There are several good things about Spiritualism. First, they are
not bigoted; second, they do not believe in salvation by faith;
third, they don't expect to be happy in another world because Christ
was good in this; fourth, they do not preach the consolation of
hell; fifth, they do not believe in God as an infinite monster;
sixth, the Spiritualists believe in intellectual hospitality. In
these respects they differ from our Christian brethren, and in
these respects they are far superior to the saints.
I think that the Spiritualists have done good. They believe in
enjoying themselves--in having a little pleasure in this world.
They are social, cheerful and good-natured. They are not the slaves
of a book. Their hands and feet are not tied with passages of
Scripture. They are not troubling themselves about getting
forgiveness and settling their heavenly debts for a cent on the
dollar. Their belief does not make then mean or miserable.
They do not persecute their neighbors. They ask no one to have
faith or to believe without evidence. They ask all to investigate,
and then to make up their minds from the evidence. Hundreds and
thousands of well-educated, intelligent people are satisfied with
the evidence and firmly believe in the existence of spirits. For
all I know, they may be right--but----
_Question_. The Spiritualists have indirectly claimed, that you
were in many respects almost one of them. Have you given them
reason to believe so?
_Answer_. I am not a Spiritualist, and have never pretended to
be. The Spiritualists believe in free thought, in freedom of
speech, and they are willing to hear the other side--willing to
hear me. The best thing about the Spiritualists is that they
believe in intellectual hospitality.
_Question_. Is Spiritualism a religion or a truth?
_Answer_. I think that Spiritualism may properly be called a
religion. It deals with two worlds--teaches the duty of man to
his fellows--the relation that this life bears to the next. It
claims to be founded on facts. It insists that the "dead" converse
with the living, and that information is received from those who
once lived in this world. Of the truth of these claims I have no
sufficient evidence.
_Question_. Are all mediums impostors?
_Answer_. I will not say that all mediums are impostors, because
I do not know. I do not believe that these mediums get any
information or help from "spirits." I know that for thousands of
years people have believed in mediums--in Spiritualism. A spirit
in the form of a man appeared to Samson's mother, and afterward to
his father.
Spirits, or angels, called on Abraham. The witch of Endor raised
the ghost of Samuel. An angel appeared with three men in the
furnace. The handwriting on the wall was done by a spirit. A
spirit appeared to Joseph in a dream, to the wise men and to Joseph
again.
So a spirit, an angel or a god, spoke to Saul, and the same happened
to Mary Magdalene.
The religious literature of the world is filled with such things.
Take Spiritualism from Christianity and the whole edifice crumbles.
All religions, so far as I know, are based on Spiritualism--on
communications received from angels, from spirits.
I do not say that all the mediums, ancient and modern, were, and
are, impostors--but I do think that all the honest ones were, and
are, mistaken. I do not believe that man has ever received any
communication from angels, spirits or gods. No whisper, as I
believe, has ever come from any other world. The lips of the dead
are always closed. From the grave there has come no voice. For
thousands of years people have been questioning the dead. They
have tried to catch the whisper of a vanished voice. Many say that
they have succeeded. I do not know.
_Question_. What is the explanation of the startling knowledge
displayed by some so-called "mediums" of the history and personal
affairs of people who consult them? Is there any such thing as
mind-reading or thought-transference?
_Answer_. In a very general way, I suppose that one person may
read the thought of another--not definitely, but by the expression
of the face, by the attitude of the body, some idea may be obtained
as to what a person thinks, what he intends. So thought may be
transferred by look or language, but not simply by will. Everything
that is, is natural. Our ignorance is the soil in which mystery
grows. I do not believe that thoughts are things that can been
seen or touched. Each mind lives in a world of its own, a world
that no other mind can enter. Minds, like ships at sea, give signs
and signals to each other, but they do not exchange captains.
_Question_. Is there any such thing as telepathy? What is the
explanation of the stories of mental impressions received at long
distances?
_Answer_. There are curious coincidences. People sometimes happen
to think of something that is taking place at a great distance.
The stories about these happenings are not very well authenticated,
and seem never to have been of the least use to anyone.
_Question_. Can these phenomena be considered aside from any
connection with, or form of, superstition?
_Answer_. I think that mistake, emotion, nervousness, hysteria,
dreams, love of the wonderful, dishonesty, ignorance, grief and
the longing for immortality--the desire to meet the loved and lost,
the horror of endless death--account for these phenomena. People
often mistake their dreams for realities--often think their thoughts
have "happened." They live in a mental mist, a mirage. The boundary
between the actual and the imagined becomes faint, wavering and
obscure. They mistake clouds for mountains. The real and the
unreal mix and mingle until the impossible becomes common, and the
natural absurd.
