Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies — 1858 > May > The Eternal Halves

The letter addressed to the Spiritist Magazine

The following passage is taken from a letter from one of our subscribers.

“…I lost, a few years ago, a good and virtuous wife and, although she had left me six children, I felt completely isolated when I heard about spiritual manifestations. Soon I found myself in a small group of good friends, who every night occupied themselves with this subject. I learned, then, through the communications obtained, that true life is not on Earth, but in the world of Spirits; that my Clemency there was happy and that, like others, she worked for the happiness of those she had met here.

“Now, here is a point on which I ardently desire you to enlighten me.

“One night I said to my Clemency: My dear friend, why, in spite of our love, it happens that we do not always have the same point of view in the different circumstances of our common life, and why are we so often obliged to reciprocate concessions? in order to live in good harmony? “She replied:

─ “My friend, we were good and honest; we lived together and, as best we could say, in this Land of trials, but we were not our eternal halves. Such unions are rare on Earth. Although they can be found, they represent a great favor from God. Those who enjoy this happiness experience joys that you do not know.

─ “Can you tell me if you see your eternal half?

─ “Yes, she replied. He is a poor devil who lives in Asia; you won't be able to join me until 175 years from now, according to your way of counting.

─ “Will your union be on Earth or in another world?

─ “On Earth. But listen: I cannot describe to you well the happiness of the beings thus gathered. I will ask Heloísa and Abelardo to come and inform you.

“So, sir, these happy ones have come to tell us about this unspeakable happiness.

─ “As we wish”, they said, “two do not make more than one. We travel through space; we enjoy everything; we love each other with an endless love, above which there is only the love of God and of perfect beings. Your greatest joys are not worth a single glance of ours and our handshakes.”
“The thought of eternal halves makes me happy. It seems that God, creating Humanity, made it double and, separating the two halves of the same soul, said to them: Go through this world and seek incarnations. If you do good, the journey will be short and I will allow your union. Otherwise, centuries will pass before you can enjoy that happiness. Such, it seems to me, is the first cause of the instinctive movement that drags Humanity in search of happiness, that happiness that people neither understand nor strive to understand.

“I ardently desire, sir, clarification on this theory of eternal moieties and I would be happy if I had an explanation on the subject in one of your next issues…”

The counter-argument of the letter

When asked about the matter, Abelardo and Heloísa gave us the following answers:

1. ─ Were the souls created double?

─ If doubles had been created, singles would have been imperfect.

2. ─ Is it possible for two souls to be reunited in eternity, forming a whole?

─ No.

3. Do you and your Heloísa form, from the beginning, two perfectly distinct souls?

─ Yes.

4. ─ Are you still two distinct souls?

─ Yes, but always together.

5. ─ Are all men in the same conditions?

─ As they are more or less perfect.

6. ─ Are all souls destined to unite, one day, with another soul?

─ Each spirit tends to look for another spirit that is similar to it. It is what you call sympathy.

7. ─ Is there a condition of sex in this union?

─ Souls do not have sex.

São Luís opines on eternal halves

Both to satisfy our subscriber's wish and for our own instruction, we address the following questions to Espírito de São Luís:

1 - The souls that must unite are predestined, from the beginning, to this union and each one of us has, in any part of the Universe, the your half, to which one day it will fatally unite itself?

─ No. There is no particular and fatal union of two souls. There is union between all spirits, but in different degrees, according to the position they occupy, that is, according to the perfection acquired: the more perfect, the more united. From discord all human ills spring; from concord comes complete happiness.

2 - In what sense should we understand the word half, what do some spirits sometimes use to designate sympathetic spirits?

─ The expression is inaccurate. If a Spirit were half of another, separated from it, it would be incomplete.

3 – Once united, do two perfectly sympathetic Spirits remain united for eternity or can they separate and unite with other Spirits?

─ All spirits are united among themselves. I speak of those who have reached perfection. In the lower spheres, when a Spirit rises, it is no longer sympathetic to those it has left.

4 ─ Are two sympathetic spirits the complement of each other or is this sympathy the result of a perfect identity?

─ The sympathy that attracts one Spirit to another results from the perfect agreement of their inclinations and their instincts. If one were to complete the other, it would lose its individuality.

5 ─ Would the identity necessary for perfect sympathy consist only in the similarity of thoughts and feelings, or also in the uniformity of acquired knowledge?

─ In the equality of the degree of elevation.

6 ─ Will the spirits who are not friendly today be able to be so later?

─ Yes, everyone will be. Thus, the spirit that today is in an inferior sphere will reach, through perfection, the sphere where another one resides. His meeting will take place more readily if the higher Spirit, having barely endured the trials to which he has submitted himself, remains in the same state.

7 ─ Could two sympathetic spirits cease to be sympathetic?

─ Certainly, if one of them is lazy.

These answers perfectly solve the question.

The theory of eternal halves is a figure referring to the union of two sympathetic Spirits; it is an expression used even in common language, in the case of spouses, and which should not be taken literally. The spirits who used it certainly do not belong to the highest order. The sphere of their knowledge is necessarily limited. They expressed their thought in the words they would have used in corporeal life. It is therefore necessary to reject this idea that two Spirits, created for each other, will one day have to unite in eternity, after having been separated for a more or less long period of time.

Revista espírita — Jornal de estudos psicológicos — 1858 > Maio > Problemas morais – Perguntas dirigidas a São Luís

Question 1: opulence and work

 ─ Of two rich men, the first was born into opulence and never knew need; the second owes his fortune to his work. Both employ it exclusively for personal satisfaction. Which one is the most culpable?

Response

─ The one who knew suffering. He knows what it's like to suffer.

question 2: accumulation of goods without doing good

─ Will someone who accumulates continuously, without doing good to anyone, have an acceptable excuse in the idea of accumulating in order to leave enough to the children?

