Dynamic Thought; Or, The Law of Vibrant Energy

by William Walker Atkinson

Following that definition, let us add that: Every particle of Substance has an attraction for every other particle.

In view of our belief that this "attraction" is a form of mental effort, let us regard the term "Attraction" as being a form of what we call "Desire," or even "Love," in the mental world. If you will think of it in this way, you will be better able to fall in with our lines of thought.

And, in addition to every particle of Substance having an attraction (love or desire) for every other particle, it has the means and power to draw that other particle toward itself, and to move toward that other particle at the same time. Webster gives a very clear idea of this when he defines Attraction as: "An invisible power in a body by which it draws anything to itself; the power in nature acting mutually between bodies, or ultimate particles, tending to draw them together, or to produce their cohesion or combination, and conversely resisting separation."

The majority of persons, when thinking of "Gravitation," are satisfied with the idea that it is a power that "pulls things down to the ground," and do not think of it as a force that "pulls things" other ways besides "down," and which is possessed and exercised by the speck of dust as well as by the whole earth—by the molecule as well as by the mass. The reason of this is that this power is so slight in small bodies of Substance that it is unnoticed; and that only when the mass is sufficiently large to make the "pull" strong does one perceive and appreciate that the force exists. The lack of information on the part of the average person regarding this subject is amazing, particularly when the importance of the knowledge is understood.

The attraction that holds the molecules of Substance together is Gravitation. The attraction that "pulls" a piece of Substance to the earth is Gravitation. The attraction that keeps the suns and planets in their orbits is Gravitation. Let us see the operations of the Law.

In Astronomy you may learn that the movements of the planets around the sun and the moons around their planets—their regular and constant relative positions—are caused by the force of Gravitation. If it were not for this attraction by the Sun, the planets would fly out into space, like a stone from a sling. The Attraction of Gravitation acts on the planets just as does the string of the whirling sling that keeps the stone from flying away during the whirling until the string is released. Some astronomers think that our sun revolves around some greater sun, and this again around a greater, and so on to infinity. If this be so, then the Attraction of Gravitation is that which holds them all in their orbits and places in spite of their motion.

And in Physics, you may learn that this same Attraction of Gravitation prevents the people and objects on the surface of the earth from flying off into space. And that it holds the portions of the earth together, preventing them from flying apart.

And, remember this, for it is important—the Attraction of the Earth, great and powerful as it is, is nothing more than the combined attractive power of its constituent molecules, or atoms, or parts. The centre of the Earth is the Centre of the Attraction, because it is the centre of the aggregation of its Particles.

It must not be supposed that the Earth simply attracts "downward," that is, toward its centre. On the contrary, large masses of earth—large mountains, for instance—exert a certain degree of Attraction of Gravitation, and experiments have shown that a "plumb" is slightly deflected by reason of the proximity of a large mountain. And the reason that bodies "lose weight" as they descend from the surface of the earth is because they leave "above" them a certain large portion of the molecules composing the earth, which mass of molecules exert an attraction proportionate to their mass, which attraction balances the attraction of the mass of earth "beneath them."

Science teaches that if the earth were hollow in the centre, the weight there would be Zero, or nothing at all, and that a body would float in the space at the centre of the earth just as does a balloon in the air, the reason thereof being that the attraction would be equalized—equal attraction from every direction, counterbalancing each other. Considering the earth's radius to be 4000 miles, a body that weighed 100 pounds on the surface would weigh but 75 pounds at the depth of 1000 miles; but 50 pounds at a depth of 2000 miles; but 25 pounds at a depth of 3000 miles; and Nothing, or Zero, at a depth of 4000 miles, which would be the Centre of the Earth. This, of course, supposes that the Substance of which the earth is composed is of uniform density from surface to centre.