SYSTEMS.

Systems of negation: System of charlatanism.

— System of madness.

— System of hallucination.

— System of the cracking muscle.

— System of physical causes.

— System of reflection.

— Systems of affirmation: System of the collective soul.

— Somnambulistic system.

— Pessimistic, diabolical or demoniacal system.

— Optimistic system.

— Unispiritist or mono-spiritist system.

— Multispiritist or polyspiritist system.

— System of the material soul.

When the strange phenomena of Spiritism began to occur, or, to put it better, when these phenomena were renewed in these recent times, the first sentiment they awakened was that of doubt, as to their reality and, even more, as to the cause that gave rise to them.

Once certified, by irrefutable testimony and by the experiments that everyone has been able to make, it happened that each one interpreted them in his own way, according to his personal ideas, his beliefs, or his preconceptions.

Hence, many systems, to which a more attentive observation would come to give the just value.

The adversaries of Spiritism thought they had found an argument in this divergence of opinions, saying that the Spiritists themselves did not agree among themselves.

The poverty of such a reason readily becomes evident, once it is repeated that the steps of any nascent science are necessarily uncertain, until time has permitted the facts upon which opinion can be established to be collected and coordinated.

As the facts are completed and come to be better observed, the premature ideas fade away and unity is established, at least with regard to the fundamental points, if not to all the details.

This is what happened with Spiritism, which could not escape the common law and even had, by its nature, to lend itself, more than any other subject, to diversity of interpretations.

One may, moreover, say that, in this respect, it moved more quickly than other older sciences, than medicine, for example, which still keeps the greatest scholars divided.

Following methodical order, in order to accompany the progressive march of ideas, it is fitting that there be placed in the first rank of the systems those that can be classified as systems of negation, that is, those of the adversaries of Spiritism.

We have already refuted their objections, in the introduction and in the conclusion of The Spirits' Book, as well as in the small volume that we entitled: What Spiritism Is. It would be superfluous to insist on this here. We shall limit ourselves to recalling, in a few words, the motives on which they are founded.

The Spiritist phenomena are of two kinds: physical effects and intelligent effects.

Not admitting the existence of the Spirits, because they do not admit anything outside of matter, one understands that they deny the intelligent effects. As for the physical effects, they comment on them from the point of view in which they place themselves and their arguments can be summarized in the four following systems: [Systems of negation.]

— System of charlatanism. Among the antagonists of Spiritism, many attribute those effects to deception, for the reason that some could be imitated.

According to such a supposition, all the Spiritists would be deceived individuals and all the mediums would be deceivers, the position, the character, the knowledge and the honesty of the persons being of no value.

If this deserved a reply, we would say that some phenomena of Physics are also imitated by conjurers, which proves nothing against the true science.

Moreover, there are persons whose character keeps away all suspicion of fraud and one must absolutely not know how to live and lack all urbanity, for anyone to dare come to tell them to their face that they are accomplices in charlatanism.

In a very respectable salon, a gentleman, who claimed to be well-bred, having allowed himself to make a reflection of this nature, heard from the lady of the house the following: “Sir, since you are not satisfied, at the door what you paid will be returned to you.” And, with a gesture, she indicated to him what he had best do. [which was to withdraw from the room, since it was not a place of entertainment there where one pays to enter; the lady of the house, who was lending the salon for Spiritist meetings, indignant at the attitude of that gentleman, asked that he withdraw.]

Should one therefore affirm that there was never any abuse? To believe it, one would have to admit that men are perfect.

Everything is abused, even the most holy things. Why would they not abuse Spiritism?

But the bad use that is made of a thing does not authorize that it be prejudged unfavorably.

In order to arrive at the verification, which can be obtained, of the good faith with which persons act, one must attend to the motives that determine their conduct.

Charlatanism has no place where there is no speculation.

— System of madness. Some, out of condescension, agree to set aside the suspicion of deception. They then claim that those who do not delude are deluded, which is equivalent to qualifying them as imbeciles.

