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The foregoing observations lead us to say a few words about the contradictions that may be found in the solutions given by the Spirits to certain questions, and from which adversaries try to draw an argument against the Doctrine.

The Spirits being very different from one another, from the point of view of knowledge and morality, it is evident that the same question may be resolved by them in opposite senses, according to the category they occupy, exactly as would happen among men if it were proposed, now to a learned man, now to an ignorant one, now to a jester of poor taste.

The essential point, as we have already said, is to know to whom we are addressing ourselves.

But, they object, how is it to be explained that Spirits recognized as superior beings are not always in agreement among themselves?

We shall say, in the first place, that, independently of the cause we have just pointed out, there exist others that may exert a certain influence on the nature of the answers, apart from the character of the Spirits.

This is a capital point, the explanation of which will be found in the course of this work, which is why we refrain from reproducing it here. It is in this, above all, that the difficulty of Spiritist studies consists. It is for this reason that we say that these studies require sustained attention, profound observation, and, above all, as all human sciences demand, continuity and perseverance.

Some years are needed to form a mediocre physician, and three-quarters of a lifetime to form a scientist. How can one expect to acquire the Science of the Infinite in a few hours?

Let no one, therefore, delude himself: the study of Spiritism is immense; it concerns all the questions of metaphysics and of the social order; it is a whole world that opens before us.

Is it to be wondered at that it should require time, much time indeed?

The contradiction, moreover, is not always as real as it may appear, being attached more to the form of language than to the intrinsic meaning. Do we not see every day men who profess the same science diverge in the definition given to a thing, whether because they employ different terms, or because they consider it from another point of view, even though the fundamental idea is always the same?

Let us add, further, that the form of the answer often depends on the form of the question.

It would be puerile, therefore, to see contradiction where there is generally only a difference of words.

The superior Spirits are in no way concerned with the form; for them, the substance of the thought is everything.

Let us take, for example, the definition of the soul. This word not having a single acceptation, the Spirits may, like us, diverge in the definition they give it: one may say that it is the principle of life, another call it the animic spark, a third affirm that it is internal, a fourth that it is external, etc., and all will be right, each from his own point of view.

One might even believe that some of them profess materialist theories and yet that this is not so.

The same occurs with the word God. It will be: the Principle of all things, the Creator of the Universe, the Supreme Intelligence, the Infinite, the Great Spirit, etc. But, in the final analysis, it will always be God.

Let us cite, finally, the classification of the Spirits. They form an uninterrupted series, from the inferior degree up to the superior degree. The classification is, therefore, arbitrary: one may fix it at three classes, another at five, ten, or twenty, at will, without any of them being in error.

All the human sciences offer us the same example. Each scientist has his own system; the systems change, but Science does not change. Whether one learns Botany by the system of Linnaeus, of Jussieu, or of Tournefort, one will not for that reason know less Botany.

Let us cease, then, to give to purely conventional things more importance than they deserve, in order to hold only to that which is truly serious, and, not infrequently, reflection will make us discover, in that which seemed to be the greatest absurdity, a similarity that had escaped us at a first examination. >>>