The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1862

Everybody must have observed how things change depending on the their point of view. Not only the appearance changes but also the importance. When we position ourselves at the center of anything, if a small thing, it will appear large. If we position ourselves outside it will then be very different. When an object is seen from the top of a mountain it seems to be insignificant but when observed from down below it seems huge.

That is an optical illusion that also applies to moral things. A whole day of suffering will seem like an entire eternity but as the end approaches one becomes surprised for having suffered so much for so little. The disorders of infancy also have their relative importance. To the child they are as bitter as those of maturity. Why would they seem so futile then? Because we are no longer in the infancy while the child is totally immersed in that phase and cannot see beyond that limited circle of activity. The child sees the suffering from within that circle. We see that from outside.

Let us suppose someone observing us in a similar condition as we are with respect to the child. That person will judge things from a similar standpoint and will find our concerns foolish. Another driver insults a driver. They argue and fight. If a driver insulted a Grand-Lord he would not feel offended and would not fight. Why? Because he positions himself outside of that sphere. Consider himself so much superior that such an offense cannot reach him; however, if he sinks to the level of the offender, if gets into the same mindset he will then get back and fight.

Spiritism shows us a much more important application of that principle with respect to its consequences. It shows us the worldly life for what it is worth, placing us at the stand point of a future life; Spiritism transports us mentally to that position through the material proofs that are offered to us, by the clear, logical and accurate intuition that it gives us and by the examples that we are given; we see and understand life; it is no longer a vague idea, uncertain and problematic, that we learned about the future and that involuntarily gave us doubts; it becomes an acquired certainty and a reality to the Spiritist.

Spiritism does even more: it shows us the life of the soul, the essential being, the thinking being, going back to an unknown era and moving indefinitely forward to the future in such a way that the earthly life, even if it last a whole century, is nothing more than a dot in that lengthy path. If the whole life is so little when compared to the life of the soul what then should we think about the incidents of life?

Nevertheless, when a person is located at the center of this earthly life she becomes so concerned as if this life would last forever; everything acquires colossal proportions; feels to be hurt by a mountain when hit by a little pebble; a deception is reason for desperation; an upset is reason for abating; a single word is reason enough to become furious.


Her vision is limited to the present and on what can be immediately touched, thus exaggerating the importance of the minimal incidents; a failed business transaction is reason enough to lose appetite; an issue of precedence sounds like affairs of state; an injustice is reason enough to make her mad.

The target of every endeavor is triumph but what is triumph to the majority? Is it the establishment of a tranquil life through honest means if there aren’t other means of living? Is it the noble undertaking of acquiring talent and developing intelligence? Is it the desire to leave behind an honorable name and carry out useful tasks to humanity? No. Triumph is to surpass the neighbor, to overshadow and keep her away or even overturn her to take her place; and it is for that beautiful triumph that death may not allow you to enjoy for twenty four hours after so much trouble!

How much distress! The amount of which is so often wasted talent that could have been better employed! Then, how much rage and how many sleepless hours if not successful! The fever generated by the success of a rival! Then comes self-blame and the finger pointing to one’s bad luck and fatal destiny when bad luck is frequently lack of skills and incapacity.

We can say that people take the task of making their few moments spent of Earth as miserable as possible. These moments that cannot be controlled since one can never be sure about the following day. Ah! How much all these things change in the view of those who leave the narrow vale of this earthly life, and their minds ascend through the radiant, splendorous and incommensurable life of beyond the grave! It is then that people regret so much the voluntary misery created by themselves! They see the petty and futile ambitions, the jealousy and susceptibilities and the useless satisfactions of pride! It is like the observation of childhood games at a mature age, like the one that observes people in the vale from the top of a mountain.

From that standpoint will the observer voluntarily become a toy in the hands of an illusion? No. Such a person is experiencing the reality while for her an illusion is the perception of those who see things from an earthly standpoint.

In fact nobody on Earth gives more importance to something that will last a day only when compared to something else which would last a long time; nobody prefers a momentarily happiness to a long lasting one. People do not give much importance to a transitory distress when in fact the continual normal life is what really matters.

If we now elevate our thoughts so that we can foresee the life of the soul we will forcibly see, as a consequence, that our earthly life is a passing station; that the spiritual life is the real one for it is indefinite; that is an illusion to take the part for the whole that is the transient life of the body for the eternal life.

A person that sees things exclusively from a terrestrial point of view is like the one who cannot assess the importance and the form of a construction just by looking from the inside the house. The judgment is based on false appearances because its entirety cannot be seen whereas someone that observes from the outside sees the whole and that is the one that can assess correctly.

It may be argued that in order to see things that way it is necessary to have an uncommon intelligence, a philosophical spirit that is not found in the crowds, thus it would necessarily lead to the conclusion that apart from rare exceptions humanity would be doomed to drag its feet on the dust.

That is a mistake. Nobody needs exceptional intelligence to have a close connection with a future life nor does one need to make huge efforts of imagination since each person carries the intuition and the desire for that life. However, the way such a life is generally presented is not very inviting since it offers the flame of hell as the alternative or even the eternal contemplation. Both lead people to choose the void; hence the absolute incredulity of some and the skepticism of a larger number.

What was missing up until now was an irrefutable proof of a future life, a proof given by Spiritism and no more by a vague theory but by positive facts. Spiritism goes further by showing such a life in a way that can be accepted by the strictest logic since it explains and justifies everything and resolves all the open issues. Since it is clear and logical everyone can reach it; that is why Spiritism brings back so many people who have been away, turning them into believers again.

Every day Spiritism demonstrates how many simple workers, peasants and uneducated people understand this train of thought effortlessly. The more they find an immense consolation and the only possible compensation to their laborious and painful life the more they feel assured by this new point of view.

If such a way of seeing worldly things became generic wouldn’t it consequently destroy the ambition that stimulates great undertakings, that creates more useful work and even the work of the genius? If the whole humanity only dreamed of a future life wouldn’t everything perish in this world? What do the monks do in their monasteries other than think of heavenly things? What would happen to Earth if everybody became monks?

Such a state of affairs would be catastrophic and the inconveniences greater that one can suppose since people would be lost on Earth and conquer nothing in heavens; however the result of the principle that we have just explained is completely different if not partially understood as explained below.

The corporeal life is necessary to the spirit, or soul which is the same thing, so that it may accomplish in this material world the functions designated by the Providence: it is one of the engines of the universal harmony. The activities unsuspectingly carried out by the spirit who believe to be self-driven help in the development of the intelligence and facilitates its advancement. Since the spirit’s happiness in the spiritual world is proportional to its advancement and to the good deeds that were done when incarnate it then follows that the more a person sees the importance of the spiritual life the more that person feels the need to do whatever may be necessary to guarantee the best possible place in that future life.

