{link to the original on the Journal of Borderland Research Website}
the mystery of electricity is latent everywhere within&around sensible nature
I only recently was handed my first copy of The Journal of Borderland Research (Vol. XLVI, No. 2), and found what was being discussed there quite intriguing. Having parallel interest, but coming from a slightly different viewpoint, I thought I would offer some comments. Not being familiar with all the preceding work, I have nevertheless made the assumption that the work of certain other thinkers on these problems is not known in your circles, as I found no evidence of the usual terminology and conceptual frame of reference. This was somewhat surprising since this work is founded on the impulse of Rudolf Steiner, and is an extension of the work of Goethe, both of whom were mentioned in various places in the Journal. Hopefully what follows will be helpful and a farther contribution to the ongoing interest in areas falling outside the traditions of mainstream science . . .
Of all that I read, the most interesting was the idea of the possibility of free energy, which I take to mean the construction of an electrical-magnetic device whose output exceeds its input. I have no problem with the idea that such a device can be, and may already have been, developed. I believe, however, it would be a serious error to conceive that the energy surplus is free, unless one only means to speak in terms of monetary considerations. The “energy” always comes from some “place”, and cannot in any sense be considered newly created. This is not to say that in the totality of cosmic happenings there is no newly created matter or energy, but rather that any electrical-mechanical process can only transmute one thing into another thing. Creative processes are of a whole other order, and while they can be observed in Nature, they are presently beyond man’s capacity to reproduce, except with regard to creative transformations in his own soul life (spiritual self development).
Leaving that aside, I would like to consider the problem of where might such surplus “energy” come from, assuming that by normal means of measurement we are already in a situation where the output exceeds the input. In looking at this question I want to be concerned primarily with the conception of “space”, secondarily with the conception of “force” and lastly with the distinction between Nature and sub-nature. I will be relying primarily on four works: Ernst Lehrs, “Man or Matter”; and George Adams, “Space and the Light of Creation”, “Physical and Ethereal Spaces”, and “Universal Forces in Mechanics”.
Before this, however, a few words should probably be said concerning the history of these ideas. The poet Goethe was also a natural scientist of quite unique capabilities. His scientific work languished until Rudolf Steiner re-awakened interest in it, and since Steiner’s time there has come into being a Goetheanistic Natural Science, which has yet only a few practitioners. Anyone who wishes to understand this new science should make the acquaintance of Lehrs’s book (above), which is subtitled: “Introduction to a Spiritual Understanding of Nature on the Basis of Goethe’s Method of Training Observation and Thought.” In addition it will be a desirable goal to come to terms with the philosophical / epistemological problems outlined in Steiner’s “The Theory of Knowledge Implicit in Goethe’s World Conception.”
The threshold problem, which for obvious reasons many people refuse to recognize, can be stated in the following way. Behind the world of phenomena stands a world of invisible Beings. To come then to a true understanding of the natural world, and of man and man’s role in it, it is necessary to come to an awareness and appreciation of Beings. Such knowledge cannot be won in one-sided fashion. We cannot force Nature to reveal secrets. Rudolf Steiner puts it this way (and in this recapitulates a very old approach): the laboratory must become an altar. True science is moral science, moral both in terms of the method of investigation as well as in application.
Now there is no question that mankind has forced from Nature certain “powers” which man applies for his needs and desires. But man does not understand these “powers”, or Nature, but rather weaves for himself an illusion. Moreover, this illusion is very seductive, and has the capacity to lead man away from his own true nature, from real self knowledge, and to make man a slave of the “powers” he worships. We all see this plainly as these “powers” more and more build their “body” in the age of the computer networks. A vast intelligence creates for itself an “electronic” nervous system, and weaves for itself a pseudo-persona, the mask of the friendly servant.
Not all the secrets of electricity have been discovered. Not all the “powers” evoked. The work of Keely, Tesla, et al., shows this clearly. The problem is: will man continue to invent new devices without realizing just with what he is dealing? Or, will he trouble himself to do more, to penetrate with his thinking Nature’s workshop, so that man is the master and not the slave.
In what follows it will only be possible to suggest a certain way of looking at phenomena. The reader who really wants to penetrate with his thinking these mysteries, and therefore be free of the seduction of electrical “powers”, will have to make his own way through the material.
What is electricity? Electricity is a special condition of “space”. We see this whenever we make a spark leap a gap. Before the leap, in the empty “space” between the leads, there is an increase of electrical potential, that is a “field” condition arises. Simultaneously with the spark, the “field” collapses. When the so-called alternating current is “moving” though a wire we have a cyclically potentiating and collapsing “field” present. The wire, by its spatial presence, constantly collapses the “field”. While this is far too brief, it has hints enough so that we can see that it is necessary to understand “space” a bit better.
