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Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866 > June
June
Premature Incendiary MonomaniaThe Salut Public de Lyon, on February 23rd, 1866 brings:
“The legal issue of homicide monomania, and the incendiary monomania, says the Moniteur Judiciaire, was and will be, with all likelihood, many times still agitated before the jury and superior courts. Regarding incendiary monomania, we can cite a child in Lyon, now with four years of age, son of honest silk workers, residing in Guillotière, that seems to carry the incendiary instinct in its last degree. He had hardly opened his eyes when the vision of flames seemed to entertain him. When he was eighteen months old, he took pleasure in lighting matches; at the age of two he set the four corners of a straw bed-base on fire and destroyed the modest furniture of his parents. Today, when reprimanded, he only responds with threats of fire, and as early as last week he tried to set his parents’ bedroom on fire with pieces of paper and straw. We leave it to the experts to find the causes of such monomania. If it does not disappear with age, what would be the fate of the miserable that is affected by that?”
He author says that he leaves to the experts to find the causes of such monomania. Which experts is he talking about? The doctors, in general, the alienist, the wise men, the phrenologists, the philosophers or theologists? Each one of them will face the issue from their materialistic, spiritualistic, or religious point of view. The materialist, by denying the intelligent principle, distinct from matter, are incontestably the least adequate to thoroughly solve it. By taking the organism as the only source of faculties and inclinations, they turn the man into a machine moved by an irresistible force, without free-will, and consequently, without moral responsibility for their actions. With such a system, every criminal may excuse himself based on his formation, for it did not depend on him to do better. In a society where such a principle was admitted as the absolute truth, there wouldn’t be any guilty person, from a moral point of view, and it would be as illogical to take people to the courts as it would to take animals. Here we only talk about the social consequences of the materialistic doctrine. As for its impossibility of solving every moral problem, that is sufficiently demonstrated.
Could we say, with some, that the hereditary inclinations are like physical defects? Would them be opposed by the innumerable cases of virtuous parents that have instinctively vicious children, and vice-versa? In the specific case that we are dealing with, it is notorious that the child has not inherited his incendiary monomania from any member of his family.
The spiritualists, undoubtedly, will recognize that such an inclination must be due to an imperfection of the soul or Spirit, but will still be blocked by unbearable difficulties, with only the elements that have been available so far.
The proof that the current data from science, philosophy and theology do not provide any solid principle for the solution of problems of that nature; there isn’t a single one that is evident enough, rational enough, to connect to the majority, and that one is reduced to individual opinions, all divergent from one another.
The theologists, that admit the creation of the soul at the same time as the birth of each body, as a dogmatic principle, these are perhaps the ones that will have more difficulties to conciliate those innate perversities with the justice and benevolence of God. According to their theory, here we have a boy with an incendiary instinct, devoted, since his formation, to the crime and its consequences, in the present and future life! How come there are instinctively good and bad boys; God then creates some good and some bad souls? It is the logical consequence. Why such partiality? With the materialistic doctrine the guilty one has the excuse of his body; with that of the Church, he can pass it on to God, saying that it is not his fault since he was created with defects.
Is it surprising at all that there are people that deny God, when He is shown to them as cruel and partial with the creatures? It is the way that most religions represent God that makes non-believers and atheists. If we had, from the beginning, drawn a picture of God reconciled with reason, there wouldn’t be non-believers; it is by the impossibility of accepting God as they do, with the stinginess and human passions that they attribute to Him, that so many people seek the explanations of things elsewhere.
Every time theology, pressed by the inexorable logic of the facts, finds itself in an impasse, it hides behind these words: “Incomprehensible mystery!” Lo and behold! We daily see a tip of veil of what in the past was a mystery, being lifted, and the issue at hand is among them.
This matter is far from being puerile, and it would be a mistake to see an isolated fact here, or if you wish, an anomaly, an oddity of nature, without consequence. It touches every issue of education and moralization of humanity, and for that very reason, the most serious issues of social economy. It is by researching the primary causes of the instincts and innate tendencies that one will discover the most efficient ways of combating the bad and developing the good ones. When such a cause is known, education will have the most powerful moralizing lever it has ever had.
One cannot deny the influence of the environment and example upon the development of the good and bad instincts, for moral contagion is as obvious as physical contagion. However, this influence is not exclusive for one can see the most perverse creatures in the most honorable homes, whereas there are others that come out clean from the mire. There are, therefore, undoubtedly, innate dispositions, and if we doubted it, the fact which concerns us would be an indisputable proof of it. So here is a child who, before knowing how to speak, takes pleasure in the sight of destruction by fire; that, at the age of two, voluntarily sets fire to furniture, and who, at the age of four, understands so much what he is doing that he responds to reprimands with threats of fire. O all of you, doctors and scientists who so eagerly seek out the slightest unusual pathological cases, to make them the subject of your meditations, why don’t you study with the same care these strange phenomena that one can, with reason, qualify as moral pathology! Why don't you try to understand them, to discover their source! Humanity would gain at least as much from it as from the discovery of a nervous system.
Unfortunately, most of those who do not disdain to deal with these questions, do so by speaking of a preconceived idea to which they want to subject everything: the materialist to the exclusive laws of matter, the spiritualist to the idea that he has about the nature of the soul, according to his beliefs. Before concluding, the wisest thing is to study all the systems, all the theories, with impartiality, and see which one best and most logically solves the greatest number of difficulties.
The diversity of innate intellectual and moral aptitudes, independent of education and of any acquisition in the present life, is a notorious fact: it is known. Starting from this fact to arrive at the unknown, we will say that if the soul is created at the birth of the body, it remains evident that God creates souls of all qualities. However, this doctrine being incompatible with the principle of sovereign justice, must necessarily be set aside. But if the soul is not created at the birth of the individual, it is because it existed before. It is in fact in the preexistence of the soul that we find the only possible and rational solution to the question and to all the apparent anomalies of the human faculties.
Children who instinctively have transcendent aptitudes for an art or a science, who possess certain knowledge without having learned it, such as the natural calculators, such as those to whom music seems familiar at birth; those born polyglots, like a lady of whom we will later have occasion to speak, that at nine years old gave lessons in Greek and Latin to her brothers, and at twelve years old read and translated Hebrew; they must have learned these things somewhere; since it is not in this existence, it must have been in another. Yes, man has already lived, not once, but perhaps a thousand times; in each existence his ideas have developed; he has acquired knowledge of which he brings intuition into the next existence and which helps him to acquire new ones. It is the same with moral progress. The vices he got rid of do not reappear; those he has kept reproduce until he has corrected them for good.
In short, man is born as what he has made himself. Those who have lived more, acquired the most and took more advantage, and are more advanced than the others; such is the cause of the diversity of instincts and aptitudes that are noticeable among them; such is also the reason why we see on earth savages, barbarians and civilized men. The plurality of existences is the key to a host of moral problems, and it is for having ignored this principle that so many questions have remained insoluble. Let them just admit it as a hypothesis, if they will, and they will see all the difficulties smooth out.
Civilized man has reached a point where he is no longer satisfied with blind faith; he wants to get to know everything, to know the why and the how of everything; he will, therefore, prefer a philosophy that explains to another that does not explain. Besides, the idea of the plurality of existences, like all great truths, germinates in a crowd of minds, outside Spiritism, and since it satisfies reason, the time is not far off when it will be placed in the ranks of the laws that govern humanity. What shall we say now about the child who is the subject of this article? His current instincts can be explained by his antecedents. He was born an incendiary, as others were born poets or artists, because, without a doubt, he was an incendiary in another existence, and he retained that instinct.
But then, it will be said, if each existence is a progress, the progress is null for him in this one. It's not a reason. From his current instincts, we should not conclude that his progress is zero. Man does not suddenly shed all his imperfections. This child probably had others that made him worse than he would be today; now, had he only taken a step forward, even had only repentance and the desire to improve himself, that would always be progress. If this instinct manifest itself in him so early, it is to call attention early to his tendencies, so that his parents and those who will be responsible for his education will endeavor to suppress them before they have developed. Perhaps he himself asked for it to be so, and to be born into an honorable family, out of the desire to progress.
It is an enormous task to his parents, because he is a stray soul that was entrusted to them to be brought back to the right path, and their responsibility would be significant if they did not do everything that was at their reach, with that objective. If their son were sick, they would take care of him with solicitude. They must look at him as if taken by a serious moral disease, that requires a not less careful attention. According to these considerations, we believe, without vanity, that the Spiritists are the best experts in such cases, precisely because they study the moral phenomena and appreciate them not according to personal ideas, but according to the natural laws.
Having this fact been presented to the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies as a subject of study, the following question was addressed to the Spirits:
What is the origin of the premature incendiary instinct in this boy, and what would be the means of fighting it through education?
Four concurring answers were given. We only cite the following two:
I
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, Paris April 13th, 1866 – medium Sr. Br…
You ask about the existence of this boy that shows such a premature inclination for destruction and particularly to fire. Well, his past is horrible, and his present tendencies tell you what he could have done. He came to atone and must fight against his incendiary instincts. It is a great test to his parents that are permanently under the threats of his bad deeds, and do not know how to reprimand that dismal inclination. The knowledge of Spiritism would be a powerful help to them, and God, in His mercy, will allow them such a grace, for it is only through that knowledge that one can expect to improve that Spirit. This boy is an evident proof of the anteriority of the soul in the present incarnation. You know: this strange moral state attracts attention and makes you think. God employs every means to make you get to the knowledge of truth about your origin, your progress and destiny.
A Spirit
II
Medium Ms. Lat…
Spiritism has already played a great role in your world, but what you saw is just the prelude of what you are called to see. When science is silent before certain facts that religion cannot solve either, Spiritism comes to provide the solution. When science fails to your wise men, they sidetrack the issue given the lack of sufficient explanations. In many circumstances the enlightenment of Spiritism could be a powerful support to them, notably in this case of incendiary monomania. To them it is a case of madness because they see every monomania as madness. That is a big mistake. Science cannot do anything here. It is up to the Spiritists to act. You cannot admit that such inclination towards destruction by fire comes from the present life; one must go back further and see, in the perverse inclinations of this boy, a reflex of his past actions. Besides, he is encouraged by those that were his victims, to satisfy his ambition, he did not step back before the fire or the sacrifice of those that could have created an obstacle to him. In a word, he is under the influence of Spirits that have not forgiven him yet for the sufferings that he imposed on them. They expect vengeance. His test is to come out victorious of this fight. But God, in His sovereign justice, placed the remedy side by side with the illness. In fact, the remedy is in his early age and in the good influence of the environment around him. He boy cannot do anything today; it is up to the parents to watch; later he must succeed, and while he is not his own man the fight continues. It would be necessary to have him educated under the principles of Spiritism; he would then find the strength, and by understanding his trial, he would find the will to triumph. Good Spirits in charge of enlightening the incarnate, turn your eyes to this poor child whose punishment is fair; go and help him, guide his thoughts to Spiritism so that can be triumph fast and that the struggle ends with advantages to him.