The experience of those who have already lived demonstrates to us that a useless earthly life or a badly employed life does no good to the future and those who only seek the satisfaction of their material needs here pay a high price for that be it through their suffering in the spiritual world or be it by the obligation that they feel to restart their tasks in more difficult conditions than those of the past; such is the case of many who suffer on Earth.


Hence, when considering the things of this world but from an extracorporeal point of view, far from being stimulated to carelessness and idleness, people understand better the need for work. From an earthly standpoint such a need is an injustice to them when compared to those who can live and do nothing; people then envy them and feel jealous. From a spiritual point of view such a need makes sense and has its utility and it is then accepted without complaints since people understand that without work one would remain indefinitely inferior and hindered from the aspired supreme happiness which could not be reached but through an intellectual and moral development.

From that point of view it seems that many monks do not understand well the objective of the earthly life and even less the conditions of a future life. In their rigorous isolation they curtail the means of becoming useful to their fellow human beings and many of those who are in the spiritual world today have confessed to us to be completely mistaken and that they now suffer the consequences of their error.

Such a point of view has another huge and immense importance to humanity: it turns the miseries of life more endurable. It is very natural and nobody is prohibited from seeking their well being and to spend their time on Earth in the best possible way. However, knowing that one is only momentarily here and that a better future awaits, one does not give so much importance to the deceptions that are experienced and seen things from above one then sees the difficulties in a more favorable way; remains indifferent to traps that may be found on the way created by jealous and envious people; diminishes the ambition to its fair value and remains above the little susceptibilities of self-love.

People are then free from concerns created by others who are limited to their restrictive spheres, and see the grandiose perspective that unfolds ahead, and contrary to others, feel freer to dedicate to a work that is beneficial to all. The embarrassments, the diatribes, and the wrong doing of the enemies are nothing more than imperceptible clouds in the immense horizon. One then no longer worries about these things more than one would with the flies that hum on the ear for one knows that soon one will be free from all that; in the same way, every misery that runs their way becomes like the water rolling on the granite.

From the stand point of an earthly life the same person would perhaps get irritated and seek vengeance. From an extraterrestrial point of view those things are negligible as the little splash of mud onto an unconcerned walker. They are like thorns thrown on the path and that one does not even care for removing to avoid delays to achieve a more serious and pre-established objective.

Far from having hard feelings towards the enemies one is thankful for the opportunities given in order to exercise patience and moderation, thus benefiting one’s own future advancement whereas the fruits would be lost if one would lower to the level of revenge. One is then sorry for others having caused so many useless difficulties and tells oneself that they are the ones stepping on thorns for their concern in doing harm. That is the difference between the points of view from which life is seen: one gives you concerns and anxieties; the other calmness and serenity. To the Spiritists who face deceptions, leave Earth for a moment in your thoughts; ascend to the high regions of infinity and look at them from above and you will see what they really are.

Sometimes you hear this: “You who suffer look down below and not above and you will see people even more unfortunate”. That is true but many also say that other people’s ailments do not cure yours. The remedy is always in the comparison and it is only there for those who have difficulties to look to those better off and say: “Why do those have what I do not?”

On the contrary, once we stand on the point that we mentioned above that we will soon be forced to do, people would be well above those who they could possible envy because seen from there they would seem much too small.

We remember having watched about forty years ago, at the Odeon, a play entitled Ephemeral, whose author we do not remember, but although still very young that play left a strong impression on us. The act took place in the country of the ephemeral whose lives would last only twenty-four hours. In that twenty-four hour interval we saw them growing from childhood to adolescence, from youth to maturity, from maturity to elderly age, decrepitude and death. During that span of time they covered all situations of life: baptism, marriage, public and private businesses, etc. but since time was short it was necessary to hurry up. Everything happened prodigiously fast but that did not preclude them from gossiping around and suffering a lot to satisfy their ambitions and outperform one another.

As it can be seen that play had a profound philosophical content and the spectator who would involuntarily observe every stage of life unfolding before their eyes thought: How silly these people causing so much trouble to one another given the little time to live! What is left of their hourly ambition? Wouldn’t they do better if they lived in peace?

There you have a perfect picture of a human life seen from high above. The play, however did not outlive its heroes since it was not well understood. If the author is still alive, something that we do not know, he would be a Spiritist today.

A.K.

It was published in the Siècle … May 1862:

“We find this curious statistics of suicide in the Comédie sociale ou dix-neuvième siècle by Mr.

B. Gastineau, published by Dentu Edition:


It is estimated that since the beginning of the century the number of suicides in France is no less than 300,000. That estimate, however, is likely more as complete data is only available starting in 1836. In the period of seventeen years from 1836 to 1852 there were 52,126 suicides or an average 3,066 per year. In 1858 there were 3,803 suicides (853 women and 3050 men). And finally and according to the latest statistics found during 1859 there were 3,899 people who committed suicide (3,057 men and 842 women).

Attesting that the number of cases of suicide grows every year, Mr. Gastineau eloquently deplores this perceived monomania which seems to have taken over the human race.”

There you have a short eulogy for the unfortunate ones who commit suicide.


The issue, however, seems to be much more serious to us and deserves a careful examination. Given the situation described it seems that suicide is no longer an isolated and accidental fact. In fairness it may well be classified as a social disease, a true calamity. An ailment that takes the lives of three to four thousand people per year in one country and that follows a growing trend is not due to chance. It must have some rational cause, similar to when one sees a large number of people dying from the same disease. A situation like this draws the attention of science and authorities alike.

In such cases the attention is drawn to the kind of death and the means employed while the essential element is neglected, the only one reason that could give us a hint of the remedy: the root cause reason for each case of suicide. In this way we can find the fundamental cause. With the exception of well-characterized circumstances, it seems simpler and more convenient to attribute them all to the class of monomaniacs.

There are undoubtedly cases of suicide caused by monomania, carried out beyond the boundaries of reason like those that follow madness, elevated fevers and intoxication. In such cases the cause is purely physiological. Besides those, however, there is the much larger number of the voluntary suicides, premeditated and total awareness.

Certain people believe that the one who commits suicide is never in control of their own mental faculties. It is a mistake that we shared in the past but that has proven wrong after careful observation. In fact it is very natural to believe that the instinct of preservation is part of nature; that the voluntary destruction of oneself is not natural. That is a why that we often see instinct take over the desire to die at the very last moment and from this we conclude that in order to carry out such an act one must have lost their mind.


There is no doubt that many people who commit suicide are taken by a kind of vertigo at that moment and succumb at the first moment of exaltation. Some wake up and cling back to life excited by the instinct of preservation at the very last moment but it is also evident that many kill themselves cold-bloodedly and with remorse. A proof of that is in the plan and in the calculated order of actions that are not symptoms of madness.

