O Livro dos Médiuns — Part II, ch. X — Nature of communications

134The gross communications are those given in expressions that shock decency. They can emanate only from spirits of a low state, still soiled with the impurities of matter, and differ in nothing from those that might be given by vicious and gross men. They are repugnant to every person who has the least delicacy of sentiment; for they are according to the character of the spirits — trivial, dirty, obscene, insolent, arrogant, malevolent, and even impious.

135Frivolous communications emanate from light, mocking, mischievous spirits, more roguish than wicked, and who attach no importance to what they say. As there is nothing unseemly about them, they please some, persons who are amused with them, and find pleasure in their fruitless conversations, where many words are used to say nothing. These spirits often make sudden witty, sarcastic sallies, and, in the midst of common facetiousness, often say hard truths, which almost always go straight to the mark.
These light spirits multiply around us, and seize every occasion to mingle in the communications; truth is the least of their care: this is why they take a roguish pleasure in mystifying those who are weak, and who sometimes presume to believe their word. Persons who take pleasure in such communications naturally give access to light and deceiving spirits; serious spirits remove from them, as, among us, serious men withdraw from the society of the giddy.

136Serious communications are grave as to the subject and the manner in which they are made. Every communication which excludes frivolity and grossness, and which has a useful end, be it even of private interest, is serious, but is not, for all that, always exempt from error. The serious spirits are not always equally enlightened; there are many things of which they are ignorant, and in which they may be deceived in all sincerity: this is why the spirits truly superior constantly recommend us to submit all communications to the scrutiny of reason and the severest logic.
It is, then, necessary to distinguish the true-serious from the false-serious communications, and it is not always easy; for even under cover of the gravity of the language certain spirits, presumptuous or false scientists, seek to give prevalence to the falsest ideas and the most absurd systems; and to obtain greater credit and importance, they do not hesitate to use the most respectable and even the most venerated names.; That is one of the greatest dangers in the practical science; we shall return to it later, with all the developments so important a subject requires; at the same time we shall show the means of providing against the danger of false communications.

137Instructive communications are the serious, which have for their principal object instruction of some kind given by the spirits on the sciences, morals, or philosophy, &c. They are more or less profound according to the degree of elevation and dematerialization of the spirit. To draw a real advantage from these communications, they must be regular, and followed up with perseverance. Serious spirits attach themselves to those who desire to be instructed, and they second them, while they leave to light spirits the care of amusing those who see in these manifestations only a passing distraction. It is only by the regularity and frequency of the communications that we can appreciate the moral and intellectual value of the spirits with whom we converse, and the degree of confidence they merit. If experience is necessary to judge men, it is still more so to judge spirits.
In giving to these communications the qualification of instructive, we suppose them true; for a thing not true would not be instructive, were it said in the most imposing language. We cannot, then, rank in this category certain teachings which have naught serious but the form, often bombastic and emphatic, by the aid of which the spirits, more presumptuous than learned, who dictate them, hope to create delusion; but these spirits, being unable to supply the groundwork lacking in them, cannot long sustain their part; they soon betray their weak side; for few of their communications have a sequel, or can be pressed to their extreme limits.

138The means of communicating are very varied. The spirits, acting on our organs and on our senses, can manifest themselves to the sight as apparitions, to the touch by tangible impressions, hidden or visible, to the hearing by sounds, to the smelling by odors, without known cause. This last method of manifestation, though very real, is, without contradiction, the most uncertain, from the numerous causes that may lead to error; so we will stop here. What we ought to examine with care are the various means of obtaining communications; that is to say, an exchange, regular and followed by thoughts. These means are, rappings, talking, and writing. We shall develop them in special chapters.