The apparen tly-beau tiful correlation be­
tween cambium growth and voltage gradient disappeared in a 
long-range study. This implied that the voltage gradient was 
not in itself the consequence of mitosis in the cambium of the 
tree. There must have been some other factor involved since it 
was clear enough that these changes showed no necessary causal 
dependency. 100 ANTENNAE TO THE UNIVERS E 
4 
That there are changes in the electrical characteristics of the 
surround of the earth was shown long ago by the late Professor 
Harlan Stetson, of the Cosmic Ray Terrestrial Research Labora­
tory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He drew 
attention to the fact that changes in the ionosphere significant ly 
affect radio reception; and this phenomenon, of vital importance 
to the communication industries, has been studied extensively 
ever since. It seemed worthwhile, therefore, to design an experiment in 
which continuous records of changing potential in a living 
system were made synchronously with careful records of chang­
ing tempera ture, humidity, barometric pressure, sun spots and 
Cosmic rays. For we thought that a comparison of these simul­
taneous records would enable us to determine whether any 
correlates between any of these variables existed. With the aid of a grant from the National Institute of Health, 
a more elaborate experiment was devised to examine possible 
interrelationships with the electrical environment, to be con­
tinued over as long a period of time as possible. The experiment 
included four reasonably simultaneous records of changing volt­
age gradients in an Elm tree, a Maple tree, in the atmosphere 
adjacent, and in the earth. Since we had many years of records of pure voltage differences 
in trees, there was available a valuable baseline of information 
about the changing electrical properties of a living system during 
the passage of time. As a result, we knew what to expect as a 
result of changing seasons, lunar cycles and diurnal rhythms. The two new records of variations in air and earth voltages could 
add to this information about the trees, and could offer clues as 
to the possible impact of the electrical environm ent on living 
processes. The instrumentation included four high input-impedance 
amplifiers, two pairs of silver-silver chloride electrodes-a pair 
for each of two elms-an atmospheric voltage probe supplied by 
101 ANTENNAE TO THE UNIVERS E 
Meteorol ogic Research of Pasadena, California-feeding into one 
of the amplifiers (checked by their own meter)-and a pair of 
monel metal rods, three feet apart on a north-south axis and 
leading into one of the amplifiers. The output from all four amplifiers was fed into a four 
channel Leeds & Northrop recording meter. The latter prints a 
dot, indicating a voltage magnitude, at appropriate intervals, 
often enough to exhibit an almost continuous line. Needless to 
say, such an interrupted record is not adequate for true simul­
taneity of the four records, but for this study the rough approxi­
mation proved sufficient. From the beginning an extraordinary correspondence in the 
four records appeared. The two trees, the air and the earth ex­
hibited variations at approximatel y the same time. The magni­
tudes differed, but all fottr showed increases in the positivity of 
the 'hot' electrode at the same time. The apparent simultaneity of two tree potentials, earth 
potentials and air potentials raises an interesting question. The 
short-time relationships between the onset of these changes in 
all four of these records could be exceedi ngly important. None of 
the equipment we had with us, however, made it possible for 
us to investigate this particular aspect of the problem. Conceivably, the changes in the electrical environm ent might 
precede the changes in the electrical properties in the living 
systems. This would give added weight to the evidence that there 
is a significant relationship between endogenous electric charac­
teristics of the two trees and the corresponding changes in the 
electrical aspect of the environment. These short-time measurements were, of course, stimulating 
and interesting, but the really important question raised by this 
whole study is: What happens in time, preferably long periods 
of time? A mathema tical analysis of the diurnal rhythms made it clear 
that we were not dealing with random numbers but with real 
changes in the electric properties of a segment of the earth and 
of the two living systems. It seemed reasonably safe, therefore, to 
assume that both air and earth potentials were equally free from 
random measurements. 102 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
The fact that all four sets of measurements exhibited changes at 
the same time made it quite clear that a long-time study was 
j llstified. Since preliminary studies of this sort were begun in 
1938, and reasonably continuous measurements made from 1943 
on, quite a span of time was available for analysis. In the early 
days, mathematical theory was inadequate to study the changing 
relationships with time; and the modern mathematical analytical 
instruments were not available. The very considerable amount of 
data collected over the years represents a source of numbers 
which could be analysed very profitably. 5 
Inspection of the potentials recorded on the long paper records 
made it clear that no one of these four sets of measurements was 
independent of tl1e other three. A change in one was accompanied 
by a change in aU the others. This was an extraordinary finding. Every attempt was made to 
cover the possible artifacts which might have produced these 
results, but rigorous controls ruled out the possibility that the 
results were accidental. It must be admitted that it was exciting 
to see that the well-known diurnal rhythms of a biological system 
of two trees also were paralleled by diurnal rhythms in atmos­
pheric potential and earth potential. To be sure, we do not know 
whether one or the other of these measurements precedes any of 
the others, but the fact that the changes occur in all of them is of 
prime importance. Since Nature is the experime nter, changing the variables in 
hoth the Jiving system and in its environment, long-term studies 
should help us to understand to what extent there is an interrela­
tionship between the electrical properties in the environment and 
those of a living system. That they exist in day and night 
rhythms, is clear. But it is also equally clear that there is a 
repetitive cycle which has a period roughly approximating that 
of the lunar cycle. This does not mean that the moon affects the living systems, 
as the old wives' tale held, but rather that both the moon and 
103 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
Jiving systems respond to some more primary characteristics of 
the Cosmos. It is not surprising, therefore, that we detected in 
our records the same twenty-seven-day-cycle of earth and air, as 
well as trees. Since these studies ran through many years, seasonal changes 
-which we know exist in trees, for example-were also to be 
seen in the winter and summer records of voltage gradients in 
earth and air. These seasonal changes were so obvious that the 
striking correlations between the living system and its environ­
ment gave credence to the notion that the living system is im­
bedded through its own electro-dynamic field in the field of its 
physical environm ent. But since the field of the environment is involved in such 
things as lunar cycles, it is important to remember that the 
electrical properties of the ionosphere are changed by sun spot 
activity, as Stetson showed many years ago. The electrical charac­
teristics of the ionosphere could, then, be correlated with lunar 
cycles and diurnal rhythms. A preliminary analysis, therefore, was made of the changing 
potentials of the trees and sun spot activity as recorded in Zurich, 
Switzerland. Here, again the correlation between the two sets of 
measurements was extraordinary. A great deal of further study will be required to determine 
whether or not the changing sun spot activity preceded the 
change in the electrical properties of trees. The graphs drawn 
from these available numbers show a rather extraordinary paral­
lelism with the changing electric potentials of the tree. By implication, this could indicate that not only a tree--a 
perfectly good living system-but in all probability aU living 
systems, might show the 9ame dependency since they all possess 
electro-dynamic �elds. There is a hint, furthermor e-although this is by no means 
valid and final evidence-that the changing potentials of the 
tree follow, by a predictable amount of time, the changing rela­
tive sun spot numbers. As the sun spot numbers increase, voltage 
gradients in the trees increase. When the relative sun spot num­
bers decrease, there is a corresponding decrease in the voltage 
gradients in the trees. 104 ANTENNAE TO THE UNIVE RSE 
Since the plots are derived from numbers scattered over an 
eleven-year cycle, and since there is good evidence to show that 
these electro-metric numbers in living systems are not random 
numbers but are valid evidences of changing electrical properties 
of a living system, it would seem possible to conclude with reason­
able assurance that there is a close relationship between the 
electrical environment of the tree and the activities recorded 
electrically in the trees themselves. These changes could not 
possibly be the result of accidental correspondences. The num­
bers recorded are too great over too long a period of time to be 
chance observations. It will be remembered that the primary assumption made at the 
outset of this study was that the electrical properties of a living 
system were evidence of an inherent electro-dynamic field. Since 
it is common knowledge that one field cannot exist within an­
other field without an interaction between them, and the field 
properties of the ionosphere are modified by the bursts of sun 
spot activity, the effect on the electrical characteristics of the 
ciwironment of the earth are really no more than might be 
expected. It would seem reasonable to conclude, therefore, that a study 
of longer duration with more sources of information might make 
it abundantly clear that the field properties, not only of living 
systems but of the Universe, interact in characteristic fashions 
and produce results of great significance. 6 
All this is of prime importanc e since we are now exploring 
space, which also must possess field properties. This badly-neg­
lected aspect of environment study should be explored inten­
sively. There is no reason why future plans to put recording 
instruments into space should not include adequate measures of 
field properties of the space through which the instruments pass. This, of course, would require highly-sophisticated instrumenta­
tion, very large sums of money and many studies. But the evidence outlined above-while only a drop in the 
105 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
bucket-nevertheless is highly exciting and interesting and gives 
us a clue to a hitherto-undrea med-of factor in the properties of 
the material Universe and of all living systems which exist with­
in it. It may take many lifetimes, however, to come up with an 
answer which has genuine validity. It can be argued that this is an extrapolation beyond the evid­
ence. This is admitted. But these field properties are not mysteri­
ous phenomena; they are measurable characteristics not only of 
the Universe but of the immediate environm ent of the earth. Moreover, the evidence collected during the several decades of 
study indicates that the behaviour, in particular, of living sys­
tems is a consequence of the pattern of organization. And the 
arrangement of the charged particles in living systems is a con­
sequence of the inherent electro-dynamic field. These phenomena can be measured; and whether or not it is 
felt that the extrapolation suggested is beyond the evidence, there 
can be no question about the validity of the measurements. These have been checked over and over again, subjected to care­
ful and critical mathematical analysis. * The present analysis 
would seem to suggest that we are dealing with valid, measurable 
interrelationships between the electrical properties of a living 
system, of all living systems, and the field of electrical environ­
ment in which they exist. It has been the habit, in the past, to assume that a living 
system's behaviour is, in part, the consequence of chemical flux 
of the tissue of which living systems are made. However, the 
chemical flux is a widely and rapidly changing set of phenomena 
and yet throughout all these studies the constancy of the electri­
cal phenomena is so great that they must be an evidence of some 
constancy in the growth and development of living systems. It is as' though there were in every living system some guiding 
factor which not only makes the acorn grow into the oak tree 
but also induces a characteristic pattern of organization, of which 
* Throngh the interest and diligence of Mr. Ralph M<lrkson, a 
mathematical analysis of tree potentials was undertaken. With his 
consent, the re�l 1lts Jrc printed in Part II st;JTting on page 166. They 
add a very valuable and much needed mathematical validation of 
the important conseque nces of the Field Theory. 106 ANTENNAE TO THE UNIVERSE 
the physiological functional activities are known as behaviour. To be sure the chemistry is of great importance, because this 
is the gasoline that makes the buggy go, but the chemistry of a 
living system does not determ ine the functional properties of a 
living system any more than changing the gas makes a Rolls­
Royce out of a Ford. The chemistry provides the energy, but the 
electrical phenomena of the electro-dynamic field determine the 
direction in which energy flows within the living system. There­
fore they are of prime importanc e in understanding the growth 
and development of all living things. 7 
It must be remembered that this was an adventure into one 
of the frontiers of modern science. There have been, over the 
years, two major classical theories of modern science. One is best 
described as particle physics, where attention was paid to the 
unitary elements involved in any system under observation. The 
other can be subsumed under the general heading of field 
physics. This was clearly enunciated many years ago by Clark Maxwell 
who, in his initial paper on electro-magnetic theory, noted that 
whereas particle physics was concerned with unitary elements 
or with what the Greeks called atoms, he called attention to the 
fact that the relationships of the entities were quite as important 
