Joseph Smith as Scientist: A Contribution to Mormon Philosophy Part 12

To make possible the subjection of eternal, spiritual organized intelligences to perishable, material structures, certain natural laws would naturally be brought into operation. From the point of view of the eternal spirit, it might mean the breaking of a law directed towards eternal life; yet to secure the desired contact with matter, the spirit was compelled to violate the law. Thus, in this earth life, a man who desires to acquire a first hand acquaintance with magnetism and electricity, may subject himself to all kinds of electric shocks, that, perhaps, will affect his body injuriously; yet, for the sake of securing the experience, he may be willing to do it. Adam, the first man, so used natural laws that his eternal, spiritual body became clothed upon with an earthly body, subject to death. Then in begetting children, he was able to produce earthly bodies for the waiting spirits.

According to this doctrine, the socalled Fall of Adam was indispensable to the evolving of organized intelligences that should have a complete acquaintance with all nature, and a full control over their free agencies. If laws were broken, it was done because of the heroism of the first parents, and not because of their sinfulness.

Mormon theology does not pretend to say in what precise manner Adam was able to secure his corruptible body; neither is science able to answer all the "whys" suggested by recorded experiences. The doctrines of Joseph Smith maintain, however, that the events connected with the introduction of organized intelligences on this earth, were in full accord with the simple laws governing the universe. That the Mormon view of this matter, so fundamental in every system of theology, is rational, can not be denied.

[Sidenote: The atonement was in harmony with natural law.]

However, the bodies given to the spirits continued for only a few years; then they were disorganized in death. Adam's work had been done well. After the death of the mortal body, the spirit was still without a permanent body of matter, that would complete his contact with the elements of the universe. Therefore, it was necessary to bring other laws into operation, that would reorganize these dead material bodies in such a way that they would no longer be subject to the forces of disorganization, death and decay. The eternal spiritual body, united with this eternal material body, then const.i.tuted a suitable home for eternal intelligence, whereby it might be able, under the law of evolution to attain the greatest conceivable knowledge and power.

The personage who directed the laws that cancelled the necessary work of Adam, and made the corruptible body incorruptible was the Savior, Jesus Christ. As Adam, by his personal work, made the earth career possible for all who succeeded him; so Jesus, by His personal work, made it possible for the spirits to possess immortal material bodies.

Conditions that may be likened to the atonement are found in science.

Suppose an electrical current, supplying a whole city with power and light, is pa.s.sing through a wire. If for any reason the wire is cut the city becomes dark and all machines driven by the current cease their motion. To restore the current, the ends of the broken wire must be reunited. If a person, in his anxiety to restore the city to its normal conditions, seizes the ends of the wire with his bare hands, and unites them, he probably will receive the full charge of the current in his body. Yet, as a result, the light and power will return to the city; and one man by his action, has succeeded in doing the work for many.

The actual method by which Jesus was enabled to make mortal bodies immortal, is not known to us. Neither can we understand just why the shedding of the Savior's blood was necessary for the accomplishment of this purpose. Like the work of Adam, the exact nature of the atonement is unknown. Still, throughout this plan of Salvation, every incident and accomplished fact are strictly rational. There is no talk of a G.o.d, who because of his own will, and in opposition to natural laws, placed man on earth.

[Sidenote: Earth life is a link in man's evolution.]

The presence of organized intelligences in earth is simply a link in the evolution of man. The plan of salvation is the method whereby the evolution of man is furthered. The intelligence who conforms to the Plan, at last attains salvation, which means eternal life and endless development, directed by the free agency of an organized intelligence clothed with an incorruptible body of spirit and matter.

Can any other system of theology produce an explanation of the presence of man on earth, which connects earthly life with the time before and the time after, on the basis of the accepted laws of the universe?

