November
The Epidemy in Mauritius“Please forgive me for going such a long time without giving you any news from my side; it wasn’t certainly for a lack of desire, but possibility, since my time was divided in two parts, one for the work that sustains my life, the other for the disease that kills us, so that I have very few moments to use according to my own wishes. However, I am a little calmer since I haven't had a fever for a month; it is true that it is at this period that it seems to calm down a little; but unfortunately, it moves down to jump up again, because the next heat will undoubtedly bring back its original strength. Thus, well convinced of the certainty of this prospect, I live from day to day, detaching myself from human vanities as much as possible, to facilitate my passage to the world of the Spirits where, frankly, I would not be at all sorry to find myself, in good conditions of course."
A skeptical once said, about a person who expressed a similar thought about death: "One has to be a Spiritist to have these ideas!" He unwillingly spoke highly of Spiritism. Isn’t the calm with which it makes us consider the fatal end of life, that so many people see approaching with fear, a great benefit? How much anguish and torment are spared to those who see death as a transformation of their being, an instantaneous transition, without interruption of the spiritual life! They wait for the departure with serenity, because they know where they are going and what they will be; what adds to their tranquility is the certainty, not only of finding those who are dear to them, but of not being separated from those who remain after them; to see them and help them more easily and better than during life; they do not miss the joys of this world, because they know that they will have greater, sweeter ones, without mixture of tribulations. What causes fear of death is the unknown; now, for the Spiritist, death no longer has mysteries.
The second letter contains the following:
“It is with a feeling of deep gratitude that I come to thank you for the solid principles you instilled in my mind, and that only them have given me the strength and courage to accept, with calm and resignation, the harsh trials that I had to endure for a year, due to the terrible epidemic that is decimating our population. Sixty thousand souls have already departed!
As you can imagine, most of the members that form our little group in Port-Louis, that started to operate so well, had to suffer in this general disaster, like me. By a spontaneous communication on July 25th, 1866, it was announced to us that we were going to be obliged to suspend our work; three months later, we were forced to discontinue them, owing to the illness of several of us, and to the death of our relatives and friends. Until this time we have not been able to start over again, although all our mediums are alive, as well as the main members of our group. We have tried to meet again several times, but we were unable to succeed. That is why each one of us was forced to learn separately about your letter, dated October 26th, 1867, to Mrs. G ... with the communication of Doctor Demeure who gives us great and very just teachings on all that is happening to us; each of us was able to appreciate its correctness as far as each one is concerned; for it is evident that the disease has taken so many forms that the doctors have never been able to agree; each followed a particular therapy.
The young doctor Labonté, however, seems to be the one who best defined the disease; I must believe that he is right from the material point of view, because he endured all the sufferings he described.[1] From our spiritualist point of view, we could see in it an application of the preface of the Gospel according to Spiritism, because the harmful period that we are going through was marked, at the beginning, by an extraordinary rain of shooting stars, covering Mauritius on the night of November 13th to 14th , 1866. Although this phenomenon is known for been fairly frequent from September to November, at certain periodic times, it is not less remarkable that this time the shooting stars were so numerous that they impressed and made those who observed them shudder. This imposing spectacle will remain etched in our memory because it was precisely after this event that the disease took a distressing character. From that moment on, it became general and mortal, what may allow us to think, as Doctor Demeure tells us, that we have arrived at the period of transformation of the inhabitants of Earth, for their moral advancement.
Regarding the sedatives recommended by Doctor Demeure, you spoke of horse chestnuts, whose use would be better than quinine, that affects the brains. We don't know that plant here; but after reading your letter in which it is mentioned, the name of another plant occurred to me by intuition; it is the croton tiglium, commonly called in Pion d'Inde in Mauritius; I used it as a sudorific, with great success; the leaves only, because the seed is a very poisonous. Please ask Doctor Demeure for his opinion about this plant, and if he approves the application I gave it, as a calming agent, for I completely share his opinion about the character of this bizarre disease that seems to me a variant of “ramannenzaa” or Madagascar fever, except for the external symptoms."
If one could doubt for a single moment the universal popularization of the Spiritist Doctrine, the doubt would disappear when seeing the happiness that it brings, the consolations it provides, the strength and courage it gives in the most painful moments in life, because it is in man's nature to seek what can assure his happiness and his peace. This is the most powerful element of propagation of Spiritism, and one that no one will take away from it, unless one gives more than it gives. For us, it is a great satisfaction to see the benefits that it spreads; each afflicted person that is consoled, each dejected courage that is raised, each moral progress that is carried out, pays us a hundredfold for our sorrows and our fatigues; this is also a satisfaction that is not in anyone’s power to take away from us. Once these letters were read at the Parisian Society, it gave rise to the following communications that deal with the question from the double point of view of local and general, material, and moral.
Parisian Society, October 16th, 1868
“The great physiological cataclysms have been preceded by clear signs of the wrath of the gods, in all times. Special phenomena anticipated the onset of the scourge, like a warning preparing for danger. These manifestations took place, in fact, not as a supernatural omen, but as symptoms of the imminent disturbance.
As we had the opportunity to tell you, in the apparently most abnormal crises that gradually decimate different regions of the globe, nothing is left to chance; they are the consequences of the influences of the worlds and the elements, on one another (October 1868); they have been prepared since long ago, and therefore the cause is perfectly normal.
Health is the result of the balance of natural forces; if an epidemic disease rages somewhere, it can only be the consequence of a disruption of that balance; hence, the state of the atmosphere and the singular phenomena that can be observed there.
Meteors known as shooting stars are made up of material elements like anything that comes to mind; they only appear thanks to the phosphorescence of those elements in combustion, and whose special nature sometimes develops deleterious and morbific influences in the breathing air. The shooting stars were, not the omen, but the secondary cause of the plague in Mauritius. Why was their action exerted in this region in particular? First, because it is one of the means intended, as your correspondent said very well, to regenerate humanity and Earth itself, by causing the departure of the incarnate and the modification of the material elements; and also, because the causes that determine these kinds of epidemics in Madagascar, Senegal and wherever malaria and yellow fever exert their devastation, do not exist in Mauritius, the strength and persistence of the disease should determine serious research on its source, and draw attention to the role that psychological influences could play in it.
Those who survived, after forced contact with the sick and the dying, witnessed scenes that they did not realize at first, but that will come back to them when calm is established, and that can only be explained by the Spiritist science. Facts of apparitions, communications with the dead, forecasts followed by realization, were very common there. Once the disaster has been appeased, the memory of all these facts will emerge and provoke reflections that will gradually lead to our beliefs being accepted.
Mauritius will be reborn! The new year will see extinguished the scourge that swarmed over it, not by the effect of remedies, but because the cause will have produced its effect there; other climates will in turn undergo scourges of the same or any other nature, determining the same disasters and leading to the same results.
