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Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866 > November
November
Muhammad and Islamism
(2nd Article – See August 1866)
It was in Medina that Muhammad had the first mosque built, on which he worked with his own hands, and that he organized a regular worship; he preached there for the first time in 623. All the measures taken by him bore witness to his solicitude and foresight: "A characteristic feature both of man and of his time," says Mr. Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, is the choice that Muhammad had to make of three poets from Medina, officially charged with defending him against the satires of the poets of Mecca. It was probably not that self-esteem was more excitable in him than it should be, but in a witty and lively nation these attacks had a resonance analogous to that of the newspapers can have today, and they were very dangerous."
We have said that Muhammad was forced to become a warrior; indeed, he was by no means belligerent, as he had proved in the first fifty years of his life. However, barely two years had elapsed since his stay in Medina, when the Coraishites of Mecca, united with the other hostile tribes, came to besiege the city. Muhammad had to defend himself; since that time a war period began for him that lasted ten years, and during which he proved to be a skillful tactician. Among a people to whom war was the normal state, that only knew the right of force, the leader of the new religion needed the prestige of victory to establish his authority, even over his partisans. Persuasion had little sway over those ignorant and turbulent populations; too much leniency would have been taken for weakness. In their minds, a strong God could only be manifested through a strong man, and Christ with his unalterable gentleness would have failed in those regions.
Muhammad was therefore a warrior by force of circumstances, much more than by his character, and he will always have the merit of not having been the provocateur. Once the struggle had begun, he had to win or perish; on this condition alone, he could be accepted as the messenger of God; his enemies had to be struck down to be convinced of the superiority of his God over the idols they worshiped. Except for one of the first battles in which he was wounded, and the Muslims defeated, in 625, his arms were consistently victorious, and within a few years he brought the whole of Arabia under his rule. When he saw his authority seated and idolatry destroyed, he went triumphantly to Mecca, after ten years of exile, followed by nearly a hundred thousand pilgrims, and there made the famous pilgrimage called farewell, of which the rites are scrupulously preserved by the Muslims. He died the same year, two months after his return to Medina, on June 8, 632, at the age of sixty-two.
Muhammad must be judged by authentic and impartial history, not by the ridiculous legends that ignorance and fanaticism have spread about him, or by the paintings of him by those who had an interest in discrediting him by presenting him as a bloodthirsty and cruel ambitious man. Neither should he be held responsible for the excesses of his successors who wanted to conquer the world to the Muslim faith, saber in hand. No doubt there were great spots in the last period of his life; one can reproach him for having in some circumstances abused the right of the victor, and for not always having acted with all the desirable moderation. However, aside from a few acts that our civilization condemns, it must be said, in his defense, that he was much more often human and lenient towards his enemies than vindictive, and that he has repeatedly given proof of a true greatness of soul. It must also be recognized that in the midst of his successes, and when he had reached the highest point of his glory, he was, until his last day, withdrawn into his role of prophet, without ever usurping a despotic temporal authority; he made himself neither king nor potentate, and never, in his private life, he stained himself with any act of cold barbarism, nor of base greed; he has always lived with simplicity, without pomp and luxury, showing himself to be kind and benevolent to everyone. This is history.
If we look back to the time and the environment in which he lived, if we consider especially the persecutions of which he and his family were the object, the relentlessness of his enemies, and the acts of barbarism that they committed against his supporters, can we be surprised that in the intoxication of his victory he sometimes used reprisals? Can we reproach him for having established his religion by iron, among a barbarian people who fought him, when the Bible records, as glorious facts of faith, butcheries of such atrocity that we are tempted to take them for legends? When, a thousand years after him, in the civilized countries of the West, Christians, who had for guide the sublime law of Christ, charging onto peaceful victims, smothering heresies by the pyres, tortures, massacres, and in waves of blood?
If the warlike role of Mahomet was a necessity for him, and if this role can excuse him from certain political acts, it is not the same with respect to other aspects. Until the age of fifty, and as long as his first wife Khadidja lived, fifteen years older than himself, his morals were irreproachable; but from that moment his passions knew no restraint, and it was undoubtedly to justify the abuse he made of them that he consecrated polygamy in his religion. This was his gravest fault, for it was a barrier he raised between Islamism and the civilized world; his religion, therefore, has not been able, after twelve centuries, to cross the boundaries of certain races. It is also the side by which its founder belittles himself the most in our eyes; men of genius always lose their prestige when they allow themselves to be dominated by matter; on the contrary, they grow all the more as they rise above the weaknesses of humanity.
However, moral disruption was such at the time of Muhammad that a radical reform was very difficult among men used to indulge their passions with bestial brutality; we can therefore say that by regulating polygamy, he set limits to disorder and stopped much more serious abuses; but polygamy will nonetheless remain the gnawing worm of Islamism, because it is contrary to the laws of nature. Through the numerical equality of the sexes, nature itself has drawn the limit of unions. By allowing four legitimate women, Muhammad did not think that, for his law to reach the universality of men, the female sex would have to be at least four times more numerous than the male sex.
Despite its imperfections, Islamism was nonetheless a great blessing at the time when it appeared and for the country where it originated, for it founded the cult of the unity of God on the ruins of idolatry. It was the only religion possible for those barbarous peoples from whom one should not ask too great sacrifices to their ideas and their habits. They needed something as simple as the nature in the which they lived; the Christian religion had too many metaphysical subtleties; also all the attempts made during five centuries to implant it in these regions, had completely failed; Judaism itself, too argumentative, had made few proselytes among the Arabs, although the Jews themselves were quite numerous. Superior to those of his race, Muhammad understood the men of his time; to rescue them from the abasement in which they were kept by coarse beliefs descended to stupid fetishism, he gave them a religion appropriate to their needs and their character. This religion was the simplest of all: "Belief in a unique God, almighty, eternal, infinite, present everywhere, magnanimous and merciful, creator of heavens, of the angels and of the earth, Father of man, whom he watches over and fills with goods; rewarding and avenging in another life, where he awaits us to reward or punish us according to our merits; seeing our most secret actions, and presiding over the entire destiny of his creatures that he does not abandon for a single moment, neither in this world nor in the next; the most humble submission and absolute confidence in his holy will” - these are the dogmas.
A for worshiping, it consists of prayer repeated five times a day, fasting and mortifications in the month of Ramadan, and in certain practices, many of which had a hygienic purpose, but which Muhammad turned into a religious obligation, such as daily ablutions, abstention from wine, intoxicating liquors, from the flesh of certain animals, and which the faithful make it a matter of conscience to observe in the most minute details. Friday was adopted as the holy day of the week, and Mecca indicated as the point to which all Muslims should turn when praying. Public service in mosques consists of common prayers, sermons, reading and explanation of the Koran. Circumcision was not instituted by Muhammad but preserved by him; it was already practiced from immemorial times among the Arabs. The prohibition against reproducing by painting or sculpture any living being, men or animals, was made with a view to destroying idolatry and preventing it from being renewed. Finally, the pilgrimage to Mecca, which every believer must accomplish at least once in their life, is a religious act; but he had another goal at that time, a political goal, that of bringing together by a fraternal bond the various enemy tribes, by uniting them in a common feeling of piety in the same holy place.
From a historical point of view, the Muslim religion admits the Old Testament in its entirety up to and including Jesus Christ, whom it recognizes as a prophet. According to Muhammad, Moses and Jesus were messengers of God to teach the truth to men; the gospel, like the law of Sinai, is the word of God; but Christians have twisted its meaning. He declares, in explicit terms, that he brings neither new beliefs nor new worship, but that he comes to re-establish the worship of the one God professed by Abraham. He speaks only with respect for the patriarchs and prophets that preceded him: Moses, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jesus Christ; of the Pentateuch, the Psalms and the Gospel. These are the books which preceded and prepared the Koran. Far from hiding the borrowings he makes from them, he boasts of them, and their greatness is the basis of his. One can judge of his feelings and the character of his instructions by the following fragment of the last speech which he delivered in Mecca during the farewell pilgrimage, shortly before his death, and preserved in the work of Ibn- Ishâc and Ibn-Ishâm:
“O peoples! listen to my words; because I do not know if, in another year, I will be able to find myself again with you in this place. Be human and fair to each other. May the life and property of each be inviolable and sacred to others; let him who has received a deposit return it faithfully to who gave it to him. You will appear before your Lord, and he will hold you accountable for your actions. Treat women well, they are your helpers, they cannot do anything on their own. You have taken them as an asset which God has entrusted to you, and you have taken possession of them with divine words.
O peoples! listen to my words and fix them in your minds. I have revealed everything to you; I leave you a law which will preserve you forever from error, if you remain faithfully attached to it; a clear and positive law, the book of God and the example of his prophet.
O peoples! listen to my words and fix them in your minds. Know that every Muslim is the brother of the other; that all Muslims are brothers among themselves, that you are all equal among yourselves, and that you are but a family of brothers. Beware of injustice; no one should commit it to the detriment of his brother: it would entail your eternal loss.
O God! have I completed my message and completed my assignment? - The crowd surrounding him replied, "Yes, you did." And Muhammad exclaimed: O God, deign to receive this testimony! "
Here is now the judgment passed on Muhammad, and the influence of his doctrine, by one of his historiographers, Mr. G. Weil, in his German work entitled: Muhammad der Prophet, pages 400 and following:
“The doctrine of God and of the holy destinies of man, preached by Muhammad in a country which was given to the most brutal idolatry, and that hardly had an idea of the immortality of the soul, all the more must reconcile us with him, in spite of his weaknesses and his faults, that his particular life could not exert on his followers any wicked influence. Far from ever giving himself as a model, he always wanted to be regarded as a privileged being, whom God allowed to be placed above the common law; and, indeed, he has been viewed more and more in this special role.
We would be unjust and blind if we did not recognize that his people owe him something yet more true and good. He united, in one great nation, the innumerable tribes of Arabs hitherto enemies among themselves, fraternally believing in God. Instead of the most violent arbitrariness, of the law of force, and of individual struggle, he established an unshakeable law, which, despite its imperfections, still forms the basis of all the laws of Islamism. He limited the vengeance of blood that before him extended to the most distant relatives, limiting it to the one alone whom the judges recognized as a murderer. He did relevant services, above all to the fair sex, not only by protecting girls against the atrocious custom which often allowed them to be immolated by their fathers, but also by protecting women against the parents of their husbands, who inherited them as a material thing, and by defending them against the mistreatment of men. He restricted polygamy, allowing believers only four legitimate wives, instead of ten, as was customary, especially in Medina. Without having fully emancipated the slaves, he served them good and useful in many ways. For the poor, he not only always recommended beneficence towards them, but he formally established a tax in their favor, and he gave them a special share in the booty and in the tribute. By prohibiting gambling, wine and all intoxicating drinks, he has prevented many vices, many excesses, many quarrels and many disorders.
Although we do not regard Muhammad as a true prophet, because he used violent and impure means to propagate his religion, because he was too weak to submit himself to the common law, and because he called himself the seal of the prophets, while declaring that God could always replace what He had given with something better, he has the merit, nevertheless, of having spread the most beautiful doctrines of the Old and of the New Testament onto a people not enlightened by any ray of faith, and as such he must appear, even to non-Mohammedan eyes, as an envoy of God.”
As a complement to this study, we will quote some textual passages from the Koran, borrowed from Savary's translation:
“In the name of the merciful and magnanimous God. - Praise the God, ruler of the worlds. - Mercy is his share. - He is the king on the day of judgment. - We adore you, Lord, and we implore your assistance. - Lead us in the path of salvation, - in the path of those whom you have filled with your bounties; - of those who did not deserve your anger and preserved themselves from error. (Introduction, Sura I)
O mortals, worship the Lord who created you and your fathers, so that you may fear him; who gave you the earth for a bed, and the sky for a roof; who sent down the rain from the heavens to produce all the fruits that you eat. Do not give an associate to the Highest; you know it. (Sura II, v. 19 and 20)
Why don't you believe in God? You were dead, he gave you life; he will extinguish your days, and he will rekindle the torch. You will return to him. - He created all that is on the earth for your refuge. Then looking up to the firmament, he formed the seven heavens. His science embraces the universe. (Sura II, v. 26, 27).
East and West belong to God; wherever you look you will recognize his face. He fills the universe with his vastness and his science. - He formed the earth and the heavens. Does he want to produce any work? He says: “Be done; And the work is done. - The ignorant say: "If God does not speak to us, or if you do not show us a miracle, we will not believe." Thus spoke their fathers; their hearts are alike. We have brought forth enough wonders for those who have faith. (Sura II, v. 109 to 112).
God will only demand of each of us according to their strength. Each will have their good works in their favor, and against them the evil they have done. Lord do not punish us for mistakes made by forgetting. Forgive us our sins; do not place on us the burden that our fathers carried. Do not charge us beyond our strength. Show forgiveness and indulgence for your servants. Have compassion on us; you are our help. Help us against the unfaithful nations. (Sura II, v. 296).
O God, supreme King, you give and take away the crowns and the power at your pleasure. You raise and you lower humans to your will; the good is in your hands: you are the Almighty. - You change day into night, and night into day. You bring out life from the bosom of death, and death from the bosom of life. You pour your infinite treasures on those you like. (Sura III, v. 25 and 26).
Do you not know how many peoples we have wiped out from the face of the earth? We gave them a more stable empire than yours. We sent the clouds to pour rain over their fields; we made rivers flow there. Their crimes alone caused their ruin. We replaced them with other nations. (Sura VI, v. 6).
It is to God that you owe the night's sleep and the morning awakening. He knows what you are doing during the day. He lets you fulfill the course of life. You will reappear before him, and he will show you your works. - He rules over his servants. He gives you, as guardians, angels charged with ending your days at the prescribed time. They carefully execute the order of heaven. - You will then return to the God of truth. Isn't it up to him to judge? He is the most accurate of judges. - Who delivers you from the tribulations of the earth and the seas, when, invoking him in public or in the secret of your hearts, you cry out: "Lord, if you remove these evils from us, we will be grateful? - It is God who delivers you from it. It is his kindness that relieves you from the pain that oppresses you; and then you go back to idolatry. (Sura VI, v. 60 to 64).
All the secrets are revealed to his eyes; great is the Almighty. - The one who speaks in secret, the one who speaks in public, the one who envelops himself in the shadows of the night and the one who appears in broad daylight, are also known to him. - It is he who makes lightning shine in your eyes, to inspire you with fear and hope. It is he who raises the rain-laden clouds. - Thunder celebrates his praises. The angels tremble in his presence. He launches lightning, and it strikes the marked victims. Men dispute with God, but he is the strong and the powerful. - He is the true invocation. Those who implore other gods will not be heard. They resemble the traveler who, pressed by thirst, stretches out his hand towards the water he cannot reach. The invocation of the infidels is lost in the night of error. (Sura XIII, v. 10-15).
Never say, “I'll do this tomorrow,” without adding, “If it's God's will. Raise your thoughts to him, when you have forgotten something, and say, "Perhaps he will enlighten me and make me know the truth." (Sura XVIII, v. 23).
If the waves of the sea turned into ink to describe the praises of the Lord, they would be exhausted before they had celebrated all His wonders. Another similar ocean would not suffice yet. (Sura XVIII, v. 109).
Whoever seeks true greatness finds it in God, the source of all perfections. Righteous speeches ascend to his throne. He exalts good works; he rigorously punishes the villain who plots perfidy.
No, Heaven never revokes the judgment he issued. - Have they not traveled the earth? Have they not seen the deplorable end of the peoples who before them walked in the ways of iniquity? These people were stronger and more powerful than they are. But nothing in the heavens and on the earth can oppose the will of the Highest. Science and strength are his attributes. - If God punished men from the moment they are guilty, it would not remain an animated being on earth. He differs the punishments until the marked term. - When the time is right, he distinguishes the actions of his servants. (Sura XXXV, v. 11, 41 to 45).
These quotes are enough to show the deep feeling of piety which animated Muhammad, and the great and sublime idea he had of God. Christianity could claim this image. Muhammad did not teach the dogma of absolute fatality, as is generally believed. Such belief, with which Muslims are imbued and which paralyzes their initiative in many circumstances, is only a false interpretation and a false application of the principle of submission to the will of God, pushed beyond its rational limits; they do not understand that this submission does not exclude the exercise of human faculties, and they lack the correction of the maxim: “help yourself, and heaven will help you.”
The following passages relate to specific points of doctrine.
God has a son, say Christians. Far from him this blasphemy! Everything in heavens and on earth belongs to Him. All beings obey his voice. (Sura II, v. 110).
