30. It is hardly necessary to observe that the spirit-force is not the result of a combination of the forces of nature. From a theoretical point of view such a conclusion appears to be inconsistent with the existing condition of the forces of nature,
as there is not a single force in this universe which manifests itself in its various recognized forms without a substratum of the same force in the creation, and the same remarks should apply to the spirit-force. The following illustration will establish the proposition we have enunciated above.
31. A candle is ignited and busts forth into a flame. If one were to look at combustion alone which produces the flame, the inference would be that combustion, independent of everything, is the cause of the flame. But such is not the case. It is the specific heat of the constituents of combustion that is manifesting
itself in an accentuated form. This specific heat is the substratum without which no manifestation of heat is possible, and the same remarks apply to all the forces of nature.
32. Applying the analogy to the spirit-force, the inference is that there is a substratum and reservoir or source of the spirit-force in the creation.
33. Argumentation by analogy is not however, always conclusive, and concrete facts should therefore be always sought in a scientific research.
34. We have already emphasized in Article 10, the necessity for a scientific recognition or repudiation of the many extraordinary facts reported about spirits by investigators into the phenomena of spiritualism, one of which is that there are disembodied spirits. If this fact be recognized by science, it will constitute a proof of the most positive character that the spirit-force is not dependent upon the physical environment for its existence. Furthermore, if it be recognized that disembodied spirits can have access to places where access would not be possible by ordinary actions in the three dimensions, the fact of disembodied spirits being
endowed with subtle functions, which are more or less akin to those of ether, is also established. Instances are not wanting, which show that disembodied spirits enjoy an immunity from heat and cold which is not to be found in the physical frame.
This would corroborate the statement that the spirits posess ethereal or astral bodies, for head has very little effect, if any, on the ethereal frame, as the temperature of ether is said to be not subject to any appreciable variations by the passage of heat rays. In these circumstances, the existing germ theory, which assumes it as an axiom that beyond a certain degree of heat-temperature the existence
of germs is impossible, will require modification. We shall have to limit the theory to physical germs,, but it cannot universally be extended to ethereal and other subtler germs of life.
A further inference may not be improperly drawn that the courser forms of physical life found on this earth have been derived from the subtler planes, which are not within the scope of the physical senses, and which are as full of vital activity and manifestations as our own planet. This view, if accepted, upsets the present germ theory, and the germs should no longer be held to be the initial seeds giving rise to higher conditions of life. On the contrary, they would have to be treated as extremely feeble and diffused emanations from higher sources.
35. It is a matter of further observation, drawn from many authenticated cases, that the spirit functions, including the intellectual faculties, are immensely enhanced during conditions of trance when the physical functions are not working.
In such conditions, coming events, and occurences taking place at great distances, are correctly stated. The inference, which we may naturally draw from the above observation, is that a further liberation of the spirit from the subtler frames may result in the manifestation of higher functions still, and eventually in the manifestation of the essence of the spirit itself. In such a condition, the spirit-entity would become a focus and source of pure intelligence, energy, and bliss.
36. If we look at the various forces of nature, leaving out for the present the spirit-force, we find that they are dependent for their existence upon the media through which they manifest themselves. On the elimination of the medium, peculiar to each, the energy of course remains, but the previous form in which it was present disappears. Take for instance the case of chemical action. It is due, as is well known, to the exchange of molecules, atoms, or ions.
If there be a region beyond the atomic and the ionic spheres of creation, chemical action in the form in which it is found here will not be possible. Again, take the case of electricity. If electric force acts through a medium, this implies that there is a plane
from which the force acts, and that there is another plane upon which it acts. These two planes cannot be treated as one and the same, inasmuch as the electric force would then be always acting in the plane it resides in, and there should not be a latent condition of it. If the proposition we have enunciated above be correct, the two planes in question would be distinct from each other, and would be similar to two different planes of the dimensions we are familiar with. Like any two of the ordinary dimensions, they would, for example, be separate and yet allied with each other.
The lower plane would be in a state either of kinetic action, or of quiescence, in accordance with the presence in, or absence from, it of the force from the higher plane.
If this lower plane be, in the case of electricity, that subtle substance known as ether, the inference is irresistible that it does not pervade all space, but that it is confined to a sphere of its own.
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