In Search of the Miraculous

measured, resolved into component elements, 'calculated,' and expressed in the form

of a definite formula.

"But the concept 'materiality' is as relative as everything else. It we recall how the concept 'man' and all that refers to him—good, evil, truth, falsehood, and so on—is

divided into different categories ('man number one,' 'man number two,' and so on, it

will be easy for us to understand that the concept 'world,' and everything that refers to the world, is also divided into different categories. The ray of creation establishes

seven planes in the world, seven worlds one within another. Everything that refers to

the world is also divided into seven categories, one category within another. The

materiality of the Absolute is a materiality of an order different from that of 'all

worlds.' The materiality of 'all worlds' is of an order different from the materiality of

'all suns.' The materiality of 'all suns' is of an order different from the materiality of our sun. The materiality of our sun is of an order different from the materiality of 'all planets.' The materiality of 'all planets' is of an order different from the materiality of the earth, and the materiality of the earth is of an order different from the materiality of the moon. This idea is at first difficult to grasp. People are accustomed to think that matter is everywhere the same. The whole of physics, of astrophysics, of chemistry, such methods as spectroanalysis, and so on, are based upon this assumption. And it is

true that matter is the same, but materiality is different. And different degrees of

materiality depend directly upon the qualities and properties of the energy manifested

at a given point.

"Matter or substance necessarily presupposes the existence of force or energy. This

does not mean that a dualistic conception of the world is necessary. The concepts of

matter and force are as relative as everything else. In the Absolute, where all is one,

matter and force are also one. But in this connection matter and force are not taken as

real principles of the world in itself, but as properties or characteristics of the

phenomenal world observed by us. To begin the study of the universe it is sufficient to

have an elementary idea of matter and energy, such as we get by immediate

observation through our organs of sense. The 'constant' is taken as material, as matter,

and 'changes' in the state of the 'constant,' or of matter, are called manifestations of

force or energy. All these changes can be regarded as the result of vibrations or

undulatory motions which begin in the center, that is, in the Absolute, and go in all

directions,

crossing one another, colliding, and merging together, until they stop altogether at the

end of the ray of creation.

"From this point of view, then, the world consists of vibrations and matter, or of

matter in a state of vibration, of vibrating matter. The rate of vibration is in inverse

ratio to the density of matter.

"In the Absolute vibrations are the most rapid and matter is the least dense. In the next world vibrations are slower and matter denser; and further on matter is still more

dense and vibrations correspondingly slower.

" 'Matter' may be regarded as consisting of 'atoms.' Atoms in this connection are

taken also as the result of the final division of matter. In every order of matter they are simply certain small particles of the given matter which are indivisible only on the given plane. The atoms of the Absolute alone are really indivisible, the atom of the

next plane, that is, of world 3, consists of three atoms of the Absolute or, in other

words, it is three times bigger and three times heavier, and its movements are

correspondingly slower. The atom of world 6 consists of six atoms of the Absolute

merged together, as it were, and forming one atom. Its movements are

correspondingly slower. The atom of the next world consists of twelve primordial

particles, and of the next worlds, of twenty-four, forty-eight, and ninety-six. The atom

of world 96 is of an enormous size compared with the atom of world 1; its movements

are correspondingly slower, and the matter which is made up of such atoms is

correspondingly denser.

"The seven worlds of the ray of creation represent seven orders of materiality. The

materiality of the moon is different from the materiality of the earth; the materiality of the earth is different from the materiality of the planetary world; the materiality of the planetary world is different from the materiality of the sun, and so on.

"Thus instead of one concept of matter we have seven kinds of matter, but our

ordinary conception of materiality only with difficulty embraces the materiality of

worlds 96 and 48. The matter of world 24 is much too rarefied to be regarded as

matter from the scientific point of view of our physics and chemistry; such matter is

practically hypothetical. The still finer matter of world 12 has, for ordinary