CHAPTER 1

ARE THERE SPIRITS?

1. THE doubt respecting the existence of spirits has for its first cause ignorance of theirtrue nature. They are usually thought of as beings apart in the creation, and whosenecessity is not demonstrated. Many know them only by the fantastic tales heard in theirchildhood, almost as one knows history by romances : without seeking to find whetherthese tales, stripped of ridiculous accessories, rest on a foundation of truth, the absurdside alone strikes them: not taking the trouble to strip off the bitter bark to find the almond,they reject the whole; as, in religion, some persons, shocked by certain abuses, confoundall in the same reprobation.

Whatever may be one's idea of spirits, this belief is necessarily founded on the existenceof an intelligent principle outside of matter: it is incompatible with the absolute negation ofthis principle. We take, then, our point of departure from the existence, the survival, andthe individuality of the soul, of which Spiritualism is the theoric and dogmaticdemonstration, and Spiritism the manifestation. Let us for a moment make an abstractionof the manifestations, properly so called, and, reasoning by induction, let us see to whatconsequences we shall arrive.

2. From the moment that the existence of the soul is admitted, and its individuality afterdeath, it must also be admitted, first, that it is of a different nature from the body, since,once separated, it no longer has the properties of the latter : secondly, that it enjoys aconsciousness of itself, since to it is attributed happiness or suffering; otherwise it wouldbe an inert being, and of no use for us to have one. This admitted, this soul goessomewhere. What becomes of it, and where does it go? According to the common belief itgoes to heaven or hell. But where are heaven and hell? It was said, in other times, thatheaven was above and hell below : but what is above and what is below in the universesince the roundness of the earth is known; the movement of the stars, which makes whatis above at one given moment become below in twelve hours; the infinity of space, intowhich the eye plunges to immeasurable distances? It is true that by low places we alsounderstand the depths of the earth; but what has become of those depths since they havebeen searched into by geology? What, too, of those concentric spheres, called "heaven offire," "heaven of stars"? since it is known that the earth is not the center of the worlds, thatour sun itself is only one of the millions of suns which shine in space, and of which each isthe center of a planetary system. What becomes of the importance of the earth, lost in thisimmensity? By what unjustifiable privilege should this imperceptible grain of sand,distinguished neither by its size, its position, nor any particular character, be alonepeopled with reasonable beings?

Reason refuses to admit this inutility of the infinite, and everything tells us that theseworlds are inhabited. If they are peopled, then they furnish their proportion to the world ofsouls : but again, what becomes of these souls, since astronomy and geology havedestroyed the dwellings that were assigned them? and, above all, since the so rationaltheory of the plurality of worlds has multiplied them to infinity.

The doctrine of the localization of souls not agreeing with the facts of science, anothermore logical doctrine assigns to them as domain, not a determined and circumscribedspot, but universal space: it is an entire invisible world, in the midst of which we live, whichsurrounds us, and is always in close contact with us. Is there in that an impossibility—anythingrepugnant to reason? Not at all; on the contrary, everything tells us it can not beotherwise.

But, then, future pains and rewards,—what becomes of them, if you take away theirspecial places? Remark that incredulity as to the place of these pains and rewards isgenerally excited because they are presented in inadmissible conditions: but say, instead,that the souls find their happiness or misery within themselves, that their lot issubordinated to their moral state; that the reunion of good and sympathetic souls is asource of felicity; that, according to the degree of their purification, they penetrate and seeinto things that vanish before gross souls, —and every one will understand it withouttrouble. Say, again, that souls reach the supreme degree only through the efforts theymake for self-improvement, and after a series of trials which serve for their purification;that the angels are souls that have reached the highest degree, which all may attain byeffort; that the angels are God's messengers, charged to watch over the execution of hisdesigns throughout the universe; that they are happy in these glorious missions, —andyou give to their felicity a more useful and attractive object than that of a perpetualcontemplation, which would be nothing more than a perpetual uselessness. Say, again,that demons are but the souls of the wicked, not yet purified, but which can be, like theothers; and that will appear more conformable to the justice and to the goodness of Godthan the doctrine of being created for evil, and perpetually devoted to evil. Still again, thisis what the severest reason, the most exact logic, in a word, good sense, can admit.

But these souls that people space are precisely what are called spirits: spirits, then, arebut the souls of men stripped of their corporeal envelope. If spirits were beings apart, theirexistence would be more hypothetical; but if we admit that there are souls, we must alsoadmit spirits, who are naught else but souls: if we admit that souls are everywhere, wemust equally admit that spirits are everywhere. The existence of spirits, then, cannot bedenied without denying the existence of souls.

