In this issue, we continue the study of the book, What is Spiritism, launched in Paris in July 1859. This study will be divided into 19 parts. The pages cited in the text and suggested for reading refer to the 20th edition published by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation (Federacao Espirita Brasileira). The answers to the questions suggested for discussion can be found at the end of this text.
Questions for discussion
A. If Spiritism is an undeniable truth, why has not the official Science given it yet its support and credit?
B. What supports the belief in the existence and communication of the Spirits?
C. Can we say that Spiritism is a modern creation, a product of the ideas that shook the 19th century?
Reading Text
43. Spiritism came to reveal a new law, according to which the conversation with the Spirit of a dead is a fact as natural as what the one that happens, through mediation of electricity, between two individuals separated by a distance of a hundred leagues. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, page 75).
44. It is in the studied class of people that Spiritism makes a greater number of followers, this in all countries. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, page 76).
45. Spiritism is a matter of personal belief, which cannot depend on the vote of a congregation, because even if this vote is in favor of Spiritism, it still does not have the power to force convictions. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, page 78).
46. If Galvani had not listened to his servant, and instead called her crazy when she told him about the frogs dancing on the plate, perhaps we would have been, still today, without knowing the properties of the electric battery. The phenomenon of the so called dance of the tables is no more ridiculous than the dance of the frogs. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, page 79).
47. The discovery of the world of the unseen has a much wider reach than that of the infinitely small; it is more than a discovery; it is a revolution in ideas. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, page 80).
48. Spiritism is not a modern creation. It proves that the ancients knew it as well, or maybe even better than we do. Only it was not taught, but with mysterious precautions that made it inaccessible to the common people. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, page 82).
49. The theory of hallucination, its mechanism not having yet been explained, does not serve to fully explain the phenomena: when the table moves, stands or knocks, when it strolls without anyone touching it, when it is above the ground and is suspended in the space with nothing supporting it, none of this is an effect of hallucination. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, page 83).
50. If it were limited to material effects, the phenomena could be attributed to the action of any fluid. But when these movements showed us they were provided with intelligence, the conclusion is clear: "If every effect has a cause, the intelligent effect has an intelligent cause." A hidden intelligence moves the tables because a table itself is devoid of intelligence. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, page 83).
51. The reflex theory is also contradicted by a set of facts so conclusive that, before them, it is impossible to doubt. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, page 84).
52. The theory of somnambulistic perception is also contradicted by the facts. The medium at the time of the phenomenon, is not in crisis, or sleeping, but is perfectly awake, acting and thinking like any other person. Thus, we can arrive to the conclusion that the medium has a particular faculty, and, therefore, it cannot be mistaken for sleepwalking, since it is proven by facts of greater evidence that his though is independent. (Chapter I, Second Dialogue, p. 85.)(Continues in the next issue.)
Answers to the proposed questions
A. If Spiritism is an undeniable truth, why has not the official Science given it yet its support and credit?
No one can be a good judge of what is out of his competence. Common sciences rest on the properties of matter, which can be manipulated at will. The phenomena they study have material forces as agents. The Spiritism phenomena have, as agents, independent intelligences that are not subject to our will; so they escape our laboratory processes and our calculations and are thus outside the realm of science itself. (What is Spiritism, Chapter I, Second Dialogue, pages 77-79).
B. What supports the belief in the existence and communication of the Spirits?
The belief in the existence of Spirits and, above all, in their communication with us, is based on reasoning and on facts. (Ibid, Chapter I, Second Dialogue, pages 79-81).
C. Can we say that Spiritism is a modern creation, a product of the ideas that shook the 19th century?
No. Spiritism is not a modern creation. Everything proves that the ancients knew it as well as we do, or perhaps better than us. (Ibid, Chapter I, Second Dialogue, pages 81 and 82).