When the unbelievers abstain from using circumlocutions, they declare, purely and simply, that those who believe are mad, attributing to themselves, in this way and without ceremony, the privilege of good sense.

This is the formidable argument of those who find no plausible reason to present.

In the end, such a manner of attacking has become ridiculous, such is its banality, and it does not deserve that one lose time refuting it.

To which is added that the Spiritists are not disturbed by it; they courageously take their side and console themselves, remembering that they have as companions in misfortune many persons of incontestable merit.

Effectively, one must agree that this madness, if madness exists, presents a very singular characteristic—that of striking by preference the educated class, in whose midst Spiritism counts, up to the present, the immense majority of its adherents.

If among these some eccentricities manifest themselves, they prove nothing against the Doctrine, just as the religious madmen prove nothing against religion, nor the melomaniacal madmen against music, or the mathematical madmen against mathematics.

All ideas have always had exaggerated fanatics and one must be endowed with very obtuse judgment, to confuse the exaggeration of a thing with the thing itself.

For more ample explanations in this respect, we recommend to the reader our brochure: What Spiritism Is and The Spirits' Book (Introduction, § XV).

— System of hallucination. Another opinion, this one less offensive, because it brings a slight scientific coloring, consists in putting the phenomena down to an illusion of the senses.

Thus, the observer would be in very good faith; only, he would think he saw what he does not see. When he says that he saw a table rise and remain in the air, without a point of support, the truth is that the table did not move.

He saw it in the air, by the effect of a kind of mirage, or by a refraction, such as that which makes us see, in the water, a star, or some object, outside of its real position.

This, strictly speaking, would be possible; but, those who have already witnessed Spiritist phenomena have been able to certify the isolation of the suspended table, passing beneath it, which seems difficult to achieve, in case the piece of furniture had not detached itself from the ground.

On the other hand, it has often happened that the table breaks when falling.

Will it be the case that there too there is nothing more than a simple optical effect?

It is beyond doubt that a well-known physiological cause can make a person think he sees in movement an object that did not move, or suppose that he himself is moving, when he remains immobile. But, when, surrounding a table, many persons see it dragged by a movement so rapid that it becomes difficult for them to follow it, or that even throws some of them to the ground, can one say that all of them are seized with vertigo, like the drunkard, who believes he is seeing the house in which he lives pass before his eyes?

— System of the cracking muscle. This being so, with respect to sight, it could not be otherwise, with respect to hearing.

When the raps are heard by all the persons gathered in a given place, there is no way to reasonably attribute them to an illusion.

We set aside, of course, every idea of fraud and we suppose that an attentive observation has verified that the raps are not attributable to any fortuitous or material cause.

It is true that a learned physician gave of this phenomenon an explanation, in his opinion, peremptory. n “The cause,” said he, “lies in the voluntary, or involuntary, contractions of the tendon of the short peroneal muscle.” In this regard, he descends into the most complete anatomical minutiae, to demonstrate by what mechanism this tendon can produce the noises in question, imitate the noises of the drum and, even, execute rhythmic airs. He concludes from this that those who think they hear raps on a table are victims of a mystification, or of an illusion.

The fact, in itself, is not new. Unfortunately for the author of this pretended discovery, his theory is incapable of explaining all the cases.

Let us say, above all, that those who enjoy the strange faculty of making their short peroneal muscle, or any other, crack at will, that of executing airs by this means, are exceptional individuals, whereas very common is that of making a table give raps and that not all, supposing that any exist, of those who enjoy this latter faculty, possess the former.

In the second place, the learned doctor forgot to explain how the muscular cracking of a person immobile and distant from the table can produce in it vibrations perceptible to whoever touches it; how this noise can resound, at the will of those present, in the different parts of the table, in the other pieces of furniture, in the walls, in the ceiling, etc.; how, finally, the action of that muscle can reach a table that no one is touching and make it move.

In short, the explanation to which we refer, if it indeed were one, would only invalidate the phenomenon of the raps, advancing nothing with regard to any of the many other modes of communication.

