[A Victim of Higher Space was originally published in the December 1914 Issue of The Occult Review. It can be found here.]
Literary or artistic works always mirror the contemporary social life. A believer in occult science, the mystical world, and lover of nature, Algernon Henry Blackwood, penned stories on the weird, the supernatural, the mysterious, the spiritual, and the world of science fiction, where he portrayed the characters with the help of psychoanalysis. Blackwood’s writings reflect his ideas on life, spirituality, and the unknown. His works indicate that he was an occult enthusiast, curious about the paranormal science, and had a keen interest in culture, rituals, trends of spirituality, and mystical practices. And all these are mingled up with the social awareness of Blackwood. Perhaps he knew or practiced occult science. Or, maybe that he had experienced such incidents from a close perspective though not involved personally. That could be why he presented the mystical world so gracefully.
Another aspect of Blackwood’s writings is that they were influenced by the Elizabethan era, when there was a bent towards supernaturalism, weird, the unknown—overall, this age intended to establish there is something beyond this known world. Blackwood’s belief in the other worldly phenomena made him create “A Victim of Higher Space”. Blackwood was born in the Victorian period, when the industrial revolution, social reforms, the rise of middle-class families, and the arrival of democracy etc. marked the lives of people. Literature of this period produced the Romantic revival, realism packed up with problems and interests of practical life, moral purpose, contradictory beliefs, and idealism. So, a fusion of the Elizabethan and the Victorian periods is evident in the works of Blackwood.
Occult detective fiction is a 19th century hybrid, which focuses on witchcraft, horror fiction, mystery, fantasy, and supernaturalism. The supernatural and the genre of detective fiction wonderfully engineered the occult detective fiction.
Blackwood introduced John Silence in his John Silence- Physician Extraordinary stories in 1908. John Silence is a freelance psychic doctor, who aims at solving the preternatural ailments of his patients by using his clairvoyant skill, but without charging fees.
Of the other Silence stories by Blackwood, I dare here measure only the paranormal, weird, spiritual, and other worldly traits in the context of his “A Victim of Higher Space” included in his collection ‘Day and Night Stories’ in 1914.
From the start to the end, “A Victim of Higher Space” is full of supernatural, weird, unearthly, and ghostly incidents, plots, background, and dialogues that attest the mastermind of Blackwood, who efficiently projected and used the fantasy, other worldly, and mysterious phenomena as a wonderful device. Everything depicted in “A Victim of Higher Space” addresses Blackwood’s expertise over the description of the unexplainable, invisible, unrevealed, perplexing, and mysterious elements. Readers and audience make speculations on these traits of the story. Take for myself—I explore “A Victim of Higher Space” in a new dimension whenever I go through it. I assume every time the plot was constructed to show the mystical elements in a new shade. Perhaps, Blackwood used Silence’s own room to predict the climax of the story? Or he wanted to make a space for the extra dimension other than this mortal world, which people can hardly imagine, or dare entering the new world.
The story opens with, ““There’s an extraordinary gentleman to see you, sir,” said the new man.” Note the words “an extraordinary gentleman” and “the new man”. Dr. Silence is generally assisted by new people in different cases. But, is there anything different with this “new man”? Why did Blackwood launch this “new man”? Is this only to introduce Silence’s new assistant Barker? Or, is there something else behind the scene? Is the “new man” indicative of the new background of Blackwood’s story? Say of the presentation of the entire scene in Silence’s own room, that is the indoor planning, which differentiates the story from Blackwood’s other stories, especially Silence stories, where outdoor occurring and activities are presented. Is this not new? Silence draws the tips of his thin fingers and asks “Why “extraordinary”?” Silence’s “thin fingers” and the thin physical texture of the “extraordinary” visitor are shown similar. Why? Is this a mere coincidence? Maybe Blackwood used the same word to describe the mysterious nature of both Silence and the visitor. Evidently, the “extraordinary” man confuses Barker, who feels “queer” and keeps the man in the hall, not in the waiting room. Here, Silence reads the uneasy feeling of Barker. The uneasy feeling as exhibited by Barker shows the kind of psychic intuition what Silence expects from his men—that is the main criteria Silence appoints all his assistants—“from secretary to serving man.” Moreover, if Barker were not psychic, he would not have been stirred by the “extraordinary” visitor, which is once again proved as the story proceeds.
