Parisian Society for Spiritist Studies.

— Gentlemen, At the moment when your social year expires, allow me to present to you a brief summary of the progress and works of the Society.

You know its origin: it was formed without a premeditated design, without a preconceived plan. A few friends gathered at my home in a small committee; little by little these friends asked my permission to introduce their friends. There was then no president: these were intimate gatherings, of eight to ten persons, similar to those that exist by the hundreds in Paris and elsewhere. Nevertheless, it was natural that in my home I should have the direction of what was done there, both as the host and also by reason of the special studies I had made, which gave me a certain experience in the matter.

The interest that these meetings aroused kept growing, although we occupied ourselves with nothing but very serious things; little by little, one by one, the number of those attending grew, to such a degree that my modest drawing room, very ill-suited for an assembly, became insufficient.

It was then that some among you proposed that another room be sought and that we contribute jointly to cover the expenses, for they did not think it just that I should bear them alone, as had been the case until then. However, in order to meet regularly, beyond a certain number and in a different place, it was necessary that we conform to the legal prescriptions, have a set of regulations and, consequently, a designated president. In short, it was necessary to constitute a society; this is what happened, with the assent of the constituted authority, whose benevolence was not lacking to us.

[see The inauguration of the SOCIETY in the Review of May 1858.] It was also necessary to impress upon the works a methodical and uniform direction, and you decided to charge me with continuing what I had been doing at home, in our private gatherings.

I gave to my functions, which I may call laborious, all the exactitude and all the devotion of which I was capable. From the administrative point of view, I strove to maintain in the sessions a rigorous order and to give them a character of gravity, without which the prestige of a serious assembly would soon have disappeared. Now that my task is finished and the impetus has been given, I must communicate to you the resolution I have taken, henceforth to renounce any kind of function in the Society, even that of director of studies. I aspire to but one title: that of a simple titular member, with which I shall always feel honored and happy. The motive for my determination lies in the multiplicity of my labors, which increase daily through the extension of my relations, considering that, besides those you know of, I am preparing others more considerable still, which require long and laborious studies and will certainly take no less than ten years n. Now, the works of the Society do not fail to take up much time, both in their preparation and in their coordination and final composition. Moreover, they demand an assiduity at times prejudicial to my personal occupations and render indispensable the almost exclusive initiative you have conferred upon me. It is for this reason, gentlemen, that I have so often had to take the floor, regretting that the eminently enlightened members whom we possess should deprive us of their lights. For a long time I have wished to resign my functions; I made this quite clear on various occasions, whether here or in private, to several of my colleagues, notably to Mr. Ledoyen. I would have done so earlier, were it not for the fear of bringing disturbance to the Society by withdrawing in the middle of the year, but it could have seemed a defection, and besides I would have found myself obliged to give satisfaction to our adversaries. I therefore had to carry out my task to the end. Today, however, that such motives no longer subsist, I hasten to inform you of my resolution, in order not to hinder the choice you will make. It is just that each one should share in the burdens and the honors.

— Within a year the Society has seen its importance grow rapidly; the number of titular members has tripled in a few months; you have numerous correspondents on the two continents, and the listeners would have exceeded the limit of the possible had we not applied a check by the strict execution of the regulations. Among these latter, you have counted the highest social notabilities and more than one illustrious figure. The eagerness with which they solicit admission to your sessions testifies to the interest these arouse, notwithstanding the absence of any experimentation intended to satisfy curiosity or, perhaps, by reason of their very simplicity. If not all leave convinced, which would be to demand the impossible, serious persons, those who do not come with the preconceived idea of denigrating, carry away from the seriousness of your works an impression that predisposes them to delve deeper into these questions. Besides, we have nothing but praise for the restrictions we placed on the admission of outside listeners, thus avoiding a multitude of importunate curiosity-seekers. The measure by which you limited this admission to certain sessions, reserving the others solely for members of the Society, had the result of granting you more freedom in your studies, which could be hindered by the presence of persons not yet initiated and whose sympathy was not assured. These restrictions will seem quite natural to those who know the purpose of our institution and know that we are, above all, a Society of studies and of research, and not an arena of propaganda. It is for this reason that we do not admit into our ranks those who, not possessing the first notions of the science, would make us lose time in elementary demonstrations, ceaselessly repeated. We would no doubt desire the propagation of the ideas we profess, because we judge them useful, and to that end each of us contributes his share. We know, however, that conviction is acquired only through sustained observations, and not by means of a few isolated facts, without continuity and without reasoning, against which incredulity will always be able to raise objections. It will be said that a fact is always a fact; no doubt it is an irrefutable argument, provided it is neither contested nor contestable. When a fact emerges from the circle of our ideas and our knowledge, at first sight it seems impossible; the more extraordinary it is, the more objections it will raise. This is why it is contested.

