The American Spiritist school.

— Some people ask why the Spiritist Doctrine is not the same on the old and the new continents and in what the difference consists. That is what we shall try to explain.

As is known, manifestations have occurred in every age, both in Europe and in America, and today, now that we are aware of the matter, we recall a number of facts that had passed unnoticed, many of them recorded in authentic writings. But these facts were isolated; in these latter times they have occurred in the United States on a scale wide enough to arouse general attention on both sides of the Atlantic. The extreme liberty existing in that country favored the emergence of new ideas, and this is why the Spirits chose it as the first theater of their teachings. Now, it often happens that an idea arises in one country and develops in another, as is seen in the sciences and in industry. In this respect, American genius has given its proof and has nothing to envy of Europe; but, if it excels in all that concerns commerce and the mechanical arts, one cannot deny to Europe that of the moral and philosophical sciences. As a consequence of this difference in the normal character of peoples, experimental Spiritism occupied its space in America, while theory and philosophy found in Europe elements more favorable to their development. Thus, it was there that it was born, conquering, in a few years, the first place. There the facts at first aroused curiosity; but, once verified and curiosity satisfied, people soon tired of the material experiments without positive results. The same was no longer the case, however, once the moral consequences of these same facts for the future of Humanity unfolded. From then on Spiritism took its position among the philosophical sciences; it marched with giant steps, in spite of the obstacles raised against it, because it satisfied the aspirations of the masses, because they promptly understood that it came to fill an immense void in the beliefs and to resolve what until then had seemed insoluble. America was, then, the cradle of Spiritism, but it was in Europe that it grew and pursued its studies. Is this a reason for America to become jealous? No, because on other points it took the advantage. Was it not in Europe that steam engines arose? and was it not in America that they found their practical application? To each its role, according to its aptitudes, and to each people its own, according to its particular genius.

What particularly distinguishes the so-called American Spiritist school from the European school is the predominance, in the former, of the phenomenal part, to which it attaches itself more especially, and in the latter, of the philosophical part. The Spiritist philosophy of Europe spread promptly, because it offered, from the beginning, a complete whole, showing the objective and widening the horizon of ideas; incontestably, it is the one that today prevails throughout the whole world. Up to now the United States has departed little from its primitive ideas; will this mean that, isolated, it will remain at the rear of the general movement? That would be to insult the intelligence of that people. Besides, the Spirits are there to impel it onto the common path, teaching there what they teach elsewhere; they will gradually triumph over the resistances that might be born of national self-love. If the Americans rejected the European theory, because it comes from Europe, they will accept it when it arises in their own midst, through the very voice of the Spirits; they will yield to the ascendancy, not of the opinion of a few men, but to the universal control of the teaching of the Spirits, that powerful criterion, as we demonstrated in our article on the authority of the Spiritist Doctrine; it is merely a question of time, especially when personal questions shall have disappeared. Of all the principles of the doctrine, the one that met with the most opposition in America — and by America must be understood exclusively the United States — was that of reincarnation. [See: Reincarnation in America.] It may even be said that it is the only capital divergence, the others relating more to the form than to the substance, and this because there the Spirits did not teach it. Let us explain the reasons for this.

The Spirits proceed everywhere with wisdom and prudence; in order to make themselves accepted, they avoid shocking preconceived ideas too abruptly. They will not tell a Muslim point-blank that Muhammad is an impostor. In the United States the dogma of reincarnation would have come to clash against the prejudices of color, so deeply rooted in that country; the essential thing was to make the fundamental principle of the communication of the visible world with the invisible world accepted; the questions of detail would come in their time. Now, it is beyond doubt that this obstacle will end by disappearing, and that one of the results of the civil war will be the gradual weakening of prejudices, a true anomaly in a nation so liberal.

If, generally speaking, the idea of reincarnation is not yet accepted in the United States, it is accepted individually by some, if not as an absolute principle, at least with certain restrictions, which is already something. As for the Spirits, doubtless judging that the moment is favorable, they are beginning to teach it cautiously in certain places and without circumlocution in others. Once raised, the question will travel a long distance. Besides, we have before our eyes communications already old, obtained in that country, in which, without being formally expressed, the plurality of existences is the forced consequence of the principles set forth; there one sees the idea springing up. Thus, there is no room to doubt that, in a short time, what today is still called the American school will merge into the great unity that is being established everywhere.

— As proof of what we advance, we shall cite the following article, published in the newspaper Union, of San Francisco, and an extract from the letter that accompanied it.

