XII
[To the beginning]
A fact ascertained by observation, and confirmed by the spirits themselves,
is the borrowing of well-known and venerated names by spirits of inferior
degree. How, then, can we be sure that those who say they were, for example,
Socrates, Julius Cæsar, Charlemagne, Fénélon, Napoleon,
Washington, etc., were really the men they claim to have been? This doubt
exists among many fervent adherents of spiritist doctrine. They admit the
reality of the intervention and manifestation of spirits, but they ask
themselves what certainty we can have of their identity ? This certainty
it is, in fact, very difficult to obtain ; but though it cannot be settled
as authentically as by the attestation of a civil register, it may, at
least, be established presumptively, according to certain indications.
When the spirit who manifests himself is that of some one personally
known to us, of a relative or friend, for instance, and especially if of
one who has been dead but a short time, it is generally found that his
language is perfectly in keeping with what we know of his character; thus
furnishing a strong presumption of his identity, which is placed almost
beyond reach of doubt when the spirit speaks of private affairs, and refers
to family matters known only to the party to whom he addresses himself.
A son could hardly be mistaken as to the language of his father and mother,
nor parents as to that of their child. Most striking incidents often occur
in evocations of this intimate kind - things of a nature to convince the
most incredulous. The most sceptical are often astounded by the unexpected
revelations thus made to them.
Another very characteristic circumstance often helps to establish a
spirit's identity. We have already said that the handwriting of the medium
generally changes with the spirit evoked, the same writing being reproduced
exactly every time the same spirit presents himself ; and it often happens
that, in the case of persons recently deceased, this writing bears a striking
resemblance to that of the person during life, the signatures, especially,
being sometimes perfectly exact. We are, nevertheless, very far from adducing
this fact as a rule, or as being of constant recurrence ; we merely mention
it as a point worthy of notice.
It is only when spirits have arrived at a certain degree of purification
that they are entirely freed front all corporeal influences; and as long
as they are not completely dematerialised (to employ their own expression),
they retain most of the ideas, tendencies, and even the hobbies,
they had while on earth, all of which furnish additional means of identification;
but these are especially to be found in the vast number of small details
that are only perceived through sustained and attentive observation. Spirits
who have been authors are seen to discuss their own works or views, approving
or blaming them ; others allude to various circumstances connected with
their life or death ; and from all these indications we obtain what may,
at least, be regarded as moral presumptions in favour of their identity,
the only ones that can be looked for under the circumstances of the case.
If, then, the identity of the spirit evoked may be established, to
a certain extent and in certain cases, there is no reason why that identity
may not exist in others; and although we may not have the same means of
identification in regard to persons whose death is of more distant date,
we always have that of language and character, for the spirit of a good
and enlightened man will assuredly not express himself like that bf a depraved
or ignorant one. As for inferior spirits who assume honoured names, they
soon betray themselves by the character of their language and statements.
If some one, for instance, calling himself Fénélon gave utterance
to remarks at variance with common sense or morality, his imposture would
at once become evident; but if the thoughts expressed by him were always
noble, consistent, and of an elevation worthy of Fénélon,
there would be no reason to doubt his identity, for otherwise we should
have to admit that a spirit whose communications inculcate only goodness
would knowingly be guilty of falsehood. Experience shows us that spirits
of the same degree, of the same character, and animated by the same sentiments,
are united in groups and families; but the number of spirits is incalculable,
and we are so far from knowing them all, that the names of the immense
majority of them are necessarily unknown to us. A spirit of the same category
as Fénélon may therefore come to us in his name, and may
even be sent by him as his representative ; in which case he would naturally
announce himself as Fénélon, because he is his equivalent,
and able to supply his place, and because we need a name in order to fix
our ideas in regard to him. And, after all, what does it matter whether
a spirit be really Fénélon or not, if all that he says is
excellent, and such as Fénélon himself would be likely to
say? For, in that case, he must be a spirit of superior advancement; and
the name under which he presents himself is of no importance, being often
only a means of fixing our ideas. This sort of substitution would not be
acceptable in evocations of a more intimate character; but, in these, as
just pointed out, we have other means of ascertaining the identity of the
communicating spirit.
