_I._ The difficulties, as they appear to me, are of a threefold
character--_Rational_, _Moral_, and _Religious_. I begin with the first,
the Rational Difficulty. And for a point to start from, let me ask,
Is it true, as generally held, that when a man becomes disencumbered
of the clogs and hinderances of the flesh, and passes into the
spirit-world--especially into the realms of the just--his intellect
becomes more clear and comprehensive?
_P._ That is true, as a general rule.
_I._ How is it, then, that in returning to communicate with us mortals,
the alleged spirits of men who were great and wise while living on the
earth, almost uniformly appear to have _degenerated_ as to their mental
faculties, being seldom, if ever, able to produce anything above
mediocrity? And why is it that the speaking and writing purporting to
come from spirits, are so generally in the bad grammar, bad spelling,
and other distinctive peculiarities of the style of the medium, and so
often express precisely what the medium knows, imagines, or surmises,
and nothing more?
_P._ That your questions have a certain degree of pertinence, I must
admit; but in making this estimate of the intelligence purporting to
come from the spiritual world, have you not ignored some things which
candor should have compelled you to take into the account? Think for a
moment.
_I._ Well, perhaps I ought to have made an exception in your own
favor. Your communication with me thus far has, I must admit, been
characterized by a remarkable breadth and depth of intelligence, as well
as ingenuity of argument.
_P._ And what, too, of the style and merits of the communications
purporting to come from spirits to other persons and through other
channels--are they not, as an almost universal rule, decidedly superior
to anything the medium could produce, unaided by the influence, whatever
it may be, which acts upon him?
_I._ Perhaps they are; indeed, I must admit I have known many instances
of alleged spirit-communications which, though evidently stamped with
some of the characteristics of the medium, were quite above the normal
capacity of the latter; yet in themselves considered, they were
generally beneath the capacity of the _living man_ from whose
disembodied spirit they purported to come.
_P._ By just so much, then, as the production given through a medium is
elevated above the medium's normal capacity, is the influence which acts
upon him to be credited with the character of that production. Please
make a note of this point gained. And now for the question why these
communications should be tinctured with the characteristics of the
medium at all; and why spirits can not, as a general rule, communicate
to mortals their own normal intelligence, freely and without
obstruction, as man communicates with man, or spirit with spirit. But
that we may be enabled to make this mystery more clear, we had better
attend first to another question which I see you have in your mind--the
question as to the potential agent used by spirits in making
communications.