A Spirit
“The legal issue of homicide monomania, and the incendiary monomania, says the Moniteur Judiciaire, was and will be, with all likelihood, many times still agitated before the jury and superior courts. Regarding incendiary monomania, we can cite a child in Lyon, now with four years of age, son of honest silk workers, residing in Guillotière, that seems to carry the incendiary instinct in its last degree. He had hardly opened his eyes when the vision of flames seemed to entertain him. When he was eighteen months old, he took pleasure in lighting matches; at the age of two he set the four corners of a straw bed-base on fire and destroyed the modest furniture of his parents. Today, when reprimanded, he only responds with threats of fire, and as early as last week he tried to set his parents’ bedroom on fire with pieces of paper and straw. We leave it to the experts to find the causes of such monomania. If it does not disappear with age, what would be the fate of the miserable that is affected by that?”
He author says that he leaves to the experts to find the causes of such monomania. Which experts is he talking about? The doctors, in general, the alienist, the wise men, the phrenologists, the philosophers or theologists? Each one of them will face the issue from their materialistic, spiritualistic, or religious point of view. The materialist, by denying the intelligent principle, distinct from matter, are incontestably the least adequate to thoroughly solve it. By taking the organism as the only source of faculties and inclinations, they turn the man into a machine moved by an irresistible force, without free-will, and consequently, without moral responsibility for their actions. With such a system, every criminal may excuse himself based on his formation, for it did not depend on him to do better. In a society where such a principle was admitted as the absolute truth, there wouldn’t be any guilty person, from a moral point of view, and it would be as illogical to take people to the courts as it would to take animals. Here we only talk about the social consequences of the materialistic doctrine. As for its impossibility of solving every moral problem, that is sufficiently demonstrated.
Could we say, with some, that the hereditary inclinations are like physical defects? Would them be opposed by the innumerable cases of virtuous parents that have instinctively vicious children, and vice-versa? In the specific case that we are dealing with, it is notorious that the child has not inherited his incendiary monomania from any member of his family.
The spiritualists, undoubtedly, will recognize that such an inclination must be due to an imperfection of the soul or Spirit, but will still be blocked by unbearable difficulties, with only the elements that have been available so far.
The proof that the current data from science, philosophy and theology do not provide any solid principle for the solution of problems of that nature; there isn’t a single one that is evident enough, rational enough, to connect to the majority, and that one is reduced to individual opinions, all divergent from one another.
The theologists, that admit the creation of the soul at the same time as the birth of each body, as a dogmatic principle, these are perhaps the ones that will have more difficulties to conciliate those innate perversities with the justice and benevolence of God. According to their theory, here we have a boy with an incendiary instinct, devoted, since his formation, to the crime and its consequences, in the present and future life! How come there are instinctively good and bad boys; God then creates some good and some bad souls? It is the logical consequence. Why such partiality? With the materialistic doctrine the guilty one has the excuse of his body; with that of the Church, he can pass it on to God, saying that it is not his fault since he was created with defects.
Is it surprising at all that there are people that deny God, when He is shown to them as cruel and partial with the creatures? It is the way that most religions represent God that makes non-believers and atheists. If we had, from the beginning, drawn a picture of God reconciled with reason, there wouldn’t be non-believers; it is by the impossibility of accepting God as they do, with the stinginess and human passions that they attribute to Him, that so many people seek the explanations of things elsewhere.
Every time theology, pressed by the inexorable logic of the facts, finds itself in an impasse, it hides behind these words: “Incomprehensible mystery!” Lo and behold! We daily see a tip of veil of what in the past was a mystery, being lifted, and the issue at hand is among them.
This matter is far from being puerile, and it would be a mistake to see an isolated fact here, or if you wish, an anomaly, an oddity of nature, without consequence. It touches every issue of education and moralization of humanity, and for that very reason, the most serious issues of social economy. It is by researching the primary causes of the instincts and innate tendencies that one will discover the most efficient ways of combating the bad and developing the good ones. When such a cause is known, education will have the most powerful moralizing lever it has ever had.
One cannot deny the influence of the environment and example upon the development of the good and bad instincts, for moral contagion is as obvious as physical contagion. However, this influence is not exclusive for one can see the most perverse creatures in the most honorable homes, whereas there are others that come out clean from the mire. There are, therefore, undoubtedly, innate dispositions, and if we doubted it, the fact which concerns us would be an indisputable proof of it. So here is a child who, before knowing how to speak, takes pleasure in the sight of destruction by fire; that, at the age of two, voluntarily sets fire to furniture, and who, at the age of four, understands so much what he is doing that he responds to reprimands with threats of fire. O all of you, doctors and scientists who so eagerly seek out the slightest unusual pathological cases, to make them the subject of your meditations, why don’t you study with the same care these strange phenomena that one can, with reason, qualify as moral pathology! Why don't you try to understand them, to discover their source! Humanity would gain at least as much from it as from the discovery of a nervous system.
Unfortunately, most of those who do not disdain to deal with these questions, do so by speaking of a preconceived idea to which they want to subject everything: the materialist to the exclusive laws of matter, the spiritualist to the idea that he has about the nature of the soul, according to his beliefs. Before concluding, the wisest thing is to study all the systems, all the theories, with impartiality, and see which one best and most logically solves the greatest number of difficulties.
The diversity of innate intellectual and moral aptitudes, independent of education and of any acquisition in the present life, is a notorious fact: it is known. Starting from this fact to arrive at the unknown, we will say that if the soul is created at the birth of the body, it remains evident that God creates souls of all qualities. However, this doctrine being incompatible with the principle of sovereign justice, must necessarily be set aside. But if the soul is not created at the birth of the individual, it is because it existed before. It is in fact in the preexistence of the soul that we find the only possible and rational solution to the question and to all the apparent anomalies of the human faculties.
Children who instinctively have transcendent aptitudes for an art or a science, who possess certain knowledge without having learned it, such as the natural calculators, such as those to whom music seems familiar at birth; those born polyglots, like a lady of whom we will later have occasion to speak, that at nine years old gave lessons in Greek and Latin to her brothers, and at twelve years old read and translated Hebrew; they must have learned these things somewhere; since it is not in this existence, it must have been in another. Yes, man has already lived, not once, but perhaps a thousand times; in each existence his ideas have developed; he has acquired knowledge of which he brings intuition into the next existence and which helps him to acquire new ones. It is the same with moral progress. The vices he got rid of do not reappear; those he has kept reproduce until he has corrected them for good.
In short, man is born as what he has made himself. Those who have lived more, acquired the most and took more advantage, and are more advanced than the others; such is the cause of the diversity of instincts and aptitudes that are noticeable among them; such is also the reason why we see on earth savages, barbarians and civilized men. The plurality of existences is the key to a host of moral problems, and it is for having ignored this principle that so many questions have remained insoluble. Let them just admit it as a hypothesis, if they will, and they will see all the difficulties smooth out.
Civilized man has reached a point where he is no longer satisfied with blind faith; he wants to get to know everything, to know the why and the how of everything; he will, therefore, prefer a philosophy that explains to another that does not explain. Besides, the idea of the plurality of existences, like all great truths, germinates in a crowd of minds, outside Spiritism, and since it satisfies reason, the time is not far off when it will be placed in the ranks of the laws that govern humanity. What shall we say now about the child who is the subject of this article? His current instincts can be explained by his antecedents. He was born an incendiary, as others were born poets or artists, because, without a doubt, he was an incendiary in another existence, and he retained that instinct.
But then, it will be said, if each existence is a progress, the progress is null for him in this one. It's not a reason. From his current instincts, we should not conclude that his progress is zero. Man does not suddenly shed all his imperfections. This child probably had others that made him worse than he would be today; now, had he only taken a step forward, even had only repentance and the desire to improve himself, that would always be progress. If this instinct manifest itself in him so early, it is to call attention early to his tendencies, so that his parents and those who will be responsible for his education will endeavor to suppress them before they have developed. Perhaps he himself asked for it to be so, and to be born into an honorable family, out of the desire to progress.
It is an enormous task to his parents, because he is a stray soul that was entrusted to them to be brought back to the right path, and their responsibility would be significant if they did not do everything that was at their reach, with that objective. If their son were sick, they would take care of him with solicitude. They must look at him as if taken by a serious moral disease, that requires a not less careful attention. According to these considerations, we believe, without vanity, that the Spiritists are the best experts in such cases, precisely because they study the moral phenomena and appreciate them not according to personal ideas, but according to the natural laws.
Having this fact been presented to the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies as a subject of study, the following question was addressed to the Spirits:
What is the origin of the premature incendiary instinct in this boy, and what would be the means of fighting it through education?
Four concurring answers were given. We only cite the following two:
I
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, Paris April 13th, 1866 – medium Sr. Br…
You ask about the existence of this boy that shows such a premature inclination for destruction and particularly to fire. Well, his past is horrible, and his present tendencies tell you what he could have done. He came to atone and must fight against his incendiary instincts. It is a great test to his parents that are permanently under the threats of his bad deeds, and do not know how to reprimand that dismal inclination. The knowledge of Spiritism would be a powerful help to them, and God, in His mercy, will allow them such a grace, for it is only through that knowledge that one can expect to improve that Spirit. This boy is an evident proof of the anteriority of the soul in the present incarnation. You know: this strange moral state attracts attention and makes you think. God employs every means to make you get to the knowledge of truth about your origin, your progress and destiny.
A Spirit
II
Medium Ms. Lat…
Spiritism has already played a great role in your world, but what you saw is just the prelude of what you are called to see. When science is silent before certain facts that religion cannot solve either, Spiritism comes to provide the solution. When science fails to your wise men, they sidetrack the issue given the lack of sufficient explanations. In many circumstances the enlightenment of Spiritism could be a powerful support to them, notably in this case of incendiary monomania. To them it is a case of madness because they see every monomania as madness. That is a big mistake. Science cannot do anything here. It is up to the Spiritists to act. You cannot admit that such inclination towards destruction by fire comes from the present life; one must go back further and see, in the perverse inclinations of this boy, a reflex of his past actions. Besides, he is encouraged by those that were his victims, to satisfy his ambition, he did not step back before the fire or the sacrifice of those that could have created an obstacle to him. In a word, he is under the influence of Spirits that have not forgiven him yet for the sufferings that he imposed on them. They expect vengeance. His test is to come out victorious of this fight. But God, in His sovereign justice, placed the remedy side by side with the illness. In fact, the remedy is in his early age and in the good influence of the environment around him. He boy cannot do anything today; it is up to the parents to watch; later he must succeed, and while he is not his own man the fight continues. It would be necessary to have him educated under the principles of Spiritism; he would then find the strength, and by understanding his trial, he would find the will to triumph. Good Spirits in charge of enlightening the incarnate, turn your eyes to this poor child whose punishment is fair; go and help him, guide his thoughts to Spiritism so that can be triumph fast and that the struggle ends with advantages to him.
