The power of the will over the passions.

— A young man of twenty-three, Mr. A…, of Paris, who was initiated into Spiritism only two months ago, grasped its scope with such rapidity that, without having seen anything, he accepted it in all its moral consequences. It will be said that this is not surprising on the part of a young man, and proves nothing but one thing: frivolity and an unreflecting enthusiasm. So be it. But let us proceed. This unreflecting young man, as he himself recognizes, had a great number of defects, of which the most salient was an irresistible predisposition to anger, from childhood. At the slightest contrariety, for the most futile causes, when he came home and did not immediately find what he wanted; if a thing was not in its habitual place; if what he had asked for was not ready in a minute, he flew into a fury and broke everything. It was to such a point that one day, in a paroxysm of anger, bursting out against his mother, he said to her: “Go away, or I will kill you!” Then, exhausted by the over-excitement, he fell unconscious. Let it be added that neither the counsels of his parents, nor the exhortations of religion had been able to conquer this indomitable character, compensated, moreover, by a great intelligence, a careful instruction, and the most noble sentiments. It will be said that it is the effect of a bilious-sanguine-nervous temperament; the result of the organism and, consequently, an irresistible compulsion. It results from this system that if, in his fits of frenzy, he had committed a murder, he would be perfectly excusable, because it would have resulted from an excess of bile. It results further that, unless he modified his temperament, unless he changed the normal state of the liver and of the nerves, this young man would be predestined to all the disastrous consequences of anger. — Do you know a remedy for such a pathological state? — No, none, except that, with time, age may attenuate the abundance of morbid secretions.

— Well then! what Science cannot do, Spiritism does, not by the action of time and as a consequence of a continual effort, but instantaneously.

A few days sufficed to make of this young man a gentle and patient being.

The acquired certainty of the future life, the knowledge of the goal of terrestrial life, the sentiment of the dignity of man, revealed by free will, which places him above the animal, the responsibility resulting therefrom, the thought that the greater part of earthly ills are the consequence of our acts, all these ideas, drawn from a serious study of Spiritism, produced in his brain a sudden revolution; it seemed to him that a veil was removed from his eyes; life presented itself to him under another aspect.

Then, certain that he had within himself an intelligent being, independent of matter, he said to himself: “This being must have a will, whereas matter does not have one; therefore, it can dominate matter.” Hence this other reasoning: “The result of my anger was to make me ill and unhappy, and it does not give me what I lack; therefore it is useless, since I am no further ahead. It produces ill for me and gives me no good in compensation;

more still: it could impel me to reprehensible acts, criminal perhaps.”

— He wished to conquer, and he conquered. From then on, a thousand occasions presented themselves which, before, would have enraged him and before which he remained impassive and indifferent, to the great stupefaction of his mother. He felt the blood boil and rise to his head, but, by his will, he made it flow back, forcing it to descend.

A miracle would not have done better. But Spiritism has done many others, which our review would not suffice to register, if we wished to relate all those that are within our personal knowledge, concerning moral reforms of the most inveterate habits. We cite this one as a remarkable example of the power of the will and, also, because it raises an important problem, which only Spiritism can resolve.

— Mr. A… asked us in this regard whether his Spirit was responsible for his violence, or whether it merely suffered the influence of matter. Here is our answer:

Your Spirit is so responsible that, when you seriously wished it, you controlled the sanguine movement. Thus, if you had wished it earlier, the fits would have ceased sooner and you would not have threatened your mother. Besides, who is it that grows angry? The body or the Spirit? If the fits came without motive, one could believe that they were provoked by the rush of blood; but, futile or not, they had a contrariety as their cause. Now, evidently it was not the body that was contraried, but the Spirit, very susceptible. Contraried, the Spirit reacted upon an irritable organic system, which would not have been provoked if it had remained at rest. Let us make a comparison. You have a fiery horse; if you know how to govern it, it submits; if you mistreat it, it grows furious and throws you down. Whose is the fault: yours or the horse’s? For me, it is evident that your Spirit is naturally irascible; but as each one brings with himself his original sin, that is, a remnant of the former inclinations, it is no less evident that, in your preceding existence, you had been a man of extreme violence, and that you probably paid very dearly for it, perhaps with your own life. In erraticity, your other good qualities helped you to understand your errors; you took the resolution to conquer yourself and, for this, to struggle in a new existence. But if you had chosen a weak and lymphatic body, your Spirit, encountering no difficulty, would have gained nothing, which for you would mean having to begin again. That is why you chose a bilious body, in order to have the merit of the struggle. Now the victory is won. You have conquered the enemy of your repose and nothing can hinder the free exercise of your good qualities. As for the ease with which you accepted and understood Spiritism, it is explained by the same cause: you were a Spiritist long ago; this belief was innate in you and materialism was only the result of the false direction given to your ideas. Stifled at first, the Spiritist idea remained in a latent state and a single spark sufficed to awaken it. Bless, then, the Providence that permitted this spark to arrive at a good moment to halt an inclination that perhaps would have caused you bitter sorrows, whereas there remains for you a long career to traverse on the road of good. All the philosophies have collided against these mysteries of human life, which seemed unfathomable until Spiritism brought them its torch. In the presence of such facts, can one still ask what it is good for? We are in the right to augur well of the moral future of Humanity when it is understood and practiced by all the world.