The sixth sense and spiritual vision.

I.

Theoretical essays on magic mirrors.

— II.

New studies on magic or psychic mirrors. — III.

The patriarch Joseph and the seer of Zimmerwald.

(Summary)

What is called a magic mirror.

Why Kardec had not until then dealt with magic mirrors, despite the numerous facts reported to him.

A peasant who enjoys the faculty of discovering springs and of seeing in a glass the answers to the questions put to him.

Allan Kardec visits the peasant seer; he is a Protestant, very religious, and habitually reads the Bible.

The fate of a young girl abducted by gypsies more than fifteen years ago, described by the peasant's clairvoyance.

The seer's revelations concerning Allan Kardec: his health problem, the nature of his works, his mission, the person called to continue his work, the obstacles, the jealous rivalries, those who could second him and those whom he ought to distrust, and of things that coincided with the revelations often made by his spiritual guides.

On infallibility: Infallibility is given to no one on Earth, since here no one enjoys absolute perfection.

How Kardec proceeded in the face of the superstitions that the seer mixes into his accounts. Had Kardec, by chance, found the sixth book of Moses?

Analogy between the faculty of seeing in the bottom of the glass and the phenomenon designated under the name of second sight, double sight, or waking somnambulism.

The different degrees of emancipation of the soul.

The glass this man uses is an accessory that is useful to him only out of habit.

Perispirital fluid and clairvoyance.

The material objects used in clairvoyance are means of fixing the thought and circumscribing it.

Granting, what is not yet proven, that the object may act upon certain organizations, after the manner of stimulants, so as to provoke the fluidic release and, consequently, the isolation of the Spirit, there is a capital fact, acquired through experience: it is that there exists no special substance which, in this respect, enjoys an exclusive property.

Spiritual vision is, in reality, the sixth sense or spiritual sense (…) It has the perispiritual fluid as its agent.

During life, perceptions and sensations are produced, at the same time, by the organic senses and by the spiritual sense; after death the organic senses are destroyed, but, the perispirit remaining, the Spirit continues to perceive through the spiritual sense.

Why Spiritism does not make use of the word magic and its derivatives.

The designation of these objects (magic mirrors) under the name of spiritual mirrors seems to us more exact, because it recalls the principle by virtue of which the effects are produced. To the Spiritist nomenclature we may, therefore, add the names of spiritual vision, spiritual sense, and spiritual mirrors.

Clairvoyance in coffee grounds, in egg whites, in the palm of the hands, and in cards, etc.

The fortune-tellers.

Superstitious ideas sometimes have their origin in a true principle, distorted by abuse and by ignorance.

Spiritual vision is one of the attributes of the Spirit and constitutes one of the perceptions of the spiritual sense; consequently, it is a law of Nature.

Every extra-corporeal perception is due to the action of the spiritual sense which, in this case, overcomes the resistance of matter.

In a state of natural or magnetic somnambulism, of hypnotism, of catalepsy, of lethargy, of ecstasy, and even in ordinary sleep, the bodily senses being momentarily asleep, the spiritual sense develops with more freedom.

Every external cause tending to numb the bodily senses provokes, by that very fact, the expansion and the activity of the spiritual sense.

Perceptions through the spiritual sense are not exempt from error (…) hence the aberrations and the eccentricities so frequently noticed in seers and in ecstatics.

May persons endowed with spiritual vision be considered mediums? Yes and no, according to the circumstances.

He who possesses spiritual vision sees by his own Spirit, and nothing implies the necessity of the assistance of a foreign Spirit; he is not a medium because he sees, but by his relations with other Spirits.

The lucidity of the seers influenced by the good or bad nature of the Spirits who assist them.

Foresight of future events.

To sense beforehand or to predict the future.

NEW STUDIES ON MAGIC OR PSYCHIC MIRRORS — THE SEER OF THE FOREST OF ZIMMERWALD.

New visits we made to him this year have allowed us to complete our observations and to rectify, on certain points, the theory we had given of the objects commonly designated under the name of magic mirrors, more exactly called psychic mirrors. As above all we seek the truth and have no pretension of being infallible, when it happens that we are mistaken we do not hesitate to acknowledge it.

