SPIRITIST MEETINGS AND SOCIETIES.

On meetings in general. — On societies properly so called.

— Subjects of study.

— Rivalries among societies.

On meetings in general.

Spiritist meetings offer very great advantages, since they allow those who take part in them to enlighten themselves, by means of the exchange of ideas, through the questions and observations that are made, from which all profit.

But, in order for them to yield all the desirable fruits, they require special conditions, which we are going to examine, for he would err who compared them to ordinary meetings.

Nevertheless, since each meeting is, after all, a collective whole, what concerns them follows naturally from the preceding instructions. It falls to them to take the same precautions and to guard themselves against the same reefs as individuals. That is the reason why we have placed this chapter last.

They present very different characters, according to the end for which they are held; for that very reason, their intrinsic conditions must also differ. According to the kind to which they belong, they may be frivolous, experimental, or instructive.

— Frivolous meetings are composed of persons who see only the amusing side of the manifestations, who divert themselves with the jests of the light-minded Spirits, to whom this kind of assembly is very pleasing, and which they do not fail to attend, since they enjoy in them full liberty to show themselves off.

It is in such meetings that banalities of every sort are asked, that the Spirits are asked to predict the future, that their shrewdness is put to the test in guessing ages, or what each one has in his pocket, in revealing little secrets and a thousand other things of equal importance.

Such meetings are of no consequence; but, as the light-minded Spirits are sometimes very intelligent and, in general, of good humor and a fair amount of joviality, very curious facts often occur in them, from which the observer may draw profit.

He who has seen only this and judges the world of Spirits by this sample will form as false an idea of it as one who judged the whole society of a great capital by that of a few of its districts.

Simple good sense says that elevated Spirits do not attend meetings of this kind, in which the spectators are no more serious than the actors.

Whoever wishes to occupy himself with futile things must frankly call upon light-minded Spirits, just as, to entertain a company, one would call upon buffoons; but he would commit a profanation who invited venerated individualities to such gatherings, for it would be to mix the sacred with the profane.

— Experimental meetings have particularly for their object the production of physical manifestations.

For many persons, they are a spectacle more curious than instructive.

The incredulous come away from them more amazed than convinced, when they have seen nothing else, and turn themselves entirely to the search for tricks, for, perceiving nothing of all that, they readily imagine the existence of subterfuges.

It is no longer so with those who have studied; these understand beforehand the possibility of the phenomena, and the observation of positive facts determines or completes their conviction. If there are subterfuges, they will be in a condition to discover them.

Nevertheless, experiments of this order bring a usefulness that no one would dare to deny, since it was they that led to the discovery of the laws which govern the invisible world and, for many people, they constitute a powerful means of conviction.

We maintain, however, that, by themselves alone, they cannot initiate anyone whatever into the Spiritist science, just as the mere inspection of an ingenious mechanism does not make mechanics known to one who does not know its laws. Nevertheless, if they were directed with method and prudence, they would give much better results. We shall return shortly to this point.

— Instructive meetings present a very different character and, since they are those in which the true teaching may be drawn, we shall insist more upon the conditions which they must satisfy.

The first of all is that they be serious, in the full sense of the word.

It matters that all be persuaded that the Spirits whose manifestations are desired are of a very special nature; that, since the sublime cannot ally itself with the trivial, nor good with evil, whoever wishes to obtain good things must address himself to good Spirits.

It is not enough, however, to evoke good Spirits; it is necessary, as an express condition, that those present be in favorable conditions for the Spirits to consent to come.

Now, to assemblies of light-minded and superficial men, superior Spirits will not come, just as they would not have come when alive.

A meeting is only truly serious when it occupies itself with useful things, to the exclusion of all others.

If those who form it aspire to obtain extraordinary phenomena, out of mere curiosity, or as a pastime, perhaps Spirits will attend who produce them, but the others will withdraw from it.

In a word, whatever be the character of a meeting, there will always be Spirits disposed to second the tendencies of those who compose it.

Thus, then, every serious meeting in which teaching is replaced by amusement departs from its objective.

Physical manifestations, as we have said, have their usefulness; let those who wish to see go to the experimental sessions; let those who wish to understand go to the study meetings; it is in this way that both will succeed in completing their Spiritist instruction, just as do those who study medicine, who go, some to the lectures, others to the clinics.