A universal epidemic would have sown terror in the whole of humanity and stopped progress for a long time; a small epidemic, gradually attacking in multiple forms each center of civilization, will produce the same salutary and regenerative effects, but will leave intact the means of action available to science. Those who die are struck by the helplessness; but those who see death at their doorstep will seek new ways to fighting it. Peril makes inventive; and, when all material means are exhausted, everyone will be forced to ask for salvation through spiritual means.
It is undoubtedly frightening to think of dangers of this kind, but since they are necessary and will only have happy consequences, instead of awaiting them shivering, it is preferable to prepare to face them without fear, whatever the results. To the materialist, it is a hideous death and nothingness following it; to the spiritualist, and particularly to the Spiritist, whatever happens, if he escapes peril, the trial will always find him unshakeable; if he dies, what he knows of the other life will make him consider the passage without becoming pale.
Prepare yourselves therefore for anything, and whatever the time and the nature of the danger, be imbued with this truth: that death is but a vain word, and that there is no suffering that cannot be dominated by human forces. Those to whom the scourge will be unbearable will be the only ones who will have received it with laughter and carelessness in their hearts, that is, who will believe themselves to be strong in their skepticism.
Clélie Duplantier.”
Parisian Society, October 23rd, 1868
“Tiglium croton can certainly be used with success, especially in homeopathic doses to calm cramps and restore normal circulation of the nervous fluid; it can also be used locally, by rubbing the skin with a light infusion, but it would not be prudent to generalize its use. This is not a medicine applicable to all patients, nor to all phases of the disease. In case it is for public use, it should only be applied by indication of persons who can see its usefulness and assess its effects; otherwise, one who had already experienced its beneficial action could, on a given case, be completely insensitive or even experience its inconvenience. It is not one of those neutral drugs that do not do any harm when they do not do good. It should only be used in special cases and under the direction of persons with sufficient knowledge to direct its action.
Besides, I hope that it will not be necessary to test its effectiveness, and that a calmer period is brewing for the unfortunate inhabitants of Mauritius. They are not released yet, far from it; but, with some exceptions, the break outs are generally not fatal, unless incidents of other kinds give them a particular character of seriousness. The disease itself is coming to an end. The island is entering the period of convalescence; there may be a few small upsurges, but I have every reason to believe that the epidemic will now diminish until the symptoms that characterize it have completely disappeared. But what will be its influence on those inhabitants of Mauritius who will have survived the disaster? What will they take away from the manifestations of all kinds that they have unwittingly witnessed? The apparitions, of which a great number have been the object, will they produce the effect one is entitled to expect? The resolutions taken with fear, remorse, and the reproaches of a troubled conscience, won’t they be reduced to nothing when tranquility is reestablished?
It would be desirable that the memory of those gloomy scenes be engraved in an indelible way in their mind, and oblige them to modify their behavior, by reforming their beliefs; for they must be fully persuaded that the equilibrium will not be completely reestablished until the Spirits are so stripped of their iniquity, that the atmosphere will be purified of the noxious miasmas that have brought about the birth and development of the plague.
Each day we are entering more and more the transitional period that must bring about the organic transformation of Earth and the regeneration of its inhabitants. The plagues are the instruments that the great surgeon of the universe uses to extirpate from the world, destined to march forward, the gangrenous elements that would cause disorders there, incompatible with the new state. Each organ, or to put it better, each region, will be hit in time by plagues of various kinds. Here, the epidemic in all its forms, elsewhere war, famine. Everyone must, therefore, prepare to endure the ordeal in the best possible conditions, by improving and educating themselves, so as not to be surprised unexpectedly. Some regions have already been tested, but their inhabitants would make a big mistake if they trusted the era of calm that will succeed the storm and fall back to their old ways. It is a time of respite granted to them to enter on a better path; if they do not take advantage of them, the instrument of death will test them to the point of bringing them to repentance. Blessed are those who were first struck by the trial, for they will have to learn not only the evils they have suffered, but the spectacle of those brothers in humanity who will in turn be struck. We hope that such an example will be beneficial to them, and that they will enter, without hesitation, on the new path that will allow them to walk in concert with progress.
It would be desirable that the inhabitants of Mauritius were not the last to take advantage of the severe lesson they have received.
Dr. Demeure.”
[1] Dr. Labonté described the Mauritius epidemic in a brochure that we read with interest, and in which a serious and judicious observer is revealed. He is a man devoted to his art, and as far as one can judge from a distance, by analogy, he seems to us to have well characterized this singular disease, from the physiological point of view; unfortunately, as far as therapeutics are concerned, it thwarts all the predictions of science. In an exceptional case, like this one, failure cannot not prejudge anything against the knowledge of the doctor. Spiritism opens entirely new horizons for medical science, by demonstrating the preponderant role of the spiritual element in life and in many diseases, where medicine fails, because it stubbornly persists in looking for the cause in the tangible matter only. Knowledge of the action of the perispirit on the organism will add a new branch to pathology and will profoundly modify the mode of treatment of certain diseases, whose real cause will no longer be a problem.
Spiritism Everywhere
Friendship after death, by Mrs. Rowe
Nothing is more instructive and at the same time more conclusive in favor of Spiritism than to see the ideas on which it is based professed by people foreign to the doctrine, and even before its appearance. One of our correspondents in Antwerp, who has already sent us valuable documents in this regard, sends us the following extract from an English book, whose translation of its 5th edition was published in Amsterdam, in 1753. Never perhaps the principles of Spiritism have been formulated with such accuracy. It is entitled: Friendship after death, containing letters from the dead to the living; by Mrs. Rowe.
“Page 7: Blessed Spirits are still interested in the happiness of the mortals and pay frequent visits to their friends. They might even appear to them, if the laws of the material world did not preclude them. The splendor of their vehicles,[1] and the sway they have over the powers that govern material things and the organs of sight, could easily serve them to make themselves visible. We often regard it as a kind of miracle that you do not notice us, because we are not far from you from where we stand, but only with the difference in the state where we are.
Page 12, letter III: from an only son, who died at the age of two, to his mother.
From the moment when my soul was released from its inconvenient prison, I found myself an active and rational being. I was astonished to see you weeping over a small mass, barely able to breathe, that I had just left, and from which I was delighted to find myself freed; it seemed to me that you were angry at my happy freedom. I found such a right proportion, so much agility, and so much light in the new vehicle that accompanied my Spirit, that I couldn’t be surprised enough with your distress before the fortunate exchange I had made. I knew so little about the difference between the material and immaterial bodies, that I imagined myself to be just as visible to you as you were to me.
Page 37, letter VIII: The celestial geniuses who take care of you have neglected nothing during your sleep to yank out this impious plan from your heart. Sometimes they took you to places covered in gloomy shadows; there you heard the bitter complaints of the unfortunate Spirits. At other times, the rewards of steadfastness and resignation unfolded before your eyes the glory that awaits you, if faithful to your duty, you patiently cling to virtue.
