thought in its own pure form, was sublime beyond degree. It was to me new, startling, grand. I had always conceived of thought as communicable or as expressible only in written or sound-spoken words or symbols. Here in a new realm of being, in an instant, was presented to me a faculty of thought beyond all my former conception. I beheld intelligence "speaking" to intelligence, communing the one with the other, somewhat like the material phenomenon of the instantaneous flashes of sparks from the positive and negative poles of the electric current. Idea, emotion, thought, mingled and merged as the colored rays in the prism, flashing forth into the pure white light of intellection.

And yet the communication was the same in the effect as would be the continuous sound of the speaking voice, only the thought transfusion or expression was instantaneous and more perfect in every way.

I go into this detail here concerning the mode of communication between intelligences in this realm of pure thought, where I afterward learned I was, because in the progress of this book I shall often express myself about the communion and intercourse of these intelligences in the usual terms, as for instance, so and so was "said" or "spoken."

Still the reader must bear in mind that while there was no spoken sound in the material sense of the word, in the communication or expression of thought, there was in the highest degree the perfection of sound in the mental effect produced.

The sciences of this earth teach us the difference between sound and this mental phenomenon of sound as I experienced it in this realm. They teach that even in earth's material environments what is called sound is only a sensation; that without the intelligence to receive, interpret, or perceive, it, sound would be impossible. They teach that hearing is a

mental state produced by external vibrations of air, which affect the auditory nerve.

This affection is conveyed by the nerve into the sensorium, and there causes an excitement of the sensory, or brain substance. Our consciousness of this sensorial excitement is the mental perception of sound. So we are taught that, so far as our consciousness is concerned, sound is a physical conception, or mental perception.

But I never realized this truth so clearly and fully as when, on that ushering in of myself into that, to me, untried and inconceived realm of pure being, I perceived sound in its purity, unobstructed by the impediment of sense or material media.

I for the first time fully realized the pure perception of the idea.

There is no living man who can realize my mental elation on this first dawning to my mind of "Being," of "Thought," in their own pure state, which was produced on me when that Intelligence flashed into my Intelligence the interrogation : "Hast thou come to remain with us, or wilt thou soon depart to other realms?”

My amazement was both overwhelming and sublime! I felt that my elation of intellect and of being had scaled a height never imagined by me!

Of my continuity of existence, of the variety of my me, I could have no doubt. One effort of my will focussed before me my whole existence. I saw my past, not by a process of slow and successive memories, but more as the impinging of a landscape upon the clear vision. I recalled the fact that I had just retired to my bed for sleep and rest after the day's toil and the evening's conviviality. I must have fallen asleep, for I knew not the moment nor the means of my transformation into the state of supreme being in which I there was. From whence I had come I well knew; how or whither I knew not, and could not then conceive.

CHAPTER II.

I: OR THE FIRST DAWNING OF REAL LIFE!

"I KNOW not whether I shall remain, or whether depart. What am I? Where am I?"

I spoke. I say "spoke," but how? The thrill of unutterable exaltation that bounded through me, as I "spoke " must be left untold! My mind thought, and the etherial effluvium of pure being flashed, as in a ray of thought, into communion with my companion Intelligence. And as I addressed myself in thought to my companion I was conscious that he received and knew my thought. At the same time I knew that I "spoke" to him, for, I was fully conscious that I had perfectly expressed my thought. I was also as fully conscious that my companion had received my communication. My faculty of communication was so perfect and admirable, so far above the dull and blunted utterance of a material organ that I could scarcely force myself to its realization. But I heard my voice, knew it, was conscious of it. It was not my guttural, halting, harsh, discordant "voice " of yesterday. It seemed that my thought was of itself voice," clear, sweet, resonant, musical, harmonious; that it blended into, and flowed with, the thought, as though the thought had in itself the living rhythm of the soul. My "voice" was different from that of my companion; like my identity it was distinctively myself. I recognized it, I knew it, as much so as I knew myself.

I was also positively cognizant of the possession of every faculty of perfect, exalted being. There was no film, nor

mist, nor darkness, nor weakness, nor depression. There was only a sort of consternation caused by the overwhelming wonders about me. Every faculty of my being seemed to be resplendent, buoyant, clear, majestic, apparently illimitable. Every complement, component, adjunct and function of pure being I felt to be mine. I was myself exalted to Parnassian heights, magnified, vivified, purified, unchained; every bond loosened, every weight cast aside. I felt no heaviness or incumbrance as though bound down to some gross solidity. The cords of gravity seemed to have been snapped.

I felt myself to be Thought without the limitations of sense; Reason without the formality of logic; Judgment without the scotch of a premise; Will without the antecedent of sense, or the environment of a physical infirmity. I felt that I was Emotion without the concomitant of pain or fear, or the gloom of sorrow, or the blush of shame, or the rancor of evil or hate. My every impulse seemed pure and holy; it seemed that Love was supreme and over all, and I felt its infinity.

I seemed to be Vision illimitable, without the boundary of horizon, or the curtain of night; for my being appeared to be of pure light, and this light was everywhere. There was no opaqueness, but only definitiveness, of objects and forms.

I felt that my Being was Sound and Music without the jar or impediment of any discordant sense.

I was Form; my intellectual Self appeared in perfected form; Beauty was everywhere and I was a part of it.

I was pure Thought, and thought was All and all-inclusive. I felt no gnawings of flesh, no hunger, nor thirst, nor weakness, nor disability.

However, I did not come to this full realization of myself until afterwards, when my first onset of bewilderment and excess of splendor had passed away.

Nor did I for some time fully know my powers, or my

environments. These I shall describe further on. My first consciousness was of one awakened out of sleep, in whose mind still revels and abounds the ecstatic vision of a realistic dream; or as one blind, who having been suddenly endowed with vision, sees men as trees walking.

I felt the power of a strength and force that was almost boundless. My stature, form and mould, though all immaterial, were Myself, perfected in every detail, distinctively myself, with all imperfections and grossness cast aside. My substance was defined, featured, individualized, etheralized, like that of other beings whom I will describe hereafter.

CHAPTER III.

MY COMPANION.

THE Communication which had been addressed to me by my strange companion was my introduction into this sphere or state of almost infinite elation. The communication from him directed my attention to him first of all. To understand this wonderful Intelligence and Life was the means of getting acquainted with that state and condition and their environments, in which I found myself.

His form and mien were indicative of a higher order of life and being than any I had ever conceived of. That I had been accosted by an Intellectual Being, a Living Entity, I could not doubt. At the same time I realized that this Being was of an order outside of anything in my former knowledge or experience.

There stood before me Form. Of this I could not be mistaken. He was of majestic form. Form embodying Beauty, Symmetry, Perfection of lineament and stature. And in this form there was no coarseness, nothing perishable. Its sub