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Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866 > September > Spiritism Only Asks to Be Recognized
Spiritism Only Asks to Be Recognized
It is an attested fact that since when Spiritism became the target of the critic, it has demonstrated the most complete ignorance of its principles, even the most elemental ones. The critic demonstrated that abundantly, making Spiritism say precisely the opposite of what it says, attributing it with ideas that are in opposition to the ones that it professes. Since Spiritism is just a fantasy to the critic, it said to oneself: “Spiritism must say this and that.” In a word, the critic judged by what they imagined Spiritism could be, and not by which it really is. It would be undoubtedly easy for the critic to clarify itself. However, that would require reading, studying, and deepening the investigation of a purely philosophical doctrine, analyze the idea, the reach of the words. However, that is a serious work and does not pleases everybody and is tiresome to some. Most writers, finding in the writings of their comrades a ready-made judgment, according to their skeptical ideas, accepted the substance without further examination, limiting themselves to point out to some of their formal variations. That is how the falsest ideas propagated like echoes in the press, and consequently in part of the public. This, however, could not last long. The Spiritist Doctrine, that has nothing hidden, that is clear, precise, without allegories or ambiguities, without abstract formulas, should end up being better known. The very violence with which it was attacked should provoke its examination. That is what happened, and that is what provokes the reaction that is observed today. It does not mean that all of those that study it, even seriously so, must became its apostles. Certainly not, but it is impossible that a careful study, done without preconceived ideas, does not at least attenuate the prevention that had been conceived, if not completely dissipate it. It was evident that the hostility driven towards Spiritism should lead to this result. That is why we were never worried about it.
Given the fact that Spiritism makes less noise at this time, some people think that there is stagnation in its progressive march. But then, there is no value in the turnaround of opinion that is taking place? Is it an insignificant conquest to be seen with less evil eyes? Since the beginning Spiritism has attracted those that, so to speak, had these ideas in a state of intuition. It had only to show itself to be eagerly accepted. That is what explains its rapid numeric growth. Today, that it has harvested what was ripe, it acts upon the refractory mass. The work takes longer, and the means of action are different and appropriate to the nature of the difficulties, but with the fluctuations of opinion, one feels that the mass is shaken by the ax of the Spirits that strike it incessantly in a thousand ways. Progress is not less real for being less apparent. It is like a construction work that raises rapidly and that seems to stop when the work happens inside.
As for the Spiritists, the first moment was that of enthusiasm. But a state of super excitation cannot be permanent; a calmer state followed the expansive, exterior movement; faith is also lively, although colder and more reasoned, and for that very reason more solid. Effervescence has given way to a softer intimate satisfaction, better appreciated every day, by the serenity given by the unshakable trust in the future.
Spiritism, therefore, today begins to be judged from another point of view. It is no longer seen as strange or ridiculous because they know it better. The Spiritists are no longer pointed at, like curious animals. If many people still reject the fact of manifestations that they cannot reconcile with the idea that they make of the invisible world, they no longer contest the philosophical reach of the doctrine. Be its moral old or new, it still is a moral doctrine that can only stimulate the practice of good by those that profess it. That is what is acknowledged by those that know it. Now, everything that is censored in the Spiritists is the fact that they believe in the communication of the Spirits, but that small weakness as excused in favor of the rest. In this case, it is up to the Spirits to show if they exist.
The article by Mr. Bertram, from Brussels, cited above, seems to be the expression of the feeling that tends to propagate in the world of the mockers mentioned there, and will develop as Spiritism becomes better known.
The following article deals with the same subject but reveals a more complete conviction. It is extracted from the Soleil of May 5th.
“At the same time that The Apostles appeared, by Mr. Ernest Renan, Mr. J.B. Roustaing, enlightened follower of Spiritism, published through the Central Bookstore a considerable work entitled The Four Gospels, followed by commandments explained in spirit and truth by the evangelists assisted by the apostles. The Parisian mass almost only knows, in matters of Spiritism, the gallimaufry of some deceivers that uselessly try to abuse the credulity of an incredulous public. These charlatans were booed, what is well deserved; but the Spiritists, full or ardor and faith, continued their experiments and their rapid propaganda.
In Paris, the most serious things are treated the same way as the most futile ones. It is here that in most cases it is enquired if it is a god, a table, or a basin. The brief experiments tried between two cups of tea by two adulterous women and a few pretentious youngsters were enough to the curiosity of the Parisians. It the table gave signs that it would move, they laughed a lot; if, on the contrary, the table remained firm, they laughed even more, and that is how the issue was deepened. This was different with the more thoughtful population of the country. The minimum result animated the proselytes, exciting their enthusiasm. The Spirits of their relatives responded to their expectation, and each one of them, talking to the soul of their deceased father or brother, became convinced of having lifted the veil of death, that from thereafter could not cause them fear. If there has ever being a reassuring doctrine, this is the one: the preserved individuality beyond the grave, the formal promise of another life that is, in fact, the continuation of the previous one. The family survives and love does not die with the person; there is no separation. Every night, in the South or in the West of France, the attentive Spiritist gatherings become more abundant. They pray, evoke, and believe. Persons that cannot write, write; their hand is guided by the Spirit.
