Example 9 - CHARLES DE SAINT-G…, idiot.

— This was a boy of 13, still incarnate, whose intellectual faculties were so void that he did not recognize his own parents and could scarcely take food by himself. There occurred in him the complete suspension of development in the entire organic system.

To Saint Louis. May we evoke the Spirit of this boy? — A. Yes, it is as if you were doing so to that of a disincarnate one.

That answer leads us to suppose that the evocation can be made at any hour… — A. Yes, since being held to the body by material bonds, not spiritual ones, his soul can detach itself at any hour.

Evocation of Ch. de Saint-G… — A. I am a poor Spirit bound to the Earth by one foot, like a little bird.

At present, that is, as a Spirit, are you conscious of your nullity in this world? — A. Certainly I feel the captivity.

When the body sleeps and your Spirit detaches itself, are your ideas as lucid as if you were in the normal state? — A. When the unhappy body rests, I am a little freer to rise toward the Heaven to which I aspire.

Do you experience, in the spiritual state, any painful sensation arising from your corporeal state? — A. Yes, for it is a punishment.

Do you remember the preceding incarnation? — A. Oh! yes, and it is the cause of my present exile.

What existence was that? — A. That of a young libertine in the reign of Henry III.

You say your present condition is a punishment… did you not perchance choose it? — A. No.

How can your present existence serve your advancement in the state of nullity in which you find yourself? — A. For me there is no nullity, for it was God who imposed this contingency on me.

Can you foresee the duration of the present existence? — A. No, but in a year more or less, I will reenter my homeland.

During the time that elapsed between your last disincarnation and the present incarnation, what did you do? — A. God imprisoned me; therefore, I was a frivolous Spirit.

Do you, when awake, have consciousness of what happens, despite the imperfection of your organs? — A. I see and I hear, but my body sees nothing and perceives nothing.

Can we do anything profitable for you? — A. Nothing.

To Saint Louis. In the case of an incarnate Spirit, do prayers have the same efficacy as for the disincarnate? — A. Prayers, besides being always useful, are pleasing to God; 2 in the case of this Spirit, they are of no immediate use to him, but later God will take them into account for him.

This evocation ratifies what has always been said of idiots. Moral nullity does not imply nullity of the Spirit, which, abstraction made of the organs, enjoys all its faculties. The imperfection of the organs is merely an obstacle to the free manifestation of thoughts. It is, then, the case of a vigorous man who is momentarily bound hand and foot.

— Instruction from a Spirit on idiots and cretins, given in the Society of Paris.

Idiots are beings punished for the bad use of powerful faculties; souls imprisoned in bodies whose impotent organs cannot express their thoughts; 2 this moral and physical muteness constitutes one of the cruelest earthly punishments, often chosen by repentant Spirits desirous of redeeming their faults.

The trial is not for that reason unfruitful, because the Spirit does not remain stationary in the carnal prison; those stupid eyes see, those depressed brains conceive, although they can translate nothing through word and gaze; except for mobility, their state is that of the lethargic or cataleptic, who see and hear without, however, being able to express themselves.

When you have those horrible nightmares, during which you try to flee from a danger, screaming, crying out, notwithstanding the immobility of your body and of your tongue; when this happens, we say, your sensation is identical to that of idiots. It is the paralysis of the body joined to the life of the Spirit.

Thus are explained almost all infirmities, for nothing happens without a cause, and what you call the injustice of fate is merely the application of the highest justice.

Madness is also a punishment for the abuse of the most elevated faculties; the madman has two personalities — the one that raves and the one that is conscious of his acts without being able to guide them.

As for idiots, the contemplative, isolated life of their soul without the pleasures and enjoyments of the body can equally become agitated by events, like any of the more complicated existences; some rebel against the voluntary torment and, lamenting the choice made, feel a violent desire to return to the other life, a desire that makes them forget the resignation of the present and the remorse of the past, of which they are conscious, since, although idiots and madmen, they know more than you, hiding beneath the physical impotence a moral power of which you have no idea at all.

The acts of fury, as of imbecility, to which they give themselves over are inwardly judged by their being, which suffers from them and is vexed by them. And so, to mock them, to insult them, even to mistreat them, as is sometimes done, is to increase their suffering, making them feel more cruelly their weakness and abjection. Could they do so, they would accuse of cowardice those who act thus, knowing that the victim cannot defend himself.

Madness is not one of the divine laws, for, resulting materially from ignorance, sordidness, and misery, man can overcome it. The modern resources of hygiene, which Science today carries out and makes available to all, tend to destroy it.

Progress being the express condition of Humanity, trials tend to modify themselves, accompanying the evolution of the centuries. The day will come when trials must all be moral; and when the Earth, still new, has fulfilled all the phases of its existence, then it will be transformed into an abode of happiness, as occurs with the more advanced planets. Pierre Jouty, father of the medium.

— [Idiocy from the Spiritist point of view.]

[Observations by Allan Kardec.]

There was a time when the existence of the soul of idiots was put in doubt, going so far as to ask whether they really belonged to the human species.

Is not the manner in which Spiritism regards the facts truly very moralizing and instructive? Considering that these bodies enclose souls that may already have shone on the Earth; souls as present and lucid as our own despite the heavy envelope that stifles their manifestations; considering that the same may happen to us if we abuse the faculties that Providence has granted us; considering all this, shall we not have matter for serious reflection?

Without admitting the plurality of existences, how can we reconcile imbecility with the justice and goodness of God? If the soul did not live previously, then it was created at the same time as the body, and, in that case, how can we explain the creation of such precarious souls on the part of a just and good God?

It is quite clear that here we are not dealing with madness, for example, which can be prevented or cured. Idiots are born and die as such, without the notion of good and evil. What, then, is their lot in eternal life? Will they be happy alongside intelligent and industrious men? But why such favoritism if they did nothing good?

Will they remain in what is called limbo, that is, a mixed state that is neither happy nor unhappy? But why this eternal inferiority? Is it their fault that they were created idiots by God? We challenge all those who deny reincarnation to extricate themselves from this predicament.

By reincarnation, on the contrary, what appears to be injustice becomes admirably just, what seems inexplicable is rationally explained.

Moreover, we know that our antagonists, that the adversaries of this doctrine have no arguments to combat it, beyond those arising from the personal repugnance of having to return to the Earth.

We answer them: for you to return, your permission is not asked, for the judge does not consult the will of the defendant in order to send him to prison. All have the possibility of not reincarnating, provided that they perfect themselves enough to rise to a higher Sphere. Egoism and pride, however, are not compatible with those happy Spheres, and hence the necessity for all to divest themselves of these moral infirmities, advancing by degrees through work and through their own effort.

We know that in certain countries, far from being objects of contempt, idiots are assisted with beneficent care. Will not such commiseration spring from an intuition of the true state of these unfortunate ones, all the more worthy of attention in that, finding themselves repudiated in society, their Spirits comprehend such a contingency?

The presence of one of these beings in the bosom of the family is even regarded as a favor and a true blessing. Is this superstition? Perhaps, because in the ignorant, superstition is confused with the most holy ideas, since they do not grasp their import. But, be that as it may, to the relatives is offered the occasion of exercising charity, all the more meritorious in that this burden is heavier for them, with no material compensation.

There is greater merit in the careful assistance of an infirm child than in that of a child whose qualities offer some compensation.

Disinterested charity being one of the virtues most pleasing to God, it always draws His blessing upon those who practice it.

That innate and spontaneous sentiment is worth as much as this prayer: “Thank you, my God, for having given us a weak being to sustain, an afflicted one to console.”