Effect of reading Spiritist booksLetters from Messrs. Michel, from Lyon, and D… from Albi
As a response to Mr. Constant’s opinion about the effect of reading the Spiritist books may have on people, we publish the two letters below among thousands of the same kind that are sent to us. As seen in the preceding article his opinion is that the effect must inevitable be a prompt justice to the Spiritist science and, it is for this reason, that he recommends the reading. Well, these books have been read for over six years now and, regrettably to his dismay, justice has not been made yet!
-o-
Albi, March 6th, 1863
“Dear Mr. Allan Kardec,
… I know that I should not abuse your precious time. I also refrain from entertaining you for long. I must tell you that I bitterly regret the fact that I did not get to know your admirable doctrine earlier on for I feel that I would be a different person. However, I am not a medium and do not try to be one either due to serious issues that continuously obsess me. My past is of a deplorable negligence. I was forty-nine years old and did not know a single prayer. Since I read your books I pray every night, sometimes in the morning and in particular for my enemies. Your doctrine saved me from several things and helped me to support the hardships of life with resignation.
I shall always be thankful to your prayers for me Sir.
Sincerely, etc.
D…”
“Lyon, March 9th 1863
My dear professor,
I must begin by asking you for double forgiveness, first for having delayed a duty of mine for too long; second for the liberty of writing to you without having met you and for dealing with you about matters that are somehow entirely personal to me. All that forces me to be as brief as possible and not abuse your kindness or to make you spend with me a time that could be better employed to the benefit of all.
After six months of a fortunate initiation in the Spiritist Doctrine, I see the birth of a vivid recognition in myself. As a matter of fact, such recognition is just a natural consequence of the belief in Spiritism. In my opinion it must be divided in three parts of which God is the first one to whom each Spiritist must thank every day for this new testimony of His infinite mercy; the second duly belongs to Spiritism itself to the good Spirits and their sublime teachings; finally, the third is the one that guides us in our journey and who we are glad to acknowledge as our great and venerable teacher.
Thus, understanding the Spiritist recognition, three distinct duties are imposed: towards God, the good Spirits and the promoter of their teachings. I am hopeful that God’s forgiveness to my past errors shall be granted to me for what I continue to pray daily. I will try to pay my debt to Spiritism by spreading around me as much as I can with my little strength that I have in order to carry out my duty with you and that I acknowledge to be doing at a late date. I then appeal to your charity and beg you to accept my sincere tribute of a bondless recognition.
I associate myself with those that have preceded to thank you for bringing upon us the ray of truth; thank you for showing us the means of reaching true happiness through the good deeds; thank you for fearlessly being the first one to enter the battlefield.
In times when selfishness and materialism seem to dominate a divided world the advent of Spiritism in the nineteenth century is a very important and extraordinary event to go unnoticed and to escape the surprise and admiration of serious people and observant minds. In fact, it is completely inexplicable to those who refuse to recognize a divine intervention in the march of the great events of life.
However, a not less surprising event is the finding of such a faithful and courageous believer in these days of disbelief, a man of the people that comes to announce a new doctrine, leaving the currents behind, a doctrine that would put him in disagreement with the majority since his objective is to fight and destroy prejudices, the abuse and wide-spread mistakes and finally preach faith to the materialist, charity to the egotist, moderation to the fanatics and truth to everyone.
That is a reality today and, as such, it was not impossible. To realize it, however, it was necessary the courage that can only come from faith. That is impressive. Such a devotion, my dear professor, could not remain fruitless. You can already begin to receive the reward of your work by contemplating the triumph of the doctrine that you taught us.
Unconcerned with the number and power of your adversaries, you stepped up alone into the arena and faced the attacks and injuries with an unalterable serenity and moderation. Thus, in a very short time Spiritism propagated to all parts of the world. The followers now count in the millions and what is even more pleasing is to find them recruited in all levels of the social echelon. Rich, poor, ignorant, educated, free thinkers and puritans, all responding to the calls of Spiritism and each class striving to provide its contingent in this great crusade of intelligence… Sublime struggle in which the defeated is proud to acknowledge defeat and even more proud to hold the winner’s flag.
Such a victory not only honors the one who conquered it but also justifies the fairness of the cause, that is, the superiority of the Spiritist Doctrine upon all the preceding ones and consequently it’s divine origin. To the eager follower the fact cannot be contested and Spiritism cannot be the works of a few mad minds as its detractors tried to demonstrate. It is impossible that Spiritism is the result of human work. It must be, as it is, a divine revelation. If that were not the case it would have already succumbed and become powerless before the indifference and materialism.
Every human science is systematic and for that very reason subject to error. That is why it can only be accepted by a small number of individuals that, out of ignorance or calculation propagate, erroneous beliefs fall after a certain trying time. Time and reason have always made justice to unfounded and abusive doctrines. No doctrine, no science can pretend stability if it does not have that pure and divine emanation as a whole and, within the minor details, an emanation that we call truth because only truth is immutable like its source, the Creator. We find a very reassuring example of that in the words of Jesus Christ that the sacred Gospel has transmitted to us, despite its long and adventurous journey, as pure as when they left the mouth of the divine Renovator. After eighteen centuries of life, the doctrine of Jesus Christ shines as brightly on us as when it was born. Despite false interpretations of some and the persecution of others and despite the fact that it is not much practiced in our days it is nevertheless much enrooted within people’s memories. Jesus’ doctrine is therefore indestructible and a shattering force against human passions. Like the powerless wave that breaks against the rocks the storms of sins exhaust themselves in their struggles against the light house of truth. Since Spiritism is the confirmation and the complement of that doctrine it is fair to say that it will become an indestructible monument because God is its principle and truth its foundation. As we rejoice by predicting its long destiny we gladly foresee the time when this belief shall become universal. Such a time will not be long because people will soon understand that down here there is no possible happiness without fraternity. People will also understand that the word virtue must not only be mumbled by the lips but truly felt by the hearts. Finally, people will understand that the one who takes on the burden of preaching moral will first and before anything else preach through the example.
