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Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1867 > March >
Collective communications
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, November 1st, 1866 – medium Mr. Bertrand
Last November 1st, having the Society met, as usual, for the commemoration of the dead, it received a large number of communications, among which one, especially, stood out for its completely new style, and that consists of a suite of detached thoughts, each signed by a different name, all linked together and complementing each other. Here is this communication:
“My friends, how many Spirits are around you, who would like to communicate with you, and tell you that they love you; and how happy you would be if the names of all those who are dear to you were mentioned at the table of mediums! What happiness! What a joy, for each of you, if your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your children, and your friends came to talk to you! But you understand that it is impossible to satisfy you all; the number of mediums would not suffice; but what is not impossible is for a Spirit, in the name of all your relatives and friends, to come and say to you: Thank you for your fond memories and your fervent prayers; courage! Have hope that one day, after your liberation, we will all come to extend a hand to you. Rest assured that what Spiritism teaches you echoes the laws of the Almighty; through love, become brothers among you all, and you will lighten the heavy burden you carry.
Now, dear friends, all your protecting Spirits are going to come and bring their thoughts. You, medium, listen, and let your pencil go according to their idea.
Medicine does what frightened crayfish does.
Dr. Demeure.
Because magnetism is progressing, and as it progresses it crushes current medicine to replace it soon.
Mesmer
War is a duel that will only end when the combatants have equal force;
Napoleon
Of equal force materially and morally.
General Bertrand
Moral equality will reign when pride is removed.
General Brune
Revolutions are abuses that destroy other abuses;
Louis XVI
But these abuses give birth to freedom. (No name).
To be equal one must be brothers. Without fraternity, no equality, and no freedom.
Lafayette
Science is the progress of intelligence.
Newton
But what is preferable is moral progress.
Jean Reynaud
Science will remain stationary until morality has reached it.
François Arago
To develop morality, we must first uproot vice.
Béranger
To uproot vice, it must be unmasked.
Eugène Sue
This is what all strong and superior Spirits seek to do.
Jacques Arago
Three things must progress: music, poetry, and painting. Music transports the soul by striking the hearing.
Meyerbeer
Poetry transports the soul by opening the heart.
Casimir Delavigne
Painting transports the soul by flattering the eyes.
Flandrin
So, poetry, music and painting are sisters and go hand in hand; one to soften the heart, the other to soften manners, and the last to open the soul; all three to lift you up to your Creator.
Alfred de Musset
But nothing, nothing should momentarily progress more than philosophy; it must take an immense step, allowing science and the arts to stand still, but to raise them so high, when the time is right, that this rise would be too sudden for you today.
In the name of all, Saint Louis”
On December 6th, Mr. Bertrand obtained, in the group of Mr. Desliens, a communication of the same kind, that is, in a way, the continuation of the preceding one.
“Love is a lyre whose vibrations are divine chords.
Héloïse
Love has three strings to its lyre: divine emanation, poetry, and song; if one of them is missing, the chords are imperfect.
Abélard
True love is harmonious; its harmonies intoxicate the heart, while uplifting the soul. Passion drowns the chords by lowering the soul.
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
Love was what Diogenes was looking for, in seeking a man… who came a few centuries later, and whom hatred, pride and hypocrisy crucified.
Socrates
The wise men of Greece were, sometimes, more so in their writings and in their words, than in their person.
Plato
To be wise is to love; let us therefore seek love by way of wisdom.
Fénelon
You cannot be wise if you do not know how to rise above the wickedness of men.
Voltaire
Sage is he who does not believe he is.
Corneille
He who thinks himself small is great; he who thinks himself great is small.
Lafontaine
The sage believes himself to be ignorant, and whoever believes himself to be a sage, is ignorant.
Esope
Humility still believes itself to be proud, and whoever believes itself to be humble is not.
Racine
Do not confuse with the humble those who say, out of feigned modesty, or out of interest, the opposite of what they are: you would be in error. In this case truth is silent.
Bonnefond
Genius is possessed by inspiration and cannot be acquired; God wants the greatest things to be discovered or invented by uneducated beings, to paralyze pride, while making man empathetic with man.
François Arago
They treat as mad only those whose ideas are not stamped by the authority of science; this is how those, that think they know everything, reject the genius thoughts of those that know nothing.
Béranger
Criticism is the stimulus of the study, but it is the paralysis of genius.
Molière
The learned science is only the sketch of the innate science; it only becomes intelligence in the new incarnation.
J.J. Rousseau
The incarnation is the sleep of the soul; the ups and downs of life are its dreams.
Balzac
Sometimes life is a dreadful nightmare to the Spirit, and often it longs for it to be over.
La Rochefoucault
There lies his ordeal; if he resists, he takes a step towards progress, otherwise he obstructs the road that must lead him to the port.
Martin
At the awakening of the soul that has emerged victorious from the earthly struggles, the Spirit is greater and more elevated; if he succumbs, he finds himself as he was.
Pascal
It is the denial of progress to wish language to be the emblem of the immutability of a religious doctrine; moreover, it is forcing man to pray more with the lips than with the heart.