Response

─ It is a commitment to an evil conscience.

question 3: the misers receive according to their works

─ Of two misers, the first deprives himself of what is necessary and dies of privation over his treasure; the second is only avaricious towards others: he is prodigal towards himself. While he shuns the slightest sacrifice in order to render a gift or do something useful, he does not limit his personal pleasures. He gets annoyed when asked for a favor; he wants to surrender to his whims, which he never lacks. Who is the most guilty and which one will have the worst place in the world of spirits?

Response

─ What you enjoy. The other has already received its punishment.

Question 4: can fortune be used for good after death?

─ Does he who in life not use his fortune usefully find relief in doing good after death, by the fate that it gives him?

Response

─ No. The good is worth what it costs.

Spiritist magazine — Journal of psychological studies — 1858 > May > Pride – Moral dissertation dictated by São Luís to Miss. Hermance Dufaux

Case I – Pride and humility

A superb man owned a few acres (agrarian measure with 0.2 hectare) of good land. He was proud of the heavy ears that covered his field, and he cast a disdainful glance over the barren field of the humble. This one got up at the crowing of the rooster and stayed all day bent over the ungrateful ground; patiently picked up the pebbles and threw them on the side of the road; he turned the earth deeply and pulled out with difficulty the thorns that covered it. Why, his sweat made the field fruitful, and he gathered the best wheat.

However, the tares grew in the proud man's field and smothered the wheat, while the owner boasted of his fecundity and looked with pity on the silent efforts of the humble.

Truly, I say to you, pride is like tares that drown the good grain. He among you who thinks himself more than his brother and who boasts is a fool. Wise is he who works for himself, like the humble in his field, without being proud of his work.

Case II – The rich man and the poor woodcutter

There was a rich and powerful man who enjoyed the prince's favor. He lived in palaces and numerous servants tried to guess his wishes.

One day when his packs were cornering a deer deep in the forest, he spotted a poor woodcutter bending under the weight of a bundle of firewood. He called him and said:

─ Vile slave! Why do you pass by the way without bowing to me? I am equal to the Lord: in councils my voice decides peace and war, and the great ones of the kingdom bow before me. Know that I am wise among the wise, mighty among the mighty, great among the great, and my elevation is the work of my hands.

─ “Sir! ─ replied the poor man, ─ I feared that my humble greeting would offend you. I am poor and the only good I have is my arms, but I do not desire your deceitful grandeur. I sleep my sleep and I fear not, as you do, that the pleasure of the Lord will make me fall into my obscurity.

Now the prince was weary of the pride of arrogance. The great humiliated rose up against him, and he was flung from the pinnacle of his power, like a dry leaf that the wind sweeps from the top of the mountain. But the humble man peacefully continued his rough work, without concern for the next day.

Case III – The superb

Proud, humble yourself, for the hand of the Lord will bend your pride to the dust!

Listening! You were born where fate cast you; you came from your mother's womb weak and naked like the last of men. Why do you lift up your brow higher than your fellows, who, like them, were born to pain and to death?

Listening! Your riches and your greatness, vanities of vanities, will escape your hands when the great day comes, like the shifting waters of the torrent that the sun evaporates. Thou shalt take from thy riches no more than the boards of the coffin, and the titles engraved on the tombstone will be empty words.

Listening! The gravedigger's dog will play with your bones, and they will be mixed with the beggar's; your dust will be mixed with his, for one day you will both be dust. Then you will curse the gifts you have received, when you see the beggar clothed in his glory, and you will weep for your pride.

Humble yourself, proud, for the hand of the Lord will bend your pride to the dust.

the parables

Why does Saint Louis speak to us in parables?

─ It seems that today the lesson should be given to us in a more direct way, without having to resort to allegory.

─ The human spirit likes mystery. The lesson is best engraved in the heart when we look for it.

─ You will find it in development. I want to be read, and morals need a disguise under the lure of pleasure.

Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies — May from 1858 > Considerations on Bergzabern's Beating Spirit

Allan Kardec continues the subject of the previous post about the Beater Spirit with new facts. He seemed not to want to extend the previous one and continued his text with this new title to which we will now refer.

How the Doctrine Regards Bergzabern's Beating Spirit

It is easy to give the explanation requested by the narrator that we have just quoted: There is only one, the one given by the Spiritist Doctrine. These phenomena are nothing extraordinary for people familiar with those to which the spirits have accustomed us. The role that certain creatures lend to the imagination is known. Undoubtedly, if the girl had only had visions, the partisans of hallucination would have flagged themselves. But here there were material effects of an unmistakable nature and which had a large number of witnesses. It had to be admitted that everyone was hallucinated to the point where they thought they heard what they didn't hear and saw motion in immobile things. Now, this would be an even more extraordinary phenomenon.

How does the hierarchy of Spirits occur?

Unbelievers have only one resource left: to deny. It's easier and takes the guesswork out of it.

Examining things from the spiritist point of view, it becomes evident that the spirit that manifested itself was inferior to the girl's, as it obeyed her; he even subordinated himself to his assistants, for they gave him orders. If we didn't know from the Doctrine that the so-called Beating Spirits are at the bottom of the scale, what happened would be proof of that.

It really would not be conceivable that a high spirit, like our sages and our philosophers, would come to amuse himself by beating marches and waltzes and, in a word, playing the role of a minstrel or submitting to the whims of human beings. He appears with the features of an ill-looking creature, a circumstance that only corroborates this opinion. In general the moral is reflected in the wrapper. It is therefore demonstrated to us that the scout de Bergzabern is an inferior spirit, from the class of frivolous spirits, who manifested himself as others did before and still do today.

Why did the scout manifest?

