CONTROVERSIES ON THE IDEA OF THE EXISTENCE OF INTERMEDIARY BEINGS BETWEEN MAN AND GOD.

N., February 4, 1867.

Dear Master:

It has been some time since I gave a sign of life. Always very busy during my stay in Lyon, I was unable to acquire as perfect a knowledge as I would have wished of the present state of the doctrine in this great center. I attended only a single Spiritist meeting. Nevertheless, I came to verify that, in this milieu, the original faith continues to be what it should be in truly sincere hearts.

In various other Centers of the Midi, I heard discussed the following opinion expressed by some magnetizers: that many phenomena, called Spiritist, are simple effects of somnambulism, and that Spiritism has done nothing more than substitute itself for magnetism, or rather, than ridiculously substitute its name. It is, as you see, a new attack directed against mediumship. Thus, according to these persons, everything that mediums write results from the faculties of the incarnate soul; it is the soul that, momentarily freeing itself, reads the thought of the persons present; it is the soul that sees, at a distance, and foresees events; that, by means of a magnetic-spiritual fluid, agitates, raises, overturns tables, hears sounds, etc. Everything, in short, would rest upon the soul-essence, without the intervention of purely spiritual beings. You will say that I bring you nothing new. I myself, indeed, have heard, for some years, this thesis maintained by certain magnetizers. Now, however, they are seeking to implant these ideas which, in my view, are contrary to the truth. It is always erroneous to fall into extremes, and there is as much exaggeration in attributing everything to Magnetism as there would be, on the part of the Spiritists, in denying the laws of Magnetism. One could not snatch from matter the magnetic laws, just as one could not snatch from the Spirit the purely spiritual laws. Where does the power of the soul over bodies end? What is the part of that intelligent force in the phenomena of Magnetism? What is the part of the organism? There are questions of great interest, grave questions for Philosophy as for Medicine.

While awaiting the solution of these problems, I shall cite for you some passages from Charpignon, the doctor of Orléans, a partisan of the transmission of thought. You will see that he acknowledges himself powerless to demonstrate that, in vision properly so called, the cause resides in the extension of the organic sympathetic, as many authors claim.

He says, on page 289:

“Academicians, double the labor of your candidates; moralists, promulgate laws for society, for the world, that world which laughs at everything, which wants its enjoyments, scorning the laws of God and the rights of man, and which mocks your efforts, because it has at its service a force you do not suspect and which you have allowed to grow in such a manner that you are not masters able to contain it.”

On page 323:

“We understand very well, up to this point, the manner of transmission of thought, but we are incapable of understanding, by means of these laws of harmonic sympathy, the system by which man forms within himself such or such a thought, such or such an image, and the solicitation of external objects. This is outside the properties of the organism, and psychology, finding in this faculty of recollection or creation, according to the desire of man, something antagonistic to the properties of the organism, makes it depend upon a substantial being, different from matter. We then begin to find, in the phenomenon of thought, certain gaps between the capacity of the physiological laws of the organism and the result obtained. The rudiment of the phenomenon, if we may so express ourselves, is indeed physiological, but its extension, truly prodigious, is not. And here it becomes necessary to admit that man enjoys a faculty that belongs to neither of the two material elements of which, until the present, we have seen him composed. The observer of good faith will therefore recognize a third part that enters into the composition of man, a part that begins to reveal itself to him, from the point of view of magnetic psychology, by means of new characteristics, which are related to what the philosophers attribute to the soul. “The existence, however, of the soul is found more strongly demonstrated by the study of certain other faculties of magnetic somnambulism. Thus, vision at a distance, when complete and clearly detached from the transmission of thought, could not, in our way of seeing, be explained by the extension of the organic sympathetic.”

Then, on page 330:

“We had, as one sees, great reasons to advance that the study of magnetic phenomena bears strong relations to philosophy and psychology. We point out a work to be done, and we invite the men of the specialty to do it.”

In the following pages, he treats of immaterial beings and of their possible relations with our individualities.

Page 349:

“For us, it is beyond doubt, and precisely by reason of the psychological laws we have sketched in this work, that the human soul can be enlightened directly, either by God, or by another intelligence. We believe that this supernatural communication can take place, whether in the normal state or in the ecstatic state, whether spontaneous or artificial.”

Page 351:

“But we insist on saying that natural foresight in man is limited and could not be so precise, so constant, and so amply set forth, as the previsions made by the sacred prophets, or by men who had to inspire them an intelligence superior to the human soul.”

Page 391:

“Science and the belief in the supernatural world are two antagonistic terms; but, we hasten to say it, they are so in consequence of the exaggerations that have arisen on both sides. It is possible, in our opinion, that Science and the law may form an alliance; then the human spirit will find itself at the level of its terrestrial perfectibility.”

Page 396:

“The Old, as much as the New Testament, as well as the annals of all peoples, are full of facts that cannot be explained except by the action of beings superior to man. Moreover, the studies of Anthropology, of Metaphysics, and of Ontology prove the reality of the existence of immaterial beings between man and God, and the possibility of their influencing the human species.”

Now, the opinion of one of the principal authorities in Magnetism, on the existence of beings outside Humanity. We extract it from the correspondence of Deleuze with Dr. Billot:

“The only phenomenon that seems to prove communication with immaterial beings is apparitions, of which there are many examples. As I am convinced of the immortality of the soul, I find no reasons to deny the possibility of the apparition of persons who, having left this life, concern themselves with those who were dear to them here and come to present themselves to them in order to give them salutary counsels.”

