O Livro dos Médiuns — Part I, ch. IV — Systems

36When the strange phenomena of Spiritism began to be produced, or rather reproduced in these latter times, the first sentiment they excited was doubt even of their reality, and still greater of their cause. When they were proved by indubitable evidence, and by the experiments every one could make for himself, each one interpreted them after his own fashion, according to his personal ideas, beliefs, or preconceptions; from thence have arisen several systems, which a more attentive observation must reduce to their just value.
The adversaries of Spiritism have thought to find an argument in this difference of opinion, saying that the spiritists do not agree among themselves. This is a very poor argument, when one reflects that the steps of all newly-born science are necessarily uncertain, until time is given to bring together and make co-ordinate the facts that may fix opinion: in proportion as the facts become complete, and are better observed, the premature ideas are effaced, and unity established, at least on the fundamental points, if not in all the details. This is what has taken place for Spiritism; it could not escape the common law, and must, by its very nature, lend itself more than any other to diversity of interpretations. One might even say that in this respect it has advanced more rapidly than other sciences, its elders; medicine, for instance, which still divides the most learned.

37In methodical order, to follow the progressive march of ideas, we may place at the head of the list those that may be called systems of negation, those of the adversaries of Spiritism. We have refuted their objections in the introduction and in the conclusion of the Book on Spirits, also in the little work entitled What is Spiritism? It would be superfluous to enter into it again; we will simply recall, in a few words, the bases on which they stand. Spirit phenomena are of two kinds, physical and intelligent effects. Not admitting the existence of spirits, for the reason that they admit nothing outside of matter, it may be readily conceived that they deny the intelligent effects, they comment upon them from their own stand-point, and their arguments may be summed up in the following systems: —

38System of Charlatanism. Among our antagonists many attribute these effects to fraud, because some of them have been imitated. This supposition would transform all spiritists into dupes, all mediums into cheats? without regard to the position, thecharacter, knowledge, and reputation of the persons. If this deserved an answer, we might say that certain phenomena of physics have also been imitated by jugglers, and that it proves nothing against the real science. Besides, there are persons whose characters are beyond all suspicion of fraud, and one must be wanting in every vestige of good breeding and urbanity to dare to say to them that they are the accomplices of charlatanism. In a very respectable parlor, a gentleman, otherwise well bred, having permitted himself to make a reflection of this nature, the lady of the house said to him, "Since you are not content, sir, your money will be returned to you at the door," and, with a gesture, made him understand what he would better do. Is that to say that there are no abuses in it? To think that we must admit men to be perfect.
Everything is abused, even the most sacred things; why, then, should not Spiritism be abused? But the bad use that may be made of a thing should cause no prejudice against the thing itself; the only way by which we can judge of men's sincerity is by the motives from which they act. Where there is no speculation, charlatanism can find no place.

39System of Insanity. Some persons condescendingly wish to do away with the suspicion of fraud, and pretend that those who do not make dupes are themselves dupes; which is as much as to say they are insane. When skeptics speak without ceremony, they say, "O, they are crazy!" thus arrogating to themselves alone the privilege of good sense. This is the great argument of those who have no good reason to bring forward. This mode of attack has so long served that it has become ridiculous, and does not deserve that time should be wasted in refuting it. Besides, spiritists scarcely trouble themselves about it; they bravely take their stand and console themselves in the knowledge that they have, as companions in the misfortune, plenty of people whose merits cannot be disputed. It must be agreed that this insanity, if insanity it be, has a very singular character, which is that, by preference, it attacks the enlightened class, among whom Spiritism has hitherto reckoned the immense majority of its believers. If among the number we find some eccentric, it proves no more against the doctrine than the crazy religious prove against religion, the crazy SYSTEAfS. 5 music-lovers against music, the crazy mathematicians against mathematics. All ideas have found exaggerated fanatics, and one must be endowed with a very obtuse judgment to confound the exaggeration of a thing with the thing itself. We refer, for more enlarged explanation of this subject, to our tract, What is Spiritism? to the Book oti Spirits (Introduction, par. XV.).

