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The Spiritist Review - JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES - 1861 > September
September
The Style is the Man
Controversy among Several Spirits(Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies)
The spirit Lamennais spontaneously gave the following dissertation at the Society on July 19th 1861, about Buffon’s aphorism: The style is the man, received by the medium Mr. A. Didier. Considering that his point of view was being attacked, Buffon replied a few days later through Mr. d’Ambel. Then, in succession, the Viscount of Delaunay (Mrs. Delphine de Girardin) and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, along with others, joined into the conversation. This is a curious and instructive controversy that we fully reproduced here. It must be noted that the controversy was neither premeditated nor provoked and that each spirit participated spontaneously. Lamennais started the discussion that was then followed by the others.
The spirit Lamennais spontaneously gave the following dissertation at the Society on July 19th 1861, about Buffon’s aphorism: The style is the man, received by the medium Mr. A. Didier. Considering that his point of view was being attacked, Buffon replied a few days later through Mr. d’Ambel. Then, in succession, the Viscount of Delaunay (Mrs. Delphine de Girardin) and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, along with others, joined into the conversation. This is a curious and instructive controversy that we fully reproduced here. It must be noted that the controversy was neither premeditated nor provoked and that each spirit participated spontaneously. Lamennais started the discussion that was then followed by the others.
Lamennais’ dissertation – medium Mr. A. Didier
There is a strange phenomenon in the human being, that’s what I call the phenomenon of contrasts; we are speaking here of particularly elite natures; here is a fact: you will find in the spirit world that influential works strangely contrast with the private lives and habits of their authors. Mr. Buffon had said: the style is the man.
Unfortunately the master of style and elegance saw people through his own personal lenses. He saw what could be perfectly applied to him but hardly to other writers. The word style here is used in its broader sense and wider application. In our opinion the style is the more prominent and the purest form which the human being will present his ideas. All human genius is here before us and at a glance we can contemplate all the works of human intelligence: elegance in the Arts, Literature and Sciences. Far from stating like Buffon: The style is the man, we say perhaps a less concise less formulated way that the human being, due to his changing nature which can be vague, maddening and rebellious, often writes unlike his first nature and original inspirations; I would even say, contrary to his beliefs.
Often when we read the great works from one of the great geniuses of this century or another we say: What purity! What sensitivity! What a profound belief in progress! What greatness! We learn later that the author was not actually the moral author but the physical author, full of prejudice and preconceived ideas. That is an example of a grand phenomenon not only human but also spiritist. Hence, it is more common that the human being is not exactly the mirror image of his work. We also say: how many worn out poets, half-wits and disillusioned artists suddenly feel a divine spark illuminating their intelligence! Ah! Fact is that they hear another voice, not theirs. The human being hears what the Prophet Isaiah called the “breath of the lips”, and that we call spirits. Yes, they hear that sacred voice but forget God and His light and attribute the merit to themselves. They receive grace in their art as others receive in their faith, and it sometimes affects those who want to deny it.
Lamennais
Unfortunately the master of style and elegance saw people through his own personal lenses. He saw what could be perfectly applied to him but hardly to other writers. The word style here is used in its broader sense and wider application. In our opinion the style is the more prominent and the purest form which the human being will present his ideas. All human genius is here before us and at a glance we can contemplate all the works of human intelligence: elegance in the Arts, Literature and Sciences. Far from stating like Buffon: The style is the man, we say perhaps a less concise less formulated way that the human being, due to his changing nature which can be vague, maddening and rebellious, often writes unlike his first nature and original inspirations; I would even say, contrary to his beliefs.
Often when we read the great works from one of the great geniuses of this century or another we say: What purity! What sensitivity! What a profound belief in progress! What greatness! We learn later that the author was not actually the moral author but the physical author, full of prejudice and preconceived ideas. That is an example of a grand phenomenon not only human but also spiritist. Hence, it is more common that the human being is not exactly the mirror image of his work. We also say: how many worn out poets, half-wits and disillusioned artists suddenly feel a divine spark illuminating their intelligence! Ah! Fact is that they hear another voice, not theirs. The human being hears what the Prophet Isaiah called the “breath of the lips”, and that we call spirits. Yes, they hear that sacred voice but forget God and His light and attribute the merit to themselves. They receive grace in their art as others receive in their faith, and it sometimes affects those who want to deny it.
Lamennais
Buffon’s response (Medium Mr. D’Ambel)
You must know that it is said that I was a gentleman of letters, and that my style was one of prim and properness, and I smelled of gunpowder and Spanish tobacco. Isn’t that the perfect confirmation of this truth: The style is the man? Although somewhat exaggerated they represented me with a sword on my side and a pen in my hand and I must confess that I enjoyed nice things, bright clothes with their laces and flamboyant jackets, in a word everything that was elegant and delicate. Hence it is natural that I was always elegant and that is why my style carries with it, the stamp of good form, this fragrance of good company was equally found in our grand home of Sévigné. What would you want? I always preferred the alleyways and ladies bedrooms to the cabarets and low class crowds. Allow me, therefore, despite the opinion expressed by your contemporary Lamennais, to maintain my wise adage, supporting it with some examples collected from your modern authors and philosophers. One of the misfortunes of your time is that many people use the pen as their source for revenue; but let us forget these types of artisans that write aimlessly for or against an idea, according to the compensation they shall receive and who shouts the loudest, according to the moment: God save the King! God save the League (the Holy League of the Duke of Guise - 1590)! Leave them be, those to me are not serious authors.
So you see, Father, do not be offended if I use you as an example. Weren’t your bad foundations always mirrored in your work? From your religious essay ‘Indifference’ to your publication ‘The words of a believer’, what a contrast as you say! Yet, your scholarly style is as sharp in one publication as it is in the other. You are ill-tempered, Father, you must agree, and you distil that anger in the bitter sorrow of every beautiful page you left us. With your button frock coat as well as your Priest’s cassock, you remain downgraded, my poor Lamennais, now do not get angry, but agree with that the style is the man. From Lamennais I move on to Scribe, the happy man that is reflected in the calm and peaceful sitcoms. He is joyful, happy and sensible. He spreads usefulness, joy and happiness in his work. Neither drama nor blood is present in his works, just a few harmless duels to punish the traitor. Next comes Eugène Sue, the author of the Mysteries of Paris. He is as strong as his prince Rudolph, holding the callous hand of a worker in his worn out gloves. Like him, he is the advocate of popular causes. Look at your Dumas, a vagabond that dissipates his life and intelligence; he moves from the South Pole to the North as easily as his famous musketeers; with Garibaldi he is a conqueror; he enjoys the company of the Duke of Orleans and then to the intimacy of the Neapolitan beggars; creating romances with History and using History in his romances.
Look at the proud publications of Victor Hugo, with his embodied pride. ‘I, me’ says Hugo the poet; ‘I, me’, says Hugo on his Jersey rock. Look at Murger, that easy life singer, consciously playing his own role in the bohemia of his lyrics. Look at Gérard de Nerval with his strange and colorful style, fantasizing his life as he did in his writings. How many more have I left out that are even better! Like Soulié and Balzac, whose lives and work follow parallel paths! However, I believe these examples are enough for you not to deny in such absolute terms my maxim: the style is the man!
Dear Father, haven’t you confused the form with the substance, the style with the thought? In any case it is all interconnected.
Buffon
So you see, Father, do not be offended if I use you as an example. Weren’t your bad foundations always mirrored in your work? From your religious essay ‘Indifference’ to your publication ‘The words of a believer’, what a contrast as you say! Yet, your scholarly style is as sharp in one publication as it is in the other. You are ill-tempered, Father, you must agree, and you distil that anger in the bitter sorrow of every beautiful page you left us. With your button frock coat as well as your Priest’s cassock, you remain downgraded, my poor Lamennais, now do not get angry, but agree with that the style is the man. From Lamennais I move on to Scribe, the happy man that is reflected in the calm and peaceful sitcoms. He is joyful, happy and sensible. He spreads usefulness, joy and happiness in his work. Neither drama nor blood is present in his works, just a few harmless duels to punish the traitor. Next comes Eugène Sue, the author of the Mysteries of Paris. He is as strong as his prince Rudolph, holding the callous hand of a worker in his worn out gloves. Like him, he is the advocate of popular causes. Look at your Dumas, a vagabond that dissipates his life and intelligence; he moves from the South Pole to the North as easily as his famous musketeers; with Garibaldi he is a conqueror; he enjoys the company of the Duke of Orleans and then to the intimacy of the Neapolitan beggars; creating romances with History and using History in his romances.
Look at the proud publications of Victor Hugo, with his embodied pride. ‘I, me’ says Hugo the poet; ‘I, me’, says Hugo on his Jersey rock. Look at Murger, that easy life singer, consciously playing his own role in the bohemia of his lyrics. Look at Gérard de Nerval with his strange and colorful style, fantasizing his life as he did in his writings. How many more have I left out that are even better! Like Soulié and Balzac, whose lives and work follow parallel paths! However, I believe these examples are enough for you not to deny in such absolute terms my maxim: the style is the man!
Dear Father, haven’t you confused the form with the substance, the style with the thought? In any case it is all interconnected.
Buffon
Questions to Buffon regarding his communication
Q – Thank you for the spiritual communication you have kindly given us. There is one thing that really surprises us, is that you are so aware of every detail of our literature, enjoying with remarkable accuracy, the works and the authors.. Do you still read everything that is published? Kindly give us an explanation that will certainly be useful to our instruction.
A – We don’t need much time to read and enjoy, at one glance we can perceive all the works that attract our attention. We are all involved with matters of your interest and look forward to your dear little group, and you would not believe how many of those that you call notable people, that follow with benevolence the progresses of Spiritism. So, you have to think how happy I was to have my name mentioned by one of your faithful spirits, Lamennais, and also my pleasure in having the opportunity to communicate with you. In fact, when I was questioned during your last session I received something similar to the after-effects or repercussions from your thoughts; and not wanting the truth that I proclaimed in my writing to be reversed without being defended, I then prayed that Erastus would lend me his medium so that I could respond to Lamennais’ argumentation. On another hand you must understand that each one of us remains loyal to his Earthly preferences. That is why we are attentive to the progress achieved by the incarnate writers the same as other incarnated authors are; or to what they intend to achieve with their works. Like Jouffroy, Laroque and la Romiguière are concerned with what happens to Philosophy, and Lavoisier, Berzelius and Thénard with Chemistry, each one cultivating their pastime and cherishing the memories of their own works, attentively following what their successors are doing.
Q – You provided in a few words an assessment of contemporary authors, dead and alive. We would really appreciate if you elaborate on your appreciation of some of them. It would be a methodic and very useful work to us. To begin with, we would like you to comment on the work of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, in particular his Paul and Virginia, condemned by you but that became one of the most popular works.
A – I cannot develop here a critical analysis of the works by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Nonetheless, with respect to my previous assessment of the past I must now confess: Like Mr. Josse, I was a little too much of a craftsman; in short, I was faithful to the spirit of literary fraternity, thus criticizing my most unwelcome and best competitor. Later I will give you my true appreciation of this renowned author if a really critique spirit like Merle or Geoffrey do not offer so.