Let us recognize, then, that he judged without having seen, or without having observed everything and observed it well.

It is always to be regretted that men of science venture to give, of what they do not know, explanations that the facts may belie. The very knowledge they possess ought to make them all the more circumspect in their judgments, inasmuch as it is certain that this knowledge pushes back from them the limits of the unknown.

— System of physical causes. Here, we are outside the system of absolute negation.

The reality of the phenomena having been ascertained, the first idea that naturally came to the mind of those who verified them was that of attributing the movements to magnetism, to electricity, or to the action of some fluid; in a word, to an entirely physical and material cause.

This opinion presented nothing irrational and would have prevailed, if the phenomenon had remained restricted to purely mechanical effects.

One circumstance seemed even to corroborate it: that of the increase that, in certain cases, the acting force experienced, in direct ratio to the number of the persons present. Thus, each of these could be considered as one of the elements of a human electric pile.

We have already said that what characterizes a true theory is being able to give the reason for everything. If, however, a single fact contradicts it, it is that it is false, incomplete, or too absolute.

Now, this is what was not long in being recognized, with regard to this one.

The movements and the raps gave intelligent signs, obeying the will and responding to thought. They must, then, have originated from an intelligent cause.

Since the effect ceased to be purely physical, the cause, for that very reason, had to be different.

So much so, that the system of the exclusive action of a material agent was abandoned, to be still espoused only by those who judge a priori, without having seen anything.

The capital point, therefore, lies in the verification of the intelligent action, of whose reality whoever wishes to take the trouble to observe can be convinced.

— System of reflection. The intelligent action having been recognized, it remained to know whence this intelligence came. It was thought that it might well be that of the medium, or that of those present, being reflected, like light or sound rays.

It was possible: only experience could say the last word. But, let us note, above all, that this system already departs completely from the purely materialistic idea.

In order for the intelligence of those present to be able to reproduce itself by an indirect means, it was necessary to admit that there exists in man a principle exterior to the organism.

If the thought expressed were always that of those present, the theory of reflection would be confirmed.

But, although reduced to these proportions, would the phenomenon not already be of the highest interest? Would it not already be a thing quite remarkable, thought resounding in an inert body and being translated by movement and by noise? Would there not already be here something to excite the curiosity of scholars? Why then did they disdain it, they who toil in the research of a nerve fiber?

Only experience, we say, could confirm or condemn this theory, and experience has condemned it, for it demonstrates at every moment, and with the most positive facts, that the thought expressed not only can be foreign to that of those present, but that it is, many times, contrary to it; that it contradicts all preconceived ideas and frustrates all forecasts. Indeed, it is difficult for me to believe that the answer comes from myself, when, thinking of white, I am told black.

In support of the theory we are appraising, certain cases are commonly invoked in which the thought manifested and that of those present are identical. But, what does this prove, except that the latter can think as the intelligence that communicates? There is no reason to claim that the two opinions must always be opposed.

When, in the course of a conversation, your interlocutor emits a thought analogous to that which is in your mind, will you say, on that account, that his thought comes from yourself? A few examples to the contrary, well proven, suffice for it to be made positive that this theory is not absolute.

How to explain, by the reflection of thought, the writings made by persons who do not know how to write; the answers of the highest philosophical scope, obtained by illiterate individuals; the answers given to mental questions, or in a language that the medium does not know and a thousand other facts that permit no doubt about the independence of the intelligence that manifests itself? The opposite opinion cannot fail to result from a lack of observation.

Proved, as it is, morally, by the nature of the answers, the presence of an intelligence different from that of the medium and from that of those present, it is also proved, materially, by the fact of direct writing, that is, of writing obtained spontaneously, without pencil, nor pen, without contact and, in spite of all the precautions taken against any subterfuge. The intelligent character of the phenomenon cannot be placed in doubt: therefore, there is in it something more than a fluidic action.

Then, the spontaneity of the thought expressed against all expectation and without any question having been formulated, does not allow one to see in it a reflection of the thought of those present.