3. This, it is true, is only a theory, more rational than the other: but it is much to have atheory contradicted neither by reason nor science: still more, if it is corroborated by facts,it has for itself the sanction of reasoning and experience. We find these facts in thephenomena of spiritual manifestations, which thus are the proofs patent of the existenceof the soul, and its survival of the earthly body. But with many persons belief stops short atthat point; they fully admit the existence of souls, and, consequently, of spirits; but theydeny the possibility of communicating with them, for the reason, they say, that immaterialbeings cannot act on matter. This doubt is founded on ignorance of the true nature ofspirits, of which a very false idea is generally conceived; for they are wrongly imagined tobe abstract, vague, and indefinite beings, which they are not.

Let us first speak of the spirit in its union with the body. The spirit is the principal being,since it is the being that thinks and survives; the body is, then, only an accessory of thespirit—an envelope, a clothing, which it abandons when worn out. Besides this materialenvelope, the spirit has a second, semi-material, which unites it to the first: at death, thespirit strips off the first, but not the second, to which we give the name of périsprit. Thissemi-material envelope in the human form constitutes for the spirit a fluidic vaporousbody, but which, invisible to us in its normal state, does not the' less possess some of theproperties of matter. The spirit, then, is not a point, an abstraction, but a being, limited andcircumscribed, to whom is wanting only the properties of being visible and palpable toresemble human beings. Why, then, can it not act upon matter? Is it because its body isfluidic? But is it not among the most rarefied of fluids, those even regarded asimponderable, —electricity, for instance, —that man finds his most powerful motors? Doesnot imponderable light exercise a chemical action on ponderable matter? We do not knowthe specific nature of the périsprit; but let us suppose it formed of electrical matter, orsome other equally subtile, why should it not possess the same property when directed bya will?

4. The existence of a soul, and that of God, —the consequence one of the other, —beingthe base of the whole superstructure, before entering into a spiritual discussion it isnecessary to assure ourselves if the interlocutor admits this base.

If to these questions, —

Do you believe in God?

Do you believe you have a soul?

Do you believe in the survival of the soul after death?—he answers negatively, or even ifhe simply says, "I don't know; I hope it may be so, but I am not sure"—the most frequentequivalent to a polite negation, disguised under less offensive form to avoid shocking tooabruptly what are called respectable prejudices, —it would be equally as useless to gofurther, as to undertake to demonstrate the properties of light to a blind man, who wouldnot admit the existence of light; for, finally, spiritual manifestations are naught else but theeffects of the properties of the soul: with such a person quite another order of ideas shouldbe entered upon, if one would not lose one's time.

If the base is admitted, not as a probability, but as a positively declared, incontestablething, the existence of spirits naturally flows from it.

5. There now remains the question to know if the spirit can communicate with man; that isto say, if he can exchange ideas with man. And why not? What is man, if not a spiritimprisoned in a body? Why should not the free spirit communicate with the captive spirit,as the free man with one who is enchained? While you admit the survival of the soul, is itrational not to admit the survival of the affections? Since souls are everywhere, is it notnatural to think that the soul of a being who has loved us during his life should come nearto us, and should use for that purpose the means at his disposal? During his life did he notact on the matter of his body? Was it not he who directed its movements? Why, then, afterhis death, being in accord with another spirit bound to a body, should he not borrow thisbody to manifest his thought, as a dumb person uses a speaker to make himselfunderstood?

6. Let us for a moment make an abstract of the facts which, for us, render the thingincontestable; let us admit it in the shape of a simple hypothesis; we ask that the skepticalprove to us, not by a simple negation, —for their personal opinion does not make a law,—but by peremptory reasons, that it cannot be.

We plant ourselves on their ground, and since they wish to appraise spiritual facts by theaid of material laws; let them draw from that arsenal some mathematical, physical,chemical, mechanical, physiological demonstration, and prove by a plus b, alwaysbeginning from the principle of the existence and survival of the soul, —

First. That the being who thinks in us during life should think no longer after death.

Second. That if he thinks, he should not think of those he has loved.

Third. That if he thinks of those he has loved, he should not wish to communicate withthem.

Fourth. That if he can be everywhere, he cannot be by our side.

Fifth. That if he is by our side, he cannot communicate with us.

Sixth. That by his fluidic envelope he cannot act on inert matter.

Seventh. That if he can act on inert matter, he cannot act on an animated being.

Eighth. That if he can act on an animated being, he cannot direct his hand to make himwrite.

Ninth. That, being able to make him write, he cannot answer his questions, and transmit tohim his thoughts.