Descartes
Immutability does not reside in the form of words, but in the verb of thought.
Lamennais
Jesus told his apostles to go and preach the gospel in their own language, and that all peoples would understand them.
Lacordaire
Selfless faith makes miracles.
Boileau
The doctrine of Jesus is only felt and understood by the heart; then, however it might be spoken, it will always be love and charity.
Bossuet
Said or written prayers that are not understood, let the thoughts wander, allowing the eyes to be distracted by the pomp of the ceremonies.
Massilon
Everything will change, without however returning to the simplicity of the past, that would be the negation of progress. Things will be done without pomp and pride.
Sibour
Love will triumph, and will be followed by: wisdom, charity, prudence, strength, science, humility, calm, justice, genius, tolerance, enthusiasm, and the majestic and divine glory will crush, by its splendor: pride, envy, hypocrisy, wickedness and jealousy, that carry in their entourage laziness, gluttony and lust.
Eugène Sue
Love will reign, and so that it does not delay, it is necessary, courageous Diogenes, to take in your hand the torch of Spiritism, and show humanity the rodent worms that form ulcers on their soul.
Saint Louis”
Observation: This kind of communication raises an important question. How can the fluids of such a large number of Spirits, assimilate almost instantaneously with the fluid of the medium, transmitting their thought, when this assimilation is often difficult from the part of a single Spirit, and generally it only establishes with time? The spiritual guide of the medium seems to have foreseen this, because two days later he spontaneously gave him the following explanation:
“The communication you obtained on the All Saints, as well as the last one, that is its complement, although there are repeated names, they were obtained in the following way: since I am your protector Spirit, my fluid is similar to yours. I placed myself above you, transmitting to you, as accurately as possible, the thoughts and names of the Spirits who wished to manifest themselves. They formed an assembly around me, whose members took turns, dictating the thoughts that I transmitted to you. It was spontaneous, and what made the communications easier that day was that the Spirits that were present had saturated the room with their fluids.
When a Spirit communicates with a medium, it does so with all the more ease as the fluidic relations are better established between them, otherwise the Spirit is obliged, in order to communicate its fluid with that of the medium, to establish a kind of magnetic current, that ends up in the brain of the latter; and if the Spirit, by reason of its inferiority, or of any other cause, cannot establish this current itself, it resorts to the assistance of the guide of the medium, and the relations are established as I have just demonstrated.
Slener”
Another question is this: among these Spirits, are there any that are embodied in this world or in others, and, if so, how can they communicate? Here is the response to that: “Spirits of a certain degree of advancement have a radiance which enables them to communicate simultaneously in several points. In some, the state of incarnation does not dampen this radiance sufficiently to prevent them from manifesting, even in the waking state. The more advanced the Spirit, the weaker the bonds that unite it with the matter of the body; he is in an almost constant state of disengagement, and one can say that he is where his thought is."
A Spirit
“My friends, how many Spirits are around you, who would like to communicate with you, and tell you that they love you; and how happy you would be if the names of all those who are dear to you were mentioned at the table of mediums! What happiness! What a joy, for each of you, if your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your children, and your friends came to talk to you! But you understand that it is impossible to satisfy you all; the number of mediums would not suffice; but what is not impossible is for a Spirit, in the name of all your relatives and friends, to come and say to you: Thank you for your fond memories and your fervent prayers; courage! Have hope that one day, after your liberation, we will all come to extend a hand to you. Rest assured that what Spiritism teaches you echoes the laws of the Almighty; through love, become brothers among you all, and you will lighten the heavy burden you carry.
Now, dear friends, all your protecting Spirits are going to come and bring their thoughts. You, medium, listen, and let your pencil go according to their idea.
Medicine does what frightened crayfish does.
Dr. Demeure.
Because magnetism is progressing, and as it progresses it crushes current medicine to replace it soon.
Mesmer
War is a duel that will only end when the combatants have equal force;
Napoleon
Of equal force materially and morally.
General Bertrand
Moral equality will reign when pride is removed.
General Brune
Revolutions are abuses that destroy other abuses;
Louis XVI
But these abuses give birth to freedom. (No name).
To be equal one must be brothers. Without fraternity, no equality, and no freedom.
Lafayette
Science is the progress of intelligence.
Newton
But what is preferable is moral progress.
Jean Reynaud
Science will remain stationary until morality has reached it.
François Arago
To develop morality, we must first uproot vice.
Béranger
To uproot vice, it must be unmasked.
Eugène Sue
This is what all strong and superior Spirits seek to do.
Jacques Arago
Three things must progress: music, poetry, and painting. Music transports the soul by striking the hearing.
Meyerbeer
Poetry transports the soul by opening the heart.
Casimir Delavigne
Painting transports the soul by flattering the eyes.
Flandrin
So, poetry, music and painting are sisters and go hand in hand; one to soften the heart, the other to soften manners, and the last to open the soul; all three to lift you up to your Creator.