A Spirit
Assassination Attempt of the Emperor of Russia
A Psychological Study
The Indepéndence Belge, of April 30th, brings a detailed report of the circumstances that followed the attack on the czar, with the title News from Russia. In addition, it speaks of certain previous indications of the crime, containing the following passage about it:
“It is said that the governor of St. Petersburg, Prince Souwouroff, had received an anonymous letter signed N.N.N., in which they offered to unveil an important mystery, by a piece of important information, requesting a reply in the Gazette de la police. Such answer appeared; it read as follows: “The chancellery of the governor general invites N. N. N. to come tomorrow, between eleven and two o'clock, to give certain explanations. But the anonymous did not show up; he sent a second letter announcing that it was too late, that he was no longer free to go.
The invitation was repeated two days after the attack, but to no avail. Finally, as a last clue, some people have just remembered that three weeks before the attack, the German newspaper Die Gartenlaube published an account of a Spiritist session held in Heidelberg, and in which the Spirit of Catherine II announced that the Emperor Alexander was threatened with great danger.
It is difficult to understand, after all this, how the Russian secret police could not be informed at a time when crime was brewing. Such police, that is very expensive and floods all our circles and our public assemblies with useless spies, was unable not only to discover the plot in time, but even to surround the sovereign with their vigilance, which is elemental and absolutely necessary, especially with a prince who almost always goes out alone, followed by his big dog; who goes for walks in the early hours of the day, without being accompanied by an aide-de-camp on duty. On the very day of the attack, I met the Emperor in the “rue Millonaïa,” at half past nine in the morning; he was completely alone and greeted those who recognized him with cordiality. The street was almost deserted, with rare policing around.”
What is specially remarkable in this article is the reference, without a comment, to the warning given by the Spirit of Catherine II in a Spiritist session. Would they have considered this event among the forewarnings, had they considered the Spiritist communications as buffoonery or delusion? In such a serious matter they would have avoided the intervention of a belief considered ridiculous. It is a new proof of the reaction that takes place in the opinion about Spiritism.
The attack must be taken into account from another point of view. It is well-known that the Emperor owes his salvation to a young peasant called Joseph Kommissaroff that was on his way and disarmed the assassin. It is also known that the latter was rewarded with all sorts of favors. He was made a noble and the gifts that he received assured him with a considerable fortune.
This young man was going to a chapel on the other side of the Neva, at the time of his birthday; the de-icing had started, and circulation had been interrupted; he had, therefore, to change plans. For that reason, he remained on the other side of the riverbank, at the passage of the Emperor that was leaving his Summer gardens. He was meddled with the crowed when he noticed an individual with suspicious attitudes that was trying to approach; he followed and saw him grabbing a pistol and point it at the Emperor; he was quick to act and hit the man’s arm, forcing the shot into the air.
What a fortunate chance, some people will say, that the de-icing happened exactly at that time, impeding Kommissaroff of crossing the Neva! For us, who do not believe in chance, but that everything is submitted to an intelligent direction, we will say that the danger was in the trials of the czar (see The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chap. XXV: Prayer in imminent danger), but that since his time had not come, Kommissaroff had been chosen to preclude the realization of the crime, and that things that seem to be the works of chance were organized to lead to the desired result.
Men are the unconscious instruments of the designs of Providence. It is through them that the Providence carry them out, without the need to resource to prodigies. It suffices the invisible hand that guides them, and nothing escapes the natural order of things.
Some will then say: if that is the case, man is just a machine, and his actions are fatal. No, absolutely not because if man is requested to do something he is not forced to do it; he still keeps the free-will, and hence he can do or not do it, and the hand that guides him remains invisible, precisely to give him more freedom. Kommissaroff, therefore, could well refused to yield to the hidden impulse that guided him to the passage of the Emperor; he could remain indifferent, as many others, to the sight of a man with suspicious attitudes; finally, he could have looked the other way the moment when that man took the pistol from his pocket. But then, if he had resisted to that impulse, would the Emperor have died? Not at all. The deigns of Providence are not subjected to the caprices of a man. The life of the Emperor should have been preserved; given the lack of Kommissaroff, it would have been through another way; a fly could bite the hand of the assassin, forcing him to an involuntary movement; a fluidic current cast upon him could have obfuscated him. If Kommissaroff had not heard the inner voice that unwillingly guided him, he would have just lost the benefit of the action that he was assigned to carry out. That is all that would have resulted. But, if the czar’s fatal time had arrived, nothing could have preserved him. Now, the imminent dangers that we face have precisely the objective of showing us that our lives are on a thin line, that it can break at the moment when we think about it the least, and for that reason, warn us that we must be ready to depart at any time.
But, what that young man instead of someone else? For those that do not see in these events a simple game of chance, everything has a reason to be. There should then be a motive for the choice of that young man, and even if that motive was unknown to us, Providence gives us many proofs of its wisdom for us do not doubt it that such a choice had its utility. Having this issue presented in a Spiritist meeting in the house of a Russian family residing in Paris, a Spirit gave the following explanation.
Paris, May 1st, 1866 – medium Mr. Desliens
If in the life of the tiniest creature, nothing is left to chance. The may events of your life are determined by your trial: the details are influenced by your free-will. But the whole of the situation was foreseen and agreed previously, by him and by those that God has appointed to his care.
In the present case, things happened within normality. That young man was advanced and intelligent already, and chose to be born in miserable conditions as a test, after having occupied a high social position; having already developed his intelligence and morality, he asked for a humble and obscure condition, to extinguish the last seeds of pride that the spirit of cast had left on him. He chose freely, but God and the good Spirits decided to reward him in the first manifestation of selfless devotion, and you see his reward.
Among honors and fortune, it is up to him now to keep intact the humbleness that was the basis for his new incarnation. Thus, it is still a test, a double test as a man and as a father. As a man, he must resist the intoxication of a great and subtle fortune; as a father, he must preserve the children from the arrogance of the new rich. He can create a remarkable position to them; he can take advantage of his intermediary position to turn them into useful men to their country. Plebeian by birth and noble by the merit of their father, they can, as many that presently incarnate in Russia, work strongly for the fusion of all the heterogeneous elements, for the extinction of slavery that for a long time yet will not be able to be radically eliminated.
In that promotion there is a reward, no doubt, but more than that there is a test. I know that in Russia the rewarded merit meets the appreciation of the great; but there, like elsewhere, the proud new rich, puffed up by his worth, falls victim of mockery; he becomes a plaything of a society that he uselessly tries to imitate. Gold and greatness did not give him the spirit of the world. Neglected and envied by those in the environment where he was born, he is frequently isolated and unhappy in his luxury.
As you see, not everything is pleasant in those sudden elevations, and particularly when achieve such proportions. As for that young man, we hope, given his excellent qualities, that he may know to peacefully enjoy the advantages that resulted from his action, avoiding the tripping stones that could delay his march on the path of progress.
Moki
Observation: In the absence of material proofs about the accuracy of this explanation, it cannot be denied that it is eminently rational and instructive, and as the Spirit that gave it is always characterized by the gravity and elevated reach of his communication, we regard this as having all the characteristics of probability. Kommissaroff’s new position is a very slippery effect to him, and his future depends on the way he will endure this trial, a hundred times more dangerous than the material disgraces that people are forced to resign to, whereas it is much more difficult to resist to the temptations of pride and opulence. What a force couldn’t he extract from the knowledge of and truths taught by Spiritism!
But, as we noticed, the eyes of Providence were not fixated on that young man. By submitting himself to the test, and by the fact of the test, he can, by the chain of event, become an element of progress to his country, helping in the destruction of the prejudices of cast. Thus, everything is connected in the world by the support of the intelligent forces that direct it. Nothing is useless, and the apparently small things may lead to the greatest results, and all that without breaching the laws of nature. What wouldn’t be our awe if we could see the mechanism hidden by our inferiority and material nature! But, if we cannot see it, Spiritism makes it understandable to our thoughts, by revealing its laws, and that is how it elevates us, boosts our faith and our trust in God, and that successfully combats disbelief.
“It is said that the governor of St. Petersburg, Prince Souwouroff, had received an anonymous letter signed N.N.N., in which they offered to unveil an important mystery, by a piece of important information, requesting a reply in the Gazette de la police. Such answer appeared; it read as follows: “The chancellery of the governor general invites N. N. N. to come tomorrow, between eleven and two o'clock, to give certain explanations. But the anonymous did not show up; he sent a second letter announcing that it was too late, that he was no longer free to go.
The invitation was repeated two days after the attack, but to no avail. Finally, as a last clue, some people have just remembered that three weeks before the attack, the German newspaper Die Gartenlaube published an account of a Spiritist session held in Heidelberg, and in which the Spirit of Catherine II announced that the Emperor Alexander was threatened with great danger.
It is difficult to understand, after all this, how the Russian secret police could not be informed at a time when crime was brewing. Such police, that is very expensive and floods all our circles and our public assemblies with useless spies, was unable not only to discover the plot in time, but even to surround the sovereign with their vigilance, which is elemental and absolutely necessary, especially with a prince who almost always goes out alone, followed by his big dog; who goes for walks in the early hours of the day, without being accompanied by an aide-de-camp on duty. On the very day of the attack, I met the Emperor in the “rue Millonaïa,” at half past nine in the morning; he was completely alone and greeted those who recognized him with cordiality. The street was almost deserted, with rare policing around.”
What is specially remarkable in this article is the reference, without a comment, to the warning given by the Spirit of Catherine II in a Spiritist session. Would they have considered this event among the forewarnings, had they considered the Spiritist communications as buffoonery or delusion? In such a serious matter they would have avoided the intervention of a belief considered ridiculous. It is a new proof of the reaction that takes place in the opinion about Spiritism.
The attack must be taken into account from another point of view. It is well-known that the Emperor owes his salvation to a young peasant called Joseph Kommissaroff that was on his way and disarmed the assassin. It is also known that the latter was rewarded with all sorts of favors. He was made a noble and the gifts that he received assured him with a considerable fortune.
This young man was going to a chapel on the other side of the Neva, at the time of his birthday; the de-icing had started, and circulation had been interrupted; he had, therefore, to change plans. For that reason, he remained on the other side of the riverbank, at the passage of the Emperor that was leaving his Summer gardens. He was meddled with the crowed when he noticed an individual with suspicious attitudes that was trying to approach; he followed and saw him grabbing a pistol and point it at the Emperor; he was quick to act and hit the man’s arm, forcing the shot into the air.