“Monsieur Allan Kardec, “Although I do not have the honor of being known to you, I take, as a medium, the liberty of sending you the enclosed notice, which those gentlemen of the newspaper have summarized somewhat. Nevertheless, such as it is, many people seem to desire more. Thus, all your books are spreading and soon our booksellers will have to place new orders…

“Receive, etc.”

Pauline Boulay.

NOTICE ON SPIRITISM.

“It is enough to express aloud ideas that not everyone understands to be branded as overwrought, extravagant, and mad. One need not be a woman of letters to write what the soul and the heart dictate to us.

“A strong spirit said to a lady medium: — How can you, who are intelligent, believe in invisible Spirits and in the plurality of existences? — The lady replied: Perhaps it is because I am intelligent that I believe in this; what I feel inspires me with more confidence than what I see, since what we see deceives us sometimes; what we feel never deceives us. You are free not to believe. Those who believe in the plurality of existences are not wicked and are more disinterested than those who do not believe; the incredulous treat them as mad, but this does not prove that they are telling the truth; on the contrary. To doubt the power of God is to offend Him; to deny what exists beyond what we can touch is an outrage directed at the Creator. “We have the habit, when something extraordinary happens to us, of attributing it to chance. I ask: what is chance? Nothingness, answers the voice of truth. Now, nothingness being unable to produce anything, what exists comes to us from a productive source. It would be quite just to think that what happens independently of our will is the work of Providence, directed by the Lord of our destinies.

“Whatever you may say, whatever you may do, strong spirits, you will never destroy this doctrine, which has always existed. As the ignorance of primitive souls does not permit them to understand it in all its extent, they imagine that after this life all is ended. It is an error! We, mediums, more or less advanced, will end by convincing you.

“Not only is Spiritism a consolation, but it further develops the intelligence, destroys all thought of egoism, of pride, and of avarice, puts us in communication with those who are dear to us, and prepares progress, immense progress that, imperceptibly, will destroy all abuses, revolutions, and wars.

“The soul has need to reincarnate in order to perfect itself; in a single material life it cannot learn all that it must know to understand the work of the Almighty. The body is nothing but a passing envelope, into which God sends a soul to perfect itself and to undergo the trials necessary to its advancement and to the realization of the great work of the Creator, which we are called to serve, when we shall have undergone our trials and acquired all perfections. All our contemporary celebrities are so many souls that have progressed through the renewal of incarnations; many among them are writing mediums, geniuses who bring, in each new existence, the advances of science and of the arts. “The list of men of genius increases every year. They are so many guides that God places in our midst to enlighten us, to instruct us, in a word, to teach us what we are ignorant of and which it is absolutely necessary that we know; they show us the social wound, they seek to destroy prejudices, they bring to light and before our eyes all the evil produced by egoism and by ignorance. These geniuses are animated by superior Spirits; they have done more for progress and for civilization than all your pyrotechnics, and they cause more tears of tenderness and of gratitude to be shed than all your feats of arms. “Reflect, then, seriously upon Spiritism, intelligent men, for in it you will find great teachings. There is no charlatanism in this divine law: everything in it is beautiful, great, sublime; it tends only to lead us to perfection and to true moral happiness.

“The book written by the mediums, dictated by superior and wandering Spirits, is a book of high philosophy and of an instruction as profound as it is ethereal; it treats of everything. It is true that not everyone is yet prepared for this belief and, in order to understand it, it is necessary that the soul should already have reincarnated several times.

“When all the world understands Spiritism, our great poets will be more appreciated and read with attention and respect. All our men of letters will be understood by all peoples and admired without envy, because the causes and the effects will be known.

“The study of Science is the noblest of occupations; Spiritism is its divinity. Through it we associate ourselves with genius and, as one of our scientists said, after the man of genius comes he who knows how to understand him.

Instruction does for the Spirit what a skillful jeweler does for the rough stone: it gives it the polish, the brilliance that enchants and seduces, enhancing its value.

The soul has no form properly speaking; it is a kind of light that differs by its intensity, according to the degree of perfection acquired. The more the soul progresses, the more luminous is its color.

“When you shall all be mediums, you will be able to converse with the Spirits, as we already do; they will tell you that they are happier than we are. They see us, they hear us, they attend our gatherings, they converse with our soul during sleep, they transport themselves and penetrate everywhere that God sends them.”

Pauline Boulay.

Note. — The principle of reincarnation is found likewise in a manuscript that was sent to us from Montreal (Canada), of which we shall speak shortly.