Joseph Smith as Scientist: A Contribution to Mormon Philosophy

by John Andreas Widtsoe

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 illustration, the refined sense of sight. Light, coming from a distant star, is readily recognized; the same quantity 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 passes 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 illustrations 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 circumstances, 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 glass, it is dispersed or broken into a number of colored rays known as the spectrum. All sunlight, passed through a glass 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 passing 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 glass 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 passes 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 passing over the earth are not felt by man in such a way as to be recognized, but a magnetic needle, properly adjusted, will immediately assume 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 glass 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 glass 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 class 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 glass into visible rays. This glass, 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 passing 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 passing, 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 illustrations might be multiplied, but would add no strength to the discussion. There is, however, another class 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 space, 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, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim—deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted 'Seers' in ancient or former times; and that God 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 manuscript 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 attitude, 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.]

The Urim and Thummim were not used alone for translation, but most of the early revelations were obtained by their means. Speaking of those days, the Prophet usually says: "I enquired of the Lord through the Urim and Thummim, and obtained the following."[A] The "stones in silver bows" seemed, therefore, to have possessed the general power of converting manifestations of the spiritual world into terms suitable to the understanding of Joseph Smith.

[Footnote A: History of the Church, vol. 1, pp. 33, 36, 45, 49 and 53.]

The doctrine of the use of the Urim and Thummim is in perfect harmony with the established law of modern science, that special media are necessary to bring the unknown world within the range of man's senses. To believers in the Bible, the use of the Urim and Thummim can offer no obstacles, and to those who possess a rational conception of God—that he is the Master of the universe, who works his will by natural means—it cannot be more difficult to believe that God's will may appear through the agency of special "stones in silver bows," than to concede that invisible ether waves, become luminous when they fall upon a piece of uranium glass. The virtue possessed by the latter glass is no more evident than is the virtue claimed by Joseph Smith to be possessed by the Urim and Thummim.

It is a noteworthy fact that the Prophet does not enter into an argument to prove the necessity of the use of the Urim and Thummim. Only in an incidental way, as he tells the straightforward story of his life, does he mention them; and with a simplicity that argues strongly for his veracity, does he assume that, of course, they were necessary and were used as he recounts. A shrewd imposter, building a great theological structure as is the Church founded by Joseph Smith, would have appreciated that difficult questions would be asked concerning the seer stones, and would have attempted to surround them with some explanation. Joseph Smith offers no defense for the use of these instruments; neither does the scientist excuse himself for using uranium glass, in the study of certain radiations.

[Sidenote: As the Prophet placed himself in tune with the unknown, he became less dependent on external aids.]

The Prophet did not always receive his revelations by the assistance of the Urim and Thummim. As he grew in experience and understanding, he learned to bring his spirit into such an attitude that it became a Urim and Thummim to him, and God's will was revealed without the intervention of external means. This method is clearly, though briefly, expressed in one of the early revelations:

Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought, save it was to ask me; but, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right, I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right; but if it be not right, you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought, that cause you to forget the thing which is wrong.[A]

[Footnote A: Doctrine and Covenants, 9:7-9.]

[Sidenote: The "testimony of the spirit" is scientific.]

The essence of this statement is that if a person will concentrate his powers so as to come into harmony with God, truth will be revealed to him; and is not that like the tuning of a coil of wire so that it can take up the waves of certain lengths, that may be passing through the ether? If an inert mass of iron can be so tuned, can anyone refuse to believe that man, highly organized as he is, can "tune" himself to be in harmony with the forces of the universe? The universal ether of science is like the Holy Spirit, and the waves or energy of the ether is like the intelligent action of that Spirit controlled by God. Heat, light, magnetism, electricity, and the other forces, become, then, simply various forms of God's speech, any of which may be understood, if the proper means of interpretation is at hand.

In the Book of Mormon, the Prophet states that "When ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost; and by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."[A]

[Footnote A: Moroni 10:4, 5.]

This involves the principle discussed above. By placing oneself in harmony with the requirements of the subject in hand, the truth must become known, even as an instrument properly tuned must feel the influence of the ether waves with which it is in harmony.

Again, then, the conceptions of the Mormon Prophet rise to equal heights with the best theories of the scientists. In simple phrases, apparently unconscious of the philosophical meaning of the doctrines, Joseph Smith recognized the various means whereby man's senses may be enabled to seize upon and comprehend the natural forces which to man's unaided senses must remain unknown forever.

It cannot be justly claimed that the Prophet anticipated the world of science in the recognition of this principle, but reading his works in the light of modern progress, it cannot be denied that he placed a greater value upon the aids to man's senses, with respect to the subtle forces of the universe, than did any of his contemporaries. That acknowledgment is a wonderful tribute to the powers of an unlearned boy.

Evidence crowds upon evidence, and testimony upon testimony, until the opposition of logic falls away; and Joseph Smith rises above the fog of prejudice, a mighty prophet of our God.