A THINKER EN THULE.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18407, 13 June 1925, Page 13

A THINKER EN THULE.

SPE ARTICLE

Uf*' 1 fjf? ' . : (jpitflllT WBITTES FOB "XHB rSE3S."). Jjfc (By Aksold WiiiXi.) any wandering New Zealander to be in Keykjavik, the capital o 'fob looked at the day's issue of the mornL v p a per, '' Jlorgunblathith,'' just out VO,cariosity and to wonder what it was he would have hacl the surof his lifGj fo r ho would have seen

IW#'one leading article headed in very lettering, MMacmillan Brown.'' he would have looked at once f'fir an interpreter, through whom he 'sffonld jearn that the article was to the \ ! £ o |towing effect:— WJ'Proteeaor Macmillan Brown, the living writer on tho prophecy of future, writes to me from Now Zea- " tffid/[Nyja Sjalandi], which must bo %e most remote of all the countries on j that he has at last carried out Jjjj intention to investigate Easter j .•Jjiland/ where there aro certain' famous j 1 ' itifyes, which tin til this time have' 1 Offered an insoluble problem. Ho had t y go there in a Chilian warship, as the £. jjjiflnd belongs to that country. For j nonths at a time no ship visits the j ' \laad, and it is 2000 miles from the I • telegraph. Professor Brown has i , researching in the islands. of. the i -v v yaciflc for a long time, and-has become 1 TCI y famous by his discoveries —'a tra- ' of world-wide reputation' : is an Vjjjpression [ have recently seen, applied vtifhim. But, though this learned man especially known as a traveller,' I jffiik he is even greater as a writer, Vail to those who know his book 'Limaor tho Islands of the Future' under the name of Godfrey it will seem to be great news gives in this letter some hope soon as he has finished his geo-

studies he. intends to return he calls 'imaginative ph.ilHo says that he. thinks there great need for writings ;of .this sort And in this he is perfectly jjjjjit/ The good done'by this kind,of has-never been fully recognised. Uti 'by far the best of all that his 'been written in this direction is, in my Miiliitin, the work of Macmillan Brown; f$ ,r JLnd yet there is something, which is necessary than the very best ijmaginative philosophy. ✓ And that is Ifl&wisdom which, introduces true knowwhero there was before nothing te 'fancy and empty ' speculation Many notable men have li'deed maintained that science will Sjfafer achieve any real .width or depth fevjiion so as to . become philosophic, pdswill never reach those very things pout which humanity, is most anxious paendw. But that is a misunderstandSMU'simplicitas dysekelectlcai^;. " The of the problem', or the effort to aj&wisdom and scientific knowledge in llplace where men' thought that true ffifyledge. could .never be found, will ffipeKed if men will examine with sufcafe their' own thoughts; as has iS: set forth in' the most incontroffi|ble ■ manner in the b.ook which is The article is ..signed: .«• •.' t'Xe Book : Called.« 'Nyall.'' profession;- '-But. it j 'is Sflttiyi; shown by the ■' above ■ leading jt tit from bis 'pen: that'he is ritora than M i-'Ae is, an excellent classi*l [holar, a psychologist with, strong gp bias, a wide, reader in Afcift'Latin, Germ'anj; . French,and Ind naturally has 'the history turo.of -iis own. most fascintty'atbis fingers' ends.- He in* correspondence with Pr o•millan Brown for soma years, ttook which is called ' Nyall'. " iere by him a short time ago, ae into my hands. ' 'lt is writmrse, in. Icelandic, and congreat nlimber of more or less ed treatises, some of corisider- ■ some quite brief;. arid riiariy jprinted from articles such as i id roughly translated' above. fisoS deal with a great variety ts.- .The ; author- is -a "free- : (to * use an j motto of his book is'-"Ultra ;iiOn'contra." T Some _of theso rp- technical . contributions • Seology ( j of . Iceland; s others ely • psychological; somo called mystical} are allly patriotic, predicting the P all futures for the people of lespised island; there is much concerning ghosts- and worldbe Yellow Peril, the' Great Jews> life on othej: planets, ablications of the S6ciety for Research. - The title, of the lyall,V should';mean simply '.' and it is intended to con-the-book is as a whole origsropounds some entirely novel ' This doctrine is summed up iat' which thousands -.of mili to: be.-: life- in • tjie ■ld'or 'world of gods Vis life Wilds. Thia thought,-, which ie so succinctly expressed, - is e the beginning of a greater mt in. the state '6f mankind:' occurred in all. preceding Thirteen Points. aain : doctrin'rf 'iS ' iurther j'in its ' applications • -and ins under'- thirteen '■ heads,-and :osent the 'result," - says _ the ; the researches of seventeen 'hey are as sp; is a. condition of conscionsr , sleep there occurs sort of ;ion. or charge (this English led alternative to the German f the nervous system. dream-life is brie part of this This is brought about by the by the .sleeper of the coriof another person (the conof the other is '' induced'' in (induction").' The person, n the dream, proceeds I call -giver, and ,'hb corresponds to or actor in those / experiments English Society for Psychical has? carried outj and - the rresponds. to the' recipient' or references to publications of July, 1918).' \ J dream-giver'lives-in This, .as I say. it,' doubtless stt incredible, and" indeed tit jovery not easilymade. And rt' this ns certainly aa' that I rid \vrite. '' Those who think wjliieh I say is-negligible will be - in the wrong, for what is en of - is-, the most important 11 human''knowledge., •. It is v o name anything which" could ignific.ent than this: that our aid fasliion- images, not only hich 'is before our own eyes, >f-it;hat which, is seen by -the ;hers,v even -when those v others aer; worlds than-ours, sonsciousnes&f.'<of the dream? rithdrawn froni. the