40System of Hallucination. Another opinion, less offensive, inasmuch as it has a little scientific color, consists in placing all the phenomena to the account of illusion of the senses; thus the observer is perfectly sincere, only he thinks he sees what he does not see. When he sees a table rise, and sustain itself in the air without support, the table has not really left its place; he sees it in the air by a kind of mirage, or an effect of refraction, as one would see a star or an object in the water, out of its real place. That might possibly be, but those who have witnessed this phenomenon have verified the isolation by passing under the suspended table, which would seem to be difficult to do if it had not left the ground. On the other hand, it has many times happened that, in coming down, the table has broken: would this also be called an optical delusion?
A well-known physiological cause can, without doubt, make one believe he sees a thing turn that does not stir, or make one think one's self turning. when one is not moving; but when several persons around a table arc carried along by so rapid a movement, that they can scarcely follow it, that some are often thrown to the ground, will they say that all of them are taken with a kind of vertigo, like that of the drunkard, who thought he saw his house moving away from before him?

41System of Muscle-cracking. If it might be thus for the sight, it cannot be the same for the hearing, and when blows struck are heard by a whole assembly, they cannot reasonably be attributed to illusion. Understand, we set aside all idea of fraud, and suppose that attentive observation has proved that they are owing to no accidental or material change. It is true that a learned physician has given a positive explanation: he says (Note 1), "The cause of it is in the voluntary or involuntary contractions of the tendon of the muscle of the ankle joint." In connection with this subject he enters into the most complete anatomical details, to demonstrate by what mechanism this tendon can produce these sounds, imitate the beating of the drum, and even execute rhythmic airs; from whence he concludes that those who think they hear blows struck in a table are dupes either of mystification or illusion. The fact, in itself, is not new; unhappily for the author of this pretended discovery, his theory does not hold in all cases. Let us first say that those who enjoy the singular faculty of making the ankle joint, or any other muscle, crack at will, or play tunes by this means, are exceptional subjects, while those who cause table rapping are very common, and that those who possess the last faculty scarcely ever enjoy the first. In the second place, this learned doctor has forgotten to explain how the muscular cracking of a person, immovable and isolated from the table, can produce therein vibrations sensible to the touch; how this sound can be thrown, at the will of the assistants, into different parts of the table, into other furniture, against the walls, the ceiling, &c.; how, finally, the action of this muscle can extend to a table that is not touched, and make it move. This explana- Hon, if indeed it were one, could only invalidate the phenomenon of the rapping, but does not concern all the other modes of communication. Let us conclude that he has judged without having seen, or, without having thoroughly or well seen. It is always to be regretted that scientific men should give a hasty opinion on what they do not understand, when the facts can give the lie to their explanations. Their knowledge, at least, should make them as much more circumspect in their judgments as it removes for them the limits of the unknown.

42System of Physical Causes. Here we leave the system of absolute negation. The reality of the phenomena being proved, the first thought that naturally entered the minds of those who saw them was to attribute the movements to magnetism, to electricity, or to the action of some kind of fluid; in a word, to a cause entirely physical and material. In this opinion there was nothing irrational, and it would have prevailed had the phenomena been limited to purely physical effects. One circumstance seemed to corroborate it; in certain cases, the increase of the power according to the number of persons; each one of them might thus be considered as one of the elements of a human electric pile. What characterizes a true theory, we have said, is the power of giving a reason for everything; but if a single fact comes to contradict it, it must be false, incomplete, or too absolute. This has happened in this instance. These movements and these rappings have given signs of intelligence, in obeying the will and answering to the thought; they must, then, have an intelligent cause. As soon as the effect ceases to be purely physical, the cause, for that very reason, must have another source: thus the system of the exclusive action of a material agent was abandoned, and is only found among those who judge a priori, and without having seen. The main point, then, is to verify the intelligent action; and of this any one, who will take the trouble to observe, may be convinced.

