 
 hands from the centre. Before the materialisation seance a 
 naval officer present bound Bastian to his chair, believing the 
 bandage to be quite secure ;. notwithstanding which, in a few 
 minutes the medium was not only free, but his hands were 
 tied together in such a manner that the cords had to be cut. 
 No figures appeared. 
 
 At the third seance nothing remarkable took place in the 
 d9,rk ; at the light seance four figures appeared. As, however, 
 tnfe figures would not come forward, the light was diminished 
 at my suggestion, by pushing to the doors of the adjacent, 
 lighted apartment. The Archduke, who was there, acknow- 
 ledged, in the pamphlet which he afterwards -published, that the 
 figures by this means were most distinct. When the fifth 
 figure appeared, one of the company sprang forward, pulled 
 a string, and the door between the cabinet and the figure shut. 
 This was the work of a second ; another of the company seized 
 the figure, which had been concealed from me the whole time 
 by the curtain ; it seemed, however, to me as if it were not 
 quite vertical, but had a somewhat backward leaning position. 
 The figure may have been concealed by the curtain from me 
 from three to four seconds, and then I saw Bastian in his coat, 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 105 
 
 with his waistcoat buttoned up, exactly as he had entered the 
 cabinet, only he was without his shoes, which was not noticed 
 till the cabinet was entered, where (excepting them) nothing 
 was found. One shoe was close to the chair, the other at some 
 ^istance. As Bastian, when seized, was not in the costume 
 of the figure, and I doubted how a metamorphosis could be 
 completed so quickly, I proposed that he should be undressed ; 
 this, however, was considered superfluous. I was told that one 
 of the gentlemen had seen Bastian put the material away in 
 hia .breast, which caused me to say, " Well, if that was the 
 case, we shall find it." A member of the company and I, 
 therefore, searched him, but found nothing but a pair of gloves 
 and a porte-monnaie. I searched the whole of his coat and 
 felt between his waistcoat and his shirt, but without avail. 
 This is species facti. 
 
 The evidence against Bastian consists in the following : — 
 I. The identity of the figure and the person; 2. The taking 
 off the shoes ; 3. The figures not coming forward, and the 
 short space of time they were visible ; 4. The hanging of the 
 coat over the shoulders according to the assertion of the person 
 who seized him. 
 
 To these circumstances may be added the following grounds 
 for the probabihty of imposture in this instance *: the rare cases 
 of materialisation during the two preceding years, the giving 
 up of seances, his rest of sixteen . months, and lastly his deep 
 depression about his mediumship. Against all this we must 
 set the incomprehensibility of the metamorphosis and the 
 absence of any materials to make at least five masks. 
 
 As to the worth of the evidence for or against him, the 
 identity of the person and the figure really does not count, 
 because the complete severance of the subject and phantom is 
 of very rare occurrence. I have only seen it twice with Bastian 
 and once with Frau Töpfer, and it is well known that the 
 English physicist Crookes noticed it frequently in the case of 
 a medium, who some years later was herself seized as a 
 phantom in the same manner, without any adjuncts to the 
 personation being found ; and the same thing has happened 
 with Miss Hope and others. I explained to some of the com- 
 pany before the seances, that in case of a " grasping " taking 
 place, the probability was that the medium would be found in 
 their hands, in which case it might result in an illness for the 
 latter. 
 
 The other evidence against him is indeed important, but not 
 
io6 Birth and Death. 
 
 decisive, which it could not be unless Bastian were discovered 
 in the costume of the figure, or the means and parapher- 
 naHa of the personation were afterwards found. There can 
 scarcely be any doubt that Bastian would have been acquitted 
 through a nearer acquaintance with these phenomena. It is 
 very much to be regretted that he was not completely undressed 
 to satisfy one that only normal means were used. That a 
 garment of cambric might be drawn under the shirt by means 
 of a string in a second is to be conceived (indeed, on. searching 
 him I felt a thin fold under the shirt on the breast), but 
 what could have become of all the different heads and wigs ? 
 Whether Bastian were an impostor or not is (though not for 
 him) more or less a matter of indifference to the rest of the 
 world, but it would be extremely interesting to know how the 
 personation arose. Certainly some distinction should be made 
 between the terms " incomprehensible " and " impossible." 
 The metamorphosis through normal means is not impossible 
 because one cannot understand it, and there are many, even of 
 those who are not perplexed by the identity of the person and 
 the phantom, who may have a subjective opinion that fraudulent 
 means were being used. The discovery of the paraphernalia 
 would have been objective, sufficient, and conclusive evidence for 
 every one. If the sudden disappearance of the personation 
 without leaving a trace is impossible, then the fraud of the 
 medium is likewise impossible ; if the first is possible, then 
 fraud is possible, and consequently other accessory circumstances 
 are probable, though not necessary. I have considered, on 
 account of the above reasons, that these phantoms are incapable 
 of proof, and was only myself fully convinced when the 
 phantoms passed through a wire grating, which was seen in 
 Hamburg by earnest and learned men. Therefore, after that 
 decisive seance^ I took no further interest in the matter, and only 
 invited Bastian in 1882 and 1884 at the wish of third persons. 
 
 If the question is put, that as there was a suspicion of im- 
 posture in this instance, whether in former years Bastian might 
 not also have been guilty of the same thing, I can only answer 
 that he assisted at four kinds of materialisation seances, namely : — - 
 I. Those in which nothing appeared ; 2. Those at which the 
 figures only just opened the curtain ; 3. Those at which full- 
 formed movable figures appeared in great variety ; and, 4. 
 Those at which stringent test conditions rendered personation 
 impossible. When one takes into consideration, that if the 
 phenomena, produced through private mediums in darkness in 
 
Explanation of the Phenomejia. 107 
 
 select circles, were made public, Bastian's powers would no 
 longer be regarded as a speciality in the way of materialisation ; 
 it is, therefore, not improbable, that in order to avoid the 
 recurrence of too frequent unsuccessful seances, he might have 
 had recourse to accessory means, and have produced by their 
 aid only pictures of what seemed to be forms. Figures ap- 
 peared under circumstances which permitted me to imagine this, 
 though there were occasions on which this opinion could not be 
 received. There were also some on which a personation was 
 simply impossible. 
 
 The Archduke John has, as we mentioned before, written a 
 pamphlet about this event, called "A Glance into Spiritualism,"' 
 and has recorded there that he was invited by Bastian to go into 
 the cabinet with him, which he declined to do; from which it 
 appears he was far less anxious to examine into the matter 
 than to produce a sensation. Any one who is acquainted with 
 the versatile accomplishments of the aspiring Archduke will riot 
 be surprised at this. He confesses farther on (p. 22), that an 
 imperial prince together with Dr. Widerhofer searched Bastian 
 in the cabinet, and that they found nothing on or with him. I 
 myself searched him after the sitting, and not alone, and equally 
 found nothing. Under such circumstances it is decidedly diffi- 
 cult to speak of imposture, without clearly defined objective proofs, 
 even if the identity of the phantom and the medium stands 
 beyond doubt. 
 
 The medium is doubtless the centre of operation of such 
 manifestations. Whether, however, the transcendental powers 
 or the meta-organism take possession of the physical organism, 
 or whether the medium is only to be looked upon as the source 
 from whence the substance and material is taken, can only be 
 decided in particular cases, for in all figure seances personation 
 is to be conceived. A refutation of the Archduke's pamphlet is 
 to be found in " Psychic Studies," and I have myself answered, 
 though with reserve, the attack on my opinions, in my article 
 " The Logic of Facts." I look upon it as a duty, not only to 
 give an account of the facts, but to set forth the conclusions to* 
 be drawn from them ; although it could not be pleasant for me 
 to fight against a person, who himself confessed that he had no 
 philosophical instruction, that as to the subject in question he 
 had no knowledge whatever, and who above all was a witness 
 of such phenomena for the first time. The Archduke was 
 acquainted with none of my writings, except one small pamphlet. 
 I was besides fettered by the possibility of the confiscation of the 
 
io8 Birth and Death. 
 
 answer, since the sub-oflicials could easily use the existing state 
 of siege, and make their own profit by it. 
 
 The daily press throughout Europe, for whom nothing exists 
 that has been discussed and published by physicists in the last 
 century, had food for their jokes for weeks. If this was the 
 aim of the Archduke's pamphlet it was fully attained, and I 
 have no grounds for quarrelling with it ; for it rendered the 
 greatest service to the subject by the interest it created. Spiri- 
 tualists should erect a monument to him ! A dozen more of 
 such exposures, and the ice is broken ! 
 
 • The fact of the appearance of phantoms is established by the 
 number and gratification of the witnesses, even if Bastian had 
 never been born, or had always been an impostor. The pro- 
 duction of such genuine phantoms in Bastian's presence is, 
 however, as surely proved as any attested fact in history. The 
 result arrived at by the Archduke's publication is, at the most, 
 that Bastian in one instance was guilty of fraud ; and as this is 
 not proved, it remains an open question. The youth of the 
 Archduke will allow quite sufficient time with increasing ex- 
 perience to convert a Saul into a Paul. Any one who, like 
 myself, has had hundreds of seances of the most varied nature, 
 and has read the accounts of thousands of others, will begin to 
 perceive the causes why one circle obtains results of the clearest 
 evidence, and another is brought to believe in fraud. Unicuiqne 
 situni ! Such solitary experiments lead to no results ; had the 
 Archduke observed the conditions laid down by me, he would 
 in time have been convinced ; at all events, he would have been 
 justified in giving an opinion. 
 
 In what manner, then, have facts bringing undoubted con- 
 viction been arrived at ? 
 
 Crookes took a medium into his' house, and carried on his 
 researches till he obtained what he sought for. Slade came to 
 Leipzig, and placed himself at the disposal of the professors of 
 the University without remuneration ; he received hospitality 
 from a person of consideration in Leipzig, as, like most mediums, 
 he is not rich. I did the same, and kept three mediums often 
 for months together. There are persons who haVe held two 
 hundred sittings with Bastian for a particular purpose, before 
 they accomplished it ! Certainly, mediums who are capable of 
 holding a seance daily are more likely to succeed than those 
 who can only hold one or two a week ; in former years Bastian 
 was able to do this. Did not Bastian make through me just the 
 same proposition as he did when the bell-apparatus was in- 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 109 
 
 troduced ? Bastian declared he would willingly come to the 
 country and place himself at the disposal of those interested ; 
 he demanded nothing, except that his modest wants should be 
 provided for ; this proposal was not accepted, and why not ? 
 I only give my subjective opinion, because this agreement — I 
 do not deny it — might have produced much unpleasantness to 
 those concerned. 
 
 This can perhaps scarcely be understood, and yet it is 
 generally the reason why those who belong to scientific circles 
 are afraid of openly going into these questions. Everything 
 passes current in some way or other, and has its own public to 
 appeal to. A magnetic healer, who had often obtained surprising 
 results, made the proposal to Virchow, a true inquirer and 
 remarkable pathologist, to give him an opportunity to convince 
 him of his powers, which would only have cost the philosopher 
 an hour spent in the hospital ; but Virchow would not consent, 
 and the magnetiser (Walburg-Kramer) said very aptly : " If 
 the celebrated savant Virchow were to succeed in finding the 
 löng-sought-for bone of an ape, which would bridge over the 
 chasm between gorilla and counsellor, then the professor would 
 exult in having attained the highest rung of the ladder of fame. 
 Would his name, however, not sound the sweeter if he had not 
 inhospitably shut his door against the healing art of magnetism?" 
 Just in the same way it is more scientific to hunt for remains 
 of buildings, to dig up old bones, and to find out something 
 relating to the " Häckelischen Bathybius," than to confirm 
 the existence of beings like ourselves ; and if an inquirer into 
 nature, does not hold this opinion, he must take good care to 
 keep it to himself, otherwise he will meet with scornful looks. 
 I often hear in these days of some professor who holds his 
 office under the condition that he does not openly inquire into 
 these things. I know for a fact, that a professor, who had 
 attended seances with me, was sent for by a minister of in- 
 struction, and told that he must renounce his convictions, at 
 least outwardly. Louis Napoleon visited Güldenstube, and even 
 kissed what he supposed to be the hand of Napoleon I. In 
 many ways he acknowledged himself convinced, and believed 
 in these phenomena ; and yet, after some seances with Home, at 
 which a piano came from a distant room, a lighted lamp flew 
 about, etc., according to some, he was said to have exclaimed 
 " C'est tres-bien fait ! " I do not look upon Napoleon as a pro- 
 found thinker ; but he was not quite so narrow-minded as net 
 to know that what took place was not " a performance." He was 
 
no Birth and Death. 
 
 obliged to speak like that, in order as a monarch to avoid being 
 laughed at. I do not blame any one, if he turns away suspicion 
 from himself by some phrase ; for the Society of Spiritualists, as 
 represented by its journals, is not itself very courageous. 
 
 These researches demand not only patience and special 
 knowledge, but one should be actuated by high motives. Those 
 only are likely to obtain good seances who know how to draw 
 either comfort or instruction from them, since we have not 
 mechanical or chemical powers to deal with, but human or 
 other intelligent beings, to whom no conditions can be pre- 
 scribed. I will try to illustrate this by an episode. 
 
 Before Bastian's arrival I received a letter with four signa- 
 tures, in which apparently the conditions of the seances were 
 to be dictated afterwards, though the fact of the sittings was 
 only then proposed. I, for my part, was against any conditions 
 being imposed, and advised the members of the circle not to 
 demand any, but to go on gradually and content themselves 
 with earnest wishes for success. They gave way to my advice, 
 and obtained the most brilliant results, as when, for example, on 
 several occasions two figures appeared at the same time. How 
 these, or even one of them, could have been brought into, and 
 taken out of, a locked room is a physical problem which I leave 
 to scientific men, who will not hesitate to accept the possibility 
 that, without the knowledge of the master, the walls of his 
 strong castle were broken through and closed up again in a 
 few minutes and without a sound. Persons ought to take great 
 care about establishing the facts, and never lose sight of the 
 importance of this, and they need not trouble themselves about 
 exposures, which in no case prove anything, and are quite 
 superfluous. 
 
 There is nothing in the world easier than to take in a 
 credulous man. Mime thought quite rightly that Siegfried, 
 when he was thirsty, would drink and be made unconscious 
 by what, was really a sleeping-draught, in which condition he 
 could very easily cut off his head. But Siegfried, though a 
 fearless and unsuspicious hero, and easy to deceive, fortu- 
 nately possessed a higher poiver of perception, and read Mime's 
 thoughts, which filling him with disgust, he struck him dead. 
 The higher form of consciousness detects at once the intention, 
 and can act in accordance. When I became aware of the 
 endeavour of two gentlemen to hold sittings with me, with 
 the aim of showing their cleverness to the resentful but 
 already satisfied critics, I arranged a se'ance, in which were 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 1 1 1 
 
 only sceptical elements, and remained away myself. The result 
 quite fulfilled my expectations; nothing whatever occurred, 
 and the spectators went on their way rejoicing, convinced 
 that the whole thing was a swindle. 
 
 Anyone who wishes to expose, should before everything 
 have read the accounts of exposures, ©f which not a few are 
 to be found, for then he would learn that the intelligent unseen 
 world often pays brutality back in its own coin, though 
 harmlessly ; trickery never bears fruit. One thing, too, he will 
 always find in any case, namely, that the intending exposer 
 is just about as wise as he was before. 
 
 Let us put the case that 'the medium is seized when the 
 phantom is grasped at ; it does not follow from this, that all 
 representations, even by the same medium, were produced in 
 the same manner ; and for this reason, because now and then 
 forms appear in a manner which renders it perfectly impossible 
 that they could be the medium, as, for instance, when (as in 
 Vienna) two figures appeared together in a locked room, or 
 when, as I witnessed, a four-year-old child appeared. The 
 fact of such appearances remains unexplained, including the 
 question oi the guilt or innocence of the medium, for he is under 
 the same interdict as the magnetiser or the somnambulist. Let 
 us allow, however, that any attempt at exposure turned out 
 in favour of the medium, should that be taken as a proof that 
 he never had cheated, or even that on this single occasion he did 
 not do so ? Might not the medium be cleverer than the exposer ? 
 
 If a medium is exposed, it proves nothing whatever against 
 the facts ; and if he is not exposed, nothing whatever in favour 
 of the facts. Is Wagner to be thought no composer because 
 he has adopted, intentionally or unintentionally, ideas of Chopin ? 
 And is a thief an honest man because on one occasion he did 
 not steal when he might have done so ? Only the discovery 
 of the masks, etc., would prove with any probability of certainty 
 that on one occasion the figure was an imposture, because that 
 would be- an objective proof. It is a fully-proved fact in India, 
 in America, and Europe, that these transcendental powers or 
 supernatural beings can triumph over the laws of gravitation, 
 as we do with the help of our muscles; that they are able to 
 divert rays of light and the magnetic current; that they can 
 overcome space differently to what we can ; and that they 
 can influence certain persons in a particular manner ; therefore, 
 exposures, if they are to be completely and irrefutably esta- 
 blished, must be ca,rried on over and above these four possible 
 
112 Birth and Death. 
 
 mystifications, and independently of them, otherwise the medium 
 may be unjustly convicted. A Latin proverb says, " Mundus 
 vult decipi, ergo decipiatur ! " in English, " If the world wishes 
 to be deceived, it will be deceived ! " In the present instance, 
 I paraphrase it thus — he who is determined to discover impos- 
 ture, will discover it. 
 
 If Bastian were able to produce these phantoms by human 
 and physical means, he could have no difficulty in exhibiting 
 them before hundreds of paying people. Just imagine what 
 a position he would be in, if he were to declare that during 
 twenty years and through six thousand seances he had been 
 duping people, among whom were so many specialists, in 
 order to assist in the victory of materialism ; that he was a 
 better physicist than all the professors, and that he would 
 reproduce the "magic tricks in the theatre, ä la Hanson. Just 
 think of the jubilation, the fame, the money ! Cumberland, 
 under the banner of the " anti-spiritualists," gained twenty 
 thousand florins in Vienna. But no, Bastian prefers to remain 
 poor, and to be looked upon by some few people as an impostor. 
 How very probable ! 
 
 I think that all those who witness these phenomena should 
 refrain from a too-hasty judgrnent of these things. When I 
 was making the experiments with Miss Fowler, I diligently 
 studied spiritualistic literature, and declared, in my " Philosophy 
 of the World," that the thing was not ripe enough for me 
 to give an opinion upon. I did not feel myself competent, 
 although I had then gone through more experience than had 
 all the individuals comprising Vienna society. When I added 
 my experiences with Slade, I said in a pamphlet that " I would 
 not publish my definite opinion till I had held another hundred 
 sittings with several different mediums." One cannot, therefore, 
 reproach me with setting to work too hastily or carelessly. 
 Only when I had further undertaken most conclusive researches, 
 when Zöllner had held his seances, and when I could say with 
 certainty that there existed no speciality worth naming in this 
 department in all three quarters of the globe, no book worth 
 reading on this subject, no philosophical views worth studying, 
 that were unknown to me,^ — only then, when the whole thing 
 began to be manifest to me, did I step forward and express 
 my conviction of the certainty of these phenomena, and explain 
 them as such, which I did in the third volume of the " Pre- 
 judices." A medium may be exposed ever so often, it will 
 alter nothing of the facts, since I look for a guarantee, not 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 113 
 
 in the subjective morality of the medium, but in the objective 
 truth of the facts themselves. 
 
 The hypothesis of imposture must be proved insufficient, 
 because it can only by any possibility be applied to a portion 
 of the manifestations. The only case where imposture might 
 well be considered the rule, with very few exceptions, is that 
 of the so-called spirit-photograph, which is not difficult to 
 manufacture. I have photographed mediums and other indi- 
 viduals in their presence, without discovering anything on the 
 plate ; I have myself made the experiment with the magnesium 
 light, with a medium entranced, duripg the seance, but in vain ; 
 I have also tried to photograph the figures which were visible, 
 but equally without any results worth mentioning, — which is 
 the more curious, as the medium, who lay in trance covered 
 with a net, had less light upon him (being further off than the 
 figure), and is yet visible in the photograph. Crookes photo- 
 graphed a figure (I myself possess a copy) ; if this is genuine, 
 it is a guarantee against the doubt as to the possibility of 
 obtaining them, which must be recognised as admissible only 
 so far as the sufficient degree of materiality of the phantom 
 and the suitability of the reflecting rays permit. 
 
 All those who think to explain away and get rid of these 
 facts through the theory of imposture, labour under the dis- 
 advantage that not only in the meantime the number of 
 mediums and spectators is much increased, but that the facts 
 themselves gain more and more in evidence ; the intelligent 
 unseen world seems ,to make progress in the art of our physical 
 manifestations, for scarcely is Bastian unmasked, according to 
 the journalistic notions, than three mediums spring up in 
 America, in whose presence the figures appear in circles and 
 in full light ! Let us, then, look for better, though perhaps less 
 convenient, explanations ! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENA BY PSYCHIC FORCE. 
 
 The second hypothesis which is advanced for the explanation 
 of the phenomena, though by a very small minority, is that of 
 " Psychic Force." 
 
 We are in the habit of using the expression " Force " when 
 we have no further reason to give ; we are accustomed to bring 
 forward this force as an explanation for many things, though 
 it reall}^ explains nothing ; it only points out that one unknown 
 quantity is to be distinguished from another, as, for instance, 
 chemical from electric force. As we really do not know what 
 the "psyche" is, and only use this expression to distinguish 
 an unknown quantity from another known or unknown quantity, 
 so " psychic force " expresses nothing more than that we 
 suppose by it we understand something which differs from 
 either of the before-mentioned forces. In this common sense 
 we may apply the term " psychic force " to all the three 
 hypotheses, since imposture is, like every known or unknown 
 action, equally a psychic faculty, as would also be that of the 
 intervention of other beings. This, however, is not what is 
 intended by those who use the term ; we say "psychic force " 
 for shortness, but mean by it the unknown psycliic force of the 
 medium, and intend to express by this, that the theories of 
 ph3'sical means and the intervention of other beings are 
 excluded, — which idea seems quite justified by a considerable 
 portion of the phenomena. 
 
 The various functions of men admit of a fundamental dis- 
 tinction, which is of so great significance, that it has even given 
 a name to a new variety of the pantheistic philosophy. The 
 organic functions may be divided into two parts, — the known and 
 the unknown ; but they are not divided from one another in 
 such a manner that they can never be reunited. We can, on 
 the contrary, easily prove that our consciousness rests always 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 115 
 
 on an unknown basis, just as the child only slowly transforms 
 unknown objects into known ; and vice versa, it often happens 
 in the case of faculties very slowly acquired (as, for instance, 
 fingering and performing brilliantly on the piano), that they 
 partly change to an unknown function. We know well enough 
 when and what we eat, while the wonderful analysis of the 
 component parts, the distribution of the juices and nourishment, 
 of so many various cells, are quite unknown operations to us. 
 Our entire consciousness is but a looking-glass, in which only 
 a small portion of the unknown is reflected. What must 
 particularly strike thoughtful minds is the circumstance, that 
 the real and the complete lie in the region of the unknown, and 
 the faulty and defective in that of the known. This circum- 
 stance is most apparent when we compare the results of the 
 instincts of animals (like the bee) with the known operation of 
 our intellect. We know further that men in an unconscious 
 state (that of sleep) often betray a power of perception far 
 above that of their ordinary condition. 
 
 If we likewise understand by " psychic force " the unknown 
 transcendental basis, without its being limited to a particular 
 person, these phenomena may without doubt be ascribed to it ; 
 but if they belong only to the medium's transcendental basis, we 
 are justified in the inquiry, "What are the boundaries imposed 
 on the capabilities of the 'psyche,' if by its power the 
 bandages are loosed from the living body, and the source of 
 impression is displaced ? " 
 
 If it is admitted that the unknown metaph3^sical portion of 
 man is capable of perceiving things which are not perceptible 
 to the organs of sense, is it not imaginable that the " psyche " 
 might perform things which our physical hand is incapable of, 
 such as unfastening knots, etc. ? Who can assert that the, to 
 us, unknown power of the psyche might not by means of its 
 transcendental faculties perform many of the things done 
 through the medium, which men ascribe to the intervention of 
 other beings ? We will occupy ourselves later on with the 
 negative definition of the limits of the "psychic force," and 
 answer the question whether and how far the loosening from 
 bandages lies within the power of the "psyche." It is enough 
 here to allow that man in an unconscious state is capable of 
 performing actions which are beyond his powers in his cojiscious 
 moments, as may be witnessed in some instances of sleep-walkers, 
 magnetisers, etc., which must be familiar to every reader. 
 Everything that we have learnt about direct visions, and much 
 
1 1 6 Birth and Death, 
 
 of physical phenomena in this department, may be explained 
 through this means and without bringing to bear the co- 
 operation of other beings. 
 
 The intervention of the world of spirits is not necessary for 
 the explanation of wondrous dreams and visions of healthy and 
 somnambulistic persons ; yet the functions of the senses and the 
 normal consciousness are always in such cases kept in the 
 background ; this, however, does not justify us in accepting the 
 direct operation of the meta-organism as an explanation in the 
 case of a man possessed of consciousness and of power over 
 his body. Transcendental visions result from slumbering 
 consciousness, and the materialisation of forms is only ac- 
 complished, at least according to my experience, when the 
 medium is in a state of unconsciousness ; I have noticed too, 
 as far as it was possible to do so, that the more plastic and 
 complete the formations, the deeper the sleep was ; Bastian, in- 
 deed, asserts that in earlier times he could see the figures on the 
 opening of the curtains ; if that is true, he could not have 
 co-operated with his meta-organism, but must have contributed 
 only the material part. The question if the organism co-operates 
 in any way in the formation of the phantom, or if the Indian 
 idea of the condensation of the material is the right one, is not 
 so easy to decide, for there are many facts which are opposed 
 to a one-sided explanation. There are a great many materiali- 
 sation seances ; very few, however, in which the direct bodily co- 
 operation of the medium is excluded and its absence guaranteed 
 in a reliable manner. But as such cases have been known, and 
 as one proof is as good as a hundred, we stand in presence of 
 a problem, which must be cleared up ; for we desire to explain 
 everything in a manner that leaves no room for question. 
 
 It is certain that Bastian was not sitting on the chair during 
 the appearance of the figures, and that he in some way physically 
 co-operated ; it is still more clearly proved that Frau Töpfer, 
 though leaving her clothes and bandages behind, was not on the 
 chair. It is nothing to the point that the figure itself opened 
 the curtain and rendered possible the compromising view of the 
 medium ; on the contrary, this is of great importance ; in the 
 same way the circumstance is not changed by the fact that 
 the medium was found a few minutes later sleeping again in 
 her clothes and bandages ; that she had bodily co-operated was 
 in the highest degree probable at several seances, from the size 
 of the hand and breadth of the form of the little Abilla. The 
 fact of the physical co-operation of Mrs. Corner is not so well 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 117 
 
 established. This respectable lady had had seances for years 
 with the greatest physicist in England (Crookes), of which the 
 press took no notice; when, however, years afterwards, she 
 was seized, there was scarcely a paper in Europe which did not 
 notice the fact ; there is, therefore, no necessity for me to say 
 anything further about it. Mrs. Corner was seized as the 
 figure, without, however, any paraphernalia being afterwards 
 found ; the same evening she held another sc'ance, at which two 
 figures were visible at the same time. By a sudden seizure, 
 however, the possibility is not excluded of the connection 
 being completed at the last moment, so that the identity of the 
 medium and the phantom proves nothing; in the case of Bastian 
 and Töpfer the bodily co-operation was in two instances proved 
 without doubt. On the other side, it is known to my readers 
 that in direct contradistinction to these facts with Bastian, twice, 
 in Vienna, double figures were seen, and that on two occasions 
 the ph^^sical co-operation was (at least according to our ideas) 
 impossible. Accounts of sittings are also innumerable at which 
 the phantoms melted away, and formed again. It is equally 
 certain that I, with three others, saw Frau Töpfer securely 
 bandaged, simultaneously with the figure for some time, and 
 felt the slender figure of the apparition, which could not by any 
 possibility be confounded with that of Frau Töpfer. And it is 
 likewise a fact that once little Abilla appeared to me not larger 
 than a big moderator-lamp, something like a very slender little 
 child of three years old. We know that Mrs. Corner was seen 
 at the same time as the figure, and, above all, that she was once 
 exposed to a current of electricity, and at another time had a 
 thread of silk passed through the holes in her ears and sealed 
 to the ground, so that all physical co-operation was impossible. 
 Jacolliot narrates that in the presence and sight of a fakir a 
 whole mass of human limbs was seen and taken hold of by him, 
 when in some cases he could feel no resistance, while in others 
 the forms were not only visible, but sensible to the touch. The 
 most decisive thing, however, is, that for the few cases in which 
 the figure has been seized, and has turned out to be the medium, 
 many more instances occur where the fi^re has melted away, 
 and thus proved itself a phantom. One cannot deny the one 
 and affirm the other ; all these observations, standing in con- 
 tradiction to each other, are only truths and facts not to be put 
 on one side. He who would ignore either the one or the other 
 would only dupe himself; for instances of both kinds are too 
 numerous for a person who considers the phenomena from 
 
1 1 8 Birth and Death. 
 
 a one-sided point of view, to find a correct explanation embrac- 
 ing both classes. 
 
 In the face of these facts it is not to be denied that the co- 
 operation of the medium is a varied and gradual one, of which 
 our knowledge gains nothing through the explanation of 
 " psychic force." Let us see what is proved by observation, 
 and what mediums say themselves. 
 
 Mediums assert that favourable conditions are only to be 
 obtained by a good arrangement of the circle, and with persons 
 who believe in the facts and have confidence in the medium ; 
 and observation confirms this. This is especially the case with 
 individuals of this kind with lessening powers. Observation 
 says further, that, according to the circle, the figures which 
 appear are not only able to overcome greater difficulties, but to 
 separate themselves farther from the medium, and approach 
 nearer to the spectators. If this is true, it becomes clear that 
 the setting free, whether of the meta-organism or only of some 
 material ingredients, which are essential to the formation of 
 the figures, and which Indians term " agasa," does not occur in 
 some cases, and that then the body of the medium co-operates. 
 How often it happens to ourselves that we are thinking of 
 something, and though alone in a room, we speak our thoughts 
 out loud, even accompanying them with gestures ! The medium 
 co-oper-ates in every instance, whether with his physical body, his 
 meta-organism, or the organic matter given out by his body. This 
 does not apply to three different kinds of mediums, but one and 
 the same medium may at different seances co-operate in different 
 manners. I have found in the cases of Fowler, Schraps, and 
 Töpfer that they must be securely bound, or they would act by 
 physical means. 
 
 But the results which follow the grasping of a figure give us 
 likewise a hint. There is a well-authenticated case in which a 
 child recognised its mother, or thought it did, and seized her, 
 and no consequences ensued either to the medium or the 
 figure ; there is another in which the " grasper " got a good 
 chastisement ; as a rule, however, it is most injurious to the 
 medium, who has oft^n to suffer for months on this account, 
 when it is a case of genuine materialisation and not of trans- 
 figuration ; it may, too, be possible that in the last case, from 
 the reasons given above, the junction may be quicker. This 
 last circumstance, namely, the causing of bad consequences, 
 seems in many cases to arise from the fact that in societies, 
 where rude grasping and attempts at exposure are the rule, the 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 1 1 9 
 
 medium is almost certain to co-operate physically, even if he 
 does not become the phantom. A young friend of mine wished 
 to have seances at his house, and Bastian held two there, where, 
 however, no materialisations took place; I found out afterwards 
 that some one was concealed in the room. From these doubtful 
 cases it appears that the co-operation of the medium can vary 
 very much, and that which is described as " force," which in 
 the different sittings is more or less employed, is identical with 
 neither the degree of severance from the human body, nor the 
 greater setting free of the organic material. 
 