Page 50, letter X: How, my dear Leonora, could you be afraid of me? When I was mortal, that is, capable of madness and mistake, I never hurt you; much less will I do to you in the state of perfection and happiness in which I am. There isn’t the slightest stain of vice or malice left in virtuous Spirits; when they break their earthly prison, all is kind and good in them; the interest they take in the happiness of mortals is infinitely more tender and purer than before. The fear that is generally felt towards us in the world would appear incredible to us if we did not remember our follies and prejudices; but we are only joking about your ridiculous apprehensions. Wouldn't you have more reason to frighten each other and to flee from each other, than to fear us, we who have neither the power nor the will to bother you? While you neglect your benefactors, we are working to avert a thousand dangers that threaten you, and to advance your interests with the most generous zeal. If your organs were perfected and your perceptions acquired the high degree of subtlety that they will one day have, then you would know that the ethereal Spirits, adorned with the flower of divine beauty and immortal life, are not made to terrify you, but to love and please. I would like to cure you of your unjust prejudices, by reconciling you with the society of the Spirits, to be better able to warn you of the dangers and the risks that threaten your youth.
Page 54, Letter XI: Your recovery surprised the angels themselves, who, if they ignore the various limits that the sovereign dispenser has placed on human life, often do not fail to make correct conjectures on the course of secondary causes, and on the duration of human life.
Page 68, letter XIV: Since I left the world, I have often had the good fortune of taking the place of your guardian angel. Invisible witness to the tears that you shed for my death, I have finally been allowed to soften your pain, by telling you that I am happy.
Page 73, letter XVI: Since the immaterial beings can mingle among us without being noticed, last night I had the curiosity to learn your thoughts on what had happened to you the night before. For that, I found myself in the middle of the assembly where you were. There I heard you chatting with a few of your familiar friends about the power of prevention and the strength of your imagination. However, sir, you are not as visionary or as extravagant as you say. There is nothing more real than what you have seen and heard, and you must believe your senses, otherwise you will degenerate your mistrust and modesty into vice. My dear brother, you have only a few more weeks to live; your days are numbered. I got the permission, that rarely happens, to give you some warning of your approaching fate. Your life, I know, has not been stained by any base or unjust action; however, there appear in your habits certain levities that demand from you a prompt and sincere reform. Faults, that at first seem a trifle, degenerate into enormous crimes.
Dedicatory Epistle, page 27: The land you inhabit would be a delightful stay, if all men, full of esteem for virtue, faithfully practiced its holy maxims. You can therefore judge the excess of our happiness, since at the same time we benefit from all the advantages of a generous and perfect virtue, we feel pleasures as much above those that you enjoy, as the sky is above Earth, time is to eternity and the finite to infinity. Worldly people are incapable of enjoying these delights. What taste would a voluptuous one find in our august assemblies? Wine and meat are banished from it; the envious one would dry up in pain while contemplating our happiness; the miser would find no wealth there; the addicted gambler would be fatally bored for not finding a way to kill time. How could an interested soul find pleasure in the tender and sincere friendship that can be regarded as one of the main advantages that we have in the heaven, the true abode of friendship?
The translator says, in his preface, page 7: I hope that the reading of his book can bring back to the Christian religion a certain order of people, whose number is very large in this kingdom, that without regard to the principles of natural and revealed religion, deal with the immortality of the soul as a pure chimera. It is to establish the certainty of this immortality that our author focuses mainly.
Page 9: It was not properly to skeptical philosophers that she wrote, but as we have said, to a certain class of people, very numerous in high society, for being entirely occupied with the frivolous amusements of the century, finding the fatal art of forgetting the immortality of the soul stunned by the truths of faith, keeping such consoling ideas away from their minds. To fulfill this purpose, she contented herself with a sort of fable and apologue full of lively features, etc."
Observation: The translator does not seem to believe in the communication of the Spirits, since he thinks that the accounts of Mrs. Rowe are fables or apologues invented by the author in support of her thesis. However, he has found this book so useful that he deems it capable of leading the skeptical to the faith in the immortality of the soul. But there is a singular contradiction here, for to prove that a thing exists, its reality must be demonstrated and not its fiction; however, it is precisely the abuse of fictions that has destroyed the faith of the nonbelievers. Common sense says that it is not with a novel of immortality, however ingenious it might be, that one will prove the immortality. If the manifestations of the Spirits fight disbelief so successfully these days, it is because they are a reality.
From the perfect agreement, in form and substance, that exists between the ideas developed in Mrs. Rowe's book and the present teaching of the Spirits, there can be no doubt that what she wrote is the product of actual communications.
How is it that such a singular book, capable of stirring up curiosity to the highest degree, widespread enough, since it had reached its fifth edition, and since it has been translated, has produced so little sensation, and that such a consoling idea, so rational and so fruitful in results, has remained a dead letter, while nowadays it only takes a few years for it to go around the world? The same could be said of a host of precious inventions and discoveries which fall into oblivion when they appear and flourish a few centuries later when the need arises. It is the confirmation of the principle that the best ideas abort, when they come prematurely, before the Spirits are ripe to accept them.
We have said many times that if Spiritism had come a century earlier it would not have had any success; here we have the obvious proof, because this book is undoubtedly of the purest and the deepest Spiritism. To be able to understand and appreciate it, we needed the moral crises through which the human spirit has endured in the last century, teaching them to discuss their beliefs; but nihilism, in its various forms, as a transition between blind faith and reasoned faith, also had to prove its inability to satisfy the social needs and the legitimate aspirations of humanity. The rapid spread of Spiritism in our time proves that it has come in due time.
If we still see today people who have all the proofs before their eyes, material and moral, proofs of the reality of the Spiritist facts, and who, despite this, refuse evidence and reason, even more so there would be many more a century ago; it is because their mind is still unfit to assimilate this order of ideas; they see, hear and do not understand, not indicating a lack of intelligence, but a lack of special aptitude; they are like people who, although very intelligent, lack the musical sense to understand and feel the beauties of music; this is what is meant when we say that their time has not come yet.
[1] We will see later that, by vehicle, the author means the fluidic body.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Mrs. Beecher Stowe
We read the following in volume II of this book, that has had popular success in both worlds:
Page 10 - My father was an aristocrat. I believe that in some previous existence he must have belonged to the classes of the highest social order, and that he had brought with him into this one all the pride of his old caste; pride was inherent in him; it was in his bone marrow, although he was from a poor and commoner family.
Page 128 - Evidently the words he had sung that very evening took his soul, words of supplication addressed to the infinite mercy. His lips moved weakly, and a word would rarely escape them. - His Spirit is wandering, said the doctor. "No, he's coming to himself," said Saint-Clare energetically.
That effort worn him out. The paleness of death spread over his face, but with that an admirable expression of peace, as if some merciful Spirit had sheltered him under his wings. He looked like a fatigued child falling asleep.
