The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-01-29

vi y ~ . ~
World scientific forms in which the THOUGHTS
Of q Hindu sage are cast. would only Prove q
stumbling block and source OF eonfnsionsto
tho reader. For this renson Mr.. Carpenter hes
simply tried to indicate. as FAR rs he can. In
his own words aud 10 modern thought forms
what he takes to be the direction In which we
must look for tho world-old knowledge which
has had 30 stupendous an influence In the
East and when still constitutes the chiof mark
OF It's difference from the West. At the out
set. he warns US against an error which IL
likely to arise. 1t Is frequently assumed In
any case where o person is credited with tho
possession OF an unusual faculty that such
person Ia at once and forever liftcd out OF our
sphere into q supernatural region and ac-
aulres at one stroke every faculty OF that
domain. II. for instance. he or she 10 oris sup-
posed to be clairvoyant. It Ia assumed that
everything is or ought to be known to them;
or. II the person has shown what seemssa
miraculous power at any time or In any case.
1t Is asked by way Of discredit why he OF. she
did not show q like power at other timss or In
other cases. Against all such hasty generate
cations We are admonishcd to guard our
selves. II there be u higher form OF con-
sclousness attainable by man than that
which he for the most part can claim at pres
ent. It is probable. nay. certain. that 1t Is
evolving and will evolve but slowly. and with
many u slip and hesitant pause by the way.
In the far past OF man and the animals con-
seriousness. OF sensation and consciousness OF
self have been successfully evolved-each OF
these mighty growths with innumerable
branches and branchlets continually spread
ing. At any point In this vast experience q new
growth. q new form OF consciousness. might
we'll have seemed miraculous. what could DO
moro marvellous. for instance. than the h.st
nA.k - Al. .A~AA o atDhk xuhnf vnnrA
inconceivable to those who had not expe-
rienced 1t. and what more certain than that
the first use OF this faculty must have been
fraught with delusion and errorp Yet there
may be an inner vision which tran
sends sight even as lar as sight tran
sends touch. tits certainly possible. and Mr..
Carpenter deems It more than probable that In
the hidden births OF time there turks q con-
whichis not the consciousness OF
sensation. and which is not the consciousness
OF self-or at least which includes and entirely
sutpasses these-a consciousness In which the
contrast between the ego aud the external
world. and the distinction etween subject
and object fall away. The part OF the world
into which such q consciousness admits us.
call 1t ~supra-mundane or what not. Is probably
know. and progress IN that region is PROBABLY
..-.I.,ou, .nar,not.in E,., =, tho.a ,rho
do attain to some portion Of this region. we are
not to suppose that they become at once
ago. or infallible. In many cases.
indeed, the very novelty and %strangcness Of
tho experiences may we'll give rise to phnntas-
mai trims Of delusive SPECULATION. Though we
should expect. and though it Is no doubt true
on the whole that what we should call the
higher types OF existing humanity are most
~, ---
faculties attainsble, yet it is not always SO;
and there are cases well recognized by the In.
dian adopts In which persons OF decidedly de-
ticient or warned moral nature attain powers
which properly belong to n high grade OF spir-
itual evolution and become correspondinRly
dangerous thereby. All this is insisted upon
BY the Hindu teachers. They say that there Is
abnormal or miraculous about the
matter: that the faculties ACQUIRED are.
on the WHOLE, the result Of long evolu-
tion and training, and that they have
distinct laws and an order OF their
own. They recognize the existence OF persons
Of a demoninc faculty who have acquired pow
srs OF a certain grade without corresponding
moral evolution and they admit the rarity OF
the highest phases OF consciousness and the
fewness of those at present lifted for their at.
tainment.
- =,
.-
Those provisos once established. Mr. Car
penter goes on to tell US that what the Gpani
seeks and obtains Is q new order OF conscious
ness. to which. for want OF a better. ono may
give the name OF universal or cosmic con-
In contradistinction to the indi-
vidual or special bodily consciousness with
which we are all familiar. The West socks
the individual consciousness. the enriched
mind. ready perceptions and memories. indi-
vidual hopes and fears. ambitions. loves. con-
sell, the local self in all its phases
andi forms-and doubts whether such a thing
as o universal consciousness exists. The
East seeks the universal consciousness.
and. In those cases where Its quest succeeds.
self and lie thin away to a nero
flm and are only the shadows cast by the
glory revealed bayond. The individual con-
takes the form OF thought. which
Is fluid and mobile like quicksilver. perpetual
~ In a state OF change and unrest. fraught
with pain and effort. The other consciousness
does not take the form ofthought. 1t touches.