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The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1860 > August
August
Bulletin of the Parisian Society of Spiritist StudiesNotice
The office of The Spiritist Review and the private home of Mr.
Allan Kardec were transferred to Rue Sainte-Anne, 59, Sainte-Anne
passageway.
Friday, June 29th, 1860
(Private Session)
Reading of the works and minutes of the June 22nd session.
Reading of a letter from Dr. de Grand-Boulogne, former French Vice
Consul, who requests to be admitted as a corresponding member from
Havana, where he is expected to move soon.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Reading of a spontaneous essay obtained by Mrs. Costel,
about the Origins, signed by Lazarus.
2nd – Report of recent physical manifestations that took place
at Rue des Noyers, appearing in several newspapers, reminding
similar facts that occurred in 1849 at Rue des Grès. Some members added that those events at Rue de Grès resulted from
deception created by the tenant in order to cancel his lease. Dr.
Grand-Boulogne mentioned that he can ensure authenticity of
those facts. Besides, Mr. de Mirville, who was careful enough
to collect every significant detail necessary to guarantee the occurrence
of the events, reported them. Another member makes
the comment that in similar circumstances, and given the attraction
of crowds of curious people, it becomes a nuisance to those
involved that then get rid of them by associating the events to
pure malevolence. The owner is the first one to have total interest
in denying the events. That is why similar facts are often
repudiated.
STUDIES:
1st – Discussion about the merits and efficacy of the trials of a
righteous person; having endured in order to relieve suffering
and unfortunate spirits, with respect to a passage from Dr. de
Grand-Boulogne’s letter. A comment was made regarding the fact
that once the efficacy of prayer is proven, as a demonstration of
sympathy and piety; we can assume that the self-imposed trials,
which have the same objective, should produce the same effects
of the prayer. The intention is everything in such a case and may
be seen as an even more feverous prayer than that said in words.
2nd – Mrs. N… indicates doubts about the identity of the
spirit that gave her some advices in the previous session, and that
she does not consider applicable. She requests to have it questioned
through another medium if the spirit that had communicated
was truly St. Louis. She added that she noticed, a not so
much benevolent feeling in the considerations that were given,
which is not coherent with his customary kindness. That is why
she was in doubt.
St. Louis was questioned about it through Mrs. H…, responding:
“Yes, it was I who came to write those lines and give
you advice. You are mistaken by taking my advice badly. It is
necessary that whoever wants to advance in the avenue of good
learns to accept the advice and warnings given to them, even
when their self-love is hurt. The proof of your advancement is
in the calm and humble way by which you receive them. In the
past, when I was on Earth, haven’t I given demonstrations of
great humility, quietly complying with the church’s decisions,
even the penitence imposed on me, however humiliating they
might have been? You must thus be kind and humble, if you
are not proud; accept the advice; strive to correct yourselves
and you shall advance.”
Mr. T… observes that St. Louis had not always submitted
to the church when alive, since he fought against its
pretensions.
St. Louis responds: “When I say that I submitted to the punishments
imposed by the leaders of the church, I told you the
truth. However, I did not tell you that my behavior was always
faultless. I was a great sinner before God, although people have
later awarded me with the glorious title of Saint.”
Mr. Allan Kardec adds that St. Louis always accepted the
decisions of the church with respect to the dogma; he only fought
pretensions of another nature.
3rd – Questions raised about St. Louis’ advice regarding physical
manifestations, with recommendations to the Society not to
get involved with that.
4th – Questions about mediumship in children, with reference
to the manifestations that occurred in the last session with
the young N…
5th – Questions posed about the manifestations at Rue de
Noyers.
6th – Two simultaneous communications received: the first
by Mrs. Costel, about Thought’s Electricity, signed by Delphine de
Girardin; the second by Mrs. Lubr…, regarding the advices given
by the spirits, signed by Paul, a familiar spirit.
Friday, July 6th, 1869
(Private Session)
Reading of the works and minutes of the June 29th session.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Mr. Achille R… reads a letter from Limoges, in which the
author speaks of a medium friend of his who is lead to work between
eight and nine hours per day by a spirit. He says that the
spirit gives him an infallible criterion to ensure the identity of the
spirits, avoiding deception; but he is advised to keep this and the
communications as a secret.
Mr. Allan Kardec comments that he sees three reasons for
suspicion in this case: first is the duration of the work imposed
on to the medium, this being always an indication of
obsession. There is no doubt that the spirits may ask the medium
to write, but in general this is not imperative and there
is no absolute prescription about the duration of the works or
the time. On the contrary, the spirits stop the medium when
there is excessive dedication. The second point is the supposedly
infallible criterion to ascertain the identity of the spirits.
Finally, the third one is the request for secrecy. If the prescription
were good, there would be no reason for mystery. It seems
that the spirit wants to excite the medium in order to drive
him at will, favoring the supposed infallibility of his process.
It is likely that the spirit is afraid that others may see things clearly, revealing his maneuvers. That is why silence is recommended
so that there is no opposition. It is a means of always
being right.
STUDIES:
1st – Evocation of François Arago through Ms. H… St. Louis
responds that this medium is not adequate to that spirit. He
advises another choice. Several questions are addressed regarding
this subject about the special skills of a medium to receive
communications from this or that spirit. Here is the answer:
“A spirit comes preferably to a person whose ideas sympathize
with their own when alive. There is an agreement of thoughts
between Heavens and Earth, still more significant than on
Earth.
2nd – Question proposed by Mr. Count Z…about the distinction
made by certain somnambulistic mediums who designate
men as blue lights and women as white light. He asks if the
perispirits have different colors according to the gender. The spirit
that was questioned responds: “That has no relationship with our
world; it is a purely physical fact depending on the person who
sees it. There are some men who cannot see certain colors when
in the waking state or see them in a different way from others.
The same happens to those who are asleep. Some can see what
others cannot.”
3rd – Four spontaneous essays were received; the first
through Ms. Huet, from the spirit that continues to write his
memories; the second by Mr. Didier about Spiritual Electricity,
signed by Lamennais; the third by Mrs. Costel, about the
High Trues of Spiritism, signed by Lazarus; the fourth by Ms.
Stephan, about Each Task to Each Person, signed by Gustave
Lenormand.
Friday, July 13th, 1860
(General Session)
Reading of the works and minutes of the July 6th session.
Mr. Eugène de Porry, from Marseille, pays tribute to the Society with
his new poem entitled Linda, Gallic Legend. The Society remembers the
nice poem Urania, from the same author, thanking him for his new work.
Ms. P… had the task of reporting it.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Mr. S… transmits a note about a man that committed suicide
last year at Rue Quincampoix in order to exempt his son from the
military service. His evocation is thought to be instructive.
2nd – Mr. de Grand-Boulogne sends a note about Mr.
Seih-ben-Moloka, a Muslim man who had just died in Tunisia, at
the age of one hundred and ten years and whose life was remarkable
for his charitable actions.
A conversation is established about longevity. Mr. de GrandBoulogne,
who has lived among the Arabs for a long time, says that
such examples are not so rare among them, leading him to believe
in the influence of sobriety. He met one that was about one hundred
and fifty years old. Mr. Count Z… says that Siberia might be
the place where longevity is more frequent. Sobriety and climate
have no doubt great influence in life’s duration. But what must
definitely contribute to that is piece of mind and absence of moral
concerns that generally affect life in the civilized society, wearing
it out prematurely. That is the reason why we can find a higher
amount of elderly people among those who are closer to nature.
3rd – Mr. Allan Kardec tells a personal story that shows the
desire of certain spirits who were never evoked to be evoked. They
take advantage of any opportunity to communicate when the occasion
may arise.
4th – Several members comment about the protest published
in several newspapers by Mr. Lerible, former coal trader from Rue
de Grès, where remarkable manifestations took place in 1849 and
whose authenticity had been questioned.
STUDIES:
1st – Critical analysis of Lamennais’ essay about the Spiritual
Electricity, given on the July 6th session.
2nd – The person who committed suicide at Rue Quincampoix
is evoked.
3rd – Evocation of Gustave Lenormand.
4th – Several questions about the mediums.
5th – Three spontaneous essays: first, about the Spirits’
Knowledge by Channing; the second, a continuation of the
Electricity of Thought, by Delphine de Girardin; the third one
about Charity, signed by Lamennais, with respect to the news
that were read about Seih-ben-Moloka, the Muslim.
Friday, July 20th, 1860
(Private Session)
Reading of the works and minutes of the July 13th session.
The President makes an observation that since some time now we are
no longer reading, as agreed, the names of the spirits that request assistance.
From now on this shall be done after the general evocation.
MULTIPLE COMMUNICATIONS:
1st – Two essays read, obtained by Mr. C…, a new medium: one
about Man’s Pretensions, signed by Massilon; the other about the
Future, signed by St. Louis. Mr. C… asks if there wouldn’t be a
replacement of the spirit, particularly in the last case, irrespective of his opinion. After a careful examination the Society acknowledges
that its content is of an indisputable superiority and there is
nothing in that message that may contradict St. Louis’ character,
thus concluding that it has to come from an elevated spirit.
2nd – Another essay obtained by Ms. Costel about Experience,
and signed by Georges.
The President announces that several of the new members
have made remarkable progress as mediums of several types. He
invites them to inform the Society about the works that they
have obtained. The Society has time limitation for its works.
It must be the center of collection of those results obtained in
private sessions. It would be even selfish to keep for themselves
works that could be useful to all. Furthermore, it is a means
of controlling those messages by the clarifications that may result
from them, unless the medium is convinced of the infallibility
of his communications, or like that one from Limoges,
the medium had received the recommendation of keeping the
messages as a secret, which would certainly be a bad sign and
double reason for suspicion. The first quality of a medium is
total abnegation from self-esteem, like that of false modesty,
and that is why the medium cannot take the credit for what is
good nor be criticized for bad communications. The Society is
a family whose members, given to reciprocal benevolence, must
be driven by the sole desire of enlightenment, banishing any
sense of personality and rivalry, if they understand the Doctrine
as true Spiritists.
By the way, Mr. C… gave a very good example showing that
he is not one of those mediums who think that they have nothing
to learn because they receive a few communications signed by
great names. The more important the names the more one must
be afraid of being tricked by deceiving spirits.
3rd – Mr. Achille R… reads a letter reporting a curious case of
spontaneous manifestation that took place in a prison in Limoges,
whose authenticity was verified by the author of the letter. To be
published below under the title Varieties.
4th – Mr. Allan Kardec tells another very original story that
was reported to him last year by a visitor that he does not remember
the name or the address, and thus he cannot request confirmation.