 The periodicity of the appearances, as was set forth in the 
 account of that remarkable seance (p. 99), gives us another indi- 
 cation worthy of note. Nine figures appeared in the space of 
 not quite six minutes ; after three minutes' rest on the chair by 
 the medium the tenth figure appeared, who alone needed nearly 
 two minutes for development; for a minute the signal was given 
 that he was not sitting, and then for two minutes Bastian was 
 certainly not in the chair, but no figure appeared afterwards. 
 I have always found this periodical arrangement observed, that 
 is, the figures always appeared at first quickly, one after the 
 other, and such an arrangement was generally to be observed 
 when a good many figures came forward. The sitting concludes 
 almost alivays with a fruitless attempt; for one hears the rustling, 
 as made by an approaching figure, and often indeed sees a 
 white mass or strip behind the dark curtain. It must be 
 confessed that this result points much more to a diminution of 
 the power, than to an artful personation ; I do not myself think 
 it impossible that at the same seance the first figures are some- 
 times developed without the co-operation of the body, and that 
 later on, when the power is weaker, there is a greater sympathy 
 with, and proximity to, the body, till at last the medium comes 
 out either consciously or unconsciously. This last has been 
 known to occur. If to all these difficulties the reflection is 
 added that such different faces and forms are seen, it would 
 indeed be a mistake to infer that all phenomena occur through 
 " psychic force," though it is possible that some may. 
 
 I find the attempt of those, who try by the fact of the 
 " grasping " to do away with the explanation of the phenomena, 
 being due to the agency of the intelligent unseen world, to be 
 natural in the case of such as deny the existence of other 
 beings ä priori, but I cannot understand how those who, like 
 the writers in Psychic Studies (Leipzig), recognise, not only 
 the facts, but also the existence of other kinds of beings, can 
 
120 Birth and DeatJi. 
 
 place all phenomena of this kind to the account of the psychic 
 force of the medium, which must either produce by its own 
 magic power moving and tangible figures, or make the spec- 
 tators of these phenomena the victims of hallucination ! To 
 this theory the Psychic Studies pledges itself, and as this 
 nionthly journal has a wide circulation, a double end will be 
 reached if through combating it, we make the point in dispute 
 clear. 
 
 The phenomena which we described in the first part, namely, 
 the supernatural or abnormal operation and perception, are 
 certainly to be ascribed, in the first place, to the psychic force 
 of living beings ; not so in the case of the severance {Spa/tiing). 
 That the phantoms cannot be produced by the psychic force 
 of the medium is manifest and in some instances clearly proved, 
 as we shall show further on ; let us first see if this explanation 
 will suffice for those phenomena (incomplete severance) which 
 we discussed in the sixth chapter. 
 
 The Psychic Studies will not deny the fact that both Zöllner 
 and myself obtained writing in an unknown hand, under strin- 
 gent conditions. Let us take the writing in Greek, now lying 
 on my desk, as an example, which was written in full light, 
 on my oivn slate, and in my oivn room. 
 
 The first thing which must be excluded in this instance is 
 the idea that this writing was a hallucination of the spectators, 
 for there the writing still is. It is easy enough to believe in 
 hallucination in an isolated case, more difficult when several 
 similar instances occur, and simply impossible when the person 
 has the slate in his own hand. Hallucination it most cer-tainly 
 was not, the slate was really written upon. Now, however, the 
 question arises : by whom ? 
 
 Let us first accept the idea adopted by Psychic Studies, 
 namely, that it was writing done through Slade's " ps3^che," 
 or psychic force, and, therefore, not by any unknown being. 
 What follows ? 
 
 It follows, first, that Slade's soul or psyche must have a hand, 
 or something corresponding to it, by means of which it could 
 guide the pencil. Slade's psyche must not only possess human 
 comprehensicai, but be able to understand and write the Greek 
 idiom. I reject this hypothesis on the ground that Slade was 
 neither in deep sleep, nor his limbs strongly convulsed, but in 
 full possession of his consciousness. Just as a person standing 
 within a circle has only the concave side in front of him, and 
 one outside has the convex (because a curve cannot at the 
 
Explmtation of the Phenomena. 121 
 
 same time be concave and convex), so the normal perception 
 and mode of operation cannot act at the same time as the 
 abnormal and transcendental faculties. Let us, however, put 
 this difficulty on one side, and adopt the assumption of the 
 Psychic Studies, that the operating power was the psychic force, 
 Slade's metaorganism. 
 
 If that is the case it follows that, if the soul of a man does 
 not need the body in order to be able to write thoughts, which 
 do not exist in the brain, it must certainly be able to do so 
 after death. Let us, however, accept the assumption that a 
 departed person versed in the Greek language had written on 
 the slate ; it follows that even in his bodily life an essence must 
 have existed in him, which survived his death. In the first 
 case I arrive at the necessary supposition of a possible survival, 
 in the second at the supposition of a psychic force in man. 
 It seems as if this were an idle dispute, but it is not so. 
 
 Spiritualists are only too much inclined to throw everything, 
 even the communications of a Davis, into the same pot with the 
 appearance of figures ; they hold that any supernormal con- 
 sciousness, particularly when it takes a dramatic form in 
 dreams, are whispers from the spirit world; and it is, therefore, 
 not to be wondered at that the Psychic Studies should fight 
 against this ; the latter, however, fall into the other extreme, 
 and have expressed the inclination through their editor for the 
 future to ascribe everything to the "psychic force" of the 
 medium, — a view combated by Counsellor Aksakowin the April 
 number of 1884. . 
 
 This striving of men after uniformity of explanation is to 
 be understood. Kant proved that much may be a product of 
 our organisation; the elder Fichte attributed everything to 
 illusion, because the world may really be an emanation from 
 an almighty Power, incomprehensible to us ; Schopenhauer 
 substituted directly for God all the phenomena of the world ; 
 because the "thing of itself" displays a will, he declares it to 
 be " wiir' itself. The construction of the world is not really, 
 however, so simple, and our powers of knowledge are not 
 adapted to grasp the foundations ; besides, above all, the ex- 
 pression " psychic force " is really no explanation. If all the 
 materialisations so-called, might be attributed to hallucinations 
 produced through the psychic force of the medium, then with 
 equal justice a railway might be called a phantom of the brain 
 without any real foundation. Should the soul of the medium, 
 however, appear itself as a phantom, it must possess a magic 
 
122 Birth a7id Death. 
 
 cap (Taniliclm) to be able to represent each figure at will with 
 its difterent features and appearance ! Why may not the 
 "psychic force" of myriads of departed beings be capable of 
 personations, when that of the medium is so omnipotent ? Is 
 not the thing just reversed ? Is it not more difficult to imagine 
 such evolutions of the "psyche" in human bodies, than to 
 admit of a projection and materialisation of the free psyche 
 or soul ? Is not the human body besides a projection of the 
 soul in organic form ? 
 
 One ought not to act without discrimination. It is true that 
 people sometimes see figures which do not exist, but are an 
 emanation of the brain, arising from some influence. On the 
 other side, it is not less true and just that living men cannot 
 succeed in materialising forms with organic cells, which are 
 visible, tangible, and capable of action. If the " psyche " can 
 personate a human organism with living cells, why should it 
 not be capable of doing this in other ways ? Just because this 
 power slumbers in living men, it can come forth in extra- 
 ordinary conditions of the organism, and survives the organic 
 body. Therefore, the proposition may be reversed, and we can 
 say. Because the soul comes forth on the death of the body, 
 it must, therefore, already exist in living beings. There are, 
 indeed, completely organised persons who are only conscious 
 through the senses, cind there are without doubt perfectly 
 developed cosmic beings, who have nothing to do with our 
 state of existence ; the ancients thought that the soul at times 
 emancipated itself from the body and its form of consciousness, 
 and that a departed spirit could at times make itselj material in 
 someway! (Plato.) In other words, the transcendental basis 
 of men can — under unusual circumstances — manifest itself 
 either within or outside of the cell-organism. 
 
 Psychic Studies believes in a spirit world, but denies the 
 most forcible evidence of its existence and all its results ; it does 
 not admit of its intervention, but surely this is not because it 
 will not permit St. Peter to pass through the gates of heaven ? 
 
 With the proposition, " We recognise the whole faculties of 
 the soul as a product of the All-powerful," one overleaps all 
 difficulties, because in this assertion there is nothing to lay 
 hold of. 
 
 " Psychic force " is unavailable as a ground of explanation 
 for the ivhole department of mysterious phenomena, because, as 
 we said before, first the idea is much too general, for every- 
 thing may be included in it, and everything may be again 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 1 2 3 
 
 analysed, and yet it explains nothing. If by " psychic force " 
 the meta-organism of the medium is understood, the explana- 
 tion will not suffice, because, in the second place, the soul of 
 the medium is only capable of independent and reasoning 
 action outside the body, when the latter is in a state of profound 
 sleep ; and there can be no doubt that the " psyche," wholly 
 unfettered by the body, could act much more easily. In the 
 third place, and lastly, there are phenomena which cannot be 
 ascribed even to the " psyche " of the sleeping and unconscious 
 medium, as Counsellor Aksakow justly remarked, " When a 
 materialised figure appears, who removes objects found in the 
 room from their places ; who writes upon paper, which writing 
 remains after he has vanished ; who brings objects which were 
 not in the room previously, and leaves them behind him, or 
 takes things away with him ; if these figures are photographed, 
 if they leave impressions of their hands and feet ; if they allow 
 locks of their hair to be cut off; and if this hair remains, etc., 
 such cannot possibly be called a case of hallucination. If these 
 were actions performed by the psychic force of the medium, 
 either the hair must have been created out of nothing objective 
 or real, or those, who years after held the hair in their hands 
 (which in this case could have had no existence), must have 
 been under a hallucination with regard to the hair ! A fine 
 alternative ! " 
 
 The psychic theory set forth by Serjeant Cox, at the com- 
 mencement of the appearance of the first physical phenomena, 
 is a scientific cloak for the timid adherents of spiritualism, but 
 nothing more ; it is no real explanation. The advocates of the 
 theory who make use of "psychic force" as a ground of 
 explanation for the whole round of these phenomena, would 
 do well to take' example by the twelve-year-old Margaret and 
 the nine-year-old Katie Fox. When these two children found 
 that not only their spoken wishes were fulfilled, but even those 
 expressed by the movements of theii^ hands, they called out, 
 " It does not only hear us, but sees us as well ! " These 
 children had not certainly the philosophical instruction neces- 
 sary to know that seeing and hearing might be all one to other 
 kinds of beings. Vibrations are the cause of both sensations ; 
 but they knew clearly enough that something outside themselves 
 was acting in an intelligent manner, when they spoke out their 
 wishes. When later on the alphabet was made use of, 
 rappings were considered as manifestations from the departed ; 
 people did not believe in it all at once, but were obliged to 
 
124 Birth and Death, 
 
 confess that in some cases of striking proof, it was the only 
 possible and, at all events, by far the simplest explanation. On 
 this point complete accord exists among all mediums, fakirs, 
 etc., of every people and every age. People, however, will not 
 accept this simple explanation, because they are ashamed of 
 having always rejected it, and prefer " placing the Pyramids 
 on their heads." This reminds me of the answer to the 
 question, " How are cannon made ? " Common sense says, 
 " We take a metal cylinder and bore a hole." This answer 
 was repudiated by some one, who with learned pathos said 
 instead, " We take a hole, and surround it with fluid metal ! " 
 
 That a waking man could cause ten sleeping ones to see 
 the same dream-picture might be within the bounds of 
 possibility, but that a sleeping man should cause ten persons 
 wide awake to imagine they saw a certain personality, no one 
 will be able to believe. It might be just possible that one 
 person , might take the figures for those phantastical ones we 
 see in dreams ; to imagine, however, ten people sitting together, 
 not asleep, and all influenced through the "psychic force" of 
 the medium to have the same dream, would indeed be a thought 
 which would empower any one simply to go beyond the order 
 of the day against the opinion of the originator. 
 
 We therefore affirm : — 
 
 1. That there is an unknown energy; 
 
 2. That this far surpasses that of the known ; 
 
 3. That this unknown energy in many things must be 
 identical with what is attributed to supernatural beings. 
 
 4. That everything should not be placed to the account of 
 the unknown faculties in man, and for this reason, that the 
 pre-existence of the soul in man is already conceded, and, 
 therefore, the principal motive for a constrained explanation 
 is done away with. 
 
 One thing, however, is clearly set forth in both methods of 
 explanation, and that is, the double nature of man, whether the 
 origin of the phenomena be ascribed, wholly or in part, to the 
 "psychic force," or to the intervention of other beings. 
 
 In any case, the fact may be admitted that the phenomena 
 comprised in the first part, under the title "The Manifestation 
 of the Transcendental Basis," can almost without exception be 
 ascribed to the unknown, transcendental part of man ; but 
 only a small portion of those treated of in the second part. 
 Even among those in the first category of extraordinary facts, 
 there are some where it remains doubtful if they can be better 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 125 
 
 accounted for by the " psychic force " of the medium, or by 
 some other agency, as, for example, the following fact about 
 Swedenborg as narrated by Kant. 
 
 " Madame Harteville, the widow of the Dutch ambassador 
 in Stockholm, some time after the death of her husband, had 
 a bill sent in by a goldsmith, named Croon, for a silver service' 
 which he had made for her husband. The widow was perfectly 
 convinced that her husband was far too exact and orderly not 
 to have paid this debt, but she had no receipt to show. In 
 this dilemma, and because the price was considerable, she 
 asked Herr von Swedenborg to come to her. After some 
 apologies she put it to him, if, as all men said, he had the 
 extraordinary power of conversing with the spirits of the 
 departed, he would have the extreme kindness to find out 
 from her husband the truth about the demand for the silver 
 service. Swedenborg had not much difficulty in obliging her 
 in this matter. Three days later the lady was entertaining 
 some friends at coffee, when Herr von Swedenborg entered, 
 and in his cold-blooded manner told her that he had spoken 
 with her husband ; the debt had been paid seven months 
 before his death, and the receipt was in a press standing in 
 the room overhead. The lady replied that this press had been 
 completely turned out, and that the receipt was not among the 
 papers found in it. Swedenborg said that her husband had 
 described to him how, by pulling out a drawer on the left side, 
 a shelf would be seen, which must be pushed away, and then 
 they would find a concealed drawer, in which his secret cor- 
 respondence was kept; there the receipt would be discovered. 
 On hearing this news, the lady went with all the company to 
 the room overhead, etc." Everything was found as Swedenborg 
 had described. 
 
 Had Swedenborg now only seen this in a vision, and, as so 
 often happens in dreams, personified it ? Or had he really 
 been informed of it ? This is an open question ; but the latter 
 seems to me in this instance almost the simplest explanation, 
 if one recognises the fact of individual existence after death. 
 This will be discussed in the next chapter. 
 
 "Psyche" and "Force" are both obscure definitions, there- 
 fore, the expression " psychic force " has no more signification 
 than X, y ; and as x, y are employed as explanatory terms, and 
 it is necessary to ascribe to them a capacity independent of 
 the body, so the latter cannot be limited to living beings. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE EXPLANATION OF THE PHENOMENA BY THE INTERVENTION 
 OF OTHER BEINGS. 
 
 If birth and death are only a change of the form of perception, 
 the question can no longer be deferred, if there exist other 
 kinds of intelligent beings besides those in human form. It 
 can only be a matter of doubt as to their direct or indirect 
 visibility or perceptibility, which has to be decided by ex- 
 perience. Now, the belief, not only in the existence of other 
 beings, but even in the possibility of communicating with them, 
 is taken from Indian and Egyptian sources older than the law 
 given by Moses. And even if we renounce those older sources, 
 it is very satisfactory to learn that a Moses set the punishment 
 of death upon dealers in necromancy, which he would scarcely 
 have done without some sufficient reason. Equally explicit are 
 the Roman laws on this point. If, indeed, some portion of the 
 causes of this belief may be charged to hallucination, it would 
 be most illogical to account for everything by this means. 
 
 Further, it cannot be denied that all ecstatics, possessed 
 persons, seers, prophets, magicians, somnambulists, fakirs, and 
 mediums are of opinion that there exist other beings and modes 
 of existence ; nay, even more, they assert, in concord with all 
 religions and legislations of ancient times, that there are some 
 who have left the world, who communicate with those still on 
 earth and assist them. This is not at all surprising, because 
 there is no doubt that the explanation of mysterious phe- 
 nomena is in many instances much easier, and in some cases 
 is only possible through the supposition of a spirit world, which 
 is invisible to us in our normal condition. Although in later 
 times, by means of printing, the existence of beings similar to 
 men has been set forth and proved by tests and reports of all 
 kinds, the existence of such beings has hitherto been declared 
 by many to be impossible, or at least, highly improbable ; it 
 is, therefore, necessary to seek the ground of this antagonism. 
 
Explanation of the Pheno7nena. 127 
 
 and to arrive first at a clear understanding whether the 
 existence of other beings, who, as a rule, are imperceptible to us, 
 \s possible ; independent of the' fac.t,:that the question has been 
 already decided against suoh possibility ; the matter must be 
 finally determined, for it is an inquiry 6f:^-he utmost importance. 
 
 We cannot see what is very minut%.,and subtle, as, for 
 instance, most of the gases and all mollies ; the scale of 
 vibration, which serves us for sound and Colour, is so small 
 a portion of possible vibrations, that we are Compelled to ac- 
 knowledge our powers of perception to be verj^limited. They 
 appear still more limited when our conception of space is 
 criticised, since we come to the' knowledge that not only beings, 
 but illimitable space, with countless worlds may surround us, of 
 which we have no idea, for only those things exist in our 
 conception of space, by which we are influenced. What does 
 a mite know of us and the world, and what are we more than 
 mites in comparison with the world visible to us ? 
 
 The greatest thinkers and mathematicians have pronounced 
 in favour of the existence of another kind of space than that 
 existing in our brain, notwithstanding which our men of science 
 live in the opinion that the three dimensional space is to be 
 found in nature, while it really exists in our brain, which brain 
 is so organised, that it projects ideas which only, a three 
 dimensional space is suited to. Man himself is a three dimen- 
 sional form only for his fellow-beings ; he would be a form of 
 the fourth dimension for a being who had a four dimensional 
 form of perception ; just as his reflection in a mirror, or his 
 shadow, is only a form of the second dimension. It is, therefore, 
 to many mathematicians a false view that our physical forms 
 must be, according to Zöllner, projections of actual forms of the 
 fourth dimension of space ; since nothing is projected from us, 
 but we ourselves are projected. We are only acted upon ; we 
 seek the reason for this influence by means of our under- 
 standing, and in this manner we project the idea as best we 
 can. Anything that does not act upon us we do not recog- 
 nise, and if we see anything that can act upon us, we place 
 it in the third dimension of space, which, however, is not 
 limited to the comprehension of our powers of perception. 
 " The world is our conception " must be recognised as a true 
 saying ; a space (and, therefore, a world) may exist close to us 
 of which we know absolutely nothing. This space need not 
 necessarily be one of four dimensions, because that would also 
 only be a form of perception. The mathematician comprehends 
 
128 Birth and Death. 
 
 the " planinietric " in the second dimension, and the " stereo- 
 metric " in the third dimension ; he can, therefore, speculate 
 without more ado as to the fourth and even fifth dimensions of 
 space ; there only, however, exists one absolute space, and various 
 possible conceptions of space for the philosopher. A new silver 
 spoon might be used as a mirror in some instances, and, if the 
 adaptability of the eye's construction is considered, the pos- 
 sibility of different kinds of space is recognised, which would 
 depend entirely on our form of perception ; therefore, there may 
 be invisible worlds and beings in our immediate proximity, of 
 which we know nothing, because we do not feel their influence. 
 This view is held by Kant. 
 
 There is nothing to be alleged against the possibility of the 
 existence of other beings ä priori, though nothing comes of it on 
 account of our rude senses and limited perception of space ; on 
 the other side, all kinds of objections may be raised against the 
 possibility of intercourse with them, which, however, are without 
 importance. 
 
 It may be doubted whether other beings, even if their 
 existence is proved, could operate upon us in any way, and, 
 likewise, in certain cases, whether they would not act differently. 
 These objections are founded upon a double error : firstly, that 
 of under-estimating the difficulties which are offered by the 
 difference of physical conditions ; and, secondly, on the tran- 
 scendental nature of the unseen world. I have occupied myself 
 with the answers to these objections in the third volume of the 
 " Prejudices," as well as in the pamphlet on Slade ; they have 
 really no importance, because in the case of such influence by 
 the spirit world, it is only a question of mundane events, which 
 would offer great difficulties to these other beings, on account 
 of our limited powers of perception. Even if we had no 
 satisfactory explanation to give of the poorness of the mani- 
 festations, we ought not to forget, that to understand these 
 facts, it need not follow that they must fit in with one another. 
 It is not to be thought that Americans in their time had not the 
 same objections to fight against, and yet they must have been 
 overcome, as is shown by the great progress made in the 
 spiritualistic movement, the history of the development of which 
 is the best answer to be made to these objections. 
 
 It is now more than thirty years since the turning and rap- 
 ping tables were imported to Europe from America, or rather 
 since they were revived, as they were known to the Romans 
 and Indians. After a time it was said that these rappings were 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 129 
 
 not voluntary, but betokened some intelligence ; then people 
 proceeded to fasten a pencil to the foot of a little instrument 
 l^pIaiicJicftc), and at last took the pencil in their hand. A 
 quantity of silly and trifling matter was written, for the most 
 part unconnected nonsense ; but now and then surprising and 
 intelligent answers were given, which betrayed an unusual 
 power of perception. This entertainment went out of fashion 
 again; but they did not let the thing drop in practical America, 
 and manifestations of a physical nature took place with ever- 
 increasing proofs of their genuineness. Let us hear what is 
 said on this subject by the Russian Counsellor von Aksakow, 
 who has laboured for the advancement of spiritualism with the 
 noblest views and with great zeal (see Psychic Studies, 1878, 
 number i, p. 5). He says : — 
 
 "In the year 1870 there appeared for the first time in 
 Moravia, in America, human figures in the presence of one 
 medium only, named Mrs. Andrews; in 1872 the same occur- 
 rences took place in England with only one medium. Miss 
 Florence Cook; in 1873 a completely-formed human figure 
 appeared, and this figure was photographed by magnesium light 
 in London, in June of the same year. W. Crookes, the cele- 
 brated chemist, did not at that time believe in these phenomena; 
 in 1874 he was forced to alter his opinion, and to recognise the 
 objective existence of spiritual beings as a fact, which he after- 
 wards confirmed by means of photography, electricity, and other 
 experiments. Mediums with a specialty for these kinds of 
 manifestations increased in number, inquirers on their side 
 increased the tests and. precautions ^.gainst imposture, in order 
 to make certain of the genuineness of the phenomena ; for an 
 inconceivable obstacle and a source of continual incredulity 
 had to be fought against, in the darkness and in the isolation of 
 the mediums, 
 
 " The phenomena, however, still took place, in spite of all 
 kinds of binding with cords, sealing, clothing and unclothing 
 of the medium, whom they even enclosed in a sack, and at last 
 confined in a cage. Then they thought they must be the sport 
 of hallucination, but photography proved the objective nature 
 of the phantoms. Still they were not satisfied, they wanted, 
 some tangible proof of the momentary materialisation of a 
 moving figure, they wanted actually to take hold of this 
 figure, and lo ! after four years these forms appeared under 
 the most stringent conditions ; but the manner of their pro- 
 duction remained unseen. At last a great step in advance 
 
 9 
 
130 Birth and Death. 
 
 was made ; they demanded to see the medium and the figure 
 together, — they were seen together ; then they asked that the 
 medium should not be isolated, so that he should not be a 
 moment out of sight, and the medium remained visible the 
 whole time, placing himself among them all in front of the 
 curtain, in a sufficient light for the phantom to be seen, — and 
 the phenomenon came into being in the dark and empty space 
 reserved for it. Still the process itself remained unseen, and 
 who knows (said they) what contrivance or what machine may 
 be concealed in this dark recess ? O incredulity ! In the 
 meantime, too, what a chance for charlatanism, what a splendid 
 opportunity to profit by human credulity ! How many so-called 
 exposures, scandals, prosecutions ! Science as well as the 
 police lent a hand — in London alone three mediums were put 
 in prison. But, thanks to our enemies, a great impetus is given, 
 And lo and behold ! in 1877 the longed-for and hoped-for 
 phenomenon, the great end and aim of unceasing and untiring 
 efforts, is accomplished in the presence of more than one 
 medium ! The undoubted fact of the materialisation and de- 
 materialisation of a human form was completed before the eyes 
 of the medium himself, as well as of those of all present, in the 
 light, and in the same room, and gave necessary and sufficient 
 proof to convince all the spectators that they could not possibly 
 be the dupes of hallucination ! What a triumph, what a vindi- 
 cation for those who have stood up for the facts ! What a 
 humiliation for the proud scientists ! How I rejoice that in the 
 last number of my journal I am able at last to establish these 
 facts, and I could, if necessary, bring forward many witnesses to 
 prove them." 
 
 This short extract from the history of development is suffi- 
 cient to teach us that the phenomena take place with ever- 
 increasing clearness, and in greater variety ; from which it 
 follows that we are never justified in concluding from the 
 incomplete manifestations of a world which is unknown to us, 
 and which are only possible under abnormal physical conditions, 
 that, therefore, they must be of a poor character; what, for 
 example, are ive capable of when we abandon earth and air 
 and plunge into the water ? Still less should we be justified in 
 imagining that the mere change of death would turn a man into 
 a noble, intelligent, and. learned being. If I were to bring a 
 Patagonian to London, he would not thereby be made a civilised 
 Englishman ; he would have first to be educated and trained. 
 Death is only a change of form of consciousness; nothing more. 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 131 
 
 The belief in the existence of other kinds of beings is, there- 
 fore, ä priori no difficulty whatever ; on the contrary, when we 
 look back on the development and the functions of our organism 
 in all ages, it is a necessity, even without the abnormal aid of 
 certain individuals, since biology leads to the conclusion in its 
 turn, that we have within us an indw^elling essence, which 
 undei: certain circumstances comes forth in strange forms. 
 
 As to the poorness of the manifestations, it is self-evident 
 that man awaking out of the dream of life, cannot all at once 
 become higher and more spiritual than he already is by a 
 change in his form of being. 
 
 When a blind person is cured of his blindness, his experience 
 becomes widened through the increase of his senses, otherwise 
 he is the same as he was before, intelligent or stupid, good or 
 bad, amiable or ill-tempered. We see besides what an interest 
 everyone has in his acquirements ; these he takes with him, 
 his worldly goods he leaves behind ! 
 
 The existence of other beings, whose manifestations are 
 sometimes not only trivial, but even absurd, is itself a necessity, 
 if death is nothing more than a change of the form of percep- 
 tion ; since the metamorphosis of our perceptions and conscious- 
 ness must evidently take some time ; this space of time will be 
 the shorter if death comes on slowly and naturally, and longer 
 if it is caused suddenly or by violence. It is likewise quite 
 logical to believe that those who expect transcendental con- 
 sciousness will be less surprised at it than those who see in 
 death only annihilation. The first will find themselves much 
 sooner in their new position than the last. These conclusions 
 arrived at ä priori through my metaphysics will be completely 
 confirmed by experience. 
 
 History, that great teacher, tells us that immediately after 
 death, the spirits of the departed were generally conveyed by 
 those belonging to them to distant places (I could furnish 
 examples of this myself among the Indian, Egyptian, and 
 Italian legends). This seems very probable. The change of 
 the form of being seems at the first moment not to be complete, 
 so that material action is still possible, — a motive for which is 
 very natural in affection for those left behind or constraint in 
 one's new condition. 
 
 History tells us further that places where murder and suicide 
 have been committed are always looked upon as haunted ; 
 this- is likewise probable, because the ripening development has 
 been suddenly broken, and so a manifestation perceptible to us 
 
132 Birth and Death. 
 
 becomes the easier. The ripe horse chestnut falls to the 
 ground, smooth and beautiful from the rough husk : the storm 
 dashes the unripe one ivith the husk to the ground, and some 
 time elapses before the latter becomes dry and bursts asunder. 
 Ä^on datnr saltus in natura ! Those who die slowly and 
 naturally may perhaps only possess for a short period the 
 power of communicating and making themselves known to 
 us. 
 
 We learn likewise from 'history that places where dreadful 
 events have taken place and crimes have been committed, are 
 equally looked upon as haunted ; this again seems nothing impro- 
 bable ; for madness is often brought about by some catastrophe, 
 and the awakening of a criminal from the dream of life is a 
 catastrophe. (More details on this subject are to be found in 
 the " Day-book of a Philosopher," under the title Return of the 
 Deadi) We cannot be surprised at this agreement between 
 theory and experience, for we must not forget that there have 
 always been periods of transition. Mediums and fakirs form 
 a sort of connecting link between human and transcendental 
 beings, only that they stand much the nearer to human beings. 
 May not there likewise exist beings who occupy the same 
 undefined position, but in nearer proximity to transcendental 
 beings? May not this gap be filled up? It should not be 
 overlooked that this is not a question of a different kind of beings 
 (although the possibility of these in the infinity of the universe 
 must be ä />r/or/' admitted), but of a difference of representalion, 
 and consequently of form of consciousness and manner of 
 existence. 
 
 In all times facts have been narrated of such transformations. 
 While it w^ould be absurd to believe all such stories, because 
 some of them are founded on fact, it would be equally foolish 
 to reject them all, because many of them have falsehood or 
 imagination as their basis. The dual nature of man proves 
 that the great English poet spoke only the truth when he said, 
 there exist many things in heaven and earth (transcendental 
 and normal modes of existence) unknown to philosophers. 
 Between are those mystic phenomena, which are not within 
 the normal range of events, and which ^re consequently beyond 
 the reach of scientists. 
 
 It is, therefore, proved that our title, " Birth and Death are 
 a Change of the Form of Perception," makes the existence of 
 other beings a necessity ; and, on the other hand, that experience 
 offers facts, which are only to be explained when we consider 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 133 
 
 life as a passing condition. All this is accounted for by the 
 space of time occupied in the metamorphosis. When an officer 
 was shot to the heart in India, and appeared the same hour 
 to his family in London, this was possible, because his first 
 thought in his transcendental consciousness was of those he 
 left behind, and his meta-organism still possessed a sufficient 
 amount of materiality. When the valet of Count P., some time 
 after committing suicide, was able to appear, it was because he 
 had violently broken the natural course of the metamorphosis. 
 If a wretch wanders about the scene of his crime, like a maniac, 
 it is because he has not yet found, or shuns, his transcendental 
 consciousness. If a circle is possessed of the earnest will to 
 communicate with beings of the other world, to do this becomes 
 possible when the physical and other conditions are fulfilled. 
 Every phenomenon spoken of hitherto, from that of supersensual 
 perception to the appearance of materialised forms, from the 
 accounts of the ancients down to the exact tests of English and 
 German physicists, is, therefore, no more than a necessary result 
 of a fact which cannot be evaded, viz., that our so-called earthly 
 life is only a passing episode, and that our " ego " has a trans- 
 cendental ego as its basis. Since, however, the change of form 
 of being requires time, and is not always complete, the rest 
 follows of itself. 
 
 Only one of the series of mysterious legends and phenomena 
 seems opposed to experience, and th'at is, the belief in the 
 " Vampire ; " but as this belief seems calculated to point to 
 the manner in which such questions' should be treated objec- 
 tively, we will dedicate a few words to its consideration. 
 
 Among all the popular legends and tales of deeds which are 
 ascribed to the action of the departed, none is so extraordinary 
 as the belief in the vampire. It is well known that fantastic 
 dreams are caused by an unhealthy condition, and the assertion 
 of one, or even of more persons, that in the night this or that 
 dead person sucked their blood cannot be taken as a proof of 
 the reality of the vision, even if the dreamer is apparently 
 sinking from loss of blood, because this dramatic representation 
 of an inward condition is a common phenomenon. Nothing 
 is proved even by the cessation of this' vision after the dead 
 body is impaled or burnt, because what can be done by imagina- 
 tion is shown in many instances of a like kind. It is quite 
 different in dealing with facts, the accompanying circumstances of 
 which arise from many well-authenticated accounts, particularly 
 in the last century, and even in the present time. The striking 
 
134 Bi7'th and Death. 
 
 thing about this is the alleged peculiar condition of the 
 corpses of those persons, who are accused by the dreamers of 
 being vampires. The non-decomposition, the flexibility of the 
 corpses, the growth of the hair and the nails, and traces of blood 
 both inside and upon the body, etc., are circumstances of such 
 weight, that we cannot wonder so much has been written on the 
 subject- 
 It is a matter for historical inquirers and specialists in such 
 questions, to examine into the agreement and connection of 
 these three circumstances, namely, the assertion of the dreamer, 
 his unhealthy condition, and the unnatural state in which the 
 corpse is found. The philosopher has only to draw conclusions, 
 in case the facts do not tend to another solution than that of 
 the action of the dead person, about which it is not so easy to 
 give an opinion. This legend or belief is not so widespread 
 as the other facts of which we have treated ; still, we find it 
 mentioned by the ancient Greeks (Homer), and among the 
 Romans, and it is found in Scotland, England, Germany, and 
 the Balkans ; the only proof which could be at all decisive 
 would be to keep a watch over the corpse, to do which, however, 
 would take some years. Still, we must bring forward the case, 
 this is unavoidable ; things must be recognised and explained. 
 
