Self-absorption

“ By the absorption of the substances independently and without passive resistances, it is meant that when the absorbing body is in equilibrium with another containing these substances, it shall be possible by infinitesimal changes in these bodies to produce the exchange of all these substances in either direction and independently. ”

“ Chemical composition and decomposition is constant and unceasing, everywhere the work of building up and breaking down is going on. New combinations of atoms and worlds are constantly being formed and dissolved. And after considering this Oneness of the principle of Energy, reflect that through all these changes of form the Ego—the Real Self—YOU—stand unchanged and unharmed—Eternal, Invincible, Indestructible, Invulnerable, Real and Constant among this changing world of forms and force. You are above it all, and it revolves around and about you—Spirit. ”

“ An increased absorption is produced by an increased susceptibility of the ‘absorbent orifices.’ And thus, in this view, each organic power may be contemplated either as sensibility or as contractility, and may be supposed to be rendered more intense by magnifying either of these its aspects; although, in fact, neither can be conceived to be increased without an exactly commensurate increase of the other. ”

“ We cannot deny that in the natural state the sensibility of the absorbents has a particular type, to which certain substances are alone accommodated, and which alone on this account can be absorbed. The exercise of the organic sensibility then always pre-exists in absorption, as it does in secretion, nutrition, &c. Thus in the physical phenomena, the exercise of gravity always precedes the fall of heavy bodies. ”

“ Now, since it is a doctrine as old as time, that nature is continually renewing her wasted energies by absorption from the source of energy, why should the child differ from the parent? Why may not man, by discovering the source and nature of this recuperative energy, extract from the earth herself the juice or quintessence with which to replenish his own forces? This may have been the great secret of the alchemists. ”

“ Even though the details of the whole preparatory assimilative processes are beyond our knowledge we can still say with certainty that, on the one hand, everywhere great quantities of organic reserve substances are always present in the cell, and on the other, that these substances are subjected to a transformation into suitable material for building-up processes, the extent of which is controlled according to need, by the processes of self-regulation. ”

“ Before we examine this fashionable doctrine of absorption, however, it may be well to deal {221} with certain other causes which between them account for much of the uneasiness—often unavowed but nevertheless very real—concerning a future life, which unquestionably is widely felt in our day. ”

“ Disregarding for the present the expenditure of energy for procuring food and for procreation, let us consider the discharge of energy for self-preservation. The mechanisms for self-defense which we now possess were developed in the course of vast periods of time through innumerable intermediary stages from those possessed by the lowest forms of life. ”

“ For I know no reason, why all the parts of a man's body should not stand in need of evacuation and Purging, as well as some. 'Tis true, if the substance or nourishment received were all useful, and onely enough for the maintenance, subsistance and continuance of the Creature, and no more, then there would be no need of such sort of evacuation; but I believe the corporeal self-motions in a body, discharge the superfluous matter out of every part of the body, if the motions of the superfluous matter be not too strong, and over-power the motions in the parts of the body ”

“ This principle of limitation strengthens by concentrating every association and every feeling of the human mind, just as the expansive gases derive their terrific power from compression, and liquids, by concentration, gain in pungency what they lose in bulk. ”

“ Considered as a whole, there is a simple phase of the inductive process which is best explained by the terms absorption and reflection. It appears in the study of simple as well as of complex objects, and indicates clearly the fundamental rhythm of the mind in acquiring and elaborating its knowledge. This action of the mind is a shuttle-like movement, a constant running back and forth between two extremes, absorption and reflection. We will test this statement upon examples. When we are in the mood for learning let some new object, a sawmill, attract the attention. ”

“ But the answer as to the nature of will-energy will depend on the nature of the Self which wills, and different opinions have been held of the nature of the Self. It will be necessary for our purpose to examine these views briefly to determine whether the Self can be a source of Energy?
Is the Self a source of Energy?—Psychology shows that mind is really the unity of three correlative functions—feeling, thinking and willing, no one of which has any meaning apart from the others. ”

“ How is it that the material lost in disintegration is always replaced in just sufficient quantity to establish the metabolic equilibrium? In short, how are we to understand in a mechanical sense the self-regulation of metabolism? ”

“ When the Substance is absorbed in sufficient number (or quantity) it makes of man an immensely powerful mechanism, in direct communication with the very element of the [Pg 251] Substance, and acting on organic nature in the same way as a large stream when it absorbs the smaller brooks. Volition sets this force in motion independently of the Mind. By its concentration it acquires some of the qualities of the Substance, such as the swiftness of light, the penetrating power of electricity, and the faculty of saturating a body ”

“ What are our bodies but condensations of certain molecules? Mind controls matter. If disembodied intelligences so will it, what is to prevent the hasty condensation of the molecules and the formation of a temporary body in any shape they desire to assume? ”

“ Granting that the human being takes in energy as food and drink and builds it up into dischargeable tissues, we are not further concerned with the details of its physiology. How does the feeling of energy arise, what increases the energy discharge and what blocks, inhibits or lowers it? For from day to day, from hour to hour, we are conscious either of a desire to be active, a feeling of capacity or the reverse. We depend on that feeling of capacity to guide us, and though it is organic, it has its mysterious disappearances and marvelous reenforcements. ”

