Replies of the Spirits to some questions.

— Q. How can the Spirits act upon matter? This seems contrary to all the ideas we form of the nature of the Spirits.

Reply. – “According to you, the Spirit is nothing; and that is an error. We have already told you that the Spirit is something, which is why it can act of itself. Your world, however, is too coarse for it to be able to do so without an intermediary, that is, without the bond that unites the Spirit to matter.”

Observation. – Since the very bond that unites the Spirit to matter is itself immaterial, or at least impalpable, this reply would not resolve the question if we did not have the example of forces equally imponderable acting upon matter: it is thus that thought is the first cause of all our voluntary movements; that electricity overturns, raises, and transports inert masses. From the fact that the motor is not known, it would be illogical to conclude that it does not exist. The Spirit may, then, have levers that are unknown to us; Nature proves daily that its power does not stop at the testimony of the senses. In Spiritist phenomena, the immediate cause is, incontestably, a physical agent; but the first cause is an intelligence that acts upon that agent, as our thought acts upon our limbs. When we wish to strike, it is our arm that acts; it is not the thought that strikes, it directs the arm.

— Q. Among the Spirits who produce material effects, do those called rappers form a special category, or are they the same ones who produce the movements and the noises?

Reply. – “The same Spirit, certainly, can produce very diverse effects; but there are those who occupy themselves more particularly with certain things, as among you you have blacksmiths and those who do heavy labor.”

— Q. The Spirit who acts upon solid bodies, whether to move them or to rap, is it found within the very substance of the body or outside it?

Reply. – “Both the one and the other; we have said that matter is not an obstacle for the Spirits; they penetrate everything.”

— Q. Are the material manifestations, such as the noises, the movement of objects, and all those phenomena that it pleases us to provoke frequently, produced indistinctly by superior and inferior Spirits?

Reply. – “Only the inferior Spirits occupy themselves with these things. At times the superior Spirits make use of them, as you would with a porter, in order to lead you to listen to them. Can you believe that the Spirits of a superior order are at your orders to amuse you with lampoons? It is as if you asked whether, in your world, it is the wise and serious men who play the roles of jugglers and buffoons.”

Observation. – The Spirits who reveal themselves through material effects are, in general, of an inferior order. They amuse or astonish those for whom visual spectacles have more attraction than the exercise of intelligence; they are, in some sort, the mountebanks of the spirit world. Sometimes they act spontaneously; other times, by order of the superior Spirits.

If the communications of the superior Spirits offer a more serious interest, the physical manifestations have equally a utility for the observer. They reveal to us unknown forces of Nature and offer us the means of studying the character and, if we may so express ourselves, the customs of all the classes of the spirit population.

— Q. How can it be proven that the hidden power that acts in the Spiritist manifestations is outside of man? Could one not think that it resides in man himself, that is, that it acts under the impulse of his own Spirit?

Reply. – “When a thing is done against your will and your desire, it is clear that it is not you who produce it; but you are frequently the lever of which the Spirit makes use in order to act, and your will comes to its aid; you can be a more or less convenient instrument for it.”

Observation – It is above all in the intelligent communications that the intervention of a foreign power becomes patent. When these communications are spontaneous and are outside of our thought and control; when they reply to questions whose solution is unknown to those present, it becomes necessary to seek their cause outside of ourselves. This becomes evident to whoever observes the facts with attention and perseverance; the shades of detail escape the superficial observer.

— Q. Are all Spirits capable of giving intelligent manifestations?

Reply. – “Yes, since all are intelligent; but, as there are some of every degree, just as occurs among you, some say insignificant or stupid things, others sensible things.

— Q. Are all Spirits able to understand the questions that are put to them?

Reply. – “No; the inferior Spirits are incapable of understanding certain questions, which does not prevent them from replying well or ill; it is still as among you.”

Note: From this one sees how essential it is to be on one's guard against the belief in the unlimited knowledge of the Spirits. It happens with them as it happens with men; it is not enough to question the first one who appears in order to have a sensible reply. One must know to whom to address oneself.

Whoever wishes to know the customs of a people must study it from the base to the summit of the scale; to see only one class is to form a false idea of it, for one judges the whole by the part. The population of the Spirits is like our own; there is everything: the good, the bad, the sublime, the trivial, knowledge and ignorance. Whoever has not observed them seriously in all their degrees cannot boast of knowing them. The physical manifestations make known to us the Spirits of low evolution: they are the street and the hut. The instructive and learned communications put us in relation with the elevated Spirits: they are the elite of society, the castle and the Institute.