"You said just now," answered Paul, "that matter, being mind, was
governed by mind, and that the tree or chair before me, owing its
existence to mind, is subject to that mind; do you mean by that to
say that the existence of that sofa, as a sofa, may be transformed
into something else by mental action alone?"
"I do," said Ah Ben, "under certain conditions; namely, the condition
called hypnotism. On this material plane we are imprisoned; the will
is not free to operate upon its environment, but in the spiritual
state this dependence and slavery to the appearances we call
realities is cast aside; the will becomes free and controls its own
environment--in short, we are out of prison. But even here, Mr.
Henley, by practicing the self-control we were speaking of, the will
becomes so powerful that it can sometimes break through the bondage
of matter, which, after all, is no more real than the stuff a dream
is made of, and mold its prison walls into any form it chooses; in
which case, of course, it is no longer a prison, and the other world
is achieved without the change called death!"
"And why do you call it a prison, if no more real than a dream?"
"Have you ever had the nightmare? If so, you must know that your will
was insufficient to free you from the horrid scene that had taken
such forcible hold of you. Was the nightmare real or not?"
Paul was silent for several minutes. He could not deny the reality of
the scene through the chimney, for it had the same forceful existence
to him as anything in life. Ah Ben, seeing that he was still puzzling
himself over the problem of mind and matter, the puzzle of life, the
great sphinx riddle of the ages, said: "Let me ask you a question, Mr. Henley--I might say several
questions--which may possibly tend to throw a little light upon
this subject, and perhaps convince you that matter is really mind."
"Ask as many as you like."
"Pantheism," continued Ah Ben, "is scoffed at by many people calling
themselves Christians as being idolatrous, and yet to me it is the
most ennobling of all creeds. Without knowing anything of your
religious faith, I would first ask if you believe in God?"
Paul answered affirmatively.
"Do you look upon him as a personal Deity--I mean as an exaggerated
man in size and power--or as a Spirit?"
"As a Spirit," Paul replied.