The name of magic mirrors is given to objects of diverse forms and natures (…) and every individual, a seer with their assistance, could see perfectly well without them, if he so willed. Now, that is where the error lies, as we are going to demonstrate.

Allan Kardec relates the new facts observed with the clairvoyant and confirms the precision of his mediumistic faculty: he occupied himself with our health; he described with ease and perfect exactness the seat, the cause, and the nature of the ailment, indicating the necessary remedies (…) He went into detailed particulars about the present and future course of the doctrine that occupies us (…) he gave us an instruction at length developed and logically reasoned, all the more remarkable because it confirms, on every point, and completes, in certain respects, those of our protecting Spirits.

Characteristics presented by his clairvoyance: A fact we ascertained is that one cannot constrain his lucidity; he sees what is presented to him and describes it, but one cannot make him see at will what one wishes, nor that which one is thinking of, although he reads thoughts.

his lucidity is neither flexible nor manageable, and absolutely does not lend itself to the whim of the questioner. He is thus in no way apt to satisfy those who would come to him merely out of curiosity. Moreover, as he reads thought, his first care is to see the intention of the visitor, in case he does not know him (…) In a word, he is a serious seer, and not a fortune-teller.

Description of how this seer operates.

Kardec asks the good Spirits for instructions about the seer's revelations: We wished to give you a proof of this man's faculty. We had prepared the subject he was to treat; that is why he could not answer the other questions you put to him.

Kardec's note: It is, then, evident that to this man's natural faculty mediumship is allied, at least accidentally, if not in a permanent manner; that is, the lucidity is personal to him and not a question of Spirits, but the Spirits can give to that lucidity the direction that suits them, in a given case, inspire in him what he must say, and let him say only what is needful. He is, therefore, according to need, an unconscious medium.

Question: Is the glass this man uses truly of use to him? If the presence of the glass is necessary, what action does such an object exert upon his lucidity?

CONSEQUENCES OF THE PRECEDING EXPLANATION: From this it results: 1st – For those in whom psychic vision is spontaneous or permanent, the use of artificial agents is useless; 2nd – these agents are necessary when the faculty needs to be overexcited; 3rd – these agents having to be appropriate to the organism, what acts upon some produces nothing upon others. (…) Just as the lucid state develops only gradually, it does not cease all at once. This is the reason why this man still continues seeing for some moments after he has ceased to look into his glass.

How can the image of a distant person present itself in a glass? Only Spiritism can resolve this problem, by the knowledge it gives of the nature of the soul, of its faculties, of the properties of its perispiritual envelope, of its radiation, of its emancipating power, and of its release from the corporeal wrapping.

He who naturally enjoys psychic vision does not need artificial means to provoke it.

News of the emergence of hypnotism.

The bodies commonly called magic mirrors are nothing more than hypnotic agents, infinitely varied in their forms and in their effects, according to the nature and the degree of the aptitudes.

THE PATRIARCH JOSEPH AND THE SEER OF ZIMMERWALD Joseph possessed the art of divining, that is, of seeing hidden things, making use, for this, of a drinking cup, as the seer of Zimmerwald uses his glass. If mediumship is a demonic faculty, here is one of the most venerated personages of sacred antiquity convicted of acting through the demon.

Spiritism, therefore, neither discovered nor invented mediums, but discovered the laws of mediumship, and explains it. Thus, it is the true key to the understanding of the Old and New Testaments, in which facts of this kind abound.

Spiritism in the ancient theogonies.

Kardec refers to the Egyptian paintings exhibited in the Louvre, one of which represents the application of magnetic passes and another the soul separating itself from a mummified body.

I. THEORETICAL ESSAYS ON MAGIC MIRRORS.

— The name of magic mirrors is given to objects, generally of brilliant reflections, such as ice, metallic plates, bottles, glasses, etc., in which certain persons see images that project to them events remote, past, present, and sometimes future, and put them in a condition to answer the questions addressed to them. The phenomenon is not excessively rare. The strong minds brand them as superstitious belief, effect of the imagination, charlatanism, like everything they cannot explain by the known natural laws; the same occurs with all somnambulic and mediumistic effects. But if the fact exists, their opinion could not prevail against reality, and one is even forced to admit the existence of a new law, not yet observed. Until now we have not dwelt upon this subject, in spite of the numerous facts reported to us, because we have it as a principle to affirm only what we can account for, since it is our habit, as far as possible, to tell the how and the why of things, that is, to add to the account a rational explanation.