as the entities themselves. As noted earlier, this was one of the reasons why we set out 
decades ago to see if by using methods of modern electrical 
measurement, we could examine these relationships as profitably 
as a study of the component parts themselves. One of the key problems of modern science is that of organiza­
tion or of that design of living systems which make it possible 
for us to define things in space and to describe the discernible 
pa tterns to be seen in the world around us. We are all familiar, of 
course, with the fact that descriptive science over the centuries 
has concerned itself primarily with little more than the straight 
description of the observable things on the face of the earth and, 
107 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
to some extent, in the heavens. Any descrip tion of these things 
in the world around us would not be possible if they were con­
stantly changing their patterns. Aristotle, moreover, called attention to the fact that an acorn 
always grew into an oak tree and not into a fig tree. This, of 
course, is the key biological problem. In other words, what is the 
nature of the forces which guide the growth and development of 
an acorn so that it ends up as a tree and not as a horse? These 
forces not only guide the growth of an acorn to an oak tree, but 
also determine the uniquene ss of any particular oak tree. Since this demands forces which operate in time and also show 
an astonishing constancy in spite of the chemical flux of metabol­
ism, these must be studied from two points of view. One, of 
course, is to describe or define the chemical components of the 
biological system. Great strides have been made in the analysis 
of the chemistry of protoplasm and its constituent parts, but the 
rather extraordinary thing about it is that, fundamentally, there 
are only four chemical substances involved in protoplasm­
carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. To be sure, there are 
additional trace elements in any chemical analysis of protopl asm, 
but the fact remains that these four relatively simple chemical 
substances can be arranged in incredibly complex sets of re­
lationships. Relationships must be the result of forces operating between 
the chemical constituents. These forces determine the position 
of these chemicals and their motion or movement in the process 
of growth and developm ent. They eventually exhibit perhaps one 
of the most extraordinary aspects of this problem: they give 
some kind of directive. They are not just haphazard interactions between the com­
ponent entities but forces which apparently are involved in a 
directional control of growth and developm ent. In other words, 
the forces have vector properties. They not only control the interrelationships between the 
entities but they also control the direction in which the whole 
living system progresses. Among the aspects of nature capable 
of introducing direction are electrical properties-electro-mag­
netic, electro-dynamic, electro-static. With these, there is always 
108 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
a direction in which the particles move. The motion is always 
between one pole and another of the environment. This polar property and the control of the motion between 
the component parts can best be examined by electrical measure­
ments. If, then, the observed electrical properties of protoplasm 
can give us a clue to the nature of the forces which impose organ­
ization on living systems- and, quite probably, on non-living 
systems-then a long-term study should offer at least some tenta­
tive conclusions regarding the interrelationships between the 
electrical properties of the living system, on the one hand, and 
of the environment, on the other. * * * 
That was the reasoning which originally prompted us to em­
bark on continuous studies which occupied three decades. It is 
submitted that the exciting results obtained from our 'antennae 
to the Universe' fully justified not only the initial assumption 
but also this particular aspect of this adventure in science. 109 CHAP TER SEVEN 
The Continui ng Adventure 
1 
Though this adventure in science has occupied more than forty 
years, we have merely reached 'the end of the beginning', in Sir 
Winston Churchill's phrase. Each thing we have discovered in 
our long quest has shown us how much more remains to be dis­
covered about the fields of life. Nobody has recorded the feelings of the ancient Vikings when 
-after a long and arduous voyage-they came to the North 
American Continent. But, as they skirted a seemingly-endless 
coastline, it is safe to assume that their uppermost thought must 
have been that even greater adventures awaited those who one 
day would explore the vast territory they had found. Similarly, the landfall we have made-for which we could 
only hope when first we set sail-gives promise of a vast area of 
virgin territory to be opened up by the scientists of the future. For if-as all the evidence has indicated-the fields of life are 
primary and control all living things we can set no limits to the 
scope they offer for further exploration. As the scientists of the future acquire a more comprehensive 
knowledge of L-fields, they will gain a greater understanding not 
only of man's body, mind and behaviour and of the workings of 
all living things but also of the relationship between the fields of 
life and the greater fields and forces of the Universe. As astro­
physicists learn more about the latter, biologists and doctors will 
be able to view the living things of this planet in a new and 
broader perspective. In this, as in other branches of research, the scope for explora­
tion seems as large as the Universe itself. This is not only because 
our knowledge of most things is deplorably incomplete but also 
110 THE CONT INUING ADVENTUR E 
because the organization of the Universe does not preclude 
change and development; on the contrary these seem to be in­
herent in it. The Universe is not static but almost inconceivably 
dynamic with everything in it-from galaxies to atoms-in a 
state of constant motion or change. At the outset of this adventure we made the 'primitive as­
snmption', based on all the evidence available, that we live in an 
ordered Universe. We assumed that order is imposed on the 
elementary components of Nature, whether particle or wave, by 
means of definite arrangements or patterns of organization which 
persist in time and which we can identify. We recognize these 
as permanent elements in the environment; we recognize trees 
and plants, birds and beasts, monkeys and man. If these patt erns 
did not persist any description of the things we see would have 
no continuity. On the other hand, we have only to look around to observe 
that no particular design, pattern or arrangement of parts ever 
appears at the outset full-blown or in its final form; there is 
always a developing process. The acorn grows and develops into 
an oak tree, never into a fig tree. It is obvious, therefore, that 
the laws of Nature do more than develop a pattern: they also 
determine the steps by which the pattern evolves, grows and 
develops. In other words, there is nothing fixed about the Uni­
verse; it is a growing active system. It is a far cry from the most elementary living forms to the 
highly complex systems which have evolved from them. There is 
a great gap between the simple elements and the complicated, 
�iant molecules which have been developed from them not only 
by Nature but also by man. Man, in fact, imitates Nature in developing from the simple to 
the complex. For instance, he started by cooking and keeping 
himself warm with burning sticks; now he has the modern elec­
trical kitchen and automatic heating systems. Simple screws and 
bolts, gears and wheels are organized into the marvellous tools 
and machines of today. And sure1y Henry Ford would he amazed 
at the modern automobile which developed from his Model T. 
We cannot foresee the ultimate outcome either of Nature's 
developments or of man's. This makes the whole process of 
111 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
examining every aspect of the Universe an alive, exciting and 
adventurous exploration. Yet, from time to time, some pundit will declare with solemn 
finality that there is nothing more to be discovered in his par­
ticular field of study. And almost invariably he will soon be made 
to look foolish by some new discovery or breakthrough which 
opens up new areas to explore. We can feel sorry for such self­
satisfied people because these rash statements not only betray 
their lack of imagination but also show that they have missed 
one of the great adventures of life-examining a developing 
Universe. We have no right to assume that the present state of the Uni­
verse is the final one, because all we know about it is that it has 
grown and developed over a vast span of time. And there is no 
reason to suppose that that development has come to an end 
with our present environment. We cannot know the final end of growth and developm ent, 
but at least we can be quite certain that it has an ultimate goal. It is doubtful. however, whether this ultimate goal is a fixed and 
final one; more likely, the goal itself develops with time. Perhaps 
the present is always moulding the future. For it is impossible to 
imagine that any of the material units of our environment are in 
final form, because everything we know is developing and grow­
ing towards a more perfect realization of the operation of the 
basic laws of the Universe. While we can make effective use of 
our growing knowledge of these laws, we have no way of pre­
dicting what the ultimate outcome will be. 2 
In exploring a developing Universe, science's basic aim and 
problem is to determine the origin of its design. Science now 
knows a lot about the design itself but how it started is still 
shrouded in mystery. This central problem of science is of prime 
importance, not for mere academic reasons but because if we 
could know more about the origin of the Universe we might 
know more about how to conduct ourselves and our affairs. 112 THE CONT INUIN G ADVENTURE 
At the present time, in the hope of solving that mystery, we 
are spending billions of dollars exploring space. The techniques 
which have made such explorations possible are almost beyond 
description. It is certainly a miraculous developm ent, which may 
yield products of practical utility to ma nkind and which, for 
this reason, is quite possibly worth the money spent on it. But, so 
far, it has contributed little to man's understanding of the world 
in which he lives. And, as far as the basic problem of science is 
concerned, we are no wiser than we were before the Russians 
launched the first sputnik into space. The origin of the Universe 
still eludes us. Perhaps it always will. In the meanwhile, however, we can 
learn more about something no less important -the forces which 
control the unfoLding of the design of the Universe through 
growth and developm ent. Of these, the fields of life are perhaps 
the most amenable to further study because-as has been shown 
in the preceding pages-they exist in all living forms so far 
examined and can be measured with great precision in controlled 
and repeatable experiments. L-fields, therefore, offer us a new and scientific approach to 
some of the methods used by Nature to execute her designs. By studying these methods we can hope to learn more about 
the designs themselves, even if we remain unable to solve the 
great mystery of their origin. We can hope, too, to gain a 
greater understanding of how the designs fit in to the pattern of 
the larger designs of the Universe. For, as we noted in the first 
chapter, L-fields by their very nature must be influenced by the 
all-powerful fields of the Cosmos and must therefore be an integ­
ral part of its overall design. Meanwhile, the fact that L-fields are a part of the Cosmic de­
sign is compelling evidence that we live in a Universe of law and 
order, because they impose design and organization on the con­
stantly-changing material components of all living forms. They 
compel an acorn to grow into an oak tree-and only an oak 
tree; they compel a maize seed to grow into a corn-stalk and not 
a stalk of wheat or barley. Anything that compels growth and 
development in an organized way is irrefutable evidence of law 
and order. 113 THE CONTINU ING ADVENTURE 
But the L-fields of this planet are themselves influenced by the 
greater fields in which our world is enmeshed, as we found from 
the effects of sun-spot activity on the fields of trees. They are 
subject, then, to 'higher authority'-so to speak, which compels 
them to change in various ways. And, no doubt, the fields that 
surround this planet are themselves subject to the greater fields 
of space. In other words, L-�dds are links in a 'chain of authority'. This 
starts with the simplest living forms, runs upwards through all 
the life on this planet to the most complex form we know-man 
-and then extends outwards into space and upwards to an 
in�nite, ultimate authority, about which we can only speculate. This 'chain of authority', of course, does not apply only to the 
fields of life. It must also extend from the heart of the smallest 
atom to those gigantic forces which keep the planets in their 
orbits, which govern the stars in their courses and which regulate 
the feverish race of the most distant galaxies towards the outer 
reaches of space. In building living forms, the fields of life override the normal 
laws of chemistry and physics. They compel atoms and molecules 
to assume-and to retain through constant changes of material 
-stable arrangements, which hreak down to simpler compounds 
after the death of the form. If it were not for this 'overriding 
authority' of the L-fields you and I could not exist in our present 
form because the complex molecules of which we are composed 
could not build themselves on their own-or by chance-and 
could not retain their composition. You and 1, then, are literally held together by definable laws, 
of which L-fields are a manifestation. Without these laws-or 
if the Universe were really chaos-we could not exist for a 
millisecond. Rigid, specific and exact forces control not only the 
construction and maintenance of our component parts but also 
their organization and interrelationsh ip. In short, we exist by virtue of inexora ble laws in a highly­
organized Universe of law and order. 114 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
3 
All this will not appeal to those who prefer to believe that the 
Universe is chaos and man an accidental end-product of fortuit­
ous chemistry. This view is enjoyed by those who like to imagine 
