Introduction:
Nikola Tesla spent his lifetime making the impossible possible–and doing it with brilliance, style, and seeming ease. He made practical the generation of alternating current, which electrical scientists had thought impossible. He developed a system for the long distance transmission of electricity, which Thomas Edison had thought impossible. He broadcast electricity through the air without wires, which many “experts” still think is impossible. And although he died in 1943, his work is currently attracting more attention than ever, as scientists try to duplicate his work in resonance, magnetism, and death rays.
The following is a short excerpt from a conversation with the spirit of Nikola Tesla, through the mediumship of the author, Dr. Robert R. Leichtman.
Q: Was the work of your lifetime a step in a series of planned stages to help humanity learn how to tap some of these larger electrical fields?
Tesla: My work was very complicated. The main thing I was supposed to leave civilization, I did. My principal accomplishment was to perfect some of the practical uses of electricity, namely the use of alternating current. I also stimulated a few people to appreciate that even today mankind knows very little about electricity—and for that matter, very little about the nature of magnetism and the nature of physical matter. If the electrical engineers and physicists would stop looking at their textbooks and journal articles long enough to start looking at reality, they might discover some very obvious truths which might revolutionize their understanding about electricity, magnetism, and matter. Reality, you know, is the original source material.
They might discover, for example, that there are many different types of electricity, depending on how you generate it. And there are many different ways you can transmit it.
Q: Was the work you did just a one-man show, or was it part of a larger program directed from the inner planes?
Tesla: Well, it was part of a larger program, of course. As the poet John Donne said, “No man is an island, entire of itself.” In my case, I represented a very enlightened group of individuals, most of whom are on an invisible plane of existence. This group is interested in stimulating mental functions and the appreciation of the mind and how it can be used as an agent for discovery. It is interested in stimulating the growth of science and demonstrating how the prepared mind of the scientist can be a tremendous force for civilizing and humanizing mankind. It is interested in helping conquer the problems of humanity and the raw forces of nature, so they can be put to civilized use.
Now, it may sound as though I am spouting chapter and verse of some old claptrap dogma, but there is a large body of us here who are very dedicated to those goals. Through many incarnations, we try to demonstrate that the properly prepared mind of the humanistic scientist is a very precious thing which, when correctly used, can do an enormous amount to help humanity with its multiple problems.
The good name of science has been besmirched lately by the ignorant hordes who have invaded it, but proper science still has enormous application. I am being urgently impressed to make a statement that the true meaning of science and the ultimate role of the scientist is to be an agent for spiritualizing civilization and for enriching the minds of humanity with a proper understanding of what the mind can do.
The farthest reach of the human mind is that it can extend to heaven and comprehend—not just believe in or adore, but comprehend—the inner workings of God and His Creation. That may sound grandiose, but it is true because it can be manifested! It can be demonstrated in the physical plane. This is what I tried to do through the personality of Nikola Tesla. I did not consciously recognize this aspect of my work at that time, although in my later years I did become suspicious of it. Yet if anyone would look at the record of my physical life, they would see that the meaning of it far transcended the inventions and discoveries I was responsible for. I demonstrated a profound principle. I demonstrated what any ordinary genius with a brilliant mind can do.
Now, I know that sounds very unhumble, and being unhumble is not very popular these days. But I think it’s worthwhile to make that statement. The readers who understand genius and the brilliance of the human mind will not be offended—or even think it unhumble.
Q: Yes, it might do us all good to start thinking of “genius” and “the brilliant mind” as ordinary. Or at least, as normal and desirable.
Tesla: Yes.
Q: Now that you are a spirit, are you still working in the fields of electricity and alternating currents?
Tesla: Yes, I am still busy. There are a few physical people who have the capacity to understand the essential ideas behind the physical phenomena of electricity, and I am working with some of them. The whole group I am part of on the inner planes works with these people, nudging them in the right directions.
I would work with more physical scientists if there was a wider understanding of what I’ve been talking about—of the role that invisible and subtle patterns play in influencing physical phenomena. To control and master the physical plane, these invisible influences must be understood, mapped, and employed. Their laws of operation must be discerned. Devices that can measure them must be invented.
My work is exceedingly slow, because the people who think like this and who have the capacity to exercise their imagination do not receive very high priority. The are not recognized. Their thoughts are not given much credence. But that will change in time.
The other thing I do is teach. Not in a physical university—that would be quite a sight! [Laughter] I teach in a sort of Electrical College on the inner planes. I instruct many people while they are out of their bodies at night. They do not remember this instruction consciously, but the information is placed in their minds and at the right time, they are able to use it.