 As to the mechanism of the thing, the withdrawal of fluids 
 or juices from the body is not without a precedent, nor can it 
 be declared quite impossible, since many wonderful cures of 
 abscesses and tumours have been effected through the apparent 
 distant operation (^'^ Femwirkujig^^y of a magnetiser. The 
 difficulty lies in the motive, which is so much the greater as 
 nothing seems to indicate any enmity between the two indivi- 
 duals in question ; indeed, in some cases it seems to have been 
 quite the reverse» 
 
 The occurrence can only be imaginable, if the fact can be 
 conceived that in his lifetime, through necessity or other causes, 
 the person who is afterwards the vampire had been driven to 
 devour the most horrible and revolting kind of nourishment, 
 to procure which he shrank from no means, however dreadful. 
 Now, one would think that in another form of existence he could 
 have no motive for sustaining the body ; but just in the 
 circumstance of the change of form of existence lies the 
 possibility of an explanation ; in this change the result is that 
 everyone does not accomplish the transition from the normal to 
 the transcendental condition in the same way and in the smne 
 time; therefore, the illusion of nourishing the vanished life might 
 
Explanation of the Phenomena. 135 
 
 result in an endeavour to protect the corpse from destruction 
 till the transcendental consciousness awakened, or the separa- 
 tion was completed. We must remember the curious, loath- 
 some, and often terrible monomania of lunatics, on one side, 
 and, on the other, the circumstance that the cessation of one 
 kind of consciousness and the commencement of another must 
 necessarily cause a condition which, as we shall prove more 
 clearly later on, resulting from the disturbance of both forms 
 of consciousness, is analogous to our forms of madness. 
 A being who does not at once grasp his transcendental con- 
 sciousness, after the conditions for the normal one are lost, 
 finds himself during his transition period in a state of dis- 
 turbance of spirit, which may endure either for weeks or 
 minutes. Any objections which may be raised against this 
 theory of a condition in which such things could be possible 
 are without weight, because even in our orderly well-conducted 
 state of society most horrible murders are committed ; and 
 principally because our limited understanding proves nothing 
 against facts, the truth of which, however, I do not maintain, 
 because I have no experience on the subject myself, and have 
 not devoted sufficient attention to that of others to allow me to 
 form an opinion. I only admit of impossibility ä priori in the 
 domain of mathematics and logic. I merely wish to show by 
 this digression that every problem should be examined in an 
 objective manner, and not dismissed from consideration because 
 it belongs to different times or places ; because even in this 
 case some foundation must exist for the opinions held concern- 
 ing it. 
 
 This chapter does not pretend to prove either the theory 
 of the existence of other beings, or what they do or are capable 
 of doing ; this must be reserved till the conclusion. Here only 
 the question is dealt with, whether the third hypothesis, namely, 
 the intervention of other beings, can or must be received as 
 an explanation of the facts described previously. 
 
 If we mentally recapitulate the three chapters of this part, 
 we arrive at the following conclusions : — 
 
 All the three kinds of explanation have their justification in 
 some instances ; imposture, the psychic force of the medium, 
 and the intervention of other beings. It is not to be denied 
 that these last are often wrongly brought forward ; on the other 
 side, however, it is perfectly incomprehensible how people can 
 pretend to account for all the wonderful and various mystical 
 ^jhenomena, through the theory of imposture or the psychic 
 
136 Birth and Death. 
 
 force of the medium. Imposture and imagination have always 
 played their part in the world, and it must certainly be conceded 
 that the transcendental basis of human existence may be 
 drawn upon in most cases, especially to begin with ; yet 
 there will still remain much which can only be placed to the 
 account of other beings. There is no justification whatever 
 for the opposition to this hypothesis, as we have proved. At 
 any rate, it is certain that if experience offers us no sure stand- 
 point, we .cannot doubt the possibility and likelihood of the 
 existence of other being?, when we consider the defective nature 
 of our perceptions and the greatness of the universe ; further, 
 that the kind of manifestations, in reference to ph3^sical circum- 
 stances, offer still less obstacles to a reasonable assumption 
 of their existence ; and lastly that there are facts or events 
 which cannot be explained in any other manner than by the 
 intervention of transcendental beings, and we must bow before 
 the logic of facts, even if they are opposed to our reason, 
 which however is not the case in this instance. I am con- 
 vinced that every unbiassed reader of this book wall make the 
 confession when he has finished it, that we can only understand 
 the reason of our existence, if we acknowledge a transcendental 
 basis of the world and of individual beings. The remaining 
 portion of this work is dedicated to the task of proving this. 
 
 If the attention of thinking people is directed to these facts, 
 and the anathemas of the respected professors are ignored, it 
 cannot be doubted that a fund of facts will be brought to 
 light. One circumstan'ce is particularly to be noticed, which 
 promises a speedy victory of truth over prejudice, and this lies 
 in the continued increase of the evidence for the manifestations. 
 America had been discovered a long time before a regular 
 intercourse by means of sailing vessels was possible ; then 
 came steam-boats, and lastly the cable. While I am writing 
 this, information comes to me from America, which exceeds 
 everything in way of proof which has been produced here, — 
 the intelligent unseen world seems more and more to widen 
 and increase their knowledge and powers so as to become 
 perceptible to us in our physical circumstances ; and in order 
 to be brought into communication with it, we have only to 
 fulfil the conditions which make such communication possible. 
 
 If any of my readers should put the question why we do 
 not let ourselves be instructed by our invisible brothers, I 
 would answer that it often happens with respect to the con- 
 ditions at a seance (such as the choice of persons, their arrange- 
 
Explanation of the Pheno7nena. 137 
 
 ment, the light, etc.), and from different causes referring to the 
 phenomena themselves, these cannot take place. In the first 
 place, we do not understand the greater part of the possible 
 communications. Are we not somewhat in the position of a 
 person trying to explain to the blind and to make clear to his 
 understanding what light and colour are ? His defective organi- 
 sation puts insuperable difficulties in our way ; and in the same 
 manner we are unable to make deaf people comprehend music. 
 On the other side, the cross-questioning to many questions 
 receives no answers. Can the reader tell me how his digestive 
 organs and his eyes are made ? how he is nourished ? or how 
 he acts either physically or intellectually ? We learn uncon- 
 sciously to see, to walk, to speak, and have to develope all our 
 faculties by means of using them, without knowing how it all 
 takes place. Certainly philosophers and physiologists know 
 somewhat more than the common herd, but how many are there 
 of these ? It is not probable that our dealings are with the 
 most inteUigent beings in the universe, or else it would be 
 scarcely possible that the communications which reach us from 
 these regions should be so divergent from one another. Just 
 in this very discrepancy in the ideas received from that world 
 lies the clearest and strongest proof that death is only a change 
 of the form of existence, while the subject — ethical and intel- 
 lectual — remains the same! It satisfies us for the present as 
 to the certainty of the existence of the " subject " in ourselves. 
 
PART THE FOURTH. 
 THE SOLU! ION OF THE PROBLEM. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 WHAT IS, AND HOW DOES ONE BECOME A FAKIR ? 
 
 (The Solution of the Physical Side of the Problem.) 
 
 This last part is dedicated to the solution of the problem of 
 man's esoteric nature. This problem has two sides, as almost 
 everything in nature has : the one physical or normal ; the 
 other transcendental. To investigate and master the first 
 demands a sufficient quantity of material for experience, as 
 well as much time and industry ; a happy or deep thought 
 often suffices to unveil the mysteries of the second ; it is even 
 not uncommon for thinkers to originate and give utterance to 
 some proposition, the justice of which is recognised later on by 
 physical science, and this is specially the case in the depart- 
 ment more particularly devoted to philosophy; and it should 
 not be overlooked that often one fact alone, even if it cannot 
 be explained physically, is enough to uphold or form the 
 groundwork of a scientific theory or system. This chapter 
 will treat of the physical or normal side of the problem, the 
 explanation of Vv'hich is incomplete, principally because few 
 have gone into it, and those few with the sole intention of 
 establishing the genuineness of the phenomena, the explanation 
 of which, however, will yield a revelation of very problematical 
 value. 
 
 If man is, in fact, only a representation of other beings in an 
 organic form, whose faculties of perception and action mani- 
 fest themselves here and there, these specialities must be 
 capable of development, just like all other faculties belonging 
 
What is, and Jiozv does one Become a Fakir? 139 
 
 to human nature. The above assertion is fully confirmed 
 by experience, and it is the more important to prove this, as, 
 next to unsuccessful seances and exposures, accounts of the 
 development of such natures assist the. most in lifting the veil 
 which separates us from this department and the transcendental 
 form of perception. They show, likewise, the way in which 
 everyone may easily succeed by perseverance with a small 
 circle of friends^ in obtaining proofs of the existence of trans- 
 cendental manifestations, which serve to bring conviction in 
 spite of their insignificance ; and as it is not a question with 
 me either of literary fame or remuneration, my only desire being 
 to convince my readers of the truth and justice of my meta- 
 physics, I have dedicated a few words in this chapter to the 
 practical side of the question. Before, however, we approach 
 nearer to the inquiry of how the esoteric faculties of a fakir are 
 developed, we must first make it clear what a fakir is. 
 
 The few examples of. such natures which have fallen under 
 our observation are only a small proportion of the mediums and 
 fakirs living at the present time ; and it is not to be denied 
 that there have been many of them in all ages. Involuntarily 
 the question suggests itself: "What is a fakir?" Wherein 
 does the difference consist between the organisation of ordinary 
 men and of such individuals ? 
 
 Most people have no idea of a higher power of perception 
 which betrays itself in dreams, and only a small minority can 
 find any significance in them. The same thing is found in the 
 case of visions. The normal man can only see what his retina 
 is sensible of, or take hold of what his physical hands can 
 grasp, he can only communioate with those whom he can 
 see with his bodily eyes, or hear with his bodily ears. The 
 fakir sees, hears,, and acts in some respects unlike other men. 
 He is able to emancipate himself from his normal restraints, and 
 by so doing the faculties of the soul (psyche) can exhibit in 
 some way their functions ; he can likewise develope powers and 
 produce phenomena, which are contrary to our normal experi- 
 ences, but which are without doubt subject to transcendental 
 laws. That this conception of the matter is the right one, is 
 partly proved by the difference existing between Asiatic fakirs 
 and European mediums. In Asia there is a religious order in 
 which fakirs are trained, while in America and Europe mediums 
 spring up naturally, and have generally to thank chance or 
 some circumstance for the discovery of their abnormal faculties. 
 
 -The Brahmins, previous to the investiture of a novice, hold 
 
140 Birth and Death. 
 
 something very similar to what we call a spiritualistic seance, 
 and the intending Brahmin must prove himself fit for the office 
 of a medium, by the quickness with which a plant seems to 
 grow (almost visibly) to perfection in his immediate neighbour- 
 hcod. That mediums in Western lands, after their powers 
 have become manilest, are able to develope them by frequent 
 exercise is likewise a fact, as well as that they can progress in 
 certain directions. 
 
 There have been some who have manifested these faculties 
 very early. Bastian told me that, when a boy, he was fond of 
 sitting under a certain tree in the garden, because it always 
 happened that, while there, figures danced round him. Frau 
 Töpfer told me that, when she was a child, she often saw a 
 woman come through the wall, and that she used to be scolded 
 by her mother for saying this, who would not believe it, though 
 on one occasion objective traces remained. In most cases these 
 would probably have been only subjective visions, similar to 
 those in dreams, but it is remarkable that these particular 
 visions occurred to those who afterwards became mediums. 
 It is a better authenticated fact that the nurse of the little 
 Giildenstubbe, who afterwards became a very celebrated 
 medium, noticed with terror that his playthings moved about 
 by themselves, while the child declared that another child was 
 playing with him. These are cases out of the common ; as a 
 rule, it may be considered that .fakirs in the East are educated 
 on a system, while in the West events generally take the 
 following course. 
 
 Several persons sit round a table, and, after perhaps a good 
 many trials, slight sounds are «generally heard, and later on 
 distinct raps, generally near some particular person, who then 
 becomes the principal medium through whom the manifestations 
 occur. These manifestations begin generally by oscillations of 
 the table,. and objects are moved without any one touching them. 
 From this it is only a step to the materialisation of complete 
 forms, which, however, is only possible and peculiar to par- 
 ticular organisations. Phenomena of the first kind, such as 
 rappings, moving of objects, appearance of lights, and cool 
 breezes, have more the nature of manifestations of force 
 (electric ?) ; the second class more that of the process of mate- 
 rialising the human form. This was the case with Frau 
 Töpfer. She began as a writing medium, then as a rapping 
 medium, and lastly, quite recently, developed as a medium 
 for materialisation. 
 
What is, and how does one Become a Fakir? 141 
 
 All this, however, is nothing more than what . in the East 
 they call connection with the Pitris ; for a Brahmin of the 
 higher class shuts himself up daily in a dark, secluded room, 
 dedicated entirely to this purpose, in order to free himself from 
 his physical impediments ; he does just the same as Reichen- 
 bach did when he was engaged in developing sensitiveness. 
 All mediums, Brahmins, and fakirs agree in this, that they can 
 get themselves into a condition of ecstasy or trance by means 
 of solitude and abstinence ; but with respect to physical mani- 
 festations they themselves do nothing, everything being due to 
 the Pitris ; if they are not always right in respect to the last 
 circumstance, at all events, the faculties em.ployed are unknown 
 to the fakirs. In ordinary seances we know next to nothing 
 about the physical, chemical, or physiological proceedings of an 
 organism ; for what is communicated to us in this respect is 
 scarcely to be regarded. That something takes place everyone 
 may experience for himself I am no medium, and yet I can 
 feel the difference, and feel a trembling sensation, when I place 
 my hand on the table, with the intention of forming a chain, or 
 of magnetising. The revolution which takes place in the body 
 must certainly be the greatest, when the medium is thrown into 
 a state of unconsciousness (which is almost always necessary), 
 to render possible the so-called materialisation of full-formed 
 figures. Mediumscan give no account of it; only this is certain, 
 that after such seances both with fakirs and mediums great pallor 
 and exhaustion ensue. 
 
 From India we can learn nothing more reliable on this sub- 
 ject; it is, however, worthy of remark that the Indians describe 
 a "material" which they call "agasa" as a necessary agent. 
 This materialistic notion seems grounded in human nature ; a 
 material something was hypothesised for heat and light, which 
 had to be given up ; still this idea seems to be justified 
 in the case of that class of phenomena, in which a process 
 of materialising must be recognised. We must examine 
 this " agasa " nearer, as Reichenbach fell into the same error 
 as the Indians, in the production of his " Od," which is ana- 
 logous to their " agasa." 
 
 According to the wavering and undecided conceptions of 
 Indians, "agasa" is "the essence of life, the universal principle 
 of force and life, and the pure fluid ; " this is the common signi- 
 fication. Through this fluid fakirs can master savage beasts, 
 and it is likewise the basis of their communion with the Pitris. 
 In another place it is said, " Agasa, the pure fluid, is the life, 
 
J 42 Birth and Death. 
 
 the soul, the man itself, for the body is only a husk, a servant 
 which belongs to it." It is just as though we should say, the 
 unknown, the will, or the Divine in us ; and in both cases we 
 are about as wise as we were before. 
 
 Jacolliot speaks as follows concerning the agasa : — 
 " 1 understand by spirit force (by which he means agasa) the 
 connection of intelligence and physical power, in order for them 
 to act upon inanimate objects, without reference to the cause which 
 sets this power in motion. The ultimate cause of all phenomena, 
 according to the Brahmins, is the pure fluid agasa, or the fluid 
 of life, which, spread through the whole of nature, connects all 
 living or lifeless, visible or invisible beings. Heat, electricity, 
 and all other forces of nature, are only special conditions of this 
 fluid. The being who possesses a greater portion of this life 
 force exercises power in this way, as well over living beings 
 less endowed in this respect than himself as over lifeless beings. 
 Even spirits are subject to the influence communicated by 
 means of this universal fluid, and can exercise their power Oi/er 
 those who possess the power on their side of calling them up 
 or attracting them. Agasa is, according to some Brahmins, the 
 acting thought of the world of souls, which connects all souls 
 together, and which connection would be unbroken, did not 
 the material husk of the body interpose certain barriers. The 
 more the soul is freed from its envelope by means of a life of 
 contemplation, the more sensible it is of this universal con- 
 ductor, which connects everything either visible or invisible. 
 This is the theory of the Hindoos, and we simply confine 
 ourselves to reproducing it." 
 
 The reader sees that by this " agasa," not only can be under- 
 stood the attraction connecting all masses, upon whose invisible 
 threads every vibration acts, and which we describe as light, 
 heat, electricity, or magnetism, but likewise aether and Reichen- 
 bach's " od," the substance for the materialisation of figures 
 and the magic forces of magnetisers, etc. The reader will 
 readily recognise that these are very different things and attri- 
 butes ; three distinctions must, therefore, be made : the super- 
 normal perception, the supernormal action, and the requisite 
 power for seances ; and these faculties differ as much one from 
 the other as does a sharp eye from great strength of muscle or 
 obesity, both of which may exist separately or combined. At this 
 point Hindoo wisdom leaves us stranded, and we are obliged to 
 search for ourselves. On the other side, the Hindoos seem to 
 have some practical knowledge with regard to the development 
 
What is, and how does one Become a Fakir? 143 
 
 of fakirs. I shall try to throw some light on this " nightside " 
 of human nature, as Fechner calls it. 
 
 There are persons who, either in dreams or in a state of som- 
 nambulism or hypnotism, are conscious of perceptions, which 
 cannot be conveyed to them through the organs of sense, and 
 which, therefore, betray an unknown psychic faculty, which 
 would not be remarked by the greater number of people. Let 
 us use this expression in contradistinction to physical faculties ; 
 and it would be best to describe such individuals as " seers " 
 (as possessing two kinds of sight). As these faculties must 
 be recognised as belonging to fakirs, the latter must be looked 
 upon in the first place as individuals having such psychic 
 powers of perception (among the higher ones Perty terms this 
 " magic ") ; but it must not be forgotten that these powers are 
 Sometimes witnessed, though only perhaps transitorily, in sick 
 or dying people, in cases of so-called possession or obsession, 
 and in somnambulists and ecstatics. 
 
 Men also exist who by the power of their will, and without 
 any assistance from their physical organs, or any other 
 means, are able to act upon other individuals, or even upon 
 inanimate objects, and who moreover possess a certain psychic 
 power, which others do not exhibit. These individuals have 
 been termed magicians, sorcerers, or fakirs, and it would have 
 been as well if the first name were universally adopted. Fakirs 
 possess not only an extraordinary psychic or transcendental 
 power of perception, but this is often united with an abnormal 
 psychic power of acting. 
 
 On the other side, individuals are to be found, who are 
 specially adapted to be influenced through the psychic force of 
 third persons. They are easily magnetised, they can write and 
 speak unconsciously, or they are what was formerly called 
 possessed. This condition points likewise to a loosening 
 or a complete disunion of the meta-organism and the body. 
 In Europe and America we call these individuals mediums, 
 but at least three distinctions should be made in describing 
 them : — Firstly, there are those who are easily influenced, and 
 at the best could only be called " hypnothecs ; " secondly, 
 mediums for physical phenomena; and, thirdly, mediums for 
 materialisation, for these are different conditions which are not 
 always found associated. 
 
 Lastly, many facts combine to show that there are individuals 
 in whom this severance is possible to such a degree, that the 
 psyche, or meta-organism, can act physically. Cases have been 
 
144 Birth and Death. 
 
 recorded which cannot easily be accounted for in any other 
 manner, than that the soul has left the body while the latter 
 has been in deep slumber, and has been actually seen or able 
 to act in some distant place. These phenomena seem clearly to 
 indicate great independence on the part of the psyche or meta- 
 organism, which is also one of the attributes ascribed to fakirs. 
 Every one of these peculiar faculties seems to make the pos- 
 sessor specially adapted to communicate with the unseen world, 
 if such a world exists. 
 
 A fakir is, therefore, an individual in whom the indwelling 
 transcendental or psychic force and manner of perception are 
 not quite overpowered by the organic body, and who, in 
 consequence of this, stands in closer though not complete 
 contact with other kinds of beings, not perceptible to our normal 
 senses. If we represent men to ourselves as transcendental 
 beings, clothed in organic bodies, fakirs might be described as 
 such beings with their clothes torn, and, therefore, more sus- 
 ceptible to the sun, wind, and rain. 
 
 It is naturally only a step from this to the manifestation by 
 inhabitants of another world imperceptible to us. The question 
 whether such beings exist can, therefore, no longer be put on 
 one side, when the metaphysical basis of man is proved, as well 
 as whether they can make themselves perceptible to us. The 
 phantoms themselves give us a guarantee as to this. Forms 
 appear to us of quite distinct individuality, in every respect 
 ditferingfrom the medium, whose appearance likewise presupposes 
 a vis fonnativa , and above all a material substance, which in all 
 probability is at least partly derived from the organism of the 
 medium ; and it must be concluded from experience up to the 
 present time, and certainly seems proved, that some sort of 
 " agasa " is used to establish an organic or inorganic connection, 
 which in less important manifestations is necessary in less 
 quantities ; if indeed these last are to be attributed to the agency 
 of unseen beings. No " agasa " is required for transcendental 
 perceptions or operations (equally no " od," or magnetic fluid), 
 since the partial severance (Spaltung) in human beings is suffi- 
 cient explanation for these. 
 
 It has been noticed in India, as well as in Western countries, 
 that the figures are developed out of a white, cloud-like mass, 
 and that this misty substance seems to issue from the medium, 
 and after the figure is formed is again absorbed into him. I 
 have always heard the voice of the little Abilla sounding at first 
 as though it came from, or was close to, the medium, and only 
 
What is, and how does one Become a Fakir? 145 
 
 after a few minutes got farther off and nearer to me, so that it 
 really gave the impression at first as though the medium were 
 making a toilette previous to coming before the curtain. It is, 
 however, as we know, clearly proved that, at least in some cases, 
 it is the toilette or formation of the materialised figure, and not 
 the change of clothes of the medium, which is being accom- 
 plished ; this has been proved by strict test conditions and by the 
 evidence of eye-witnesses. If these figures were not really 
 developed in or out of the medium, their appearance would not 
 only be more frequent, but would be independent of him. Cer- 
 tainly, we hear accounts of exceptional cases of such apparitions 
 being seen otherwise than at seances, but these are extremely 
 rare, and occur under very extraordinary conditions, which we 
 have mentioned in the preceding chapter ; and even " in these 
 cases the supposition of matter for materialising being borrowed 
 from an animal organism of some kind, is not altogether 
 excluded. 
 
 The hypothesis that for the purpose of presenting a percep- 
 tible and tangible figure, some sort of organic connection, belong- 
 ing to a living organism is necessary in order to give the requisite 
 amount of materiality, is the one best supported. It has even 
 been seen that another mist has proceeded from the apparition 
 itself, and a third out of this. A medium for materialisation 
 must, therefore, be a person m whom this matter exists in super- 
 abundance, and is capable of being set free ; if people like to 
 call this " agasa," I have nothing to say against it. .In support 
 of this theory it is known that mediums who have exhausted 
 themselves by too frequent sittings often suffer in after-years 
 from partial paralysis, and that many among them after the 
 fatigue ensuing on the seances fly to wine or some other stimu-^ 
 lant, and it was from this cause that the most powerful medium 
 in America took to drinking, and suffered from delirium tremens. 
 From this it must appear that, however harmless ordinary' 
 seances may be, the lethargic sleep or state of trance is not to 
 be supported by every organism. 
 
 This substance cannot, however, be the "agasa," according 
 to the comprehensive idea of the Hindoos, for the power of 
 communicating with the unseen world, of magnetising people, 
 and of taming snakes and sav^age beasts, points rather in the 
 direction of the manifesting of vibrations ; in any case, an 
 accumulation of various faculties is here united under one con- 
 ception, as is the case, though under different names, in the West. 
 Kieser, Ennemoser, and Psychic Studies fall into the same 
 
 10 
 
146 .Birth and' Death, 
 
 error of attributing everything to one magic, magnetic, or psychic 
 force ; it is a mistake to apply the term magnetism, magic 
 will, or psychic force indiscriminately to all these phenomena. 
 In the face of such a great variety of phenomena it can only be 
 described as a careless way of thinking for anyone to rest con- 
 tented with such an explanation. We must confess our ignor- 
 ance of a satisfactory explanation of the physical side of the 
 problem, but we should first make a fine distinction, so as not 
 to confound things, otherwise we shall never arrive at a satis- 
 factory solution. Experience up to the present time, however, 
 permits of our answering the question as to what a fakir is. 
 He is a man who succeeds through natural tendencies, sickness, 
 or intentional change of organism in making use of the meta- 
 physical or transcendental faculties inherent in himself, and in 
 other men, though partly and always incompletely, and who 
 sees and does many things which other people cannot see or, 
 therefore, perform ; and in consequence of this he is able to 
 establish a connection with the unseen world, through which 
 connection phenomena take place under circumstances beyond 
 the reach of his own metaphysical powers, to the completion or 
 perfection of which he, like all other men, can only attain after 
 the death of the body. 
 
 Let us now proceed to the consideration of the second 
 question. How does one becorne a fakir ? After the answer to 
 this is given, it will be possible to attain a more definite idea of 
 what a fakir is. 
 
 It is no secret how the Hindoos proceed in order to obtain 
 the attributes of a fakir ; they lower the organism by means of 
 fasting, chastity, solitude, darkness, prayer, etc. I believe that 
 a spare diet is more favourable to the development of super- 
 normal perceptions, and the condition of celibacy to that of 
 supernormal action ; regimen in diet may likewise be prescribed 
 for the development of the "agasa " as a means of materialising. 
 It is true that necromancers of all countries always make use 
 of water, honey, blood, flour, etc., which are for the most part 
 substances containing albumen. 
 
 The whole process, however, has no other aim or intention 
 than that of diminishing as much as possible the normal 
 tendencies, and of developing the innate faculties of the cosmic 
 essence of the soul. The more this succeeds the more the 
 higher power of perception, acting at a distance {Fernwirkimg), 
 and the intercourse with the unseen world increase. These 
 endeavours are crowned with success in the case of some and 
 
What is, and how does one Become a Fakir? 147 
 
 not of others ; the only instance I have met with of an European 
 being instructed in this way by Hindoo fakirs, and being 
 successful, is that of Madame Blavacsky, at least according to 
 Mr. A. P, Sinnett, vice-president of the Theosophical Society 
 ("Occult World," Trübner & Co., 1882). This publication 
 first fell into my hands in July 1883. 
 
 Sinnett narrates that Madame Blavacsky, a Russian lady of 
 good family, passed seven years in the Himalaya Mountains, 
 among the adept " brothers," and acquired the attributes of a 
 fakir, at least in a certain degree. As to her powers, Sinnett is 
 the better qualified to give an account of them from the fact that 
 Madame Blavacsky lived for a long time in his house. From 
 the narrative given by him of her, it seems that her powers and 
 performances were far behind those of a modern medium, not 
 to mention those of a fakir. The book does not tell us how she 
 spent these seven years, and is silent as to the important and 
 essential fact whether Madame Blavacsky possessed such 
 powers, even in a lesser degree, at a former period. A medium 
 would make considerable progress after practising for seven 
 years, even without any instruction in the Himalaya Mountains. 
 Perhaps Sinnett is silent on this point, because he considers 
 these facts as the product of a secret power of nature or occult 
 agency, and will not allow that cause which all fakirs and 
 mediums acknowledge. The phenomena are not produced 
 through Madame Blavacsky's will alone, otherwise some 
 months would have sufficed to have produced more important 
 manifestations, but everything, we are told, took place through 
 her own gifts, as well as by the assistance of invisible " brothers," 
 and according to Sinnett, these brothers are living men, who act by 
 means of their " astral body " (meta-organism). Let us inquire 
 into these facts somewhat more closely, 
 
 Sinnett asserts, and indeed truly, that the fakirs or adepts are 
 able to place themselves in telegraphic communication with 
 each other, no matter at what distance, and further, that they 
 are clairvoyant. He ascribes this quite rightly to the faculties 
 of the soul, while he sets forth that " the body for ordinary 
 mortals is the prison of the soul" (p. 15). His often con- 
 tradictory distinctions between soul and spirit are quite unim- 
 portant, though they may perhaps be accepted on the authority of 
 Saint Paul by Englishmen, who believe implicitly in the Bible, 
 among whom Sinnett can scarcely be reckoned. There is only 
 one " subject " in us ; this certainly takes different forms, some 
 in dreams, others in ordinary life, and another after death, and 
 
14S Bhdh and Death. 
 
 we cannot define the limits of the multiplicity of ways in which 
 this "subject" can exhibit itself. If we imagine an "astral 
 body," besides the physical organic body, as Sinnett does, 
 there is no need of any further division into soul and spirit ; 
 let it be understood, then, that by soul the " astral body " is 
 meant. 
 
 Such an adept, according to Sinnett, is now in a condition in 
 which he can act out of himself , and is able to escape sometimes 
 from the trammels of the body, and this within certain limits 
 is certainly the case. Now, if we believe Sinnett, it is the 
 liberated souls of these living " brothers " (among whom 
 Madame Blavacsky passed seven years) who accomplished all 
 these wonders. Since, however, Sinnett allows to the soul, 
 when liberated from the body, a supernormal power of action, 
 it is difficult to see why he denies those powers to the souls of 
 the dead, which he recognises in those of the living. Can it be 
 because the first would have to come back from heaven ? Is 
 this simply a concession to the English-reading public ? 
 
 One thing Mr. Sinnett forgefs, and that is, that every emanat- 
 ing and independent function of his " astral body " presupposes 
 the state of complete slumber of the organic body, because the 
 latter cannot act without the former, and one must be a fakir 
 in order for it to act alternately or partly. Sinnett's explanation 
 ought therefore to have set forth that the " brothers " had pre- 
 viously assumed a death-like sleep, in order to perform all 
 those wonders with the "astral body" which he witnessed. Of 
 this, however, there is no mention whatever. The phenomena 
 described by him are precisely the same which occur in the 
 presence of mediums in Europe ; these, as well as fakirs, assert 
 that they are not performed through the agency of living 
 "brothers " in the. flesh; Sinnett only is of opinion that it is 
 living " brothers " who perform them, perhaps in order to 
 introduce some human agency, which is not, however, clearly 
 defined. 
 
 Even the production of rappings cannot be limited to the 
 simple action of the will of the medium ; for Katie Fox and the 
 peasants of Dibbesdorf had gone through no novitiate with 
 Buddhists, had no occult " brothers " with whom they were in 
 communication, and yet intelligent answers were rapped out 
 quite independent of their own will. 
 
 The same thing may be said of Sinnett's correspondence. 
 He directs a letter to Madame Blavacsky, and finds the answer 
 on his table, or vice versa. I know two ««professional mediums, 
 
What is, and how does one Become a Fakir? 149 
 
 one of whom finds letters and answers in a box ; the other one 
 often receives an answer by placing paper and pencil under the 
 table. These mediums have never been in India, have never 
 had any intercourse with the adepts of " occultism," and the 
 fact of the direct writing in their case is much more clearly 
 proved than in that of Madame Blavacsky. The contents of 
 these letters correspond exactly with the ordinary automatic 
 writing in Europe. They are of a vague and expansive meta- 
 physical nature. Madame Blavacsky has written a large book, 
 like so many American and European mediums, called " Isis," 
 almost entirely composed of such communications. The in- 
 visible brother who writes, strange to say, speaks of the teach- 
 ings of Faraday, Tyndall, and Darwin, but not of Kant. He 
 has therefore, been in Europe, as Sin nett likewise affirms, and 
 only knows those authors, with whose works Sinnett is ac- 
 quainted ! 
 