tho dreamer, according to . laws which hatfe 'been in part' discovered. • 5.; The influence of others largely .determines 'with what .dream-giver conis established, and : whether the connexion is perfect or imperfect. 6. Exchange of power takes place between man and man' (or 'of weakness or exhaustion)—"mutual induction" .[these English'words are used]. The condition of society depends largely ■upon its attitude towards, these powers. The more society attends to. the in-, fluences proceeding from the .best men and the greate'r following these ' men have, the better 'it is for society." The worse a society: is, * the "more' does :it attend to the influences of the' worst men, and the greater following they '•Ave. .. In many imperfect societies men have' sometimes seized, those, who were the best men, and whose counsel should,have been followed, bound themto the stake and burned.them alive, not suspecting that they'were* doing a most dangerous thing. The philosopher Seneca is. quite right when he says that men-benefit by the prophct even though he says nothing at all. Men get good from the prophet only if'they do: not call him mad, as it has sometimes happened. , If. men ard rightly' directed for a difficult journey and they are determined to set this instruction aside, then tliey go wrong; however- wise arid kind the.instruction is, it is of .no use if it is not received. 7. The condition of the. consciousness of the spirit-medium is - in the main of the same kind'as that o'f Ordinary sleep. If the medium is lifted up ["levitationi" is the word used], or if his face shines, that is the result of a power, or charge which is-of the same jlature as the power of ; ordinary sleep. This proof, which will put an end to all mysticism, I have discovered by means of the same mental labour, reasoning, and "joining together of ideas and attentions" (?) as ..I psed in order to discover that a kind, of rock which the best geologists had called volcanic is really, some of it, morainic, and some breccia. The scientific procedure is the same, whatever may be ; the object of research,.• and men's- achievements in scionce depend chiefly ilpon their bringing together ..and , discovering things like aiJ.d unlikei .8. Thei "spirit" which speaks by the mouth of the medium is of the same nature as the'"dream-giver." When the sleeping man says "I," that l .'I" is not the ego. of the man lying, asleep, but of the dream-giver. . So also with the medium. And in the same way the hypnotised person. says "I taste salt," though. the salt: is not put •upon his tongue but. upon that of the hypnotiser. . . 9. Our dream-world is the same, as the spirit-world of the. medium.