The story is the following:
A doctor who was a believer spoke about Spiritism with his friend, who
was a skeptical, saying:
• I will make a test I don’t know if I will succeed. In any case I
cannot promise anything. Tell me the name of a living person
to whom you are very sympathetic. The friend then indicated a
young lady who lived in a very distant town, also known by the
doctor who then said:
• Go for a stroll in the garden and see what is going to happen. I repeat
that this is an experiment and may result in nothing. During
his friend’s stroll he evoked the young lady. Fifteen minutes later
his friend came back and said:
• I have just seen her. She was dressed in white, came close to me,
shook my hand and vanished. What is really strange is that she
left this ring in my finger. The doctor then immediately sent the
lady’s father the following telegram:
• Ask me nothing. Answer immediately and tell me what was your
daughter doing at 3pm and how she was dressed. The answer:
• At 3pm my daughter was with me in the living room. She was
wearing a white dress; she fell asleep for 15 or 20 minutes but
when she woke up she noticed that she no longer had the ring that
she usually wears.
A discussion was established regarding this and several levels of possibility
or impossibility were examined. St. Louis was questioned about it
and responded:
• The fact of the apparition is possible; the contribution of the perispirit
of the living person is not less possible. Everything is certainly
possible to God but he does not allow such things except,
very rarely. A detached spirit may realize those contributions more
easily. As for telling you if that did in fact happen, I don’t know.
NOTE: Once this fact is published we would kindly ask the person
who told us that to come forward and provide further clarifications about
it.
STUDIES:
1st – Questions about spirits that take other people’s names
2nd – The spirit from Rue des Noyers is evoked.
3rd – Five spontaneous essays are obtained: the first is from
Lamennais that requests a correction of his text about Charity; the
second about the Victims of Siria, signed by Jean; the third about
Intelligence Aberrations, signed by Georges; the fourth about the
Mediums’ Mistakes, signed by Paul; the fifth about the Mediums’
Support, signed by Gustave Lenormand.
During the session very distinctive knocks were heard near Ms. Stephan.
It was the spirit of Gustave that, as he said, wanted to force her to write, although
she was not aware of that. He thought that this would be a means
of provoking questions, forcing her to come to the table, since he wanted
to give a communication through her.
After the session, in a private communication, St. Louis was asked if
he was satisfied, to which he responded: “Yes and no. You made a mistake
by allowing continuous whispering by certain members while the spirits were interrogated. Sometimes you receive communications that need serious
reply from your side and answers even more serious from the evoked
spirits who will be unhappy with this, I can assure you. Hence, you shall
not receive anything perfect because the medium gets seriously distracted,
compromising his work. Here is what you need to do: read these observations
in the next session, which shall be understood by all members. Tell
them that this is not a room for conversations.”
Spiritist and Christian Agreement
The letter below was addressed to the Society of Spiritist Studies by Dr.
de Grand-Boulogne, former Vice Consul of France.
“Dear Mr. President,
With the vivid intent of taking part into the Parisian Society
of Spiritist Studies, but forced to leave France very soon, I request
the honor of being accepted as a corresponding member. I
have the advantage of knowing you in person and I don’t need to
tell you about the interest and sympathy with which I follow the
works of the Society. I read your books, as well as those by Baron
de Guldenstubbe, and consequently I know the fundamental
points of Spiritism whose principles I sincerely adopt, as you have
taught them. Since I attest here my strong will to live and die as a
Christian, this declaration drives me to provide you with my profession
of faith and perhaps you shall see with some interest, how
my religious faith naturally welcomes the principles of Spiritism.
That is how, in my opinion, the two are aligned:
1. God: creator of all things;
2. Objective and aim of all creatures: contribute to the universal
harmony;
3. Three main kingdoms in the created universe: the material or
inert, the organic or vital and the intellectual or moral;
4. Every creature is submitted to laws;
5. The creatures of the two first kingdoms obey submissively,
and the harmony is never perturbed by them;
6. As the two first ones, the third is also submitted to the laws
but enjoys the singular privilege of going around them and
the terrible capacity of disobeying God: it is what forms the
free-will; the human being belongs simultaneously to the
three kingdoms: he is an incarnated spirit.
7. The laws that govern the moral world are formulated in the
Ten Commandments, but are summarized by this remarkable
precept of Jesus: Love God above all and your neighbor
as yourself.
8. Every breach of the law constitutes a disruption of the universal
harmony. Well, God does not allow such disruption to
persist and the order must be inexorably reestablished.
9. There is a law for repairing any disorder of the moral world,
and the law is entirely contained in this word: atonement.
10. Atonement happens as follows: 1st – true repentance and acts
of virtue; 2nd – regret and trials; 3rd – prayers and the trials
of the righteous person, together with the regret of the guilty
one.
11. The prayers and trials of the righteous, although efficiently
supporting the universal harmony, these are not sufficient to
the absolute atonement of the faults. God demands the sinner’s
regret but together with that regret the prayer and penitence
in favor of the guilty required by the eternal justice, and
the crime is pardoned.
12. The life and death of Jesus turns that loving truth evident.
13. Without free-will there is no sin but there isn’t any virtue
either.
14. What is virtue? Courage in the good.
15. The most beautiful thing in the world is not the spectacle of a
great soul fighting hardship, as the philosopher said; it is the
perpetual effort of a soul evolving in the good path, elevating
in virtue up to the Creator.
16. What is the most beautiful of all virtues? Charity.
17. What is charity? It is the special attribute of the soul that, in
its fervent aspirations towards the good, forgets oneself and
struggles to help others to achieve happiness.
18. Knowledge is far below charity; it elevates us on the spiritual
scale, but does not contribute to reestablishing the universal
order perturbed by evil. Knowledge explains nothing, repairs
nothing, and does not influence God’s justice. Charity, on
the contrary, expiates and appeases. Knowledge is a quality;
charity is a virtue.
19. What was God’s intent when creating incarnation? Provide
part of the spiritual world with a situation without which
there would not exist any of the virtues that give us so much
respect and admiration. In fact, there is no charity without
suffering; no courage without danger; no devotion without
disgrace; no stoicism without oppression; no patience without
rage, etc. Well then, without the physical world all those evils
would disappear and with them the virtues.
As people somewhat detached from the material links, there
is harmony in this pool of good and evil, a greatness of an order
more elevated than the harmony and greatness of the exclusively
material world. This answers in a few words the raised objections
that are based on the incompatibility between evil and God’s
justice.
We would have to write volumes of books to develop all these
propositions. However, the objective of this communication is
not to offer the Society with a philosophical and religious thesis. I
just wanted to formulate a few Christian truths in harmony with Spiritism. From my point of view these truths are the fundamental
basis of religion and far from weakening, they become stronger
with the spiritist revelations. I don’t hesitate to make a criticism
either; that the priests, blindfolded by the devil-phobia, refuse
to learn and condemn without examination. If the Christians
opened their ears to the revelations of the spirits, everything that
is the cause of uneasiness to our minds or revolting to our hearts
in the religious teachings would suddenly disappear. Religion
would broaden the circle of its dogmas, without any changes in
the essence, and the flashes of the new truths would console and
illuminate the soul. If it is true as said by father Ventura, that
the philosophical and religious doctrines end up inexorably translated
by the ordinary actions of life, it is obvious that a nation
initiated in Spiritism would become the most admirable and the
happiest of all nations. It could be said that a truly Christian society
would be perfectly happy. I agree. However, religious teaching
takes place both by terror and love and human beings, dominated
by their passions and desperate to overcome the dogmas
that threaten them, will be so numerous that the group of devout
Christians will always be a tiny minority. There are Christians in
large number but the true Christians are rare.
That is not the case with the spiritist teachings. Although its
morals are confused with that of Christianity and threatening
words are also pronounced, Spiritism is so rich in treasures of
consolation. It is at the same time so logical and so practical; it
casts a vivid light upon our destiny; it deviates the obscurities that
trouble our logic and perplexities that placate our hearts, in truth
it seems impossible that a sincere Spiritist neglects a single day of
work in progressing and thus contributes to restore the troubled
harmony by the overflowing of selfish and greedy passions.
We can therefore say that by spreading the truths we have
the joy of knowing we are working for the benefit of humanity
and our work will be blessed by God. The people will be happy when the number of those who are righteous and practice charity
outweighs those who are selfish and evil. I believe in my soul and
conscience that Spiritism, based on Christianity, is called upon to
operate that revolution. Imbued with these feelings and willing
to contribute to the happiness of my fellow human beings, to the
limit of my own strength, while I also struggle to become better,
I ask, Mr. President, to be a part of your, Society.”
Yours sincerely, etc.
De Grand-Boulogne, doctor in Medicine,
former Vice Consul of France.
OBSERVATION: This letter does not require any comments and every
one can appreciate the high level of principles formulated in a manner so
profound and at the same time in such a clear and simple way. These are
the principles of true Spiritism; these principles that certain people dare
to expose to ridicule since they pretend to have the privilege of reason
and common sense, as they don’t know if they have a soul and don’t see a
difference between their future and that of a machine. We shall add only
one observation: Once Spiritism is well understood, it is the protection of
truly religious ideas that fade away; that contributing to the betterment
of the individual, it will bring the betterment of the masses, and that the
time is not far when human beings will understand that in this Doctrine
they will find the most fecund element of order, wellbeing and prosperity
of all people. And all that for a very simple reason: Spiritism kills the
materialism, which in turn feeds and develops egotism, the eternal source
of social struggles, giving human beings a reason for their existence. A
society where all members are driven by the love for their fellow human
beings, which has the word charity written at the top of all codes, that
society will be happy and soon it will see all signs of hatred and disagreement
disappear. Spiritism can realize such a prodigy and it will do that,
despite all those who still attack it, because the aggressors will pass but
Spiritism will stay.
The Ragman of Rue des Noyers
Society, June 29th, 1860
Le Droit reports the following, under the title Scenes of witchcraft in the LXIX century:
Le Droit reports the following, under the title Scenes of witchcraft in the LXIX century:
“One of the strangest things is taking place at Rue des Noyers. Mr.
Lesage, an economist working at the Palace of Justice, lives in an apartment
on that street. Lately there has been debris coming from unknown
places, breaking windows and hitting people in their homes, hurting
them more or less seriously. These are large fragments of logs of charred
pieces of coal, very heavy, and the same coal used in most of Paris. Mr.
Lesage’s maid was hit with several of them in her chest, resulting with
profound bruises.”
“The victim of this sorcery ended up calling the police. Some agents
were placed to supervise but they too were hit by the invisible artillery and
could not identify the origin of these blows.”
“Since it was impossible to stay in a home where one never knows
what is going to happen, Mr. Lesage asked the landlord to cancel his lease.