What a fortunate chance, some people will say, that the de-icing happened exactly at that time, impeding Kommissaroff of crossing the Neva! For us, who do not believe in chance, but that everything is submitted to an intelligent direction, we will say that the danger was in the trials of the czar (see The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chap. XXV: Prayer in imminent danger), but that since his time had not come, Kommissaroff had been chosen to preclude the realization of the crime, and that things that seem to be the works of chance were organized to lead to the desired result.
Men are the unconscious instruments of the designs of Providence. It is through them that the Providence carry them out, without the need to resource to prodigies. It suffices the invisible hand that guides them, and nothing escapes the natural order of things.
Some will then say: if that is the case, man is just a machine, and his actions are fatal. No, absolutely not because if man is requested to do something he is not forced to do it; he still keeps the free-will, and hence he can do or not do it, and the hand that guides him remains invisible, precisely to give him more freedom. Kommissaroff, therefore, could well refused to yield to the hidden impulse that guided him to the passage of the Emperor; he could remain indifferent, as many others, to the sight of a man with suspicious attitudes; finally, he could have looked the other way the moment when that man took the pistol from his pocket. But then, if he had resisted to that impulse, would the Emperor have died? Not at all. The deigns of Providence are not subjected to the caprices of a man. The life of the Emperor should have been preserved; given the lack of Kommissaroff, it would have been through another way; a fly could bite the hand of the assassin, forcing him to an involuntary movement; a fluidic current cast upon him could have obfuscated him. If Kommissaroff had not heard the inner voice that unwillingly guided him, he would have just lost the benefit of the action that he was assigned to carry out. That is all that would have resulted. But, if the czar’s fatal time had arrived, nothing could have preserved him. Now, the imminent dangers that we face have precisely the objective of showing us that our lives are on a thin line, that it can break at the moment when we think about it the least, and for that reason, warn us that we must be ready to depart at any time.
But, what that young man instead of someone else? For those that do not see in these events a simple game of chance, everything has a reason to be. There should then be a motive for the choice of that young man, and even if that motive was unknown to us, Providence gives us many proofs of its wisdom for us do not doubt it that such a choice had its utility. Having this issue presented in a Spiritist meeting in the house of a Russian family residing in Paris, a Spirit gave the following explanation.
Paris, May 1st, 1866 – medium Mr. Desliens
If in the life of the tiniest creature, nothing is left to chance. The may events of your life are determined by your trial: the details are influenced by your free-will. But the whole of the situation was foreseen and agreed previously, by him and by those that God has appointed to his care.
In the present case, things happened within normality. That young man was advanced and intelligent already, and chose to be born in miserable conditions as a test, after having occupied a high social position; having already developed his intelligence and morality, he asked for a humble and obscure condition, to extinguish the last seeds of pride that the spirit of cast had left on him. He chose freely, but God and the good Spirits decided to reward him in the first manifestation of selfless devotion, and you see his reward.
Among honors and fortune, it is up to him now to keep intact the humbleness that was the basis for his new incarnation. Thus, it is still a test, a double test as a man and as a father. As a man, he must resist the intoxication of a great and subtle fortune; as a father, he must preserve the children from the arrogance of the new rich. He can create a remarkable position to them; he can take advantage of his intermediary position to turn them into useful men to their country. Plebeian by birth and noble by the merit of their father, they can, as many that presently incarnate in Russia, work strongly for the fusion of all the heterogeneous elements, for the extinction of slavery that for a long time yet will not be able to be radically eliminated.
In that promotion there is a reward, no doubt, but more than that there is a test. I know that in Russia the rewarded merit meets the appreciation of the great; but there, like elsewhere, the proud new rich, puffed up by his worth, falls victim of mockery; he becomes a plaything of a society that he uselessly tries to imitate. Gold and greatness did not give him the spirit of the world. Neglected and envied by those in the environment where he was born, he is frequently isolated and unhappy in his luxury.
As you see, not everything is pleasant in those sudden elevations, and particularly when achieve such proportions. As for that young man, we hope, given his excellent qualities, that he may know to peacefully enjoy the advantages that resulted from his action, avoiding the tripping stones that could delay his march on the path of progress.
Moki
Observation: In the absence of material proofs about the accuracy of this explanation, it cannot be denied that it is eminently rational and instructive, and as the Spirit that gave it is always characterized by the gravity and elevated reach of his communication, we regard this as having all the characteristics of probability. Kommissaroff’s new position is a very slippery effect to him, and his future depends on the way he will endure this trial, a hundred times more dangerous than the material disgraces that people are forced to resign to, whereas it is much more difficult to resist to the temptations of pride and opulence. What a force couldn’t he extract from the knowledge of and truths taught by Spiritism!
But, as we noticed, the eyes of Providence were not fixated on that young man. By submitting himself to the test, and by the fact of the test, he can, by the chain of event, become an element of progress to his country, helping in the destruction of the prejudices of cast. Thus, everything is connected in the world by the support of the intelligent forces that direct it. Nothing is useless, and the apparently small things may lead to the greatest results, and all that without breaching the laws of nature. What wouldn’t be our awe if we could see the mechanism hidden by our inferiority and material nature! But, if we cannot see it, Spiritism makes it understandable to our thoughts, by revealing its laws, and that is how it elevates us, boosts our faith and our trust in God, and that successfully combats disbelief.
An Instructive Dream
During the last episode we had of illness, in April 1866, we were under the influence of an almost continuous somnolence and absorption; at that time, we dreamed constantly about insignificant things, to which we payed no attention. But, in the evening of April 24th, the vision offered such a particular character that we were vividly shocked. In a place that brought no recollection to our memory that resembled a street, there was a gathering of individuals chatting in a group; among them, only some were known to me in the dream, but I could not name them. We were looking at this crowd, trying to grasp the subject of the conversation, when suddenly, an inscription showed up at the corner of a wall, in small characters, shinning like fire, and which we were striving to decipher. It was conceived like this: “We discovered that the rubber, rolled under the wheel, makes a league in ten minutes, as long as the road…”. While trying to realize the end of the statement the inscription faded away gradually, and we woke up. Afraid that we could forget those singular words, we then quickly transcribed them.
What could be the meaning of such a vision, that nothing in our thoughts and concerns could have provoked? Since we were not involved with inventions or industrial researches, that could not be a reflex of our own ideas. Besides, what could be the meaning of “rubber rolled under the wheel makes a league in ten minutes”? Was it the revelation of some property of that substance? Would it be called upon to play a role in transportation? Is the intent to make us aware of a discovery? But then, why us instead of especial people, with the opportunity of doing the studies and the necessary experiments? Nonetheless, the dream was very specific, very special to be set aside among the fantasy dreams; it should have an objective, but which one? That is what we tried to discover without success.
During the day and having had the opportunity to consult with Dr. Demeure about our health, we took the opportunity to ask him to tell us if that dream carried anything serious. Here his response:
“The dreams that have besieged you in the last days are the result of the very suffering you are experiencing. Every time there is a weakening of the body there is a tendency to disengage the Spirit; but when the body suffers, the detachment does not happen in a regular and normal way; the Spirit is constantly called back to its position; it results in a kind of struggle, conflict between the material needs and the spiritual tendencies; it also results in interruptions and mixtures that cloud the images, transforming them into bizarre and meaningless settings. The character of dreams is connected, more than one think, to the nature of the illness. It is a study to be made and physicians will find valuable diagnosis in it when they acknowledge the independent action of the Spirit and the important role they play in the economy. If the state of the body reacts onto the Spirit, in turn the state of the Spirit powerfully influences health, and in certain cases, it is as useful to act upon the Spirit as it is upon the body. Well, the nature of the dreams may frequently be an indication of the state of the Spirit. I repeat that it is a study to be made, that has been neglected up until now by science, that only sees the action of matter everywhere, and does not take into account the spiritual element.
The dream that you mentioned, from which you kept such a clear memory, seems to me that it belongs to another category. It contains a remarkable fact that is worthy of attention. It was certainly motivated, but at the moment I could not give you a satisfactory explanation; I could only give you my personal opinion that I am not much certain about. I will seek information from a good source and tomorrow I will inform you about what I learned.”
The following explanation was given the next day:
“What you saw in your dream, and that I am assigned with explaining to you, is not one of those fantastic images provoked by the illness; it is incontestably a manifestation, not of discarnate, but of incarnate Spirits. You should know that during the dream you may encounter known or unknown persons, dead or alive. The latter case was the one that happened in this circumstance. Those that you saw are incarnate persons that do not know one another for the most part, and are involved with inventions tending to improve the means of locomotion, by annihilating, as much as possible, the excess expenditure caused by wear and tear of materials in use today. Some thought about rubber, others about other materials, but what is peculiar is that they wanted to call your attention as a subject of psychological study, about the gathering, in the same place, of the Spirits of different men seeking the same objective. The discovery has nothing to do with Spiritism; it is just the meeting of inventors that we wanted to show you, and the only objective of the inscription was to bring to your attention the main objective of their concern, since there are some that look for other applications of rubber. Rest assured that this occurs many times, and when several men discover a new law or a new element, at the same time, in several points of the globe, their Spirits studied the issue together, during the sleep, and when they woke up, each one worked their own way, putting in place the fruits of their own observations.
Note that these are the ideas of the incarnate, and that do not prejudge the merit of the discovery. It may well be that something useful may come out of all these brains in ebullition, as it is possible that it only results in fantasies. Needless to say that it would be useless to question the Spirits about it, for their mission, as you have said in your books, is not to spare man from the work of research, bringing them finished inventions that would add to so many causes of encouragement of laziness and ignorance. In this great tournament of human intelligence, each one is there on their own, and victory will come to the most skillful, most perseverant and most courageous.”
Question: What to think about discoveries that are attributed to chance? Aren’t there some discoveries that are not the result of any research?
Answer – “Chance, as you know well, does not exist; things that seem to be the most fortuitous to you, have their reason of being, as one must consider the innumerable hidden intelligences that preside over all parts of the whole. If the time has come for a given discovery, the elements are brought to light by those very intelligences. Twenty men, a hundred men will pass by without noticing it; only one will fixate his attention on that. An insignificant fact to the crowd is a ray of light to him. Finding it was not all; the essential part is to know how to implement it. It was not chance that placed it before his eyes, but the good Spirits that told him: “Watch, observe and take advantage if you will”. He then, in moments of freedom of his Spirit, during the sleep of the body, may be placed on the path, and when he wakes up, instinctively, he goes to the place where he can find the thing that he is called to make fruitful by his intelligence.”