Buffon
A – We don’t need much time to read and enjoy, at one glance we can perceive all the works that attract our attention. We are all involved with matters of your interest and look forward to your dear little group, and you would not believe how many of those that you call notable people, that follow with benevolence the progresses of Spiritism. So, you have to think how happy I was to have my name mentioned by one of your faithful spirits, Lamennais, and also my pleasure in having the opportunity to communicate with you. In fact, when I was questioned during your last session I received something similar to the after-effects or repercussions from your thoughts; and not wanting the truth that I proclaimed in my writing to be reversed without being defended, I then prayed that Erastus would lend me his medium so that I could respond to Lamennais’ argumentation. On another hand you must understand that each one of us remains loyal to his Earthly preferences. That is why we are attentive to the progress achieved by the incarnate writers the same as other incarnated authors are; or to what they intend to achieve with their works. Like Jouffroy, Laroque and la Romiguière are concerned with what happens to Philosophy, and Lavoisier, Berzelius and Thénard with Chemistry, each one cultivating their pastime and cherishing the memories of their own works, attentively following what their successors are doing.
Q – You provided in a few words an assessment of contemporary authors, dead and alive. We would really appreciate if you elaborate on your appreciation of some of them. It would be a methodic and very useful work to us. To begin with, we would like you to comment on the work of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, in particular his Paul and Virginia, condemned by you but that became one of the most popular works.
A – I cannot develop here a critical analysis of the works by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. Nonetheless, with respect to my previous assessment of the past I must now confess: Like Mr. Josse, I was a little too much of a craftsman; in short, I was faithful to the spirit of literary fraternity, thus criticizing my most unwelcome and best competitor. Later I will give you my true appreciation of this renowned author if a really critique spirit like Merle or Geoffrey do not offer so.
Buffon
Lamennais’ defense by the Viscount Delaunay (Medium Mr. D’Ambel)
NOTE: Mrs. Girardin’s name was mentioned in the conversations that took place at the Society about the current issue, although the spirits did not mention it. This explains the intervention of a new responder in the communication below.
• You invited me, spiritists ladies and gentlemen, to the subject in your last sessions and I believe I have the right to intervene, as they say in the Palace. It was not without pleasure that I heard the profound dissertation by Lamennais and the lively response given by Mr. Buffon. There is, however, the need for a conclusion of the debate. Hence, I intervene and nominate myself the referee, in my own right. As a matter of fact, you requested a critic. I respond: ‘prenez mon ours’ * since you may remember I was famed and feared for my confrontational criticism. I am really pleased to be able to go back to that much loved terrain. Thus, once upon a time… no, no, let us leave aside the trivialities and go directly to the matter at hand. Mr. Buffon, you wielded the maxims very well. It is obvious that you had value from a great century. Nevertheless, however a good a writer you may be, a Viscount of my likes is not afraid of taking the gloves on and crossing the pen with you. Now, my good man! You were very hard on our poor Lamennais, treating him as a downgraded man! Is it his fault of this misled genius, that after masterfully writing his splendid study that you criticized, he turned to other fields and changed his beliefs? In terms of religion the pages of ‘Indifference’ would have been signed by the best scholars of the Church. However, if those pages stood while the priest fell wouldn’t you recognize the cause, you who are so strict? Ah! Look at Rome and remember its degenerate habits and you will find the key to that turnaround. Now! Rome is so far away from Paris!
The Philosophers, the scientists of thoughts, all these harsh diggers of my psychological state must never be confused with the writers of pure form; they write to entertain the public, the latter, write to push the barriers of Science. These are concerned with the truth; the others don’t care about logic, they flee from consistency. In short what they want is what you were looking for yourself, my handsome Sir, that is, fame, popularity, and success, which can be summarized as a good tottering shield. As a matter of fact, with this exception, your witty response is very true and I applaud it with all my heart. The only difference is that you point to the individual while I point to the social. Finally I had to defend my contemporary who, you know well, has never been of habit to frequent cabarets, alleyways or dressing rooms of the ladies, or even suspicious gatherings of low level. From his mansard roof all he did was to feed the noisy sparrows that came to visit him in his cell at Rue de Rivoli. His supreme happiness was to sit at his modest table with a pencil and a notebook at hand with its blank pages. Oh! The sorrow and regrets of that great soul were justifiable since he married the Catholic Church to run away from the filthiness of a materialistic century, just to find it again sitting at the steps of the altar. Is it his fault if he could not probe the depth of the abyss to which he was thrown by the hands of the clergy? Yes, he is right in his bitter cries, as you say. Isn’t he the living image of a misguided education and an imposed vocation?
Renegade Father! Do you know how many inept bourgeois threw such scorn on his face because he obeyed his conscience and convictions? Ah! Believe me happy naturalist; while you sought the beauties and the pen, praised by lovely sinners and applauded by perfumed hands, he painfully climbed his own Calvary! Like Christ, he drank his chalice to the end and hideously carried his cross! And you, lord of Buffon, don’t you offer your own face to criticism, just a little? Let us see! Your style is flashy, like you, all dressed in tacky attire! And also, what an intrepid traveler you were! Have you visited countries… no, unknown libraries? What a tireless pioneer! Have you crossed forests!… no, unreleased and unpublished manuscripts! I agree that you covered your opulent body of works with a glaring varnish, very much like your. But from all those bulky volumes what is it that is actually yours, from your own study, your own contribution? The story of the dog, the cat or perhaps the horse? Ah! Lamennais wrote less than you did but it is all his, lord of Buffon: the form and the bottom line. The other day you were accused of not recognizing the works of the good Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. You excused yourself a little bit ‘Jesuitically’ (hypocritical) but you did not say if you had denied vitality to Paul and Virginia, that is this kind of work, being that you remain still at the great Scudery, or at the great Cyrus, or the land of Tendre **, and finally in all that sentimental rubbish that sells so well today at all the bouquinistes (booksellers at rail stations), the clothing shops of literature!. Ah! Mr. Buffon, those gentlemen no longer think much of you while the utopist Bernardin kept his prestige.
Universal peace, a utopia! Paul and Virginia, a utopia! Your judgment was crushed by public opinion. Let us not talk about it anymore, well, too bad!. You put the pen in my hand, I use it and abuse it. This will teach you, dear spiritists, to be concerned with a retired soldier of the pen like myself, asking for news about me. That Mr. Scribe was stunned with his latest halfsuccesses; he wanted us to establish him at the Academy; but he still lacked the palme verte (Academy recognition award-NT) he was so happy on Earth that he still hesitates to take his new position. Bah! He will be comforted by watching the continuation of his plays and in a few weeks, it will be gone..
Not long ago you were given a charming fantasy not yet finished by Gérard de Nerval. Will that whimsical spirit finish it? Who knows! He wanted to conclude, however, that since the truth of the scholar is not in the true, the beauty of the painter is not in the beautiful and that the courage of the child is hardly rewarded, he did well by following the deviations of his dear fantasy.
Viscount Delaunay (Delphine de Girardin)
NOTE: See Fantasia by Gérard de Nerval below
____________________________________
* An expression from the vaudeville style comedy, L’Ours et le Pacha by Eugene SCRIBE, meaning: to press somebody to get rid of something or somebody annoying (or cumbersome.)
** From the works by Madeline de Scudery.
• You invited me, spiritists ladies and gentlemen, to the subject in your last sessions and I believe I have the right to intervene, as they say in the Palace. It was not without pleasure that I heard the profound dissertation by Lamennais and the lively response given by Mr. Buffon. There is, however, the need for a conclusion of the debate. Hence, I intervene and nominate myself the referee, in my own right. As a matter of fact, you requested a critic. I respond: ‘prenez mon ours’ * since you may remember I was famed and feared for my confrontational criticism. I am really pleased to be able to go back to that much loved terrain. Thus, once upon a time… no, no, let us leave aside the trivialities and go directly to the matter at hand. Mr. Buffon, you wielded the maxims very well. It is obvious that you had value from a great century. Nevertheless, however a good a writer you may be, a Viscount of my likes is not afraid of taking the gloves on and crossing the pen with you. Now, my good man! You were very hard on our poor Lamennais, treating him as a downgraded man! Is it his fault of this misled genius, that after masterfully writing his splendid study that you criticized, he turned to other fields and changed his beliefs? In terms of religion the pages of ‘Indifference’ would have been signed by the best scholars of the Church. However, if those pages stood while the priest fell wouldn’t you recognize the cause, you who are so strict? Ah! Look at Rome and remember its degenerate habits and you will find the key to that turnaround. Now! Rome is so far away from Paris!
The Philosophers, the scientists of thoughts, all these harsh diggers of my psychological state must never be confused with the writers of pure form; they write to entertain the public, the latter, write to push the barriers of Science. These are concerned with the truth; the others don’t care about logic, they flee from consistency. In short what they want is what you were looking for yourself, my handsome Sir, that is, fame, popularity, and success, which can be summarized as a good tottering shield. As a matter of fact, with this exception, your witty response is very true and I applaud it with all my heart. The only difference is that you point to the individual while I point to the social. Finally I had to defend my contemporary who, you know well, has never been of habit to frequent cabarets, alleyways or dressing rooms of the ladies, or even suspicious gatherings of low level. From his mansard roof all he did was to feed the noisy sparrows that came to visit him in his cell at Rue de Rivoli. His supreme happiness was to sit at his modest table with a pencil and a notebook at hand with its blank pages. Oh! The sorrow and regrets of that great soul were justifiable since he married the Catholic Church to run away from the filthiness of a materialistic century, just to find it again sitting at the steps of the altar. Is it his fault if he could not probe the depth of the abyss to which he was thrown by the hands of the clergy? Yes, he is right in his bitter cries, as you say. Isn’t he the living image of a misguided education and an imposed vocation?
Renegade Father! Do you know how many inept bourgeois threw such scorn on his face because he obeyed his conscience and convictions? Ah! Believe me happy naturalist; while you sought the beauties and the pen, praised by lovely sinners and applauded by perfumed hands, he painfully climbed his own Calvary! Like Christ, he drank his chalice to the end and hideously carried his cross! And you, lord of Buffon, don’t you offer your own face to criticism, just a little? Let us see! Your style is flashy, like you, all dressed in tacky attire! And also, what an intrepid traveler you were! Have you visited countries… no, unknown libraries? What a tireless pioneer! Have you crossed forests!… no, unreleased and unpublished manuscripts! I agree that you covered your opulent body of works with a glaring varnish, very much like your. But from all those bulky volumes what is it that is actually yours, from your own study, your own contribution? The story of the dog, the cat or perhaps the horse? Ah! Lamennais wrote less than you did but it is all his, lord of Buffon: the form and the bottom line. The other day you were accused of not recognizing the works of the good Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. You excused yourself a little bit ‘Jesuitically’ (hypocritical) but you did not say if you had denied vitality to Paul and Virginia, that is this kind of work, being that you remain still at the great Scudery, or at the great Cyrus, or the land of Tendre **, and finally in all that sentimental rubbish that sells so well today at all the bouquinistes (booksellers at rail stations), the clothing shops of literature!. Ah! Mr. Buffon, those gentlemen no longer think much of you while the utopist Bernardin kept his prestige.
