Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1865

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Some time ago I announced new explanations about the budget of Spiritism. The start of a new social year naturally offers me such occasion. In the following report I apologize for having to talk about myself, something that I minimize, but in this situation, I could not help it and that is why I apologize in advance.

I will give you a summary of the report about the subject presented to you two years ago.

In February 1860 a donation of 10,000 francs was made available to me to be used at will in the interest of Spiritism. On the occasion the Parisian Society did not have a headquarter and that was of grave concern. The importance that the doctrine was taking gave rise to the idea of finding an adequate place for the sessions and for the reception of visitors whose number grew constantly, making it also necessary to have someone at the office of the Society. I chose this place that had both good condition and central location. As a matter of fact, the choice was not easy given the need for rooms that were appropriate to the objective and expensive rentals. The lease of this place amounts to 2,930 francs. The Society only counted on 1,200 francs with a deficit of 1,130 francs. The application of the donation to cover for the difference was still within the requirements of the donor since it was in the interest of the doctrine and one must acknowledge, particularly today, the importance of having this center of convergence of so many groups and to have my own shelter here. I must emphasize, however, that it is not a personal advantage to me to be able to live here since I have another apartment that costs me nothing and where it would be more enjoyable for me to live and such double residence is to me reason for more expenses instead of a relief, as I will demonstrate soon.

The amount of 10,000 francs was then the first budget of Spiritism and that has always been, as you know, a matter of separate accounting, never mixed up with my personal matters. Such a budget should be enough to account for, give or take, about six years of lease, according to the detailed expense report presented last time. Well, the contract is about to expire in one year and the resources are at the end. It is true that the capital was increased with several sums and it is formed like so:

The last two donations had a special destination and only 11,100 francs were allocated to the rent and are not entirely sufficient. Rent, nonetheless, is not the only expense due to Spiritism. I am not talking about charitable work that we shall comment in due course. I talk about another issue and it is here that I need your indulgence towards myself for the reason that I need to talk about me.

A lot was said about the profit that I had with my books. Not a single serious person believes in my millions, despite those that stated that had good information and that I led a luxurious life; that I had carriages of four horses and that my house was covered in rugs from Aubusson.

Besides all that was said by the author of a brochure that you know well, that demonstrates by hyperbolic calculations that the revenues of my publications were beyond the civil list of the most powerful sovereign of Europe (38 million, Spiritist Review, June 1862 and June 1863) – something that in passing must be said would testify an incredible expansion of the doctrine – there is something more authentic than his calculations: it is the fact that I have never asked for anything to anybody; nobody has even given me anything for my personal use and no collection of a single cent has ever attended my personal needs. In one words, I do not live on anybody else’s expenses and as for the moneys that were entrusted in me for the benefit of Spiritism I have never used a single fraction to my own benefit, besides the fact that one can see the actual numbers that are involved.

My immense fortune then must have come from my Spiritist books. Although those works had an unexpected success one only needs to have a slight knowledge of matters related to publishing that one cannot accumulate millions in five or six years by publishing philosophical books, particularly considering that one only gets a few cents per book in copyrights. Nonetheless, if that is a lot or too little, if that is the result of my own work it is none of anybody’s business how I employ those resources. Even if they were in the millions, considering that both the purchase of the books as well as the subscription to the Spiritist Review are facultative and not imposed to anyone, under any circumstance, not even to attend the sessions at the Society, it is of nobody’s business. Speaking in business terms I am in the position of any person that collects the proceeds of their own work: I take the risk of every writer that is success or failure. Although I do not have to provide any report in that particular, I believe it to be in the very interest of the cause to which I have devoted myself.

To begin with I say that my works are not my exclusive property and that I am forced to purchase them from my editor and pay them, like a bookstore does, with the exception of the Spiritist Review, from which I kept the rights of ownership; that the profits are significantly diminished by the books that are not sold and by the free distributions done in the interest of the doctrine to persons that would otherwise go without them. A very simple calculation demonstrates that the cost of ten donated or lost books that must be paid for are enough to erase the profits of one hundred sold units. This said as information and between brackets. In the end, when it is all settled and done, there is something left. You can imagine the number you like. What I do with that? That is what concerns certain people.

