INFLUENCE OF THE ENVIRONMENT.

— 1st Does the environment in which the medium finds himself exercise any influence on the manifestations?

“All the Spirits who surround the medium aid him, for good or for ill.”

2nd Can the superior Spirits not triumph over the ill-will of the incarnate Spirit who serves them as interpreter and of those who surround him?

“They can, when they judge it fitting and in accordance with the intention of the person who addresses himself to them.

We have already said it: the more elevated Spirits communicate, at times, by a special grace, despite the imperfection of the medium and of the environment, but, in that case, these remain completely foreign to the fact.”

3rd Do the superior Spirits seek to direct frivolous gatherings toward a current of serious ideas?

“The superior Spirits do not go to gatherings where they know that their presence is useless.

To environments little instructed, but where there is sincerity, we go with good will, even though we find there only mediocre instruments.

We do not go, however, to instructed environments where irony dominates. In such environments, it is necessary to speak to the ears and to the eyes: that is the role of the rapping and mocking Spirits. It is fitting that those who are proud of their science should be humbled by the Spirits less instructed and less advanced.” 4th Are the inferior Spirits forbidden access to serious gatherings?

“No, sometimes they are permitted to attend them, in order to profit by the teachings given to you; but they remain silent, like scatterbrains in an assembly of thoughtful people.”

It would be an error for anyone to believe that he needs to be a medium in order to attract to himself the beings of the invisible world. They people space; we have them incessantly around us, at our side, seeing us, observing us, intervening in our gatherings, following us, or avoiding us, according as we attract or repel them. The mediumistic faculty in no way influences this: it is no more than a means of communication.

In accordance with what we have said concerning the causes of sympathy or antipathy of the Spirits, it will easily be understood that we must be surrounded by those who have affinity with our own Spirit, according as this is elevated, or degraded.

Let us now consider the moral state of our planet and we will understand of what kind must be those who predominate among the wandering Spirits.

If we take each people in particular, we may, by the dominant character of the inhabitants, by their preoccupations, their more or less moral and humanitarian sentiments, say of what order are the Spirits who by preference gather in its midst.

Starting from this principle, let us suppose a gathering of men who are frivolous, inconsequent, occupied with their pleasures; what will be the Spirits who will preferentially surround them? They will certainly not be superior Spirits, just as it would not be our learned men and philosophers who would go to pass their time in such a place.

Thus, wherever there is a gathering of men, there is likewise around them a hidden assembly, which sympathizes with their qualities or with their defects, complete abstraction being made of all idea of evocation.

Let us now admit that such men have the possibility of communicating with the beings of the invisible world, by means of an interpreter, that is, by a medium; what will be those who will answer their call? Evidently, those who are surrounding them very closely, on the watch for an occasion to communicate.

If, in a frivolous assembly, a superior Spirit is called, he may come and even utter some weighty words, like a good shepherd who responds to the call of his strayed sheep. But, as soon as he sees himself neither understood, nor heard, he withdraws, as any of us would do in his place, leaving the others with the field free.

It is not always enough for an assembly to be serious in order to receive communications of an elevated order.

There are persons who never laugh and whose heart is not, on that account, pure. Now, it is the heart, above all, that attracts the good Spirits.

No moral condition excludes Spiritist communications; those, however, who are in bad conditions, these communicate with those who are similar to them, whom they do not fail to deceive and to flatter in their prejudices.

By this one sees the enormous influence that the environment exercises over the nature of the intelligent manifestations. This influence, however, is not exercised as some persons claimed, when the world of the Spirits was not yet known, as it is known today, and before more conclusive experiences had cleared up the doubts.

When the communications agree with the opinion of those present, it is not that this opinion is reflected in the Spirit of the medium, as in a mirror; it is that with those present are Spirits who are sympathetic to them, for good as much as for ill, and who abound in their ways of seeing.

This is proved by the fact that, if you have the power to attract other Spirits than those who surround you, the same medium will use an absolutely different language and will say things very far removed from your ideas and from your convictions.

In sum: the conditions of the environment will be so much the better, the more homogeneity there is for the good, the more pure and elevated sentiments, the more sincere desire of instruction, without preconceived ideas.