How and why I became a Spiritist.

The author tells how he was led to believe in the existence of the Spirits, in their manifestations, and in their intervention in the things of this world, and this long before Spiritism was thought of. He was led there by a series of events, when he was by no means thinking of them. In the experiments he was carrying out with a very different objective, the world of the Spirits presented itself to him by its worst side, it is true, but, in short, it presented itself as an active party. Mr. Borreau encountered it without wanting to, exactly like those who, seeking the philosopher's stone, found at the bottom of their retorts new bodies that they were not looking for, and which enriched Science, if they did not enrich themselves. The detailed and circumstantial account of Mr. Borreau is, at the same time, interesting, because true, and very instructive by the lessons that stand out for whoever, not stopping at the surface of things, seeks the deductions and the consequences that can be drawn from the facts.

Mr. Borreau is a great magnetizer. By himself he had confirmed the force of the magnetic agent and the astonishing lucidity of certain somnambulists, who see at a distance with as much precision as with the eyes, and whose vision is not stopped either by darkness or by opaque bodies. For him such phenomena had been the palpable proof of the existence, in man, of an intelligent principle independent of matter. His ardent desire was to propagate this new Science; but, despairing of overcoming incredulity, he had the idea of striking the imaginations by a resounding fact, before which all denials and the most obstinate doubts might fall.

He says: since the vision of the somnambulists penetrates everything, it can penetrate the terrestrial layers. The ostensible discovery of some buried treasure would be a patent fact, which would not fail to make a great deal of noise and would impose silence upon the scoffers, because one does not scoff in the face of treasures.

It is the history of his attempts that Mr. R. Borreau tells in his pamphlet, attempts painful, dangerous, which often made him believe in victory and which, after twenty years, led only to disappointments and mystifications. One of the most moving episodes is that of the terrible scene that occurred when, making excavations in a field of the Vendée, on a dark night, at the foot of druidic stones, and amid gloomy broom shrubs, at the moment when he believed he was touching the objective, the somnambulist, at the paroxysm of ecstasy and overexcitement, fell lifeless, as if struck down by a lightning bolt, no longer giving any sign of life and presenting cadaverous rigidity. They thought her dead and had to transport her, with many difficulties, across ravines and rocks, on a dark night.

Only after several leagues from there did she begin to come to herself, without having any awareness of what had taken place. This failure did not discourage the persevering researcher, in spite of a host of other incidents, no less dramatic, which often arose in between, as if to warn him of the uselessness and the danger of his attempts. [On this subject, see the article: Don Peyra, prior of Amilly.]

It was, however, in the course of his experiments that the existence of the Spirits was revealed to him in a patent manner, whether by the somnambulist, who saw them and conversed with them, or by more than fifty cases of direct writing, whose origin could not be doubtful. These Spirits sometimes presented themselves under dreadful aspects and provoked in the somnambulist terrible crises, which all the magnetic force of Mr. Borreau could not calm, sometimes under the appearance of benevolent Spirits, who came to encourage him to continue his researches, always promising success, but whose term they always pushed back. To persist under such conditions, we must say it, was a very dangerous game and to incur a grave responsibility. Let us add that the Spirits prescribed a great quantity of novenas, of which Mr. Borreau ended by growing tired, finding that it became very expensive, which led him to this reflection: the prayers said by himself could have all the efficacy and would cost nothing. It was during the course of his experiments that the existence of the Spirits was revealed to him in a patent manner, whether by the somnambulist, who saw them and conversed with them, or by more than fifty cases of direct writing, whose origin could not be called into doubt. These Spirits presented themselves now under dreadful aspects, provoking in the somnambulist terrible crises, which the magnetic force of Mr. Borreau could not calm, now under the appearance of benevolent Spirits who came to encourage him to continue his researches, always promising success, but whose term they always delayed. To persist under such conditions, we must say it, was to act out a very dangerous game and to incur a grave responsibility. Let us add that the Spirits prescribed many novenas, of which Mr. Borreau ended by growing tired, finding that it became very expensive, which led him to this reflection: the prayers said by himself could be equally efficacious and would cost nothing. Today, when Spiritism has come to clarify all these questions, each of the paragraphs of the pamphlet could give rise to an instructive commentary, but two whole issues of our Review would not suffice. Perhaps one day we shall undertake that work. In the meantime, anyone versed in the knowledge of the principles of Spiritism will be able to draw his own conclusions. To this end, we refer the reader to chapter XXVI of The Mediums' Book and, notably, to §§ 294 and 295, as well as to the reflections that accompany the article on the German society of treasure seekers, published in the Review of October 1864.