It is certain, however, that the assumption of false names by spirits
may give rise to numerous mistakes, may be a source of error and deception,
and is, in fact, one of the most serious difficulties of practical spiritism
; but we have never said that this field of investigation, any more than
any other, is exempt from obstacles, nor that it can be fruitfully explored
without serious and persevering effort. We cannot too often reiterate the
warning that spiritism is a new field of study, and one that demands long
and assiduous exploration. Being unable to produce at pleasure the facts
on which Spiritism is based, we are obliged to wait for them to present
themselves; and it often happens that, instead of occurring when we are
looking for them, they occur when least expected. For the attentive and
patient observer, materials for study are abundant, because he discovers
in the facts thus presented thousands of characteristic peculiarities which
are for him so many sources of light. It is the same in regard to every
other branch of science; while the superficial observer sees in a flower
only an elegant form, the botanist discovers in it a mine of interest for
his thought.
XIII
[To the beginning]
The foregoing remarks lead us to say a few words in relation to another
difficulty-viz., the divergence which exists in the statements made by
spirits.
Spirits differing very widely from one another as regards their knowledge
and morality, it is evident that the same question may receive from them
very different answers, according to the rank at which they have arrived
; exactly as would be the case if it were propounded alternately to a man
of science, an ignoramus, and a mischievous wag. The important point, as
previously remarked, is to know who is the spirit to whom we are addressing
our question.
But, it will be argued, how is it that spirits who are admittedly of
superior degree are not all of the same opinion? We reply, in the first
place, that there are, independently of the cause of diversity just pointed
out, other causes that may exercise an influence on the nature of the replies,
irrespectively of the quality of the spirits themselves. This is a point
of the highest importance, and one that will be explained by our ulterior
study of the subject, provided that this study be prosecuted with the aid
of the sustained attention, the prolonged observation, the method and perseverance
that are required in the pursuit of every other branch of human inquiry.
Years of study are needed to make even a second-rate physician ; three-quarters
of a lifetime to make a man of learning : and people fancy that a few hours
will suffice to acquire the science of the infinite! Let there be no mistake
in regard to this matter. The subject of Spiritism is immense. It involves
all other subjects, physical, metaphysical, and social; it is a new world
that opens before us. Is it strange that time, and a good deal of time,
should be required for becoming acquainted with it?
The contradictions alluded to, moreover, are not always as absolute
as they may seem to be at first sight. Do we not see every day that men
who are pursuing the same science give various definitions of the same
thing; sometimes because they make use of different terms, sometimes because
they consider it from different points of view, although the fundamental
idea is the same in each case? Let any one count up, if he can, the different
definitions that have been given of grammar! It must also be remembered
that the form of the answer often depends on the form under which the question
has been put ; and that it would be childish to regard as a contradiction
what is often only a difference of words. The higher spirits pay no heed
to forms of expression ; for them, the thought itself is everything.
Let us take, for example, the definition of soul. That word, having
no fixed meaning, spirits like ourselves may differ in the meaning they
give to it. One of them may say that it is "the principle of life;"
another may call it "the animic spark;" a third may say that
it is internal; a fourth, that it is external, etc. ; and each may be right
from his own special point of view. Some of them might even be suposed
to hold materialistic views; and yet such is not the case. It is the same
with regard to the word God. According to some, God is "the principle
of all things;" according to others, "the creator of the universe,"
"the sovereign intelligence," "the Infinite," "the
great Spirit," etc.; and nevertheless it is always "God."
And so in regard to the classification of spirits. They form an uninterrupted
succession from the lowest to the highest; all attempts at classification
are therefore arbitrary, and they may be regarded as forming three, five,
ten, or twenty classes, without involving error or contradiction. All human
sciences offer the same variations of detail; every investigator has his
own system; and systems change, but science remains the same. Whether we
study botany according to the system of Linnæus, of Jussieu, or of
Tournefort, what we learn is none the less botany. Let us then cease to
attribute more importance than they deserve to matters that are merely
conventional, and let us devote ourselves only to what is really important;
and we shall often discover, on reflexion, a similitude of meaning in statements
that appeared to us, at first sight, to be contradictory.
