Spiritism according to the Spiritists.

Printed in Brussels, the weekly political and financial newspaper Discussion is not one of those frivolous sheets that, in substance and in form, aim at the amusement of the frivolous public. It is a serious journal, accredited chiefly in the financial world and now in its eleventh year. n Under the title: Spiritism according to the Spiritists, the issue of December 31, 1865 contains the following article: “Spiritists and Spiritism are now two well-known words, frequently employed, although only a few months ago they were still unknown. Nevertheless, the majority of the people who use them are wondering what exactly they mean, because, although everyone puts this question to himself, no one expresses it, since all wish to pass for being able to solve the riddle. “Sometimes, however, curiosity is so intrigued that it brings the question to the lips and, according to one’s wish, each person enlightens you.

“Some maintain that Spiritism is the trick of the Davenport brothers’ cabinet; others affirm that it is nothing but the magic and sorcery of former times, which they wish to rehabilitate under a new name. According to the gossips of every neighborhood, the Spiritists hold mysterious conversations with the devil, with whom they have made a previous compact. Finally, reading the newspapers, one learns that all Spiritists are mad or, at the very least, allow themselves to be deluded by certain charlatans called mediums. These charlatans come, with or without a cabinet, to give performances to whoever is willing to pay them and, in order to make their deceptions more plausible, they say they operate under the hidden influence of the Spirits from beyond the grave. “This is what I had learned in these recent times. Considering the discordance of these answers, I resolved, in order to enlighten myself, to go and see the devil, even if he should overcome me, or to let myself be deceived by a medium, even if I had to lose my reason. I then remembered, very opportunely, a friend whom I suspected of being a Spiritist, and I went to seek him out, so that he might provide me the means to satisfy my curiosity. “I communicated to him the various opinions I had gathered and set forth the purpose of my visit. But my friend laughed a great deal at what he called my naivety and gave me, more or less, the following explanation:

“Spiritism is not, as is commonly believed, a recipe for making tables dance or for performing sleight-of-hand tricks, and it is a mistake that everyone wishes to find the marvelous in it.

“Spiritism is a Science or, better said, a spiritualist Philosophy, which teaches morality.

“It is not a Religion, for it has neither dogmas, nor worship, nor priests, nor articles of faith; it is more than a philosophy, because its doctrine is established upon the certain proof of the immortality of the soul. It is to furnish this proof that the Spiritists evoke the Spirits from beyond the grave. “Mediums are endowed with a natural faculty, which makes them fit to serve as intermediaries to the Spirits and to produce with them the phenomena which pass for miracles or for prestidigitation, in the eyes of whoever is ignorant of their explanation. But the mediumistic faculty is not the exclusive privilege of certain individuals; it is inherent to the human species, although each one possesses it in different degrees, or under different forms. “Thus, for those who know Spiritism, all the marvels of which this doctrine is accused are nothing but phenomena of a physical order, that is, effects whose cause resides in the laws of Nature.

“However, the Spirits do not communicate with the living solely for the purpose of proving their existence to them: they dictated and develop every day the spiritualist philosophy.

“Like every philosophy, this one has its system, which consists in the revelation of the laws that govern the Universe and in the solution of a great number of philosophical problems, before which, until now, impotent Humanity has been obliged to bow.

“It is thus that Spiritism demonstrates, among other things, the nature of the soul, its destiny, the cause of our existence on Earth; it unveils the mystery of death; it gives the reason for the vices and virtues of man; it says what man, the world, the Universe are; in short, it draws the picture of universal harmony, etc. “This system rests upon logical and irrefutable proofs which have, for the arbiter of their truth, palpable facts and the purest reason. Thus, in all the theories it sets forth, it acts as Science does and does not advance a single point except when the preceding one is completely certified. Spiritism does not impose confidence because, in order to be accepted, it needs nothing but the authority of good sense. “Once this system is established, an ethical teaching is deduced from it as an immediate consequence.

“This morality is none other than Christian morality, the morality that is written in the heart of every human being; and it belongs to all religions and to all philosophies, belonging, for that very reason, to all men. But, free from all fanaticism, from all superstition, from all spirit of sect or of school, it shines forth in all its purity. “It is to this purity that it owes all its grandeur and all its beauty, so that it is the first time that morality appears to us clothed in so majestic and so splendid a brilliance.

“The purpose of all morality is to be practiced; but this one, above all, considers such a condition as absolute, because it calls Spiritists not those who accept its precepts, but those who put its rules into action.

“To say what its doctrines are? Here I do not pretend to teach, since the enunciation of the maxims would necessarily lead me to their development.

“I will only say that Spiritist morality teaches us to bear misfortune without despising it, to enjoy happiness without becoming attached to it; it humbles us without humiliating us, and raises us without making us vain; it places us above material interests, without thereby marking them with degradation, because it teaches us, on the contrary, that all the advantages with which we are favored are so many forces entrusted to us and for the use of which we are responsible to ourselves and to others. “Thence comes the necessity of specifying this responsibility, the penalties attached to the infraction of duty and the rewards enjoyed by those who have obeyed. But there too, the assertions are drawn only from facts and may be verified to the point of perfect conviction.

“Such is this philosophy, where everything is great because everything in it is simple; where nothing is obscure because everything is proved; where everything is congenial, because each question intimately concerns each one of us.

“Such is this science which, projecting living light upon the darkness of reason, suddenly unveils the mysteries we believed impenetrable, pushing back to infinity the horizon of intelligence.

“Such is this doctrine, which aims to make happy, by improving them, all those who agree to follow it, and which, in short, opens to Humanity a sure road to moral progress.

“Such, finally, is the madness with which the Spiritists are afflicted and the sorcery they practice.

“Thus, smiling, my friend concluded who, at my request, arranged a meeting so that, together, we might take part in some Spiritist gatherings where, with the experiments, the teaching is allied.

“Returning home, I recalled what I had said, agreeing with everyone, against Spiritism, before even knowing the meaning of this word, and that recollection filled me with bitter confusion.

“Then I thought that, despite the severe rebuffs inflicted upon human pride by the discoveries of modern science, we hardly thought, in the age of progress in which we live, of taking advantage of the lessons of experience; and that these words written by Pascal, two hundred years ago, will still for many centuries be of rigorous exactness:

“It is a disease natural to man to believe that he possesses the truth directly;

this is why he is always disposed to deny that which is incomprehensible to him.”

A. Briquel.”

As may be seen, the author of this article wished to present Spiritism in its true light, free of the distortions with which criticism constrains it, in a word, such as the Spiritists admit it, and we feel happy to say that he succeeded perfectly. Indeed, it is impossible to summarize the question in a clearer and more precise manner. We must also congratulate the management of the newspaper which, with that spirit of impartiality that we should like to see in all who make a profession of liberalism and present themselves as apostles of freedom of thought, welcomed so explicit a profession of faith. Moreover, its intentions regarding Spiritism are clearly formulated in the following article, published in the issue of January 28:

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