— He who probes its cause and discovers it finds in it a basis and a reason for being; he understands its possibility and, from then on, no longer rejects it. Often a fact is intelligible only through its connection with other facts; taken in isolation, it may seem strange, incredible, even absurd. But if it is one of the links of the chain, if it has a rational basis, if it can be explained, every anomaly will disappear. Now, to conceive of this linkage, to grasp this whole to which we are led from consequence to consequence, there is needed in all things, and perhaps in Spiritism still more, a series of rational observations. Reasoning is therefore a powerful element of conviction, today more than ever, when positive ideas lead us to know the why and the how of each thing.

We are surprised at the persistent incredulity, in matters of Spiritism, on the part of persons who have seen, while others, who have seen nothing, are unshakable believers. Are these latter superficial creatures, who accept without examination everything they are told? No; it is exactly the contrary: the former have seen, but do not understand; the latter have not seen, but understand; and they understand only because they reason. The body of reasonings upon which the facts rest constitutes the science, a science still very imperfect, it is true, whose apogee no one claims to have attained; in short, a science in its beginnings, and your studies are directed toward the investigation of all that may broaden and constitute it. This is what it is important to have well understood outside this hall, so that there be no misunderstanding about the objective we set ourselves; above all, so that people do not think they will find, on coming here, an exhibition of Spirits offering themselves as a spectacle.

Curiosity has a limit. When it is satisfied it seeks a new motive for distraction; he who does not stop at the surface, who sees beyond the material effect, always has something to learn; for him reasoning is an inexhaustible source: it has no limits. Moreover, our line of conduct could not be better traced than by those admirable words that the Spirit of Saint Louis addressed to us, and which we should never lose sight of: “They mocked the turning tables, but they will never mock the philosophy, the wisdom, and the charity that shine in the serious communications. Let them see here, let them listen there, but among you let there be understanding and love.” [see The Mediums’ Book.]

These words: Let there be understanding among you, contain an entire teaching. We must understand, and we seek to understand, because we do not wish to believe as the blind do: reasoning is the luminous torch that guides us. But the reasoning of a single person may go astray, which is why we wished to gather together in a society, in order to enlighten one another by the reciprocal contribution of our ideas and observations. In placing ourselves on this ground, we assimilate ourselves to all the other scientific institutions, and our works will produce more serious proselytes than if we spend our time making tables move and give raps. We would soon be sated with that. Our thought demands a more solid nourishment, which is why we seek to penetrate the mysteries of the invisible world, of which these elementary phenomena are the first indications. Do those who know how to read amuse themselves by ceaselessly repeating the alphabet? Perhaps we would have a greater influx of the curious, who would succeed one another in our sessions like characters in a shifting panorama. But these curious ones, who could not improvise a conviction from the sight of a phenomenon unexplained to them, who would judge it without delving into it, would be rather an obstacle to our works. This is why, not wishing to deviate from our scientific character, we keep away all those who do not allow themselves to be drawn by a serious objective. Spiritism has consequences of such gravity, touches upon questions of such elevated reach, furnishes the key to so many problems; in short, we draw from it such profound philosophical teachings that, beside all this, a turning table is mere childishness. We were saying that the observation of facts without reasoning is insufficient to lead to a complete conviction, and that the person who declared himself convinced of a fact whose understanding escaped him would be considered frivolous. This manner of proceeding has another drawback that must be pointed out, and to which each of us can bear witness: it is the mania for experimentation, which is its natural consequence. He who sees a Spiritist fact, without having studied all its circumstances, generally sees only the material fact and, from then on, judges it from the point of view of his own ideas, without thinking that, outside the known laws, there can and must be unknown laws. He believes he can manipulate it at will, imposes conditions, and will only allow himself to be convinced if the fact occurs in a certain manner, and not otherwise. He imagines that one conducts experiments with Spirits as if they were an electric battery; not knowing their nature, nor their manner of being, since he has not studied them, he supposes it possible to impose his will upon them and claims that they must act at a mere sign, for the sheer pleasure of convincing him. Because he is disposed to listen to them for a quarter of an hour, he imagines they must remain at his orders. These are the errors into which those do not fall who take the trouble to deepen their studies; they know the obstacles and do not demand the impossible. Instead of wanting to convince the Spirits of their point of view, something to which the Spirits do not willingly lend themselves, they place themselves at the point of view of the Spirits, which causes the phenomena to change in aspect. For this we need patience, perseverance, and a firm will, without which one will arrive at nothing. He who really wishes to know must submit to the conditions of the thing studied, and not want it to submit to his own conditions. This is why the Society does not lend itself to experimentations that would yield no result, knowing by experience that Spiritism, like any other science, is not learned by osmosis and in a few hours. As it is a serious Society, it wishes to deal only with serious people, who understand the obligations imposed by such a study, if one wishes to pursue it conscientiously. It does not recognize as serious those who say: Let me see a fact and I will be convinced. Does this mean that we disdain facts? Quite the contrary, for our whole science is based upon facts. We investigate with interest all those that offer us an object of study or confirm admitted principles. I only wish to say that we do not waste time reproducing the facts we already know, just as a physicist does not amuse himself by ceaselessly repeating experiments that teach him nothing new. We direct our investigations upon all that may enlighten our progress, fixing ourselves preferably upon the intelligent communications, sources of Spiritist philosophy, whose field is unlimited and far more vast than the purely material manifestations, which arouse only momentary interest.