Universal peace, a utopia! Paul and Virginia, a utopia! Your judgment was crushed by public opinion. Let us not talk about it anymore, well, too bad!. You put the pen in my hand, I use it and abuse it. This will teach you, dear spiritists, to be concerned with a retired soldier of the pen like myself, asking for news about me. That Mr. Scribe was stunned with his latest halfsuccesses; he wanted us to establish him at the Academy; but he still lacked the palme verte (Academy recognition award-NT) he was so happy on Earth that he still hesitates to take his new position. Bah! He will be comforted by watching the continuation of his plays and in a few weeks, it will be gone..
Not long ago you were given a charming fantasy not yet finished by Gérard de Nerval. Will that whimsical spirit finish it? Who knows! He wanted to conclude, however, that since the truth of the scholar is not in the true, the beauty of the painter is not in the beautiful and that the courage of the child is hardly rewarded, he did well by following the deviations of his dear fantasy.
Viscount Delaunay (Delphine de Girardin)
NOTE: See Fantasia by Gérard de Nerval below
____________________________________
* An expression from the vaudeville style comedy, L’Ours et le Pacha by Eugene SCRIBE, meaning: to press somebody to get rid of something or somebody annoying (or cumbersome.)
** From the works by Madeline de Scudery.
Buffon’s response to the Viscount de Launay
You invite me back to a debate in which I had a short participation in order to avoid repeating myself. I confess that I would rather stay in the peaceful environment where I was than to be exposed to this kind of agitation. In my day, we used to exchange some pleasantries like Athenians but today, nuisance! You are bludgeoned with whipping blows. Thank you! I retire. I’ve had more than enough for me; because I am stilled marked by the blows from the Viscount. You must agree that although applied by the kind hand of a lady, they are not less painful. Ah! Madam, you remind me of charity in a not much charitable way. Viscount! You are too strong. I lay my weapons and humbly acknowledge my mistakes. I agree that Bernardin de Saint-Pierre was a great Philosopher. What am I saying? He found the philosophical stone and I am as I have been an indigestible compiler! Are you happier now? Now, be kind and no longer humiliate me like that or you will force a kind-man, friend of our Parisian group, to leave his post, something that he would do with great sadness for he insists on learning from the spiritist teachings and to follow with interest what happens here.
And look: Today I heard the report of phenomena that was so strange, that in my time the players or even the reporters of the events would have been burnt at the stake. Between us, are they really spiritist phenomena? How about the influence of their imagination on one side and some interests on the other? I would not bet on it. What is the opinion of the witty Viscount? As for myself, I wash my hands. In fact, if I believe in my sense of Naturalist, regardless of how much I am called an office of Naturalist, phenomena of that kind may only occur very rarely. Do you want my opinion about the Havana case? Well! There is a gang of bad guys there interested in discrediting the property so that it can be sold for nothing, and also some coward and shy owners who are scared of a well plotted phantasmagoria. Regarding the lizard, I remember well having written about it but I must confess that I have never found any of them graduating at the medical school. That is a weak medium influenced by his imagination about events that were not real.
Buffon
NOTE: This last paragraph refers to two events that were reported during the same session, to be published in another issue of The Review for lack of space. Buffon gave his spontaneous opinion about them.
And look: Today I heard the report of phenomena that was so strange, that in my time the players or even the reporters of the events would have been burnt at the stake. Between us, are they really spiritist phenomena? How about the influence of their imagination on one side and some interests on the other? I would not bet on it. What is the opinion of the witty Viscount? As for myself, I wash my hands. In fact, if I believe in my sense of Naturalist, regardless of how much I am called an office of Naturalist, phenomena of that kind may only occur very rarely. Do you want my opinion about the Havana case? Well! There is a gang of bad guys there interested in discrediting the property so that it can be sold for nothing, and also some coward and shy owners who are scared of a well plotted phantasmagoria. Regarding the lizard, I remember well having written about it but I must confess that I have never found any of them graduating at the medical school. That is a weak medium influenced by his imagination about events that were not real.
Buffon
NOTE: This last paragraph refers to two events that were reported during the same session, to be published in another issue of The Review for lack of space. Buffon gave his spontaneous opinion about them.
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre’s answer (Medium Mrs. Costel)
I, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, come to take part in a debate in which my name was cited, discussed and defended. I cannot agree with my witty defender. Buffon is more than just an eloquent compiler. Never mind the literary and subtle mistakes about things of nature lost in the rivalry and professional jealousy. Yet, my views are very much opposed to his and as Lamennais said: ‘No, the style is not the man’. I am an eloquent proof of that, me whose sensibility was entirely mental and who invented what others felt. Earthly things are analyzed without emotions from the other side of life. I do not deserve the literary reputation that was granted to me. Had Paul and Virginia been published today and it would be washed out by so many other delightful productions that go unnoticed. It is because progress of your time is big, bigger than you can assess. Everything evolves: Science, Literature, Social Arts; they all rise like the ocean tides that are not noticed by the seaman that is offshore. You are offshore.
I return to Mr. de Buffon whose talent I acknowledge and whose criticism I forget, and also to my witty defender that can uncover the spiritual meanings of all truths, giving them a paradoxical color. Hoping to have demonstrated to you that we the dead scholars do not keep any hard feelings, I thank you and remain available to help in any way I can be useful to you.
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
I return to Mr. de Buffon whose talent I acknowledge and whose criticism I forget, and also to my witty defender that can uncover the spiritual meanings of all truths, giving them a paradoxical color. Hoping to have demonstrated to you that we the dead scholars do not keep any hard feelings, I thank you and remain available to help in any way I can be useful to you.
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
Lamennais to Buffon Medium Mr. A. Didier
One must be careful Mr. de Buffon. My conclusion was not absolutely human and literary. I looked at the issue in a very different way and here is what I inferred: ‘Human inspiration is often divine inspiration’. There was nothing controversial about that. I no longer write with that intent as you can readily see from my reflections about the influence of art upon our hearts and brains. I avoided the world and personalities. Let us not go back to the past. Let us look forward to the future. It is up to people to judge and to discuss our work. It is up to us to provide them with new work, all stemming out from this fundamental principle: Spiritism. As for ourselves, good-bye to the world!
Lamennais
Lamennais
Fantasia by Gérard de Nerval (Medium Mr. A. Didier)
NOTE: We must remember that when Buffon spoke about the contemporary writers he said: Look at Gérard de Nerval with his strange and colorful style, fantasizing his life as he did in his writings. Instead of arguing he spontaneously dictated the following article that he called Fantasia. The text was written in two sessions and in the interim Viscount Delaunay responded to Buffon. That is why he said that he did not know if that capricious spirit would finish the work, then offering the likely conclusion. This message was purposely left out of the chronological order to avoid interruption in the series of comments and replicas since Gérard de Nerval did not take part in the debates but by this Philosophical allegory.
• One day in one of my fantasies I was near the sea, not knowing how I ended up there by this small and unknown harbor. Never mind! I got separated from my traveling companions for a few hours so that I could indulge myself in the most turbulent Fantasia, the term used in my mental appreciations.
One must not believe, however, that every fantasy is like a crazy girl surrendered to the eccentricities of her own thoughts. It is common to see the poor little one smiling to hide her tears and dreaming to avoid her deception. Her heart is sometimes taken by love and curiosity, lost in her clouded thoughts. It might be perhaps an excess of love, lack of imagination.
Leave her alone with her love and contemplation. That is how one day I had her by my side, looking at the sea surrounded by the horizon when in our own solitude I saw this old honorable man, my word! He seemed worn out but fortunately he had had his time; his exhausted nerves and muscles replaced by the wisdom and harmony visible in his gestures; he showed a very positive attitude. He sat down and examined the terrain around, checking to make sure that he would not be stung by one of the little creatures that thrive under the sand of the sea; his walking stick with its golden handle was left aside. You can only imagine my surprise when he put his glasses on. Glasses! To see the vastness!
Fantasia stood up in astonishment, wishing to throw herself at him. I was hardly able to calm her down. I sneaked from behind a rock and listened to him saying: ‘There you are, the mirror image of our lives! The great whole, there you are! Profound truth! There you have our lives, superior and inferior, profound and petty, troubled and calm! Oh! Waves! Waves! Great universal journey!’
The little old man then murmured the words to himself only. Up until that moment Fantasia was quiet and listening respectfully, but she couldn’t help it anymore and then she laughed out loud!
All I could do was to take her in my arms and leave the man behind.
‘In reality’, said Fantasia, ‘he must be a member of some scholarly society.’ After running for some time we saw a canvas with a painting showing the tip of a rock kissed by the first waters of the ocean. We both observed it. The painter would certainly be looking around, trying to find another site. I looked at the painting and to the sea, and again to the painting and to the sea, alternatively. Fantasia wanted to tear off the painting into pieces. It was hard to hold her back. – ‘How come!’ she said. ‘It is 7 am and I see in this painting an anonymous effect!’ I understood perfectly well what Fantasia was telling me.
It does really make sense, that crazy girl, I told myself, and I wanted to get away. Alas! The hidden artist had followed every single subtlety of my facial expression; when his eyes met mine there was a terrible shock, an electrical shock. He gave me one of those looks as if saying: ‘You little worm.’ This time Fantasia was stunned by such an insolence, watching him returning to his palette. ‘You do not have one of Lorrain’s palettes’, she said with a smile on her face. She then turned to me and said: ‘We have seen the true and the beautiful. Let us now try to find the good.’
Then, climbing the rocks I saw the child of a fisherman, about thirteen or fourteen years old; he was playing with a dog, one running after the other, the dog barking, the boy laughing. All of a sudden I heard some screams that seemed to have come from the bottom of the cliff; the boy then dashed through a trail that led to the beach; Fantasia could hardly follow him, despite her energy; when I got to the bottom of the cliff I saw a terrifying scene; the boy struggling against the waves and bringing ashore a wretched man who was resisting the rescue; I tried to rush in support but the child shouted back asking me not to do that; bruised, trembling and tired, the boy successfully took the man out of the water after some time. Apparently it was a swimmer who had ventured too far, falling into and dragged by a current. I will continue another time.
Gérard de Nerval
NOTE: The communication of Viscount Delaunay given above was produced in this interval.
• One day in one of my fantasies I was near the sea, not knowing how I ended up there by this small and unknown harbor. Never mind! I got separated from my traveling companions for a few hours so that I could indulge myself in the most turbulent Fantasia, the term used in my mental appreciations.
One must not believe, however, that every fantasy is like a crazy girl surrendered to the eccentricities of her own thoughts. It is common to see the poor little one smiling to hide her tears and dreaming to avoid her deception. Her heart is sometimes taken by love and curiosity, lost in her clouded thoughts. It might be perhaps an excess of love, lack of imagination.
Leave her alone with her love and contemplation. That is how one day I had her by my side, looking at the sea surrounded by the horizon when in our own solitude I saw this old honorable man, my word! He seemed worn out but fortunately he had had his time; his exhausted nerves and muscles replaced by the wisdom and harmony visible in his gestures; he showed a very positive attitude. He sat down and examined the terrain around, checking to make sure that he would not be stung by one of the little creatures that thrive under the sand of the sea; his walking stick with its golden handle was left aside. You can only imagine my surprise when he put his glasses on. Glasses! To see the vastness!