 Sinnett himself says that " Occultism " (as he calls this study 
 or department) "leads to the knowledge of the conditions of the 
 existence of the soul outside of the body," which proposition 
 perhaps would better terminate with " or might lead." It will, 
 therefore, be advisable to ascribe such phenomena to an exis- 
 tence independent of the body, and not to complicate matters 
 by introducing what would in some cases be quite impossible, 
 and in many highly improbable. What the astral body of a 
 living person is capable of performing, that of a departed being 
 can do much more easily, granted the necessary materialism. 
 According to Sinnett, the letters and other objects had to be 
 dematerialised and materialised again in order to reach their 
 destination ! He does not seem to know that time and space exist 
 in a different manner for the soul and for men, and hence his 
 constrained explanation. 
 
 It is quite evident that I do not recommend anybody to 
 pursue the same course with Madame Blavacsky, because, in 
 the first place, an enforcement of these faculties is injurious to 
 the health, and in the second, men, as a rule, have not the 
 capacity to lay down their normal tendencies in this wa}^ 
 otherwise they would not be men. If we wished to subjugate 
 all earthly joys and sorrows in this violent manner, suicide 
 would seem to be the best and right way to attain such a state. 
 In whatever vocation of life or organisation these faculties may 
 exist, they will be sure to be developed without any particular 
 aid, and it is quite unnecessary to strive after the violent 
 mortifications of the flesh in the Hindoo fashion, which may 
 
150 Birth and Death. 
 
 very probably land one in a lunatic asylum. In Asia it is 
 looked upon as a fact (and 1 think with justice), that the 
 priests of Thibet have the most comprehensive knowledge of 
 any in this direction, and produce the most astonishing mani- 
 festations. Without possessing any sort of knowledge of 
 Thibet in relation to this subject, I venture to think that their 
 knowledge is limited to the employment of accessory means, by 
 which the lowering of the normal condition and the co-operation 
 of the unseen world is rendered more easy. That which in all 
 ages has been termed "magic," is nothing more than the 
 recognition and use of the means afforded by the transcendental 
 side of human nature ; this knowledge, and the employment of 
 it, must be surprising and incomprehensible to us, because the 
 causality of this fundamental basis of our reasoning functions 
 takes another form. It is not surprising that Hindoos surpass 
 ourselves in this kind of knowledge and power, because we 
 avoid this subject ; they cultivate it, besides which they have had 
 more than a thousand years of experience and discipline to aid 
 them. 
 
 Here we can only speak of the European method, which does 
 not go so deeply into the matter. Above all we must be guided 
 by experience, which should always precede every sound 
 speculation. 
 
 Every one of my readers knows that a bar of iron becomes 
 polarised through rubbing with a magnet or having an electric 
 current passed through it, and that this does not happen with 
 a lump of gold or a bamboo cane. It is likewise to be remarked 
 that a specially adapted person can be rendered more sensitive 
 by magnetic passes, and the analogy in these cases is not yet 
 exhausted. In order to produce the table-turnings and 
 rappings, a chain is formed which answers to the batteries and 
 wires used for the production of the electric current. It seems, 
 therefore, that what is usually called polarisation has a great 
 deal to do in this matter. For this reason we must throw a 
 glimpse over Reichenbach's experiments, which are valuable, 
 although his "od" theory is untenable. Reichenbach has made 
 the discovery that some persons are much more sensitive than 
 others, and that this sensitiveness is evinced in a twofold 
 manner. There are those who, in a room from which light 
 is absolutely excluded, begin to see, while certain material 
 objects become luminous to them. Reichenbach calls this 
 light "odic emanation," because he hypothesises a fluid which 
 he christens "od," in spite of the fiasco which in its time 
 
What is, and hozv does one Become a Fakir? 151 
 
 the emanation theory of heat and hght experienced. He 
 further made the discovery by means of numberless experi- 
 ments with a great number of persons, that these sensitives 
 are not only much more impressionable than others, but are 
 likewise polarised, that is, this sensitiveness is situated or 
 circumstanced like that of a magnet. The " od " pole agrees 
 with the north pole, and in consequence of ■ this polarity, 
 sensitives have an undoubted susceptibility for electro-positive 
 and electro-negative chemicals and bodies. This agreement 
 of the symptoms with those of magnetic and electric phenomena 
 should have been sufficient reason for not calling into existence 
 a new " fluid " with a name of its own, because the same fate 
 will await it as " phlogiston " met with in its time. It can 
 certainly be said that heat, electricity, and magnetism radiate 
 from the same body, yet it must be always understood that 
 heat, etc., must be placed in a suitable condition to it. 
 
 It is not, however, the theories of Reichenbach which interest 
 us, but his experiments, and particularly the fact that the 
 greater sensitiveness stands in close connection with polarisa- 
 tion, and can be called forth and increased by darkness, contact, 
 and passes, so that sensitives hold the same connection to non- 
 sensitives as the magnet does to the bar of iron. The second 
 thing interesting to us is the circumstance that the suscepti- 
 bility of sensitives presents a striking resemblance to that of 
 somnambulists. From this accordance we may be allowed to 
 draw the conclusion that "polarisation" in its different forms 
 runs parallel with the " manifestation " of the transcendental 
 basis; and that a standpoint for one half of the mystical 
 phenomena has been gained. It may be said, therefore, that the 
 manifestation of the transcendental basis may be evinced in 
 those persons, who are situated with regard to their normal 
 fellow-beings as iron is to metals, which cannot become 
 polarised, and that this manifestation only first becomes possible 
 when polarisation ensues. Now, since iron can become polarised 
 by means of rubbing and the electric current from a battery, we 
 ought not to be surprised if persons arrive at a condition of 
 greater sensitiveness through passes or the formation of a circle. 
 There are persons and metals zvho can never become magnetic ; 
 others there are who are particularly adapted for this condition, 
 and there are some who possess it naturally ; these last stand 
 on the level of both forms of consciousness, and, therefore, 
 easily pass the threshold. Here lies the point which the next 
 generation will have to apply the lever to, in order to unravel 
 
152 Birth and Death. 
 
 the ph3'sical side of the problem as far as it relates to the 
 higher manner of perception and sensitiveness. 
 
 When all Vienna declared Hansen's hypnotising to be a 
 swindle, I, on the contrary, stood up for its genuineness, and, 
 among other things, I wrote, " It is quite a question whether 
 the same result may not at some future period be attained 
 through physical means." Four years have elapsed since then, 
 and lo ! a beginning is already made. A Vienna paper copies 
 from the Paris journal on electricity the account of the dis- 
 covery of the " hypnoscope " by Dr. Ochorowitz. This is a 
 small bar of steel, about five centimetres in length, the inner 
 diameter of which measures about four centimetres. This bar 
 is divided the whole length, so that the edges gape, and are 
 about a centimetre apart from each other. The bar is then 
 magnetised ; one edge of the division forms the north, the 
 other the south pole of this crooked magnet. The instrument 
 weighs about one hundred and seventy grammes, and if the 
 magnetism is succcessful, can raise a piece of iron of more than 
 four kilos (eight pounds) in weight ; that is, more than five-and- 
 twenty times its own weight. We have a powerful magnet, 
 therefore, before us. 
 
 With the aid of this instrument it is possible to discover 
 whether persons are sensitive and capable of being hypnotised, 
 and the sensations noticed in connection with it are for the 
 most part similar to those which occur at the commencement 
 of a seance with a circle. Dr. Ochorowitz says : — 
 
 " If a person places the forefinger of his hand in this bar, so 
 that the nail is underneath, and the two gaping edges of the 
 opening are above it, which can be done while the hand is 
 stretched out flat, the palm of the hand being above, and the bar 
 with the two edges pushed over the forefinger, peculiar sensations 
 will frequently be noticed, proceeding from this magnetic bar. 
 
 "Among a hundred persons, about thirty will feel these 
 sensations. A third part of mankind, therefore, is conscious of 
 a feeling which proceeds from the magnet, two-thirds are unim- 
 pressionable to this influence. 
 
 "The effects are different. In twenty cases out of a hundred, 
 a sensation is felt in the forefinger like ants running about, 
 and a disagreeable pricking feeling, sometimes compared to the 
 prick of a needle or the burning of a spark. Seventeen out 
 of a hundred feel the sensation of a cold breath or of a warm 
 and dry current. Both sensations may be experienced at the 
 same time, one in the right, the other in the left arm. It has 
 
What is, and how does one Become a Fakir? 153 
 
 also been noticed that a magnet placed under the foot of a 
 crippled or injured person has produced a feeling of warmth, 
 when even a good fire has failed to do so. The cold breath is 
 very similar to what is frequently felt in the promixity of an 
 electric machine. In eight out of a hundred cases painful 
 sensations are felt, especially in the joints. In five cases out 
 of a hundred a sensation as of the skin swelling is experienced, 
 and sometimes these swellings are so real, that it becomes 
 difficult to draw the magnetic tube from the finger which was. 
 pushed into it ; and, lastly, there are sensations of pain in two 
 out of a hundred in the finger or the entire arm, and in two 
 out of seven hundred there is absolute attraction of the arm by 
 the magnet. 
 
 " These are the sensations which the hypnoscope produces in 
 certain persons. These subjective sensations go side by side 
 with objective phenomena, such as involuntary movements 
 (the rarest form), insensibility, want of power to move the 
 forefinger, and convulsions (rigidity ©f the muscles). These 
 objective sensations, which can be called forth by the hypno- 
 scope, disappear within a few minutes of the removal of the 
 instrument, with the help of a slight rubbing, otherwise the 
 phenomena might last for some minutes or even hours." 
 
 If we compare these results with the experiences of spiritual- 
 ists and the experiments of Reichenbach, a solution of the 
 problem on the physical side begins to dawn upon us. At all 
 events, we draw from it that my view was a right one, when I 
 compared seers and mediums among men with magnetic and 
 non-magnetic metals. I cannot omit remarking that, as related 
 by Dr. Ochorowitz, swellings sometimes resulted from these 
 experiments ; the same thing has been told me by a lady 
 medium, who always took her shoes off" and loosened her dress 
 before she allowed herself to be entranced, although she sat 
 quite still. It is seen, therefore, that it is no proof of Bastian's 
 being an impostor that he took his shoes off! 
 
 Through the discovery of this instrument another step in 
 advance is made, and what men of science prophesied for 
 Schopenhauer, " Homeric laughter," draws near, like the Forest 
 of Dunsinane to Macbeth ; he, too, could not believe that a 
 forest could be set in motion, taking literally what he should 
 have taken symbolically. I shall prove in a later chapter that 
 my opponents will find themselves in a similar position. 
 
 Now, it is easy to understand why most mediums, such as 
 Slade, Eglinton, or Bastian, should desire to have a chain 
 
154 BirtJi and Death. 
 
 similar to a battery formed by tlie direct or indirect connection 
 of the hands, in which they themselves take part, at least Slade 
 and Eglinton do, while Bastian and Frau Töpfer stand outside. 
 They find this facilitates the manifestations. When with Slade, 
 I have noticed through breaking the chain, a momentary cessa- 
 tion of the writing, which proceeded again immediately the 
 hands were reunited ; and the darkness, which has been so 
 much criticised, and which is at least necessary for some 
 persons at the commencement of a seance, is in the same way 
 easier to understand. 
 
 However insufficient these statements may appear as an 
 explanation of the physical side of this subject, yet they are a 
 step in the right direction ; and a deeper examination into the 
 physical side of the problem would not be consistent with the 
 aim of this book. The subject is as a rule unknown to scientific 
 students, and those who are acquainted with this department 
 are not generally instructed in physical science. I must, there- 
 fore, limit myself to a few indications,, and the more so, as the 
 physical explanation is not yet ripe for discussion ; I will, 
 however, try to indicate the whole process by a comparison, and 
 I can find none so fit for this purpose as the telegraphic 
 apparatus, which unites two separate parts of the world. We 
 need for this purpose a connecting wire (in our case the con- 
 nection is formed by the attraction of masses) ; and further a 
 battery is necessary (represented by the circle), or a charged 
 accumulator (the medium). If these conditions are fulfilled, 
 then an Expert telegraph operator (in our case a powerful will) 
 is required in order to generate the electric light (the manifes- 
 tation of the transcendental basis), or to send a despatch 
 (normal or transcendental), and get an answer back. The 
 arrangement of a seance and the necessary preliminaries for it 
 are, therefore, completely analogous to the establishment of a' 
 telegraphic apparatus and its mode of operation. 
 
 This analogy certainly gives us food for reflection. If the 
 conducting wires are given, it is only a question of the 
 capability of receiving or sending out certain influences, to 
 understand the phenomena spoken of in the second, third, and 
 fourth chapters. If it is remembered that Kapp, in his " Techni- 
 cal Philosophy," has shown that our telescope, piano, telegraph- 
 cable, etc., are but imperfect imitations of our eye, our vocal 
 organs, our nerves, etc., it can be no matter of surprise that 
 our telegraphic apparatus has its best prototype on the trans- 
 scendental side. The so-called medium is the apparatus, and at 
 
What is, and how does one Become a Fakir? 155 
 
 the same time the accumulator, charged with electricity ; if a 
 medium is wanting, batteries must take his place, that is, as 
 far as a circle is capable of doing this. At all events, these 
 phenomena must be divided into two classes diverging from 
 one another ; the rappings, whisperings, sounds from stringed 
 instruments, and appearances of lights point to a kind of 
 transcendental electricity (agasa ?) ; the visibility or tangi- 
 bility of organic forms or the movement of objects must, on the 
 contrary, be ascribed to a process of materialising, in which, 
 according to the degree of materiality, simple organic or even 
 inorganic substances must be made use of. It is a fact that 
 the ancient necromancers were in the habit of using substances, 
 such as honey, blood, eggs, flour, water, milk, etc., for this 
 purpose. 
 
 With reference to the first class of phenomena, it is easy to 
 arrange conditfons, which in many cases lead to convincing 
 results ; a practical example will illustrate this. 
 
 I was on a visit at a castle, the inhabitants of which had 
 several times tried the experiment of placing themselves round 
 a table in a dark room, and forming a circle, as the members of 
 it had already on several occasions had seances with a medium. 
 I was invited to join it, and we sat down round the table to the 
 number of about nine persons ; after a short time had elapsed, 
 I said I felt already the magnetic current ; all the rest, with the 
 exception of two, had the same sensation. I asked that these 
 two should leave the circle, which they did. Soon after we 
 heard the faint sound of very slight rappings on the 'table and 
 on the floor, which certainly might have been caused by one of 
 the party ; unless it is remembered that this was not to be 
 imagined in a private circle, assembled simply for the purpose 
 of experiment. These rappings, however, proved nothing of 
 much importance. The seance took place in the month of 
 September in the year 1881. I had just received a letter from 
 Bastian, in which he told me that he had suffered greatly 
 from the sea voyage, and unless I laid any particular stress upon 
 it, he should not come till the winter of 1882-3. -^s I had 
 answered this letter to the effect that I did not wish him to 
 come till later on, his health being the first consideration, both 
 I and the other people present were convinced bona fide that 
 Bastian would not come, or at least that his arrival was very 
 improbable. 
 
 In order to ascertain if these rappings were similar to the 
 phenomena observed at seances with mediums, it was proposed 
 
156 Birth and Death. 
 
 c« — — 
 
 to ask questions, and I was selected as the spokesman. I 
 inquired, partly in jest, if Bastian would come this winter, and 
 three raps gave the answer " yes." As, however, Bastian had 
 told me some time before, that if he did come, he should take 
 his passage earlier from America so as to avoid the stormy 
 season, I asked if he would arrive in October, Answer 
 "no." In November? "no," again. In December? Answer 
 " yes." At the beginning of October I received a letter from 
 him, saying that he intended sailing on the 22nd of October, and 
 should only remain three days in London. I, therefore, con- 
 cluded he would arrive about the middle of November. Return- 
 ing from a hunting expedition, I stayed a few days at the same 
 castle, and at another seance which we held there, -I asked if it 
 were still certain that Bastian would not come till December, and 
 again the answer was " yes." I afterwards received a letter from 
 him from London, telling me that he had found Mrs. N. (with 
 whom Bastian always stayed) ill, and, therefore, should remain 
 a few days longer ; he was afterwards detained by illness himself, 
 and came actually, I think, on the 9th of December. 
 
 I can now hazard an opinion that ,it is very probable, if a 
 lady who seemed to be sensitive, had not formed one of the 
 circle, or if the two persons I mentioned before had remained 
 in the chain, no raps would have been heard. This circle 
 continued to hold sittings without me, and the manifestations 
 continued to increase, so that at the present time (June 1883) 
 every phenomenon has been produced, with the exception of the 
 materialisation of complete forms. A lady I know, with her 
 two boys under twelve years of age, has obtained the same 
 results. 
 
 At the commencement of such seances, complete darkness 
 should, if possible, be secured, as it facilitates all kinds of 
 manifestations. Nothing is more instructive than the fact that 
 Reichenbach was unable to obtain phenomena when the 
 darkness was not absolute, which in rooms not specially 
 prepared is difficult to secure. I have made experiments with 
 Eglinton, in which the strength of the rappings depended on 
 the arrangement of the circle, as well as on the amount of light. 
 It is, therefore, more than probable that the arrangement of the 
 circle and the light are matters of great physical importance. 
 
 Besides these physical influences, sympathy exercises great 
 effect, and in three directions. It is scarcely necessary to say 
 that a very injurious influence is produced when persons are 
 among the circle, who are unsympathetic to the medium ; as a 
 
What is, and how does- one Become' a Fakir ? 157 
 
 rule, the latter becomes at once aware that they are inclined to 
 look upon him as an. impostor. It is not the endeavour to 
 procure strict conditions, with a view to widening our knowledge 
 and experience, which has a disturbing influence, but un- 
 justifiable mistrust ä priori. In the same way, it is not a 
 matter of indifference whether the members are or are not 
 sympathetic with one another, for this has an effect on the 
 .oscillations ai\d the harmony, which will be easily understood 
 by anyone who has been forced to play or sing in company, 
 and who has found his audience thoroughly unmusical. Upon 
 m3^self personally^ distrust produces no disturbing effect, because 
 I stand on my own feet ; and though I am very glad of the 
 help of outside experience and knowledge, I never rely upon 
 a strange opinion. But it produces a chilling sensation, when 
 a person uncalled for, obtrudes his highly sceptical sagacit3\ 
 I am convinced that even the clairvoyance of a seeress is 
 influenced more or less by confidence or mistrust. All these 
 phenomena depend in some measure on the power of the will, 
 and, therefore, harmony or concord, like everything else, exercises 
 an influence. 
 
 The subject becomes far more important and of higher in- 
 terest, when we consider the influence which sympathy or 
 antipathy exercises upon the unseen world, which said sym- 
 pathy and antipathy seem to be caused and influenced by the 
 ethical and intellectual worth of the company or circle. It is 
 this influence which proves that in the case of these pheno- 
 mena we are not dealing with the inert forces of nature. 
 According to my experience, the manifestations increase in 
 importance when the circle is composed of earnest, thoughtful 
 persons, and decrease in a corresponding manner, when 
 frivolous or foolishly-sceptical people are present. When strict 
 conditions are insisted on, with a view to obtaining further 
 increase of our knowledge, results readily follow ; \vhen, how- 
 ever, they are instituted as a trap for the medium, no results 
 are obtained. There can be only three reasons for these coin- 
 cidences, to which we will come immediately. I will only first 
 remark that, according to my experience, the presence of such 
 persons does not disturb the conditions to any extent on the first 
 occasion, but only afterwards, when the phenomena by repe- 
 tition do not make much impression upon them, though such a 
 reversal of the known ordinary laws of nature would not fail 
 to stamp itself on the mind of a thinking person. I have often 
 noticed that persons remain quite unmoved in such cases, while 
 
158 Birth and Death. 
 
 they welcome with the greatest energy the most unimportant 
 trifles, calculated to throw suspicion on the medium. Thus a 
 witness, who had seen the most splendid manifestations in the 
 presence of Bastian, grasped the fact of his shoes being found 
 off his feet at the conclusion of a seance, as important evidence 
 against him. When Jesse Sheppard, who created so great a 
 sensation by his wonderful compass of voice, which embraced 
 the deepest bass and the highest soprano, and who could produce 
 these extraordinary notes either accompanied by a church organ 
 or a drawing-room piano, announced his arrival in Europe, he 
 wrote that he would bring his own piano ; that was quite 
 enough to prove the matter was a swindle. Because he pre- 
 ferred his own piano to a strange one, the voice must, there- 
 fore, come from the piano ! 
 
 The circle before mentioned, by persevering, ended by obtain- 
 ing the phenomena which take place at Eglinton's and Bastian's 
 dark seances, and they even got direct writing, as with Slade. It 
 is highly instructive how the sound of the voice developes, — first, 
 there is only a sort of whispering with the lips, till at last the 
 full throat voice is heard. I am convinced, from the accounts of 
 the development of this circle, that the unseen world has first to 
 learn how to act, so as to make themselves accessible to our 
 senses, somewhat in the same way that we have to learn how 
 to swim in water, or to communicate with the deaf and dumb. 
 It must, however, be explained that Bastian spent two months 
 there, which put aside any doubt as to the reality of the things, 
 and must have improved the conditions. It is very probable 
 that with a certain amount of patience, most circles of from 
 six to seven members (which, however, should, if possible, not 
 be changed) might obtain similar results, if they possessed an 
 earnest will, and did not raise their expectations too high. 
 
 As to the conditions on the transcendental side, we must 
 evidently dispense with any reliable evidence on that subject, 
 which 1, for one, do not ä priori accept ; as, however, logic is 
 the same in every form of consciousness, we can, at all events, 
 speculate on the possible and imaginable cases. 
 
 When I ask a favour of anyone, it is possible, in case of 
 refusal, that he either cannot, will not, or dare not comply with 
 my request. The inability may in certain cases easily proceed 
 from physical grounds, such as vibrations or conditions of tem- 
 perament (for telegraphic intercourse), or from the want of that 
 substance necessary for materialising which the Hindoos call 
 agasa (for physical visible operations). And the unwillitigness, 
 
What is, and how does one Become a Fakir ? 159 
 
 and not daring to, may rise from not being able to. Two of the 
 evangelists, as well as Christ, declare that unbelief prevented the 
 exercise of their powers. 
 
 A circle may be compared to a musical chord ; it is possible 
 that in a false chord some physical obstacle to the necessary 
 conditions of harmony may be looked for, but this is not neces- 
 sarily the case, for other circumstances may be quite sufficient 
 to account for the unpleasant result. 
 
 What can induce an intelligent unseen being to undertake 
 vvhaj I look upon as an uncongenial task (perhaps from a 
 transcendental standpoint), in order to amuse a lot of frivolous 
 people ? Or what could be his object in frightening simple, 
 ignorant folks ? The unseen world can and will only come 
 forward when they see how earnestly the certainty of their 
 existence is longed for, and how it will be valued and made use 
 of, either for subjective development or for objective know- 
 ledge. Zöllner, Crookes, and myself were particularly fortunate 
 in our researches, and I have a little circle of acquaintances 
 who obtain very good results, even without a professional 
 medium, when they do not admit any inharmonious or useless 
 individual to their seances. If I know a person well, I can 
 generally judge whether the proof of our transcendental nature 
 will exercise a good influence over him, and whether his reason 
 is sufficiently independent to be able to decide what is satis- 
 factory evidence or not, I am, therefore, able to form a pretty 
 correct opinion whether he is likely to assist in forwarding our 
 efforts. However, perhaps we may soon come to a possible 
 and probable motive ! 
 
 The unseen world need not always come forward to prove 
 their existence, when the aim of our own shall have been 
 accomplished. As long as the world known to us has existed 
 in history, the supposed other world has always revealed itself 
 to certain individuals and groups. There have never been 
 wanting indications that our beings and actions are not 
 altogether to be looked upon from a material and animal 
 standpoint ; notwithstanding which it has always been need- 
 ful to use our own reflections for this work, and to put a 
 reasonable end to our doubts. They will not point out the 
 thorough pretence of our existence, and this is quite compre- 
 hensible ! For life on earth would only be a superfluous and 
 tormenting game, if the greater portion of mankind did not give 
 itself up to its pleasures and duties. We are not, as a rule, men 
 with the consciousness of our transcendental existence, because 
 
i6o Birth and Death. 
 
 the proofs would be illusory and would lose their value. The 
 unseen world can, should, and will (as far as it has the 
 capability) reveal itself only to those (and with reason) who 
 by their own powers know how to rise above trickery, and 
 who through the keenness of their judgment or the elevation 
 of their souls, feel the need of a transcendental basis. This last 
 want causes even intelligent women to cling to certain faiths, 
 although their reason shows them the untenability of the 
 dogmas, and public opinion presses materialism upon them. 
 
 The subject must be entered upon earnestly, for our transcen- 
 dental brothers to make such a sacrifice (for it is a sacrifice) 
 as to concern themselves about us, or to enter' into our world 
 and manner of consciousness. This last is a step, though only 
 a short one, in a backward direction, a sort of swoon, like that 
 produced by the use of chloroform, which can have nothing 
 attractive in it. I know, that if I could imagine myself a 
 transcendental being, nothing but some high aim, or affection 
 for some particular person, would induce me to return • to the 
 circle of human beings and to interest myself in their affairs. 
 
 The particular vocation of some persons may likewise be a 
 drawback. Man comes into the world with some purpose of 
 development ; if this purpose is opposed to the study of this 
 subject, ä certain antagonism is called forth on both sides. 
 As the instincts of animals are directed to obtain nourishment, 
 so the inner impulse of man leads him to the vocation in life 
 suited to his ethical development. It is' quite conceivable 
 that the unseen world may have a certain reluctance, or even 
 dislike, to communicating with particular persons. 
 
 As to the quality of the manifestations, experience gives the 
 same results in the case of every medium. The persons who 
 compose the circle exercise great influence, and are to be 
 compared to the elements of a battery, .as far as the oscillations, 
 emanations, and- physical conditions are concerned, as the latter 
 may be weak or strong. Even the grouping is not a matter of 
 indifference ; the weak elements should be separated, and, if 
 possible, placed near the medium. This seems similar to the 
 arrangement of the bottles in an electric battery. Even success 
 or failure can be reckoned upon with some degree of certainty, 
 according to the motives actuating those who take part in the 
 seance, and this has been proved by observation. The selection 
 and arrangement of the company should be a matter of parti- 
 cular care, the more so, as in the course of time many indivi- 
 duals have sprung up on the Continent, with whose help 
 
What is, and hozv does one Beco7ne a Fakir? i6i 
 
 communication with the unseen world has become possible. 
 I can only repeat what I have been saying for 3'ears, 
 
 " Mistrust and scepticism do no harm, if they are not carried 
 so far as to upset the medium and the conditions of the mani- 
 festations ; doubt is likewise innocuous, indeed even favourable, 
 to the success of a scaucc, but serious interest must be at 
 the bottom of all. Scientific condemnation or objections are 
 unfavourable ä priori, though they, as well as curiosity, are 
 always likely to arise. The latter generally has no other aim 
 than a desire for ' some new entertainment' The presence of 
 those persons is injurious, or at least worthless, who know 
 neither how to draw matter for thought, satisfaction for their 
 feelings, nor motives for their actions from these experiences." 
 Those who are only seeking for an exposure will certainly 
 obtain no results leading to greater knowledge. 
 
 It is quite certain that the intention, the will, and the pre- 
 liminary essential conditions are more or less necessary, to subdue 
 the natural tendencies in one way or another. This it is easier 
 to do with some than others ; but the modes adopted in the East, 
 such as fasting, solitude, and continued darkness, in order to 
 force this frame of mind, are most strongly to be deprecated. 
 On the contrary, the custom of holding regular seances with 
 a circle is quite harmless, and it will soon be seen if results 
 are obtainable in such a circle. I persuaded a lady who was 
 easily thrown into a state of trance, to hold some sittings with 
 me. At first we only heard a slight rustling ; at the third 
 seance the sounds were so distinct that questions could be 
 asked ; at the sixth the rappings were as strong as though 
 produced by materialised fingers, and every such sound shook 
 her. A young lady, in whose presence very strong manifesta- 
 tions occurred, always had a tendency to falling asleep ; with 
 both these ladies the manifestations ceased on the admission 
 of a strojiger light, but only for a time. Observing the 
 development of such natures has always tended to strengthen 
 my convictions. Such sort of trials would succeed in most 
 family circles, though the following conditions should be 
 observed: i. Individuals of both sexes, preferably young 
 persons ; 2. At the commencement complete darkness ; 3. 
 Regular days and hours in the week ; 4. The seance should 
 only last half an hour ; 5. Avoidance of change of the members. 
 Of course, all these rules are only of value as long as no 
 regular rappings are given ; if by means of these an appeal 
 for direction to the transcendental side is possible, then a free 
 
 II 
 
1 62 Birth and Death. 
 
 communion will supersede the necessity of the five rules above- 
 mentioned. 
 
 1 have found the possibility admitted by physicists, that men 
 may develope a sixth sense by means of adaptation and discipline. 
 This is really far less clearly established than the fact that the 
 senses which they already possess, may develope a sensitiveness 
 approaching transcendental perception, and when an effort may 
 be expected from the other side, it is not improbable that 
 telegraphic communication may be looked for perhaps very 
 soon. Indeed, it exists in some measure at the present time, 
 but in conditions which correspond somewhat with the use of 
 balloons as a method of travelling ; if such a vehicle is forth- 
 coming, and a favourable wind is to be anticipated, the journey 
 may take place ; but, as a rule, this kind of aerial voyage is 
 without practical aim or destination, with the exception perhaps 
 as in such ä situation as that of the siege of Paris ! As to the 
 form of communication, a question which can be answered by 
 either "yes" or "no" is the simplest and least risky. As to 
 the substance of the questions, it should never be forgotten that 
 we have to do with another form of perception (in relation to 
 time and space), not, however, with an omniscient being. In 
 the fourth chapter we have called attention to the unreliable 
 character of these communications, and I cannot warn anyone 
 sufficiently strongly against placing too great confidence in 
 these revelations ; much experience is necessary to recognise 
 and to understand the transcendental origin (for it is nothing 
 more) of these pictures or delineations. 
 
 Anyone who desires to approach nearer to these " illusory 
 figures," in order to increase his knowledge or get nearer to the 
 light, can always do so, for if he can get no certain information, 
 he can always obtain indications leading in the right direction ; 
 but if he wishes to derive advantage from the comnmnkations, 
 to spare himself the trouble of reflection, or to set up one belief 
 through another^ he would do well to leave it alone. It is not. 
 the substance of the communications, not the intercourse with 
 the unseen world which are of value, but the facts which prove 
 their possibility and existence. In this sense Kant spoke more 
 than a hundred years ago, when he laid stress upon the " Pos- 
 sibility of intercourse," and the " Value of recognised, genuine 
 observation," though he denied these kinds of communications, 
 and even grieved that he had bought " a work of this character " 
 (that of Swedenborg), "and what was even worse, had read it." 
 I can only add that, during my thirty years' experience in this 
 
What is, and how does one Become a Fakir? 163 
 
 department, I have found an unbroken chain of confirmation 
 for Kant's views, which at least does not surprise myself. 
 
 Modern spiritualists take unfortunately the opposite stand- 
 point ; they seek the explanation of the phenomena, not through 
 the conclusions drawn from observation, but they lay the onus 
 on the more convenient communications, with which they justify 
 their ideas of natural philosophy and metaphysics, when these 
 correspond with their own ideas and wishes ; and in which 
 unknown quantities, like " perisprit," fluids, etc., play a con- 
 spicuous part. The only way that conducts straight to its aim 
 is, however, to use exact observation and to draw correct 
 conclusions ! 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE RIDDLE OF OUR BEING SOLVED. THE SOLUTION OF THE 
 
 .TRANSCENDENTAL SIDE OF THE PROBLEM. 
 
 The explanation of the natural side of all phenomena in nature 
 (and, therefore, of the physical causes of such phenomena and 
 their connection with one another) is a matter for different 
 branches of science, whose last problem, and whose highest ideal, 
 is founded upon the molecular theory; the accessory means 
 consist in making the greatest possible use of experience, and 
 "in exact observation of every change. The discovery of the 
 transcendental metaphysical side of natural phenomena is, on the 
 contrary, a task for philosophers, and one requiring special 
 thought. 
 