In some cases, the system of reflection is quite discourteous. When, in a meeting of honest persons, one of those communications of revolting coarseness unexpectedly arises, it would be inconsiderate, toward those present, to claim that it had come from one of them, it being probable that each one would hasten to repudiate it. (See The Spirits' Book, Introduction, § XVI.)

[Systems of affirmation.]

— System of the collective soul. It constitutes a variant of the preceding one.

According to this system, only the soul of the medium manifests itself, however, identified with that of many other living persons, present or absent, and forming a collective whole, in which will be found gathered the aptitudes, the intelligence and the knowledge of each one.

Although it is entitled The Light, n the brochure where this theory is set forth, its style appears to us very obscure.

We confess not having managed to understand it and we speak of it only from memory. It is, in short, like so many others, an individual opinion, which counts few proselytes. By the name of Emah Tirpsé, the author designates the collective being created by his imagination.

As an epigraph, he took the following sentence: There is nothing hidden that should not be known. This proposition is evidently false, for there is an immensity of things that man cannot and need not know.

Very presumptuous would be he who claimed to penetrate all the secrets of God.

— Somnambulistic system. This one had more adherents, and it still counts some.

It admits, like the previous one, that all the intelligent communications come from the soul or Spirit of the medium. But, to explain the fact that the medium deals with subjects that are outside the scope of his knowledge, instead of supposing the existence, in him, of a multiple soul, it attributes that aptitude to a momentary overexcitement of his mental faculties, to a kind of somnambulistic, or ecstatic state, that exalts and develops his intelligence.

There is no denying, in certain cases, the influence of this cause. However, to whoever has observed how the majority of mediums operate, this observation suffices to make evident to him that that cause does not explain all the facts, that it constitutes an exception and not a rule.

One could believe that it were so, if the medium always had the air of one inspired or of one in ecstasy, an aspect that, moreover, would be easy for him to feign perfectly, if he wished to play a comedy. How, however, is one to believe in inspiration, when the medium writes like a machine, without having the least consciousness of what he is obtaining, without the least emotion, without occupying himself with what he does, distracted, laughing and conversing about one thing and another?

One conceives the overexcitement of the ideas, but one does not understand that it can make a person write without knowing how to write and, still less, when the communications are transmitted by raps, or with the aid of a planchette, of a basket.

In the course of this work, we shall have occasion to show the part that should be attributed to the influence of the ideas of the medium. [Chap. XX.]

Nevertheless, so numerous and evident are the facts in which the foreign intelligence reveals itself by means of incontestable signs, that there can be no doubt in this respect.

The error of the greater part of the systems, that arose in the first times of Spiritism, lies in their having deduced, from isolated facts, general conclusions.

— Pessimistic, diabolical or demoniacal system. Here we enter upon another order of ideas.

The intervention of a foreign intelligence having been confirmed, it was a matter of knowing of what nature this intelligence was. Without doubt the simplest means consisted in asking it that. Some persons, however, understood that this process did not offer sufficient guarantees and resolved to see in all the manifestations, solely, a diabolical work. According to those persons, only the devil, or the demons, can communicate.

Although this system finds a feeble echo today, it is undeniable that it enjoyed, for some time, a certain credit, owing precisely to the character of those who attempted to make it prevail. We shall, however, note that the partisans of the demoniacal system should not be classified among the adversaries of Spiritism: on the contrary.

Whether demons or angels, the beings that communicate are always incorporeal beings. Now, to admit the manifestation of the demons is to admit the possibility of the communication of the visible world with the invisible world, or, at least, with a part of this latter.

One understands that the belief in the exclusive communication of the demons, however irrational it may be, did not appear impossible, when the Spirits were considered as beings created outside of humanity.

But, since it is known that the Spirits are simply the souls of those who have lived, it has lost all its prestige and one may say all its verisimilitude, 7 for, once admitted, what would follow is that all those souls were demons, even though they were those of a father, of a son, or of a friend and that we ourselves, in dying, would become demons, 8 a doctrine little flattering and not at all consoling for many people.