Fantasia stood up in astonishment, wishing to throw herself at him. I was hardly able to calm her down. I sneaked from behind a rock and listened to him saying: ‘There you are, the mirror image of our lives! The great whole, there you are! Profound truth! There you have our lives, superior and inferior, profound and petty, troubled and calm! Oh! Waves! Waves! Great universal journey!’
The little old man then murmured the words to himself only. Up until that moment Fantasia was quiet and listening respectfully, but she couldn’t help it anymore and then she laughed out loud!
All I could do was to take her in my arms and leave the man behind.
‘In reality’, said Fantasia, ‘he must be a member of some scholarly society.’ After running for some time we saw a canvas with a painting showing the tip of a rock kissed by the first waters of the ocean. We both observed it. The painter would certainly be looking around, trying to find another site. I looked at the painting and to the sea, and again to the painting and to the sea, alternatively. Fantasia wanted to tear off the painting into pieces. It was hard to hold her back. – ‘How come!’ she said. ‘It is 7 am and I see in this painting an anonymous effect!’ I understood perfectly well what Fantasia was telling me.
It does really make sense, that crazy girl, I told myself, and I wanted to get away. Alas! The hidden artist had followed every single subtlety of my facial expression; when his eyes met mine there was a terrible shock, an electrical shock. He gave me one of those looks as if saying: ‘You little worm.’ This time Fantasia was stunned by such an insolence, watching him returning to his palette. ‘You do not have one of Lorrain’s palettes’, she said with a smile on her face. She then turned to me and said: ‘We have seen the true and the beautiful. Let us now try to find the good.’
Then, climbing the rocks I saw the child of a fisherman, about thirteen or fourteen years old; he was playing with a dog, one running after the other, the dog barking, the boy laughing. All of a sudden I heard some screams that seemed to have come from the bottom of the cliff; the boy then dashed through a trail that led to the beach; Fantasia could hardly follow him, despite her energy; when I got to the bottom of the cliff I saw a terrifying scene; the boy struggling against the waves and bringing ashore a wretched man who was resisting the rescue; I tried to rush in support but the child shouted back asking me not to do that; bruised, trembling and tired, the boy successfully took the man out of the water after some time. Apparently it was a swimmer who had ventured too far, falling into and dragged by a current. I will continue another time.
Gérard de Nerval
NOTE: The communication of Viscount Delaunay given above was produced in this interval.
Continuation
A little while later the wretched came gradually back to life, but just to say: ‘That is incredible! How could it be since I swim so well! He knew perfectly well who had saved him and yet he looked at me and said: ‘Wow! That was close! You know, there are times when we lose it. It is not our strength that fails us but…but…’ I knew he could not go on hence I quickly said: ‘Fortunately thanks to this brave young man you are safe.’ He looked at the boy who observed him indifferently and resting his hands on his waist he added: ‘True, really.’ He then said farewell. Fantasia wanted to go after him. ‘Now, then!’ she said holding her horses, ‘in fact it is very natural.’ The boy saw him leaving and returned to his dog. This time Fantasia cried.
Gérard de Nerval
Following a remark from a member of the Society indicating that the conclusion was still missing Gérard added the following words: ‘I am prepared with all my heart to write another essay. Regarding this one, Fantasia tells me to stop here. She might be wrong. She is so whimsical!’
The conclusion had been given in anticipation by the Viscount Delaunay.
Gérard de Nerval
Following a remark from a member of the Society indicating that the conclusion was still missing Gérard added the following words: ‘I am prepared with all my heart to write another essay. Regarding this one, Fantasia tells me to stop here. She might be wrong. She is so whimsical!’
The conclusion had been given in anticipation by the Viscount Delaunay.
Erastus’ conclusion
After the literary and philosophical tournament that took place over the last sessions of your Society, followed with satisfaction by us, I find it necessary to give you some thoughts from a purely spiritist point of view, and that came to mind after that interesting debate in which I didn’t want to intervene by no means. Before anything else you must know that your animated sessions were nothing compared to the animation that surrounded the large groups of eminent spirits attracted by the academic debates. Ah! If you were a clairvoyant medium you would have been surprised and confused by that superior entourage! However, my intention today is not to unveil what took place among us. My only objective is to bring you a few words about the benefit that can be taken away from the discussion from the point of view of your spiritist instruction.
You know Lamennais very well and you certainly appreciate how much that Philosopher remains attached to abstract ideas. You know how closely and with which talent and persistence – I must say – he has been following your philosophical and religious theories. From that you must deduce that the thinking individual even beyond the grave, his studies and works, and that means that that awareness is the special prerogative of the spirits, he must remove every material element that used to obfuscate him when comparing his spiritual to his human thoughts. Behold, what is true to Lamennais is equally true to the others, each one keeping their own skills and originality in the vast domain of the spiritual world. Buffon, Gérard de Nerval, the Viscount Delaunay, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, they all keep their remarkable tastes and literary styles as Lamennais does. It seems proper to call your attention to the fact that in our world beyond the grave, the spirits do not abandon their inclinations, tendencies and passions just because they left their human layer behind.
The spirits are like prisoners on Earth to be freed by death but similarly to someone in jail that keeps the same individuality and tendencies when freed. It is the same with the spirits regarding their personality and skills on arriving here among us, with the only exception of those who did not lead a life of work and trials but one of punishment, like the mentally challenged. For those, their intelligent faculties are kept in a latent state, awakening when they leave their Earthly prison. This, as you know, applies to the inferior or to the intermediate spiritual world but not to the more elevated spirits that are free from the influence of matter.
Take your vacation, dear members of the Society. Allow me a few friendly words before we go our own ways. I do believe that the reassuring Doctrine that we came to teach you counts on serious followers. Since it is of the essence that each and everyone be submitted to the law of progress, I advise you to search in the bottom of your hearts and inquire about the actual benefit that you personally found in our spiritist works and what kind of moral improvement has resulted from that. You must understand that it is not enough to say: ‘I am spiritist’, keeping that belief to yourself. All that you need to know is if your actions comply with the prescriptions of your new faith that is, which can never be repeated enough: love and charity. May God be with you!
Erastus
You know Lamennais very well and you certainly appreciate how much that Philosopher remains attached to abstract ideas. You know how closely and with which talent and persistence – I must say – he has been following your philosophical and religious theories. From that you must deduce that the thinking individual even beyond the grave, his studies and works, and that means that that awareness is the special prerogative of the spirits, he must remove every material element that used to obfuscate him when comparing his spiritual to his human thoughts. Behold, what is true to Lamennais is equally true to the others, each one keeping their own skills and originality in the vast domain of the spiritual world. Buffon, Gérard de Nerval, the Viscount Delaunay, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, they all keep their remarkable tastes and literary styles as Lamennais does. It seems proper to call your attention to the fact that in our world beyond the grave, the spirits do not abandon their inclinations, tendencies and passions just because they left their human layer behind.
The spirits are like prisoners on Earth to be freed by death but similarly to someone in jail that keeps the same individuality and tendencies when freed. It is the same with the spirits regarding their personality and skills on arriving here among us, with the only exception of those who did not lead a life of work and trials but one of punishment, like the mentally challenged. For those, their intelligent faculties are kept in a latent state, awakening when they leave their Earthly prison. This, as you know, applies to the inferior or to the intermediate spiritual world but not to the more elevated spirits that are free from the influence of matter.
Take your vacation, dear members of the Society. Allow me a few friendly words before we go our own ways. I do believe that the reassuring Doctrine that we came to teach you counts on serious followers. Since it is of the essence that each and everyone be submitted to the law of progress, I advise you to search in the bottom of your hearts and inquire about the actual benefit that you personally found in our spiritist works and what kind of moral improvement has resulted from that. You must understand that it is not enough to say: ‘I am spiritist’, keeping that belief to yourself. All that you need to know is if your actions comply with the prescriptions of your new faith that is, which can never be repeated enough: love and charity. May God be with you!
Erastus
Family Conversations from Beyond the Grave
The Law of Talion
(Society, August 9th, 1861. Medium Mr. d’Ambel)
The Society receives the following note from a corresponding member: “One of my relatives, Mr. Antonio B… a renowned writer much appreciated by his contemporaries and who used to work as a government official in the Lombardy region, where he completed positions of distinction and integrity; about ten years ago and as a consequence of a stroke, he fell into a state of apparent death that unfortunately and as it sometimes occurs, was mistaken for the actual death. In this case the error was even easier to be made since signs of physical decomposition were observed. Fifteen days after the burial a fortuity led the family to make a request to have the body exhumed. The reason was a medallion mistakenly left inside the casket. During the procedure the witnesses were stunned by the observation that the body had changed position inside the coffin; he was turned and an even more terrifying thing: he had partially eaten one of his own hands. It was then attested that the unfortunate Antonio B… had been buried alive; he must have definitely died of desperation and hunger.
(Society, August 9th, 1861. Medium Mr. d’Ambel)
The Society receives the following note from a corresponding member: “One of my relatives, Mr. Antonio B… a renowned writer much appreciated by his contemporaries and who used to work as a government official in the Lombardy region, where he completed positions of distinction and integrity; about ten years ago and as a consequence of a stroke, he fell into a state of apparent death that unfortunately and as it sometimes occurs, was mistaken for the actual death. In this case the error was even easier to be made since signs of physical decomposition were observed. Fifteen days after the burial a fortuity led the family to make a request to have the body exhumed. The reason was a medallion mistakenly left inside the casket. During the procedure the witnesses were stunned by the observation that the body had changed position inside the coffin; he was turned and an even more terrifying thing: he had partially eaten one of his own hands. It was then attested that the unfortunate Antonio B… had been buried alive; he must have definitely died of desperation and hunger.
Nevertheless, and after this sad event with its moral and emotional consequences,
wouldn’t it be interesting, from a spiritist and psychological
point of view, to enquire the spiritual world about it?”
1. (Evocation of Antonio B…) – A. What do you want from me?
2. One of your relatives asked us to have you evoked. We gladly do
so and would feel happy if you could kindly answer our questions.
– A. Yes, I want to respond really.
3. Do you remember the circumstances of your death? – Ah! Of
course I do. I remember. Why do you want to bring back that
memory of punishment?
4. Is it true that you were buried alive? – A. That is how it should
be since the apparent death had all signs of real death. I was very
feeble. Nobody is to blame for something that was predicted from
before my birth.
5. Should we stop since these questions bring you painful memories? –
A. No, go on.
6. You had the reputation of a good man and we would like to see
you happy. – A. Thank you so much. I know you will pray for
me. I will do my best to respond but if I fail I will be replaced by
one of your guides.
7. Could you describe to us the sensation that you experienced at
that terrible moment? – A. Alas! What a painful ordeal! Feeling
imprisoned inside the four wooden walls, incapable of moving or
changing position! One cannot scream since there isn’t enough
air. Oh! What a torture to try to breathe in an environment where
there is no Oxygen! I felt like a condemned prisoner sent to the
gorges of an oven but without the heat. Oh! I wish such tortures
to no one. No, I wish no one will have such a fate like mine. A
cruel punishment for a cruel and ferocious existence! Don’t ask
me about my thoughts at that time. I dove deep into the past and
only vaguely could I foresee the future.