43System of Reflex Action. Intelligentactionor.ee recognized, the source of this intelligence remained to be accounted for. It was thought it might be the medium or the assistants who were reflected like the light, or the rays of sound. That was possible; experience alone could decide. But, first, let us remark, that this system completely sets aside the purely materialistic idea, for, in order that the intelligence of the assistants should be able to be reproduced in an indirect way, we must admit a principle within man beyond the organism. If the thought expressed had always been that of the assistants, the reflex theory might have been confirmed; but was not the phenomenon, even reduced to that proportion, of the highest interest? Thought being reflected into an inert body, and being translated by movement and sound, — was not this a very remarkable thing? Was there not in it something to pique the curiosity of the learned? Why, then, did they disdain it, — they who exhaust themselves on the search of a nerve fiber?
Experience alone, we say, could show the falsity or truth of this theory; and experience has shown its falsity; for it demonstrates, at every moment, and by the most positive facts, that the thought expressed can be not only foreign to that of the assistants, but often exactly contrary; that it comes to contradict all preconceived ideas, baffle all foresight; in fact, when I think white, and am answered black, it is difficult to make me believe that the answer comes from myself. The argument is founded on some cases of identity between the thought expressed and that of the assistants; but what does that prove, except that the assistants may think the same as the intelligence that communicates? It has not been said that they must always be of the opposite opinion. When, in course of conversation, the interlocutor expresses a thought analogous to your own, will you, for that reason, say it comes from yourself? It is sufficient to have some contrary examples well verified, to prove that this theory cannot be absolute. Besides, how explain, by reflection of thought, the writing produced by persons who know not how to write; the answers of the highest philosophical bearing obtained through illiterate persons — answers that are given to mental questions, or in a language unknown to the medium, and thousands of other facts which can leave no doubt of the independence of the intelligence which is manifested? The contrary opinion can be only the result of a defect of observation. If the presence of a foreign intelligence is morally proved by the nature of the answer, it is materially proved by the fact of direct writing; that is, by writing spontaneously obtained, without pen or pencil, without contact, and in spite of all the precautions taken as a guarantee against subterfuge. The intelligent character of the phenomenon cannot be doubted; then there is something besides a fluidic action. Finally, the spontaneity of the thought expressed without expectation, without proposed question, does not permit us to see in it a reflection of that of the assistants. The system of reflex action is sufficiently disobliging in some instances, when, in a reunion of well-bred persons, there comes inopportunely one of those communications revolting for their grossness; it would be a very poor compliment to the assistants to pretend it comes from one of them, and it is probable that each one would hasten to repudiate it. (See Book on Spirits, Introduction, par. XVI.)

44System of the Collective Soul. This is a variation of the preceding. According to this system, the soul alone of the medium is manifested; but it is identified with that of several others living, either present or absent, and forms a collective whole, uniting the aptitude, intelligence, and knowledge of each. Though the tract in which this theory is put forth be entitled the light (?), it seems to us to be of a very obscure style. We confess to have hardly comprehended it, and speak of it only from memory. It is, besides, like many others, an individual opinion, which has made few proselytes. The name Emah Tirpse is that taken by the author to designate the collective being he represents. He takes for motto, There is nothing hidden that shall not be known. This proposition is evidently false, for there are many things that man cannot and ought not to know: it would be very presumptuous in him to pretend to penetrate into the secrets of God.

