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MAGIC AND MYSTERY IN TIBET
Alexandra David Neel  1931

Page 204  

2 x 4 = 8   2 + 4 = 6

Chapter 8

Psychic Phenomena in Tibet - How Tibetans Explain Them'

"...The fascination exercised by Tibet as an abode of sages and magici-ans dates from a time long back. Even before the Buddha, Indians turned with devout awe to the Himalayas, and many were the extra-ordinary stories about the mysterious, cloud enshrouded northern country extending beyond their mighty snow peaks.    The Chinese also seem to have been impressed by the strangeness of Tibetan wilds. Amongst others, the legend of her great mystic philosopher Laotze relates that, at the end of his long career, the master riding an ox started for the mysterious land, crossed its borders and never returned. The same thing is sometimes told about Boddhidharma and some of his chinese disciples, followers of the Buddhist sect of meditation ( Ts'an sect).
   Even nowadays one may often meet Indian pilgrims on the paths that climb towards the passes through which one enters Tibet, drag-ging themselves along in a dream; hypnotized, it seems, by an overpowering vision. When asked the motive of their journey most of them can only answer that they wish to die on Tibetan ground. And too often the cold climate, the high altitude, fatigue and starva-tion help them to realize their wish.
    How can we explain this magnetic power in Tibet?
    There is no doubt that the reputation enjoyed by the 'Land of Snow' for being a country of wizards and magician, a ground on which miracles daily occur, is the main cause of its attraction over the majority of its worshippers. But now one may ask for what reason Tibet has been credited with being the chosen land of occult law and supernormal phenomena.
     Perhaps the most obvious case is that already mentioned, the extreme remoteness of the country, enclosed between formidable mountain ranges and immense deserts.  

/ Page 205

"... I do not think it is exaggerated to say that its landscapes surpass, in all respects, those imagined by the fanciful architects of gods'and demons worlds.
    No description can convey the least idea of the solemn majesty, the serene beauty, the awe- inspiring wilderness, the entrancing charm of the finest Tibetan scenes.  
     Often, when tramping across these solitary heights, one feels like an intruder. Unconsciously one slackens pace, lowers one's voice and words of apology for one's boldness come to the lips, ready to be uttered at the first sight of a legitimate superhuman master on whose ground one has trespassed.
     Common Tibetan villagers and herdsman, though born amidst such surroundings are strongly influenced by them. Translated by their primitive minds, their impressions take the form of these fantastic demigods and spirits of a hundred kinds with whom they have densely populated the solitude of Tibet, and whose whimsical de-meanour is the inexhaustible theme of a rich folk-lore
    On the other hand, just as the Chaldean shepherds of yore observ-ing the starry sky, on the shore of the Euphrates, laid the foundation of astronomy, so Tibetan anchorites and itinerant shamans have long pondered over the mysteries of their bewitching country and noted the phenomena which there found a favourable ground. Astrange art had its origin in their contemplations and many centuries ago, the magicians from the northern Transhimalayan land were already known and held in high repute in India"
"...It is certain that especially since the introduction of Buddhism, numbers of Indians, Nepalese, Chinese and other travellers have visi-ted Tibet, seen its bewildering sites and heard about the supernormal powers with which its dubtobs are credited. Amongst them, a few have probably approached the lamas or Bonpos magicians and listened to the mystic doctrines of contemplative hermits. Their  

