101. General Characteristics – Matter has a predominant infuence over the spirit. The spirit has a propensity to do wrong and is marked by ignorance, pride, selfshness, and all the related vile passions.
They intuitively realize the existence of God, but they do not understand God.
They are not all entirely bad. Many of these spirits are more frivolous, lacking reasoning power, and love mischief, rather than being downright malicious. Some do neither good nor bad, but the very fact that they do not do good is a glaring indication of their subservience. In contrast, others take immense pleasure in doing wrong, and are thrilled when they discover an opportunity to do wrong.
A certain amount of intelligence is often associated with malice and the love of mischief in these spirits. However, regardless of their intellectual development, their ideas lack elevation, and their sentiments are inferior, overall.
Their knowledge of the spirit world is narrow, and what they do know is muddled with the prejudices of the physical life. They give false and incomplete notions of the spirit world, but an intent observer may always fnd the validation of great truths proclaimed by higher spirits, no matter how imperfect their communication may be.
Their language reveals their character. Every spirit who betrays malicious intentions may be ranked in the third order. Every bad thought suggested to our minds comes from a spirit of this order.
The happiness enjoyed by good spirits causes everlasting torment on spirits of the third order. It stems from the anguish produced by envy and jealousy.
They retain the memory and perception of physical suffering, and this impression is often more painful than reality. They suffer both from the misfortunes they have themselves endured, and those that they have caused to others. As this torture persists for a very long time, they feel that they are destined to suffer for eternity. God allows them to believe in this eternal suffering as a form of atonement.
They may be further divided into fve main classes.
102. Tenth Class – IMPURE SPIRITS. – These spirits are inclined to wrongdoing, and make it the center of their attention. As spirits, they give false and devious advice, cause confict and suspicion, and don every mask possible to more effectively deceive humans. They torment weak people who yield to their suggestions, and take great joy in delaying their advancement and causing them to fail in the trials of corporeal life.
These spirits are recognized easily by the language they use while communicating. Vulgar or trivial language, whether employed by spirits or human beings, is always an indication of moral and at times intellectual inferiority. Their communications reveal the immorality of their inclinations. Try all they might to infuence us by speaking in a thoughtful manner, they are unable to keep up the charade, and eventually betray their true nature.
Some people designate them as malevolent divinities, while others call them demons, evil geniuses or bad spirits.
The human beings embodying such spirits are addicted to all the vices of debasing passions – sensuality, cruelty, deceit, hypocrisy, greed, and avarice. They commit heinous acts solely for the sake of doing evil, without having any specifc motive and, as they hate all that is good, they generally target honest victims. They are a plague upon humanity, regardless of their social standing, and the mask of civilization is not enough to hide their ignorance and depravity.
103. Ninth Class – FRIVOLOUS SPIRITS. – These spirits are ignorant, mischievous, irrational, and masters of ridicule. They intrude in everything, and reply to every question with no regard for the truth. They delight in irritating others, raising false hopes, and misleading people with hoaxes and tricks. The spirits commonly called goblins, sprites, will-o’-the-wisps, and gnomes belong to this class. They are often utilized as servants by spirits of higher orders.
In their communications with people, they are often witty and lighthearted but extremely superfcial. They are quick to pick up on people’s quirks and traits, on which they comment sarcastically. They are fond of borrowing the names of respected individuals for sport, rather than attempting to genuinely deceive.
104. Eighth Class – FALSE SCHOLARS. – These spirits often possess considerable knowledge, but fancy knowing a great deal more than they actually know. Having accomplished a certain degree of progress, their language has a tone of dignity that may easily give a false impression of their enlightenment. In truth, their ideas are generally nothing more than the refection of the preconceptions and fawed reasoning of their human life. Their statements are a combination of truths and the most absurd errors, overwhelmed by arrogance, pride, jealousy, and stubbornness, from which they have not been able to free themselves.
105. Seventh Class – NEUTRAL SPIRITS. – These spirits are neither good enough to do right, nor bad enough to do wrong. They sometimes are inclined to one, sometimes to the other and are equal to humankind in terms of both integrity and intelligence. They are strongly attached to the things of this world, and greatly miss all their material satisfactions.
106. Sixth Class – BOISTEROUS AND DISRUPTIVE SPIRITS. – Strictly speaking, these spirits do not form a clear-cut category based on their personal qualities, they may even belong to any of the third order classes. They often reveal themselves by producing of phenomena perceptible to people, such as knocking, the movement and abnormal displacement of inert bodies, rustling the air, and other similar occurrences. They appear to be attached to matter more than any other type of spirit, and are the principal agents in determining changes in the physical elements, air, water, fre, or in the entrails of the earth. Whenever these phenomena present a deliberate or intelligent nature, a random, physical cause should never be assumed. All spirits can produce physical phenomena, but elevated spirits usually leave them to the devices of lower spirits, who are more suitable to act upon matter than intelligent matters. When higher spirits deem that manifestations of this nature are of some noble use, they employ subordinate spirits as their aids.