It will be quite difficult to persuade a mother that the beloved son, whom she lost and who comes to give her, after death, proofs of his affection and of his identity, is a supposed satan.

Without doubt, among the Spirits, there are very bad ones and who are worth no more than the so-called demons, for a quite simple reason: that there are very bad men who, by the fact of dying, do not become good.

The question is to know whether they alone can communicate with us.

To those who thus think, we address the following questions: 1st Are there or are there not good and bad Spirits?

2nd Is God or is He not more powerful than the bad Spirits, or than the demons, if you wish to call them so?

3rd To affirm that only the bad ones communicate is to say that the good ones cannot do so. This being so, one of two things: either this occurs by the will, or against the will of God. If against His will, it is that the bad Spirits can do more than He; if, by His will, why, in His goodness, would He not permit the good ones to do the same, to counterbalance the influence of the others? 4th What proof can you present of the impossibility in which the good Spirits are of communicating?

5th When the wisdom of certain communications is opposed to you, you reply that the demon uses every mask to seduce better. We know, indeed, that there are hypocritical Spirits, who give to their language a veneer of wisdom; but, do you admit that ignorance can falsify true knowledge and a bad nature imitate true virtue, without leaving a trace that denounces the fraud? 6th If only the demon communicates, he being the enemy of God and of men, why does he recommend that one pray to God, that we submit ourselves to the will of God, that we bear without complaints the tribulations of life, that we covet neither honors, nor riches, that we practice charity and all the maxims of the Christ, in a word: that we do all that is necessary to destroy his empire, his, the demon's? If such counsels are given by the demon, one must agree that, however cunning he may be, he is quite inept, furnishing arms against himself. n 7th Since the Spirits communicate, it is that God permits it. In the presence of the good and the bad communications, will it not be more logical to admit that God permits some to test us and the others to counsel us to good?

8th What would you say of a father who left his son at the mercy of pernicious examples and counsels, and who kept him away from himself; who deprived him of contact with the persons who could turn him away from evil? Would it be permitted to us to suppose that God proceeds as a good father would not proceed, and that, He being goodness par excellence, He does less than a man would do? 9th The Church recognizes as authentic certain manifestations of the Virgin and of other saints, in apparitions, visions, oral communications, etc. Is this belief not in contradiction with the doctrine of the exclusive communication of the demons?

We believe that some persons have professed in good faith this theory; but, we also believe that many adopted it solely with the aim of making others flee from occupying themselves with such things, for fear of the bad communications, to the receiving of which all are subject.

By saying that only the devil manifests himself, they wished to terrify, almost as one does with a child to whom one says: do not touch this, because it burns.

The intention may have been laudable; but, the objective failed, for prohibition alone suffices to excite curiosity and very few are those whom fear of the devil hinders in their initiative. All wish to see him, if only to know how he is made and they are very astonished at not finding him as ugly as they imagined.

And could one not also find another motive for this theory exclusive to the devil? There are people for whom all who are not of the same opinion as themselves are in error.

Now, will not those who claim that all communications come from the demon be induced to it by the fear that the Spirits are not in agreement with them on all points, even more on those that refer to the interests of this world, than on those that concern the interests of the other?

Not being able to deny the facts, they decided to present them under a terrifying form. This means, however, did not produce a better result than the others.

Where the fear of ridicule shows itself powerless, one must let things pass.

The Muslim, who heard a Spirit speak against certain laws of the Koran, would certainly believe that it was a matter of a bad Spirit. The same would happen with a Jew, with respect to certain practices of the law of Moses.

As for the Catholics, of one we heard that the Spirit who communicated could not fail to be the devil, because it had allowed itself the liberty of thinking in a manner different from his, concerning the temporal power, even though, in short, the Spirit had preached nothing but charity, tolerance, love of one's neighbor and the renunciation of the things of this world, precepts all taught by the Christ.