O you who have received the scriptures, do not go beyond the bounds of faith; speak only the truth of God. Jesus is the son of Mary, the envoy of the Highest and his Word. He sent it down to Mary's womb; it is his breath. Believe in God and in his apostles; but do not say that there is a trinity in God. He is one: this belief will be more certain for you. Far from having a son, he alone rules heaven and earth; He is self-sufficient. - The Messiah will not be ashamed for being the servant of God, nor will the angels who surround his throne and obey him. (Sura IV, v. 169, 170).
Those who uphold the trinity of God are blasphemers; there is only one God. If they do not change their beliefs, a painful torment will be the price of their impiety. (Sura V, v. 77).
The Jews say that Ozai is the son of God. Christians say the same of the Messiah. They speak like the infidels who came before them. Heaven will punish their blasphemies. - They call lords their pontiffs, their monks, and the Messiah son of Mary. But it is recommended that they serve one God: there is no other. Anathema to those they associate with their cult. (Sura IX, v. 30, 31).
God has no children; he does not share the empire with another God. If this were so, each of them would want to appropriate their creation and rise above their rival. Praise be Highest! Far from him these blasphemies! (Sura XXII, v. 93).
Declare, O Muhammad, what heaven has revealed to you. - The assembly of geniuses, having listened to the reading of the Koran, exclaimed: "Here is a marvelous doctrine. - It leads to true faith. We believe in it, and we do not equalize God. - Glory to his Supreme Majesty! God has no wife; he did not give birth. (Sura LXXII, v. 1 to 4).
Say, “We believe in God, in the book that was sent to us, in what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and to the twelve tribes. We believe in the doctrine of Moses, Jesus, and the prophets; we make no difference between them, and we are Muslims. (Sura II, v. 130).
There is no God except the living and eternal God. - He sent you the book which contains the truth, to confirm the truth of the Scriptures which preceded him. Before him, he sent down the Pentateuch and the Gospel to serve as guides for men; he sent the Quran from heaven. - Those who deny the divine doctrine should expect only torture; God is mighty, and vengeance is in his hands. (Sura III, v. 1, 2, 3).
There are those who say, "We swore to God that we will not believe in any prophet, unless his offering is confirmed by fire from heaven." - Answer them: "You had prophets before me; they worked miracles, and the very one you're talking about. Why then have you stained your hands with their blood, if you are telling the truth?” - If they deny your mission, they treated the apostles who preceded you in the same way, although they were endowed with the gift of miracles and they had brought the book that enlightens (the Gospel) and the book of psalms (Sura III, v. 179-181).
We inspired you, as we inspired Noah, the prophets, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the tribes, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon. We gave the Psalms of David. (Sura IV, v. 161).”
In many other places, Muhammad speaks in the same way and with the same respect for the prophets, Jesus and the Gospel; but it is evident that he misunderstood the meaning attached to the Trinity, and to the quality of son of God which he takes literally. If this mystery is incomprehensible to so many Christians, and if it has raised so many comments and controversies among them, one should not be surprised that Muhammad did not understand it. In the three persons of the Trinity he saw three gods, and not one God in three distinct persons; in the son of God he saw procreation; now, the idea which he had of the Supreme Being was so great, that the slightest parity between God and any being, and the idea that he could share his power, seemed a blasphemy to him. Jesus has never called himself God, and never spoke of the Trinity, for these dogmas appeared to him to move away from the very words of Christ.
He saw in Jesus and the Gospel the confirmation of the principle of the unity of God, a goal which he himself pursued; this is why he held them in great esteem, while he accused the Christians of having strayed from this teaching, by splitting God and deifying his messiah. So, he said he was sent after Jesus to bring men back to the pure unity of the divinity. The whole dogmatic part of the Koran is based on this principle which it repeats at every step.
Having Islamism its roots in the Old and the New Testaments, it is a derivation from it; we can consider it as one of the many sects born out of the dissidences which arose from the origin of Christianity concerning the nature of Christ, with the difference that Islamism, formed outside Christianity, outlived most of these sects, and today has one hundred million followers.
Muhammad fought, at any price and in his own nation, the belief in several gods, to re-establish there the abandoned worship of the unique God of Abraham and Moses; The anathema which he launched against the infidels and the ungodly, had for object, above all, the gross idolatry professed by those of his race, but he struck the Christians in consequence. This is the cause of the contempt of Muslims for anything that bears the name of Christian, despite their respect for Jesus and the Gospel. This contempt has turned into hatred by the influence of fanaticism, maintained and overexcited by their priests. Let us also say that, for their part, Christians are not without reproach, and that they themselves have fueled this antagonism with their own aggressions.
While blaming the Christians, Muhammad did not have hostile feelings for them, and in the Koran itself he recommends to be careful with them, but fanaticism has included them in the general proscription of idolaters and infidels whose presence must not stain the sanctuaries of Islamism, which is why the entry of mosques, Mecca and holy places is forbidden to them. It was the same with the Jews, and if Muhammad severely punished them in Medina, it was because they had joined forces against him. In fact, nowhere in the Koran does one find the extermination of Jews and Christians set up as a duty, as it is generally believed. It would therefore be unjust to blame him for the evils caused by the unintelligent zeal and excesses of his successors.
We have inspired you to embrace the religion of Abraham, who recognizes the unity of God and who adores only his supreme majesty. - Use the voice of wisdom and the force of persuasion to call men to God. Fight with the weapons of eloquence. God knows perfectly well those who are astray and those who walk by the torch of faith. (Sura XVI, v. 124, 126).
If they accuse you of imposture, answer them: “I have my works on my side; let yours speak for you. You will not be responsible for what I do, and I am innocent of what you do. (Sura X, v. 42).
When will your threats be fulfilled? ask the infidels. Mark us a term if you are truthful. Answer them: “The heavenly treasures and vengeance are not in my hands; God alone is its dispenser. Each nation has its fixed term; she could neither hasten it nor delay it for a moment. (Sura X, v. 49, 50).
If your doctrine is denied, know that the prophets who came before you suffered the same fate, although miracles, tradition, and the enlightening book (the Gospel) attest to the truth of their mission. (Sura XXXV, v. 23).
The blindness of the infidels surprises you, and they laugh at your astonishment. - In vain do you want to instruct them: their hearts reject instruction. - If they saw miracles, they wouldn't care; - they would attribute them to magic. (Sura XXXVII, v. 12 to 15).
These are not the orders of a bloodthirsty God who orders extermination. Muhammad does not make himself the executor of His justice; its role is to instruct; to God alone belongs to punish or reward in this world and in the next. The last paragraph seems to be written for the Spiritists of today, since men are the same, always, and everywhere.
Pray, give alms; the good that you do, you will find with God, because he sees your actions. (Sura II, v. 104).
It is not enough, to be justified, to turn one's face towards the East and the West; one must also believe in God, in the last day, in the angels, in the Koran, in the prophets. For the love of God, one must help our loved ones, the orphans, the poor, travelers, captives, and those who ask. We must pray, keep our promises, patiently endure adversity and the evils of war. These are the duties of true believers. (Sura II, v. 172).
An honest word and the forgiveness of offenses are preferable to the alms given by injustice. God is rich and merciful. (Sura II, v. 265).
If your debtor is having trouble paying you, give them time; or, if you want to do better, forgive him the debt. If you knew! (Sura II, v. 280).
Revenge must be proportionate to the injury; but the generous man who forgives has his reward assured with God, who hates violence. (Sura XLII, v. 38).
Fight your enemies in the war of religion, but do not attack first; God hates aggressors. (Sura II, v. 186).
Certainly, the Muslims, Jews, Christians and Sabeans[1], who believe in God and the Last Judgment, and will do good, will receive the reward from his hands; they will be free from fear and punishment. (Sura V, v. 73).
Do not do violence to men because of their faith. The path of salvation is quite distinct from the path of error. Whoever abjures the worship of idols for the sake of the holy religion will have seized an unshakeable pillar. The Lord knows and hears everything. (Sura II, v. 257).
Argue with Jews and Christians only in honest and moderate terms. Confuse those of them who are ungodly. Say: We believe in the book that has been revealed to us and in your scriptures. Our God and yours are one. We are Muslims. (Sura XXIX, v. 45).
Christians will be judged according to the Gospel; those who judge them otherwise will be prevaricating. (Sura V, v. 51).
We gave the Pentateuch to Moses. It is in its light that the Hebrew people must walk. Do not hesitate to meet the guide of the Israelites in heaven. (Sura XXXII, v. 23).
If the Jews had faith and fear of the Lord, we would erase their sins; we would bring them into the garden of delights. The observance of the Pentateuch, the Gospel and the divine precepts would give them the enjoyment of all goods. There are some among them who walk in the right way, but most of them are ungodly. (Sura V, v. 70).
Say to Jews and Christians: “Let’s end our disputes; let us admit only one God and let us not give him an equal; that none of us have any other Lord than him. If they refuse to obey, tell them, "At least you will bear witness that we are believers." (Sura III, v. 57).
These are certainly maxims of charity and tolerance that we would like to see in all Christian hearts!
We sent you to a people that has been preceded by other peoples, to teach them our revelations. They do not believe in the merciful. Tell them, “He is my Lord; there is no God but him. I put my trust in his goodness. I will appear in court again. (Sura XIII, v. 29).
We have brought to men a book in which science shines, that should enlighten the faithful and provide them with divine mercy. - Are they waiting for the fulfillment of the Koran? On the day when it is fulfilled, those who will have lived in the forgetfulness of its maxims will say: "The ministers of the Lord preached the truth to us. Where will we find intercessors now? What hope do we have of returning to earth to correct ourselves? They have lost their souls, and their illusions have vanished. (Sour. VII, v. 50, 51).
The word return implies the idea of having already come; that is, to have lived before the present existence. Muhammad expresses this clearly when he says elsewhere: "You will reappear before him and he will show you your works." You will return to the God of truth. This is the basis of the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul, whereas, according to the Church, the soul is created at the birth of each body. The plurality of earthly existences is not indicated in the Koran as explicitly as in the Gospel; however, the idea of reliving on earth entered the mind of Muhammad, since such would be, according to him, the desire of the guilty to correct themselves. He therefore understood that it would be useful to be able to start a new existence.
When asked: Do you believe what God has sent from heaven? They respond, “We believe the scriptures that we have received”; And they reject the true book, that came later to put the seal on their sacred books. Tell them, “Why did you kill the prophets if you had faith? (Sura II, v. 85).
Muhammad is not the father of any of you. He is the messenger of God and the seal of the prophets. The science of God is infinite. (Sura XXXIII, v. 40).
By making himself the seal of the prophets, Muhammad announces that he is the last, the conclusion, because he has spoken the whole truth; after him, there will not be others. This is an article of faith among Muslims. From an exclusively religious point of view, it has fallen into the error of all religions which believe themselves to be irremovable, even against the progress of the sciences; but for him it was almost a necessity in order to strengthen the authority of his word among a people whom he had had so much difficulty in converting to his faith. From a social point of view, it was a mistake, because the Koran being a civil law as much as a religious one, it posed a stopping point to progress. This is the cause that has made and will still make the Muslim peoples stationary for a long time to come, and refractory to innovations and reforms that are not in the Koran. This is an example of the downside of confusing what must be distinct. Muhammad did not take human progress into account; this is a fault common to almost all religious reformers. On the other hand, he had to reform not only the faith, but the character, the customs, the social habits of his peoples; he had to base his reforms on the authority of religion, as did all legislators of primitive peoples; the difficulty was great, no doubt; however, he leaves a door open for interpretation and modification, saying that “God can always replace what he has given with something better. "
It is forbidden for you to marry your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal and maternal aunts, your nieces, your nannies, your nursing sisters, the mothers of your wives, the daughters entrusted to your guardianship and the daughters from women with which you would have lived together. Do not marry the daughters of the children that you have fathered, nor two sisters. You are prohibited from marrying married women, except those who have fallen into your hands as slaves. (Sura IV, v. 27 et seq.).
These prescriptions can give an idea of the immorality of those peoples; to be obliged to prohibit such abuses, they had to exist.
Wives of the Prophet, stay in your homes. Do not adorn yourself lavishly, as in the days of idolatry. Pray and give alms. Obey God and his apostle. He wants to remove the vice from your hearts. You are of the Prophet's family, and you must be pure. - Zeid repudiated his wife. We have united you with her, so that the faithful have the freedom to marry the wives of their adopted sons, after repudiation. The divine precept must have its execution. - O prophet, it is permissible for you to marry the women whom you will have endowed, the slaves that God has made fall into your hands, the daughters of your uncles and aunts who fled with you, and any faithful woman that gives you her heart. It is a privilege that we grant you. - You shall not add to the present number of your wives; you will not be able to change them by others whose beauty would have struck you. But you are still allowed to hang out with your slave women. God is watching everything. (Sura XXXIII, v. 37, 49, 52).
It is here that Muhammad truly descends from the pedestal on which he was mounted. We regret to see him fall so low after having risen so high, and having God intervene to justify the privileges he granted himself for the satisfaction of his passions. He gave believers four legitimate wives, while he himself had thirteen. The legislator must be the first subject of the laws he makes. It is an indelible stain that he threw on himself and on Islamism.
Strive to earn the Lord's indulgence, and possession of paradise, the extent of which is equal to heaven and earth, a dwelling prepared for the righteous, - for those who give alms in prosperity and in adversity, and who, masters of the their anger, know how to forgive their fellows. God loves beneficence. (Sura III, v. 127, 128).
God has promised the faithful, who have practiced virtue, entrance to the gardens where rivers flow. They will stay there forever. The Lord's promises are true. What could be more infallible than his word? (Sura IV, v. 121).
They will inhabit eternally the dwelling that God has prepared for them, the gardens of delight watered by rivers, places where sovereign beatitude will reign. (Sura IX, v. 90).
The gardens and the fountains will be the share of those who fear the Lord. They will enter with peace and security. - We will remove envy from their hearts. They will rest on beds, and they will have brotherly benevolence for one another. - Fatigue will not approach the abode of delights. Their possession will not be taken from them. (Sura XV, v. 45 to 48).
The Gardens of Eden will be the house of the righteous. Gold bracelets adorned with pearls, and silk clothes will form their adornment. - Praise the God, they will cry; he removed the pain from us; he is merciful and compassionate. - He introduced us to the Eternal Palace, home of his magnificence. Neither fatigue nor pain approach this asylum. (Sura XXXV, v. 30, 31, 32).
The inhabitants of paradise will drink long drafts from the cup of happiness. - Lying on silk beds, they will rest near their wives, under delicious shade. - They'll find all the fruits. All their desires will be fulfilled. (Sura XXXVI, v. 55, 56, 57).
True servants of God will have chosen food - delicious fruits, and they will be served with honor. - The gardens of delights will be their refuge. - Full of mutual benevolence, they will rest on couches. - They will be offered cups filled with pure water, - limpid and delicious taste, - which will not cloud their reason, and will not intoxicate them. - Near them will be virgins with modest looks, large black eyes and whose complexion will be the color of ostrich eggs. (Sura XXXVII, v. 39 to 47).
We will say to believers who have professed Islamism: Enter the garden of delights, you and your wives; open your hearts to joy. – They will drink in gold cups. The heart will find in this stay all that it can desire, all that can enchant the eye, and these pleasures will be eternal. - Here is the paradise that your works have given you. - Feed on the fruits that grow there abundantly. (Sura XLIII, v. 69 to 72).
Such is this famous paradise of Muhammad that has been mocked so much, and that we will certainly not try to justify. We will only say that he was in harmony with the mores of those peoples, and that he should flatter them much more than the prospect of a purely spiritual state, however splendid it was, because they were too attached to matter to understand it and appreciate its value; they needed something more substantial, and we can say that they were served as desired. It will undoubtedly be noticed that the rivers, the fountains, the abundant fruits, and the shades played a great part there, because this is what is lacking especially among the inhabitants of the desert. Soft beds and silk clothes, for people accustomed to sleeping on the ground and dressed in coarse camel-skin blankets, must also have a great appeal. However ridiculous all this may seem to us, let us think of the environment where Muhammad lived, and do not blame him too much, since with the help of this bait, he was able to draw a people out of barbarism and make them a great nation.
In a future article we will examine how Islamism can join the great family of civilized humanity.
[1] Ancient Arabian people of South Arabia (Wikipedia, T.N.)
(2nd Article – See August 1866)
It was in Medina that Muhammad had the first mosque built, on which he worked with his own hands, and that he organized a regular worship; he preached there for the first time in 623. All the measures taken by him bore witness to his solicitude and foresight: "A characteristic feature both of man and of his time," says Mr. Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, is the choice that Muhammad had to make of three poets from Medina, officially charged with defending him against the satires of the poets of Mecca. It was probably not that self-esteem was more excitable in him than it should be, but in a witty and lively nation these attacks had a resonance analogous to that of the newspapers can have today, and they were very dangerous."