45Somnambulic System. This system has had more partisans, and even yet counts some. Like the preceding it admits that all the intelligent communications have their source in the soul or spirit of the medium; but_in order to explain his aptitude to treat of subjects beyond his knowledge, instead of supposing a multiple soul, it attributes his power to a temporary excitement of the mental faculties, to a kind of somnambulistic or ecstatic state, which exalts and develops his intelligence. It cannot be denied that some cases are influenced by this cause; but after having seen a great number of mediums, any one will be convinced that it will not solve all the facts, and that it forms the exception, and not the rule. It might be thought so if the medium had always the air of an inspired or ecstatic person — an appearance that he certainly could always simulate, if he wished to act a part; but how believe in inspiration, when the medium writes like a machine, without having the least consciousness of what he is writing, without the least emotion, without thinking of what he is doing, laughing or talking of one thing and another. Excitement may be imagined in the case of ideas, but it is not easy to understand how it can make a person write who does not know how to write, and still less when the communications are transmitted by rappings, or. by the aid of a planchette or a basket. We shall see, at the end of this work, the part we must assign to the influence of the medium's ideas; but the cases in which a foreign intelligence is revealed by incontestable signs, are so numerous and so evident, that they can leave no doubt in this respect. The fault in most of the hashed-up systems of the origin of Spiritism, is having drawn general conclusions from a few isolated facts.

46Pessimist, Diabolic, or Demoniac System. Here we enter another order of ideas. The intervention of a foreign intelligence being admitted, it was necessary to know the nature of this intelligence. Doubtless the most simple means was to ask it of itself; but some persons did not find that a sufficient guarantee, and saw in the manifestations only a diabolic work; according"to their opinion, only the devil or demons can communicate. Although this system finds few echoes nowadays, it at least enjoyed a momentary credit from the character of those who sought to make it prevail. We must always understand that the partisans of the demoniac system should not be considered among the adversaries of Spiritism; quite the contrary. Let the beings who communicate be demons or angels, they are incorporeal: to admit the manifestation of demons is always to admit the possibility of communicating with the invisible world, the same as with a person in this world.
The belief in the exclusive communication of demons, however irrational it may be, could not seem impossible when spirits were looked upon as having been created outside of humanity; but since we know that spirits are naught but the souls of those who have lived, it has lost all its prestige, and, one might say, all probability; for it would follow that all these souls are demons, were they those of a father, a son, or a friend, and that we ourselves, in dying, would become demons, — a doctrine neither very flattering, nor consoling to most people. It will be difficult to persuade a mother that the cherished child she has lost, and which comes after its death to give her proofs of its affection and its identity, may be an agent of Satan. It is true that among the spirits are some very bad ones, worth not much more than those we call demons, for the very simple reason that there are very bad men, and death does not make them immediately better; the question is, to know if these are the only ones that can communicate. To those who think so we will address the following questions: —
First. Are there good and bad spirits?
Second. Is God more powerful than the bad spirits, or than the demons, if you desire so to call them?
Third. To affirm that the bad alone communicate, is to say that the good cannot: if this be so, then one of two things: it takes place either by the will, or against the will, of God. If against His will, the bad spirits must be more powerful than He; if by His will, why, in His loving kindness, would He not permit the good to counterbalance the influence of the others?
Fourth. What proof can you give of the powerlessness of good spirits to communicate?
Fifth. When the knowledge displayed in some communications is cited against your theory, you answer that the demon assumes all masks, the better to betray. We know there are hypocritical spirits, who give to their language a false varnish of goodness; but do you admit that ignorance can counterfeit true knowledge, and a bad nature counterfeit true virtue, so that nothing will be seen to disclose the fraud?
Sixth. If the demon alone can communicate, as he is the enemy of God and of men, why does he recommend us to pray to God, to submit to His will, to endure the tribulations of life without a murmur, to desire neither honors nor riches, to practice charity, and all the maxims of the Christ; in a word, to do all that is necessary to destroy his own empire? If it be the demon who gives such advice, we must agree that, cunning as he is, he is very unskillful to furnish arms against himself. (3)
Seventh. As spirits communicate, it is because God permits them; seeing the good and the bad communications, is it not more logical to think that God permits the bad to try us, and the good to advise us?
Eighth. WThat would you think of a father who would leave his child at the mercy of pernicious exampies and advice, and who should take from him and forbid him to see those who could turn him from evil? What a good father would not do, must we think that God, who is the perfection of goodness, would do?
Ninth. The church recognizes as authentic certain manifestations of the Virgin and other saints, in apparitions,, visions, oral communications, &c.; is not this belief at variance with the exclusive communication of demons? We believe that some persons have sincerely professed this belief; but we also believe that many have pretended it, solely with a view to prevent people from occupying themselves with these things, because of the bad communications that they are liable to receive; saying that the devil alone manifests, they would terrify them, as we tell a child, "Don't touch that; it will burn." The intention may be praiseworthy, but the end is lost; for the prohibition excites curiosity, and the fear of the devil restrains very few; they would like to see him, if only to see how he is made, and are very much astonished to find him not half so black as they thought.
Could we not also see another motive for this theory?
There are persons who think every one in the wrong who is not of their opinion; so are not those who pretend that all communications are the work of the demon, moved by the fear of not finding the spirits agree with them on all points — onthose that concern the interests of this world still more than those of the other? Not being able to deny the facts, they desire to present them in a terrifying manner; but this means has arrested it no more than the others. Where the fear of ridicule is powerless, we must be resigned to let matters take their course.
The Mussulman who should hear a spirit speak against the Koran, would assuredly think it a bad spirit; it would be the same with a Jew as to what respects certain laws of Moses. As to the Catholics, we heard one affirm that the communicating spirit could only be the devil, because it disagreed with him as to the temporal power, though, at the same time, preached only charity, tolerance, love of the neighbor, and the abnegation of the things of this world — all maxims taught by the Christ.
Spirits being only the souls of men, and men not being perfect, it thence results that there are imperfect spirits, whose character is reflected in their communications. It is an incontestable fact, that there are among them bad, crafty, and profoundly hypocritical spirits, and against these we must be on our guard; but because we meet in the world with bad men, is it a reason for withdrawing ourselves from society? God has given us reason and judgment to appreciate spirits as well as men. The better means to provide against the dangers which the practice of Spiritism may present, is not to forbid it, but to make it understood. An imaginary fear impresses but for a moment, and affects but few; the reality, clearly demonstrated, is understood by all.

