We halted suddenly, for we cattle unexpectedly to the edge of a precipice,
twenty feet at least in depth.
" Let us jump down," said my guide.
" That would be dangerous," I answered; " cannot we descend at some point
where it is not so deep?"
" No; the chasm stretches for miles across our path, and at this point we
will meet with the least difficulty; besides, there is no danger. The
specific gravity of our bodies is now so little that we could jump twice
that distance with impunity."
" I can not comprehend you; we are in the flesh, our bodies are possessed of
weight, the concussion will be violent."
" You reason again from the condition of your former life, and, as usual,
are mistaken; there will be little shock, for, as I have said, our bodies
are comparatively light now. Have you forgotten that your motion is
continuously accelerated, and that without perceptible exertion you move
rapidly? This is partly because of the loss of weight. Your weight would now
be only about fifty pounds if tested by a spring balance."
I stood incredulous.
"You trifle with me; I weigh over one hundred and fifty pounds; how have I
lost weight ? It is true that I have noticed the ease with which we have
recently progressed on our journey, especially the latter part of it, but I
attribute this, in part, to the fact that our course is down an incline, and
also to the vitalizing power of this cavern air."
" This explains part of the matter," he said; " it answered at the time, and
I stated a fact; but were it not that you are
really consuming a comparatively small amount of energy, you would long
before this have been completely exhausted.
[ End of Etidorhpa narration ]
The Man conserved his energy because his body didn't have to fight against
the constriction of gravity.
Here is a piece from Chapter four of Cater's book which explains the
phenomena of diminishing gravity as one penetrates the crust.
" Most of the earth and moon gravity radiations are created in the first
fifty miles of their crusts. Below that level, much of the energy from the
sun has been transformed into softer particles, and the material of the
earth and moon is permeated with them.
These soft particles will screen out gravity radiations [ the
electromagnetic radiation which induces the gravity effect ] more
effectively than solid matter, because the ethers they are
associated with, are closer in frequency to those of the gravity charge. "
Really, Cater is the key to understanding Etidorhpa.
" The old Norseman also maintained that from the farthest points of land on
the islands of Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land, flocks of geese may be seen
annually flying still farther northward, just as the sailors and explorers
record in their log-books. No scientist has yet been audacious enough to
attempt to explain, even to his own satisfaction, toward what lands these
winged fowls are guided by their subtle instinct. However, Olaf Jansen has
given us a most reasonable explanation. The presence of the open sea in the
Northland is also explaind. Olaf Jansen claims that the northern aperture,
intake or hole, so to speak, is about fourteen hundred miles across. "
I don't know what Olaf means by this 14 hundred mile figure, but he has the
general idea right.
MM, Dean,
I'm here, reading all, but very busy. There have been very interesting
discussions which I have been tempted to enter, but my time constraints are
very restrictive, liimiting my comments to brief retorts like this. Keep up
the delving. If I feel like I can add anything to the topics I'll probably
chime in. Thanks for wondering about my existance.
Norlan
Original subject: Etidorhpa, Breathing and Gravity
List Members,
In this part of Etidorhpa, The Guide makes the point that breathing and
eating are traumatic activities for the body on the surface of the Earth,
and that the energy expended just for typical activities accounts for our
short duration of life. In a low gravity environment, a human being would
breath less heavily, eat less, expend only a
fraction of the energy which we do on the surface and, consequently, live
much longer.
In the hollow portion the influence of gravity would be less than on the
outer surface. Maybe this is why Olaf characterised those people as being so
strong and long lived.
The hollow portion is actually different than the place being described
here, the place being described as follows is deep within the shell where
the effects of gravity have been attenuated because the gravity-inducing
electromagnetic radiation doesn't radiate all the way through, basically.
Anyway, read it for yourself:
CHAPTER XXXV.
A CERTAIN POINT WITHIN A SPHERE: MEN ARE AS PARA-
SITES ON THE ROOF OF EARTH.
