METHOD.

Very natural and praiseworthy in all adherents is the desire, which it can never be too much to encourage, of making proselytes.

With the aim of facilitating that task for them, we here propose to examine the path that seems to us most reliable for attaining that objective, in order to spare them useless efforts.

We have said that Spiritism is a whole science, a whole philosophy. Whoever, then, seriously wishes to know it must, as a first condition, dispose himself to a serious study and persuade himself that it cannot, like no other science, be learned in jest.

Spiritism, as we have also already said, deals with all the questions that concern Humanity; it has an immense field, and what is chiefly fitting is to regard it through its consequences.

Its basis is doubtless formed by belief in the Spirits, but that belief does not suffice to make of someone an enlightened Spiritist, just as belief in God is not sufficient to make of anyone whatsoever a theologian.

Let us see, then, in what manner it is best for the teaching of the Spiritist Doctrine to be imparted, in order to lead more reliably to conviction.

Let not the adherents be startled by this word — teaching. Teaching is not constituted solely by what is given from the pulpit or the rostrum. There is also that of simple conversation.

Everyone teaches who seeks to persuade another, whether by the process of explanations or by that of experiments.

What we desire is that their effort produce fruits, and it is for this reason that we deem it our duty to give some counsels, which those who wish to instruct themselves on their own may likewise turn to account. Both the one and the other, following them, will find a means of arriving more reliably and more promptly at the end aimed at.

It is a general belief that, in order to convince, it suffices to present the facts.

That, in effect, seems the most logical path. However, experience shows that it is not always the best, since at every step one encounters persons whom the most patent facts have absolutely not convinced. To what is this to be attributed? That is what we are going to try to demonstrate.

In Spiritism, the question of the Spirits is secondary and consequent; it does not constitute the point of departure.

This is precisely the error into which many adherents fall and which, frequently, leads them to failure with certain persons.

The Spirits being none other than the souls of men, the true point of departure is the existence of the soul.

Now, how can the materialist admit that, outside the material world, beings live, while being convinced that, in himself, everything is matter? How can he believe that, exteriorly to his person, there are Spirits, when he does not believe he has one within himself? It will be useless to heap before his eyes the most palpable proofs. He will contest them all, because he does not admit the principle.

All methodical teaching must proceed from the known to the unknown.

Now, for the materialist, the known is matter: start, then, from matter and endeavor, before all else, by making him observe it, to convince him that there is in him something that escapes the laws of matter.

In a word, before you make him a SPIRITIST, take care to make him a SPIRITUALIST.

But, for that, quite other is the order of facts to which one must have recourse, quite special the teaching applicable, which, for that very reason, must be given by other processes.

To speak to him of the Spirits, before he is convinced of having a soul, is to begin where one ought to end, inasmuch as it will not be possible for him to accept the conclusion without admitting the premises.

Before, then, attempting to convince an unbeliever, even by means of facts, it behooves us to ascertain his opinion relative to the soul, that is, it behooves us to verify whether he believes in the existence of the soul, in its survival of the body, in its individuality after death.

If the answer is negative, to speak to him of the Spirits would be to lose time. Such is the rule. We do not say that it admits no exceptions. In that case, however, there will probably be some other cause that renders him less refractory.

— Among the materialists, it is important to distinguish two classes: 2 we place in the first those who are such by system. In these, there is not doubt, there is absolute negation, reasoned out in their own way. Man, for them, is a simple machine, which functions while it is assembled, which gets out of order and of which, after death, only the carcass remains.

Fortunately, they are restricted in number and do not form an openly avowed school.

We need not insist on the deplorable effects that for the social order would result from the popularization of such a doctrine. We have already dwelt sufficiently on that subject in The Spirits' Book. (no.

and § III of the Conclusion.)

When we said that doubt ceases in unbelievers before a rational explanation, we excepted the extreme materialists, those who deny the existence of any force and of any intelligent principle outside matter.

The majority of them obstinately persist out of pride in the opinion they profess, holding that self-love imposes upon them the duty to persist in it. And they persist, notwithstanding all the proofs to the contrary, because they do not want to be put down.

With such people, there is nothing to be done; and indeed no one should let himself be deceived by the false tone of sincerity of those who say: make me see, and I will believe. Others are more frank and say without disguise: even were I to see, I would not believe.