We shall mention in-passing a characteristic trait of suicide: these actions are exceedingly rare and in completely isolated and uninhabited places. A person lost at sea or in the desert may die of deprivation but will not commit suicide even when there is no hope of finding help. Someone, however, who voluntarily wants to leave this life behind finds a lonely spot in order not to be seen but the act is done, preferably in populous centers of cities where there is at a least a chance of having the body found. That person may jump from the top of a downtown monument but not from the top of a cliff where there would be no trace left; another one would hang himself at the “Bois de Boulogne” but not in a forest where he would never be found.

The one who commits suicide does not wish to be stopped but does wish that sooner or later that the suicide is known. It seems that such a memory from people keeps them somehow attached to the world that they wanted to leave and that is so much true that the idea of the absolute void has something of more terrifying than death itself. Here is a curious example that supports this theory:

Around 1815 a wealthy Englishman visited the Rhine Falls. He became so much impressed that he returned to England, organized his businesses and months later he came back to throw himself in the voracious precipice. It is unquestionably an original act but we doubt very much that he would do the same at Niagara Falls so that nobody would ever know. A singular trait of character caused the action but the thought that people would talk about him was determinant in the choice of place and time. Had his body been never found at least the memory of him would not vanish!

In the absence of official statistics that might indicate the exact proportions of the several modes of suicide there is no doubt that the majority of cases are determined by the setbacks of fate, deceptions, and sorrows of all sorts. In such cases suicide is not an act of madness but of desperation.

Side by side with those motives that could be called serious, there are some that are evidently futile not to mention the undefined displeasure of life amidst its pleasure, like the one that we just mentioned. What is certain is the fact that all of those who commit suicide, with or without reason, get to such an extreme because they are not content.

There is no doubt that nobody can fix that first cause but it is necessary to deplore the easiness with which, for some time now, people succumb to such a fatal temptation. That is above all and from our point of view what has to be addressed and that is perfectly remediable.


People frequently ask if there is courage or cowardliness in suicide. There is unquestionably cowardliness before the trials of life but there is also courage to face the pains and anguishes of death. These two points, at it seems, comprise the whole issue of suicide.

However pungent the crises of death people fight back, face and withstand them when excited by the example. That is the case of the recruit, for example, that would step back before the line of fire but that becomes excited by seeing others move on and without fear. The same happens to the one who commits suicide. The vision of those who freed themselves by such a means from the displeasures and troubles of life lead them to believe that such a moment passes rapidly. Those who could have been stopped by the fear of pain tell themselves that if so many do it, they can do the same; that it is better to suffer for a few moments than do so for years. That is the only contagious aspect of suicide.

The infection is not in the fluids or in the attractions but in the example that familiarizes people with the idea of death and with the employment of means to carry that out. That is so much true that once there is a suicide of a given kind it is not rare to have it followed by others of the same type. The story of the famous lookout post where fourteen soldiers committed suicide within a short time interval has no other cause. The means was there, in the open. It seemed convenient and since they had the inclination of terminating their lives, they did it. The simple vision could have accelerated the idea. When Napoleon was told about that he had the fatal post burned down. The means was no longer there. The problem stopped.

The publicity given to suicide has the effect of the lookout post. It excites, encourages and familiarizes people with the idea and even provokes it. From that point of view we consider the details found in the press as one of the causes that elicits suicide: they give the courage of death.

The same happens to those crimes that excite public curiosity. They produce a truly moral infection. They have never stopped a single criminal. On the contrary, they have created more than one.

Let us now examine suicide from another point of view. We said that regardless of the particular motives they always have displeasure as one cause. Now, someone who is certain of not been unhappy but only for one day and to be better on the following days becomes patient. Such a person only gets desperate if there is no limit to the sufferings. What is then a human life before eternity if not just a single day? But the one who does not believe in eternity; who believes that everything finishes with death, whenever oppressed by sorrow and misery, that person can only see an end to all that with death. Since there is no other expectation it seems extremely natural to abbreviate sufferings through suicide.

Disbelief, the simple doubt about the future, the materialistic ideas, these are in a word the greatest drivers of suicide. They give into moral cowardliness.

When we see scientists using the authority of their knowledge striving to prove to their audiences or readers that there is nothing to be expected after death, isn’t that a guide to the conclusion that when unhappy there is nothing better to do than to kill oneself?

What could they say to convince people otherwise? Which compensations could they offer? Which hope could they give? Nothing beyond the nothingness. From that we must conclude that if the nothingness is a heroic remedy, the only perspective, than it is better to fall immediately than later and thus suffering for a shorter time.

The propagation of materialistic ideas is then the poison that inoculates in many people the idea of suicide and those who become their apostles carry a terrible responsibility.

It is possible that some will dispute this by saying that not every person that commits suicide is materialistic since there are people who kill themselves with the objective of getting to heavens earlier and others to reunite with the loved ones sooner. It is true but that is unquestionably the lower number and something that would be easy to demonstrate if there would be serious statistics of the causes of suicide.

Nevertheless people who yield to such a thought and believe in a future life evidently have a false idea of that life and the way they are presented with that life is not in general much adequate to give them a more accurate idea.

Spiritism not only confirms the idea of a future life but also demonstrates it through the most illustrative facts that can be presented: the testimonies of those who live there. It does even more: Spiritism shows that life to us with such rational and logical colors that faith is then supported by reason. Since doubt is no longer accepted life then changes completely. Its importance diminishes in proportion to the acquired certainty of a more prosperous future. To the believer life extends indefinitely beyond the grave, hence the patience and resignation that preclude the idea of suicide; hence the moral courage, in a word.

From that point of view Spiritism leads to another very positive result and perhaps to an even more determining factor. Religion well says that suicide is a mortal sin that meets punishment. How come? In the eternal flames that nobody believes. Spiritism shows us those who committed suicide, face-to-face, coming to us to report their unfortunate condition but with the difference that the punishments vary according to the attenuating or aggravating circumstances, more in agreement with a divine justice. That instead of being uniform, the punishments naturally follow the provoking causes and one must see there the sovereign justice impartially distributed.

Among those who commit suicide there are some whose suffering, although momentary rather than eternal, is not less terrifying so that whoever may entertain the idea of leaving Earth earlier than God’s wishes is led to think again. The Spiritist then has several points that counterbalance the idea of suicide: the certainty of a future life in which the believer knows that the greater the misery and resignation on Earth the more prosperous such life will be; the certainty that by abbreviating life the person obtains an absolutely opposite result than the one that is expected; that the person will not be able to meet the loved ones again in the other world. It follows that suicide is totally against anyone’s own interests.


Hence the considerable number of suicides avoided by Spiritism from which one can conclude that when everybody becomes Spiritist there will no longer be voluntary suicides and that is going to happen sooner rather than later. Comparing the Spiritist doctrine to materialism and only from the point of view of suicide it can be noticed that the logic of the latter leads to suicide whereas the logic of the former deviates from that and that is confirmed by experience.