Spiritist instruction does not embrace only the moral teaching that the Spirits give, but also the study of facts.

To it belongs the theory of all the phenomena, the search for the causes, the verification of what is possible and of what is not; in short, the observation of all that may contribute to the advancement of the science.

Now, it would be an error to believe that the facts are limited to the extraordinary phenomena; that only those which most strongly impress the senses are worthy of attention. At every step, they stand out from the intelligent communications, and in a manner not to deserve being scorned by men who gather to study.

These facts, which it would be impossible to enumerate, arise from a countless number of fortuitous circumstances. Though of lesser prominence, they are nonetheless worthy of the highest interest for the observer, who will find in them either the confirmation of a known principle, or the revelation of a new principle, which makes him penetrate a little further into the mysteries of the invisible world.

This too is philosophy.

Study meetings are, moreover, of immense usefulness for the mediums of intelligent manifestations, for those, above all, who seriously wish to perfect themselves and who do not attend them dominated by a foolish presumption of infallibility.

Obsession and fascination constitute, as we have already had occasion to say, one of the great stumbling blocks of mediumship.

They may, then, in very good faith, delude themselves regarding the merit of what they obtain, and it is easily conceived that the deceiving Spirits have the way open when they are dealing only with a blind man.

For this reason it is that they keep their medium away from all scrutiny; that they even go, if need be, so far as to make him take an aversion to whoever might enlighten him. Thanks to isolation and to fascination, they succeed without difficulty in leading him to accept all that they wish.

It can never be repeated too often: there is found here not only a stumbling block, but a danger; yes, a true danger, we say.

The only means, for the medium, of escaping it is the analysis carried out by disinterested and benevolent persons who, appraising the communications with coolness and impartiality, open his eyes and make him perceive what, by himself, he cannot see.

Now, every medium who fears that judgment is already on the road to obsession; 8 he who believes that the light has been made exclusively for his benefit is completely subjugated.

If he takes the observations amiss, if he repels them, if he is irritated upon hearing them, no doubt remains about the evil nature of the Spirit who assists him.

We have said that a medium may lack the knowledge necessary to perceive the errors; that he may let himself be deluded by resounding words and by a pretentious language, be seduced by sophisms, all in the greatest good faith.

For this reason it is that, lacking lights of his own, he must modestly have recourse to those of others, in accordance with these two adages: four eyes see more than two, and — no one is a good judge in his own cause.

From this point of view it is that meetings are of great usefulness for the medium, provided he shows himself sensible enough to listen to the opinions that are given him, because there will be found persons more enlightened than he, who will catch the nuances, often delicate, by which the Spirit betrays its inferiority.

Every medium who sincerely desires not to be the plaything of falsehood must, therefore, seek to produce in serious meetings, bringing to them what he obtains in private, gratefully accept, indeed solicit, the critical examination of the communications he receives.

If he is dealing with deceiving Spirits, this is the surest means of ridding himself of them, by proving to them that they cannot deceive him.

Besides, the medium who is irritated by criticism has so much the less reason for such irritation, inasmuch as his self-love has nothing to do with the case, since what comes from his mouth, or from his pencil, is not his own, and he is no more responsible for it than he would be if he read the verses of a bad poet.

We insist upon this point, because, just as this is a reef for the mediums, so it is also for the meetings, in which it matters not to trust lightly in all the interpreters of the Spirits.

The participation of any obsessed, or fascinated, medium would be more harmful than useful to them; they ought not, then, to accept it.

We believe we have already set forth observations sufficient to make it impossible for them to be mistaken about the characteristics of obsession, if the medium cannot recognize it by himself. One of the most evident is, on his part, the pretension of being always right against everyone.

The obsessed mediums, who refuse to recognize that they are, resemble those sick persons who delude themselves about their own infirmity and are lost, by not submitting themselves to a salutary regimen.

The serious meeting must have the firm purpose of keeping the lying Spirits away from itself; 2 he would be mistaken who supposed himself sheltered from them, by reason of his ends and of the quality of his mediums.

It will not achieve this so long as it is not in favorable conditions.

In order that it may well understand what takes place in such circumstances, we beg the reader to refer to what we said above, in no. 231, on the influence of the surroundings.