8. You say a cruel punishment for a cruel and ferocious life but so far
your spotless reputation would never suggest such situation. Can
you explain that? – A. What is the duration of an existence before
eternity? It is true that I behaved well in my last incarnation but
I had agreed to that before returning to humanity. Ah! Why do
you question me about that painful past only known by me and
by the spirits, the ministers of the Almighty? You must know
that in a previous existence I buried a woman alive, my wife, in
a crypt! It was talion’s law that I had to apply to myself! An eye
for an eye.
9. We thank you for your kindness in responding to our questions
and we pray that God may forgive your past given the merit of
your latest existence. – A. I will return later; indeed. The spirit of
Erastus would like to complete the learnings.
Lamennais’ Thoughts about the Previous Message
God is good! However, humankind must endure the hardest trials before
achieving perfection. This unfortunate lived several centuries under desperate
agony, and although he had led an honorable life this event was to
take place, since he had chosen it.
Erastus’ Thoughts about the Previous Message
The lesson to be learned from the above is that all existences are interconnected
and there is not a single one that is independent from the others.
The worries, troubles and great pains that hurt people are always consequences
of a badly lived life or a criminal one. I must tell you, however,
that experiences like that endured by Antonio B… are rare and that the
man whose last existence was a blameless life, chose that trial to reduce
his time in the errant state, to more quickly reach the higher spheres.
Indeed, after a period of confusion and mental distress, to still atone for his horrible crime, he shall be forgiven and move on to a more advanced
world where he is going to meet his victim who awaits him and who has
forgiven him long ago. Therefore you must learn from this cruel example,
my dear spiritists, and patiently withstand the physical and moral sufferings
as well as the small miseries of life.
Q – How can humanity benefit from such punishments? – A. The
punishment is not made to better humanity, but to punish the guilty individual.
As a matter of fact humanity has no interest in seeing the suffering
of one of its own. Here, the punishment was appropriate to the fault. Why
do we see mad people? How about the mentally challenged? The paraplegic?
Why do some die in a fire? Why the long years of agony to some who
can neither live nor die? Ah! Believe me! Respect the sovereign, will and
do not try to fathom the reasons of providential order. You must know
that God is just and he knows well what he is doing.
Erastus
OBSERVATION: Isn’t there a great and terrible lesson in this case?
God’s justice always reaches the guilty one and although it may seem
late, it is not less just. Isn’t that essentially moral to know that even when
culprits finish their lives in peace and sometimes even surrounded by
abundance of material means, sooner or later their time will come? Such
penalties are then understood not just for being close to us but for being
logical. We believe because it is admitted by reason. Now, we ask this: isn’t
the picture drawn by Spiritism better to hold near death than that of the
eternal flames dismissed by Spiritism? Let us just read again the evocations
published in this Review and we will see that there isn’t a single vice
that does not carry its corresponding punishment, as there isn’t a single
virtue that does not carry its reward, both in proportion to the level of
culpability or to the merit of each one because God takes into account all
the circumstances that may mitigate harm or increase the compensation
of good.
Correspondence
Letter from Mr. Mathieu about the Mediumship of Birds“Paris, August 11th, 1861
Dear Sir,
It is me again writing to you with your permission to pay another tribute to the truth.
It was only today that I read in the latest issue of your Review your excellent observation about the alleged mediumship of birds and I am fast to thank you for the service that you have done to a cause defended by both of us. Several exhibitions of wonderful birds have taken place over the last few years, and since I knew the principal tricks employed to get the desired results out of those flying creatures I was sad to hear certain spiritualists or spiritists attributing those feats to a mediumistic action, certainly provoking hidden smiles on the lips of the birds owners. There is something, however, that those owners are in no hurry to belie and I come to do so in their place since you give me the occasion; I don’t do so to harm their business, I am not angry, but to prevent a deplorable confusion between the effects that ingenious patience and some skilled hands, produced on these birds versus the intervention produced by the spirits on us.
You are perfectly right when you say: ‘Those birds do things that not even the most intelligent person, not even the most lucid somnambulist could do, from what one must conclude that their intelligence is superior to human’s, something that is contrary to the laws of nature.’ Your consideration should have caught the attention of some very enthusiastic persons who are not afraid of reaching out to mediumship to explain things that they cannot explain at first sight. However, judicious and coldblooded observers are still very rare and among the honest people who follow our studies there are those that cannot always defend themselves against the overexcitement of imagination and the dangers of illusion. Well, do you want me to tell you what I learned about those wonderful birds that we had the occasion of observing together one evening, if you remember?
One of my friends, attracted to any curiosity that shows up, one day showed me a long wooden shelf where there were a large number of small cards, placed side by side. The cards contained words, numbers, images of card games, etc. He told me that he had acquired them from a man that held shows with smart birds which had also sold him their method of utilization. He then showed me that certain cards had the superior and inferior borders constructed differently, some solid and others formed by two sheets, yielding an almost imperceptible slit between the two, invisible at a distance. He then said that the cards should be placed on the shelf sometimes with the slid pointing upwards, sometimes downwards according to the desire to have them removed from the shelf with their beaks or not touched by them at all. The bird was previously taught to pull every card that had a slit showing upwards. It seems that the preliminary lessons were given with tiny grains of corn or any other treat placed inside the slit. The bird ended up by learning that when there was a slit it should be touched, even retrieved, walking backwards.
There you have, Sir, the ingenious trick that my friend taught me. I am led to believe that a similar deception is used by all others who exploit the business of smart birds. All they have to do is to train the birds with a lot of patience and creating hunger on the birds’ side of course. They must also learn to hide their tricks with their accomplices or through skillful conjuring in handling the cards and the accessories that are used in their experiments.
I am sorry to reveal the most important of their secrets. Nonetheless, the public will not enjoy less the smart birds regardless of the impossibility of the things they produce. On the other hand, I could not let people accept the opinion that leads to not less than the desecration of our studies. Given such a sacred interest I believe that my silence would be an exaggerated scruple. In case you agree Sir, please share this letter with your readers.
Yours sincerely, etc.
Mathieu”
There is no doubt that we agree with Mr. Mathieu and I am glad for sharing the same ideas about this issue. We thank him for the details that he kindly sent us and whose reading will certainly satisfy our readers. Spiritism is very rich of remarkable and authentic facts, not admitting those that touch the marvelous or impossible. It is only a very serious and deep study of this Science that can put the most doubtful persons on guard because that study gives them the key to the phenomena and shows them the boundaries within which they can be produced.
We said that if the birds operated their prodigies with knowledge and through their own intelligence then they would be doing what the most intelligent person cannot do or the most lucid somnambulist. This reminds us of the renowned Munito that we saw 25 or 30 years ago to beat his card game partner, adding up his totals before we could start the calculation. Without any vanity we have stronger skills in Arithmetic than that dog. They certainly used prepared cards in that game like in the case of the birds. As for the somnambulists, there is no doubt that some are lucid enough to produce effects as remarkable as those of the animals, a fact that does not invalidate our proposition. It is well known that lucid somnambulism, even the most developed, is essentially variable and intermittent by default; that it is subordinated to a number of circumstances, particularly the influence of the environment; that very rarely the somnambulist can see instantaneously; that it is frequently the case when the somnambulist does not see something at a given point in time, just to see it an hour later or even a day later; that what the somnambulist sees with one person is not seen with another. Supposing that the animals may have an analogous faculty, we would be forced to admit that they are not susceptible to be disturbed and that they may always utilize it and even twenty times a day if needed, without any alteration. Here is where we pointed out the fact that they could do things that even the most lucid somnambulist could not and this is what characterizes the maneuvers of conjuring like accuracy, punctuality, timeless, repeatability according to the will, and all that are contrary to the purely psychological phenomena of somnambulism and Spiritism, whose effects must always be patiently waited and may only rarely be provoked.
Even if the effects of what we have just discussed were due to artificial processes, that would not be strong enough to prove that there is no animal mediumship in general. Hence one needs to establish if the animals have the capability of serving as intermediaries between people and the spirits. Well, the impossibility is confirmed in Erastus’ dissertation published in our August issue and another from the same spirit about the role of the mediums in the communications, published in July.
Dear Sir,
It is me again writing to you with your permission to pay another tribute to the truth.
It was only today that I read in the latest issue of your Review your excellent observation about the alleged mediumship of birds and I am fast to thank you for the service that you have done to a cause defended by both of us. Several exhibitions of wonderful birds have taken place over the last few years, and since I knew the principal tricks employed to get the desired results out of those flying creatures I was sad to hear certain spiritualists or spiritists attributing those feats to a mediumistic action, certainly provoking hidden smiles on the lips of the birds owners. There is something, however, that those owners are in no hurry to belie and I come to do so in their place since you give me the occasion; I don’t do so to harm their business, I am not angry, but to prevent a deplorable confusion between the effects that ingenious patience and some skilled hands, produced on these birds versus the intervention produced by the spirits on us.
You are perfectly right when you say: ‘Those birds do things that not even the most intelligent person, not even the most lucid somnambulist could do, from what one must conclude that their intelligence is superior to human’s, something that is contrary to the laws of nature.’ Your consideration should have caught the attention of some very enthusiastic persons who are not afraid of reaching out to mediumship to explain things that they cannot explain at first sight. However, judicious and coldblooded observers are still very rare and among the honest people who follow our studies there are those that cannot always defend themselves against the overexcitement of imagination and the dangers of illusion. Well, do you want me to tell you what I learned about those wonderful birds that we had the occasion of observing together one evening, if you remember?
One of my friends, attracted to any curiosity that shows up, one day showed me a long wooden shelf where there were a large number of small cards, placed side by side. The cards contained words, numbers, images of card games, etc. He told me that he had acquired them from a man that held shows with smart birds which had also sold him their method of utilization. He then showed me that certain cards had the superior and inferior borders constructed differently, some solid and others formed by two sheets, yielding an almost imperceptible slit between the two, invisible at a distance. He then said that the cards should be placed on the shelf sometimes with the slid pointing upwards, sometimes downwards according to the desire to have them removed from the shelf with their beaks or not touched by them at all. The bird was previously taught to pull every card that had a slit showing upwards. It seems that the preliminary lessons were given with tiny grains of corn or any other treat placed inside the slit. The bird ended up by learning that when there was a slit it should be touched, even retrieved, walking backwards.
There you have, Sir, the ingenious trick that my friend taught me. I am led to believe that a similar deception is used by all others who exploit the business of smart birds. All they have to do is to train the birds with a lot of patience and creating hunger on the birds’ side of course. They must also learn to hide their tricks with their accomplices or through skillful conjuring in handling the cards and the accessories that are used in their experiments.
I am sorry to reveal the most important of their secrets. Nonetheless, the public will not enjoy less the smart birds regardless of the impossibility of the things they produce. On the other hand, I could not let people accept the opinion that leads to not less than the desecration of our studies. Given such a sacred interest I believe that my silence would be an exaggerated scruple. In case you agree Sir, please share this letter with your readers.
Yours sincerely, etc.
Mathieu”
There is no doubt that we agree with Mr. Mathieu and I am glad for sharing the same ideas about this issue. We thank him for the details that he kindly sent us and whose reading will certainly satisfy our readers. Spiritism is very rich of remarkable and authentic facts, not admitting those that touch the marvelous or impossible. It is only a very serious and deep study of this Science that can put the most doubtful persons on guard because that study gives them the key to the phenomena and shows them the boundaries within which they can be produced.