They will ask if by the same means one can destroy hypochondria, the cause of so many unprovoked suicides, of this unbreakable displeasure of life that nothing seems to justify. Such cause is eminently physiological whereas the others are of psychological nature. Since it is physiological it is then in the scope of science and we could put it to rest and say: we take care of matters related to us. Why do not you then heal the other one considering that it is your business? Nevertheless we have no problem in giving a positive response to this question. Certain organic ailments are evidently fed and even generated by psychological dispositions. The disgust of life, most of the time, is the result of satiation. A person that has experienced everything and who sees nothing else beyond is in a similar situation of a drunk that has emptied the whole bottle and since there is nothing left he breaks it. The abuse and excesses of all kinds forcibly lead to a disturbance and weakening of vital functions. From there a number of diseases of unknown sources believed to be the cause when in reality are the consequences. It is also followed by monotony and lack of courage. What is it that a hypochondriac person misses to fight the melancholic ideas? An objective in life, a driver towards action. Which objective one can have when believing in nothing?

The Spiritist does more than just believing in the future. One knows, and not through the eyes of faith but by the examples that one has before oneself, that the inescapable future life is happy or unhappy according to the employment given to the corporeal life and that happiness is proportional to the good that has been done. It is then natural that such a person wishes to be as happy as possible in that life given the certainty of life after death and a much longer life when compared to that on Earth. There is also the certainty, on another hand, that one will be unhappy there if no good is done here or even if the person is not bad as such but does nothing instead. One feels the need to get busy, the best preservative against hypochondria. The certainty about the future gives an objective. Doubt gives nothing. One is taken by boredom and terminates life since there is nothing else to look for.

Allow me a perhaps trivial comparison but one that serves as analogy. A man spent an hour at the theatre. By thinking that the play was over he stands up and leaves. However, if he knew that something even better and of longer duration will be presented he would have stayed, even if seating in the worst place. Fatigue will be overcome by the wait of something better.

The same causes that lead to suicide also lead to madness. The remedy to one is the remedy to the other, as demonstrated. Unfortunately, while medicine only takes into account the material side it will be deprived from the enlightenment that the spiritual element carries and that plays a very active role in a large number of ailments.

Spiritism besides reveals the primary cause of suicide and that could only be done by Spiritism. The troubles of life are at the same time atonements of faults from the past and trials to the future. It is the spirit that chooses them in order to advance but it may happen that during the execution of the task one may find too heavy a burden and give up before the conclusion. That is when one reaches out to suicide and finds delay instead of advancement.

There is also the case where a spirit committed suicide in a preceding incarnation and as atonement meets the trying fight against the tendency of suicide. If the spirit succeeds there will be progress. If the spirit fails there will be the need to restart a new life perhaps more difficult than the previous one and so on, fighting until victory is achieved for any reward in the next life is the result of victory and victory means fight.

Hence, given the certainty that the Spiritist has about that state of things he or she acquires a will power that no other philosophy can give.

AK

One of our subscribers writes the following from Wiesbaden:

“Dear Sir, I study Spiritism carefully from all of your books and despite the clarity of the material there are still two points that do not seem well explained to some people. These are: 1. inherited faculties; 2. the dreams.”

“In fact how can we reconcile the system of pre-existence of the soul with that of inherited skills? They do, however, exist although not in absolute terms. We see them every day in the privacy of our homes. We also see them in a more elevated order with talent succeeding talents and intelligence following intelligence. Racine’s son was a poet. Alexandre Dumas’ son was a renowned writer. In dramaturgy we see the tradition of talents in the same family and in the art of war we see a clan like that of the Duke of Brunswick, for example, yielding a series of heroes.”

“Idleness, vices and crime also keep up with the tradition. Eugene Sue cites families in which several generations successively experience murder and the guillotine.”

“The creation of the soul by an individual would explain these issues even less. I appreciate that but I must confess that either doctrine is prone to the attacks of materialists who see no more than a concentration of nervous forces in those skills.”

“With respect to the dreams in the Spiritist Doctrine this also does not reconcile well with the system of the wandering soul during the sleep with the common opinion that attributes the dreams to simple reflexes of impressions that are perceived during the waking state. This latter opinion could seem to be the true explanation of dreams whereas the wandering soul would just be an exceptional case.”

(The above is followed by several supporting examples)


“Let me make it clear, Mr. President, that I do not wish to make here any personal objection but it seems useful to me that The Spiritist Review should discuss such issues even if only to provide the means of responding to the nonbelievers. As for myself, I am a believer and just seek my enlightenment.”

-o-

The subject of dreams will be analyzed later in a special article. Today we will only take care of the psychological inheritance leaving the discussion to the Spirits and just adding a few preliminary observations.

Regardless of what is said about this subject, the materialists will not be convinced either way because if they do not admit that the principal exists then they do not acknowledge its consequence either. Before anything else, it would be necessary to have them converted to Spiritualists. That is not how we should start this discussion. Hence we cannot treat their objections.


Starting from the existence of an intelligent principle beyond matter, in other words, the existence of the soul, the question to be addressed is if the souls proceed from the souls or if they are independent. We believe we have already illustrated in our March issue of the Review entitled “The Spirits and the family crest” the impossibility of the creation of a soul by another soul. Truly, if the soul of a child were part of the father’s soul the child would always bear the same qualities and imperfections, as a consequence of this axiom it would mean that the part has the same composition of the whole. Experience, however, demonstrates the opposite every day. It is true that there are examples of moral and intellectual similarities that seem to be due to inheritance and, hence, conclude that there was a transmission. Nevertheless why wouldn’t such a transmission take place all the time? Why do we constantly see essentially good parents with vicious children, and vice- versa? Since it is impossible to turn moral inheritance into a general rule it is then necessary to explain the cause of similarities with the system of the reciprocal independence of the soul. This could be no more than a difficulty but that would not have the presumption of the pre-existence of the soul and the plurality of the existences, since such a doctrine is demonstrated by hundreds of positive facts and against which it is impossible to raise serious objections.

Let us give the word to the Spirits who were kind enough to analyze the matter. Below are two communications that were obtained about it.


Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, May 23^rd, 1862 – medium Mr. D’Ambel


It has already been said many times that there was no need to erect a system based on simple appearances. It is a system of that nature that deduces from family similarities a theory contrary to the one that we gave you about the existence of the souls before their terrestrial incarnation.

It is true that many times they had never had any relationship with the means and with the families in which they reincarnate. We have told you a number of times that the physical similarities are due to a material and physiological cause, absolutely independent from a spiritual action and that with respect to the similarity of tastes and skills these do not result from the procreation of a soul by another but due to the fact that similar Spirits attract one another, hence the families of heroes or the casts of warriors.

