A few serious words concerning blows.

One of our correspondents writes to us from a city in the south:

“I come today to furnish new proof that the crusade of which I spoke to you is expressed in a thousand forms. Yesterday I attended a meeting where there was a heated discussion for and against Spiritism. One of those present advanced the following: ‘Mr. Allan Kardec's experiments are no better than those we have just spoken of. Mr. Kardec evades recounting in his Review all the mystifications and tribulations he experiences. Do you know, for example, that in the month of September of last year, at a meeting of about thirty people, held in his own house, all those present received violent blows from the Spirits? I was in Paris at the time and gathered this detail from a person who had just attended the meeting and who showed on his shoulder the bruise caused by a violent blow. – I did not see the cudgel, she told me, but I felt the blow.’ “Needless to say, I would like to be enlightened on this point and would be very grateful for the explanations you may have the kindness to give me, etc.”

We would not have entertained our readers with so insignificant a case if it had not furnished material for an instruction that may be useful now; otherwise we would never finish if we had to refute all the absurd tales that are invented.

Answer – My dear sir, the fact of which you speak to me is not impossible, and there is more than one example of it. To say that it happened in my house is implicitly to recognize the manifestation of the Spirits. However, the form of the account denotes an intention with which I cannot agree with the author. He may be a believer, but he is surely not indulgent and forgets the basis of Spiritist morality: charity. If, as the so well-informed person claims, the fact had happened, I should not keep silent, for it would be a capital fact that could not be put in doubt, since, as was said, there were thirty witnesses bearing on their shoulders the proof of the existence of the Spirits. Unfortunately, for your narrator, there is not a single true word in the story. I therefore give it a formal denial, as well as to the one who claims to have attended the session, and I challenge them both to come and uphold what they say before the Society of Paris, as they do at two hundred leagues' distance. Storytellers do not think of everything and let themselves be caught in their own trap. That is what happened in this case, for there is, for a fact so positively affirmed by a supposed eyewitness, a material impossibility: namely that the Society suspends its sessions from August 15 to October 1; that, leaving Paris at the end of the month of August, I did not return until October 20; that, consequently, in the month of September I was in full journey. As you see, it is one of the most authentic alibis.

If, then, the person in question bore on his shoulders the marks of the blows, and since there was no meeting at my house, it is that he received them elsewhere and, not wishing to say where or how, found it amusing to accuse the Spirits, which was less compromising and dispensed with any explanation.

You really attribute too much importance, my dear sir, to that ridiculous little story, by making it figure among the acts of the crusade against Spiritism. There are so many others of this nature that one would have to have nothing to do to take the trouble to refute them. Hostility is expressed by more serious acts which, however, are no more alarming. You attribute too much importance to the diatribes of our adversaries. Consider, then, that the more they stir themselves to combat Spiritism, the more they prove its importance. If it were nothing but a myth or a vain dream, they would not be so troubled; what makes them so furious and obstinate against it is that they see it advance against wind and tide, feeling the circle in which they move tighten more and more. Let, then, the tasteless jesters invent old wives' tales and let others throw the poison of calumny, because such means are the proof of their impotence to attack with good reasons. From them Spiritism has nothing to fear, on the contrary; they are the shadows that heighten the brilliance; the liars waste their invention in vain, and shame takes hold of the calumniators. Spiritism has the fate of all new truths that excite the passions of those whose ideas and interests they may thwart. Now, see whether all the great truths that were combated with the greatest obstinacy did not overcome all the obstacles opposed to them, whether a single one succumbed to the attacks of its enemies. The new ideas that had only a passing brilliance fell of themselves, because they did not have within them the vitality that only truth can give; they are the ones that were least attacked, whereas those that prevailed were attacked with more violence. Do not think that the war directed against Spiritism has reached its peak. No; certain things must still come to pass to open the eyes of the most blind. I cannot and must not say more at the moment, because it is not fitting to hinder the necessary march of events. Meanwhile, I tell you: When you hear furious declamations, when you witness material acts of hostility from wherever they may come, far from being troubled by them, applaud them, above all the more repercussion they have, because it is one of the heralding signs of an approaching triumph. As for the true Spiritists, they must distinguish themselves by moderation, leaving to the antagonists the sad privilege of insults and personalities that prove nothing except, at first, a lack of skill, and then a dearth of good reasons. Taking advantage of the occasion, I ask you for a few more words on the conduct to take with regard to adversaries. As much as it is the duty of every good Spiritist to enlighten those who seek him in good faith, so much is it useless to discuss with antagonists of bad faith or who have a preconceived opinion, who often are more convinced than they appear, but do not wish to confess it. With these, all polemic is useless, because it has no purpose nor can it result in a change of opinion. Many people of good will demand that we not waste time with the others.

Such is the line of conduct that I have always advised, and such is the one I have invariably always followed, having always abstained from yielding to the provocations made to me, from descending into the arena of controversies. If at times I contest certain attacks and erroneous affirmations, it is to show that it is not the possibility of answering that is lacking, and to give Spiritists means of refutation, should it be necessary. Besides, there are some that I reserve for later. As I am not impatient, I observe everything with calm and composure. I await confidently the opportune moment, for I know it will come, letting the adversaries venture along a path with no exit for them. The measure of their aggressions is not full; it must be. The present prepares the future. Up to now there is no serious objection that is not found refuted in my writings. I can therefore only refer them to those, so as not to have to repeat myself ceaselessly with all those who are pleased to speak of what they do not know the first word about. All discussion becomes superfluous with people who have not read, or, if they have read, maintain, in a premeditated attitude, the opposite of what is said. Personal questions fade away before the grandeur of the objective and the whole of the irresistible movement that is taking place in ideas. It matters little, then, that this one or that one is against Spiritism, when it is known that it is not in anyone's power to prevent the realization of the facts. That is what experience confirms every day.

I say, then, to all Spiritists: continue to sow the idea; spread it through gentleness and persuasion, and leave to our antagonists the monopoly of violence and acrimony, to which one resorts only when one is not strong enough through reasoning.

Your devoted, A. K.