The Spirits being nothing more than the souls of men and these not being perfect, what follows is that there are Spirits equally imperfect, whose characters are reflected in their communications.

It is an incontestable fact that there are, among them, bad ones, crafty ones, profoundly hypocritical ones, against whom it is necessary that we be on guard. But, because there are found in the world perverse men, is this a motive for us to withdraw from all society? God endowed us with reason and discernment to appraise, both the Spirits, and men.

The best means of obviating the inconveniences of the practice of Spiritism does not consist in prohibiting it, but in making it understood.

An imaginary fear impresses only for an instant and does not reach all. The reality clearly demonstrated, all understand it.

— Optimistic system. Beside those who in these phenomena see solely the action of the demon, are others who have seen only that of the good Spirits.

They supposed that, the soul being freed from matter, no veil any longer conceals anything from it, and that it must, therefore, possess supreme science and wisdom.

The blind confidence, in this absolute superiority of the beings of the invisible world, has been, for many, the cause of not a few disappointments. These will learn at their cost to distrust certain Spirits, as much as certain men.

— Unispiritist or mono-spiritist system. As a variety of the optimistic system, we have the one that is based on the belief that a single Spirit communicates with men, that Spirit being the Christ, who is the protector of the Earth.

In the face of communications of the lowest triviality, of revolting coarseness, impregnated with malevolence and with wickedness, there would be profanation and impiety in supposing that they could emanate from the Spirit of Good par excellence.

If those who thus believe it had never obtained anything but unassailable communications, their illusion could still be conceived. The majority of them, however, agree that they have received some very bad ones, which they explain by saying that it is the test to which the good Spirit subjects them, by dictating to them absurd things.

Thus, while some attribute all communications to the devil, who can say excellent things to tempt, others think that only Jesus manifests himself and that he can say detestable things, to test men.

Between these two opinions so opposed, who shall pass sentence? Good sense and experience.

We say: experience, because it is impossible that those who profess ideas so exclusive have seen everything and seen it well.

When the facts of identity are objected to them, which attest, by means of written, visual, or other manifestations, the presence of relatives or acquaintances of those present, they reply that it is always the same Spirit, the devil, according to the former, the Christ, according to the latter, who takes all the forms.

But, they do not tell us for what reason the other Spirits cannot communicate, 9 to what end the Spirit of Truth would come to deceive us, presenting himself under false appearances, to delude a poor mother, making her believe that she has at her side the son for whom she sheds tears. Reason refuses to admit that the Spirit, holy among all, would descend to play such a comedy.

Moreover, to deny the possibility of any other communication, does it not amount to subtracting from Spiritism what it has of the most gentle: the consolation of the afflicted?

Let us say, purely and simply, that such a system is irrational and does not bear serious examination.

— Multispiritist or polyspiritist system. All the systems which we have passed in review, not excepting those that are oriented in the sense of denying, are founded on some observations, however, incomplete or badly interpreted.

If a house is red on one side and white on the other, he who has seen it only from one side will affirm that it is white, another will declare that it is red. Both will be in error and will be right. Nevertheless, he who has seen it from both sides will say that the house is white and red and he alone will have the truth.

The same happens with the opinion that one forms of Spiritism: it can be true, in certain respects, and false, if that which is partial is generalized, taking as a rule what constitutes an exception, as the whole what is only the part.

For this reason we say that whoever desires to study this science must observe much and for a long time. Only time will permit him to apprehend the details, to note the delicate nuances, to observe an immensity of characteristic facts, which will be for him so many rays of light. If, however, he stops at the surface, he exposes himself to formulating a premature and, consequently, erroneous judgment.