We said that if the birds operated their prodigies with knowledge and through their own intelligence then they would be doing what the most intelligent person cannot do or the most lucid somnambulist. This reminds us of the renowned Munito that we saw 25 or 30 years ago to beat his card game partner, adding up his totals before we could start the calculation. Without any vanity we have stronger skills in Arithmetic than that dog. They certainly used prepared cards in that game like in the case of the birds. As for the somnambulists, there is no doubt that some are lucid enough to produce effects as remarkable as those of the animals, a fact that does not invalidate our proposition. It is well known that lucid somnambulism, even the most developed, is essentially variable and intermittent by default; that it is subordinated to a number of circumstances, particularly the influence of the environment; that very rarely the somnambulist can see instantaneously; that it is frequently the case when the somnambulist does not see something at a given point in time, just to see it an hour later or even a day later; that what the somnambulist sees with one person is not seen with another. Supposing that the animals may have an analogous faculty, we would be forced to admit that they are not susceptible to be disturbed and that they may always utilize it and even twenty times a day if needed, without any alteration. Here is where we pointed out the fact that they could do things that even the most lucid somnambulist could not and this is what characterizes the maneuvers of conjuring like accuracy, punctuality, timeless, repeatability according to the will, and all that are contrary to the purely psychological phenomena of somnambulism and Spiritism, whose effects must always be patiently waited and may only rarely be provoked.
Even if the effects of what we have just discussed were due to artificial processes, that would not be strong enough to prove that there is no animal mediumship in general. Hence one needs to establish if the animals have the capability of serving as intermediaries between people and the spirits. Well, the impossibility is confirmed in Erastus’ dissertation published in our August issue and another from the same spirit about the role of the mediums in the communications, published in July.
Letter from Mr. Jobard about the Spiritists of Metz
“Brussels, August 18th, 1861
My dear master,
I have just returned from visiting the spiritists in Metz, as you did in Lyon last year. Instead of poor, simple and illiterate workers I found Counts, Barons, Colonels, military engineers, former students of the Polytechnic Institute and scholars renowned for their great works. They also offered me a banquet but it was a pagan banquet that had nothing in common with the modest feast of the early Christians. The spirit of Lamennais also reprimanded such arrogance in the following terms:
‘Poor humanity! Always picking up the debris from the environment of which you live; you materialize everything, a proof that the mud still stains your being. This is no criticism but a simple observation. Since your objectives are covered in the ornament of excellent intentions your chosen paths are not to be condemned. If you place side by side with your almost animal satisfaction the firm desire to sanctify and honor it, the purity of your pleasures will certainly multiply that a hundred times. The good words will also strengthen your friendship; together with the memories of this great day thanks to Spiritism which plays a great part,, do not leave the table without a thought addressed to your teachers, the good spirits, who deserve acknowledgement.’
May that serve as a lesson to those like Lucullus, to the Parisian Trimalchios, that devours in a single dinner what could feed a hundred families, pretending that it was God given pleasure for their enjoyment. To enjoy, yes, but not to abuse to the point of harming the health of one’s body and spirit. What are, I ask you, the need of those double, triple and quadruple services; that growing super fluidity of the most delicate wines from which God seems to have removed the taste, by a reverse miracle at the marriage of Cana, where it changes into poison for those who lose their reasoning to the point of becoming impervious to the warnings of their animal instincts? If Spiritism were spread among the high social classes and had the only effect of stopping gluttonous behaviors and the orgies on the tables of the riches, it would have done a great service to society, a service that conventional medicine itself could not do since the doctors themselves willingly share in the excesses that only render more disease, more stomachs to fix, more spleens to clear, more gout patients to console because they do not know how to heal them.
I must say, dear Master, that I found houses of former nobility in Metz that were very religious, who’s grandmothers, mothers, daughters and grandchildren and even their church officials obtained by a theological classification beautifully dictated, considering that they are inferior to the wise mediums of the Society that I am talking about. Having asked two spirits whether they had read a certain book; one said that he had read it and thought about it and spoke highly of the book. The other confessed not having read it but had heard a lot about it; a good book but offered some vagueness. Judged, exactly as among us here on Earth.
Another provided us with an attractive theory of cosmology, swearing it to be the purest truth, and since he went to the extent of unveiling God’s secrets about the future I then asked him if he was not God himself or if his theory was only hypothetical. He mumbled a few words and acknowledged that he had gone too far but that he was positive about these ideas. Thank goodness!
In a few days you will receive the first publication from the Spiritists of Metz, they have kindly asked me to oversee it; you will be happy, because it’s very good. You will find two dissertations by Lamennais about prayer that were read by a Catholic priest during the mass, declaring that it could only be the work of one man. Mrs. de Girardin visits them and like you, will recognize his spirit, feelings and style. (The male form of ‘his’ is used here because Mrs. de Girardin went under the male pen name of Vicomte Delaunay to compete with the male authors of her time. - NT.)
The Society in Metz asked that I introduce them to the Belgian Society that consists of only two mediums, one French and one English. The Belgians are infinitely more reasonable. They feel sorry from the bottom of their heart that someone with as big a heart and intelligence as mine, covering all matters of sciences and technologies, believes in a crazy thing such as the existence and even immortality of the soul. They turned away with pity, saying ‘What does that have to do with us!’ That’s what happened to me last night when I was reading you’re the Spiritist Review, thinking that it could be of their interest, but they took it as a collection of false news for their own amusement.
Jobard”
OBSERVATION: We knew long ago that the city of Metz walks in strides on the path of the spiritist progress and that its officials are not the last ones to follow it. We are happy to have that confirmation from our honorable colleague Mr. Jobard. Thus, we will gladly publicize the works of that center established on serious foundations. We are sure that given the social position of their members, the works will certainly have a great influence. We shall soon speak of those from Bordeaux, sponsored by the Parisian Society, with already many members, elements and conditions to soon place it among one of the centers in the forefront.. We know Mr. Jobard’s principles well enough to be sure that he did not want to make any offensive comparison between the spiritists of Metz, given their titles and positions, and the modest workers of Lyon that we visited last year. His only objective was to attest that Spiritism counts on followers in all social classes. It is a well-known fact that the first ones to be recruited were in the most enlightened ranks of society in order to prove to the adversaries that it is not a privilege of fools and ignorant, and also to get to the masses only after having cleaned and cleared every superstitious ideas. It was only recently that it entered among the working class but it made rapid progress there too because it brings supreme consolations to material sufferings, teaching courage and resignation to endure the trials of life.
Mr. Jobard is mistaken if he thinks that we only find the working class among the spiritists of Lyon. Their contingency also included those from high level business, large commercial businesses, the arts and sciences.. It is true that the working class is the majority there and mostly due to local circumstances. Those workers are poor, as Mr. Jobard said. That is a reason to reach out to them. However, they have plenty of courage, eagerness and devotion. If they have only a piece of bread they know well how to share it with their brothers. They are also simple, that is true, and they don’t bear the pride or the presumptuous of knowledge; they are relatively illiterate, it is true, but not in the absolute sense. Although they may lack science, they have a lot of reason and common sense to evaluate what is fair, and to be able to distinguish between the rational and the absurd in what they are taught. We were able to assess it ourselves. That is why we take the opportunity to pay a fair tribute to them. The letter below, inviting us to visit them again this year, reflects the happy influence of spiritist ideas and the results we should expect when they will be widespread.
“Lyon, August 20th 1861
My good Mr. Allan Kardec,
If it has been a long time since my last correspondence, please do not take it as an air of indifference on my part. Knowing the large amount of correspondence that you receive, I only write when there is something important to tell you. I shall then tell you, that we are counting on you to visit us again this year and to kindly let us know the time and place of your arrival as precisely as possible since this year the number of spiritist has grown significantly, particularly in the working class. Everyone wants to see and hear you and although they know that it is the spirits that dictate the work they are eager to see the man chosen by God for this great mission. They want to tell you about their great happiness for being able to read your works and compliment you for their own moral progress, thanks to your instructions, they endeavor to become kind, patient and resigned in their own miseries, of which there is so much in Lyon, particularly in the silk weaving industry. Those who still moan and groan are the beginners. The instructed ones tell them: Courage! Our penalties and sufferings are trials or consequence of our previous lives; God who is good and just will make us happier and will reward us in new incarnations. Allan Kardec told us so and he demonstrates that in his writings.
We chose a place that is more spacious than the previous time considering that we shall have more than a hundred people. Our meal will be modest, as there will be many with small purses; it will be the pleasure of our reunion more than anything else. I will make sure that there will be spiritists from all classes and all walks of life so that everyone can understand that we are all brothers. Mr. Déjou is in charge and highly dedicated to this matter. He will bring his large group along.
Yours sincerely,
C. Rey
We were also honored by another invitation from Bordeaux, as follows:
“Bordeaux, August 7th, 1861
My dear Mr. Kardec,
Your latest The Spiritist Review announced that the Society will be on vacation from August 15th to October 1st. Can the spiritists of Bordeaux expect to be honored by your visit during that break? That would make us very happy. The most enthusiastic followers of the Doctrine, whose members’ increases daily, would like to organize a society subordinated to that of Paris in terms of the works. We have created rules and bylaws based on those of the Parisian Society and would like to submit it to you. Besides the main Society there will be groups of ten to twelve people in several areas of town, particularly in the working class areas where from time to time there will be members of the Society to give advice as needed. All of our spiritual guides are in agreement that Bordeaux must be a society of studies since this town will be the center of propagation of the Doctrine in the South. We happily await you with confidence that you will join us on the memorable inauguration day and we hope you will be satisfied with our eagerness and mode of operation. We are ready to submit ourselves to the wise advice of your experience. Come then to see our work. The server is known by his work.
My dear master,
I have just returned from visiting the spiritists in Metz, as you did in Lyon last year. Instead of poor, simple and illiterate workers I found Counts, Barons, Colonels, military engineers, former students of the Polytechnic Institute and scholars renowned for their great works. They also offered me a banquet but it was a pagan banquet that had nothing in common with the modest feast of the early Christians. The spirit of Lamennais also reprimanded such arrogance in the following terms:
‘Poor humanity! Always picking up the debris from the environment of which you live; you materialize everything, a proof that the mud still stains your being. This is no criticism but a simple observation. Since your objectives are covered in the ornament of excellent intentions your chosen paths are not to be condemned. If you place side by side with your almost animal satisfaction the firm desire to sanctify and honor it, the purity of your pleasures will certainly multiply that a hundred times. The good words will also strengthen your friendship; together with the memories of this great day thanks to Spiritism which plays a great part,, do not leave the table without a thought addressed to your teachers, the good spirits, who deserve acknowledgement.’
May that serve as a lesson to those like Lucullus, to the Parisian Trimalchios, that devours in a single dinner what could feed a hundred families, pretending that it was God given pleasure for their enjoyment. To enjoy, yes, but not to abuse to the point of harming the health of one’s body and spirit. What are, I ask you, the need of those double, triple and quadruple services; that growing super fluidity of the most delicate wines from which God seems to have removed the taste, by a reverse miracle at the marriage of Cana, where it changes into poison for those who lose their reasoning to the point of becoming impervious to the warnings of their animal instincts? If Spiritism were spread among the high social classes and had the only effect of stopping gluttonous behaviors and the orgies on the tables of the riches, it would have done a great service to society, a service that conventional medicine itself could not do since the doctors themselves willingly share in the excesses that only render more disease, more stomachs to fix, more spleens to clear, more gout patients to console because they do not know how to heal them.
