Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1865

“One of my daughters has a three year old boy that has been the source of a lot of concern to her since his birth. By the end of last August his heath was reestablished but he still walked with difficulty and spoke papa, mommy but the rest of his language was a series of inarticulate sounds. About a month ago and after unsuccessful attempts for having him saying the most usual words, my daughter was in bed feeling really sorry for that kind of mutism, particularly devastated for the fact that her husband, long time captain, was about to return home, after a more than a year long absence, and would still find no improvement in his son’s ability to speak, when at 5 am she was woken up by the child’s voice that distinctly said the letters A, B, C, D that she had never tried to have him saying. Believing to be daydreaming she sat on the bed inclining her head to the cradle, near the sleeping child that she heard repeating out loud several times the letters A, B, C marked by a slight movement of the head and after a short interval he would say D with an accent. I entered the room about 6am while the child was still asleep but the sleepless mother was very happy and moved for having heard her son pronouncing those letters. When the boy woke up and from that moment we uselessly tried to have him saying those letters (that he had never heard before, at least in this life), all of our attempts were in vain. Even today he says A and B but it has been impossible to have him saying C and D like more than two sounds, one from the throat, the other nasal, that in no way resembled those letters that we wanted him to say. Isn’t that the proof that the boy had already lived? I stop here since I do not feel instructed enough to dare conclude. I need to learn more and read all about Spiritism but not to convince me; Spiritism answers everything or at least almost everything; but I repeat Sir I do not know enough. That will come for I wish so. God that has never abandoned me since I widowed sixteen years ago; God that helped me to educate my children and conduct them; God that has my full faith will provide with what I lack because I wait and ask with my heart to allow the good Spirits to enlighten and guide me on the good path. Pray for me also, Sir; my thoughts are with you and above all I wish to walk the good path.”

This, no doubt, is the result of previously acquired knowledge. If there is an innate aptitude it is the one revealed during the sleep of the body when nothing could have developed it during the vigil state. If the ideas were the result of matter why a new idea shows up when matter is benumbed whereas it is not only null but impossible to express when the organs are in full activity? Hence the primary cause cannot be in matter. That is how materialism continuously clashes with problems for which it cannot give solution. For a theory to be true it must not be belied by any fact. Spiritism does not formulate any theory prematurely unless it is done hypothetically in which case it avoids giving that as an absolute truth, only providing it as matter for study. That is why it marches steadfast. In the case above since it is evident that the Spirit did not learn during the vigil state he may have learned elsewhere what he says during the sleep. If it were not in this life it was on another one and even more, in an earthly life in which he spoke French for he pronounces letters in French. How can those that deny the plurality the existences or reincarnation on Earth explain the fact? But what there still needs to be learned is why he cannot articulate in vigil what he does in the sleep. Here is the explanation given by a Spirit at the Parisian Society:



November 24^th, 1864 – medium Mrs. Cazemajour

“It is an intelligence that could be still veiled for some time through the physical suffering of reincarnation to which the Spirit had great difficulty in accepting and that has temporarily annihilated his faculties. But his guide helps him with kind solicitude allowing him to leave that state through his advices, encouragement and lessons that he gives him during the sleep, lessons that will not be lost and that will be effective when the phase of numbness is over, something that will be determined by a violent shock of extreme commotion. For that it is necessary a struggle of this kind. It is necessary to wait but not fear idiocy because that is not case.”

There is an important and up to a certain extent new teaching here: education in the first infancy given to a incarnate by a discarnate Spirt. Certain scientists would certainly discard this as a puerile and without importance fact, or would explain it by a super excitation of the brain that momentarily expand the senses, because that is how they explain all mediumistic faculties. Undoubtedly in certain cases one could conceive the exaltation in an adult whose imagination grows in proportion to what that person sees or hear, but one could not understand what could excite the brain of a three year old that sleeps. Here we have a fact that is inexplicable by that theory while it finds a logical and natural explanation in Spiritism. Spiritism does not disdain any fact, however insignificant it may appear to be. It watches, observes and studies them all. That is how the Spiritist science progresses, as the facts present themselves to confirm or complete the theory. If those facts contradict Spiritism another explanation is thought for that.

A letter dated December 30^th, 1864 sent by a friend of the family says this:

“The Spirits said that a crisis, determined by a violent shock, an extreme emotion will free the child from the numbness of his faculties. They told the truth. The crisis took place by a violent shock and here is how. The child triggered a terrible fall of his grandmother, in which she almost had her head broken, smashing the child. From that moment on the child surprises the parents every time now by saying whole phrases, like for example: watch out mommy, you may fall.”

The articulation of the letters during the boys’ sleep was evidently a mediumistic effect since it resulted from the exercise that the Spirit carried out with him. In a future session of the Society in which the issue was not being discussed, a spontaneous dissertation was given, confirming and developing that kind of mediumship as follows next.

When the Spirit is just incarnate, after being prepared by the guardian angel, establishing the groundwork for the endurance of new trials for one’s own betterment, the mysterious links that unit the Spirit to the body, to manifest its terrestrial action, begin to establish. This contains a whole study that I will not elaborate on now. I will only speak of the role and disposition of the Spirit during the infancy in the cradle.

The action of the Spirit upon matter in that period of physical vegetation is little noticeable. The spiritual guides, therefore, take advantage of that period in which the physical part does not require the intelligent participation of the Spirit to prepare the latter and give the Spirit encouragement in the good resolutions that impregnate the soul. It is in those moments of detachment that the Spirit, leaving the state of confusion that was necessary for the present incarnation, understands and remembers the commitment made towards moral betterment. That is when the protector Spirits assist and help you to recognize yourselves. Consequently, study the face of a sleeping baby. You will see that many times sleeping to the angels, as they commonly say, an expression that is truer than people think. The child, in fact, smiles to the Spirits that surround her and that must guide her. Watch that little one awake. The eyes are staring, seemingly recognizing friendly creatures, mumbling words with happy gestures, apparently addressing beloved faces. And since God does not abandon his creatures, those same Spirits will later on give that child health instructions, be it in their sleep or by inspiration, in their vigil state. From that you can see that every creature has the gift of mediumship, at least in an embryonic state.

The infancy, per se, is a long series of mediumistic effects and if, later on, children a little bit older and with more strength, were not afraid of the images of those first hours, you would be able to attest such effects in a much better way.

Keep on with your studies, and like grown children, you will be more enlightened everyday if you are not adamant in keeping your eyes closed to what surrounds you.

A protector Spirit