The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-04-03
UNSEEN WORLD'--LECTURE
BY THEOSOPHIST PRIME

| Thomas Prime iectured on "'The TN
seen World" Monday evening before the
Oahu Lodge of the Theosephical So
ciety, speaking substantially as fol-
| lows:
Theosophical teachings about the I'M
seen world are far more definite than
| those given in the churches in the
Western world at the present time;
| though there evidently was a time
when much more was taught by them
on this subject, than is taught now.
| We hold that there is an unseen world,
not far away from Us, but around US
| all the time, that it remains unseen
| TO most of US simply because we have
not yet developed the senses by which
| it can be perceived, but that for those
who have developed the higher facul-
ties it is not unseen nor unknown, by
such it can be seen. can be explored
and investigated 1t has not remained
| unknown TO ali any more than the re-
mote places of the earth have remain
ed unknown from the beginning of
time until now. For instance, there
are vast tracts Of prinevai forests In
South America, unyisited by any re-
cent explorations, yet we are told that
long ages ago there were great races
Of men who lived in that country, to
whom it was perfectly familiar, for 1t
was their native land. In the same
way this unseen world was not I'M
known to the ancients, was not unseen
by those among them who Were more
highly developed, those spoken of as
the seers, the prophets and the teach
ers of old. IF you read the ancient
sacred writings of the various reIi-
gions you will find in them a good deal
of information about this unseen world
and in many cases, exactly what is
being taught in these modern days by
Theosophy.
It appears to be only in the Western
world that any uncertainty has arisen
with regard to this unseen world. The
consequence of the vague thought and
speech about it is that the world it
self is supposed to be vague and dim
and uncertain also. One thinks and
feels that because he individually
knows nothing for certain with regard
TO the unseen world, that therefore
there is nothing certainly to be known, |
that all is misty and unreal. Tonight |
I wish to state the Theosophical teach /
ing on this subject and to show that |
at any rate an reasonable hypothe- /
sis.
The unseen world is a continuation I
Of what is distinctly known to US by
the senses we have already developed
and which ae are using every day.
We must understand something about
these senses and also about the con-
st1tution of the world itself, because
the two subjects are closely connected.
You know that there are many diff
ferent conditions in which matter may
exist, that 1t may be made to change
from one condition to another by va
riationS of temperature and of pres
sure. We are all well aware of three
solid, liquid and gaseous.
1t IS the theory of science that all sub
stances can, under proper variations of
temperature and pressure. exist III all
,hese conditions just as water may be-
,ome ice at a lower temperature and
steam at a higher one The chemists
lave succeeded in liquifying the at
nosphere and have reduced some OF
he gases to solid slabs. Occult chem
stry shows US other, and higher con-
litions than the gaseous, which is cali
d etheric. I know that in ordinary
cience they frequently speak of the
llIli1clE aIUIl III SOiuf Oh SIINSE anu SO (,
N through the sixty or seventy sub
tances which chemists call elements,
he theory being that that is an ele-
nent which cannot be further reduced,
Occult science tells what many scien-
lists have suspected, that all of these
o-called elements are not in the true
ense of the word elements at all, that
hey can all be further subdivided. BY
arrying on this breaking up process
/ is found that eventually a series OF
efinite physical atoms are arrived at
which are all alike; that is to say, !
here is one substance at the back of :
II, and this should properly be called
be ultimate physical atom.
If it be true that all substances have
he same basis, we at once see many
ew possibilities in chemistry, we see
hat We might break up an element :
nd then reunite the particles differ /.
ntly, so that We might change one
cement into another, and so we see
hat we are within reasonable dis
anee of showing the possibility of the
theory of the afcnemisrs
f old who stated that they converted
ne metal into another, turned copper
Ito gold, or lead into silver.