that man can do just what he pleases and that there are no laws 
to control his decisions to do this that or the other. But, from the beginning of history, most of humanity has 
realized, however dimly, that there is some kind of law and 
authority in the Universe. This is shown by the fact that man­
kind-not knowing what that authority is-has postulated 
deities of many kinds and a Spiritual Universe in authority over 
the Material Universe. The material and the spiritual, the body and the mind, the 
organism and the soul-these contrasting concepts represent a 
prevalent attitude of mankind towards the Universe in which 
he finds himself. But is this attitude really justified? Is it merely the result of 
our lack of information about the true nature of things? If the 
Universe is one of law and order-as all the evidence indicates-is 
it not more likely that there is really a 'unified authority' rather 
than a 'divided rule' of the spiritual and material? Webster de­
fines universe as: 'All created things viewed as constituting one 
system or whole; the creation, the cosmos.' The very word, then, 
implies unity, not the 'dual control' of two kinds of authority. If, too, we accept that the Universe is one of law and order, are 
we justified in assuming that it includes some chaotic exceptions? Is it not more likely that such an assumption is merely a product 
of our ignorance ? The fields of life can offer us a new approach to these vital 
questions . But, before we discuss this, it is necessary to dis­
tinguish between the three kinds of laws that govern mankind : 
First, there are Nature's laws, definable and reproducible, 
which, as far as we know, are valid right through the Universe. Though we can hope to learn more about them, it is certain that 
we can neither alter nor repeal them. THE CONTINUING ADV ENTURE 
Second, there are man-made written laws which vary from 
country to country and from state to state. These-as we are 
painfully aware at the present time-are not always enforced 
or enforceable and can be argued, evaded or appealed ad nauseam. While Nature's laws are precise, inflexible and permanent, man­
made laws arc often fuzzy, pliable and variable. So much so, in 
fact, that it is hard for many who are only familiar with man­
made laws to realize that there can be a superior kind. Third, there are the so-called moral laws. These, again, are 
laws invented by the mind of man, nearly always with the hope 
that they will improve man's attitude towards other men. Most, 
if not all, of these laws are the product of the intuitive, creative 
capacity of the mind of man-expounded by the philosophers 
and prophets of past genera tions. They are valuable because, like 
the written law, they are primarily concerned with controlling 
behaviour and represent one creative activity of the mind of man. But they vary from country to country and bear little-if any­
relationship to the laws of the Universe. Moreover they have been imposed on mankind by. tradition 
and by past intuitions; and it is hard to believe that the elder 
statesmen of two or three thousand years ago could present, 
through intuition-valuable as it may have been-the answers 
to all the questions which actually face the mind of man today. Of the three kinds of laws, only those of Nature that we have 
discovered can give us a feeling of certainty. At the sub-atomic 
level, it is true, there is still some uncertainty. But once the sub­
atomic entities arc agglomerated into atoms or molecules we 
can recognize and validate primary laws and forces. We know, 
for example, that there is a law of gravity. We also know about 
electrical and magnetic forces, nuclear forces and contact forces. The laws underlying such phenomena, in fact, are so well known 
to scientists that they can be made to serve mankind. Our use 
of these natural laws in the present age is miraculous. As a re­
sult, we live in a much more comfortable world-at least in the 
Northern Hemisphere -than mankind has ever known. Those parts of the world which we choose to call 'primitive' 
are so because their inhabitants have not yet learned enough 
about the laws and forces of Nature to use them to their full ad-
116 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
vantage. Through the extraordinary development of science, the 
Western world has put forces to work for its benefit in an excit­
ing and unprecedented way. This would not have been possible 
if there were no natural laws and forces which the mind of man 
could discover and-more important -understand. To the precise laws of Nature, man's written and moral laws 
offer a depressing contrast. The written law, formalized and 
expanded by lawyers, is not necessarily the law by which men 
live. The living law of human beings is mainly an unwritten 
law but it controls the major part of our activities. In many ways, 
most of us tend to ignore the written law and behave as we 
think commonsense, as it is called, dictates. Moral law is even more flexible -as we see in the current era 
of 'permissiveness'. And it is always easier to tell the other man 
what he should do than it is to do those things ourselves. Man 
has an astonishing capacity to dodge the issues, to hide his real 
drive behind a plethora of words which, in many cases, serve as 
an excuse for what he thinks should be done or perhaps, more 
accurately, for what he wants to do. lt is an extraordinary fact that over the past few thousand 
years man has developed an astonishing capacity to use the laws 
of Nature for his benefit but, as far as one can see, he has not 
made a comparable advance by his use of the written or moral 
laws. Most of man's troubles are spawned in the swamps of his own 
desires. And his written and moral laws have no relation to the 
laws of Nature. As a result, conflict, frustration and anxiety rule 
the minds of many, because they cannot reconcile their written 
and moral laws with the laws of Nature. We will not be able to get rid of a great many of our troubles, 
therefore, until we attempt to relate the written and moral laws 
to the laws of the Universe. And if we spent the same amount of 
time and money on resolving the discrepancies bet ween the man­
made laws of the legalists and moralists and the laws of the 
Universe, there is no reason why our advances should not be as 
miraculous as those in our material environment. We need to 
devote the same kind of effort and thinking which is at present 
applied to space exploration to revise man-made laws and to 
117 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
harmonize them as far as we can with what we know about the 
laws of Nature. 4 
No doubt it will take a very long time before we can make 
man-made laws more compatible with those of Nature. But it is 
important to make a start because the sooner we can do this, 
the sooner we can begin to resolve some of our problems and 
frustra tions. This task, of course, should be attacked from as many useful 
angles as we can think of. But in this book we can only consider 
the ways in which a further study of the fields of life can con­
tribute to the greatest problem that faces mankind-human be­
haviour. An immedia te-and important-contribution which a know­
ledge of L-fields can make is the certainty that there an natural 
laws to which mankind is subject for us to discover and under­
stand. We are not chasing a mere will-O'-the-wisp because we 
have found that the L-fields which control man are themselves 
subject to the greater fields of the Universe. For us to get any real understanding of the natu re of man and 
why he behaves as he does, it is necessary to find natural factors 
which, like the law of gravity, are valid everywhere and not only 
in the western, eastern or southern hemisphere. L-fields offer us 
a starting clue in this search because-as we have seen-the state 
of the human field reflects the state of the mind. As L-fields are 
subject to universal forces . operating everywhere, it seems reason­
able to suppose that the latter have some planet-wide influence 
on the minds of men. As extraterrestrial forces, such as solar flares and sun-spot 
activity, influence the L-fields of trees it seems most unlikely that 
human L-fields are unaffected by such forces. For instance, as 
this is written, we are approaching the peak of the current cycle 
of sun-spot activity. Is it coincidence that in the past few years 
there have been unusual world-wide unrest, riots and disturb­
ances of various kinds? We do not know whether it is coincid-
118 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
ence or not. But if we could establish by further experiment and 
analysis that mankind tends to be more excitable during increas­
ing sun-spot activity, this knowledge, obviously, would be of the 
utmost value to world leaders. No doubt other factors are involved in the present world-wide 
unrest but it would be helpful if we could recognize and isolate 
one of them. The Foundation for the Study of Cycles, of Pittsburgh, Penn­
sylvania, has accumula ted impressive statistical evidence that 
the affairs of man-from wars to hog-priees-seem to follow 
rhythmie cycles, though the Foundation has not yet discovered 
the cause. * Dr. Ravitz-as we noted in the first chapter-has 
found that the voltage gradients in the human i-field fluctuate 
in rhythmic cycles. Are these phenomena in some way related to external forces 
influencing human behaviour through the i-fie ld? Again we do 
not know but it would be useful to find out whether or not this 
is so. If it is-though we cannot control these external forces-it 
would be helpful to be able to predict periods when mankind is 
likely to be susceptible to wars or depressions. Dr. Ravitz has shown that a study of voltage-rhythms in the 
i-fie1d of the individual makes it possible to predict those times 
when his vitality and alertness are at a low point-times when 
he should avoid hazardous occupations as far as possible. Surely 
* Since this was written, the Foundat ion for the Study of Cycles 
has republished (Cycles. January 1971) a paper, 'Physical Factors of 
the Historical Process' by Professor A. 1. Tchijevsky, translated by 
Vladimir P. de Smitt. The paper was presented at the annual meet­
ing of the American Meteorological Society in December 1926. Professor Tchijevsky was Assistant, Astronomical Observatory; 
Collaborator, Institute of Biological Physics, and Fellow Archaeol­
ogical Society, Moscow. This scholarly paper deals with the influence of sun-spot activity 
upon human beh<lviour and the whole hist orical process; and gives 
some s11ggestive d<lta <lnd graph�. The Editor of Cycles describes it 
as a landmark in the literature. He comments that no conclusive 
case. pro or con, has been developed but th;tt the task of establishing 
any relationship between sun-spots and human excitability is one 
of the more important unfinished projects of the Foundation. 119 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that mankind-what­
ever the cause-is subject to collective 'lows' and 'highs'. If it 
could be determined that this is so, leaders would be able to 
know in advance those periods when they should exercise 
special caution, particularly in international relationships. In these dangerous times, we cannot afford to overlook any­
thing that migh t help to reduce risks. For this reason, a further 
study of these possibilities would seem to be justified. And with 
modern computers and techniques of statistical analysis such 
research should not be as expensive or difficult as further ex­
ploration of outer space and, quite possibly, might be of greater 
benefit to mankind. 5 
Though it is important to learn more about the behaviour of 
mankind as a whole, it is no less important to study the human 
individuaL For, however inconvenient it may be to theorists and 
bureaucrats, Nature has arranged that each of us is a unique 
individual. This cannot be too strongly emphasized in an age 
in which there is an increasing tendency to treat the essential 
individual as a mere statistic. To anyone who has studied the human nervous system, how­
ever, it is clear that its nature is such that the incredibly-com­
plex permutations and combinations of neurones result in many 
unique patterns of neural design. These neurones are located in 
particular parts of the nervous system and send branches to 
other parts of the nervous system. Before the existence of L-fields was established it was hard to 
understand why a particular group of neurones should be lodged 
in the grey matter of the cortex and not in the spinal cord; and 
why the branches of the neurone-the dendrites and axones­
apparently move to their ultimate destinations without mistake; 
normally, the neurone fibres which run to the ear never end in 
the littl� toe. The arrangements, therefore, of the neural parts 
is determined by forces which, we now know, are the eJectro­
dynamic L-fields. 120 THE CONTINUING ADVE NTURE 
If this is accepted, the importance of field factors in the develop­
ment and differentiation of the nervous system is evident. And it 
is no longer hard to understand how a neuroblast, developing and 
differentiating, should be located in a particular place in the 
primitive neural tube and why and how its branches should grow 
and be directed to an ultimate destination. It is not by accident, 
then, that the human nervous system, highly organized and very 
complex, should have such precision in its growth and develop­
ment and such uniqueness as its final result. All this is of great importance to students of human behaviour 
because it shows that it is not a consequence of local phenomena, 
nor the result of an endocrine or gastric function, nor of any 
other of the physiological properties of the living organism. Chemist ry, whatever its origin, is a consequenc e-and not the 
cause-of behaviour. To be sure, defects in behaviour can be recognized; this is well 
known. But chemistry can no more change an inferior nervous 
system into a better one than high-tes t gasoline can convert a 
Ford into a Rolls-Royce. Chemistry supplies the energy but it is 
the L-field which gives direction to the energy flow, the result of 
which is a pattern of organization. Unfortunately, we know much too little about the conse­
quences of the patterned neural mechanism in human beings. We 
know a little about the gross anatomy of the nervous system but 
we know behaviour only through individual acts. This leads to 
confusion in our understanding of the nervous system. We can 
only be certain that we are what we are not by accident but by 
a patterned organization or design, unique to each of us, which 
is regulated by a field. It is true that there are certain patterns of behaviour and auto­
matic responses common to all mankind, just as there are parts 
