CHAPTER L.
MY WEIGHT ANNIHILATED.--"TELL ME," I CRIED IN ALARM, "IS THIS TO BE A LIVING TOMB?"
"If you will reflect upon the condition we are now in, you will perceivethat it must be one of unusual scientific interest. If you imagine abody at rest, in an intangible medium, and not in contact with a gas orany substance capable of creating friction, that body by the prevailingtheory of matter and motion, unless disturbed by an impulse fromwithout, would remain forever at absolute rest. We now occupy such aposition. In whatever direction we may now be situated, it seems to usthat we are upright. We are absolutely without weight, and in aperfectly frictionless medium. Should an inanimate body begin to revolvehere, it would continue that motion forever. If our equilibrium shouldnow be disturbed, and we should begin to move in a direction coincidingwith the plane in which we are at rest, we would continue moving withthe same rapidity in that direction until our course was arrested bysome opposing object. We are not subject to attraction of matter, for atthis place gravitation robs matter of its gravity, and has no influenceon extraneous substances. We are now in the center of gravitation, the'Sphere of Rest.'"
"Let me think it out," I replied, and reasoning from his remarks, Imentally followed the chain to its sequence, and was startled assuddenly it dawned upon me that if his argument was true we must remainmotionless in this spot until death (could beings in conditions likeourselves die beyond the death we had already achieved) or the end oftime. We were at perfect rest, in absolute vacancy, there being, as Inow accepted without reserve, neither gas, liquid, nor solid, that wecould employ as a lever to start us into motion. "Tell me," I cried inalarm, "is this to be a living tomb? Are we to remain suspended hereforever, and if not, by what method can we hope to extricate ourselvesfrom this state of perfect quiescence?" He again took the bar of ironfrom my hand, and cautiously gave it a whirling motion, releasing it ashe did so. It revolved silently and rapidly in space without support orpivot.
"So it would continue," he remarked, "until the end of time, were it notfor the fact that I could not possibly release it in a condition ofabsolute horizontal rest. There is a slight, slow, lateral motion thatwill carry the object parallel with this sheet of energy to the materialside of this crevice, when its motion will 'be arrested by the earth itstrikes.'"
"That I can understand," I replied, and then a ray of light broke uponme. "Had not Cavendish demonstrated that, when a small ball of lead issuspended on a film of silk, near a mass of iron or lead, it is drawntowards the greater body? We will be drawn by gravity to the nearestcliff," I cried.
"You mistake," he answered; "Cavendish performed his experiments on thesurface of the earth, and there gravity is always ready to start anobject into motion. Here objects have no weight, and neither attract norrepel each other. The force of cohesion holds together substances thatare in contact, but as gravitation can not now affect matter out ofmolecular contact with other forms of matter, because of the equilibriumof all objects, so it may be likewise said, that bodies out of contacthave at this point no attraction for one another. If they possessed thisattribute, long ago we would have been drawn towards the earth cliffwith inconceivable velocity. However, if by any method our bodies shouldreceive an impulse sufficient to start them into motion, ever so gentlythough it be, we in like manner would continue to move in thisfrictionless medium--until--"
"We would strike the material boundary of this crevice," I interrupted.
"Yes; but can you conceive of any method by which such voluntary motioncan now be acquired?"
"No."
"Does it not seem to you," he continued, "that when skillful mechanicson the earth's surface are able to adjust balances so delicately that inthe face of friction of metal, friction of air, inertia of mass, thethousandth part of a grain can produce motion of the great beams andpans of such balances, we, in this location where there is no frictionand no opposing medium--none at all--should be able to induce massmotion?"
"I can not imagine how it is possible, unless we shove each other apart.There is no other object to push against,--but why do you continue tohold me so tightly?" I interrupted myself to ask, for he was clasping mefirmly again.
"In order that you may not leave me," he replied.
"Come, you trifle," I said somewhat irritated; "you have just arguedthat we are immovably suspended in a frictionless medium, and fixed inour present position; you ask me to suggest some method by which we cancreate motion, and I fail to devise it, and almost in the same sentenceyou say that you fear that I will leave you. Cease your incongruities,and advise with me rationally."
"Where is the bar of iron?" he asked.
I turned towards its former location; it had disappeared.
"Have you not occasionally felt," he asked, "that in your former lifeyour mind was a slave in an earthly prison? Have you never, especiallyin your dreams, experienced a sensation of mental confinement?"
"Yes."
"Know then," he replied, "that there is a connection between the mindand the body of mortal beings, in which matter confines mind, and yetmind governs matter. How else could the will of men and animals impartvoluntary motion to earthy bodies? With beings situated as are theanimals on the surface of the earth, mind alone can not overcome thefriction of matter. A person could suspend himself accurately on astring, or balance himself on a pivot, and wish with the entire force ofhis mind that his body would revolve, and still he would remain atperfect rest."
"Certainly. A man would be considered crazy who attempted it," Ianswered.
"Notwithstanding your opinion, in time to come, human beings on thesurface of the earth will investigate in this very direction," hereplied, "and in the proper time mental evolution will, byexperimentation, prove the fact of this mind and matter connection, anddemonstrate that even extraneous matter may be made subservient to mindinfluences. On earth, mind acts on the matter of one's body to producemotion of matter, and the spirit within, which is a slave to matter,moves with it. Contraries rule here. Mind force acts on pure spacemotion, moving itself and matter with it, and that, too, without anyexertion of the material body which now is a nonentity, mind here beingthe master."
"How can I believe you?" I replied.
"Know, then," he said, "that we are in motion now, propelled by my willpower."
"Prove it."
"You may prove it yourself," he said; "but be careful, or we willseparate forever."
Releasing his grasp, he directed me to wish that I were moving directlyto the right. I did so; the distance widened between us.
"Wish intensely that you would move in a circle about me."
I acquiesced, and at once my body began to circle around him.
"Call for the bar of iron."
I did as directed, and soon it came floating out of space into my veryhand.
"I am amazed," I ejaculated; "yes, more surprised at these phenomenathan at anything that has preceded."
"You need not be; you move now under the influences of natural laws thatare no more obscure or wonderful than those under which you have alwaysexisted. Instead of exercising its influence on a brain, and thenceindirectly on a material body, your mind force is exerting its actionthrough energy on matter itself. Matter is here subservient. It isnearly the same as vacuity, mind being a comprehensive reality. Thepositions we have heretofore occupied have been reversed, and mind nowdominates. Know, that as your body is now absolutely without weight, andis suspended in a frictionless medium, the most delicate balance of achemist can not approach in sensitiveness the adjustment hereinexemplified. Your body does not weigh the fraction of the millionth partof a grain, and where there is neither material weight nor possiblefriction, even the attrition that on surface earth results from a needlepoint that rests on an agate plate is immeasurably greater incomparison. Pure mind energy is capable of disturbing the equilibriumof matter in our situation, as you have seen exemplified by ourmovements and extraneous materials, 'dead matter' obeys the spiritual.The bar of iron obeyed yo
ur call, the spiritless metal is subservient tothe demands of intelligence. But, come, we must continue our journey."
Grasping me again, he exclaimed: "Wish with all intensity that we maymove forward, and I will do the same."
I did so.
"We are now uniting our energies in the creation of motion," he said;"we are moving rapidly, and with continually accelerated speed; beforelong we will perceive the earthy border of this chasm."
And yet it seemed to me that we were at perfect rest.