It is the secret of the world that all things subsist and do not
die, but only retire a little from sight and afterwards return again.
Nothing is dead; men feign themselves dead, and endure mock funerals
and mournful obituaries, and there they stand looking out of the
window, sound and well, in some new strange disguise. Jesus is not
dead; he is very well alive; nor John, nor Paul, nor Mahomet, nor
Aristotle; at times we believe we have seen them all, and could
easily tell the names under which they go.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
A Parable of Immortality
I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze
and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch until at last she hangs
like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.
Then someone at my side says,
"There she goes!"
Gone where?
Gone from my sight . . . that is all.
She is just as large in mast and hull and spar
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of destination.
Her diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment
when someone at my side says,
" There she goes! "
there are other eyes watching her coming . . .
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout . . .
" Here she comes! "
~Henry Van Dyke
Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end,
By forces over which we have no control.
It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star.
Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance
To a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance
By an invisible piper.
~Albert Einstein
We have sought for firm ground and found none.
The deeper we penetrate, the more restless becomes the universe;
All is rushing about and vibrating in a wild dance.
~Max Born
We find here a most peculiar Bridge, its construction a cunning blend of stone, gilded metal traceries, and deep antique wood. As you step lightly onto its breadth, the sudden shock and sense of wonder strikes, as you observe that the ornamented railings and braces are unconnected with the structure beneath! They hover silently and powerfully, supporting what we would deem to be an enormous weight, with a delicate springiness that responds to our slightest movement. A flavour of deep magic permeates this place.
We notice that the curious golden spherical lamps that march forward into the twilight distance along the bridge railing are themselves free floating, each bobbing and hovering in an assigned spot. The light cast by the luminous orbs is unique, with a hue that lies in an indescribable outré of yellow-white, but with overtones of blue. As we walk onward, the air about us seems livid and bristling, and a soft whir or hum emanates from an unknown direction. The slight breeze down the span of this bridge carries a scent unlike anything we have smelled yet, a flavor of raw power, of a cosmic…essence.
We fancy that this Bridge is held in place, and directed toward its destination, not by strength of stone, or resilience of wood, but by sheer will and a power beyond reckoning…
We walk cautiously, here in the demesne of something special - the realm of The Fifth Element: the Aether.
Many will recognize that the four elements of ancient Western thought (earth, air, fire, and water) still direct our daily outlook and lives in a subtle way. Far fewer, however, recognize that in hermetic tradition and alchemy, there was a fifth element, said to permeate and bind the four other essences into perfect balance. This fifth essence was spirit, or aether, sometimes also known as the Quintessence.
This Bridge will tell of our explorations in the realm of subtle energies and forces that would seem to be expressions of the fabled quintessence. It is not a Bridge trodden by many, for the study of these principles at their core is a call that is only answered by those of a certain cut or intellectual warp. It requires a thirst for mathematics and physical laws, and tools and instruments of a decidedly arcane nature. The archetype of the wild-haired mad scientist appears again and again here! The pursuit of this Bridge taxes the left brain / Yang nature, and we find historically that the majority of research into the aether and its manifestations has been by males. However, like all Bridges, it is congruent and tangential to each of the others in its turn, and contains fabulous secrets and great promise for the world. It lies open to all, and bars none. The aether underlies all of our existence, flowing and weaving a matrix of reality.
The study of gravity and strange energy effects is here, as are the principles of radionics and radiesthesia, and life energy in its many descriptions and names. The portraits of many revered pioneers are suspended on this Bridge, brave men and women like Reich, Tesla, Townsend Brown, and Mme. Blavatsky. Seekers all, after the fundamental powers and forces of our world, desiring to beat them into plowshares for the common man.
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