The request was granted and a bailiff by the name of Mr. Vaillant (meaning
brave, which was perfect considering the circumstances of the process which could not be done without danger), was sent to officiate the terms
of cancellation,”
“In fact, when the ministerial official started to edit the terms, a huge
piece of coal was thrown with extreme force, coming through the window,
hitting the wall and turned into dust. Mr. Vaillant, unaffected, utilized
the dust to cast over the terms on the page that he was writing, like
Junot in former times utilized the earth raised by the bomb.”
“We then realized, in 1847, at Rue de Grès, a similar incident took
place. A Mr. L…, coal trader, was also used as a target of tremendous
arrowheads and an incomprehensible emissions of stones throughout
the neighborhood put fear in everyone. By the coal merchant’s house
there was an empty lot, where the old church of Rue des Grès used to
be and now is the School of The Brothers of the Christian Doctrine. In
the beginning it was thought that the thrown objects were coming from
there but it was soon proved wrong. When one side was watched, they
would come from another. However, they ended up catching the sorcerer
red-handed, and that was nobody else than Mr. L… He had resorted to
this fantasy because he did not like his home and wanted to terminate his
lease.” “However, it was not like that with Mr. Lesage, whose honorability
excluded any idea of foul play and who, as a matter of fact, was happy
with the apartment.”
“It is expected that the enquiry conducted by Mr. Hubaut, police
commissioner of Sorbonne, may clarify the mystery, which is still a tasteless
joke and lasting too long.”
1. (to St. Louis) – Could you kindly tell us if those events are true
and whose possibility we don’t doubt? – A. Yes. The events are
true. It was only man’s imagination that exaggerated them by fear
or irony. However, I repeat, they are true. Such manifestations are
provoked by a spirit that makes fun of the local residents.
OBSERVATION: Since then we had the opportunity of seeing
Mr. Lesage who honored us with his presence, not only confirming the facts but rectifying and correcting them in several
points. St. Louis was right by saying that they were exaggerated
by fear or irony. In fact the story of the dust stoically collected by
the courageous official, like in the Junot case, was an invention of
the jester reporter. In the next issue we will report accurately the
events, with new observations that were produced.
2. Is there anyone in the house that is the cause of those manifestations?
– A. They are always caused by the presence of the person
that is attacked. The disturbing spirit gets attached to the place
where the person is and wants to do some harm to that person or
make them move away.
3. We ask if there is someone among the inhabitants of the house as
the cause of the phenomena by an involuntary and spontaneous
mediumistic influence. – A. That is really necessary otherwise the
event would not take place. The spirit inhabits his favorite place;
stays there, inactive, until someone shows up with the skills that
they need. When such a person is around they then take the opportunity
and make as much fun as they can.
4. Those spirits are always of an inferior order. The aptitude to serve
them as an instrument is a trait unfavorable to the person? Does it
indicate certain sympathy with spirits of such a nature? – A. It is
not exactly like that since that attribute depends on a physical disposition.
However, it sometimes denounces a material tendency
which would be preferable not to have because the more morally
elevated the person is the more they attract the good spirits to
them and this necessarily keeps the bad ones away.
5. Where does the spirit find the projectiles that are used? – A. In
most cases those objects are gathered near the places where they
are thrown. A force originated in the spirit throws them in space
and they reach the places designated by the spirit. When there is
no stones, coal, etc. in those places they can very well be manufactured
by them.
OBSERVATION: In the April 1859 issue of The Review we gave
the complete theory of this kind of phenomenon, in the following
articles: Furniture from beyond the grave and Pneumatography or
direct writing.
6. Do you think that it might be useful to evoke that spirit to ask for
clarifications? – A. Do that if you wish. However, it is an inferior
spirit who shall give only insignificant answers.
Society, June 29th, 1860
1. Evocation of the disturbing spirit of Rue des Noyers. –
A. Why have you called me? Do you want me to throw
stones at you? That would make a nice stampede perhaps,
despite your air of courage?
2. If you threw stones at us here we would not be afraid. My
question is if you can positively do that. – A. Perhaps not
here. You have a guard that watches you.
3. Was there anybody at Rue des Noyers who served you,
facilitating the bad tricks you played with the inhabitants
of the home? – A. Certainly. I found a good instrument
and no smart, wise and important spirit to block me. I
am joyful and I like to have fun.
4. Who was your instrument? – A. A maid.
5. Did she do that unconsciously? – A. Oh! Yes, poor thing!
She was the one who feared the most.
6. Among the persons present here, is there anyone capable
of helping you to produce such phenomenon? – A.
I could well find one if that person was available but I
cannot maneuver here.
7. Can you indicate the person? – A. Yes! He sits on the
right hand side of the one who speaks. He wears glasses.
OBSERVATION: In fact the spirit points to a member of
the Society who has some ability as a writing medium but
had never had any physical manifestations. It is likely another
joke of the spirit.
8. Did you intend to harm anyone? – A. Me? I never had
any hostile intent but people will take advantage of that
for they want everything.
9. What do you mean by that? We don’t understand you. – A.
I was having fun and you study these incidents and have one
more fact to demonstrate that we exist.
10. Where did you take the objects that you used from? – A.
Those are very common. I found them in the backyard
and nearby gardens.
11. Have you found them all or you made some? – A. I made
nothing.
12. In case you did not find them could you have fabricated
them? – A. It would have been more difficult but in the
end we mix matter and that creates something.
13. Now tell us how did you throw them? – A. Ah! That is more
difficult to explain. I used the electrical nature of that woman,
added to mine, less material. We were then able to carry
those several materials together (see note after the evocation).
14. I believe you could give us some information about yourself.
To begin with tell us if you died long ago. – A. It was
a long time ago. Something like fifty years.
15. What did you do when alive? – A. Not much. I used to
collect rags around the neighborhood and people used
to tease me because I liked red wine too much; also, I
wanted everyone to stay away from me.
16. Did you willingly respond to our questions or someone
else? – A. I had a guide.
17. Who is this guide? – A. Your good king Louis.
OBSERVATION: This question was raised due to
the nature of certain answers that seem to go beyond
the reach of the spirit given the depth of the ideas
and the language employed. It is no surprise that he
had been helped by a more enlightened spirit, who
wanted to use this occasion to give us more instruction.
This is a very common fact. However, there is a
remarkable particularity in this case which is the fact
that the influence of the other spirit was felt in the
writing itself: the answers in which his presence was
noticed are more regular and coherent; the others are
broad, rude, irregular, sometimes illegible, showing a
diverse character.
18. What do you do now? Are you concerned with your future?
– A. Not yet. I wander around. I get so little thought
from Earth, nobody prays for me. Thus, I get no help and
I don’t work.
19. What was your name when alive? – A. Jeannet.
20. Well then, we shall pray for you! Tell us now if the evocation
has given you pleasure or has it bothered you? – A.
It gave me pleasure before anything else because you are
good, joyful people, although a bit austere. That is fine,
you heard me and I am glad for that.
Jeannet
OBSERVATION: The explanation given by the spirit to
question 13 is in perfect agreement with what we have heard from
other spirits for some time, regarding the way they operate in
order to make movements and rotations of tables and other inert
objects. The phenomenon seems very simple when we are aware of that theory. We learn that it derives from a natural law and it is
not more magical than any other effect whose cause is unknown.
This theory is thoroughly developed in the May and June 1858
issues of The Review.
Experience daily confirms the utility of the theories that we
have given about the spiritist phenomena. A rational explanation
of those phenomena should result in a greater understanding of
their possibility, added to conviction. That is why many people
who were not convinced by the most extraordinary facts were
then convinced since they could understand why and how. In addition,
to many people those explanations eliminate the extraordinary,
placing the facts in the natural order of things, however
uncommon they may be. It means that it is not about a breach
of the natural laws and that the devil has nothing to do with
it. When these phenomena occur spontaneously, as at Rue des
Noyers, they almost always offer an occasion to do some good
and alleviate a soul.
It is well known that similar events took place at the Rue des
Grès in 1849, near the Sorbonne. Mr. Lerible, the victim, has just
denied the fact in the papers that accused him of fraud, taking
them to the courts. Below his considerations, which deserve our
analysis.
“On July 9th, 1860 by request of Mr. Lerible, business
owner and former coal and wood merchant residing at Rue de
Grenelle-Saint-Germain, 64 in Paris, living in the address of his
property; I, Aubin Jules Demonchy, official from the Seine civil
court, in Paris, residing at Rue des Fosses Saint-Victor 43, signed
below, I notify Mr. Garat, manager of the la Patrie newspaper, in
the office of that periodical, located in Paris, Rue du Croissant,
where I declared to a trustful lady:
• Having to insert in response to the article published on
June 27th, in the Facts of the la Patrie newspaper, the following citation, made by the petitioner to the le Droit
newspaper, offering to pay for the costs of publication, in
case his answer exceeds the maximum number of lines
authorized to be published by law:
“On July 9th, 1860 by request of Mr. Lerible, business owner and
former coal and wood merchant residing at Rue de Grenelle-SaintGermain,
64 in Paris, living in the address of his property; I, Aubin Jules
Demonchy, official from the Seine civil court, in Paris, residing at Rue des
Fosses Saint-Victor 43; I cited Mr. François, in person and as a manager
of the le Droit newspaper, in the office of that periodical, located in Paris,
Dauphine Place, where I was speaking to him…”
“To appear in the audience on August 8th, 1860 before the President
and competent Judges of the Sixth Chamber of the Court of First Instance
of the Seine, ruling in matters of correctional police, in the Palace of
Justice of Paris, at 10 am, to:”
“Considering that in the issue of June 26th last and given the facts
that would have happened in a house at Rue des Noyers, the le Droit
newspaper says that similar facts had occurred in 1847, in a house at Rue
des Grès;”
“That the editor adds explanations to his observations leading to believe
that the attacks at Rue des Gres in 1847 were generated by the tenant
himself in ill-faith, in order to obtain cancellation of the lease, through a
deceitful speculation.”