of the human nervous system to be found in other highly­
organized nervous systems. Apart from these common factors, 
however, we are all different and behave differently. Moreover, the mind of man has an unholy capacity to fool 
itself. We tend to see what we want to see, to hear what we want 
to hear. The raw data of sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and 
so on reach the nervous system and become involved in the in-
121 THE CONTINUING ADV ENTURE 
tricate organization of a linking and chaining together of nerve 
cells in the nervous system. These, as we know, number at least 
ten billion units and therefore provide an astronomical number 
of possible permutations and combinations. These permutations, activated by stimuli from the outside 
world and also, unfortunately, from the inside world, determine 
in the last analysis what you and I do. This means, of course, that 
ideas are as powerful stimuli to the nervous system as the physical 
events in the immediate enviJOnment. These ideas have to be 
integrated with the raw data of sensation and also related to 
memory of past events before they result in overt activity. Nearly everyone, when faced with the resulting problems 
wants someone to tell them the answers. This is not possible; no 
one else can tell you the answers which are right for you, though 
he may be able to help you, through ideas, to find the right 
answer for yourself. We should not and must not force our solu­
tions on others, because each individual is different. We can only 
try, with suggestions, to help them to reach conclusions or solu­
tions which are appropriate to their uniqueness. Since we know no way to modify the field that determines 
the pattern of the human brain and the infinite permutations of 
neural response, there are definite limits to what we can hope to 
achieve in influencing human behaviour. EnviJOnmen t-a fash­
ionable term at the present time-can undoubtedly be an ex­
tremely important factor. But it is clear that wha tever we do to 
the human nervous system we cannot change its individual and 
inherent design deter�ined by the field. Each individual is likely 
to react differently, even to the same enviJOnment. Chemistry cannot help us. It is true that we can destroy-or 
produce a malfunction of-parts of the nervous system by means 
of drugs. They can often modify behaviour to some extent but 
this is only because they knock out one component so that an­
other component can take over. Similarly, certain operations on the brain can remove or short­
circuit abnormal conditions and thus restrict undesirahle be­
haviour. But they cannot alter the design. As a matter of fact, 
it is difficult for a brain surgeon to tell, merely by looking at the 
brain, what kind of person his patient is. There are some racial 
122 THE CO NTI NUING ADVENTUR E 
and age differences, to be sure, and brains vary in their size and 
weight. But no really significant differences have been found in 
the finer linking and chaining together of the neuroncs. This is 
not because they do not exist but because our present techniques 
are not adequate to unravel the complexities. All this shows that-with our present knowledge at least ­
there are no instant cures for the defects of human behaviour. In other words we cannot hope to change human nature over­
night, as wise men have always realized. Though this may seem 
to some a depressing conclusion it is better to realize our limita­
tions than to entertain false hopes and to waste our energies in 
the wrong directions. It is best, too, for educationists to realize that they cannot 
make a silk purse out of a sow's ear-that they cannot make a 
Beethoven or an Einstein out of a sow's-ear type of nervous 
system. The basic problem is to find out the capabilities of a par­
ticular nervous system and, by practice and experience, help it to 
develop into the most efficient apparatus possible for that par­
tindar and unique type. 6 
All this is also relevant to the current demand-or hope-for 
a unified religion. Those who think this is possible are doomed to 
disappointment because we are all different and respond differ­
ently to the ideas which others suggest to us. Religion can never be an organized set of regulations. It is a 
purely personal matter, depending on the human individual's re­
actions to his religious upbringing or teaching and to the ideas 
which may originate in his own mind about his relationship to 
what he believes to be the Designer, Organizer or Operator of the 
Universe. It makes little difference what you call this qnalitative attribute 
of the Universe -whether YOll call it God. or the Universal Mind 
or something else. The fact is that your relationship and mine 
with this thing outside ourselves- something which is greater 
than ourselves-is a purely personal matter between us and it, 
123 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
which cannot be organized or legislated by religious groups or 
in courts of law. Since nobody knows the origin of the Universe, an infinite 
variety of opinions about its Originator is inevitable. Hence 
the enormous number of religious faiths and groups around the 
world, some of which appeal to vast numbers of individuals and 
some to a mere handful. It is often djfficult to get general agree­
ment on the interpretation of a set of facts. When there are no 
facts-in the accepted sense of the word-to interpret, it is obvi­
ous that general agreement among large numbers of different 
individuals is impossible. Each individual, then, has to solve the problem of his relation­
ship with the Originator for himself in order to reach a con­
clusion which is satisfying to him. There may be others who 
reach the same conclusions and also find them satisfying. But 
these should not be imposed on those who do not because, in the 
long run, each individual has to solve his own problems. Nature revels in infinite variety. Far from trying to impose uni­
formity on mankind-or on anything else-she makes every­
thing different. Our brains and bodies are all a little different 
from every other brain and body in the world. Even our finger­
prints are different; among the many millions of fingerprints on 
file around the world, no two identical ones have ever been found 
-even among the many thousands of prints of 'identical' twins. * 
L·fields are the tools which Nature uses to indulge her zest for 
variety; and we know no way to blunt them. In dealing with 
human nature, therefore, we should temper our idealism with 
realism and-like the wisest politicians-should confine our­
selves to 'the art of the possible'. In our modern civilization, of course, a certain amount of 
uniformity-in laws, regulations, procedures, printed forms and 
so on-is both necessary and unavoidable. But if we are to har­
monize man-made laws with Nature's, we should neither seek 
-nor hope for-greater uni formity in regulating human con­
duct but should do our utmost to keep it to tbe minimum and, 
where possible, to reduce it. It is the aim of some of the theorists and most of the dictators 
* Confirmed by the F.B.1. 124 THE CONTINUIN G ADVENTUR E 
of this age to regulate the human race down to a dreary con­
dition of mediocre uniformity. Perhaps, then, one of the most 
important things we can learn from the fields of life is that in 
Nature precise organization and infinite variety can and do go 
together. We are likely to get further faster in the solution of our 
problems if we strive to imitate Nature, however difficult that 
may be. 7 
Nobody knows what those early Vikings really expected to 
find when they set sail across the Atlantic. Perhaps they dreamed 
of fabulous and mysterious territory to conquer. But when they 
landed they found nothing too mysterious or unfamilia r-just 
a large and obvious continent to explore. It has been much the same with our voyage of discovery. What­
ever we expected to find out when we started, we have found 
nothing myst erious-nothing that need surprise us. We knew before we started that, in the non-living world, fields 
and atoms are related attributes of matter and that neither can 
exist without the other. It was reasonable to suppose, then, that 
living systems-composed as they are of atoms and their fields 
-should contain electrical fields capable of determining the 
pattern of the structure and of maintaining it through constant 
changes of chemical flux. This seemed the more likely because the electro-encephalo­
graph and the electro-cardiograph had established the existence 
of electrical phenomena in living systems. And physicists know 
that wherever potential di fferences exist in conducting media 
currents flow and fields are the inevitable result. The existence of L-fields, then, seemed as logical and probable 
as the existence of new lands across the ocean must have seemed 
to the Vikings. But, as with them, the problem was how to find 
the hoped-for goal. As with them, too, the goal was invisible. But 
here we had an advantage over the Vikings: we are accustomed 
in this age to dealing with the invisible. THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
We cannot see electro-magnetic fields but we not only know 
they exist but also put them to work for us in various ways. We 
have never seen electrons but we know how to use them. We 
know, too, that they are present in the nucleus of the atom; and 
it is perfectly clear that the properties of the atom are, in part 
interaction between the electrons and the whole atom and, in 
part, the contact which the atom has with other atoms. So, in 
contrast to the Vikings, we expected the result of our quest to 
be invisible. Like them, however, we had to devise suitable equipment 
for our voyage of discovery. They had to build new ships to 
plough through stormy seas. We had to find new means to ex­
plore an ocean without causing any ripples on its surface-in­
strument s which would draw no current from the organisms 
measured. As related earlier, this took three years; and it would 
be interesting to know if the Vikings were able to equip them­
selves more rapidly! Though our goal seemed reasonable and attainable, it should 
be stressed that, when we started out we had no certainty of 
reaching it. However logical an hypothesis may seem, one can 
never be sure that it can be validated by experiment. The ships 
of scientific exploration can founder in the seas of experimental 
problems as easily as longboats can sink in the North Atlantic. But it is this element of uncertainty that gives zest to any voyage 
of discovery because, without it, there could be no hope of find­
ing the unexpected. Though, in any exploration, the unexpected is always wel­
come and exciting, the more clearly one can visualize in advance 
what one hopes to find, the easier it is to devise the right kind 
of experiment to validate the hypothes is. If one knows what one 
is looking for, too, there is less risk of wasting time down blind 
alleys. We were fortunate, then, that our original hypothesis was 
sufficiently close to experimentally-demonstrable fact to save us 
from much wasted time and effort. We were lucky in the fact 
that science had reached a stage which justified the belief that 
electrical measurement s of living forms could be made, that they 
126 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
would exhibit pattern and would serve as at least one measure of 
a controlling electrical field. Over the years-as related in these pages-this belief has been 
justified by experiment. Wherever we made electrical measure­
ments of living systems we found voltage gradients; and in all our 
experiments we found that the voltage gradients in living systems 
without any exception are organized in patterns. And the re­
sults of these many years of experimentation leave no reason­
able doubt tha t the �eld characteristic of a living system is a basic 
property of life. Moreover, since the field of a living system is an ordered pat­
tern, it must be a part of the overall or general pattern which 
represents the Universe. It can be argued, therefore, that the 
Universe is an electrical field and that everything that exists in 
it is a subsidiary or component part of the total field. This, of course, is not new. 'Vlhat is new is that it is now pos­
.sible to make valid, repeatable measurements of the subsidiary 
fields which are associated with living forms. This shows that 
living systems are not some special creation-introduced into the 
Universe at some particular time or place-but are an integral 
part cf the pattern-that is, of the law and order-of the 
Universe. Someone once asked the question: 'What is this electricity 
which constitutes a field?' A distinguished physicist gave the best answer that the author 
knows: 'Electricity is the way Nature behaves.' This electricity, then, which can be measured and shown to 
have order and pattern, is not some strange and separate phenom­
enon but an essential characteristic of the Universe. Numerous names have been given to these electrical fields. We refer to electro-m agnetic fields, electro-static fields, and 
electro-dynamic fields and it used to be assumed that these are 
different and separate. This is not so. The various names derive 
from the instruments used to measure the fields. Thus, instru­
ments which depend on magnetic forces would define the field 
as electro-magnetic, electro-static measuring instruments would 
define it as electro-static; those used in connection with the 
dynamic changes in living forms measure electro-dy namic fields. 127 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
The field, of course, is much more important than the instru­
ment used to measure parts of it. It is a source of energy which 
can be visualized as controlling the organization of the Universe. Its electrical properties not only have magnitude but also direct­
ing qualities which determine the position of all the charges 
and give direction to the flow of energy. 8 
When the ancient Greeks posed the question : 'Why is it that 
an acorn always grows into an oak tree and not into a fig tree?' they hit on the central problem of biology, which remained un­
solved until modern instruments made it possible to measure the 
fields of life. It had long been obvious to many biologists, of course, that 
evolution in general and particularly the evolution of the nervous 
system have had direction towards some ultimate end. One does 
not have to know very much about the human nervous system to 
realize that evolution has developed a responding system which 
is unique and which has the capacity for a high degree of dis­
crimination. If we consider the different levels of control of behaviour, it 
becomes clear that much of our behaviour is quite automatic, 