What could be the meaning of such a vision, that nothing in our thoughts and concerns could have provoked? Since we were not involved with inventions or industrial researches, that could not be a reflex of our own ideas. Besides, what could be the meaning of “rubber rolled under the wheel makes a league in ten minutes”? Was it the revelation of some property of that substance? Would it be called upon to play a role in transportation? Is the intent to make us aware of a discovery? But then, why us instead of especial people, with the opportunity of doing the studies and the necessary experiments? Nonetheless, the dream was very specific, very special to be set aside among the fantasy dreams; it should have an objective, but which one? That is what we tried to discover without success.
During the day and having had the opportunity to consult with Dr. Demeure about our health, we took the opportunity to ask him to tell us if that dream carried anything serious. Here his response:
“The dreams that have besieged you in the last days are the result of the very suffering you are experiencing. Every time there is a weakening of the body there is a tendency to disengage the Spirit; but when the body suffers, the detachment does not happen in a regular and normal way; the Spirit is constantly called back to its position; it results in a kind of struggle, conflict between the material needs and the spiritual tendencies; it also results in interruptions and mixtures that cloud the images, transforming them into bizarre and meaningless settings. The character of dreams is connected, more than one think, to the nature of the illness. It is a study to be made and physicians will find valuable diagnosis in it when they acknowledge the independent action of the Spirit and the important role they play in the economy. If the state of the body reacts onto the Spirit, in turn the state of the Spirit powerfully influences health, and in certain cases, it is as useful to act upon the Spirit as it is upon the body. Well, the nature of the dreams may frequently be an indication of the state of the Spirit. I repeat that it is a study to be made, that has been neglected up until now by science, that only sees the action of matter everywhere, and does not take into account the spiritual element.
The dream that you mentioned, from which you kept such a clear memory, seems to me that it belongs to another category. It contains a remarkable fact that is worthy of attention. It was certainly motivated, but at the moment I could not give you a satisfactory explanation; I could only give you my personal opinion that I am not much certain about. I will seek information from a good source and tomorrow I will inform you about what I learned.”
The following explanation was given the next day:
“What you saw in your dream, and that I am assigned with explaining to you, is not one of those fantastic images provoked by the illness; it is incontestably a manifestation, not of discarnate, but of incarnate Spirits. You should know that during the dream you may encounter known or unknown persons, dead or alive. The latter case was the one that happened in this circumstance. Those that you saw are incarnate persons that do not know one another for the most part, and are involved with inventions tending to improve the means of locomotion, by annihilating, as much as possible, the excess expenditure caused by wear and tear of materials in use today. Some thought about rubber, others about other materials, but what is peculiar is that they wanted to call your attention as a subject of psychological study, about the gathering, in the same place, of the Spirits of different men seeking the same objective. The discovery has nothing to do with Spiritism; it is just the meeting of inventors that we wanted to show you, and the only objective of the inscription was to bring to your attention the main objective of their concern, since there are some that look for other applications of rubber. Rest assured that this occurs many times, and when several men discover a new law or a new element, at the same time, in several points of the globe, their Spirits studied the issue together, during the sleep, and when they woke up, each one worked their own way, putting in place the fruits of their own observations.
Note that these are the ideas of the incarnate, and that do not prejudge the merit of the discovery. It may well be that something useful may come out of all these brains in ebullition, as it is possible that it only results in fantasies. Needless to say that it would be useless to question the Spirits about it, for their mission, as you have said in your books, is not to spare man from the work of research, bringing them finished inventions that would add to so many causes of encouragement of laziness and ignorance. In this great tournament of human intelligence, each one is there on their own, and victory will come to the most skillful, most perseverant and most courageous.”
Question: What to think about discoveries that are attributed to chance? Aren’t there some discoveries that are not the result of any research?
Answer – “Chance, as you know well, does not exist; things that seem to be the most fortuitous to you, have their reason of being, as one must consider the innumerable hidden intelligences that preside over all parts of the whole. If the time has come for a given discovery, the elements are brought to light by those very intelligences. Twenty men, a hundred men will pass by without noticing it; only one will fixate his attention on that. An insignificant fact to the crowd is a ray of light to him. Finding it was not all; the essential part is to know how to implement it. It was not chance that placed it before his eyes, but the good Spirits that told him: “Watch, observe and take advantage if you will”. He then, in moments of freedom of his Spirit, during the sleep of the body, may be placed on the path, and when he wakes up, instinctively, he goes to the place where he can find the thing that he is called to make fruitful by his intelligence.”
Retrospective View of the Various Incarnations of a Spirit
Sleep of the Spirits, by Dr. Cailleux
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, May 11th, 1866
medium Mr. Morin
Your warm welcome and good prayers in my favor oblige me to thank you and assure you of my eternal dedication. Since my entry in the true life, I quickly familiarized myself with all the news, in the very kind demands of my current situation. Today I am called from all sides, not like in the past, attending the needs of the sick bodies, but to bring relief to the illnesses of the soul. The task is easy, and today I get to the headboard of those in suffering that call me much faster than in the past. I even can – and this does not impress me – transport myself almost instantaneously, form one point to another, with the same agility that my thoughts move from one subject to the next. I am just admired by the fact that I can do it myself!...
My good friends, I must tell you about something spiritual that happens to me and that I wish to submit to your analysis, so that you can help me acknowledge my mistake, if I am wrong regarding my won appreciation of the matter. You know that as a physician, in my last incarnation, I had worked with great dedication to the study of my profession. Everything related to medicine was a matter of observation to me. I must say, without any pride, that I had acquired some knowledge, perhaps for the fact that I did not always followed the routine. I frequently sought in the psychological what could bring disturbance to the physical; that might be the reason why I knew my profession a little bit better than certain colleagues. Anyhow, here is the case: A few days ago I felt a kind of torpor seizing my Spirit, and while maintaining consciousness, I felt transported in space; when I got to a place that has no name for you, I found myself in a gathering of Spirits that had acquired some celebrity for the discoveries they had made. I was really surprised to find there, among those elders of all ages and names of all times, a perispirit that resembled me. I wondered what it all meant; I addressed to them the questions suggested by my position, but my astonishment was even greater when I heard myself answering. I then turned to them to find myself alone.
Here are my deductions…
Dr. Cailleux
Note: The Spirit stopped there and continued in the next session
The question of fluids, that is the foundation of your studies, played a very important role in the experience that I pointed out to you in the last session. Today I can explain better what happened, and instead of telling you about my own inferences, I can tell you what was revealed to me by the good friends that guide me in the world of the Spirits. When my Spirit underwent a kind of numbness, I was, so to speak, magnetized by the fluid of my spiritual friends; with God’s permission it should lead to a psychological satisfaction, they say, that is my reward, and besides, an encouragement to march on the path that my Spirit has been walking on a good number of existences. I was, therefore, asleep in a spiritual magnetic sleep; I saw the past forming in a fictious present; I recognized individuals that disappeared in the wake of time, or rather, that had been only one individual. I saw a creature starting a medical work; another one later, continuing what had been sketched before and so forth. I even saw, from generation to generation, in less time than it takes to tell you, the formation, growth and the making of a science, of what in the beginning was not more than the first experiments of a mind occupied with the relief of humanity in suffering. I saw all that, and when I got to the last one of those beings that successively had brought a complement to the work, I then recognized myself. Then, it all disappeared, and I became the late Spirit of your poor doctor. Now, this is the explanation. I do not give it to you for vanity, far from that, but mainly to provide you with a subject of study, talking about the spiritual sleep, that clarified by your guides, can only be useful to me since I attend all of your works. I saw, in that sleep, many different bodies that were animated by my Spirit in a certain number of incarnations, and they all worked in the medical field, without ever deviating from the principles that were elaborated by the first one. This last incarnation was not to gain more knowledge but simply to practice what I learned from the theory.
With all that I remain your debtor. But, if you allow, I will come to learn from you and eventually give my own opinion about certain issues.
Dr. Cailleux
Study
There is a double teaching here; to begin with, there is the event of magnetization of a Spirit by other Spirits, and the sleep that follows; second, the retrospective view of the different bodies that were animated by him. There is, therefore, to the Spirits, a kind of sleep, that is an additional point of contact between the spiritual and the corporeal state. It is true that we here talk about a magnetic sleep; but would there be a natural sleep to them, like ours? This would not be surprising when we see Spirits that are so much identified with the corporeal state that they take their fluidic body by a material one, that believe to work as they did on Earth, and that get tired. If they feel fatigue, they must feel the need for resting, and can lie down and sleep, as they believe to work and travel in the railroad. We say that they believe, speaking from our point o view, for everything is relative, and regarding its fluidic nature, things are so real as the material ones are to us. It is only the Spirits of inferior order that have such delusions; the less advanced the more their state approaches the corporeal state. Now, this cannot be the case of Dr. Cailleux, an advanced Spirit that is perfectly aware of his condition. But is not less true that he was conscious of a numbness analogous to the sleep, in which he saw his several individualities. A member of the Society explains this phenomenon in the following way: In the human sleep it is only that body that rests, but the Spirit does not sleep. It must be the same in the spiritual state; the magnetic sleep, or another, must only affect the spiritual body or perispirit, and the Spirit must be in a relatively analogous state of the incarnate Spirit during the sleep of the body, that is, keeping the awareness of their being. The different incarnation of Mr. Cailleux, that his spiritual guides wanted him to see, for his enlightenment, could be presented to him as a memory, in the same way that the images are presented in dreams.
This explanation is perfectly logical. It was confirmed by the Spirits that, by provoking the report of Dr. Cailleux, wanted us to know a new phase of the life beyond the grave.
Sleep of the Spirits, by Dr. Cailleux
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, May 11th, 1866
medium Mr. Morin
Your warm welcome and good prayers in my favor oblige me to thank you and assure you of my eternal dedication. Since my entry in the true life, I quickly familiarized myself with all the news, in the very kind demands of my current situation. Today I am called from all sides, not like in the past, attending the needs of the sick bodies, but to bring relief to the illnesses of the soul. The task is easy, and today I get to the headboard of those in suffering that call me much faster than in the past. I even can – and this does not impress me – transport myself almost instantaneously, form one point to another, with the same agility that my thoughts move from one subject to the next. I am just admired by the fact that I can do it myself!...