Barker gives Silence the short note the visitor produced as written by “a discerning friend, who had never yet sent him a case that was not vitally interesting from one point or another.” The brief note reads as, “Please see the bearer of this note…though I doubt if even you can do much to help him.” Why does Blackwood engineer such a short note? Is this somehow indicative of the later plot-construction of the story? Maybe, Blackwood wanted to devise another mystery to read the mysterious brain of the visitor as is done by Silence, who instructs Barker to direct the visitor to the “green” room— let’s wait a while—we’ll have the minute description of the “green” room later. And I promise every detail of this green room aids the story with fascinating charm and weird read.
Blackwood depicts Silence’s two reception rooms in his house—one is for those seeking spiritual assistance, but actually “the candidates for the asylum,” and the other is intended for psychic cases or those really are in “spiritual distress.” The room for the asylum candidates has “padded walls” and is well equipped with “various concealed contrivances” to immediately meet and overcome sudden violence. The other room for those in spiritual distress is “entirely draped and furnished in a soothing deep green” that can vibrate calmness and relaxation of mind and create a soothing atmosphere. Here, Blackwood has used color therapy to support the physical and mental wellbeing of Silence’s patients. And this is another Victorian feature reflected in Blackwood’s writing. In those days, color therapy was popular as an alternative treatment though debunked by the larger portion of the scientific world. The color treatment signatures the psychoanalytic power of Blackwood, which he has engineered and utilized through his occult detective Dr. Silence. The “green” room attests Silence’s firm conviction in the positive impact of color on human psychology. Really, Blackwood was not only a successful author of the unknown, but a keen projector of it in equilibrium of the profound inner world of human mind as compared to the surrounding and the real world of the practical experience, interests, and motivation. He reads and presents the human mind through the proportionate and psychoanalytic attitude of Silence. In his Bengali essay Lokhit (Doing good to others), Rabindranath Tagore, says, “Aamra parer upokaar karibo mone korilei upkaar korite parina. Upokaar koribaar adhikaar thaka chai. Je baro se chhotor apokaar ati sahajei korite pare kintu chhotor upokaar korite hoile kebol baro hoile cholibena, chhoto hoite hoibe, chhotor saman hoite hoibe”, which translates as “We cannot do good to others if we think we will do good to others. We should have the right to do good. Those who are great can harm the small very easily, but if you want to do good to those who are inconsiderable or insignificant, it is not enough to be great, you have to be small, inconsiderable, or insignificant, you have to be equal to them whom you want to do good.” And Silence shows that he has attempted to be equal to his patients, whom he wants to do good to. That’s why he designs his reception rooms accordingly. Not only that, when Silence goes through the short note as coming from his “discerning friend,” he asks Barker to take the visitor to the green room and not to reply to his question or “speak more than actually necessary”. Silence also asks Barker to maintain a kind, helpful, sympathetic, and affectionate attitude as he can towards the visitor.
I’d like to interrupt here a bit- as Barker has been depicted ‘psychic’, because the visitor has had effect upon him. Similarly, Silence assumes the psychic nature of his visitor as Barker describes him, that is, it confirms Silence’s psychic nature.
Now, let’s come back to the green room, which has another interesting feature— the armchair where Silence directs his visitors to sit is nailed to the floor. Blackwood arranges for this so that it can soothe and calm the mind of the visitors with its immovability. Patients are likely to get excited while talking about themselves, which can confuse their thoughts and exaggerate their language. That the chair is inflexible and immovable helps to counteract the problem of confusion and exaggeration of the patients. When the patients repetitively fail to pull the chair forward or push it back, they stop and sit quietly. Upon the floor and “at intervals in the wall immediately behind,” Blackwood uses certain small, green, and “unnoticeable” buttons for permitting “a soothing and persuasive narcotic” that can rise invisibly about the person on the chair and induce “rapid, admirable, and harmless” effect. The use of this tranquilizer is certainly to make the patients more relaxed, which also helps create other-worldly phenomena.