XIV
[To the beginning]
We should pass over the objection of certain sceptics in relation to
the faulty spelling of some spirits, were it not that this objection affords
us an opportunity of calling attention to a point of great importance.
Spirit-orthography, is must be confessed, is not always irreproachable;
but he must be very short of arguments who would make this fact the object
of serious criticism, on the plea that, "since spirits know everything,
they ought to be well up in spelling." We might retort by pointing
to the numerous sins against orthography committed by more than one of
the lights of science in our own world, and which in no wise invalidate
their scientific authority ; but a much more important point is involved
in the fact alluded to. For spirits, and especially for those of high degree,
the idea is everything, the form is nothing. Freed from matter, their language
among themselves is as rapid as thought, for it is their thought itself
that is communicated without intermediary; and it must therefore be very
inconvenient for them to be obliged, in communicating with us, to make
use of human speech, with its long and awkward forms, its insufficiencies
and imperfections, as the vehicle of their ideas. They often allude to
this inconvenience; and it is curious to see the means they employ to obviate
the dificulty. It would be the same with us if we had to express ourselves
in a language of which the words and locutions were longer, and the stock
of expressions more scanty, than those we habitually employ. The same difficulty
is felt by the man of genius, impatient of the slowness of his pen, which
always lags behind his thought. It is therefore easy to understand that
spirits attach but little importance to questions of spelling, especially
in the transmission of serious and weighty teachings. Should we not rather
wonder that they are able to express themselves equally in all tongues,
and that they understand them all ? It must not, however, be inferred from
these remarks that they are unable to express themselves with conventional
correctness ; they do this when they judge it to be necessary; as, for
instance, when they dictate verses, some of which, written, moreover, by
illiterate mediums, are of a correctness and elegance that defy the severest
criticism.
XV
[To the beginning]
There are persons who see danger in everything that is new to them,
and who have therefore not failed to draw an unfavourable conclusion from
the fact that some of those who have taken up the subject of Spiritism
have lost their reason. But how can sensible people urge that fact as an
objection? Does not the same thing often happen to weak heads when they
give themselves up to any intellectual pursuit? Who shall say how many
have gone mad over mathematics, medicine, music, philosophy, etc. But what
does that prove? And are those studies to be proscribed on that account?
Arms and legs, the instruments of physical activity, are often injured
by physical labour; the brain, instrument of thought, is often impaired
by intellectual labour, to which, in fact, many a man may be said to fall
a martyr. But, though the instrument may be injured, the mind remains intact,
and, when freed from matter, finds itself again in full possession of its
faculties.
Intense mental application of any kind may induce cerebral disease;
science, art, religion even, have all furnished their quota of madmen.
The predisposing cause of madness is to be found in some tendency of the
brain that renders it more or less accessible to certain impressions; and,
where the predisposition to insanity exists, its manifestation takes on
the character of the pursuit to which the mind is most addicted, and which
then assumes the form of a fixed idea. This fixed idea may be that of spirits,
in the case of those who have been deeply absorbed by spiritist matters;
as it may be that of God, of angels, the devil, fortune, power, an art,
a science, a political or social system. It is probable that the victim
of religious mania would have gone mad on Spiritism, if Spiritism had been
his predominant mental occupation ; just as he who goes mad over Spiritism
would, under other circumstances, have gone mad over something else.
We assert, therefore, that Spiritism does not predispose to insanity;
nay, more, we assert that, when correctly understood, it is a preservative
against insanity.