— Two systems, equally extolled and practiced, present themselves in the manner of receiving communications from beyond the grave; some prefer to await spontaneous communications; others provoke them by a direct appeal, addressed to this or that Spirit. The former claim that, in the absence of a means of verifying the identity of the Spirits, by awaiting their good will we are less exposed to being led into error; for since the Spirit speaks, it will do so only if it is present and wishes to speak, whereas we have no certainty whether the one we call can come or respond. The others object that to let the first to appear speak is to open the door to the good and the bad. The uncertainty of identity is not a serious objection, for we often have means of verifying it, this verification being moreover the object of a study bound up with the very principles of the science. The Spirit that speaks spontaneously almost always limits itself to generalities, whereas questions trace for it a more positive and more instructive picture. As for us, we condemn only the exclusivist systems. We know that excellent things are obtained by both means and, if we give preference to the second, it is because experience teaches us that in the spontaneous communications the mystifying Spirits do not hesitate to adorn themselves with respectable names, as also occurs in the evocations. They even have a freer field, whereas in the system of questions we dominate them much more easily, not to mention that the questions are of incontestable utility in the studies. It is to this mode of investigating that we owe the quantity of observations we gather daily and that make us penetrate more deeply into these extraordinary mysteries. The further we advance, the more the horizon expands before us, showing how vast is the field that we are charged with reaping.

— The numerous evocations we have made have allowed us to direct the investigative gaze upon the invisible world, from its base to its summit, that is to say, upon what it has of the most lowly as well as of the most sublime. The innumerable variety of facts and characters emanating from these studies, carried out with profound calm, sustained attention, and the prudent circumspection of serious observers, has opened to us the arcana of that world, so new to us. The order and method employed in your researches were indispensable elements for success. Indeed, you already know by experience that it is not enough to call casually upon the Spirit of this or that person. Spirits do not come thus at the whim of our caprice, nor do they answer everything that fancy leads us to ask them.

With the beings from beyond the grave we need skill and a language appropriate to their nature, to their moral qualities, to the degree of their intelligence, and to the position they occupy; to be with them dominating or submissive, according to circumstances, compassionate with those who suffer, humble and respectful with the superior ones, firm with the bad and the willful, who subjugate only those who listen to them complacently. In short, one must know how to formulate and link the questions methodically, so that more explicit answers may be obtained, assimilating in the answers the nuances that often constitute characteristic traits and important revelations that escape the superficial, inexperienced, or occasional observer. The manner of conversing with the Spirits is therefore a true art, which requires tact, knowledge of the ground we tread, constituting, so to speak, practical Spiritism. Wisely directed, the evocations can teach great things; they offer a potent element of interest, of morality, and of conviction: of interest, by making us know the state of the world that awaits us all and of which we sometimes form so extravagant an idea; of morality, because in them we can see, by analogy, our future lot; of conviction, because in these intimate conversations we find the manifest proof of the existence and the individuality of the Spirits, which are nothing other than our own souls, freed from terrestrial matter.