Now, Blackwood introduces a secret spyhole in the “green study,” which holds great significance in the growth and development of the story, especially in analyzing the surrounding atmosphere and human psychology. Blackwood here uses the spyhole as a key element to observe Silence’s visitors as if from under mask. This spyhole is so placed that Dr. Silence can make a view of the entire room. The spyhole allows Silence to read his patients when they are alone, because, when individuals are alone, they present a different psychic expression, one which presents the actual ‘self’ within them and which vanishes when they face another person. So, the secret spyhole is a device that helps Silence to study his patients on their own. This is a very minute and to-the-point description of human psychology that may seem absurd but is actually aligned to the practical world. It is essential that if you wish to get acquainted with someone, you should examine him/her in his/her loneliness, which portrays the exact state of mind of the individual. But, when another person joins the individual, the reflection gets interrupted. You can hide yourself from others, but not from your ‘self,’ which is clearly recognizable in your loneliness—Dr. Silence learns “more from a few moments’ secret observation of a face than from hours of conversation with its owner afterwards.” And Blackwood’s use of the secret keyhole again establishes him as a keen observer of reality and human psychology that allows him to create the unexplainable and the unknown.
The mystery becomes intense when Silence watches through the spyhole and sees none and nothing but a hat, gloves, and an umbrella lying on a chair by the table, although he can sense the presence of somebody in the room. An intuitive soul like Silence can never miss the existence of an incarnate or discarnate being even in darkness. He now knows well that his patient “with that dancing footstep” is “somewhere concealed within the four walls commanded by his spyhole.” At the same time, Silence realizes that the stranger also knows that he is under observation. The psychic doctor knows that his visitor is also watching over him. It is most intriguing that a skilled, trained, experienced, and intuitive person like Silence is also being watched over. And the mystery itself in the story serves as a catalyst in the progression of the plot, setting, dialogues, and characterization.
Still now, Silence is watching over through the spyhole. He observes that a blue vase on the mantelpiece disappears. “It passed out of sight together with the portion of the marble mantelpiece on which it rested. Next, that part of the fire and grate and brass fender immediately below it vanished entirely, as though a slice had been taken clean out of them.”
Silence figures it out that something between him and these objects slowly forms the shape: “something that concealed them and
obstructed his vision by inserting itself in the line of sight between them and himself.” How Blackwood describes the shaping of the being once concealed is another aspect of the story giving the audience a new opportunity to investigate its nature that Silence sees “a thin perpendicular line tracing itself from just above the height of the clock and continuing downwards till it reached the woolly fire-mat.” This substantial line growing wider, broadened, and solid is no more a shadow.
I wonder if Blackwood has tried here to give the story a geometrical-fiction-read too. Perhaps he wanted to do so by employing the terms “perpendicular” and “clock,” which are suggestive of geometry?
Blackwood narrates, “at the top of the line, and about on a level with the face of the clock,” Silence sees a “round luminous disc gazing steadily at him.” Here, again, the geometrical term: it is “round.” Now, Silence is sure about this human eye, “looking straight into his own.” He now discovers his patient, “a whitish face following the eye, and the perpendicular line he had first observed broadening out and developing into the complete figure of a human being”, an extremely thin, middle-aged ordinary man. Silence understands that this particular case is very interesting and “might require all his powers to handle properly.” He receives his visitor with a pleasant smile and goes forward to shake hands, but is interrupted by his patient with a hurried, odd voice, “shrill changes in it, breaking from high to low in unexpected fashion. One moment it thundered, the next it almost squeaked.” The stranger makes it clear that his case is extremely peculiar and introduces himself as Racine Mudge. Mudge indeed challenges Silence when he says, “Only, in my case, I fear, you saw very little.” Here, Silence’s patient is definite that he is hardly seen by his doctor, that is, Silence has little information about him. It becomes arduous when you treat/and face someone so tough, definite, and determined. And the patient himself makes clear his peculiar-though-steady nature of keeping information about his doctor that he strongly urges Silence not to use the narcotic buttons before sitting down on the chair! Mudge is glad to see the chair nailed to the floor. He instead sits on the chair comfortably. And it certainly differentiates his case from other patients, who drag the chair forward or pull it back while narrating their problems—such narrators are subjected to confusion and exaggeration and finally give up and resign themselves to the chair.