He remained like that for a few moments; an almighty hand rested on him. But just as the soul was about to take off, he opened his eyes, suddenly lit up with a gleam of joy, as if he recognized a loved one, and he whispered in a low voice: "My mother! ...” his soul was gone!"
Page 200. - Oh! How dare the perverse soul enter this dark world of sleep, whose uncertain limits so closely approach the frightening and mysterious scenes of retribution!”
Observation: It is impossible to express more clearly the idea of reincarnation, of the origin of our inclinations and of the atonement endured in later existences, since it is said that he who has been rich and powerful can be reborn in poverty. It is remarkable that this book was published in the United States, where the principle of the plurality of earthly existences has long been rejected. It appeared around 1850, at the time of the first spiritualist manifestations, when the doctrine of reincarnation was not yet proclaimed in Europe; Mrs. Beecher Stowe had therefore drawn it from her own intuition; there she found the only plausible reason for innate aptitudes and propensities. The second cited fragment is indeed the image of the soul that foresees the spiritual world at the time of its release.
The Original Sin, According to Judaism
“The dogma of the original sin is far from being among the principles of Judaism. The profound legend reported in the Talmud (Nida XXXI, 2) and that represents the angels making the human soul, when it is about to incarnate in an earthly body, taking the oath to keep itself pure during its stay on this planet, to return pure to the Creator, is a poetic affirmation of our native innocence and of our moral independence from the fault of our forefathers. This statement, contained in our traditional books, is consistent with the true spirit of Judaism.
To define the dogma of the original sin, it will suffice to say that people take literally the account of Genesis, whose legendary character is ignored, and starting from that erroneous point of view, they blindly accept all consequences that follow, without worrying about their incompatibility with human nature and with the necessary and eternal attributes that reason assigns to the divine nature.
Slave of the letter, it is affirmed that the first woman was seduced by the serpent, that she ate of a fruit forbidden by God, that she made her husband eat it, and that by this act of open revolt against the divine will, the first man and the first woman incurred the curse of heaven, not only for them, but for their children, their race, for all mankind, for the complicit mankind, however distant in time they are from the crime, for which it is, consequently, responsible in all its present and future members.
According to this doctrine, the fall and condemnation of our first parents was a fall and condemnation for their posterity; hence innumerable scourges to humanity that would have been endless without the mediation of a Redeemer, as incomprehensible as the crime and the condemnation that call for him. As the sin of one was committed by all, so the atonement of one will be the atonement of all; mankind, lost by one, will be saved by one: redemption is the inevitable consequence of the original sin.
It is understandable that we do not discuss these premises with their consequences, that are no longer acceptable for us, both from a dogmatic and from a moral point of view.
Our reason and our conscience will never come to terms with a doctrine that erases both human personality and divine justice, and that to explain its claims, makes us all live together in the soul as in the body of the first man, teaching us that, however numerous we may be in the succession of times, we are part of Adam in spirit and in matter, that we took part in his crime, and that we must have our part in his condemnation.
The deep feeling of our moral freedom refuses such fatal assimilation, that would deprive us from our initiative, that would unwillingly chain us into a distant, mysterious sin, of which we are unaware, and that would make us suffer an ineffective punishment, since it would be undeserved in our eyes.
The unfailing and universal idea that we have of the Creator’s justice, refuses even more strongly to believe in the engagement of free beings, successively created by God over the centuries, in the fault of only one.
If Adam and Eve sinned, they alone are responsible for their wrongdoing; their own decay, for their expiation, their redemption by means of their personal efforts to regain their nobility. But we, who came after them, who, like them, have been the object of an identical act on the part of the creative power, and who must, as such, be of a price equal to that of our forefather in the eyes of our Creator, we are born with our purity and our innocence, of which we are the only masters, the only custodians, and whose loss or preservation depends absolutely only on our will, only on the determinations of our free will.
Such is, on this point, the doctrine of Judaism, that cannot admit anything that does not conform to our conscience, enlightened by reason.
B.M.”
We are reproducing, without comments, the following passages from a letter sent to us last March, by one of our correspondents, a captain in the African army.
“Spiritism is spreading in the North of Africa and will gain the center, if the French go there. Here it is entering Laghouat, on the edges of the Sahara, at 33° degree of latitude. I lent your books out; some of my comrades have read them; we discussed, and strength and reason remained with the Doctrine.
For several years now I have been engaged in the study of comparative anatomy, physiology, and psychology. The same stream of ideas led me to study animals. I was able to realize, by observation, that all the organs, all the apparatuses, are simplified while descending towards the races and the lower species. How beautiful it is to study nature! How one feels the spirit everywhere! Sometimes I spend long hours following the habits and life movements of insects and reptiles in these regions; I witness their struggles, their efforts, their tricks to ensure their existence; I contemplate the battle of the species. The Sahara, on the edges of which we have been camping for over a year, so deserted to my comrades, seems to me, on the contrary, well populated; where they find exile, I meet freedom! It's because I know that God is everywhere, and that everyone brings happiness in themselves. Whether I am at the Pole or at the Equator, my friends in space will follow me there, and I know that the dear invisible ones can populate the saddest solitudes. It is not that I disdain the company of my fellow human beings, nor that I am indifferent to the affections that I have preserved in France, oh no! because I look forward to seeing and embracing my family and all those who are dear to me, but it is only to testify that we can be happy in any part of the world that we find ourselves, when we take God as our guide . To the Spiritist there is never any isolation; he knows himself, he feels himself constantly surrounded by benevolent beings with whom he is in communion of thoughts.
Your last work, Genesis, that I have just reread, and on various chapters on which I have particularly focused, reveals to us the mysteries of creation and throws a terrible blow to the prejudices. This reading did me immense good and opened new horizons to me. I already understood our origin and saw in my material body the last ring of animality on Earth; I knew that the Spirit, during its bodily gestation, takes an active part in the construction of its nest and appropriates its envelope to its new needs. To the proud ones, this theory of the origin of man may seem offensive to human greatness and dignity, but it will be accepted in the future, because of its striking simplicity and breadth.
Geology, in fact, allows us to read in the great book of nature. Through that we find that the species of today would have for ancestors the species whose remains are found in the earthly layers; we can no longer deny that there is a continual progression in the development of organic forms, when we see the simplest species appearing first. These species have been modified by the instincts of animals themselves, provided with organs appropriate to their new needs and development. Besides, nature change the species when the need arises; life gradually multiplies their organs and specializes them. The species come out of each other, without the need for a miraculous intervention. Adam did not come out from the hands of the Creator fully armed; a chimpanzee certainly gave birth to him.
The species are not independent from one another; they are linked by a secret filiation, and one can even regard them as united to humanity. As you so rightly say, from the zoophyte to man, there is a chain, all rings of which have a point of contact with the previous ring. And just as the spirit rises and cannot remain stationary, the instinct of the animal progresses, and each incarnation makes it transposes a step of the ladder of beings. The phases of these metamorphoses are counted by thousands of rings, and the rudimentary forms, of which a few samples are found in the Silurian soils, tell us where the animal has been.