10. ~lt must; always .be .perfectly clear that the spirit-world of.! the medium is the life-world of. other planets. Die Geisterwelt "der Spiritisten ist die Lebewelt. anderer Erdsterne." . 11. The influence of others, that is of those who hypnotise the medium, determines with what ''spirit"'connexion is established and it is'disposed. The Influence of "the sitters'' ("words in English] upon the medium determines what spirit enters into the medium and what sort of connexion is established. v

12. Paranoia, and - Hysteria, diseases .of,' Spiritual • tions krankheiten.

13. Mutual bioradjativ© to bo considered iSs. acting between,star and star —an, individual in one world (or star) may, exercise this influence upon another "m another star. : . ' [This last is given, not in Icelandic, but in German.] 1 j Here, theft, w-e have Dr. Pjeturss' distinctive '■ dpctriiie.: as regards sleep, dreajns and "spiritualisiri," or,' as he says', his . "discovert of the nature'of sleep and. dreams." 'But I cannot guarantee ■ ih'at" this ~ translation-' gives the exact sen^'of-the orijnpal iri every phrase' and word. Icelandic has 'probably .changed far less than any mbdern . literary ;language; yet,', : Bbm<> change there -must beif a is to express j the essentials of mode'rh ' thought ' upon .abstract subjects.. , Thefe is no modern Icelandic-English Diction-' ary. available, - and, there - are ■ other rather ourious arid iflierestine etuinbl'iri .the translator's road. , . "Ideas and. Words.; ' "When in entirely new idea has. to be expressed, we English,' like mpst inwlem peoples, usuaQy make drafts upon the banks of; Latin.. We; find it impossible, or ex.ceedingly . difficult to expreps, ( in purely English; words, such ideas, as "concept,'' . "bypriotise," ' "idea,?' "creative or "nervous system." th© other hand, prefers either.; to. use an old word of his own or to make a new ■ compound out of his owri mateirials. The old word often: servos;' as it occasionally has to.do in' EhyisK itself, -but it J is- .then j very, diflßcult to. apprehend the exact' sense intended, as the' content of the whole , word may be too vague' and vast: . A word':is:rather like a' lid , whicb fits 'on- to 'thoi' top of 'a pipe equally, well, whether tho pipe be five or fiv© hundred feet long. - Dr. •Pjeturss uses both those methods.; Old words which originally meant merely "thought;"' 'or "middle'' ' ar© used where we require' some such words as "concept," ' <? ideaV etc., or > iri' the spirittialistic sense. He freely ; ;makes' : cbmppurids 'to express | his own ' new ideas,' such, as* "dreamgiver,*" and those :of modern thinkers, these being purely Icelandic. The Icelander' uses native Icelandic; wbrds, for 'instance, for geology (arid • other ologies) ;'* for .. t< ]iflea,f^' < Sciencei-V i *'-hWtt®. l^B®/? "Society," ' "mysticism," •' 'nervous systenij" alnd even for. "telephone" and' VteWgraph," "astrophysics" arid, "astrobiology.n •. . ; , .Dr.; Pjeturss, however, often adds' a Greek or'Latiri or German 'or_ English •word as a synonym to make his meaning clear, yet not .quite .often enough for. the s present scribe. But 'this -is • a •digression. The essentially novel portion of his teaching concerns the nature ot-dreams,'and he has described at very great length in: the reasons tof his _ firm .co.pviction that our •dreams.: ar© thfe .thoughts of other beings inhabiting other .wprldsj projected through, space, into oui brains. :He explains all the phenomena - oi! :hyp.notic trance and possession on th ; same principle. Whether we .agree with him or not his reasoning is very interesting,:and stimulating, and\whether, we feel in need or riot of .any. ex-, planation'of ,dreams beyond whafc, common serise, our own oxperienco and sane psychology, afford us, 1, for one, prefer/the speculations of ,Dr. Pjetursß to the puerile and pretentions .obscenities- .or the . "psycho-analysts,'' :to which apparently onr. author, quite wisely, pays no attention.' Faith in the Baioe. Among the: very. numerous subjects ' touched upon by Pjeturss in Nyall one or two more may. here be" mentioned. His unbounded faith in the destiny of Ins countrymen is quite.refreshing and invigorating. • He* holds that a homogeneous people of only * 1001)00 souls, is better than ,a heterogenebiis, "nation", of 100,000,000; and Hq' jg convinced. that ■ the ;Icelanders. are 'to play- a great part. in the .spiritual .liricl intellectual progress, of: mankind. He is'.immensely J)roud/' arid with good reason, of their splendid intellectual record as a nation, in; mediaval f tines, and he advises; his couhtiyinen to*, hold fast to, tkeir individuality as a nation, and be prepared to take up the' great task that lies before them.' "An a geologist, he tells, at great leiigth "the story, of, a. new, departure in arctic and pleistocene, geology," which he made in 1899. Geologists "(Continued, at foot naxt^colnsiß.)