Mudge describes that he is a victim of Higher Space. He says, “That’s the matter with me—Higher Space!” For Silence, “Higher Space” is a spiritual condition and a mythical state; “Higher Space” is the inner development and “is beyond the reach of the world at the present state of evolution.”
I wonder if Silence’s perception of “Higher Space” is indicative of the influence of the Eastern philosophies on Blackwood. According to the ancient Hindu scriptures, the entire world is made of five elements- fire, earth, air, water, and space, which are collectively known as Panchamahabhoota, and after death, every living being is supposed to get unified to these five elements—that is, recycling, which is also advocated by science. The last element space refers to the emptiness, which reigns all over the universe- you cannot touch it- it’s absurd though one can’t deny its existence. Yes, you cannot see the air but feel it. Similarly, you cannot see the emptiness but feel it. Reaching out to the space is not possible for anybody in the physical form. So, it is abnormal. One can reach out to the space only in the spiritual sense, which refers to the spiritual enlightenment and the development of the inner strength. Worshipping in Hindu religion is nothing but awakening your inner state- here, you would experience the super conscious phase of mind full of uninterrupted relaxation with the utmost spontaneity. This smooth flow of awareness brings you to the threshold of the pure consciousness that is the summit for any human being on this mortal world.
Now, let’s come back to Mudge, who feels contented- rather, agrees to Silence’s explanation of Higher Space. Mudge describes that the mere sound of the German band sent him off. As he confirms he is not stirred by all music, but some certain sounds and vibrations “key” him up to the requisite pitch. Mudge continues, “Wagner’s music always does it, and that band must have been playing a stray bit of Wagner.” Mudge’s mother was a Frenchwoman and his father an Essex bargeman that underlie the scene behind his name Racine and Mudge. Mudge lost his father before he ever saw him. Mudge says, “My mother inherited money from her Bordeaux relations, and when she died soon after, I was left alone with wealth and a strange freedom. “I had no guardian, trustees, sisters, brothers, or any connection in the world to look after me,” goes on to say Mudge. His only true love is for mathematics, higher mathematics, and higher geometry, which he seems to know instinctively, that he has studied these before. Notably, Mudge has no formal education. And he considers it good that he learned “none of that deceitful rubbish taught in schools…” Here, Blackwood raises his voice against the traditional system through the words of Mudge. At the same time, his belief in the self-initiated and spontaneous learning is confirmed. Mudge explains, “It was simply memory. It was simply re-collecting the memories of what I had known before in a previous existence and required no books to teach me.”
It seems such confession of Mudge is somehow suggestive of Blackwood’s belief in reincarnation, which is also an Eastern theory. While speaking of the Panchamahabhoota, I discussed that all living beings are supposed to get unified to the five elements, that is, recycling. So is the case of reincarnation.
I’d like to have a break here and share something that I think relevant to this discussion. When I was in the primary section—standard two or three—I often used to sketch a sitar, an Indian musical instrument. Yes, I used to draw it with pencil. And I can still remember the image that is after the exact sitar. I’ve harmonium which I still play and sing. Most surprisingly, in my childhood days, there was not any sitar in our house. Nor did I ever see one in anyone’s house. I did not see sitar on any Television show or something like that. I still wonder how I drew the sitar. But, most unfortunately, I can’t draw the sitar anymore. Maybe the past life memory got wiped out with as I grew up.
