THINKING AND DESTINY

Harold W. Percival

CHAPTER IX

RE-EXISTENCE

Section 5

Fourth Civilization. Changes on the earth crust. Forces. Minerals, plants and flowers. The varied types were produced by human thoughts.

Since this Fourth Civilization began there have been many changes on the earth crust. Rocks and soils of different kinds composed it at different times. Changes in the surface distribution of land and water have been numerous. They were made during upheavals and submersions. They were made slowly during long periods or by sudden elemental changes which brought about the same results. Changes which sometimes required thousands of years, occurred at other times in days; liquids turned into solids and both into gases and these again into liquids and solids. Sometimes the action of the fire was direct, sometimes concealed in water.

After a change had taken place it sometimes was succeeded in a short time by another, and at other times the continents and islands remained undisturbed for a long while. The lines between water and land, and the elevations of the land have changed over and over again. Sometimes the land was slowly eaten away by the ocean or slowly decomposed by the air and washed away by rain and rivers. Sometimes the land was precipitated from the air. At other times the air crumbled the land quickly and it was washed away like sand. Sometimes the water rose in mighty mountains engulfing the land, sometimes the land opened and a subterranean ocean rushed over it.

The direction of what is called the poles has changed many times, sometimes gradually, sometimes suddenly. The changes were adjustments to the sum of the thoughts of the people of the crust, and were to provide a suitable environment for future destiny. A sudden change when the earth slipped or fell over was cataclysmic. During and after the readjustment the climates changed. Where there had been a continuous summer, icebeds thousands of feet in depth buried the peoples, and icy regions were melted and exposed the land to a temperate or tropical sun.

The direction of the poles is that of those of the earth crust only. The layers on either side of the crust need not be polarized in the same direction as the crust. Upon the direction of the poles of the crust depends the recurrence of a possible fourfold cycle of an earth, a water, an air and a fire age of human beings.

From the magnetic and electric currents on the earth today are drawn the forces used in industry, commerce and travel, upon which modern development largely depends. The same currents have not always been operative. They mark stages in the power of men’s thought. What appears as magnetism is an expression of feeling in matter, and what appears as electricity is an expression of desire in matter. Magnetic waves sweep through the strata of the earth as waves of feeling run through human bodies; and as desires are evoked by these feelings, so electric currents are due to their actions in the fields of nature. At different times in the past, different currents and forces operated not only in the earth, but in the water, the air and the fire. These currents produced phenomena which would seem strange to persons to whom none but the present manifestations are known. These currents and men’s knowledge of how to use them gave to an age the character of an earth, a water, an air or a fire age.

There were parts of the ocean which were seething, so that no animal life was possible in or near them. At some periods the crust of the earth was of great weight and at the same time plastic like clay, and sometimes it moved in waves, but human beings lived on it. Rains of fiery bolts from the air, varicolored lightning rising from the earth as well as coming from the sky, clouds of fire moving over the earth and discharging themselves or disappearing, battles of fire with fire in the air, wars of elementals in the water or the air occurred in different ages. Forces now unknown were active and put to use by some of the people. At different periods the relation of the four elements to each other changed; at one time one element dominated the others, and at another time it was subsidiary to one of the others.

At times there existed minerals, plants and flowers which are no longer known. At one time people used a bluish metal which, after it had been treated in a certain way, became a medium for one of the nature forces, and eliminated weight from any object to which it was applied. It had to be treated in one way for wood, in another for stone and in another for metals. By the use of a small amount of this metal weights many thousand times greater could be handled as if they were feathers. Huge blocks of stone were transported by its use. This metal had the peculiar property of transmitting the influences of the object on which it was placed, to feeling. If a rod of this metal was held in the left hand and placed on an object, the holder would feel the qualities of the object, bitter, sour or fragrant. If held in the right hand, the holder could harden or soften objects, crumble or dissolve them. Another metal which was known at certain times was reddish, varying from a whitish red to a ruby color. By means of it a gentle or an enormous heat could be produced. The heat was generated from the air. A rod of this metal, if held by certain persons toward an object, would melt and consume it at a distance. This metal responded in its action to the intention of the holder. Only a certain trained class could use it. The two metals were known and used at the crest of some of the waves of a high civilization. Another metal, when applied to an object, caused oscillations in it or in the air, the force that worked through the metal being liberated by contact with the object. Another metal caused condensation of particles of matter in the air and produced any solid form desired. Another metal caused any solid object to be disintegrated and its particles to be shattered and to disappear, resolved into its four elements. These are only some of many minerals by which forces now unknown could be liberated, isolated and directed.