The second class of materialists, much more numerous than the first, because true materialism is an unnatural sentiment, comprises those who are such out of indifference, for lack of anything better, one may say.

They are not such deliberately, and what they most desire is to believe, inasmuch as uncertainty is a torment to them. There is in them a vague aspiration toward the future; but that future has been presented to them in such colors that their reason refuses to accept it. Hence doubt and, as a consequence of doubt, incredulity.

This, therefore, does not constitute in them a system. Such being the case, if you present to them something rational, they accept it eagerly. These, then, can understand us, seeing that they are closer to us than, certainly, they themselves judge.

To the first speak not of revelation, nor of angels, nor of paradise: they would not understand you. Place yourselves, however, on the ground where they find themselves and prove to them first that the laws of Physiology are powerless to explain everything; the rest will come afterward.

In another manner do things come to pass, when incredulity is not preconceived, because then belief is not entirely null; there is a latent germ, smothered by the bad weeds, which a spark can revive. It is the blind man to whom sight is restored and who rejoices at seeing the light again; it is the shipwrecked man to whom a plank of salvation is cast.

Beside the materialists properly so called, there is a third class of unbelievers who, although spiritualists, at least in name, are as refractory as the former. We refer to the unbelievers of ill will.

It would much vex these to have to believe, because that would disturb their quietude in material enjoyments.

They fear to come upon the condemnation of their ambitions, of their egoism, and of the human vanities in which they delight.

They close their eyes so as not to see and stop up their ears so as not to hear.

To pity them is all that can be done.

Merely so as not to fail to mention it, we shall speak of a fourth category, which we shall call unbelievers out of interest or in bad faith.

Those who compose it know very well what they ought to think of Spiritism, but they ostensibly condemn it for motives of personal interest.

There is nothing to say of them, just as there is nothing to do with them.

The pure materialist has for his error the excuse of good faith; it will be possible to undeceive him, by proving to him the error in which he labors.

In the other, there is a settled determination, against which all arguments will dash in vain.

Time will take it upon itself to open his eyes and to show him, perhaps at his own cost, where his true interests lay, inasmuch as, being unable to prevent the truth from spreading, he will be swept away by the torrent, together with the interests he thought to safeguard.

Besides these diverse categories of opponents, there are many of an infinity of shades, among whom may be included: the unbelievers out of pusillanimity, who will have courage when they see that the others do not get burned; 2 the unbelievers out of religious scruples, whom an enlightened study will teach that Spiritism reposes upon the fundamental bases of religion and respects all beliefs; that one of its effects is to instill religious sentiments in those who do not possess them, to strengthen them in those who have them wavering.

Then come the unbelievers out of pride, out of a spirit of contradiction, out of negligence, out of frivolity, etc., etc.

We cannot omit a category which we shall call unbelievers out of disappointments.

It encompasses those who passed from an exaggerated confidence to incredulity, because they suffered disillusionments.

Then, discouraged, they abandoned everything, rejected everything. They are in the case of one who would deny good faith, for having been hoodwinked.

Even there what there is is the result of incomplete study of Spiritism and of lack of experience.

He whom the Spirits mystify is generally mystified for asking them what they must not or cannot say, or because he does not find himself sufficiently instructed on the subject to distinguish truth from imposture.

Many, moreover, see in Spiritism only a new means of divination and imagine that the Spirits exist to predict the lot of each one. Now, the frivolous and mocking Spirits do not lose the occasion to amuse themselves at the expense of those who think in that manner.

It is thus that they will announce husbands to young women; to the ambitious man, honors, inheritances, hidden treasures, etc. Hence, often, disagreeable disappointments, from which, however, the serious and prudent man always knows how to preserve himself.

A very numerous class, the most numerous indeed of all, but which could not be included among those of the opponents, is that of the uncertain.

They are, in general, spiritualists in principle. In the majority of them, there is a vague intuition of the Spiritist ideas, an aspiration toward something they cannot define.

Their thoughts lack nothing but to be coordinated and formulated. Spiritism is to them like a ray of light: the brightness that dispels the fog. For that very reason they welcome it eagerly because it delivers them from the anguishes of uncertainty.

If, from there, we cast our gaze over the diverse categories of believers, we shall come first upon those who are Spiritists without knowing it.