Let it be imagined that each individual is surrounded by a certain number of invisible acolytes, who identify themselves with his character, with his tastes, and with his inclinations. This being so, everyone who enters a meeting brings with him Spirits who are sympathetic to him. According to the number and the nature of them, these acolytes may exercise over the assembly and over the communications a good or a bad influence.

Perfect would be the meeting in which all those present, possessed of equal love for good, brought with them only good Spirits.

In default of perfection, the best will be that in which good supplants evil. This proposition is too logical for us to need to insist upon it.

A meeting is a collective being, whose qualities and properties are the resultant of those of its members and form, as it were, a bundle. Now, this bundle will have the more force, the more homogeneous it is.

If one has well understood what was said (no. 282, question 5), about the manner in which the Spirits are notified of our call, the power of the association of the thoughts of those present will easily be understood.

Since the Spirit is in a certain way reached by thought, as we are by the voice, twenty persons, uniting with the same intention, will necessarily have more force than one alone; but, in order that all these thoughts concur toward the same end, it is necessary that they vibrate in unison; that they merge, so to speak, into one alone, which cannot happen without concentration.

On the other hand, the Spirit, on arriving in a surrounding that is completely sympathetic to it, will feel more at ease there. Knowing that it will find only friends, it will come more readily and more disposed to answer. Whoever has followed with some attention the intelligent Spiritist manifestations must necessarily have become convinced of this truth. If the thoughts are divergent, there will result from it a clash of ideas disagreeable to the Spirit and, consequently, prejudicial to the communication.

The same thing happens with a man who has to speak before an assembly: if he feels that all the thoughts are sympathetic and benevolent toward him, the impression he receives reacts upon his own ideas and gives them more vivacity. The unanimity of that support exercises over him a kind of magnetic action which multiplies his resources tenfold, whereas indifference, or hostility, disturbs and paralyzes him.

It is thus that applause electrifies the actors. Now, the Spirits, far more impressionable than humans, undoubtedly undergo the influence of the surroundings far more strongly than these.

Every Spiritist meeting must, then, tend toward the greatest possible homogeneity. It is understood that we are speaking of those in which one wishes to arrive at serious and truly useful results.

If what is wanted is merely to obtain communications, whatever they may be, without any attention to the quality of those who give them, evidently all these precautions become unnecessary; but, then, no one has any cause to complain of the quality of the product.

— Recollection and the communion of thoughts being the essential conditions of every serious meeting, it is easy to understand that the excessive number of those present constitutes one of the causes most contrary to homogeneity.

There is, it is true, no absolute limit for that number, and it is well conceived that a hundred persons, sufficiently concentrated and attentive, will be in better conditions than ten would be, if distracted and noisy.

But it is also evident that, the greater the number, the more difficult will be the fulfillment of those conditions.

Besides, it is a fact proved by experience that intimate circles, of few persons, are always more favorable to beautiful communications, for the reasons we have just set forth.

There is yet another point no less important: that of the regularity of the meetings.

In all of them, there are always present Spirits whom we might call habitual frequenters, without thereby intending to refer to those who are found everywhere and meddle in everything. The former are either protecting Spirits, or those who are most assiduously interrogated.

Let no one suppose that these Spirits have nothing else to do but to listen to what we may wish to say to them, or to ask them. They have their occupations and, besides, they may find themselves in unfavorable conditions for being evoked.

When the meetings are held on fixed days and hours, they prepare themselves in advance to attend, and it is rare for them to be absent. There are even some who carry their punctuality to excess. They take offense when a quarter of an hour's delay occurs and, if it is they who fix the moment of a meeting, it would be useless to call them before that moment.

Let us add, however, that, although the Spirits prefer regularity, those of a truly superior order do not show themselves meticulous to that extreme.

The demand for rigorous punctuality is a sign of inferiority, like everything that is puerile.

Even outside the predetermined hours, they can, undoubtedly, attend, and they present themselves willingly, if the end aimed at is useful.

Nothing, however, is more prejudicial to good communications than to call them this way and that, whenever the fancy strikes us and, principally, without serious motive. As they are not bound to submit to our caprices, it may well happen that they do not stir at our call. It is then that it occurs that others take their place and their names. On societies properly so called.