There was a black stone that seemed to be liquid and alive inside of its polished surface. If it was placed on the forehead or on the top of the head, it would fascinate that person, so that he revealed his thoughts without power of resistance, and the examiner could find out the truth concerning anything with which the one examined had been connected. In the black stone would also appear what had been said, done, seen or heard by those who were made to look at it. There was another jewel through which, when it was shaped convex or concave, light of varying colors would be generated.

A family of plants existed that would grow strong threads. There were numerous varieties that produced threads, which when separated were some as fine as silk, others as coarse as grass. These plants were in shape like posts, varied from sandy to dark brown, and opened at the top, shedding a profusion of fibers which were the usable threads. The product ranged through all colors and their shades, and the people wove it into fabrics. Some of these threads resisted destruction by fire, others were impervious to water. There were plants which were without roots and moved about, drawing nourishment from the air.

There were flowers that furnished indelible colors. Flowers, being the sex part of the plant and affecting the sense of smell, which represents the earth element in the body, were powerful in certain ages. Some flowers had fragrance and others stenches which were overpowering. They had odors which intoxicated, produced cataleptic states, poisoned and brought instant death. Some flowers by their smell incited to murder, lust or greed. Some brought on impotence, melancholy, or even self-murder. The size of some flowers was over three feet. Some flowers were like flowing golden hair, others like thick wax, some left their stems and floated in the air. Some flowers could be grown in almost any shape desired, and at certain times the shapes of lizards, birds or butterflies were preferred.

The leaves of plants and trees were not always green, as they usually are today. At times the general coloring was red or blue or yellow or purple. Some of the leaves had odors that produced effects on human beings and animals like those of some of the flowers. Some of the leaves looked like flowers, some like fur. At all times flowers, leaves and fruits were used in healing and in industry.

At different times the shapes and qualities of the trees varied much. At times some trees had a great diameter, but were not proportionately high, and other trees reached heights uncommon today. There were trees that were hundreds of feet high. The very high trees had wood that was as supple and tough as whalebone. Some of the woods then known were indestructible by fire, some were inflammable like straw. The wood in some of the trunks grew in geometrical figures of different colors. The wood of some trees and the sap of others, furnished penetrating and indelible dyes. Though apples were there at all periods, in one form or another, many periods had fruits today unknown. At times the flora furnished various juices which produced visions, were intoxicant or narcotic, either naturally or after they had been exposed to the sun or the moonlight. One kind of tree grew a container like a gourd, that was filled with a sweetish and pungent acid which had an immediate penetrating effect as an intoxicant.

These different types of plants, as well as the fauna of the various periods, were produced, as they are today, by the thoughts of man; their nature was the desire of the doers, and their forms were the forms of their thoughts, standardized by a ruling Intelligence according to type.

At the beginning of any age the animals were huge, ungainly and fierce. As the age rose towards its crest they gave way to more graceful and symmetrical shapes. Some were adapted to industrial and domestic purposes. Some of the fiercest and clumsiest were brought under human control. Huge fish with shells or scales were used as beasts of burden to pull rafts and boats through the water. Men could ride fish through the water, and go under it with the fish. They could also make birds fly through the air while bearing human riders.

Since the first wave of the Fourth Civilization on the fourth earth, there have followed many waves. Uncounted years of physical time have elapsed since then. In each wave were many fluctuations and cycles. Sometimes a small, sometimes a large portion of the earth crust was affected, sometimes the whole. Sometimes the trend of events was toward religion, at other times toward architecture, sometimes toward the discovery and application of the forces of nature. Sometimes the development was broader, and intellectual as well as sensuous results were sought. At times pursuits were limited to the land, and people were afraid of the water. At other times there were races of water people who lived chiefly on the water and were as familiar with it as the land people were with the earth. At times human races mastered the air and could make use of the sunlight. When they discovered how to use starlight, they could protect themselves against fire, so that they could move around in it. Such ages of earth, water, air and fire have succeeded each other many times. When there was a rise of a great wave sometimes all four of the ages blended.

At times the run of human beings knew of nothing more than their physical environment. At other times the screens were removed and the different states of matter on the physical plane were accessible. Even the other planes of the physical world were sometimes opened, and nature gods and elementals were in communication with mankind.

For long ages interests and occupations were concerned with growing and winning products from the soil. At such times there were great varieties of grains, fruits and plants used for food and clothing and in industry; and the pleasures and worship of the people had to do with these products. At other periods the products needed for life and pleasure were produced artificially, that is, precipitated from the elements directly by the thought of man. By combinations of the elements foods were produced as desired, without growing them from the soil. All manner of wearing apparel was drawn from the elements and produced in the forms and colors desired. Those who did this had to have the power of imagination, an understanding of the qualities of the units in the four states of matter, and power over them, so that they could precipitate objects having the durability, elasticity, flexibility or porosity needed. This was in periods when the fire and air were dominant and the bodies of the people of the age were in touch with them.