— Your opinion on Spiritism being formed, you have no need to rest your convictions upon the material proof of the physical manifestations. You also wished, advised by the Spirits, to confine yourselves to the study of principles and of moral problems, without, for that reason, neglecting the examination of the phenomena that can aid the search for truth.

Obstinate criticism has reproached us for accepting too readily the doctrines of certain Spirits, especially with regard to scientific questions. Such persons reveal, by that very fact, that they are ignorant of the true objective of the Spiritist science, just as they are unaware of the one we set ourselves, granting us the right to return to them the reproach of frivolity with which they judged us. It is certainly not for us to teach the reserve with which what comes from the Spirits should be received; we are far from taking all their words as articles of faith. We know that among them there are those found at every degree, of learning and of morality; for us, it is a population that presents far more numerous varieties than those we perceive among men; what we want is to study this population; it is to come to know and understand it. To this end, we study the individualities, we observe the small differences, and we seek to grasp the distinctive traits of their customs, of their habits, and of their character; in short, we wish to identify ourselves as far as possible with the state of that world. Before occupying a residence we wish to know what it is like, whether we shall be comfortably installed there, as well as to know the habits of the neighbors and the kind of society we shall be able to frequent. Well then! It is our future dwelling, it is the customs of the people in whose midst we shall come to live, that the Spirits make known to us. But, just as among us there are ignorant persons of narrow vision, who form an incomplete idea of our material world and of the milieu that is not their own, so too the Spirits of limited moral horizon cannot assimilate the whole and still find themselves under the dominion of prejudices and systems. They cannot, then, instruct us concerning all that relates to the Spirit world, just as a peasant could not do so with regard to high Parisian society or the scientific world. It would therefore be to make of our reasoning a deplorable judgment to think that we listen to all the Spirits as though they were oracles. The Spirits are what they are and we cannot alter the order of things. As not all are perfect, we accept their words only with reservations and never with childish credulity. We judge, we compare, we draw consequences from our observations, and their very errors constitute teachings for us, for we do not renounce our discernment. These obligations apply equally to all the scientific theories the Spirits can give. It would be very convenient to have only to question them in order to find the science ready-made and finished and to possess all the industrial secrets. We shall conquer the science only at the cost of labor and research. The mission of the Spirits is not to exempt us from this obligation. Besides, not only are we conscious that not all know everything, but we know that among them, as is wont to happen among men, there exist pseudo-savants, who think they know what they do not know and speak of what they are ignorant of with imperturbable audacity. Because a Spirit says that it is the Sun that revolves around the Earth, that theory will not for that reason be any truer. Let those, then, who attribute to us so puerile a credulity, know that we take every opinion uttered by a Spirit as a personal opinion; that we accept it only after having submitted it to the control of logic and of the means of investigation that the Spiritist science itself furnishes us, means with which you are all acquainted.

— Such, gentlemen, is the end the Society sets itself. It is certainly not for me to teach you anything, although it pleases me to recall it here, so that my words may resound outside and no one may be mistaken as to their true meaning. For my part I feel happy at having had only to accompany you on this serious path, which raises Spiritism to the rank of the philosophical sciences. Your works have already produced fruits, but those they will produce later on are incalculable if, as I do not doubt, you maintain yourselves in conditions favorable to attracting the good Spirits into your midst.

The contribution of the good Spirits is, indeed, the condition without which no one can hope for the truth; now, it depends upon us to obtain this contribution. The first of all conditions for gaining their sympathy is recollection and purity of intentions. The serious Spirits present themselves where they are seriously called, with faith, fervor, and confidence. They do not like to serve as an experiment nor to give a spectacle; on the contrary, they like to instruct those who question them without preconceived thought. The frivolous Spirits, who amuse themselves in every way, go everywhere and, preferably, where they find occasion to mystify; the bad ones are attracted by bad thoughts, and by bad thoughts we must understand all those that are not in accordance with the precepts of evangelical charity. In every gathering, therefore, he who harbors sentiments contrary to these precepts brings with him Spirits desirous of sowing disturbance, discord, and lovelessness.