determined by the inherited pattern of the nervous system. This 
is true not only of neuromuscular mechanisms but also of those 
chemical activities of the body which are involved in the whole 
process of metabolism, both anabolism and catabolism. On another level, there is the control of motor activity which 
can become automatic, as when we walk without thinking how 
we do it or use our arms and hands in various ways. Probably 
none of us really learned all that is involved in instructing our 
fingers to pick up a pencil and write a symbol on a piece of paper. In fact, if we stop to think about some action which has become 
automatic, such as tying a tie, we may bungle it. We acquire 
these skills by practice and experience and very soon they be­
come automatic in the sense that they no longer require the 
conscious voluntary control of each muscle. 128 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
At the highest level there is a discriminative control-unique 
for each individual which, if he is reasonably 'normal', enables 
him to behave in what mankind chooses to call 'a rational way', 
and which is built almost entirely on discrimination of past and 
present experience. The human organism is unique on this planet 
because it possesses this highly-developed ability to discriminate. It is impossible to imagine that the stage-by-stage develop­
ment of the nervous system has happened by chance and without 
direction because the ability to discriminate is -the natural enemy 
of chance. This highly-evolved ability, then, is further proof that 
you and I, as living organisms of the human type, are not what 
we are by accident. If our nervous systems have not come into existence by acci­
dent, then they must have been developed by direction and 
organization. The experiments described in this book have 
demonstrated that field forces have the necessary qualifications 
for this task. We have seen, for instance, that they determine 
along which axis of the egg the frog's nervous system will grow 
and determine whether a seed will develop into a vigorous plant 
or otherwise. We have seen, too, that field-changes precede physi­
cal and mental conditions. All this is evidence of their organizing 
qualities, as there can be no organization without anticipation. It is submitted, therefore, that we are fully justified in regard­
ing the fields of life as the instruments of physical evolution, of 
which--on this planet at least-the human nervous system is 
the masterpiece. So, the more we study them, the more we can 
hope to learn about the nature of mankind. 9 
You and I, then, are the products of a pattern of organization, 
or, to put it another way, the consequence of design. Alid it is 
very difficult to think of a piece of apparatus of any kind­
whether it be an electric iron or an atom-smasher-that is not 
the product of the mind of a designer. Since, therefore, the Uni­
verse exhibits a design, it is not too much of a jump into outer 
space to assume that it is the product of a Designer. 129 THE CONTINUING ADVENTUR E 
As it is impossible to believe that the Universe has more than 
one Designer, the Universe is-as the word implies-a unit, set 
up and maint ained by its electrical field. This all-embracing field 
is the creation and instrument of the Designer. You and I are 
part of that field and that design and not-as some like to sup­
pose-accidental agglomerations of chaotic components. With our limited knowledge of the field and our ignorance of 
its Designer it would be foolish to speculate about their nature. It 
is for each individual to reach a personal understanding of these 
things which satisfies his own unique requirements. The primary value of the field concept is that it gives meaning 
for the Universe to you and me because design and organization 
imply not only direction but also purpose. This concept, too, 
offers a picture of the Universe which should be as acceptable as 
the law of gravity to many of different faiths, whether in the 
United States or Central Asia. It in no way conflicts with any of those religions which teach 
that there is only one God. On the contrary, it reinforces their 
teaching by eliminating the need for two sets of laws in the 
Universe, material and spiritual. If we can accept that there is 
one Designer and one overall field, to which all humanity is 
subject, there is no longer any necessity to postulate one law for 
the material and another for the spiritual. If the idea of two sets of laws could be eliminated, it should 
be easier for the human race to resolve some of its problems and 
disagreements. There is general agreement in all civilized 
countries about the law of gr'lvity and other natural laws. But 
there are numerous-and sometimes violent-divergencies of 
opinion across the world about spiritual or moral laws; as this is 
written, for instance, there are religious riots in Northern Ireland. If it could be more widely accep�ed that the entire human race is 
subject to the same laws of the Universe and is a part of its 
purpose and destiny, it is at least possible that these disagree­
ments would gradually diminish. Even the laws devised by lawyers, which ostensibly reflect the 
'conscience' of the community, may one day be brought into 
closer relation with the laws of Nature as that 'conscience' be­
comes less confused and variable. 130 THE CONTI NUIN G ADVENTURE 
This brings up the great problem of good and evil because 
lawyer-made laws are usually designed to maintain order and to 
control 'wrong-doing'. We know so little that we still have to 
think of good and evil as two opposite things; and we nearly 
always come a cropper when we try to define what is good and 
true and beautiful. Probably the only solid definition of what is 
'good' is something that is valid or demonstrably true-some­
thing which is in harmony with known natural laws. For instance, the law of gravity is demonstrably true and there­
fore legally and morally right. We accept that; and we do not 
regard it as 'evil' Or to blame if a man defies it and falls off a 
cliff. Admittedly this is a first approximation to the problem. But 
it suggests the need to re-calibrate our concepts of 'good' and 'evil' 
by relating them to natural laws as far as we can. Why is it that some of us do not conform to the environment 
in which we live and do things which are called bad or evil?
333048200-Harold-Saxton-Burr-Blueprint-for-Immortality-Electric-Patterns-of-Life-OCR-pdf.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        The apparen tly-beau tiful correlation be­
tween cambium growth and voltage gradient disappeared in a 
long-range study. This implied that the voltage gradient was 
not in itself the consequence of mitosis in the cambium of the 
tree. There must have been some other factor involved since it 
was clear enough that these changes showed no necessary causal 
dependency. 100 ANTENNAE TO THE UNIVERS E 
4 
That there are changes in the electrical characteristics of the 
surround of the earth was shown long ago by the late Professor 
Harlan Stetson, of the Cosmic Ray Terrestrial Research Labora­
tory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He drew 
attention to the fact that changes in the ionosphere significant ly 
affect radio reception; and this phenomenon, of vital importance 
to the communication industries, has been studied extensively 
ever since. It seemed worthwhile, therefore, to design an experiment in 
which continuous records of changing potential in a living 
system were made synchronously with careful records of chang­
ing tempera ture, humidity, barometric pressure, sun spots and 
Cosmic rays. For we thought that a comparison of these simul­
taneous records would enable us to determine whether any 
correlates between any of these variables existed. With the aid of a grant from the National Institute of Health, 
a more elaborate experiment was devised to examine possible 
interrelationships with the electrical environment, to be con­
tinued over as long a period of time as possible. The experiment 
included four reasonably simultaneous records of changing volt­
age gradients in an Elm tree, a Maple tree, in the atmosphere 
adjacent, and in the earth. Since we had many years of records of pure voltage differences 
in trees, there was available a valuable baseline of information 
about the changing electrical properties of a living system during 
the passage of time. As a result, we knew what to expect as a 
result of changing seasons, lunar cycles and diurnal rhythms. The two new records of variations in air and earth voltages could 
add to this information about the trees, and could offer clues as 
to the possible impact of the electrical environm ent on living 
processes. The instrumentation included four high input-impedance 
amplifiers, two pairs of silver-silver chloride electrodes-a pair 
for each of two elms-an atmospheric voltage probe supplied by 
101 ANTENNAE TO THE UNIVERS E 
Meteorol ogic Research of Pasadena, California-feeding into one 
of the amplifiers (checked by their own meter)-and a pair of 
monel metal rods, three feet apart on a north-south axis and 
leading into one of the amplifiers. The output from all four amplifiers was fed into a four 
channel Leeds & Northrop recording meter. The latter prints a 
dot, indicating a voltage magnitude, at appropriate intervals, 
often enough to exhibit an almost continuous line. Needless to 
say, such an interrupted record is not adequate for true simul­
taneity of the four records, but for this study the rough approxi­
mation proved sufficient. From the beginning an extraordinary correspondence in the 
four records appeared. The two trees, the air and the earth ex­
hibited variations at approximatel y the same time. The magni­
tudes differed, but all fottr showed increases in the positivity of 
the 'hot' electrode at the same time. The apparent simultaneity of two tree potentials, earth 
potentials and air potentials raises an interesting question. The 
short-time relationships between the onset of these changes in 
all four of these records could be exceedi ngly important. None of 
the equipment we had with us, however, made it possible for 
us to investigate this particular aspect of the problem. Conceivably, the changes in the electrical environm ent might 
precede the changes in the electrical properties in the living 
systems. This would give added weight to the evidence that there 
is a significant relationship between endogenous electric charac­
teristics of the two trees and the corresponding changes in the 
electrical aspect of the environment. These short-time measurements were, of course, stimulating 
and interesting, but the really important question raised by this 
whole study is: What happens in time, preferably long periods 
of time. A mathema tical analysis of the diurnal rhythms made it clear 
that we were not dealing with random numbers but with real 
changes in the electric properties of a segment of the earth and 
of the two living systems. It seemed reasonably safe, therefore, to 
assume that both air and earth potentials were equally free from 
random measurements. 102 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
The fact that all four sets of measurements exhibited changes at 
the same time made it quite clear that a long-time study was 
j llstified. Since preliminary studies of this sort were begun in 
1938, and reasonably continuous measurements made from 1943 
on, quite a span of time was available for analysis. In the early 
days, mathematical theory was inadequate to study the changing 
relationships with time; and the modern mathematical analytical 
instruments were not available. The very considerable amount of 
data collected over the years represents a source of numbers 
which could be analysed very profitably. 5 
Inspection of the potentials recorded on the long paper records 
made it clear that no one of these four sets of measurements was 
independent of tl1e other three. A change in one was accompanied 
by a change in aU the others. This was an extraordinary finding. Every attempt was made to 
cover the possible artifacts which might have produced these 
results, but rigorous controls ruled out the possibility that the 
results were accidental. It must be admitted that it was exciting 
to see that the well-known diurnal rhythms of a biological system 
of two trees also were paralleled by diurnal rhythms in atmos­
pheric potential and earth potential. To be sure, we do not know 
whether one or the other of these measurements precedes any of 
the others, but the fact that the changes occur in all of them is of 
prime importance. Since Nature is the experime nter, changing the variables in 
hoth the Jiving system and in its environment, long-term studies 
should help us to understand to what extent there is an interrela­
tionship between the electrical properties in the environment and 
those of a living system. That they exist in day and night 
rhythms, is clear. But it is also equally clear that there is a 
repetitive cycle which has a period roughly approximating that 
of the lunar cycle. This does not mean that the moon affects the living systems, 
as the old wives' tale held, but rather that both the moon and 
103 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
Jiving systems respond to some more primary characteristics of 
the Cosmos. It is not surprising, therefore, that we detected in 
our records the same twenty-seven-day-cycle of earth and air, as 
well as trees. Since these studies ran through many years, seasonal changes 
-which we know exist in trees, for example-were also to be 
seen in the winter and summer records of voltage gradients in 
earth and air. These seasonal changes were so obvious that the 
striking correlations between the living system and its environ­
ment gave credence to the notion that the living system is im­
bedded through its own electro-dynamic field in the field of its 
physical environm ent. But since the field of the environment is involved in such 
things as lunar cycles, it is important to remember that the 
electrical properties of the ionosphere are changed by sun spot 
activity, as Stetson showed many years ago. The electrical charac­
teristics of the ionosphere could, then, be correlated with lunar 
cycles and diurnal rhythms. A preliminary analysis, therefore, was made of the changing 
potentials of the trees and sun spot activity as recorded in Zurich, 
Switzerland. Here, again the correlation between the two sets of 
measurements was extraordinary. A great deal of further study will be required to determine 
whether or not the changing sun spot activity preceded the 
change in the electrical properties of trees. The graphs drawn 