There are many cases where you succeed when you attempt doing something for the first time. It is not that every time you are trained and continue practicing for years and you succeed. In many cases, you may fail despite several efforts. There are some people whom you meet for the first time, and it seems you have known them for years. They even share an equal mindset with you. Why does this happen? Is this all coincidence? Is it all telepathy?
Over years, neurophysiologic and psycho-physiological research has thrown insights into the neural bases of hypnotic brain. A meditative brain with the neural mechanisms of hypnosis along with emotional and cognitive equanimity reaches to a special state of calm and stable consciousness that can resist and express compassion and empathy. One cannot deny hypnosis and meditation have become the motivating landmarks in both eastern and western culture and civilization to better understand neuroscience. “Structural changes in the gray matter of the key areas of the brain involved in learning processes suggest that these skills can be learnt through practice.” (The test of reincarnation of the soul by DNA and IRIS scanner (Part Two))
Dr. Jim B. Tucker’s books ‘Return to Life’ and ‘Life Before Life’ explore Tucker’s own records of interaction with some children giving their accounts of their past lives. Tucker observed based on the statement of some children that if they learned those things through other means, the reaction of their parents/and family, and whether their statement really matched with some particular deceased person(s). And most surprisingly, Tucker found out some children really connected to their past lives, some specific memories of their past lives, their identities and statements really matched with some particular deceased people.
Blackwood so portrays the character of Mudge that readers can somehow relate to the character. When readers identify themselves with the characters, here is the success of a storyteller.
But Mudge does the same mistake as other patients of Silence do. Yes, out of his growing excitement, Mudge attempts to “drag the chair forward a little nearer to his listener, and then smiled faintly as he resigned himself instantly again to its immovability, and plunged anew into the recital of his singular “disease.” He also studied the works of Bolyai, Gauss, Beltrami, and Lobatchewsky- the real world mathematicians related to higher geometries. Mudge describes, “I hurried through, and emerged, panting but unsatisfied, upon the verge of my—my new world, my Higher Space possibilities—in a word, my disease!”
As Mudge continues describing his concept of Higher Space, Silence interrupts him because he is already familiar with it. Higher Space has all the normal aspects of three dimensions, and Mudge has the imagination of the fourth one. And he can perceive more than the fourth. Mudge says, “For, you see, space does not stop at a single new dimension, a fourth. It extends in all possible new ones, and we must conceive it as containing any number of new dimensions.” Through these unknown and unlimited numbers, Blackwood shows the uncertainty of life. Mudge further thinks that there is no space at all, except for a spiritual condition. “But, meanwhile, I had come to grasp the strange fact that the objects in our normal world appear to us only partially”, says Mudge. And after years of studies, Mudge began to advance “mystically, intuitively, and spiritually”. And this is the phase of spiritual enlightenment that Mudge went through. He says, “I reached sometimes a point of view whence all the great puzzle of the world became plain to me, and I understood what they call in the Yoga books ‘The Great Heresy of Separateness’; why all great teachers have urged the necessity of man loving his neighbour as himself; how men are all really one; and why the utter loss of self is necessary to salvation and the discovery of the true life of the soul.” Here, Mudge clearly shows how much Blackwood was influenced by the Eastern philosophy. Ancient Hindu scriptures advocate that if you don’t lose your ‘self,’ you would not be able to discover your inner world- the actual recognition of ‘you’ lies in the awakening of your soul. The Bhagavad Gita centering round the understanding of body and soul as taught by Lord Krishna to Arjuna during the war of The Mahabharata advises that your soul lives in your body. And the body dies, but the soul does not—the soul is immortal and can live without the body. Further, after death, the soul moves from one body to another just like humans wear new garments and leave the old ones. The unbreakable, unchangeable, and insoluble soul can be present everywhere, and it can never be burnt or slain. On the whole, the life force to the body springs from the eternal entity of soul, which is neither withered nor moistened.
