nce!

Comparatively few accounts of persons possessing this faculty of
looking back into the past are to be found in the literature of the
subject, and it might therefore be supposed to be much less common
than prevision. I suspect, however, that the truth is rather that it
is much less commonly recognized. As I said before, it may very easily
happen that a person may see a picture of the past without recognizing
it as such, unless there happens to be in it something which attracts
special attention, such as a figure in armour or in antique costume. A
prevision also might not always be recognized as such at the time; but
the occurrence of the event foreseen recalls it vividly at the same
time that it manifests its nature, so that it is unlikely to be
overlooked. It is probable, therefore, that occasional glimpses of
these astral reflections of the akashic records are commoner than the
published accounts would lead us to believe.

CHAPTER VIII.

CLAIRVOYANCE IN TIME: THE FUTURE.

Even if, in a dim sort of way, we feel ourselves able to grasp the
idea that the whole of the past may be simultaneously and actively
present in a sufficiently exalted consciousness, we are confronted by
a far greater difficulty when we endeavour to realize how all the
future may also be comprehended in that consciousness. If we could
believe in the Mohammedan doctrine of kismet, or the Calvinistic
theory of predestination, the conception would be easy enough, but
knowing as we do that both these are grotesque distortions of the
truth, we must look round for a more acceptable hypothesis.

There may still be some people who deny the possibility of prevision,
but such denial simply shows their ignorance of the evidence on the
subject. The large number of authenticated cases leaves no room for
doubt as to the fact, but many of them are of such a nature as to
render a reasonable explanation by no means easy to find. It is
evident that the Ego possesses a certain amount of previsional
faculty, and if the events foreseen were always of great importance,
one might suppose that an extraordinary stimulus had enabled him for
that occasion only to make a clear impression of what he saw upon his
lower personality. No doubt that is the explanation of many of the
cases in which death or grave disaster is foreseen, but there are a
large number of instances on record to which it does not seem to
apply, since the events foretold are frequently exce