“Since the facts reported by the le Droit did take place not in 1847
but in 1849, in the house occupied by the petitioner over that time, at Rue
des Grès;”
“That although the name of the petitioner was not mentioned in the
article of the le Droit except by the initials, the exact designation of his
business, the places of his residence, and finally the indication that the
referred facts were collected by that paper, sufficiently indicating the petitioner
as the author of those maneuvers attributed to the person who lived
in the house at Rue des Grès;”
“Considering that such accusations attack the honor and decency of
the petitioner;”
“That are very reprehensible, considering that there has been no verification
of the events that were indicated and that, similarly to those
which seem to have occurred at Rue des Noyers, those events still remain
without explanation;”
“That, on another hand, the petitioner has been the owner of the
house and the lot where he lived at Rue des Grès, since 1847;”
“That the supposition reached by the le Droit’s director is nonsense
and has never been formulated;”
“Since the terms employed by the le Droit constitute defamation of
character and hence subjected to the penalties of the law; that every newspaper
in Paris took advantage of the le Droit’s article and that the petitioner’s
honor was offended by that publicity, hence compensation being
owned to him;”
“For those reasons:”
“Mr. Francois is submitted to the application of the penalties of law,
being personally condemned to pay for losses and damages claimed in audience
by the petitioner, who at this point declares that such compensation
will be given in favor of the poor, still demanding that the ruling be inserted
in every Parisian newspaper, given the citation, in the terms mentioned
above, considered condemned to pay for the costs of the process, in all its
application; and to avoid claim of ignorance by the condemned, a copy of
the current citation was delivered to his residence, in the above terms;
Cost: 3.55 francs.
Signed: Demonchy”
“Registered in Paris, on July 6th, 1860. Received: 2.2 francs.
Signed: Duperron”
“Declaring to the cited above that if the present request is not satisfied in
full, the petitioner shall apply the legal recourses;”
“And the terms above were left in copy at his residential address.
Cost: 9.10 francs.
Demonchy”
Family Conversations from Beyond the Grave
Thilorier, the PhysicistThilorier, the Physicist Thilorier was heavily involved with the search for a motor destined to replace the steam engine and he thought to have found it with the application of Carbon Acid that he had actually condensed. Steam was then considered as a gross and outdated means of transportation. The following article from the Patrie of September 22nd, 1859 illustrates that:
“If Thilorier found an incomparable power motor, the steam engine would be no more than a childish toy, he would still need to regulate its power, and he failed in his three or four tests. The explosions of the devices had seriously injured the martyr of Science, making him almost completely deaf.
Meanwhile, experiences with the condensation of Carbonic acid seemed to have been renovated at the College of France. Out of imprudence or dismal chance, the device broke and exploded, gravely hurting several people and taking the life of an assistant to Professor Thilorier, who also lost a finger.
He was not as sorry for his finger as he was for the negative publicity given to his newly found motor. Scientists were taken by fear and refused to give in to the naïve arguments of Thilorier: “The condensation device exploded twenty times in my hands and this is the first time that it killed someone! It has never gone beyond hurting me!” Only the name “Carbonic acid” was enough to keep the whole Institute away, not to mention the Sorbonne and the College of France.
Somewhat saddened by all that, Thilorier withdrew himself to his laboratory more than usual. His loved ones soon noticed the profound changes in his habits. He spent days in a row not even thinking of taking his cat in his lap. He walked in strides and no longer touched his retorts or alembics. On occasions when he left home he would suddenly stop in the middle of the road, not even noticing the curiosity and worry of the passers-by.
As he was a man of soft and distinct appearance, with beautiful hair that was just starting to turn grey, wearing the emblem of the Legion of Honor on the lapel of his blue coat, he was looked at with sympathy. One day a young lady taken by compassion took him by the arm and moved him from the road to the sidewalk. He did not even bother to thank his kind benefactor. He used to walk by his best friends and not see them and not respond to them when they talked to him. A single idea had taken him over, like the subtle line that keeps the genius from madness. Talking to one of his friends in the laboratory, one day he said:
• I have finally solved my problem. As you know, a few weeks ago my condensation device broke down at the Sorbonne…
• A few weeks? I interrupted him. But that was several years ago!
• Ah! He continued impassibly, has it then taken me so long to solve my problem? A few weeks or a few years, who cares if in the end I have my solution! Yes my friend, not only an explosion is impossible but I also dominate that terrible force. It is my slave! I can use it at will to move huge masses, to give life to gigantic machines, or force them to play with the most delicate devices, without breaking them!
• And as I kept looking at him stunned, he shouted laughing:
• For God sake, he doubts me! But look at this design, these outlines; and if you don’t believe your eyes, listen to me!
• Then, with an unquestionable lucidity, even to a strange man at the archives of Science, he explained the means at his disposal to execute his work. One could not object one single point of his theory. His theory was irrefutable in all of them.
• I need three days to build my device, he said. I want to build it myself, with my own hands. Come to see me the day after tomorrow… And you who did not leave me, you that had no doubt about me, you that have defended me with your pen, you shall be the first to share and enjoy the success with me.
• I was in fact faithful, as he said.
• When I was passing by the reception, the person in charge said: Oh! Sir, what a disgrace, don’t you agree? Such a good man! A man born for goodness, dying so fast like that!
• But who? What are you talking about?
• Mr. Thilorier. He has just died.
• Ah! She was telling the truth. My unfortunate friend had been hit by a sudden death in the lab.
• What has happened to his discovery? Not one trace of the details that he had shown me was found; his notes, if he left any, were also lost. Had he solved the great problem that tormented him? God knows! God who had not allowed him to transmit his crazy or sublime thought but to a profane, incapable of distinguishing the true from the false, and above all, keeping the memory of the theory on which the inventor based his ideas. In any case the condensation of the Carbonic acid today is no more than a curious experiment that the teachers rarely demonstrate in their courses. Had Thilorier outlived a few more days perhaps the Carbonic acid could have transformed the face of the world. Sam
Would Thilorier have found or not what he was looking for? In any case, it would be interesting to know what he thought as a spirit.
1. Evocation. – A. I am here and very glad to be among you.
2. We wish to speak with you because we believe that we can learn from a conversation with the spirit of a scientist, like you were when alive. – A. The spirit of a scientist is sometimes more elevated on Earth than in Heavens. However, when Science walks together with probity, this shall be a guarantee of spiritual superiority.
3. As a physicist you were particularly concerned with the search for a motor to replace steam and you thought to have found it in the condensed Carbonic acid. What do you think about that now? – I had such a fixed idea about this subject that I had a dream on the eve of my death, or to be more accurate, at the time of my spiritual resurrection.
4. A few days before you died you thought you had found the solution to the practical difficulties. Had you really found that? – A. I tell you that the super excitation of imagination had given me a fantastic dream that I announced when awake. It was, to be accurate, what you call madness. My dream was not absolutely applicable.
5. Were you here when the article about you was read? – A. Yes.
6. What is your opinion about that? – A. Not much. I rest in the arms of my guardian angel since my poor soul left its miserable body very shocked.
7. Nonetheless, could you answer a few questions about science? – A. Yes, for a moment I am willing to get into the intricacies of science.
8. Do you think that the steam engine shall be replaced by another motor? – A. That is already well advanced. However, I do believe that in the future human intelligence will find ways of simplifying it even further.
9. What is your opinion about compressed air as a driving force? – A. Compressed air is an excellent driving force, lighter and more economical than steam. When its use is better understood, it will have more power hence more velocity.
10. What is your opinion now about the use of condensed Carbonic acid for that? – A. I was still far off on that. There will still be numerous tests on that and difficult studies to come to a conclusion. There is still a lot to be achieved by Science.
11. Considering all the motors that are analyzed now, in your opinion which one shall be the winner? – A. Now, steam; later, compressed air.
12. Have you seen Arago again? – A. Yes.
13. Do you talk about sciences? – A. Sometimes the faculties of our intelligences are dedicated to human studies. We like very much to watch the current experiments but when we return to heaven that is no longer a concern. Besides, as I said, at the moment I rest.
14. Still one question, but please, this is very serious; in case you cannot answer that yourself then kindly request the support of a more competent spirit. We have always been told that the spirits use to suggest ideas to people and that many discoveries have that origin. However, since not all spirits know everything and some seek instruction, can you tell us if some of them do research and discoveries as spirits? – A. Yes. When a spirit has reached a more advanced level, God assigns a mission to that spirit, putting him in charge of getting involved with this or that science, useful to human beings. That is when such intelligence, obeying God, searches in the secrets of nature that God allows him to foresee, for everything that needs to be learned with that aim. When he has learned enough he then finds an individual capable of learning that and in turn passing it on. That person is suddenly taken by a single thought; he can only think of that, he speaks about that all the time; he dreams day and night, hears celestial voices talking to him. Then, when it is totally developed in his mind, that person announces to the world a discovery or a new development. That is how the great people have been inspired, in most cases.
15. We thank you for your kindness in giving us your answers and for having left your resting place for a moment. – A. I will pray to God so that he can inspire and watch over you. NOTE: Mrs. G… that eventually sees the spirits describes the impressions she received during the evocation of Thilorier. She saw a spirit that she believes to be his.
16. (to St. Louis) Can you kindly tell us if the spirit that Mrs. G… saw was really that of Thilorier? – A. It is not exactly that spirit that the lady has just seen. Later her eyes will be more used to distinguishing the form or perispirit and she will know perfectly well. At this point in time it is a kind of mirage to her. Note: The following questions were also addressed to St. Louis
17. If the authors of discoveries are assisted by spirits that suggest the ideas, how come some people believe to have invented while in fact they invented nothing, or only invent illusions? – A. They are deluded by deceiving spirits that take over their brains once these are open to mistakes.
18. How do you explain the fact that the spirit so frequently chooses people incapable of carrying a discovery to the end? - The brains less filled by human prevention are the ones more capable of receiving the dangerous seed of the unknown. The spirit does not choose such a person for being incapable; it is the person that cannot fructify the received seed.
19. But in that case it is science that suffers and that does not explain why the spirit does not preferably addresses a capable person. – A. Science suffers nothing because what one sketches the other finishes, and during the interval the idea matures.
20. When a discovery is premature, can providential obstacles oppose its propagation? – A. Nothing can ever stop the development of a useful idea. God would not allow it. It is necessary that such idea follow its course.
21. When Papin discovered the steam power several tests were realized in order to utilize it, obtaining very satisfactory results, but remained in a theoretical state. How can one explain that such a great discovery had remained dormant for such a long time, since the elements were known and there was no lack of capable people to promote it? Was it due to the insufficiency of knowledge or time had not come yet for the revolution that it would provoke in the industry? – A. For the communication of discoveries that transform the outward appearance of things, God leaves the idea to mature, like the corncobs whose development is blocked by the winter, but only delayed. The idea must germinate for a long time so that it may sprout when needed by all. The same happens to the moral ideas that first germinate and are only implanted when they reach maturity. For example, at this moment Spiritism became a necessity, it shall be received as a blessing, because all other philosophies had been futilely tried to meet the aspirations of people.
“If Thilorier found an incomparable power motor, the steam engine would be no more than a childish toy, he would still need to regulate its power, and he failed in his three or four tests. The explosions of the devices had seriously injured the martyr of Science, making him almost completely deaf.
