Philosophical and Religious Meditations

— We have already published a certain number of communications dictated by the Spirit Lamennais, whose philosophical scope we have been able to observe. Sometimes the subject was clearly indicated, but it also happened, with a certain frequency, that it did not have a character defined enough for it to be easy to give it a title. Having made the observation to the Spirit, he answered that he intended to give a series of dissertations on varied subjects, to which he suggested the generic title of Philosophical and Religious Meditations, reserving the freedom to give a particular title to those subjects that warranted it. We then suspended publication until we had a body of material capable of being coordinated. It is this publication that we begin today and that we shall continue in the coming issues.

We must point out that the Spirits who have arrived at a high degree of perfection are the only ones capable of judging things in a completely sound manner; that until then, whatever the development of their intelligence and even of their morality, they may be more or less imbued with their earthly ideas and see things from their personal point of view, which explains the contradictions often found in their appraisals. Lamennais seems to us to be in this case; doubtless there are, in his communications, many good and beautiful things, both as thought and as style, but there are certainly others that may lend themselves to criticism, for which we by no means assume responsibility. Everyone is free to accept what they find good and to reject what seems bad. Only perfect Spirits can produce perfect things. Now, Lamennais, who is, without the slightest doubt, a good and elevated Spirit, does not claim to be perfect already, so that the somber, melancholic, and mystical character of the man is surely reflected in this Spirit and, consequently, in his communications. From this point of view they would already be an interesting subject for observation.

[Meditations.]

I.

Ideas change, but the ideas and designs of God, never. Religion, that is, faith, hope, charity, a single thing in three, the emblem of God on Earth, remains unshakable amid the struggles and prejudices. Religion exists, above all, in hearts and, thus, it cannot change. It is at the moment when incredulity reigns, when ideas collide and clash, without profit to the truth, that this Dawn appears which says to you: I come in the name of the God of the living, and not of the dead; only matter is perishable, because it is divisible; but the soul is immortal, because it is one and indivisible. When the soul of man is weakened by doubt about eternity, it morally takes on the aspect of matter; it divides and, in consequence, will be subject to unhappy trials in its future reincarnations. Religion, then, is the strength of man; daily it witnesses the new crucifixions that it inflicts upon Christ; daily it hears the blasphemies hurled in his face; but, strong and unbreakable like the Virgin, it divinely attends the sacrifice of her son, because it possesses within itself faith, hope, and charity. The Virgin swooned before the sorrows of the Son of Man, but she is not dead. II.

SAMSON.

After a reading of the Bible on the story of Samson, I saw in thought a picture analogous to that of the influential artist whom France has just lost, Decamps. I saw a man of colossal stature, with muscular limbs, like the Day, by Michelangelo. This strong man slept beside a woman who had perfumes burning around him, such as the Orientals have always known how to introduce into their luxury and their delicate customs. The limbs of this giant fell into lassitude, and a kitten now leapt upon him, now upon the woman beside him. The woman bent down to see whether the giant was sleeping; then she took a small pair of scissors and set about cutting the wavy hair of the colossus; the rest you already know. — Armed men set upon him and chained him. Caught in the snares of Delilah, the man was called Samson, as a Spirit, whom I soon saw beside me, told me. This man represents Humanity weakened by corruption, that is, by greed and by hypocrisy. When God was with Humanity, it lifted, like Samson, the gates of Gaza; when Humanity had as its support liberty, that is, Christianity, it crushed its enemies, as the giant alone crushed the army of the Philistines. — Thus, I answered the Spirit: The woman who is beside him… He did not let me finish and said: “She is the one who replaced God; consider that I do not wish to speak of the corruption of past centuries, but of yours.” For a long time Samson and Delilah had faded from before my eyes. I saw the angel, always alone, who said to me with a smile: “Humanity is vanquished.” Then his face became grave and profound, and he added: “Behold the three beings that will restore to Humanity its primitive vigor; they are called Faith, Hope, and Charity. They will come in a few years and will found a new doctrine, which men will call Spiritism.” III.

(Continuation.)

Each religious phase of Humanity possessed the divine force materialized in the figures of Samson, Hercules and Roland. A man, armed with the arguments of logic, would say to us: “I guess your meaning; but this comparison seems to me very subtle and slow.” It is true; perhaps it has occurred to no one, and yet let us examine it. Lately I spoke to you of Samson, the emblem of the strength of divine faith in the earliest times. The Bible is an Oriental poem; Samson is the material figure of that impetuous force that struck down Heliodorus in the atrium of the temple and that gathered together the waves of the Red Sea after having parted them. This great divine force overthrew armies and brought down the walls of Jericho. The Greeks, as you well know, came from Egypt and the Orient. This tradition of Samson no longer existed except in the domain of Egyptian philosophy and history. The Greeks cut the granite colossi of Egypt, armed Hercules with a club, and gave him life. Hercules performed his twelve labors, struck down the Hydra of Lerna, the hydra of the seven capital sins, and became, in that pagan world, the symbol of the divine force incarnate on Earth; they made a god of him. But note who the conquerors of these two giants were. As Lamartine says, should one smile? weep? They were two daughters of Eve: Delilah and Deianira. As you see, the tradition of Samson and of Hercules is the same as that of Delilah and Deianira. Only Delilah had exchanged the headdress of the daughters of Pharaoh for the diadem of Venus. By night, in the famous valley of Roncevaux, a giant, lying in a deep ravine, was howling the name of Charlemagne in desperate cries. He was half-crushed beneath an enormous boulder, which his weakened hands tried in vain to remove. Poor Roland! your hour has come; the Basques insult you from the top of the rock and still roll enormous stones down upon you. Among your enemies are women; perhaps Roland had loved one: always Delilah and Deianira. History does not say so, but this is very probable. It has always been said that Roland died like Samson and Hercules. Argue now if you wish; but I believe, gentlemen, that this comparison does not seem to me so subtle. What, in future times, will be the personification of the force of Spiritism? He who lives will see, it is said on Earth. Here it is said: Man will always see.