But for what purpose did it manifest itself? The news does not say that he was called. Today, when we are more experienced in these things, such a strange visitor would not be allowed in without him informing what his purposes were. We can only make a conjecture. It is true that he did nothing to reveal malice or ill intent, for the girl did not suffer any physical or moral disturbance. Only men could have shocked his morals, hurting his imagination with ridiculous tales. Luckily they didn't. This Spirit, however inferior it was, was neither evil nor malevolent. He was just one of those so numerous spirits, which, at times and despite our, we are surrounded. He may have acted in those circumstances on a mere whim, as he could have done so at the instigation of high spirits, with the aim of arousing the attention of men and convincing them of the reality of a higher power outside the corporeal world.

faculty of physical phenomena

As for the child, it is certain that he was one of those mediums of physical influence, endowed, in spite of himself, with such a faculty, and who are for other mediums as natural somnambulists are for magnetic somnambulists. Managed with prudence by a man experienced in this new Science, this faculty might have produced things still more extraordinary, and of a nature to throw new light on these phenomena, which are wonderful only because they are not understood.

 Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies — 1858 > May > The Beating Spirit of Bergzabern I

A stir in Bavaria

We had already heard of certain spiritist phenomena which, in 1852, had caused a great stir in Rhine Bavaria, near Spira; we even knew that a brochure had been published in German with an authentic account. After long and fruitless searches, a lady, our subscriber from Alsace, showing great interest and perseverance, for which we are immensely grateful, obtained a copy of that brochure and offered it to us.

Kardec gave here his translation in full, waiting to be read with all the greater interest as it once again proves that facts of this kind are from all times and places, since they occurred at a time when people were just beginning to talk about spirits.

The Brochure

Preface

For several months now, a singular event has been the subject of all conversations in our city and its surroundings. We refer to scout, as it is called, from the home of the tailor Pedro Sänger.

They were made to refrain from any report on their sheet - the Bergzabern's Journal ─ of the demonstrations that have taken place since January 1, 1852 in that house. But as they attracted general attention to such an extent that the authorities felt it their duty to ask Dr. Bentner an explanation for the case and Dr. Dupping, from Spira, even went to the place to observe the facts, we can no longer shirk the duty of publicizing them.

As for us, we will limit ourselves to the simple report of the facts, mainly of those that we witness or that we hear from people worthy of faith. The reader who forms his opinion.

The introduction was signed by FA Blanck, Editor of the Bergzabern's Journal, in May 1852.

The first strikes of Bergzabern's scout

On January 1st of this year, in Bergzabern, in the house where he lived, and in the room next to the living room, Pedro Sänger's family heard a hammering sound, which began with dull blows and as if they came from afar, and that became progressively stronger and more distinct. These blows seemed to strike the wall, next to which was the bed of his twelve-year-old daughter.

Usually the noise was heard between nine-thirty and ten-thirty. At first the couple didn't care; but as this singularity repeated itself every night, they thought it came from the house next door, where perhaps a sick man was distracted by drumming on the wall. Soon, however, they were convinced that there was no such sick person, nor could he be the cause of the noise. The bedroom floor was turned over; the wall was torn down, but all to no avail. The bed was moved to the opposite side of the room: then – an admirable thing – the noise changed places and was heard as soon as the girl was asleep.

It was clear that somehow the girl was participating in the manifestation of that noise. After the useless investigations by the police, people began to think that the fact must be attributed to a child's illness or a particularity of his conformation. However, so far nothing has come to confirm this assumption. It is still an enigma for doctors.

With the wait, the thing developed: the noise lasted for more than an hour and the blows were vibrated with more force. The girl changed beds and rooms, but the scout manifested in that other room; under the bed; on the bed and on the wall. The blows were not identical: sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker and isolated, sometimes, in short, succeeding each other quickly and following the rhythm of the military marches and dances.

girl's somnambulistic state

The girl had been occupying the aforementioned room for a few days, when they noticed that, during her sleep, she was emitting short and incoherent words. The words soon became more distinct and more intelligible; it seemed that the child was talking to another person over whom he had authority. Among the facts that occurred daily, the author of this brochure relates one, of which he was a witness:

The child was in bed, lying on the left side. Barely asleep, the blows began and so she began to speak: “You, you! Hit a march!” And the scout scored one that looked a lot like a Bavarian march. On the order of “Halt!” given by the girl, the scout stopped. Then she ordered, "Knock three, six, nine times." The scout carried out the order. At a new order of striking 19 strikes, 20 strikes were heard, to which the sleeping girl retorted: “It is not right; there were 20 beats”. Soon it was possible to count 19 blows. Then she asked for 30 blows and the 30 were heard. At the order of 100 strokes, it was only possible to count to 40, so fast were the blows. The last blow sounded and the girl said: “Very well! Now 110”. So we were only able to count to about 50. At the last blow, the sleeper said: “It's not right. You only gave 106”; and then the 4 blows were heard to complete the 110. Then she asked: “A thousand!” Only 15 were hit. “Oh, come on!” The batter scored 5 more hits and stopped.

Then the assistants came up with the idea of giving orders directly to the scout, who carried them out. It stopped when it received the order of “Halt! Silence! Enough!" Then, by itself and without command, it would start knocking again. One of the assistants said, in a low voice, in a corner of the room, that he wanted to command only by thought, so that 6 knocks were given. Then the experimenter stood by the bed and did not say a single word: the 6 blows were heard. Still by thought 4 were asked and the 4 blows were heard. The same experiment has been tried by other people, but it has not always worked well.

Soon the girl stretched, threw back the covers and got up.

The Beating Spirit is Recognized

When asked what had happened, he replied that he had seen a large, grumpy man at his bedside, pressing his knees. He added that he felt pain in his knees when the man hit him. She fell asleep again and the demonstrations continued until the clock struck eleven. Suddenly the beater stopped, the girl went into a peaceful sleep, recognized by the regularity of her breathing, and that night nothing more was heard.

We observed that the scout obeyed the order to mark military marches. Several people stated that when asked for a Russian, Austrian or French march, it was marked very accurately.

On February 25th, while asleep, the girl said: “Now you don't want to hit anymore; want to scratch. It's ok! I want to see how you do it.” In fact, on the following day, the 26th, instead of the blows, there was a scratching that seemed to come from the bed and that has been manifested to this day. The beats were mixed with the scraping, sometimes alternating, sometimes simultaneously, in such a way that in the marching or dancing arias the scraping marked the strong beats and the beat the weak beats. According to requests, the time of day or the age of the people were indicated by dry strokes or by scraping. In relation to the age of the people, there were sometimes errors, which were then corrected on the second or third attempt, as long as it was said that the number had been dialed wrong. Sometimes, instead of giving the required age, the scout would perform a march.