Here are the general consequences deduced from a complete observation and which now form the belief, one may say, of the universality of the Spiritists, since the restrictive systems are nothing but isolated opinions:

— 1st The Spiritist phenomena are produced by extracorporeal intelligences, to which the name of Spirits is also given;

2nd The Spirits constitute the invisible world; they are everywhere; they infinitely populate the spaces; we have many, continually, around us, with whom we are in contact;

3rd The Spirits react incessantly upon the physical world and upon the moral world and are one of the powers of Nature;

4th The Spirits are not beings apart, within creation, but the souls of those who have lived on Earth, or on other worlds, and who have shed the corporeal envelope; whence it follows that the souls of men are incarnated Spirits and that we, in dying, become Spirits; 5th There are Spirits of all degrees of goodness and of malice, of knowledge and of ignorance;

6th All are submitted to the law of progress and all can attain perfection; but, since they have free will, they arrive there in a more or less long time, according to their efforts and will;

7th They are happy or unhappy, according to the good or the evil they practiced during life and the degree of advancement they reached. Perfect and unmixed happiness is the portion solely of the Spirits who have attained the supreme degree of perfection; 8th All the Spirits, in given circumstances, can manifest themselves to men; the number of those who can communicate is undefined;

9th The Spirits communicate through mediums, who serve them as instruments and interpreters;

10th The superiority or the inferiority of the Spirits is recognized by the language they use; the good ones counsel only good and say only profitable things; everything in them attests their elevation; the bad ones deceive and all their words bear the stamp of imperfection and of ignorance.

The different degrees through which the Spirits pass are indicated in the Spiritist Scale. (The Spirits' Book, part II, chapter I, no. 100.) The study of this classification is indispensable for appraising the nature of the Spirits that manifest themselves, as well as their good and bad qualities.

— System of the material soul. It consists only of a particular opinion about the intimate nature of the soul.

According to this opinion, the soul and the perispirit would not be distinct one from the other, or, rather, the perispirit would be the soul itself, purifying itself gradually by means of diverse transmigrations, as alcohol is purified by means of diverse distillations, 3 whereas the Spiritist Doctrine considers the perispirit simply as the fluidic envelope of the soul, or of the Spirit.

The perispirit being matter, although very ethereal, the soul would be of a material nature more or less essential, according to the degree of its purification.

This system does not invalidate any of the fundamental principles of the Spiritist Doctrine, since it alters nothing with regard to the destiny of the soul; the conditions of its future happiness are the same; the soul and the perispirit forming a whole, under the denomination of Spirit, as the germ and the perisperm form it under that of fruit, the whole question reduces itself to considering the whole homogeneous, instead of considering it formed of two distinct parts.

As one sees, this leads to no consequence and of such an opinion we would not have spoken, if we did not know of persons inclined to see a new school in what is, in the end, nothing more than a simple interpretation of words.

Such an opinion, restricted, moreover, even if it were more generalized, would not constitute a schism among the Spiritists, just as the two theories of the emission and of the undulations of light do not signify a schism among the physicists.

Those who decided to form a separate group, over a question so puerile, would prove, by that alone, that they attach more importance to the accessory than to the principal and that they find themselves compelled to disunion by Spirits who cannot be good, since the good Spirits never instill acrimony, nor discord.

Hence our urging all the true Spiritists to keep themselves on guard against such suggestions and not to give to certain details more importance than they merit.

The essential is the substance.

We deem ourselves, nevertheless, under the obligation to say a few words about the foundations on which rests the opinion of those who consider distinct the soul and the perispirit.

It is based on the teaching of the Spirits, who never diverged in this respect.

We refer to the enlightened ones, for, among the Spirits in general, there are many who do not know more, who even know less than men, whereas the contrary theory is of human conception.

We did not invent, nor imagine the perispirit, to explain the phenomena.

Its existence was revealed to us by the Spirits and experience confirmed it for us. (The Spirits' Book no. 93.)

It is also supported by the study of the sensations of the Spirits, (The Spirits' Book, no. 257,) and, above all, by the phenomenon of tangible apparitions, a phenomenon that, in conformity with the opinion that we are appraising, would imply the solidification and the disaggregation of the constitutive parts of the soul and, thus, its disorganization.

It would be necessary, besides, to admit that this matter, which can be perceived by our senses, is, itself, the intelligent principle, which does not seem to us more rational than to confuse the body with the soul, or the clothing with the body.

