Mediums without knowing it.

At the session of the Society on September 16, 1859, several passages were read from a poem by Mr. de Porry, of Marseille, entitled Urania. As was then observed, this poem abounds in Spiritist ideas, which seem to have been drawn from the very source of The Spirits' Book. Nevertheless, it was found that at the time it was written its author had no knowledge whatever of the Spiritist Doctrine. Our readers will certainly be grateful if we give them a few fragments. They surely recall what was said in this regard about the manner in which Mr. de Porry wrote his poem, a manner that seems to indicate a kind of involuntary mediumship. (See the issue of the month of October 1859.) Moreover, the Spirits who surround us exert upon us, despite ourselves, an incessant influence, taking advantage of the dispositions they find in certain individuals to transform them into instruments of the ideas they wish to express and bring to the knowledge of men. These individuals are therefore, without knowing it, true mediums, and for this they do not need to possess mechanical mediumship. All men of genius, poets, painters, and musicians are in this case; certainly their own spirit can produce by itself, if it is advanced enough for that. Yet many ideas may come to them from a foreign source; in asking for inspiration, does it not seem that they are making an appeal? Now, what is this inspiration if not a suggested idea? That which we draw from our own inner self is not inspired: we possess it and have no need to receive it. If the man of genius drew everything from himself, why then would he lack ideas at the moment when he seeks them? Would he not be able to extract them from his brain, as one who has money takes it from his pocket? If at a given moment he finds nothing, it is because he has nothing. Why then, when he least expects it, do ideas spring up as if by themselves? Could the physiologists shed light on this phenomenon? Have they ever sought to resolve it? They say: the brain produces today, but tomorrow it will not produce. But why will it not produce tomorrow? They limit themselves to saying that it is because it produced the day before. According to the Spiritist Doctrine, the brain can always produce what is within it, which is why the most inept of men always finds something to say, even if it be a foolishness. But the ideas of which we are not the owners are not ours: they are suggested to us. When inspiration does not come it is because the inspirer is not present or does not judge it fitting to inspire. It seems to us that this explanation is better than the other. Yet one might object that the brain, not producing, ought not to grow weary. This would be an error; the brain does not cease to be the channel through which foreign ideas pass, the instrument that executes. Does the singer not tire his vocal cords, although the music is not his own? Why then would the brain not grow weary, in expressing the ideas it is charged to transmit, although it did not produce them? It is surely to give it the rest necessary for acquiring new energies that the inspirer imposes upon it an interval. One might still object that this system removes from the producer his personal merit, inasmuch as it attributes a foreign source to his ideas. To this we reply that, if things happened thus, we would not know what to do and would not see much need to take advantage of another's merit. But this objection is not serious: first, because we did not say that the man of genius cannot draw something from his own inner self; second, because the ideas suggested to him are mingled with his own and nothing distinguishes them. Thus, he is not to be blamed for attributing such ideas to himself, unless, having received them in the form of a confirmed Spirit communication, he should wish to assume the glory of them, which could lead the Spirits to make him undergo some disappointments. We shall say, finally, that if the Spirits suggest great ideas to a man, those ideas that characterize genius, it is because they judge him capable of understanding, elaborating, and transmitting them; they would not take an imbecile for their interpreter. We may therefore feel honored to receive a great and beautiful mission, especially if pride does not divert it from its praiseworthy aim and does not make us lose its merit. Whether the following thoughts are from the personal spirit of Mr. de Porry, or whether they were suggested by an indirect mediumistic means, the merit of the poet will be no less, inasmuch as, if the primitive idea was given to him, no one can ever dispute the honor of his having elaborated it.