The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1862

Bordeaux, February 15^th 1862, medium Mrs. H…

Q. You have already told me a number of times that we will reunite and no longer part ways. How can that be? Wouldn’t the reincarnations, even those that take place on Earth, separate us for a more or less long time? – A. I told you already: God allows those who love one another from the bottom of their hearts and that endured their trials with resignation to reunite first in the spiritual world where they advance together so as to be granted incarnations in superior worlds. Hence, when requested in earnest they can leave the spiritual world together and reincarnate in the same places and through a sequence of previously established circumstances unite again through links that are most convenient to their hearts.

Some will ask to be a father or a mother of a spirit that was sympathetic to them and that they will have the privilege of guiding on the good path, surrounding them with the caring hands of family and friendship. Others would have requested the grace of marriage and spend together many years of happiness and love. I speak of marriage as the intimate union of two Spirits who no longer wish to stay away from one another.

In the superior worlds, however, marriage is not understood, as it is known by you. In those regions of happiness, freedom and joy, the links are made of flowers and love. And they are not less long lasting because of that. The sublime unions are maintained by heart and love. Free and happy unions; marriages of souls before God that is the law of love in the superior worlds! The privileged beings of those blessed regions feel more strongly connected than the inhabitants of Earth who frequently neglect the most sacred commitments; there one doesn’t see the spectacle of disturbed unions, contaminated by vices, inferior passions, instability, envy, injustice, rejection and all sorts of inclinations that lead people to bad and to the violation of the most solemn vows. Well! Those God blessed unions are the reward of those that nurtured a profound love in their sufferings and who have asked the Lord of justice and goodness to be able to continue to love one another in the superior worlds, without the fear of a forthcoming and painful separation.

What is it that is difficult to accept and understand? Couldn’t God who loves all his children have created such a perfect happiness to the worthy ones who have endured harsh trials together? What could God have done more in agreement with the sincere wishes of a loving heart? From all the rewards that have been promised to humanity is there anything similar to such a thought, such a hope or even certainty of the eternal union to the loved ones?

Believe me, my dear child, our secret wishes, this mysterious but irresistible need of love, of long lasting love, of eternal love were only placed in our hearts by God because the promise of a future allows us such a sweet hope. God will not make us go through the pain of a broken heart. Our hearts long for happiness and beat thanks to our pure affections. The only possible reward is to have our loving dreams come true.

By the same token, in the condition of poor Spirits destined to trying times we have been in the position of asking for and sometimes choosing the toughest trials; we also choose when in the position of regenerated and happy Spirits, with a new life expected to help us to purify further, adding to the summation of happiness conceded to an advanced spirit.

There you have, my beloved daughter, a quick picture of future happiness. We shall have many opportunities to come back to this pleasant subject. You must understand how much the perspective of such a future makes me happy and how nice it is to me to confide my hopes to you!

Q. – Shall we recognize one another in those new and fortunate existences? – A. Would our happiness be complete otherwise? It is no doubt happiness because in those privileged worlds every creature is destined to be happy. However, would that be the perfect happiness to those who get suddenly separated in the most beautiful time of life and ask God to get together again in His heart? Would that be our dreams and hopes coming true? No. You think like me. If a veil were cast upon the past there would not be a supreme happiness, the ineffable joy of seeing one another again after the sadness of absence and separation. There wouldn’t be, or at least we would not be aware of our long lasting fondness that strengthens our bonds even further. Thus, like two dear childhood friends like to meet again in your Earth and in society, seeking one another much more than if their relationship dated a few days only, the Spirits who deserved the favor of meeting again in superior worlds are both happy and appreciative to God for such a new encounter as an answer to their dearest wishes.

The worlds superior to Earth in the scale of perfection are plenty of favors that contribute to the perfect happiness of their inhabitants. Past is not hidden from them since the memory of their past suffering and many mistakes atoned to the price of much suffering and the even more lively memory of their sincere loving relationships ensure that their current life is a thousand times sweeter, protecting them against faults that could be incurred due to the existence of any minor weakness. Those worlds are paradises to the inhabitants of Earth, destined to lead humanity to the divine paradise.

OBSERVATION: It would be a terrible mistake to see in this communication a criticism to the laws that regulate marriage and a sanction to ephemeral and extra official unions. From the point of view of laws God’s laws are the only ones that are immutable. The human laws, however, appropriate to the customs, uses, climate, and degree of civilization are essentially mutable and it would be bad if otherwise and if the peoples of the nineteenth century were governed by the same laws of our predecessors. Hence, if these laws have changed from their time to ours, they will also change from our time to that of our descendants. Every law has it reason of being and its utility when it is elaborated but it is possible that it is good today and no longer is tomorrow. Given the state of our customs, our social demands, marriage must be regulated by law and a proof that such a law is not absolute is that it is not the same to every civilized country. We are then led to believe that in the superior worlds where there isn’t the same kind of material interests to be protected; where there is no evil, that is to say, where bad Spirits are denied incarnation; where the unions consequently result from sympathy rather than calculation, the conditions must be different. However, what is good to them could be bad to us.

