Instructing Spirits of Childhood.

— A lady transmitted to us the following fact:

“One of my daughters has a boy of three years who, since birth, has caused her the most acute anxieties. His health having been restored at the end of last August, he barely walked and said only papa, mama; the rest of his language was nothing but a mixture of inarticulate sounds. About a month ago, after fruitless attempts to get the child to pronounce the most common words, attempts always repeated without success, my daughter went to bed very sad over this kind of muteness, very distressed because her husband, a sea captain on long voyages, when he returned from an absence that had already lasted more than a year, would find no change in the way his son spoke. Nevertheless, she was awakened at five o’clock in the morning by the voice of the child, who was distinctly articulating the letters A, B, C, D, which no one had ever tried to make him pronounce. Believing she was dreaming, she sat up in bed; bending her head toward the crib, her face close to that of the child, who was sleeping, she heard him repeat aloud, several times, the letters A, B, C, accentuating each one by a slight movement of the head, after which he pronounced the letter D in a very emphatic manner. “At six o’clock, when I entered her room, the child was still sleeping, but the mother, happy and moved at having heard her son pronounce those letters, had not gone back to sleep. On waking the little one, and ever since, we have tried in vain to make him say those letters, which he had never heard said, when he said them in his sleep, at least not in this life; yet all our attempts failed. Even today he says A, B, but it was impossible for us to obtain for the C and the D more than two sounds, one from the throat, the other from the nose, which in no way recall the two letters we wanted him to say. “Is this not the proof that this boy has already lived? I stop here, for I do not feel sufficiently instructed to dare to conclude. I still need to learn, to read much of all that deals with Spiritism, not to convince myself: Spiritism answers everything, or at least almost everything; but, I repeat, sir, I do not know enough. I will yet know it; the desire is not lacking in me. God, who has not abandoned me in these seventeen years of widowhood; God, who has helped me to raise my children and set them on the path of life; God, in whom I have faith, will provide what I lack, because in Him I hope and I ask Him with all my heart to permit the good Spirits to enlighten me and guide me toward the good. Pray also for me, sir, for I am in communion of thought with you and, above all, I desire to march on the good path.”

— This fact is, beyond any shadow of doubt, the result of knowledge acquired previously. If there is an innate aptitude, it is the one that reveals itself spontaneously during the sleep of the body, when no circumstance could have made it develop in the waking state. If ideas were a product of matter, why would a new idea arise when matter was torpid, whereas it is not only null, but impossible to express when the organs are in full activity? The first cause, then, cannot lie in matter. It is thus that, at every step, materialism collides with problems for which it is incapable of giving the solution. For a theory to be true and complete, it must not be contradicted by any fact. Spiritism formulates none prematurely, unless it be as a hypothesis, in which case it takes care not to give it as absolute truth, but only as a subject of study. This is the reason why it marches with security. In the case in question, it is therefore evident that, the Spirit not having learned while awake what he says during sleep, it is necessary that he learned it elsewhere; since it was not in this life, it must have been in another and, moreover, in a terrestrial existence, in which he spoke French, since he pronounces French letters. How will those who deny the plurality of existences or reincarnation on Earth explain the fact?

— But it remains to be known how it is that the Spirit, when awake, cannot say what he articulates in his sleep? Here is the explanation given by a Spirit to the Society of Paris.

(November 24, 1864. – Medium: Mrs. Cazemajour.)

It is an intelligence that may still remain veiled for some time, by the material suffering of the reincarnation to which the Spirit had great difficulty in submitting and which, momentarily, annihilated his faculties. But his guide helps him with tender solicitude to come out of that state through the counsels, the encouragement, and the lessons that he gives him, during the sleep of the body, lessons that are not lost and that will be found alive when this phase of torpor has passed, and which will be brought about by a violent shock, an extreme emotion. For this a crisis of that kind is necessary. One must be attentive to this, but not fear idiocy, for that is not the case.” Here there is an important teaching and, to a certain extent, a new one: that of the first education given to an incarnate Spirit by a disincarnate Spirit. Without doubt certain learned men would disdain the fact as too puerile and unimportant; in it they would see nothing but a freak of Nature, or they would explain it by a cerebral overexcitement, which momentarily expands the faculties, for it is thus that they explain all the mediumistic faculties. Certainly the exaltation would be conceivable, in some cases, in an adult person, whose imagination rises by what it sees or by what it hears, but one would not understand what could overexcite the brain of a child of three years, who is sleeping. Here, then, is a fact inexplicable by that theory, whereas it finds a natural and logical solution through Spiritism. Spiritism disdains no fact, however insignificant it may be in appearance; it watches them, observes them, and studies them all. It is thus that Spiritist science progresses, as the facts present themselves to attest or complete its theory. If they contradict it, it seeks another explanation for them. A letter of December 30, 1864, written by a friend of the family, contains the following:

“A crisis” – the Spirits said – “brought about by a violent shock, an extreme emotion, will free the child from the torpor of his faculties. The Spirits told the truth; the crisis occurred through a violent shock, and here is in what manner. The child caused his grandmother to suffer a terrible fall, in which she very nearly split her head, crushing the child. Since this trauma the boy surprises his parents at every moment, pronouncing whole sentences, such as this: “Careful mama, so as not to fall.”

The articulation of the letters during the boy’s sleep was, very evidently, a mediumistic effect, for it resulted from the exercise that the Spirit was making him perform. At a later session of the Society, in which they were absolutely not occupied with the case in question, the following dissertation was given spontaneously, coming to confirm and develop the principle of this kind of mediumship.

Mediumship in Childhood.

(Society of Paris, January 6, 1865. – Medium: Mr. Delanne.)

After having been prepared by the guardian angel, there begin to be established, in the Spirit who comes to incarnate, that is, who comes to undergo new trials with a view to his improvement, the mysterious bonds that unite him to the body, in order to manifest his terrestrial action. There is a whole study here, upon which I will not dwell; I will speak only of the role and the disposition of the Spirit, during the period of infancy in the crib.

The action of the Spirit upon matter, in this time of corporeal vegetation, is little perceptible. Thus, the spiritual guides devote themselves to taking advantage of these instants, in which the carnal part does not require the intelligent participation of the Spirit, in order to prepare the latter and encourage him in his good resolutions, with which his soul is imbued.

It is in these moments of detachment that the Spirit, emerging from the perturbation he had to pass through for the present incarnation, understands and remembers the commitments contracted for his moral advancement. It is then that the protecting Spirits assist you and help you to recognize yourselves. Thus, study the physiognomy of the little child who sleeps; often you will see him “smiling at the angels,” as is commonly said, an expression more apt than one thinks. Indeed, he smiles at the Spirits who surround him and are to guide him.

Look at this little one when awake. Now he gazes fixedly, seeming to recognize friendly beings; now he babbles words, and his joyful gestures seem to be directed at beloved faces. And as God never abandons His creatures, later these same Spirits will give him good and salutary instructions, whether during sleep, or by inspiration, in the waking state. From this you can see that all men possess, at least in germ, the gift of mediumship.

Infancy properly speaking is a long series of mediumistic effects, and if children a little older, when the Spirit has acquired more strength, did not sometimes fear the images of the first hours, you could verify these effects much better.

Continue to study and, daily, like grown children, your instruction will increase, if you do not persist in closing your eyes to what surrounds you.

A Protecting Spirit.