Occupations of the Spirits

You were so kind to me, gentlemen, so courteous toward a newcomer, that I come again to ask you for a few moments of attention.

Since my stay in the world of Spirits, I am in a condition to convey some observations that I have gathered, for they give me the all-powerful faculty of completely changing my ideas acquired in my last incarnation. I am therefore going, if you will permit me, to communicate some of these reflections, suggested by the false ideas of certain detractors of Spiritism.

It is not uncommon to hear from all the detractors: But those who made the Spiritist discovery could well inform us about the work of the Spirits, having entered into possession of that famous erraticity. Do they have a body corresponding to ours or a fluidic body? Do they have infused science? Do they know more than we do? Then why so much down-to-earth communication, in ordinary French within everyone's reach? Why, the first person to come along could say as much!…

And they add further: but these jesting Spirits, to what gymnastics do they devote themselves on their eternal trapezes? What do they live on? How do they amuse themselves? But if they are in the surrounding air, occupied in watching us do things, they must find amusing all our vile actions, all our ridiculous thoughts. Perhaps they are in eternal contemplation. And if they see God, what is the Divinity like? What idea can they give us of His grandeur? Alas! Mockery! they repeat. And to think there are people who call themselves sensible and believe in all these chimeras!

I used to hear these ideas repeated and, like the others, I laughed or bitterly lamented the adherents of a doctrine that, according to us, led to madness. Many times I asked myself the reason for such mental aberration in the nineteenth century.

One day I found myself free like all my earthly brothers and, arriving in this world, which had made me shrug my shoulders so many times, here is what I saw:

According to the faculties acquired on Earth, the Spirits seek the environment proper to them, unless, being unable to be detached, they are in the night, seeing and hearing nothing, in that terrible waiting which is indeed the true hell of the Spirit.

The faculty the detached Spirit has of going anywhere by a simple effect of its will allows it to find an environment where its faculties can develop through contrasts and differences of ideas. At the separation of the Spirit and the body, one is led by sympathetic souls to those who await you, foreseeing your arrival.

Naturally, I was welcomed by friends as incredulous as I was. But how, in this so-ridiculed world, all virtues are in evidence, all merits are manifested, all reflections are well received, all contrasts are transformed into a diffusion of lights. Called by curiosity to visit numerous groups that prepare other incarnations, studying every aspect that the Spirit destined to return to Earth must elucidate, I formed a grand idea of reincarnation.

When a Spirit prepares for a new existence, it submits its ideas to the decisions of the group to which it belongs. This group discusses; the Spirits who compose it go to the more advanced groups or to the Earth; they seek among you elements of application. The Spirit, advised, fortified, enlightened on all points, will henceforth be able, if it wishes, to follow its path without protesting. It will have in its earthly pilgrimage a multitude of invisible Spirits who will not lose sight of it; having taken part in its preparatory labors, they applaud its results, the efforts to be overcome, its firm will which, dominating matter, allowed it to bring to the other incarnates a contingent of acquittal and of love, that is, the good, according to the great instructions, according to God, who dictates them in all the affirmations of Science, of vegetation, of all problems, in short, which are the light of the Spirit, when it knows how to solve them in a rational sense. Belonging to the group of certain learned men who concern themselves with political economy [organization], I learned not to scorn any of the faculties at which I so laughed in former times; I understood that man, much inclined to pride, refuses to admit, even without study, everything that is new and outside his cast of mind. I also told myself that many of my old friends were following a wrong path, taking the shadow for the reality. Nevertheless, I followed the whole of the labors of Humanity, where nothing is useless. I even understood the great law of equality and equity that God poured into every human element, and I told myself that he who believes in nothing, and who nonetheless does good and loves his fellow men, without hope of remuneration, is a noble Spirit, far more noble than many of those who, foreseeing another life and believing in the progress of the Spirit, expect a reward. In short, I learned to be tolerant, seeing those legions of Spirits devoted to so many diverse labors, an intelligent multitude that has a presentiment of God and seeks to coordinate all the elements of the future. I told myself that man, this pygmy, is so proud that he loves and adores himself, scorning others, instead of giving himself over to the great instincts and, above all, to the sound and conscientious ideas taught by the future life, developed by spiritualist ideas and, principally, by Spiritism, that magnificent law which each day more strengthens the solidarity of the earthly world and that of erraticity. It is Spiritism that initiates you into our thoughts, into our hopes, into all that we prepare for your advancement, for the desired end of the generation that must soon emigrate to the higher regions. Thank you. Until next time.

Gui…

Observation. – This Spirit, of which we gave a notable communication in the Review of December 1865, was, in life, a distinguished economist, but imbued with materialist ideas, and one of the mockers of Spiritism. Nevertheless, as he was a man advanced intellectually and morally and sought progress, he was not slow to recognize his error, and his greatest desire was to bring his friends to the path of truth. It was for them that he dictated several communications. However profound and logical this one may be, one sees that the world of Spirits is not yet perfectly known to him. He is mistaken when he says that the present generation must soon emigrate to the higher regions. Without doubt, in the great regenerating movement that is taking place, a part of this generation will leave the Earth for more advanced worlds; but, as the regenerated Earth will itself be more advanced than it is, many will find a reward by reincarnating here. As for the hardened, who there are a plague, since they would be out of place and would constitute an obstacle to progress, by perpetuating evil, they will have to wait in more backward worlds for the light to dawn for them. This is what results from the generality of the instructions given on this subject by the Spirits.