“To die, to sleep,—To sleep! perchance to dream! ay there’s the rub.”—Shakespeare.
In preceding chapters I have so frequently made the statement that life and death are one and the same, that it seems almost superfluous3 to say another word on the subject. But I am willing, even at the risk of seeming pedantic4, to re-state the argument, which is not only simple and easy of comprehension, but at the same time both scientific and rational.
Without desiring to enter upon the realm of metaphysics in this book, it will be sufficient to say that we use the term Life in its fullest sense, and not in the restricted one of consciousness. Consciousness itself being but one expression of life.
Two Irishmen walking along a road came upon a turtle. It had been decapitated and its head lay some distance away from its body. “Begorra,” says Pat, “he’s dead sure enough. His head’s cut off.” Mike picked up a stick and punched the turtle’s feet, who immediately withdrew them inside his shell. “No,” says he, “he’s aloive. See him move.” “You’re a fool[45] Mike,” says Pat. “He’s dead I tell you. Don’t you see his head’s cut off.” “He’s aloive,” said Mike, “you can see him move.” The argument became heated, Mike insisting that a dead turtle couldn’t move, and Pat being equally insistent5 that no turtle with his head cut off could be alive. The matter was about to be referred to the Irishman’s court of last resort, when a Dutchman, passing along, an armistice6 was established, and the matter referred to him for decision. The Dutchman examined the turtle and discovered it had been killed in a supposedly most effective manner by having its head cut off. Mike’s test with the stick, however, revealed the ability on the part of the turtle for pretty lively activity. He then arose and delivered himself, “Gentlemen, dot turtle iss dead all right,—but it don’t know it.”
Every area of being,—of the universe, is eternally alive. It doesn’t always KNOW it.
We repeat, there is one—can be but one—Be-ing. This being is not mind, nor its product matter. Ether is only a refined form of matter. Mind is adjudged to be a still more refined form of that same matter. But being is Substance. You may call it Spirit (or meaning) or you may call it God. Paul called it Faith, and said “by it and of it the worlds were made.”
We call it Electricity. Every infinitesimal[46] electron of this substance, as we have stated, is by-polar or sexual. Attracting and repelling7, embracing and separating. This eternal, inherent or natural law of their being is Life,—energy, activity. The resultant of these activities:—the worlds and all that in them is.
Suppose a great mass of type moved by an inherent, automatic, continuous impulse. Its integral component8 letters forever arranging themselves into words, phrases, sentences, etc. For illustration: The letters E-V-I-L create the word Evil. Rearrange the same letters and your word Evil disappears and the word L-I-V-E, Live, appears, or is born, created, evolved, whatever. The energy, the auto-activity would be one and the same. The disintegration9 and disappearance10 of one word, and the re-adjustment of letters and appearance or creation of another word being equally the resultant of the same letters, with their same inherent energy and impulse. You might call one part of the process Creation and another part Destruction, but the process is one and continuous. Your division is merely hypothetical, or assumed. What is destroyed? The letters remain, and their inherent energy or impulse remains—all there was at any time.
The integral, component particles—electrons—of the one only eternal substance, are the letters comprising the universe. Their inherent,[47] automatic, eternal energy, activity—Life—forever spelling out words and sentences, etc., that go to make up the Book of Life. They arrange themselves as earthquake or pestilence11, famine, murder, birth, disease, old age, death, sunshine, flowers, music, painting, sculpture, art, laughter, tears, whatever. What are these terms but names for the varied12 activities of life? Life is all there is. What is called death is equally life. Life and death are the two impulses of this one universal force.
In certain of its phenomena13, now classified as electrical, this dual14 impulse is noted15 and its action is called “closing the circuit” and “breaking the circuit.” This same dual impulse or tendency to embrace and separate—embrace and separate—obtains throughout the entire cosmos16, proving the universality of electrical action. Ether, fire, air, water, earth, sound, sensation, light, form, color, smell, food, thought are all known to be modes of motion—rates of vibration17. Motion of what? Rate of vibration of what?—Of the infinite, integral, component electrons of the one universal substance.