All that we have said of meetings in general applies naturally to regularly constituted societies, which, however, have to struggle with some special difficulties, arising from the very bonds existing among their members.

The requests addressed to us being frequent, for clarifications on the manner of forming societies, we shall sum them up here in a few words.

Spiritism, which has but just been born, is still diversely appraised and very little understood in its essence, by a great number of adherents, in such a way as to offer a strong bond that would bind together among themselves the members of what may be called an Association, or society.

It is impossible that such a bond should exist, except among those who perceive its moral objective, understand it, and apply it to themselves. Among those who see in it more or less curious facts, no serious bond can exist.

Placing the facts above the principles, a simple divergence, as to the manner of considering them, suffices to divide them. The same is not the case with the former, for, concerning the moral question, there cannot be two ways of regarding it.

So much so that, wherever they find one another, mutual confidence attracts them to one another, and the reciprocal benevolence which reigns among all excludes the constraint and the vexation that are born of susceptibility, of the pride that is irritated at the least contradiction, of the egoism that claims everything for the person in whom it dominates.

A society, where those sentiments were shared by all, where its components gathered with the purpose of instructing themselves by the teachings of the Spirits and not in the expectation of witnessing more or less interesting things, or each to make his own opinion prevail, would be not only viable, but also indissoluble.

The difficulty, still great, of gathering a large number of homogeneous elements from this point of view, leads us to say that, in the interest of studies and for the good of the cause itself, Spiritist meetings must tend rather to the multiplication of small groups than to the constitution of large agglomerations.

These groups, corresponding with one another, visiting one another, exchanging observations, can, from now on, form the nucleus of the great Spiritist family, which one day will unite all opinions and join men by a single sentiment: that of fraternity, bearing the stamp of Christian charity.

We have already seen of how much importance the uniformity of sentiments is, for the obtaining of good results. Necessarily, the more difficult it is to obtain that uniformity, the greater the number.

In the not very numerous aggregations, all know one another better and there is more security as to the efficacy of the elements that enter into them. Silence and recollection are easier and everything passes as in a family.

Large assemblies exclude intimacy, by reason of the variety of the elements of which they are composed; they require special premises, pecuniary resources, and an administrative apparatus unnecessary in small groups.

The divergence of characters, of ideas, of opinions, is there better defined and offers to the disturbing Spirits more facility for sowing discord.

The more numerous the meeting, the more difficult it is to content all those present. Each one will want the work to be directed according to his own way of understanding; that the subjects which interest him most be treated by preference. Some judge that the title of member gives them the right to impose their ways of seeing. Hence, oppositions, a cause of malaise that brings about, sooner or later, disunion and, afterward, dissolution, the fate of all societies, whatever be their objectives.

Small groups are never subject to the same fluctuations. The fall of a large Association would be an apparent failure for the cause of Spiritism, of which its enemies would not fail to take advantage. The dissolution of a small group passes unnoticed and, besides, if one disperses, twenty others form alongside it.

Now, twenty groups, of fifteen to twenty persons, will obtain more and will do far more for the propaganda, than an assembly of three hundred or four hundred individuals.

It will probably be said that the members of a society who acted in the manner we have just outlined would not be true Spiritists, since charity and tolerance are the primary duty that the Doctrine imposes on its adherents. It is perfectly exact and, for that very reason, those who proceed thus are Spiritists more in name than in fact.

Certainly they do not belong to the third category. (See no. 28.) But, who says that they even deserve the simple qualification of Spiritists? A consideration here presents itself, not devoid of gravity.

Let us not forget that Spiritism has enemies interested in obstructing its march, to whom its triumphs cause spite, the most dangerous not being those who attack it openly, but those who act in the shadow, those who caress it with one hand and tear it apart with the other. These malevolent beings insinuate themselves wherever they count on being able to do harm. As they know that union is a force, they set about destroying it, brandishing firebrands of discord.

Who, from then on, can affirm that those who, in the meetings, sow disturbance and dissension are not provocative agents, interested in disorder? Without any doubt, they are not true Spiritists, nor good ones; they will never do good and may do much harm.

Now, it is understood that they find infinitely more facility in insinuating themselves into the numerous meetings than into the small nuclei, where all know one another.