The communion of thoughts and of sentiments toward the good is, in this way, a condition of the first necessity, and cannot be found in a heterogeneous milieu where the inferior passions of pride, of envy, and of jealousy have access, passions that always reveal themselves through malevolence and through acrimony of language, however thick the veil with which one seeks to cover them; this is the ABC of the Spiritist science. If we wish to close to the bad Spirits the door of this hall, let us first close to them the door of our hearts and avoid all that may grant them power over us. If one day the Society were to become the plaything of mystifying Spirits, it would be because they had been drawn to it. By whom? By those in whom they found an echo, for they present themselves only where they know they will be heard. We know the proverb: Tell me whom you walk with and I will tell you who you are. We may parody it with regard to our sympathetic Spirits, saying thus: Tell me what you think and I will tell you whom you walk with. Now, thoughts are translated into acts. If we admit that discord, pride, envy, and jealousy can only be breathed in by the bad Spirits, those who brought here elements of disunion would arouse obstacles, thereby revealing the nature of their hidden satellites, and we could only lament their presence within the bosom of the Society. May God grant that this never happen, as I hope. Aided by the good Spirits, if we render ourselves favorable to them, the Society will consolidate itself, both by the consideration it shall have merited and by the utility of its works. If we had in view only experiments aimed at the satisfaction of curiosity, the nature of the communications would be more or less indifferent, for we would take them only for what they represent. But since, in our studies, we do not seek a diversion, neither for ourselves nor for the public, what we want are true communications. For this, we need the sympathy of the good Spirits, and such sympathy is acquired only by those who keep away the bad ones with the sincerity of their souls. To say that frivolous Spirits have never mingled with us, in order to conceal our vulnerable side, would be too great a presumption of perfection; the superior Spirits even permit it, in order to test our perspicacity and our zeal in the search for truth. Our reasoning, however, must put us on guard against the snares that may be laid for us and, in every case, furnishes us the means of avoiding them.

The objective of the Society does not consist solely in the research of the principles of the Spiritist science; it goes further: it also studies its moral consequences, for it is chiefly in these that it finds its true utility.

Our studies teach that the invisible world surrounding us reacts constantly upon the visible world; they show it to us as one of the powers of Nature. To know the effects of this hidden force that dominates and subjugates us in spite of ourselves, is it not to have the key to more than one problem, the explanation of a multitude of facts that pass unnoticed? If these effects can be baneful, is it not to know the cause of the evil a means of preserving oneself against it, just as the knowledge of electricity has enabled us to mitigate the disastrous effects of lightning? If we then succumb, we shall be able to blame only ourselves, since we shall not have ignorance as an excuse. The danger lies in the dominion that the bad Spirits exercise over individuals, and this dominion is not only baneful from the point of view of the errors of principle they can propagate, but also from the point of view of material interests. Experience teaches that it is never with impunity that we abandon ourselves to their domination, since their intentions can never be good. To attain such an end, one of their tactics is disunion, because they know very well that they can easily dominate one who finds himself deprived of support. Thus, when they wish to seize hold of someone, their first care is always to inspire in him distrust and isolation, so that no one may unmask them, enlightening the injured persons with salutary counsels. Once masters of the ground, they can fascinate them at will, through seductive promises, and subjugate them by means of flattery of their inclinations, taking advantage of the weak sides they discover, in order then to make them feel all the more the bitterness of disappointments, to wound them in their affections, to humiliate them in their pride, and often to raise them up for an instant only to cast them down from a greater height. There, gentlemen, is what is shown to us by the examples that at every moment unfold before our eyes, both in the world of the Spirits and in the corporeal world, a situation we can turn to our own profit, while at the same time we seek to make it profitable to others. However, it will be asked, shall we not attract the bad Spirits by evoking creatures who belonged to the dregs of society? No, because we never suffer their influence. There is danger only when it is the Spirit that imposes itself; never, however, when it is we who impose ourselves upon it. You know perfectly well that these Spirits do not answer your call except constrained and forced; that, in general, they find themselves so ill at ease in your midst that they are always in haste to withdraw. For us their presence is an object of study, because to know one must see everything. The physician reaches the apogee of knowledge only when he explores the most repugnant sores. Now, this comparison with the physician is very apt, since you know the quantity of sores we have healed and the sufferings we have alleviated. Our duty is to show ourselves charitable and benevolent with the beings from beyond the grave, just as we must do with our fellow men.