Alfred de Musset
But nothing, nothing should momentarily progress more than philosophy; it must take an immense step, allowing science and the arts to stand still, but to raise them so high, when the time is right, that this rise would be too sudden for you today.
In the name of all, Saint Louis”
On December 6th, Mr. Bertrand obtained, in the group of Mr. Desliens, a communication of the same kind, that is, in a way, the continuation of the preceding one.
“Love is a lyre whose vibrations are divine chords.
Héloïse
Love has three strings to its lyre: divine emanation, poetry, and song; if one of them is missing, the chords are imperfect.
Abélard
True love is harmonious; its harmonies intoxicate the heart, while uplifting the soul. Passion drowns the chords by lowering the soul.
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
Love was what Diogenes was looking for, in seeking a man… who came a few centuries later, and whom hatred, pride and hypocrisy crucified.
Socrates
The wise men of Greece were, sometimes, more so in their writings and in their words, than in their person.
Plato
To be wise is to love; let us therefore seek love by way of wisdom.
Fénelon
You cannot be wise if you do not know how to rise above the wickedness of men.
Voltaire
Sage is he who does not believe he is.
Corneille
He who thinks himself small is great; he who thinks himself great is small.
Lafontaine
The sage believes himself to be ignorant, and whoever believes himself to be a sage, is ignorant.
Esope
Humility still believes itself to be proud, and whoever believes itself to be humble is not.
Racine
Do not confuse with the humble those who say, out of feigned modesty, or out of interest, the opposite of what they are: you would be in error. In this case truth is silent.
Bonnefond
Genius is possessed by inspiration and cannot be acquired; God wants the greatest things to be discovered or invented by uneducated beings, to paralyze pride, while making man empathetic with man.
François Arago
They treat as mad only those whose ideas are not stamped by the authority of science; this is how those, that think they know everything, reject the genius thoughts of those that know nothing.
Béranger
Criticism is the stimulus of the study, but it is the paralysis of genius.
Molière
The learned science is only the sketch of the innate science; it only becomes intelligence in the new incarnation.
J.J. Rousseau
The incarnation is the sleep of the soul; the ups and downs of life are its dreams.
Balzac
Sometimes life is a dreadful nightmare to the Spirit, and often it longs for it to be over.
La Rochefoucault
There lies his ordeal; if he resists, he takes a step towards progress, otherwise he obstructs the road that must lead him to the port.
Martin
At the awakening of the soul that has emerged victorious from the earthly struggles, the Spirit is greater and more elevated; if he succumbs, he finds himself as he was.
Pascal
It is the denial of progress to wish language to be the emblem of the immutability of a religious doctrine; moreover, it is forcing man to pray more with the lips than with the heart.
Descartes
Immutability does not reside in the form of words, but in the verb of thought.
Lamennais
Jesus told his apostles to go and preach the gospel in their own language, and that all peoples would understand them.
Lacordaire
Selfless faith makes miracles.
Boileau
The doctrine of Jesus is only felt and understood by the heart; then, however it might be spoken, it will always be love and charity.
Bossuet
Said or written prayers that are not understood, let the thoughts wander, allowing the eyes to be distracted by the pomp of the ceremonies.
Massilon
Everything will change, without however returning to the simplicity of the past, that would be the negation of progress. Things will be done without pomp and pride.
Sibour
Love will triumph, and will be followed by: wisdom, charity, prudence, strength, science, humility, calm, justice, genius, tolerance, enthusiasm, and the majestic and divine glory will crush, by its splendor: pride, envy, hypocrisy, wickedness and jealousy, that carry in their entourage laziness, gluttony and lust.
Eugène Sue
Love will reign, and so that it does not delay, it is necessary, courageous Diogenes, to take in your hand the torch of Spiritism, and show humanity the rodent worms that form ulcers on their soul.
Saint Louis”
Observation: This kind of communication raises an important question. How can the fluids of such a large number of Spirits, assimilate almost instantaneously with the fluid of the medium, transmitting their thought, when this assimilation is often difficult from the part of a single Spirit, and generally it only establishes with time? The spiritual guide of the medium seems to have foreseen this, because two days later he spontaneously gave him the following explanation:
“The communication you obtained on the All Saints, as well as the last one, that is its complement, although there are repeated names, they were obtained in the following way: since I am your protector Spirit, my fluid is similar to yours. I placed myself above you, transmitting to you, as accurately as possible, the thoughts and names of the Spirits who wished to manifest themselves. They formed an assembly around me, whose members took turns, dictating the thoughts that I transmitted to you. It was spontaneous, and what made the communications easier that day was that the Spirits that were present had saturated the room with their fluids.
When a Spirit communicates with a medium, it does so with all the more ease as the fluidic relations are better established between them, otherwise the Spirit is obliged, in order to communicate its fluid with that of the medium, to establish a kind of magnetic current, that ends up in the brain of the latter; and if the Spirit, by reason of its inferiority, or of any other cause, cannot establish this current itself, it resorts to the assistance of the guide of the medium, and the relations are established as I have just demonstrated.
