Bergson seems always to have been more than half-convinced of the
truth of spiritualism. When we are already half-convinced of a thing,
it takes but little to convince us. Bergson argues himself into a
belief in telepathy in this wise: "We produce electricity at every
moment; the atmosphere is continually electrified; we move among
magnetic currents. Yet for thousands of years millions of human beings
have lived who never suspected the existence of electricity."
Millions of persons have also lived without suspecting the pull of the
sun and moon upon us; or that the pressure of the atmosphere upon our
bodies is fifteen pounds to the square inch; or that the coast of this
part of the continent is slowly subsiding (the oscillations of the
earth's crust); or without suspecting the incredible speed of the
stars in the midnight sky; or that the earth is turning under our
feet; or that electrons are shooting off from the candle or lamp by
the light of which we are reading. There are assuredly more things in
heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy, many of which
we shall doubtless yet find out, and many more of which we shall never
find out. Wireless messages may be continually going through our
houses and our bodies, and through the air we breathe, and we never
suspect them. Shall we, then, infer that the air around us is full of
spirits of our departed friends? I hope it is, but I fail to see any
warrant for the belief in this kind of reasoning. It does not lend
color even to the probability, any more than it does to the
probability that we shall yet be able to read one another's thoughts
and become expert mind-readers. Mind-reading seems to be a reality
with a few persons, with one in many millions. But I cannot therefore
believe in spiritualism as I believe in the "defeat of the Invincible
Armada." Fleets have been defeated in all ages. Facts are amenable to
observation and experiment, but merely alleged facts do not stand the
laboratory tests.
If memory is not a function of the brain, of what is it a function? If
"judgment, reasoning, or any other act of thought" are not functions
of the brain, of what are they the functions? The scientific method is
adequate to deal with all questions capable of proof or disproof. If
we apply the scientific or experimental method to miracles, where does
it leave them? Ask Huxley. Thought-transference is possible, but does
this prove spiritualism to be true?
I know of a man who can answer your questions if you know the answers
yourself, even without reading them or hearing you ask them. He once
read a chemical formula for Edison which nobody but Edison had ever
seen. I am glad that such things are possible. They confirm our faith
in the reality of the unseen. They show us in what a world of occult
laws and influences we live, but they tell us nothing of any other
world.