 Before, however, proceeding to explore the transcendental 
 side of human existence, we will say a few words more, 
 especially for the benefit of such of our readers as are not 
 versed in philosophy, about a definition which is much mis- 
 understood and misapplied; this is the definition "metaphysics," 
 under which is generally understood that portion of philosophy, 
 which comprises the " supersensual," or the "essential part 
 of things," or the " ultimate basis of the world of exist- 
 ence." 
 
 The " supersensual " in general cannot be looked upon as 
 belonging to metaphysics, because many things are super- 
 sensual which do not fall within that department. Just as 
 little can the " Essence of things " be considered as a part of 
 metaphysics, because the transcendental basis of the world of 
 existence is far from being the essence of things, or its ultimate 
 basis. If a definition is given to an idea, which like " super- 
 sensual " or the "essence of things" is not at all suited to it, 
 the divergence of views as to the value and comprehension of 
 metaphysics is not surprising. A practical comparison may 
 enlighten the reader as to the correct conception of " meta- 
 physics." 
 
The Riddle of our Being Solved. 165 
 
 It is impossible that anything more wonderful or mysterious 
 can exist than the fact, that broken rays transmitted through 
 the spectroscope can tell us at a distance of millions and billions 
 of miles of what materials the stars are made, and what direc- 
 tion they take in their courses ; nevertheless, we have in this 
 instance to do with the natural, physical side of nature. But 
 if a somnambulist, who. has no knowledge of me, is able to give 
 the most trivial information as to my thoughts, or of some 
 equally unimportant event in the near future, we are in the 
 presence of facts which are no longer of a normal, but of a 
 transcendoital, metaphysical nature, because our normal means 
 do not reach to such kind of perception. It is the task like- 
 wise of metaphysics to discover the retrogressive side of the 
 natural world, to which it is related, as the convex is to the 
 concave side of a circle, as depth is to a surface, as the magic 
 lantern to the picture upon the wall, etc. This retrogressive or 
 backward side cannot, however, be the " ultimate basis " of 
 things ; the ancient Greeks were, therefore, right when they 
 called that which by us goes under the name of " physics," 
 " iLeTa TO, (^vaiKa ; " it does not much signify if it is perceptible 
 to our senses, or whether or no it forms the ultimate basis. 
 
 As the world of existence presented to us has without doubt 
 a transcendental basis, so every branch of physical science 
 must sooner or later rest upon a metaphysical foundation. 
 Kant and Schopenhauer recognised this, and the last went so 
 far, and not without reason, as to describe the love of the 
 sexes as metaphysical. Therefore, transcendental physics may 
 certainly be an object for metaphysical speculation (for instance, 
 speculation as to the fourth dimension of space), and there 
 may exist a transcendental chemistry, etc. (see my " Magic of 
 Numbers "). In this book, however, I have only spoken of the 
 transcendental side of man, of the riddle of humanity which 
 is to be looked upon as solved, unless the proposition which 
 forms the title of this book can be disproved. Therefore, we 
 have not to treat of metaphysics in general, but of the meta- 
 physical side of human beings ; in this limitation the security 
 of my metaphysics lies. 
 
 In the words : " Birth and Death are nothing more than a 
 change of form of perception ! " lies the metaphysical key 
 to the explanation not only of our existence, but also of all the 
 phenomena mentioned in this volume, because these last are 
 not only explained by this proposition, but allow themselves to 
 be deduced from it, since they are a necessary consequence of it. 
 
1 66 ' Birth and Death. 
 
 The greater portion of human knowledge is certainly acquired 
 by the inductive process ; experiences are made from which 
 laws are drawn, which are more largely accepted as true and 
 just, the longer they are justified by experience, and which 
 remain of value, till new and contradictory events make an 
 alteration in them necessary. In this way the laws in connec- 
 tion with chemistry have been established, which are doubted 
 by no one, because they daily meet with confirmation ; not- 
 withstanding which, most of these laws rest upon no better 
 basis than a high degree of probability ; it is really only a 
 probability, though in a very high degree, that what has in a 
 thousand instances been proved correct, in another case may 
 
 be disproved { ; — ). 
 
 ^ \m + 2/ 
 
 It is quite another thing with the deductive process, if through 
 speculation and synthetical reason new ideas ä priori are 
 arrived at, and consequences drawn from them, which receive 
 their justification in experience. Therefore, if a proposition is 
 derived by way of induction from experience, and all which is 
 deductive is inferred, and confirmed by experience, everything 
 possible has been done to arrive at the truth. When tlie laws 
 arrived at by Kepler through induction were confirmed by 
 Newton's deductive process of gravitation, light was thrown 
 upon the movements of the heavenly bodies. 
 
 Now let us see what I have set before my readers. 
 
 We have found in dreams a transcendental function, which 
 likewise exists in visions, in the magic will, and in all other 
 phenomena ; we are likewise justified in assuming a conductor 
 for this function, since it cannot be the physical and visible 
 organism composed of cells ; we are, therefore, forced to accept 
 the existence of a transcendental subject in man, and to 
 recognise our natural " ego " as its representative, and by this 
 means all contradictions are recoificiled, which our existence as 
 we'.l as many phenomena in life call into being. Experience 
 confirms the existence of such a subject in every way. 
 
 If the fact is clearly established that man is the representation 
 of a transcendental being in organic form, then birth and death 
 are evidently only a change of form of perception. And as 
 the evidence of biology and of the theory of knowledge equally 
 point to the recognition of a transcendental basis in man, so we 
 could and can take the reverse way, and proceeding from the 
 assumption of a transcendental subject as the basis of human 
 existence, draw logical conclusions and so proceed in a 
 
The Riddle of otw Being Solved. 167 
 
 deductive manner ; it will then again be the task of experience to 
 confirm our deductions ; if the latter does this, the justice of the 
 point from which we set out can no longer be disputed. For if 
 experience compels us to accept any propositions as correct 
 or sufficient for explanation, and, on the other side, the results 
 flowing from this proposition are again confirmed by experience, 
 we can be quite easy as to the justice and truth of the pro- 
 position. 
 
 If conclusions are drawn purposely from some proposition 
 or idea, it is not surprising if these predications are found 
 again by means of analysing ; much disorder has been caused at 
 times by these dialectic tricks. It is quite otherwise, however, 
 when experience produces and supports these conclusions, and 
 when there is likewise further experience which confirms over 
 again what has been found analytically. Let us examine this. 
 
 We will imagine a being who had no knowledge whatever 
 of what takes place on our planet, we will imagine him also the 
 inhabitant of another star, and that he received information that 
 the earth was peopled by organisms, who had to thank a change 
 of form of consciousness for their condition. Without any ex- 
 perience of these organisms, what conclusions could or must 
 this stranger draw from this intelligence ? This hypothetical 
 inhabitant of another planet would say (if he were a logical 
 and thinking being), that this change might be accomplished 
 with greater or less rapidity and completeness, that there must 
 be periods of transition and development, just as a man who 
 changes his clothes periodically is better or worse dressed, as 
 the case may be. Our imaginary being will come to the 
 conclusion, without any closer experience of our planet, in the 
 first place, that in the organic nature of the earth, apparent 
 incompleteness and states of transition must exist ; he would 
 not, therefore, be surprised at being told that, as a fact, such 
 incompleteness and such a transition state is found in the 
 development of the human form of existence, when, for instance, 
 the change of the form of consciousness pre-existing is not 
 completely accomplished, or is incomplete through illness. 
 
 If our imaginary being were asked what results must be drawn 
 from such periods of transition and development, he would 
 without doubt answer, as a logical thinker, that such individuals 
 would find themselves of necessity belonging to both forms of 
 consciousness, like a ball thrown between them, since both 
 forms of consciousness and being change constantly more or 
 less. And behold ! what, without any experience, is the result 
 
1 68 Birth and Death. 
 
 of logical thinking, is by experience fully confirmed, as we have 
 seen in the first part ; logical thinking and experience lead to 
 the knowledge that through incomplete organisation, as at birth 
 or from illness, supernormal perceptions and powers, and even 
 tlie severance {Spaltung) of the human form are possible. 
 
 The limits for the possible logical speculations of our imagin- 
 ary being are not yet passed, for he might further advance the 
 proposition, that through an imperfect death, the subject 
 separated from the organic body might still partly have human 
 perceptions and needs. Experience has already proved the 
 justice of this assertion, seeing that Plato held the same view. 
 He held the opinion that the condition and qualities of the soul 
 after death were not the same in the case of everyone, and 
 especially that persons of materialistic views and tendencies, 
 even after death, would be attached for a long time to the 
 earth. 
 
 Therefore, all the phenomena before mentioned may be 
 explained through the proposition " Birth and death are a 
 change of the form of perception ; " because they are a 
 necessary result of this proposition. If through this hypothesis 
 a reasonable aim for our existence is to be acknowledged, its 
 justice and truth can no longer be denied. It can, in the first 
 place, only be a question whether the justification is established 
 by experience, and whether the observation of these phenomena, 
 from which the proposition was taken inductively or justified 
 deductively, was a certain one ; and, in the second place, if a 
 reasonable aim of our being can be considered as proceeding 
 from this change of the form of consciousness. If these ques- 
 tions are answered in the affirmative, the proposition is without 
 doubt correct. 
 
 If the results of my observations are compared with the 
 numberless accounts of ancient times, of the middle ages and 
 of the present day in all parts of the world (Perty reckons the 
 number of authors on these subjects at 30,000), and if they are 
 compared with the researches of such men as Crookes, Hare, 
 Wallace, Varley, or Zöllner, it becomes absolutely impossible to 
 cast a doubt on the facts as such, or on their right observation. 
 If, however, we are forced to accept them, we stand in the 
 presence of a problem, which can the less easily be solved 
 from the standpoint of modern conceptions of nature, as the 
 facts themselves stand in direct opposition to these last ; while 
 the phenomena can be readily explained when a transcendental 
 basis of human beings is recognised, which under certain cir- 
 
The Riddle of our Being Solved. 169 
 
 cumstances is capable of perception and action independent of 
 the physical body. Birth and death are, therefore, again, 
 through the existence of such a " subject," a simple change of 
 form of perception. If this is admitted, then the esoteric 
 natures of certain persons, the severance (Spaltung) of the 
 subject into the two personalities, individual continuance as 
 well as another kind of existence and beings, are again irre- 
 fragably proved. Neither must it be overlooked that all those 
 fakirs who have given proofs of supernormal perception, have 
 recognised in every age the existence of other beings, and give 
 a foremost place to their operations. 
 
 This, my solution of the riddle of humanity, is verified, there- 
 fore, on every side, and is not in contradiction to the results of 
 the inquiries obtained by physical science (which must be 
 distinguished from modern scientific philosophy !) ; on the 
 contrary, it explains much that is obscure, incomprehensible, 
 and contradictory in the region of physical science. For 
 instance, biology cannot in any way solve the problems of the 
 origin, development, and functions of organic life ; and, there- 
 fore, the whole individualistic school, from Leibnitz to Herbart, 
 as well as the pantheistic, represented by Schopenhauer, recog- 
 nise the necessity of a transcendental' basis. 
 
 It might be thought, therefore, that the solution of the problem 
 here set forth would be universally welcomed, since it answers 
 to the metaphysical requirements of all higher natures. Such, 
 howeyer, is not the case ; this solution meets with much oppo- 
 sition. Since, however, everything in the world must proceed 
 from some cause, we will examine the motive to which this 
 antagonism must be ascribed, and we shall be much assisted 
 in our search, if we recognise the fact that these opponents 
 are principally to be met with among the priesthood and 
 scientists. This circumstance is very significant, for they are 
 the bell-wethers or leaders, on whom the two great flocks of 
 believers and apparently cultivated persons thoughtlessly pin 
 their faith ; it is not surprising, therefore, that my weapons 
 should be principally directed against the undue exaltation of 
 these hierarchies. 
 
 Although the assumptions and results here set forth are not 
 opposed to the teaching of founders of religion (like Christ), but 
 are indeed in unison with them, the members of all spiritual 
 hierarchies are determined to fight against such views — at least 
 pro foro extcrno, — as these undermine their Divine mission and 
 government, and place their spiritual counsel in the background. 
 
1 70 Birth and Death. 
 
 Therefore, it arises that miracles as a justification for the Divinity 
 of their doctrines have no weight, and these latter must enter 
 into competition with other teachings on their own merits. 
 These facts, recorded by the Church, are of value as weapons 
 against materialism, but later similar occurrences are inconve- 
 nient, and indeed, injurious to her ; the opposition of her priests 
 is, therefore, easily to be understood. 
 
 The scientific coterie, as a matter of course, oppose my meta- 
 physics, becauseif the latter are established, the present generation 
 of " men of science " are all to be condemned. It is not error for 
 which they are to be blamed, — for who is free from error ? — 
 but the confidence with which they declare things to be impos- 
 sible, which not only exist as facts, but are the necessary results 
 of the theory of development, and, on the other side, assert 
 things as possible, which are utterly impossible; as, for instance, 
 the development of a teleological organism without a transcen- 
 dental basis, although Kant, who recognised the design of a 
 Creator in the formation of the universe, told them further that 
 not the smallest organism could be brought to existence without 
 design. 
 
 It is strange that even believing persons, who, without being 
 under clerical influence, have faith in a future life and an 
 unseen world, yet find no satisfaction in the idea of a 
 simple change of form of consciousness ; they fight against it, 
 because they form too exalted a conception of the future life in 
 heaven. Three years ago I wrote as follows : — 
 
 " Believing people do not understand and will not allow that 
 no other difference really exists between the unseen and the 
 natural world, but that of the different materials for organisa- 
 tion and a different manner of perception and existence, which I 
 have described more in detail in the third volume of the ' Pre- 
 judices.' No cells, and, therefore, no need of nourishment, no 
 possessions, but another idea of space, wider perceptions, and 
 a different measure of time — and what a gain would this be ! 
 If a comparison is wanted, let us imagine the blind, and deaf, 
 and dumb, who live, indeed, in our midst, but for whom the 
 world would be completely transformed, if they could suddenly 
 hear and see. Through my metaphysics the greatly longed-for 
 heaven is reduced to the change of our powers of knowledge 
 and sensation, from the caterpillar rises the butterfly, it throws 
 off the grub, and remains free from what had fettered and 
 held it down. This conception of heaven is not sufficiently 
 beautiful and exalted for the believing world, they want rest 
 
The Riddle of our Being Solved. ■ 171 
 
 and happiness, but no fresh work. They forget that we can 
 know really nothing of the normal condition of the unseen 
 world, because it is impossible for us to realise how and where 
 they live, as we can only form ideas suited to our senses. The 
 unbelievers, in their high state of enlighten.ment, wish for no 
 heaven; they feel how absurd they would be made to look, if 
 the existence of the unseen world should be proved, and the 
 great want of thought they would be seen to have been guilty 
 of; in believing (with reason) not only that human development 
 is a product of adaptation (Anpassungsproduct), but that this 
 adaptation is cut short by death, and this perfected development 
 returns to its original elements {Zoospcrmcn), and becomes only 
 of value as physiological material ! " 
 
 The next generation will wonder at the indifference, ap- 
 proaching stupidit}', with which inquirers into the mysteries of 
 nature treat these temporary phenomena, because the results 
 to be deduced from them are of such a beneficial nature, that 
 they alone would make such a hypothesis worthy of considera- 
 tion. 
 
 Let us examine somewhat closer what the results of my 
 metaphysics would be. 
 
 If my apprehension is the right one, then an incalculable 
 duration of our development and progress towards perfection is 
 no longer a matter of doubt, and everything which has hitherto 
 appeared incomprehensible in the teleological development of 
 the embryo in the mother's body disappears, where motive 
 power for the struggle for being is quite impossible. From 
 this, however, it proceeds, that on another planet we may be 
 represented as of other given materials, quite different physio- 
 logically, but identical in a morphological point of view, some- 
 what as though our organs, through difference of injections, took 
 another exterior and other peculiarities. This conception 
 coincides entirely with the Hindoo philosophy and the propo- 
 sitions of the Kabbala, which likewise accept an already-formed 
 world, out of which we enter into the organic body. The 
 organic forms of this world appear, therefore, only as one of 
 the apparently numberless possible representations of continuous 
 forms of being, which, in course of time, certainly become 
 capable of higher development. In tliis conception Darwinism 
 appears a great truth, while iinder the acceptation of the anni- 
 hilation of individual force in organism, it becomes an im- 
 possibility. 
 
 If this conception is the right one, then there is justice in 
 
172 BirtJi and Death. 
 
 the world and a justification for our actions, from themselves, 
 without any other intervention, while both are made illusory by 
 the modern ideas of natural philosophers. If there is a con- 
 tinuation of life, then the peopling of the heavenly bodies and 
 the adaptability to their physical conditions offer no further 
 difficulties, and there is no occasion to adopt such senseless 
 hypotheses as that (among others) meteoric stones are to be 
 looked upon as life-giving messengers. All great thinkers have 
 recognised a vis formativa as a necessity for the explanation of 
 organisms, whether from the Platonic idea or otherwise does 
 not affect the fundamental conception ; it was only left for 
 scientific materialism to raise an unimaginable edifice, — un- 
 imaginable because it presupposes an effect without a cause. 
 
 The difference of the materiality in the apparitions can be 
 now understood ! The hand which moves objects is unseen and 
 unfelt, then it becomes tangible but not visible; sometimes it is 
 visible and not tangible, sometimes both ; it becomes larger or 
 smaller ; it is united with the entire body, which is sometimes of 
 so little consistency that it can pass through matter, and at 
 others so solid that it is difficult to distinguish the transcen- 
 dental from the natural form, since it is only a question of the 
 degree of substantiality, and the complete or partial entry into 
 our idea of space. 
 
 How is it then that a solution of the biological and mystic 
 problem, given both by theory and experience, is not accepted ? 
 
 Now, I think I may say I have very great experience in the 
 matter of the objections which are advanced, because I count 
 myself one of the very few who do not hide their views 
 out of respect for public opinion, since the professors and 
 doctors, not to speak of all the tribe of journalists, do not impose 
 upon me in the least. I know them too well ! 
 
 The opposition lies in the incongruity of their representation 
 of eternity with the actual facts. They will either do away 
 with eternity altogether, or have one like the heaven of the 
 Christians or Mohamedans. 
 
 Of all this, however, nothing is to be discovered ; the beings 
 we know of are only found to be of a different texture, who 
 quite naturally know no more than they have learnt ; their 
 characters continue the same as they were on earth, and only 
 show themselves to us as superior, through the difference of 
 action and perception, while, on the other hand, they are con- 
 strained in manifesting themselves to us by technical difficulties. 
 If physical manifestations are for this reason ever so trifling, 
 
The Riddle of oitr Being Solved. 173 
 
 they are still facts of the most overwhelming importance, 
 because they prove the existence of human beings in another 
 state. This conception of the matter is, however, too simple, 
 too evident, too beautiful ; it cannot be accepted, because people 
 would be ashamed not to have recognised it as self-evident 
 long ago ! 
 
 It is the fate of a philosopher that his train of thought is 
 never weighed and recognised by his contemporaries, and only 
 in exceptional instances by those who come after him ; there- 
 fore, I will take comfort, and hope that the next generation will 
 possess more independence and courage ; not however on my 
 own account, as it is a matter of perfect indifference to me", but 
 on account of the survivors themselves, since these metaphysics 
 must exercise a beneficial influence on the development of our . 
 condition. As long as the present generation think of nothing 
 else than their material possessions and pleasures ; as long as 
 they shrink from no means, however low, in the fight for 
 existence, because they recognise no other responsibility than 
 their earthly interests, no existence worthy of humanity is 
 to be hoped for from the masses. My philosophy sets another 
 aim before mankind ; it shows him the responsibility of his 
 actions, and gives him thereby powerful motives for a noble 
 fife. 
 
 I have often been met with the following objections to these 
 views, I am told, " If the dual nature of man and the far 
 higher powers of perception and sensation are proved, man 
 himself cannot have originated in the mother's body, but must 
 , have existed previously. If, however, he has had a pre-existence, 
 how comes it that the more perfect being becomes degraded, 
 and is exposed to all the miseries of animal life ? " 
 
 I could refer the reader to the " Prejudices," in which these 
 questions are more fully answered ; still, a few words will show 
 th§ reasonableness of our views as opposed to these objections, 
 and give a sufficient answer to these, questions. 
 
 With regard to the first proposition, there can be no doubt 
 that the higher power of perception and action in man is not 
 developed in the mother's body ; it must have pre-existed, as 
 Plutarch clearly demonstrated. This is the more certain as 
 our human organs of sense may also only be a modification 
 of what have previously existed. The intelligent subject is, 
 however, the same in both forms of being. As to the second 
 question, namely, what is the motive for a change of form of 
 consciousness for the worse, we will answer that question hke- 
 
1/4 Birth and Death. 
 
 wise ; though if we had no answer to give, it would not alter 
 the fact of the possibility and truth of the palingenesis. 
 • There is a certain proposition, about the value of which a 
 greater amount of accordance reigns among the different 
 systems of philosophy, than about almost any other subject. 
 This proposition is, That which precedes the human existence 
 of every person, must likewise follow it. If it is a monad or some 
 individual force which the human conscious machine restores, 
 after death it becomes again a monad (according to indivi- 
 dualists from Leibnitz to Drossbach). If it is the emanation 
 from an impersonal Almighty, individualised as man, then the 
 individual consciousness is reabsorbed into the infinite (accord- 
 ing to Heraclitus down to Schopenhauer and Hartmann). 
 Even the materialistic inquirer into science derives man from 
 dust, and to dust he lets him return. Only the Jewish belief, 
 with its two branches of the Christian and Mahomedan faiths, 
 puts forth the monstrous idea that the soul of man is originated 
 or created (through an act of creation in every instance !), and 
 then endures to eternity ! This idea is disproved even . by 
 their own dogmatical books, as there are passages in them 
 which undoubtedly recognise incarnation as a representation 
 of another state of being. If man will really exist as an 
 individuality after death, he mus*t have so existed before his 
 birth ; if he was such before birth, he .will remain the same 
 after death— not one without the other. Hindoos in respect 
 to these questions, as opposed to Christians in Western 
 countries, are decidedly in the right. The origin of the soul — 
 for this is the point in question — has ever been an apple of 
 discord among philosophers. The materialist identifies the 
 soul with the body, that is, as far as creative force can be 
 attributed to microscopic atoms {Zoospcrni). The generation 
 theorists recognise indeed a difference between body and soul, 
 but say the latter is generated likewise by the parents, 
 " through a secondary creative power, which the original 
 creative Will bestows upon the parents at the moment of 
 generation ! ! " The transference of this creative power from 
 the Godhead to the parents apparently arises from the fact, 
 that many think the creationists' idea, that God forms every 
 individual soul by an act of creation, is too offensive or out- 
 rageous. It is evident that these explanations do not gain in 
 lucidity by the word " nature " being substituted for " God." 
 The idea advanced against these doctrines is that of not attempt- 
 ing to define the origin of the soul, and, therefore, pleading our 
 
The Riddle of our Being Solved. 175 
 
 ignorance on this point, and, on the other hand, confessing the 
 necessity oi'iis pre-existence, like that of a brilHant meteor. 
 
 Nevertheless, men will not give up the idea that their in- 
 dividuality first begins with their earthly life ; they are right 
 as to the personality, rooted in human consciousness, but in 
 the wrong as to the "subject" lying at the bottom of this 
 personality. This obstinacy may be accounted for by their 
 ignorance of the phenomenon of their personality. Perty, 
 although free from scientific and religious prejudices, takes 
 refuge in a crowd of obscure phrases, when he speaks of 
 these problems. He says (vol. ii., p. 490, of " Mystical Appear- 
 ances"): "The soul as the life-principle of the body is derived 
 from the parents, and upon them its empirical individuality 
 is grounded. Through the indissoluble union with the God- 
 given spirit, it becomes a reasonable soul, and at the same time, 
 therefore, exalted above transitoriness . . . ," and so on ! 
 Involuntarily the words of the poet occur to me : — 
 
 " Gewöhnlich glaubt der Mensch, wenn er nur Worte hört, 
 Es müsse sich dabei auch was denken lassen." 
 
 ("Men generally think, when they hear words, that something 
 must be meant by them.") 
 
 On the other side, it is not surprising that human existence 
 should only be a passing episode of real life, in which childish 
 amusements and occupations occur, which are known in the 
 many kinds of forms of the soul's wanderings. This difference 
 of opinion does not exist only between the Hindoo and 
 Christian beliefs ; it is also to be found in the contradictory 
 communications received through modern mediums, and yet it 
 is so easy to come to a decision and to find out the truth. 
 
 Though, indeed, there can be no doubt that human existence 
 has a transcendental basis, still we are not justified in drawing the 
 conclusion that this incarnation is an absolute necessity for our 
 indwelling essence, as Allan Kardec's adherents assert, although 
 they support this assertion on communications of very proble- 
 matical value, which other communications from similar sources 
 contradict. 
 
 On the other side, it cannot be contested, that what has once 
 happened in the interest of. development wilt not or cannot 
 happen again. The repeated entrance into biological existence 
 on our planet can, therefore, neither be altogether denied nor 
 confirmed ; but there are many grounds for accepting the fact 
 
1 76 Bii'th and Death. 
 
 that tliis may differ greatly in the cases of different in- 
 dividuals. 
 
 We will enter more into the question of the palingenesis, 
 when we examine the causes, which could induce a transcenden- 
 tal being to re-enter the earthly vale of sorrow, and at the 
 same time answer the previous question. I will remark here 
 that the objection so often advanced, that we have no recollec- 
 tion of a previous condition, and, therefore, that later on that 
 of earth-life will likewise be wanting, is childish, because in 
 the night we lose our consciousness, which we find only partly 
 or confusedly in dreams ; in the morning, however, we have the 
 remembrance not only of our past life, but of the dreams as 
 well. This is seen more distinctly in the case of somnambulists, 
 who in their waking condition know nothing of their transcen- 
 dental consciousness, but in the magnetic sleep have command 
 over the remembrance of both forms of consciousness. 
 
 Of all the laws of nature none has gained such complete 
 validity as the principle of the conservation of force, which 
 attains its height in the dictum {Formidirung), that nerve-force 
 {Spannkraft) is transposed into life-force, and back again into 
 nerve-force, — a truth which enlightens us with equal clearness 
 as to the development of the heavenly bodies and of chemical 
 processes. It is further assumed, not without valid grounds, 
 that nerve-force or power runs parallel with our disagreeable 
 sensations, and life-force with those which are pleasant. If 
 this is true, then it follows that it is only by suffering and 
 struggles that the character is formed, as it is only by spiritual 
 labour that spirit is developed. Through this wonderful order- 
 ing of things, not only does justice rule in the world, but the 
 impulse of life, with its destination, is rendered clear ! We are 
 not placed on this planet in order to enjoy, but to learn and to 
 suffer ; which is as much as to say, in order to acquire talents, 
 faculties, and virtues, or, in one word, to develope nerve-force 
 On the other side, there is also a comfort, never to be destroyed, 
 in the knowledge that we shall sooner or later awaken from the 
 troubled dream of our earthly life. 
 
 Still, with the need of our development the number of motives 
 for an entrance into the biological process is far from exhausted ! 
 What is the cause of so many suicides in our time ? Truly 
 none other than the unbearableness of existence, arising (with 
 some few exceptions) either from bodily or mental anguish. 
 Is it not conceivable that self-knowledge in transcendental life 
 may cause a change of consciousness ? Do not the inhabitants 
 
The Riddle of our Being Solved. 177 
 
 of this world try by means of opium or wine to place themselves 
 in a state of oblivion ? May not love for certain persons, or 
 care for the welfare of certain communities, be sufficient motives, 
 as we see them to be here ? Have not many sought death for 
 all kinds of reasons ? What, then, is the dream of life compared 
 to an eternity in the transcendental measure of time ? 
 
 The transcendental basis of human existence is an indisputable 
 fact, and the continuity of our individuality both before and 
 afterwards is a necessary consequence, an opinion which both 
 Pythagoras and Plato have distinctly expressed, and which is 
 not to be wondered at, seeing that it is proved by correct 
 observation and right judgment of the facts of experience. The 
 repetition of an organic existence has, however, only a probability 
 of relative value. The Hindoo thinks to escape earthly re- 
 incarnation by means of great sufferings and privations, and this 
 is by no means a bad idea. Christ speaks of the chastisements 
 of those whom He loves, and places eternal happiness far more 
 in reach of the poor and oppressed than of the rich and happy, 
 who will long have to wander in the darkness of earth life. In 
 order to attain to perfection, we need not trouble our heads as 
 to what changes we shall have to pass through in another life. 
 If a dream so relatively short as our earthly existence, with its 
 experiences and limited conditions, appears useful to us, then 
 we shall doubtless accept it — even without the previous appro- 
 bation of orthodox Jews, Christians, and Mohamedans ; if 
 this dream does not appear necessary to us for the development 
 of our character, then we shall not have to pass through it, 
 even though we differ in this view from Allen Kardec's followers. 
 Nothing is shown in favour of a periodical re-incarnation, except 
 the analogy which is made use of by Charles Fourier : the change 
 from day to night, from waking to sleep ; nothing certain is, 
 however, arrived at by means of analogy. 
 
 Hindoos have an idea, which seems to me a just one, that the 
 character or the " ego " endures through all the different 
 personal existences ; and this they describe by the term 
 " Karma." Sinnett says : " At the commencement of a cor- 
 poreal life, the karma of one who has pre-existed accepts the 
 conditions of life, in which the man will be born."' This is 
 quite right ; still, it follows that the karma may easily become 
 qualified, so as to dispense with the experiences or trials 
 of a new dream of life in the form known to us. The fact 
 that the Hindoos accept re-incarnation in from seven to eight 
 hundred forms, lies in the circumstance, that they recognise 
 
 12 
 
 t IDNIVEESIIX } 
 
178 Birth and Death. 
 
 the important part, which periodicity in development and the 
 number seven play in nature. Instead, however, of seeking 
 the ground of the phenomenon of the subject, in our organisa- 
 tion, they erect a system of natural philosophy on the basis of 
 the number seven. Even if this were justified, it does not 
 follow that a conclusion need be drawn from the sevenfold 
 multiplicity which nature offers us, and from the periodicity of 
 the to us normal world, as to the laws of development and 
 motives of a quite different condition of causality (Causali- 
 tätsvcrhältiiiss). Compare my " Magic of Numbers." 
 
 Schopenhauer makes the will or love of life a" condition for 
 re-incarnation ; Drossbach makes it an accident; I look upon 
 it as a need. As the necessity of our intellectual development 
 causes us to go to school, to obtain instruction, and to collect 
 different experiences, even at the cost of much sacrifice ; and 
 as we undergo a painful operation in the interest of our health, 
 so the needs of our ethical development can and will force us 
 into the stream of life, which is as necessary to us for trial and 
 self-knowledge, as the looking-glass is if we would see our faces. 
 It is worthy of notice that persons of a regular and tranquil 
 manner of living, procure by preference the requisite amount 
 of emotion by means of romances or tragedies, while those 
 who live stormy or troubled lives choose more diversion and 
 excitement. 
 
 Palingenesis in the above form, and within limits, is, therefore, 
 not unreasonable, but is indeed the only way to overcome the 
 irrationality and pessimism of our being. 
 
 I think I have answered in some measure the questions 
 put in the introduction, as I promised I would do. The 
 first question : What becomes of us, when the laterna magica 
 in our bodies is extinguished ? — is answered, We change the 
 form of consciousness, nothing more ! The second question : 
 Why are we placed on this planet? is likewise answered, For 
 the purpose of our development. The third question : Whence 
 do we come ? only receives a limited answer. From another 
 form of consciousness ; we have changed it, that is certain ; how 
 we arrived at the former one, that we know not ! The only 
 definite answer which could be given with any reason is, By 
 adaptation. For it would indeed be most unphilosophical to 
 recognise adaptation as a real factor in the world of being 
 known to us, and to deny its existence and equal importance 
 in the transcendental world. 
 
 The question as to the origin of the soul, or of the transcen- 
 
TJie Riddle of otir Being Solved. \']C) 
 
 dental subject, oversteps the programme or design of this work. 
 Let us leave the problem of the world, or the metaphysics 
 of the world, alone, at least for the present ! Let us content 
 ourselves with the mctaphysios of mankind. In an essay in the 
 "Tagebuch" I have defined the limits between what it is 
 possible to know, and what we cannot know. 
 