We mentioned the fact on the testimony of serious and respectable persons; but, while admitting the possibility of the phenomenon and even its reality, we had not yet seen with sufficient clarity to what law it could be connected in order to be in a condition to give it a solution. That is why we abstained. Besides, the accounts we had in view might have been laden with exaggeration; above all, certain details of observation were lacking, the only ones that can help to fix ideas. Now that we have seen, observed, and studied, we can speak with knowledge of the matter. First we shall relate, in summary fashion, the facts we witnessed. We do not claim to convince the incredulous; we wish only to attempt to clarify a point still obscure in the Spiritist science.

— During the Spiritist excursion we made this year, having gone to spend a few days at the house of Mr. de W…, member of the Spiritist Society of Paris, in the canton of Bern, in Switzerland, the latter spoke to us of a peasant of the vicinity, a turner by profession, who enjoys the faculty of discovering springs and of seeing in a glass the answers to the questions put to him. For the discovery of springs, he sometimes transports himself to the places, making use of the wand employed in such cases; at other times, without moving, he uses his glass and gives the necessary indications. Here is a remarkable example of his lucidity: On the property of Mr. de W… there was a very extensive water conduit; but, owing to certain local causes, it was thought better that the water intake be nearer. In order to spare, as far as possible, useless excavations, Mr. de W… had recourse to the discoverer of springs. The latter, without leaving his room, said to him, looking at his glass: “Along the course of the pipes there is another spring; it is at so many feet of depth, below the fourteenth pipe, starting from such a point.” The thing was found exactly as he had indicated. The occasion was very favorable to be turned to account, in the interest of our instruction. So we went to this man's house, with Mr. and Mrs. de W… and two other persons. Some information given by him is not without its use. He is a man of sixty-four years, quite tall, thin, of good health, although crippled and walking with difficulty. He is a Protestant, very religious, and habitually reads the Bible and books of prayers. His infirmity, consequent upon an illness, dates from the age of thirty. It was at that time that the faculty revealed itself to him. He says it was God who wished to give him a compensation. His physiognomy is expressive and cheerful, his gaze lively, intelligent, and penetrating. He speaks only the German dialect of the region and does not understand a word of French. He is married and the father of a family; he lives on the produce of a few plots of land and on his personal labor, so that, without being at ease, he does not suffer want. When unknown persons present themselves at his house to consult him, his first movement is one of distrust; he scrutinizes, in a certain way, their intentions, and, however little favorable that impression may be, he answers that he occupies himself only with springs and refuses any experiment with the glass. He refuses, above all, to answer questions that have cupidity for their object, such as the search for treasures, risky speculations, or the realization of some evil purpose; in a word, all those that may shock loyalty and delicacy. He says that God would withdraw the faculty from him should he occupy himself with such things. When someone is presented to him by persons of his acquaintance, or arouses his sympathy, his physiognomy at once becomes open and benevolent. If the motive for which he is questioned is serious and useful, he takes an interest and complies in the searches; but if the questions are futile and of mere curiosity, or if he is addressed as a fortune-teller, he does not answer. Thanks to the presence and the recommendation of Mr. de W…, we had the good fortune of being well received by him, having only to show satisfaction at his cordial welcome and good will.