— Gentlemen, personally I would enjoy an inconceivable privilege if I had remained sheltered from criticism. We do not put ourselves forward without exposing ourselves to the darts of those who do not think as we do. But there are two kinds of criticism: one that is malevolent, acerbic, envenomed, in which envy betrays itself in every word; the other, which aims at the sincere search for truth, has wholly different characteristics. The first deserves nothing but disdain; I have never troubled myself with it. Only the second is debatable.

Some persons have said that I was too hasty in the Spiritist theories, that it was not yet time to establish them, and that the observations were not yet complete enough. Allow me a few words on the subject.

Two things must be considered in Spiritism: the experimental part and the philosophical, or theoretical, part. Abstraction made of the teaching of the Spirits, I ask whether, in my own name, I do not have the right, like any other person, to elaborate a philosophical system. Is not the field of opinions open to everyone? Why, then, could I not make mine known? It is for the public to judge whether it has meaning or not. But this theory, instead of conferring upon me any merit, if merit there be, I declare emanates entirely from the Spirits. — So be it, some will say, but you are going too far. Those who claim to give the key to the mysteries of creation, to unveil the principle of things and the infinite nature of God, go much further than I, who declare, on the part of the Spirits, that it is not given to man to fathom these things, about which we can establish only more or less probable conjectures. — You are going too fast. — Would it be a fault to take the lead over certain persons? Besides, who prevents them from walking? — The facts are not yet perfectly observed. — But if I, rightly or wrongly, believe I have observed them sufficiently, must I await the good will of those who have lagged behind? My publications bar the way to no one. — Since the Spirits are subject to error, who guarantees that those who taught you have not been mistaken? — Indeed, the whole question is summed up in this, considering that the objection of haste is very puerile. Well then! I must say upon what my confidence in the veracity and the superiority of the Spirits who instructed me is founded. First I shall say that, in accordance with their counsel, I accept nothing without control and without examination; I do not adopt an idea except when it appears to me rational, logical, in accord with the facts and the observations, and if nothing serious comes to contradict it. But my judgment cannot be an infallible criterion. The assent I have found on the part of numerous persons more enlightened than myself furnishes me the first guarantee. But I find another, no less preponderant, in the character of the communications that have been obtained ever since I have occupied myself with Spiritism. I can say that there has never escaped a single one of those words, a single one of those signs by which the inferior Spirits, even the most cunning, always betray themselves. Never domination; never equivocal counsels or counsels contrary to charity and benevolence; never ridiculous prescriptions. Far from it; in them I have found nothing but generous, noble, sublime thoughts, free of pettiness and of meanness. In a word: their relations with me, in the smallest as in the greatest things, have always been such that, had it been a man speaking to me, I would have considered him the best, the wisest, the most prudent, the most moralized, and the most enlightened. There, gentlemen, are the motives of my confidence, corroborated by the identity of the teaching given to a number of other persons, before and after the publication of my works. The future will tell whether I am right or wrong. In the meantime, I believe I have aided the progress of Spiritism, bringing a few stones to its edifice. By showing that the facts can rest upon reasoning, I shall have contributed to making it leave the frivolous bypath of curiosity, in order to make it enter the serious path of demonstration, that is to say, the only way that can satisfy men who think and who do not stop at the surface.

I conclude, gentlemen, with the rapid examination of a question of current interest.

— There is talk of other societies that wish to rival ours. It is said that one already counts three hundred members and possesses appreciable financial resources. I prefer to believe that it is not a piece of boasting, as little flattering for the Spirits who might have prompted it as for those who echoed it. If it is a reality, we sincerely congratulate it, provided it obtains the necessary unity of sentiments to thwart the influence of the bad Spirits and to consolidate its existence.

I am completely ignorant of what the elements are of the society, or of the societies, that are said to wish to form. I shall make only one general observation.