 In spite of, or rather on account of this restriction, we are 
 permitted to seek for the metaphysical foundation for everything 
 existing in the world of being, not only, therefore, for hunian 
 beings, but for animals and such like. But to penetrate the 
 still deeper basis of this groundwork cannot be in our province, 
 and must remain for the transcendental form of consciousness. 
 If, however, I restrain myself to the metaphysics of humanity, 
 I need not be pre^iented from giving at least some indications 
 as to the immediate basis of organic and inorganic nature. 
 
 If birth and death are really only a change of form of per- 
 ception, then this is likewise true as regards animals; scarcely 
 anyone will doubt this. It would, therefore, be interesting 
 to know if the results of these metaphysics are in this case 
 equally justified by experience ; I have certainly found, much to 
 my satisfaction, that there exist numberless instances support- 
 ing this theory in collected works on this subject. It is 
 universally acknowledged that horses and dogs possess now 
 and then a great sensitiveness to transcendental influence ; still, 
 this should not be taken as analogous to the transcendental 
 perception of seers, because the normal perception of the senses 
 in animals may easily be higher than in human beings. Far 
 more does the wonderful instinct of animals (particularly in their 
 care for the next- generation) point to a transcendental percep- 
 tion ; while the phenomena of the severance (Spaltung) would 
 be decisive. Now, there exist authentic records that not only 
 have cats and dogs been seen at seances, but that shortly after 
 their deaths they have been seen or heard in the immediate 
 neighbourhood where they previously existed ; there is not 
 much to be told as to the first point ; I know one case, at a 
 seance at which I was myself present, when a married .couple 
 had the hallucination that they saw a beloved Pomeranian, 
 without saying anything about it to those present or at the 
 time to one another ; it was only afterwards that they were 
 surprised by the coincidence of the unexpected vision on both 
 sides ; we others saw nothing. As to the second point, no doubt 
 in many cases such visions may be the effect of hallucination or 
 imagination, but not in all ; I read not long since that a sick tame 
 
i8o Birth and Death. 
 
 fawn was taken to a veterinary surgeon, and a short time after, 
 his owner heard the short quick step approaching, but not 
 seeing the animal, hastened to the doctor, where he found the 
 poor fawn had just expired. The striking circumstance in 
 these accounts is, that they are always of domestic animals, 
 whose death has immediately preceded these events. I know 
 one solitary instance, the eyewitnesses of which are well known 
 to me, in which the vision of an animal lasted for a long period. 
 A countess whom I knew intimately, inhabited many years an 
 old castle, in two particular rooms of which she often saw a 
 cat which never could be found, and she was much laughed at 
 by her acquaintance on account of this hallucination. Later 
 on she took up her residence in quite a different neighbourhood, 
 where she had inherited a large property, and twenty years 
 afterwards her son established himself in the same old castle. 
 His young wife turned those two rooms into her painting 
 studio, and saw there repeatedly, without knowing anything of 
 her mother-in-law's vision, the cat which never could be found. 
 Both ladies are free from visions, though they both possess the 
 faculty of automatic writing, which makes a degree of sensitive- 
 ness probable. 
 
 All such facts, so far as they are worthy of confidence, would 
 go to prove that there are no barriers between the world of 
 being and the so-called othet world, except that of a different 
 form of perception, which again is conditional on the material 
 for representation. In this circumstance we are justified at 
 least in not denying ä priori the possibility of such appearances. 
 
 As to the material for such apparitions, it must have a 
 transcendental origin, since it acts upon our senses. In the 
 first place it is known to us in three forms : atoms, molecules, 
 and cells. Concerning the first, 1 have proved in my " Magic 
 of Numbers," that the difference in the supposed simple chemi- 
 cal elements can be only satisfactorily accounted for by the 
 difference of forms of crystallisation of an unknown substance ; 
 whether this basis so often appearing is the same as the aether 
 of the chemist, the agasa of the Brahmin, the "od" of Reichen- 
 bach, or the fluid of the mystics — is still unknown ! Molecules 
 are complex combinations of atoms, they form the material for 
 inorganic nature. Cells are units, whose nature and origin are 
 still less known to us than those of other units ; we only know 
 something of the conditions under which they are developed ; 
 they form the foundation stone for the organic world, and 
 anyone who wonders at the simplicity of the means which 
 
The Riddle of our Being Solved. 1 8 1 
 
 nature employs to bring such great variety into being, should 
 consider the figures brought forth by the electric current on 
 plates (analogous to the Chladnyschen figures on sounding 
 cylinders), and he will learn by the sight of these, to understand 
 in what a simple way the wonderful symmetrical pictures and 
 drawings in the world of animals and plants, as well as our 
 germ cells are brought into being. 
 
 To our senses, the appearances can certainly only be con- 
 sidered as arising from numerous accumulations and combina- 
 tions of molecules and cells ; we know nothing of any other 
 possible appearances of other materials, except that they are 
 sometimes transitorily visible and are not formed from living 
 cells. If the three dimensional spaces imagined by us exhausted 
 the absolute space, we might even assert that these appearances 
 were not composed of molecules, otherwise they could not 
 disappear without leaving a trace. As, however, our conception 
 of space differs from the true space, and is far behind it in 
 variety and dimension, this question remains unsolved, as do 
 so many others for which no comprehensive materials of 
 experience are forthcoming ; still, it is not impossible that future 
 generations may have such at their command. 
 
 One thing, however, is firmly established : the existence of a 
 transcendental basis, which completes the representation of the 
 organic world, and with it changes the form of consciousness ; 
 if the material is composed of living cells, we call the action 
 of the change birth ; if the change is formed by laying aside the 
 cells, we call the act of transition death. As, however, this 
 transition may be more or less complete and rapid in birth as 
 well as in death, so there will always be found persons with 
 some supernormal forms of perception, as well as so-called 
 apparitions. (These last are either creatures of our phantasy, 
 or of some other form of texture.) 
 
 We are thus brought back again to our starting-point ; the 
 deductive process has attained the same result as the inductive ; 
 namely, the proposition which stands upon the title-page. 
 Biology, the criticism of our powers of knowledge, and the facts 
 of experience, all lead to the need of a transcendental subject 
 by means of induction ; if, however, we make use of the deductive 
 form, and start with the assumption of a transcendental subject, 
 the logical result of this is the change of the form of conscious- 
 ness for our dream of life, and this change brings with it the 
 belief that through deficiency and slowness of transition in the 
 change, or even through illness, traces of a double perception 
 
1 82 Birth and Death. 
 
 and action are to be found, as well as the phenomena of the 
 severance {Spaltung). The facts of mysticism are, therefore, a 
 necessary result of the dual nature of man, and should not 
 astonish us when they are ratified by experience ; on the 
 contrary, their non-occurrence would be quite incomprehensible, 
 because it would be contrary to exceptional nature, which 
 demands a development of its incompleteness and transition 
 state ; and, therefore, severance must take place to show the 
 existence of two different kinds of being and forms of conscious- 
 ness. The riddle of humanity is hereby solved so far as 
 concerns the immediate past, the nearest future, and the aim 
 of earthly existence ; what remains beyond this, must await its 
 solution in a higher form of perception. 
 
 It is always a happy thing for any doctrine or theory if it is 
 capable of being imprinted on the mind by some short and 
 clearly expressed proposition. It is possible that I myself or 
 some others may find a better formula, but for the present I 
 know not how to find a more comprehensive expression or 
 sentence than " Birth and Death are a change of the form of 
 perception." We will now defend this proposition, the jus- 
 tification of which I have proved to my readers on sufficient 
 grounds, against my nuraerous opponents, and set forth its 
 reasonableness. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 MY METAPHYSICS, AS OPPOSED TO POPULAR BELIEFS, PHYSICAL 
 SCIENCE, AND PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 The proposition ^' vox populi, vox Dei" may, some hundred 
 years ago, have been founded on fact, but since the time of 
 parliaments being elected in the modern fashion, — that is, the 
 representation of the people being determined by choice and 
 election, — especially since the institution of the leading daily 
 press, this proposition has lost its signification. At the present 
 time the " people " rather resemble a flock, shorn by aspiring 
 members of parliament and the grasping priests of public 
 opinion. 
 
 It is another thing with the " consensus gentium" when it 
 treats neither of politics nor business matters ; if these are ex- 
 cluded, then we have to deal with the instincts of mankind, 
 which are, as a rule, founded on a mixture of experience 
 and tradition. It is certainly a fact not to be denied, that 
 popular superstitions have generally called forth foolish and 
 condemnatory opinions ; still, it is equally undoubted that when 
 purified from folly or error, truth here and there peeps forth, 
 and this is quite natural, since superstition must have some 
 foundation, even if it is a mistaken one. The tenacity with 
 which people cling to certain opinions is the result of the 
 "logic of facts," although these are frequently misinterpreted. 
 One ascertained fact has more weight than a hundred contrary 
 scientific statements, even if through misapprehension it is the 
 cause of delusion. If, therefore, all peoples in all times hold 
 fast to some particular delusion, even if martyrdom attends its 
 belief, it becomes certainly deserving of consideration, and is 
 worth the trouble of trying to find out which are in the 
 right, the " instincts of mankind," or the Pharisees of science. 
 
 Now, what are the popular beliefs ? 
 
 Dreams have not only a pathological signification, but in 
 
184 Birth and Death. 
 
 exceptional cases are of a clairvoyant character. Are they 
 altogether in the wrong, ye " men of science " ? Many among 
 you who deny the existence of clairvoyance do so, not because 
 you really doubt it (for all are not so ignorant), you ignore 
 the fact, partly because it is an inconvenient one, partly because 
 it runs counter to your scientific theories, as the French acade- 
 mician naively confessed, and partly from cowardice. 
 
 The common belief has always been in favour of the opinion 
 that there exist persons possessing a higher power of perception, 
 from whom those suffering from sickness or loss may obtain 
 advice or comfort ; the people were often deceived and duped, 
 yet still held fast to their view, because in some cases a friend 
 or relation was benefited by these means. How else could it 
 be possible that this " swindle " could have been accepted 
 through thousands of years by millions of people, if there never 
 had existed any ground for their faith ? 
 
 Further, the popular belief has always recognised in certain 
 persons, a superior power of will, not to be explained by means 
 of the senses, which has been confirmed by a mass of evidence. 
 It has likewise always accepted the fact of inspiration in certain 
 individuals, though in ignorance it has attributed this to a 
 Divine origin, which explains why there are so many different 
 religions. In the same way the people have believed in the 
 Spook phenomena^ which they have ascribed to the departed ; 
 having no doubt of a future life, they believed that these 
 appeared to them, and that sinners, suicides, and criminals were 
 more especially among the number. Popular belief has, there- 
 fore, upheld views, which the best among scientific men at the 
 present time recognise as fully justified by experience. Since 
 more than a thousand years of unbroken experience stand in 
 evidence, O men of science ! ye have never been able to wean 
 the people from their beliefs, and never will ; instead of sifting 
 the chaff from the wheat, and showing the people the right way, 
 you have rather flown in the face of truth, and boldly denied 
 facts, which you have never examined ! But the day of reckon- 
 ing is at hand ; you have ridiculed the people, the time is 
 approaching when you yourselves will be laughed at ! 
 
 On all these grounds the masses have held fast to a belief in 
 a connection between the ethical value of character and the 
 conditions of a future life, and just as you have succeeded in 
 destroying this belief, and in setting up material happiness as 
 the aim of life, and the criminal code as a principle of moralit}', 
 it has followed that the most revolting crimes of civilisation 
 
My Metaphysics. 185 
 
 have flourished the most luxuriantly. You men of science are, 
 therefore, put to shame by the instincts of humanity, and by 
 popular beliefs, while my metaphysics explain and justify the 
 tenacity with which these are held fast, while doing away with 
 the noxious undergrowth. Superstition is certainly tke outcome 
 of ignorance and misapprehension, and has to thank falsehood 
 and imposture for its poisonous tendency ; but the causes of it 
 are founded on some reality. Kant says, in reference to the 
 comparatively rare and difficult to prove so-called apparitions 
 of spirits, in his introduction to "Dreams" (1766): "What 
 philosopher has not at some time, between the asseverations of 
 sensible and competent eyewitnesses and the inner opposition 
 of an unconquerable doubt, cut the most foolish figure it is 
 possible to conceive ? Should he totally deny the reality of 
 such apparitions ? What grounds can he bring forward to dis- 
 prove them ? Could he acknowledge the probability of only 
 one of these accounts, how important such a confession would 
 be, and what astounding results might arise if one such occur- 
 rence only were proved beyond a doubt ! " He says further, 
 " That it is as foolish a prejudice to believe nothing'va a relation 
 which has some appearance of probability, as to take everything. 
 for granted which we hear, without inquiring into the facts." 
 In these words Kant has acknowledged the possibility of such 
 occurrences, and recognised their high importance ; according to 
 his opinion, popular beliefs should not be ignored or condemned, 
 since they exist in every class of society ; and if the experience 
 of this century had not in a great measure justified them in an 
 objective manner and on reasonable grounds, I should still 
 place myself on the side of Kant, since, in my opinion at least, 
 his reasoning powers stand higher than those of the whole 
 number of living professors. 
 
 As to physical science, or rather its advocates, their oppo- 
 sition may be of a threefold nature : either against the point 
 from which I start, the transcendental subject existing in us ; 
 against facts in support of this theory ; or, indeed, against both. 
 With regard to the transcendental subject, not only every philo- 
 sophical system of importance, but even men who dally with 
 science, recognise the necessity of such a subject, while the 
 latter see that an unknown factor is wanting for the explanation 
 of our individual will, sentiments, character, etc. ; only such 
 persons as reviewers, or writers of scientific small change, 
 imagine that they are exponents of the highest form of en- 
 lightenment, when they attempt to account for the origin and 
 
1 86 Birth and Death. 
 
 action of the inorganic world by such terms as " force and 
 matter," " adaptation," and " inheritance." Because organism 
 is necessary in our brains to form images, and originates and 
 exists with them, these " enhghtened ones " think that it is itself 
 the cause ; this satisfaction as to the primal cause somewhat 
 resembles the idea that the shadow on the wall, or the reflection 
 in a looking-glass, are products of the wall or the looking-glass. 
 " No brain, no thought ; diseased or deficient brain, a diseased 
 or deficient power of thought;" this argument is frequently 
 brought forward to combat the necessity of an unknown basis ; 
 according to this logic it might be equally said, " No looking- 
 glass, no image ; a crooked or blurred looking-glass, a defective 
 or damaged image, etc. ; therefore, the looking-glass is the cause 
 or origin of the image ! " 
 
 Happily the present generation has arrived at some idea 
 of the insufficiency of mechanical chemistry as an explanation 
 of life. Far more universal is the opposition to the inexplicable 
 phenomena of clairvoyance, etc. It must rejoice every philo- 
 sophical brain to hear the phrases with which the "men of 
 science " enter the field against these inconvenient facts, which 
 are a stumbling-block in the way of their scientific theories ; 
 they take as their principal weapons the " immutability and 
 holiness of the laws of nature," without remarking that there is 
 no question of these whatever. 
 
 These worthy gentlemen forget, in the first place, that the 
 laws of nature are arrived at by us from experience, and that, 
 therefore, experience can often change and abrogate them ; this 
 frequently happens, as the works of Ptolemaeus, Copernicus, and 
 Tycho Brah bear witness, as well as our different theories of 
 light, heat, and molecules. 
 
 They forget, in the second place, that everything which is 
 derived from experience bears the stamp oi our form of percep- 
 tion, and, therefore, the presumed laws of nature exist, not in 
 nature itself, but in our brains, and thus have only a relative 
 value, since a brain with other forms of perception would erect 
 quite different natural laws. It is, therefore, an error of thought, 
 to speak, for instance, of a three dimensional or four dimensional 
 space as existing in nature, since it is only a product of our 
 form of perception ; I am, for example, in the looking-glass 
 a two dimensional figure, to a man I should appear a three 
 dimensional one, while to a being who possessed a four dimen- 
 sional perception I should appear a being of the fourth dimension, 
 etc. How does the conception of space originate ? The blind 
 
My Metaphysics. 187 
 
 man pokes about with his stick, and is sensible of the move- 
 ment of his arms and feet, and by this means he forms his 
 conception of space ; in the same way the movements of the 
 eyes conve}^ information to the reasoning facuhies ; thus it 
 happens that a bhnd person, who has been successfully operated 
 upon, will not at once become aware of the dimensions of solid 
 forms, but will be unable to distinguish a cube from a round 
 object, and will not recognise the familiar knife and fork, 
 though he can distinguish at once the difference in colours. 
 
 It is the same with all throughout the manifold variety of 
 nature. I have proved in my "Magic of Numbers" that the 
 so-called chemical elements, sound and colour, are interwoven 
 in an analogous sevenfold variety, which is only discoverable 
 to our organisation, and that a being otherwise organised might 
 find quite other varieties in nature. Now, however, it is just 
 this variety, as well as space and time (according to the human 
 capability of perception), which lies at the ground of our laws 
 of nature ; if these are changed, then the latter must equally be 
 changed also. 
 
 Men of science forget, in the third place, 'that the laws of 
 mechanics interrupted or injured by the laws of chemistry may 
 be relatively abrogated. A book cannot fl}^ up from the table, 
 because it is restrained by the law of gravity ; but it may be 
 thrown into the air by an explosion of dynamite. In the same 
 way chemical laws may be suspended by some philosophical 
 occurrence ; this is shown in various ways in the cultivation ot 
 plants ; and everyone knows the difference between organic and 
 inorganic chemistry. An incomprehensibility may, therefore, — 
 even within the domain of regujar laws, — take root in our 
 ignorance, for even Julius Caesar in his time could not have 
 understood firearms, a steam-vessel, or a telegraphic despatch. 
 Much more incomprehensible must such things, therefore, appear 
 which are the result of unknown laws ! For example, it is a 
 fact not to be disputed that there exist many accounts of 
 so-called Divine judgment, in which cases have been decided in 
 judicial tribunals by the ordeal of " hot iron." This enlightened 
 age does not believe that such immunity from burning could exist. 
 Home, however (as well as the fakirs), has placed burning coals 
 on his own hands and those of other persons, without any 
 injury and without understanding the cause of this immunity. 
 The old chronicles may, therefore, have not always been quite 
 devoid of truth, though we know not how the vibrations of heat 
 can be paralysed, diverted, or neutralised, or how the flesh can 
 
1 88 Birth and Death. 
 
 be rendered insensible. Men of science, as a rule, believe that 
 they have already mastered all the important laws of nature, 
 and declare with still more certainty that other supernormal 
 laws do not exist; in one word, in spite of the proofs which 
 come to them in progress of time, they suffer from the malady 
 of over-self-estimation. 
 
 Whether we have already mastered physics or not, whether 
 or no there exists a transcendental system of physics, one 
 thing is certain : metaphysics may be good or bad, may 
 approach more or less near to the truth, may throw more or 
 less light upon our natural laws of nature, yet at the same 
 time may have nothing to do with the laws of nature existing in 
 our brain, for metaphysics do not treat of the normal side of 
 nature, for which these laws are alone of value. 
 
 When a seer sees something which is not visible to our eyes, 
 the same laws do not apply to his abnormal vision which 
 serve for that of his eyesight. A violation of the laws 
 of nature would exist in this case, therefore, only for such as 
 could believe that the seer saw with his natural eyes, or, as one 
 might say outwardly, instead . of inwardly. It is still more 
 absurd when a natural scientist, like P. Vogt, makes the remark, 
 speaking of a lady who was very ill, that it was " in conse- 
 quence of the complete exhaustion of the body " that she could 
 hear the steps of the villagers at a great distance off, while the 
 persons themselves were scarcely visible to him, and could 
 distinguish the different steps of people in the street ; and 
 further arrives at the conclusion that " it only needs to increase 
 this sensitiveness in a very small degree, to call forth appear- 
 ances which have been described as magnetic clairvoyance." 
 Therefore, the apparition of an officer who fell in India, and 
 appeared at the same time to his relations in London, must be 
 explained by the increased celerity of his movements.* 
 
 If I were to assert that an invisible hand brought a book, 
 that would be no infringement of the law of nature, but it 
 would be one if the book came of itself; if someone sends me 
 a newspaper by a messenger, no infringement of the law of 
 nature takes place, but it would if I were to deny the 
 existence of the messenger, and to assert that the newspaper 
 came by itself, because, according to our experience, inanimate 
 objects are subject to the law of gravitation and have no inde- 
 pendent motion. If a mist changes into a figure, and is again 
 
 * " Gtisteigerte Schnelligkeit seiner Füsse." 
 
My Metaphysics. 189 
 
 dispersed, this is incomprehensible if I deny a form-giving 
 power ; but the formation of a human being from- cells is just 
 as incomprehensible, only that, as we are accustomed to see it, 
 it does not surprise us. Men of science have not explained this 
 problem, and if they deny the vis forinativa, they never can 
 do so. 
 
 Above all, metaphysics can never offend against the laws of 
 nature suitable to us and our perceptions, because these have no 
 connection with metaphysics ; and my metaphysics, especially, 
 not only do not obstruct the comprehension of nature, but 
 demand it in the highest degree. 
 
 What, then, do I maintain in my metaphysics ? I maintain, 
 in the first place, that our ideas of the world are founded upon 
 influences, the cause of which we have yet to discover ; in the 
 second, that our organs are used in producing the images 
 resulting from them ; in the third, that the inner essence of 
 the human being (the subject existing in us) can perceive and 
 act in another manner, this being proved by a great portion of 
 the mystical phenomena ; and in the fourth place, that this 
 inner essence can neither exist, nor perform its functions, 
 without the aid of the conscious machine or fleshly covering ; 
 they explain, therefore, everything which is not explained from 
 the standpoint of scientific men, since the latter boldly deny 
 everything which is in opposition to it. 
 
 There is no question whatever of a violation of the laws ot 
 nature, these remain intact as regards our normal form of con- 
 sciousness ; and it is, therefore, the task of physical science to 
 prosecute its researches in chemistry and zoology, because we 
 can only know and master nature by normal means, if we would 
 make a practical use of it ; the two departments may, therefore, 
 be compared to works carried on above and below the surface. 
 Side by side with the development of all branches of natural 
 science, the research into matters which evidently are derived 
 from deeper regions, opposed to our form of perception, and 
 which we cannot master with the natural means at our disposal, 
 may be carried on quite tranquilly. In the last case it is 
 a different department of experience and another form oj 
 causality that we meet with ; the systematic profit from the 
 natural department (physics in the widest signification) is old, 
 that of the transcendental (metaphysics) is new — voila tout ! 
 
 The older and more deeply compromised generation of 
 scientific men will oppose the preliminary investigation of these 
 questions by every means in their power, as these learned 
 
190 Birth and Death. 
 
 gentlemen have always done. No conduct is too childish or 
 beneath them ! There have been men of science, who actually 
 refused to look at the newly-invented telescope, because they 
 denied the existence of Jupiter's moons ; when Lavoisier proved 
 that metals when oxidised (burnt) were heavier than they were 
 when in a crystallised state, and that, therefore, " phlogiston," 
 which was burnt and consumed, could not exist, Gren asserted 
 that phlogiston had a negative weight ! This obstinacy in 
 error may be ignored and laughed at, but there are other 
 methods of warfare which cannot be passed ever. Büchner 
 brings forward that, in 1837, a prize of three thousand francs 
 was offered for a clairvoyant somnambulist, which prize was 
 never won ; Du Prel has, however, furnished a commentary on 
 this well-known and much-used narrative ; he says : " The 
 physician Dr. Pignaire brought his daughter to Paris for this 
 purpose ; she was twelve years old and a somnambulist. In 
 private circles her clairvoyant faculties were admitted, and 
 among the witnesses was Arago ; the Academy, however, knew 
 how to rescue itself, and the experiment was not allowed to 
 take place at the decisive seance, because the doctors declared 
 that it was not sufficient to plaster up the girl's eyes with 
 linen, to cover them with cotton wool, and then over all to draw 
 a silk mask, through all which Arago had declared it was 
 perfectly impossible to see. Büchner, however, seems to know 
 nothing about another prize which was offered, namely, that of 
 Dr. Berna, who offered to give 70,000 (!) francs to any member 
 of the Academy who could read through the mask worn by 
 Mademoiselle Pignaire, which they had rejected, and added, 
 rather superfluously, that he had no objection to this sum being 
 given to the poor." What can be said of such proceedings ? 
 What chance have learned men of arriving at the truth or crown 
 of knowledge, exposed to the attacks of a Vogt or a Büchner ? 
 Under such circumstances the reader will own I am in the right 
 in not standing on much ceremony with the " men of science " 
 taken as a body, and laying very little weight on their opinions. 
 I direct my words to the not yet compromised students of 
 science, when I bid them lay the non jurare in verba magistri 
 to heart, and advise them above all to hold some review of 
 philosophy, so that they may not tread in the footsteps of their 
 predecessors in natural science, and form a hasty judgment 
 about matters, which are as much beyond their powers, as to 
 perform a surgical operation or to throw a bridge across Niagara 
 would be beyond mine. 
 
My Metaphysics. 191 
 
 This tenacity in error must, like everything else, have some 
 cause, which is not difficult to discover. There are hundreds 
 of millions of men, who hold fast with the same tenacity to 
 three directly opposite religions, the Buddhist, the Christian, 
 and the Mohamedan, solely because they have grown up in them; 
 a change from one belief to another generally takes place from 
 motives of interest or by means of persuasion. A more 
 striking instance of the small amount of independent thought 
 existing among men can scarcely be given. In the same way 
 the re-action against the religious and philosophical errors of 
 the Middle Ages in these days of "enlightenment" has set in, 
 which indeed is not without its ludicrous side ; men swim with 
 the stream, because it is easier to let others think and labour 
 for them, than to do the work themselves. In short, not to 
 shrink from a somewhat hard, though, terse expression, it may 
 be said that the great majority of persons are either stupid, 
 lazy, or cowardly. 
 
 Philosophers in the true sense of the word have always acknow- 
 ledged the existence of a transcendental basis, because they 
 perceived that mechanics and chemistry were not sufficient to 
 account for everything, and because they were not satisfied 
 with such expressions as " force and matter ; " the proposition : 
 "Birth and death are a form of change of perception" can, 
 therefore, only meet with opposition from them on the grounds 
 that in the "thing of itself" {Ding an sich) of human beings 
 (the " will " or the " monad "), according to both principal 
 systems of philosophy, 3. form of consciousness is not recognised ; 
 both forms of the transcendental basis, according to their 
 representation, would be without consciousness. The supe- 
 riority of my philosophy is in the fact that it lets the question 
 alone as to whether the " thing of itself" in human beings is 
 the " will," or the " monad," because neither the one nor the 
 other is the immediate background for human existence, and 
 has no effect on the unsolved part of the question as to our 
 practical thought and action ; whether monads and atoms have 
 always existed, or whether they are called into being by some 
 metaphysical omniscient Power, is a matter of indifference ; the 
 division into individuals is allowed, and the roots of individuality 
 reach deeper than the human power of thought is able to 
 penetrate, and cannot« be followed down to their first source. 
 To speak in ordinary language, whence and ivhat the soul is, we 
 know not, and it signifies little ; but we do know, on the other 
 side, that our dream of life is only a transitory condition of our 
 
192 Birth and DeatJi. 
 
 transcendental basis, of which we at present only have the 
 knowledge of sonic peculiarities, which knowledge it is our task 
 to increase. If it were possible for either school of philosophy 
 to establish without difficulty a connecting link between the 
 "thing of itself" (unknown to them as to us) and human 
 existence, even then there would be no data for experience nor 
 grounds of reason so obtained, and this really is the case, as 
 we are abundantly convinced. 
 
 Individualists are led up to monads through atoms as the 
 ultimate realisation of chemistry. Schopenhauer's metaphysics 
 rest, on the contrary, on a misunderstanding of Kant's in regard 
 to the ideality of space and time as forms of perception ; the 
 first are supported by analogy, Schopenhauer by reason. 
 
 Schopenhauer's philosophy, by means of its many correct 
 and forcible maxims, and not less by its complete form, will 
 exercise great influence on the present generation ; it is with- 
 out doubt the most important after that of Kant ; we shall have, 
 therefore, to discuss in what way we differ from it, more 
 particularly as in respect to the comprehension of the world as 
 an idea or representation, our views accord perfectly ; Schopen- 
 hauer recognises, not only the insufficiency of our being, but 
 even the manifestation of transcendental powers in human 
 nature. How does it arise, then, that such a learned man, and 
 such a correct thinker, has arrived at such a conclusion in his 
 metaphysics ? 
 
 Kant teaches and proves the ideality of our conception of 
 space ; he proves that the three dimensional space known to us 
 is that of a human form of perception, and although he ex- 
 pressly guards against grasping the idea of space as "a 
 simple thing of the imagination," Schopenhauer accepts the 
 ideality of space itself ; he proceeds from the assumption that 
 not the measure of space, but space itself exists in our brain. 
 The results of this deviation from Kant are very fatal for 
 Schopenhauer's philosophy. 
 
 Were there no reality in space, if it only existed in the 
 idea, then no variety outside the conception could exist, because 
 individualisation or division into individuals is only conceivable 
 in space. Man, in consequence, would only bq an individual 
 being in this conception (therefore, as long only as he lives). 
 Schopenhauer certainly contradicts his metaphysics himself 
 when he says, that it cannot be known " liow far the roots of 
 individuality extend " (" Parerga.," ii., 243) ; in his principal 
 work he says, "It can be answered as far as the assertion of 
 
My Metaphysics. 19; 
 
 the will in life." Is, however, the life of man in organic 
 form upon the earthly planet the only possible one ? Can no 
 assurance of another form of life be given ? 
 
 Now, we know in fact that individuality does extend farther; 
 and although Schopenhauer himself confesses this possibility, 
 the difference which exists between his and my philosophy 
 (in spite of affinity in other respects) may be thus defined ; 
 Schopenhauer arrives at transcendental idealism and I at trans- 
 cendental realism. He comes to the conclusion that our v/hole 
 conception of the world and personality is an illusion, outside 
 of the representation, and that in truth there is only an 
 impersonal, unconscious " will," which exists in the being ; I 
 say : Our whole conception of the world and personahty is an 
 illusion, at the bottom of which, however, is a transcendental 
 reality. From which it arises, that in reading Schopenhauer's 
 works, whenever they treat of men, and the expression " will " 
 is made use of, the term " transcendental subject " might be 
 substituted simply, in order to make both views harmonise in 
 most cases. Everything that I ascribe to the " transcendental 
 subject," Schopenhauer puts down to metaphysical omnipotence. 
 
 If a metaphysical will ä la Schopenhauer were indeed the 
 primal basis of the world, my metaphysics, which are confined 
 to much more modest limits, would not be disturbed. Schopen- 
 hauer's predecessor, Laotse, is equally of his opinion, that " the 
 whole of nature, with her creations and operations, are only an 
 emanation of the 'Tao'" (Book i., chap. 21). This, however, 
 does not prevent him from pronouncing in favour of continu- 
 ance of individuahty in my sense : " Every living being returns 
 to his original state ; a new existence always follows, a re- 
 awakening to new aims, new vocations, new life. Re-existence 
 is called progress. He who knows what progress is, is en- 
 lightened, large-minded, noble, excellent, etc." (Book i., chap. 
 16). In these words Schopenhauer's ethics were already in- 
 directly condemned more than fifteen hundred years ago. 
 
 Let us compare the picture which is educed from Schopen- 
 hauer's metaphysics with that which I have set before the 
 reader. 
 
 The inner essence, the only real being in the world, is, 
 according to Schopenhauer, an impersonal, unconscious will, 
 which exists wholly or in part. Why it should do so is in- 
 comprehensible, since the end and aim of its existence is no- 
 thing more than a return into nothingness. It is manifest in 
 a strange way, in matter, vapour, plants, animals, and men, for 
 
 13 
 
194 Bh'th and Death. 
 
 according to Schopenhauer even the attraction of the heavenly 
 bodies is " will." Man can accept life and, consequently, refuse 
 it ; the question, therefore, arises : is this possible also for 
 water or for pine trees ? Is it possible for single atoms or 
 for single trees, or only for the species collectively ? If the 
 inanimate world of being can refuse objectivity, how, then, 
 can an equal balance be maintained in nature, which knows 
 transposition but no disappearance ? If life cannot be annihi- 
 lated, then the will remains eternally objective, though only in 
 its deeper degrees, because man, according to Schopenhauer's 
 views, would first have recourse to annihilation. Does that 
 accord with visible progress ? 
 