This man reveals the most complete ignorance with respect to Spiritism; he has not the slightest idea of mediums, nor of evocations, of the interventions of Spirits, or of fluidic action. For him, his faculty is in the nerves, in a force he can neither explain nor has ever sought to understand, because, when we asked him to say in what manner he saw in his glass, it seemed to us that it was the first time his attention had been awakened to such a point. This, for us, was an essential thing; it was only after several successive questions that we came to understand or, rather, to disentangle his thought. His glass is an ordinary water glass, empty, but it is always the same one; it has only that use, and he ought not to use another. In anticipation of an accident, he was shown where he could find another glass to replace it. Having obtained one, he keeps it in reserve. When he questions it, he holds it in the palm of his hand and looks into its interior; if the glass is placed on the table, he sees nothing. When he fixes his gaze on the bottom, it seems that his eyes are veiled for an instant, but they soon regain their habitual brightness; then, looking alternately at the glass and at the interlocutors, he speaks as usual, saying what he sees, answering the questions in a simple, natural manner and without emphasis. In his experiments he makes no invocation, employs no cabalistic signs, nor pronounces formulas or sacramental words. When a question is put to him, he concentrates his attention and his will on the proposed subject, looking into the bottom of the glass, where instantaneously the images of the persons and the things relative to the theme he is occupied with are formed. As for persons, he describes them from the physical and moral point of view, as a lucid somnambulist would do, in such a way as to leave no doubt as to their identity. He also describes, with greater or lesser precision, places he does not know, thus destroying the idea that what he sees is the product of his imagination. When he told Mr. de W… that the spring was so many feet below the fourteenth pipe, he certainly could not have taken it from his own brain. To make himself more intelligible, he uses, in case of need, a piece of chalk, with which he traces, on the table, points, circles, lines of various sizes, indicating the persons and the places of which he speaks, their relative position, etc., so that he has only to point to them when he returns to them, saying: It is this one who does such a thing, or it is at such a point that such a thing happens.

— One day a lady questioned him as to the fate of a young girl, abducted by gypsies more than fifteen years ago, without their ever, since then, having had news of her. Starting, after the manner of somnambulists, from the place where the thing had happened, he followed the traces of the girl whom, he said, he saw in the glass, and who, according to him, had gone along the edges of a great water, that is, the sea. He affirmed that she was alive and described her situation, without, however, being able to specify the place of her residence, for the moment had not yet come for her to be restored to her mother; that, beforehand, it would be necessary for certain things to be accomplished, which he specified, and for a fortuitous circumstance to lead the mother to recognize her daughter. In order better to specify the direction to follow to find her, he asked that next time a geographical map be brought to him. The map was shown to him in our presence, on the day of our visit; but, because he had no notion of geography, it was necessary to explain to him what the sea, the rivers, the cities, the roads, and the mountains represented. Then, placing his finger on the point of departure, he indicated the path that led to the place in question. Although some time had elapsed since the first consultation, he recalled perfectly everything he had said and was the first to speak of the young girl, even before he was questioned. As the matter has not yet been clarified, we can prejudge nothing as to the result of his predictions. We shall only say that, in relation to the past and known circumstances, he had seen with total precision. We cite the case only as an example of his manner of seeing.

— As regards what concerns us personally, we too were able to ascertain his lucidity. Without a previous question and even without our thinking of the matter, he spoke to us spontaneously of an affection that has made us suffer for some time, the term of which he fixed. n And, a remarkable thing, that term is the same as that indicated by the somnambulist, Mrs. Roger, whom we had consulted on the subject six months before.

He knew us neither by sight nor by name; and although it was difficult for him to understand the nature of our works, by reason of his ignorance, he clearly indicated, by means of circumlocutions, images, and expressions in his own manner, their object, their tendencies, and the inevitable results. Above all this last point seemed to interest him keenly, for he repeated unceasingly that the thing would have to be accomplished, that we were destined to it from birth, and that nothing could oppose it. Of his own accord he spoke of the person called to continue the work after our death, of the obstacles that certain individuals sought to cast in our path, of the jealous rivalries and personal ambitions; he designated in an unequivocal manner those who could usefully second us and those whom we ought to distrust, always returning to the ones and the others with a certain obstinacy; finally he went into detailed particulars of perfect accuracy, all the more remarkable in that most of them were not provoked by any question, coinciding, on every point, with the revelations often made by our spiritual guides, for our guidance. This kind of research was entirely beyond the habits and the knowledge of this man, as he himself said. Several times he repeated: “I say here many things that I would not say to others, because they would not understand; but he (designating us) understands me perfectly.” Indeed, there were things intentionally said in half-words, intelligible only to us. We saw in the fact a special mark of the benevolence of the good Spirits who, by this new and unexpected means, wished to confirm the instructions they had given us in other circumstances and, at the same time, to offer us a subject of observation and of study. For us, it is proven that this man is endowed with a special faculty and that he really sees. Does he always see rightly? That is not the question; it is enough that he has seen many times to ascertain the existence of the phenomenon. Infallibility is given to no one on Earth, since here no one enjoys absolute perfection. How does he see? This is the essential point, which can only be deduced by observation.