Therefore, admit, in principle, that the good Spirits prefer to choose for their new stage on Earth a terrain that has already been paved and a family of advanced Spirits where they have they are assured to the material means necessary to their future progress. By the same token the inferior Spirits, still prone to vices and the uncivilized tastes of the brute, stay away from elevated groups of moralized families and incarnate, on the contrary, where they expect to find the means of satisfaction of their still dominating passions. Hence, and as a general principle, spiritual similarities do exist because similar attract similar whereas corporeal similarities are due to procreation.

However, it is necessary to add the following: It is common to have vicious and evil individuals incarnating in righteous families that are sent there as a test to the family. On other occasions, they still come on their own with the hopes that they will leave behind the bad habits, which up until then have dragged them down. These Spirits hope to progress by being in the presence of those moralizing and virtuous environments.


The same happens to morally advanced Spirits, like the young lady from Saint-Etienne that was mentioned last year, reincarnating into obscure and inferior families in order to show them the path of progress. You have not forgotten, I am sure, the angel of white wings that she had apparently transformed to the eyes of her loved ones on Earth when these returned to the world of the Spirits. (The Spiritist Review, June 1861 – Family conversations from beyond the grave – Mrs. Anaïs Gourdon).

Erastus

At the same session, medium Mrs. Costel


I come to explain to you about the important issue related to the inheritance of virtues and vices in the human race. Such transmission generates doubt in those who do not understand the magnitude of the dogma revealed by Spiritism.

The intermediary worlds are inhabited by Spirits waiting for the trial of reincarnation or getting ready again according to their level of advancement. In those incubators of eternal life the Spirits are grouped and divided into groups, some advanced and others delayed with respect to progress. Within these groups each chooses among human families those who are sympathetic to their acquired faculties that can only advance and never move backwards.

The incarnating spirit chooses the parents whose example will generate progress and that spirit absorbs, elevating or weakening, the talents of those who gave him the corporeal life. In both cases sympathy exists before birth and later as it is developed through family life and by imitation and habit. After the family inheritance, my friends, I want to reveal the origin of disagreements that separates individuals of the same race, suddenly illustrated or dishonored by one of its members that became strange to the ambient.

The vicious brute that incarnates in an educated family and the luminous spirit that incarnates among uncivilized people obey both the mysterious harmony that blends the divided parts of the whole and conciliates the infinitely small with the supreme greatness. A guilty spirit expects to grow from learning the virtues of the earthly procreators. If it fails still, the spirit acquires the knowledge of good by the example and returns to the spiritual world less burdened with ignorance and better prepared to sustain a new fight.

The advanced Spirits foresee the glory of Jesus and look forward to taking on the chalice of sublime charity. Like him they want to guide humanity to the sacred objective of progress and are born in the low social echelons where they fight in chains against vices and ignorance from which they raise either winners or martyrs. If this answer is not enough to clarify you please ask again my friends.

St. Louis

The following was published in the “Opinion Nationale” on June 13^th last:

“Last Tuesday two bodies were taken together to the Church of the Good News. Both followed by a man who showed a profound pain and by a considerable crowd showing sadness and reverence. Below is a short report of the events that led to the double funereal ceremony.”

“Ms. Palmira was a beautiful, good natured fashion designer who used to live with her parents. She used to receive many marriage proposals. Among the many candidates she chose Mr. B… who fell in love with her. Although she also loved him very much she decided to respect her parent’s wishes and marry Mr. D… whose social position seemed much more advantageous to them when compared to the rival candidate. The wedding took place four years ago.”

“Mr. B… and Mr. D… were close friends. Although they did not have much in common they used to see each other frequently. The love between Mr. B… and the now Mrs. D… had not died and despite their effort to minimize it, in fact, it only grew given their forceful separation. Mr. B… got married in order to try to forget that love. He married a very nice lady with excellent qualities and did his best to love her but he soon realized that his heroic effort was useless. For four years neither Mr. B… nor Mrs. D… failed in their committed vows. One cannot describe what they went through for Mr. D… , who truly loved his friend, always enticed him to the house and when he wanted to escape he forced him to stay.”

“Then when they were finally and serendipitously brought together the two lovers no longer resisted the passion that so strongly dragged one towards the other. As soon as the bad deed was over they were taken by a tremendous remorse. The young lady threw herself sobbing to her husband’s feet as soon as he came back and said: - Quick ! Kill me! I am no longer worthy of you!”

“Since he remained full of horror and pain she told him about her struggle, her suffering and everything she had to do to avoid falling earlier. She told him that she had been dominated by an illegitimate love and that she had always kept the highest respect and consideration that he deserved.”

“Instead of cursing her the man cried. Mr. B… arrived at that very moment and also confessed in the same way. Mr. D… stood them up and said: - You are two loyal and generous hearts. You became guilty by a fatality. I saw sincerity in your eyes. Why should I punish you for an irresistible force that overtook your moral strength? The punishment is in your very sorrow. Just promise me that I will no longer see you and you will still have my esteem and affection.”

“The two unfortunate souls were quick to swear as requested. The way their confession was received by Mr. D… made their pain and remorse worse. They confessed to one another their state of mind and agreed that only death could heal their shattering pain. They decided to end their lives together setting the date for the following day since Mr. D… would be away for most of the day.”

“After having made all the preparations they wrote a long letter whose summary read: - D… our love is greater than any promise. We could succumb, despite everything else. We will not lead a guilty life. Our atonement is to demonstrate that our fault must not be attributed to our will but to the enticement of a passion whose power was beyond our strength.”

“They ended that touching letter by asking for forgiveness and the two lovers begged for the grace of being reunited at the grave.”

“When Mr. D… got home he was surprised by the painful and terrifying spectacle. Amidst the thick smoke produced by a portable furnace he saw the two lovers well dressed and braced to one another in bed. They were both dead.”

“Mr. D… respected their final wishes and made sure that both received the prayers at the church and that they were buried together.”

“Mr. Cure of Good News thought appropriate to deny the admittance of the two bodies at the church given the opposition of the canonical laws.”

After this report was read as a matter for moral study at the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies two Spirits made the following consideration:

“That is the works of your Society and your costumes! Nonetheless, progress will take place. Some more time and fact of such a nature will no longer take place. Certain persons are like plants in an enclosure. They miss air, cannot breathe and spread their perfume. Your laws and costumes established limits to the expansion of certain feelings that sometimes lead two similar and sympathetic souls that given their different situations give themselves to all sorts of trickeries to be together.”

“What have you done of love? You reduced it to the weight of a metallic cylinder. You put it on the scale. Instead of king, love becomes slave. Your customs transformed a sacred link into an iron chain whose links smash those who were not born to live in shackles.”

“Ah! If your societies were walking on God’s avenue your hearts would not be broken by transient flames and your law makers would not have been forced to submit your passions to the control of the laws. Nevertheless there is progress and time will come when all of you will live the true life, the life of the heart. When heart beats are no longer constrained by the cold calculation of material interests you will no longer see such horrible suicides that from time to time belie your social prejudices.