_Question_. Do you believe that any sane man ever had a vision?
_Answer_. Of course, the sane and insane have visions, dreams.
I do not believe that any man, sane or insane, was ever visited by
an angel or spirit, or ever received any information from the dead.
_Question_. Setting aside from consideration the so-called physical
manifestations of the mediums, has Spiritualism offered any proof
of the immortality of the soul?
_Answer_. Of course Spiritualism offers what it calls proof of
immortality. That is its principal business. Thousands and
thousands of good, honest, intelligent people think the proof
sufficient. They receive what they believe to be messages from
the departed, and now and then the spirits assume their old forms
--including garments--and pass through walls and doors as light
passes through glass. Do these things really happen? If the
spirits of the dead do return, then the fact of another life is
established. It all depends on the evidence. Our senses are easily
deceived, and some people have more confidence in their reason than
in their senses.
_Question_. Do you not believe that such a man as Robert Dale Owen
was sincere? What was the real state of mind of the author of
"Footfalls on the Boundaries of Another World"?
_Answer_. Without the slightest doubt, Robert Dale Owen was sincere.
He was one of the best of men. His father labored all his life
for the good of others. Robert Owen, the father, had a debate, in
Cincinnati, with the Rev. Alexander Campbell, the founder of the
Campbellite Church. Campbell was no match for Owen, and yet the
audience was almost unanimously against Owen.
Robert Dale Owen was an intelligent, thoughtful, honest man. He
was deceived by several mediums, but remained a believer. He wanted
Spiritualism to be true. He hungered and thirsted for another
life. He explained everything that was mysterious or curious by
assuming the interference of spirits. He was a good man, but a
poor investigator. He thought that people were all honest.
_Question_. What do you understand the Spiritualist means when he
claims that the soul goes to the "Summer land," and there continues
to work and evolute to higher planes?
_Answer_. No one pretends to know where "heaven" is. The celestial
realm is the blessed somewhere in the unknown nowhere. So far as
I know, the "Summer land" has no metes and bounds, and no one
pretends to know exactly or inexactly where it is. After all, the
"Summer land" is a hope--a wish. Spiritualists believe that a soul
leaving this world passes into another, or into another state, and
continues to grow in intelligence and virtue, if it so desires.
Spiritualists claim to prove that there is another life. Christians
believe this, but their witnesses have been dead for many centuries.
They take the "hearsay" of legend and ancient gossip; but Spiritualists
claim to have living witnesses; witnesses that can talk, make music;
that can take to themselves bodies and shake hands with the people
they knew before they passed to the "other shore."
_Question_. Has Spiritualism, through its mediums, ever told the
world anything useful, or added to the store of the world's knowledge,
or relieved its burdens?
_Answer_. I do not know that any medium has added to the useful
knowledge of the world, unless mediums have given evidence of
another life. Mediums have told us nothing about astronomy, geology
or history, have made no discoveries, no inventions, and have
enriched no art. The same may be said of every religion.
All the orthodox churches believe in Spiritualism. Every now and
then the Virgin appears to some peasant, and in the old days the
darkness was filled with evil spirits. Christ was a Spiritualist,
and his principal business was the casting out of devils. All of
his disciples, all of the church fathers, all of the saints were
believers in Spiritualism of the lowest and most ignorant type.
During the Middle Ages people changed themselves, with the aid of
spirits, into animals. They became wolves, dogs, cats and donkeys.
In those day all the witches and wizards were mediums. So animals
were sometimes taken possession of by spirits, the same as Balaam's
donkey and Christ's swine. Nothing was too absurd for the
Christians.
_Question_. Has not Spiritualism added to the world's stock of
hope? And in what way has not Spiritualism done good?
_Answer_. The mother holding in her arms her dead child, believing
that the babe has simply passed to another life, does not weep as
bitterly as though she thought that death was the eternal end. A
belief in Spiritualism must be a consolation. You see, the
Spiritualists do not believe in eternal pain, and consequently a
belief in immortality does not fill their hearts with fear.
Christianity makes eternal life an infinite horror, and casts the
glare of hell on almost every grave.
The Spiritualists appear to be happy in their belief. I have never
known a happy orthodox Christian.
It is natural to shun death, natural to desire eternal life. With
all my heart I hope for everlasting life and joy--a life without
failures, without crimes and tears.
If immortality could be established, the river of life would overflow
with happiness. The faces of prisoners, of slaves, of the deserted,
of the diseased and starving would be radiant with smiles, and the
dull eyes of despair would glow with light.
If it could be established.
Let us hope.
--_The Journal_, New York, July 26, 1896.