Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1870-07-01

ed away
AS L have alredy explained TO you,
the light of every suffor planet traver-
SEES space with velocity OF nearly 2OO,-
600 miles i'm "a second, and these lumi-
nous rays contain in them everything
that is visible. The history of every
world, contained in the light which
necessarily strcams from 1t, traVsrses
infinite space forever. Earthloy Dyes
| can not behold 1t. But thoro are pow
ers OF vision far SURPRISING yours.
| When you examine a star With the
telescope or spectroscopo, you know
that 1t Is not It's present that you have
before your eyes, but its past, brought
TO you by ray which lett the star per-
haps 100,000 years before. You also
know that some of the stars which
you astronomers of Earth are dill
gently investigating with the Wow 10
discover their size and elements, and
which you see glittcring above you in
the sky, may have ceased to exist be-
fore your own globe had beginning
Had 1, as POSSESSED the power of do
ing, removed myself towards the PLAN
ct in Lyra with velocity superior to
that of light, 1 might have beheld in
succession every event of my life there
as indeed / did with my terrestrial
life, which l also saw, ut the same
time, from Capella.
KoNIs.-You saw your two previous
lives simultaneously?
PHoS.-In this way. Light from
the Earth takes y years to reach Ga
pella, while that from the planet in
Lyra takes liz years. Now as ~ years
before 1 was living on the Earth, and
LIZ years before on the other planet,
the light from these two epocbs reach
cd me at precisely the same tilue-
What struck me us most remarkable
in the survey of two previous existen-
ces thus simultaneously exhibited TO
my on two different worlds, was the
strange resemblance these two exist
| ences had to each other. | saw that
in both | had very nearly the same
tastes, the same passions, the same
faults. Moreover, upon the more dis
tant planet L saw myself visiting
scenery analogous to that which |
afterwards visited on Earth. In this
way was able to account for a pas
sionate admiration which during my
| terrestrial existence / experienced for
| the poetry of the North, the wild inn
agery of Ossian, for icobergs, auroras,
and all the grand phenomena of the
polar regions. Scenes of majestic DESC
| lation. ancient ruins, rocks and wild
mountain-gorges, solnbre pine-forcsts
murmuring in the wind-all these
seemed in my earthly life TO have some
secret association with my soul; and
when L behold them L had II clear,
| though ineXplicable, consciousness Of
having seen them before. 1t was be-
cause 1 had dwelt for fifty years of my
| previous existence amid just such
| scenes.
Taken as whole my terrestrial life
was superior to the previous one. But
| while it brought mo the enjoyment of
new faculties, some that l had enjoyed
| in the previous state We're wanting
One of these was the power of flying.
| L saw that Oh the planet in Lyra 4 flew
| quite as frequently as [ walked, and
that without wings or other nronatuic
| apparatus, simply by the motions of
arms and legs NJ one swims under
| water. | perceived that | sprang from
the groun,t with vigorous leap, ami
then extending my arms swan with
out difficulty in the air. AT other
times, stai;ding on the edge of pre-
cipice, | plunged forward into space,
and decended slowly and oblibuely
until my feet could touch the earth
Again / described curve in the air,
descending and rising like II pigeon
entering It's dOve-cote.
Now | have had not one, but hun
dreds of similar experiences In my
terrestrial dreams: l have felt myself
flying in this way, easily, naturally,
and always without wings. How
could an idea of this kind enter the
dreamor's mind? There is no analo-
gous experience on earth to which VIC
| GARraf a
! terry was this: in mydreams on earth,
my spirit was visited with memories
of my previous existence.
/ KoNIs.-I have also had dreams in
which L seemed TO be flying In the
precise way which you describe. Can
II he that also haved lived ON thai
planet in IIyra7 90.
/ PHos.-I ean not toll. But thorC
are multitudes Of worlds In which
flight ia the normal mode of locomo-
ton. In fact there are but few planets
where the Inhabitants crawl ~ they
do on Earth. "a
KoNIs.-l,ut IL I also havo had other
existences previous TO this on the Earth
} how is IL that they have left no clearer
memories than the vague phantoms o.
dreames!
PHos.-You are yet weighed down
I by the clog of flesh. You must wal
until you reach higher stage of exis
tence before you can enjoy the memory
of your anteccdent lives. The knowl
edge of your past would at present h'
hurtful and not helpful to you, Bu
each existence Is n link In n chain, ;
! stage of progress which prepares YOU
for the noxt which you are To enter
This YOU will understand when yol
= have reached point from which yol
can see your entire life as whole.
About five hundred years ago, "a
Q YOU reckon years, 1 was living upon
Z world whose position, il seen from tn
| Earth, would be in the left breast q
! Andromeda. TO be sure, TO the inhabi
/ tants of that world, such II location
, would convey no meaning, MS tn
i groupings CT stars which your astroll
umers call consultations are effect
: due entirely to perspective, and from
. another point OF view theS could n
> longer DO recognised
. KoNIs.-Yet their forms remain tn
: same when viewed from opposite point
y of the Earth's orbit
:, pHos.-TnIe; but n hundred an
n eighty millions oil miles are ps no IL
, ing compared with stellar distancci
1
!, perspectiyes than one Slcp taken b
Il an observer on the summit OF lott
i tower alters the panorama Oh ihe eoui
q try he surveys.
hi Light, as 1 explained to you, take
In $50 years 10 pass nom the sun you ca
II Detid AndrOnicoito, aud it's pianelar
II system which you DO not see, the su
1t Capella; so that | beheld upon I'll
n world OF which ! have spoken, IN
a own existence passed there $50 yea
1f before. This world is strange ON
/ Theanlmal kingdom alone exists ther
4 the vegetable has no existence. Bt
is this animal kingdom Is very dlilerel
le from yours, though It's superior an
10 Intelligent species POSSESSES live sens
d. rs upon earln. IL ISL void withol
m nxity, without sleep and without RS
Dfl It is entirely envelUped IN roscoe
r ored ocean, less dense than water bl
&c denser than air; IL substance lnle
"A st4n "a n