Among the most common causes of cerebral disturbance must be reckoned
the disappointments, misfortunes, blighted affections, and other troubles
of human life, which are also the most frequent causes of suicide. But
the enlightened spiritist looks upon the things of this life from so elevated
a point of view, they seem to him so petty, so worthless, in comparison
with the future he sees before him - life appears so short, so fleeting
- that its tribulations are, in his eyes, merely the disagreeable incidents
of a journey. What would produce violent emotion in the mind of another
affects him but slightly; besides, he knows that the sorrows of life are
trials which aid our advancement, if borne without murmuring, and that
he will be rewarded according to the fortitude with which he has borne
them. His convictions, therefore, give him a resignation that preserves
him from despair, and consequently from a frequent cause of madness and
suicide. He knows, moreover, through spirit communications, the fate of
those who voluntarily shorten their days; and as such knowledge is well
calculated to suggest serious reflection, the number of those who have
thus been arrested on the downward path is incalculable. Such is one of
the results of Spiritism. The incredulous may laugh at it as much as they
please; we only wish them the consolations it affords to those who have
sounded its mysterious depths.
Fear must also be reckoned among the causes of madness. Dread of the
devil has deranged many a brain ; and who shall say how many victims have
been made by impressing weak imaginations with pictures of which the horrors
are enhanced by the hideous details so ingeniously worked into them? The
devil, it is sometimes said, frightens only little children, whom it helps
to make docile and well-behaved. Yes ; but only as do nursery-terrors and
bugaboos in general; and when these have lost their power, they who have
been subjected to this sort of training are apt to be worse than before;
while, on the other hand, those who have recourse to it overlook the risk
of epilepsy involved in such disturbing action upon the delicate child-brain.
Religion would be weak indeed if its power could only be sustained by fear.
Happily such is not the case, and it has other means of acting on the mind.
Spiritism furnishes the religious element with a more efficient support
than superstitious terror. It discloses the reality of things, and thus
substitutes a salutary appreciation of the consequences of wrong-doing
for the vague apprehensions of unreasonable fear.
XVI
[To the beginning]
Two objections still remain to be examined, the only ones really deserving
of the name, because they are the only ones founded on a rational basis.
Both admit the reality of the material and moral phenomena of Spiritism,
but deny the intervention of spirits in their production.
According to the first of these objections, all the manifestations attributed
to spirits are merely effects of magnetism, and mediums are in a state
that might be called waking somnambulism, a phenomenon which may
have been observed by any one who has studied animal magnetism. In this
state the intellectual faculties acquire an abnormal development; the circle
of our intuitive perceptions is extended beyond its ordinary limits; the
medium finds in himself, and with the aid of his lucidity, all that he
says, and all the notions transmitted by him, even in regard to subjects
with which he is least familiar in his usual state.
It is not by us, who have witnessed its prodigies and studied all its phases
during thirty-five years, that the action of somnambulism could be contested,
and we admit that many spirit-manifestations may be thus explained; but
we assert that sustained and attentive observation shows us a host of facts
in which any intervention of the medium, otherwise than as a passive instrument,
is absolutely impossible. To those who attribute the phenomena in question
to magnetism, we would say, as to all others, "See, and observe, for
you have certainly not seen everything;" and we would also ask them
to consider the two following points, suggested by their own view of the
subject. In the first place, we would ask them, What is the origin of the
hypothesis of spirit-action? Is it an explanation invented by a few individuals
to account for those phenomena? Not at all. By whom, then, has it been
broached? By the very mediums whose lucidity you extol. But if their lucidity
be such as you declare it to be, why should they attribute to spirits what
they have derived from themselves? How can they have given information
so precise, logical, sublime in regard to the nature of those extra-human
intelligences? Either mediums are lucid, or they are not; if they are,
and if we trust to their veracity, we cannot, without inconsistency, suppose
them to be in error on this point. In the second place, if all the phenomena
had their source in the medium himself, they would always be identical
in the case of each individual; and we should never find the same medium
making use of different styles of expression, or giving utterance to contradictory
statements.
The want of unity so often observed in the manifestations obtained by the
same medium is a proof of the diversity of the sources from which they
proceed; and as the cause of this diversity is not to be found in the medium
himself, it must be sought for elsewhere.