Slener”
Another question is this: among these Spirits, are there any that are embodied in this world or in others, and, if so, how can they communicate? Here is the response to that: “Spirits of a certain degree of advancement have a radiance which enables them to communicate simultaneously in several points. In some, the state of incarnation does not dampen this radiance sufficiently to prevent them from manifesting, even in the waking state. The more advanced the Spirit, the weaker the bonds that unite it with the matter of the body; he is in an almost constant state of disengagement, and one can say that he is where his thought is."
A Spirit
Mangin, the charlatan
Everyone has known this pencil seller that, riding a richly decorated car, in a shiny helmet and a strange costume, was for many years one of the celebrities in the streets of Paris. He was not a vulgar charlatan, and those who knew him personally agreed that he had an unusual intelligence, a certain elevation in thought, and moral qualities above his nomadic profession. He died last year, and since then he has communicated spontaneously, several times, with one of our mediums. From the character that we have known, we will not be surprised at the philosophical veneer that we find in his communications.
Paris, December 20th, 1866 – Group of Mr. Desliens, medium Mr. Bertrand
The pencil
“The pencil is the word of the thought. Without the pencil, thought remains silent and misunderstood by your gross senses. The pencil is the offensive and defensive soul of thought; it is the hand that speaks and defends itself.
The pencil! … And especially the Mangin pencil! … Oh! sorry… here I am becoming selfish!… But why couldn’t I, as before, praise my pencils? Aren’t they good? ... Do you have anything to complain about? Ah! if I was still in my French vehicle with my Roman costume… you would believe me… I knew how to make my sales pitch so well, and the poor onlooker believed to be white what was black, quite simply because Mangin, the famous charlatan, said it! … I said charlatan… No, I must say marketeer… Come on! guys, untie the strings of your purses; buy these superb pencils, blacker than ink, and hard as stone… Quick, quick, the sale will end! … Ah! What am I saying then? … I believe, my word, that I am in the wrong role, and that I end very badly, after having started well…
All of you, armed with pencils, seated around this table, go tell and prove to the proud journalists that Mangin is not dead. Go tell those that forgot my merchandise, because I was no longer there to make them believe in their amazing qualities, go tell everyone that I still live, and that, if I died, it was to live better…
Ah! Messrs. journalists, you were laughing at me, and yet if, instead of seeing me as a charlatan, stealing people’s money, you had studied me more attentively and philosophically, you would have recognized a creature with reminiscences of his past. You would have understood the reason for my taste for this Roman warrior’s costume, why this love for harangues in public places. You would then have said that, no doubt, I had been a Roman soldier or general, and you would not be mistaken.
Let's go! let's go! buy pencils and use them; but use them handily, not like me to speak without motive, but to propagate this beautiful doctrine, that many of you only follow from afar.
So, arm yourself with your pencils, and make your way through this world of skepticism. Let all these incredulous Saint Thomas touch the sublime truths of Spiritism, that will one day make all men brothers.
Mangin”
Group of Mr. Delanne, January 14th, 1867 – medium Mr. Bertrand
The paper
“I have spoken of pencil and quackery, but I have not yet spoken of paper. I was probably saving it for this evening.
Ah! How much I would like to be paper; not when it degrades himself to do evil, but on the contrary, when it fulfills its real role that is to do good! In fact, paper is the instrument that together with the pencil, sows here and there the noble thoughts of the Spirit. Paper is the open book from which everyone can glance at useful advices for their earthly journey! ...
Ah! how much I would like to be paper, to fulfill, like paper, the role of moralizer and instructor, giving each one the necessary encouragement to courageously endure the evils that are so often the cause of so many shameful weaknesses! ...
Ah! if I were paper, I would abolish all egoistic and tyrannical laws, to let shine only those that proclaim equality. I would like to speak only of love and charity. I would like everyone to be humble and good, for the wicked to become better, for the proud to become humble, for the poor to become rich, for equality to finally emerge and be, in all mouths, the expression of truth, and not the hope of hiding selfishness and tyranny that all possess in the heart.
If I were paper, I would like to be white for innocence, green for the one that has no hope of relief from their ailments. I would like to be gold in the hands of the poor, happiness in the hands of the afflicted, balm in those of the sick. I would like to be the forgiveness of all offenses. I would not condemn, I would not curse, I would not throw anathema; I would not criticize maliciously; I wouldn't say anything that could harm others. Finally, I would do what you do: I would like to only teach good things and talk about this beautiful doctrine that unites you all and in all forms; I would always profess this sublime maxim: Love one another.
The one that would like to come back to earth, not a charlatan, not only to sell pencils, but to add the sale of paper, and that would tell everyone: the pencil cannot be useful without paper and paper cannot do without the pencil.
Mangin”
Paris, December 20th, 1866 – Group of Mr. Desliens, medium Mr. Bertrand
The pencil
“The pencil is the word of the thought. Without the pencil, thought remains silent and misunderstood by your gross senses. The pencil is the offensive and defensive soul of thought; it is the hand that speaks and defends itself.