St. Augustine, medium Mr. Vézy


The two lovers who committed suicide cannot respond to you yet. I see them. They are taken by confusion and scared by the breath of eternity. The moral consequences of their fault will punish them for successive migrations in which their departed souls will seek one another incessantly and suffer the double chastise of presentiment and desire. Once the atonement is over they shall stay united forever at the heart of the eternal love.

Eight days later the spiritual guide of the medium was consulted about the possibility of the evocation of those two Spirits thus responding: - Last time I told you that you could evoke them at the next session. They shall respond to the appeal of my medium but will not see one another. A deep darkness will keep them apart for a long time.

St. Augustine, medium Mr. Vézy

1. Evocation of the lady. – A. Yes, I will communicate with the help of the spirit that is here that helps me and to whom I obey.

2. Do you see the beloved one with whom you committed suicide? – A. I see nothing, even the Spirits that wonder with me where I am. What a darkness! What a darkness! What a thick veil covering my face!

3. What was your sensation when you woke up from death? – A. Strange. I was cold and felt burning. I had ice in my veins and fire on my face! Strange thing! Strange mixture! Ice and fire as if extinguishing me! I thought I was going to succumb a second time.

4. Do you suffer a physical pain? – A. My whole suffering is here and here!

5. What do you mean by here and here? – A. Here in my brain and here at my heart.

OBSERVATION: It is likely that if we could have seen the spirit we would have seen the hand moving from the forehead to the heart.

6. Do you believe that you will always be like that? – A. Oh! Always, always! Sometimes I hear hell like laughter that shouts these words to me: “Like this forever!”

7. Now, we can assure you that it shall not be always like that. Repent and you will find pardon. – A. What are you saying? I do not understand.

8. I repeat that your suffering will come to an end and that you can speed that up by repenting and we will help you through our prayers. – A. I only got one word and vague sounds. The word is grace. Is it what you are talking about? Oh! Adultery and suicide are two hateful crimes. You mentioned grace. That is certainly addressed to the child by my side, a poor child that is crying and waiting.

OBSERVATION: A lady member of the Society said that she had just said a prayer begging God for that unfortunate woman and that was not doubt what touched her; that in her thoughts she had implored for the grace of God to that creature.

11. And which image is that? – A. A man in suffering and whose moral existence I have destroyed for a long time on Earth.

OBSERVATION: As demonstrated by the facts, darkness frequently follows the punishment of criminal minds. It immediately follows death and its duration is variable according to the circumstances, ranging from a few months to centuries. The horror of a similar situation is understandable for the guilty one can’t perceive anything except the memories of errors and by the silence increased by one’s solitude and uncertainty, anxiety and remorse. When we read that report we sought attenuating circumstances first even looking at it as heroic action since a feeling of duty provoked it. As it can be seen, though, it was judged differently and that the punishment of the offenders will be long and terrible because they voluntarily sought refuge in death trying to escape the struggle. Their sensation of duty was undoubtedly honorable and it will certainly be taken into account later but the true merit would have been to get over the attraction whereas their attitude was like the defector that runs away as soon as there is fire.


As seen, their penalty consists on seeking one another for a long time and without success be it in the world of the Spirits or on other earthly existences. This has been aggravated by the fact that she momentarily thinks that her state is supposed to be forever. Since such a thought is part of the punishment she was not allowed to hear the words of hope that we addressed to her.


Those who see such a punishment to harsh and long lasting and particularly for the fact that it can only end after several reincarnations we say that the duration is not absolute and that it will depend on the way they withstand their future trials in which we can help through our prayers. Like any other guilty spirit they shall be the referees of their own destinies.


Isn’t that better than the hopeless and eternal fire to which they would be inexorably condemned according to the doctrine of the Church that considers them so much destined to hell that it refused to give them the last prayers since they were certainly useless?


Certain Catholics criticize Spiritism for the fact that it does not admit hell. In fact Spiritism does not admit the existence of a localized hell with its flames and spears and the corporeal tortures brought back from the Paganism of Tartarus. Yet the situation of the unfortunate Spirits that is described by Spiritism is not much better but with the radical difference that there is nothing irrational with respect to the nature of the penalties and that the duration, instead of irrevocable, is subordinated to regret, atonement and reparation which is at the same time more logical and more in agreement with the doctrine of God’s justice and benevolence.

Would Spiritism have been an efficient remedy in this case to prevent suicide? There is no doubt. It would have given those two Spirits such a confidence in the future that it would have changed completely their way of seeing this earthly life and consequently it would have given them the moral strength that they lacked.


Supposing that they had faith in the future, something that we ignore, and that their objective by killing themselves would have been that of speeding up their encounter and they would have known from similar examples that they would find the opposite result and would then be separated by a much longer time than that one here on Earth since God would not reward them for breaching His laws. Hence, certain that their wishes would not be granted but instead that they would find a situation a hundred times worse they would be advised by their own interest to be patients.


We recommend to them the prayers of every Spiritist so that they can find the strength and resignation to support them in their new trials thus accelerating the end of their punishment.

Bordeaux, February 15^th 1862, medium Mrs. H…

Q. You have already told me a number of times that we will reunite and no longer part ways. How can that be? Wouldn’t the reincarnations, even those that take place on Earth, separate us for a more or less long time? – A. I told you already: God allows those who love one another from the bottom of their hearts and that endured their trials with resignation to reunite first in the spiritual world where they advance together so as to be granted incarnations in superior worlds. Hence, when requested in earnest they can leave the spiritual world together and reincarnate in the same places and through a sequence of previously established circumstances unite again through links that are most convenient to their hearts.

Some will ask to be a father or a mother of a spirit that was sympathetic to them and that they will have the privilege of guiding on the good path, surrounding them with the caring hands of family and friendship. Others would have requested the grace of marriage and spend together many years of happiness and love. I speak of marriage as the intimate union of two Spirits who no longer wish to stay away from one another.

In the superior worlds, however, marriage is not understood, as it is known by you. In those regions of happiness, freedom and joy, the links are made of flowers and love. And they are not less long lasting because of that. The sublime unions are maintained by heart and love. Free and happy unions; marriages of souls before God that is the law of love in the superior worlds! The privileged beings of those blessed regions feel more strongly connected than the inhabitants of Earth who frequently neglect the most sacred commitments; there one doesn’t see the spectacle of disturbed unions, contaminated by vices, inferior passions, instability, envy, injustice, rejection and all sorts of inclinations that lead people to bad and to the violation of the most solemn vows. Well! Those God blessed unions are the reward of those that nurtured a profound love in their sufferings and who have asked the Lord of justice and goodness to be able to continue to love one another in the superior worlds, without the fear of a forthcoming and painful separation.

