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Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies — 1858 > June
Mr. Morrison, Monomaniac
Last March, an English newspaper reported the following concerning Mr. Morrison, recently deceased in England, leaving a fortune of one hundred million francs. According to that newspaper, in the last two years of his life he was prey to a singular monomania. He imagined himself reduced to extreme poverty and had to earn his daily bread with manual work. Family and friends had recognized the futility of efforts to get it out of his head. He was poor, didn't have a penny and had to work for a living: that was his conviction. Every morning they put a hoe in his hands and sent him to work in his own gardens. In a little while they came to look for him, for the task was completed; they paid him a modest salary for the work done and he was content. His spirit was tranquil and his mania satisfied.
If they had thwarted him, he would have been the most unhappy of men.
1. ─ I ask Almighty God to allow the Spirit of Morrison, recently deceased in England, to communicate with us, leaving a considerable fortune.
─ Here he is.
2. ─ Do you remember the state you were in during the last two years of your corporeal existence?
─ It is always the same.
3. ─ After death, did your spirit resent the aberration of faculties during your life?
─ Yes.
Saint Louis completes the answer, spontaneously saying: “Detached from the body, the Spirit feels, for a while, the compression of its bonds.”
4. So, after death, did not your Spirit immediately recover the fullness of its faculties?
─ No.
5. ─ Where are you now?
─ Behind Ermance.
6. ─ Are you happy or unhappy?
─ Something is missing… I don't know what… I'm looking for… Yes, I suffer.
7. ─ Why do you suffer?
─ He suffers for the good he has not done. (Reply from St. Louis).
8. ─ Why this mania of considering himself poor, when he had such a great fortune?
─ I was. Truly, rich is he who has no needs.
9. ─ Where did this idea come from that you had to work for a living?
─ I was crazy and I still am.
10. ─ How did this madness come to you?
─ What does it matter? I had chosen that atonement.
11. ─ What is the origin of your fortune?
─ What do you care?
12. ─ However, wasn't your invention aimed at relieving Humanity?
─ And enrich me.
13. ─ What use did you make of your fortune when you enjoyed the fullness of reason?
─ None. I think I enjoyed it.
14. ─ Why would God have given him fortune, since he was not to use it usefully for others?
─ I had chosen the test.
15. ─ Is not one who enjoys a fortune acquired in work more excusable for clinging to it than one who was born in the bosom of opulence and never knew the need?
─ Less.
St. Louis adds: “He knows pain, but does not relieve it.”
The monomaniac remembers his past life
16. ─ Do you remember your existence before the one you just left?
─ Yes.
17. ─ What were you then?
─ A worker
18. ─ You told us that you are unhappy. Do you see a term for your suffering?
─ No.
St. Louis adds: “It is too soon.”
19. ─ Who does this depend on?
─ From me. So the one who is there told me.
20. ─ Do you know the one who is there?
─ You call him Louis.
21. ─ Do you know what he was like in France in the 13th century?
─ No… I know him through you… I thank you for what you taught me.
22. ─ Do you believe in another corporeal existence?
─ Yes.
23. ─ If you must be reborn in corporeal life, on whom will your future social position depend?
─ Me, I suppose. So many times I have chosen that this can only depend on me.
NOTE: The words so many times I chose are features. His current state proves that, despite numerous existences, he has progressed little, and that for him, it is always a fresh start.
24. ─ What social position would you choose if you could start over?
─ Low. Move forward more safely. You are only in charge of yourself.
25. ─ (To Saint Louis): Isn't there a feeling of selfishness in choosing a humble position, in which one should only be responsible for oneself?
─ Nowhere are you burdened only with yourself. Man is responsible for those around him and not only for the souls whose education has been entrusted to him, but also for others. The example does all the harm.
26. - (To Morrison): We thank you for the kindness with which you answered us and we pray that God gives you the strength to endure new trials.
─ You relieved me. I learned.
OBSERVATION: The moral state of the Spirit is easily recognized in the above answers. They are short and, when not monosyllabic, have something dark and vague about them. A melancholy madman would not speak otherwise. This persistence of the aberration of ideas after death is a remarkable fact, but it is not constant, or that sometimes presents a completely different character. We will have occasion to cite several other examples, where the different forms of madness are studied.
Conclusion
The question below from The Spirits' Book talks about greed and other trials:
261. Should the spirit, in the trials to which it must submit to reach perfection, experience all kinds of temptations? Must he go through all the circumstances that might excite pride, jealousy, avarice, sensuality, etc.?
The Spirits respond:
Certainly not, since you know that there are those who, from the beginning, take a path that frees them from many trials; but he who lets himself be led astray runs all the dangers of this road. For example, a spirit may ask for wealth and it may be granted; then, according to his character, he can become greedy or prodigal, selfish or generous, or else he can indulge in all the pleasures of sensuality; this, however, does not mean that you must necessarily experience all these tendencies.
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