 If these metaphysics were right, then the progress of mankind 
 would be indeed a curse, for the more favourable the conditions 
 of life were made, the more we triumph over sufferings, so 
 much the more is the continuance of life probable. Why 
 should a Pasteur take pains to discover microscopical germs in 
 order to do away with diphtheria or cholera ? If material 
 want and physical sufferings were really able to be banished 
 from the earth, nothing would remain but wearisomeness, to 
 dispose men to pessimism ; whether this would suffice to induce 
 men to rush into a still more dreary nothingness, is a question. 
 Men might return to the animal condition of the stone period, 
 but not to annihilation of Hfe. 
 
 From whence can man, under such views of existence, derive 
 the motive for devoting himself to the' development of culture ? 
 Has Schopenhauer's philosophy any kind of power to divert 
 men from evil courses ? It has certainl}' not succeeded in so 
 doing in the case of the founder. 
 
 If indeed a portion of mankind repudiate life, what becomes 
 of the rest ? and after them of animals, plants, and all matter? 
 How will these be annihilated ? Allowed that everything on 
 this earth, animate and inanimate, arriv^e at the knowledge 
 of the necessity of annihilation, what happens to the other 
 heavenly bodies ? What becomes of the principle of the con- 
 servation of force, when by means of annihilation such dis- 
 turbance in the economy of the world of being were possible ? 
 
 What grounds can be adduced for such a conception of t*he 
 world ? Nothing, except the alleged ideahty of space, and 
 from that the impossibility of individuality ; for the argument, 
 that in ourselves we discover the " will " as the only thing 
 enduring and supernormal, proves nothing more than that there 
 is something that wills, even- before it thinks (as in the new-born 
 
My Metaphysics. 195 
 
 child), still this " will" may be also the impulse of the " intelli- 
 gibel " subject existing in us — which it indeed is. 
 
 Schopenhauer is right in saying that there is no freedom of 
 the will in the vulgar sense; the whole responsibility of our 
 actions rests, therefore, on the constitution of the transcendental 
 character ; if this is unchangeable, and not the result of de- 
 velopment by experience, but simply an act of God's will, then 
 responsibility ceases. 
 
 I respect this in Schopenhauer, that, in spite of the monstrous 
 consequences resulting from his metaphysics, he still held fast 
 to them ; overlooking their fallacy, he maintained the impossi- 
 bility of individualisation ; he was the more confirmed in this, 
 because one portion of his philosophy — " The world is my 
 conception ; it is a something which enters into being, etc." — is 
 quite correct and explains many things. The computation can 
 be easily made with the unknown x of the metaphysical, all- 
 powerful, omniscient will. He might, however, have arrived 
 at one thing by holding fast to the fundamental idea of his 
 teachings, and that is, that if his " omnipotence " {Allwille) 
 were the primary cause, the world of being known to us need 
 not have been the secondary, but may have been the tertiary, 
 etc. Behind what I call the intelligent, unseen world, a " God," 
 a " will " may stand ; I do not inquire into that subject. I 
 have never troubled my mind with metaphysics about God or 
 the world, because I have no starting-point ; the only way 
 which may perhaps lead to metaphysics in this direction, I 
 have hinted at in my " Magic of Numbers." On the other side, 
 I know something of metaphysics in relation to mankind, 
 because I have some data on that subject to go upon. 
 
 Everything which we have learnt in the first part, as a mani- 
 festation of the transcendental basis, was known to, and acknow- 
 ledged by, Schopenhauer, but he placed it to the account of his 
 metaphysical omnipotence {Allwille) ; and he was not ac- 
 quainted with that class of phenomena, which we have described 
 as severance of the human form, at least not in the form in 
 which it is now exhibited. It is otherwise in the case of the 
 philosophy of Hartmann, Schopenhauer's follower, who only 
 gives other attributes and other names to the metaphysical 
 omnipotence {All Eins). It is a fact that the transcendental 
 side of man has its foundation, not in consciousness, but in the 
 " unconscious " state; this expression may, therefore, be made use 
 of with advantage, as the contrast and background of the world 
 of being. In this Schopenhauer's definition is preferable, since 
 
196 Birth mid Death. 
 
 the natural and transcendental sides of nature cannot be sharply 
 separated by " conception and will," because the last as such 
 is also prominent in the world of being, and takes its place 
 equally in both worlds. The division into the " known and 
 unknown" is far more correct, because the transcendental 
 portion may be described as the " unknown." In this region 
 of the " unknown," worlds and individuals can only be placed 
 about which we know nothing. 
 
 In Hartmann's* case there is the puzzling circumstance, that 
 he was not ignorant of facts which ought to have given his 
 metaphysics the right direction ; it is the same with Drossbach. 
 This reticence may have its advantage at the present time, but 
 the next generation will think differently about the matter. 
 
 In my " Individualism" I have examined closely into the 
 philosophy of Schopenhauer and its different branches, as 
 represented by Bahnsen, Hartmann, and Mainländer, as well 
 as the systems of Leibnitz, Herbart, Drossbach, and Fichte, 
 and, therefore, we need not discuss them now. In this place the 
 philosophy of Kant is more to be considered, with which my 
 metaphysics are in complete accord. Kant says the soul and 
 the "ego" may be one subject, but not the same personality. 
 The correctness of this assertion is proved in this volume. 
 Our earthly personality begins, therefore, apparently with our 
 birth, and ends with our death, which, therefore, can be nothing 
 else than a change of the form of perception. 
 
 In this chapter it has been shown that popular beliefs, as far 
 as records of them exist, have always maintained the reality 
 of events, which are only to be explained by my meta- 
 physics ; it has also been proved that, while these are by no 
 means opposed to the results of science, they stand in direct 
 opposition to the materialistic ideas of the world, in favour 
 with scientists ; it has been further shown that my metaphysics 
 overcome the difficulties and impediments of the individualistic 
 and pantheistic systems, and bring both nearer to each other ; 
 and it is proved most especially that my metaphysics are in 
 complete harmony with the views of the keenest and most 
 profound thinker of the age, which is naturally a great source 
 of joy to me. Kant has made the welfare and woes of the 
 world dependent on the solution of the riddle of life, and even 
 described the way in which this should be entered upon ; I 
 have gone on this w^ay in spite of sacrifices of every kind, and 
 have found what he predicted was to be found. The aim and 
 destination of mankind lie open to the light of day. 
 
My Metaphysics. 197 
 
 Now let us enter upon our last question, how my meta- 
 physics stand in relation to the prevailing religious views ! 
 This inquiry is a very important one, because the need of 
 religion in mankind is almost universal, and, therefore, must be 
 a just one; metaphysics, which stand in opposition to these 
 religious needs, would, therefore, ä priori be mistrusted. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MY METAPHYSICS AND RELIGION. 
 
 If religions are to be dealt with, then only those of Christ and 
 Buddha need be taken into consideration, since the Moham- 
 medan and Jewish systems of belief have far more the character 
 of legislations, to which Divine authority has given greater 
 expression and more holiness. Moses and Mahomet have 
 certainly attained to holiness, but at the same time they have 
 planted the germ of contradictions, which must prevent both 
 religions from arriving at any great social development. Laws, 
 which three thousand and one thousand years ago may have 
 been highly suitable, are useless for the present day ; therefore, 
 their assumed Divine origin is of no avail. The law of Moses, 
 especially on account not only of its character, but of the 
 international condition of the Jews, can no longer be carried 
 out, and the Koran makes its followers incapable of culture ; 
 therefore, they do not progress equally with other people, to 
 whom they must necessarily be inferior. 
 
 It is quite otherwise with the teachings of a Buddha or a 
 Christ ; both have kept sharply defined the distinction between 
 the physical and transcendental departments, though their 
 followers, especially the priests of the Christian Church, have 
 perverted the spirit of Christ's teachings by misinterpretations 
 and false statements of all kinds, and laid the foundations of 
 binding dogmas as well by the " Divinity " as by the "infalli- 
 bility " of the Church ; the necessary downfall of which has 
 unfortunately brought the esoteric, healthy portions of its 
 teachings likewise into discredit. As I am writing for 
 Europeans, and not for Hindoos, it is natural that Christ should 
 before all be brought into consideration, whose doctrines (or at 
 least their formula) have penetrated through all the civilise.d 
 world. The encroachments of the papacy and the profit made 
 out of religious sensationalism are well known to every person 
 of education, as well as the fact that Luther took in hand the 
 
My Metaphysics and Religion. 199 
 
 revisal of the Holy Scriptures in order to arrest this nuisance ; 
 unfortunately his Bible, the so-called Vulgate, is no true mirror 
 of the doctrines, still less of the works of Christ. In order to 
 obtain a clear idea of these it is necessary, by making use of 
 other sources, to inquire into the life of Jesus, looked at in 
 three ways, namely, Christ as a historical personage, as a 
 miraculous man, and as a founder of religion. 
 
 I. The historical personality of Christ. 
 
 If we had accounts given us of some hero, the authority 
 for which we were not certain of, neither at what period they 
 were written ; if besides we knew that these accounts were 
 much falsified by additions, omissions, and alterations, we 
 should be somewhat restricted in our belief in the existence of 
 the hero and in the written narrative of his deeds and doctrines, 
 and should scarcely consider the historical proof satisfactory 
 evidence. This is the difficulty that exists in the case of 
 Christ. In the early times four gospels only were accepted, 
 although scores of them existed : of these four, two originated 
 only in the second century, the other two, — at least in their 
 present form, — are revisions (Ueberarbeitungen) of an original 
 text. It is, therefore, easily to be understood that scepticism 
 did not appear for the first time in our present enlightened 
 days, but existed at a ver}' early period, and called forth a 
 vast amount of literature on the subject. The most reliable 
 information as to this literature is given by Noack in his work 
 in four volumes "The History of Jesus" (2nd edition, 1876). 
 The language (especially in the first volume) is bombastic, 
 often at the cost of clearness, but the treatment is comprehen- 
 sive and the argument frequently forcible. This connoisseur 
 of ancient literature expresses himself on the subject of the 
 heathen philosopher Celsus, who opposed Christianity in the 
 year 170 in the following words (p. 171, vol. ii.) : "Celsus had 
 also learnt to know about Him Who was crucified and honoured 
 as God, and the wonderful narratives which were circulated 
 among the Christians, not only indeed, like Lucian, by hear- 
 say, but partly from the Gospels of the Church themselves, and 
 partly from the accounts which were spread about by the Jews 
 concerning Jesus, and which only come to us to-day from dim 
 and obscure sources. Possessing a brain as highly cultivated 
 and full of knowledge as it was enlightened and capable of 
 judgment, Celsus devoted himself to the attack in such thorough 
 earnest, that half a century later the Alexandrian preacher 
 Origen published a refutation of his works, in which he com- 
 
200 Birth and Death. 
 
 bated the attacks of his opponent step by step. We have to 
 thank his numerous quotations from the works of Celsus for our 
 knowledge of their contents. Celsus at first made use of a 
 Jew as an instrument to oppose Christianity, but afterwards 
 fought in his own person, as a disciple of Grecian philosophy, 
 as keen and dexterous as he was ready to fight, and bitter 
 in his scorn of the new revelation. . . . The attacker 
 (Celsus) was well acquainted with all the legends and poems, 
 which had accumulated round the gospel narratives." This 
 is Noack's introduction ; let us now hear Celsus speak for 
 himself, since it is necessary we should learn the objections 
 which were raised, as early as the second century, to the 
 origin and more especially the editing of the four gospels ; not 
 that it necessarily follows that these objections hold ground 
 collectively; but nothing is more adapted to the formation of 
 an objective opinion on a subject than the motto : Audiatur et 
 altera pars ! 
 
 " I know all that is written in your books, and you slay 
 yourselves with your own weapons. The tax-collectors and 
 fishermen, whom you call apostles, and would have honoured 
 as inspired witnesses and proclaimers of the truth by the 
 Divine Spirit, are to be looked upon as nothing more than 
 impostors, who were not clever enough to invest their inven- 
 tions with even an appearance of truth. Like fools, they turn 
 their hands against themselves, in that they alter and falsify 
 the two first and best portions of their gospel, three and four- 
 fold, in order to meet the objections raised against their Master 
 and his pretensions. For they have written solely for the 
 purpose of vindicating their Master's honour against his 
 accusers ! " (This is true, the original text was altered for 
 this reason.) 
 
 " What audacious men must these have been who asserted 
 that Jesus derived his origin on the male side from the kings 
 of Judah, while they knew well that his mother was the wife 
 of a carpenter, if indeed his birth was of as good an origin as 
 that ! " After some comments on their God fleeing from Egypt, 
 he proceeds to say : — " The man, who gave himself out falsely 
 for the son of a virgin " (this was not true, it was done for 
 him), " was born in a wretched Jewish hamlet, and his mother 
 was a poor country-woman, who had committed adultery with 
 a soldier named Panthera" (this may have been a slander 
 invented by the Jewish priests), " and who on this account was 
 sent away by her betrothed husband, a carpenter, wandered 
 
My Metaphysics and Religion. 201 
 
 about in shame and misery, and gave birth to Jesus in secret." 
 (That Jesus was a child born out of wedlock is highly probable, 
 both from certain accounts in the gospels and from the com- 
 plete disappearance of the father.) " He himself must have 
 worked as a servant later on in Egypt, and after learning the 
 arts in high estimation among the Egyptians, he returned to 
 his own country, gave himself out to be a God on account of 
 these miracles, and was led astray by his restless spirit into 
 new extravagances. How absurd, however, it is, to imagine 
 that an apparition, in the form of a dove, descended upon him 
 out of the air, while he was being baptized by John ! Who 
 besides himself and those others heard the voice by which 
 God declared him to be his beloved son ? Had he wished to 
 remain unknown in the world, why should a voice from heaven 
 call to him as the son of God ? If, however, he wanted to 
 become known and public, why did he allow things to come to 
 such a pass that he was punished and crucified ? Small of 
 person, as accounts go, with ugly figure and mean appearance, 
 the son of God wanders about begging from one place to 
 another, in fear and terror" hiding himself, and living in poverty 
 and misery ! " (The first description is highly improbable ; 
 Jesus is much more likely to have had a sympathetic and 
 engaging appearance, as Pythagoras and Apollonius had.) 
 " Hov/, indeed, is it possible that such a person should have 
 been taken for a God, who could easily have done all his 
 wonderful acts by means of magic ? And even allowing that 
 everything related by his disciples of diseases healed by him, of 
 a few loaves with which he fed large multitudes, and of the dead 
 whom he raised to life, were true ; is it not lamentable, just on 
 account of things which others have been able to perform, that 
 he should have been accounted a God, and all the rest im- 
 postors and jugglers ?" (This is a very just remark!) .... 
 " Jesus was likewise unfortunate in his disciples. After he 
 had collected around him ten or eleven men of ill fame, — tax- 
 collectors and fishermen, he was not able to gain their hearts 
 in his life-time, when they saw that he would be punished by 
 death . . . they denied and betrayed him, without heeding the 
 purpose that he gave his life for ! . . . . When they saw that 
 nothing could be concealed that was done before the eyes of all 
 the world, they took refuge in saying that he knew everything 
 beforehand ! " Now argues Celsus : — " If he had known it, 
 why did he allow it to happen ? if it was an act of obedience, 
 why then did he complain ? What God however would have 
 
202 Birth and Death. 
 
 come down to earth and found no belief in him among men ? 
 The prophecies in the Bible are not applicable to him, and are 
 so obscure that no one can get any sense out of them. Why- 
 did he not, at least at the last, give some proof of his Godhead ? 
 Why did not the Father claim the Son ? and what has ever 
 happened since then from which it could be derived that he 
 was not an impostor ? 
 
 "Why should God have descended among men? Had he 
 failed in anything that he was not known of to them? Did he 
 wish to try who believed in him and who did not ? Or did 
 he wish to see for himself how things were going on in this 
 world ? ' But surely God. knew everything ; and if he knew 
 everything, why did he not. sooner trouble himself to correct 
 the faults of mankind ? Did this occur to him for the first 
 time in so many thousand years ? " After making some remarks 
 concerning the incarnation of a God, Celsus says, " What does 
 it all come to ? Neither God nor a son of God has ever 
 appeared on the earth, only enthusiasts and impostors could 
 assert this as a fact. . . . To worship an imprisoned, scourged, 
 condemned man, is worse folly than any adoration of idols or 
 apparitions ! " 
 
 It is self-evident that the sources consulted by Celsus are as 
 little worthy of confidence, as the traditions taken from legends 
 and myths by the followers of Christ. Notwithstanding which, 
 the narratives give full guarantee for the three following asser- 
 tions : — 
 
 1. That Christ really existed. 
 
 2. That he performed or caused things to be done which 
 impressed those surrounding him ; otherwise he would not 
 have found such devoted adherents, since his teachings were 
 too esoteric, his end too deplorable, and the universal oppo- 
 sition against his doctrines too great. 
 
 3. He was the founder of a religion, under the dominion 
 of which mankind has made comparatively greater progress 
 than under any other, since its followers have assumed a lead- 
 ing position in the world. These three points are established 
 historically, but nothing further. It is a singular fatality that 
 the "Annals" of Tacitus were broken off just at the time of the 
 death of Tiberius, and we have, therefore, none but Jewish 
 sources at our disposal, among which the gospel of John 
 (though not perhaps in its present forni) is the oldest and most 
 reliable document, in spite of the contrary opinion of the Church 
 and of students of the gospels. This is because John's gospel 
 
My Metaphysics and Religion. 203 
 
 possesses an original text ( Urtext), which has been discovered 
 under the name of the " Sinaitical Translation ; " if this is com- 
 pared with the present form of the gospel of John, it will be 
 found that many portions of the latter are absent from the 
 original. . These were added at a later period, being accounts of 
 miraculous events tending to the glorification of the founder, 
 while the original text gives a clear connected picture of Jesus, 
 and possesses positively the character of the description of an 
 eyewitness. How and why these innovations were introduced 
 into the original text is very clear, if it is taken into considera- 
 tion that a second original text, for which we have to thank a 
 contemporary of Paul (the Gospel of Luke), originated in a like 
 manner, of which we possess strong proofs from the Fathers 
 of the Church, among whom is Tertullian, and that the later 
 gospels abound especially with miracles and discourses. Noack 
 says (vol. ii., p. 166), speaking of the genesis of the four gospels, 
 in his not very suitable way of mentioning these subjects : — 
 
 " While the beloved disciple humbly bore the cross of his 
 Master, the offence which the world had taken at a crucified 
 Son of God received a new growth from the stem of the cross 
 in the gospel of Paul, whose Christ no longer, like that of the 
 beloved disciple, bore the likeness of his Samaritan father, but 
 had something in him of the Jewish mother, and led up to faith 
 through the Pharisaic school of Saul. The son of God was 
 brought on the stage of the world in the mantle of a rabbi and 
 an inspired teacher, who brought forth out of his treasures 
 things old and new. 
 
 " With this rabbinical Son of God, whose spiritual kingdom 
 was derived from the power of God, and with the Christ (as the 
 Word) of the beloved disciple, the world was contented till the 
 new city of Sion rose on the ruins of Jerusalem in the days of 
 Adrian, when Mark, during his bishopric, astonished it with a 
 new remodelling of the gospel narrative, in which the hero 
 of the divina comcdia, instead of making several journeys on 
 foot to the holy city, only once, and for the first and last time, 
 took the fateful journey to Jerusalem, after he had^ proved 
 himself a perfect m.aster in the art of working miracles in the 
 western and eastern parts of Jordan in Galilee. The Galilean 
 collector of discourses, Matthew, gave to this transformed 
 historical structure, by means of further records of sayings 
 and parables from the treasures of the rabbinical master, the 
 necessary amount of filling up to satisfy the Jewish-Christian 
 requirements, with which the imperial preacher maintained the 
 
204 Birth and Death. 
 
 equilibrium of the heathen-Christian man of miracles. After 
 the reconstruction, at least to a certain extent, of the gospel of 
 John, the gospel of Paul, in the new frame provided for it by 
 Mark, was wedged in, prefaced by the accounts given also by 
 Matthew and Luke of the birth of the Messias, now appearing 
 entirely in the Jewish-Christian garb, and of his priestly and 
 prophetic forerunners in the historical light of the Jewish 
 Sabbath-lamp. It was left for a later age of superstitions to 
 carry out the idea of the spiritual King and Magician, through 
 tales of the childhood of Jesus, as romantic as they were 
 deficient in taste, and to draw from the magic source of such 
 gospel tales, legends of the birth and virginity of the mother of 
 Jesus." 
 
 From all these conflicting views of different sects and 
 authors, it is shown how unreliable the historical foundation 
 is, out of which the life and doctrines of the great Galilean 
 are developed ; under such circumstances the students of 
 gospel literature would have done far better if, instead of 
 examining the mass of geographical, historical, and philological 
 erudition of the Gospels, they had first put the question 
 whether everything which the evangelists had ascribed to their 
 Lord had ever happened! If "the signs and wonders of the 
 Master" are confirmed by experience, then any opposition 
 against the facts themselves is superfluous, even, if in many 
 instances, exaggeration is highly probable. In the first 
 century several persons possessed of magic powers existed ; 
 the later Christian authors would and could scarcely leave 
 these out of consideration when they wish to deal with the 
 multitude ; and popular belief unintentionally has a tendency 
 to exaggerate such powers. So Faust, St. Germain, and 
 Cagliostro were in their time the workers of miracles ; even 
 the account of the flood, with the myths connected with it, was 
 overlaid with self-evident exaggerations by Zdubar and Noah. 
 In the historical data about this event a depression of the 
 earth's surface is known to have taken place, and an overflowing 
 of the banks of the Euphrates by the sea, also a foreboding of 
 the necessity for the introduction of ships seems to have pre- 
 ceded the event ; it is well known how the Bible speaks of it. 
 
 We will, therefore, seek to find out the truth about Jesus as 
 a worker of miracles, as well as a founder of religion, through 
 the so-called " Logos "-Gospel in its oldest known form ; and 
 from this it will appear that the Christian belief was looked 
 upon very differently by its author to what it is by us. The 
 
My Metaphysics and Religion. 205 
 
 Church was never in favour of the Gospel of John, although it 
 endorsed it ; and, therefore, the three other Gospels, which were 
 more in accord with one another, received the name of " Synop- 
 tics," as holding the same views ; which is not surprising, since 
 they were due to tiie same editorship. The objection made by 
 philologists, that the writer of the Apocalypse could not have 
 been that of the Gospel, on account of the total dissimilarity 
 of language and style, falls through, because the first is a 
 product of unknown or automatic writing or speaking, and the 
 gospel was written from conscious recollections ; everyone who 
 has any experience in this department is acquainted with this 
 difference of style, and, therefore, the Apocalypse of John has 
 no greater value than the effusions of any other writing medium 
 or than a visionary dream, in which certainly here and there some 
 clairvoyant power may have been evinced. It is indifferent to us 
 whether John himself or another was the author of the original 
 text of the Gospel ; at any rate, it bears upon the surface the 
 stamp of the unadorned account of an eyewitness. 
 
 II. Christ as a fakir. 
 
 The first chapter of the original manuscript teaches us 
 nothing, except that John the Baptist recognised the importance 
 of Christ, and that the latter, looking into space, saw Nathanael 
 under the fig-tree, which convinced Nathanael of the mission 
 of Christ, who took this opportunity to promise his disciples 
 that they would see still greater things, namely, "angels 
 coming and going." Is this the only instance of clairvoyance 
 on record ? Have we not, in the first part of this book, 
 accounts of still more striking facts of clairvoyance ? Is Christ 
 the only one who has had visions of angels? The written .>o-c\.vv 9/ 
 prediction of the dervish at Agram, for instance, far transcends^ a^j-^ 
 all this ! Therefore, there is nothing to be said against the 
 miraculous features of the first chapter. 
 
 The second in the original text says nothing about the 
 turning the water into wine in Canaan ; it begins with the 
 words that Christ there performed His first miracle ; of what 
 kind this miracle was the original does not tell us. A man 
 like Hansen can certainly cause a hypnotised individual to 
 drink ink, thinking it to be wine, but this could not happen to 
 a whole company of wedding guests, who must, therefore, really 
 have had wine to drink ; still, turning water into wine, as the 
 other evangelists relate was done, has never been performed, 
 or only in imagination, although history tells of many miracles 
 and wonder-workers. 
 
2o6 Birth and Death. 
 
 The third chapter gives the narrative of the Samaritan 
 woman, to whom Jesus said that she had had five husbands, 
 and that he whom she now had was not her husband ; where- 
 upon she said to the people, "See, here is a man who has told 
 me everything that I did." Such things happen at the present 
 time. The fourth chapter contains no "signs and wonders," 
 only teachings and sayings, to which we shall come later on. 
 In the fifth Jesus heals a man, who had been a cripple for thirty- 
 eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that 
 he had been there a long time, he said, in order to rouse him, 
 " Take up thy bed and walk ! " This account is too incomplete 
 to form any opinion concerning it. Did Jesus perceive that the 
 impotent man really only needed the energy of the will, or did 
 an act of magic will-power really take place, which was perhaps 
 somewhat exaggerated, through John's veneration for his 
 Master ? This point is undecided. Anyone who has witnessed 
 the performances of ä Hansen, or has read of the miraculous 
 cures of a Greatrakes, will find nothing new in similar accounts 
 in the Gospel, though a slight allowance must be made for the 
 enthusiasm of the evangelist. 
 
 In the sixth chapter a hard nut is given to crack, if we must 
 accept the evidence of the other Gospels, for these narrate that 
 Jesus fed five thousand men with a few loaves and fishes, and 
 that twelve baskets full remained over and above. It is well 
 known that objects, such, for instance, as flowers, have been 
 invisibly brought into a room in great numbers ; still, they must 
 have come from somewhere ; an apparent satisfying of a few 
 hypnotised persons has also been known to take place ; we 
 know that vermilion {zinnoher) has been changed into quick- 
 silver, and a transformation of coals into diamonds is to be 
 conceived; but out of nothing, nothing comes. John only gives 
 the following in the original text : " When Jesus therefore 
 lifted up His eyes, and saw that a great multitude came unto 
 Him, He saith unto PhiHp, Whence are we to buy bread, that 
 these may eat ? Andrew said unto Him, There is a lad here, 
 who hath loaves and fishes ? Jesus therefore took the bread 
 and blessed it, and gave it to those sitting down, and likewise 
 the fishefe as much as they would. And when they had eaten 
 enough. He said unto His disciples : Gather up the bread that 
 remains, that nothing be lost." In this account it is neither 
 said how many persons were present, nor how much bread 
 and how many fishes were bought, nor that the Jews who were 
 on the mountain at the feast of the Passover were unprovided 
 
My Metaphysics and Religion. 207 
 
 with nourishment. If it is considered that the disciples were 
 impelled to exalt their Master's reputation in the interest of the 
 salvation of mankind, different explanations of this "miracle" 
 may be given. In this chapter we find likewise the account of 
 the Lord walking on the sea. Now it is allowed that at the 
 present time this " walking " can also be seen and has always 
 been observed ; in the original, too, it is " in the sea," not on 
 the sea, and it is further said, "When they wished to receive 
 Him into the boat, straightway the boat was at the land, whither 
 tlicy were going." These words seem to point more to an in- 
 comprehensible quickness with which Jesug reached the other 
 shore than to a gliding upon the water, even if it were not 
 expressly stated that the sea was much moved " by reason of 
 a great wind that blew," and that " they had rowed an hour and 
 a half" In a contrary wind a person wading may reach the 
 shore of a bay sooner than a ship can sail on the water, 
 especially as the time of departure and' arrival are not more 
 expressly stated. Chapters seven to ten contain no accounts 
 of miracles ; the -eleventh describes the raising of Lazarus, with 
 the brief remark, " Jesus came six days before the feast of the 
 Passover to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus raised 
 from the dead." 
 
 Fakirs lay themselves for days and weeks in a grave ; it has 
 happened that anatomists have proceeded to dissect an ap- 
 parently dead body ; living persons have actually been buried 
 alive, and a jeweller's wife at Semlin was recently being washed, 
 as a corpse, when she awoke. A clairvoyant, which Jesus 
 undoubtedly was, can frequently bring to life a person apparently 
 dead; this was also done by Apqllomus, according to far 
 more reliable historical data. 
 
 In the thirteenth chapter Jesus prophesies his betrayal by a 
 disciple. Noack is of opinion that it was an arranged thing 
 between Jesus and his disciples, but if this were not so, clair- 
 voyance in this instance was the more probable, as it is written, 
 "When Jesus had thus spoken, He was troubled in spirit, and 
 said : Verily, verily I say unto you, one of you shall betray 
 me ! " In the same way He prophesied the threefold denial of 
 Peter. With this ends the whole catalogue of miracles in the 
 original text. It is certainly said in the conclusion : " Many 
 more signs and wonders did Jesus before His disciples, which 
 are not written in this book." These would certainly have 
 been analogous to the others, and have been limited to clairvoy- 
 ance and the magic will-power. If Christ had not by the drift 
 
2o8 Birth and Death. 
 
 of His teachings, and their enforcement through His resigned 
 and martyr-hke death, made the Christian behef victorious — as 
 we shall show later on, — this result would not have been 
 attained through his miracles, since he is behind many others 
 in this respect. Supernormal vision and action were peculiar 
 to him; still more the direction which his clairvoyant spirit took 
 was worthy of admiration ; I shall bring forward proofs that 
 not one among the seers and prophets ever had so deep and 
 clear an insight into metaphysics as He ! 
 
 I must now enter upon the account of a supposed miracle, 
 which is not mentipned in the original of John's Gospel, and 
 in the other is much distorted. With the intention of making 
 the event very wonderful, it is made simply foolish. Christ's 
 disciples were no learned philosophers, but were taken from 
 the poorest class of the people ; they had, therefore, no compre- 
 hension of the deeper meaning of His words. " Son of God " 
 and " eat of my flesh " were expressions which scared even 
 many of those who had followed the man of miracles. But 
 most crushingly must the scorn of his opponents, the unworthy 
 treatment and final crucifixion of the " Son of God," have worked 
 upon his disciples. And behold — directly after his death they 
 became, as it were, inspired, and the blood of heroes flowed in 
 the veins of the poor handicraftsmen ! What had taken place ? 
 What could have caused such a transformation ? When 
 Stephen was stoned, his last words were, " I see the heavens 
 opened, and the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God ! " 
 Saul, from being a persecutor of the Christians, became in one 
 night through a vision, the Apostle Paul ; and Origen says, 
 " Many became Christians almost against their will, for a certain 
 spirit, by means of faces which he caused to appear to them, 
 either waking or in dreams, changed the hatred they bore 
 formerly to Christianity into the most devoted zeal for it." 
 
 Of all the reputed miracles of Christ there is none so firmly 
 established, so necessary or so historical as this, that after 
 meeting with a violent death, he appeared to his disciples, 
 — certainly not in his earthly body, — and gave them the proof 
 of eternal life ; which overpowering, stupendous fact turned 
 rude dull fishermen and such like into inspired and death- 
 defying heroes ! The rich, the powerful, or the celebrated will 
 readily exercise influence over others ; the fate of the Galilean, 
 however, offered no inducement to others to follow him. But 
 if. Jesus could bring before his disciples the vision of his own 
 person, and in ■ this manner bring to them with certainty the 
 
My Metaphysics and Religion. 209 
 
 conviction of eternal life, this was indeed the argumentum ad 
 rem et hominem for these misera plchs. Is such an apparition 
 or such a vision producing similar results quite unknown at 
 the present time ? Ask, say in ten faipilies, if any experience 
 of the kind is known, and something will most likely be heard. 
 But the inquiries must be made secretly and cautiously, for, as 
 proved by the academical prize test, Peters are still to be found 
 who will deny the truth even three times over. 
 
 Men who are intelligent, versed in history, and profound 
 thinkers, do not trouble themselves about the " signs and 
 wonders," which other very inferior persons have equally per- 
 formed, but they examine into the value of Christ's teachings. 
 Objective inquirers, such as these, will find that Christ, two 
 thousand years ago, perceived and recognised what after two 
 thousand years of progress is known as metaphysics. 
 