Properly speaking, these constitute a variety, or a shade of the preceding class.

Without ever having heard the Spiritist Doctrine spoken of, they possess the innate sentiment of the great principles that derive from it, and that sentiment is reflected in some passages of their writings and of their discourses, to the point that those who hear them suppose them to be completely initiated.

Numerous examples of such a fact are found among the profane and sacred writers, among the poets, orators, moralists, and philosophers, ancient and modern.

Among those who have become convinced through a direct study, there may be distinguished:

1st Those who believe purely and simply in the manifestations. For them, Spiritism is merely a science of observation, a series of more or less curious facts. We shall call them experimenting Spiritists;

2nd Those who see in Spiritism more than facts; they understand its philosophical part; they admire the morality deriving from it, but they do not practice it. Insignificant or null is the influence it exerts upon their characters. They alter in nothing their habits and would not deprive themselves of a single enjoyment. The miser continues to be one, the proud man keeps himself full of himself, the envious and the jealous always hostile. They consider Christian charity merely a fine maxim. They are the imperfect Spiritists; 3rd Those who are not content with admiring the Spiritist morality, who practice it and accept all its consequences. Convinced that earthly existence is a passing trial, they endeavor to take advantage of its brief instants to advance along the path of progress, the only one that can elevate them in the hierarchy of the world of the Spirits, striving to do good and to curb their evil propensities. Relations with them always offer security, because the conviction they nurture preserves them from thinking of practicing evil. Charity is in everything the rule of conduct they obey. They are the true Spiritists, or rather, the Christian Spiritists. 4th There are, finally, the exalted Spiritists. The human species would be perfect, if it always took the good side of things. In everything, exaggeration is harmful. In Spiritism, it instills a confidence too blind and frequently puerile, with regard to the invisible world, and leads to accepting, with extreme facility and without verification, that whose absurdity, or impossibility reflection and examination would demonstrate. Enthusiasm, however, does not reflect, it dazzles. This species of adherents is more noxious than useful to the cause of Spiritism. They are the least apt to convince anyone whatsoever, because all, with reason, distrust their judgments. Thanks to their good faith, they are deceived, thus, by mystifying Spirits, as by men who seek to exploit their credulity. It would be only a half-evil, if they alone had to suffer the consequences. The worst is that, without wishing it, they give arms to the unbelievers, who rather seek occasion to mock than to convince themselves and who do not fail to impute to all the ridicule of a few. Doubtless this is neither just nor rational; but, as is known, the adversaries of Spiritism consider of good quality only the reason they themselves enjoy, and to know thoroughly that whereof they discourse is what gives them the least care.

The means of convincing vary extremely, according to the individuals.

What persuades some produces nothing in others; this one became convinced by observing some material manifestations, that one by the effect of intelligent communications, the greater number by reasoning.

We may even say that, for the majority of those who do not prepare themselves by reasoning, the material phenomena have almost no weight.

The more extraordinary these phenomena are, the more they depart from the known laws, the greater opposition they encounter, and this for a very simple reason: it is that we are all naturally led to doubt a thing that has no rational sanction.

Each one considers it from his own point of view and explains it in his own way: the materialist attributes it to a purely physical cause or to deceit; the ignorant and the superstitious to a diabolical or supernatural cause, 6 whereas a prior explanation produces the effect of destroying the preconceived ideas and of showing, if not the reality, at least the possibility of the thing, which, thus, is understood before being seen. Now, from the moment that the possibility of a fact is recognized, three quarters of the conviction are attained.

Will it be fitting to seek to convince an obstinate unbeliever? We have already said that this depends on the causes and the nature of his incredulity.

Often, insistence in wishing to persuade him leads him to believe in his personal importance, which, in his view, constitutes a reason for becoming yet more obstinate.

With respect to him who has not become convinced either by reasoning or by facts, the conclusion to be drawn is that it still behooves him to suffer the trial of incredulity. The charge of preparing for him more favorable circumstances must be left to Providence.

There is no lack of those who yearn for the reception of the light, that one should be losing time with those who repel it.

Address yourselves, therefore, to those of good will, whose number is greater than is thought, and the example of their conversions, multiplying, more than mere words, will overcome the resistances.

