Example 2 - MR. JOBARD.

— Mr. Jobard had been honorary president of the Spiritist Society of Paris, and we intended to evoke him at the session of November 8, when, anticipating our wish, he spontaneously gave the following communication:

“Here I am, the one you were going to evoke, manifesting myself through this medium whom I have until now solicited in vain.

First of all I wish to describe my impressions at the moment of my release: I felt an unspeakable jolt; I instantly remembered my birth, my youth, my old age; my whole life was clearly portrayed in my memory.

I felt only a sort of pious desire to find myself at last in the regions revealed by our belief. Then the tumult subsided: I was free, and my body lay inert. Ah! my dear friends, what pleasure one experiences without the weight of the body! what joy in embracing Space! Do not think, however, that I have suddenly become one of the Lord’s elect; no, I am among the Spirits who, having learned a little, still have much to learn. It was not long before I remembered you, brothers in exile, and I assure you of all my sympathy; all my good wishes surround you.

“You wish to know which Spirits received me? what my impressions were? well then, friends, they were all those we evoke, all the brothers who shared in our labors. I saw the splendor, but I cannot describe it. I applied myself to discerning what was true in the communications, ready to contradict everything that was erroneous, ready to be the knight-errant of truth in this world, just as I was in yours.”

Jobard.

When you were on Earth, you recommended that we evoke you, and we now do so, not only to satisfy that wish, but also to bear witness once more to our sincere sympathy, instructing ourselves at the same time, since no one better than you can give us precise enlightenment about that world in which you now dwell. We shall count ourselves happy if you would be so good as to answer our questions. — A. At present what matters most is your instruction. As for your sympathy, I perceive it and have proof of it from the very things I hear, which is already an enormous progress.

To fix our ideas and not wander, we begin by asking in what place you find yourself here, and how we would see you if such a thing were granted to us? — A. I am beside the medium, with the appearance of the same Jobard who sat at your table, since your mortal eyes, still blindfolded, can see Spirits only under their mortal form.

Could you make yourself visible? If not, what is the difficulty? — A. The disposition that concerns you is entirely personal. A seeing medium would see me, and the others would not.

Is your place here the same one you occupied when you attended our sessions while incarnate, and which we reserve for you? Those, then, who saw you under such conditions might suppose that you are there just as you were then, since you are not there with the material body of former times, yet you are there with the fluidic body of now and with the same form. If we do not see you with the eyes of the body, we see you with thought; if you cannot communicate by speech, you can by writing, with the aid of a medium; thus our relations have in no way been broken by your death, and we can sustain them as easily and completely as before. Is this precisely how things happen? — 2 A. Yes, and you have long known it. I shall occupy this place many times, and even without your knowing it, since my Spirit will dwell among you.

We call attention to this last phrase: my Spirit will dwell among you, which, in this case, is not a mere figure of speech, but reality. By the knowledge that Spiritism gives us about the nature of Spirits, we know that any one of them can be among us, not only in thought, but personally, with his ethereal body, which makes him a distinct individuality. A Spirit can, consequently, dwell among us after death just as when alive, or rather, even better after death, since he can come and go freely and voluntarily.

In this way we have a multitude of invisible companions at table, some indifferent, others drawn by affection. It is to these last that this phrase applies: They dwell among us, which may be interpreted thus: They assist, inspire, and protect us.

Not long ago, while incarnate, you sat in this very place. Will the conditions under which you now do so seem strange to you? What is the effect of the change of state? — A. The conditions do not seem strange to me in any way, because my disincarnate Spirit enjoys perfect lucidity, so as to leave unresolved no questions it faces.

Do you remember having been in the same conditions prior to your last existence? Do you experience any change in this respect when comparing your present and past situations? — A. I remember my previous existences and feel myself improved, for I identify with what I see, whereas, disturbed in the preceding existences, I perceived only earthly faults.

Do you remember the second-to-last incarnation, the one that preceded that of Mr. Jobard? — A. Whether I remember… I was a mechanic workman beset by poverty and by the desire to perfect my craft. As Jobard, I realized the dreams of the poor workman, and I give thanks to God, whose infinite goodness made the plant germinate, and whose seed He had deposited in my brain.