Meanwhile, experiences with the condensation of Carbonic acid seemed to have been renovated at the College of France. Out of imprudence or dismal chance, the device broke and exploded, gravely hurting several people and taking the life of an assistant to Professor Thilorier, who also lost a finger.
He was not as sorry for his finger as he was for the negative publicity given to his newly found motor. Scientists were taken by fear and refused to give in to the naïve arguments of Thilorier: “The condensation device exploded twenty times in my hands and this is the first time that it killed someone! It has never gone beyond hurting me!” Only the name “Carbonic acid” was enough to keep the whole Institute away, not to mention the Sorbonne and the College of France.
Somewhat saddened by all that, Thilorier withdrew himself to his laboratory more than usual. His loved ones soon noticed the profound changes in his habits. He spent days in a row not even thinking of taking his cat in his lap. He walked in strides and no longer touched his retorts or alembics. On occasions when he left home he would suddenly stop in the middle of the road, not even noticing the curiosity and worry of the passers-by.
As he was a man of soft and distinct appearance, with beautiful hair that was just starting to turn grey, wearing the emblem of the Legion of Honor on the lapel of his blue coat, he was looked at with sympathy. One day a young lady taken by compassion took him by the arm and moved him from the road to the sidewalk. He did not even bother to thank his kind benefactor. He used to walk by his best friends and not see them and not respond to them when they talked to him. A single idea had taken him over, like the subtle line that keeps the genius from madness. Talking to one of his friends in the laboratory, one day he said:
• I have finally solved my problem. As you know, a few weeks ago my condensation device broke down at the Sorbonne…
• A few weeks? I interrupted him. But that was several years ago!
• Ah! He continued impassibly, has it then taken me so long to solve my problem? A few weeks or a few years, who cares if in the end I have my solution! Yes my friend, not only an explosion is impossible but I also dominate that terrible force. It is my slave! I can use it at will to move huge masses, to give life to gigantic machines, or force them to play with the most delicate devices, without breaking them!
• And as I kept looking at him stunned, he shouted laughing:
• For God sake, he doubts me! But look at this design, these outlines; and if you don’t believe your eyes, listen to me!
• Then, with an unquestionable lucidity, even to a strange man at the archives of Science, he explained the means at his disposal to execute his work. One could not object one single point of his theory. His theory was irrefutable in all of them.
• I need three days to build my device, he said. I want to build it myself, with my own hands. Come to see me the day after tomorrow… And you who did not leave me, you that had no doubt about me, you that have defended me with your pen, you shall be the first to share and enjoy the success with me.
• I was in fact faithful, as he said.
• When I was passing by the reception, the person in charge said: Oh! Sir, what a disgrace, don’t you agree? Such a good man! A man born for goodness, dying so fast like that!
• But who? What are you talking about?
• Mr. Thilorier. He has just died.
• Ah! She was telling the truth. My unfortunate friend had been hit by a sudden death in the lab.
• What has happened to his discovery? Not one trace of the details that he had shown me was found; his notes, if he left any, were also lost. Had he solved the great problem that tormented him? God knows! God who had not allowed him to transmit his crazy or sublime thought but to a profane, incapable of distinguishing the true from the false, and above all, keeping the memory of the theory on which the inventor based his ideas. In any case the condensation of the Carbonic acid today is no more than a curious experiment that the teachers rarely demonstrate in their courses. Had Thilorier outlived a few more days perhaps the Carbonic acid could have transformed the face of the world. Sam
Would Thilorier have found or not what he was looking for? In any case, it would be interesting to know what he thought as a spirit.
1. Evocation. – A. I am here and very glad to be among you.
2. We wish to speak with you because we believe that we can learn from a conversation with the spirit of a scientist, like you were when alive. – A. The spirit of a scientist is sometimes more elevated on Earth than in Heavens. However, when Science walks together with probity, this shall be a guarantee of spiritual superiority.
3. As a physicist you were particularly concerned with the search for a motor to replace steam and you thought to have found it in the condensed Carbonic acid. What do you think about that now? – I had such a fixed idea about this subject that I had a dream on the eve of my death, or to be more accurate, at the time of my spiritual resurrection.
4. A few days before you died you thought you had found the solution to the practical difficulties. Had you really found that? – A. I tell you that the super excitation of imagination had given me a fantastic dream that I announced when awake. It was, to be accurate, what you call madness. My dream was not absolutely applicable.
5. Were you here when the article about you was read? – A. Yes.
6. What is your opinion about that? – A. Not much. I rest in the arms of my guardian angel since my poor soul left its miserable body very shocked.
7. Nonetheless, could you answer a few questions about science? – A. Yes, for a moment I am willing to get into the intricacies of science.
8. Do you think that the steam engine shall be replaced by another motor? – A. That is already well advanced. However, I do believe that in the future human intelligence will find ways of simplifying it even further.
9. What is your opinion about compressed air as a driving force? – A. Compressed air is an excellent driving force, lighter and more economical than steam. When its use is better understood, it will have more power hence more velocity.
10. What is your opinion now about the use of condensed Carbonic acid for that? – A. I was still far off on that. There will still be numerous tests on that and difficult studies to come to a conclusion. There is still a lot to be achieved by Science.
11. Considering all the motors that are analyzed now, in your opinion which one shall be the winner? – A. Now, steam; later, compressed air.
12. Have you seen Arago again? – A. Yes.
13. Do you talk about sciences? – A. Sometimes the faculties of our intelligences are dedicated to human studies. We like very much to watch the current experiments but when we return to heaven that is no longer a concern. Besides, as I said, at the moment I rest.
14. Still one question, but please, this is very serious; in case you cannot answer that yourself then kindly request the support of a more competent spirit. We have always been told that the spirits use to suggest ideas to people and that many discoveries have that origin. However, since not all spirits know everything and some seek instruction, can you tell us if some of them do research and discoveries as spirits? – A. Yes. When a spirit has reached a more advanced level, God assigns a mission to that spirit, putting him in charge of getting involved with this or that science, useful to human beings. That is when such intelligence, obeying God, searches in the secrets of nature that God allows him to foresee, for everything that needs to be learned with that aim. When he has learned enough he then finds an individual capable of learning that and in turn passing it on. That person is suddenly taken by a single thought; he can only think of that, he speaks about that all the time; he dreams day and night, hears celestial voices talking to him. Then, when it is totally developed in his mind, that person announces to the world a discovery or a new development. That is how the great people have been inspired, in most cases.
15. We thank you for your kindness in giving us your answers and for having left your resting place for a moment. – A. I will pray to God so that he can inspire and watch over you. NOTE: Mrs. G… that eventually sees the spirits describes the impressions she received during the evocation of Thilorier. She saw a spirit that she believes to be his.
16. (to St. Louis) Can you kindly tell us if the spirit that Mrs. G… saw was really that of Thilorier? – A. It is not exactly that spirit that the lady has just seen. Later her eyes will be more used to distinguishing the form or perispirit and she will know perfectly well. At this point in time it is a kind of mirage to her. Note: The following questions were also addressed to St. Louis
17. If the authors of discoveries are assisted by spirits that suggest the ideas, how come some people believe to have invented while in fact they invented nothing, or only invent illusions? – A. They are deluded by deceiving spirits that take over their brains once these are open to mistakes.
18. How do you explain the fact that the spirit so frequently chooses people incapable of carrying a discovery to the end? - The brains less filled by human prevention are the ones more capable of receiving the dangerous seed of the unknown. The spirit does not choose such a person for being incapable; it is the person that cannot fructify the received seed.
19. But in that case it is science that suffers and that does not explain why the spirit does not preferably addresses a capable person. – A. Science suffers nothing because what one sketches the other finishes, and during the interval the idea matures.
20. When a discovery is premature, can providential obstacles oppose its propagation? – A. Nothing can ever stop the development of a useful idea. God would not allow it. It is necessary that such idea follow its course.
21. When Papin discovered the steam power several tests were realized in order to utilize it, obtaining very satisfactory results, but remained in a theoretical state. How can one explain that such a great discovery had remained dormant for such a long time, since the elements were known and there was no lack of capable people to promote it? Was it due to the insufficiency of knowledge or time had not come yet for the revolution that it would provoke in the industry? – A. For the communication of discoveries that transform the outward appearance of things, God leaves the idea to mature, like the corncobs whose development is blocked by the winter, but only delayed. The idea must germinate for a long time so that it may sprout when needed by all. The same happens to the moral ideas that first germinate and are only implanted when they reach maturity. For example, at this moment Spiritism became a necessity, it shall be received as a blessing, because all other philosophies had been futilely tried to meet the aspirations of people.
St. Louis
Quincampoix Street
Last year the papers reported a case of suicide that took place under special circumstances. It was in the beginning of the Italian war. The head of a family that enjoyed the sympathy of the neighborhood had a son who was drafted to the war. Since his position did not allow him to avoid his son’s military service he then had the idea of killing himself, so that his son would be exempted as the only son of a widow.
Was the death a trial to the father or to the mother? In any case it is likely that God might have taken into consideration the dedication of that man and that suicide has not had the same consequences for him if he had done it for other reasons.
(To St. Louis) – Can you tell us if we can evoke the man that we have just mentioned? – A. Yes. That will make him very happy because it will give him some relief.
1. Evocation. – A. Oh! I suffer a lot but… it is fair. However, he will forgive me.
OBSERVATION: The spirit writes with great difficulty. The characters are irregular and badly written. After the word but he stops and tries to write, unsuccessfully, just writing some indecipherable traces and points. It is obvious that he could not write the word God.
2. Fill the blank that you left. – A. I am unworthy.
3. You say that you suffer. There is no doubt that you made a mistake by committing suicide but has the reason that led you to do that granted you any indulgence? – A. My punishment will be shorter but the action is not less serious.
4. Could you describe the punishment that you endure, giving us the maximum amount of details to our instruction? – A. I suffer twice as much, in the soul and in the body; although I have no more body, I suffer like the amputee with the absent member.
5. Was the only cause of your action the salvation of your son or were you driven by another cause? – A. I was guided by the paternal love only, but it was a bad guide. That is why my penalty will be abbreviated.
6. Can you foresee the end of your suffering? – A. I cannot see the end but I am sure there is an end, and that comforts me.
7. A short while ago you could not write the word God. However, we have seen very unfortunate spirits writing it. Is it part of your punishment? – A. I shall do it but with great effort and regret.
8. Well done! Go for it and try to write the word. We are convinced that if you succeed it will bring you relief. The spirit ended up writing the word, with irregular, large and shaky characters: “God is very good.”
