NATURE OF THE COMMUNICATIONS.

Coarse communications.

— Frivolous.

— Serious.

— Instructive.

— Means of communication.

We have said that every effect which reveals, in its causality, an act, however insignificant, of free will, attests, by that very circumstance, the existence of an intelligent cause.

Thus, a simple movement of a table, which responds to our thought, or manifests an intentional character, may be considered an intelligent manifestation.

If the result had to remain confined to this, it would awaken in us only a very secondary interest. Nevertheless, it would already be something to give us the proof that, in such phenomena, there is more than a purely material action.

The practical usefulness that would follow from it would be null, or, at least, very restricted. The matter, however, changes its aspect entirely when this intelligence gains such a development that it allows the continuous exchange of ideas to be regulated.

There are then no longer simple intelligent manifestations, but true communications. The means we have at our disposal today allow us to obtain them as extensive, as explicit, and as rapid as those we maintain with men.

Whoever is well imbued, according to the spiritist scale (The Spirits’ Book, no. 100), with the infinite variety that Spirits present, under the twofold aspect of intelligence and morality, will easily be convinced that there must be a difference between their communications; 7 that these must reflect the elevation, or the baseness, of their ideas, their knowledge and their ignorance, their vices and their virtues; that, in a word, they cannot resemble one another any more than do those of men, from the savage to the most enlightened European.

The shades they present can be grouped into four principal categories. According to their most pronounced characters, they are divided into: coarse, frivolous, serious, and instructive. [Coarse communications.]

— Coarse communications are those conceived in terms that shock decorum.

They can come only from Spirits of low stamp, still covered with all the impurities of matter, and in no way differ from those that come from vicious and coarse men.

They are repugnant to anyone who is not entirely devoid of all delicacy of sentiments, by reason of the fact that, in accordance with the character of the Spirits, they will be trivial, ignoble, obscene, insolent, arrogant, malevolent, and even impious.

[Frivolous communications.]

— Frivolous communications emanate from Spirits who are frivolous, mocking, or playful, more malicious than wicked, and who attach no importance to what they say.

As they contain nothing indecorous, these communications please certain persons, who amuse themselves with them, because they find pleasure in futile conversations, in which much is said to say nothing.

Such Spirits sometimes come out with witty and biting sallies and, amid vulgar jests, not infrequently utter hard truths, which almost always strike with accuracy.

Around us swarm frivolous Spirits, who take advantage of every occasion to intrude into the communications.

Truth is what least concerns them; hence the malignant charm they find in mystifying those who have the weakness and even the presumption to believe in them on their word.

The persons who take pleasure in this kind of communications naturally give access to the frivolous and deceitful Spirits. The serious Spirits keep away from them, just as in human society serious men avoid the company of madcaps.

[Serious communications.]

— Serious communications are weighty as to their subject and elevated as to their form.

Every communication which, free from frivolity and coarseness, aims at a useful end, even of a private character, is, by this simple fact, a serious communication.

Not all serious Spirits are equally enlightened; there are many things of which they are ignorant and about which they may deceive themselves in good faith.

This is why the truly superior Spirits continually recommend to us that we submit all communications to the sieve of reason and of the most rigorous logic.

With regard to serious communications, the true must be distinguished from the false, which is not always easy, for, precisely under the shadow of the elevation of language, certain presumptuous Spirits, or pseudo-savants, seek to obtain the prevalence of the most false ideas and the most absurd systems.

And, the better to gain credit for themselves and to display greater importance, they do not scruple to adorn themselves with the most respectable names and even with the most venerated ones.

This is one of the greatest pitfalls of the practical science; we shall treat of it further on, with all the developments that so important a subject demands, at the same time as we make known the means of forewarning against the danger of false communications. [Item 303.]

[Instructive communications.]

— Instructive are the serious communications whose principal object consists in some teaching, given by the Spirits, on the sciences, morality, philosophy, etc.

They are more or less profound, according to the degree of elevation and dematerialization of the Spirit.

In order to draw real fruits from these communications, it is necessary that they be regular and carried on with perseverance.

The serious Spirits attach themselves to those who desire to instruct themselves and second their efforts, leaving to the frivolous Spirits the task of amusing those who see in such manifestations only a passing distraction.

Only by the regularity and frequency of those communications can one appreciate the moral and intellectual value of the Spirits who give them and the confidence they merit.

If, in order to judge men, experience is needed, it is much more needed still in order to judge Spirits.

In qualifying communications as instructive, we suppose them true, for what is not true cannot be instructive, even if uttered in the most imposing language.

In this category, we cannot, consequently, include certain teachings that have of seriousness only the form, often bombastic and emphatic, with which the Spirits who dictate them, more presumptuous than instructed, count on deceiving those who receive them. But, being unable to supply the substance they lack, they are incapable of sustaining for long the role they seek to play. Before long, they betray themselves, laying bare their weakness, as soon as their dictations have any continuity, or they are driven to their last redoubts. [Means of communication.]

The means of communication are most varied.

Acting upon our organs and upon all our senses, Spirits can manifest themselves to our sight, by means of apparitions; 3 to our touch, by tangible impressions, visible or hidden; 4 to hearing by noises; 5 to smell by means of odors without known cause.

This last mode of manifestation, although very real, is, incontestably, the most uncertain, because of the multiple causes that may lead into error. Hence we shall not dwell on treating of it.

What we must examine with care are the various means of obtaining communications, that is, a regular and continued exchange of thoughts.

These means are: rappings, speech, and writing. We shall study them in special chapters.