In Paris and elsewhere there are a number of intimate gatherings, as ours once was, in which people occupy themselves more or less seriously with the Spiritist manifestations, not to speak of the United States, where they are counted by the thousands. I know of some in which the evocations are made under the best conditions, and remarkable things are obtained. It is the natural consequence of the growing number of mediums, who are developing on all sides, in spite of the sarcasms; the further we advance, the more these centers will multiply. Formed spontaneously of very few and variable elements, such centers have nothing fixed or regular about them and do not constitute societies properly speaking. For a regularly organized society very different conditions of vitality are necessary, precisely by reason of the number of persons who compose it, of its stability, and of its permanence. The first of all is the homogeneity of principles and of the manner of seeing. Every society composed of heterogeneous elements carries within it the germ of dissolution; we may consider it dead in advance, whatever its objective: political, religious, scientific, or economic. A Spiritist society requires another condition — the assistance of the good Spirits — if we wish to obtain serious communications. Otherwise, if we allow the bad ones to gain a footing, we shall obtain nothing but lies, deceptions, and mystifications. That is the price of its very existence, since the bad ones will be the first agents of its destruction. They will undermine it little by little, if they do not bring it down at the very outset. Without homogeneity, there is no communion of thoughts and, therefore, none of the calm nor of the recollection that is desired. Now, the good ones present themselves only where they find these conditions; how to find them in a gathering whose beliefs are divergent, where some members do not even believe and, consequently, the spirit of opposition and of controversy dominates ceaselessly? They assist only those who ardently desire to enlighten themselves toward the good, without preconceived thought, and not to satisfy vain curiosity. To wish to form a Spiritist society outside of these conditions would be to give proof of the most absolute ignorance of the most elementary principles of Spiritism. Would we be the only ones capable of bringing them together? It would be lamentable and very ridiculous to think so. What we have done, others can surely do. Let other societies, then, occupy themselves with works equal to ours, let them prosper and multiply a thousand times better, for it will be a sign of progress in moral ideas; so much the better, above all if they are well assisted and have good communications, for we do not pretend to be the only privileged ones in this field. As we aim only at our personal instruction and at the interest of the science, let our society conceal no thought of speculation, neither direct nor indirect, no ambitious view; let its existence not rest upon a question of money, and let the other societies be regarded as our sisters, and not as competitors. If we are envious, we shall prove that we are assisted by the bad Spirits. Should one of these societies form with a view to creating rivalry with us, with the preconceived idea of supplanting us, it would reveal, by its objective, the very nature of the Spirits who presided over its formation, since that thought would not be good, nor charitable, nor do the good Spirits sympathize with sentiments of hatred, jealousy, and ambition. Moreover, we have an infallible means of fearing no rivalry. It is Saint Louis who offers it to us: Let there be among you understanding and love — he said to us. Let us work, then, to understand one another; let us contend with the others, but let us contend with charity and abnegation. Let love of neighbor be inscribed upon our banner and be our motto. With this we shall confront the mockery and the influence of the bad Spirits. On this ground, so much the better if they equal us, for they will be brothers who arrive; it depends, however, only upon us never to be surpassed.

But, it will be said, you have a manner of seeing that is not ours; we cannot sympathize with principles we do not admit, for nothing proves that you are with the truth. To this I shall reply: Nothing proves that you are more right than we, because you still doubt, and doubt is not a doctrine. One can differ in opinion on points of the science without biting one another or throwing stones, which would be little dignified and little scientific. Seek, then, on your side, as we investigate on ours. The future will give the right to whomever it is due. If we are mistaken, foolish self-love will not make us obstinate in false ideas. There are, however, principles about which we are certain of not being mistaken: it is the love of the good, abnegation, the abjuration of every sentiment of envy and of jealousy. These are our principles; with them we can always sympathize without compromising ourselves; it is the bond that should unite all men of good will, whatever the divergence of their opinions. Egoism alone interposes an insurmountable barrier.

Such, gentlemen, are the observations I judged it well to present to you, on leaving the functions you had confided to me. I thank from the bottom of my heart all those who have shown me sympathy. Whatever may happen, my life is consecrated to the work we have undertaken, and I shall feel happy if my efforts can help to make it enter the serious path that is its essence, the only one that can assure it the future. The purpose of Spiritism is to make better those who understand it. Let us strive to set the example and show that, for us, the doctrine is not a dead letter. In a word, let us be worthy of the good Spirits, if we wish them to assist us. The good is a breastplate against which the arms of malevolence will always come to shatter themselves.

[1] Translator’s note: Allan Kardec could not have been more exact in his prediction, considering that there then remained to him precisely ten years of activity in the Spiritist field, before disincarnating in Paris on March 31, 1869.