47Optimist System. By the side of those who see in the phenomena only the action of demons, are others, who see in them only that of good spirits. They supposed, the soul being disengaged from matter, no vail existed for it; that it must have sovereign science and sovereign wisdom. Their blind confidence in this absolute superiority of the beings of the invisible world, has been a great source of many of the deceptions; they have learned, to their cost, to beware of certain spirits as well as of certain men.

48Unisprit or Monosprit System. A variety of the optimist system consists in the belief that one single spirit communicates to men, and that this spirit is the Christ, who is the protector of the world. When we see communications of the most trifling kind, of a revolting grossness, full of malevolence and wickedness, it would be profanation and impiety to suppose they could emanate from the spirit of perfect goodness. If those who believe it had never had any save irreproachable communications, one might conceive their illusion; but most of them admit having had very bad ones, which they explain by saying that dictating to them absurd things is a trial the good spirit causes them to undergo: thus, while some attribute all communications to the devil, who may say good things to tempt them, others think Jesus alone is manifested, who may say bad things to try them. Between these two so opposite opinions, who will decide? Good sense and experience. We say experience, because it is impossible that- those who express ideas so exclusive can have thoroughly viewed all sides.
When we bring forward the facts of identity, which show the presence of relations, friends, or acquaintances, by the manifestations, written, visual, or otherwise, they answer that it is always the same spirit, — the devil, according to some, the Christ, according to others, — who takes all forms; but they do not tell us why the other spirits cannot communicate — with what motive the Spirit of Truth should present himself under false appearances, to deceive a poor mother, making her falsely believe it is the child she laments.
Reason refuses to admit that the Holy Spirit should be degraded to play such a comedy. Besides, is it not taking from Spiritism its greatest charm, the consolation of the a^fflicted, to deny the possibility of all other communication? Let us simply say that such a system is irrational, and cannot sustain a serious examination.