The girl's language is perfected

Day by day the child's language, during sleep, became more perfect. What at first was no more than simple words or quick orders to the scout, over time turned into a conversation with the parents. So one day he talked to his older sister about religious matters, in a tone of exhortation and teaching, telling her that she should go to mass, say prayers every day and show submission and obedience to her parents. In the evening he took up the same subject again. In his teachings, there was nothing theological, but only some of those notions that are learned in school.

Before these conversations, for at least an hour, knocks and scratches could be heard, not only during the girl's sleep, but even in her waking state. We watched her eat and drink while the taps and scrapes were heard, just as, being awake, we had heard the transmission of orders to the scout, all of which were carried out.

On the night of Saturday, March 6, several people gathered at the Sängers' house, for the girl being awake, she had predicted during the day that the scout would appear at nine o'clock at night. At the stroke of that hour, four blows were struck so violently against the wall that the attendants were frightened. Soon, and for the first time, the knocks were on the wood of the bed and on the outside. The bed was all shaken. These blows appeared on all sides of the bed, now in one, now in another place. Blows and scratches alternated. At the order of the girl and the people present, the knocks were sometimes heard inside the bed, sometimes outside. Suddenly the bed rose in different directions, while the blows were delivered with force. More than five people tried in vain to replace the bed, and when they gave up the attempt, it still rocked for a few moments, after which it took its natural position. This fact had already occurred once, before this public manifestation.

the young woman's speech

Every night the girl would make a kind of speech, which we will talk about briefly.

First of all, it should be noted that, as soon as she lowered her head, she immediately fell asleep and the blows and scratches began. With the beats she was moaning, shaking her legs and looking sick. The same was not the case with the sweeps. When it was time to speak, the girl would lie down on her back, her face turning pale, as well as her hands and arms. She would wave her right hand and say, “Let's go! Come to my bed and put your hands together. I will tell you about the Savior of the world.” Then the knocking and scratching ceased and all the assistants listened with respectful attention to the sleeper's speech.

She spoke slowly and very intelligibly in pure German, which was all the more surprising the more it was known that she was less advanced than her schoolmates in this subject, which was certainly due to an eye disease, which made it difficult for her to the study. His lectures were about the life and actions of Jesus from the age of twelve; his presence in the temple among the scribes; its benefits to Humanity and its miracles. Then he amused himself in describing his sufferings and harshly reproached the Jews for having crucified Jesus, despite his acts of kindness and his blessings. At the end, the girl addressed a fervent prayer to God, asking him to “give her the grace to bear with resignation the sufferings he had sent her, since he had chosen her to enter into communication with the Spirit”. I asked God not to die yet, because I was a child and didn't want to go down to the dark tomb. When his sermons were over, he recited in a solemn voice the paternoster, after which it said, "Now you can come." Immediately the beating and scratching began again. She still spoke twice to the Spirit, and each time the scout stopped. He would still say a few words and add: “Now you can go, in the name of God”. And woke up.

During these lectures the girl's eyes were tightly closed, but her lips moved. People closest to the bed could observe his movements. The voice was pure and harmonious.

Waking up, they asked him what he had seen and what had happened. She replied:

“The man who comes to see me.

- Where is he?

“Near my bed, with the other people.

'Have you seen the other people?'

— I saw everyone near my bed.

Disbelief of the demonstrations

It is easy to understand that such manifestations found many unbelievers. One even thought that this whole story was pure mystification. But his father was incapable of clowning, especially clowning that required all the skill of a professional juggler. He enjoys a reputation as a decent and honest man.

To answer and put an end to the suspicion, the girl was taken to a strange house. Just arriving there, the knocking and scratching could be heard. Besides, a few days before, she had gone with her mother to a little village called Capela, about half a league away, to the house of the widow Klein. As she said she was tired, they laid her on a settee, and immediately the same phenomenon took place. Several witnesses can attest to this. Since the child had a healthy appearance, he must have been affected by a disease which, if not proved by the manifestations reported above, at least by the involuntary movements of the muscles and nervous tremors.

Finally, we will note that a few weeks ago the girl was taken to Dr. Bentner, with whom he stayed, so that this sage could study more closely the phenomena in question. Since then, all the noise in the Sänger family's house has ceased, and it has been produced in Dr. Bentner.

These, in all their authenticity, are the events that took place. We deliver them to the public without giving an opinion. May the men of Medicine soon give them a satisfactory explanation.

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Spiritist Journal — Journal of Psychological Studies — 1858 > May > Theory of Physical Manifestations I

In this Spiritist Magazine, Allan Kardec states that it is easy to conceive of the moral influence of the Spirits and the relationships they may have with our soul, or with the Spirit incarnated in us. It is understandable that two beings of the same nature can communicate through thought, which is one of their attributes, without the aid of the organs of speech. It is, however, already more difficult to realize the material effects that they can produce, such as noises, the movement of solid bodies, apparitions and, above all, tangible apparitions.

The Theory of Manifestations defended by Kardec

The theory that Kardec defends is that the Spirit, being immaterial by definition, still has something of matter, because if it had nothing, it would be nothing.

Incarnated in the body, the Spirit constitutes the soul. When he leaves it, with death, he is not stripped of all the envelope. We are all told that they retain the form they had when they were alive; indeed, when they appear to us, it is usually in the form in which we knew them.

Let us observe them attentively as they leave life: they are in a state of disturbance; around you everything is confused; they see their own body, whole or mutilated, according to the type of death. On the other hand, they see and feel themselves alive; something tells them that this is their body, but they don't understand how they can be separate. The bond that united them is not yet completely broken.

After the moment of disturbance, the spirit sees itself free from the carnal envelope that served it as a cage, which it was divested of without regret, but continues to see itself in its primitive form. 