Flawless seems the structure reared by the Mormon Prophet. Had he been an imposter, human imperfection would have revealed itself somewhere.[A]

[Footnote A: It must not be a.s.sumed that in this chapter has been given a full account of the Mormon doctrine of the Atonement. These essays are not in any sense a full exposition of Mormon theology.]

THE REGION OF THE UNKNOWN.

Chapter XVI.

THE SIXTH SENSE.

[Sidenote: The six senses, need help to reorganize many phenomena of nature.]

The five senses are the great gateways through which all the knowledge in man's possession has been obtained. Examine the matter as we may, the truth of this statement persists. By seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling, only, is man brought into contact with external nature and himself, and is furnished material upon which the intellect can act. True it is, that the sense of feeling may be divided into a number of poorly known sub-senses, of which that of touch is the best known, but, probably, these are very nearly related, and we may still maintain the existence of the _five_ senses of man.

Wonderful as these senses are, yet, in the presence of many natural phenomena, they are very weak, and require help, in order that the operations of nature may be recognized. Take, as an ill.u.s.tration, the refined sense of sight. Light, coming from a distant star, is readily recognized; the same quant.i.ty of light coming from a house, half a mile distant, is even more distinctly sensed by the eye. In both these cases, though the light is recognized, the sensation is not so sharply defined as to produce a distinct image of the star or of the house. To make the images of distant objects distinct, the telescope has been invented; and this instrument is a most important aid to the sense of sight. The microscope is a similar aid to the eye, by which the lightrays coming from minute objects are so bent and arranged that the object appears magnified, and may be sensed in its details by the eye.

The ear-trumpet is a similar device for collecting, concentrating and defining sound waves that ordinarily would be, to the ear, a confusion of sounds. The ear-trumpet is a mighty help to the sense of hearing.

The light which pa.s.ses through the lenses of the telescope and microscope, is the light which is ordinarily recognized by the eye.

The instruments effect no change in the light; they merely arrange the waves so as to produce a clear and distinct outline of the objects from which the light comes. Likewise, the sound waves entering the ear-trumpet are in nowise changed in their essential nature, but are simply rearranged or concentrated to produce a more definite impression on the ear. Instruments similar to those here mentioned are the simplest aids to man's senses.

With respect to many forces of nature, the unaided senses of man are helpless. The subtle force of magnetism, for instance, appears incapable of affecting directly any of the senses. A person may hold a powerful lodestone in his hand and feel no influence different from that coming from a piece of sandstone. A person may work near a wire carrying a current of electricity, and, though it is well known that peculiar conditions exist in the universal ether around such a wire, yet, through his five senses, he may never become aware of the existence of this current. A piece of uranium ore, as has been found in recent years, emits various kinds of rays related to the now famous X- or Roentgen rays, yet no indication comes directly through any of the five senses that such is the case. In fact, men of science worked with the ores of uranium for many years before discovering the emission of ether waves. In the light which comes from the sun are numerous forms of energy that do not directly affect the senses, and therefore remained unknown for many centuries. Numerous other ill.u.s.trations might be quoted to show the existence of natural forces that are beyond the direct recognition of man. In the great ocean of the unknown, lie, undoubtedly, countless forces that shall never be known by a direct action upon the senses of man.[A]

[Footnote A: The writer is aware of the beliefs held by many students regarding the so-called touch sense, heat sense, magnetic sense, electrical sense, spiritual sense, etc. So little is known of these subdivisions of the sense of feeling, that they are not considered in this popular writing. There is, moreover, no evidence that the magnetic sense, as an example, if it exists, is a direct effect of magnetic forces; it is as easily believed that the body somehow converts magnetic forces, under certain circ.u.mstances, into other forces that may be sensed by man.]

[Sidenote: The advance of knowledge requires instruments that convert natural phenomena into intelligible forms. Thus the unknown is revealed.]