9. We are thankful to you for having attended our appeal and we send our prayers to God in your favor so that his mercy may reach you. – A. Yes, please.
10. (To St. Louis) Could you give us your personal opinion about the action of this spirit that we have just evoked? – A. This spirit suffers in fairness because he lost his trust in God, a fact that is always subject to punishment. His punishment would be long and terrible if he did not have a plausible motive in his favor, like impeding his son to march to death. God that sees the bottom of people’s hearts, and who is fair, will not punish him but according to his deeds.
OBSERVATION: Through his action that man might have impeded the accomplishment of his son’s destiny. To begin with it is not certain that he would die in the war and perhaps that career would have given him an opportunity to do something useful to his progress. Undoubtedly such a consideration shall not be alien to the severity of his punishment. His intention was certainly good and that was taken into account in his case. The intention attenuates the fault and deserves indulgence, but it does not hinder the bad from being bad. If it were not for that, one could excuse every wrongdoing and even kill under the pretext of good intention. Could one believe, for example, that we can kill a hopeless man in order to abbreviate his sufferings? No because that action would abbreviate the trial that he has to undergo and we would do more harm than good. Is the mother who kills her child in hopes that the child will go to heaven less culpable because she did so out of a good intention? Based on such a system we would justify every crime that was committed by blind fanaticism in the religious wars.
Was the death a trial to the father or to the mother? In any case it is likely that God might have taken into consideration the dedication of that man and that suicide has not had the same consequences for him if he had done it for other reasons.
(To St. Louis) – Can you tell us if we can evoke the man that we have just mentioned? – A. Yes. That will make him very happy because it will give him some relief.
1. Evocation. – A. Oh! I suffer a lot but… it is fair. However, he will forgive me.
OBSERVATION: The spirit writes with great difficulty. The characters are irregular and badly written. After the word but he stops and tries to write, unsuccessfully, just writing some indecipherable traces and points. It is obvious that he could not write the word God.
2. Fill the blank that you left. – A. I am unworthy.
3. You say that you suffer. There is no doubt that you made a mistake by committing suicide but has the reason that led you to do that granted you any indulgence? – A. My punishment will be shorter but the action is not less serious.
4. Could you describe the punishment that you endure, giving us the maximum amount of details to our instruction? – A. I suffer twice as much, in the soul and in the body; although I have no more body, I suffer like the amputee with the absent member.
5. Was the only cause of your action the salvation of your son or were you driven by another cause? – A. I was guided by the paternal love only, but it was a bad guide. That is why my penalty will be abbreviated.
6. Can you foresee the end of your suffering? – A. I cannot see the end but I am sure there is an end, and that comforts me.
7. A short while ago you could not write the word God. However, we have seen very unfortunate spirits writing it. Is it part of your punishment? – A. I shall do it but with great effort and regret.
8. Well done! Go for it and try to write the word. We are convinced that if you succeed it will bring you relief. The spirit ended up writing the word, with irregular, large and shaky characters: “God is very good.”
9. We are thankful to you for having attended our appeal and we send our prayers to God in your favor so that his mercy may reach you. – A. Yes, please.
10. (To St. Louis) Could you give us your personal opinion about the action of this spirit that we have just evoked? – A. This spirit suffers in fairness because he lost his trust in God, a fact that is always subject to punishment. His punishment would be long and terrible if he did not have a plausible motive in his favor, like impeding his son to march to death. God that sees the bottom of people’s hearts, and who is fair, will not punish him but according to his deeds.
OBSERVATION: Through his action that man might have impeded the accomplishment of his son’s destiny. To begin with it is not certain that he would die in the war and perhaps that career would have given him an opportunity to do something useful to his progress. Undoubtedly such a consideration shall not be alien to the severity of his punishment. His intention was certainly good and that was taken into account in his case. The intention attenuates the fault and deserves indulgence, but it does not hinder the bad from being bad. If it were not for that, one could excuse every wrongdoing and even kill under the pretext of good intention. Could one believe, for example, that we can kill a hopeless man in order to abbreviate his sufferings? No because that action would abbreviate the trial that he has to undergo and we would do more harm than good. Is the mother who kills her child in hopes that the child will go to heaven less culpable because she did so out of a good intention? Based on such a system we would justify every crime that was committed by blind fanaticism in the religious wars.
Varieties
The Prisoner of LimogesThe following fact was communicated to the Society by Mr. Achille R…, member, according to a letter from one of his friends from Limoges, dated July 18th:
“At the moment our town is involved with an interesting fact for Spiritists, which I promptly pass to Mr. Allan Kardec through you. I myself collected detailed information directly from witnesses of the fact in question, that is, in the prison where the hero of the story is now found.
A soldier of the first regiment of the infantry, called Mallet, was condemned to spend one month in prison for having stole the amount of three francs that belonged to one of his comrades. His sentence will expire in seven days. This young soldier lost a nineteen year old brother, a servant, about eight years ago, and for the past seven years he sees at least four nights out of eight, after midnight, a large flame with a little sheep sticking out from the middle. The vision terrified him but he dared not talk about it. Alone in prison he felt even more terrified and begged the jailer to bring him the company of other prisoners. Four soldiers of the second regiment of mounted hunters were sent to share his place. It was I am when Mallet woke up and saw the flame and the sheep, as did the four witnesses.
As I told you the apparition repeats often; the poor young man is so affected that he cries, remains devastated and refuses to eat. The medical officer of the regiment wanted to attest the fact but did not stay long enough and the vision only took place an hour and a half after he had left. A priest from Saint-Michel, father F…, was luckier, as it seems, since he took notes. I shall pay him a visit to ask him about his opinion.
However, that is not all. The jailer told me that he had seen the jail’s door open several times in the morning, although he had carefully locked it on the night before. Mallet was advised to interrogate the little sheep what he did last night, and this is the answer given to him and that I literally heard from him: Let me say “de profundis” (psalms 130) and the Eucharist; I am your brother; I will not come back.
This is the accurate description of the facts. I pass it on to Mr. Allan Kardec so that he can do as he pleases.”
“At the moment our town is involved with an interesting fact for Spiritists, which I promptly pass to Mr. Allan Kardec through you. I myself collected detailed information directly from witnesses of the fact in question, that is, in the prison where the hero of the story is now found.
A soldier of the first regiment of the infantry, called Mallet, was condemned to spend one month in prison for having stole the amount of three francs that belonged to one of his comrades. His sentence will expire in seven days. This young soldier lost a nineteen year old brother, a servant, about eight years ago, and for the past seven years he sees at least four nights out of eight, after midnight, a large flame with a little sheep sticking out from the middle. The vision terrified him but he dared not talk about it. Alone in prison he felt even more terrified and begged the jailer to bring him the company of other prisoners. Four soldiers of the second regiment of mounted hunters were sent to share his place. It was I am when Mallet woke up and saw the flame and the sheep, as did the four witnesses.
As I told you the apparition repeats often; the poor young man is so affected that he cries, remains devastated and refuses to eat. The medical officer of the regiment wanted to attest the fact but did not stay long enough and the vision only took place an hour and a half after he had left. A priest from Saint-Michel, father F…, was luckier, as it seems, since he took notes. I shall pay him a visit to ask him about his opinion.
However, that is not all. The jailer told me that he had seen the jail’s door open several times in the morning, although he had carefully locked it on the night before. Mallet was advised to interrogate the little sheep what he did last night, and this is the answer given to him and that I literally heard from him: Let me say “de profundis” (psalms 130) and the Eucharist; I am your brother; I will not come back.
This is the accurate description of the facts. I pass it on to Mr. Allan Kardec so that he can do as he pleases.”
Questions from a spiritist from Sétif to Mr. Oscar Comettant
The following letter was addressed to us by one of our subscribers from Sétif, Algeria, where there are several adepts who receive remarkable communications, with which we have already presented our readers.
Dear Sir,
Mr. Dumas has already told you about an extraordinary phenomenon that took place with my sixteen-year-old son, a medium of a singular kind. Every time that there is an evocation he falls asleep without magnetization and remains in that state responding to the questions which are addressed to the spirit through his intermediary. When he wakes up he remembers nothing. When in trance he responds in Latin, English and German, languages that he has no knowledge about. It is a fact witnessed by many people and that I assure you, for what I have of most sacred, and even to Mr. Oscar Comettant. I have in my hands a report from him dated October 27th, 1859 in which he writes: “But what is your belief? Perhaps Mr. Allan Kardec will ask me.”
I, Sir, will not ask you if you believe in something, first because it is not of my concern; second because there are people who believe in nothing. Mr. Comettant is supported by Voltaire, who did not believe in anything that reason could not understand. He is wrong because despite the immense God given knowledge of Voltaire, there are thousands of things that are known today and that went unsuspected by his reason. Well then, by denying a fact whose reality one does not wish to acknowledge, I question in which side is the absurd? I address Mr. Comettant directly and say this: Let us admit that it is not the spirits that speak with us. Then give us a logical explanation of the cited fact. If you deny it a priori, I call you to the court of reason that you so invoke; if you catch me in a lie then I agree to make a public confession or to be taken as a mad man. Otherwise I am ready to fight you in the terrain of the facts. However, before starting the argument I ask you this:
1st – Do you believe in natural somnambulism and have you seen people in such state?;
2nd – Have you seen somnambulistic persons writing?
3rd – Have you seen somnambulistic persons responding to mental questions?
4th – Have you seen somnambulistic persons responding in unknown languages?
I do need a simple yes or no to all these questions. If there is a yes we will then move to something else; if it is no I take the burden of making you see and then you can explain the facts at your own discretion. Yours sincerely, etc. Courtois With respect to the letter above we shall make the following considerations. It is likely that Mr. Comettant will not respond to Mr. Courtois, as he did not answer other people who wrote to him about the same subject. If he established a controversy it would certainly be on the grounds of sarcasm, a terrain on which one always says the last word and where no serious individual would like to follow him. We hope that Mr. Courtois leaves him in the momentary silence of his incredulity, since it is sufficient to him and he is okay with the fact that he is an issue. Since he only has jokes to oppose its means that he has nothing better to offer. Well then, considering that jokes are not reason, to the eyes of sensible people that is a confession of defeat.
Mr. Courtois is not right when taking the incredulous’ denial too seriously. The materialists don’t even believe that they have a soul and reduce themselves to the modest role of robots. How can they admit to spirits around them if they don’t believe that they themselves have a spirit? Speaking about spirits and their communications is to begin where the materialists should stop. Since they don’t admit the first cause they cannot admit the consequences. One would say that since they have reason they should yield to the evidence. That is true but this is precisely the reasoning that they lack. As a matter of fact, it is well known that the worst blind person is the one that does not wish to see. Let them be in peace because their denial will not impede truth from spreading, as they cannot stop the water from running.
