Many students confess themselves perplexed when they are first confronted with this class of phenomena.  While they find it comparatively easy to see how by astral vision the clairvoyant is able to sense events happening at that moment, though thousands of miles away from the observer, they cannot at first understand how one can “see” a thing no longer in existence, but which disappeared from sight thousands of years ago.  Naturally, they ask to be informed how this is possible, before proceeding to develop the faculty itself.  Believing that this question is now being asked by you, the student of these lessons, I shall pause for a few moments and show you “just how” this wonderful thing becomes possible to the clairvoyant.

In the first place, it would undoubtedly be impossible to perceive a thing, even by astral vision, if it had entirely disappeared at some time in the past—­this would be beyond all natural powers, astral as well as physical.  But, as a matter of fact, the things of the past have not entirely disappeared, but, on the contrary, while having disappeared on the physical plane they still exist on the astral plane.  I shall endeavor to explain this wonderful fact of nature to you in plain terms, although it belongs to one of the most mysterious classes of the occult facts of the universe.

In the occult teachings we find many references to “the Akashic Records,” or what is sometimes called “the records of the Astral Light.”  Without going into technical occult definitions and explanations, I will say to you that the gist of this occult teaching is that in that high form of the universal substance which is called the Universal Ether there is found to be recorded all the happenings of the entire World Cycle of which the present time is a part.  All that has happened from the very beginning of this World Cycle, millions of years ago, is preserved on these astral records, and may be read by the advanced clairvoyant or other person possessing occult powers of this kind.  These records perish only with the termination of a World Cycle, which will not happen for millions of years yet to come.

To those who cannot accept the reasonableness of this occult fact, I would say that there are analogies to be found on other planes of natural manifestation.  For instance, as astronomy teaches us, a star may be blotted out of existence, and yet its light will persist long after (perhaps until the end of world-time) traveling along at the rate of 186,000 miles each second.  The light that we now see coming from the distant stars has left those stars many years ago—­in some cases thousands of years ago.  We see them not as they are now, but as they were at the time the ray of light left them, many years ago; The astronomers inform us that if one of these stars had been [Transcribers Note:  Text missing from original] sands) of years ago, we would still see it as in actual existence.  In fact, it is believed that some of these stars which we see twinkling at night have actually been blotted out hundreds of years ago.  We will not be aware of this fact until the light rays suddenly cease reaching us, after their journey of billions of miles and hundreds of years.  A star blotted out of existence today would be seen by our children, and children’s children.