gaseous steam is simply the difference caused by various rates of vibration caused by heat. The difference between red and blue, green and violet, is simply that caused by varying rates of vibration. Light and heat, as well as sound, depend for the differences upon rates of vibration.
Super-Sensible Vibrations.
Moreover, as every text book on science informs us, there are sounds too low as well as those too high for the human ear to register, but which are registered by delicate instruments. Again, there are colors beyond the place of red, at one end of the visible spectrum; and others beyond the place of violet at the other end of that spectrum, which the human eye is unable to register and detect, but which our apparatus in the laboratory plainly register. The ray of light which registers on the photographic plate, and which causes sunburn on our skin, is too high a rate of vibration for our eyes to perceive. Likewise the X-Rays, and many other of the finer rays of light known to science are imperceptible to the unaided human vision—they are actually "dark rays" so far as the human eye is concerned, though man has devised instruments by means of which they may be caught and registered.
The Higher Vibrations
The vibrations of magnetism and electricity are imperceptible to our sight, though they may be registered by the appropriate apparatus; and if we had the proper sense of apparatus to perceive them, these rays of vibratory force would open up a whole new world to us. Likewise, if we could increase our power of hearing-perception, we would seem to be living in a new world of sights and sounds now closed to us. Reasoning along the same lines of thought, many great thinkers have held that there is no reason for doubting the possible existence of other world-planes of being, just as real and as actual as the one upon which we live, and move, and have our being, but which is forever invisible to the ordinary human sight and senses; the apparent nothingness of such worlds arising solely from the great difference in the rates of vibrations between the two planes of being.
Unseen Worlds.
Listen to what careful thinkers have said concerning the possibility of entire worlds existing in the same space occupied by us, but of which we are unconscious by reason of our failure to sense their vibrations: One says, "All our sensations are due to the impact upon our sense-organs of vibrations in some form. Variations in the strength and rapidity of these vibrations constitute the difference in our perceptions. Our range of response is but a limited one. Some vibrations are too rapid and some too slow to affect our senses, and therefore we have called to our aid various mechanical contrivances which enable us to recognize existences which would otherwise remain unknown. But it is still conceivable that there may be, and doubtless are, conditions of vibratory energy that escape us, and which, if we could develop finer senses, would yield wonderful results and extensions of our power and knowledge. Today, indeed, we are coming into contact with forces, possibilities, and personalities which amount to a revelation of a new universe of things."
Interpenetrating Planes and Worlds.
Another says: "It is true that 'things are not what they seem'; but everything seems to be 'thus and so' to us only because of its particular plane of being, and that plane of being is determined by its vibrations. On one plane there is a certain vibratory value or speed; on another plane, a different one; but a plane is not a place, but a state, and so it is possible that two utterly different planes of being might co-exist in the same place and be entirely unknown to one another. That may seem absurd, but it is a scientific truth, and many authorities have endorsed the same."
Another says: "There may be, right here and now, passing through us and this world, some planet invisible to us, with mountains, oceans, lakes, rivers, cities, and inhabitants: and yet we know absolutely nothing of their existence." Another says: "Some students of the occult find it difficult to grasp the idea of a number of manifestations, each having its own rate of vibration, occupying the same point of space at the same time. A slight consideration of the phenomena of the physical world would perhaps aid such persons in assimilating the concept in question. For instance, as every student of physics knows, a single point of space may contain at the same time vibrations of heat, light of many shades, magnetism electricity, X-Rays, etc., each manifesting its own rate of vibration, land yet none interfering with the others."
Another says: "Every beam of sunlight contains many different colors, each with its own degree of vibration, and yet none crowding out the others. By the use of the proper forms of laboratory apparatus each kind of light may be separated from the others, and the ray thus split up. The difference in colors arises simply from the different rates of etheric vibrations. Again, it is possible to send many telegrams along the same wire, at the same time, by using senders and receivers of different vibratory keynotes. The same thing has its corresponding analogy in the case of the wireless telegraphy. So you see, even on the physical planes we find many forms of vibratory energy manifesting on, in, and at the same point of space at the same time, without interfering one with the other."
Manifold Planes of Existence
The ancient occult teachings have ever insisted upon the presence of numerous planes of existence, of which our own particular plane is but one. And all of these numerous planes are equally within the realms of Nature; none of them being supernatural. And there is always found to exist a correspondence between these several planes of manifestation; and, under supernormal conditions, a certain degree of possible communication between them. Each of these planes has numerous subdivisions and subplanes, the divisions being according to the rule of "sevens," as follows: there are seven grand planes, and each of these are subdivided into seven secondary planes, and each of these into seven tertiary planes, and so on until the division has been made seven times.
The student of occultism, particularly at the beginning of his studies, experiences difficulty in comprehending just what is meant by the term "plane" as employed in the occult teachings. His first impression, usually encouraged by the use of the dictionary, is that each "plane" is one of a series of strata or layers, above and below which are present other layers or strata. Even after the student progresses in his understanding of the subject, this original picture of material layers and strata tends to persist in his thought on the subject. The error, of course, arises from his original conception of the planes, layers, or strata as being composed of gross material matter, whereas, as a matter of fact, only one of the many planes is so composed. When one stops to think that even the grossest form of matter is itself composed of vibrations of energy (for science teaches that all matter is but energy at the last); and that all other forms of material substance is likewise so composed of vibrations of energy; then one is on the road to the discovery of the real state of affairs. Then he begins to realize that instead of the planes of being rising one above the other in the scale of their fineness, they are graded according to their degree of vibratory energy, and each may actually occupy the same space as all the others. In short, the "planes" are not strata or layers of "matter" at all, but are simply different states of vibration of energy; and that which we know as "matter" is simply one (and a very low one) of the many forms of such vibrations.
From the above, it is seen that the various planes of being are not distinguished by spatial position; they do not lie one superimposed on the other, like layers or strata of matter. Instead, they interpenetrate each other in the same limits of space. A single point of space may accommodate the manifestations of each and all of the seven great planes of being, and all the subdivisions, and sub-divisions (sevenfold in division) at the same time. The old occultists impressed this and other facts upon the minds of their pupils by the oft-repeated aphorism: "A plane of being is not a place of being, but a state of being." And the "state of being" is simply a certain manifestation of vibratory energy. With these ideas firmly fixed in the mind, the student is less apt to wander astray from the facts of the case.
Planes
