Unintentionally Medium
Several fragments of a poem by Mr. Porry from Marseille were read at
the Society, in the session on September 16th, 1859 entitled Uranie. As
noticed, the poem has plenty of spiritist ideas, apparently taken from the
very source of The Spirits’ Book. It was attested, however, that the author
had no knowledge of the Spiritist Doctrine when he wrote the poem.
Our readers would certainly be grateful if we provided some fragments.
They certainly remember what was said with respect to the way
Mr. de Porry wrote his poem, which seems to denounce a kind of mediumship
(see Bulletin of the private session on September 16th, Review
October 1859). As a matter of fact, the spirits who constantly surround
us, and, without regard, exerting an incessant influence upon us, take advantage
of the dispositions they find in certain individuals, transforming
them into instruments of ideas which they want to express, bringing them
to the public knowledge of people. Such individuals are, unknowingly,
true mediums and do not need the mechanical faculty for that. All people
of genius, poets, painters and musicians are in that category. Their spirits
may certainly produce on their own, in case they are advanced enough for
that, but many ideas may also come to them from a strange source. Don’t
they seem to be making an evocation when asking for inspiration? Well
then, what is inspiration other than a suggested idea? What we take from
our inner self is not inspired. We have it and there is no need to receive it.
If the genius took everything from himself why he would then lack ideas exactly when he is seeking them? Wouldn’t he be able to take them from
his own brain, like someone that has money and take it from his pocket?
If he does not find anything there at a given time it is because he does not
have it. Why then, at the least expected moment, do the ideas sprout on
their own? Could the physiologists explain that phenomenon? Have they
ever tried to solve it? They say that the brain produces today but it will
not produce tomorrow. Why is that? They limit themselves to say that it
does happen because the brain has already produced before. According to
the Spiritist Doctrine the brain can always produce what it contains. That
is why the most inept person always finds something to say, even if just a
silly thing. But the ideas over which we have no ownership, those are not
ours. They are suggested to us. When there is no inspiration it is because
the inspirer is not present or does not judge appropriate to inspire. It seems
to us that this explanation is better than the alternative.
One can object that if the brain is not producing there should be no
fatigue. This would be a mistake. The brain is still the channel through
which the strange ideas flow; the instrument of their execution. Doesn’t
the singer fatigue her vocal cords, although the music is not of her composition?
Why wouldn’t the brain fatigue when expressing ideas that it is
in charge of transmitting, although it might not have produced them? It
is no doubt to give the brain a breather for the acquisition of new forces
that the inspirer imposes it a break.
It can also be objected that such a system subtracts from the author
the personal merit, attributing him ideas from a strange source. We will
answer that if it were like that we wouldn’t know what to do and would
not have as much need to be proud as for the merit of others. But such objection
is not serious since we have not said that the genius cannot produce
on his own, to begin with, and also because the ideas which are suggested
to him mix up with his own ideas, indistinguishably, thus he cannot be
criticized for attributing the paternity to himself, unless receiving them
through a patent spiritist communication and wanted to take ownership
of that. This could, however, lead the spirits to make him pass through
some deceptions. Finally we will say that if the spirits suggest great ideas to a human beings, the kind of ideas that characterize a genius, that is
because the human being is capable of understanding them, working and
transmitting them. They would not take an imbecile by interpreter.
We can then feel honored for having received a great and beautiful
mission, particularly if pride does not detour it from its praiseworthy
path, causing loss of merit.
May the following thoughts be of the personal ownership of Mr. de
Porry, may they have been suggested through an indirect mediumistic
way, the poet however will not have less merit for it because if the idea
was given to him, the honor of having elaborated them cannot be denied
to him!