— In consequence of his lack of instruction and of the prejudices of the milieu in which he has always lived, he is imbued with certain superstitious ideas, which he mixes into his accounts. It is thus, for example, that he believes in the influence of the planets upon the destiny of creatures and in that of lucky and unlucky days. According to what he had seen of us, we must have been born we know not under what sign; we ought to abstain from undertaking important things on a certain day of the Moon. We did not try to dissuade him, which we certainly would not have succeeded in doing and would only have served to disturb him. But the fact that he has some false ideas is no reason to deny the faculty he possesses, just as the presence of tares in a heap of wheat does not mean the absence of grains of good quality. Likewise, because a man does not always see rightly, it absolutely does not follow that he does not see. When he had more or less realized the aim and the results of our works, he asked very seriously and with a certain anxiety, in the ear of Mr. de W…, whether by chance we had found the sixth book of Moses. Now, according to a popular tradition in some localities, Moses is said to have written a sixth book, containing new revelations and the explanation of all that is obscure in the first five. According to the same tradition, the book will be discovered one day. If anything can give the key to all the allegories of the Scriptures, it is, assuredly, Spiritism, which would thus realize the idea linked to the supposed sixth book of Moses. It is very singular that this man should have conceived such an idea.

— An attentive examination of the above facts demonstrates a complete analogy between this faculty and the phenomenon designated under the name of second sight, double sight, or waking somnambulism, and which is described in The Spirits'

Book, chapter VIII: Emancipation of the soul, and in The Mediums' Book, chapter XIV. It has, then, its principle in the radiant property of the perispiritual fluid which, in certain cases, allows the soul to perceive things at a distance, that is, the emancipation of the soul, which is a law of Nature. It is not the eyes that see; it is the soul that, by its rays, reaching a given point, exerts its action externally and without the assistance of the corporeal organs. This faculty is much more common than is thought and presents itself with degrees of intensity and aspects very diverse, according to the individuals: in some it manifests itself by the permanent or accidental perception, more or less clear, of distant things;

in others, by the simple intuition of those same things; in others, finally, by the transmission of thought. It is to be noted that many possess it without suspecting it and, above all, without realizing it; it is inherent in their being, and seems to them as natural as the faculty of seeing with the eyes;

often, even, they confuse the two perceptions. If they are asked how they see, most of the time they cannot explain it any better than they could explain the mechanism of ordinary vision.

The number of persons who spontaneously enjoy this faculty is very considerable, so that it is independent of any apparatus whatsoever. The glass this man uses is an accessory that is useful to him only out of habit, for we ascertained that on various occasions he described things without looking at it. As regards what concerns us, notably in speaking of individuals, he indicated them with the chalk, by signs characteristic of their qualities and of their position. It was, above all, about these signs that he spoke, looking at the table, on which he seemed to see as well as in the glass, which he only looked at; but, for him, the glass is necessary, and here is how we can explain it: The image that he observes is formed in the rays of the perispiritual fluid, which transmit to him its sensation; his attention being concentrated on the bottom of the glass, he directs the fluidic rays there and, very naturally, the image is concentrated there, as if it were concentrated upon any object whatever: upon a glass of water, a bottle, a sheet of paper, a map, or a vague point of space. It is a means of fixing the thought and circumscribing it, and we are convinced that whoever exercises such a faculty with the aid of a material object will see equally well, with a little exercise and with the firm will to dispense with it. However, granting, what is not yet proven, that the object may act upon certain organizations, after the manner of stimulants, so as to provoke the fluidic release and, consequently, the isolation of the Spirit, there is a capital fact, acquired through experience: it is that there exists no special substance which, in this respect, enjoys an exclusive property. The man in question sees only in an empty glass, held in the palm of the hand; he cannot see in another glass, nor even in his own glass, once it is placed otherwise. If the property were inherent in the substance and the form of the object, why would two objects, of the same nature and the same form, not possess it for the same individual? Why would what has an effect upon one not have it upon another? Why, finally, do so many persons possess this faculty without the assistance of any apparatus? It is, as we said, because the faculty is inherent in the individual, and not in the glass. The image is formed in himself, or, rather, in the fluidic rays that emanate from him. To speak properly, the glass offers only the reflection of that image: it is an effect, and not a cause. Such is the reason why not everyone sees in what has conventionally been called magic mirrors. For this, corporeal vision does not suffice; it is necessary to be endowed with the faculty called double sight, which would be designated, more appropriately, spiritual vision. And this is so true that certain persons see perfectly well with their eyes closed.