Q: A brilliant mind such as yours is not just the product of childhood, is it? Undoubtedly, many lifetimes were spent in preparation and training. Can you shed some light on what goes into becoming a genius?
Tesla: You are quite right that all talents and abilities require enormous preparation. Watching a Horowitz or a Heifitz perform, you may think it looks effortless, but you know very well it is not. Even a musical artist who is born with great talent must spend hours and hours every day in arduous practice to harness his natural talent. Manifesting genius requires enormous work, practice, and discipline.
During my physical life, I went through various austerities which forced me to put more of my attention on the development of the mind and personal discipline. I also took it as a challenge when various stupid people repeatedly told me that something “just can’t be done” or “no one understands this.” That was like putting a spear in my side. So I ground away—thinking, speculating, planning, and experimenting—and over a period of years, I developed an incredible ability of concentration.
I was also somewhat clairvoyant, although not in the ordinary sense. Whatever I thought about with great intensity, I could see. I could see my own thoughts. That’s why I could tinker together an invention right in my mind, without needing a laboratory to experiment in. I could see the tangible reality of my thoughts!
I know you are waiting to hear about past lives, but I want to stress a simple point people often forget. A person could have a thousand lives as a famous scientist and still arrive on earth as an absolute idiot. All that potential is contained in another dimension, you see. If the child were so unfortunate to be born into a family of screwball hippies or to go to public school where the emphasis is put on “being yourself” instead of developing the mind, all that potential might go undeveloped. The potential can only be summoned by nurturing proper habits of thinking and discipline and by responding effectively to challenges, problems, and role models. For genius to grow, an enlightened, enriched, and disciplined mind and personality must be constructed during childhood. You could import the most expensive tulip bulbs from Holland, but they will never grow into beautiful tulips unless you plant them in enriched soil at the proper season, cultivate them, and nurture them. The same principle applies to human potential.
To my mind, the most important thing I brought to earth was a ferocious aspiration and a ferocious simplicity of thought. Once I reached a certain point in growing up, these characteristics let me take over the process of developing a mature mind and a disciplined consciousness. I finished the teaching and preparation process myself.
Timing was important, too. When I started my career, there was an enormous and urgent need in civilization for a better understanding of the new phenomena of applied electricity, and a cheaper means of generating and transmitting it. At that time, electricity was more a fascinating laboratory phenomenon than a practical tool for use by humanity. The need to apply electrical phenomena was a great stimulus to me. I didn’t consciously understand why at the time, but I was greatly fascinated by the prospects.
I mentioned earlier that I now teach at a kind of Electrical College on the inner planes. Well, when I was in the physical, I was a student there myself, and that, too, was part of my preparation. Every night for a long period of time I would leave the body while I was asleep and go to classes on the inner planes. I would participate in experiments in actual laboratories, attend lectures which would add to my understanding of the phenomena and principles of electricity, and then come back to earth and wake up. I often did not have an immediate recollection of what I had done, but I knew even then that I had an enriched ability to make sense of problems. I had answers to questions that had been on my mind the previous day. I had new perspectives, new solutions, and new projects to work on.
This inner planes activity is not just ordinary dreaming. There’s a different quality to it. I suppose it’s enriched intuition which is invoked and registered by your need to know something for use here on the physical plane. I would describe it as a rather intensive set of activities that I experienced when my consciousness was separated from my body and working on the inner planes during the hours of physical sleep.
Q: It is said you only slept two or three hours a night. Would that be sufficient time to do what you’ve just been describing?
Tesla: It wasn’t always necessary for me to be asleep during this process. I had the capacity to subdivide my consciousness, and a part of me could actually stay on the inner planes, even while I was awake. My form of concentration was unusual. During my moments of intense concentration, part of me could be here on earth and part of me could be on the inner planes—simultaneously. That is not the common phenomenon know as bilocation, by the way. It’s something else, and requires a well-developed mind. I did not do this on the astral plane—I did this work in the realm of the mind. The plane of thoughts is much more refined and powerful than the astral plane. It’s free of the emotional, sentimental swill most people thrive on, but which must be transcended if you are going to develop clear thought.
You are waiting for me to mention something about my past lives. I am not going to mention much, but I can say that I had earlier lives as a scientist and as a sort of philosopher and teacher. Today the term would be “occultist.” During the Atlantean epoch, science was highly developed. Fourth-dimensional principles in physics and engineering were understood to an amazing degree. I participated in those discoveries and applications at that time.