Any person that had shared our intimacy before and sees the way we live today may attest that there has been no change since I started working with Spiritism. It is as simple now as it was before because a luxurious life is not part of our tastes. Then, it is certain that whatever the profits I make they don’t serve to give us the pleasures of luxury. We have no children hence we do not save for them and our indirect heirs are, in their majority, much wealthier than we are. It would be really naïve for me to get exhausted from my work on their behalf. Would I then accumulate treasures to have the pleasure of contemplating my money? I believe that my character and my habits have never allowed such assumption. Those that attribute me with such ideas know very little of my own principles in matter of Spiritism because they believe me to be too attached to the earthly means.

Why are things like that? Considering that I don’t take advantage of that, the more fabulous the amount, more embarrassing is the answer. One day the exact amount will be known as well as its detailed application and those that create stories will be able to spare their own imagination; today I limit myself to some generic data to end ridiculous suppositions. In order to do so I need to give you some personal information for which I count on your forgiveness because they are necessary.

At all times we have led a simple life, it is true, but what would be too little to certain persons was enough to us, thanks to our tastes and habits according to our means. Our small income was added by the proceeds of the books that I published before Spiritism and that of a simple job that I had to leave when the works of the doctrine totally absorbed my time.

My own property is what is left to me from all that could not be taken away from me by ill-faith and we could leave there in peace and far from the turmoil of businesses. Spiritism took me away from obscurity and sent me into a new path. Soon I saw myself dragged by a movement that I could hardly foresee. When I conceived The Spirits’ Book my intention was to remain unknown and not to come out in the open but rapidly overloaded by work that was no longer possible. I had to resign to my own solitude or see the failure of work that I had just initiated and that was already progressing prodigiously. I had to follow the torrent and take the reins.

If now I enjoy some popularity I had not absolutely sought that for it is notorious that such popularity was not due to the press or to the propaganda and I have never taken advantage of my personal relationships to throw myself into the world at a time when such a thing would have been easy for me to do. The more the work progressed, though, a broader horizon unfolded before me and its limits moved further and further away. I then understood the gigantic task I had and the importance of the work that I had to complete to accomplish that.

Far from scaring me away, the obstacles and difficulties doubled my energy; I saw the objective and decided to achieve it with the assistance of the good Spirits. I felt that there was not time to waste and did not waste it in useless visits and ceremonies. It was the works of my life. I dedicated all my time to that; I sacrificed my rest and my own health for that because the future to me was written with irrefutable letters. I did it all out of my own impulse and my wife, who is not more ambitious or more self-serving than I am, totally agreed with my points of view and seconded me with the hard work all the way, as she still does, with tasks that sometimes are beyond her own strength, selflessly sacrificing the pleasures and distractions of the world to which she was used from her family upbringing.

Although we did not move away from our life style the new exceptional position created new needs that were still covered by my own resources. It is difficult to imagine the multiplicity of expenses that were generated and without those activities I would have avoided them. The need to live in two places is, as I have already mentioned, additional expenses for the obligation of having double furniture and a number of smaller expenses that are created for such a double residence and the losses that result from the negligence of my own personal interests left aside for a series of activities that absorb my whole time. This is not a complaint since my current activities are voluntary; it is an attested fact in response to those that say that Spiritism is all profit to me. As for the expenses generated by my position it would impossible to list them but if you take into account that I spend more than 800 francs annually in postage, not to mention the travels, and that I need the assistance of someone to help and other small indispensable expenses, you will understand that I do not exaggerate when I say that may annual expenses that have always grown are today more than three times as before. One can estimate the annual addition by considering an annual average of 6,000 francs over the last eight years. Now, the utility of such expenses for the success of the doctrine is unquestionable and that would have been weakened of course had I remained in my personal retreat, not seeing anyone and without the multiples contacts that I make daily. That is what I would have been forced to do if I had not had any additional resource coming in to help.

Well then, ladies and gentlemen, what gave me that supplement was precisely the product of my works. It gives me pleasure to say that it was the result of my own work and long hours of work that I provided for, at least partially, the material needs for the installation of the doctrine. I therefore brought my own contribution to the budget of Spiritism. It was God’s wishes that Spiritism would find its initial means of action in itself. In the beginning I used to feel sorry for the fact that my limited means did not allow me to do what I wanted to do for the good of the cause but today I see the finger of Providence in that and the realization of this prediction so many times repeated by the Spirits: “Do not worry about anything. God knows your needs and they shall be provided for.”