49Multisprit or Poly sprit System. All the systems we have passed in review, without excepting those in the negative, rest on some observation, though incomplete and badly interpreted. If a house is red on one side and white on the other, they who have seen only one side will affirm that it is white or that it is red; and they will be wrong and right: but he who has seen it on both sides will say it is red and white, and he alone will be right. The same in regard to the opinion formed of Spiritism; it may be true in certain lights, and false if we generalize from partial knowledge — if we take for the rule what is only the exception, for the whole what is only a part. This is why we say that whoever would seriously study this science shouFd see much and for a long time: time alone will permit him to seize the details, to catch the delicate shades, to observe a multitude of characteristic facts, which will be as rays of light to him; but if he stops at the surface, he may carry away a premature, and, consequently, an erroneous judgment. Here are the general consequences deduced from a complete observation, and which now form the belief, we may say, of the majority of spiritists, for the restrictive systems are now but isolated opinions.
First. The spirit phenomena are produced by extra corporeal intelligences; in other words, by spirits.
Second. Spirits constitute the invisible world; they are everywhere: space is peopled with them to infinity; there are some always around us, with whom we are in contact.
Third. Spirits constantly react on the^>hysical and on the moral world, and are one of the powers of nature.
Fourth. Spirits are not beings apart in nature; they are the souls of those who have lived on this earth, or in other worlds, and who have laid aside their corporeal envelop; from whence it follows that the sjuIs of men are incarnated spirits, and that, in dying, we become spirits.
Fifth. There are spirits of all degrees of goodness and of malice, of knowledge and of ignorance.
Sixth. They are all subject to the law of progress, and can all attain to perfection; but, as they have their free will, the time is more or less long, according to their efforts or otherwise.
Seventh. They are happy or unhappy according to the good or evil they have done during this life, and the degree of advancement they have reached. Happiness, perfect and without alloy, is ttte lot of those spirits only who have reached the supreme degree of perfection.
Eighth. All spirits, under given circumstances, can manifest themselves to men: the number of those who can communicate is indefinite.
Ninth. Spirits communicate through the intervention of mediums, who serve them as instruments and interpreters.
Tenth. The superiority or inferiority of spirits is recognized by their language: the good counsel only good, and say only good things; everything about them proves elevation; the bad deceive, and all their words bear the marks of imperfection and ignorance.
The different degrees through which spirits pass are indicated in the Spirit Scale (Book on Spirits, Book 2, Chap. 1, No. 100). The study of this classification is indispensable to appreciate the nature of the spirits who manifest themselves, their good and bad qualities.