We have said that Muhammad was forced to become a warrior; indeed, he was by no means belligerent, as he had proved in the first fifty years of his life. However, barely two years had elapsed since his stay in Medina, when the Coraishites of Mecca, united with the other hostile tribes, came to besiege the city. Muhammad had to defend himself; since that time a war period began for him that lasted ten years, and during which he proved to be a skillful tactician. Among a people to whom war was the normal state, that only knew the right of force, the leader of the new religion needed the prestige of victory to establish his authority, even over his partisans. Persuasion had little sway over those ignorant and turbulent populations; too much leniency would have been taken for weakness. In their minds, a strong God could only be manifested through a strong man, and Christ with his unalterable gentleness would have failed in those regions.
Muhammad was therefore a warrior by force of circumstances, much more than by his character, and he will always have the merit of not having been the provocateur. Once the struggle had begun, he had to win or perish; on this condition alone, he could be accepted as the messenger of God; his enemies had to be struck down to be convinced of the superiority of his God over the idols they worshiped. Except for one of the first battles in which he was wounded, and the Muslims defeated, in 625, his arms were consistently victorious, and within a few years he brought the whole of Arabia under his rule. When he saw his authority seated and idolatry destroyed, he went triumphantly to Mecca, after ten years of exile, followed by nearly a hundred thousand pilgrims, and there made the famous pilgrimage called farewell, of which the rites are scrupulously preserved by the Muslims. He died the same year, two months after his return to Medina, on June 8, 632, at the age of sixty-two.
Muhammad must be judged by authentic and impartial history, not by the ridiculous legends that ignorance and fanaticism have spread about him, or by the paintings of him by those who had an interest in discrediting him by presenting him as a bloodthirsty and cruel ambitious man. Neither should he be held responsible for the excesses of his successors who wanted to conquer the world to the Muslim faith, saber in hand. No doubt there were great spots in the last period of his life; one can reproach him for having in some circumstances abused the right of the victor, and for not always having acted with all the desirable moderation. However, aside from a few acts that our civilization condemns, it must be said, in his defense, that he was much more often human and lenient towards his enemies than vindictive, and that he has repeatedly given proof of a true greatness of soul. It must also be recognized that in the midst of his successes, and when he had reached the highest point of his glory, he was, until his last day, withdrawn into his role of prophet, without ever usurping a despotic temporal authority; he made himself neither king nor potentate, and never, in his private life, he stained himself with any act of cold barbarism, nor of base greed; he has always lived with simplicity, without pomp and luxury, showing himself to be kind and benevolent to everyone. This is history.
If we look back to the time and the environment in which he lived, if we consider especially the persecutions of which he and his family were the object, the relentlessness of his enemies, and the acts of barbarism that they committed against his supporters, can we be surprised that in the intoxication of his victory he sometimes used reprisals? Can we reproach him for having established his religion by iron, among a barbarian people who fought him, when the Bible records, as glorious facts of faith, butcheries of such atrocity that we are tempted to take them for legends? When, a thousand years after him, in the civilized countries of the West, Christians, who had for guide the sublime law of Christ, charging onto peaceful victims, smothering heresies by the pyres, tortures, massacres, and in waves of blood?
If the warlike role of Mahomet was a necessity for him, and if this role can excuse him from certain political acts, it is not the same with respect to other aspects. Until the age of fifty, and as long as his first wife Khadidja lived, fifteen years older than himself, his morals were irreproachable; but from that moment his passions knew no restraint, and it was undoubtedly to justify the abuse he made of them that he consecrated polygamy in his religion. This was his gravest fault, for it was a barrier he raised between Islamism and the civilized world; his religion, therefore, has not been able, after twelve centuries, to cross the boundaries of certain races. It is also the side by which its founder belittles himself the most in our eyes; men of genius always lose their prestige when they allow themselves to be dominated by matter; on the contrary, they grow all the more as they rise above the weaknesses of humanity.
However, moral disruption was such at the time of Muhammad that a radical reform was very difficult among men used to indulge their passions with bestial brutality; we can therefore say that by regulating polygamy, he set limits to disorder and stopped much more serious abuses; but polygamy will nonetheless remain the gnawing worm of Islamism, because it is contrary to the laws of nature. Through the numerical equality of the sexes, nature itself has drawn the limit of unions. By allowing four legitimate women, Muhammad did not think that, for his law to reach the universality of men, the female sex would have to be at least four times more numerous than the male sex.
Despite its imperfections, Islamism was nonetheless a great blessing at the time when it appeared and for the country where it originated, for it founded the cult of the unity of God on the ruins of idolatry. It was the only religion possible for those barbarous peoples from whom one should not ask too great sacrifices to their ideas and their habits. They needed something as simple as the nature in the which they lived; the Christian religion had too many metaphysical subtleties; also all the attempts made during five centuries to implant it in these regions, had completely failed; Judaism itself, too argumentative, had made few proselytes among the Arabs, although the Jews themselves were quite numerous. Superior to those of his race, Muhammad understood the men of his time; to rescue them from the abasement in which they were kept by coarse beliefs descended to stupid fetishism, he gave them a religion appropriate to their needs and their character. This religion was the simplest of all: "Belief in a unique God, almighty, eternal, infinite, present everywhere, magnanimous and merciful, creator of heavens, of the angels and of the earth, Father of man, whom he watches over and fills with goods; rewarding and avenging in another life, where he awaits us to reward or punish us according to our merits; seeing our most secret actions, and presiding over the entire destiny of his creatures that he does not abandon for a single moment, neither in this world nor in the next; the most humble submission and absolute confidence in his holy will” - these are the dogmas.
A for worshiping, it consists of prayer repeated five times a day, fasting and mortifications in the month of Ramadan, and in certain practices, many of which had a hygienic purpose, but which Muhammad turned into a religious obligation, such as daily ablutions, abstention from wine, intoxicating liquors, from the flesh of certain animals, and which the faithful make it a matter of conscience to observe in the most minute details. Friday was adopted as the holy day of the week, and Mecca indicated as the point to which all Muslims should turn when praying. Public service in mosques consists of common prayers, sermons, reading and explanation of the Koran. Circumcision was not instituted by Muhammad but preserved by him; it was already practiced from immemorial times among the Arabs. The prohibition against reproducing by painting or sculpture any living being, men or animals, was made with a view to destroying idolatry and preventing it from being renewed. Finally, the pilgrimage to Mecca, which every believer must accomplish at least once in their life, is a religious act; but he had another goal at that time, a political goal, that of bringing together by a fraternal bond the various enemy tribes, by uniting them in a common feeling of piety in the same holy place.
From a historical point of view, the Muslim religion admits the Old Testament in its entirety up to and including Jesus Christ, whom it recognizes as a prophet. According to Muhammad, Moses and Jesus were messengers of God to teach the truth to men; the gospel, like the law of Sinai, is the word of God; but Christians have twisted its meaning. He declares, in explicit terms, that he brings neither new beliefs nor new worship, but that he comes to re-establish the worship of the one God professed by Abraham. He speaks only with respect for the patriarchs and prophets that preceded him: Moses, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jesus Christ; of the Pentateuch, the Psalms and the Gospel. These are the books which preceded and prepared the Koran. Far from hiding the borrowings he makes from them, he boasts of them, and their greatness is the basis of his. One can judge of his feelings and the character of his instructions by the following fragment of the last speech which he delivered in Mecca during the farewell pilgrimage, shortly before his death, and preserved in the work of Ibn- Ishâc and Ibn-Ishâm:
“O peoples! listen to my words; because I do not know if, in another year, I will be able to find myself again with you in this place. Be human and fair to each other. May the life and property of each be inviolable and sacred to others; let him who has received a deposit return it faithfully to who gave it to him. You will appear before your Lord, and he will hold you accountable for your actions. Treat women well, they are your helpers, they cannot do anything on their own. You have taken them as an asset which God has entrusted to you, and you have taken possession of them with divine words.
O peoples! listen to my words and fix them in your minds. I have revealed everything to you; I leave you a law which will preserve you forever from error, if you remain faithfully attached to it; a clear and positive law, the book of God and the example of his prophet.
O peoples! listen to my words and fix them in your minds. Know that every Muslim is the brother of the other; that all Muslims are brothers among themselves, that you are all equal among yourselves, and that you are but a family of brothers. Beware of injustice; no one should commit it to the detriment of his brother: it would entail your eternal loss.
O God! have I completed my message and completed my assignment? - The crowd surrounding him replied, "Yes, you did." And Muhammad exclaimed: O God, deign to receive this testimony! "
Here is now the judgment passed on Muhammad, and the influence of his doctrine, by one of his historiographers, Mr. G. Weil, in his German work entitled: Muhammad der Prophet, pages 400 and following:
“The doctrine of God and of the holy destinies of man, preached by Muhammad in a country which was given to the most brutal idolatry, and that hardly had an idea of the immortality of the soul, all the more must reconcile us with him, in spite of his weaknesses and his faults, that his particular life could not exert on his followers any wicked influence. Far from ever giving himself as a model, he always wanted to be regarded as a privileged being, whom God allowed to be placed above the common law; and, indeed, he has been viewed more and more in this special role.
We would be unjust and blind if we did not recognize that his people owe him something yet more true and good. He united, in one great nation, the innumerable tribes of Arabs hitherto enemies among themselves, fraternally believing in God. Instead of the most violent arbitrariness, of the law of force, and of individual struggle, he established an unshakeable law, which, despite its imperfections, still forms the basis of all the laws of Islamism. He limited the vengeance of blood that before him extended to the most distant relatives, limiting it to the one alone whom the judges recognized as a murderer. He did relevant services, above all to the fair sex, not only by protecting girls against the atrocious custom which often allowed them to be immolated by their fathers, but also by protecting women against the parents of their husbands, who inherited them as a material thing, and by defending them against the mistreatment of men. He restricted polygamy, allowing believers only four legitimate wives, instead of ten, as was customary, especially in Medina. Without having fully emancipated the slaves, he served them good and useful in many ways. For the poor, he not only always recommended beneficence towards them, but he formally established a tax in their favor, and he gave them a special share in the booty and in the tribute. By prohibiting gambling, wine and all intoxicating drinks, he has prevented many vices, many excesses, many quarrels and many disorders.
Although we do not regard Muhammad as a true prophet, because he used violent and impure means to propagate his religion, because he was too weak to submit himself to the common law, and because he called himself the seal of the prophets, while declaring that God could always replace what He had given with something better, he has the merit, nevertheless, of having spread the most beautiful doctrines of the Old and of the New Testament onto a people not enlightened by any ray of faith, and as such he must appear, even to non-Mohammedan eyes, as an envoy of God.”
As a complement to this study, we will quote some textual passages from the Koran, borrowed from Savary's translation:
“In the name of the merciful and magnanimous God. - Praise the God, ruler of the worlds. - Mercy is his share. - He is the king on the day of judgment. - We adore you, Lord, and we implore your assistance. - Lead us in the path of salvation, - in the path of those whom you have filled with your bounties; - of those who did not deserve your anger and preserved themselves from error. (Introduction, Sura I)
O mortals, worship the Lord who created you and your fathers, so that you may fear him; who gave you the earth for a bed, and the sky for a roof; who sent down the rain from the heavens to produce all the fruits that you eat. Do not give an associate to the Highest; you know it. (Sura II, v. 19 and 20)
Why don't you believe in God? You were dead, he gave you life; he will extinguish your days, and he will rekindle the torch. You will return to him. - He created all that is on the earth for your refuge. Then looking up to the firmament, he formed the seven heavens. His science embraces the universe. (Sura II, v. 26, 27).
East and West belong to God; wherever you look you will recognize his face. He fills the universe with his vastness and his science. - He formed the earth and the heavens. Does he want to produce any work? He says: “Be done; And the work is done. - The ignorant say: "If God does not speak to us, or if you do not show us a miracle, we will not believe." Thus spoke their fathers; their hearts are alike. We have brought forth enough wonders for those who have faith. (Sura II, v. 109 to 112).
God will only demand of each of us according to their strength. Each will have their good works in their favor, and against them the evil they have done. Lord do not punish us for mistakes made by forgetting. Forgive us our sins; do not place on us the burden that our fathers carried. Do not charge us beyond our strength. Show forgiveness and indulgence for your servants. Have compassion on us; you are our help. Help us against the unfaithful nations. (Sura II, v. 296).
O God, supreme King, you give and take away the crowns and the power at your pleasure. You raise and you lower humans to your will; the good is in your hands: you are the Almighty. - You change day into night, and night into day. You bring out life from the bosom of death, and death from the bosom of life. You pour your infinite treasures on those you like. (Sura III, v. 25 and 26).
Do you not know how many peoples we have wiped out from the face of the earth? We gave them a more stable empire than yours. We sent the clouds to pour rain over their fields; we made rivers flow there. Their crimes alone caused their ruin. We replaced them with other nations. (Sura VI, v. 6).
It is to God that you owe the night's sleep and the morning awakening. He knows what you are doing during the day. He lets you fulfill the course of life. You will reappear before him, and he will show you your works. - He rules over his servants. He gives you, as guardians, angels charged with ending your days at the prescribed time. They carefully execute the order of heaven. - You will then return to the God of truth. Isn't it up to him to judge? He is the most accurate of judges. - Who delivers you from the tribulations of the earth and the seas, when, invoking him in public or in the secret of your hearts, you cry out: "Lord, if you remove these evils from us, we will be grateful? - It is God who delivers you from it. It is his kindness that relieves you from the pain that oppresses you; and then you go back to idolatry. (Sura VI, v. 60 to 64).
All the secrets are revealed to his eyes; great is the Almighty. - The one who speaks in secret, the one who speaks in public, the one who envelops himself in the shadows of the night and the one who appears in broad daylight, are also known to him. - It is he who makes lightning shine in your eyes, to inspire you with fear and hope. It is he who raises the rain-laden clouds. - Thunder celebrates his praises. The angels tremble in his presence. He launches lightning, and it strikes the marked victims. Men dispute with God, but he is the strong and the powerful. - He is the true invocation. Those who implore other gods will not be heard. They resemble the traveler who, pressed by thirst, stretches out his hand towards the water he cannot reach. The invocation of the infidels is lost in the night of error. (Sura XIII, v. 10-15).
Never say, “I'll do this tomorrow,” without adding, “If it's God's will. Raise your thoughts to him, when you have forgotten something, and say, "Perhaps he will enlighten me and make me know the truth." (Sura XVIII, v. 23).
If the waves of the sea turned into ink to describe the praises of the Lord, they would be exhausted before they had celebrated all His wonders. Another similar ocean would not suffice yet. (Sura XVIII, v. 109).
Whoever seeks true greatness finds it in God, the source of all perfections. Righteous speeches ascend to his throne. He exalts good works; he rigorously punishes the villain who plots perfidy.
No, Heaven never revokes the judgment he issued. - Have they not traveled the earth? Have they not seen the deplorable end of the peoples who before them walked in the ways of iniquity? These people were stronger and more powerful than they are. But nothing in the heavens and on the earth can oppose the will of the Highest. Science and strength are his attributes. - If God punished men from the moment they are guilty, it would not remain an animated being on earth. He differs the punishments until the marked term. - When the time is right, he distinguishes the actions of his servants. (Sura XXXV, v. 11, 41 to 45).
These quotes are enough to show the deep feeling of piety which animated Muhammad, and the great and sublime idea he had of God. Christianity could claim this image. Muhammad did not teach the dogma of absolute fatality, as is generally believed. Such belief, with which Muslims are imbued and which paralyzes their initiative in many circumstances, is only a false interpretation and a false application of the principle of submission to the will of God, pushed beyond its rational limits; they do not understand that this submission does not exclude the exercise of human faculties, and they lack the correction of the maxim: “help yourself, and heaven will help you.”
The following passages relate to specific points of doctrine.
God has a son, say Christians. Far from him this blasphemy! Everything in heavens and on earth belongs to Him. All beings obey his voice. (Sura II, v. 110).
O you who have received the scriptures, do not go beyond the bounds of faith; speak only the truth of God. Jesus is the son of Mary, the envoy of the Highest and his Word. He sent it down to Mary's womb; it is his breath. Believe in God and in his apostles; but do not say that there is a trinity in God. He is one: this belief will be more certain for you. Far from having a son, he alone rules heaven and earth; He is self-sufficient. - The Messiah will not be ashamed for being the servant of God, nor will the angels who surround his throne and obey him. (Sura IV, v. 169, 170).
Those who uphold the trinity of God are blasphemers; there is only one God. If they do not change their beliefs, a painful torment will be the price of their impiety. (Sura V, v. 77).