Thanks to underhanded maneuvers, which pass unnoticed, they spread doubt, mistrust, and disaffection; under the appearance of hypocritical interest in the cause, they criticize everything, form conventicles and cliques that quickly break the harmony of the whole; this is what they want. When dealing with people of that sort, to appeal to the sentiments of charity and fraternity is to speak to the willfully deaf, for the objective of such creatures is precisely to annihilate those sentiments, which constitute the greatest obstacles opposed to their maneuvers.

Such a state of things, disagreeable in all societies, is still more so in Spiritist associations, because, if it does not occasion a rupture, it generates a preoccupation incompatible with recollection and attention.

If the meeting takes a bad direction, it will be said, will not the sensible and well-intentioned persons present at it have the right of criticism; ought they to let the evil pass, without saying a word, and approve everything by their silence? Without any doubt, that right is theirs: it is even a duty that is incumbent upon them.

But, if good intention animates them, they will express their opinions, observing all proprieties and with cordiality, frankly and not with subterfuges.

If no one supports them, they withdraw, for it is not conceivable that one who is not proceeding with ulterior motives should obstinately persist in remaining in a society where things are done that he considers improper.

It can, then, be established as a principle that everyone who, in a Spiritist meeting, provokes disorder, or disunion, ostensibly or surreptitiously, by any means whatever, is either a provocative agent, or, at the least, a bad Spiritist, of whom it behooves the others to rid themselves as quickly as possible.

But, this is often hindered by the very commitments that bind the components of the meeting, which is why it is fitting that indissoluble commitments be avoided.

Men of good will are always sufficiently committed: the ill-intentioned are always too much so.

Besides the notoriously malignant, who insinuate themselves into the meetings, there are those who, by their very character, carry disturbance with them everywhere they go: never, therefore, will all circumspection be excessive, in the admission of new elements.

The most prejudicial, in this case, are not those ignorant of the matter, nor even those who do not believe: conviction is acquired only by experience, and there are persons who desire to enlighten themselves in good faith. Those, above all, against whom the greatest precautions must be taken, are those of preconceived systems, the obstinate incredulous, who doubt everything, even evidence; the proud who, claiming to have the privilege of infused light, seek everywhere to impose their opinions and look with disdain upon those who do not think as they do.

Do not let yourselves be deluded by the pretended desire they manifest of instructing themselves. You will find more than one who will be much vexed if he is constrained to admit that he was mistaken.

Guard yourselves, principally, against those insipid orators, who always want to have the last word, and against those who take pleasure only in contradiction.

Both make one lose time, without any profit, not even for themselves. The Spirits do not like useless words.

Since it is necessary to avoid every cause of disturbance and of distraction, a Spiritist society must, on organizing itself, give all attention to the measures appropriate to deprive the promoters of disorder of the means of making themselves prejudicial and to facilitate their removal in every way.

The small meetings need only a disciplinary regulation, very simple, for the good order of the sessions; 3 the regularly constituted societies require a more complete organization. The best will be that which has the least complicated machinery.

Both may draw what is applicable to them, or what they judge useful, from the regulation of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, which we insert further on.

Against yet another reef the societies, small or large, and all meetings, whatever be the importance with which they are invested, have to struggle.

The occasioners of disturbances are found not only in their midst, but also in the invisible world.

Just as there are Spirits who protect associations, cities, and peoples, malevolent Spirits attach themselves to groups, just as to individuals.

They attach themselves, first of all, to the weakest, to the most accessible, seeking to make them their instruments, and gradually they go on enveloping the wholes, since they experience the greater malignant pleasure, the greater the number of those who fall under their yoke.

Every time, then, that, in a group, one of its components falls into the snare, it behooves it to be proclaimed that there is an enemy in the field, a wolf in the fold, and that all put themselves on guard, since the multiplication of his attempts is more than probable.

If energetic resistance does not lead him to discouragement, the obsession will become a contagious evil, which will manifest itself in the mediums, by the disturbance of mediumship, and in the others by the hostility of the sentiments, by the perversion of the moral sense, and by the disturbance of the harmony.

As charity is the strongest antidote of this poison, the sentiment of charity is what they most seek to stifle.

One must not, therefore, wait until the evil has become incurable, to remedy it; one must not even wait until the first symptoms manifest themselves; what must be attended to, above all, is to prevent it.