There should no longer be a veil between nature and man, and nothing should remain hidden. Earth is our domain: it is up to us to study its laws; it was ignorance and laziness that created the mysteries. How much greater God appears to us in the harmony and unity of his laws!
I am sincerely sorry for people who are bored, because it shows that they don't think of anyone else, and that their minds are as empty as the stomach of a hungry person."
Linguistic Phenomenon
The quarterly Journal of Psychological Medicine publishes a very curious report about a little girl who substituted the language spoken around her, by a series of words and verbs forming a whole idiom that she uses and cannot stop using.
“The child is now almost five years old. Until the age of three, she remained silent and could only pronounce the words "dad" and "mum". When she approached her fourth year her tongue suddenly loosened, and today she speaks with all the ease and fluency of her age. But out of everything she says, the two words "dad" and "mum," that she first learned, are the only ones borrowed from the English language. All the others were born in her little brain and from her little lips, and have nothing to do with the childlike words that children usually play with.
In her dictionary, Gaan means God; migno-migno, water; odo, to send for, or take away, depending on the context; gar, horse.
One day, said Doctor Hun, it rained. The child was brought in and forbidden to go out before the rain had stopped. She went to the window and said:
- Gaan odo migno-migno, feu odo. (God, stop the rain, bring the fires of the sun)
The word “feu” (fire) applied in the same sense as in my own language struck me. I was told that the child had never heard French, which is a very strange thing, and that it would be interesting to investigate, because the child borrowed several words from the French language, such as "tout", "moi ", and the negation "ne pas".
The child has brother eighteen months older. She taught him her language, without borrowing any of the words he uses.
Her parents are devastated with this little phenomenon; they have often tried to teach her English, to tell her the English name of things that she designates otherwise in her idiom: she absolutely refuses to do so. They tried to keep her away from children her age, to put her in communication only with older people, speaking English and knowing nothing of her little idiom. There was reason to hope that a child who had shown herself as eager to communicate her thoughts as to invent a new language, would seek to learn English when surrounded by people speaking English only. But it did not happen. As soon as she finds herself with people she is not used to seeing, she immediately begins to teach them her language, and momentarily at least, her parents have given up trying to discourage her.”
Once this fact was discussed at the Spiritist Society of Paris, a Spirit explained it in the following communication:
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, October 9th, 1969 – medium Mr. Nivard
“The phenomenon of the little Englishwoman, speaking a language unknown to those around her, and refusing to use theirs, is the most extraordinary fact that has occurred over many centuries.
Remarkable facts have taken place in all times, in all eras, that have astonished men, but they had similar or look-alike; that certainly did not explain them, but they were seen with less surprise. The one in question may be one of a kind. The explanation that can be given is neither easier nor more difficult than the others, but its singularity is striking; here is the essential.
I said striking; it is truly, not the cause, but the reason for the phenomenon. It strikes you with astonishment: that's why it happened. Now that progress has come a long way, people will not be content to speak of the fact, as one speaks of rain and good weather; people will want to look for the cause. Doctors have nothing to do with it; physiology is foreign to this singularity; if the child were dumb or could only articulate a few words with difficulty, that one would not understand due to the insufficiency of her vocal cords, the scientists would say that this is due to bad physiological dispositions, and that by making disappear these bad dispositions, the child would be given the free use of her speech. But this is not the case here; on the contrary, the child is chatty, talkative; she speaks easily, calls things her own way, expresses them in the form that suits her and goes further: she teaches her language to her mates, when it is proven that she cannot be taught her mother tongue, and that she doesn't even want to do it. Psychology is therefore the only science in which we must seek the explanation of this fact. The reason, the special goal, I have just said it: it was necessary to shock the spirits and to solicit their research. As for the cause, I will try to tell you.
The Spirit incarnate in the body of this child has known the language, or rather the languages that she speaks, because she mixes them up. Nevertheless, this mixture is done knowingly and constitutes a language whose various expressions are borrowed from those that this Spirit knew in other incarnations. In her last existence, she had the idea of creating a universal language to allow men of all nations to get along and thus increase the ease of relationships and human progress. To this end, she had begun to compose this language she formed from fragments of several of those she knew and liked best. The English language was unknown to her; she had heard English, but she found the language unpleasant and hated it. Once in erraticity, the goal she had set in that life pursued her there; she got back to work and composed a vocabulary that is peculiar to her.
She incarnated among the English with the contempt she had for their language, and with the firm determination not to speak it. She took possession of a body whose flexible organism allows her to keep her word. The ties that bind her to this body are elastic enough to keep her in a state of semi-detachment that gives her a distinct memory of her past and sustains her in her resolution. On the other hand, she is helped by her spiritual guide, who ensures that the phenomenon takes place with regularity and perseverance, to call the attention of men. The incarnate Spirit, moreover, was consenting in the production of the fact. At the same time as she displays the displeasure with the English language, she fulfills the mission of provoking psychological research.
L. Nirvad, father.”
Observation: If this explanation cannot be demonstrated, at least it has rationality and likelihood on its side. An Englishman who does not admit the principle of the plurality of existences, and who had no knowledge of the above communication, carried away by irresistible logic, speaking about this fact, said that it could only be explained by reincarnation, if it was true that one could live again on Earth.
Here then is a phenomenon that, by its very strangeness and captivating attention, provokes the idea of reincarnation, as the only plausible reason that can be given. Before this principle was in the order of the day, we would have found the fact quite bizarre, and in earlier times, we would certainly have regarded this child as bewitched. We wouldn't even swear that today this was not the opinion of some people. What isn’t less worthy of note is that this fact occurs precisely in a country that is still resistant to the idea of reincarnation, but to which it will be brought by the force of circumstances.
Space Music
“Mulhouse, March 27th, 1868.
About five years ago - I was only eighteen at the time, and I ignored even the name Spiritism, - I was the witness and the object of a strange phenomenon that I realized only a few months ago, after having read The Spirits’ Book and The Mediums’ Book; This phenomenon consisted of an invisible music that was heard in the ambient air of the room, and accompanied my violin on which I was still taking lessons at the time. It was not a succession of sounds, like those I produced on my instrument, but perfect chords whose harmony was touching; it was like a harp touched with delicacy and feeling; sometimes we were a dozen people together, and we all heard it, without exception; but if someone came to listen out of pure curiosity, everything stopped, and as soon as the curious person was gone, the effect was immediately reestablished. I remember that meditation contributed a lot to the intensity of the sounds. What was unusual was that it only happened between five and eight in the evening. However, one Sunday, an organ from Babaria passed in front of the house around one in the afternoon and was playing a tune that called my attention; The invisible music was immediately heard in the room, accompanying that tune.