from these available numbers show a rather extraordinary paral­
lelism with the changing electric potentials of the tree. By implication, this could indicate that not only a tree--a 
perfectly good living system-but in all probability aU living 
systems, might show the 9ame dependency since they all possess 
electro-dynamic �elds. There is a hint, furthermor e-although this is by no means 
valid and final evidence-that the changing potentials of the 
tree follow, by a predictable amount of time, the changing rela­
tive sun spot numbers. As the sun spot numbers increase, voltage 
gradients in the trees increase. When the relative sun spot num­
bers decrease, there is a corresponding decrease in the voltage 
gradients in the trees. 104 ANTENNAE TO THE UNIVE RSE 
Since the plots are derived from numbers scattered over an 
eleven-year cycle, and since there is good evidence to show that 
these electro-metric numbers in living systems are not random 
numbers but are valid evidences of changing electrical properties 
of a living system, it would seem possible to conclude with reason­
able assurance that there is a close relationship between the 
electrical environment of the tree and the activities recorded 
electrically in the trees themselves. These changes could not 
possibly be the result of accidental correspondences. The num­
bers recorded are too great over too long a period of time to be 
chance observations. It will be remembered that the primary assumption made at the 
outset of this study was that the electrical properties of a living 
system were evidence of an inherent electro-dynamic field. Since 
it is common knowledge that one field cannot exist within an­
other field without an interaction between them, and the field 
properties of the ionosphere are modified by the bursts of sun 
spot activity, the effect on the electrical characteristics of the 
ciwironment of the earth are really no more than might be 
expected. It would seem reasonable to conclude, therefore, that a study 
of longer duration with more sources of information might make 
it abundantly clear that the field properties, not only of living 
systems but of the Universe, interact in characteristic fashions 
and produce results of great significance. 6 
All this is of prime importanc e since we are now exploring 
space, which also must possess field properties. This badly-neg­
lected aspect of environment study should be explored inten­
sively. There is no reason why future plans to put recording 
instruments into space should not include adequate measures of 
field properties of the space through which the instruments pass. This, of course, would require highly-sophisticated instrumenta­
tion, very large sums of money and many studies. But the evidence outlined above-while only a drop in the 
105 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
bucket-nevertheless is highly exciting and interesting and gives 
us a clue to a hitherto-undrea med-of factor in the properties of 
the material Universe and of all living systems which exist with­
in it. It may take many lifetimes, however, to come up with an 
answer which has genuine validity. It can be argued that this is an extrapolation beyond the evid­
ence. This is admitted. But these field properties are not mysteri­
ous phenomena; they are measurable characteristics not only of 
the Universe but of the immediate environm ent of the earth. Moreover, the evidence collected during the several decades of 
study indicates that the behaviour, in particular, of living sys­
tems is a consequence of the pattern of organization. And the 
arrangement of the charged particles in living systems is a con­
sequence of the inherent electro-dynamic field. These phenomena can be measured; and whether or not it is 
felt that the extrapolation suggested is beyond the evidence, there 
can be no question about the validity of the measurements. These have been checked over and over again, subjected to care­
ful and critical mathematical analysis. * The present analysis 
would seem to suggest that we are dealing with valid, measurable 
interrelationships between the electrical properties of a living 
system, of all living systems, and the field of electrical environ­
ment in which they exist. It has been the habit, in the past, to assume that a living 
system's behaviour is, in part, the consequence of chemical flux 
of the tissue of which living systems are made. However, the 
chemical flux is a widely and rapidly changing set of phenomena 
and yet throughout all these studies the constancy of the electri­
cal phenomena is so great that they must be an evidence of some 
constancy in the growth and development of living systems. It is as' though there were in every living system some guiding 
factor which not only makes the acorn grow into the oak tree 
but also induces a characteristic pattern of organization, of which 
* Throngh the interest and diligence of Mr. Ralph M<lrkson, a 
mathematical analysis of tree potentials was undertaken. With his 
consent, the re�l 1lts Jrc printed in Part II st;JTting on page 166. They 
add a very valuable and much needed mathematical validation of 
the important conseque nces of the Field Theory. 106 ANTENNAE TO THE UNIVERSE 
the physiological functional activities are known as behaviour. To be sure the chemistry is of great importance, because this 
is the gasoline that makes the buggy go, but the chemistry of a 
living system does not determ ine the functional properties of a 
living system any more than changing the gas makes a Rolls­
Royce out of a Ford. The chemistry provides the energy, but the 
electrical phenomena of the electro-dynamic field determine the 
direction in which energy flows within the living system. There­
fore they are of prime importanc e in understanding the growth 
and development of all living things. 7 
It must be remembered that this was an adventure into one 
of the frontiers of modern science. There have been, over the 
years, two major classical theories of modern science. One is best 
described as particle physics, where attention was paid to the 
unitary elements involved in any system under observation. The 
other can be subsumed under the general heading of field 
physics. This was clearly enunciated many years ago by Clark Maxwell 
who, in his initial paper on electro-magnetic theory, noted that 
whereas particle physics was concerned with unitary elements 
or with what the Greeks called atoms, he called attention to the 
fact that the relationships of the entities were quite as important 
as the entities themselves. As noted earlier, this was one of the reasons why we set out 
decades ago to see if by using methods of modern electrical 
measurement, we could examine these relationships as profitably 
as a study of the component parts themselves. One of the key problems of modern science is that of organiza­
tion or of that design of living systems which make it possible 
for us to define things in space and to describe the discernible 
pa tterns to be seen in the world around us. We are all familiar, of 
course, with the fact that descriptive science over the centuries 
has concerned itself primarily with little more than the straight 
description of the observable things on the face of the earth and, 
107 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
to some extent, in the heavens. Any descrip tion of these things 
in the world around us would not be possible if they were con­
stantly changing their patterns. Aristotle, moreover, called attention to the fact that an acorn 
always grew into an oak tree and not into a fig tree. This, of 
course, is the key biological problem. In other words, what is the 
nature of the forces which guide the growth and development of 
an acorn so that it ends up as a tree and not as a horse. These 
forces not only guide the growth of an acorn to an oak tree, but 
also determine the uniquene ss of any particular oak tree. Since this demands forces which operate in time and also show 
an astonishing constancy in spite of the chemical flux of metabol­
ism, these must be studied from two points of view. One, of 
course, is to describe or define the chemical components of the 
biological system. Great strides have been made in the analysis 
of the chemistry of protoplasm and its constituent parts, but the 
rather extraordinary thing about it is that, fundamentally, there 
are only four chemical substances involved in protoplasm­
carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. To be sure, there are 
additional trace elements in any chemical analysis of protopl asm, 
but the fact remains that these four relatively simple chemical 
substances can be arranged in incredibly complex sets of re­
lationships. Relationships must be the result of forces operating between 
the chemical constituents. These forces determine the position 
of these chemicals and their motion or movement in the process 
of growth and developm ent. They eventually exhibit perhaps one 
of the most extraordinary aspects of this problem: they give 
some kind of directive. They are not just haphazard interactions between the com­
ponent entities but forces which apparently are involved in a 
directional control of growth and developm ent. In other words, 
the forces have vector properties. They not only control the interrelationships between the 
entities but they also control the direction in which the whole 
living system progresses. Among the aspects of nature capable 
of introducing direction are electrical properties-electro-mag­
netic, electro-dynamic, electro-static. With these, there is always 
108 ANTENNAE TO THE UNI VERSE 
a direction in which the particles move. The motion is always 
between one pole and another of the environment. This polar property and the control of the motion between 
the component parts can best be examined by electrical measure­
ments. If, then, the observed electrical properties of protoplasm 
can give us a clue to the nature of the forces which impose organ­
ization on living systems- and, quite probably, on non-living 
systems-then a long-term study should offer at least some tenta­
tive conclusions regarding the interrelationships between the 
electrical properties of the living system, on the one hand, and 
of the environment, on the other. * * * 
That was the reasoning which originally prompted us to em­
bark on continuous studies which occupied three decades. It is 
submitted that the exciting results obtained from our 'antennae 
to the Universe' fully justified not only the initial assumption 
but also this particular aspect of this adventure in science. 109 CHAP TER SEVEN 
The Continui ng Adventure 
1 
Though this adventure in science has occupied more than forty 
years, we have merely reached 'the end of the beginning', in Sir 
Winston Churchill's phrase. Each thing we have discovered in 
our long quest has shown us how much more remains to be dis­
covered about the fields of life. Nobody has recorded the feelings of the ancient Vikings when 
-after a long and arduous voyage-they came to the North 
American Continent. But, as they skirted a seemingly-endless 
coastline, it is safe to assume that their uppermost thought must 
have been that even greater adventures awaited those who one 
day would explore the vast territory they had found. Similarly, the landfall we have made-for which we could 
only hope when first we set sail-gives promise of a vast area of 
virgin territory to be opened up by the scientists of the future. For if-as all the evidence has indicated-the fields of life are 
primary and control all living things we can set no limits to the 
scope they offer for further exploration. As the scientists of the future acquire a more comprehensive 
knowledge of L-fields, they will gain a greater understanding not 
only of man's body, mind and behaviour and of the workings of 
all living things but also of the relationship between the fields of 
life and the greater fields and forces of the Universe. As astro­
physicists learn more about the latter, biologists and doctors will 
be able to view the living things of this planet in a new and 
broader perspective. In this, as in other branches of research, the scope for explora­
tion seems as large as the Universe itself. This is not only because 
our knowledge of most things is deplorably incomplete but also 
110 THE CONT INUING ADVENTUR E 
because the organization of the Universe does not preclude 
change and development; on the contrary these seem to be in­
herent in it. The Universe is not static but almost inconceivably 
dynamic with everything in it-from galaxies to atoms-in a 
state of constant motion or change. At the outset of this adventure we made the 'primitive as­
snmption', based on all the evidence available, that we live in an 
ordered Universe. We assumed that order is imposed on the 
elementary components of Nature, whether particle or wave, by 
means of definite arrangements or patterns of organization which 
persist in time and which we can identify. We recognize these 
as permanent elements in the environment; we recognize trees 
and plants, birds and beasts, monkeys and man. If these patt erns 
did not persist any description of the things we see would have 
no continuity. On the other hand, we have only to look around to observe 
that no particular design, pattern or arrangement of parts ever 
appears at the outset full-blown or in its final form; there is 
always a developing process. The acorn grows and develops into 
an oak tree, never into a fig tree. It is obvious, therefore, that 
the laws of Nature do more than develop a pattern: they also 
determine the steps by which the pattern evolves, grows and 
develops. In other words, there is nothing fixed about the Uni­
verse; it is a growing active system. It is a far cry from the most elementary living forms to the 
highly complex systems which have evolved from them. There is 
a great gap between the simple elements and the complicated, 
�iant molecules which have been developed from them not only 
by Nature but also by man. Man, in fact, imitates Nature in developing from the simple to 
the complex. For instance, he started by cooking and keeping 
himself warm with burning sticks; now he has the modern elec­
trical kitchen and automatic heating systems. Simple screws and 
bolts, gears and wheels are organized into the marvellous tools 
and machines of today. And sure1y Henry Ford would he amazed 
at the modern automobile which developed from his Model T. We cannot foresee the ultimate outcome either of Nature's 
developments or of man's. This makes the whole process of 
111 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
examining every aspect of the Universe an alive, exciting and 
adventurous exploration. Yet, from time to time, some pundit will declare with solemn 