Dear Sir,
Mr. Dumas has already told you about an extraordinary phenomenon that took place with my sixteen-year-old son, a medium of a singular kind. Every time that there is an evocation he falls asleep without magnetization and remains in that state responding to the questions which are addressed to the spirit through his intermediary. When he wakes up he remembers nothing. When in trance he responds in Latin, English and German, languages that he has no knowledge about. It is a fact witnessed by many people and that I assure you, for what I have of most sacred, and even to Mr. Oscar Comettant. I have in my hands a report from him dated October 27th, 1859 in which he writes: “But what is your belief? Perhaps Mr. Allan Kardec will ask me.”
I, Sir, will not ask you if you believe in something, first because it is not of my concern; second because there are people who believe in nothing. Mr. Comettant is supported by Voltaire, who did not believe in anything that reason could not understand. He is wrong because despite the immense God given knowledge of Voltaire, there are thousands of things that are known today and that went unsuspected by his reason. Well then, by denying a fact whose reality one does not wish to acknowledge, I question in which side is the absurd? I address Mr. Comettant directly and say this: Let us admit that it is not the spirits that speak with us. Then give us a logical explanation of the cited fact. If you deny it a priori, I call you to the court of reason that you so invoke; if you catch me in a lie then I agree to make a public confession or to be taken as a mad man. Otherwise I am ready to fight you in the terrain of the facts. However, before starting the argument I ask you this:
1st – Do you believe in natural somnambulism and have you seen people in such state?;
2nd – Have you seen somnambulistic persons writing?
3rd – Have you seen somnambulistic persons responding to mental questions?
4th – Have you seen somnambulistic persons responding in unknown languages?
I do need a simple yes or no to all these questions. If there is a yes we will then move to something else; if it is no I take the burden of making you see and then you can explain the facts at your own discretion. Yours sincerely, etc. Courtois With respect to the letter above we shall make the following considerations. It is likely that Mr. Comettant will not respond to Mr. Courtois, as he did not answer other people who wrote to him about the same subject. If he established a controversy it would certainly be on the grounds of sarcasm, a terrain on which one always says the last word and where no serious individual would like to follow him. We hope that Mr. Courtois leaves him in the momentary silence of his incredulity, since it is sufficient to him and he is okay with the fact that he is an issue. Since he only has jokes to oppose its means that he has nothing better to offer. Well then, considering that jokes are not reason, to the eyes of sensible people that is a confession of defeat.
Mr. Courtois is not right when taking the incredulous’ denial too seriously. The materialists don’t even believe that they have a soul and reduce themselves to the modest role of robots. How can they admit to spirits around them if they don’t believe that they themselves have a spirit? Speaking about spirits and their communications is to begin where the materialists should stop. Since they don’t admit the first cause they cannot admit the consequences. One would say that since they have reason they should yield to the evidence. That is true but this is precisely the reasoning that they lack. As a matter of fact, it is well known that the worst blind person is the one that does not wish to see. Let them be in peace because their denial will not impede truth from spreading, as they cannot stop the water from running.
Spontaneous Essays and Spiritist Dissertations
Development of the Ideas
Regarding the evocation of Thilorier (medium Mrs. Costel)
I will talk about the need for gathering several elements of the spirit to form a whole. It is a common illusion that the development of a special skill requires a special study. No. Human spirit, like a river, enlarges with all its tributaries. Human beings must not be isolated in their work, that is, they must sprout the force of the ideas in contact with every opposition. Originality is the contrast of the mother-idea; it is one of the rarest superiorities. It is muffled since childhood by an absurd rule that reduces every spirit to the same level. I will explain this idea. Thilorier, that you have just evoked, was a passionate inventor, an active intelligence, but he had shut himself in the sphere of his invention, that is, in a fixed idea. He would never allow himself the fresh air of other peoples’ ideas. Hence, he was imprisoned by his own mind. The genius floated around him. Because he closed all openings, he allowed madness, the sister of genius, to penetrate and invade such a well-guarded place. Thilorier, who would have left an immortal name, now lives only in the memories of a few scientists. Georges (a familiar spirit)
Regarding the evocation of Thilorier (medium Mrs. Costel)
I will talk about the need for gathering several elements of the spirit to form a whole. It is a common illusion that the development of a special skill requires a special study. No. Human spirit, like a river, enlarges with all its tributaries. Human beings must not be isolated in their work, that is, they must sprout the force of the ideas in contact with every opposition. Originality is the contrast of the mother-idea; it is one of the rarest superiorities. It is muffled since childhood by an absurd rule that reduces every spirit to the same level. I will explain this idea. Thilorier, that you have just evoked, was a passionate inventor, an active intelligence, but he had shut himself in the sphere of his invention, that is, in a fixed idea. He would never allow himself the fresh air of other peoples’ ideas. Hence, he was imprisoned by his own mind. The genius floated around him. Because he closed all openings, he allowed madness, the sister of genius, to penetrate and invade such a well-guarded place. Thilorier, who would have left an immortal name, now lives only in the memories of a few scientists. Georges (a familiar spirit)
Human Masquerades (Medium Mrs. Costel)
I will speak about the singular need of the best spirits to always meddle into things that are not of their concern. For example: an excellent business man will have no doubt about his political skills and the greatest diplomats will place self-esteem before making any decision about the most frivolous issues. Such a fault, which is common to everyone, has no other cause but vanity and vanity has only artificial needs. Vanity seeks falsehood, before anything else, for ablution, for spirit or for the heart itself; it destroys the instinct of beauty and truth; it leads women to misrepresent their beauty; it persuades people to seek precisely what is more harmful. If French men and women did not have that defect, the men would be one of the most intelligent of the world and the ladies the most charming of Eves known; thus, let us not feed on such absurd weakness; let us have the courage of being ourselves; of wearing the color of our spirits, like that of our hair.
However, thrones shall ruin and republics shall be established before a frivolous French man renounces his pretensions to seriousness and a French lady to her airs of solidity. It is a continual hypocrisy where each one wears the clothes of other times or dresses like their neighbor. Political hypocrisy, religious masks, through which everybody seeks one another, dragged by the vertigo and not finding the starting point or their objective in all that turmoil.
I will speak about the singular need of the best spirits to always meddle into things that are not of their concern. For example: an excellent business man will have no doubt about his political skills and the greatest diplomats will place self-esteem before making any decision about the most frivolous issues. Such a fault, which is common to everyone, has no other cause but vanity and vanity has only artificial needs. Vanity seeks falsehood, before anything else, for ablution, for spirit or for the heart itself; it destroys the instinct of beauty and truth; it leads women to misrepresent their beauty; it persuades people to seek precisely what is more harmful. If French men and women did not have that defect, the men would be one of the most intelligent of the world and the ladies the most charming of Eves known; thus, let us not feed on such absurd weakness; let us have the courage of being ourselves; of wearing the color of our spirits, like that of our hair.
However, thrones shall ruin and republics shall be established before a frivolous French man renounces his pretensions to seriousness and a French lady to her airs of solidity. It is a continual hypocrisy where each one wears the clothes of other times or dresses like their neighbor. Political hypocrisy, religious masks, through which everybody seeks one another, dragged by the vertigo and not finding the starting point or their objective in all that turmoil.
Delphine de Girardin
Knowledge of the Spirits (Medium Ms. Huet)
There is in the study of Spiritism a serious mistake that propagates every day and that becomes almost the focus of attraction of people towards us; it is the fact that they see us as infallible in the answers. They think that we must know everything, see everything, and foresee everything. What a mistake! Huge mistake! Certainly, since our soul is no longer imprisoned by a material body like a bird in a cage, it soars up into space; the senses of the soul become more subtle, more developed; we see and hear better, but we cannot know everything; we cannot be everywhere since we don’t have the gift of ubiquity.
What would then be the difference between God and us if we were allowed to get to know the future and to promptly announce it? That is impossible. We do know more than human beings do, that is correct; we can sometimes read the minds and the heart of those who come to us but our Spiritist Science stops there. Make no mistake then and stop questioning us exclusively to know what happens here and there in your planet, or relatively to a material or commercial discovery or to be informed about what is supposed to happen tomorrow, in politics or business. We shall always inform you about our condition, about our extracorporeal life, about God’s greatness and benevolence, about everything that can be useful to your enlightenment to your present as well as future happiness, but do not ask us about what we cannot and must not tell you.
There is in the study of Spiritism a serious mistake that propagates every day and that becomes almost the focus of attraction of people towards us; it is the fact that they see us as infallible in the answers. They think that we must know everything, see everything, and foresee everything. What a mistake! Huge mistake! Certainly, since our soul is no longer imprisoned by a material body like a bird in a cage, it soars up into space; the senses of the soul become more subtle, more developed; we see and hear better, but we cannot know everything; we cannot be everywhere since we don’t have the gift of ubiquity.
What would then be the difference between God and us if we were allowed to get to know the future and to promptly announce it? That is impossible. We do know more than human beings do, that is correct; we can sometimes read the minds and the heart of those who come to us but our Spiritist Science stops there. Make no mistake then and stop questioning us exclusively to know what happens here and there in your planet, or relatively to a material or commercial discovery or to be informed about what is supposed to happen tomorrow, in politics or business. We shall always inform you about our condition, about our extracorporeal life, about God’s greatness and benevolence, about everything that can be useful to your enlightenment to your present as well as future happiness, but do not ask us about what we cannot and must not tell you.
Channing
Origins (Medium Mrs. Costel)
In the beginning it was the word and the word was God. That is how it is announced in St. John’s Gospel. That is, in the beginning there was the principle and the principle was God, the Creator of everything, who gave no hesitation to the formation of the human being of this globe. He created human beings as they are today, giving them free will and the ability to advance. God told the oceans: you shall not go further. He showed human beings the universe and contrarily said: That is all yours; work, develop the treasures which are spread all over, in the air, in the waves, in the heart of Earth. Do work and love. Never doubt your straight divine origin. You are not the fruit of a slow progression; you have not gone through the animal ranks; you are positively the children of God.