Spiritism is not a social danger. Thus, it can spread without the opposition of barriers. If Spiritism were persecuted it would have its martyrs, like Babism in Persia. Besides the more serious mediumistic answers there are indications and advices that provoke smiles. The author of The Four Gospels, Mr. Roustaing, attorney at the Imperial Court of Bordeaux, is not naïve nor a dilletante, and in his preface there is the following communication: “It is time for you to give publicity to this work. We do not establish limits; employ your time with wisdom and ponderation to spare your energy. The publication can start in the next month of August; from now on, work as promptly as possible, but without going beyond human forces, so that the publication is finished in the month of August 1866.”
Signed: Moses, Matthews, Mark, Luke and John, assisted by the apostles.”
The reader becomes surprised for not seeing Moses, Matthews, Luke and John taking their advice to the extreme by adding: - You will have the book printed at the house Lavertujon, Rue des Treilles 7, in Bordeaux, and will have it for sale at the Central Bookstore, Boulevard des Italiens 24, in Paris.
We also stopped at the passage that recommends the author to not go beyond human forces. Would the author then have surpassed it without such a paternal recommendation by the Messrs. Moses, Matthews, Mark, Luke, and John?
Without initially talking about Spiritism, Mr. Renan makes several references to this new doctrine, whose importance he seems to not ignore. The author of the Apostles remembers on page 8, a fundamental passage of St. Paul that establishes: 1st – the reality of the apparitions; 2nd – the long duration of the apparitions. Mr. Renan meddles with Spiritism only once. On page 22, second note, he says:
To conceive the possibility of similar illusions, it is enough to refer to the scenes of our days, in which gathered persons unanimously acknowledge to hear inexistent noises, and that in perfect good faith. The wait, the effort of imagination, the disposition to believe, sometimes innocent complacencies, explain those among the phenomena that are not the direct product of fraud.
These complacencies, in general, come from convinced persons, animated by a feeling of benevolence, that does not want that the session ends badly, and wish to spare embarrassment to the owners of the house. When you believe in miracles, you always help it without noticing. Doubt and denial are impossible in that kind of meetings. It would be painful for the believers and for those that invited. That is why such experiments give result in a small group and generally fail before a paying public, and always fail with scientific commissions.
Here, as elsewhere, the book of Mr. Renan lacks good reasons. With a smooth and enchanting style, replacing logic by poetry, Apostles should be called The Last Abencerrages. The references to useless documents, the false proofs that overloads the book give it every appearance of childishness with which it was conceived. There is no mistaking it.
Mr. Renan says that Mary of Magdala, crying by the foot of the tomb, had a vision, a simple vision. Who told him? She thought she heard a voice. How does he know she really didn’t hear it? All the affirmations contained in the work have more or less the same force.
If the Spiritists can only offer their good faith for explanation, Mr. Renan does not even have that resource. Here we can only comment the book by Mr. Roustaing; we do not have the right to discuss it, any more than see where it leads us. As a matter of fact, this would not be the place to enter into consideration that the reader does not seek in our columns. The work is serious, the style is clear and firm. The author did not fall in the ordinary deviation of the commentators, that are frequently more obscure than the text itself that they want to clarify. Spiritism that had its catechism, will have from now on its annotated code and its course of jurisprudence. It will only lack the proof of the martyrdom.
Aurélien Scholl
Given the fact that Spiritism makes less noise at this time, some people think that there is stagnation in its progressive march. But then, there is no value in the turnaround of opinion that is taking place? Is it an insignificant conquest to be seen with less evil eyes? Since the beginning Spiritism has attracted those that, so to speak, had these ideas in a state of intuition. It had only to show itself to be eagerly accepted. That is what explains its rapid numeric growth. Today, that it has harvested what was ripe, it acts upon the refractory mass. The work takes longer, and the means of action are different and appropriate to the nature of the difficulties, but with the fluctuations of opinion, one feels that the mass is shaken by the ax of the Spirits that strike it incessantly in a thousand ways. Progress is not less real for being less apparent. It is like a construction work that raises rapidly and that seems to stop when the work happens inside.
As for the Spiritists, the first moment was that of enthusiasm. But a state of super excitation cannot be permanent; a calmer state followed the expansive, exterior movement; faith is also lively, although colder and more reasoned, and for that very reason more solid. Effervescence has given way to a softer intimate satisfaction, better appreciated every day, by the serenity given by the unshakable trust in the future.
Spiritism, therefore, today begins to be judged from another point of view. It is no longer seen as strange or ridiculous because they know it better. The Spiritists are no longer pointed at, like curious animals. If many people still reject the fact of manifestations that they cannot reconcile with the idea that they make of the invisible world, they no longer contest the philosophical reach of the doctrine. Be its moral old or new, it still is a moral doctrine that can only stimulate the practice of good by those that profess it. That is what is acknowledged by those that know it. Now, everything that is censored in the Spiritists is the fact that they believe in the communication of the Spirits, but that small weakness as excused in favor of the rest. In this case, it is up to the Spirits to show if they exist.