Of all the illusory conceptions of modern mainstream science, one of the more fundamental concerns the idea of space. Ordinarily we conceive of space as this vast, empty container, which at some time in the past (the big bang) becomes filled with substance, which then organizes itself through the most amazing series of fortuitous accidents. Setting that aside, we can consider, as an alternative, the idea that space itself was created.
George Adam’s small book, “Space and the Light of Creation”, investigates this question as a problem in mathematical physics utilizing the conceptions of a special mathematics called either projective or synthetic geometry. The chapter headings are quite intriguing: 1. The Radiation of Space; 2.The Music of Number; 3. The Burden of Weight and the Sacrifice of Warmth. It is not possible to duplicate these ideas here, but a few hints can at least lead the reader in the right direction.
Projective geometry is all geometry; that is Euclidean, Reinman, Hilbert, non-Euclidean, all other geometries are special cases of [2]projective geometry. Physical reality is a reflection (and vice versa) of this geometry. Space in the sense of projective geometry is bi-polar, that is, it is three dimensional at its “center” and two dimensional at its “periphery”. For example, a sphere with an infinite radius has a surface which is both “flat” and “curved” simultaneously. “Centric”, three dimensional, space is the place of physical “forces” and physical events, which “forces” are strongest at the “center”. Peripheral or ethereal space is the place of etheric (or life) “forces”, which are strongest at the periphery. “In the organic world we often have to do with forms arranged in layers more or less eccentrically about some nucleus or kernel. If we imagine such a process to have been brought about etherically – from the periphery instead of from within – quite new possibilities are opened out for the interpretation of such living forms.” (Adams, pp. 45, “Physical and Ethereal Spaces”)
Wherever we have to do with matter, or what we ordinarily consider as mass centered spatially extant bodies, we also have to do with a polar aspect, a counter-spatial (ethereal) component. “In all mechanical systems, be they at rest, be they in motion, elastic forces are involved . . . with every displacement of elastic balance, however small, shades of warmth arise . . . [leading to] . . . revelation of the dynamic interplay of space and counter-space elastic resistant forces of matter have to do with something . . . ethereal.” (Adams, pp. 2, “Universal Forces In Mechanics”).
Now space, according to this view, is created by Beings out of Light, Light is here used in the sense that Goethe developed in his Theory of Color, whereby color is a result of the “deeds and sufferings” of Light. At the centric pole of space, the relevant Beings create weight, or what we experience as gravity, and at the ethereal pole is created warmth (recall the surprising discovery that the background radiation of cosmic space is not absolute zero as expected, but in fact reveals the presence of heat phenomena, erroneously interpreted as evidence of the big bang).
The result is that all events which occur on the Earth where Nature unfolds her normal activity, and where man resides, occur within two primary “fields”; a centric or gravity “field” and an ethereal or levity “field”. (This and the following material are to be found in Lehrs’ “Man or Matter”.) All matter is gravity bound Light, into which is woven a portion of bound levity. The various traditional chemical elements represent different proportions and balances of the gravity and levity “fields”. One investigates these different proportions when one investigates the oxidation (combustion) properties of various kinds of matter. Again, in the properties of the table of elements (the periodic table), one finds the “musical” relation of these various proportions. Certain other relations are to be found in the different magnetic and electric properties of various kinds of matter.
Matter then is a property of Light under special conditions of space (Darkness).
Phenomenal Nature, i.e. matter in all its forms, is divided into four kingdoms. One can account for all the properties(or most all) of the Mineral and the Plant kingdoms through the complex interactions of the two “fields”, i.e. gravity and levity – life or etheric – (never forgetting meanwhile that at their root is the activity of Beings). The kingdoms of Man and of the Animal possess, in addition to matter and life, the properties of inwardness (consciousness) which both man and animal possess, and for man alone, the property of self awareness.
This phenomenal Nature, with its matter, life, inwardness and self consciousness has two boundaries, an upper and a lower. At the upper boundary is the threshold across which the relevant Beings act, that is the boundary across which “creative” deeds flow. Beyond the lower border, in the realm of sub-nature lie the “fallen” deeds, the fallen light and chemical ethers as described by Rudolf Steiner.
When we subject matter to certain transformations we “rouse” from its enchanted sleep this “fallen light”, i.e. electricity. This once passive “power” becomes available for our use, but due to its intrinsic nature, tends to lead civilization – to “stamp” civilization – with certain qualities. Thus we have a civilization fascinated, in fact enthralled, with its technological innovation, but blind to the consequences. For what we do to matter when we extract from it the electrical “power” latent in it is to age it. We hasten the cosmic aging of the Earth through the electrification of our civilization. (This also is the key to the yet to be understood medical disorders connected to this electrification.)