I stop here, my dear Master, for the greatness of the subject takes me up to places where I cannot stand. More skilled hands than mine have already painted and with brighter colors the picture that my pen uselessly tries to sketch. Please forgive me for having taking so much of your time with my own feelings but I had an invincible desire to confide in the one who had brought peace to my soul by replacing the torturing doubt that has consumed me for fifteen years by a reassuring certainty! I have successively been a keen catholic, a fatalist, a materialist and a resigned philosopher. I thank God, however, for not have been an atheist. I cursed the Providence but I did not denied God. For me the flames of hell were extinct long ago but my soul was not at peace with the future. The celestial pleasures exhorted by the Church were not good enough to lead me to the virtues but my conscience rarely approved my actions. I lived continuously in doubt. Using the expression of a philosopher that ‘conscience was given to man to shame him’ I concluded that one must always avoid anything that can confuse one’s conscience. Hence I avoided crime because my conscience opposed to that; I practice some good deeds because that brought satisfaction to my conscience but I saw nothing beyond that. Nature had brought me up from the void, death should take be back to oblivion! Such thoughts sometimes took me to a profound state of sadness but however much I sought I found the key to the enigma nowhere. The social differences shocked me and I many times questioned why I had been born at the bottom of the stairwell. Since I found now answer I used to say: by chance!
I thought of another kind made me feel terrified by the oblivion! What was the point of education! To shine at the theaters? One needs fortune. To become a poet, a great writer? One does need a natural talent. For me, however, a simple artisan destined perhaps to expire on the working bench to which I was attached by the need of survival... what was the point? I know almost nothing and that is too much already for it does me no good in life and it will all end with death. I entertained that thought many times. I even cursed the instruction that is freely given to the children of a working-class family. Very limited that instruction seemed superfluous to me and not only harmful to my condition of poor but made me understand the significance of the problem without giving me the remedy to fix it. It is easy to explain the moral suffering of someone that feels a noble heart beating in the chest but forced to kneel before the will of an individual whose merit and knowledge come from a handful of coins sometimes badly earned. That is when philosophy is needed. Looking at the top of the stairs we say: Money does not make happy. Then, looking to the bottom we see someone even on an inferior position and say: Let us be patient since there are others in worse condition. If such philosophy, however, sometimes brings resignation it never produces happiness. I was in that situation when Spiritism came to rescue me from the marshes of trial and uncertainty in which I drowned more and more despite all my efforts to escape. For two years, I heard about Spiritism giving it no importance. Like its adversaries I thought it was foolish. Finally, tired of hearing about something that I hardly knew the name I decided to get to know it. I acquired The Spirits’ Book and The Mediums’ Book. I read them, or better saying, I devoured them with a satisfaction that is impossible to define. What a surprise when I detected that it was a moral and religious philosophy when I was expecting to find a treaty of black magic followed by fantastic stories! Surprise soon gave rise to conviction and acknowledgement. When I finished reading the books I noticed that I was a Spiritist for a long time. I thanked God for having given me such a merciful gift. From now on I pray without the fear that my prayers will be lost in space and shall gladly endure the tribulations of life of this short existence knowing that my current misery is no more than a just consequence of a guilty past or even a time of test to achieve a better future. There is no more doubt. Justice and logic unveil the truth. We happily welcome this doctrine benefactor of humanity. It is almost useless to tell you my dear master about my great desire to be a medium.
Hence I studied with treat perseverance. After a few days of exercise, I recognized that I was an intuitive medium. My wishes were accomplished half way for I wanted to be a mechanical medium. Intuitive mediumship leaves doubt in the medium’s soul for a long time. To eliminate doubt, I took part in some sessions of Spiritism to compare my mediumistic skills to those of other mediums. That was when I understood the appropriateness of your recommendation to read before seeing if one wants to be convinced. I can clearly state that for a unbeliever I saw nothing convincing. I would have given anything to have been placed by the providence under your direction, dear master, because I thought the tests would be more frequent and tangible at your society. Yet I did not stop there and invited some writing and drawing mediums to meet with me so that we could work together. That is when I was lucky enough to witness amazing events and to be given the most evident proofs of the goodness and virtues of Spiritism. I was convinced for the second time! I attach to this already long letter some of my communications. I would be thankful dear master if you could take a look and analyze its value. I consider them irreproachable from a moral stand point but from a literary point of view… I am not capable of passing judgment hence I abstain from any appreciation. If, against my own expectation, you find any passage that you consider worth publicizing please use them at your own discretion. It would be a motive of great happiness to me to have contributed with a little stone to the construction of the edifice. Any direct answer from you would be received with the highest regard, my dear master, but I dare not request it for I do know of your material impossibility in answering all letters addressed to you. I end by begging you to forgive this extreme liberty hoping that you may believe the sincerity of someone that is honored to be one of your most eager admirers and much humble servant.
Michel
Rue Bouteille, 25 – Lyon”
