A New Era of Thought

by Charles Howard Hinton

But here I want to put the subject in as general a light as possible, so that there may be no hindrance to the judgment of the reader.

And when I use the word “know,” I assume something else than the possession of a rule, by which it can be said how facts are. By knowing I mean that the facts of a subject all lie in the mind ready to come out vividly into consciousness when the attention is directed on them. Michael Angelo knew the human frame, he could tell every little fact about it; if he chose to call up the image, he would see mentally how each muscle and fold of the skin lay with regard to the surrounding parts. We want to obtain a knowledge as good as Michael Angelo’s. There is a great difference between Michael Angelo and us; but let that difference be expressed, not in our way of knowing, but in the difference between the things he knew and the things we know. We take a very simple structure and know it as absolutely as he knew the complicated structure of the human body.

And let us take a block of cubes; any number will do, but for convenience sake let us take a set of twenty-seven cubes put together so as to form a large cube of twenty-seven parts. And let each of these cubes be marked so as to be recognized, and let each have a name so that it can be referred to. And let us suppose that we have learnt this block of cubes so that each one is known—that is to say, its position in the block is known and its relation to the other blocks.

Now having obtained this knowledge of the block as it stands in front of us, let us ask ourselves if there is any self element present in our knowledge of it.

And there is obviously this self element present. We have learnt the cubes as they stand in accordance with our own convenience in putting them up. We put the lowest ones first, and the others on the top of them, and we distinctly conceive the lower ones as supporting the upper ones. Now this fact of support has nothing to do with the block of cubes itself, it depends on the conditions under which we come to apprehend the block of cubes, it depends on our position on the surface of the earth, whereby gravity is an all important factor in our experience. In fact our sight has got so accustomed to take gravity into consideration in its view of things, that when we look at a landscape or object with our head upside down we do not see it inverted, but we superinduce on the direct sense impressions our knowledge of the action of gravity, and obtain a view differing very little from what we see when in an upright position.

It will be found that every fact about the cubes has involved in it a reference to up and down. It is by being above or below that we chiefly remember where the cubes are. But above and below is a relation which depends simply on gravity. If it were not for gravity above and below would be interchangeable terms, instead of expressing a difference of marked importance to us under our conditions of existence. Now we put “being above” or “being below” into the cubes themselves and feel it a quality in them—it defines their position. But this above or below really comes from the conditions in which we are. It is a self element, and as such, to obtain a true knowledge of the cubes we must get rid of it.

And now, for the sake of a process which will be explained afterwards, let us suppose that we cannot move the block of cubes which we have put up. Let us keep it fixed.

In order to learn how it is independent of gravity the best way would be to go to a place where gravity has virtually ceased to act; at the centre of the earth, for instance, or in a freely falling shell.

But this is impossible, so we must choose another way. Let us, then, since we cannot get rid of gravity, see what we have done already. We have learnt the cubes, and however they are learnt, it will be found that there is a certain set of them round which the others are mentally grouped, as being on the right or left, above or below. Now to get our knowledge as perfect as we can before getting rid of the self element up and down, we have to take as central cubes in our mind different sets again and again, until there are none which are primary to us.

Then there remains only the distinction of some being above others. Now this can only be made to sink out of the primary place in our thoughts by reversing the relation. If we turned the block upside down, and learnt it in this new position, then we should learn the position of the cubes with regard to each other with that element in them, which comes from the action of gravity, reversed. And the true nature of the arrangement to which we added something in virtue of our sensation of up and down, would become purer and more isolated in our minds.