Certain manifestations produced by Mr. Home and by other mediums of the same kind occur with the appearance of hands that have all the properties of the living ones, which we touch, which hold us and which suddenly dissolve.

What are we to conclude from this? See the most outstanding concepts present in the Magazine:

The soul and the perispirit

The soul does not leave everything in the coffin: it takes something with it.

There are two kinds of matter in us: a gross one, which constitutes the outer envelope; the other subtle and indestructible. Death is the destruction, or rather the disintegration of the first, of that abandoned by the soul; the other stands out and follows the soul, which thus always continues to have an envelope.

We call this envelope perispirit. This subtle matter, as it were, extracted from all the parts of the body to which it was attached during life, retains its form. This is why all spirits are seen and why they appear to us as they were in life.

The perispirit does not have the tenacity or rigidity of the compact matter of the body: it is flexible and expansive. This is why the form it takes, even though it is based on that of the body, is not absolute: it bends to the will of the Spirit, which gives it, as it wishes, this or that appearance, while the solid envelope offers it an insurmountable resistance. .

Untangling itself from this obstacle that compressed it, the perispirit stretches or contracts; it transforms itself and, in a word, lends itself to all metamorphoses, according to the will that acts upon it.

Kardec points out that, through extensive studies, the subtle matter that constitutes the second envelope of the Spirit only gradually detaches itself from the body, and not instantly.

That said, experience still proves that the duration of this detachment varies with individuals. In some it takes three or four days, while in others it is not completed until after several months.

How does the separation of the Spirit occur after the death of the body?

In some people, separation begins before death: they are those who, in life, were elevated by thought and the purity of their feelings, above material things.

In them death finds only weak bonds between soul and body, which are broken almost instantly. The more materially man lived; the more his thoughts have been absorbed in the pleasures and worries of the personality, the more tenacious are those bonds. It seems that subtle matter is identified with compact matter and that a molecular cohesion is established between them. This is why they only separate slowly and with difficulty.

In the first moments after death, when there is still union between the body and the perispirit, the latter preserves much better the impression of the corporeal form, which, so to speak, reflects all the nuances and even all the accidents. This is why one of the victims told us, a few days after his execution: If you could see me, you would see me with my head separated from my torso. A man who had been murdered told us: Look at the wound they made in my heart. He thought we might see him.

Sensation of the Spirits

Let us imagine the Spirit clothed in its semi-material envelope, or perispirit, having the form or appearance that he had when he was alive. Some even use this expression to designate themselves: my appearance is in such a place. The matter of this envelope is subtle enough to escape our sight in its normal state, but it is not completely invisible. To begin with, we see it through the eyes of the soul, in the visions produced during dreams. But that's not what we want to deal with. In this etherealized matter there can be a modification; the Spirit itself can make it undergo a kind of condensation that makes it perceptible to the eyes of the body. This is what happens in vaporous apparitions. The subtlety of this matter allows it to pass through solid bodies, which is why such apparitions encounter no obstacles and why they so often disappear through walls.

Condensation can go so far as to produce resistance and tangibility. This is the case with hands that we can see and touch. But this condensation - and this is the only word we can use, to give an idea, albeit imperfect, of our thought - this condensation, we were saying, or even this solidification of ethereal matter, is only temporary or accidental, because this condensation it's not your normal state. This is why, at a given moment, tangible apparitions escape us like a shadow. Thus, in the same way that a body appears to us in a solid, liquid or gaseous state, depending on the degree of condensation, so the ethereal matter of the perispirit can appear to us in a solid, visible vapor or invisible vaporous state.

How does spiritual matter appear to us?

The apparent, tangible hand offers resistance: it exerts pressure, leaves impressions, operates a traction on the objects we hold. There is, therefore, a force in it. Now, these facts, which are not hypotheses, can lead us to the explanation of physical manifestations.

Let us note, first of all, that this hand obeys an intelligence, since it acts spontaneously; it gives unmistakable signs of a will and obeys a thought: it therefore belongs to a complete being, which only shows us that part of itself, and the proof is that it produces impressions with the invisible parts; teeth leave marks on the skin and produce pain.

Among the various manifestations, one of the most interesting is, without a doubt, the spontaneous playing of musical instruments. Pianos and accordions are apparently the instruments of choice. This phenomenon is explained very naturally by the foregoing. The hand that has the strength to pick up an object may also have the strength to press down on the keys and make them sound. In fact, on several occasions we saw the fingers in action, and when the hand is not seen, the keys are seen moving and the bellows stretching and closing. The keys can only be moved by an invisible hand, which shows intelligence, playing perfectly rhythmic arias and not incoherent sounds.

Since that hand can dig its nails into our flesh, pinch us, snatch what we have in our hand; since we see her pick up and carry an object, just as we would, she can also hit us, lift and knock down a table, ring a bell, pull a curtain, and even give us an invisible slap.

You will perhaps ask how this hand, in the vaporous invisible state, can have the same strength as in the tangible state. And why not? Do we see air topple buildings, gas launch projectiles, electricity transmit signals, magnet fluid lift masses? Why would the ethereal matter of the perispirit be less powerful? But we don't want to subject it to our laboratory experiments and our algebraic formulas. Mainly because we have taken gases as a term of comparison, we will not attribute identical properties to them, nor compute their strength in the same way as we calculate that of steam. So far it eludes all our instruments. It is a new order of ideas, outside the scope of the exact sciences. That is why these sciences do not offer us the special ability to appreciate them.

the movement of bodies

We give this theory of the movement of solid bodies under the influence of spirits only to show the matter in all its aspects and to prove that, without departing too far from received ideas, it is possible to realize the action of spirits on inert matter. There is, however, another, of high philosophical scope, given by the Spirits themselves, which sheds an entirely new light on this problem. It will be better understood after you have read it. In fact, it is useful to know all the systems in order to be able to compare them.