The Jews say that Ozai is the son of God. Christians say the same of the Messiah. They speak like the infidels who came before them. Heaven will punish their blasphemies. - They call lords their pontiffs, their monks, and the Messiah son of Mary. But it is recommended that they serve one God: there is no other. Anathema to those they associate with their cult. (Sura IX, v. 30, 31).
God has no children; he does not share the empire with another God. If this were so, each of them would want to appropriate their creation and rise above their rival. Praise be Highest! Far from him these blasphemies! (Sura XXII, v. 93).
Declare, O Muhammad, what heaven has revealed to you. - The assembly of geniuses, having listened to the reading of the Koran, exclaimed: "Here is a marvelous doctrine. - It leads to true faith. We believe in it, and we do not equalize God. - Glory to his Supreme Majesty! God has no wife; he did not give birth. (Sura LXXII, v. 1 to 4).
Say, “We believe in God, in the book that was sent to us, in what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and to the twelve tribes. We believe in the doctrine of Moses, Jesus, and the prophets; we make no difference between them, and we are Muslims. (Sura II, v. 130).
There is no God except the living and eternal God. - He sent you the book which contains the truth, to confirm the truth of the Scriptures which preceded him. Before him, he sent down the Pentateuch and the Gospel to serve as guides for men; he sent the Quran from heaven. - Those who deny the divine doctrine should expect only torture; God is mighty, and vengeance is in his hands. (Sura III, v. 1, 2, 3).
There are those who say, "We swore to God that we will not believe in any prophet, unless his offering is confirmed by fire from heaven." - Answer them: "You had prophets before me; they worked miracles, and the very one you're talking about. Why then have you stained your hands with their blood, if you are telling the truth?” - If they deny your mission, they treated the apostles who preceded you in the same way, although they were endowed with the gift of miracles and they had brought the book that enlightens (the Gospel) and the book of psalms (Sura III, v. 179-181).
We inspired you, as we inspired Noah, the prophets, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the tribes, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon. We gave the Psalms of David. (Sura IV, v. 161).”
In many other places, Muhammad speaks in the same way and with the same respect for the prophets, Jesus and the Gospel; but it is evident that he misunderstood the meaning attached to the Trinity, and to the quality of son of God which he takes literally. If this mystery is incomprehensible to so many Christians, and if it has raised so many comments and controversies among them, one should not be surprised that Muhammad did not understand it. In the three persons of the Trinity he saw three gods, and not one God in three distinct persons; in the son of God he saw procreation; now, the idea which he had of the Supreme Being was so great, that the slightest parity between God and any being, and the idea that he could share his power, seemed a blasphemy to him. Jesus has never called himself God, and never spoke of the Trinity, for these dogmas appeared to him to move away from the very words of Christ.
He saw in Jesus and the Gospel the confirmation of the principle of the unity of God, a goal which he himself pursued; this is why he held them in great esteem, while he accused the Christians of having strayed from this teaching, by splitting God and deifying his messiah. So, he said he was sent after Jesus to bring men back to the pure unity of the divinity. The whole dogmatic part of the Koran is based on this principle which it repeats at every step.
Having Islamism its roots in the Old and the New Testaments, it is a derivation from it; we can consider it as one of the many sects born out of the dissidences which arose from the origin of Christianity concerning the nature of Christ, with the difference that Islamism, formed outside Christianity, outlived most of these sects, and today has one hundred million followers.
Muhammad fought, at any price and in his own nation, the belief in several gods, to re-establish there the abandoned worship of the unique God of Abraham and Moses; The anathema which he launched against the infidels and the ungodly, had for object, above all, the gross idolatry professed by those of his race, but he struck the Christians in consequence. This is the cause of the contempt of Muslims for anything that bears the name of Christian, despite their respect for Jesus and the Gospel. This contempt has turned into hatred by the influence of fanaticism, maintained and overexcited by their priests. Let us also say that, for their part, Christians are not without reproach, and that they themselves have fueled this antagonism with their own aggressions.
While blaming the Christians, Muhammad did not have hostile feelings for them, and in the Koran itself he recommends to be careful with them, but fanaticism has included them in the general proscription of idolaters and infidels whose presence must not stain the sanctuaries of Islamism, which is why the entry of mosques, Mecca and holy places is forbidden to them. It was the same with the Jews, and if Muhammad severely punished them in Medina, it was because they had joined forces against him. In fact, nowhere in the Koran does one find the extermination of Jews and Christians set up as a duty, as it is generally believed. It would therefore be unjust to blame him for the evils caused by the unintelligent zeal and excesses of his successors.
We have inspired you to embrace the religion of Abraham, who recognizes the unity of God and who adores only his supreme majesty. - Use the voice of wisdom and the force of persuasion to call men to God. Fight with the weapons of eloquence. God knows perfectly well those who are astray and those who walk by the torch of faith. (Sura XVI, v. 124, 126).
If they accuse you of imposture, answer them: “I have my works on my side; let yours speak for you. You will not be responsible for what I do, and I am innocent of what you do. (Sura X, v. 42).
When will your threats be fulfilled? ask the infidels. Mark us a term if you are truthful. Answer them: “The heavenly treasures and vengeance are not in my hands; God alone is its dispenser. Each nation has its fixed term; she could neither hasten it nor delay it for a moment. (Sura X, v. 49, 50).
If your doctrine is denied, know that the prophets who came before you suffered the same fate, although miracles, tradition, and the enlightening book (the Gospel) attest to the truth of their mission. (Sura XXXV, v. 23).
The blindness of the infidels surprises you, and they laugh at your astonishment. - In vain do you want to instruct them: their hearts reject instruction. - If they saw miracles, they wouldn't care; - they would attribute them to magic. (Sura XXXVII, v. 12 to 15).
These are not the orders of a bloodthirsty God who orders extermination. Muhammad does not make himself the executor of His justice; its role is to instruct; to God alone belongs to punish or reward in this world and in the next. The last paragraph seems to be written for the Spiritists of today, since men are the same, always, and everywhere.
Pray, give alms; the good that you do, you will find with God, because he sees your actions. (Sura II, v. 104).
It is not enough, to be justified, to turn one's face towards the East and the West; one must also believe in God, in the last day, in the angels, in the Koran, in the prophets. For the love of God, one must help our loved ones, the orphans, the poor, travelers, captives, and those who ask. We must pray, keep our promises, patiently endure adversity and the evils of war. These are the duties of true believers. (Sura II, v. 172).
An honest word and the forgiveness of offenses are preferable to the alms given by injustice. God is rich and merciful. (Sura II, v. 265).
If your debtor is having trouble paying you, give them time; or, if you want to do better, forgive him the debt. If you knew! (Sura II, v. 280).
Revenge must be proportionate to the injury; but the generous man who forgives has his reward assured with God, who hates violence. (Sura XLII, v. 38).
Fight your enemies in the war of religion, but do not attack first; God hates aggressors. (Sura II, v. 186).
Certainly, the Muslims, Jews, Christians and Sabeans[1], who believe in God and the Last Judgment, and will do good, will receive the reward from his hands; they will be free from fear and punishment. (Sura V, v. 73).
Do not do violence to men because of their faith. The path of salvation is quite distinct from the path of error. Whoever abjures the worship of idols for the sake of the holy religion will have seized an unshakeable pillar. The Lord knows and hears everything. (Sura II, v. 257).
Argue with Jews and Christians only in honest and moderate terms. Confuse those of them who are ungodly. Say: We believe in the book that has been revealed to us and in your scriptures. Our God and yours are one. We are Muslims. (Sura XXIX, v. 45).
Christians will be judged according to the Gospel; those who judge them otherwise will be prevaricating. (Sura V, v. 51).
We gave the Pentateuch to Moses. It is in its light that the Hebrew people must walk. Do not hesitate to meet the guide of the Israelites in heaven. (Sura XXXII, v. 23).
If the Jews had faith and fear of the Lord, we would erase their sins; we would bring them into the garden of delights. The observance of the Pentateuch, the Gospel and the divine precepts would give them the enjoyment of all goods. There are some among them who walk in the right way, but most of them are ungodly. (Sura V, v. 70).
Say to Jews and Christians: “Let’s end our disputes; let us admit only one God and let us not give him an equal; that none of us have any other Lord than him. If they refuse to obey, tell them, "At least you will bear witness that we are believers." (Sura III, v. 57).
These are certainly maxims of charity and tolerance that we would like to see in all Christian hearts!
We sent you to a people that has been preceded by other peoples, to teach them our revelations. They do not believe in the merciful. Tell them, “He is my Lord; there is no God but him. I put my trust in his goodness. I will appear in court again. (Sura XIII, v. 29).
We have brought to men a book in which science shines, that should enlighten the faithful and provide them with divine mercy. - Are they waiting for the fulfillment of the Koran? On the day when it is fulfilled, those who will have lived in the forgetfulness of its maxims will say: "The ministers of the Lord preached the truth to us. Where will we find intercessors now? What hope do we have of returning to earth to correct ourselves? They have lost their souls, and their illusions have vanished. (Sour. VII, v. 50, 51).
The word return implies the idea of having already come; that is, to have lived before the present existence. Muhammad expresses this clearly when he says elsewhere: "You will reappear before him and he will show you your works." You will return to the God of truth. This is the basis of the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul, whereas, according to the Church, the soul is created at the birth of each body. The plurality of earthly existences is not indicated in the Koran as explicitly as in the Gospel; however, the idea of reliving on earth entered the mind of Muhammad, since such would be, according to him, the desire of the guilty to correct themselves. He therefore understood that it would be useful to be able to start a new existence.
When asked: Do you believe what God has sent from heaven? They respond, “We believe the scriptures that we have received”; And they reject the true book, that came later to put the seal on their sacred books. Tell them, “Why did you kill the prophets if you had faith? (Sura II, v. 85).
Muhammad is not the father of any of you. He is the messenger of God and the seal of the prophets. The science of God is infinite. (Sura XXXIII, v. 40).
By making himself the seal of the prophets, Muhammad announces that he is the last, the conclusion, because he has spoken the whole truth; after him, there will not be others. This is an article of faith among Muslims. From an exclusively religious point of view, it has fallen into the error of all religions which believe themselves to be irremovable, even against the progress of the sciences; but for him it was almost a necessity in order to strengthen the authority of his word among a people whom he had had so much difficulty in converting to his faith. From a social point of view, it was a mistake, because the Koran being a civil law as much as a religious one, it posed a stopping point to progress. This is the cause that has made and will still make the Muslim peoples stationary for a long time to come, and refractory to innovations and reforms that are not in the Koran. This is an example of the downside of confusing what must be distinct. Muhammad did not take human progress into account; this is a fault common to almost all religious reformers. On the other hand, he had to reform not only the faith, but the character, the customs, the social habits of his peoples; he had to base his reforms on the authority of religion, as did all legislators of primitive peoples; the difficulty was great, no doubt; however, he leaves a door open for interpretation and modification, saying that “God can always replace what he has given with something better. "
It is forbidden for you to marry your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your paternal and maternal aunts, your nieces, your nannies, your nursing sisters, the mothers of your wives, the daughters entrusted to your guardianship and the daughters from women with which you would have lived together. Do not marry the daughters of the children that you have fathered, nor two sisters. You are prohibited from marrying married women, except those who have fallen into your hands as slaves. (Sura IV, v. 27 et seq.).
These prescriptions can give an idea of the immorality of those peoples; to be obliged to prohibit such abuses, they had to exist.
Wives of the Prophet, stay in your homes. Do not adorn yourself lavishly, as in the days of idolatry. Pray and give alms. Obey God and his apostle. He wants to remove the vice from your hearts. You are of the Prophet's family, and you must be pure. - Zeid repudiated his wife. We have united you with her, so that the faithful have the freedom to marry the wives of their adopted sons, after repudiation. The divine precept must have its execution. - O prophet, it is permissible for you to marry the women whom you will have endowed, the slaves that God has made fall into your hands, the daughters of your uncles and aunts who fled with you, and any faithful woman that gives you her heart. It is a privilege that we grant you. - You shall not add to the present number of your wives; you will not be able to change them by others whose beauty would have struck you. But you are still allowed to hang out with your slave women. God is watching everything. (Sura XXXIII, v. 37, 49, 52).
It is here that Muhammad truly descends from the pedestal on which he was mounted. We regret to see him fall so low after having risen so high, and having God intervene to justify the privileges he granted himself for the satisfaction of his passions. He gave believers four legitimate wives, while he himself had thirteen. The legislator must be the first subject of the laws he makes. It is an indelible stain that he threw on himself and on Islamism.
Strive to earn the Lord's indulgence, and possession of paradise, the extent of which is equal to heaven and earth, a dwelling prepared for the righteous, - for those who give alms in prosperity and in adversity, and who, masters of the their anger, know how to forgive their fellows. God loves beneficence. (Sura III, v. 127, 128).
God has promised the faithful, who have practiced virtue, entrance to the gardens where rivers flow. They will stay there forever. The Lord's promises are true. What could be more infallible than his word? (Sura IV, v. 121).
They will inhabit eternally the dwelling that God has prepared for them, the gardens of delight watered by rivers, places where sovereign beatitude will reign. (Sura IX, v. 90).
The gardens and the fountains will be the share of those who fear the Lord. They will enter with peace and security. - We will remove envy from their hearts. They will rest on beds, and they will have brotherly benevolence for one another. - Fatigue will not approach the abode of delights. Their possession will not be taken from them. (Sura XV, v. 45 to 48).
The Gardens of Eden will be the house of the righteous. Gold bracelets adorned with pearls, and silk clothes will form their adornment. - Praise the God, they will cry; he removed the pain from us; he is merciful and compassionate. - He introduced us to the Eternal Palace, home of his magnificence. Neither fatigue nor pain approach this asylum. (Sura XXXV, v. 30, 31, 32).
The inhabitants of paradise will drink long drafts from the cup of happiness. - Lying on silk beds, they will rest near their wives, under delicious shade. - They'll find all the fruits. All their desires will be fulfilled. (Sura XXXVI, v. 55, 56, 57).
True servants of God will have chosen food - delicious fruits, and they will be served with honor. - The gardens of delights will be their refuge. - Full of mutual benevolence, they will rest on couches. - They will be offered cups filled with pure water, - limpid and delicious taste, - which will not cloud their reason, and will not intoxicate them. - Near them will be virgins with modest looks, large black eyes and whose complexion will be the color of ostrich eggs. (Sura XXXVII, v. 39 to 47).
We will say to believers who have professed Islamism: Enter the garden of delights, you and your wives; open your hearts to joy. – They will drink in gold cups. The heart will find in this stay all that it can desire, all that can enchant the eye, and these pleasures will be eternal. - Here is the paradise that your works have given you. - Feed on the fruits that grow there abundantly. (Sura XLIII, v. 69 to 72).
Such is this famous paradise of Muhammad that has been mocked so much, and that we will certainly not try to justify. We will only say that he was in harmony with the mores of those peoples, and that he should flatter them much more than the prospect of a purely spiritual state, however splendid it was, because they were too attached to matter to understand it and appreciate its value; they needed something more substantial, and we can say that they were served as desired. It will undoubtedly be noticed that the rivers, the fountains, the abundant fruits, and the shades played a great part there, because this is what is lacking especially among the inhabitants of the desert. Soft beds and silk clothes, for people accustomed to sleeping on the ground and dressed in coarse camel-skin blankets, must also have a great appeal. However ridiculous all this may seem to us, let us think of the environment where Muhammad lived, and do not blame him too much, since with the help of this bait, he was able to draw a people out of barbarism and make them a great nation.
In a future article we will examine how Islamism can join the great family of civilized humanity.
[1] Ancient Arabian people of South Arabia (Wikipedia, T.N.)
Spontaneous Mediumistic Somnambulism
The last session of the Spiritist Society in Paris, before the holidays, was one of the most remarkable of the year, be it by the number and reach of the obtained communications, or by the production of a spontaneous phenomenon of mediumistic somnambulism. Around the middle of the session, Mr. Morin, member of the Society and one of the customary mediums, slept spontaneously under the influence of the Spirits, something that had never happened to him before. He then spoke with passion and eloquence about a very serious matter, of great interest, that we will deal with in the future.
The reopening session, on Friday, October 5th, presented a similar phenomenon, but in larger proportions. There were thirteen mediums at the table. In the first part, two of them, Mrs. C… and Mr. Vavasseur, slept, like Mr. Morin had done, without any provocation and without anybody thinking about it, under the influence of the Spirits. Mr. Vavasseur is the poet medium, that receives poetry with great facility, from which we have published several samples. Mr. Morin was also about to sleep. Here is what happened during their sleep, that lasted almost one hour.