Lamennais. n (To be continued in the next issue.)

PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS MEDITATIONS.

DICTATED BY THE SPIRIT OF LAMENNAIS.

(Spiritist Society of Paris. — Medium: Mr. A. Didier.)

[Review of February 1862.]

THE CROSS.

Amid the human revolutions, amid all the disturbances, all the irruptions of thought, there rises a cross, tall and simple, fixed upon an altar of stone. A little youth sculpted in the stone holds in his hands a small banner, upon which one reads this word: Simplicitas [Simplicity in Latin]. Philanthropists, philosophers, deists, and poets: come and read and contemplate this word; it is the whole Gospel, the whole explanation of Christianity. Philanthropists, do not invent philanthropy: there exists only charity; philosophers, do not invent a wisdom: there is only one; deists, do not invent a God: there exists only one; poets, do not disturb the heart of man. Philanthropists, you wish to break the material chains that hold Humanity captive; philosophers, you raise Pantheons; poets, you idealize fanaticism. Back! You are of this world, and Christ said: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Oh! you are too much of this world of mire to understand these sublime words; and if some judge powerful enough should say to you: “Are you sons of God?” your will would die at the back of your throat and you could not answer as Christ did, before Humanity: “You have said it.” — “You are all gods,” said Christ, when the tongue of fire descends upon your heads and penetrates your hearts; you are all gods, when you traverse the Earth in the name of charity; but you are sons of the world when you contemplate the present sufferings of Humanity and do not think of its divine future. Man! let that word be read by your heart and not by your eyes of flesh. Christ did not erect a Pantheon: he raised a cross.

BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT.

The various meritorious actions of the Spirit after death are chiefly those of the heart, more than those of the intelligence. Blessed are the poor in spirit does not only mean blessed are the simple-minded, but also those who, laden with intellectual gifts, did not employ them for evil, for it is a very powerful weapon for dragging the masses along. Nevertheless, as Gérard de Nerval said lately, n the intelligence unrecognized on Earth will have a great merit before God. Indeed, the man powerful in intelligence, struggling against all the unhappy circumstances that come to assail him, must rejoice in these words: “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first” which should not be understood solely in the material order, but also in the manifestations of the Spirit and in the works of human intelligence. The qualities of the heart are meritorious, because the circumstances that can hinder them are very small, very rare, very futile. Charity must shine everywhere, in spite of everything, for everyone, as the Sun shines for all the world. Man can hinder the intelligence of his neighbor from manifesting itself, but he has no power over the heart. The struggles against adversity, the anguish of pain may paralyze the impulses of genius, but they are incapable of neutralizing those of charity.

SLAVERY.

Slavery! When this name is pronounced, the heart feels cold, because it sees before it egoism and pride. When a priest speaks to you of slavery, he is referring to the slavery of the soul, which degrades the Spirit of man and makes him forget his conscience, that is, his liberty. Oh! yes, this slavery of the soul is horrible and daily excites the eloquence of more than one preacher. But the slavery of the helot, the slavery of the black man, what becomes of it in his eyes? Before this question the priest shows the cross and says: “Wait!” Indeed, for these unfortunate ones, it is consolation that is to be offered, and it says to them: “When your body is torn by the whip unto death, think no more of the Earth; think of Heaven.”

We touch here upon one of those grave and terrible questions that overturn the human soul and cast it into uncertainty. Is the black man at the level of the peoples of Europe, and should human prudence, or rather human justice, show him emancipation as the surest means of attaining the progress of civilization? On this question the philanthropists present the Gospel and say: Did Jesus speak of slaves? No; but Jesus spoke of resignation and said these sublime words: “My kingdom is not of this world.” John Brown, when I contemplate your corpse on the gallows, I feel seized with profound pity and with impassioned admiration; but reason, that brutal reason which incessantly makes us seek the whys, leads us to ask ourselves: “What would you have done after the victory?”

Lamennais.

Allan Kardec.

Paris. — Typ. COSSON ET Cº, rue du Four-St-Germain, 43.

[1] [v.

Lamennais.]

[2] Allusion to a communication from Gérard de Nerval.