It remains now to explain how this modification of the ethereal substance of the perispirit takes place; by what process does the Spirit operate and, consequently, the role of mediums of physical influence in the production of these phenomena; what in such circumstances happens to them; the cause and nature of his faculties, &c.

This is what will be done in the next article.

Mr. Home III

Mr. Home was always mentioned by Allan Kardec as a medium with special and surprising abilities, but nothing was imposed on him about apparition phenomena. In this Spiritist Magazine, Kardec tells us a little more about other faculties and the phenomena arising from it in other mediums. To conclude, we will still cite extra facts that he called varieties.

Kardec asks himself: why are hands and not other parts of the body materialized? However, there are reports of mediums who make the whole body appear.

The hands

In general, the appearance of the hand is manifested under the tablecloth, by ripples produced when covering the entire surface. Then he shows himself to the edges of the towel, which she lifts; sometimes he comes to stand on the tablecloth, right in the middle of the table; other times he takes an object and takes it under the towel. This hand, visible to all, is neither vaporous nor translucent: it has a natural color and opacity; on the wrist, it ends indefinitely. If someone touches it without hostile ulterior motives, it offers resistance, solidity and the impression of a living hand; its warmth is mild, somewhat damp. It is not absolutely inert, because it acts, lends itself to the movements that are imprinted on it, or resists, caresses us, or squeezes us. If, on the contrary, we want to catch it abruptly and by surprise, we will only find emptiness.

Cases that involve them

case 1

He held a table bell between his fingers; hand, invisible at first, and shortly afterwards perfectly visible, came to take it, making efforts to snatch it away; having failed to do so, he proceeded to pull it over, in order to make it slip. The pulling effort was as sensitive as any human hand would have been. Having tried to grip that hand violently, his only found air; having opened his fingers, the bell remained suspended in the air and came slowly to rest on the floor.

case 2

Several people were gathered around one of those dining-room tables that split in two. Beats are heard; the table shakes, opens by itself, and through the crack appear three hands: one normal-sized, one very large, and a third very hairy. They touch them, feel them, they shake hands with the bystanders and then dissolve.

case 3

At the home of one of the friends who had lost a child at an early age, what appears is the hand of a newborn. Everyone can see and touch it. This child sits on the mother's lap, who distinctly feels the impression of her whole body on her knees.

the hands that write

The hand that appears can also write. Sometimes she stops in the middle of the table, takes a pencil and traces the letters on prepared paper. Most of the time, though, he takes the paper under the table and returns it all written down. If the hand becomes invisible, the writing seems to produce itself. In this way, answers to the various questions that can be asked are obtained.

Hands that play instruments

Another genre of manifestations, no less remarkable, but which can be explained by what we have just said, is that of musical instruments that play alone. They are usually pianos or accordions. In such circumstances, the keys are distinctly seen to move, as well as the bellows. The hand that touches is sometimes visible, sometimes invisible. The aria that is heard can be known and played on request. If the invisible artist is left to his own devices, he produces harmonious chords, the effect of which is reminiscent of the vague, soft melody of the Aeolian harp.

In a subscriber's house, where such phenomena occurred many times, the spirit that manifested itself was that of a young man who had died some time ago, a friend of the family who, when alive, revealed remarkable musical talent. The nature of the arias he preferred to play left no doubt as to his identity to all who had known him.

Conclusion

The most extraordinary fact in this genre of manifestations is not, in Kardec's opinion, the appearance. If it were always aeriform, it would be compatible with the ethereal nature that we attribute to spirits. Now, there is nothing to oppose this etherealized matter becoming perceptible to the eye, by a kind of condensation, without losing its vaporous property. The strangest thing is the solidification of this same matter, resistant enough to leave a visible impression on our organs. In the next issue we will explain this singular phenomenon, according to the teaching of the Spirits themselves. On that date, they limited themselves to deducing a consequence related to the spontaneous playing of musical instruments. In fact, since the occasional tangibility of this etherealized matter is an established fact, and since in such a state the hand, apparent or not, offers sufficient resistance to exert pressure on solid bodies, it is not surprising that it can exert pressure on solid bodies. enough to move the keys on an instrument. On the other hand, no less positive facts proved that this hand belongs to an intelligent being. No wonder, then, that this intelligence manifested itself through musical sounds, since it could do so through writing and drawing.

Once entered into this order of ideas, the vibrating beats, the movement of objects and all spiritist phenomena of a material order are explained very naturally.

varieties

Let's go to the second part of this post. Kardec shows dissatisfaction with the criticisms attributed to Mr. Home in the following terms:

Malice against Mr. home

In certain individuals malevolence knows no bounds. Slander always has poison against everyone who rises above the crowd. The opponents of Mr. Home thought that ridicule is a very fragile weapon: it should dent itself against the respectable names that surround it with their protection. Since they could not laugh at his expense, they sought to denigrate him. They spread the rumor, with the objective that we well understand and the bad tongues repeat it that Mr. Home had not left for Italy, as had been announced, but that he was in the prison of Mazas, under the weight of serious accusations, which are told as anecdotes, of which the idle and the friends of scandal are always avid.

We can say that there is nothing true in all these infernal machinations. We have several letters from Mr. Home, dating from Pisa, Rome, and Naples, where it now stands. We are therefore in a position to prove what we assert.

The spirits are right to say that the true demons are among men.

Are the turning tables alienating people?

It was read in a newspaper: according to the Gazette des Hôpitaux (Gazette of Hospitals)), naquele momento, contavam-se no hospital de “alienados” de Zurique 25 pessoas que perderam a razão graças às mesas girantes e aos Espíritos batedores.

To begin with, they asked whether it was well established that these 25 alienated all the loss of reason to the Beating Spirits, which is debatable, at least until there are authentic proofs. Assuming that these strange phenomena could have had a harmful effect on certain weak characters, we would ask whether, on the other hand, the fear of the devil did not make more madmen than the belief in spirits. Now, since the spirits are not prevented from knocking, the danger lies in the belief that all those who manifest themselves are demons. Get away from this idea, by making the truth known, and there will be no more fear than of fireflies. The idea that one is harassed by the devil is tailor-made to disturb reason.