What is it that is difficult to accept and understand? Couldn’t God who loves all his children have created such a perfect happiness to the worthy ones who have endured harsh trials together? What could God have done more in agreement with the sincere wishes of a loving heart? From all the rewards that have been promised to humanity is there anything similar to such a thought, such a hope or even certainty of the eternal union to the loved ones?

Believe me, my dear child, our secret wishes, this mysterious but irresistible need of love, of long lasting love, of eternal love were only placed in our hearts by God because the promise of a future allows us such a sweet hope. God will not make us go through the pain of a broken heart. Our hearts long for happiness and beat thanks to our pure affections. The only possible reward is to have our loving dreams come true.

By the same token, in the condition of poor Spirits destined to trying times we have been in the position of asking for and sometimes choosing the toughest trials; we also choose when in the position of regenerated and happy Spirits, with a new life expected to help us to purify further, adding to the summation of happiness conceded to an advanced spirit.

There you have, my beloved daughter, a quick picture of future happiness. We shall have many opportunities to come back to this pleasant subject. You must understand how much the perspective of such a future makes me happy and how nice it is to me to confide my hopes to you!

Q. – Shall we recognize one another in those new and fortunate existences? – A. Would our happiness be complete otherwise? It is no doubt happiness because in those privileged worlds every creature is destined to be happy. However, would that be the perfect happiness to those who get suddenly separated in the most beautiful time of life and ask God to get together again in His heart? Would that be our dreams and hopes coming true? No. You think like me. If a veil were cast upon the past there would not be a supreme happiness, the ineffable joy of seeing one another again after the sadness of absence and separation. There wouldn’t be, or at least we would not be aware of our long lasting fondness that strengthens our bonds even further. Thus, like two dear childhood friends like to meet again in your Earth and in society, seeking one another much more than if their relationship dated a few days only, the Spirits who deserved the favor of meeting again in superior worlds are both happy and appreciative to God for such a new encounter as an answer to their dearest wishes.

The worlds superior to Earth in the scale of perfection are plenty of favors that contribute to the perfect happiness of their inhabitants. Past is not hidden from them since the memory of their past suffering and many mistakes atoned to the price of much suffering and the even more lively memory of their sincere loving relationships ensure that their current life is a thousand times sweeter, protecting them against faults that could be incurred due to the existence of any minor weakness. Those worlds are paradises to the inhabitants of Earth, destined to lead humanity to the divine paradise.

OBSERVATION: It would be a terrible mistake to see in this communication a criticism to the laws that regulate marriage and a sanction to ephemeral and extra official unions. From the point of view of laws God’s laws are the only ones that are immutable. The human laws, however, appropriate to the customs, uses, climate, and degree of civilization are essentially mutable and it would be bad if otherwise and if the peoples of the nineteenth century were governed by the same laws of our predecessors. Hence, if these laws have changed from their time to ours, they will also change from our time to that of our descendants. Every law has it reason of being and its utility when it is elaborated but it is possible that it is good today and no longer is tomorrow. Given the state of our customs, our social demands, marriage must be regulated by law and a proof that such a law is not absolute is that it is not the same to every civilized country. We are then led to believe that in the superior worlds where there isn’t the same kind of material interests to be protected; where there is no evil, that is to say, where bad Spirits are denied incarnation; where the unions consequently result from sympathy rather than calculation, the conditions must be different. However, what is good to them could be bad to us.

Besides, we must take into account that the Spirits dematerialize as they advance and purify. It is only in inferior worlds that incarnation is material. There is no more material incarnation to the superior Spirits and consequently there is no procreation once procreation is a function of the body and not the spirit. Pure love is then the only objective of a union and hence it does not require the sanction of a certified judge as with friendship on Earth.

Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, medium Mrs. C.

A man is walking outside. A roof tile falls by his feet. He says: “How lucky! One step further and I would be dead.” Generally speaking this is the only appreciation to God. Soon afterwards that same man, however, is taken by an illness and dies in bed. Why has he been spared by the roof tile and died a few days later like everybody else? The unbeliever would say that it was by chance as he said it himself: “How lucky!” What good has it done to him to escape the first accident succumbing to the next? In any case, if he was favored by luck, it did not last long.

The Spiritist answers this question by saying that we escape accidents all the time and that we find ourselves separated from death by a thin line. Do not you see a warning from the heavens to prove to you that life is hanging on a thin thread and that we are never sure that we will live to see tomorrow and that we must always be ready to leave?

What is it that you do when you go on a long journey? You take every precaution; you take care of businesses; you take with you the provisions and everything that is necessary during the journey and you leave behind everything that can stall or delay your trip. If you know the destination and if you have friends there, you leave without fear and certain that you will be welcome. Otherwise you study the map of the region and take letters of recommendation with you.

Suppose you are forced to undertake such a journey overnight and that there is no time to make preparations, whereas, if you were informed well in advance you would have everything prepared to attend to your needs and give you comfort.

Well! Every day you are exposed to the greatest and most important of all journeys and one that will inevitably have to be realized and you do not think of that more than if you had to live indefinitely on Earth! God out of His benevolence warns you by many nearly fatal incidents and all you have to say is: What luck!

Spiritists! Be aware of the preparations you have to make for the great journey that has much more important consequences to you than any other that you do here on Earth as your future happiness depends on how you make those preparations.

The map that will guide you in the country that you are going to visit is the initiation into the mysteries of a future life. Through this the country will no longer be strange to you. Your provisions are the good deeds that you have done. Those will be your only passport and your letter of recommendation.

As for the friends that you are going to meet that you know them. Bad feelings, that is what you must leave behind for unfortunate is the one who is taken by surprise by death and still has hate in his heart like the one who falls on the water and dragged to the bottom by a stone tied to the neck.

The business which you must set in order is the forgiveness to your offenders and the reparation of mistakes made to your neighbor. These amendments allow you to conquer and forgive for bad deeds. These debts are paid by forgiveness. Hurry up since the departing time may come sooner rather than later and there would not be time for consideration.

I truly tell you that the falling tile by your feet is a sign to warn you to always be prepared to leave at any time so that you are not taken by surprise.

The Spirit of Truth

Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, January 24^th 1862

Proposed subject Medium Mr. A. Didier

This is not only a material subject but it is also very much a spiritualist one as well. Before going into the main subject there is another one to be discussed first.

What is war? War, we say for starters, is allowed by God since it exists, has existed and will always exist. While educating one’s mind it is a mistake to consider Cesar as a conqueror only; to see Clovis as a Barbarian and Charlemagne a tyrant whose senseless dream was to create a large empire. Ah! God! As people generally say, the conquerors themselves are toys in the hands of God.

They got to these positions out of their geniuses and audacity and saw around them not only armed men but also ideals, progress, civilizations that had to be brought upon other nations. They left like Cesar to take Rome to Lutetia; like Clovis to spread the germs of a monarchic solidarity; like Charlemagne to sow the seeds of Christianity to blind peoples, to nations already corrupted by the first times of the Church.