For this, there are two efficacious means, if they are well applied: prayer made from the heart and the attentive study of the slightest signs that reveal the presence of mystifying Spirits.

The first attracts the good Spirits, who zealously assist only those who second them, through confidence in God; the other proves to the evil ones that they are dealing with persons clear-sighted enough and sensible enough not to let themselves be deceived.

If one of the members of the group is prey to obsession, all efforts must tend, from the first indications, to open his eyes, in order that the evil may not grow worse, so as to bring him the conviction that he was mistaken and to awaken in him the desire to second those who seek to free him.

The influence of the surroundings is a consequence of the nature of the Spirits and of the manner in which they act upon living beings.

From that influence each one may deduce, by himself, the conditions most favorable for a society that aspires to win the sympathy of the good Spirits and to obtain only good communications, keeping away the bad ones.

These conditions are all contained in the moral dispositions of those present and are summed up in the following points:

Perfect communion of views and of sentiments;

Reciprocal cordiality among all the members;

Absence of every sentiment contrary to true Christian charity;

A single desire: that of instructing and improving themselves, by means of the teachings of the Spirits and of the profit drawn from their counsels. Whoever is persuaded that the superior Spirits manifest themselves with the aim of making us progress, and not of amusing us, will understand that they necessarily keep away from those who limit themselves to admiring their style, drawing no profit from it, and who are interested in the sessions only according to the greater or lesser attraction these offer them, according to the particular tastes of each one of them;

Exclusion of all that, in the communications asked of the Spirits, merely expresses the desire to satisfy curiosity;

Respectful recollection and silence, during the conversations with the Spirits;

Union of all those present, in thought, in the appeal made to the Spirits who are evoked;

Participation of the mediums of the assembly, with exemption from all sentiment of pride, of self-love, and of supremacy, and with the sole desire of being useful.

Will these conditions be so difficult to fulfill, that no one can be found who satisfies them? We do not believe so; we hope, on the contrary, that the truly serious meetings, like those that are already being held in various localities, will multiply, and we do not hesitate to say that it is to them that Spiritism will owe its widest propagation.

Reuniting honest and conscientious men, they will impose silence on criticism and, the purer their intentions are, the more they will be respected, even by their adversaries:

When mockery attacks the good, it ceases to provoke laughter: it becomes contemptible.

It is in meetings of this kind that there will be established, by the very force of things, bonds of real sympathy, of mutual solidarity, which will contribute to general progress.

It would be erroneous to believe that the meetings consecrated in a special way to physical manifestations are outside this concert of fraternity and that they exclude every serious idea.

From the fact that they do not require conditions so rigorous for their celebration, it does not follow that one may attend them with a frivolous disposition, and he will be much mistaken who supposes the participation of those present to be absolutely null there.

One has the proof of the contrary in the fact that, very often, the manifestations of this kind, even when provoked by powerful mediums, do not come to be produced in certain surroundings.

That is to say that in this case too there are contrary influences and that these influences naturally proceed from the divergence or hostility of the sentiments, paralyzing the efforts of the Spirits.

Physical manifestations, as we have already said, have great usefulness, since they open a vast field to the observer, for it is a whole series of unusual phenomena, of incalculable consequences, that unfold before his eyes.

An assembly of very serious objectives can, then, occupy itself with them, but it will not achieve the realization of those objectives, whether as a form of study or as a means of conviction, if it does not place itself in favorable conditions, 7 the first of which consists, not in the faith of those present, but in the desire that impels them to enlighten themselves, without hidden intentions and without the previous purpose of refusing everything, even evidence.

The second is the limitation of the number, in order to avoid the intrusion of heterogeneous elements.

If it is certain that it is the less advanced Spirits who produce the physical manifestations, these nonetheless present a providential end, and the good Spirits favor them, whenever they are capable of giving profitable results. Subjects of study.

Those who evoke their relatives and friends, or certain celebrated personages, in order to compare their opinions from beyond the tomb with those they maintained when alive, are, not rarely, embarrassed to keep up the conversation with them, without falling into banalities and futilities.

Many persons think, moreover, that The Spirits' Book has exhausted the series of questions of morals and of philosophy. It is an error.