The pencil! … And especially the Mangin pencil! … Oh! sorry… here I am becoming selfish!… But why couldn’t I, as before, praise my pencils? Aren’t they good? ... Do you have anything to complain about? Ah! if I was still in my French vehicle with my Roman costume… you would believe me… I knew how to make my sales pitch so well, and the poor onlooker believed to be white what was black, quite simply because Mangin, the famous charlatan, said it! … I said charlatan… No, I must say marketeer… Come on! guys, untie the strings of your purses; buy these superb pencils, blacker than ink, and hard as stone… Quick, quick, the sale will end! … Ah! What am I saying then? … I believe, my word, that I am in the wrong role, and that I end very badly, after having started well…
All of you, armed with pencils, seated around this table, go tell and prove to the proud journalists that Mangin is not dead. Go tell those that forgot my merchandise, because I was no longer there to make them believe in their amazing qualities, go tell everyone that I still live, and that, if I died, it was to live better…
Ah! Messrs. journalists, you were laughing at me, and yet if, instead of seeing me as a charlatan, stealing people’s money, you had studied me more attentively and philosophically, you would have recognized a creature with reminiscences of his past. You would have understood the reason for my taste for this Roman warrior’s costume, why this love for harangues in public places. You would then have said that, no doubt, I had been a Roman soldier or general, and you would not be mistaken.
Let's go! let's go! buy pencils and use them; but use them handily, not like me to speak without motive, but to propagate this beautiful doctrine, that many of you only follow from afar.
So, arm yourself with your pencils, and make your way through this world of skepticism. Let all these incredulous Saint Thomas touch the sublime truths of Spiritism, that will one day make all men brothers.
Mangin”
Group of Mr. Delanne, January 14th, 1867 – medium Mr. Bertrand
The paper
“I have spoken of pencil and quackery, but I have not yet spoken of paper. I was probably saving it for this evening.
Ah! How much I would like to be paper; not when it degrades himself to do evil, but on the contrary, when it fulfills its real role that is to do good! In fact, paper is the instrument that together with the pencil, sows here and there the noble thoughts of the Spirit. Paper is the open book from which everyone can glance at useful advices for their earthly journey! ...
Ah! how much I would like to be paper, to fulfill, like paper, the role of moralizer and instructor, giving each one the necessary encouragement to courageously endure the evils that are so often the cause of so many shameful weaknesses! ...
Ah! if I were paper, I would abolish all egoistic and tyrannical laws, to let shine only those that proclaim equality. I would like to speak only of love and charity. I would like everyone to be humble and good, for the wicked to become better, for the proud to become humble, for the poor to become rich, for equality to finally emerge and be, in all mouths, the expression of truth, and not the hope of hiding selfishness and tyranny that all possess in the heart.
If I were paper, I would like to be white for innocence, green for the one that has no hope of relief from their ailments. I would like to be gold in the hands of the poor, happiness in the hands of the afflicted, balm in those of the sick. I would like to be the forgiveness of all offenses. I would not condemn, I would not curse, I would not throw anathema; I would not criticize maliciously; I wouldn't say anything that could harm others. Finally, I would do what you do: I would like to only teach good things and talk about this beautiful doctrine that unites you all and in all forms; I would always profess this sublime maxim: Love one another.
The one that would like to come back to earth, not a charlatan, not only to sell pencils, but to add the sale of paper, and that would tell everyone: the pencil cannot be useful without paper and paper cannot do without the pencil.
Mangin”
Solidarity
Paris, November 26th, 1866 – medium Mr. Sabb…
“Glory to God, and peace to men of good will!
The study of Spiritism should not be in vain. For some lighthearted men it is an entertainment; for serious men, it must be serious.
First, think about one thing. You are not on the earth to live there like animals, to vegetate there like grasses or trees. Grasses and trees have organic life, they do not have intelligent life, just as animals do not have moral life. Everything lives, everything breathes in nature, man alone feels and feels oneself.
How foolish and to be pitied these are, who despise themselves enough to compare themselves to a blade of grass, or to an elephant! Let us not confuse genera or species. Those that see in Spiritism, for example, a new edition of metempsychosis, and especially of an absurd metempsychosis, are not great philosophers or naturalists. Metempsychosis is the dream of an imaginative man, and nothing else. An animal, a plant produces its congener, nothing more and nothing less. Have that said to prevent old misconceptions from being accredited again, in the shadow of Spiritism.
Man be man; know where you are coming from and where you are going to. You are the beloved child of the one who has done everything and who has given you an objective, a destiny that you must accomplish, without knowing it absolutely. Were you necessary for his designs, for his glory, for his own happiness? Idle questions, for they are insoluble. You exist, be grateful; but to be is not everything, it is necessary to be according to the laws of the Creator that are your own laws.