Mr. Vavasseur said, with a grave and solemn voice: "All will, all magnetic action, is and must remain foreign to this phenomenon. No one should talk to my sister or to me.” Speaking of his sister, he referred to Mrs. C…, or his spiritual sister, because they are in no way related. Then, addressing Mr. Morin, placed at the other end of the table, and extending his hand towards him with an imperative gesture: "I forbid you to sleep." Mr. Morin, in fact, almost asleep, awoke of his own accord. Express recommendation is further made for nobody to touch either of the two mediums.
Mr. V. continued: “Ah! I can feel a bad fluid current here that tires me out… Sister, are you in pain too? – Mrs. C…, Yes. – Mr. V. Look! society is in large number tonight. Do you see – Mrs. C ... Not very clearly yet. - Mr. V… I want you to see. – Mrs. C… Oh! Yes, many Spirit! – Mr. V… Yes, there are many of them; they are uncountable! But, look, in front of you; see a more luminous Spirit, with a more brilliant halo… He seems to smile at us with benevolence! I am told that he is my benefactor (Saint Louis)… Come on, let's walk; let's both go to him… Oh! I have many faults to repair… (addressing the Spirit): Dear Spirit! when I was born, my mother gave me your name. Since then, I remember, that poor mother used to say to me every day: “Oh! my child, pray to God; pray to your guardian angel; especially pray to your patron. Later, I forgot everything… everything! Doubt, disbelief, pursued me; in my error I have misunderstood you, I have misunderstood the goodness of God ... Today, dear Spirit, I come to ask you for forgetting the past and for forgiveness in the present! O Saint Louis, you see my pain and my regret, forget and forgive. (These last words were said with a heart-breaking accent of despair).
Mrs. C… “We must not cry, brother… Saint Louis forgives and blesses you… Good Spirits have no resentment against those who abandon their mistakes. He forgives you; I tell you! O! this Spirit is good! See, he is smiling at us. (Raising his hand to his chest.) Oh! how it hurts to suffer like this!"
Mr. V… “He's talking to me… Listen! Courage,” he said to me, “work with your brothers. The year which begins will be fertile in great events. Around you will emerge great geniuses, poets, painters, literati. The era of the arts follows the era of philosophy. If the first has worked wonders, the second will perform miracles. (Mr. V… speaks with extraordinary vehemence; he is in the supreme degree of ecstasy.)
Mrs. C… “Calm down, brother; you set too much fire on it, and it hurts you; calm down."
Mr. V… (continuing): “But there begins the mission of your society, a very great and very beautiful mission for those who understand it… Home of the Spiritist doctrine, it must defend and propagate its principles by all means that it disposes. Besides, its President will know what needs to be done.
“Now, sister, he's going away; he still smiles at us; he waves goodbye… Come on, let's go up, sister; you must watch a splendid spectacle, a spectacle that the earthly eye has never seen… never, never!… Go up… go up… I want to! (Silence.) What do you see? Look at this Army of Spirits! There they are the poets that surround us… O! sing too, sing! Your songs are the songs of heaven, the hymn of creation! Sing! And their whispers caress my ears… and their chords put my mind to sleep… Can't you hear?”
Mrs. C… “Yes, I hear… They seem to say that with the Spiritist year that begins, a new phase begins for Spiritism… a brilliant phase, of triumph and joy for the sincere hearts, of shame and confusion for the proud and the hypocrites! For these, disappointments, neglect, oblivion, misery; for others, glorification."
Mr. V… “They have already said it, and it is true."
Mrs. C… “Oh! What a party! what magnificence! what a dazzling splendor! My eyes can barely sustain the glow of it. What sweet harmony is heard and penetrates the soul! See all these good Spirits that are preparing the triumph of the doctrine under the guidance of superior Spirits and the great Spirit of Truth! How resplendent they are, and how costly to them to come back and live in a globe like ours! It is painful, but this entails progress."
Mr. V… “Listen! Listen! Listen, I tell you!"
Mr. V… begins the following improvisation in verse. It was the first time that he did mediumistic poetry verbally. Up until now, communications of this kind had always been given spontaneously, in writing.
It was a stormy evening,
The sea rolled its dead,
Throwing to the shore
In gloomy accords! ...
A child, still young,
Standing on a rock,
Waiting for the dawn
Light to walk,
To go to the beach,
Seeking his sister,
Saved from the wreck,
Or… with a dazzled heart.
Could he, on the shore,
See her, as before,
Smiling and naive,
Rushing to his voice?
On that horrible night,
On those rhythmic waves,
The invisible hand
That separated them,
Will it bring them together again?
It was a hope, in vain!
The dawn was out, stunning,
But… it didn't show him anything.
Nothing ... just the sad wreckage
Of a destroyed ship!
Nothing ... but the wave that washes away
What was soiled at night!
The wave, with mystery,
Raising and sliding,
Foamy and light,
The threatening chasm
That hid its victims,
Stifled her cries,
Wanting its crime
To excuse the waves
To the plaintive breeze!
The child, tired of looking,
Running around the shore,
Couldn't walk anymore ...
Exhausted, out of breath,
Lame… bruised… broken…
Barely standing,
Resting on the scorching face,
Of an almost bare rock,
In prayer,
When a passing stranger,
Surprised, looks at him,
Praying with faith.
- Oh! child,
God bless you,
Stand up, he said!
This God that sees your tears,
Brought me here
To calm your scares,
And reach out to you!
Be afraid no more.
My home is yours
My family is yours
Your misfortune is mine.
Come, why you suffer, I must hear!
I will open my heart to you
And hope I will soon
Calm your fear.
(Addressing Mrs. C…) – Do you see? He stops… But he must continue… Yes, he approaches… The sounds are more distinct… I hear… ah!
This poor child… it's me!
This stranger… (addressing Mr. Allan Kardec) it's you,
Dear and honorable master!
You who made me know Two words:
Eternity And… Immortality!
Two names: one God, the other, soul!
One home, the other flame!
And you, my dear friends,
Gathered in this place,
You are the family
Where now quietly,
I must end my days!
Oh! Love each other always!
He's running away… Casimir Delavigne! Oh! dear Spirit… again! He is fleeing! Come on, I am not strong enough to attend this divine concert… Yes, it's so beautiful… it's exceedingly beautiful!
Mrs. C… He would speak again if you wanted, but your elation prevented him. Here you are, broken, bruised, panting; you can no longer speak.
Mr. V… Yes, I can feel it; it is still a weakness (with a strong feeling of regret), and I must wake you up!… too soon… Why not stay in this place forever? Why go back to earth again? Come on, since it is necessary, sister, it is necessary to obey without complaint… Wake up, I want you to wake up. (Mrs. C… opens her eyes) For my side, you can wake me up by waving your handkerchief. I am suffocating! air! air!”
These words, and especially the verses, were said with such an intonation, an outpouring of feeling and a warmth of expression of which only the most dramatic and moving scenes can give an idea. The emotion of the assembly was general, because we felt that it was not declamation, but the soul itself, freed from the matter, that spoke ...
Mr. V ..., exhausted by the fatigue, is forced to leave the room, remaining out for a long time, under the influence of a semi-sleep, from which he only comes out little by little, by himself, not wishing for any help.
These events confirm the predictions of the Spirits concerning the new forms which mediumship would soon take. The state of spontaneous somnambulism, in which both speaking and seeing mediumship develops, is in fact a new faculty, in the sense that it seems destined to generalize; it is a particular mode of communication, and that is more meaningful now than before.
Moreover, this phenomenon is much more to serve as a complement to the instruction of the Spiritists than for the conviction of the unbelievers who would see only a comedy in that. The enlightened Spiritists alone can, not only understand it, but discover in it the proofs of sincerity or charlatanism, as in all other kinds of mediumship; only they can extract what is useful from it, deduce its consequences for the progress of the science in which it makes them penetrate earlier. Also, these phenomena are generally only produced in the intimacy, and there, besides the fact that the mediums would have no interest in simulating a faculty that does not exist, the deception would soon be exposed.
The nuances of observation are here so delicate and so subtle that they require continual attention. In this state of emancipation, the sensitivity and the impressionability are so great that the faculty can only develop in all its brilliance under an entirely sympathetic fluidic influence; a contrary current suffices to alter it like the breath that tarnishes the mirror. The painful sensation felt by the medium makes him fold onto himself, like the sensitive plant at the approaching hand. His attention then turns in the direction of this unpleasant current; he penetrates the thought that is its source, he sees it, he reads it, and the more he feels it unfriendly, the more it paralyzes him. That gives an idea of the effect produced by hostile thoughts! Thus, these kinds of phenomena do not absolutely lend themselves to public exhibitions, where curiosity is the dominant feeling, when it is not that of malevolence. They require, moreover, on the part of the witnesses, an excessive prudence, because it should not be forgotten that, in these moments, the soul only holds to the body by a fragile bond, and that a shock can, at least, cause serious disturbances to the organization; an indiscreet and brutal curiosity may have the most dismal consequences; this is why excessive precaution is never too much.
When M. V., at the onset, says that "all will, all magnetic action, is and must remain foreign to this phenomenon," he makes it clear that the action of Spirits alone is the cause, and that no one could provoke it. The recommendation not to speak to either one was intended to leave them entirely in their ecstasy. Questions would have had the effect of stopping the outpouring of their Spirit, bringing them down to earth, and diverting their thoughts from the main object. The exaltation of sensitivity also made it necessary to recommend not to touch them. The contact would have produced a painful commotion and harmful to the development of the faculty.
We can understand, from this, why the majority of scientists called upon to observe phenomena of this kind are disappointed; it is not because of their lack of faith, as they claim, that the effect is refused by the Spirits: it is they themselves who, by their moral dispositions, produce a contrary reaction; instead of placing themselves in the conditions of the phenomenon, they want to place the phenomenon in their own condition. They would like to find there the confirmation of their anti-spiritualist theories, because for them, it is the only truth, and they are annoyed, humiliated for being denied by the facts. So, not getting anything, or getting only things that contradict their way of seeing, instead of revising their concepts, they prefer to deny, or to say that it is only an illusion. And how could it be otherwise with people that do not accept spirituality? The spiritual principle is the cause of the phenomena of a particular order; To seek the cause outside of this principle is to seek that of lightning outside of electricity. Not understanding the special conditions of the phenomenon, they experiment on the patient as on test tube with chemical products; they torture him as if it were a surgical operation, at the risk of compromising his life or his health.
Ecstasy, which is the highest degree of emancipation, demands all the more precautions since, in this state, the Spirit, intoxicated by the sublime spectacle before its eyes, generally asks for nothing better than to stay where it is, and quit earth altogether; often he even makes an effort to break the last bond which chains him to his body, and if his reason were not strong enough to resist temptation, he would gladly let himself go. It is then that we must come to his aid with a strong will and by pulling him out of this state. We understand that there is no absolute rule here, and that we must act according to the circumstances.
In this respect, one of our friends offers us an interesting subject for study.
It has unsuccessfully been tried to hypnotize him in the past; for some time now he has spontaneously fallen into hypnotic sleep under the influence of the slightest cause; it suffices that he writes a few mediumistic lines, and sometimes a simple conversation. In his sleep he has perceptions of a very elevated order; he speaks eloquently and delves into the most serious questions with remarkable logic. He sees Spirits perfectly, but his lucidity presents different degrees through which he passes alternately; the most ordinary is that of a semi-ecstasy. At certain times, he gets excited, and if he experiences a strong emotion, which is frequent, he cries out with a sort of horror, and this often in the middle of the most interesting conversation: Awake me immediately, something that would be unwise not to do so. Fortunately, he showed us the way of waking him up instantaneously, and that consists in blowing his forehead strongly, since the magnetic passes producing only a very slow null effect.
Here is the explanation given to us about his faculty, by one of our guides, using another medium.
“Mr. T's Spirit is hampered in his development by the material test that he has chosen. The tool that is his instrument, his body, in his current state, is not manageable enough to allow him to assimilate the necessary knowledge, or to use what he possesses himself, in the waking state. When he is asleep, the body is no longer an obstacle, becoming only the spokesperson of his own Spirit, or of those with which it is in relation.
The material fatigue, inherent to his occupation, and the relative ignorance that he endures in this incarnation, since he only knows, in terms of science, what he has taught himself, all that disappears to make room for a lucidity of mind, a breadth of reasoning, and an exceptional eloquence that are the result of a previous development of the Spirit. The purpose of the frequency of his ecstasies is simply to familiarize his body to a state which, for a certain period, and for a special purpose later, may in some way become normal. When he asks to be awakened promptly, it is for his desire to accomplish his mission without failing. Under the spell of the sublime images that are offered to him and of the environment in which he finds himself, he would like to set free from the earthly ties and remain definitively among the Spirits. His reason, and his duty that keeps him down below here, fight such a desire; and for fear of letting himself be dominated, succumbing to temptation, he cries out for you to wake him up."
Considering that these phenomena of spontaneous mediumistic somnambulism must multiply, the preceding instructions are intended to guide the groups where they could occur, in the observation of the facts, and to make them understand the need to use the most extreme caution in such cases. What must absolutely be avoided is to make it an object of experimentation and curiosity.
The Spiritists will be able to draw great lessons from them, suitable for enlightening and strengthening their faith, but, we repeat, they would be of no benefit to the unbelievers. The phenomena intended to convince the latter, and that may occur in broad daylight, are of another order, and among them, some will take place, and are already occurring, apparently at least, outside Spiritism; the word Spiritism frightens them; having this word not being pronounced, it will be one more reason for them to take deal with it; The Spirits are therefore wise when they sometimes change the label.
As for the special utility of this mediumship, it is in the tangible proof that it provides of the independence of Spirit, by its isolation from matter. As we have said, manifestations of this kind enlighten and strengthen the faith; they put us in more direct contact with the spiritual life. Who is the lukewarm or uncertain Spiritist that would remain indifferent in the presence of facts that make him, so to speak, touch the future life with his finger? Who is the one who could still doubt the presence and the intervention of the Spirits? What is the heart hardened enough not to be moved at the sight of the future, unfolding before him, and that God, in His goodness, allows him to foresee?
But these manifestations have another more practical, more current utility, because more than others, they will be of a nature to raise courage in the hard times that we have to go through. It is at the time of turmoil that we will be happy to feel invisible protectors near us; it is then that we will know the worth of this knowledge that raises us above humanity and the miseries of Earth, that appeases our sorrows and our apprehensions, by making us see only what is great, imperishable and worthy of our aspirations. It is a timely help that God sends to His faithful servants, and it is yet another sign that the times have come. Let us know how to use it for our advancement. Let us thank God for allowing us to be enlightened in time, and feel sorry for the unbelievers, for depriving themselves of this immense and supreme consolation, for the light has been shed for all. Through the voice of the Spirits that speak throughout Earth, He makes a last appeal to the hardened ones; let us implore His indulgence and mercy for the blind.
Ecstasy is, as we have said, a higher state of disengagement, of which the somnambulistic state is one of the first degrees, but that does not imply, in any way, the superiority of the Spirit. The most complete release is, undoubtedly, the one that follows death. However, now we see the Spirit preserving his imperfections, his prejudices, committing errors, deceiving oneself, manifesting the same inclinations. It is for the fact that good and bad qualities are inherent to the Spirit, and do not depend on external causes. The external causes can paralyze the faculties of the Spirit, that recovers them in the state of freedom, but they are powerless to give him those that he does not have. The flavor of a fruit is in the fruit itself; whatever we do, wherever we place it, if it is inherently tasteless, we won't make it tasty. That is how it is with the Spirit. If a complete detachment after death does not make him perfect, much less can he become so in a partial separation.
Ecstatic release is a physiological state, an obvious indicator of a certain degree of advancement of the Spirit, but not of absolute superiority. Moral imperfections, which are due to the influence of matter, disappear with this influence, which is why we generally observe in somnambulists and ecstatic more elevated ideas than in the waking state; but those that depend on the very quality of the Spirit continue to manifest themselves, sometimes even with less restraint than in the normal state; the Spirit, freed from all constraints, sometimes gives free rein to feelings that, as a man, he tries to conceal from the eyes of the world. Of all the evil tendencies, the most persistent and the ones that we confesses the least to ourselves, are the radical vices of humanity: pride and selfishness that give rise to jealousy, the petty susceptibilities of self-esteem, the exaltation of personality that are often revealed in the state of somnambulism. It is not the release that gives birth to them, it only uncovers them; from latent they become sensitive as a result of the freedom of the Spirit. We must not, therefore, expect to find any kind of infallibility, neither moral nor intellectual, in somnambulists and ecstatic; the faculty they enjoy may be altered by imperfections in their Spirit. Their words can reflect their thoughts and feelings; they can also suffer the effects of obsession, just as well as in the ordinary state, and be, on the part of the lighthearted or malicious Spirits, the plaything of the strangest illusions, as experience demonstrates.