According to the other objection, the medium is really the source of the
manifestations, but, instead of deriving them from himself, as is asserted
by the partisans of the somnambulic theory, he derives them from the persons
among whom he finds himself. The medium is a sort of mirror, reflecting
all the thoughts, ideas, and knowledge of those about him; from which it
follows that he says nothing which is not known to, at least, some of them.
it cannot be denied, for it is one of the fundamental principles of spiritist
doctrine, that those who are present exercise an influence upon the manifestations;
but this influence is very different from what it is assumed to be by the
hypothesis we are considering, and, so far from the medium being the mere
echo of the thoughts of those around him, there are thousands of facts
that prove directly the contrary. This objection is therefore based on
a serious mistake, and one that shows the danger of hasty judgements; those
who bring it forward, being unable to deny the reality of phenomena which
the science of the day is incompetent to explain, and being unwilling to
admit the presence of spirits, explain them in their own way. Their theory
would be specious if it explained all the facts of the case; but this it
cannot do. In vain is it proved by the evidence of facts that the communications
of the medium are often entirely foreign to the thoughts, knowledge, and
even the opinions of those who are present, and that they are frequently
spontaneous, and contradict all received ideas; the opponents referred
to are not discouraged by so slight a difficulty. The radiation of thought,
say they, extends far beyond the circle immediately around us; the medium
is the reflection of the human race in general; so that, if he does not
derive his inspirations from those about him, he derives them from those
who are further off, in the town or country he inhabits, from the people
of the rest of the globe, and even from those of other spheres.
We do not think that this theory furnishes a more simple and probable explanation
than that given by Spiritism; for it assumes the action of a cause very
much more marvellous. The idea that universal space is peopled by beings
who are in perpetual contact with us, and who communicate to us their ideas,
is certainly not more repugnant to reason than the hypothesis of a universal
radiation, coming from every point of the universe, and converging in the
brain of a single individual, to the exclusion of all the others.
We repeat (and this is a point of such importance that we cannot insist
too strongly upon it), that the somnambulic theory, and that which may
be called the theory of reflection, have been devised by the imagination
of men; while, on the contrary, the theory of spirit-agency is not a conception
of the human mind, for it was dictated by the manifesting intelligences
themselves, at a time when no one thought of spirits, and when the opinion
of tile generality of men was opposed to such a supposition. We have therefore
to inquire, first, from what quarter the mediums can have derived a hypothesis
which had no existence in the thought of any one on earth? and, secondly,
by what strange coincidence. can it have happened that tens of thousands
of mediums, scattered over the entire globe, and utterly unknown to one
another, all agree in asserting the same thing? If the first medium who
appeared in France was influenced by opinions already received in America,
by what strange guidance was he made to go in search of ideas across two
thousand leagues of sea, and among a people whose habits and language were
foreign to his own, instead of taking them in his own immediate vicinity?
But there is yet another circumstance to which sufficient attention has
not been given. The earliest manifestations, in Europe, as in America,
were not made either by writing or by speech, but by raps indicating the
letters of the alphabet, and forming words and sentences. It is by this
means that the manifesting intelligences declared themselves to be spirits;
and therefore, even though we should admit an intervention of the medium's
mind in the production of verbal or written communications, we could not
do so in regard to raps, whose meaning could not have been known beforehand.
We might adduce any number of facts proving the existence of a personal
individuality and an absolutely independent will on the part of the manifesting
intelligence; and we therefore invite our opponents to a more attentive
observation of the phenomena in question, assuring them that, if they study
these without prejudice, and refrain from drawing a conclusion until they
have made themselves thoroughly acquainted with the subject, they will
find that their theories are unable to account for all of them. We will
only propose to such antagonists the two following queries :-
1. Why does it so often happen that the manifesting intelligence refuses
to answer certain questions in regard to matters that arc perfectly known
to the questioner, as, for instance, his name or age, what he has in his
hand, what he did yesterday, what he intends to do on the morrow, etc.?
If the medium be only a mirror reflecting the thought of those about him,
nothing should be easier for him than to answer such questions.
If our adversaries retort by inquiring why it is that spirits, who ought
to know everything, are unable to answer questions so simple, and conclude,
from this presumed inability, that the phenomena cannot be caused by spirits,
we would ask them whether, if an ignorant or foolish person should inquire
of some learned body the reason of its being light at noonday, any answer
would be returned to his question? and whether it would be reasonable to
conclude, from the derision or the silence with which such a question might
be received, that its members were merely a set of asses? It is precisely
because they are at a higher point than ourselves that spirits decline
to answer idle and foolish questions; keeping silence when such are asked,
or advising us to employ ourselves with more serious subjects.