/ Page 206   /

travellers' tales, which inevitably grew and amplified as they were circulated, must have greatly contributed, together with the causes I have mentioned and other less apparent ones, to create around Tibet the glamorous atmosphere it now enjoys.
    Must we conclude that the renown of Tibet as the land in which prodigies flourish, is entirely based on delusion? This would be as great an error as the uncritical acceptance of all the native tales, or of those lately conceived by the fertile brains of some facetious West-erners.
    The best way is to be guided by the rather suprising opinion of the Tibetans themselves regarding miraculous events. None in Tibet deny that such events may take place, but no one regards them as miracles, according to the meaning of that term in the West, that is to say as supernatural events.
    Indeed, Tibetans do not recognize any supernatural agent the so-called wonders, they think are as natural as common daily events and depend on the clever handling of little-known laws and forces.
    All facts which, in other countries, are considered miraculousor, in any other way, ascribed to the arbitrary interference of beings be-longing to other worlds, are considered by Tibetan adepts of the secret lore 2 as psychic phenomena.
     In a general way, Tibetans distinguish two categories of psychic phenomena.
1.  The phenomena which are unconsciously produced either by one or by several individuals.
    In that case, the author
- or authors - of the phenomenon acting unconsciously, it is obvious that he does not aim at a fixed result.
2   The phenomena produced consciously, with a view of bringing about a prescribed result. These are generally
- but not always - the work of a single person.
That 'person' may be a man or may belong to any one of the six classes of sentient beings which lamaists acknowledge as existing in our world. 3  Whosoever be its author, the phenomenon is produced by the same process, in accordance with some natural laws: there is no miracle
     It may be of interest to remark here that Tibetans are staunch determinists. Each volition, they believe, is brought about by a num-ber of causes, of which some are near and others extremely remote.
     I shall not lay stress on that point which is outside the present sub-ject. However the reader must bear in mind that, according to Tib-etans, each phenomenon, consciously or unconsciously generated, as  

/ Page 207  /

well as each of our bodily or mental actions, is the fruit of manifold combined causes.
     Amongst these causes, the first and more easily discernible ones are those which have arisen in the mind of the doer of the action, the conscious will of doing it. To these causes Tibetans assimilate those which, even unknown to the doer, have put into motion some forces which have led him to perform the action. Both kinds are styled gyu, 'immediate or principal cause.'
Then, come the outside-causes, not originating with the doer, which may have helped the accomplish-ment of the action. These are called kyen. 4
     The remote causes are often represented by their 'descendants'5 These 'descendants' are the present conditions which exist as the effects of bodily or mental actions which have been done in the past, but not necessarily, done by the doer of the present act himself.
     So, when concentration of thoughts is mentioned here below as the direct cause of a phenomenon, one must remember: first that according to Tibetan mystics, this concentration is not spontaneous, but determined; and secondly, that besides this direct apparent cause, there exist, in the background, a number of secondary causes which are equally necessary to bring about the phenomenon.
    The secret of the psychic training, as Tibetans conceive it, consists in developing a power of concentration of mind greatly surpassing even that of men who are, by nature the most gifted in this respect.
     Mystic masters affirm that by means of such concentration of mind,
waves of energy are produced which can be used in certain ways. The term 'wave'is mine. I use it for clearness' sake and also because, as the reader will see, Tibetan mystics really mean some 'currents' or waves of force. However, they merely say shugs or tsal; that is to say, 'energy.' That energy, they believe, is produced every time that a physical or mental action takes place. -  Action of the mind, of the speech and of the body, according to the Buddhist classification. - The production of psychic phenomena depends upon the strength of that energy and the direction in which it is pointed.
1. An object can be
charged by these waves. It then becomes some-thing resembling our electric accumulators and may give back in one way or another, the energy stored in it. For instance, it will increase the vitality of one who touches it, infuse him with courage, etc.       Practices grounded on this theory and aiming at beneficial results are current in Tibet. Numbers of lamas prepare pills, holy water, knotted scarves, charms printed on paper or cloth which are sup-   /  
 
Note 4.  As an instance, the seed is the rgyu of the plant. The soil and the various substances which exist in it, the water, air, sun, the gardener who has sown the seed, etc, are rkyen (pronounced gyu and kyen).
5.  In Tibetan rigs as an instance: the milk is present in the butter or cheese; the seed is present in the tree born from it. Tibetans freely use these illustra-tions
6.  Written rtsal
 
Charge this up to my account scribe said Zed Aliz . So the far yonder scribe did just that, being careful not to overcharge
 
Page 208  /

posed to impart strength and health, or to keep away accidents, evil spirits, robbers, bullets and so on.
     The lama must first purify himself by a proper diet and then con-centrate his thoughts on the object which he means to empower, in order to load it with wholesome influences. Several weeks or months are sometimes deemed necessary for that preparation. However, when it is only a question of charmed scarves, these are often knotted and consecrated in a few minutes.
2.   The energy which is communicated to an object, pours into it a kind of life.  That inanimate object becomes able to move and can perform certain actions at the command of its maker."    The ngagspas are said to resort to these practices, to hurt or kill without arousing any suspicion that they are responsible for the casualty.
   Here is an instance of the way in which the sorceror proceeds. Taking with him the object which is to be animated - let us say a knife destined to kill someone - the ngagspa shuts himself in seclu-sion for a period that may last over several months.
During that time he sits, concentrating his thoughts on the knife in front of him and endevouring to transfer to the inanimate object, his will to kill the particular individual whose death has been planned.
    Various rites are often performed in connection with the ngagspa's concentration of mind. These aim at adding to the energy which the latter is capable of generating and transfusing into the knife.
 
Well I'll Rub a dagger said Alizzed rubbing the rubber dagger against a rubber rubber, until one or tother, or best a three, half-way disappeared.
 
Page 208 continued

Beings deemed more powerful than the sorcerer are either besought to co-operate willingly with him or coerced and compelled to let their energy flow into the weapon.
    These 'beings' are often of a demoniacal kind, but in the case when the murder is deemed a righteous action, 7 useful to the welfare of many, lofty benevolent entities may be called in as helpers. These are always respectfully implored and no one attempts to coerce them. Some ngagpas think it useful to bring the weapon into touch with the man whom it is meant to kill or with objects habitually used by him.
    Other adepts of the black art scoff at such a childish practice and declare that it discloses utter ignorance regarding the causes which may bring about the killing or hurting that is to appear accidental.
    When the sorceror supposes that the knife is ready to perform its work, it is placed near the man who is to become its victim so that, almost always, he may be led to use it. Then, as soon as he seizes it, the knife moves, gives a sudden impulse to the hand which holds it, and the man whom it has been prepared stabs himself.  

/ Page 209  /

It is said that when once the weapon has been animated in that way, it becomes dangerous for the ngagspa who, if he lacks the know-ledge and cleverness required to guard himself, may fall its victim.
     Auto-suggestion is likely to result from the protracted meditation and the elaborate rites performed by the sorcerer while dwelling in seclusion, and it would not be suprising if some accident occurred to him. Nevertheless, apart from the stories of demons and spirits there may be a phenomenon similar to that which is said to occur when the phantom created by a magician breaks away from its maker's control.
   Certain lamas and a few Bonpos have told me that it is a mistake to believe, in such cases as I have just mentioned, that the knife becomes animated and kills the man. It is the man, they said, who acts on auto-suggestion as a result of the sorcer's concentration of thought.
   Though the ngagspa only aims at animating the knife, the man against whom the rites are performed is closely associated in his mind with the idea of the weapon. And so, as that man may be a fit re-ceiver of the occult 'waves' generated by the sorcerer - ( while the knife is not) he falls unconsciously under their influence. Then when touching the prepared knife, the view and touch of the latter put into motion the suggestion existing unknown to him, in the mans mind and he stabs himself.
   Moreover, it is strongly believed that without any material object for transmission, proficient adepts of the secret lore can suggest, even from afar, to men or other beings, the idea of killing themselves in one way or the other.
    All agree in saying that any such attempt cannot be successful against an adept in psychic training because such a one detects the 'waves'  of forces pointed at him and is able to discriminate their nature and thrust back those which he deems harmful.
3.  Without the help of any material object, the energy generated by the concentration of thoughts can be carried to more or less distant points. There this energy may manifest itself in various manners. For instance:
    It can bring about psychic phenomena.
    It can penetrate the goal ascribed to it and thus transfer the power generated elsewhere."
 
  
Leave that repeat in scribe said Zed Aliz for such marks coincidence, and such coincidence needs marking
 
Page
209    

2 x 9 = 18   1 + 8 = 9

"3.  Without the help of any material object, the energy generated by the concentration of thoughts can be carried to more or less distant points. There this energy may manifest itself in various manners." 
 "Mystic masters are said to use this process during the angkur rites.
   Much could be said about these rites and the spirit which pervades them. The limited space allowed in an average size volume forbids an exhaustive account of all theories and practices of mystic Lamaism and I have reluctantly had to omit for the present a number of inter-esting subjects . I shall confine myself to a few words.
   Lamaist angkur, literally 'empowerment' is not an 'initiation,' though for lack of other words, I have sometimes used that term in the course of the present book. The various angkurs are not meant  

/ Page 210  /  

to reveal esoteric doctrines, as initiations were, among the Greeks and other peoples. They have a decidely psychic character. The theory about them is that 'energy' may be transmitted from the mas-ter - or from some more occult store of forces - to the disciples who is able to tap the psychic waves in transmission.
    According to lamist mystics, during the performance of the ang-kur rite a force is placed within the disciple's reach. The seizing and assimilating of that force is left to his ability.
    In the course of talks I had on this subject with mystic initiates, they have defined angkur 'as a special opportunity'offered to a disciple of empowering himself.
     By the same method , mystic masters are said to be able to dispatch waves of energy which in case of need, cheer, refresh and invigorate, physically and mentally, their distant disciples.
     The process is not always meant to enrich the goal to which the waves are directed. On the contrary, sometimes when reaching that goal, these waves absorb a portion of its energy. Then, returning with this subtly stolen spoil, they pour it into the 'post' from which they have been sent forth, and in which they are reabsorbed."  /
 
Your magic stick oh mystic master said mystic Meg,  throwing an echo of a voice up against the sliver of a three sided silvered mirror
 
Page 210

continued  /

    "Some magicians, it is said, gain great strength or prolong their lives by incorporating this stolen energy.
4   Tibetan mystics also affirm that adepts well trained in concentra-tion are capable of visualizing the forms imagined by them and can thus create any kind of phantom: men, deities, animals, inanimate objects, landscapes, and so forth.
     The reader must recall what has been said on this subject in refer-ence to the
tulkus 8 and the innumerable phantoms which, according to the Dalai Lama, a Changchub semspa 9  has the power to generate.
      These phantoms do not always appear as impalpable mirages, they are tangible and endowed with all the faculties and qualities naturally pertaining to the beings or things of which they have the appearance.
     For instance, a phantom horse trots and neighs. The phantom rider who rides it can get off his beast, speak with a traveller on the road and behave in every way like a real person. A phantom house will shelter real travellers, and so on.
     Such happenings abound in Tibetan stories and especially in the famous epic of King Gesar of Ling. The great hero multiplies himself. He produces phantom caravans with tents, hundreds of horses, lamas, merchants, servants and each of them plays his part. In battle he creates phantom armies which kill their enemies just as well as if they were authentic warriors.
    All this appears to belong to the realm of fairy tales and one may wisely assume that
ninety-nine out of a hundred of these stories are  

/ Note 8 see Chapter 3

       9 In Sanskrit a Bodhisatva. A highly spiritually developed being nearing the perfection of a Buddha.

Page 90  

"... It follows that according to popular belief, a tulku is either the incarnation of a saintly or peculiarly learned departed personality, or the incarnation of a non-human entity."
 
Page 211  

continued  /

purely mythical. Yet disconcerting incidents occur, phenomena are witnessed which it is impossible to deny.Explanations of them are to be found by the observer himself, if he refuses to accept those offered by Tibetans. But often these Tibetan explanations, on account of their vaguely scientific form, attract the inquirer and become them-selves a field of investigation."

Page 214  

"However interested we may feel in the other strange accomplishments with which Tibetan adepts of the secret lore are credited, the creation of thought forms seem the most puzzling.
    We have already seen in the preceding chapter how the novice is trained to build up the form of his tutelary deity, but in that case the aim is a kind of philosophical enlightenment. The goal is different in other cases.
     In order to avoid confusion, we will first consider another kind of phenomena which is often discussed, not only in Tibet, but in various other Eastern countries and even in the West. Some profess to see a certain anology between these and the creation of thought-forms, but, in fact, the process is not at all the same.
     In nearly all countries there are people who believe in a subtle soul or spirit which, while the body lies asleep or in a cataleptic trance, can roam about in various places 14 and perform different deeds, sometimes associating for that purpose with a material body other than that with which it is habitually united."
"... In India, countless legends relate the strange adventures of men, demi-gods, or demons who enter dead bodies, act in guise of the dead man and then revert to their own frame which had meanwhile re-mained unconscious."

Page 216

"...It shows that the belief in the passing of some subtle self  from one body to another, and even in its roaming about disembodied, was current in India.
    Such belief was not infrequent in Tibet, where the 'translation' of the self from one body to another is called trong jug.
18
Possibly the theories regarding trong jug have been imported from India. Milares-pa, in his autobiography, relates that his guru Marpa was not taught the secret of trong jug by his own teacher Narota, but when already old made a journey to India to learn it.
    It is to be noted that believers in the 'translation' of an ethereal self or 'double,' generally depict the body from which it withdraws, as remaining inanimate. Here lies the essential difference between that supposed phenomenon and the apparitions, voluntary or un-consciously created, of a tulpa,
19 either alike or different from its creator.
    In fact, while the translation, as related in Indian or Tibetan stories,  

/ Note 18  Spelt grong hjug.
         19  Tulpa, spelt sprulpa, 'magic, illusory creations.'
 
Page 217  /

may  well be regarded as a fable, the creation of tulpas seems worthy of investigation.
    Phantoms, as Tibetans describe them, and those that I have myself seen do not resemble the apparitions which are said to occur during spiritualist seances.    
     In Tibet, the witnesses of these phenomena have not been especi-ally invited to endeavour to produce them, or to meet a medium known for producing them. Consequently, their minds are not pre-pared and intent on seeing apparitions. There is no table upon which the company lay there hands nor any medium in trance, nor a dark closet in which the latter is shut up. Darkness is not required, sun and open air do not keep away the phantoms.
    As I have said, some apparitions are created on purpose either by a lengthy process resembling that described in the former chapter on the visualization of Yidam or, in the case of proficient adepts, instantaneously or almost instantaneously.
    In other cases, apparently the author of the phenomenon gener-ates it unconsciously, and is not even in the least aware of the apparition being seen by others.
    In connection with these kind of visualization or thought-form creation, I may relate a few phenomena which I have witnessed my-self..."
Reight said wah Zed Aliz at this fine juncture, omit the witnessed phenomena of yonder dear sister, and continue as follows.
 
 

The Death of Forever
Darryl Reanney (
1991)

Page 26

"A deeper understanding  revealed the quixotic fact that a particle like an electron has only a certain mathematical probability of being found in any one spot.This probability has a ripple or wave-like form, but it is more like a 'crime wave'- a statistical distribution - than a physical undulation.
" The basis of matter , then , when examined intimately, dissolves into a ghostlike intangibility ;
the quantum wave is a  mathematical wraith , a ripple of possibilities."
"The quantum wave  only  has this  wraithlike character when it is not being looked at. When an  observer intrudes, when a scientist for example, tries to measure the properties of an electron the, the ghostly wave function collapses.The particle becomes real it can now be specifically assigned a fixed location, with a probability of 1, i.e. a certainty
This is a staggering conclusion .
It means that consciousness is not an observer in the dynamics of the universe; it is an active participant. Consciousness , literally and factually, creates reality , by summoning forth material particles,
definable certainties, from the elusive quantum wave .Objective 'reality' in this perspective falters  on the brink of a profound ambiguity. Subject and object; mind  and matter are not separate;  they interact and interlock."
 
Gifts of Unknown Things
Lyall Watson 1976

The Spirit Moves

 
Page
216  

"In 1714 the German mathematician Leibniz proposed the existence of nonspatial, indestructible, indivisible entities he called monads. He saw them as wholly psychic in nature -  

/ Page 217   /

made up entirely of the qualities of mind. They were dismissed at the time as hypothetical nonesense, but today they no longer look quite so ridiculous. For his dominant monad, the one in ultimate control, read collective consciousness or universal mind, and situate it somewhere beyond the bounds of space-time in superspace. On the next level of this cosmic hierarchy' in normal space-time comes the matter raising monad we call consciousness or mind. Put this in charge of unfolding physical systems with their infinite numbers of states, make it amenable to some form of democracy or consensus that governs lawful and orderly operation - and you have the makings of a workable system.
      The attractive feature of such a model is that it allows any-thing to happen. If Bohm is right about matter's appearing to move through space by constantly being destroyed and re-created, then it should be no more difficult for the mind monad to bend a spoon than it is for it to bend a finger. If you can think of a bent spoon you can have a bent spoon. If all forms of matter are merely thoughts in the mind monad, then their positions and properties are readily interchangeable. Mate-rialization, dematerialization, teleportation, and levitation be-come simple matters of a change of mind. If consciousness can drop at will out of normal space-time into superspace, where there is no such thing as time and thought travels faster than light, then instant thought transference, precogni-tion, retrocognition, and clairvoyance are all easy. And if con-sciousness can return to space-time at any location, past present, or future and experience these locations, then we have time travel, space travel, and travel out of the body. With such free movement of consciousness, it is of course possible to know every detail of the life of everyone who ever lived, and that takes care of reincarnation.
       So it goes. It is all very easy when you can just juggle  

/ Page 218  /

around with ideas like this; anyone can play that kind of academic game. But the wonderful thing about this is that it is strongly supported by much recent scientific theory."
 
Page
37  

" There seem always to have been two ways of looking at the world. One is the everyday way in which objects and events, although they may be related causally and influence each other, are seen to be separate. And the other is a rather special way in which everything is considered to be part of a much greater pattern."
"...There has never been any question of having to choose between the two. They merely represent the extremes of a spectrum of possible response. At one end is a scientist who sees everything in isolation,
Here, the scribe broke off to write. Here, the scribe broke off to write. Here, the scribe broke off to write, the Chinese name  Maisee.

Page 37

continued  

and at the other a mystic who experiences only a featureless flow. Both views are restricted and misleading, but there can be a meeting in the middle. When both physicists and mystics are asked for their description of how the world works,they give the same answers. It is almost impossible to distinguish between the two groups of quotations. All agree that are two viable metaphysical systems, and that the truth lies in a reconciliation between them.
    There is nothing new in this notion that all are parts of the whole and that the whole is embodied in all its parts. What is new is that our physical sciences are catching up with us and beginning to reinforce some very old and very basic biological
perceptions.  /
 
Only one God though, thought  Zed AlizZed, said staring at that Dog
 
Page 39   /  

Insight is beginning to substantiate intuition. In traditional physics, the world is thought to be made up of points If you put a lens in front of an object, it will form an image of that object, and there will be a point-to-point correspondence between the two. This kind of relationship has encouraged us to assume that the whole of reality can be analyzed in terms of points, each with a separate existence. But certainty about this kind of concept has been shaken by quantum mechanics and by a new system of recording reality without the use of lenses. By the invention of the hologram.
     If you drop a pebble into a pond, it will produce a series of regular waves that travel outward in concentric circles."

 

At this point the Zed Aliz Zed requested and was granted the library versions of two holograms.
These are shown in brackets, although at first sight they might seem out of place, neither of either are, apparently
.
Here's the first


( Excepting quoted works,
All arithmetical calculations,   observations  in italics, and emphasised indications, are the deliberations of ZedAlizZed.
As set down by the far yonder scribe.
Reight scribe said Zed Aliz lets get weaving

 

Fingerprints Of The Gods

Page 490/1

   4 x 90  is 360 Azin 3 + 6 is 9 and 3 x 6 is 18 and 1 + 8 is 9  So said Alizzed Thus writ the scribe


"The novelist Arthur Koestler, who had a great interest in synchronicity, coined the term 'library angel' to describe the unknown agency responsible for the lucky breaks researchers sometimes get which lead to exactly the right information being placed in their hands at exactly the right moment." )


And this is the second Said Zed Aliz again  taken from Fingerprints Of The Gods, and timely reminder.


( Page
  354  

"...Acting on impulse, I climbed into the granite coffer and lay down, face upwards, my feet pointed towards the south and my head to the north."
"...I folded my hands across my chest and gave voice to a sustained low-pitched tone
-
something I had tried out several times before at other points in the King's Chamber. On these occasions, in the centre of the floor, I had noticed that the walls and ceiling seemed to collect the sound, to gather and to amplify it and project it back at me so that I could sense the returning vibrations through my feet and scalp and skin.
     Now in the sarcophagus I was aware of very much the same effect, although seemingly amplified and concentrated many times over. It was like being in the sound-box of some giant, resonant musical instrument designed to emit for ever just one reverberating note. The sound was intense and quite disturbing. I imagined it rising out of the coffer and bouncing off the red
granite walls and ceiling of the King's Chamber, shooting up through the northern and southern 'ventilation' shafts and spreading across the Giza plateau like a sonic mushroom cloud.
    With this ambitious vision in my mind, and with the sound of my low-pitched note echoing in my ears and causing the sarcophagus to vibrate around me, I closed my eyes." )
 

 

 

 

 

 

Gifts of Unknown Things
Lyall Watson 1976

Page 38

continued  

" Drop two identical pebbles into the pond at different points and you will get two sets of similar waves that move towards each other. Where the waves meet, they will interfere. If the crest of one hits the crest of the other, they will work together and produce a reinforced wave of twice the normal height. If the crest of one coincides with the trough of the other, they will cancel each other out and produce an isolated patch of calm water. In fact, all possible combinations of the two occur, and the final result is a complex arrangement of ripples known as an interference pattern.
     Light waves behave in exactly the same way. The purest kind of light available to us is that produced by a laser, which sends out a beam in which all the waves are of one frequency, like those made by an ideal pebble in a perfect pond. When two laser beams touch they produce an interference pattern of light and dark ripples that can be recorded on a photo-graphic plate. And if one of the beams, instead of comind directly from the laser, is reflected first off an object such as a human face, the resulting pattern will be very complex indeed, but it can still be recorded. The record will be a hologram of the face.  

/ Page 39  /  

When the place is developed and fixed, it will look like a totally meaningless jumble of very fine light and dark lines, but these can be unraveled. Simply take the plate into a dark room and illuminate it with the same laser. When you do this you cancel out interference and what you get is the original pattern of light from the reflected source. Peering through the plate, you find yourself face to face. You get a very realistic view which is a great deal more than a two-dimensional por-trait. Hologram means "whole record," so what you get is more than face value. You get all the information that light can provide about that face, The plate becomes a window. If you move your head to the side, you see the face in profile. Stand up and you get a view of the hairstyle."
    This three-dimensionality is fascinating, but there is more. If you illuminate only a small part of the plate with a very narrow laser beam, you can still peer through this spot like a keyhole and see the whole face. No matter which part of the plate you choose to use, the view is still the same. This is the momentous thing about a hologram
- every part contains the whole.
     Any part of a hologram is a point in space, and yet it contains information about things at other points. Actually the hologram plate is merely a convenient way of recording what is happening in that region of space. What happens is that there is a movement of light there, and it seems that embraced in that movement is a mass of information about events taking place in other spaces. Cameras have always told us that, but what the hologram says is that any old point in space will do they all embrace everything happening everywhere."

 

 
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