As for the intimate nature of the soul, that we do not know.

When it is said that the soul is immaterial, this must be understood in a relative sense, not in an absolute sense, 18 because absolute immateriality would be nothingness. Now, the soul, or the Spirit, are something.

One could say that their essence is in such a way superior, that it has no analogy with what we call matter and that, thus, for us, it is immaterial. (The Spirits' Book, no. 23 and no. 82.)

Here is the answer that, on this subject, a Spirit gave:

“What some call perispirit is nothing but what others call fluidic material envelope.

I will say in a more logical way, to make myself understood, that this fluid is the perfectibility of the senses, the extension of sight and of ideas. I speak here of the elevated Spirits.

As for the inferior Spirits, the terrestrial fluids are still wholly inherent to them; therefore, they are, as you see, matter.

Hence the sufferings of hunger, of cold, etc., sufferings that the superior Spirits cannot experience, since the terrestrial fluids are purified around the thought, that is, the soul.

This, to progress, always needs an agent; without an agent, it is nothing, for you, or, rather, you cannot conceive of it.

The perispirit, for us other wandering Spirits, is the agent by means of which we communicate with you, whether indirectly, through your body or through your perispirit, or directly, through your soul; whence, infinite modalities of mediums and of communications.

“Now the scientific point of view, that is to say: the very essence of the perispirit. That is another question.

Understand first morally. There remains only a discussion about the nature of the fluids, a thing for now inexplicable. Science does not yet know enough, but it will arrive there, if it wishes to walk with Spiritism.

The perispirit can vary and change to infinity.

The soul is the thought: it does not change its nature.

Do not go further, along this side; it is a matter of a point that cannot be explained.

Do you suppose that, like you, I too do not investigate? You research the perispirit; we others, now, research the soul. Wait, then.” Lamennais.

Thus, Spirits, whom we may consider advanced, have not yet managed to sound the nature of the soul. How could we do it?

It is, therefore, to lose time to wish to scrutinize the principle of things which, as was said in The Spirits' Book (no. 17 and no. 49), lies in the secrets of God.

To claim to scrutinize, with the aid of Spiritism, what escapes the purview of humanity, is to divert it from its true objective, is to do like the child who wished to know as much as the old man.

Let man apply Spiritism to perfecting himself morally, this is the essential.

The rest is nothing but sterile and often proud curiosity, whose satisfaction would not make him advance a single step. The only means of advancing consists in our becoming better.

The Spirits who dictated the book that bears their name demonstrated their wisdom, by keeping themselves, with regard to the principle of things, within the limits that God does not permit to be surpassed and leaving to the systematic and presumptuous Spirits the responsibility for the premature and erroneous theories, more seductive than solid, and which one day will come to fall, before reason, like so many others arisen from human brains.

They, precisely, said only what was necessary for man to understand the future that awaits him and to, by this manner, encourage him to the practice of good. (See, here, further on, in the 2nd part, chapter I: Action of the Spirits upon matter.)

[1] It was Mr. Jobert (of Laballe). To be just, we must say that the discovery is due to Mr. Schiff. Mr. Jobert deduced its consequences before the Academy of Medicine, claiming thus to give the death blow to the rapping Spirits. (In the Spiritist Review of the month of June 1859, will be found all the details of the explanation of the physician, Mr. Jobert). [2] Communion. The light of the phenomenon of the Spirit. Talking tables, somnambulists, mediums, miracles. Spiritual magnetism: power of the practice of faith. By Emah Tirpsé, a collective soul who writes by means of a planchette. Brussels, 1858, house of Devroye. [3] This question was treated in The Spirits' Book (no. 128 and following); but, with regard to this subject, as about all that respects the religious part, we recommend the brochure entitled: Letter of a Catholic on Spiritism, by Dr. Grand, former consul of France (on sale at the Ledoyen bookshop, in-18; price 1 franc), as well as the one we are going to publish under the title: The Contradictors of Spiritism, from the point of view of religion, of science and of materialism.