On hearing the words of Mudge, Silence says that those speculations are aligned to his own. Mudge confesses that it was accidentally that he entered the next world of four dimensions without knowing how he got there, or how he “could get back again”. He feels that he explored that his ordinary “three-dimensional body was but an expression- a projection” of his higher four-dimensional body. Mudge says, “I cannot control my entrance or exit. Certain people, certain human atmospheres, certain wandering forces, thoughts, desires even—the radiations of certain combinations of colour, and above all, the vibrations of certain kinds of music, will suddenly throw me into a state of what I can only describe as an intense and terrific inner vibration—and behold I am off! Off in the direction at right angles to all our known directions! Off in the direction the cube takes when it begins to trace the outlines of the new figure! Off into my breathless and semi-divine Higher Space! Off, inside myself, into the world of four dimensions!” Mudge gasps and drops back into the depths of the immovable chair.
And he comes back. Mudge says, “First, that is, I disappear. Then I reappear.” He goes on, “The music of the wretched German band sent me off. Your intense thinking about me brought me back.” Mudge is already aware of the intense thoughts of Silence about him. Maybe it is somehow indicative of Blackwood’s projection of telepathy. For Mudge, “no interiors are hidden.” He sees “inside.” He can read both body and mind. What does Blackwood want to present here through this peculiar character of Mudge along with his peculiar words? What does Blackwood make us realize through his characterization? I have the following assumptions: 1. Those reach out to the extreme level of the spiritual consciousness have the sixth sense that they can feel others—whether physically or mentally; they possess a far-reaching ability of perception. They have a higher level of psychic understanding. They can foresee with their experience and minute observation. And Mudge is no exception to it! He has the outstanding merit of comprehending human psychology.
2. Blackwood has already portrayed Mudge as an airy existence, that is, he belongs to the other world, paranormal, or the weird one. In that case, he is a spirit, that is, air, which can exist everywhere, and nothing is hidden from it; it can experience/and witness both the internal and the external state of creatures;
3. Finally, it may be that Mudge has been shown as the inner voice of humans that enables having the moral sense of right and wrong.
That Blackwood was so much influenced by the Eastern philosophy is once again evident in the words of Silence. He says, “The spirit, of course can never sleep. Only, the body becomes unconscious.” The “spirit” is the inner ‘self,’ ‘voice,’ or the soul that neither sleeps nor dies. Nor is it moistened or withered- the soul is the only immortal in this mortal world, which Lord Krishna teaches in The Gita.
Mudge agrees to the words of Silence and says, “At night, of course, the spirit is active elsewhere, and we have no memory of where and how, simply because the brain stays behind and receives no record. But I found that, while remaining conscious, I also retained memory.” Here, we get Mudge not only as a weird/and psychic character, but one who possesses a sound knowledge in neuroscience. And it is no less important while incorporating so many features into a single character like Mudge, whom Blackwood presents both as having the other worldly phenomena and one packed up with a strong sense of realism. Truly, during sleep, we can remember nothing. Sleep is the natural medicine. William Shakespeare depicts sleep as “Death’s second self” in his Sonnet No. 73. We can remember nothing during sleep, because the brain receives no record of what is happening in the surrounding atmosphere. Blackwood has successfully shown here the interrelationship between neuroscience and the psychic world. “Apparently sleep is unnecessary in the higher- the four-dimensional- body,” says Mudge. While meditating, I noticed that a deep state of meditation induces a sleep-like condition, but I remain awake, I feel a profound sense of calmness and relaxation- though not the extreme level of consciousness, I can sense this new world is full of unlimited peace and happiness. And all my tiredness is gone! From the personal perspective, I’ve observed that a 60-minute meditation relieves me from the night’s sleeplessness of 4-5 hours- I feel rejuvenated.
