"Mesmeric Revelation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Poe Edgar Allan)

V. There are two bodies- the rudimental and the complete,
corresponding with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly.
What we call "death," is but the painful metamorphosis. Our present
incarnation is progressive, preparatory, temporary. Our future is
perfected, ultimate, immortal. The ultimate life is the full design.
P. But of the worm's metamorphosis we are palpably cognizant.
V. We, certainly- but not the worm. The matter of which our
rudimental body is composed, is within the ken of the organs of that
body; or, more distinctly, our rudimental organs are adapted to the
matter of which is formed the rudimental body, but not to that of
which the ultimate is composed. The ultimate body thus escapes our
rudimental senses, and we perceive only the shell which falls, in
decaying, from the inner form, not that inner form itself; but this
inner form as well as the shell, is appreciable by those who have
already acquired the ultimate life.
P. You have often said that the mesmeric state very nearly resembles
death. How is this?
V. When I say that it resembles death, I mean that it resembles
the ultimate life; for when I am entranced the senses of my rudimental
life are in abeyance and I perceive external things directly,
without organs, through a medium which I shall employ in the ultimate,
unorganized life.
P. Unorganized?
V. Yes; organs are contrivances by which the individual is brought
into sensible relation with particular classes and forms of matter, to
the exclusion of other classes and forms. The organs of man are
adapted to his rudimental condition, and to that only; his ultimate
condition, being unorganized, is of unlimited comprehension in all
points but one- the nature of the volition of God- that is to say, the
motion of the unparticled matter. You may have a distinct idea of
the ultimate body by conceiving it to be entire brain. This it is not,
but a conception of this nature will bring you near a comprehension of
what it is. A luminous body imparts vibration to the luminiferous
ether. The vibrations generate similar ones within the retina; these
again communicate similar ones to the optic nerve. The nerve conveys
similar ones to the brain; the brain, also, similar ones to the
unparticled matter which permeates it. The motion of this latter is
thought, of which perception is the first undulation. This is the mode
by which the mind of the rudimental life communicates with the
external world; and this external world is, to the rudimental life,
limited, through the idiosyncrasy of its organs. But in the
ultimate, unorganized life, the external world reaches the whole body,
(which is of a substance having affinity to brain, as I have said,)
with no other intervention than that of an infinitely rarer ether than
even the luminiferous; and to this ether- in unison with it- the whole
body vibrates, setting in motion the unparticled matter which
permeates it. It is to the absence of idiosyncratic organs, therefore,
that we must attribute the nearly unlimited perception of the ultimate
life. To rudimental beings, organs are the cages necessary to
confine them until fledged.