This is what happened:


Cesar, the most self-centered of these three geniuses, imposed military tactics, discipline and the law, imposing them all to Gaul. Behind his army, there was the immortal idea. The conquered and untamable populations endured the oppression of Rome; they became Roman provinces. Would the proud Marseille have ever existed without Rome? Laudanum and so many other famous towns became huge centers, focuses of light, science, arts and humanity. Cesar is then a great propagator, one of those universal men that use man to civilize man, one of those who sacrifice people to the benefit of ideas.

Clovis’ dream was to establish a monarchy, foundations, and a rule for his people. However, since he was not yet illuminated by the grace of Christianity, he was a barbarian propagator. We must see him in his conversion. Out of his active, febrile and bellicose imagination, he saw a gift from God in his victory against the Visigoth and from there on and certain that he was always with God he was baptized. Baptism then propagates in the Gaul and Christianity expands even further. It is time to repeat with Corneille that Rome was no longer Rome. The barbarians had invaded the Roman world.


After the Romans had shaken all civilizations there is a man whose dream is no longer to spread around the world the mysteries and prestige of the Capitol but the formidable beliefs of Aix-la- Chapelle. That is a godly man or a man that believes to be with God. The barbarians still practice a hateful cult, a rival to Christianity. Charlemagne takes those people over and Wittekind falls after a succession of battles and victories, humbly surrendering and receiving the baptism.

That is, no doubt, a gigantic picture in which so many facts, so many acts of Providence, so many downfalls and victories take place. But what is the conclusion? Isn’t the propagation of the idea, its universalization, not stopping before family breakdowns, people’s sadness and having everywhere the fundamental objective of the implantation of the cross of Christ in all corners of the planet, isn’t that a spiritualist fact?

It is then necessary to see these three men as great propagators that either out of ambition or belief brought light to the Occident when the Orient was about to succumb in a perplexing laziness and inactivity.

Now, Earth is not a planet where progress takes place rapidly and through persuasion and kindness. Do not be surprised by the fact that it is many times necessary to raise the sword instead of the cross.

Lamennais


Q. – You said that wars will always exist. However it seems that moral progress will make it disappear by destroying its causes. – A. It will always exist in the sense that there will always be struggle. But the struggle will change in form. It is true that Spiritism must spread peace and fraternity around the world. But you know well that despite the triumph of good there is always a struggle. Spiritism will evidently increase the understanding of the need for peace but evil is always present. It will still be necessary to fight for good for a long time on Earth. The struggles will become rarer and rarer.


Same subject, medium Mr. Leymar


The influence of geniuses upon the future of the peoples is incontestable. They are instruments in the hands of the Providence to abbreviate the great reforms that without them would only come much later. They are the ones who sow the germs of the new ideas and they often come back some centuries later bearing different names to continue or complement the work that was initiated. Cesar, that great figure of antiquity, represents the genius of war and organized laws. His stretched to the limit passions shook the Roman society profoundly. It changes its face and, in the evolutionary process, everything changes. The peoples feel their former constitution changing. The ruthless strength of his power unites what should not have been separated according to the time of Cesar. Gaul is transformed by Cesar’s triumphant hands and after ten years of war a powerful unity is formed. The decadence of Rome begins at that time, though.


The force that trembled the world was taken to the excesses and made the mistakes of the extreme power.

Anything that grows beyond the limits designed by God must also fall. The great empire was invaded by a cloud of peoples originated from unknown regions up until then.

Together with the weapons, the celebrity of Cesar had taken the new ideas to the North and the peoples precipitated upon him like a torrent.

You then see those barbarian tribes invading the provinces where the Sun was better, the wine sweeter and the women more beautiful. Those tribes crossed the Gaul, the Alps and the Pyrenees establishing colonies everywhere and thus breaking down the body of the so-called Roman Empire.

It was only the genius of Cesar that was required to take his nation to the summit of power. That is the period of renovation when all people mix and fight one another, seeking other formations, other elements. During several centuries there was a lot of hatred, a lot of wars. How many crimes! How much blood!

Barbaret


The barbarian hand of Clovis should set the starting point of a new era for the people. He obeyed the customs and would not back up before anything in order to form a nation. He formed it with the sword and astuteness. He created a new element with the baptism and initiated his soldiers in a new belief. After him there was chaos and despite the idea, despite Christianity, there was still the need for Charles Martel, Pepin and later Charlemagne.

Cheers to this powerful figure, this energetic figure that like a new Cesar knows how to bring together all the peoples that were disperse, knows how to change ideas and organize what was chaos. Charlemagne is greatness in war, law, politics, and in the forthcoming morality, which should combine the people, giving them the intuition of conservation, unity and solidarity. The great principles that were the foundations of France come from him. Our sciences and our laws come from him. He was a reformer, marked by the Providence to become the link between Cesar and the future. He is also called The Great because he employed terrible means of execution in order to shape the union of barbarian peoples who would obey no one but the strong and powerful.

Barbaret


NOTE: Since this name was unknown the spirit was asked to provide some clarification about himself.

I lived in the time of Henry IV. I was simple among all others. Lost in this Paris where someone like me is so easily forgotten, someone who was just concerned with the study, feeding my own thoughts and forming my own ideas. I was poor and the daily labor gave me that ineffable joy called freedom. I used to copy books and created wonderful vignettes, prodigies of patience

and knowledge which were only enough to grant me the daily bread and water. Nevertheless I studied, loved my homeland and sought the true science. I liked history and wanted freedom to my beloved France. I wished I had the realization of every aspiration dreamed in my humility. Since then I am in a better world and God rewarded me for my abnegation giving me this peace of mind where there is no place for the obsessions of the body and I cherish my country, the whole world, our Earth, love and freedom.

I come here many times to see you and to listen to you. I like your works and take part in them with my whole heart. I want to see you happy and satisfied in the future. May you all be happy is what I wish. However you will not be if you do not get rid of the old outfit that since long ago dresses this whole world. I speak of selfishness. Study the past, the history of your country and you will learn more from the suffering of your fellow countrymen than from any other science.

To live is to know, to love and help one another. Go then and do according to your spirit. God sees you and judges you.

Barbaret

A large manuscript of a book was sent to us with the title “Love –Revelations of the Spirit of 3^rd order of the angelical series” to Brother P. Montani. The package was not followed by a letter so we do not know who to thank for that. If the person has access to this issue of the Review we kindly ask you to identify yourself so that we can thank you adequately. While we wait, we can say that the work has excellent contributions and is based on the soundest moral concepts and on the fundamental principles of Spiritism. There are, however, several points that are adventurous theories and that require a serious criticism. From our side we could not accept everything that it contains hence we did not find it appropriate to publish without changes.