At such times, I experienced a nervous agitation that tired me noticeably and even made me suffer; it was like a kind of worry; at the same time, a heat radiated from all my body was felt at about 10 centimeters.
Since I read The Mediums’ Book, I have tried to write; an almost irresistible force carried my hand from left to right in a feverish movement, accompanied by great nervous agitation; but I have still only drawn unintelligible characters."
Since this letter was shown to us, we wrote to the young man to ask him for some additional explanations. Here are the answers to the questions we addressed to him; the questions can be easily guessed from these answers.
“1 - The event took place in Mulhouse, not in my room, but in the one where I practiced most frequently, and located in a neighboring house, in the company of two friends, one of whom played the flute and the other the violin; the latter was the one who gave me lessons. It didn't happen anywhere else.
2 - It was necessary that I played; and if sometimes I was resting too long, several sounds, and sometimes several chords were heard as if to invite me to continue. However, the day when this music was produced following an organ from Barbaria, I was not playing.
3 - That music had a sufficiently accentuated character to be able to be annotated; I did not have the thought of doing it.
4. It seemed to come from a well-defined point, but that was constantly traveling in the room; it was fixated for a few moments, so that you could point to where it came from; but when one sought that place to discover its secret, it immediately changed and moved elsewhere, or was heard in different places.
5. That effect lasted for about three months since February 1862. Here is how it stopped: One day we were together, my boss, another employee and myself; we were talking about one thing or another, when my boss, without preamble, asked me this question: "Do you believe in ghosts?" - No,” I replied. He continued to question me, and I decided to tell him what was going on. He listened to me with great awe; when I was done, he slapped me on the shoulder and said, "We'll talk about you." He spoke about it to a doctor, who is said to be very knowledgeable in physics, and who explained the fact to him by saying that I was a sensitive, a magnetized. My boss, trying to figure it out, came one day to find me in the room, and ordered me to play. I obeyed, and the invisible music was heard for a few seconds, very distinctly for me, vaguely for the boss and the assistants. The boss moved around the room in several places but could not get anything else.
The following Sunday, I returned to the bedroom; it is the one where the music was heard following the organ of Barbaria, without my playing. This was the last time, and since then nothing similar has happened.”
Observation: Before attributing a fact to the intervention of the Spirits, it is necessary to carefully study all the circumstances. The one in question here has all the characteristics of a manifestation; it is likely that it was produced by some Spirit sympathetic to the young man, to bring him to the Spiritist ideas, and to call the attention of others to these kinds of phenomena. But then, it will be said, why hasn’t the effect occurred in a more resounding manner? Why, more importantly, has it suddenly stopped? The Spirits are not held accountable to all motives that make them act; but one must assume that they were satisfied with the impression they wanted to produce. Moreover, the cessation of the phenomenon at the very moment when it was desired to continue, must have the result of proving that the young man's wishes had nothing to do with that, and that there was no deception. That music was heard by those present, excluding any effect of illusion or imagination, as well as the idea of a story for entertainment; moreover, since the young man had no notion of Spiritism, one cannot suppose that he was under the influence of preconceived ideas; it was only after several years that he was able to explain the phenomenon. Several people are in the same situation; Spiritism reminds them of forgotten facts that they attributed to hallucination, and of which they can henceforth realize. Spontaneous phenomena are what can be called natural experimental Spiritism.
Spiritism and the Ideal
In the Art and Poetry of the Greeks, by Chassang [1]
Our August issue contained the reproduction of a very remarkable article, taken from the journal Le Droit, on the disastrous consequences of materialism from the point of view of legislation and social order; the Patrie, July 30th, 1868, gave an account of a work on the influence of spiritualism in the arts. These two articles are the corollary and the complement of each other: in the first one the dangers of materialism for society are proven, and in the second one demonstrates the necessity of spiritualism, without which the arts and poetry are precluded from their vital element.
Indeed, the sublime of art and poetry is to speak to the soul, to raise our thought above the matter that embraces us, and from which we constantly aspire to leave; but to make the strings of the soul vibrate, one must have a soul that vibrates in unison. How can someone who only believes in matter be inspired and become the interpreter of thoughts and feelings that are outside of matter? His ideal does not come out of the down-to-earth, and it is cold, because it speaks neither to the heart nor to the soul, but to the material senses alone. The beautiful ideal is not in the material world; it is therefore necessary to seek it in the spiritual world, that is the light to the blind; the inability to reach it has created the realistic school that does not leave this world, because that is where its entire horizon is; since the true beautiful being is beyond the reach of certain artists, they declare that the beautiful is ugly. The fable of the fox, with the severed tail, remains still a truth.
The period when religious faith was enthusiastic and sincere is also the period when religious art produced the most beautiful masterpieces; the artist identified himself with his subject, because he saw it with the eyes of the soul and understood it; it was his own thought that he represented; but as the faith was gone, the inspiring genius was gone with that. We should therefore not be surprised if religious art is today in full decline; it is not the talent that is lacking, it is the feeling.
It is the same with the ideal in all things; works of art only captivate when they make people think. We can admire the plastic talent of the artist, but it cannot arouse a thought that does not exist there; he paints a world that he neither sees, feels nor understands; thus, he sometimes falls into the grotesque; one feels that he is aiming for the effect, and has contrived to create something new by torturing the form: that is all.
The same can be said of modern music; it makes a lot of noise; it requires great agility of the fingers and throat from the performer, a real dislocation; it moves the fibers of the ear, but not those of the heart. This tendency of art towards materiality has perverted the taste of the public, whose finesse of the moral sense is dulled.[2]
Mr. Chassang's work is the application of these ideas to art in general, and to Greek art, in particular. We are pleased to reproduce what the author of the critique in the Patrie says about it, because it is a further proof of the strong reaction that is taking place in favor of the spiritualist ideas, and because, as we have said, any defense of rational spiritualism paves the way for Spiritism, that is its development, by combating its most tenacious adversaries: materialism and fanaticism.
Mr. Chassang is the author of the story of Apollonius of Tyana, that we reported in the Spiritist Review, October 1862.
“This book, of a very special character, was not produced during the recent debates on materialism, and it is certainly independently of the author's will that circumstances have given it a sort of topicality. In writing it, Mr. Chassang did not intend to do the work of a metaphysician, but of a simple literary man. Nevertheless, as the great questions of metaphysics are eternally on the agenda, and any literary work truly worthy of the name always presupposes some philosophical principle, this book, of a very decided spiritualist inspiration, is in correlation with the concerns of the moment.
Mr. Chassang leaves to others the refutation of materialism from a pure philosophical point of view. His thesis is entirely aesthetic. What he intends to prove is that literature and art are not less interested than moral life in the success of spiritualist doctrines. Just as materialism depletes poetry from life and takes the cruel pleasure of disenchanting man, by depriving him of all hope, all consolation amid the sufferings that besiege him, so it ruthlessly cuts off from literature and art what it calls illusions and lies, and under the pretext of truth, proclaiming realism, it turns into a law for artists and writers to express only what is.
