THE CHAIN OF UNIVERSES 153 



shackles of our earthly existence. Many of the 

 sons of men, in all ages, have caught glimpses of 

 such a higher existence. It is open to all of us 

 and, I believe, destined for all. But its possibility 

 and prospect need not draw us away from the 

 present phase prematurely. Like devotees of chess 

 or football, we descend into the arena and consent 

 to be bound for a time by more or less absurd 

 restrictions. We "play the game." And that 

 game has always been played, and will always be 

 played. It is a necessary discipline and liberal 

 education. 



We are for a time placed at some point in the 

 chain of material universes, an infinite series of 

 which, strange to say, can, as we have seen, occupy 

 the same space at the same time. We are planted 

 on the crust of a planet. It is a curious form of 

 ' once ; but we know of no other. Our faculties 

 can dimly perceive a corresponding existence on 

 the next lower order of planetary or stellar units, 

 on electrons or atoms. But no corresponding 

 possibility is reached on a larger scale until we 

 reach the supra-star, the stellar unit of the supra- 

 world. Our faculties can, with the utmost effort, 

 perceive three links of the chain, and only one 

 with fair completeness. But that is enough. It 

 gives a complete "cross-section" of the material 

 universe. Having exhausted the lessons of this 

 cross-section, we can proceed to other typos of 