My good friends, I must tell you about something spiritual that happens to me and that I wish to submit to your analysis, so that you can help me acknowledge my mistake, if I am wrong regarding my won appreciation of the matter. You know that as a physician, in my last incarnation, I had worked with great dedication to the study of my profession. Everything related to medicine was a matter of observation to me. I must say, without any pride, that I had acquired some knowledge, perhaps for the fact that I did not always followed the routine. I frequently sought in the psychological what could bring disturbance to the physical; that might be the reason why I knew my profession a little bit better than certain colleagues. Anyhow, here is the case: A few days ago I felt a kind of torpor seizing my Spirit, and while maintaining consciousness, I felt transported in space; when I got to a place that has no name for you, I found myself in a gathering of Spirits that had acquired some celebrity for the discoveries they had made. I was really surprised to find there, among those elders of all ages and names of all times, a perispirit that resembled me. I wondered what it all meant; I addressed to them the questions suggested by my position, but my astonishment was even greater when I heard myself answering. I then turned to them to find myself alone.
Here are my deductions…
Dr. Cailleux
Note: The Spirit stopped there and continued in the next session
The question of fluids, that is the foundation of your studies, played a very important role in the experience that I pointed out to you in the last session. Today I can explain better what happened, and instead of telling you about my own inferences, I can tell you what was revealed to me by the good friends that guide me in the world of the Spirits. When my Spirit underwent a kind of numbness, I was, so to speak, magnetized by the fluid of my spiritual friends; with God’s permission it should lead to a psychological satisfaction, they say, that is my reward, and besides, an encouragement to march on the path that my Spirit has been walking on a good number of existences. I was, therefore, asleep in a spiritual magnetic sleep; I saw the past forming in a fictious present; I recognized individuals that disappeared in the wake of time, or rather, that had been only one individual. I saw a creature starting a medical work; another one later, continuing what had been sketched before and so forth. I even saw, from generation to generation, in less time than it takes to tell you, the formation, growth and the making of a science, of what in the beginning was not more than the first experiments of a mind occupied with the relief of humanity in suffering. I saw all that, and when I got to the last one of those beings that successively had brought a complement to the work, I then recognized myself. Then, it all disappeared, and I became the late Spirit of your poor doctor. Now, this is the explanation. I do not give it to you for vanity, far from that, but mainly to provide you with a subject of study, talking about the spiritual sleep, that clarified by your guides, can only be useful to me since I attend all of your works. I saw, in that sleep, many different bodies that were animated by my Spirit in a certain number of incarnations, and they all worked in the medical field, without ever deviating from the principles that were elaborated by the first one. This last incarnation was not to gain more knowledge but simply to practice what I learned from the theory.
With all that I remain your debtor. But, if you allow, I will come to learn from you and eventually give my own opinion about certain issues.
Dr. Cailleux
Study
There is a double teaching here; to begin with, there is the event of magnetization of a Spirit by other Spirits, and the sleep that follows; second, the retrospective view of the different bodies that were animated by him. There is, therefore, to the Spirits, a kind of sleep, that is an additional point of contact between the spiritual and the corporeal state. It is true that we here talk about a magnetic sleep; but would there be a natural sleep to them, like ours? This would not be surprising when we see Spirits that are so much identified with the corporeal state that they take their fluidic body by a material one, that believe to work as they did on Earth, and that get tired. If they feel fatigue, they must feel the need for resting, and can lie down and sleep, as they believe to work and travel in the railroad. We say that they believe, speaking from our point o view, for everything is relative, and regarding its fluidic nature, things are so real as the material ones are to us. It is only the Spirits of inferior order that have such delusions; the less advanced the more their state approaches the corporeal state. Now, this cannot be the case of Dr. Cailleux, an advanced Spirit that is perfectly aware of his condition. But is not less true that he was conscious of a numbness analogous to the sleep, in which he saw his several individualities. A member of the Society explains this phenomenon in the following way: In the human sleep it is only that body that rests, but the Spirit does not sleep. It must be the same in the spiritual state; the magnetic sleep, or another, must only affect the spiritual body or perispirit, and the Spirit must be in a relatively analogous state of the incarnate Spirit during the sleep of the body, that is, keeping the awareness of their being. The different incarnation of Mr. Cailleux, that his spiritual guides wanted him to see, for his enlightenment, could be presented to him as a memory, in the same way that the images are presented in dreams.
This explanation is perfectly logical. It was confirmed by the Spirits that, by provoking the report of Dr. Cailleux, wanted us to know a new phase of the life beyond the grave.
Questions and Problems
It is in the air
Paris, May 13th, 1866 – medium Mr. Tail…
Question: When something is foreseen by the masses, generally it is said that “it is in the air”. What is the origin of this expression?
Answer: Its origin, like of many things that go unnoticed and that are explained by Spiritism, it is in the intimate and intuitive feeling of reality. The expression is more truthful than one may think. This general pre-sense of approximation of a serious event has two causes: the first comes from the innumerable masses of Spirits that incessantly move around space and that are aware of things in preparation; because of their dematerialization, they are in more condition to follow the unfolding and predict its occurrence. These Spirits, that incessantly rub elbows with humanity, communicate their thoughts through the fluidic currents that connect the corporeal to the spiritual world. Although you do not see them, their thoughts get to you like the aroma of the flowers hidden by the foliage, and you assimilate them unnoticeably. Air is literally crossed by these fluidic currents that sow the idea everywhere, so much so that the expression “it is in the air” is not only an image, but it is positively true. Certain Spirits are more specially assigned by the Providence with the transmission of inevitable things through presentiment to men, aiming at giving them a secret warning, and they accomplish that mission by meddling among men. They are like intimate voices that reverberate in your intimate self.
The second cause of this phenomenon is in the detachment of the incarnate Spirit in the resting of the body. In those moments of freedom, the Spirit gather with fellow Spirits, those with whom there is more affinity; the Spirit absorbs their thoughts, sees what he cannot see with the eyes of the body, reporting his intuition when waking up, as if it were a totally personal idea. This explains how the same idea may appear at the same time, in a hundred different points and in thousands of brains.
As you know, certain individuals are more capable than others to receive the spiritual influx, be it through the direct communication of strange Spirits, be it through the easier detachment of their own Spirit. Many enjoy, in different degrees, the second sight or spiritual vision, a much more common faculty that you think, and that is revealed in a thousand ways; others keep a more or less clear memory of what they saw during the emancipation of the soul. Due to such a skill, they have a more accurate notion of things; it is not a vague presentiment to them, but the intuition, and in some the actual knowledge of the thing, whose realization they foresee and announce. If we ask them how they know, the majority will not be able to explain; some will say that an inner voice told them, others that they had a revealing vision; others still will say that they feel but do not know how. In times of ignorance, and to the eyes of superstitious people, they go by foretellers and witches, although they are only persons endowed by a spontaneous and unconscious mediumship, a faculty that is inherent to human nature, and that has nothing of supernatural, but that cannot be understood by those that do not admit anything outside matter.
Such a faculty has always existed, but it must be noticed that it develops and multiplies under circumstances that excite the activity of the mind, at moments of crises and imminence of important events. Revolutions, wars, persecutions of party and sects have always given rise to many clairvoyants and inspired people that were classified as enlightened.
Dr. Demeure
Observation: The relationships between the corporeal and the spiritual worlds have nothing of surprising if we consider that these two worlds are formed by the same elements, that is, the same individuals that pass alternately from one to the other. The one that is among the incarnate on Earth today, will be among the discarnate of spaces tomorrow and vice-versa. The world of the Spirits, therefore, is not a world aside. It is humanity itself disentangled from its material covering, and that continues its existence with a new form and more freedom. The relationships between these two worlds, in permanent contact, are then part of the natural laws. The ignorance of the law that rules them has been the tripping stone of every philosophy. It is for the lack of knowledge about it that so many problems have remained unsolved. Spiritism, which is the science of those relationships, gives us the only key that can solve them. How many things are no longer mysteries, thanks to Spiritism!
Answer: Its origin, like of many things that go unnoticed and that are explained by Spiritism, it is in the intimate and intuitive feeling of reality. The expression is more truthful than one may think. This general pre-sense of approximation of a serious event has two causes: the first comes from the innumerable masses of Spirits that incessantly move around space and that are aware of things in preparation; because of their dematerialization, they are in more condition to follow the unfolding and predict its occurrence. These Spirits, that incessantly rub elbows with humanity, communicate their thoughts through the fluidic currents that connect the corporeal to the spiritual world. Although you do not see them, their thoughts get to you like the aroma of the flowers hidden by the foliage, and you assimilate them unnoticeably. Air is literally crossed by these fluidic currents that sow the idea everywhere, so much so that the expression “it is in the air” is not only an image, but it is positively true. Certain Spirits are more specially assigned by the Providence with the transmission of inevitable things through presentiment to men, aiming at giving them a secret warning, and they accomplish that mission by meddling among men. They are like intimate voices that reverberate in your intimate self.
The second cause of this phenomenon is in the detachment of the incarnate Spirit in the resting of the body. In those moments of freedom, the Spirit gather with fellow Spirits, those with whom there is more affinity; the Spirit absorbs their thoughts, sees what he cannot see with the eyes of the body, reporting his intuition when waking up, as if it were a totally personal idea. This explains how the same idea may appear at the same time, in a hundred different points and in thousands of brains.
As you know, certain individuals are more capable than others to receive the spiritual influx, be it through the direct communication of strange Spirits, be it through the easier detachment of their own Spirit. Many enjoy, in different degrees, the second sight or spiritual vision, a much more common faculty that you think, and that is revealed in a thousand ways; others keep a more or less clear memory of what they saw during the emancipation of the soul. Due to such a skill, they have a more accurate notion of things; it is not a vague presentiment to them, but the intuition, and in some the actual knowledge of the thing, whose realization they foresee and announce. If we ask them how they know, the majority will not be able to explain; some will say that an inner voice told them, others that they had a revealing vision; others still will say that they feel but do not know how. In times of ignorance, and to the eyes of superstitious people, they go by foretellers and witches, although they are only persons endowed by a spontaneous and unconscious mediumship, a faculty that is inherent to human nature, and that has nothing of supernatural, but that cannot be understood by those that do not admit anything outside matter.
Such a faculty has always existed, but it must be noticed that it develops and multiplies under circumstances that excite the activity of the mind, at moments of crises and imminence of important events. Revolutions, wars, persecutions of party and sects have always given rise to many clairvoyants and inspired people that were classified as enlightened.
Dr. Demeure
Observation: The relationships between the corporeal and the spiritual worlds have nothing of surprising if we consider that these two worlds are formed by the same elements, that is, the same individuals that pass alternately from one to the other. The one that is among the incarnate on Earth today, will be among the discarnate of spaces tomorrow and vice-versa. The world of the Spirits, therefore, is not a world aside. It is humanity itself disentangled from its material covering, and that continues its existence with a new form and more freedom. The relationships between these two worlds, in permanent contact, are then part of the natural laws. The ignorance of the law that rules them has been the tripping stone of every philosophy. It is for the lack of knowledge about it that so many problems have remained unsolved. Spiritism, which is the science of those relationships, gives us the only key that can solve them. How many things are no longer mysteries, thanks to Spiritism!
