Genuine Mediumship; or, The Invisible Powers

by William Walker Atkinson

The Hindus, and other oriental peoples, however, have a clearly defined and positive explanation of the phenomena of Future Time Clairvoyance, which must be included in our consideration of the subject, even though it does involve certain metaphysical or philosophical conceptions which are apart from our present inquiry as conducted in this book. The oriental theory is based upon that basic conception of the eastern philosophies which hold that the beginning, duration, and ending of any particular one of the infinitude of successive universes created by the Supreme Being, is to that Being but as a single moment of time; or, as the celebrated Hindu proverb runs: "The creation, duration, and destruction of a universe is but the time of the twinkling of an eye to Brahman." In other words, that to the Supreme Being, all the past, all the present, all the future of the universe, must be as but a single thought in a single moment of time—an instantaneous act of consciousness.

The Eternal Now.

A writer on this subject has said: "Those occultists and metaphysicians who have thought long and deeply upon the ultimate facts and nature of the universe, have dared to think that there must exist some absolute consciousness—some absolute mind—which must perceive the past, present, and future of the universe as one happening; as simultaneously and actively present at one moment of absolute time. They reason that just as a man may see at one moment of his time some particular event which might appear as a year to some minute form of life and mind—the microscopic creatures in a drop of water, for instance—so that which seems as a year, or as a hundred years, to the mind of man, may appear as the happening of a single moment of a higher scale of time to some exalted Being, or form of consciousness on a higher plane."

Absolute Time

The daring flights of metaphysical fancy have resulted in the general acceptance, on the part of advanced metaphysicians, of the postulate of the existence of an Absolute Mind, independent of Time and Space, to which everything exists HERE and NOW. To such a mind the entire sequence of events in the life-history of a universe would appear as a single unit of conscious experience—an infinitesimal point of time in Eternity. The human imagination staggers at the idea, but logical thought finally posits it as an unescapable conclusion of extended thought. This, possibly, is the secret of Future Time Clairvoyance, Prevision, Second Sight, etc.

The Occult Hypothesis.

But it must not be supposed that the oriental occultists hold for a moment the theory that the clairvoyant actually obtains access to the Divine Mind or Absolute Mind, when he experiences this vision of future events—their idea is very different from this. These occultists teach that the phenomena of each plane are reflected with more or less clearness upon the substance of the planes beneath it. This being so, it is readily seen that the seer who is able to contact with any of the higher planes of being might thereupon see the reflection, more or less clear, or more or less distorted, of that which is present in its completeness on the highest plane of all. This is a mere hint at the quite complicated occult teaching on this subject; but the capable thinker will be able to work out the full theory for himself in his own way. The important fact is that Future Time Clairvoyance is a reality—that it is a matter of actual experience of the race, and one that has been authenticated by the investigations of such learned bodies as the Society for Psychical Research, of England, and other societies of the same kind in different lands. Future Time Clairvoyance, Second Sight, Prevision, etc., are facts as fully accepted by such societies as are the facts of telepathy.

"The Prophecy of Cazotte."

Students of history are familiar with the numerous recorded instances of marvelous prophecy of future events, wonderful predictions of events to come, which have been fully corroborated and verified by subsequent events. We lack the space in this book to record more than one of the most celebrated of these historical prophecies, namely the Prophecy of Cazotte. We have thought it advisable to reproduce the story of this celebrated prophecy, as told by La Harpe, the French writer, who was present upon the occasion. It may be mentioned that the fact of this prophecy, and its literal fulfilment, is a part of French history. The time was just previous to the French Revolution, and the tale as told by La Harpe is as follows: