re is this
difference, that the matter with which we are dealing is far less inert,
and so when called into action by these sympathetic vibrations it adds its
own living force to the original impulse, which may thus be multiplied
many-fold; and then by further rhythmic repetition of the original impulse,
as in the case of the soldiers marching over the bridge, the vibrations may
be so intensified that the result is out of all apparent proportion to the
cause. Indeed, it may be said that there is scarcely any limit to the
conceivable achievements of this force in the hands of a great Adept Who
fully comprehends its possibilities; for the very building of the Universe
itself was but the result of the vibrations set up by the Spoken Word.

[Sidenote: Mantras.]

The class of mantras or spells which produce their result not by
controlling some elemental, but merely by the repetition of certain
sounds, also depend for their efficacy upon this action of sympathetic
vibration.

[Sidenote: Disintegration.]

The phenomenon of disintegration also may be brought about by the
action of extremely rapid vibrations, which overcome the cohesion of
the molecules of the object operated upon. A still higher rate of
vibrations of a somewhat different type will separate these molecules
into their constituent atoms. A body reduced by these means to the
etheric condition can be moved by an astral current from one place to
another with very great rapidity; and the moment that the force which
has been exerted to put it into that condition is withdrawn it will be
forced by the etheric pressure to resume its original form. It is in
this way that objects are sometimes brought almost instantaneously
from great distances at spiritualistic _seances_, and it is obvious
that when disintegrated they could be passed with perfect ease through
any solid substance, such, for example, as the wall of a house or the
side of a locked box, so that what is commonly called "the passage of
matter through matter" is seen, when properly understood, to be as
simple as the passage of water through a sieve, or of a gas through a
liquid in some chemical experiment.

[Sidenote: Materialization.]

Since it is possible by an alteration of vibrations to change matter
from the solid to the etheric condition, it will be comprehended that
it is also possible to reverse the process and to bring etheric matter
into the solid state. As the one process explains the phenomenon