Mr. Borreau says that his sole objective was to overcome incredulity regarding magnetism. Nevertheless, although he did not succeed, magnetism and somnambulism did not fail to make their way. In spite of the systematic opposition of some scientists, phenomena of this order have today passed to the state of facts and are accepted by the masses and by a great number of physicians; magnetic cures are admitted even in the official world; some persons, out of a spirit of opposition, still contest them, but they no longer laugh, so true is it that what is true must sooner or later triumph.

The success of the attempts of Mr. Borreau was not, then, necessary. He did not attain the objective he had set for himself, because an isolated fact cannot make a law, and the incredulous would not have lacked reasons to attribute it to any cause other than the true one. We say more: success would have been deplorable for magnetism.

A new principle becomes accepted only through the multiplicity of facts. Now, the possibility for someone to discover a treasure would imply such a possibility for everyone. To convince himself better, each one would have wanted to try. Nothing more natural, since they would have been able to grow rich so easily and so promptly! The lazy would have found there their wages, and thieves as well, since lucidity would not stop before the right of property. Cupidity, already arrived at the state of a scourge, did not need this new stimulant. Providence did not will it; but since magnetism is a law of Nature, it triumphed by the force of things. Its propagation is due, above all, to its curative force, which denotes a humanitarian aim, and not an egoistic one, as the attraction of gain necessarily is. The innumerable facts of cure, which are repeated at every point of the globe, did more to gain credit for it than the discovery of the greatest treasure would have done, or even the most curious experiments, since everyone can benefit from its benefits, whereas there are not treasures for all and curiosity itself grows weary. Jesus made more proselytes by curing the sick than by the miracle of the wedding at Cana. It is the same with Spiritism: those whom it draws to itself by consolation are to those it recruits by curiosity in the proportion of 100 to 1. These attempts, although fruitless from the material point of view, did they cease to be of profit to Mr. Borreau? Here is what he himself says in this regard:

“All these reflections had so darkened my Spirit, habitually so cheerful, that I became, during the rest of the journey, sad, pensive, and unjust, to the point of regretting having given shelter, in my thought, to that fixed idea which had thrown me into all the tribulations of those unknown paths. What did I gain from it? I asked myself with bitterness. The knowledge, it is true, of a world that I was unaware of and the possibility of putting myself in contact with the beings that compose it. But, after all, that world, just like ours, must have its good and its bad Spirits. Who gives me the certainty that, despite the interest that it seems to bring us, and all its fine and benevolent words, the one who seems to have imposed himself upon us has only good intentions and the power, as he says, to lead us to the brilliant success that I dreamed of and which, perhaps, he inspired in me only to seduce me and lead me into error?” Then the confirmation of the invisible world counts for nothing, the thing that interests in the highest degree the future of all Humanity, since the whole of it must arrive there? Is it not an immense result, the discovery of that cornerstone of all the problems against which philosophy has clashed until today? Is it not a signal favor to have been one of the first called to that knowledge? Is it not a great service rendered to the cause of magnetism, involuntarily it is true, to have furnished at his own cost a new proof, among a thousand others, of the impossibility of succeeding in such cases and of turning away those who might be tempted to make such trials and to nourish chimerical hopes? It was to this result that the laborious researches of Mr. Borreau led; if he did not find a treasure for this life, he found another a thousand times more precious for the other, since whatever he had found on the Earth, he would necessarily have left it, when he departed from it, whereas he will carry with him an imperishable treasure. Is he satisfied with this? We do not know. Be that as it may, we cannot refrain from establishing a parallel between this fact and the old man of the fable, who told his three sons that there was a treasure hidden in the field he was leaving them as an inheritance. So two of them set to digging, each his portion; but no treasure. The third, wiser, plowed his with care, so well that at the end of a year it yielded him much. Hence the maxim: “Work, exert yourselves; the essential thing is what is least lacking.” The Spirit did like the old man and, in our opinion, Mr. Borreau found the true treasure.

Our criticism in no way touches the person of Mr. Borreau, whom we have known for a long time, and whom we hold to be worthy of esteem in every sense. We simply wished to show the moral that stands out from his experiments, to the profit of Science and of each one in particular. From this point of view, his pamphlet is eminently instructive and, at the same time, interesting, by the remarkable phenomena it attests. That is why we recommend it to our readers.

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Pamphlet in-8º. Price: 2 fr. — Niort: all the bookshops; Paris: Didier & Cie, 35, quai des Augustins;

Ledoyen, Palais-Royal.

[Comment et pourquoi je suis devenu spirite, par J.-B. Borreau… — Google Books.]