Chapter XIV: Part II: Opinions and Theories

The credulous have their weak points, but the belief of
unbelievers surpasses all credulity.

There is no position a man can assume so weak as that of extreme
skepticism in the face of fair evidence.

* * * * *

Heat, light, electricity, and force are common things. We accept
them as matters of everyday life; our familiarity with them
prevents surprise. In our attempts to discover or learn what
they are we have utterly failed. All that we have found is how
they act under certain conditions. They are the elements
necessary to the existence of physical life, and by cultivating
their acquaintance we have made friends with them. They walk
beside us, lending a helping hand in everything; still they are
our masters--we know them not. For the moment we comprehend a
thing we are greater than the thing we comprehend: it is behind
us, not in front.

Those who are seeking to know how these spirit-forms are created
will seek in vain, for there is no language by which the process
can be conveyed to our understanding. When it is said that they
come out of invisible space, and depart in the same way, all is
said that can be in explanation of their advent among us.

OPINIONS AND THEORIES.