Spiritualist doctrines, on the contrary, open life to noble aspirations in all directions: they entertain man with the future and immortality; they tell the poet and the artist that there is a beautiful ideal of which the most beautiful human creations are only pale reflections, and whoever wants to charm their contemporaries and live for posterity must keep their eyes on that.
After having developed this aspect from a general point of view, in his introduction, Mr. Chassang seeks the proof in the most beautiful of literatures and in the greatest of the arts that have aroused the admiration of men, in the literature and in the art of the ancient Greeks. For that demonstration, a rigorous and didactic order is rather to be avoided than to be sought; so, after the introduction that sets out the principles, it is not followed by closely united and methodically linked chapters, but by isolated studies that all relate to the same subject, inspired by the same feeling, and converge to the same goal. The book thus has both unity in the whole and variety in the parts.
It is first a treatise on what the author aptly calls popular spiritualism among the ancients, that is, the beliefs of the Greeks and Romans in the destiny of souls after death. He shows that if, among those beliefs, there are obvious errors, all these errors, nevertheless, rest in the hope of another life. Doesn't the cult of the dead implicitly contain a profession of spiritualistic faith? The last victory of materialism would be to suppress it, and its followers should logically come to this; otherwise, what is the use of raising the stone from the tomb? What good does it do, particularly, to surround the grave with respect, if there is nothing behind it? So says Mr. Chassang."
Octave Sachot.”
[1] 1 vol. in-12; 3.50 francs at Messrs. Didier and Co., 35 quai des Augustines.
[2] See the Spiritist Review, December 1860, and January 1861: Pagan art, Christian art and Spiritist art
Instructions of the Spirits
Regeneration of the Eastern PeoplesHe sees in Spiritism, that he has seriously studied, a powerful lever for combating the prejudices that oppose the moral and intellectual emancipation of his compatriots, because of the very ideas that constitute the basis of their beliefs and to which a more rational direction should be given. With a view to contributing to this work, or at least to lay the foundations for that, he conceived a project that he was kind enough to submit to us, asking us to also seek the advice of the Good Spirits.
The communication that was given to us on this subject is instructive to everyone, especially in the current circumstances, being that the reason why we considered appropriate to have it published. It contains a wise appreciation of things, and advice from which others may benefit from time to time, and that by specializing them, they also find their application in the most favorable way of propagating Spiritism.
Paris, September 18th, 1868
“It is not only the East, it is Europe, the whole world is agitated by a silent fermentation that the smallest cause can transform into universal conflagration, when the moment has arrived. As Mr. X rightly says…, it is on ruins that new things have been built, and before the great renovation is a done deal, human work and the intervention of the elements must complete the clearing of the ground of thought from the mistakes of the past. Everything contributes to this immense work; the time of action is fast approaching, and all intelligences must be encouraged to prepare for the struggle. Humanity leaves its diapers behind to put on the outfits of adulthood; it shakes off the centuries-old yoke; the timing, therefore, could not be more favorable. But we must not hide from ourselves that the task is tough, and that more than one craftsman will be crushed by the machine he has set in motion, for not having known how to discover the brake capable of controlling the enthusiasm of the too abruptly emancipated humanity.
To have reason, to have the truth for oneself, to work for the general good, to sacrifice one's own well-being for the interest of all, is good, but it is not enough. One cannot suddenly give all the freedoms to a slave shaped by a severe burden over the centuries. It is only gradually, and by measuring the extent of the edges to the progress of intelligence, and above all the moral progress of humanity, that regeneration can be accomplished. The storm that dispels the deleterious miasmas with which a region is infected, is a useful cataclysm; but the one that breaks all the dikes, and who, obeying no restraint, takes everything down on its way, is deplorable, and without any useful consequence. It increases the difficulties instead of helping to make them disappear.
All those who wish to usefully contribute to the regenerative work, must therefore, and before anything, be concerned with the nature of the elements on which it is possible for them to act, and combine their actions relatively to the character, habits, and beliefs of those who they want to transform. Thus to achieve, in the East, the goal pursued in America and Western Europe by all superior Spirits, it is necessary to follow an identical course as a whole, but essentially different in the details, that is, by sowing education, developing morality, combating the abuses consecrated by time, we will arrive at the same result, wherever we act, but the choice of means, in particular, should be determined by the individuals to whom we will address.
The spirit of reform is blowing throughout Asia; it left bloody wrecks in Syria, in Persia, and in all the neighboring regions; the new idea germinated there, watered with the blood of martyrs; we must take advantage of the momentum given to the intelligences, but avoid relapsing into the faults that provoked those persecutions. Man is not educated by confronting his prejudices head-on, but by turning them around, by modifying the furnishings of his Spirit in such a measured way that he comes to the point of renouncing, on his own, to the errors for which, not long ago, he would have sacrificed his life. We must not tell him: "This is bad, this is good," but lead him to appreciate everything in its true value, through education and by example. New ideas are not imposed on people; to have them accepted, without regrettable disturbance, they must get used to them little by little, by making them recognize its advantages, and only establish them as a principle when one is certain that they will gain a considerable majority
There is much to do in the East, but the action of man alone would be powerless to bring about a radical transformation. The events we are dealing with will contribute in part to this transformation. They will get the Orientals used to a new kind of existence; they will undermine, in their bases, the prejudices that preside over the legislation of the family. It is only after that that the teaching will swing the last blow on them.
We applaud with all our strength the work of Mr. X…, the spirit in which it is conceived; we promise him, moreover, our assistance, and advise him to consult with us whenever he encounters some embarrassing difficulty. Let him hasten to set to work; events move quickly, and his work will hardly be finished when the right moment arrives! May he waste no time and count on our assistance, which is granted to him as well as to all those who unselfishly pursue the accomplishment of the providential designs.
Clélie Duplantier.”
The best propaganda
“If there are few mediums tonight, it does not mean that there is a shortage of Spirits; they are, on the contrary, a large crowd; some are regulars who come to instruct you or to instruct themselves; the others, in large numbers, are newcomers to you. They came without a letter of reference, it's true, but with the approval and by the invitation of the usual Spirits. Many of these Spirits are happy to attend the session and are especially happy to see here several Spiritists that they love and whom they direct, and who have had the thought of joining you.
There are many Spiritists in the world, but their degree of doctrinal instruction is far from sufficient to qualify them as enlightened Spiritists. They have enlightenment, no doubt, but practice is generally lacking; or if they practice, they need to be seconded, to bring more persuasion and less enthusiasm into the efforts that they attempt. When I speak of practicing Spiritism, I mean the part that concerns propaganda; for this part, more difficult than one thinks, to exercise it with efficiency, it is necessary to be well imbued of the philosophy of Spiritism and of its moral part. The moral part is easy to know; it requires little effort for this; on the other hand, it is the most difficult to practice, because example alone can make it clearly understood. You will make a virtue better understood by setting an example than by defining it. To be virtuous is to make virtue understood and loved. There is nothing to object to whoever does what he urges others to do. So, for the moral part of Spiritism, no difficulty in theory, much difficulty in practice.
