Spiritist aphorisms.

Under this title we shall give, from time to time, scattered thoughts that in a few words will summarize certain essential principles of Spiritism.

I. — Those who think to preserve themselves from the action of bad Spirits by abstaining from Spiritist communications resemble children who imagine they can avoid a danger by placing a blindfold over their eyes. It amounts to saying that it is preferable not to know how to read and write so as not to be exposed to bad readings or to writing foolishness. II. — Anyone who receives bad Spiritist communications, verbal or written, is under a bad influence. Such influence is exerted upon him whether he writes or not. Writing offers him a means of ascertaining the nature of the Spirits who act upon him. If he is fascinated enough not to understand them, others may open his eyes. III. — Must one be a medium to write absurdities? Who can guarantee that among all the ridiculous or bad things that are printed there is not a writer, driven by some mocking or malevolent Spirit, playing, without knowing it, the role of an obsessed medium? IV. — The good but ignorant Spirits confess their insufficiency regarding that which they do not know. The bad ones say that they know everything.

V. — Elevated Spirits prove their superiority by their words and by the constant sublimity of their thoughts, but do not boast of it. Beware of those who say emphatically that they are at the highest degree of perfection and among the elect. Boastfulness, in Spirits as in men, is always a sign of mediocrity.