 III. Christ as the founder of a religion. 
 
 Before proceeding to the consideration of the teachings of 
 Christ, as found in the original Gospel, we will examine a little 
 more closely the fatal expression " the Son of God." This 
 firm conviction of Christ that he really was the Son of God 
 drove away many of his followers, led to his early death, and 
 to not a little evil in the Christian world; and yet this firm 
 belief is easily to be understood. Moses, the prophets, and 
 Mahomet believed that either directly or indirectly they had 
 intercourse with God ; even now there are enthusiasts who 
 believe that they are able to see Jesus and the Virgin Mary. 
 We know that certain conditioiis of the body are often made 
 to take a personal character; the Jews believed above all in 
 a personal God, who was connected with the chosen one of 
 the elect people, and we have only, therefore, to assume that 
 such a vision was called by the name of " my son," used by so 
 many aged persons, and there we have the " Son of God ! " 
 
 Had Jesus been born in Rome or Thibet, instead of Pales- 
 tine, his personification would have been different ; but the 
 Jew must fall back upon Jehovah. Christ, however, ought 
 really not to be blamed if his followers took this expression, 
 " Son of God," literally and in a corporal sense, and went so 
 far as to attribute his incarnation through the Holy Ghost 
 by a pure virgin. Christ saw in a visioTi or dreamt of a God, 
 who called him his " son," and, therefore, he called himself 
 the " Son of God." We have a well-known analogous case 
 in the Maid of Orleans. Visions, intercourse with other 
 beings, inspiration, martyrdom ! Other persons, other times 
 
 14 
 
2IO Birth and Death. 
 
 and circumstances, other aims ; — but the thing itself is the 
 same ! 
 
 In the third chapter of the original text Jesus comes forward 
 for the first time as a teaclier, when he says to Nicodemus, a 
 learned Pharisee : " Except a man be born from above, he 
 cannot see the kingdom of God." Most true ! He who does 
 not bring the transcendental form of perception with him, 
 cannot have it and develop it in the human form of existence, 
 and, therefore, cannot sec into the other world. That Jesus 
 meant this by his words, is proved in the following passages 
 from the same speech : " That which is born of the flesh is 
 flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit," and " No 
 one hath ascended into heaven but he who descended out of 
 heaven." Christ was clearly of opinion that he who would 
 hope for a future life must already have existed. 
 
 Then Jesus proceeds to explain his mission, and the aim 
 of his being ; He came, " that the world through Him might 
 be saved," " that everyone who believed on Him might have 
 eternal life." He is the " light " that came into the darkness, 
 because men loved darkness " (material life) " rather than light." 
 These precepts are inculcated throughout the whole gospel; Jesus 
 always teaches the same thing, and the further we proceed, the 
 more we become convinced, that Jesus had the firm conviction 
 that there is a transcendental life ; that he had come from that 
 to an earthly existence ; and that his mission was, to teach the 
 worthlessness of this life, that thereby men, freed from its fetters 
 should look forward without hindrance to a future existence. 
 
 Further on in the fourth chapter he discloses his mission 
 and utters these significant words : " He that reapeth, receiveth 
 wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that he that soweth 
 and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For herein is the 
 saying true, one soweth and another reapeth." Yes, indeed, in 
 this life man does not reap the fruit of his labours ! 
 
 In the. fifth chapter Jesus repeats twice that " He can do 
 nothing of Himself" but what he sees the Father do, and that 
 he can only do the will of him that sent him ; He says further, 
 " He that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me, 
 hath eternal life and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed 
 out of death into life." In the conclusion of the chapter he 
 reproaches his followers with their unbelief. In the sixth 
 chapter the spirit and deep sense of his teachings are clearly 
 set forth (ver. 27), " Work not for the meat that perisheth, 
 but for the meat which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son 
 
My Metaphysics and Religion. 211 
 
 of man shall give unto you " ; that is, work for transcendental 
 wages ; and in the words (ver. 38), " For I am come down 
 from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that 
 sent me," He manifests once more that it is not conscious 
 reason which lies at the root of his words and actions, but 
 transcendental motives. The words (ver. 46), " Verily I say 
 unto you, he that believeth hath eternal life," might easily lead 
 to the idea that in the decisive moment of death an act of the 
 will were necessary (for the continuance of life), of which un- 
 believers were not capable, and, therefore, were doomed to 
 annihilation. But it ought not to be understood in this manner; 
 for what we term life-force is nothing else in reality than the 
 meta-organism, and is in any case as indestructible as every 
 other force; the sense of his words must, therefore, be taken 
 to be that he who believes in a transcendental existence will 
 so live, that he needs no longer the purification of the earthly 
 dream of life, and, therefore, will live in an eternal form of 
 transcendental perception. Christ did not look upon our 
 earthly, or rather animal, existence as " Life," because he was 
 fully conscious of his dual nature. Further on, in the same 
 chapter, the foreboding of his death already is shown by the 
 words (ver. 51), "The bread that I give for the life of the 
 world is my flesh r We will notice more particularly this most 
 wonderful side of his teachings and character later on. Most 
 strange is the different comprehension by his disciples and the 
 Church of the words : "Whoso eateth my flesh will live through 
 me." "Many of his disciples went back, and walked no more 
 with Him." They found these words " too hard." The Church, 
 however, still at the present time will have men to believe that 
 they eat the flesh of Christ ! Both take the words literally, 
 although Jesus added (ver. 58), "This is the bread, which came 
 down from heaven, not as your fathers ate and are dead; whoso 
 eateth this bread shall live for ever." His flesh did not come 
 down from heaven, and there can exist no doubt as to the 
 deeper meaning of his words : he who eats the bitter bread 
 which Jesus found here and so crucifies the flesh as he did, 
 will doubtless have eternal life ! In this chapter also Christ's 
 conviction that birth and death are only a change of form of 
 consciousness are clearly demonstrated (ver. 61), "Doth this 
 cause you to stumble, what then if you should behold the Son 
 of man ascending where He was before ?" 
 
 In the spirit of these teachings, the foreboding of his death 
 and the object of his life's sacrifice are ever more and more 
 
212 Birth and Death. 
 
 clearly revealed ; I will, therefore, quote the passages without 
 any commentary. Chapter viii. : " I am the light of the world ; 
 he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have 
 the light of life" (ver. 12). "I know whence I come, and 
 whither I go" (ver. 14). "I am not alone" (ver. 16). "I am 
 not of this world " (ver. 23). " What I have heard from the 
 Father, that speak I to the world." "And He that sent me 
 hath not left me alone." " If a man keep my word, he shall 
 never see death ! " "I say unto you, before Abraham was, I 
 am." Chapter x. : " Therefore doth the Father love me, because 
 I lay down my life that I may take it again ; " " No one taketh 
 it from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it 
 down and I have power to take it again ; this commandment 
 I received from the Father;"' "I and the Father are one." 
 (Perhaps it is from these passages that the priesthood have 
 derived the divinity of Christ by an interpretation which they 
 do not merit.) 
 
 Chapter xii. : " He that loveth his life, loseth it ; and he that 
 hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal " 
 (ver. 25). "Yet a little while is the light among you " (ver. 35). 
 Chapter xiv. : " Believest thou not that I am in the Father and 
 the Father in me ? the words that I say unto you, I speak not 
 from myself, but the Father abiding in me doeth His works " 
 (ver. 10). " I will not leave you desolate, I will come unto 
 you" (ver. 15). " He that hath my commandments and keepeth 
 them, he it is that loveth me : and he that loveth me shall be 
 loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself 
 to him" (ver. 21). Chapter xv. : " Greater love hath no man 
 than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (ver. 13). 
 Chapter xviii. : " My kingdom is not of this world " (ver. 36). 
 This is the last passage which can be brought forward as a 
 teaching. 
 
 Now, what is the impression given collectively by these 
 figurative sayings ? Christ was one of those who possess, not 
 only the conviction, but the consciousness of their dual nature, 
 and consequently of a supersensual perception and • power of 
 action ; thereby he was neither a prophet nor a medium in the 
 modern sense of the term, but a man possessing a noble-minded 
 nature. The condition of his people, sunk in sensual life, must 
 have troubled him deeply, without any inspiration from the 
 transcendental side. The Jews certainly had their Jehovah, 
 but he rewarded and punished them in a purely material way, 
 through hunger, pestilence, war, and imprisonment. The Jews 
 
My Metaphysics and Religion. 213 
 
 were, therefore, a wholly material sensual people. Wherever, 
 therefore, the motive for the life and Works of Jesus may exist, 
 we find in his teaching, that there is another life; that the 
 happiness of this cannot be reached through material pleasures 
 and especially through a sinful way of life ; that whoever does 
 not see the "light," and does not believe in it, remains in 
 " darkness," and, therefore, cannot be freed from the world 
 and the " flesh." He has asserted that he was in direct com- 
 munion with the other world, that from it he received his 
 inspirations and powers ; so far all is clear, and only one 
 riddle remains, — Why had he to die in such a manner ? How 
 would his death be an atonement for others ? 
 
 This riddle likewise is not quite without a solution. Nothing 
 is exhibited so frequently in his life as a contempt for earthly 
 joys, which should be quite subservient to the higher destina- 
 tion of man ; now there can be truly no more splendid example, 
 no more forcible proof of the strength of his conviction given, 
 than his death. Not, however, only that. The tragical end of 
 the champion of a cause has always been of service to that cause. 
 Apollonius was, like Jesus, a pattern man, a seer, a teacher of 
 pure morality, and far above the Galilean in knowledge and 
 experience. He wandered about the whole world, and when 
 he was summoned before the tribunal of the Roman Emperor, 
 he indeed appeared, but in some incomprehensible manner was 
 able to withdraw himself from Caesar's power. Moreover, he 
 must have lived at least a hundred years, and yet — what remains 
 now to tell of his existence ? Nothing ! Christ, as a seer, 
 could himself know that the very manner of his death would 
 make it possible for him to appear to his disciples, and in the 
 earlier times to manifest himself palpably to them. Later on, 
 the other martyrs were able to take his place. Blood has 
 peculiar properties, says the popular belief! If it is acknow- 
 ledged that the Christian religion, as taught by Jesus, not as it 
 has been transformed by the priests, was a benefit to mankind, 
 then Jesus might be ever looked upon as the sacrificial lamb, 
 sent, as far as it was possible to do so, to take away sin out of 
 the world. 
 
 If the influence of the Church, especially of the Catholic 
 Church, were taken into consideration, one might be strongly ' 
 inclined to doubt if the Christian religion really were a benefit ; 
 it is, however, quite a different thing when the condition of 
 people at that time is looked at. The Mosaic law, the prophets, 
 and the angry Jehovah, were truly not calculated to bring 
 
214 Birth and Death. 
 
 culture into the world ; the Jews, too, were altogether too 
 insignificant a people, and looked down upon equally by 
 Egyptians, Assyrians, and Romans. The more intelligent 
 portion of the Roman dominions had long ceased to believe in 
 the gods of the Grecians ; Europe possessed no religion ; and 
 the decline of manners and customs under the later Caesars was 
 positively appalling. The more we regard Jesus through his 
 own conscious thoughts and actions, being driven to the sacrifice 
 of his life, tJie higher and more exalted does he appear; it may, 
 however, equally be thought that as a seer, he foresaw the 
 events which would happen, and gave himself up with resig- 
 nation to his martyr's death. In either case a most admirable 
 and wonderful phenomenon ! 
 
 The position of the Christian teaching and of the ruling 
 Church, with regard to my metaphysics, now that we have 
 learned to know Jesus as a historical personage, as a worker 
 of miracles, and as a founder of religion, is self-evident. 
 I have no need to tell my readers how entirely the teachings 
 of the great Galilean coincide with the proposition : " Birth 
 and death are a change of the form of perception ; " it is 
 quite another state of affairs, however, if the question is put, 
 whether my metaphysics are in unison with dogmatic behef in 
 its present form. This is certainly much less the case, but the 
 teachings of Christ stand equally in opposition to the institutions 
 of the Church, which find in them no justification whatever. 
 
 Now, what does the Church teach and inculcate ? 
 
 Man is scarcely born before he is baptized ; this was done 
 likewise by John, but he baptized grown-up persons, who desired 
 it, and received nothing for so doing. The child mitst be 
 baptized and go to mass, must confide his most secret thoughts 
 to the priest ; when he is grown and married, there again is the 
 priest, and at his death the latter must be paid for burying him. 
 Christ knew nothing of all these functions, and they were, 
 indeed, only instituted to establish the power of the hierarchy, 
 which enforced them with the rack and the stake, rather than 
 allow these offices to be performed by loving kindred. Jesus 
 saw in his disciples only followers and teachers, of priest's he 
 knew nothing ; he abominated those whom he knew, the 
 Levites. When Christ said, his kingdom was not of this 
 world, his uncalled-for vicegerents were of quite a different 
 opinion, and are so to this day. There can be no doubt that 
 it would have been a work more pleasing to God and more 
 useful to mankind, if all those millions which from time imme- 
 
My Metaphysics and Religion. 215 
 
 morial have been spent on Church ceremonies and pomps of 
 every kind, had been devoted to the relief of the poor and 
 needy, and the bringing-up of children. The priests have, how- 
 ever, fortunately brought it to such a pitch that the Christian 
 faith as it is, smothered by forms, is no longer the faith of the 
 intelligent classes, which may be looked upon as a sure proof 
 of its decay. The Christian Church breaks asunder, the Chris- 
 tian doctrine stands firm. The first gathers possessions in 
 every way, sells indulgences and dispensations, mixes itself up 
 in all family and state affairs, and is, — the quiet labours of 
 solitary priests in country places excepted, — in its present form 
 a useless, idle, rotten member of the social body. The doctrine 
 of Christ teaches love to our neighbour, and limits itself to this 
 dogma : " We come to this life from another, to which we 
 return ; and if we believe this and fashion our lives accordingly, 
 then we shall attain eternal life," that is, if we never return to 
 this. The Buddhist religion, which is the most ancient, and 
 has a greater number of followers than any other, teaches 
 the same thing. 
 
 And what does the Church make out of these doctrines ? 
 She makes from doctrine a religion. Religion, according to 
 Kant's just definition, is the recognition of all duties as divine 
 commands. Now, Jesus never communicated any divine com- 
 mandments, as did Moses before him and Mahomet after ; he 
 took no position either against or for the " Scriptures," but 
 simply regarded them as statements of seers or prophets, which 
 is to be noticed in many passages. The Church, however, has, 
 by reason of her ihfallibility, arrogated to herself the power of 
 making laws in God's name, while she interpreted the words 
 of the later compilers of the Gospels, often ia a very clumsy 
 manner ; she then endeavoured to enforce respect for these 
 laws, as far as was in her power, with fire and sword, and the 
 pastures fideles animariim fidelium inoculated children at the 
 earliest age with fear of the devil and hell, and unlimited venera- 
 tion for the priesthood, who in the meantime lived in vice and 
 luxury, till the reformation, and, more especially, the elevation 
 of philosophy, since the time of Kant, put some bounds to her 
 arrogance. 
 
 It seems really like blasphemy to think that God can find no 
 other way of giving His commandments but through prophets 
 and martyrs ; it is blasphemy to believe that a Divine command 
 could be violated ! If it is a question of Divine commandment, 
 I only know one single law which has a Divine character, and 
 
2i6 Birth and Death. 
 
 this is called the conservation of energy ! This law no one can 
 gainsay ; on it rests the eternity of nature and the justice of 
 the distribution of sunshine and rain ! All our crimes and 
 sacrifices, joys and sorrows, are transposed, everyone will be 
 what he makes himself! This is a command worthy of a God, 
 if, indeed, laws are made by God, for I neither blame nor fight 
 against Atheism, Pantheism, or Deism, since my understanding 
 and knowledge are too finite to allow me to discuss this 
 incomprehensible subject. I do not need to dramatise my 
 metaphysical wants by the assumption of a Divinity, for my 
 conviction of the existence of a transcendental world is the 
 result of facts and experience ; " and not the fruit of enthusiasm 
 or faith." 
 
 Religions will cease, in so far as they recognise duties as 
 Divine commandments ; true religion, on the contrary, will never 
 disappear among men, since this is a matter of feeling, and not 
 to be exterminated in devotional natures; "Oao. forms of religion 
 are secondary matters, and that of different dogmas being 
 stamped with the Divine character is particularly injurious, 
 since it legalises intolerance, which has raged long enough in 
 all its terrors, and still rages. Man may always hope to attain 
 at some time to the knowledge of Divine laws, but for the 
 present he must content himself with the knowledge of the 
 nature and destination of humanity, from which a recognition of 
 all his duties will naturally proceed ; he cannot involve the 
 unapproachable Godhead with his insignificant existence. If 
 a God were called upon to give us commandments for our 
 conduct and actions, I do not see why He should not give advice 
 as to means of healing, or teach us to invent useful machines, 
 or why, indeed. He placed us in titis world at all. If it is 
 a matter of indifference to God that millions of people are 
 starving, or are drowned, overwhelmed or burnt through some 
 fearful catastrophe, if He is indifferent that crime, imposture, 
 and force triumph over noble beings, surely it will be equally 
 a matter of indifference to Him, whether men eat meat en 
 Good Friday, and see in the hocus-pocus of all kinds of 
 religions only a testimonium patipertatis for believers, who take 
 the form for the spirit. 
 
 In my " Magic of Numbers " I have set forth the proposition 
 that every development is of a periodical sort of vibrating cha- 
 racter. Let us endeavour to adapt this proposition to religious 
 development, which certainly from the long periods of religious 
 revolution and the short history of mankind may be done. 
 
My MetapJiysics and Religion, 217 
 
 There are three great systems of religion known in the 
 history of the world, which are still at the present time 
 spread over all the universe ; the Buddhist (among which 
 the contemporary doctrines of Laotse may be counted), the 
 Christian, and the Mahometan ; the foundation of each of these 
 lying about six to seven hundred years apart. These different 
 waves of religion were not concentrated upon one person alone, 
 for in the time of Christ there were several other enthusiasts ; 
 Moses lived at about the same period with Zoroaster, and 
 Buddha with Laotse, and the age of the reformation produced 
 a Huss, a Luther, a Calvin, and a Leiden. The Romish 
 religion at the time of the reformation was given over to 
 corruption, from which the reformation resulted ; and we find 
 ourselves now in the epoch of enlightenment, in a similar condi- 
 tion to that of the Romans and Greeks at the time of Christ ; 
 the religious wave again makes itself felt, but it is no religion, 
 rather knowledge, which is now dawning upon us ; for our duties 
 will be sought and found in no "Divine commandment," but rather 
 in our transcendental interest, just as we know Christ sought 
 and found them, if we free the Gospels from their later adorn- 
 ments, and reduce them to the original text. This comprehen- 
 sion of our duties and interests rests upon the right knowledge 
 of our nature, to which we can attain by three ways (as I 
 pointed out in the introduction) — through the inquiry how 
 organisms originate and how they are developed and act ; 
 through criticism of our powers of knowledge themselves ; and, 
 finally, through the observation of extraordinary phenomena. 
 By each of these paths we arrive at the necessity for a trans- 
 cendental basis for human existence. Consequently, whether 
 we come from above, beneath, or elsewhere into this life, we 
 bring a conscious subject into this form of consciousness with us ! 
 This Christ has taught, this all the great and profound thinkers 
 of humanity have ever maintained, and it was reserved for the 
 scientists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to give an 
 example of the most stupendous aberration of mind ! 
 
 Everything, however, goes to show that " spiritism " is not 
 the religion of the future — for this would again be a revelation, 
 and an astounding one, — but the facts which lie at the bottom 
 of modern spiritualism offer most instructive and convincing 
 data of experience for the inductive and deductive proof of the 
 truth ; they are the same upon which the views of all founders 
 of religion rested in their time. It certainly is a curiosity of 
 our age that millions of men believe in the scanty and incom- 
 
2 1 8 Bii'th and Death. 
 
 pletely-recorded testimony of a dozen of unlearned men, after 
 the lapse of two thousand years, while they refuse to believe 
 the same facts at the present time, although thousands of living, 
 intelligent, and cultivated eyewitnesses vouch for them. 
 
 I think I have now proved that my metaphysics not only are 
 in accord with popular belief, natural science, and philosophy, 
 but correspond with the teachings of Christ (as well as with 
 those of Buddha), and above all are adaptable to religious needs. 
 I profess myself a follower of the doctrines of Christ, not as a 
 Catholic or a Protestant, but as a man of judgment and feeling; 
 because I have found in his teachings nothing unjust or pre- 
 posterous, but, on the contrary, metaphysical truths and ethical 
 ideals. I bow myself down, not before his signs and wonders, 
 which prove nothing for his doctrines, and are besides not very 
 surprising ; but I bow myself before the great sacrificial act, 
 with which this noblest of seers sealed the truth of his doctrines, 
 and the firmness of his convictions. His blood was and is the 
 cement of the building, which even the numberless sins of the 
 priesthood, both intellectual and ethical, have not been able to 
 destroy. 
 
 A man wants nothing better than his reason to decide whether 
 anything is true or false ; my metaphysics are founded on 
 reasons, the correctness or incorrectness of which must be 
 determined by their value ; still, I cannot but rejoice that what 
 I make public is in full accord with the teaching, not only of 
 the most profound of thinkers, but of the greatest and noblest 
 of seers ! Kant had disclosed the transcendental subject in 
 man, Christ saw it, felt it — what you will, — and if its existence 
 is firmly established, then our earthly life can be nothing but 
 a transitory condition of it, the result of a change of form of 
 consciousness ; all the rest follows of necessity ; this deduction 
 is the purport of my book ! 
 
 I calmly leave the further justification of my metaphysics to 
 time, for experience must always come with time, before which 
 I and everyone must bow, though certainly not before the false 
 or inconsiderate judgment of official men of science ! 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Moral principles and the motives for our actions are closely 
 connected with religion and philosophy, which, therefore, 
 exercise important influence upon the development of culture. 
 Just as a state, if it is only governed by the criminal code, sinks 
 in the scale of progress, so, on the contrary, monarchies and 
 republics thrive on an aristocratic or democratic basis, when 
 ideal characters form the population. Civilised Europe at the 
 present time is in this sad condition, namely, that its intelligent 
 and leading men know nothing but the normal side of our 
 existence ; they recognise no other responsibility than what is 
 imposed upon them by law and honour, from whence arises the 
 cynical egoism which is displayed in private and public. The 
 working classes again are injured by the bad example of the 
 more intelligent, and meanwhile the dogmas of the Church, 
 insulting as they are to reason, destroy belief in transcendental 
 responsibility in any form. To what will all this lead ? 
 
 It would be quite a different thing, if everyone recognised 
 that this life is only a passing episode, and that our actions 
 will influence our fate to all eternity ; that our works not only 
 beget objective and transitory results, but will be converted 
 into imperishable faculties and talents ; that love, friendship, 
 and self-sacrifice bear fruit beyond the grave ; and that there 
 can be no worse, and at the same time no more foolish maxim, 
 than to look upon material well-being as the sole object of 
 life. 
 
 Since, however, my metaphysics are diametrically opposed to 
 such a view, there could from a humanitarian standpoint be no 
 reason to object to a system of philosophy, which sets forth the 
 most powerful motives for actions, with a view to the public 
 good. In political life, at the present time, individual interest is 
 consulted before that of a party, and party interest before that 
 of the people ; so that the latter imagine they can do nothing 
 
220 BirtJi and Death. 
 
 better than to put an end to their endurance, regardless of 
 consequences. Reason is in our favour in examining, verify- 
 ing, and upholding a philosophy, which treads down a dominat- 
 ing, inconsiderate egoism under foot. But this is never to be 
 expected from the priests of the Church, nor from those of 
 science, at least during the present generation. 
 
 There are, however, a great number of persons, who already 
 feel discontented with what the Churchj, science, and natural 
 philosophy have to offer them in the way of metaphysics ; they 
 no longer believe what they are told by the priesthood, and the 
 modern metaphysics of the latter are opposed to their experience 
 of all kinds, not to mention that thereby our transcendental re- 
 quirements remain quite unsatisfied. There are, indeed, many 
 who entertain doubts of the teaching of these modern Pharisees 
 and theologians, and see through the whole falsity of their 
 assurance, but it is not enough to know the falseness of doctrines, 
 they want to be replaced by something positive, the solution of 
 the riddle of life is demanded, as well as a reasonable aim 
 of existence and an explanation of all phenomena, in order to 
 ensure confidence and a firm conviction. For such unsatisfied 
 persons this book is written. I hope that to all who have read 
 it to the end, the veil of Maja — which is none other than our 
 form of perception, which alone separates us from the other 
 world, — if not completely lifted, is rendered sufficiently trans- 
 parent to solace or animate them according to their needs in 
 the battle of life ; time alone, however, in whose bosom all 
 experience lies, can make these views beneficial to the public, 
 on account of the supineness and want of independence of 
 thought among the masses. 
 
 A single person can do little to remedy material wants, as 
 the causes of their existence are too numerous and too deeply 
 rooted in our social condition ; he can, at the best, point out the 
 way which must be pursued to reach such an object, — a task 
 which is not in the province of metaphysics. The latter can 
 only influence social development through tho^ fleeting, poiverfid 
 motives which they set forth, because they will and can tear the 
 leaders of opinion out of their careless, culpable indolence, and 
 render them capable of self-sacrifice. This aim will (at least 
 so I think) be forwarded by no better means that I know of, 
 than by the metaphysics of mankind here set forth. The 
 worship of the golden calf, inculcated by the materialism in 
 vogue, loses thereby its charm ; and the uselessness of the 
 cloister life, in favour with both Christian and Buddhist religions, 
 
Conchisio^t. 221 
 
 is without value, because in such a life neither the intellect nor 
 the disposition finds conditions for development. As to the 
 fashionable world, its struggles to surpass its neighbours in 
 ostentation and show are done away with, but my metaphysics 
 can readily give another direction to its ambition. It is a 
 fine thing to raise oneself above one's fellows; it is only a 
 question of by what means ! 
 
 Not only for the general public but for individuals, these 
 metaphysics possess great practical advantages, not the least of 
 which is, that they destroy the fear of death. The death- 
 struggle may indeed be dreaded, but not death itself, which in 
 any case must be a change for the better, except for those who 
 have reason to be dissatisfied with their course of life. Since 
 our condition here is only a semblance of that on the other side 
 of the grave, we can easily form a picture of the condition in 
 which such persons would find themselves, who were disagree- 
 ably surprised at the continuance of their existence in another 
 world. It might be similar to that in which a foolish spend- 
 thrift, a dissolute roue, or even a hypocrite finds himself, when 
 exposed to the contempt due to his vices in this life ; for such 
 the awakening may not be altogether enviable. 
 
 But these metaphysics are perhaps only a fond dream, an 
 empty speculation, like so many others ? Certainly not ; for 
 experience is their mother as well as their authority. Let us 
 recapitulate. 
 
 Is it true that a siipersensual power of perception in dreams 
 and visions has ever been observed in human beings ? There 
 can be no other answer than " yes ! " Is it true that any 
 person has ever .been able to exercise influence at a distance by 
 the power of his will ? Again the answer must be " yes ! " If 
 such a perception or influence at a distance has ever really been 
 known, then the transcendental basis is already proved, quite 
 independently of the fact, that without this basis the riddle of 
 biology and our normal powers of knowledge would be incom- 
 prehensible ; nothing further is needed to carry out the whole 
 edifice to completion. If the transcendental subject, and with it 
 the dual nature of man, is estabhshed, then the explanation of 
 the different phenomena of the severance {Spaltiuig) presents 
 no more difficulty, but they are instead a splendid proof of the 
 existence of the transcendental subject. Much depends, how- 
 ever, on whether well-established facts of this kind are to be 
 had. Now, we have found that this manifestation of the trans- 
 cendental subject in man, not only is proved beyond doubt in 
 
222 Birth and Death. 
 
 the present time, — and can be seen by anyone who earnestly 
 desires to do so ; but that it is a well-known and recognised fact 
 by all who know the history of mankind. The conditions under 
 which this severance can be accomplished, and those where it is 
 unsuccessful, ought to be a further confirmation of the correct- 
 ness of our hypothesis. 
 
 We are further convinced that the " psychic force " of living 
 men is not sufficient to account for all the phenomena which 
 are known to experience, but that the " psychic force " of other 
 individuals, identical in being to ourselves, must be called into 
 operation, whereby the proposition, " Birth and death are a change 
 of form of perceptions^ receives from all sides its full, because 
 complete confirmation. If a geologist asserts that under some 
 kinds of strata, for certain reasons, coal must exist ; and if he 
 then bores with success, his theory must be recognised for a 
 valid one. If one single kind of phenomenon points to the 
 existence of a transcendental basis in man, much is gained ; but 
 if all are in accord, a much higher degree of probability ought 
 to be acknowledged ; and if this transcendental basis leads to 
 necessary results or manifestations, which are uninterruptedly 
 confirmed by experience, and is manifested to us as an in- 
 dividuality surviving the cessation of life, who can then doubt 
 the correctness of the theory ? Certainly not I ! My expe- 
 riences and those of my never-to-be-forgotten friend Zöllner 
 were too numerous, too clear, not to maintain their validity 
 against the whole world ! The silly imitations produced to try 
 to make money or out of vanity, and the stupid objections of 
 modern so-called " anti-spiritualists," or " fraud-hunters," can 
 alter nothing as to the facts. 
 
 I must not omit to mention that this book is the first attempt 
 at an explanation that covers the whole ground of mystical phe- 
 nomena unanimously (for the " Philosophia Occulta" of Agrippa 
 can scarcely be called an explanation), without making use oj 
 any kind of communications, as has hitherto always been done ; 
 it is either gods or heavenly spirits whose authority has been 
 given, and such authority is always suspicious, and has the 
 less value when it comes from anonymous sources and the 
 statements are of a contradictory description. The only con- 
 clusions arrived at in this book are drawn from observation, 
 and the whole domain of experience ; single observations, in 
 consideration of the importance -of the question, are never taken 
 as a basis, only those which have been frequently made and can 
 always be made again. 
 
Concltision. ' 223 
 
 If, indeed, the explanation of the physical side of the question 
 might admit of wider experience and further and completer 
 proofs, since systematic observation is of recent date, the 
 metaphysical (philosophical) side remains undisturbed, for there 
 can no longer be any doubt as to the correctness of the funda- 
 mental views : birth and death are a change of form of 
 consciousness ! It is now only a question of exact experiment 
 and philosophical study to establish even more precisely the 
 conditions, modifications, and motives of this change. 
 
 My metaphysics may be for many a study, for still more 
 an incitement, and a consolation; in them alone do I find 
 indemnification for the many hard struggles and disappoint- 
 ments, which my researches in the department of the philosophia 
 occulta have caused me ! I can only say that my whole 
 existence has been embittered by these, and this is not to be 
 wondered at, since I have the united phalanxes of the Church, 
 science, the press, and materialistic Judaism against me. When, 
 as so often happens, I am reproached with having devoted 
 myself to this pursuit, I comfort myself by the thought that 
 Kant and Schopenhauer, those powerful thinkers, recognised 
 the high importance of this department of experience — and I 
 believe I have acted rightly ! The reader, to whom it is not 
 permitted to make experiments for himself, should, therefore, 
 bring to the study of this book and others mentioned in it, 
 _ that earnestness which it so justly deserves, and proofs for the 
 justness of the metaphysics here set forth will not be found 
 wanting ! " To him that knocketh, it shall be opened." 
 
 IRSITl 
 
 Printed by Hazell, Watson, & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. 
 

 :^ 
 
 W: 
 
NOV 
 
 my 
 
 Heidat 
 until 
 
 ONE MONTH USE 
 
 PLEASE RETURN TO DESK 
 FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 EDUCATION-PSYCHOLOGY 
 LIBRARY 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 1-month loans may be renewed by calling 642-4209 
 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior 
 
 to due date. 
 
 ALL BOOKS ARE SUBJECT TO RECALL 7 DAYS 
 
 AFTER DATE CHECKED OUT. 
 
 IONS 
 
 MÄYBERECÄLLfD 
 AFTER 
 
 T 
 
 JUL 2 5 1977 
 
 JAN 4 jurg 
 
 JAN. 
 
 5 77 
 
 fwm 
 
 (VIAY 3 1979 
 
 HOVl- 
 
 m 
 
 JUL ' 
 
 ivvr 
 
 LD 21-lOC- 
 
 LD 21A-30m-5,'75 
 (S5877L) 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
\V' 
 
 ■JOLOgf 
 
 unumr 
 
"VM 
 
 ^^; 
 
 i^* 
 
 
 'W: 
 
 'T-.M^ 
 
 TN- 
 
 m