Spiritist Poetry
To your bookParis, May 11th, 1866 – medium Mr. V…
Child, you will leave us shortly,
The humble roof that saw you born,
Running the world, facing its dangers,
And perhaps dying, short of your destiny.
Before fleeing our shore,
O my dear boy, listen once more
The guiding voice of your young age.
Alas, my son, in your path,
Many times by the proud shrub,
Your white hands will be torn,
And its poisonous thorn
Will limp your bruised foot,
More than once in the course.
Never mind! Far from here find the force
In the guiding star that shines your way,
Marching forward, always;
Do not miss the motherland,
The village, the home, faraway,
Dying without regretting your life,
If you were to lose it one day,
Preaching to all for doctrine,
Faith, love and charity,
Of your divine law, the only duty;
Tearing pride away everywhere,
False knowledge and egotism,
Stretching out like a shroud,
On the cradle of Spiritism;
By repeating what the voice
Of all these invisible worlds
Seems to reveal to you, sometimes,
In unspeakable whispers,
By pitying a rude century,
Adding insult to injury,
Calling you a witch,
Or a fortune teller;
By forgiving the contempt,
Trying through the prayer
To gather the many friends
Under the humble and holy banner.
I said: Go, child, farewell;
Your task is heavy and hard,
But believe and trust in your God,
Ease the way for you, He will.
A poet Spirit
In the following session, on May 18th, the same medium spontaneously wrote the following:
“An answer to a criticism of my verses “To your book”, made a little lightheartedly last Friday, by an unknown person that I do not see here tonight.”
In a mysterious grove,
Hidden by the emerging foliage
Of green lilacs, every year
In the Spring, we could hear
A gracious lark
Sing her beautiful song.
The birds of the neighboring woods
Came every morning,
Placing themselves by her side, in silence,
To better listen to the cadence,
That the pure voice shouted,
Spun, beaded, modulated
With an infinite grace.
The astonished and delighted crowd
Applauded the diva
When, by chance,
A young blackbird came
And began to whistle with rage
A monotonous melody
That we admired without reason.
The lark stopped, suddenly,
Smiled and told the spoiler:
You blackbird, that whistles so well,
You must sing as well.
Could we not, beautiful bird, one day listen to you?
The blackbird did not respond, fleeing away.
Why? You guess… Good night. I’m on my way.
Alfred de Musset
Child, you will leave us shortly,
The humble roof that saw you born,
Running the world, facing its dangers,
And perhaps dying, short of your destiny.
Before fleeing our shore,
O my dear boy, listen once more
The guiding voice of your young age.
Alas, my son, in your path,
Many times by the proud shrub,
Your white hands will be torn,
And its poisonous thorn
Will limp your bruised foot,
More than once in the course.
Never mind! Far from here find the force
In the guiding star that shines your way,
Marching forward, always;
Do not miss the motherland,
The village, the home, faraway,
Dying without regretting your life,
If you were to lose it one day,
Preaching to all for doctrine,
Faith, love and charity,
Of your divine law, the only duty;
Tearing pride away everywhere,
False knowledge and egotism,
Stretching out like a shroud,
On the cradle of Spiritism;
By repeating what the voice
Of all these invisible worlds
Seems to reveal to you, sometimes,
In unspeakable whispers,
By pitying a rude century,
Adding insult to injury,
Calling you a witch,
Or a fortune teller;
By forgiving the contempt,
Trying through the prayer
To gather the many friends
Under the humble and holy banner.
I said: Go, child, farewell;
Your task is heavy and hard,
But believe and trust in your God,
Ease the way for you, He will.
A poet Spirit
In the following session, on May 18th, the same medium spontaneously wrote the following:
“An answer to a criticism of my verses “To your book”, made a little lightheartedly last Friday, by an unknown person that I do not see here tonight.”
In a mysterious grove,
Hidden by the emerging foliage
Of green lilacs, every year
In the Spring, we could hear
A gracious lark
Sing her beautiful song.
The birds of the neighboring woods
Came every morning,
Placing themselves by her side, in silence,
To better listen to the cadence,
That the pure voice shouted,
Spun, beaded, modulated
With an infinite grace.
The astonished and delighted crowd
Applauded the diva
When, by chance,
A young blackbird came
And began to whistle with rage
A monotonous melody
That we admired without reason.
The lark stopped, suddenly,
Smiled and told the spoiler:
You blackbird, that whistles so well,
You must sing as well.
Could we not, beautiful bird, one day listen to you?
The blackbird did not respond, fleeing away.
Why? You guess… Good night. I’m on my way.
Alfred de Musset
The Caterpillar and the Butterfly
Fable of the Rapping Spirit of Carcassonne
With a bouquet of jasmine plowing the borders,
Trembling, a caterpillar in the decline of its days
Said to herself: "I am very ill, I no longer
digest the salad greens.
The cabbage hardly tempts my hunger.
I am dying bit by bit.
It's sad to die! Better not to be born.
Without murmuring one must submit.
It is up to others after me to trace their path.”
- But you will not die, said a butterfly.
If I remember well, on the same arbor
With you I crawled, I am family.
Future prepares you a happier destiny.
Perhaps the same love will unite us both.
Hope!… From sleep the passage is speedy.
Just as I was, you will be a chrysalis.
Like me you can, shining with colors,
Breathe in the scent of flowers."
The old woman replied: "Imposture, imposture!"
Nothing can change the laws of nature.
Hawthorn will never become jasmine.
To my broken rings, to my frail springs
What skillful worker will come to fix the wings?
Young fool, follow your away.
- Caterpillar! You are right; the possible has its bounds,
Resumed a snail, triumphant under its horns."
A toad applauds. With its sting, a hornet
Insulted the beautiful butterfly.
……….
No, it's not always the truth that shines.
Here below, how many born blind
The soul of the dead, deny.
Doctors, you reason kind
of the caterpillar.
Spiritist Dissertations
The Work
Extracted from the Spiritist Italian Journal La voce di Dio; translated from the Italian
The measure of the work imposed on each incarnate or discarnate Spirit is the certainty of having scrupulously accomplished the mission entrusted to them. Now, each one has a mission to accomplish: this one in large scale, the other in a smaller scale. However, the obligations are relatively all equal and God will ask you to account for the obol he has placed in your hands.
If you earned interest, if you doubled the sum, you would have certainly fulfilled your duty, because you have obeyed the supreme order. If, instead of having increased that obol, you had lost it, it is certain that you had abused the trust that your Creator had placed in you; thus, you will be treated like a thief, because you have taken and not returned; far from increasing, you diminished. Now, if, as I just said, every creature is obliged to receive and to give, how much more, Spiritists, are you obligated to obey this divine law, how much effort must you make to fulfill this duty before the Lord that chose you to share the work and invited you to His table? Remember, brothers, that the gift that is endowed to you is one of the supreme goods of God. Do not take pride in it but strive to deserve such high favor. If the titles that you may receive from a great one on Earth; if their favors are something beautiful to your eyes, how happy would you feel with the gifts of the Lord of the worlds, incorruptible and imperishable gifts that raise you above your brother and will be a source of pure and holy joys!
But do you want to be the only owners? Would you wish, like the selfish, to keep so much happiness and joy to yourself? O No. You were chosen as custodians. The riches that shine before your eyes are not for you but belong to all your brothers. You must, therefore, grow and distribute them. Like the good gardener that preserves and multiplies his flowers, and presents to you the delights of spring in the rigor of winter; like in the sad month of November, roses and lilies are born, so are you assigned with sowing and cultivating flowers of all seasons in your moral field, flowers that will challenge the breath of the Aquilon and the suffocating wind of the desert; flowers that once blossomed on their stems, will never fade away, but shiny and perennial will be the emblem of the everlasting greenery and colors. Human heart is a fertile soil of feelings and affection, a field full of sublime aspirations when cultivated by the hands of charity and religion. O Do not reserve for yourself alone these stems that always yield such sweet fruits! Offer them to your brothers, invite them to come to taste them, to feel the perfume of your flowers, to learn to cultivate your fields. We will assist you; we will find fresh streams that will flow gently, strengthening the exotic plants that are the germs of the celestial earth. Come! We will work with you, we will share your fatigue, so that you also can collect these goods and share them with other brothers in need.
God gives us, and we, grateful for His gifts, multiply them as much as possible. God commands us to improve others and ourselves; we will fulfill our obligations and sanctify His sublime will.
Spiritist, I am addressing you. We have prepared your field; now you must act so that all those in need may enjoy it broadly. Remember that all hatred, all grudges, all enmities must disappear before your duties. Educate the ignorant, help the weak, have compassion on the afflicted, defend the innocent, pity those that are in error, forgive the enemies. All these virtues must grow abundantly in your field, and you must implant them in your brothers. You will reap an ample harvest and will be blessed by your Father that is in heavens!
My dear children, I wanted to tell you all these things to encourage you to withstand with patience all those that, enemies of the new doctrine, seek to denigrate and distress you. God is with you, do not doubt it. The word of our celestial Father has fallen upon your globe as on the day of creation. He sends you a new light, a light full of splendor and truth.
Approach, tightly connect with God, and follow the path that opens before you with courage.
Saint Augustine
If you earned interest, if you doubled the sum, you would have certainly fulfilled your duty, because you have obeyed the supreme order. If, instead of having increased that obol, you had lost it, it is certain that you had abused the trust that your Creator had placed in you; thus, you will be treated like a thief, because you have taken and not returned; far from increasing, you diminished. Now, if, as I just said, every creature is obliged to receive and to give, how much more, Spiritists, are you obligated to obey this divine law, how much effort must you make to fulfill this duty before the Lord that chose you to share the work and invited you to His table? Remember, brothers, that the gift that is endowed to you is one of the supreme goods of God. Do not take pride in it but strive to deserve such high favor. If the titles that you may receive from a great one on Earth; if their favors are something beautiful to your eyes, how happy would you feel with the gifts of the Lord of the worlds, incorruptible and imperishable gifts that raise you above your brother and will be a source of pure and holy joys!
But do you want to be the only owners? Would you wish, like the selfish, to keep so much happiness and joy to yourself? O No. You were chosen as custodians. The riches that shine before your eyes are not for you but belong to all your brothers. You must, therefore, grow and distribute them. Like the good gardener that preserves and multiplies his flowers, and presents to you the delights of spring in the rigor of winter; like in the sad month of November, roses and lilies are born, so are you assigned with sowing and cultivating flowers of all seasons in your moral field, flowers that will challenge the breath of the Aquilon and the suffocating wind of the desert; flowers that once blossomed on their stems, will never fade away, but shiny and perennial will be the emblem of the everlasting greenery and colors. Human heart is a fertile soil of feelings and affection, a field full of sublime aspirations when cultivated by the hands of charity and religion. O Do not reserve for yourself alone these stems that always yield such sweet fruits! Offer them to your brothers, invite them to come to taste them, to feel the perfume of your flowers, to learn to cultivate your fields. We will assist you; we will find fresh streams that will flow gently, strengthening the exotic plants that are the germs of the celestial earth. Come! We will work with you, we will share your fatigue, so that you also can collect these goods and share them with other brothers in need.