50System of the Material Soul consists only in a peculiar opinion on the inmost nature of the soul. According to this opinion, the soul and the perisprit are not distinct things; or, to speak more plainly, the perisfrit is only the soul itself gradually purified by various transmigrations, — as alcohol is purified by various distillations, — while the spirit doctrine considers the perisprit only as the fluidic envelope of the soul or spirit. The perisprit being a matter, though very ethereal, the soul would thus be of a material nature, more or less essential, according to the degree of its purification. This system invalidates none of the fundamental principles of the spirit doctrine, for it changes in nothing the destiny of the soul: the conditions of its future happiness remain the same; the soul and the perisprit forming a whole under the name of spirit, as the germ and perisperm form one under the name of fruit, the whole question being reduced to considering the whole as homogeneous, instead of being found 'of two distinct parts. As may be seen, this is of little consequence, and we should not have mentioned it, had we not met persons disposed to see a new school in what is, definitively, but a simple interpretation of words. This opinion, a very restricted one; were it even more general, would no more constitute a schism between spiritists, than the two theories of the emission or the undulations of light make one among physicists.
Those who would form a separate party for so trifling a question, would prove by that alone that they attach more importance to the accessory than to the principal, and that they are pressed to disunion by spirits who cannot be good; for good spirits never breathe spite and dissension: this is why we entreat all true spiritists to guard against similar suggestions, and not to attach to certain minutiae more importance than they deserve; the foundation is the essential point. Nevertheless, we will, in a few words, explain on what rests the opinion of those who consider the soul and the perisprit two distinct things. It is founded On the teachings of the spirits, who have never varied in that respect. We speak of enlightened spirits, for among them there are those who know no more about it than men, and some even less, while the contrary theory is a human conception. We have neither invented nor supposed the perisprit to explain the phenomena; its existence was revealed to us by spirits, and observation has confirmed us in it. (Book on Spirits, No. 93.) It rests also on the study of sensation among spirits (Book on Spirits, No. 257), and particularly on the phenomenon of tangible apparitions, which would involve, according to the other opinion, the solidification and the disintegration of the constituent parts of the soul, and, consequently, its disorganization. ■ It would, besides, be necessary to admit that this matter, which-"can come within reach of the senses, is itself the intelligent principle, which is no more rational than to confound the body with the soul, or the clothing with the body. As to the innate nature of the soul, it is unknown to us. When we say it is immaterial, this must be understood in a relative and not an absolute sense, for absolute immateriality would be nothing; but the soul, or spirit, is something; we would say that its essence is so superior, that it has no analogy with what we call matter, and that so, for us, it is immaterial. (Book on Spirits, Nos. 23 and 82.)

51Here is the answer given on this subject by a spirit.
"What some call perisprit is only what others call material fluidic envelope. I will say, to make myself understood in a more logical manner, that this fluid is the perfection of the senses — the extension of sight and ideas. speak here of elevated spirits. As to the inferior spirits, the terrestrial fluids are still completely inherent in them: so it is matter, as you see. From thence the sufferings from hunger, from cold, &c, sufferings which superior spirits do not endure, because the terrestrial fluids are purified around the thought; that is to say, the soul. The soul, for its progress, always needs an agent; the soul without an agent is nothing for you, or, rather, cannot be conceived by you. The perisprit is, for us wandering spirits, the agent by which we communicate with you, whether indirectly by your body or your perisprit, or directly to your soul; from thence the infinite shades of mediums and communications. Now remains the scientific stand-point, that is, the very essence of the perisprit itself: this is another affair. Understand, first, morally, there remains only a discussion on the nature of fluids, which is inexplicable at present: science does not know it, but it will come to it if science will walk hand in hand with Spiritism. The perisprit may vary and change to infinity; the soul is the thought; it changes not its nature: in this go no further; it is a point which cannot be explained. Think you I do not search like you? You seek the perisprit, we the soul. Wait then. Lamenais."
Thus spirits, who may be considered advanced, have not yet fathomed the nature of the soul: how can we do it? It is, then, loss of time to attempt to investigate first principles, which, as it is said in the Book on Spirits (Nos. 17, 49), are God's secrets. To pretend, by the aid of Spiritism, to pry into what is not yet within the province of humanity, is to turn it from its true aim; it is like the child who would know as much as an old man. Let man use Spiritism for his moral development: that is the essential point: anything more is only a sterile, and often vain curiosity, whose satisfaction would not gain him one step in advance; the only way to advance is to become better. The spirits who dictated the book which bears their name, proved their wisdom, in keeping themselves, in all that concerns the rudiments of things, within the limits which God permits not to be crossed, leaving to systematist and presumptuous spirits the responsibility of erroneous theories more seductive than solid, and which will some day fall before reason like so many others issued from human brains. They have said only exactly what was necessary to make man understand the future that awaits him, and by that to encourage him to good. (See Part 2, Chap. 1, Action of Spirits on Matter)