finality that there is nothing more to be discovered in his par­
ticular field of study. And almost invariably he will soon be made 
to look foolish by some new discovery or breakthrough which 
opens up new areas to explore. We can feel sorry for such self­
satisfied people because these rash statements not only betray 
their lack of imagination but also show that they have missed 
one of the great adventures of life-examining a developing 
Universe. We have no right to assume that the present state of the Uni­
verse is the final one, because all we know about it is that it has 
grown and developed over a vast span of time. And there is no 
reason to suppose that that development has come to an end 
with our present environment. We cannot know the final end of growth and developm ent, 
but at least we can be quite certain that it has an ultimate goal. It is doubtful. however, whether this ultimate goal is a fixed and 
final one; more likely, the goal itself develops with time. Perhaps 
the present is always moulding the future. For it is impossible to 
imagine that any of the material units of our environment are in 
final form, because everything we know is developing and grow­
ing towards a more perfect realization of the operation of the 
basic laws of the Universe. While we can make effective use of 
our growing knowledge of these laws, we have no way of pre­
dicting what the ultimate outcome will be. 2 
In exploring a developing Universe, science's basic aim and 
problem is to determine the origin of its design. Science now 
knows a lot about the design itself but how it started is still 
shrouded in mystery. This central problem of science is of prime 
importance, not for mere academic reasons but because if we 
could know more about the origin of the Universe we might 
know more about how to conduct ourselves and our affairs. 112 THE CONT INUIN G ADVENTURE 
At the present time, in the hope of solving that mystery, we 
are spending billions of dollars exploring space. The techniques 
which have made such explorations possible are almost beyond 
description. It is certainly a miraculous developm ent, which may 
yield products of practical utility to ma nkind and which, for 
this reason, is quite possibly worth the money spent on it. But, so 
far, it has contributed little to man's understanding of the world 
in which he lives. And, as far as the basic problem of science is 
concerned, we are no wiser than we were before the Russians 
launched the first sputnik into space. The origin of the Universe 
still eludes us. Perhaps it always will. In the meanwhile, however, we can 
learn more about something no less important -the forces which 
control the unfoLding of the design of the Universe through 
growth and developm ent. Of these, the fields of life are perhaps 
the most amenable to further study because-as has been shown 
in the preceding pages-they exist in all living forms so far 
examined and can be measured with great precision in controlled 
and repeatable experiments. L-fields, therefore, offer us a new and scientific approach to 
some of the methods used by Nature to execute her designs. By studying these methods we can hope to learn more about 
the designs themselves, even if we remain unable to solve the 
great mystery of their origin. We can hope, too, to gain a 
greater understanding of how the designs fit in to the pattern of 
the larger designs of the Universe. For, as we noted in the first 
chapter, L-fields by their very nature must be influenced by the 
all-powerful fields of the Cosmos and must therefore be an integ­
ral part of its overall design. Meanwhile, the fact that L-fields are a part of the Cosmic de­
sign is compelling evidence that we live in a Universe of law and 
order, because they impose design and organization on the con­
stantly-changing material components of all living forms. They 
compel an acorn to grow into an oak tree-and only an oak 
tree; they compel a maize seed to grow into a corn-stalk and not 
a stalk of wheat or barley. Anything that compels growth and 
development in an organized way is irrefutable evidence of law 
and order. 113 THE CONTINU ING ADVENTURE 
But the L-fields of this planet are themselves influenced by the 
greater fields in which our world is enmeshed, as we found from 
the effects of sun-spot activity on the fields of trees. They are 
subject, then, to 'higher authority'-so to speak, which compels 
them to change in various ways. And, no doubt, the fields that 
surround this planet are themselves subject to the greater fields 
of space. In other words, L-�dds are links in a 'chain of authority'. This 
starts with the simplest living forms, runs upwards through all 
the life on this planet to the most complex form we know-man 
-and then extends outwards into space and upwards to an 
in�nite, ultimate authority, about which we can only speculate. This 'chain of authority', of course, does not apply only to the 
fields of life. It must also extend from the heart of the smallest 
atom to those gigantic forces which keep the planets in their 
orbits, which govern the stars in their courses and which regulate 
the feverish race of the most distant galaxies towards the outer 
reaches of space. In building living forms, the fields of life override the normal 
laws of chemistry and physics. They compel atoms and molecules 
to assume-and to retain through constant changes of material 
-stable arrangements, which hreak down to simpler compounds 
after the death of the form. If it were not for this 'overriding 
authority' of the L-fields you and I could not exist in our present 
form because the complex molecules of which we are composed 
could not build themselves on their own-or by chance-and 
could not retain their composition. You and 1, then, are literally held together by definable laws, 
of which L-fields are a manifestation. Without these laws-or 
if the Universe were really chaos-we could not exist for a 
millisecond. Rigid, specific and exact forces control not only the 
construction and maintenance of our component parts but also 
their organization and interrelationsh ip. In short, we exist by virtue of inexora ble laws in a highly­
organized Universe of law and order. 114 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
3 
All this will not appeal to those who prefer to believe that the 
Universe is chaos and man an accidental end-product of fortuit­
ous chemistry. This view is enjoyed by those who like to imagine 
that man can do just what he pleases and that there are no laws 
to control his decisions to do this that or the other. But, from the beginning of history, most of humanity has 
realized, however dimly, that there is some kind of law and 
authority in the Universe. This is shown by the fact that man­
kind-not knowing what that authority is-has postulated 
deities of many kinds and a Spiritual Universe in authority over 
the Material Universe. The material and the spiritual, the body and the mind, the 
organism and the soul-these contrasting concepts represent a 
prevalent attitude of mankind towards the Universe in which 
he finds himself. But is this attitude really justified. Is it merely the result of 
our lack of information about the true nature of things. If the 
Universe is one of law and order-as all the evidence indicates-is 
it not more likely that there is really a 'unified authority' rather 
than a 'divided rule' of the spiritual and material. Webster de­
fines universe as: 'All created things viewed as constituting one 
system or whole; the creation, the cosmos. ' The very word, then, 
implies unity, not the 'dual control' of two kinds of authority. If, too, we accept that the Universe is one of law and order, are 
we justified in assuming that it includes some chaotic exceptions. Is it not more likely that such an assumption is merely a product 
of our ignorance. The fields of life can offer us a new approach to these vital 
questions. But, before we discuss this, it is necessary to dis­
tinguish between the three kinds of laws that govern mankind : 
First, there are Nature's laws, definable and reproducible, 
which, as far as we know, are valid right through the Universe. Though we can hope to learn more about them, it is certain that 
we can neither alter nor repeal them. THE CONTINUING ADV ENTURE 
Second, there are man-made written laws which vary from 
country to country and from state to state. These-as we are 
painfully aware at the present time-are not always enforced 
or enforceable and can be argued, evaded or appealed ad nauseam. While Nature's laws are precise, inflexible and permanent, man­
made laws arc often fuzzy, pliable and variable. So much so, in 
fact, that it is hard for many who are only familiar with man­
made laws to realize that there can be a superior kind. Third, there are the so-called moral laws. These, again, are 
laws invented by the mind of man, nearly always with the hope 
that they will improve man's attitude towards other men. Most, 
if not all, of these laws are the product of the intuitive, creative 
capacity of the mind of man-expounded by the philosophers 
and prophets of past genera tions. They are valuable because, like 
the written law, they are primarily concerned with controlling 
behaviour and represent one creative activity of the mind of man. But they vary from country to country and bear little-if any­
relationship to the laws of the Universe. Moreover they have been imposed on mankind by. tradition 
and by past intuitions; and it is hard to believe that the elder 
statesmen of two or three thousand years ago could present, 
through intuition-valuable as it may have been-the answers 
to all the questions which actually face the mind of man today. Of the three kinds of laws, only those of Nature that we have 
discovered can give us a feeling of certainty. At the sub-atomic 
level, it is true, there is still some uncertainty. But once the sub­
atomic entities arc agglomerated into atoms or molecules we 
can recognize and validate primary laws and forces. We know, 
for example, that there is a law of gravity. We also know about 
electrical and magnetic forces, nuclear forces and contact forces. The laws underlying such phenomena, in fact, are so well known 
to scientists that they can be made to serve mankind. Our use 
of these natural laws in the present age is miraculous. As a re­
sult, we live in a much more comfortable world-at least in the 
Northern Hemisphere -than mankind has ever known. Those parts of the world which we choose to call 'primitive' 
are so because their inhabitants have not yet learned enough 
about the laws and forces of Nature to use them to their full ad-
116 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
vantage. Through the extraordinary development of science, the 
Western world has put forces to work for its benefit in an excit­
ing and unprecedented way. This would not have been possible 
if there were no natural laws and forces which the mind of man 
could discover and-more important -understand. To the precise laws of Nature, man's written and moral laws 
offer a depressing contrast. The written law, formalized and 
expanded by lawyers, is not necessarily the law by which men 
live. The living law of human beings is mainly an unwritten 
law but it controls the major part of our activities. In many ways, 
most of us tend to ignore the written law and behave as we 
think commonsense, as it is called, dictates. Moral law is even more flexible -as we see in the current era 
of 'permissiveness'. And it is always easier to tell the other man 
what he should do than it is to do those things ourselves. Man 
has an astonishing capacity to dodge the issues, to hide his real 
drive behind a plethora of words which, in many cases, serve as 
an excuse for what he thinks should be done or perhaps, more 
accurately, for what he wants to do. lt is an extraordinary fact that over the past few thousand 
years man has developed an astonishing capacity to use the laws 
of Nature for his benefit but, as far as one can see, he has not 
made a comparable advance by his use of the written or moral 
laws. Most of man's troubles are spawned in the swamps of his own 
desires. And his written and moral laws have no relation to the 
laws of Nature. As a result, conflict, frustration and anxiety rule 
the minds of many, because they cannot reconcile their written 
and moral laws with the laws of Nature. We will not be able to get rid of a great many of our troubles, 
therefore, until we attempt to relate the written and moral laws 
to the laws of the Universe. And if we spent the same amount of 
time and money on resolving the discrepancies bet ween the man­
made laws of the legalists and moralists and the laws of the 
Universe, there is no reason why our advances should not be as 
miraculous as those in our material environment. We need to 
devote the same kind of effort and thinking which is at present 
applied to space exploration to revise man-made laws and to 
117 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
harmonize them as far as we can with what we know about the 
laws of Nature. 4 
No doubt it will take a very long time before we can make 
man-made laws more compatible with those of Nature. But it is 
important to make a start because the sooner we can do this, 
the sooner we can begin to resolve some of our problems and 
frustra tions. This task, of course, should be attacked from as many useful 
angles as we can think of. But in this book we can only consider 
the ways in which a further study of the fields of life can con­
tribute to the greatest problem that faces mankind-human be­
haviour. An immedia te-and important-contribution which a know­
ledge of L-fields can make is the certainty that there an natural 
laws to which mankind is subject for us to discover and under­
stand. We are not chasing a mere will-O'-the-wisp because we 
have found that the L-fields which control man are themselves 
subject to the greater fields of the Universe. For us to get any real understanding of the natu re of man and 
why he behaves as he does, it is necessary to find natural factors 
which, like the law of gravity, are valid everywhere and not only 
in the western, eastern or southern hemisphere. L-fields offer us 
a starting clue in this search because-as we have seen-the state 
of the human field reflects the state of the mind. As L-fields are 
subject to universal forces. operating everywhere, it seems reason­
able to suppose that the latter have some planet-wide influence 
on the minds of men. As extraterrestrial forces, such as solar flares and sun-spot 
activity, influence the L-fields of trees it seems most unlikely that 
human L-fields are unaffected by such forces. For instance, as 