I must say, dear Master, that I found houses of former nobility in Metz that were very religious, who’s grandmothers, mothers, daughters and grandchildren and even their church officials obtained by a theological classification beautifully dictated, considering that they are inferior to the wise mediums of the Society that I am talking about. Having asked two spirits whether they had read a certain book; one said that he had read it and thought about it and spoke highly of the book. The other confessed not having read it but had heard a lot about it; a good book but offered some vagueness. Judged, exactly as among us here on Earth.
Another provided us with an attractive theory of cosmology, swearing it to be the purest truth, and since he went to the extent of unveiling God’s secrets about the future I then asked him if he was not God himself or if his theory was only hypothetical. He mumbled a few words and acknowledged that he had gone too far but that he was positive about these ideas. Thank goodness!
In a few days you will receive the first publication from the Spiritists of Metz, they have kindly asked me to oversee it; you will be happy, because it’s very good. You will find two dissertations by Lamennais about prayer that were read by a Catholic priest during the mass, declaring that it could only be the work of one man. Mrs. de Girardin visits them and like you, will recognize his spirit, feelings and style. (The male form of ‘his’ is used here because Mrs. de Girardin went under the male pen name of Vicomte Delaunay to compete with the male authors of her time. - NT.)
The Society in Metz asked that I introduce them to the Belgian Society that consists of only two mediums, one French and one English. The Belgians are infinitely more reasonable. They feel sorry from the bottom of their heart that someone with as big a heart and intelligence as mine, covering all matters of sciences and technologies, believes in a crazy thing such as the existence and even immortality of the soul. They turned away with pity, saying ‘What does that have to do with us!’ That’s what happened to me last night when I was reading you’re the Spiritist Review, thinking that it could be of their interest, but they took it as a collection of false news for their own amusement.
Jobard”
OBSERVATION: We knew long ago that the city of Metz walks in strides on the path of the spiritist progress and that its officials are not the last ones to follow it. We are happy to have that confirmation from our honorable colleague Mr. Jobard. Thus, we will gladly publicize the works of that center established on serious foundations. We are sure that given the social position of their members, the works will certainly have a great influence. We shall soon speak of those from Bordeaux, sponsored by the Parisian Society, with already many members, elements and conditions to soon place it among one of the centers in the forefront.. We know Mr. Jobard’s principles well enough to be sure that he did not want to make any offensive comparison between the spiritists of Metz, given their titles and positions, and the modest workers of Lyon that we visited last year. His only objective was to attest that Spiritism counts on followers in all social classes. It is a well-known fact that the first ones to be recruited were in the most enlightened ranks of society in order to prove to the adversaries that it is not a privilege of fools and ignorant, and also to get to the masses only after having cleaned and cleared every superstitious ideas. It was only recently that it entered among the working class but it made rapid progress there too because it brings supreme consolations to material sufferings, teaching courage and resignation to endure the trials of life.
Mr. Jobard is mistaken if he thinks that we only find the working class among the spiritists of Lyon. Their contingency also included those from high level business, large commercial businesses, the arts and sciences.. It is true that the working class is the majority there and mostly due to local circumstances. Those workers are poor, as Mr. Jobard said. That is a reason to reach out to them. However, they have plenty of courage, eagerness and devotion. If they have only a piece of bread they know well how to share it with their brothers. They are also simple, that is true, and they don’t bear the pride or the presumptuous of knowledge; they are relatively illiterate, it is true, but not in the absolute sense. Although they may lack science, they have a lot of reason and common sense to evaluate what is fair, and to be able to distinguish between the rational and the absurd in what they are taught. We were able to assess it ourselves. That is why we take the opportunity to pay a fair tribute to them. The letter below, inviting us to visit them again this year, reflects the happy influence of spiritist ideas and the results we should expect when they will be widespread.
“Lyon, August 20th 1861
My good Mr. Allan Kardec,
If it has been a long time since my last correspondence, please do not take it as an air of indifference on my part. Knowing the large amount of correspondence that you receive, I only write when there is something important to tell you. I shall then tell you, that we are counting on you to visit us again this year and to kindly let us know the time and place of your arrival as precisely as possible since this year the number of spiritist has grown significantly, particularly in the working class. Everyone wants to see and hear you and although they know that it is the spirits that dictate the work they are eager to see the man chosen by God for this great mission. They want to tell you about their great happiness for being able to read your works and compliment you for their own moral progress, thanks to your instructions, they endeavor to become kind, patient and resigned in their own miseries, of which there is so much in Lyon, particularly in the silk weaving industry. Those who still moan and groan are the beginners. The instructed ones tell them: Courage! Our penalties and sufferings are trials or consequence of our previous lives; God who is good and just will make us happier and will reward us in new incarnations. Allan Kardec told us so and he demonstrates that in his writings.
We chose a place that is more spacious than the previous time considering that we shall have more than a hundred people. Our meal will be modest, as there will be many with small purses; it will be the pleasure of our reunion more than anything else. I will make sure that there will be spiritists from all classes and all walks of life so that everyone can understand that we are all brothers. Mr. Déjou is in charge and highly dedicated to this matter. He will bring his large group along.
Yours sincerely,
C. Rey
We were also honored by another invitation from Bordeaux, as follows:
“Bordeaux, August 7th, 1861
My dear Mr. Kardec,
Your latest The Spiritist Review announced that the Society will be on vacation from August 15th to October 1st. Can the spiritists of Bordeaux expect to be honored by your visit during that break? That would make us very happy. The most enthusiastic followers of the Doctrine, whose members’ increases daily, would like to organize a society subordinated to that of Paris in terms of the works. We have created rules and bylaws based on those of the Parisian Society and would like to submit it to you. Besides the main Society there will be groups of ten to twelve people in several areas of town, particularly in the working class areas where from time to time there will be members of the Society to give advice as needed. All of our spiritual guides are in agreement that Bordeaux must be a society of studies since this town will be the center of propagation of the Doctrine in the South. We happily await you with confidence that you will join us on the memorable inauguration day and we hope you will be satisfied with our eagerness and mode of operation. We are ready to submit ourselves to the wise advice of your experience. Come then to see our work. The server is known by his work.
Your dedicated servant,
A. SABÔ
Spiritist Teachings and Dissertations - A Spirit to his Fellow Israelites
For the readers that remember the beautiful communication published
in our last March issue about Moses’ Law and Christ’s Law, signed
by Mardoqueu and received by Mr. R…, from Mulhouse; that gentleman
received another equally remarkable message from the same spirit and it
will be published. The message below is from another deceased relative
who died a few months ago. It was given on three different occasions.
To all those who I met
I
My friends,
Be spiritists, I beg this of all of you. Spiritism is the law of God,
which is the law of Moses, applied to the present. When Moses gave
the law to the Israelites, he had done what God had given to him, and
God had appropriated it to the people of that time. Humanity then progressed
in all fields; in science as in morality. Today everyone knows how to proceed; everyone knows how to pay respect to the Creator, to their
neighbors and to themselves. We must now broaden the base of education.
What Moses taught you is no longer sufficient to help the progress
of humanity and God does not want you to stay at the same point; what
was good 5,000 years ago is not good today. When you want to see the
progress of your children do you always send them to the same school
where they would only learn the same thing? No. You send them to a
superior school. Well, my friends! The time has arrived where God wants
you to expand the scope of your knowledge. Even Christ, although he
did make a step forward to the Mosaic law, did not say everything since
he would not have been understood but he sowed the seeds that should
be harvested and utilized to the benefit of future generations. God in his
infinite goodness sends us Spiritism today whose foundations are entirely
found in the Bible and in the Gospels, to elevate you and to teach you to
love to one another.
Yes, my friends, the mission of Spiritism is the extinction of any hatred
among human beings, and among nations, it is the dawn of universal
brotherhood that arises; with Spiritism you can only reach a broad
and lasting peace. Arise then, peoples! Stand up because God who is the
Creator of all things sends you the spirits of your relatives to open up a
new path to you, a path greater and wider than the one you still follow.
Oh! My friends, don’t be the last ones to surrender before the evidence
since God will raise his hand against the non-believers and stiff-hearted
who must disappear from Earth so that the forthcoming kingdom of
good is not disturbed. Believe in the warning of this one who was and is
always your relative and friend.
May the Israelites take the lead! May they quickly and without delay
hold the flag sent by God to humanity to unite everyone like in a single
family! Take the weapons of courage and resolution. Show no hesitation.
Don’t allow the stragglers to keep you behind by talking about sacrileges.
No, my friends, there is no sacrilege. Be sorry for those who wish to keep
you behind based on such pretexts. Doesn’t reason tell you that there is
nothing immutable in this world? Only God is immutable but everything
that was created by God must follow an inexorable progressive course
because that is his design. So don’t try to stop the Earth from turning!
The institutions that were magnificent 5,000 years ago are ancient
today. Their objective has been overtaken. They are not sufficient to today’s
society as what was once called the old regimen in France can no
longer serve today’s France. A new progress emerges without which all
other improvements would lose their solid foundation. Such progress is
the universal fraternity whose seeds were sown by Christ and now sprout
with Spiritism. Would you then be the last ones to take that route? Don’t
you see that the old world is in an infantile stage of work seeking renovation?
Look at the map, not the European but the world map and see that
every archaic institution falls one after the other not to stand up ever
again. Why? It is the dawn of freedom that rises up expelling despotism
of all kinds, like the first rays of Sunlight expelling the darkness of night.
People are tired of animosity; they understand that their happiness depends
on fraternity and want to be free, since they cannot improve and
embrace one another while they are not free. Don’t you see ahead of a
great nation an eminent man with a God given mission to prepare the
way? Don’t you hear the somber cracks of the old world giving birth to a
new era? You will soon see on St. Peter’s chair a pontiff who will proclaim
the new values, whose belief will permeate all peoples uniting all dissident
beliefs in a single family. Be ready. I tell you this; raise the flag of such a
great and sacred lesson so that you are not the last.
Israelites of Bordeaux and Bayonne, you are the vanguard of progress,
stand up and embrace Spiritism for that is the law of our Lord and praise
God for having so promptly brought to you the means of reaching eternal
happiness, the destiny of the elected ones.
II
My friends,
Don’t be surprised when you read this communication. It comes from
me, Edouard Pereyre, your relative, friend and fellow countryman. I dictated
it to my nephew Rudolph whose hand I hold to make him write with my own writing. I make that effort to give you conviction, although
it is tiresome to me and to the medium since he is forced to follow movements
that are not his. Yes, my friends, Spiritism is a new revelation; you
must understand the thorough reach of this word since it reveals to you a
new force of nature, an unsuspected force that nonetheless is as old as the
world. It was known by the enlightened people of our past during Moses’
time, and in such a way that you received the first teachings about human’s
duties towards God, but he only gave what was compatible with the
humanity of that time. Now that there is progress and the masses are illuminated;
the stupidity and ignorance of the early ages begin to give way
to reason and moral sense; now that the idea of God is understood by all,
or at least by the majority, there is a new revelation simultaneously given
to every educated people, although modified according to their degree of
advancement. The new revelation tells you that people don’t die; that the
soul outlives the body and inhabits the spaces between you and around
you. Yes, my friends. Rest assured when you lose a beloved one. You only
lost the physical body for they live among you, guiding, instructing and
inspiring you. Hold your tears, particularly if that person was good, charitable
and humble because then she is surely happy in this world where
all religions confound in one and in the same worship, where there is no
place for any religious hatred and jealousy.