On the other hand, they had another piece of news, from another newspaper, which said: there is a curious statistical document of the disastrous consequences to which, among the English, the habit of intemperance and strong drinks dragged. Of every 100 individuals admitted to Hamwel's insane hospital, there were 72 whose mental alienation must be attributed to drunkenness.

They received from subscribers numerous reports of very interesting facts that we will hurry to publish in our next editions, since the lack of space did not allow them to do so in this one.

Through previous evocations, it was known that Bernard Palissy, a celebrated 16th-century potter, inhabits the planet Jupiter. When evoked, Allan Kardec, as was his custom, asked him questions whose answers were, for ease of reading, condensed in the text of what was said about this planet, on several occasions, by other Spirits and through different mediums. Let's see the dialog by topics:

Overview of the Spirit of Bernard Palissy

Bernard Palissy it took a while to leave the planet's surface. She confessed to having been in the guise of a loving and devoted woman, on a mission that lasted thirty years. He said it was obscure to name the woman.

The Spirit traced, by the hand of Mr. Victorien Sardou, the admirable drawings about the planet Jupiter in order to inspire us with the desire to become better. He said he didn't care about the material works of the sketches, but about the suffering that raised him.

Finally, he argued that he often comes to this Earth that he has inhabited several times. About her physical and moral state, she made a comparison between her and Jupiter saying that she came to our globe only as a Spirit and that he no longer has material sensations.

physical state of the globe

Jupiter's temperature cannot be compared to one of our latitudes, for it is mild and temperate; is always the same, while ours varies.

The Sun appears to the inhabitants of Jupiter in very small size and, consequently, gives very little light. Thus, Jupiter is surrounded by a kind of spiritual light, in relation to the essence of its inhabitants. The coarse light of our Sun was not made for them. Jupiter's atmosphere is not made up of the same elements as Earth's atmosphere, for men are not the same. Your needs have changed.

There is water and seas there. The water is more ethereal than ours.

There are no volcanoes. The globe is not tormented like ours. Nature did not have its great crises there. It is the abode of the blessed. In it, matter almost does not exist. Plants are similar to ours, but they are more beautiful.

physical state of the inhabitants

The conformation of the body of its inhabitants is related, being considered the same. Their stature, compared with that of Earth's inhabitants, is that of large and well-proportioned beings. Bigger than our biggest men. Man's body is like the mold of his spirit: beautiful where he is good. The wrap is worthy of it: it is no longer a prison. The specific density of the human body allows man to transport himself from one point to another, without being, as here, tied to the ground.

There the inert bodies are opaque, diaphanous and translucent. Some have this property, others have another, according to their purpose.

In relation to human bodies, the body envelops the Spirit without hiding it, like a thin veil thrown over a statue. In the lower worlds, the gross envelope hides the Spirit from its fellows, but the good ones have nothing more to hide: each one can read the hearts of others. The body of the inhabitants of Jupiter being less dense than ours, it is formed of compact and condensed or vaporous matter which is compact for them but not for us. It is less condensed and impenetrable.

There is a sex difference there. Sex is everywhere where matter exists.

The basis of the inhabitants' diet is purely vegetable, as man is the protector of animals. Part of their food is extracted from the environment, whose emanations they aspire to.

Compared to ours, the life span is longer. They live about five centuries. In childhood, man retains his superiority: childhood does not compress intelligence nor does old age extinguish it.

Men are not subject to disease.

Life is not divided between sleep and wakefulness, but between action and rest.

Concerning the various occupations of the men they have there, it was said that they would have much to say. Its main occupation is the encouragement of the Spirits that inhabit the lower worlds, so that they persevere in the right way. If there are no misfortunes among them to be alleviated, they will look for them where they exist: they are the good Spirits who support you and attract you to the right path.

There the arts are considered useless. For them, our arts are toys that distract from our pain.

There is no boredom and distaste for life there. Disgust in life originates in self-contempt.

The inhabitants do not have, like us, an articulated language. Among them there is communication through thought. The second sight is, as we have been informed, a normal faculty and remains among them. The Spirit knows no obstacles. Nothing is hidden from you. They communicate always and more easily than we do with other spirits. There is no longer matter between them and us.

The knowledge of the future depends on the degree of perfection of the Spirit: this has less inconvenience to them than to us; it is even necessary for them, to a certain extent, to carry out the missions with which they are entrusted, but to say that they know the future without restrictions would be to level them with God. The prediction of the future is on merit.

Death does not inspire the same horror and dread as it does among us, for evil no longer exists among them. Only the bad are terrified at their last moment. He fears his judge. The inhabitants of Jupiter after death always grow in perfection, without undergoing further tests. There are no spirits in Jupiter who submit to tests in order to fulfill a mission, because only the love of good leads them to suffering. They cannot fail in their mission because they are good. There is only weakness where there are defects.

Asked if he could name some of the Spirits inhabiting Jupiter who have performed a great mission on Earth, São Luís was listed. I didn't want to name others, because there are unknown missions, whose objective is the happiness of only one. Sometimes they are the biggest and most painful.

Of the animals

The body of animals is more material than that of men, for man is the king, the planetary god. Animals do not tear each other apart. They all live subject to man and love one another. However, there are no animals that escape the action of man, as well as insects, fish and birds. All are useful to you.

Animals are the workers and foremen who carry out material work, build houses, etc. Man no longer lowers himself to serve his fellow man. Servant animals are linked to a particular family, under the state of submission, without remuneration.

The faculties of animals are developed by themselves. Their language is more precise and characterized than that of earthly animals.

moral state of the inhabitants

The dwellings he showed in your drawings are grouped together in cities like here. Those who love each other get together. Only passions establish solitude around man. He said that if a man who is still evil seeks his fellow man, who is for him an instrument of pain, a pure and virtuous man should not run away from his brother.