As is well understood, however, even these apparently unknowable manifestations of nature may be known, if proper aids be secured. In every case the problem is this: To obtain some medium, be it natural or manufactured, which transforms the unknown force into a known force, that is capable of affecting the senses of man. The search for such media is one of the most important labors of science. For instance, sunlight has been known from the beginning of the human race, and its nature has been studied by almost every generation of thinkers. To the time of Newton, it was only white light--or little more. Newton discovered that if a ray of white light be allowed to fall upon a triangular prism or gla.s.s, it is dispersed or broken into a number of colored rays known as the spectrum. All sunlight, pa.s.sed through a gla.s.s prism, produces this colored spectrum; and the colors are arranged invariably in the same order; namely from violet through the intermediate colors to red. By pa.s.sing this spectrum through another prism, white light is produced. Sunlight was thus proved to consist of a number of kinds of colored light. The eye alone is incapable of resolving white light into its elements: the gla.s.s prism thus becomes an aid to the sense of sight, by which a new domain of science is laid open to view.

Above the red end of the spectrum, obtained from white light, nothing is visible, yet if a delicate thermometer be placed there, the increase in temperature shows the presence of certain invisible heat rays, and by moving the thermometer, it may be shown that the invisible heat spectrum is longer than the light spectrum itself.

This, again, makes known to man a world that the five senses can recognize only with difficulty; and in this case, the thermometer is the necessary aid.

Even more interesting is the violet end of the spectrum. Like the red end, it is invisible. In fact, for centuries it was believed that the light spectrum represented the whole spectrum. During the last century it was found that if a photographic plate be placed below the violet end of the spectrum, it is affected by invisible light rays, which are popularly denominated chemical rays. By placing the photographic plate in various positions, it has been discovered that the chemical spectrum is as long as the visible part. Since the days of Newton, therefore, the known part of the spectrum of sunlight has been trebled in length, and there is no certainty that all is now known concerning the matter. In this particular, the photographic plate has become a means of revealing an unknown world to the senses.

If a low tension current of electricity pa.s.ses through a wire, it cannot be sensed directly by man; but if a delicately adjusted magnetic needle be placed above and parallel to such wire, the current will turn the needle to one side and keep it there. The magnetic needle then makes known the presence of a current of electricity which has no appreciable effect upon any of man's five senses. Similarly, the magnetic currents pa.s.sing over the earth are not felt by man in such a way as to be recognized, but a magnetic needle, properly adjusted, will immediately a.s.sume an approximately north and south direction, in obedience to the pull of the magnetic currents. In this manner the magnetic needle, again, reveals to man the existence and presence of forces that he cannot sense directly.

A piece of gla.s.s into which has been incorporated a small amout of the element uranium, is an instrument which reveals many wonders of the unsensed world. If the uranium gla.s.s be brought near the violet end of the spectrum of sunlight, it immediately glows, because it has the power of changing the invisible chemical rays into ordinary, white light rays. With such an instrument, darkness can be literally changed into light. Similarly, many of the cla.s.s of rays to which belong the X-rays, and which are dark to the eye, and do not directly affect any of the other senses, are converted by uranium gla.s.s into visible rays.

This gla.s.s, then, becomes another means whereby the world which does not directly affect our senses, may be made known.

The X- or Roentgen rays have been mentioned several times. It is generally known that they have the power of pa.s.sing through the body and various other opaque bodies. The rays themselves are invisible, both before entering and after leaving the body; moreover, they do not affect any of the other senses of man. Were it not that the power is possessed of changing these rays to light rays, man could know nothing of the Roentgen rays. In fact, a screen, covered with powdered crystals of a chemical compound known as barium platinocyanide, is held behind the object through which the rays are pa.s.sing, and the moment they touch this substance they are changed to light rays, and the screen glows. Or, instead, a photographic plate may be used, for the Roentgen rays affect the materials from which these plates are made. The screen of barium platinocyanide is, therefore, another means for revealing the unknown world.

[Sidenote: "Tuning" to establish sympathetic vibrations is a form of the aids for explaining the unknown.]

