The shadow of my elbow rests on the shadow
table as the shadow ink flows over the shadow paper. It is all
symbolic, and as a symbol the physicist leaves it. Then comes the
alchemist Mind who transmutes the symbols. . . . To put the conclusion
crudely, the stuff of the world is mind-stuff. . . . The realistic
matter and fields of force of former physical theory are altogether
irrelevant except in so far as the mind-stuff has itself spun these
imaginings. . . . The external world has thus become a world of
shadows. In removing our illusions we have removed the substance,
for indeed we have seen that substance is one of the greatest of
our illusions."
With the recent discovery of the electron microscope came definite
proof of the light-essence of atoms and of the inescapable duality
of nature. THE NEW YORK TIMES gave the following report of a 1937
demonstration of the electron microscope before a meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science:
"The crystalline structure of tungsten, hitherto known only indirectly
by means of X-rays, stood outlined boldly on a fluorescent screen,
showing nine atoms in their correct positions in the space lattice,
a cube, with one atom in each corner and one in the center. The atoms
in the crystal lattice of the tungsten appeared on the fluorescent
screen as points of light, arranged in geometric pattern. Against
this crystal cube of light the bombarding molecules of air could
be observed as dancing points of light, similar to points
of sunlight shimmering on moving waters.
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