The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1862

1. Evocation – A. I am here.

2. Does our evocation please you? – A. Yes since very few of you think of this poor playful spirit

3. What is your situation in the spiritual world? – A. I am happy.

4. What do you think about the current generation of people that live on Earth? – A. I think that they have not advanced much in morality and if I lived among you I would be able to utilize my characters with the same shocking truth that I used to do when alive. I find my excesses, my selfish and my arrogant people in the same condition as when I died.

5. Your characters enjoy a much-deserved reputation. What is your current opinion about your work? – A. I do not think they have the merit that you attribute to them otherwise they would have led to a different result. But I understand that when people read it they do not compare themselves to those portrayals given the fact that they carry a shocking truth. You all have a certain dose of self-love sufficient enough to defer to others your own personal defects and you never recognize yourself when you are portrayed with your true traces.

6. You have just said that the characters could have been applied today with the same veracity. You do not see a progress in humanity? – A. In general, intelligence has advanced but moral betterment has not moved a foot forward. If Moliere and I could still write we would still do the same thing that we did: useless works that warned but did not correct you. Spiritism will have a better luck. You will gradually comply with its doctrine and will reformulate the vices that we pointed out when alive.

7. Do you believe that humanity will still rebel against the warnings given by the incarnate Spirits on a mission on Earth and by the Spirits that come to help them? – A. No. Time has come for the progress and renovation of planet Earth and its inhabitants. That is why the good Spirits come to help you. I have said enough tonight. In a few days I will prepare one of my characters.

8. Could your characters also be applied to certain errant Spirits driven by identical feelings?
– A. To everyone that in the condition of spirit still bear the same passions that dominated them when alive. Forgive me for my honesty but whenever you call me I will respond without going around the bushes. Good-bye.

Jean de La Bruyère