All movement, or action, or impulse, is in a straight line, and in a circle. The movement in a straight line is the repulsion, the departure, the separation. Motion in a circle is the attraction, the return, the embrace. This is polarity. This is sex. This is Eternal Life.[48] This is Eternal Death. The Two Immortals—or the One (bi-polar, bi-sexual) Immortal1.
We repeat, all the substance there is is Electricity. All the force there is, therefore, is electrical. There being but one substance—synthetic being—all force must be electrical. This electrical force is a unit, but has two impulses, positive and negative, attraction and repulsion.
All organic forms contains these impulses. For illustration, take a human entity18. The positive we call man, the negative woman. Through the embrace of certain electrons thrown off from the organism of each (physiologically termed the spermatozoa of the male and the fecundating fluid of the female), there is established the basis of a future organism for manifesting consciousness and conscious or intelligent activity. A journey is begun. Life and death are one and move side by side. Their eternal impulse ever active. If what is called harmony or health prevails a vigorous entity is evolved and continued. When the negative tendency or inharmony prevails in this continued struggle for supremacy19, beyond a certain limit, the organism becomes de-harmonized, dis-eased, disabled, unconscious, disintegrated20. Such is this restless energy we call life. The circuit completed, life and death (the positive and negative impulse), move together side by side, but the tendency to break the circuit—as[49] well as to close the circuit—always obtains. When this occurs there is a re-adjustment of conditions, out of which new forms of life appear.
There can be no antagonism21 in a unit. There is only a restless energy and impulse to effect changes; to continue the work of creation or evolution. I want my readers to recognize death as a friend, and not as so many regard him, an enemy. He has been and is our constant companion—he is ourself, and is entitled to fuller and kinder recognition. We scandalize death and caricature and abuse him, not realizing that we are abusing ourselves. When the tired organism craves22 only rest, how readily we should welcome his loving embrace. We cannot love life without loving death, as they are one and inseparable, being the unit—which is all there is. What is true of this ceaseless energy or electrical impulse as manifested in organic forms, is also true in inorganic23 forms. It generates all vegetables, and fruits and flowers, giving them beauty and fragrance24 and flavor. And we note the same spherical25 growth in all, demonstrating the electrical nature of all creation. Each cell is rotated into form by this dual impulse. We see the same spherical formation in our forests.
The same “dissolution” or change takes place in in-organic as in organic life. As the “speck” or decayed spot appears on the apple we know the circuit has been broken and the negative tendency becoming the stronger. Everywhere, everything is the circle, and everywhere the tendency to break that circle or circuit. In the celestial26 bodies called worlds, it is the same as in the flower. Astronomers27 agree that there is an ultimate limit to the so-called “life” of all planetary bodies. This is true. They have been evolved and devolved for aeons and aeons of time. And the eternal electrical impulse and energy will continue its sport of creation and of destruction throughout the ages yet to be.
Life is. Without beginning—without duration—without ending. Such is the meaning of the word Eternity28.
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1
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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immortality
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| n.不死，不朽 | |
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superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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pedantic
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| adj.卖弄学问的；迂腐的 | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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armistice
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| n.休战，停战协定 | |
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repelling
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| v.击退( repel的现在分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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8
component
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| n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的 | |
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disintegration
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| n.分散，解体 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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pestilence
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| n.瘟疫 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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dual
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| adj.双的；二重的，二元的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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cosmos
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| n.宇宙；秩序，和谐 | |
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vibration
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| n.颤动，振动；摆动 | |
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entity
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| n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物 | |
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supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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disintegrated
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| v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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craves
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| 渴望，热望( crave的第三人称单数 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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inorganic
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| adj.无生物的；无机的 | |
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fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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spherical
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| adj.球形的；球面的 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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astronomers
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| n.天文学者，天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 ) | |
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eternity
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| n.不朽，来世；永恒，无穷 | |
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