The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-11-08
The Spiritual AnLyIost mfasis of VI.
MaeterItncL.

In The Unknotrn Quest. translated by
NJ. de Mattos CDodd Mead). MAURICE
MAErERLINcK continues that exploration
o: the mysteries Of life after death
which he began last wear in "Our Eter-
nifty" The unknown guest" IL a ques-
ticn mark supposed to exist, dormant
and unrecogniz"d, in all men. while in
some II becomes active, like the country
boys horsehair IN the watering trough.
and assumes the form of a subliminal
hookworm. VI. NIaeterlinck should re-
gret. and II he does not the best of Ills
readers surely will, tho day that ever ne
turned from pure poetry. from the
drama, TO this assault upon the unknow-
ahlt. Are his hypothesis creative? For
all the beauty OF HIS language. which
tho translator carries over into the Eng
lish so well, and in spite OF the clarity
% his exposition from premises OF at
least dojetful authenticity. an artist
is lost q this expedition, without the
slightest compensatory gain in discov-
cry. The books beauty IL the unwhole-
some daintiness OF onemia. What
world 10 this OF It. wherein living men
10 whom il is supposed to be given 10
ego" those who have gone down into
the grave "see" them in n new life clad
. ~ SltiS' garments, M lIouRn inc 1NN-
lilo invcstiturc Of physical bodies had
continued existence in the Spirit
world: while the emanCipate Spirits"
that might be expected To rejoice in
their newly conditioned existence and
to be blessedly Indifferent to mundane
temperatures even to the extent OF dis
missing anxiety for the welfare Of those
/ left behind and destined to follow after,
dash against tho impenetrable wall OF
our Senses" built for dealing with mat
ter. Not even NJ Maeterlinck's poetry
can convince Of any but chronological re-
lations between the "subliminal" and the
Sublime"
But he docs great service FOR his
cause" in raising II fairly from the
plane Of mediumistlc mummery to that
Of "psyChomctriC" science Reform in
! Technology is step toward reform in
TACT. The stuff with which the gifted
/ Belgian deals is.not that OF supersti-
| tlon, ghosts with clankng chains and
all the apparatus OF nervous horror:
not table turning and luminous phe-
nomena and "materializations," though
he does discourse at length and with
| admirable seriousness OF aspect upon
the thinking of trained dogs and
horses but the telepathic commun,ca-
ton OF emotion, a transmission that he
considers an "incontestabie- fact. Sem
sational ghost stories are ridiculous in
! their overelaboration: 'the scenes en-
acted in houses that appear 70 be really
| haunted are generally very simple and
insignificant not 10 say dull and COM
monplace" A certificate OF respecta-
bility for tho ha'nts: collective hallu-
cination" is tho explanation, lucus a non
/ lucendo. OF their mixed audiences.
Charges OF Inconsistency brought
against clairvoyants are arraigned as
superficial. The apparlt!ons OF distant
persons, commonly IN moments Of stress
or distress, when the mysterious cur
rents in the spirit fluid" are most ac-
tive, are accurate in eetail but fire.
quently catch a phase OF the objects
experience more or less remote from
tho incident transmitted: In the lingo
IAN hahitual action obscures casua
movement the vision rarely CORE.
spends with the momentary reality, ;
and apparent inaccuracy does hut attest
the power OF the mysteriously opera nj
perception. A clairvoyant who traced
the course OF a suicide through terrltor,
never traversed by the medium" II
propria persona in describing tho mis-,
"a
in land where no rocks were; but tn,
corpse was discovered in little visite,
place exactly fitting the clairvoyant',
description, except that the rock" wa.
a huge, moss grown tree stump. I
seems that instead OF the physical real
ity being projected upon the conscious
ness Of the medium the appearance /,
transmitted, subject to the same inter
vcntion OF inaccurate sense pcrceptlo
that would limit the trustworthiness o
direct eye vision OF tho scene.
A remarkable assertion about th
same case Ii that the far ranging mint
Of the medium was set upon the trai
by contact with n scarf which the oil
man. the suicide, had worn. II was In
stinct with his spirit fluid; his suffer
ing. his tragic determination had per
! meated its substance. In a sense. there
, fore. We must consider tho scarf a sui
eide How our poor clothes must SUI