It would therefore be a mistake to believe that visions and revelations of ecstasy can only be the expression of truth; like with all other manifestations, they must be subjected to the crucible of good sense and reason, to distinguish between good and bad, what is rational and what is illogical. If these kinds of manifestations are multiplying, it is much less with the objective of giving us extraordinary revelations, than to provide us with new subjects for study and observation on the faculties and properties of the soul, and to give us a new proof of its existence and its independence from matter.
The reopening session, on Friday, October 5th, presented a similar phenomenon, but in larger proportions. There were thirteen mediums at the table. In the first part, two of them, Mrs. C… and Mr. Vavasseur, slept, like Mr. Morin had done, without any provocation and without anybody thinking about it, under the influence of the Spirits. Mr. Vavasseur is the poet medium, that receives poetry with great facility, from which we have published several samples. Mr. Morin was also about to sleep. Here is what happened during their sleep, that lasted almost one hour.
Mr. Vavasseur said, with a grave and solemn voice: "All will, all magnetic action, is and must remain foreign to this phenomenon. No one should talk to my sister or to me.” Speaking of his sister, he referred to Mrs. C…, or his spiritual sister, because they are in no way related. Then, addressing Mr. Morin, placed at the other end of the table, and extending his hand towards him with an imperative gesture: "I forbid you to sleep." Mr. Morin, in fact, almost asleep, awoke of his own accord. Express recommendation is further made for nobody to touch either of the two mediums.
Mr. V. continued: “Ah! I can feel a bad fluid current here that tires me out… Sister, are you in pain too? – Mrs. C…, Yes. – Mr. V. Look! society is in large number tonight. Do you see – Mrs. C ... Not very clearly yet. - Mr. V… I want you to see. – Mrs. C… Oh! Yes, many Spirit! – Mr. V… Yes, there are many of them; they are uncountable! But, look, in front of you; see a more luminous Spirit, with a more brilliant halo… He seems to smile at us with benevolence! I am told that he is my benefactor (Saint Louis)… Come on, let's walk; let's both go to him… Oh! I have many faults to repair… (addressing the Spirit): Dear Spirit! when I was born, my mother gave me your name. Since then, I remember, that poor mother used to say to me every day: “Oh! my child, pray to God; pray to your guardian angel; especially pray to your patron. Later, I forgot everything… everything! Doubt, disbelief, pursued me; in my error I have misunderstood you, I have misunderstood the goodness of God ... Today, dear Spirit, I come to ask you for forgetting the past and for forgiveness in the present! O Saint Louis, you see my pain and my regret, forget and forgive. (These last words were said with a heart-breaking accent of despair).
Mrs. C… “We must not cry, brother… Saint Louis forgives and blesses you… Good Spirits have no resentment against those who abandon their mistakes. He forgives you; I tell you! O! this Spirit is good! See, he is smiling at us. (Raising his hand to his chest.) Oh! how it hurts to suffer like this!"
Mr. V… “He's talking to me… Listen! Courage,” he said to me, “work with your brothers. The year which begins will be fertile in great events. Around you will emerge great geniuses, poets, painters, literati. The era of the arts follows the era of philosophy. If the first has worked wonders, the second will perform miracles. (Mr. V… speaks with extraordinary vehemence; he is in the supreme degree of ecstasy.)
Mrs. C… “Calm down, brother; you set too much fire on it, and it hurts you; calm down."
Mr. V… (continuing): “But there begins the mission of your society, a very great and very beautiful mission for those who understand it… Home of the Spiritist doctrine, it must defend and propagate its principles by all means that it disposes. Besides, its President will know what needs to be done.
“Now, sister, he's going away; he still smiles at us; he waves goodbye… Come on, let's go up, sister; you must watch a splendid spectacle, a spectacle that the earthly eye has never seen… never, never!… Go up… go up… I want to! (Silence.) What do you see? Look at this Army of Spirits! There they are the poets that surround us… O! sing too, sing! Your songs are the songs of heaven, the hymn of creation! Sing! And their whispers caress my ears… and their chords put my mind to sleep… Can't you hear?”
Mrs. C… “Yes, I hear… They seem to say that with the Spiritist year that begins, a new phase begins for Spiritism… a brilliant phase, of triumph and joy for the sincere hearts, of shame and confusion for the proud and the hypocrites! For these, disappointments, neglect, oblivion, misery; for others, glorification."
Mr. V… “They have already said it, and it is true."
Mrs. C… “Oh! What a party! what magnificence! what a dazzling splendor! My eyes can barely sustain the glow of it. What sweet harmony is heard and penetrates the soul! See all these good Spirits that are preparing the triumph of the doctrine under the guidance of superior Spirits and the great Spirit of Truth! How resplendent they are, and how costly to them to come back and live in a globe like ours! It is painful, but this entails progress."
Mr. V… “Listen! Listen! Listen, I tell you!"
Mr. V… begins the following improvisation in verse. It was the first time that he did mediumistic poetry verbally. Up until now, communications of this kind had always been given spontaneously, in writing.
It was a stormy evening,
The sea rolled its dead,
Throwing to the shore
In gloomy accords! ...
A child, still young,
Standing on a rock,
Waiting for the dawn
Light to walk,
To go to the beach,
Seeking his sister,
Saved from the wreck,
Or… with a dazzled heart.
Could he, on the shore,
See her, as before,
Smiling and naive,
Rushing to his voice?
On that horrible night,
On those rhythmic waves,
The invisible hand
That separated them,
Will it bring them together again?
It was a hope, in vain!
The dawn was out, stunning,
But… it didn't show him anything.
Nothing ... just the sad wreckage
Of a destroyed ship!
Nothing ... but the wave that washes away
What was soiled at night!
The wave, with mystery,
Raising and sliding,
Foamy and light,
The threatening chasm
That hid its victims,
Stifled her cries,
Wanting its crime
To excuse the waves
To the plaintive breeze!
The child, tired of looking,
Running around the shore,
Couldn't walk anymore ...
Exhausted, out of breath,
Lame… bruised… broken…
Barely standing,
Resting on the scorching face,
Of an almost bare rock,
In prayer,
When a passing stranger,
Surprised, looks at him,
Praying with faith.
- Oh! child,
God bless you,
Stand up, he said!
This God that sees your tears,
Brought me here
To calm your scares,
And reach out to you!
Be afraid no more.
My home is yours
My family is yours
Your misfortune is mine.
Come, why you suffer, I must hear!
I will open my heart to you
And hope I will soon
Calm your fear.
(Addressing Mrs. C…) – Do you see? He stops… But he must continue… Yes, he approaches… The sounds are more distinct… I hear… ah!
This poor child… it's me!
This stranger… (addressing Mr. Allan Kardec) it's you,
Dear and honorable master!
You who made me know Two words:
Eternity And… Immortality!
Two names: one God, the other, soul!
One home, the other flame!
And you, my dear friends,
Gathered in this place,
You are the family
Where now quietly,
I must end my days!
Oh! Love each other always!
He's running away… Casimir Delavigne! Oh! dear Spirit… again! He is fleeing! Come on, I am not strong enough to attend this divine concert… Yes, it's so beautiful… it's exceedingly beautiful!
Mrs. C… He would speak again if you wanted, but your elation prevented him. Here you are, broken, bruised, panting; you can no longer speak.
Mr. V… Yes, I can feel it; it is still a weakness (with a strong feeling of regret), and I must wake you up!… too soon… Why not stay in this place forever? Why go back to earth again? Come on, since it is necessary, sister, it is necessary to obey without complaint… Wake up, I want you to wake up. (Mrs. C… opens her eyes) For my side, you can wake me up by waving your handkerchief. I am suffocating! air! air!”
These words, and especially the verses, were said with such an intonation, an outpouring of feeling and a warmth of expression of which only the most dramatic and moving scenes can give an idea. The emotion of the assembly was general, because we felt that it was not declamation, but the soul itself, freed from the matter, that spoke ...
Mr. V ..., exhausted by the fatigue, is forced to leave the room, remaining out for a long time, under the influence of a semi-sleep, from which he only comes out little by little, by himself, not wishing for any help.
These events confirm the predictions of the Spirits concerning the new forms which mediumship would soon take. The state of spontaneous somnambulism, in which both speaking and seeing mediumship develops, is in fact a new faculty, in the sense that it seems destined to generalize; it is a particular mode of communication, and that is more meaningful now than before.
Moreover, this phenomenon is much more to serve as a complement to the instruction of the Spiritists than for the conviction of the unbelievers who would see only a comedy in that. The enlightened Spiritists alone can, not only understand it, but discover in it the proofs of sincerity or charlatanism, as in all other kinds of mediumship; only they can extract what is useful from it, deduce its consequences for the progress of the science in which it makes them penetrate earlier. Also, these phenomena are generally only produced in the intimacy, and there, besides the fact that the mediums would have no interest in simulating a faculty that does not exist, the deception would soon be exposed.
The nuances of observation are here so delicate and so subtle that they require continual attention. In this state of emancipation, the sensitivity and the impressionability are so great that the faculty can only develop in all its brilliance under an entirely sympathetic fluidic influence; a contrary current suffices to alter it like the breath that tarnishes the mirror. The painful sensation felt by the medium makes him fold onto himself, like the sensitive plant at the approaching hand. His attention then turns in the direction of this unpleasant current; he penetrates the thought that is its source, he sees it, he reads it, and the more he feels it unfriendly, the more it paralyzes him. That gives an idea of the effect produced by hostile thoughts! Thus, these kinds of phenomena do not absolutely lend themselves to public exhibitions, where curiosity is the dominant feeling, when it is not that of malevolence. They require, moreover, on the part of the witnesses, an excessive prudence, because it should not be forgotten that, in these moments, the soul only holds to the body by a fragile bond, and that a shock can, at least, cause serious disturbances to the organization; an indiscreet and brutal curiosity may have the most dismal consequences; this is why excessive precaution is never too much.
When M. V., at the onset, says that "all will, all magnetic action, is and must remain foreign to this phenomenon," he makes it clear that the action of Spirits alone is the cause, and that no one could provoke it. The recommendation not to speak to either one was intended to leave them entirely in their ecstasy. Questions would have had the effect of stopping the outpouring of their Spirit, bringing them down to earth, and diverting their thoughts from the main object. The exaltation of sensitivity also made it necessary to recommend not to touch them. The contact would have produced a painful commotion and harmful to the development of the faculty.
We can understand, from this, why the majority of scientists called upon to observe phenomena of this kind are disappointed; it is not because of their lack of faith, as they claim, that the effect is refused by the Spirits: it is they themselves who, by their moral dispositions, produce a contrary reaction; instead of placing themselves in the conditions of the phenomenon, they want to place the phenomenon in their own condition. They would like to find there the confirmation of their anti-spiritualist theories, because for them, it is the only truth, and they are annoyed, humiliated for being denied by the facts. So, not getting anything, or getting only things that contradict their way of seeing, instead of revising their concepts, they prefer to deny, or to say that it is only an illusion. And how could it be otherwise with people that do not accept spirituality? The spiritual principle is the cause of the phenomena of a particular order; To seek the cause outside of this principle is to seek that of lightning outside of electricity. Not understanding the special conditions of the phenomenon, they experiment on the patient as on test tube with chemical products; they torture him as if it were a surgical operation, at the risk of compromising his life or his health.
Ecstasy, which is the highest degree of emancipation, demands all the more precautions since, in this state, the Spirit, intoxicated by the sublime spectacle before its eyes, generally asks for nothing better than to stay where it is, and quit earth altogether; often he even makes an effort to break the last bond which chains him to his body, and if his reason were not strong enough to resist temptation, he would gladly let himself go. It is then that we must come to his aid with a strong will and by pulling him out of this state. We understand that there is no absolute rule here, and that we must act according to the circumstances.
In this respect, one of our friends offers us an interesting subject for study.
It has unsuccessfully been tried to hypnotize him in the past; for some time now he has spontaneously fallen into hypnotic sleep under the influence of the slightest cause; it suffices that he writes a few mediumistic lines, and sometimes a simple conversation. In his sleep he has perceptions of a very elevated order; he speaks eloquently and delves into the most serious questions with remarkable logic. He sees Spirits perfectly, but his lucidity presents different degrees through which he passes alternately; the most ordinary is that of a semi-ecstasy. At certain times, he gets excited, and if he experiences a strong emotion, which is frequent, he cries out with a sort of horror, and this often in the middle of the most interesting conversation: Awake me immediately, something that would be unwise not to do so. Fortunately, he showed us the way of waking him up instantaneously, and that consists in blowing his forehead strongly, since the magnetic passes producing only a very slow null effect.
Here is the explanation given to us about his faculty, by one of our guides, using another medium.
“Mr. T's Spirit is hampered in his development by the material test that he has chosen. The tool that is his instrument, his body, in his current state, is not manageable enough to allow him to assimilate the necessary knowledge, or to use what he possesses himself, in the waking state. When he is asleep, the body is no longer an obstacle, becoming only the spokesperson of his own Spirit, or of those with which it is in relation.
The material fatigue, inherent to his occupation, and the relative ignorance that he endures in this incarnation, since he only knows, in terms of science, what he has taught himself, all that disappears to make room for a lucidity of mind, a breadth of reasoning, and an exceptional eloquence that are the result of a previous development of the Spirit. The purpose of the frequency of his ecstasies is simply to familiarize his body to a state which, for a certain period, and for a special purpose later, may in some way become normal. When he asks to be awakened promptly, it is for his desire to accomplish his mission without failing. Under the spell of the sublime images that are offered to him and of the environment in which he finds himself, he would like to set free from the earthly ties and remain definitively among the Spirits. His reason, and his duty that keeps him down below here, fight such a desire; and for fear of letting himself be dominated, succumbing to temptation, he cries out for you to wake him up."
Considering that these phenomena of spontaneous mediumistic somnambulism must multiply, the preceding instructions are intended to guide the groups where they could occur, in the observation of the facts, and to make them understand the need to use the most extreme caution in such cases. What must absolutely be avoided is to make it an object of experimentation and curiosity.
The Spiritists will be able to draw great lessons from them, suitable for enlightening and strengthening their faith, but, we repeat, they would be of no benefit to the unbelievers. The phenomena intended to convince the latter, and that may occur in broad daylight, are of another order, and among them, some will take place, and are already occurring, apparently at least, outside Spiritism; the word Spiritism frightens them; having this word not being pronounced, it will be one more reason for them to take deal with it; The Spirits are therefore wise when they sometimes change the label.
As for the special utility of this mediumship, it is in the tangible proof that it provides of the independence of Spirit, by its isolation from matter. As we have said, manifestations of this kind enlighten and strengthen the faith; they put us in more direct contact with the spiritual life. Who is the lukewarm or uncertain Spiritist that would remain indifferent in the presence of facts that make him, so to speak, touch the future life with his finger? Who is the one who could still doubt the presence and the intervention of the Spirits? What is the heart hardened enough not to be moved at the sight of the future, unfolding before him, and that God, in His goodness, allows him to foresee?
But these manifestations have another more practical, more current utility, because more than others, they will be of a nature to raise courage in the hard times that we have to go through. It is at the time of turmoil that we will be happy to feel invisible protectors near us; it is then that we will know the worth of this knowledge that raises us above humanity and the miseries of Earth, that appeases our sorrows and our apprehensions, by making us see only what is great, imperishable and worthy of our aspirations. It is a timely help that God sends to His faithful servants, and it is yet another sign that the times have come. Let us know how to use it for our advancement. Let us thank God for allowing us to be enlightened in time, and feel sorry for the unbelievers, for depriving themselves of this immense and supreme consolation, for the light has been shed for all. Through the voice of the Spirits that speak throughout Earth, He makes a last appeal to the hardened ones; let us implore His indulgence and mercy for the blind.
Ecstasy is, as we have said, a higher state of disengagement, of which the somnambulistic state is one of the first degrees, but that does not imply, in any way, the superiority of the Spirit. The most complete release is, undoubtedly, the one that follows death. However, now we see the Spirit preserving his imperfections, his prejudices, committing errors, deceiving oneself, manifesting the same inclinations. It is for the fact that good and bad qualities are inherent to the Spirit, and do not depend on external causes. The external causes can paralyze the faculties of the Spirit, that recovers them in the state of freedom, but they are powerless to give him those that he does not have. The flavor of a fruit is in the fruit itself; whatever we do, wherever we place it, if it is inherently tasteless, we won't make it tasty. That is how it is with the Spirit. If a complete detachment after death does not make him perfect, much less can he become so in a partial separation.