Thus, when we produce a device which is able to generate greater output than input, we have found a way to transmute matter through the interaction of its vibratory (musical) properties, and its electrical properties (gravity / levity balance). We have to keep in mind that the levity “field” is coextensive with the whole cosmos, so that when we alter that “field" (held there lovingly by the little folk) where it is bound up with the gravity “held” in matter, we also alter it simultaneously at the cosmic periphery. The energy produced is not free, but in fact involves the aging and transmutation of the whole cosmos. We have extracted a “power” which was previously bound up in Nature, and this alters the whole of Nature.
To understand this process of “aging” a bit better, we need to enter into the old doctrine of the elements (which remains true, just misunderstood), i.e. the problems of fire, earth, air and water, and the related qualities of dry, moist, warm and cold. This old doctrine was based on a very Goetheanistic observation of Nature, which did not impose theories, but rather tried simply to describe Nature as carefully and accurately as possible.
Included in the doctrine of the elements is the idea of ponderable and imponderable substances. Michael Faraday, who is responsible for the fundamental observation of electrical and magnetic “field” theory, used just this terminology. Ponderable substances are those which have material density and weight. Fire and Air are imponderables [elemental beings], and do not refer to the air we breath or the flame we observe, but rather to certain qualitative characteristics. Consider the following statements from Lehrs:
“The element Fire reveals its attributes of warm and dry in a behavior which combines a tendency to dynamic expansion with a disinclination to enter into lasting combinations with the other elements. Thus the attribute, dry, belongs equally to pure flame and sheer dust, though for opposite reasons. Distinct from both these elements are the middle elements Water and Air; with them the attribute, moist, comes to expression in their tendency both to interpenetrate mutually and to absorb their neighbors – the liquid element absorbing solid matter and the aeriform element taking up heat. What distinguishes them is that water has a ‘cold’ nature, from which it gains its density while air has a ‘warm’ nature, to which it owes its tendency to expand.” (pp. 200, “Man or Matter”)
” . . . a magnetic field (held together by the Fe) imparts to the relevant part of space qualities of density which otherwise prevail only in the interior of solid masses . . . the appearance of electricity is caused by the loosening of the coherence of the material substance. A similar loosening of the coherence of the magnetic field takes place when its field-lines are cut by the movement of the conductor across it. Just as heat occurs when we move a solid object through a liquid, electricity occurs when we move a conductor across a magnetic held. In each case we interfere with an existing levity-gravity relationship.” (pp. 235, “Man or Matter”)
” . . . with every act of setting electromagnetic energies in motion we interfere with the entire levity-gravity balance of our planet by [3]turning part of the earth’s coherent substance into cosmic ‘dust’.” (pp. 239, “Man or Matter”)
These facts make for an enormous responsibility.
One further refinement can be made. Those who seek after these secrets of Nature have a choice, a moral choice. This moral choice is personal, i.e. there is no absolute idea outside us which compels us, but rather it is a question of whether we ask ourselves just how responsible are we willing to be. It is plain from a study of those personalities who have made discoveries in science (even those who are Goetheanists, and therefore largely unknown), that what one finds out that is true and not illusory (and seductive) is dependent upon how one approaches Nature. Lehrs’ book is the best guide for this, for Nature is Herself desirous of letting Herself be known to those who approach with the right motives in their hearts. Sometimes it will come to such people to know things, but not to be able to produce them, to introduce them into civilization and to profit financially from them. The satisfaction has to be in the achievement of the right understanding. When investigations are made with an awakened conscience as to what may properly be done with that understanding, then there are no secrets which Nature will withhold.
It has been my hope, in writing these brief paragraphs, to point toward an ongoing work which I believe will be of definite interest to the readers of the Journal. I will end by making my own view as clear as possible.
The production of electricity, which has always been a very mysterious process, is in fact an act which steals from Nature the power by which matter is made coherent. Electrification destroys order, but on a subtle level; that is, the diminution of the levity-gravity balance does not immediately cause matter to “fall apart”, rather it “ages” the matter, weakens it and makes it less resistant to other forces.
We stand, especially in terms of the investigation of Keely and Tesla, upon the threshold of further “discoveries / inventions” revealing even deeper and more significant ways of deriving energy, for our desires, from electrical, magnetic and vibratory phenomena. To the extent we act in ignorance of the real consequences, we place ourselves in the danger of leading our civilization along a course determined not by our own free moral deeds, but rather by the seductive, of the energy (Being) itself.
It is not any accident of mythology that the ‘snake power’, the pranja of Eastern Kundalini practices, is sometimes thought to be related to the seemingly mechanical powers connected to electricity. Nor is it an accident that the ‘serpent’ is the great tempter of man in the Garden of Eden. Even materialistic science recognizes that the universe is a whole and can only be understood on the basis of principles which encompass its total nature. Which to me means Nature’s Being, consciousness, and moral characteristics.