“ All scientists agree that in the process of thinking there is an expenditure of Energy, and a "using-up" of material Substance. Just how this is effected, they do not know, but their experiments have shown that there is Energy manifested and used, and also Substance consumed. [Pg 212]
The secret of the production of Thought does not lie in the Brain or nervous system, which are but the material substratum upon which the Mind works, and which it uses as a mold or matrix for the production of Thought. Thought is the product of Mind directing Force upon Substance in the shape of Psychoplasm. ”

“ So far as the physical world is concerned, it is a mere by-product, a useless adjunct—the feeling of energy-expenditure being delusory. Such is the attitude of modern psychology, and a very hopeless and unattractive belief it is!
As opposed to this view, I propose to show that the human will is a definite physical energy, which forms an essential part of our human personality—and forms, indeed, the very core of our being, so far as its expression into the physical world is concerned. ”

“ If you can do so, you can attain complete control over your own body—for we alone are able to control our own masses by means of will.
"And if you can picture these masses of rock as pools of nothing and yourself as the same, you can pass yourself through these rocks as a whiff of smoke in air. You can revisualize yourself as solid outside this trapping pile." ”

“ If the processes of disintegration and self-regulation are delayed, either by want of substance necessary for breaking down or the accumulation of decomposition substances, the refractory period is prolonged and the response to every further stimulation decreased, that is, the system is fatigued. In all aërobic organisms the retardation of the course of excitation and self-regulation under a continuous influence of stimuli is the result of the relative want of oxygen. ”

“ But the vital activity in matter is a concrete reality. With it there goes the organizing tendency or impulse, and upon it hinges the whole evolutionary movement of the biological history of the globe. We can do all sorts of things with water and still keep its aquosity. If we resolve it into its constituent gases we destroy its aquosity, but by uniting these gases chemically we have the wetness back again. But if a body loses its vitality, its life, can we by the power of chemistry, or any other power within our reach, bring the vitality back to it? ”

“ Self-motion, called life, and inorganic movement of bodies by agencies outside of themselves, are but quantitatively, intensively, or gradually different forms of motion; not in their innermost being different.... Our will changes many kinds of motion into heat, makes [137] cold metal to be red-hot simply by hammering.... Likewise inversely, as the law of the conservation of force must require, a part of the eternal heat of the metal can be now and forever transposed into the living motion of our soul. ”

“ Now, it does not seem probable that our brain is the residence of a separable demon, no matter whether we attribute to him the power of changing at will the total amount of energy contained in our body, or conceive his activity, as some psychologists do, as a new form of energy added to the mechanical, thermal, electric, chemical, and so on,—requiring only an additional transformation of energy and not breaking down the principle of its conservation. ”

“ Whether the hair, which loses its color, turns white, falls out, or disappears, in proportion to the decay or crystallization of our thoughts, may not be in fact a capillary system, either absorbent or diffusive, and wholly electrical? Whether the fluid phenomena of the Will, a matter generated within us, and spontaneously reacting under the impress of conditions as yet unobserved, were at all more extraordinary than those of the invisible and intangible fluid produced by a voltaic pile, and applied to the nervous system of a dead man? ”

“ The self-preservation of man and kindred animals is effected through mechanisms which transform latent energy into kinetic energy to accomplish adaptive ends. Man appropriates from environment the energy he requires in the form of crude food which is refined by the digestive system; oxygen is taken to the blood and carbon dioxid is taken from the blood by the respiratory system; to and from the myriads of working cells of the body, food and oxygen and waste are carried by the circulatory system ”

“ I have sometimes, when inclined to laugh at materialists, asked whether, as the most powerful effects in nature are apparently produced by fluids, the magnetic, etc. the passions might not be fine volatile fluids that embraced humanity, keeping the more refractory elementary parts together—or whether they were simply a liquid fire that pervaded the more sluggish materials giving them life and heat? ”

“ Such matters or bodies can as a matter of fact be exhibited as subsisting by themselves: but frequently we find other properties of things, entirely wanting this self-subsistence, also regarded as particular matters. Thus we hear caloric, and electrical or magnetic matters spoken of. Such matters are at the best figments of understanding. ”

“ Our bodies, also, move themselves, either one part on another, or the whole body from place to place. The motive power is not from the outside world, but the energy of their movements exists in the bodies themselves, influenced by changes in their surroundings. Finally, our bodies are continually getting rid of so-called waste matters, which may be considered products of the oxidation of the material used as food, or of the substances which make up the organism. ”

“ The modes of consciousness called pressure, motion, sound, light, heat, are effects produced in us by agencies which, as otherwise expended, crush or fracture pieces of matter, generate vibrations in surrounding objects, cause chemical combinations, and reduce substances from a solid to a liquid form. Hence if we regard the changes of relative position, of aggregation, or of chemical state, thus arising, as being transformed manifestations of the agencies from which they arise; so must we regard the sensations which such agencies produce in us, as new forms of the forces producing them. ”

“ In the ordinary processes of life the law of action and reaction is indeed potent. But no law is without exception. Think of radium, for instance, with its constant and seemingly inexhaustible outflow of energy. It is a difficult thing to imagine, but our scientific men have accepted it as a fact. Why should we find it more difficult to conceive of a tremendous and infinite absorptive element? ”

“ But since organisms (or at least animal organisms, with which we are here chiefly concerned) have a certain power of selective absorption, which, partially in an individual and more completely in a race, adapts the proportions of the substances absorbed to the needs of the system; then if a certain habitual expenditure of force leads to a certain habitual absorption of force-evolving matters that are not available for growth; and if, were there less need for such matters, the ability to absorb matters available for growth would be increased to an equivalent extent ”