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The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1863 > November > Existence of multiple worlds By Mr. Gelpke
We owe this interesting passage below to the kindness of one of our correspondents from Bordeaux, extracted from a book entitled Exposé de la grandeur de la création universelle[1], by Dr. Gelpke, published in Leipzig in 1817.
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“… Hence, if the construction of all of the worlds that shine above us could have been examined by us what would have been our astonishment by admiring their diversity, each one organized in a different way when compared to its closest neighbor in creation! And as I have already said, since their number is incalculable their construction must also be infinitely different. Besides, as the organization of the beings that inhabit those worlds depend on their own organization, both internally as well as externally, they must also essentially differ in each globe. Now if we consider the multitude and the immense variety of creatures on our Earth, where a simple leaf is not like the next, and if we admit such a large variety of creatures in each globe, how prodigious will such immensity look like to us in the immensurable kingdom of God!
We will reach the plenitude of our happiness when, under progressively perfect envelopes, we later successively penetrate the mysteries of creation, finding endless worlds, populating a boundless space! Then, how much will God seem even more adorable to us, he who got all of that out of nowhere; he whose infinite benevolence created all of that for the satisfaction of the living beings and whose wisdom has ordered all of that in such a remarkable way!
But can our current lodging and organization make us happy? For that don’t we need another dwelling that will place us ahead in the domain of creation and a much more delicate and perfect envelope that will not hinder our Spirit in its progress towards perfection and through which it will be able to see by itself well beyond we can see from here with the best instruments available?
But why, after several steps of existences, wouldn’t the Creator give us an envelope that like a lightning bolt could move from a world to the next, at the same time allowing us to see everything close by, better embracing the whole through our thoughts? Would we doubt such a thing when we see the shiny butterfly raising out of a caterpillar and the flowery tree blossoming out of a simple seed? If God gradually develops the butterfly like that and show it magnificently transformed to us; if he also develops the germ step by step, how much won’t he make us progress, human beings, the kings of Earth, advancing in Creation?”
Plurality of the inhabited words, existences, perispirit, successive and indefinite progress of the soul, it is all there.
[1] Exposition of the greatness of the universal creation (TN)__
“… Hence, if the construction of all of the worlds that shine above us could have been examined by us what would have been our astonishment by admiring their diversity, each one organized in a different way when compared to its closest neighbor in creation! And as I have already said, since their number is incalculable their construction must also be infinitely different. Besides, as the organization of the beings that inhabit those worlds depend on their own organization, both internally as well as externally, they must also essentially differ in each globe. Now if we consider the multitude and the immense variety of creatures on our Earth, where a simple leaf is not like the next, and if we admit such a large variety of creatures in each globe, how prodigious will such immensity look like to us in the immensurable kingdom of God!
We will reach the plenitude of our happiness when, under progressively perfect envelopes, we later successively penetrate the mysteries of creation, finding endless worlds, populating a boundless space! Then, how much will God seem even more adorable to us, he who got all of that out of nowhere; he whose infinite benevolence created all of that for the satisfaction of the living beings and whose wisdom has ordered all of that in such a remarkable way!
But can our current lodging and organization make us happy? For that don’t we need another dwelling that will place us ahead in the domain of creation and a much more delicate and perfect envelope that will not hinder our Spirit in its progress towards perfection and through which it will be able to see by itself well beyond we can see from here with the best instruments available?
But why, after several steps of existences, wouldn’t the Creator give us an envelope that like a lightning bolt could move from a world to the next, at the same time allowing us to see everything close by, better embracing the whole through our thoughts? Would we doubt such a thing when we see the shiny butterfly raising out of a caterpillar and the flowery tree blossoming out of a simple seed? If God gradually develops the butterfly like that and show it magnificently transformed to us; if he also develops the germ step by step, how much won’t he make us progress, human beings, the kings of Earth, advancing in Creation?”
Plurality of the inhabited words, existences, perispirit, successive and indefinite progress of the soul, it is all there.