Ecstatic release is a physiological state, an obvious indicator of a certain degree of advancement of the Spirit, but not of absolute superiority. Moral imperfections, which are due to the influence of matter, disappear with this influence, which is why we generally observe in somnambulists and ecstatic more elevated ideas than in the waking state; but those that depend on the very quality of the Spirit continue to manifest themselves, sometimes even with less restraint than in the normal state; the Spirit, freed from all constraints, sometimes gives free rein to feelings that, as a man, he tries to conceal from the eyes of the world. Of all the evil tendencies, the most persistent and the ones that we confesses the least to ourselves, are the radical vices of humanity: pride and selfishness that give rise to jealousy, the petty susceptibilities of self-esteem, the exaltation of personality that are often revealed in the state of somnambulism. It is not the release that gives birth to them, it only uncovers them; from latent they become sensitive as a result of the freedom of the Spirit. We must not, therefore, expect to find any kind of infallibility, neither moral nor intellectual, in somnambulists and ecstatic; the faculty they enjoy may be altered by imperfections in their Spirit. Their words can reflect their thoughts and feelings; they can also suffer the effects of obsession, just as well as in the ordinary state, and be, on the part of the lighthearted or malicious Spirits, the plaything of the strangest illusions, as experience demonstrates.
It would therefore be a mistake to believe that visions and revelations of ecstasy can only be the expression of truth; like with all other manifestations, they must be subjected to the crucible of good sense and reason, to distinguish between good and bad, what is rational and what is illogical. If these kinds of manifestations are multiplying, it is much less with the objective of giving us extraordinary revelations, than to provide us with new subjects for study and observation on the faculties and properties of the soul, and to give us a new proof of its existence and its independence from matter.
Considerations About the Propagation of the Healing Mediumship
(See article about the healing Zouave in the previous month)
First, we need to make some corrections to our account of Mr. Jacob's cures. We heard from Mr. Jacob himself that the little girl that he healed on arriving at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, was not in the public square; that's where he saw her, but the healing took place in her parents' house where he brought her in. It doesn't change the result; but this circumstance gives the action a less eccentric character.
Mr. Boivinet writes the following to us:
“Concerning the proportion of cured patients, I meant that out of 4,000, a quarter did not experience any results, and that of the remaining 3,000, a quarter was healed and three quarters relieved. From another passage of the article one might believe that I have attested the healing of stiff limbs; I meant that Mr. Jacob had straightened stiff limbs, rigid as if they were stiff, but no more than that; it does not mean that there was a cured ankylosis; I ignore that. As for the stiffened limbs that, given the pain, partially paralyze the capacity of movement, I have lastly observed three cases of instantaneous cure; the next day, one of the sick was absolutely cured; another one had freedom of movement with a residual pain which, as he told me, he would gladly live with forever. I did not see the third patient again."
It would have been remarkable if the devil did not come and meddle in this affair. Another person wrote to us from one of the localities where the rumor of Mr. Jacob's healings had spread:
“Great emotion here in the town and in the presbytery. The servant of the priest, having met Mr. Jacob twice, in the only street of the village, is convinced that he is the devil, and that he is chasing her. The poor woman took refuge in a house where she almost had a nervous attack. It is true that the red outfit of the Zouave could have made her believe that he was coming out of hell. It seems that they are preparing a crusade against the devil here, to dissuade the sick from being cured by him."
Who could have given the idea to this woman that Mr. Jacob was the devil in person, and that the healings are a trick on his part? Weren’t the poor of a certain city told that they should not receive the bread and the alms of the Spiritists, because it was a seduction of Satan? And elsewhere, that it was better to be an atheist than to come back to God by the influence of Spiritism, because that was still a ruse of the devil? In any case, by attributing so many good things to the devil, they do whatever it takes to rehabilitate him with public opinion. What is even more strange is that such ideas are still fed to populations a few leagues from Paris. So, what a reaction when the light shines on these fanaticized brains! One must admit that there are some very clumsy people.
Let us return to our subject: general considerations about healing mediumship.
We have already said, and it is never too much to repeat, that there is a radical difference between the healing mediums and those that obtain medical prescriptions from the part of the Spirits. The latter are not at all different from the ordinary writing mediums, except for the nature of the communication. The former only cure by the fluidic action, in longer or shorter time, sometimes instantaneously, with the use of any medication. The healing power is totally on the depurated fluid to which they serve as conductors. The theory of this phenomenon was sufficiently explained to demonstrate that it enters in the order of the natural laws, and that there isn’t anything of miraculous. It is the result of a special aptitude, as independent from one’s will as all other mediumistic faculties; it is not a talent that may be acquired; nobody can transform oneself in a healing medium, as one can become a doctor. The healing gift is inherent to the medium, but the exercise of the faculty can only take place with the support of the Spirits, so that if the Spirits no longer wish to utilize him, he is therefore like an instrument without a musician, and obtains nothing. He can, consequently, lose the faculty instantaneously, which then excludes the possibility of making a profession out of it.
Another point to consider is that since this faculty is based on natural laws, it has limits outlined by those very laws. It is understandable that the fluidic action may give sensitivity to an existing organ; dissolve or get rid of an obstacle to the movement or perception; cicatrize an ulcer, because then the fluid becomes a true therapeutic agent; but it is evident that it cannot repair the absence or the destruction of an organ, something that would be a true miracle. Thus, sight could be restored to a person blind by amaurosis, ophthalmia, cloudy vision or cataract, but not the one that had the eyes gouged out. There are, therefore, fundamentally incurable diseases, and it would be an illusion to believe that the healing mediumship would relieve humanity from all its illnesses.
Besides, one must also consider the variety of nuances presented by such mediumship, that is far from being uniform in all that have it. It presents itself in many different aspects. Based on the degree of development of the power, the action is faster or slower, extensive, or circumscribed. A given medium is successful with certain diseases, in certain persons, under certain circumstances, and completely fails in apparently identical cases. It seems also that, in some, the healing gift extends to the animals. There is a true chemical reaction taking place in this phenomenon, like the one produced by certain medications. The fluid acts as the therapeutic agent, and its action varies according to the properties received from the qualities of the personal fluid of the medium; now, owing to the temperament and the constitution of the latter, this fluid is impregnated with various elements that give it special properties; to provide material comparison, it can be more or less charged with animal electricity, be acid or alkaline, with ferruginous elements, sulphureous, solvents, astringents, caustics, etc.; this results in a different action depending on the nature of the organic ailment; this action can therefore be energetic, all powerful in certain cases, and null in others. That is how the healing mediums can have specialties; this one will heal pains or straighten a limb but will not restore sight to a blind person, and vice versa. Only experience can reveal the specialty and the extent of the aptitude; but we can say, in principle, that there aren’t universal healing mediums, for the reason that there aren’t perfect men on earth, whose power is unlimited.
The action is quite different in the obsession, and the power to heal does not imply the power to free the obsessed. The healing fluid acts in some way materially on the affected organs, while, in the obsession, it is necessary to act morally on the obsessing Spirit; one must have authority over him to make him let go. These are therefore two distinct abilities that are not always present in the same person. The help of the healing fluid becomes necessary when the obsession is complicated by organic affections, and this is quite frequent. So, there may be powerless healing mediums for the obsession, and vice versa.
Healing mediumship does not come to supplant medicine and physicians; it simply comes to prove to them that there are things they do not know and invites them to study them; that nature has laws and resources they ignore; that the spiritual element, that they ignore, is not a chimera, and when they take it into account, they will open up new horizons to science and succeed more often than they do. If this faculty were the privilege of an individual only, it would go unnoticed; it would be regarded as an exception, an effect of chance, the supreme explanation that explains nothing, and ill will could easily stifle the truth. But when they see the facts multiplying, they will be forced to recognize that they can only occur by virtue of a law; that if ignorant men succeed where scientists fail, it is because scientists do not know everything. This in no way affects science that will always be the lever and the result of intellectual progress; only the self-esteem of those who circumscribe it within the limits of their knowledge and materiality, can suffer.
Of all the mediumistic faculties, popularized healing mediumship is the one that is called upon to produce the most sensations, because there are sick people everywhere and in great numbers, and it is not curiosity that attracts them, but the overwhelming need for relief; more than any other, it will triumph over disbelief, as well as fanaticism, which sees the intervention of the devil everywhere. The multiplicity of facts will necessarily lead to the study of the natural cause, and from there to the destruction of the superstitious ideas of bewitching, occult power, amulets, etc. If we consider the effects produced around Camp Châlons by a single individual, and the multitude of suffering people from ten leagues around, we can assess what it would be if ten, twenty, a hundred individuals performed under the same conditions, either in France or in foreign countries. If you tell these patients that they are the plaything of an illusion, they will answer you by showing their straightened leg; that they are victims of charlatans, and they will say that they have not paid anything, and that they have not been sold any drugs; if you tell them that their trust has been abused, and they will say that they have not been promised anything.
It is also the faculty that most escapes the accusation of charlatanism and deception; it defies mockery, for there is nothing laughable in a cured patient whom science had abandoned. Dishonesty can roughly simulate most of the mediumistic effects, and skepticism always seeks strings in them; but where will the strings of healing mediumship be found? One can apply certain tricks to imitate the mediumistic effects, and the most real effects can, in the eyes of some people, pass for skillful tricks, but what would someone that wanted to imitate the qualities of a healing medium do? One of two things: he either heals or he does not heal. There is no simulation that can produce a cure.
Healing mediumship, moreover, completely escapes the law on the illegal practice of medicine since it does not prescribe any treatment. What penalty could be applicable to the one that heals by his influence alone, assisted by prayer, who, moreover, does not ask for anything as a payment for his services? Now, prayer is not a pharmaceutical substance. It is, in your opinion, something silly; but if the cure is at the end of this silliness, what will you say? A silliness that cures is more valuable that medications that don’t.
Mr. Jacob was prohibited from receiving sick people at the camp, and from going to their homes, and if he submitted by saying that he would not resume the exercise of his faculty, until the ban was officially lifted, it is for the fact that, being a soldier, he wanted to be a scrupulous observer of discipline, however harsh it was. In this he acted wisely, for he proved that Spiritism does not lead to insubordination; but this is an exceptional case here. Since this faculty is not the privilege of an individual, by what means could it be prevented from spreading? If it spreads, willingly or not, it will have to be accepted with all its consequences.
Considering that the healing mediumship is based on an organic disposition, many people possess at least its germ, that remains in a latent state, for lack of exercise and development. It is a faculty that many aspire, rightly so, and if all those who wish to possess it asked for it with fervor and perseverance by prayer, and for an exclusively humanitarian purpose, it is probable that, from this contest, more than one would emerge a true healing medium.
We should not be surprised to see people who, at first glance, do not seem worthy of it, favored by this precious gift. It is because the assistance of the good Spirits is available to everyone, to open to all the path of good; but it ceases if one does not know how to make oneself worthy of it, by improving. It is here like with the gifts of fortune, that do not always come to the most deserving one; it is then a test by the use that is made of it; fortunate the ones that emerge victorious.
By the nature of its effects, healing mediumship essentially requires the co-operation of purified Spirits who cannot be replaced by inferior Spirits, while there are mediumistic effects, for the production of which the elevation of Spirits is not a necessary condition, and which, for this reason, are obtained almost in all circumstances. Certain Spirits, even less scrupulous than others, as for these conditions, prefer mediums with whom they find sympathy; but the worker is recognized by the work.
There is, therefore, an absolute necessity for the healing medium to conquer the cooperation of the superior Spirits if he wants to preserve and develop their faculty, otherwise, instead of growing, it declines and disappears by the estrangement of the good Spirits. The first condition for this is to work on one’s own purification, so as not to alter the beneficial fluids that one is responsible for transmitting. This condition cannot be fulfilled without the most complete material and moral selflessness. The first is the easiest, the second is the rarest, because pride and selfishness are the most difficult feelings to uproot, and several causes contribute to over-arousing them in mediums. As soon as one of them is revealed with a somewhat transcendent faculty - we are speaking here of mediums in general, writers, seers, and others - he is sought after, flattered, and more than one succumbs to this temptation of vanity. Soon, forgetting that without Spirits there would be nothing, he regards himself as indispensable, and the sole interpreter of the truth; he denigrates other mediums and believes himself above advices. The medium that behaves like that is lost, because the Spirits take it upon themselves to prove to him that they can do without him, by making other better assisted mediums emerge. By comparing the series of communications of the same medium, we can easily judge whether it is growing or degenerating. How many, unfortunately, we have seen, in all genres, falling sadly and deplorably on the slippery slope of pride and vanity! We can, therefore, expect to see the emergence of a multitude of healing mediums; in their number, several will remain dried fruits, and will disappear, after having shone a transient spark, while others will continue to rise.
Here is an example that one of our correspondents told us about, six months ago. In a department of the south, a medium who had revealed himself as a healer, had operated several remarkable cures, and great hopes were placed on him. His faculty presented peculiarities that, in a group, they had the idea of doing a study on this subject. Here is the response that was obtained from the Spirits, and that was transmitted to us on the occasion; it can be used for the instruction of all.
“X…, in fact, possesses the faculty of a healing medium, remarkably developed; unfortunately, like many others, he exaggerates its scope too much. He is an excellent boy, full of good intentions, but an excessive pride, and an extremely short sight of men and things, will quickly collapse. His fluidic power, that is considerable, well used and aided by moral influence, could produce excellent results. Do you know why many of his patients experience only a momentary well-being, that disappears when he is no longer there? It is for the fact that he acts by his presence alone, but that he leaves nothing in the mind to succeed over the sufferings of the body.
When he is gone, nothing remains of him, not even the thought, that follows the patient of whom he no longer thinks, while the mental action could, in his absence, continue the direct action. He believes in his fluidic power, which is real, but whose action is not persistent, because it is not corroborated by moral influence. When he succeeds, he is more satisfied with being noticed than with having healed; and yet he is sincerely disinterested, for he would blush to receive the least remuneration; although he is not rich, he has never dreamed of making a profit out of it; what he wants is to make people talk about him. He also lacks the kindness of heart, that attracts. Those that come to him are shocked by his ways, which do not produce sympathy, and the result is a lack of harmony that impairs the assimilation of the fluids. Far from calming and appeasing bad passions, he excites them, while believing that he is doing what is necessary to destroy them, and this for lack of discernment. He is a distorted instrument; he sometimes gives harmonious and good sounds, but the whole can only be, if not bad, at least unproductive. He is not as useful to the cause as he could be, and he frequently harms it, because, for his character, the results are badly appreciated. He is one of those that preach a doctrine of meekness and peace with violence.
Question: So, do you think he will lose his healing power?
Answer: I am convinced of that, or else he would have to make a serious comeback, which, unfortunately, I do not believe he is capable of. Advice would be superfluous, because he is persuaded that he knows more than everyone else; he might appear to be listening to them, but he wouldn't follow them. He thus doubly loses the benefit of an excellent faculty."
The event justified the forecast. We have since learned that this medium, after a series of failures from which his self-esteem had suffered, had given up on new attempts at healing.
The power of healing is independent of the will of the medium; this is a fact attested by experience; what depends on him are the qualities which can make this power fruitful and lasting. These qualities are, above all, dedication, self-sacrifice, and humility; egoism, pride and greed are stopping points against which the finest faculty breaks.
The true healing medium, the one who understands the holiness of his mission, is moved by the unique desire for good; he sees in the gift he possesses only a means of making himself useful to his fellows, and not a stepping stone to rise above others and stand out. He is humble of heart, that is, in him humility and modesty are sincere, real, without ulterior motive, and not in words that are often contradicted by actions. Humility is sometimes a cloak under which pride is sheltered, but that cannot deceive anyone. He seeks neither shine, nor fame, nor celebrity, nor the satisfaction of his vanity; there is neither bragging nor boastfulness in his manners; he does not show off the cures he obtains, while the proud enumerates them with complacency, often amplifies them, and ends up by persuading himself that he has done everything he says.
Happy with the good he does, he is no less happy with what others can do; not believing himself to be the first or the only one capable, he neither envies nor denigrates any medium. Those who have the same faculty are for him brothers who contribute to the same end; he says to himself that the more there will be, the greater the good will be.
His confidence in his own strength does not go so far as to presume to believe himself infallible, and even less universal; he knows that others can as much and even more than him; his faith is in God more than in himself, for he knows that he can do everything through Him and nothing without Him. That is why he does not promise anything except with God's permission.
To the material influence, he joins moral influence, a powerful auxiliary that doubles his strength. By his benevolent words, he encourages, raises morale, arouses hope and confidence in God. It is already a part of the healing, for it is a consolation that disposes to receive the beneficent fragrance, or to put it better, the benevolent thought is itself a healthy fragrance. Without moral influence, the medium has only the fluidic, material, and in a way, brutal action, insufficient in many cases.