When the adversaries of Spiritism shall have demonstrated to us that this cannot be, byreasons as patent as those by which Galileo demonstrated that it is not the sun that turnsaround the earth, then we shall be able to say their doubts are well founded. Unhappily,up to this day all their arguments are comprised in these words: "I do not believe it;therefore it is impossible." They will, doubtless, say that it is for us to prove the reality ofthe manifestations. We prove it to them by reasoning and by facts : if they admit neitherone nor the other, if they deny even what they see, it is for them to prove that ourreasoning is false, and our facts impossible.

CHAPTER 2

THE MARVELOUS AND SUPERNATURAL.

7. IF the belief in spirits and in their manifestations were an isolated conception, theproduct of a system, it could, with some appearance of reason, be suspected of illusion;but we should like to be told why it is constantly found so strongly impressed among allpeople, ancient and modern, in holy books and in all known religions? It is, say somecritics, because man, in all times, has loved the marvelous. What, then, do you considerthe marvelous? Whatever is supernatural. What do you understand by supernatural?Whatever is contrary to the laws of nature. You are, then, so thoroughly acquainted withthese laws, that it is possible for you to assign a limit to the power of God? Well, prove,then, that the existence of spirits and their manifestations are contrary to the laws ofnature; that it is not, and can not be, one of these laws. Follow the spirit doctrine, and seeif it has not all the characteristics of an admirable law, which solves all that the laws ofphilosophy have, until now, been unable to solve.

Thought is one of the attributes of the spirit; the possibility of acting on matter, of makingan impression on our senses, and, consequently, of transmitting his thought, results, if wemay so express ourselves, from his physiological constitution; then there is nothing in thisfact either supernatural or marvelous. When a man dead, thoroughly dead, revivescorporeally, —when his dispersed members re-unite to re-form his body, —that issomething marvelous, supernatural, fantastical; that would be a veritable derogation,which God could accomplish only by a miracle; but there is nothing of the kind in the spiritdoctrine.

8. Nevertheless you admit, it will be said, that a spirit can raise a table, and maintain it inspace without support; is not this a derogation of the law of gravity? Yes, to the knownlaw; but has Nature said her last word? Before the ascensional force of certain gases hadbeen discovered, who would have said that a heavy machine, carrying several men, couldtriumph over the force of attraction? Would not this seem to the eyes of the crowdmarvelous, diabolical? A hundred years ago, a person who should have proposed totransmit a despatch five hundred leagues and receive an answer in a few minutes, wouldhave been called a fool: had he done it, it would have been thought he had the devil underhis orders; for at that time the devil alone was capable of traveling so rapidly. Why, then,should not an unknown fluid have the property, under given circumstances, tocounterbalance the effect of weight, as hydrogen counterbalances the weight of theballoon?

This, let us remark, en passant, is a comparison, but not an assimilation, and simply toshow, by analogy, that the fact is not physically impossible. Now, it is precisely when thelearned, in the observation of these phenomena, have wished to proceed by assimilationthat they have been led astray. As to the rest, the fact is there: all the denials can notmake it not be; for to deny is not to prove. For ourselves, there is in it nothingsupernatural; that is all we can say at present.

9. If the fact is verified, it may be said we accept it; we accept even the cause you haveassigned, —that of an unknown fluid, —but what proves the intervention of spirits? Therelies the marvelous, the supernatural.

An entire demonstration would be necessary here, which would not be in place, andbesides, would make double work; for it will be found throughout the other parts of thebook. Only we will say, to sum it up in a few words, that it is founded, in theory, on thisprinciple—all intelligent effect should have an intelligent cause; in practice, on thisobservation—that the phenomena called spiritual, having given proofs of intelligence,should have their cause outside of matter; that this intelligence, not being that of theassistants, —this is a result of experience, —must be outside of them : since the actingbeing can not be seen, it must be an invisible being. It is thus that, from observation toobservation, we have learned that this invisible being, to which we have given the name ofspirit, is no other than the soul of those who have lived corporeally, and whom death hasstripped of their gross, visible envelope, leaving them only an ethereal envelope, invisiblein its normal state. Here, then, are the marvelous and the supernatural reduced to theirsimplest expression.

The existence of invisible beings once proved, their action on matter results from thenature of their fluidic envelope: this action is intelligent, because, in dying, they have lostonly their body, but have retained intelligence, which is their essence; that is the key to allthe phenomena erroneously reported supernatural. The existence of spirits is not, then, apreconceived system, an imagined hypothesis to explain facts; it is a result ofobservations, and the natural consequence of the existence of the soul: to deny this causeis to deny the soul and its attributes. Those who may think they can give a more rationalsolution of these intelligent effects, —above all, giving a reason for all the facts, —let themdo so, and then the merits of each may be discussed.