— Spiritual vision is, in reality, the sixth sense or spiritual sense, of which so much has been spoken, and which, like the other senses, may be more or less obtuse or subtle. It has as its agent the perispiritual fluid, as corporeal vision has the luminous fluid for its agent. Just as the radiation of the luminous fluid carries the image of objects to the retina, the radiation of the perispiritual fluid carries to the soul certain images and certain impressions. This fluid, like all the others, has its own effects, its sui generis properties. Man being composed of Spirit, perispirit, and body, during life perceptions and sensations are produced, at the same time, by the organic senses and by the spiritual sense; after death the organic senses are destroyed, but, the perispirit remaining, the Spirit continues to perceive through the spiritual sense, whose subtlety increases in proportion to the release from matter. The man in whom such a sense is developed thus enjoys, by anticipation, a part of the sensations of the free Spirit. Although deadened by the predominance of matter, the spiritual sense nonetheless produces upon all men a multitude of effects reputed marvelous, for lack of knowledge of the principle. Being in Nature, since it pertains to the constitution of the Spirit, this faculty has existed in all times; but, like all effects whose cause is unknown, ignorance attributed it to supernatural causes. Those who possessed it in an eminent degree could say, know, and do things above the common reach; among these, some were accused of making a pact with the devil; qualified as sorcerers, they were burned alive, while others were beatified, as having the gift of miracles, when, in reality, everything was reduced to the application of a natural law.

— Let us return to the magic mirrors. The word magic, which formerly meant science of the wise, lost its primitive signification owing to the abuse made of it by superstition and charlatanism. It is today rightly discredited, and we believe it difficult to rehabilitate, since it has, ever since, been linked to the idea of cabalistic operations, of sorcerers' formularies, of talismans, and of an immensity of superstitious practices, condemned by sound reason. Declining all solidarity with these supposed sciences, Spiritism must avoid appropriating terms that may distort opinion in what concerns it. In the case at hand, the qualification of magic is as improper as that of sorcerers, attributed to mediums. The designation of these objects under the name of spiritual mirrors seems to us more exact, because it recalls the principle by virtue of which the effects are produced. To the Spiritist nomenclature we may, therefore, add the names of spiritual vision, spiritual sense, and spiritual mirrors. Since the nature, the form, and the substance of these objects are matters of indifference, it is understood that individuals endowed with spiritual vision see in coffee grounds, in egg whites, in the palm of the hands, and in cards what others see in a glass of water, sometimes saying true things. These objects and their combinations have no significance whatever; they are only a means of fixing the attention, a pretext for speaking, properly speaking a support, for it is to be noted that, in this case, the individual only looks at them, although he judges that he lacks something if he does not have them before him; he would be disoriented, as our man would be, should he not have his glass in hand; he would have difficulty speaking, like certain orators who can say nothing if they are not in their habitual place, or if they do not have a notebook in hand, although they do not read it. But if there are some persons upon whom these objects produce the effect of spiritual mirrors, there are also many people who, having no other faculty than that of seeing with the eyes, and possessing the conventional language attached to these signs, delude others or themselves; then the equally numerous multitude of charlatans, who exploit credulity. Superstition alone could consecrate the use of such processes, as a means of divination, and of a host of others, which have no more value, attributing a virtue to words, a signification to material signs, to fortuitous combinations, without any necessary connection with the object of the question or of the thought. In saying that with the help of such processes certain persons can, at times, say truths, it is not our purpose to rehabilitate them in public opinion, but to show that superstitious ideas sometimes have their origin in a true principle, distorted by abuse and by ignorance. Spiritism, in making known the law that governs the relations between the visible world and the invisible world, destroys, by that very fact, the false ideas that had been formed about such relations, just as the law of electricity destroyed, not the lightning, but the superstitions engendered by ignorance of the true causes of lightning.