The article by Mr. Bertram, from Brussels, cited above, seems to be the expression of the feeling that tends to propagate in the world of the mockers mentioned there, and will develop as Spiritism becomes better known.
The following article deals with the same subject but reveals a more complete conviction. It is extracted from the Soleil of May 5th.
“At the same time that The Apostles appeared, by Mr. Ernest Renan, Mr. J.B. Roustaing, enlightened follower of Spiritism, published through the Central Bookstore a considerable work entitled The Four Gospels, followed by commandments explained in spirit and truth by the evangelists assisted by the apostles. The Parisian mass almost only knows, in matters of Spiritism, the gallimaufry of some deceivers that uselessly try to abuse the credulity of an incredulous public. These charlatans were booed, what is well deserved; but the Spiritists, full or ardor and faith, continued their experiments and their rapid propaganda.
In Paris, the most serious things are treated the same way as the most futile ones. It is here that in most cases it is enquired if it is a god, a table, or a basin. The brief experiments tried between two cups of tea by two adulterous women and a few pretentious youngsters were enough to the curiosity of the Parisians. It the table gave signs that it would move, they laughed a lot; if, on the contrary, the table remained firm, they laughed even more, and that is how the issue was deepened. This was different with the more thoughtful population of the country. The minimum result animated the proselytes, exciting their enthusiasm. The Spirits of their relatives responded to their expectation, and each one of them, talking to the soul of their deceased father or brother, became convinced of having lifted the veil of death, that from thereafter could not cause them fear. If there has ever being a reassuring doctrine, this is the one: the preserved individuality beyond the grave, the formal promise of another life that is, in fact, the continuation of the previous one. The family survives and love does not die with the person; there is no separation. Every night, in the South or in the West of France, the attentive Spiritist gatherings become more abundant. They pray, evoke, and believe. Persons that cannot write, write; their hand is guided by the Spirit.
Spiritism is not a social danger. Thus, it can spread without the opposition of barriers. If Spiritism were persecuted it would have its martyrs, like Babism in Persia. Besides the more serious mediumistic answers there are indications and advices that provoke smiles. The author of The Four Gospels, Mr. Roustaing, attorney at the Imperial Court of Bordeaux, is not naïve nor a dilletante, and in his preface there is the following communication: “It is time for you to give publicity to this work. We do not establish limits; employ your time with wisdom and ponderation to spare your energy. The publication can start in the next month of August; from now on, work as promptly as possible, but without going beyond human forces, so that the publication is finished in the month of August 1866.”
Signed: Moses, Matthews, Mark, Luke and John, assisted by the apostles.”
The reader becomes surprised for not seeing Moses, Matthews, Luke and John taking their advice to the extreme by adding: - You will have the book printed at the house Lavertujon, Rue des Treilles 7, in Bordeaux, and will have it for sale at the Central Bookstore, Boulevard des Italiens 24, in Paris.
We also stopped at the passage that recommends the author to not go beyond human forces. Would the author then have surpassed it without such a paternal recommendation by the Messrs. Moses, Matthews, Mark, Luke, and John?
Without initially talking about Spiritism, Mr. Renan makes several references to this new doctrine, whose importance he seems to not ignore. The author of the Apostles remembers on page 8, a fundamental passage of St. Paul that establishes: 1st – the reality of the apparitions; 2nd – the long duration of the apparitions. Mr. Renan meddles with Spiritism only once. On page 22, second note, he says:
To conceive the possibility of similar illusions, it is enough to refer to the scenes of our days, in which gathered persons unanimously acknowledge to hear inexistent noises, and that in perfect good faith. The wait, the effort of imagination, the disposition to believe, sometimes innocent complacencies, explain those among the phenomena that are not the direct product of fraud.
These complacencies, in general, come from convinced persons, animated by a feeling of benevolence, that does not want that the session ends badly, and wish to spare embarrassment to the owners of the house. When you believe in miracles, you always help it without noticing. Doubt and denial are impossible in that kind of meetings. It would be painful for the believers and for those that invited. That is why such experiments give result in a small group and generally fail before a paying public, and always fail with scientific commissions.
Here, as elsewhere, the book of Mr. Renan lacks good reasons. With a smooth and enchanting style, replacing logic by poetry, Apostles should be called The Last Abencerrages. The references to useless documents, the false proofs that overloads the book give it every appearance of childishness with which it was conceived. There is no mistaking it.
Mr. Renan says that Mary of Magdala, crying by the foot of the tomb, had a vision, a simple vision. Who told him? She thought she heard a voice. How does he know she really didn’t hear it? All the affirmations contained in the work have more or less the same force.
If the Spiritists can only offer their good faith for explanation, Mr. Renan does not even have that resource. Here we can only comment the book by Mr. Roustaing; we do not have the right to discuss it, any more than see where it leads us. As a matter of fact, this would not be the place to enter into consideration that the reader does not seek in our columns. The work is serious, the style is clear and firm. The author did not fall in the ordinary deviation of the commentators, that are frequently more obscure than the text itself that they want to clarify. Spiritism that had its catechism, will have from now on its annotated code and its course of jurisprudence. It will only lack the proof of the martyrdom.
Aurélien Scholl