Launched into existence, you are both cause and effect. Neither as a cause nor as an effect, you can, at least at the present time, determine your role, but you can follow your laws. Now, the main one is this: Man is not an isolated being, he is a collective being. Man is in solidarity with man. It is in vain that he seeks the complement of his being, that is happiness, in himself or in what surrounds him in isolation: he can only find it in man or humanity. So, you do nothing to be personally happy, while the misfortune of a member of humanity, of a part of yourself, can afflict you.
It is morality that I am teaching you, you will say, but morality is an old commonplace. Look around you, what is more ordinary, more common than the periodic return of day and night, than the need to feed and dress yourself? That is all care about, all your efforts are directed to. It must be, since the material part of your being demands it.
But don’t you have a double nature, and aren’t you more spirit than body? How then is it harder for you to hear yourself remembering moral laws than to apply physical laws all the time? If you were less preoccupied and less distracted, this repetition wouldn't be as necessary.
Let us not get sidetracked from our subject: Spiritism, properly understood, is to the life of the soul what material work is to the life of the body. Deal with it for that purpose, and rest assured that when you have done, to improve yourself morally, half of what you do to improve your material existence, you will have made humanity advance a great step.
A Spirit”
The study of Spiritism should not be in vain. For some lighthearted men it is an entertainment; for serious men, it must be serious.
First, think about one thing. You are not on the earth to live there like animals, to vegetate there like grasses or trees. Grasses and trees have organic life, they do not have intelligent life, just as animals do not have moral life. Everything lives, everything breathes in nature, man alone feels and feels oneself.
How foolish and to be pitied these are, who despise themselves enough to compare themselves to a blade of grass, or to an elephant! Let us not confuse genera or species. Those that see in Spiritism, for example, a new edition of metempsychosis, and especially of an absurd metempsychosis, are not great philosophers or naturalists. Metempsychosis is the dream of an imaginative man, and nothing else. An animal, a plant produces its congener, nothing more and nothing less. Have that said to prevent old misconceptions from being accredited again, in the shadow of Spiritism.
Man be man; know where you are coming from and where you are going to. You are the beloved child of the one who has done everything and who has given you an objective, a destiny that you must accomplish, without knowing it absolutely. Were you necessary for his designs, for his glory, for his own happiness? Idle questions, for they are insoluble. You exist, be grateful; but to be is not everything, it is necessary to be according to the laws of the Creator that are your own laws.
Launched into existence, you are both cause and effect. Neither as a cause nor as an effect, you can, at least at the present time, determine your role, but you can follow your laws. Now, the main one is this: Man is not an isolated being, he is a collective being. Man is in solidarity with man. It is in vain that he seeks the complement of his being, that is happiness, in himself or in what surrounds him in isolation: he can only find it in man or humanity. So, you do nothing to be personally happy, while the misfortune of a member of humanity, of a part of yourself, can afflict you.
It is morality that I am teaching you, you will say, but morality is an old commonplace. Look around you, what is more ordinary, more common than the periodic return of day and night, than the need to feed and dress yourself? That is all care about, all your efforts are directed to. It must be, since the material part of your being demands it.
But don’t you have a double nature, and aren’t you more spirit than body? How then is it harder for you to hear yourself remembering moral laws than to apply physical laws all the time? If you were less preoccupied and less distracted, this repetition wouldn't be as necessary.
Let us not get sidetracked from our subject: Spiritism, properly understood, is to the life of the soul what material work is to the life of the body. Deal with it for that purpose, and rest assured that when you have done, to improve yourself morally, half of what you do to improve your material existence, you will have made humanity advance a great step.
A Spirit”
There is a time for everything
Odessa, family group, 1866 – medium Ms. M…
“Question. – I was amazed while reading, in the Vérité of 1866, the magnetic experiments, and I thought to myself that this so astonishing force could, perhaps, be the cause of all wonders, of all beauties, incomprehensible to us, of the superior planets, whose descriptions are given to us by the Spirits. I beg the good Spirits to enlighten me on this subject.
Answer. - Poor men! The greed for knowledge, the devouring impatience to read the book of creation, everything turns your head and dazzles your eyes accustomed to darkness, when they come across some passages that your mind, still a slave of matter, cannot understand. But, be patient, the times have come. Already the great architect begins to unroll, little by little, before your eyes, the plan of the edifice of the universe; he already lifts a corner of the veil that hides the truth from you, and a ray of light enlightens you. Be content with these premises; get your eyes used to the soft light of the dawn, until they can endure the splendor of the sun, shining with all its brightness.
Thank the Almighty, whose infinite goodness spares your weak sight, gradually lifting the veil that covers it. If he took it off suddenly, you would be dazzled and see nothing; you would fall back into the doubt, into the confusion, into the ignorance from which you have barely emerged. You have already been told that there is a time for everything: do not get ahead of it by your excessive anxiety to know everything. Leave that to the Lord the choice of the method that he considers the most suitable for your instruction. You have a sublime work before you: “nature, its essence, its forces;” It begins by the A B C. So, learn to spell first, to understand these first pages; progress with patience and perseverance, and you will reach the end, while by skipping pages and chapters, the whole seems incomprehensible to you. Moreover, it is not in the designs of the Almighty for man to know everything. So, abide by his will, whose objective is your good.