Besides, we must take into account that the Spirits dematerialize as they advance and purify. It is only in inferior worlds that incarnation is material. There is no more material incarnation to the superior Spirits and consequently there is no procreation once procreation is a function of the body and not the spirit. Pure love is then the only objective of a union and hence it does not require the sanction of a certified judge as with friendship on Earth.

Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, medium Mrs. C.

A man is walking outside. A roof tile falls by his feet. He says: “How lucky! One step further and I would be dead.” Generally speaking this is the only appreciation to God. Soon afterwards that same man, however, is taken by an illness and dies in bed. Why has he been spared by the roof tile and died a few days later like everybody else? The unbeliever would say that it was by chance as he said it himself: “How lucky!” What good has it done to him to escape the first accident succumbing to the next? In any case, if he was favored by luck, it did not last long.

The Spiritist answers this question by saying that we escape accidents all the time and that we find ourselves separated from death by a thin line. Do not you see a warning from the heavens to prove to you that life is hanging on a thin thread and that we are never sure that we will live to see tomorrow and that we must always be ready to leave?

What is it that you do when you go on a long journey? You take every precaution; you take care of businesses; you take with you the provisions and everything that is necessary during the journey and you leave behind everything that can stall or delay your trip. If you know the destination and if you have friends there, you leave without fear and certain that you will be welcome. Otherwise you study the map of the region and take letters of recommendation with you.

Suppose you are forced to undertake such a journey overnight and that there is no time to make preparations, whereas, if you were informed well in advance you would have everything prepared to attend to your needs and give you comfort.

Well! Every day you are exposed to the greatest and most important of all journeys and one that will inevitably have to be realized and you do not think of that more than if you had to live indefinitely on Earth! God out of His benevolence warns you by many nearly fatal incidents and all you have to say is: What luck!

Spiritists! Be aware of the preparations you have to make for the great journey that has much more important consequences to you than any other that you do here on Earth as your future happiness depends on how you make those preparations.

The map that will guide you in the country that you are going to visit is the initiation into the mysteries of a future life. Through this the country will no longer be strange to you. Your provisions are the good deeds that you have done. Those will be your only passport and your letter of recommendation.

As for the friends that you are going to meet that you know them. Bad feelings, that is what you must leave behind for unfortunate is the one who is taken by surprise by death and still has hate in his heart like the one who falls on the water and dragged to the bottom by a stone tied to the neck.

The business which you must set in order is the forgiveness to your offenders and the reparation of mistakes made to your neighbor. These amendments allow you to conquer and forgive for bad deeds. These debts are paid by forgiveness. Hurry up since the departing time may come sooner rather than later and there would not be time for consideration.

I truly tell you that the falling tile by your feet is a sign to warn you to always be prepared to leave at any time so that you are not taken by surprise.

The Spirit of Truth

Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, January 24^th 1862

Proposed subject Medium Mr. A. Didier

This is not only a material subject but it is also very much a spiritualist one as well. Before going into the main subject there is another one to be discussed first.

What is war? War, we say for starters, is allowed by God since it exists, has existed and will always exist. While educating one’s mind it is a mistake to consider Cesar as a conqueror only; to see Clovis as a Barbarian and Charlemagne a tyrant whose senseless dream was to create a large empire. Ah! God! As people generally say, the conquerors themselves are toys in the hands of God.

They got to these positions out of their geniuses and audacity and saw around them not only armed men but also ideals, progress, civilizations that had to be brought upon other nations. They left like Cesar to take Rome to Lutetia; like Clovis to spread the germs of a monarchic solidarity; like Charlemagne to sow the seeds of Christianity to blind peoples, to nations already corrupted by the first times of the Church.

This is what happened:


Cesar, the most self-centered of these three geniuses, imposed military tactics, discipline and the law, imposing them all to Gaul. Behind his army, there was the immortal idea. The conquered and untamable populations endured the oppression of Rome; they became Roman provinces. Would the proud Marseille have ever existed without Rome? Laudanum and so many other famous towns became huge centers, focuses of light, science, arts and humanity. Cesar is then a great propagator, one of those universal men that use man to civilize man, one of those who sacrifice people to the benefit of ideas.

Clovis’ dream was to establish a monarchy, foundations, and a rule for his people. However, since he was not yet illuminated by the grace of Christianity, he was a barbarian propagator. We must see him in his conversion. Out of his active, febrile and bellicose imagination, he saw a gift from God in his victory against the Visigoth and from there on and certain that he was always with God he was baptized. Baptism then propagates in the Gaul and Christianity expands even further. It is time to repeat with Corneille that Rome was no longer Rome. The barbarians had invaded the Roman world.


After the Romans had shaken all civilizations there is a man whose dream is no longer to spread around the world the mysteries and prestige of the Capitol but the formidable beliefs of Aix-la- Chapelle. That is a godly man or a man that believes to be with God. The barbarians still practice a hateful cult, a rival to Christianity. Charlemagne takes those people over and Wittekind falls after a succession of battles and victories, humbly surrendering and receiving the baptism.