Spirits are of different degrees, but of the same order. Asked if he could refer especially to the spiritist scale that we gave in the second issue of the Magazine and that he would tell us what order the spirits incarnate in Jupiter belong to, he said that they are all good, all superior. Sometimes good descends to evil; however, evil never mixes with good.

The inhabitants form different peoples as here on Earth, but all united by the bonds of love. Wars are unknown.

He argued that man could reach such a degree of perfection on Earth that war would be unnecessary. War will disappear with the selfishness of peoples and as fraternity is better understood.

Peoples are ruled by chiefs. The authority of chiefs is in its highest degree of perfection. The superiority and inferiority of the Spirits in Jupiter, since they are all good, is measured by the greater or lesser amount of knowledge and experience; purify themselves as they become clearer.

Unlike Earth, there are no more or less advanced peoples there, but among peoples there are different degrees. If the most advanced people on Earth were transported to Jupiter, they would fill the role that apes have among us.

Peoples are governed by laws and there are no criminal laws, because there are no more crimes. Who makes the laws is God.

There are no rich and poor, no men who live in abundance and superfluous and others who lack the necessary, because they are all brothers. If one possessed more than the other, he would share with him; he wouldn't be happy when his brother was in need. No one lacks what is necessary; nobody has the superfluous. In other words, everyone's fortune is in relation to their condition. He who has less is not unhappy with him who has more. He cannot be unhappy if he is not envious or jealous. Envy and jealousy produce more unhappy people than misery.

He didn't want to answer what wealth on Jupiter consists of, but he confirmed that there are social inequalities in the laws of society. Some are more advanced than others in perfection. Superiors have a kind of authority over others, like a father over his children.

Man's faculties are developed by education. Man may acquire enough perfection on Earth to deserve to pass immediately to Jupiter, but on Earth man is subjected to imperfections in order to be in relationship with his fellow men. When a Spirit leaves the Earth and must reincarnate in Jupiter, it wanders for some time, until it finds the body to which it must be united in order to get rid of earthly imperfections.

There are not several religions, because all profess good and all worship one God. There are no temples and no cult, since by temple there is the heart of man; by worship, the good he does.

Magnetism was already a phenomenon studied before Spiritism emerged as a doctrine, philosophy and science.

Allan Kardec says: in fact, basing both on the existence and manifestation of the soul, far from fighting each other, they can and should provide mutual support, as they complement and explain each other mutually. However, their respective adepts disagree on some points: certain magnetists still do not admit the existence or, at least, the manifestation of Spirits.

Kardec emphasizes that, at the beginning of a science that is still so new, it is very easy for everyone, looking at things from their point of view, to form a different idea. The most positive sciences have always had, and still have, their schools, which ardently support contrary theories. The sages have raised school against school, flag against flag, and often, for their dignity, polemics have become irritating and aggressive for offended self-love and have gone beyond the limits of a wise discussion.

Magnetists are based on the fact that they can explain everything by the action of fluids. On the contrary, the adepts of Spiritism are all in agreement with magnetism through somnambulistic phenomena.

Magnetism prepared the way for Spiritism, and the rapid progress of the latter doctrine is undoubtedly due to the popularization of ideas about the former. Their connection is such that, so to speak, it is impossible to speak of one without speaking of the other. If we have to stay outside the Science of Magnetism, our picture will be incomplete. Through induced magnetism, according to The Spirits' Book, there is a relationship between natural somnambulism and dreams, that is, according to this pioneering work of the Spiritist Doctrine, during somnambulism, the soul can flow freely, causing the body reacts according to what the soul sees. 

He hopes that the sectarians of magnetism and Spiritism, better inspired, will not give the world the scandal of discussions that are not very edifying and always fatal to the propagation of the truth, whichever side it may be on.

Kardec is very faithful to his readers and, talking about the enemies of Spiritism, says: we owed this profession of faith, which we end with a fair tribute to the men of conviction who, facing ridicule, sarcasm and unpleasantness, courageously dedicated themselves to the defense of such a humanitarian cause.

At the end of the text, the coder concludes that, thanks to the persevering efforts of many contemporaries of the Parisian elite, magnetism, popularized, took root in official Science, where it is already talked about in whispers. This word has passed into common language: it no longer scares away, and when someone calls themselves a magnetizer, they no longer laugh in their face.

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Mr Home had already been mentioned by Allan Kardec in the February edition of the Spiritist Magazine. Kardec seems to have a great affection for the mediumship and personal characteristics of Mr. man. In it, we see a man gifted with an amazing faculty. He is a young man of 24 years, of medium height, blond and whose melancholy face is anything but eccentric; he is of a very delicate complexion, of simple and gentle habits, of an affable and benevolent character, on which the contact of grandeur has neither cast arrogance nor ostentation. Endowed with excessive modesty, he never flaunts his wonderful faculty.

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Mr. Home is a medium with several faculties, with emphasis on physical phenomena and intelligent manifestations that, as he is not a scribe, the Spirits' answers are given by vibrating beats.

What catches the attention of Mr. Home, in spite of his mediumship, is that his faculty is exceptionally developed. Under the influence of Mr. At home the loudest noises can be heard and all the furniture in a room can be turned over and the furniture piled on top of each other. In addition, he himself gravitates without being aware of the fact.

Another notable gift of all his manifestations is that of the apparitions, which is why Kardec insisted on commenting on them, in view of the serious consequences arising therefrom and the light they shed on a number of other facts. The same is true of the sounds produced in the air; music instruments that play by themselves, etc.

Kardec ends the article saying that religion teaches us the existence of the soul and its immortality; Spiritism gives us its living and palpable proof, no longer through reasoning, but through facts and that the Spiritist Doctrine shows us happiness in the practice of evangelical virtues; it reminds man of his duties to God, to Society and to himself. 

In a new onslaught, Kardec concludes that:

“Helping in its propagation (of Spiritism) is to deal a mortal blow to the wound of skepticism that invades us like a contagious disease. Honor, therefore, those who employ in this work the goods with which God has favored them on earth!”