Read in the great book of nature; educate yourself, enlighten your Spirit, be satisfied with knowing what God wishes to teach you during your stay on earth; you will not have time to get to the last page, and you will only read it when you are detached from matter, when your spiritualized senses allow you to understand it. Yes, my friends, learn and educate yourself, and, above all, progress in morality by loving your fellow human being, by charity, by faith: this is essential, it is the passport before which the doors of the infinite sanctuary are open to you.
Humbolt.”
Answer. - Poor men! The greed for knowledge, the devouring impatience to read the book of creation, everything turns your head and dazzles your eyes accustomed to darkness, when they come across some passages that your mind, still a slave of matter, cannot understand. But, be patient, the times have come. Already the great architect begins to unroll, little by little, before your eyes, the plan of the edifice of the universe; he already lifts a corner of the veil that hides the truth from you, and a ray of light enlightens you. Be content with these premises; get your eyes used to the soft light of the dawn, until they can endure the splendor of the sun, shining with all its brightness.
Thank the Almighty, whose infinite goodness spares your weak sight, gradually lifting the veil that covers it. If he took it off suddenly, you would be dazzled and see nothing; you would fall back into the doubt, into the confusion, into the ignorance from which you have barely emerged. You have already been told that there is a time for everything: do not get ahead of it by your excessive anxiety to know everything. Leave that to the Lord the choice of the method that he considers the most suitable for your instruction. You have a sublime work before you: “nature, its essence, its forces;” It begins by the A B C. So, learn to spell first, to understand these first pages; progress with patience and perseverance, and you will reach the end, while by skipping pages and chapters, the whole seems incomprehensible to you. Moreover, it is not in the designs of the Almighty for man to know everything. So, abide by his will, whose objective is your good.
Read in the great book of nature; educate yourself, enlighten your Spirit, be satisfied with knowing what God wishes to teach you during your stay on earth; you will not have time to get to the last page, and you will only read it when you are detached from matter, when your spiritualized senses allow you to understand it. Yes, my friends, learn and educate yourself, and, above all, progress in morality by loving your fellow human being, by charity, by faith: this is essential, it is the passport before which the doors of the infinite sanctuary are open to you.
Humbolt.”
Respect due to past beliefs
Paris, group Delanne, February 4th, 1867 – medium Mr. Morin
“Blind faith is the worst of all principles! To believe with fervor in any dogma, when sound reason refuses to accept it as a truth, is to make an act of nullity and to voluntarily deprive oneself of the most beautiful of all gifts that the Creator has given us; it is to renounce the freedom of judgement, the free will that must rule over all things in the measure of justice and reason.
Generally, men are carefree and believe in a religion only for the sake of conscience, and not to entirely reject those good and sweet prayers that rocked their youth, and that their mother taught them at home, at the sleeping hours of the night; but if this memory sometimes presents itself to their mind, it is most often with a feeling of regret that they return to this past, where the worries of the mature age were still buried in the night of the future.
Yes, every man regrets this carefree age, and very few can think of their younger years! ... But what remains an instant later? ... - Nothing! ...
I began by saying that blind faith was pernicious; but we should not always reject as fundamentally bad everything that seems tainted by abuse, made up of errors, and above all, invented at will for the glory of the proud and the benefit of those concerned.
Spiritists, you must know, better than anyone, that nothing is accomplished without the will of the Supreme Master; it is, therefore, up to you to think carefully before formulating your judgment. Men are your incarnate brethren, and it is possible that many of the works of ancient times were your own works in a previous existence. The Spiritists must, above all, be logical with their learning, and not throw stones at institutions and beliefs of another time, simply because they are of another age. To become what it is today, society has needed God to gradually shine light and knowledge onto it.
It is therefore not for you to judge whether the means employed by him were good or bad. Only accept what seems rational and logical to you; but do not forget that old things have had their youth, and that what you teach today will become old in turn. Respect, therefore, the old age! The old ones are your parents, as old things were the forerunners of new things. Nothing gets old, and if you fail this principle with respect to all that is venerable, you are failing in your duty, you are lying to the doctrine you profess.
The old beliefs have worked out the renovation that begins to take place! … All of them, in so far as they were not exclusively material, had a spark of truth. Regret the abuses that have crept into the philosophical teaching, but forgive the errors of another age, if you, in turn, want to be excused in the future. Do not give your faith to what seems bad to you, but neither should you believe that everything you are taught today is the absolute expression of truth. Believe that, in every age, God expands the horizon of knowledge, according to the intellectual development of mankind.
Lacordaire.”
Generally, men are carefree and believe in a religion only for the sake of conscience, and not to entirely reject those good and sweet prayers that rocked their youth, and that their mother taught them at home, at the sleeping hours of the night; but if this memory sometimes presents itself to their mind, it is most often with a feeling of regret that they return to this past, where the worries of the mature age were still buried in the night of the future.
Yes, every man regrets this carefree age, and very few can think of their younger years! ... But what remains an instant later? ... - Nothing! ...