Q: I have a question about Atlantis. According to many reports, Atlantis was technologically superior to our present civilization, yet my understanding is that it was a civilization which was primarily focused on the astral or emotional level. Was there a comparable or superior technology then, and if so, how was that technology developed when the emphasis was so emotional and not mental?
Tesla: No problem. Every civilization has its inspired minds. They may be rare, but they are always available. Atlantis was no exception.
Look at the average person today. He leaps into a car or airplane to go from here to there without pausing once to consider what a technical marvel it is. He thinks nothing of using these technical masterpieces, but would have no idea how to make one himself—or even repair one. There’s a tremendous gap between the development of the average person on the one hand and the development of the technology he or she uses every day.
The same gap was common in the Atlantean era. They had great technological achievements, but the average person had no understanding of them. Yet there was one characteristic of the way the average Atlantean viewed technology that I would urgently recommend for today’s world. For all their faults, and they were manifold, nonetheless the Atlanteans respected intelligence. They respected genius in any line of achievement, be it government, religion, philosophy, art, or science. And the Atlanteans took care of their geniuses. They were an extremely proud race in many ways. They respected people with genius, protected their development, and listened to them. They didn’t take popularity polls to see what a good idea was—they listened to their geniuses.
As a result, the best and brightest of the Atlantean geniuses had a much better chance than today to make a contribution and then build on it. They had a better chance to enrich the work of each other.
The Atlanteans also respected the process of inspiration—especially the psychic side of inspiration. That often made it easier for helpful entities and spirits to poke ideas into the receptive and interested minds of physical scientists and thinkers. Mediumship among scientists was not unknown. Can you conceive, in this day and age, of a college professor being a medium and using his mediumship openly in the conduct of his scientific studies? That could happen in Atlantis. But today, mediums are often thought to be floozy, badly-educated women who bring through trivial comments about what vitamins to take, what dress to wear to a party, or where to take a vacation.
I wish science would realize how valuable the intuitive process is to its work! I know a lot of scientists are studying the few writings and ideas I left behind, to see if they can reconstruct my work. Let me tell them something: the greatest asset in trying to understand what I did would be the development of psychic awareness. Understanding my work certainly requires a basic understanding of physics, mathematics, engineering, and mechanical phenomena, but it requires more than that, too. It requires an awareness of the invisible forces which influence the physical plane. And to understand these forces, you have to have a mind which can reach into the invisible realms of life and deal with the essence of ideas.
It is possible to develop a faculty of clairvoyance and be able to see some of these forces at work. A measure of etheric sight would be helpful in understanding physics or electricity, for example. Some clairvoyants, as you know, are able to see auras and lights around the bodies of humans, animals, and even plants. It’s also possible to see the magnetic aura around magnetic or ionized bodies. Psychic experiences such as that would expand the scope of scientific investigation.
But even that is not the type of awareness I’m most interested in promoting. I want to emphasize the idea I mentioned earlier about training the mind to summon the essence of an idea and to synthesize facts and integrate them into meaningful patterns and principles. This means training the mind in intuition and genuine thinking.
I’m sure all of you here have had experiences where you have recognized a pattern or meaning in a collection of facts that made no sense at all to anyone else. That is because you have the ability to synthesize ideas. You saw something where others saw nothing. Yet everyone was looking at the same set of facts.
This kind of intuition is a necessary part of all genuine creative work. I don’t think science can really progress until this kind of awareness is recognized, honored, and studied. It isn’t enough anymore to simply study textbooks—not if you want to produce something worthwhile. You could be an excellent technician or draftsman by just studying textbooks, but never an inventor or discoverer. That requires intuitive capacity.
Science is nearing the end of its frontier, and the reason why is because it is so pigheadedly materialistic. Science believes that if you can’t push it, knock it, shove it, or measure it, it just doesn’t exist. So it ignores most of life. Many scientists have exactly this kind of attitude. They are like the people who used to believe the earth was flat. They need to accept the possibility that the universe goes on beyond their own limited view. Beyond their horizon, there are invisible realms of existence waiting to be explored. That’s where science needs to go!
These territories cannot be explored with physical measuring devices, however. They have to be explored with the mind. The new scientist will have to learn to use the mind for awareness. It’s more than just a tool for collecting and storing facts.
These are not mental skills that the scientist would have to be born with, by the way. They can be acquired in much the same way that mathematical skills can be acquired. They can be studied and learned like any subject.
See Part II here.
Excerpt from Nikola Tesla Returns