While being asleep at night, Mudge feels “no loss of consciousness.” While entering the Higher Space, Mudge perceived “a monstrous world, so utterly different from all we know…” Silence is moved by the accounts of the “horror and the devastating terror” as experienced by Mudge and notices that his patient now shows increasing excitement. Silence requests Mudge to tell him more of the alarming state he faced and how it affected him. Mudge continues that he saw “people and objects in their weird entirety, in their true and complete shapes, that is so distressing.” The Higher Space made him reach out to a world of monsters, where all his known and beloved animals, trees, humans, and children—all whom he considered “beautiful,” appeared in a different shape. It was “ghastly, simply ghastly.” Next, he saw himself hovering here and there on the planet, which was so absurd and added to his suffering. Is it all about the accounts of the Higher Space or the unknown world as perceived and experienced by Mudge? Are all these only the accounts of a weird character like Mudge? Don’t you think there is something extra beyond the scene? Is this somehow allegorical that Blackwood portrays the weird character of Mudge and attempts to show us something else through his words? When we discover our known people, whom we love and consider beautiful, in a completely different perspective or opposite angle, is this not a “devastating terror”? Here, Blackwood has used the character of Mudge to fascinatingly portray the crisis of the human race, which sees and gets terrified but dares not express. Exploring the true nature of our beloved people, rather, seeing them in what they should not have been, is really a pity. Some people pretend to be what they are not, but they don’t let others realize that. And it is nothing but hypocrisy, a growing concern for the whole world but without any known cure! We know what is good or bad, but dare not utter those, rather repeat the same. And this has been happening over years and has spreaded like a disease.
We see that through the weird setting, plots, characterization, and dialogues, Blackwood ‘s presentation of the tough realities of human psychology is so amiable. Silence says, “Your suffering, of course, lies in the fact that you alternate between the two worlds and are never wholly in one or the other.” These words perhaps show the dilemma, the confused state, which almost all of us suffer from—maybe, indicative of the duality in us. You know what we think, what we tell, and what we do are not always the same- there is a big gap we create sometimes in between our perception and the reality. We cannot sometimes decide what we should do- we get perplexed.
Silence says, “I was leading up to the point of how to effect your cure. The way is this: You must simply learn to block the entrances.” He advises Mudge that he should “block the entrances” by concentration. The external world such as color, music, and other things can lead us towards the entrances, but we cannot “hope to destroy” them. But, “once the entrances are blocked, they will lead you only to bricked walls and closed channels. You will no longer be able to find the way.” And again, this is suggestive of the sound state of meditation- the higher level of consciousness, where the external world can no more stir us- there is only an uninterrupted, harmonious state of peace, when there is no need inducing a calm and relaxed state of mind through “narcotic buttons”, because the state itself is something greater than the tranquilizers and difficult to describe.
Silence gets out a little book and begins instructing Mudge how to “block the entrances” effectively. But, “before he had uttered a dozen words,” the German band outside in the street enters the room “through the open ventilators,” and Mudge gives a “sharp, squeaking cry.” Silence tries to hold him, but Mudge seems to become invisible. He “disappeared like an arrow from a bow propelled at infinite speed, and his voice no longer sounded in the external air, but seemed in some curious way to make itself heard somewhere within the depths of the doctor’s own being.” Mudge asks for alcohol to lessen his sensitive state of mind. Now, Silence remembers that there is a brandy flask on the mantelpiece; without wasting time, he holds it out “towards the space above the chair.” He notices, “the contents of the closed glass phial sink and lessen as though some one were drinking violently and greedily of the liquor within.” Mudge thanks Silence and becomes visible again. But, right then, he hears the German band and cries out for stopping the music. He becomes so frightened again and urges Silence to hold him. Mudge screams, “Block the entrances! Give me the red book!” Silence holds Mudge, “the struggling little victim of Higher Space, in a grip of iron.” Silence seems to smother Mudge completely. And yet even in doing so, Silence feels “the wriggling form underneath him,” “it began to melt and slip away like air or water.” The wood of the nailed chair somehow frees itself “from between his own arms and those of Mudge.”