I began by saying that blind faith was pernicious; but we should not always reject as fundamentally bad everything that seems tainted by abuse, made up of errors, and above all, invented at will for the glory of the proud and the benefit of those concerned.
Spiritists, you must know, better than anyone, that nothing is accomplished without the will of the Supreme Master; it is, therefore, up to you to think carefully before formulating your judgment. Men are your incarnate brethren, and it is possible that many of the works of ancient times were your own works in a previous existence. The Spiritists must, above all, be logical with their learning, and not throw stones at institutions and beliefs of another time, simply because they are of another age. To become what it is today, society has needed God to gradually shine light and knowledge onto it.
It is therefore not for you to judge whether the means employed by him were good or bad. Only accept what seems rational and logical to you; but do not forget that old things have had their youth, and that what you teach today will become old in turn. Respect, therefore, the old age! The old ones are your parents, as old things were the forerunners of new things. Nothing gets old, and if you fail this principle with respect to all that is venerable, you are failing in your duty, you are lying to the doctrine you profess.
The old beliefs have worked out the renovation that begins to take place! … All of them, in so far as they were not exclusively material, had a spark of truth. Regret the abuses that have crept into the philosophical teaching, but forgive the errors of another age, if you, in turn, want to be excused in the future. Do not give your faith to what seems bad to you, but neither should you believe that everything you are taught today is the absolute expression of truth. Believe that, in every age, God expands the horizon of knowledge, according to the intellectual development of mankind.
Lacordaire.”
Human comedy
Paris, group Desliens, November 29th, 1866 – medium Mr. Desliens
“The life of the incarnate Spirit is like a novel, or rather like a play, in which each day we go through a page containing a scene. Man is the author; the characters are the passions, the vices and the virtues, matter, and intelligence, competing for the possession of the hero, that is the Spirit. The audience is the world in general during the incarnation, and the Spirits in erraticity, and the critic that examines the play to ultimately judge it, awarding the author with blame or praise, that is God.
So, make sure you are applauded as often as possible, and only rarely hear the unpleasant sound of the whistles, blowing in your ear. Let the script always be simple, and only seek interest in natural situations that can serve to make virtue triumph, to develop intelligence and to moralize the public.
During the execution of the play, intrigue, set in motion by envy, may try to criticize the best acts, and only praise those that are mediocre or bad. Close your ears to such flattery and remember that posterity will appreciate you for your true worth! You will leave a name obscure or illustrious, tainted with shame or covered with glory, according to the world; but, when the play is over, and the curtain drawn after the last act, and you are in the presence of the universal stage manager, of the infinitely powerful director of the theater, where the human comedy takes place, there will be neither flatterers nor courtiers, neither envious nor jealous: you will be alone with the supreme, impartial, equitable, and just judge.
May your work be serious and moralizing, for it is the only one that has any weight in the scale of the Almighty.
Everyone must give back to society at least what they receive from it. The one that, having received the bodily and spiritual assistance that allows him to live, goes away without returning at least what he has spent, is a thief, because he has wasted a part of the intelligent capital and produced nothing.
Not everyone can be a genius, but everyone can and should be honest, good citizens, and give back to society what society has lent them.
For the world to be in progress, everyone must leave a useful memory of their personality, one more scene in the infinite number of useful scenes, that the members of humanity have left, since your earth has been used as a place of dwelling to the Spirits.
So, make sure that each page of your novel is read with interest, and that one does not just browse through it, closing it in boredom before halfway through.
Eugène Sue
So, make sure you are applauded as often as possible, and only rarely hear the unpleasant sound of the whistles, blowing in your ear. Let the script always be simple, and only seek interest in natural situations that can serve to make virtue triumph, to develop intelligence and to moralize the public.
During the execution of the play, intrigue, set in motion by envy, may try to criticize the best acts, and only praise those that are mediocre or bad. Close your ears to such flattery and remember that posterity will appreciate you for your true worth! You will leave a name obscure or illustrious, tainted with shame or covered with glory, according to the world; but, when the play is over, and the curtain drawn after the last act, and you are in the presence of the universal stage manager, of the infinitely powerful director of the theater, where the human comedy takes place, there will be neither flatterers nor courtiers, neither envious nor jealous: you will be alone with the supreme, impartial, equitable, and just judge.
May your work be serious and moralizing, for it is the only one that has any weight in the scale of the Almighty.
Everyone must give back to society at least what they receive from it. The one that, having received the bodily and spiritual assistance that allows him to live, goes away without returning at least what he has spent, is a thief, because he has wasted a part of the intelligent capital and produced nothing.
Not everyone can be a genius, but everyone can and should be honest, good citizens, and give back to society what society has lent them.
For the world to be in progress, everyone must leave a useful memory of their personality, one more scene in the infinite number of useful scenes, that the members of humanity have left, since your earth has been used as a place of dwelling to the Spirits.
So, make sure that each page of your novel is read with interest, and that one does not just browse through it, closing it in boredom before halfway through.
Eugène Sue