The true Spiritist will never cease to do good. To soothe afflicted hearts; to console, to calm despairs, to operate moral reforms, this is his mission. It is in this too that he will find real satisfaction.

Spiritism is in the air; it spreads by the very force of things, because it makes happy those who profess it.

When they hear it reverberate around themselves, among their own friends, those who combat it by system will understand the isolation in which they find themselves and will be forced to keep silent, or to surrender.

In order, in the teaching of Spiritism, to proceed as one would proceed with regard to that of the ordinary sciences, it would be necessary to pass in review the whole series of the phenomena that may be produced, beginning with the simplest, in order to arrive successively at the most complex.

Now, that is not possible, because it is not possible to give a course of experimental Spiritism, as one gives a course of Physics or of Chemistry. In the natural sciences, one operates upon brute matter, which one manipulates at will, having almost always the certainty of being able to regulate the effects. In Spiritism, we have to deal with intelligences that enjoy liberty and that at every instant prove to us that they are not subject to our caprices.

It behooves us, then, to observe, to await the results, and to gather them in passing. Hence we declare openly that whoever boasts of obtaining them at will cannot but be ignorant or an impostor. Hence it comes that TRUE Spiritism will never put itself on show, nor mount the platform of the fairs.

There is even something illogical in supposing that Spirits would come to exhibit themselves and submit themselves to investigations, like objects of curiosity. Therefore, it may happen that the phenomena do not occur when they are most desired, or that they present themselves in an order very different from that which one would wish.

Let us add, moreover, that for them to be obtained, the intervention of persons endowed with special faculties is necessary, and that these faculties vary infinitely, in accordance with the aptitudes of the individuals. Now, it being extremely rare that the same person has all the aptitudes, this constitutes a new difficulty, inasmuch as it would be needful to have always at hand a complete collection of mediums, which is absolutely not possible.

The means, moreover very simple, of obviating this inconvenience consists in beginning with the theory. Therein all the phenomena are appraised, explained, so that the student comes to know them, to understand their possibility, to know under what conditions they may be produced and what obstacles they may encounter. Then, whatever be the order in which they present themselves, they will have nothing to surprise him.

This path offers yet another advantage: that of sparing an immensity of disappointments to him who wishes to operate by himself. Forewarned against the difficulties, he will know how to keep himself on guard and to avoid the conjuncture of acquiring experience at his own cost.

It would be difficult for us to say how many persons, ever since we began to occupy ourselves with Spiritism, have come to us and how many of them we have seen who remained indifferent or incredulous before the most positive facts and only subsequently became convinced, by means of a rational explanation; how many others who predisposed themselves to conviction, through reasoning; how many, finally, who persuaded themselves, without ever having seen anything, solely because they had understood.

We speak, then, from experience, and, thus, it is also from experience that we say that the best method of Spiritist teaching consists in the teacher addressing himself rather to the reason than to the eyes. This is the method we follow in our lessons and on which we have only to congratulate ourselves. n

The prior study of the theory presents yet another advantage — that of showing immediately the grandeur of the objective and the scope of this science.

He who begins by seeing a table turn, or rap, feels more inclined to jesting, because he will hardly imagine that from a table can come a doctrine that regenerates humanity.

We have always noted that those who believe, before having seen, merely because they have read and understood, far from remaining superficial, are, on the contrary, those who reflect the most.

Giving greater attention to the substance than to the form, they see in the philosophical part the principal thing, considering as accessory the phenomena properly so called.

They then declare that, even if these phenomena did not exist, there would still remain a philosophy which alone resolves problems insoluble until today; which alone presents the most rational theory of the past of man and of his future.

Now, as is natural, they prefer a doctrine that explains, to those that do not explain, or explain badly.

Whoever reflects understands perfectly well that one could abstract from the manifestations, without the Doctrine thereby ceasing to subsist.

The manifestations corroborate, confirm it, but do not constitute its essential basis.

The judicious observer does not repel them; on the contrary, he awaits favorable circumstances, which permit him to witness them.

The proof of what we advance is that a great number of persons, before hearing the manifestations spoken of, had the intuition of this Doctrine, which has done no more than give it body, connection to the ideas.

Furthermore, it would be inexact to say that those who begin with the theory deprive themselves of the object of practical observations.