— In sum, spiritual vision is one of the attributes of the Spirit and constitutes one of the perceptions of the spiritual sense; consequently, it is a law of Nature.

Man being an incarnate Spirit, possesses the attributes of the Spirit and, therefore, the perceptions of the spiritual sense.

In the waking state these perceptions are generally vague, diffuse, and sometimes even insensible and imperceptible, because deadened by the preponderant activity of the material senses. Nevertheless, it may be said that every extra-corporeal perception is due to the action of the spiritual sense which, in this case, overcomes the resistance of matter.

In a state of natural or magnetic somnambulism, of hypnotism, of catalepsy, of lethargy, of ecstasy, and even in ordinary sleep, the bodily senses being momentarily asleep, the spiritual sense develops with more freedom.

Every external cause tending to numb the bodily senses provokes, by that very fact, the expansion and the activity of the spiritual sense.

Perceptions through the spiritual sense are not exempt from error, since the incarnate Spirit may be more or less advanced and, consequently, more or less apt to judge things sensibly and to understand them, and because it still suffers the influence of matter.

A comparison will make better understood what happens in this circumstance. On Earth, he who has the best sight may be deceived by appearances. For a long time man believed in the movement of the Sun. He needed the experience and the lights of Science to show him that he was the plaything of an illusion. Thus, there are little-advanced Spirits, incarnate or disincarnate, who are ignorant of many things of the invisible world, as happens, moreover, with certain intelligent men, who are ignorant of many things of the Earth; spiritual vision shows them only what they know and does not suffice to give them the knowledge they lack; hence the aberrations and the eccentricities so frequently noticed in seers and in ecstatics, not to mention that their ignorance puts them, more than others, at the mercy of deceiving Spirits, who exploit their credulity and, still more, their pride. This is why it would be imprudent to accept their revelations without control. One must not lose sight of the fact that we are on Earth, in a world of expiation, where inferior Spirits abound and where truly superior Spirits are exceptions. In advanced worlds it is exactly the contrary.

— May persons endowed with spiritual vision be considered mediums? Yes and no, according to the circumstances. Mediumship consists in the intervention of Spirits; what is done by oneself is not a mediumistic act. He who possesses spiritual vision sees by his own Spirit, and nothing implies the necessity of the assistance of a foreign Spirit; he is not a medium because he sees, but by his relations with other Spirits. According to their good or bad nature, the Spirits who assist him can facilitate or hinder his lucidity, make him see right or false things, which also depends on the aim he sets himself and on the usefulness that certain revelations may present. Here, as in all other kinds of mediumship, futile questions and those of curiosity, non-serious intentions, covetous and self-interested aims, attract frivolous Spirits, who amuse themselves at the expense of overly credulous persons and take pleasure in mystifying them. Serious Spirits intervene only in serious things, and the best-endowed seer will see nothing if he is not permitted to answer what is asked, or will be disturbed by illusory visions, in order to punish the indiscreet curious. Although he possesses his own faculty, and however transcendent it may be, he is not always free to use it at will. Often the Spirits direct its employment, and, if he abuses it, he will be the first punished by the intrusion of evil Spirits.

— There remains an important point to clarify: that of the foresight of future events. The vision of present things, the retrospective vision of the past, is understood; but how can spiritual vision give certain individuals the knowledge of what does not yet exist? In order not to repeat ourselves, we allude to our article of the month of May 1864, on the theory of prescience, where the question is treated in a complete manner. We shall only add a few words. In principle, the future is hidden from man for reasons so often already set forth; only exceptionally is it revealed to him and, moreover, it is more sensed beforehand than predicted. To know it, God gave man no certain means. It is, then, in vain that he employs, for such an end, an immensity of processes invented by superstition, and which charlatanism exploits to its profit. If, at times, among the fortune-tellers, professional or not, some are endowed with spiritual vision, it is to be noted that they see in the past and in the present with a much greater frequency than in the future. It would, then, be an imprudence to trust absolutely in their predictions and, in consequence, to regulate one's conduct. [1] [In the article: Conference of Mr. Trousseau, Kardec speaks of his infirmity.]