For this reason we judge it useful to indicate the source from which one can draw subjects of study, so to speak inexhaustible.

If the evocation of illustrious men, of superior Spirits, is eminently profitable, by the teachings they give us, that of common Spirits is no less so, although these Spirits are incapable of resolving the questions of great scope.

They themselves reveal their inferiority and, the smaller the distance that separates them from us, the more we recognize them in a situation analogous to our own, not taking into account that they frequently manifest to us characteristic traits of the highest interest, as we explained above, in no. 281, speaking of the usefulness of the particular evocations.

This is, then, an inexhaustible mine of observations, even when the experimenter limits himself to evoking those whose human life presents some particularity, with respect to the kind of death they had, to age, to good and bad qualities, to the happy or unhappy position that fell to them on Earth, to habits, to mental state, etc.

With the elevated Spirits, the scope of the studies is broadened. Besides the psychological questions, which have a limit, an immensity of moral problems may be proposed to them, extending to infinity, on all the positions of life, on the best conduct to be observed in such or such a circumstance, on our reciprocal duties, etc.

The value of the instruction received, about any subject whatever, moral, historical, philosophical, or scientific, depends entirely on the state of the Spirit who is interrogated. It falls to us to judge.

Besides the evocations properly so called, the spontaneous communications furnish an infinity of subjects for study.

In the case of such communications, everything is reduced to awaiting the subject that it may please the Spirit to treat.

In this circumstance, many mediums may work simultaneously.

Sometimes, a particular Spirit may be called. Ordinarily, however, one awaits the one who wishes to present himself, who, frequently, comes in the most unforeseen manner.

These dictations serve, afterward, for a countless number of questions, whose themes are thus prepared beforehand.

They must be commented upon carefully, for the appraisal of all the ideas they contain, judging whether they bear the stamp of truth.

Made with severity, this examination, as we have said, constitutes the best guarantee against the intrusion of the mystifying Spirits.

For this motive, as much as for the instruction of all, it will be good to give knowledge of the communications obtained outside the sessions.

As is seen, there is here an inexhaustible source of elements exceedingly serious and instructive.

The work of each session may be regulated in the following parts:

1st Reading of the Spiritist communications received at the previous session, after they have been copied out fair;

2nd Various reports. — Correspondence. — Reading of the communications obtained outside the sessions. — Narration of facts that interest Spiritism;

3rd Matter of study. — Spontaneous dictations. — Various questions and moral problems proposed to the Spirits. — Evocations;

4th Conference. — Critical and analytical examination of the various communications. — Discussion of different points of the Spiritist science.

The newly created groups find themselves, at times, hampered in their work by the lack of mediums.

These, it cannot be denied, are one of the essential elements of Spiritist meetings, but they do not constitute an indispensable element, and it would be an error to believe that without them nothing can be done.

Doubtless, those who gather only with the aim of carrying out experiments cannot, without mediums, do more than musicians can do, in a concert, without instruments. But, those who aim at serious study, to these there present themselves a thousand subjects with which to occupy themselves, as useful and profitable as if they could operate by themselves.

Moreover, the groups possessing mediums are liable, from one moment to another, to be left without them, and it would be regrettable that they should judge that it falls to them only, in that case, to dissolve themselves.

The Spirits themselves are accustomed, from time to time, to bring them to that situation, in order to teach them to dispense with the mediums. We shall say more: it is necessary, for the profit of the teachings received, that they consecrate some time to meditating upon them.

The scientific societies do not always have at their disposal the instruments proper for the observations and, nevertheless, they do not fail to find subjects of discussion. In default of poets and orators, the literary societies read and comment on the works of the ancient and modern authors. The religious societies meditate the Scriptures. The Spiritist societies must do the same and will draw great profit from it for their progress, instituting conferences in which everything that concerns Spiritism, for or against, is read and commented upon. From that discussion, to which each one will give the tribute of his reflections, come rays of light that pass unnoticed in an individual reading.

Alongside the special works, the newspapers teem with facts, with narratives, with events, with displays of virtues or of vices, which raise grave moral problems, whose solution Spiritism alone can present, this constituting yet another means of proving that it is connected to all the branches of the social order.