Yes, we are also happy when we can inspire these feelings to those who
we are in charge of instructing, a happiness that is even greater when we
see them taking the good path since they open the door through which
they must pass when coming to join us.
Ask the medium about the sublime lessons that he receives from his
grandfather Mordecai. If he follows the designed path he will build himself
a happy future but also if he fails his duties after those lessons he will
bear the whole responsibility and will have to start again until he has adequately
fulfilled his last task. Yes, my friends, we have already lived a corporeal
life and will live others. The happiness that we enjoy is only relative.
There are states more superior to the ones we experience now and that can
only be achieved through successive and progressive incarnations in other
worlds. You must not believe that Earth is the only inhabited planet from
all those globes in the universe. Poor human pride of which thinks that
all the stars for only his delights! You must know that every globe is inhabited
and if you only knew the rank occupied by Earth amongst these
worlds, you would have no reason to glorify yourself! If we were not assigned
with the mission to inspire and instruct you we would like to visit
these worlds and learn ourselves! However, we are still attached to Earth
by our missions and our bonds. Later on others will replace us and we will
then be able to go to those better worlds and learn from their experiences,
thus gradually purifying ourselves until we get to God, our Creator! That
is Spiritism. That is what is taught by Spiritism and that is the truth
that you can understand today and that should help you regenerate. You
must understand that you are all brothers and sisters, regardless if black
or white, rich or poor, Muslims, Jews or Christians. Now, since everyone
needs to be born again several times in order to advance, according to the
very revelation made by Jesus, God allows that those who were united
by blood or friendship in preceding existences meet again on Earth, not
knowing one another, but in relative positions to one another according to
the required atonement to clear their previous faults, so that the one who
is your servant today could have been your master in a previous life, and
the unfortunate one to whom you deny assistance to today, may perhaps
be one of your ancestors that makes you so proud or a former dear friend.
Can you now understand the reach of the commandment: ‘Thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself’? That is, my friends, the revelation that will lead to
universal fraternity when understood by everybody. That is why you must
not remain stuck in your principles but follow the progress delineated by
God, never stopping. That is why I have called upon you to hold the flag
of Spiritism. Yes, be spiritists since that is the law of God and remember
that happiness is in that path that will lead you to perfection. I will support
you; me and all others that like me and as you know do the same.
May each family study Spiritism! May each family bear mediums so
as to multiply the interpreters of God’s will! Do not allow yourselves to be
discouraged by the obstacles of the first trials. They are often surrounded by difficulties and not always free from danger, since there is no reward
where there is no effort. Everyone can acquire that faculty but before you
try to obtain it, you must study so that you can be forearmed against
the hurdles. Throw your impurities away; enrich your thoughts and your
heart so that you can keep the bad spirits away from you; pray, particularly
for those who try to obsess you, for prayer can convert them and set
you free. May the vanguard experience of your predecessors be beneficial
to you, precluding you from falling in the same faults! I will continue
these instructions.
III
Judaism was the first religion to inspire in the human beings the idea of
a spiritual God. Until then some people used to worship the Sun, others
the Moon; here the fire, there the animals, but the idea of an immaterial
essence of God was not presented anywhere. Then Moses arrived. He
brought a new law that overturned all ideas received before him. He had
to struggle against Egyptian priests who entertained their people in the
most absolute ignorance, in the most sordid slavery. The priests who then
enjoyed unlimited power could not see but with horror the propagation of
a new faith, destroying the scaffolding of their organization, threatening
their powerful status. That faith had in itself the light, the intelligence
and the freedom of thoughts. It was a moral and social revolution. Hence
every follower of that new faith, recruited in all social classes of Egypt, and
not exclusively among the descendants of Jacob as mistakenly thought,
were persecuted, oppressed and submitted to the harshest humiliations
until finally expelled from the country, since they were contaminating
the population with subversive and anti-social ideas. It is always the same
when a progressive idea shows up in the horizon, reaching out to humanity.
The same persecution and mistreatment follows the innovators who
cast upon the soil of the new generation the fertile seeds of morality and
progress; because any progressive innovation leads to the destruction of
certain abuses and necessarily has by enemies all those who are interested
in maintaining these abuses.
But God Almighty, who wisely leads every event that must stimulate
progress, inspired Moses. He gave him powers that had never been seen
before, and through the irradiation of that power whose effects reached
the eyes of the most incredulous, Moses conquered a huge influence upon
the population who blindly trusted their destiny, performing a miracle
whose impression would remain from generation to generation, as permanent
reminder of God’s power and His prophet.
The passage of the Red Sea was the first act of liberation of the people.
Nevertheless, they needed instruction. It was necessary to tame them
through the power of reason and through the sometimes renovated miracles;
it was necessary to give them faith and moralize them; they needed to
trust the power and have faith in a God Creator, infinite Being, infinitely
good and just. The trying forty years in the desert, among deprivations,
suffering and circumstances of all sorts; the examples of insubordination
severely reprimanded by a providential justice, all that contributed to the
development of a faith in the Almighty Being whose benevolent hand
they felt every day, sometimes a severe hand that punishes those who are
brave.
The first revelation took place at Mount Sinai, the brilliant mystery
that astonished the world, it captivated and spread on the Earth the first
benefits of a moral that freed man from the claws of flesh and from a
brute despotism; that placed humankind above the spheres of the animals,
making them superior, capable of elevating to the supreme intelligence
through their own progress.
The first steps of these people who had entrusted their destiny to
the man of God were hindered by wars whose effect were to be the
fertile seeds of a social renovation among the fighting tribes. Judaism
became the focus of light, of intelligence and freedom and irradiated a
remarkable light upon all neighboring nations, then provoking hatred
and hostility. That immediate result was in God’s plans, without which
progress would have been very slow. While the wars disseminated the
germs of progress, they were also a lesson to the Jews whose faith they
revived.
These people, freed from another people, who had blindly entrusted
the power of a single man, these people, had a mission, it was a predestined
people. That is why it was said that the people were unknowingly
on a mission, not noticed by the other peoples either. That tough mission
was rich in gall and bitterness. Their apostles endured all possible
sufferings. They were persecuted, imprisoned, stoned and dispersed and
wherever they were, they carried that lively and intelligent faith; the trust
in their God, whose power they had felt, whose goodness they had experienced,
accepting the trials that should bring to humanity the benefits
of civilization.
Here you have the obscure, scorned and despised apostles; the first
pioneers of freedom; have they suffered enough since they left Egypt until
now? The time of their rehabilitation is not far and in a not too distant day,
we will salute those pioneer soldiers of modern civilization with acknowledgment
and veneration, and justice will be made to the descendants of
those families whose unbreakable faith was taken as assets to every nation
where God allowed them to disperse. When Jesus Christ came he was
still a messenger of God. He was a new shining star on Earth, like Moses,
whose mission he took over to continue, develop and adapt to the progress
that was already realized. He himself was destined to suffer that shameful
death whose paths had been prepared by the Jews, creating the convenient
circumstances of a Roman crime. Stop thinking of the history of nations
and human beings as you have done so far. Your pride makes you believe
that they were the ones that brought forward the events that transformed
the face of the globe, forgetting that there is a God in the universe that
drives this remarkable harmony, with whose laws you comply thinking
that they were imposed by you. Look at the history of humanity from a
more elevated standpoint. Embrace a wider horizon and you will see that
everything follows a unique system. It is the law of progress that makes
you move on one step every century and not every day.
Jesus Christ came then in the second phase, the second revelation,
and it took his teachings eighteen centuries to spread out, to popularize.
From that you see how slow progress is and what human beings must
have been when Moses brought to the astonished world the idea of an
Almighty God, an infinite and immaterial God, whose power became
visible to that people, whose mission brought so much suffering and difficulties.
Hence, there is no progress without suffering. One comes after the
other; it is through suffering and its cruel circumstances that humanity
understands the objective of its destiny and the power of God by whom
humanity must exist.
Christianity was then the result of the second revelation. But was this
Doctrine whose sublime morality which Christ had brought and developed
understood in its remarkable simplicity? And how is it practiced by
the majority of those who profess it? Has it never been veered off from
its objective? Has it never been abused, serving as an instrument of despotism,
ambition and greed? In a word, all of those who name themselves
Christians, do they live according to the precepts of its founder?
No. That is why they also had to go through the alembic of unhappiness
that cleanses everything. History of Christianity is too recent to say everything;
but, nevertheless, the objective is about to be reached and a new
dawn will rise. Through different ways it will make us progress faster on
the path that took us six thousand years to arrive to.
Spiritism marks the arrival of an era that will see a revolution in
people’s ideas. It will destroy those incomprehensible pretensions, the
prejudices that have followed and still follow the Jews in their long and
painful pilgrimage. People will understand that they were submitted to a
providential destiny, serving as its instrument, like those who persecuted
them with their hatred were also pushed by the same power whose secret
designs should come true through mysterious and unknown ways.
Yes, Spiritism is the third revelation. It is unveiled to a generation of
more advanced people, of noble aspirations, generous and humanitarians
who must concur to the universal fraternity. That is the new objective
indicated by God to your endeavors. However, those results like the ones
achieved so far, will not be reached without pain and suffering. May those
who have the courage to take this on as the apostles of the new era to stand
up, raise their voices, speak out loud and expose the Doctrine, attack the abuses and show its objective. Such objective is not a shiny mirage that
you seek uselessly. That objective is real and you shall reach it at the time
indicated by God. It might be a distant time but it is determined. Don’t
be afraid. Go, apostles of progress. Walk boldly, with your heads held
high and your hearts resigned. You have a pure Doctrine as your support,
free from any mystery, which appeals to the most beautiful virtues of the
soul, offering that consoling certainty that the soul lives forever, outliving
death and pain. That is the unveiled objective, my friends. You will ask
who are the apostles, how can we recognize them. God is in charge of
revealing them through missions that will be accomplished. You will recognize
them by their works and their attributes. The ones who have missions
assigned from above accomplish them but do not glorify themselves
since God chooses the humble ones to propagate his word and not the
ambitions and proud ones. That is how you will recognize the prophets.
Edouard Pereyre”
Varieties False News
A certain newspaper from an unknown country published an article,
followed by other periodicals, with respect to a formal conference to
be held regarding Spiritism and with the participation of Mr. Home, Mr.
Marcillet, Mr. Squire, Mr. Delaage, Mr. Saudou, and Mr. Allan Kardec
among others. The readers who might have heard about it should be informed
that not everything printed is Gospel, even if it’s in a newspaper,
and in this case it is just a canard (duck, but also meaning hoax-NT),
dressed with coarse salt and without the seasoning of the spirit. We would
not be surprised one day by reading the conclusions of this convention
and even with the citation of statements allegedly uttered. This would not
cost them a thing and in the absence of anything better, it would fill out
the columns of the newspaper.
Allan Kardec
Allan Kardec