Blackwood nicely describes how Mudge passes through Silence’s body, goes into the Higher Space and finally disappears. Now, Silence locks his red book and replaces it in the cabinet. Barker returns the card Mr. Mudge left on the table. Dr. Silence notes the address, which is in North London. Noticing the anxious face of Barker, Silence quietly says that Mudge is gone. But, Barker is surprised and draws the attention of Silence that Mudge has left his belongings—his hat and umbrella. Silence assures him that Mudge “requires no hat where he is now”, though he may return for it. Silence shares with Barker that Mudge has his way of coming and going. He strictly instructs Barker to instantly bring Mudge to him if he returns anytime. Moreover, Silence asks Barker to be kind and gentle with Mudge and ask him no questions if he returns. And now that Mudge is away, Silence advises Barker to think of him “pleasantly, sympathetically, and affectionately,” because Mudge is “a very suffering gentleman.”
After two days, Silence receives a telegram, which reads as, “Bombay. Just slipped out again. All safe. Have blocked entrances. Thousand thanks. Address Cooks, London.—MUDGE.”
Silence orders Barker to send back Mudge’s things to the address given in the telegram.
Now, we see the story speaks of a person who comes in and out of the other world- the fourth dimension, where he experiences horror and confusion. He disappears and re-appears. And alcohol soothes his unnerved condition. The psychic doctor helps him recover with his kind, gentle, pleasant, sympathetic, and affectionate behavior though Silence apologizes that he treats Mudge with rudeness at the very beginning. Mudge uncovers the true nature of his known acquaintances, whom he loves and once considered to be beautiful—say of trees, children, and other animals. Blackwood here shouts against hypocrisy though through the intermingling of math-fiction and weird elements. Through the characters, Blackwood sketches both the absurd and the real. We explore the suffering of Mudge. And after deliberate efforts as accompanied by the psychic consultant, Mudge is finally safe, which we learn from the telegram. And it is somewhat a catharsis—a great relief for the audience. Does the telegram itself here seem to be a choric figure, which is nowhere presented in any action in the story, except for the ending? It is the telegram, which informs the audience about the current state of the protagonist, e.g. Mr. Mudge is safe now and that he has overcome his crisis. Yes, he has “blocked the entrances”! Not only that, Mudge also thanks Silence. Mudge leaves his address so that his belongings may be sent back to him, that is, he longs for his belongings, as normal humans do. And it proves he has recovered from his sensitive thoughts. The big picture we get here is that of the psychoanalytic settings through the weird characterization, witty dialogues, realization of spirituality, mathematical calculations, geometrical values, and realistic attitude and feelings.
Somehow, the story seems to hang in between the paranormal and science fiction. The appearance, disappearance, and re-appearance, the liquification, the vaporization, and the solidity of the figure Mudge in various times in the story are somehow symbolical of the physical and chemical transformations of energy. For instance, electrical energy is derived out of thermal, wind, or hydro power. Coals are burnt, and you get thermal power that leads to the electrical energy. We find that the fundamental design remains the same, that is, energy never ends but is transformed. That said, again comes in the story of recycling that is supported in nature, and sciences also promotes recycling. That is, here we have again the reincarnation theory that gets stable through the rebirth of souls- that souls never die. After death, soul only changes body. And soul is the energy that makes the body alive. Nothing ends in this world in the strict sense of the term ‘end.’ The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. It simply happens because of the movement of the earth round the sun. The sun remains in the same position. And we witness the day comes after the night and vice versa. So, it is also recycling. There is no past, present, or future- what is present today will be past tomorrow. What is now past was once upon a time present, and the future would also become subjected to present and past. We just go through the passage of time. So, everything in life is subjected to recycling.
Blackwood has ventured towards the world of spirituality by wrapping it in paranormal, weird, and scientific presentation. And Racine Mudge is his tool that he has used to illustrate the tough realities of life that sometimes go through the unexplainable phase and plunge into the unknown and the uncertain.
Sonali Roy is a freelance journalist. Roy wears several other hats including a passionate traveler, photographer, 3-D art designer, singer, and music composer. Sonali takes interest in latest science discoveries, art, architecture, culture, spirituality, weird, and mystery.
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