That is, no doubt, a gigantic picture in which so many facts, so many acts of Providence, so many downfalls and victories take place. But what is the conclusion? Isn’t the propagation of the idea, its universalization, not stopping before family breakdowns, people’s sadness and having everywhere the fundamental objective of the implantation of the cross of Christ in all corners of the planet, isn’t that a spiritualist fact?

It is then necessary to see these three men as great propagators that either out of ambition or belief brought light to the Occident when the Orient was about to succumb in a perplexing laziness and inactivity.

Now, Earth is not a planet where progress takes place rapidly and through persuasion and kindness. Do not be surprised by the fact that it is many times necessary to raise the sword instead of the cross.

Lamennais


Q. – You said that wars will always exist. However it seems that moral progress will make it disappear by destroying its causes. – A. It will always exist in the sense that there will always be struggle. But the struggle will change in form. It is true that Spiritism must spread peace and fraternity around the world. But you know well that despite the triumph of good there is always a struggle. Spiritism will evidently increase the understanding of the need for peace but evil is always present. It will still be necessary to fight for good for a long time on Earth. The struggles will become rarer and rarer.


Same subject, medium Mr. Leymar


The influence of geniuses upon the future of the peoples is incontestable. They are instruments in the hands of the Providence to abbreviate the great reforms that without them would only come much later. They are the ones who sow the germs of the new ideas and they often come back some centuries later bearing different names to continue or complement the work that was initiated. Cesar, that great figure of antiquity, represents the genius of war and organized laws. His stretched to the limit passions shook the Roman society profoundly. It changes its face and, in the evolutionary process, everything changes. The peoples feel their former constitution changing. The ruthless strength of his power unites what should not have been separated according to the time of Cesar. Gaul is transformed by Cesar’s triumphant hands and after ten years of war a powerful unity is formed. The decadence of Rome begins at that time, though.


The force that trembled the world was taken to the excesses and made the mistakes of the extreme power.

Anything that grows beyond the limits designed by God must also fall. The great empire was invaded by a cloud of peoples originated from unknown regions up until then.

Together with the weapons, the celebrity of Cesar had taken the new ideas to the North and the peoples precipitated upon him like a torrent.

You then see those barbarian tribes invading the provinces where the Sun was better, the wine sweeter and the women more beautiful. Those tribes crossed the Gaul, the Alps and the Pyrenees establishing colonies everywhere and thus breaking down the body of the so-called Roman Empire.

It was only the genius of Cesar that was required to take his nation to the summit of power. That is the period of renovation when all people mix and fight one another, seeking other formations, other elements. During several centuries there was a lot of hatred, a lot of wars. How many crimes! How much blood!

Barbaret


The barbarian hand of Clovis should set the starting point of a new era for the people. He obeyed the customs and would not back up before anything in order to form a nation. He formed it with the sword and astuteness. He created a new element with the baptism and initiated his soldiers in a new belief. After him there was chaos and despite the idea, despite Christianity, there was still the need for Charles Martel, Pepin and later Charlemagne.

Cheers to this powerful figure, this energetic figure that like a new Cesar knows how to bring together all the peoples that were disperse, knows how to change ideas and organize what was chaos. Charlemagne is greatness in war, law, politics, and in the forthcoming morality, which should combine the people, giving them the intuition of conservation, unity and solidarity. The great principles that were the foundations of France come from him. Our sciences and our laws come from him. He was a reformer, marked by the Providence to become the link between Cesar and the future. He is also called The Great because he employed terrible means of execution in order to shape the union of barbarian peoples who would obey no one but the strong and powerful.

Barbaret


NOTE: Since this name was unknown the spirit was asked to provide some clarification about himself.

I lived in the time of Henry IV. I was simple among all others. Lost in this Paris where someone like me is so easily forgotten, someone who was just concerned with the study, feeding my own thoughts and forming my own ideas. I was poor and the daily labor gave me that ineffable joy called freedom. I used to copy books and created wonderful vignettes, prodigies of patience

and knowledge which were only enough to grant me the daily bread and water. Nevertheless I studied, loved my homeland and sought the true science. I liked history and wanted freedom to my beloved France. I wished I had the realization of every aspiration dreamed in my humility. Since then I am in a better world and God rewarded me for my abnegation giving me this peace of mind where there is no place for the obsessions of the body and I cherish my country, the whole world, our Earth, love and freedom.

I come here many times to see you and to listen to you. I like your works and take part in them with my whole heart. I want to see you happy and satisfied in the future. May you all be happy is what I wish. However you will not be if you do not get rid of the old outfit that since long ago dresses this whole world. I speak of selfishness. Study the past, the history of your country and you will learn more from the suffering of your fellow countrymen than from any other science.

To live is to know, to love and help one another. Go then and do according to your spirit. God sees you and judges you.

Barbaret