Such ill.u.s.trations might be multiplied, but would add no strength to the discussion. There is, however, another cla.s.s of instruments which enable the senses to recognize natural forces that do not act directly upon the consciousness of man. If a musical note is produced on a violin, near a piano, the piano string which is stretched or tuned right, will give out the same note. The sound waves from the violin penetrate the piano, and the string which is tuned to give out the same note takes up the energy of the sound waves, and is set in vibration, with the result that the same note is given out by the piano. This is known as sympathetic vibrations. It is possible, therefore, to make a piano give out any note within its range, without any solid object touching the instrument. In the universal ether, which surrounds and penetrates all things, are numberless waves of all kinds, and of all vibrations. If the proper instrument be used, and tuned aright, it is possible to separate from this tumult of waves any desired kind or degree of wave motion, and to convert it into some known form of energy, say electricity.

This principle is used in modern wireless telegraphy. Electric waves are sent out by the operator with a certain rapidity. These waves radiate into s.p.a.ce, in all directions, and are lost, apparently, in the confusion of myriads of other waves. Nevertheless, if the waves are not by some chance totally destroyed, it is possible to obtain them again, by the use of a receiving instrument which is tuned exactly the same as that used by the operator, at the station where the waves are sent out. A message sent from London may be received anywhere on earth where the receiving instruments are tuned aright; at the same time, if the peculiar note or vibration of the message is not known, so that the receivers can not be tuned properly, the message, though it be all about it, can never be received.

Such aids to our senses do not depend so much upon the nature of the material, as upon the degree to which it is brought into sympathy with the force to be recognized.

[Sidenote: With proper aids man's senses may discover the whole of nature.]

Now, though our senses are imperfect, and recognize only a small part of the phenomena of nature, yet it is very probable that, with such helps as have been described, nothing in nature need remain forever unknown. The means by which the forces of nature, that cannot be sensed directly, are brought to man's recognition may well be named, collectively, man's sixth sense.

The progress of science depends upon the discovery of aids to man's senses; a new and vast field is invariably opened whenever a new aid is discovered.

[Sidenote: Joseph Smith recognized the existence of media which render the unknown, known.]

In the works of Joseph Smith, which teach that there is no real line of demarkation between the natural and spiritual worlds, it would be not surprising to find recognized the scientific principle, above discussed, that by the use of proper instruments, the world outside of the five senses, may be brought within man's consciousness.

According to the story of Joseph Smith, he was first visited by an angel, September 21, 1823, when the Prophet was less than eighteen years of age. Among other things, the angel told the boy that "there was a book deposited, written on gold plates," giving an account of the former inhabitants of the American continent; "also, that there were two stones in silver bows--and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, const.i.tuted what is called the Urim and Thummim--deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what const.i.tuted 'Seers' in ancient or former times; and that G.o.d had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book."[A] This reference to the Urim and Thummim, and their purpose, makes it clear that the Prophet, at the beginning of his career, recognized (whether consciously or unconsciously we know not), the existence of means or media by which things unknown, such as a strange language, may be converted into forms that can reach the understanding.

[Footnote A: History of the Church, vol. 1, p. 12.]

[Sidenote: The Book of Mormon was translated by such aids--the Urim and Thummim.]

When the actual work of translation began, the Urim and Thummim were found indispensable, and in various places the statement is made that the translation was made, "by means of the Urim and Thummim."[A] On one occasion, when the Prophet, through the defection of Martin Harris, lost a portion of the ma.n.u.script translation the Urim and Thummim were taken from him, and the power of translation ceased. Upon the return of the instruments the work was resumed.[B] While it is very probable that the Prophet was required to place himself in the proper spiritual and mental att.i.tude, before he could use the Urim and Thummim successfully, yet it must also be true that the stones were essential to the work of translation.

[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 10:1.]

[Footnote B: History of the Church, vol. 1, p. 23.]

[Sidenote: Revelations were received by such aids.]