The philosophical part presents more difficulties to be understood, therefore, it requires more effort. The followers who try to be militant, must set to work to know it well, because it is the weapon with which they will fight most successfully. It is useful that they do not overjoy with material phenomena, and that they give their explanation without too much development. They must spare these developments for the analysis of the facts of intelligent order, without saying too much, though, because we must not fatigue the minds of people new to Spiritism. Concise explanations, well-chosen examples, well suited to the question being discussed, that is all it takes. But I repeat, to be concise, one must nonetheless know; to give examples or explanations well suited to the subject, it is necessary to have a thorough understanding of the philosophy of Spiritism. This philosophy is summarized in The Spirits’ Book, and the practical side in The Medium’s Book. If you know well the substance of these two books, that are the work of the Spirits, you will certainly have the happiness of bringing many of your brothers to this so consoling belief, and many of those who believe will be placed on its true ground: that of love and charity.
So, my friends, those of you who desire, and all of you must desire it, to share their beliefs with their brothers, who want to call them to the banquet of consolation that Spiritism offers to all its children, must morally preach Spiritism by practicing its moral, and intellectually by spreading around them the lights that they have drawn or will draw from the communications of the Spirits.
All this is easy; all you need is to wish for it. Well! my dear friends, in the name of your happiness, your peace, in the name of union and charity, I urge you to want it.
A Spirit.”
True meditation
“If you could see the awareness of Spirits of all kinds who attend your sessions, and this during the reading of your prayers, not only would you be touched, but you would be ashamed to see that your awareness, that I only qualify as silence, is far from approaching that of the Spirits, many of whom are inferior to you. What you call meditation during the reading of your beautiful prayers is to observe an undisturbed silence; but if your lips do not move, if your body is motionless, your Spirit wanders around and leaves aside the sublime words that you should speak from the depths of your heart, by assimilating them through your thought.
Your matter observes silence; it would certainly be an insult to you to say otherwise; but your babbling Spirit does not observe it and disturbs the meditation of the Spirits that surround you at this time. Ah! if you saw them prostrated before the Lord, asking for the fulfillment of every word you read, your soul would be moved, and regretting its little attention in the past, it would turn back on itself, wholeheartedly asking God for the fulfillment of the same words it only spoke with her lips. You would ask the Spirits to make you docile to their advice; and I, the Spirit who speaks to you, after reading your prayers, and the words that I have just repeated, I could point out more than one who will go not much obedient to the advice I have just given, and with equally uncharitable feelings for his neighbor.
I'm probably a bit harsh; but I believe I am only with those who deserve it and whose most secret thoughts cannot be hidden from the Spirits. I therefore address only those who come here thinking of something quite different than the lessons they must come to seek and the feelings they must bring to them. But those who pray from the bottom of their souls will also pray, after reading my communication, for those who come here and leave without praying.
In any case, I ask those who kindly lend me an attentive ear, to continue to put into practice the teachings and the advice of the Spirits; I invite them to do so in their interest, because they do not know how much they can lose by not doing it.
De Courson.”
Bibliography
Spiritism in the Bible
Essay on the psychology of the ancient Hebrews, by Henri Stecki [1]
“We know that the Bible contains a host of passages relating to the principles of Spiritism; but how to find them in this labyrinth? This book should be read carefully, for which few people have the time and patience to do. In some even, mainly because of the most often figurative language, the Spiritist idea only appears clearly after reflection.
The author of this book did an in-depth study of the Bible, and the knowledge of Spiritism alone gave him the key to things that seemed inexplicable or unintelligible to him before. This is how he was able to learn with certainty about the psychological ideas of the ancient Hebrews, a point on which commentators disagreed. We must therefore be grateful to him for bringing these passages to light, in a succinct summary, and thus having spared the reader long and tedious research. To the quotations, he adds comments necessary for the understanding of the text, revealing the enlightened Spiritist, but not fanatic for his ideas, seeing Spiritism everywhere.
The author's name indicates that he is not French; he says in his preface that he Polish, and he explains under which circumstances he was brought to Spiritism, and the moral assistance he drew from this doctrine. Although a foreigner, he writes in French, like most people of the North, mainly the Poles and Russians, with perfect purity; his book is written with clarity, that is a great merit in philosophical matters, because nothing is less suitable for the popularization of the ideas that an author wants to propagate, than those books whose tiresome reading gives you a headache, and whose proposals are a series of indecipherable puzzles to the common reader.
In short, Mr. Stecki wrote a useful book, for which all Spiritists will be grateful to him.
We thank him personally for the gracious dedication message that he kindly placed at the head of his book.
[1] A small volume in-12; price, 1 franc; by post, 1.25 francs. At Messrs. Lacroix et Co., Librairie Internationale, 15, boulevard Montmartre, in Paris; and at the office of the Spiritist Review.
Spiritism in Lyon
The last issue, from October 15th, contains several very interesting articles to which we draw the attention of our readers.
The destinies of the soul
By A. D’Orient[1]
In this work, of capital importance, the author relies on the plurality of existences, like the most rational theory, on the indefinite progress of the soul by the work accomplished in successive existences; the responsibility of each one, according to their works; the denial of the absolute eternity of pains, the fluidic body, etc., in a word, on the principles that form the basis of Spiritism. However, it was published in 1845, a new proof of the movement that was already taking place in this direction, even before the appearance of the Spiritist Doctrine, that came to sanction by the facts, and to coordinate these scattered ideas. The author flattered himself that he would rally the clergy to that, while respecting the Catholic dogmas, but interpreting them in a more logical manner; his hopes were dashed because his book was blacklisted. We will limit ourselves to announcing it, reserving the right to dedicate a special article to the book, when we have time to examine it in depth. Meanwhile we will cite the following paragraph of the introduction, that specifies the objective proposed by the author:
Resurrection of the body, prescience of God, successive lives, or purgatory of souls, such are the three questions, to which everything that pertains to the destinies of our soul is linked, that we propose to present in new ways, to the meditation of Catholics and of all men who like to reflect on themselves. What we have to say does not touch on the essential truths that are important to all mankind to know and believe with total certainty: these truths, that are in the domain of faith, are as complete and certain as they need to be, and we do not pretend to add anything to that ourselves. We only want to humanly offer human theories about these matters, that is quite permissible to ignore or not to believe, without prejudice to one's soul; and all our efforts have no other aim than to illuminate obscure facts with the torch of science, where the lights of revelation are lacking, and that faith has not completely defined."
[1] Large volume, in-8. Price 7.5 francs. Didier & Co., Quai des Augustins, 35, and Ad. Lainé, Rue des Saints-Pères, 19.
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