2. We have also to ask them why it is that spirits come and depart at their
own pleasure, and why, when once they have taken their departure, neither
prayers nor entreaties can bring them back ? If the medium were acted upon
solely by the mental impulsion of those around him, it is evident that
the union of their wills, in such a case, ought to stimulate his clairvoyance.
If, therefore, he do not yield to the wishes of those assembled, strengthened
by his own desire, it is because he obeys an influence which is distinct
from himself and from those about him, and which thus asserts its own independence
and individuality.
XVII
[To the beginning]
Incredulity in regard to spirit-communication, when not the result of
systematic opposition from selfish motives, has almost always its source
in an imperfect acquaintance with the facts of the case; which, however,
does not prevent a good many persons from attempting to settle the question
as though they were perfectly familiar with it. It is possible to be very
clever, very learned, and yet to lack clearness of judgement; and a belief
in one's own infallibility is the surest sign of the existence of this
defect. Many persons, too, regard spirit manifestations as being only a
matter of curiosity. Let us hope that the reading of this book will show
them that the wonderful phenomena in question are something else than a
pastime.
Spiritism consists of two parts: one of these, the experimental, deals
with the subject of the manifestations in general; the other, the philosophic,
deals with the class of manifestations denoting intelligence. Whoever has
only observed the former is in the position of one whose knowledge of physics,
limited to experiments of an amusing nature, does not extend to the fundamental
principles of that science. Spiritist philosophy consists of teachings
imparted by spirits, and the knowledge thus conveyed is of a character
far too serious to be mastered without serious and persevering attention.
If the present book had no other result than to show the serious nature
of the subject, and to induce inquirers to approach it in this spirit,
it would be sufficiently important; and we should rejoice to have been
chosen for the accomplishment of a work in regard to which we take no credit
to ourselves, the principles it contains not being of our own creating,
and whatever honour it may obtain being entirely due to the spirits by
whom it has been dictated. We hope that it will achieve yet another result-viz.,
that of serving as a guide to those who are desirous of enlightenment,
by showing them the grand and sublime end of individual and social progress
to which the teachings of Spiritism directly tend, and by pointing out
to them the road by which alone that end can be reached.
Let us wind up these introductory remarks with one concluding observation.
Astronomers, in sounding the depths of the sky, discovered seemingly vacant
spaces not in accordance with the general laws that govern the distribution
of the heavenly bodies and they therefore conjectured that those spaces
were occupied by globes that had escaped their observation. On the other
hand, they observed certain effects the cause of which was unknown to them;
and they said to themselves, "In such a region of space there must
be a world, for otherwise there would be a void that ought not to exist;
and the effects we have observed imply the presence in that seeming void
of such a world as their cause." Reasoning, then, from those effects
to their cause they calculated the elements of the globe whose presence
they had inferred, and facts subsequently justified their inference. Let
us apply the same mode of reasoning to another order of ideas. If we observe
the series of beings, we find that they form a continuous chain from brute
matter to man. But between man and God, who is the alpha and omega of all
things, what an immense hiatus! Is it reasonable to suppose that the links
of the chain stop short with man, that he can vault, without transition,
over the distance which separates him from the Infinite? Reason shows us
that between man and God there must be other links, just as it showed the
astronomers that between the worlds then known to them there must be other
worlds as yet unknown to them. What system of philosophy has filled this
hiatus? Spiritism shows that it is filled with the beings of all the ranks
of the invisible world, and that these beings are no other than the spirits
of men who have reached the successive degrees that lead up to perfection;
and all things are thus seen to be linked together from one end of the
chain to the other. Let those who deny the existence of spirits tell us
what are the occupants of the immensity of space which spirits declare
to be occupied by them; and let those who scoff at the idea of spirit-teachings
give us a nobler idea than is given by those teachings of the handiwork
of God, a more convincing demonstration of His goodness and His power.