Where does sin come from then? Sin was created by your own faculties; it is the other side and exaggeration of those faculties. There was no first man, father of human kind, as there was not a unique sun to illuminate the universe. God opened his great hand and spread the human race with the same profusion as the stars in the skies. Spirits animated by God’s breath soon revealed God’s existence to human beings, well before the prophets that you know. Other unknown envoys had clarified the ignorant souls. Simultaneously to human beings, God created the animals. The latter endowed by the instinct but not by a progressive intelligence. Hence, they kept their primitive form and except those with individual training, they are the same as those from the times of our forefathers. The cataclysms of the floods – since there was not a single one but several – extinguished entire races of animals and human beings. These are the geological transformations that still threaten you. Human beings discover but do not invent. Thus, the mythological beliefs were not mere fictions, but revelations from inferior spirits. The satyrs and fauns were secondary spirits that inhabited the forests and fields, as they do today. In those days they were allowed to manifest more frequently to human beings, because materialism had not yet been depurated by Christianity and by the knowledge of an only God. Christ destroyed the empire of the inferior spirits in order to establish the empire of the spirit upon Earth. That is the truth that I attest in the name of the All-Mighty God.
In the beginning it was the word and the word was God. That is how it is announced in St. John’s Gospel. That is, in the beginning there was the principle and the principle was God, the Creator of everything, who gave no hesitation to the formation of the human being of this globe. He created human beings as they are today, giving them free will and the ability to advance. God told the oceans: you shall not go further. He showed human beings the universe and contrarily said: That is all yours; work, develop the treasures which are spread all over, in the air, in the waves, in the heart of Earth. Do work and love. Never doubt your straight divine origin. You are not the fruit of a slow progression; you have not gone through the animal ranks; you are positively the children of God.
Where does sin come from then? Sin was created by your own faculties; it is the other side and exaggeration of those faculties. There was no first man, father of human kind, as there was not a unique sun to illuminate the universe. God opened his great hand and spread the human race with the same profusion as the stars in the skies. Spirits animated by God’s breath soon revealed God’s existence to human beings, well before the prophets that you know. Other unknown envoys had clarified the ignorant souls. Simultaneously to human beings, God created the animals. The latter endowed by the instinct but not by a progressive intelligence. Hence, they kept their primitive form and except those with individual training, they are the same as those from the times of our forefathers. The cataclysms of the floods – since there was not a single one but several – extinguished entire races of animals and human beings. These are the geological transformations that still threaten you. Human beings discover but do not invent. Thus, the mythological beliefs were not mere fictions, but revelations from inferior spirits. The satyrs and fauns were secondary spirits that inhabited the forests and fields, as they do today. In those days they were allowed to manifest more frequently to human beings, because materialism had not yet been depurated by Christianity and by the knowledge of an only God. Christ destroyed the empire of the inferior spirits in order to establish the empire of the spirit upon Earth. That is the truth that I attest in the name of the All-Mighty God.
Lazarus
The Future (Medium Mr. Col…)
Spiritism is the science of total light. Happy is the society that practices it! It is only then that the golden age, or even better, the time of celestial thought shall reign among you. Don’t you think that you shall have less earthly satisfaction because of that! Much to the contrary, everything shall be happiness to you, because in those days light will allow you to see truth in a more pleasant way. Human beings shall no longer teach this insidious science that makes you see through the deceiving mask of the common wealth or a future good that the teachers themselves frequently do not trust. It will not be the time of lie and greed; the wish to have everything to the benefit of a sect or sometimes to the benefit of a single person. Human beings certainly shall not be perfect but mistakes shall be more restricted and the evil ones will have a limited influence that human beings will be happy in their minorities. In those days human beings will understand work and all shall reach wealth because no one will desire the superfluous but to do great things to the benefit of everyone. Love, that divine word, will no longer have the impure connotation borrowed from you. Every personal feeling shall disappear before this education gently contained in the words of Christ: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Coming to that belief you shall all be mediums. All vices that degrade your society shall disappear. It shall all become light and truth. Selfishness, that rodent worm and straggler of progress, that muffles every fraternal feeling, it shall no longer dominate your souls. Your actions shall no longer be driven by greed and lust. You shall love your wife because she has a good soul and because she shall care for you; because she will see in you the man chosen by God to protect her weakness and because both shall help one another to withstand the earthly trials and you will be the instruments devoted to the propagation of the creatures destined to improve, advance, so to achieve better worlds, where you shall elevate even further towards our supreme Benefactor, through an even more intelligent work. Go, spiritists! Persevere. Do good for the common good. Kindly neglect the scoffers. Remember that everything in nature is harmony; that harmony is also in the superior worlds and that despite certain strong spirits you will also have your relative harmony.
St. Louis
Spiritism is the science of total light. Happy is the society that practices it! It is only then that the golden age, or even better, the time of celestial thought shall reign among you. Don’t you think that you shall have less earthly satisfaction because of that! Much to the contrary, everything shall be happiness to you, because in those days light will allow you to see truth in a more pleasant way. Human beings shall no longer teach this insidious science that makes you see through the deceiving mask of the common wealth or a future good that the teachers themselves frequently do not trust. It will not be the time of lie and greed; the wish to have everything to the benefit of a sect or sometimes to the benefit of a single person. Human beings certainly shall not be perfect but mistakes shall be more restricted and the evil ones will have a limited influence that human beings will be happy in their minorities. In those days human beings will understand work and all shall reach wealth because no one will desire the superfluous but to do great things to the benefit of everyone. Love, that divine word, will no longer have the impure connotation borrowed from you. Every personal feeling shall disappear before this education gently contained in the words of Christ: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Coming to that belief you shall all be mediums. All vices that degrade your society shall disappear. It shall all become light and truth. Selfishness, that rodent worm and straggler of progress, that muffles every fraternal feeling, it shall no longer dominate your souls. Your actions shall no longer be driven by greed and lust. You shall love your wife because she has a good soul and because she shall care for you; because she will see in you the man chosen by God to protect her weakness and because both shall help one another to withstand the earthly trials and you will be the instruments devoted to the propagation of the creatures destined to improve, advance, so to achieve better worlds, where you shall elevate even further towards our supreme Benefactor, through an even more intelligent work. Go, spiritists! Persevere. Do good for the common good. Kindly neglect the scoffers. Remember that everything in nature is harmony; that harmony is also in the superior worlds and that despite certain strong spirits you will also have your relative harmony.
St. Louis
Spiritual Electricity (Medium Mr. Didier Jr.)
The human being is at the same time a very singular and a very weak being. He is singular in the sense that even in the middle of the phenomena that surround him he still keeps his routine, spiritually speaking. He is weak in the sense, after having seen, after having been convinced, he smiles because his neighbor smiled and he no longer thinks about what happened. And notice that I don’t speak here about vulgar, inexperienced creatures that don’t think. No, I speak of intelligent people, and in its majority, enlightened people. Where does such a phenomenon come from? Because giving a lot of thought to something is a moral phenomenon. The spirit started to act upon matter through magnetism and electricity; then it got into man’s heart and man was not aware of that. Strange blindness! A blindness not produced by a strange cause but created voluntarily, coming from the spirit. Then came Spiritism, producing a commotion in the world, and man published very serious books saying: it is a natural cause; it is simply electricity, a physical law, etc.; and men was then satisfied; but make no mistake, man still has many books to write before understanding what is written in the book of nature, in God’s book. Electricity, that nuance between time and what is no longer time, between finite and infinite, man has not been able to yet define. Why? Know this: You cannot define it unless through magnetism, that material manifestation of the spirit. You only know material electricity. Later you will also know spiritual electricity, which is nothing more that the eternal kingdom of thought.
Lamennais
The human being is at the same time a very singular and a very weak being. He is singular in the sense that even in the middle of the phenomena that surround him he still keeps his routine, spiritually speaking. He is weak in the sense, after having seen, after having been convinced, he smiles because his neighbor smiled and he no longer thinks about what happened. And notice that I don’t speak here about vulgar, inexperienced creatures that don’t think. No, I speak of intelligent people, and in its majority, enlightened people. Where does such a phenomenon come from? Because giving a lot of thought to something is a moral phenomenon. The spirit started to act upon matter through magnetism and electricity; then it got into man’s heart and man was not aware of that. Strange blindness! A blindness not produced by a strange cause but created voluntarily, coming from the spirit. Then came Spiritism, producing a commotion in the world, and man published very serious books saying: it is a natural cause; it is simply electricity, a physical law, etc.; and men was then satisfied; but make no mistake, man still has many books to write before understanding what is written in the book of nature, in God’s book. Electricity, that nuance between time and what is no longer time, between finite and infinite, man has not been able to yet define. Why? Know this: You cannot define it unless through magnetism, that material manifestation of the spirit. You only know material electricity. Later you will also know spiritual electricity, which is nothing more that the eternal kingdom of thought.
Lamennais
Comments about the Preceding Message (To Lamennais)
1. Could you kindly make some clarifications about certain passages of your last essay that seem somewhat obscure to us? – A. I will do what is possible at this point in time.
2. You say: “Electricity, that nuance between time and what is no longer time, between finite and infinite”. This phrase does not seem very clear to us. Can you please develop it? – A. I explain it like that, in the simplest way I can. For you time does exist, right? For us, it does not. Hence I defined electricity as: “that nuance between time and what is no longer time, between finite and infinite” because that part of time that you formerly had to use to communicate from one end to the other of the world, that part of time, I was saying, that no longer exists. Later on that electricity will come, which will be nothing more than man’s thought, covering the space. In fact, isn’t that the most remarkable image about finite and infinite, about the tiny and the very large? In a word I meant to say that electricity suppresses time.
3. Further down you say: “You only know material electricity. Later you will also know spiritual electricity”. Do you mean by that the means of communication from man to man through the mediumistic channel? – A. Yes, as average advancements; something else will come in the future; give man aspirations; he guesses in the beginning; later he sees it.
1. Could you kindly make some clarifications about certain passages of your last essay that seem somewhat obscure to us? – A. I will do what is possible at this point in time.
2. You say: “Electricity, that nuance between time and what is no longer time, between finite and infinite”. This phrase does not seem very clear to us. Can you please develop it? – A. I explain it like that, in the simplest way I can. For you time does exist, right? For us, it does not. Hence I defined electricity as: “that nuance between time and what is no longer time, between finite and infinite” because that part of time that you formerly had to use to communicate from one end to the other of the world, that part of time, I was saying, that no longer exists. Later on that electricity will come, which will be nothing more than man’s thought, covering the space. In fact, isn’t that the most remarkable image about finite and infinite, about the tiny and the very large? In a word I meant to say that electricity suppresses time.
3. Further down you say: “You only know material electricity. Later you will also know spiritual electricity”. Do you mean by that the means of communication from man to man through the mediumistic channel? – A. Yes, as average advancements; something else will come in the future; give man aspirations; he guesses in the beginning; later he sees it.
Practical Instructions about the Spiritist Manifestations
This publication is sold out and shall not be re-printed. It will be replaced by a new publication currently being printed, much more complete and following another outline.
Allan Kardec