I realized again, as I had so many times before, that it was useless for me
to rebel. " The self-imposed mystery of a sacrificed life lies before me," I
murmured, " and there is no chance to retrace my footsteps. The `Beyond' of
the course that I have voluntarily selected, and sworn to follow, is hidden;
I must nerve myself to pursue it to the bitter end, and so help me God, and
keep me steadfast."
"Well said," he replied; " and since you have so wisely determined, I am
free to inform you that these new obligations, like those you have
heretofore taken, contain nothing which can conflict with your duty to God,
your country, your neighbor, or yourself. In considering the phenomena
presented by the suspension of the act of breathing, it should occur to you
that where little labor is to be performed, little consumption of energy is
required. Where there is such a trifling destruction of the vital force (not
mind force) as at present is the case with us, it requires but slight
respiration to retain the normal condition of the body. On earth's surface
the act of respiration alone consumes by far the larger proportion of vital
energy, and the muscular exertion involved thereby necessitates a
This act of respiration is the result of one of the conditions of surface
earth life, and consumes most of the vital force. If men would think of
this, they would understand how paradoxical it is for them to breathe in
order to live, when the very act of respiration wears away their bodies and
shortens their lives more than all else they have to do, and without adding
to their mental or physical constitution in the least. Men are conversant
with physical death as a constant result of suspended respiration, and with
respiration as
an accompaniment of life, which ever constant and connected conditions lead
them to accept that the act of breathing is a necessity of mortal life. In
reality, man occupies an unfortunate position among other undeveloped
creatures of external earth; he is an animal, and is constitutionally framed
like the other animals about him. He is exposed to the warring elements, to
the vicious attacks of savage beasts and insidious parasites, and to the
inroads of disease. He is a prey to the elementary vicissitudes of the
undesirable exposure in which he exists upon the outer surface of our globe,
where all is war, even among the forces of nature about him. These
conditions render his lot an unhappy one indeed, and in ignorance he
overlooks the torments of the weary, rasping, endless slavery of respiration
in the personal struggle he has to undergo in order to retain a brief
existence as an organized being. Have you never thought of the connected
tribulations that the wear and tear of respiration alone inflict upon the
human family? The heaving of the chest, the circulation of the blood, the
throbbing of the heart, continue from mortal birth until death. The heart of
man forces about two and one-half ounces of blood with each pulsation. At
seventy beats per minute this amounts to six hundred and fifty-six pounds
per hour, or nearly eight tons per day. The lungs respire over one thousand
times an hour, and move over three thousand gallons of air a day. Multiply
these amounts by three hundred and sixty-five, and then by seventy, and you
have partly computed the enormous life-work of the lungs and heart of an
adult. Over two hundred thousand tons of blood, and seventy-five million
gallons of air have been moved by the vital force. The energy thus consumed
is dissipated. No return is made for the expenditure of this life force.
During the natural life of man, more energy is consequently wasted in
material trans-formation resulting from the motion of heart and lungs, than
would be necessary to sustain the purely vital forces alone for a thousand
years. Besides, the act of respiration which man is compelled to perform in
his exposed position, necessitates the consumption of large amounts of food,
in order to preserve the animal heat, and replace the waste of a material
body that in turn is worn out by these very movements. Add this waste of
energy to the foregoing, and then you will surely perceive that the possible
life of man is also curtailed to another and greater degree in
the support of the digestive part of his organism. His spirit is a slave to
his body; his hangs and heart, on which he imagines life depends, are
unceasing antagonists of life. That his act of breathing is now a necessity
upon the surface of the earth, where the force of gravity presses so
heavily, and where the elements have men at their command, and show him no
mercy, I will not deny; but it is exasperating to contemplate such a waste
of energy, and corresponding loss of human life."
"You must admit, however, that it is necessary?" I queried.
" No ; only to an extent. The natural life of man should, and yet will be,
doubled, trebled, multiplied a dozen, yes a thousand fold."
" Be of good cheer," he said, " and in the proper time you may return to the
surface of this rind of earth, a carrier of great and good news to men."
" Shall I teach them of what you have shown me?" I asked.
"Yes; in part you will be a forerunner, but before you obtain the
information that is necessary to the comfort of mankind