God gives us, and we, grateful for His gifts, multiply them as much as possible. God commands us to improve others and ourselves; we will fulfill our obligations and sanctify His sublime will.
Spiritist, I am addressing you. We have prepared your field; now you must act so that all those in need may enjoy it broadly. Remember that all hatred, all grudges, all enmities must disappear before your duties. Educate the ignorant, help the weak, have compassion on the afflicted, defend the innocent, pity those that are in error, forgive the enemies. All these virtues must grow abundantly in your field, and you must implant them in your brothers. You will reap an ample harvest and will be blessed by your Father that is in heavens!
My dear children, I wanted to tell you all these things to encourage you to withstand with patience all those that, enemies of the new doctrine, seek to denigrate and distress you. God is with you, do not doubt it. The word of our celestial Father has fallen upon your globe as on the day of creation. He sends you a new light, a light full of splendor and truth.
Approach, tightly connect with God, and follow the path that opens before you with courage.
Saint Augustine
Bibliographic News
The Gospels Explained, by Mr. Roustaing[1]
This work contains the explanation and interpretation of the Gospels, article per article, with the help of communications dictated by the Spirits. It is a considerable work that has, to the Spiritists, the merit of not being, in any point, in contradiction with the Spiritist doctrine taught in The Spirits’ Book and The Mediums’ Book. The parts correspondents to those that we dealt with in the Gospels According to Spiritism are done in an analogous way. Besides, since we limited ourselves to the moral maxima that, with rare exceptions, are generally clear and could not be interpreted in several ways; thus, it had never been a matter of religious controversy. That is the reason why we started there, to be accepted without dispute, waiting for the rest that the public opinion was familiarized with the Spiritist idea.
The author of that work thought appropriate to follow another path. Instead of proceeding gradually, he wanted to reach the objective in a jump. Therefore, he treated certain questions that we do not think opportune to handle yet, and for which, consequently, we leave the responsibility to him, as to the Spirits that commented them. Consistent with our principle that consists on regulating our march by the development of the opinion, until new order we will not give his theories approval nor disapproval, allowing time to sanction or contradict them. It is therefore appropriate to consider those explanations as personal opinion of the Spirits that formulated them, opinions that may be fair or false, and that, in any case, need the sanction of the universal control, and until a more ample confirmation, they could not be considered a constituent part of the Spiritist Doctrine.
When we handle those questions, we will do it decisively. It means that we would have collected a sufficient amount of documents in the teachings given from all sides, by the same Spirits, so that we can speak affirmatively, and be sure to be in agreement with the majority. That is what we have done every time that it is about the formulation of a principle. We have said a hundred times that the opinion of a Spirit, to us, whatever the name that the Spirit may carry, has only the value of a personal opinion. Our criterion is in the universal agreement, supported by a rigorous logic, to the things that we cannot control with our own eyes. What would be the point of accepting a doctrine as the absolute truth, if it would be later fought by the generality of the Spirits?
I said that the book by Mr. Roustaing does not depart from the principles of The Spirits’ Book and The Mediums’ Book. Our observations are made about the application of those same principles to the interpretation of certain facts. That is how, for example, it gives Jesus Christ a fluidic materialized body, instead of a carnal body, with all the appearances of materiality, making it an agenerate. To the eyes of men that could not have understood its spiritual nature, it must have passed IN APPEARANCE – this expression is incessantly repeated throughout the book – for all vicissitudes of humanity. Here is how the mystery of His birth would be explained: Mary would have had only the appearance of pregnancy. Placed as a premise and cornerstone, this point is the basis that he uses as support to the explanation of every extraordinary and miraculous facts of Jesus’ life.
Undoubtedly, there is nothing materially impossible in this, for whoever knows the properties of the perispiritual covering. Without pronouncing pro or against this theory, we say that it is at least hypothetical, and that if it is one day recognized as a mistake, for lack of foundation, the edifice would collapse. We, therefore, wait for the numerous comments that it will provoke from the part of the Spirits, and that will contribute to clarify the issue. Without pre-judging it, we say that serious objections have already been made to this theory, and that in our opinion, the facts may be perfectly explained without leaving the condition of corporeal humanity.
These observations, subordinated to the sanction of the future, does not at all diminish the importance of the work, that side by side with doubtful things, from our point of view, contains others that are incontestably good and truthful, and will be consulted by the serious Spiritists, with benefit.
If the content of a book is the principal, the form must not be neglected, since it contributes with something to the success. We believe that certain parts are developed too extensively, without benefit of clarity. To us, if it were limited to the strictly necessary, the work could have been reduced to two, or perhaps a single volume, and would have gained popularity.
[1] The Four Gospels, followed by the commandments, explained in spirit and truth by the evangelists, assisted by the apostles. Collected and ordered by J.B. Roustaing, attorney in the Imperial Court of Bordeaux, former chief of the order. 3 volumes in-12, price 10.5 francs. In Paris, Central Bookstore, Boulevard des Italiens, 24. In Bordeaux, in all bookstores.
The author of that work thought appropriate to follow another path. Instead of proceeding gradually, he wanted to reach the objective in a jump. Therefore, he treated certain questions that we do not think opportune to handle yet, and for which, consequently, we leave the responsibility to him, as to the Spirits that commented them. Consistent with our principle that consists on regulating our march by the development of the opinion, until new order we will not give his theories approval nor disapproval, allowing time to sanction or contradict them. It is therefore appropriate to consider those explanations as personal opinion of the Spirits that formulated them, opinions that may be fair or false, and that, in any case, need the sanction of the universal control, and until a more ample confirmation, they could not be considered a constituent part of the Spiritist Doctrine.
When we handle those questions, we will do it decisively. It means that we would have collected a sufficient amount of documents in the teachings given from all sides, by the same Spirits, so that we can speak affirmatively, and be sure to be in agreement with the majority. That is what we have done every time that it is about the formulation of a principle. We have said a hundred times that the opinion of a Spirit, to us, whatever the name that the Spirit may carry, has only the value of a personal opinion. Our criterion is in the universal agreement, supported by a rigorous logic, to the things that we cannot control with our own eyes. What would be the point of accepting a doctrine as the absolute truth, if it would be later fought by the generality of the Spirits?
I said that the book by Mr. Roustaing does not depart from the principles of The Spirits’ Book and The Mediums’ Book. Our observations are made about the application of those same principles to the interpretation of certain facts. That is how, for example, it gives Jesus Christ a fluidic materialized body, instead of a carnal body, with all the appearances of materiality, making it an agenerate. To the eyes of men that could not have understood its spiritual nature, it must have passed IN APPEARANCE – this expression is incessantly repeated throughout the book – for all vicissitudes of humanity. Here is how the mystery of His birth would be explained: Mary would have had only the appearance of pregnancy. Placed as a premise and cornerstone, this point is the basis that he uses as support to the explanation of every extraordinary and miraculous facts of Jesus’ life.
Undoubtedly, there is nothing materially impossible in this, for whoever knows the properties of the perispiritual covering. Without pronouncing pro or against this theory, we say that it is at least hypothetical, and that if it is one day recognized as a mistake, for lack of foundation, the edifice would collapse. We, therefore, wait for the numerous comments that it will provoke from the part of the Spirits, and that will contribute to clarify the issue. Without pre-judging it, we say that serious objections have already been made to this theory, and that in our opinion, the facts may be perfectly explained without leaving the condition of corporeal humanity.
These observations, subordinated to the sanction of the future, does not at all diminish the importance of the work, that side by side with doubtful things, from our point of view, contains others that are incontestably good and truthful, and will be consulted by the serious Spiritists, with benefit.
If the content of a book is the principal, the form must not be neglected, since it contributes with something to the success. We believe that certain parts are developed too extensively, without benefit of clarity. To us, if it were limited to the strictly necessary, the work could have been reduced to two, or perhaps a single volume, and would have gained popularity.
[1] The Four Gospels, followed by the commandments, explained in spirit and truth by the evangelists, assisted by the apostles. Collected and ordered by J.B. Roustaing, attorney in the Imperial Court of Bordeaux, former chief of the order. 3 volumes in-12, price 10.5 francs. In Paris, Central Bookstore, Boulevard des Italiens, 24. In Bordeaux, in all bookstores.
The Voice of God
Dictated by the Spirits, Society of Scordia, Sicily
This work contains
Italy has a new Spiritist periodical publication. This is exclusively devoted to the teaching of the Spirits. The first number indeed contains only mediumistic productions, including even the preface and the preliminary speech. Here is the list of topics covered in this issue:
Preface, advice given to the Society for the formation of the newspaper. - Preliminary speech, signed Saint Augustine. - Allegory on Spiritism. - Reverberation of the soul. - Forecasts. - Regret of a suffering Spirit, interview. - Work. - The death of Christ. - Collective prayer. Answer to a proposed question.
All these communications bear an incontestable seal of superiority from the point of view of morality and the elevation of thoughts. This can be judged by the one on Labor that we publish above.
The Spirits will therefore have their journal, and there will certainly not be lack of contributors; but, as with the incarnate, there are Spirits of all degrees of merit; We are counting on the judgment of the editors to make a rigorous choice among these productions from beyond the grave, which can only gain in clarity and interest, if, according to the circumstances, are accompanied by a few comments.
Italy has a new Spiritist periodical publication. This is exclusively devoted to the teaching of the Spirits. The first number indeed contains only mediumistic productions, including even the preface and the preliminary speech. Here is the list of topics covered in this issue:
Preface, advice given to the Society for the formation of the newspaper. - Preliminary speech, signed Saint Augustine. - Allegory on Spiritism. - Reverberation of the soul. - Forecasts. - Regret of a suffering Spirit, interview. - Work. - The death of Christ. - Collective prayer. Answer to a proposed question.
All these communications bear an incontestable seal of superiority from the point of view of morality and the elevation of thoughts. This can be judged by the one on Labor that we publish above.
The Spirits will therefore have their journal, and there will certainly not be lack of contributors; but, as with the incarnate, there are Spirits of all degrees of merit; We are counting on the judgment of the editors to make a rigorous choice among these productions from beyond the grave, which can only gain in clarity and interest, if, according to the circumstances, are accompanied by a few comments.