Dr. Ordinaire, of Mâcon, another authority in the matter, expresses himself thus:

“The sacred fire, the secret influence (of Boileau), inspiration, do not proceed, then, from such or such a contexture, as the phrenologists claim, but from a poetic soul, in relation with a Genius still more poetic. The same with regard to music, to painting, etc. Would these superior intelligences not be souls freed from matter and which rise gradually, as they are purified, up to the great, the universal intelligence that embraces them all, up to God? Would our souls not take their place, after various migrations, among these material beings?

“From what precedes, says the same author, we conclude: that the study of the soul is still in its infancy; that, there existing, from the polyp to man, a series of intelligences, and it being certain that nothing in Nature is abruptly interrupted, it is rational that there should exist, from man to God, another series of intelligences. Man is the link that binds the inferior intelligences, associated with matter, to the superior, immaterial intelligences. From man to God there unfolds a series similar to that which goes from the polyp to man, that is, a series of ethereal beings, more or less perfect, in the enjoyment of various specialties, with varied employments and functions. “That these superior intelligences reveal themselves tangibly in artificial somnambulism;

“That these intelligences have intimate relations with our souls;

“That it is to these intelligences that we owe remorse, when we do evil, and contentment, when we perform a good action;

“That it is to these intelligences that superior men owe their good inspirations;

“That it is to these intelligences that the ecstatics owe the faculty of foreseeing the future and of announcing events to come;

“Finally, that, in order to act upon these intelligences and render them propitious, virtue and prayer have a powerful action.”

NOTE. — The opinion of such men, and they are not the only ones, has certainly a value that no one could contest; but it would never be more than an opinion more or less rational, if observation did not confirm it. Spiritism is entirely within the ideas we have just cited; only, it completes them by means of special observations and coordinates them, imprinting upon them the sanction of experience.

Those who persist in denying the existence of the spiritual world, without being able, however, to deny the facts, exhaust themselves in finding the cause for them exclusively in the corporeal world. But a theory, in order to be true, must explain all the facts to which it relates; a single contradictory fact destroys it, since there are no exceptions in the laws of Nature. Such was what happened to the majority of those theories that were at first imagined to explain the Spiritist phenomena. Almost all of them fell, one by one, before facts they did not encompass. After having tried, without any result, all the systems, it became necessary to return to the Spiritist theories, as the most conclusive, because, not having been formulated prematurely and upon observations made in haste, they encompass all the varieties, all the nuances of the phenomena. What made them be accepted so quickly by the majority of people was that each one found in them the complete and satisfactory solution to what they vainly sought to resolve by other paths. Nevertheless, many still repel them, which is common to all the great new ideas that change habits and beliefs, all of which collided for a long time with obstinate contradictors, even among the most enlightened men. A day comes, however, when what is true surpasses what is false, and all are astonished at the opposition they raised against it, so natural does what had been repelled appear. The same will happen with Spiritism, it being worthy of note that of all the great ideas that have revolutionized the world, none has conquered in so short a time so great a number of adepts in all countries and in all social strata. Such is the reason why the Spiritists, whose faith is not blind, but rather is founded upon observation, are concerned neither with their contradictors nor with those who share their ideas. They consider that, arising from the very laws of Nature, instead of being based upon a derogation from those laws, the Doctrine cannot fail to prevail, once those laws are recognized. As everyone knows, the idea of the existence of intermediary beings between God and man is not new. In general, however, everyone supposed that these beings constituted a separate creation. The religions designated them by the names of angels and demons; the pagans called them gods. By proving that such beings are nothing but the souls of men at different degrees of the spiritual scale, Spiritism reintegrates creation into the grandiose unity that is the very essence of the divine laws. Instead of an immensity of stationary creations, which would imply, on the part of the Divinity, caprice or partiality, it shows that there is a single one, essentially progressive, with no privilege for any creature, each individuality rising from the state of embryo to that of complete development, like the germ that from the seed rises to the state of a tree. Spiritism, then, reveals unity, harmony, and justice in Creation. According to it, the demons are the backward souls, still laden with the vices of Humanity; the angels are those same souls purified and dematerialized; between these two extreme points, the multitude of souls at the different degrees of the progressive scale. It thus establishes the solidarity between the spiritual world and the corporeal world. As for the question proposed: — “In the Spiritist or somnambulic phenomena, what is the limit where the action proper to the soul ceases and that of the Spirits begins?” — we shall say that such a limit does not exist, or, better, that it has nothing absolute about it.

Since there are no distinct species, since the soul is merely an incarnate Spirit, and the Spirit merely a soul freed from the terrestrial bonds; since one and the other are one and the same being in different media, the faculties and aptitudes must be the same. Somnambulism is a transitory state between incarnation and disincarnation, a state of partial release, a foot placed in advance in the spiritual world.

The incarnate soul, or, if you prefer, the very Spirit of the somnambulist or of the medium, can, therefore, do almost what the disincarnate soul will do, and even more, if it is more advanced, with the sole difference, nevertheless, that, being freer through its complete release, the soul has special perceptions inherent in its state.

It is sometimes very difficult to distinguish, in a given effect, what proceeds directly from the soul of the medium from what emanates from a strange cause, because frequently the two actions are confounded and corroborate one another. It is thus that in cures by the laying on of hands, the Spirit of the medium can act by itself, or with the assistance of another Spirit; that poetic or artistic inspiration can have a double origin. But from the fact that it is difficult to make such a distinction it does not follow that it is impossible. Not rarely, the duality is evident, and, in all cases, it almost always emerges from attentive observation.