On the contrary, not only do the phenomena not fail them, but those of which they dispose have even greater weight in their eyes than those which might come to be operated in their presence. We refer to the copious facts of spontaneous manifestations, of which we shall speak in the following chapters.

Rare will be those who have no knowledge of them, if nothing else, by hearsay. Others know some, occurring to themselves, but to which they paid almost no attention. The theory comes to give them the explanation.

And we affirm that these facts have great weight, when they are supported by irrefutable testimonies, because they cannot be supposed due to arrangements, nor to connivances.

Even if there were no provoked phenomena, there would not for that cease to be the spontaneous ones, and it would already be much that to Spiritism fell merely the task of offering them a rational solution.

Thus, those who read beforehand refer their recollections to those facts, which present themselves to them as a confirmation of the theory.

He would singularly be mistaken, as to our manner of seeing, who supposed that we counsel the facts to be despised.

It was through the facts that we arrived at the theory.

It is certain that for this we had to consecrate ourselves to assiduous labor during many years and to make thousands of observations.

But, since the facts served us and serve us every day, we would be inconsequent with ourselves if we contested their importance, above all when we compose a book to make them known to all.

We say merely that, without reasoning, they do not suffice to determine conviction; that a prior explanation, putting an end to the preventions and showing that the facts are in no way contrary to reason, disposes the individual to accept them.

So true is this that, out of ten persons completely new to the subject, who attend a session of experimentation, even one of the most satisfactory in the opinion of the adherents, nine will leave without being convinced and some more incredulous than before, the experiments not having corresponded to what they expected.

The inverse will occur with those who are able to understand the facts, by means of anticipated theoretical knowledge. For these persons, the theory constitutes a means of verification, without anything surprising them, not even failure, because they know under what conditions the phenomena are produced and that one must not ask of them what they cannot give.

Thus, then, the prior intelligence of the facts not only places them in a condition to perceive all the anomalies, but also to apprehend a countless number of particularities, of shades, sometimes very delicate, that escape the ignorant observer.

Such are the motives that force us to admit, in our experimental sessions, only those who possess sufficient preparatory notions, in order to understand what is done there, persuaded that those who went there, lacking those notions, would lose their time, or would make us lose ours.

To those who wish to acquire those preliminary notions, by the reading of our works, we counsel that they read them in this order:

1st What Is Spiritism? This brochure, of only about a hundred pages, contains a summary exposition of the principles of the Spiritist Doctrine, a general survey of it, permitting the reader to apprehend its whole within a restricted frame. In a few words he perceives its objective and can judge of its scope. There are found, besides, answers to the principal questions or objections that novices feel naturally inclined to make. This first reading, which consumes very little time, facilitates a more thorough study. 2nd The Spirits' Book. It contains the complete doctrine, as the Spirits themselves dictated it, with all its philosophy and all its moral consequences. It is the revelation of the destiny of man, the initiation into the knowledge of the nature of the Spirits and into the mysteries of the life beyond the tomb. Whoever reads it understands that Spiritism aims at a serious end, that it does not constitute a frivolous pastime. 3rd The Mediums' Book. It is intended to guide those who wish to give themselves to the practice of the manifestations, giving them knowledge of the proper means for communicating with the Spirits. It is a guide, both for the mediums and for the evokers, and the complement of The Spirits' Book.

4th The Spiritist Review. A varied collection of facts, of theoretical explanations, and of isolated extracts, which complete what is found in the two preceding works, forming, in a certain manner, their application. Its reading may be done simultaneously with that of those works, but it will be more profitable and, above all, more intelligible, if it be done after The Spirits' Book.

This as concerns ourselves. Those who desire to know everything of a science must necessarily read everything that is written on the matter, or, at least, what is most important, not limiting themselves to a single author.

They must even read the pro and the con, the criticisms as well as the apologias, acquaint themselves with the different systems, in order to be able to judge by comparison.

On that side, we neither commend nor criticize any work, seeing that we do not wish, in any manner, to influence the opinion that may be formed of it.

Bringing our stone to the edifice, we place ourselves in the ranks. It is not for us to be judge and party, nor have we the ridiculous pretension of being the sole distributor of the light.

It is for the reader to separate the good from the bad, the true from the false. [1] Our theoretical teaching is always free of charge.