Finally, to the one that possesses the qualities of the heart, the patient is attracted by a sympathy that predisposes to the assimilation of fluids, while pride, the lack of benevolence, shock and make one experience a feeling of repulsion that paralyzes this assimilation.
Such is the healing medium loved by the good Spirits. Such is also the measure which can be used to judge the intrinsic value of those who will reveal themselves, and the extent of the services that they will be able to render to the cause of Spiritism. This is not to say that they are only found in these conditions, and that whoever does not combine all these qualities cannot temporarily render partial services, which would be wrong to reject; the evil is for him, because the more he moves away from the ideal model, the less he can hope to see his faculty develop, and the closer he is to its decline; good Spirits attach themselves only to those who prove themselves worthy of their protection, and the fall of the proud is, sooner or later, his punishment. Selflessness is incomplete without moral selflessness.
Mr. Boivinet writes the following to us:
“Concerning the proportion of cured patients, I meant that out of 4,000, a quarter did not experience any results, and that of the remaining 3,000, a quarter was healed and three quarters relieved. From another passage of the article one might believe that I have attested the healing of stiff limbs; I meant that Mr. Jacob had straightened stiff limbs, rigid as if they were stiff, but no more than that; it does not mean that there was a cured ankylosis; I ignore that. As for the stiffened limbs that, given the pain, partially paralyze the capacity of movement, I have lastly observed three cases of instantaneous cure; the next day, one of the sick was absolutely cured; another one had freedom of movement with a residual pain which, as he told me, he would gladly live with forever. I did not see the third patient again."
It would have been remarkable if the devil did not come and meddle in this affair. Another person wrote to us from one of the localities where the rumor of Mr. Jacob's healings had spread:
“Great emotion here in the town and in the presbytery. The servant of the priest, having met Mr. Jacob twice, in the only street of the village, is convinced that he is the devil, and that he is chasing her. The poor woman took refuge in a house where she almost had a nervous attack. It is true that the red outfit of the Zouave could have made her believe that he was coming out of hell. It seems that they are preparing a crusade against the devil here, to dissuade the sick from being cured by him."
Who could have given the idea to this woman that Mr. Jacob was the devil in person, and that the healings are a trick on his part? Weren’t the poor of a certain city told that they should not receive the bread and the alms of the Spiritists, because it was a seduction of Satan? And elsewhere, that it was better to be an atheist than to come back to God by the influence of Spiritism, because that was still a ruse of the devil? In any case, by attributing so many good things to the devil, they do whatever it takes to rehabilitate him with public opinion. What is even more strange is that such ideas are still fed to populations a few leagues from Paris. So, what a reaction when the light shines on these fanaticized brains! One must admit that there are some very clumsy people.
Let us return to our subject: general considerations about healing mediumship.
We have already said, and it is never too much to repeat, that there is a radical difference between the healing mediums and those that obtain medical prescriptions from the part of the Spirits. The latter are not at all different from the ordinary writing mediums, except for the nature of the communication. The former only cure by the fluidic action, in longer or shorter time, sometimes instantaneously, with the use of any medication. The healing power is totally on the depurated fluid to which they serve as conductors. The theory of this phenomenon was sufficiently explained to demonstrate that it enters in the order of the natural laws, and that there isn’t anything of miraculous. It is the result of a special aptitude, as independent from one’s will as all other mediumistic faculties; it is not a talent that may be acquired; nobody can transform oneself in a healing medium, as one can become a doctor. The healing gift is inherent to the medium, but the exercise of the faculty can only take place with the support of the Spirits, so that if the Spirits no longer wish to utilize him, he is therefore like an instrument without a musician, and obtains nothing. He can, consequently, lose the faculty instantaneously, which then excludes the possibility of making a profession out of it.
Another point to consider is that since this faculty is based on natural laws, it has limits outlined by those very laws. It is understandable that the fluidic action may give sensitivity to an existing organ; dissolve or get rid of an obstacle to the movement or perception; cicatrize an ulcer, because then the fluid becomes a true therapeutic agent; but it is evident that it cannot repair the absence or the destruction of an organ, something that would be a true miracle. Thus, sight could be restored to a person blind by amaurosis, ophthalmia, cloudy vision or cataract, but not the one that had the eyes gouged out. There are, therefore, fundamentally incurable diseases, and it would be an illusion to believe that the healing mediumship would relieve humanity from all its illnesses.
Besides, one must also consider the variety of nuances presented by such mediumship, that is far from being uniform in all that have it. It presents itself in many different aspects. Based on the degree of development of the power, the action is faster or slower, extensive, or circumscribed. A given medium is successful with certain diseases, in certain persons, under certain circumstances, and completely fails in apparently identical cases. It seems also that, in some, the healing gift extends to the animals. There is a true chemical reaction taking place in this phenomenon, like the one produced by certain medications. The fluid acts as the therapeutic agent, and its action varies according to the properties received from the qualities of the personal fluid of the medium; now, owing to the temperament and the constitution of the latter, this fluid is impregnated with various elements that give it special properties; to provide material comparison, it can be more or less charged with animal electricity, be acid or alkaline, with ferruginous elements, sulphureous, solvents, astringents, caustics, etc.; this results in a different action depending on the nature of the organic ailment; this action can therefore be energetic, all powerful in certain cases, and null in others. That is how the healing mediums can have specialties; this one will heal pains or straighten a limb but will not restore sight to a blind person, and vice versa. Only experience can reveal the specialty and the extent of the aptitude; but we can say, in principle, that there aren’t universal healing mediums, for the reason that there aren’t perfect men on earth, whose power is unlimited.
The action is quite different in the obsession, and the power to heal does not imply the power to free the obsessed. The healing fluid acts in some way materially on the affected organs, while, in the obsession, it is necessary to act morally on the obsessing Spirit; one must have authority over him to make him let go. These are therefore two distinct abilities that are not always present in the same person. The help of the healing fluid becomes necessary when the obsession is complicated by organic affections, and this is quite frequent. So, there may be powerless healing mediums for the obsession, and vice versa.
Healing mediumship does not come to supplant medicine and physicians; it simply comes to prove to them that there are things they do not know and invites them to study them; that nature has laws and resources they ignore; that the spiritual element, that they ignore, is not a chimera, and when they take it into account, they will open up new horizons to science and succeed more often than they do. If this faculty were the privilege of an individual only, it would go unnoticed; it would be regarded as an exception, an effect of chance, the supreme explanation that explains nothing, and ill will could easily stifle the truth. But when they see the facts multiplying, they will be forced to recognize that they can only occur by virtue of a law; that if ignorant men succeed where scientists fail, it is because scientists do not know everything. This in no way affects science that will always be the lever and the result of intellectual progress; only the self-esteem of those who circumscribe it within the limits of their knowledge and materiality, can suffer.
Of all the mediumistic faculties, popularized healing mediumship is the one that is called upon to produce the most sensations, because there are sick people everywhere and in great numbers, and it is not curiosity that attracts them, but the overwhelming need for relief; more than any other, it will triumph over disbelief, as well as fanaticism, which sees the intervention of the devil everywhere. The multiplicity of facts will necessarily lead to the study of the natural cause, and from there to the destruction of the superstitious ideas of bewitching, occult power, amulets, etc. If we consider the effects produced around Camp Châlons by a single individual, and the multitude of suffering people from ten leagues around, we can assess what it would be if ten, twenty, a hundred individuals performed under the same conditions, either in France or in foreign countries. If you tell these patients that they are the plaything of an illusion, they will answer you by showing their straightened leg; that they are victims of charlatans, and they will say that they have not paid anything, and that they have not been sold any drugs; if you tell them that their trust has been abused, and they will say that they have not been promised anything.
It is also the faculty that most escapes the accusation of charlatanism and deception; it defies mockery, for there is nothing laughable in a cured patient whom science had abandoned. Dishonesty can roughly simulate most of the mediumistic effects, and skepticism always seeks strings in them; but where will the strings of healing mediumship be found? One can apply certain tricks to imitate the mediumistic effects, and the most real effects can, in the eyes of some people, pass for skillful tricks, but what would someone that wanted to imitate the qualities of a healing medium do? One of two things: he either heals or he does not heal. There is no simulation that can produce a cure.
Healing mediumship, moreover, completely escapes the law on the illegal practice of medicine since it does not prescribe any treatment. What penalty could be applicable to the one that heals by his influence alone, assisted by prayer, who, moreover, does not ask for anything as a payment for his services? Now, prayer is not a pharmaceutical substance. It is, in your opinion, something silly; but if the cure is at the end of this silliness, what will you say? A silliness that cures is more valuable that medications that don’t.
Mr. Jacob was prohibited from receiving sick people at the camp, and from going to their homes, and if he submitted by saying that he would not resume the exercise of his faculty, until the ban was officially lifted, it is for the fact that, being a soldier, he wanted to be a scrupulous observer of discipline, however harsh it was. In this he acted wisely, for he proved that Spiritism does not lead to insubordination; but this is an exceptional case here. Since this faculty is not the privilege of an individual, by what means could it be prevented from spreading? If it spreads, willingly or not, it will have to be accepted with all its consequences.
Considering that the healing mediumship is based on an organic disposition, many people possess at least its germ, that remains in a latent state, for lack of exercise and development. It is a faculty that many aspire, rightly so, and if all those who wish to possess it asked for it with fervor and perseverance by prayer, and for an exclusively humanitarian purpose, it is probable that, from this contest, more than one would emerge a true healing medium.
We should not be surprised to see people who, at first glance, do not seem worthy of it, favored by this precious gift. It is because the assistance of the good Spirits is available to everyone, to open to all the path of good; but it ceases if one does not know how to make oneself worthy of it, by improving. It is here like with the gifts of fortune, that do not always come to the most deserving one; it is then a test by the use that is made of it; fortunate the ones that emerge victorious.
By the nature of its effects, healing mediumship essentially requires the co-operation of purified Spirits who cannot be replaced by inferior Spirits, while there are mediumistic effects, for the production of which the elevation of Spirits is not a necessary condition, and which, for this reason, are obtained almost in all circumstances. Certain Spirits, even less scrupulous than others, as for these conditions, prefer mediums with whom they find sympathy; but the worker is recognized by the work.
There is, therefore, an absolute necessity for the healing medium to conquer the cooperation of the superior Spirits if he wants to preserve and develop their faculty, otherwise, instead of growing, it declines and disappears by the estrangement of the good Spirits. The first condition for this is to work on one’s own purification, so as not to alter the beneficial fluids that one is responsible for transmitting. This condition cannot be fulfilled without the most complete material and moral selflessness. The first is the easiest, the second is the rarest, because pride and selfishness are the most difficult feelings to uproot, and several causes contribute to over-arousing them in mediums. As soon as one of them is revealed with a somewhat transcendent faculty - we are speaking here of mediums in general, writers, seers, and others - he is sought after, flattered, and more than one succumbs to this temptation of vanity. Soon, forgetting that without Spirits there would be nothing, he regards himself as indispensable, and the sole interpreter of the truth; he denigrates other mediums and believes himself above advices. The medium that behaves like that is lost, because the Spirits take it upon themselves to prove to him that they can do without him, by making other better assisted mediums emerge. By comparing the series of communications of the same medium, we can easily judge whether it is growing or degenerating. How many, unfortunately, we have seen, in all genres, falling sadly and deplorably on the slippery slope of pride and vanity! We can, therefore, expect to see the emergence of a multitude of healing mediums; in their number, several will remain dried fruits, and will disappear, after having shone a transient spark, while others will continue to rise.
Here is an example that one of our correspondents told us about, six months ago. In a department of the south, a medium who had revealed himself as a healer, had operated several remarkable cures, and great hopes were placed on him. His faculty presented peculiarities that, in a group, they had the idea of doing a study on this subject. Here is the response that was obtained from the Spirits, and that was transmitted to us on the occasion; it can be used for the instruction of all.
“X…, in fact, possesses the faculty of a healing medium, remarkably developed; unfortunately, like many others, he exaggerates its scope too much. He is an excellent boy, full of good intentions, but an excessive pride, and an extremely short sight of men and things, will quickly collapse. His fluidic power, that is considerable, well used and aided by moral influence, could produce excellent results. Do you know why many of his patients experience only a momentary well-being, that disappears when he is no longer there? It is for the fact that he acts by his presence alone, but that he leaves nothing in the mind to succeed over the sufferings of the body.
When he is gone, nothing remains of him, not even the thought, that follows the patient of whom he no longer thinks, while the mental action could, in his absence, continue the direct action. He believes in his fluidic power, which is real, but whose action is not persistent, because it is not corroborated by moral influence. When he succeeds, he is more satisfied with being noticed than with having healed; and yet he is sincerely disinterested, for he would blush to receive the least remuneration; although he is not rich, he has never dreamed of making a profit out of it; what he wants is to make people talk about him. He also lacks the kindness of heart, that attracts. Those that come to him are shocked by his ways, which do not produce sympathy, and the result is a lack of harmony that impairs the assimilation of the fluids. Far from calming and appeasing bad passions, he excites them, while believing that he is doing what is necessary to destroy them, and this for lack of discernment. He is a distorted instrument; he sometimes gives harmonious and good sounds, but the whole can only be, if not bad, at least unproductive. He is not as useful to the cause as he could be, and he frequently harms it, because, for his character, the results are badly appreciated. He is one of those that preach a doctrine of meekness and peace with violence.
Question: So, do you think he will lose his healing power?
Answer: I am convinced of that, or else he would have to make a serious comeback, which, unfortunately, I do not believe he is capable of. Advice would be superfluous, because he is persuaded that he knows more than everyone else; he might appear to be listening to them, but he wouldn't follow them. He thus doubly loses the benefit of an excellent faculty."
The event justified the forecast. We have since learned that this medium, after a series of failures from which his self-esteem had suffered, had given up on new attempts at healing.
The power of healing is independent of the will of the medium; this is a fact attested by experience; what depends on him are the qualities which can make this power fruitful and lasting. These qualities are, above all, dedication, self-sacrifice, and humility; egoism, pride and greed are stopping points against which the finest faculty breaks.
The true healing medium, the one who understands the holiness of his mission, is moved by the unique desire for good; he sees in the gift he possesses only a means of making himself useful to his fellows, and not a stepping stone to rise above others and stand out. He is humble of heart, that is, in him humility and modesty are sincere, real, without ulterior motive, and not in words that are often contradicted by actions. Humility is sometimes a cloak under which pride is sheltered, but that cannot deceive anyone. He seeks neither shine, nor fame, nor celebrity, nor the satisfaction of his vanity; there is neither bragging nor boastfulness in his manners; he does not show off the cures he obtains, while the proud enumerates them with complacency, often amplifies them, and ends up by persuading himself that he has done everything he says.
Happy with the good he does, he is no less happy with what others can do; not believing himself to be the first or the only one capable, he neither envies nor denigrates any medium. Those who have the same faculty are for him brothers who contribute to the same end; he says to himself that the more there will be, the greater the good will be.
His confidence in his own strength does not go so far as to presume to believe himself infallible, and even less universal; he knows that others can as much and even more than him; his faith is in God more than in himself, for he knows that he can do everything through Him and nothing without Him. That is why he does not promise anything except with God's permission.
To the material influence, he joins moral influence, a powerful auxiliary that doubles his strength. By his benevolent words, he encourages, raises morale, arouses hope and confidence in God. It is already a part of the healing, for it is a consolation that disposes to receive the beneficent fragrance, or to put it better, the benevolent thought is itself a healthy fragrance. Without moral influence, the medium has only the fluidic, material, and in a way, brutal action, insufficient in many cases.
Finally, to the one that possesses the qualities of the heart, the patient is attracted by a sympathy that predisposes to the assimilation of fluids, while pride, the lack of benevolence, shock and make one experience a feeling of repulsion that paralyzes this assimilation.
Such is the healing medium loved by the good Spirits. Such is also the measure which can be used to judge the intrinsic value of those who will reveal themselves, and the extent of the services that they will be able to render to the cause of Spiritism. This is not to say that they are only found in these conditions, and that whoever does not combine all these qualities cannot temporarily render partial services, which would be wrong to reject; the evil is for him, because the more he moves away from the ideal model, the less he can hope to see his faculty develop, and the closer he is to its decline; good Spirits attach themselves only to those who prove themselves worthy of their protection, and the fall of the proud is, sooner or later, his punishment. Selflessness is incomplete without moral selflessness.
Subscription for the flooded
The Spiritist Society of Paris, in its re-opening session on October 5th, opened a subscription on behalf of the flooded. A first payment of 300 fr. was done in its name at the offices of the “Moniteur Unviersal.” Subscriptions will continue to be received at the office of the Spiritist Review.