Three ways people explain unusual power

To ascertain the bearing of the spark drawn from the electric machine under every variety of circumstances, that we thus may be emboldened with Franklin to address, in the form of a kite, the question to the cloud about the nature of the lightning. To assure ourselves of the manner in which bodies fall with the exactness of a Galileo, that with Newton we may dare to ask the moon about the force that fastens it to the earth.

In short, by the value we set upon truth, by our hope in a steady and universal progress, not to permit a tyrannical prejudice to neglect or mutilate unwelcome facts, but to rear the superstructure of science upon the broad and unchangeable basis of full attention paid to the most isolated as well as the most frequent phenomena.

An ever-increasing material may be collected by observation, but the accumulated facts are of very different value for the explanation of nature, and as we esteem most highly those useful qualities of men which are of the rarest occurrence, so does natural philosophy sift the facts and attach a pre-eminent importance to that striking class which cannot be accounted for by the usual and daily observation of life.

If then, we find that certain persons seem to possess unusual power, what are we to conclude? First, we may say it is not so, which is simply an acknowledgment of our lack of information, because every honest investigator admits that there are many strange and previously unaccountable phenomena constantly taking place. Those who become acquainted with the creative power of thought, however, will no longer consider them unaccountable.

Second, we may say that they are the result of supernatural interference, but a scientific understanding of Natural Laws will convince us that there is nothing supernatural. Every phenomenon is the result of a definite cause, and the cause is an immutable law or principle which operates with invariable precision, whether the law is put into operation consciously or unconsciously.

Third, we may say that we are on “forbidden ground”, that there are some things which we should not know. This objection has been used against every advance in human knowledge. Every individual who has ever advanced a new idea – Columbus, Darwin, Galileo, Fulton, Emerson – has been subjected to ridicule or persecution; so this objection should receive no serious consideration. On the contrary, we should carefully consider every fact which is brought to our attention; by doing this we will more readily ascertain the law upon which it is based.

It will be found that the creative power of thought will explain every possible condition or experience, whether physical, mental or spiritual.