Have you already communicated elsewhere? — A. I have communicated little; 2 in many places a Spirit has taken my name; sometimes I was near him without being able to communicate directly; 3 my death is so recent that I still partake of certain earthly influences.

There must be perfect sympathy for me to be able to express my thought.

Soon I shall operate unconditionally, but for the moment, I repeat, I cannot do so.

When a somewhat well-known man dies, he is called from all sides, and countless Spirits hasten to take possession of his individuality; this is what has happened with me in many cases.

I assure you that, immediately after release, few Spirits can communicate, even through a favorite medium.

Do you see the Spirits who are here with us? — A. I see, chiefly, Lazarus and Erastus; then, farther off, the Spirit of Truth hovering in space, then, still, a multitude of Spirits surrounding you, solicitous and benevolent. Be happy, friends, for beneficial influences contend for you against the claws of error.

When incarnate, you shared the opinion put forth about the formation of the Earth by the incrustation of four planets that would have joined together: Are you still of the same opinion? — A. It is an error. The new geological discoveries prove the convulsions of the Earth and its gradual and successive formation. The Earth, like the other planets, had its own life, and God did not need to resort to that great disorder which would be the aggregation of planets. Water and fire are the only organic elements of the Earth.

You also admitted that men could fall into a cataleptic state for an unlimited time, and that the human race had thus appeared on Earth? — A. A pure illusion of my mind, which always overshot its goal.

Catalepsy can be long, but not indeterminate.

Traditions, legends exaggerated by the Oriental imagination. My friends, I have already suffered much from the illusions that fed my Spirit; do not delude yourselves in this regard. I have learned much and can today tell you that my intelligence, apt to assimilate diverse and vast studies, will nevertheless retain, from its last incarnation, the inclination toward the marvelous and the mystical, drawn from the popular imaginations. Even now, I have occupied myself little with purely intellectual questions, in the sense in which you judge them. And how could I do so, dazzled and stunned by the marvelous spectacle that surrounds me? The bond of Spiritism, which you men cannot understand, alone can draw me to this earth which I abandon — I will not say with joy, for that would be an impiety — but with the profound recognition of liberation.

When the SOCIETY opened a subscription in favor of the workers of Lyon, in February 1862, a married couple subscribed 50 francs, 25 for themselves and 25 in the name of Mr. Jobard, who then gave the following communication in this regard:

“I exult and am flattered not to have been forgotten among my Spiritist brothers. I thank the generous heart that brought you the offering I would give if I still dwelt in your world. In the one in which I now reside, the need for money is nil, so that I had to resort to the purse of friendship to prove materially that I too was moved by the misfortune of the brothers of Lyon. Intrepid cultivators of the Lord’s vineyard, you must be greatly convinced that charity is not an empty word, for great and small alike displayed to you, in the emergency, sentiments of sympathy and fraternity. You are on the great humanitarian path of progress; well then: may it please God that you be happy on the journey, and may the friendly Spirits sustain you so that you triumph at last.

“I am beginning to live spiritually, calmer, less disturbed by the constant evocations that rained upon me.

Fashion also acts upon Spirits, and when Jobard, in fashion, passes out of fashion, then he will ask his serious friends to evoke him; we shall then go deeply into questions treated superficially, and your Jobard, completely transfigured, will be able to be useful, as he desires with all his heart.”

Jobard.

Once the first period devoted to the encouragement of his friends had passed, Mr. Jobard placed himself among the Spirits who actively strive for social renewal, awaiting a new earthly incarnation in order to take an even more active and direct part in this movement. After that time, he gave to the SOCIETY of Paris, where he continues as a collaborator, communications of incontestable superiority, without departing from the originality and impulsiveness that constituted the foundation of his character, to the point of making himself recognized before signing. [See in the Review of the month of March 1862: Conversations from Beyond the Grave — Mr. Jobard.] [1]

Jean-Baptiste-Ambroise-Marcellin Jobard. Author of Le nouvelles inentions - Google Books.