N.Z. PHILOSOPHER

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 96, 23 April 1921, Page 5

N.Z. PHILOSOPHER

LORD CLIFFORD'S THEORY

THE DIVINITY OF ELEOTRICITY.

(rtOV ODIt OWN CORBIBPONMNT.)

LONDON, 3rd February.

New Zealand has produced a philosor pher, Lord Clifford of Chudleigji, F.G.S., F.Z.S., bears a name closely associated with the early days of the pominion, for his grandfather took an active part in the promotion of the New Zealand Land Company. The "present peer, as a young man, settled in Marlborough in 1875, where he proved himself a successful farmer, besides incidentally establishing" tinning works in Blenheim, In 1890 he left for Tasmania, where he remained until he came into possession of the title in 1916.; '

Always interested in science, philosophy, and religion, twelve years ago-he began constructive ■ work, and before he left Tasmania he had written his first philosophical work, " TJie portal of Evolutipn." At a lecture he gave a few days ago he t?ld liow the professor of a certain Australian University had' declared: " You may be out of ypur depth,' but you have certainly taken all the univer^ sities of Australia far beyond theirs." The work wa? published, Tipwevey, and }n recent times '! The Mystic Evolution Society" has been formed fpr further research and investigation tfye new lines of thought opened UP. by tprd Clifford's philqgophy! Already thjere are eighty members of the society, an 4 the founder has begun a series of- lectures, in which he intends to 'trace the course pf evolution from jtp earljest j^rinnirigs until torda,y,

His theory of the Third Electro doubtless gives, scope fpr jest, for the cbnclu(lipns justjfied are thftt we were probably carrots in aij earlier aeon, later on perhaps sea. serpents, and in comparatively recent times^say t\yo rnillipn years ago —we were lizards. . But there is a. serJT ous side. Lord Clifford claims that he has put scientific investigation on a higher psychic plane than" it has ever been placed before. His is not a Speculative philosophy; but an endeavour to link up psychology with science, and to proceed along grounds which are capable of proof. He bases his conclusions on the more or less demonstrated principle that Nature is the work of three primary forces termed electrons—an unknown electron which produces variation and of which our first visible realisation ,i» light; a negative electron that tends to combine with the othei' two electrons to produce stability, fprm, and shape; and a positive electron that promotes both physical- and mental energy, .Radioactivity, the subject of his first lecture, he maintained, prqved. that matter was evolved out. of electricity, that life was not combined" as a cjieinical would be with the constituents of matter that make up our bodies, but was an electrical current passing between the molecules of matter that created energy amongst them by displacing their arrangement, and that our bodies, muscles, nerves, and brains were simply conducting wires of infinite and supernatural electrical currents that dispersed the powers of the Infinite Creator amongst created substanpes. The most important result of hi? philosophy, he considered, was his definition of the difference between finity and infinity. "AH that js infinite," he said, "is invisible, unlimited,' immeasurable, may be, altered, but cannot vary. All that is finite is visible, limited, and measurable, can be varied, but cannot be altered'" As pure ejectrjcity obeys the conditions of infinity, not of finity, we must conclude that it is spiritual and divine, npt material." Lord Clifford's first lecture left one struggling in abyssmal depths of thought. Even the learned chairman, Sir James Oantlie, K.8.E., I'\R.O.S., explained his attitude by a comparison of himself with the Englishman who listened to a speech delivered in the broadest Scotch. "I didn't understand wha^ you were talking about," said the Englishman ' to the lecturer, who in this case was the doctor himself, "but I enjoyed every word of it." But Lord Clifford's lecture certainly left one with the feeling that here was a real philosopher, and that he had discovered something that had in it food for art enormous amount of thought. THEOLOGY OF CREATION. * He has written a new book, "The Theology of Creation," and his "Short Catechism of Evolution" is not beyond the comprehension of the average intellect. He begins by expressing the "Word" whicfi appears in the Genesis story of Creation in terms of evolution. The "Word" he interprets as "waves of ether/ a"nd thus he explains that a, word is any form of electrical vibration that conveys from one form of spiritual existence (which existence, we call a "soul' 1) a Eimilar vibration or feeling to that which existed in the aoul from which it emanated. And no one can fail to understand his conclusion that "if we use our lives well, our children will become better conductors of electricity, and so be capable of virtues that are beyond our performance, for electricity is what our ancestors spoke of when they used the term 'the Grace of God.' If we misuse our opportunities, we shall reduce the conductive power of the bodies and minds of our children, and their capacity for virtue will become less generation after generation, unless they reinstate the loss of conductivity by making better use of their opportunities, by meeting the increased difficulties we have condemned them to with greater energy, mortification, and sacrifice fpr the good of others."