We guarantee that a Spiritist society, whose work was shown to be organized in this sense, provided with the materials necessary to carry it out, would not have time enough left over to consecrate to the direct communications of the Spirits. Hence our calling to this point the attention of the truly serious groups, of those who care more about instructing themselves than about finding a pastime. (See no. 207, in the chapter on the Formation of mediums.) Rivalries among societies.

The groups that occupy themselves exclusively with the intelligent manifestations and those that give themselves over to the study of the physical manifestations have each their mission.

Neither the one nor the other would be possessed of the true spirit of Spiritism, the moment they did not look upon one another with favorable eyes; and the one who threw stones at the other would prove, by that simple fact, the bad influence that dominates him.

All must concur, even though by different ways, toward the common objective, which is the search for and the propagation of the truth.

The antagonisms, which are nothing more than the effect of overexcited pride, furnishing weapons to the detractors, can only prejudice the cause that both pretend to defend.

These last reflections apply equally to all groups that may happen to diverge on some points of the Doctrine.

As we said, in the chapter on Contradictions, these divergences, most often, bear only on accessories, not rarely even on simple words.

It would, therefore, be puerile for some to constitute a separate faction, because all do not think in the same way.

Worse still than this would be for the different groups or associations of the same city to become jealous of one another.

Jealousy is understood among persons who compete with one another and may occasion reciprocal material harm. But, there being no speculation, jealousy translates only a petty rivalry of self-love.

Since, in the final analysis, there is no society that can gather in its bosom all the adherents, those that are animated by the sincere desire to propagate the truth, that propose to themselves an end solely moral, must witness with pleasure the multiplication of the groups and, if any competition is to exist among them, it ought to be no other than that of each one's doing the greater sum of good.

Those that claim to be exclusively with the truth will have to prove it, taking for their device: Love and Charity, which is that of every true Spiritist.

Will they wish to take advantage of the superiority of the Spirits who assist them? Let them prove it, by the superiority of the teachings they receive and by the application they make of them to themselves.

This is the infallible criterion for distinguishing those that are on the better road.

Some Spirits, more presumptuous than logical, attempt at times to impose singular and impracticable systems, under the shadow of the venerable names with which they adorn themselves.

Good sense always ends by doing justice to these utopias, but, until that happens, they may sow doubt and uncertainty among the adherents. Hence, not rarely, a cause of passing dissensions.

Besides the means we have indicated of appraising them, there is another criterion, which gives the exact measure of their value: the number of partisans that such systems recruit.

Reason says that, of all the systems, that which finds the greater acceptance among the masses must be nearer to the truth than those which are repelled by the majority and see gaps open in their ranks.

Hold, then, as certain that, when the Spirits refuse to discuss their own teachings, it is that they well recognize the weakness of these.

If Spiritism, as was announced, is to determine the transformation of Humanity, it is clear that it can produce that effect only by improving the masses, which will come about gradually, little by little, in consequence of the perfecting of individuals.

What does it matter to believe in the existence of the Spirits, if that belief does not make him who has it become better, more benign and indulgent toward his fellows, more humble and patient in adversity?

Of what use is it to the miser to be a Spiritist, if he remains a miser; to the proud man, if he stays always full of himself; to the envious man, if he remains dominated by envy?

Thus, all men could believe in the manifestations of the Spirits and Humanity remain stationary. Such, however, are not the designs of God.

Toward the providential objective, therefore, must all serious Spiritist societies tend, grouping all those who are animated by the same sentiments.

Then, there will be union among them, sympathy, fraternity, instead of a vain and puerile antagonism, born of self-love, more of words than of facts; 7 then, they will be strong and powerful, because they will rest upon an unshakable foundation: good for all; 8 then, they will be respected and will impose silence on foolish mockery, because they will speak in the name of evangelical morality, which all respect.

This is the road along which we have sought, with effort, to make Spiritism enter.

The banner that we unfurl on high is that of Christian and humanitarian Spiritism, 11around which we already have the happiness of seeing, in all parts of the globe, gathered so many men, because they understand that there is the anchor of salvation, the safeguard of public order, the sign of a new era for Humanity.

We invite, then, all Spiritist societies to collaborate in this great work. Let them, from one extreme of the world to the other, extend their hands fraternally to one another, and behold, they will have caught evil in inextricable meshes.