ON SEEING VISIONS


The postman (or rather the postwoman) brought me among other things this
morning a little paper called _The Superman_, which I find is devoted to
the stars, the lines of the hands, and similar mysteries. I gather from it
that "Althea," a normal clairvoyant, and other seers, have visited the
planets--in their astral bodies, of course--to make inquiries on various
aspects of the war. Althea and "the other seers" seem to have had quite a
busy time running about among the stars and talking to the inhabitants
about the trouble in our particular orb. They seem really to have got to
the bottom of things. It appears that there is a row going on between
Lucifer and Arniel. "Lucifer is a fallen planetary god, whose lust for
power has driven him from his seat of authority as ruler of Jupiter. He is
the evil genius overshadowing the Kaiser and is striving to possess this
world so that he may pass it on to Jupiter and eventually blot out the
Solar Logos," etc., etc.

I do not know who sent me this paper or for what purpose; but let me say
that it is sheer waste of postage stamps and material. I hope I am not
intolerant of the opinions of others, but I confess that when people talk
to me about reading the stars and the lines of the hand and things of that
sort I shut up like an oyster. I do not speak of the humbugs who
deliberately exploit the credulity of fools. I speak of the sincere
believers--people like my dear old friend W.T. Stead, who was the most
extraordinary combination of wisdom and moonshine I have ever known. He
would startle you at one moment by his penetrating handling of the facts of
a great situation, and the next moment would make you speechless with some