this is written, we are approaching the peak of the current cycle 
of sun-spot activity. Is it coincidence that in the past few years 
there have been unusual world-wide unrest, riots and disturb­
ances of various kinds. We do not know whether it is coincid-
118 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
ence or not. But if we could establish by further experiment and 
analysis that mankind tends to be more excitable during increas­
ing sun-spot activity, this knowledge, obviously, would be of the 
utmost value to world leaders. No doubt other factors are involved in the present world-wide 
unrest but it would be helpful if we could recognize and isolate 
one of them. The Foundation for the Study of Cycles, of Pittsburgh, Penn­
sylvania, has accumula ted impressive statistical evidence that 
the affairs of man-from wars to hog-priees-seem to follow 
rhythmie cycles, though the Foundation has not yet discovered 
the cause. * Dr. Ravitz-as we noted in the first chapter-has 
found that the voltage gradients in the human i-field fluctuate 
in rhythmic cycles. Are these phenomena in some way related to external forces 
influencing human behaviour through the i-fie ld. Again we do 
not know but it would be useful to find out whether or not this 
is so. If it is-though we cannot control these external forces-it 
would be helpful to be able to predict periods when mankind is 
likely to be susceptible to wars or depressions. Dr. Ravitz has shown that a study of voltage-rhythms in the 
i-fie1d of the individual makes it possible to predict those times 
when his vitality and alertness are at a low point-times when 
he should avoid hazardous occupations as far as possible. Surely 
* Since this was written, the Foundat ion for the Study of Cycles 
has republished (Cycles. January 1971) a paper, 'Physical Factors of 
the Historical Process' by Professor A. 1. Tchijevsky, translated by 
Vladimir P. de Smitt. The paper was presented at the annual meet­
ing of the American Meteorological Society in December 1926. Professor Tchijevsky was Assistant, Astronomical Observatory; 
Collaborator, Institute of Biological Physics, and Fellow Archaeol­
ogical Society, Moscow. This scholarly paper deals with the influence of sun-spot activity 
upon human beh<lviour and the whole hist orical process; and gives 
some s11ggestive d<lta <lnd graph�. The Editor of Cycles describes it 
as a landmark in the literature. He comments that no conclusive 
case. pro or con, has been developed but th;tt the task of establishing 
any relationship between sun-spots and human excitability is one 
of the more important unfinished projects of the Foundation. 119 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that mankind-what­
ever the cause-is subject to collective 'lows' and 'highs'. If it 
could be determined that this is so, leaders would be able to 
know in advance those periods when they should exercise 
special caution, particularly in international relationships. In these dangerous times, we cannot afford to overlook any­
thing that migh t help to reduce risks. For this reason, a further 
study of these possibilities would seem to be justified. And with 
modern computers and techniques of statistical analysis such 
research should not be as expensive or difficult as further ex­
ploration of outer space and, quite possibly, might be of greater 
benefit to mankind. 5 
Though it is important to learn more about the behaviour of 
mankind as a whole, it is no less important to study the human 
individuaL For, however inconvenient it may be to theorists and 
bureaucrats, Nature has arranged that each of us is a unique 
individual. This cannot be too strongly emphasized in an age 
in which there is an increasing tendency to treat the essential 
individual as a mere statistic. To anyone who has studied the human nervous system, how­
ever, it is clear that its nature is such that the incredibly-com­
plex permutations and combinations of neurones result in many 
unique patterns of neural design. These neurones are located in 
particular parts of the nervous system and send branches to 
other parts of the nervous system. Before the existence of L-fields was established it was hard to 
understand why a particular group of neurones should be lodged 
in the grey matter of the cortex and not in the spinal cord; and 
why the branches of the neurone-the dendrites and axones­
apparently move to their ultimate destinations without mistake; 
normally, the neurone fibres which run to the ear never end in 
the littl� toe. The arrangements, therefore, of the neural parts 
is determined by forces which, we now know, are the eJectro­
dynamic L-fields. 120 THE CONTINUING ADVE NTURE 
If this is accepted, the importance of field factors in the develop­
ment and differentiation of the nervous system is evident. And it 
is no longer hard to understand how a neuroblast, developing and 
differentiating, should be located in a particular place in the 
primitive neural tube and why and how its branches should grow 
and be directed to an ultimate destination. It is not by accident, 
then, that the human nervous system, highly organized and very 
complex, should have such precision in its growth and develop­
ment and such uniqueness as its final result. All this is of great importance to students of human behaviour 
because it shows that it is not a consequence of local phenomena, 
nor the result of an endocrine or gastric function, nor of any 
other of the physiological properties of the living organism. Chemist ry, whatever its origin, is a consequenc e-and not the 
cause-of behaviour. To be sure, defects in behaviour can be recognized; this is well 
known. But chemistry can no more change an inferior nervous 
system into a better one than high-tes t gasoline can convert a 
Ford into a Rolls-Royce. Chemistry supplies the energy but it is 
the L-field which gives direction to the energy flow, the result of 
which is a pattern of organization. Unfortunately, we know much too little about the conse­
quences of the patterned neural mechanism in human beings. We 
know a little about the gross anatomy of the nervous system but 
we know behaviour only through individual acts. This leads to 
confusion in our understanding of the nervous system. We can 
only be certain that we are what we are not by accident but by 
a patterned organization or design, unique to each of us, which 
is regulated by a field. It is true that there are certain patterns of behaviour and auto­
matic responses common to all mankind, just as there are parts 
of the human nervous system to be found in other highly­
organized nervous systems. Apart from these common factors, 
however, we are all different and behave differently. Moreover, the mind of man has an unholy capacity to fool 
itself. We tend to see what we want to see, to hear what we want 
to hear. The raw data of sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and 
so on reach the nervous system and become involved in the in-
121 THE CONTINUING ADV ENTURE 
tricate organization of a linking and chaining together of nerve 
cells in the nervous system. These, as we know, number at least 
ten billion units and therefore provide an astronomical number 
of possible permutations and combinations. These permutations, activated by stimuli from the outside 
world and also, unfortunately, from the inside world, determine 
in the last analysis what you and I do. This means, of course, that 
ideas are as powerful stimuli to the nervous system as the physical 
events in the immediate enviJOnment. These ideas have to be 
integrated with the raw data of sensation and also related to 
memory of past events before they result in overt activity. Nearly everyone, when faced with the resulting problems 
wants someone to tell them the answers. This is not possible; no 
one else can tell you the answers which are right for you, though 
he may be able to help you, through ideas, to find the right 
answer for yourself. We should not and must not force our solu­
tions on others, because each individual is different. We can only 
try, with suggestions, to help them to reach conclusions or solu­
tions which are appropriate to their uniqueness. Since we know no way to modify the field that determines 
the pattern of the human brain and the infinite permutations of 
neural response, there are definite limits to what we can hope to 
achieve in influencing human behaviour. EnviJOnmen t-a fash­
ionable term at the present time-can undoubtedly be an ex­
tremely important factor. But it is clear that wha tever we do to 
the human nervous system we cannot change its individual and 
inherent design deter�ined by the field. Each individual is likely 
to react differently, even to the same enviJOnment. Chemistry cannot help us. It is true that we can destroy-or 
produce a malfunction of-parts of the nervous system by means 
of drugs. They can often modify behaviour to some extent but 
this is only because they knock out one component so that an­
other component can take over. Similarly, certain operations on the brain can remove or short­
circuit abnormal conditions and thus restrict undesirahle be­
haviour. But they cannot alter the design. As a matter of fact, 
it is difficult for a brain surgeon to tell, merely by looking at the 
brain, what kind of person his patient is. There are some racial 
122 THE CO NTI NUING ADVENTUR E 
and age differences, to be sure, and brains vary in their size and 
weight. But no really significant differences have been found in 
the finer linking and chaining together of the neuroncs. This is 
not because they do not exist but because our present techniques 
are not adequate to unravel the complexities. All this shows that-with our present knowledge at least ­
there are no instant cures for the defects of human behaviour. In other words we cannot hope to change human nature over­
night, as wise men have always realized. Though this may seem 
to some a depressing conclusion it is better to realize our limita­
tions than to entertain false hopes and to waste our energies in 
the wrong directions. It is best, too, for educationists to realize that they cannot 
make a silk purse out of a sow's ear-that they cannot make a 
Beethoven or an Einstein out of a sow's-ear type of nervous 
system. The basic problem is to find out the capabilities of a par­
ticular nervous system and, by practice and experience, help it to 
develop into the most efficient apparatus possible for that par­
tindar and unique type. 6 
All this is also relevant to the current demand-or hope-for 
a unified religion. Those who think this is possible are doomed to 
disappointment because we are all different and respond differ­
ently to the ideas which others suggest to us. Religion can never be an organized set of regulations. It is a 
purely personal matter, depending on the human individual's re­
actions to his religious upbringing or teaching and to the ideas 
which may originate in his own mind about his relationship to 
what he believes to be the Designer, Organizer or Operator of the 
Universe. It makes little difference what you call this qnalitative attribute 
of the Universe -whether YOll call it God. or the Universal Mind 
or something else. The fact is that your relationship and mine 
with this thing outside ourselves- something which is greater 
than ourselves-is a purely personal matter between us and it, 
123 THE CONTINUING ADVENTURE 
which cannot be organized or legislated by religious groups or 
in courts of law. Since nobody knows the origin of the Universe, an infinite 
variety of opinions about its Originator is inevitable. Hence 
the enormous number of religious faiths and groups around the 
world, some of which appeal to vast numbers of individuals and 
some to a mere handful. It is often djfficult to get general agree­
ment on the interpretation of a set of facts. When there are no 
facts-in the accepted sense of the word-to interpret, it is obvi­
ous that general agreement among large numbers of different 
individuals is impossible. Each individual, then, has to solve the problem of his relation­
ship with the Originator for himself in order to reach a con­
clusion which is satisfying to him. There may be others who 
reach the same conclusions and also find them satisfying. But 
these should not be imposed on those who do not because, in the 
long run, each individual has to solve his own problems. Nature revels in infinite variety. Far from trying to impose uni­
formity on mankind-or on anything else-she makes every­
thing different. Our brains and bodies are all a little different 
from every other brain and body in the world. Even our finger­
prints are different; among the many millions of fingerprints on 
file around the world, no two identical ones have ever been found 
-even among the many thousands of prints of 'identical' twins. * 
L·fields are the tools which Nature uses to indulge her zest for 
variety; and we know no way to blunt them. In dealing with 
human nature, therefore, we should temper our idealism with 
realism and-like the wisest politicians-should confine our­
selves to 'the art of the possible'. In our modern civilization, of course, a certain amount of 
uniformity-in laws, regulations, procedures, printed forms and 
so on-is both necessary and unavoidable. But if we are to har­
monize man-made laws with Nature's, we should neither seek 
-nor hope for-greater uni formity in regulating human con­
duct but should do our utmost to keep it to tbe minimum and, 
where possible, to reduce it. It is the aim of some of the theorists and most of the dictators 
* Confirmed by the F. B.
The assumption that the electrical properties of a living system are evidence of an inherent electro-dynamic field.
What was the initial assumption made at the beginning of the study?
The study of the fields of life can offer a new approach to understanding human behavior and can help us understand the nature of man and his behavior.
What is the significance of the study of the fields of life?
The idea of two sets of laws (material and spiritual) is unnecessary and may lead to confusion and disagreements. Instead, we should strive to harmonize human-made laws with the laws of Nature.
What is the main problem with the idea of two sets of laws in the Universe?
The concept of L-fields can help us understand the uniqueness of each individual and the direction of their behavior, and can also provide a more accurate understanding of human behavior.
What is the significance of the concept of L-fields in understanding human behavior?
The goal of the study of the fields of life is to understand the nature of human behavior and to develop a harmonious relationship between human-made laws and the laws of Nature.
What is the main goal of the study of the fields of life?