Had I employed the proceeds of my books to my own personal pleasure and that would have resulted in a loss to Spiritism, but nonetheless nobody could have objected to that because the utilization of those resources were entirely up to me and only me; but since I did not have them before I continued not to have them afterwards; I also think that by applying them to the task nobody will see it as a badly employed money and those that help with the propagation of the books cannot say that they work to make me rich.

The provision of the present was not all. It was necessary to think about the future and prepare the foundation that could help the one that will replace me in the great mission to be accomplished after me. The foundation that I cannot disclose yet is linked to my own property and that is why I apply some of my own resources to have it improved. Since I am far for the millions that are attributed to me I sincerely doubt that, despite the savings that I have, my own resources are sufficient to provide that foundation with the complement that I wanted to give it while alive. But considering that If I am not successful in that such target is in the plans of my spiritual guides and it is likely that sooner or later it shall be accomplished. I make the plans on the paper while I wait.

Far from me, ladies and gentlemen, the idea of boasting about what I have just exposed to you. It was the persistence of certain diatribes that pushed me to break the silence about certain facts, against my own will. Later on, all of those facts that were stained by malevolence shall come out and be cleared by authentic documents, but the time of such explanations has not come yet. The only think I wanted you to learn from me now was about the destination of the resources that the Providence brought to my hands, regardless of their origin. I consider myself a simple trustee of those values and even more so of those that are entrusted in me for which I will provide a strict expense report. I summarize by saying that I do not need them for myself meaning that I do not take advantage of them.

I still have to talk about the budget of beneficence, ladies and gentlemen. You know that it was formed without a preconceived destination, with some quantities passed on to me to the works of charity but without any special destination; from time to time I add to these resources some others that do not have specified application. The first donation made in that class was in the amount of 200 francs, delivered on August 20^th, 1863. The same person sent another money order of 200 francs in the following year on August 17^th. On September 1^st another person sent an order of 100 francs during my trip. As for the subscriptions published in the Spiritist Review several persons added smaller contributions to the others also with discretionary application. More recently, on April 28^th last, someone sent me an order of 500 francs. The total donation so far amounts to 1,317 francs. The total expenses in several charitable works, donations and loans not yet repaid amount to 1,060 francs. The balance today is 257 francs.

One day someone asked me, naturally and out of pure interest for the cause, what I would do if I had one million today. I answered that today I would give it a totally different application that I would have in the beginning. In those days I would have made a lot of propaganda through a large network of publicity; now I acknowledge that it would have been useless because our adversaries did it for us on their own. By not bringing a lot of resources to me the Spirits wanted to demonstrate that Spiritism would own its success to itself, to its own strength and not to the application of common resources.

Today, with a wider horizon and an unfolded future, the needs are of a different order. That hypothetical capital could have a more useful application. Not going into premature details I will only say that a portion of that would serve to convert my own property into a Spiritist retreat whose inhabitants would collect the benefits of our moral doctrine; the other portion would be converted into an inalienable resource to be employed: 1) for the maintenance of the establishment; 2) to ensure an independent life to the one that shall succeed me and to those that will help him; 3) to cover current expenses of Spiritism, without the need to reach out to other eventual resources like I am forced to do since the majority of the resources are the result of my own work that shall end. That is what I would do. But if that is not granted to me I don’t care if it is granted to others. As a matter of fact, I do know that in a way or another all needs will be provided on time by the Spirits that supervise the movement. That is why I am not troubled by that and that I dedicate myself to what I believe to be essential: the conclusion of the works that I still have to finish. After that I will depart when God believes to be the right time.

People are surprised by the fact that certain highly placed persons, notoriously sympathetic to the Spiritist cause, do not openly and officially take it in their own hands. Some say that it would be their duty since Spiritism is an essentially moralizing and humanitarian doctrine. They forget that such persons, given their own positions, have to fight more than others against prejudices that only time will erase and that shall fall before the ascendant of general opinion. In addition, let us consider the fact that Spiritism is still in its outlined stage and that the final word has not been said yet. The general principles are established by their consequences are hardly foreseen and they are not and cannot be clearly defined. Up until now it is no more than a philosophical doctrine whose application to the great issues of general interest must still wait. It will be only then that certain persons will understand its true reach and utility. Before Spiritism has completed its mission the good it does is limited; it can only be an individual belief and a general and public adhesion would be premature and impossible. Then yes, many of those that today consider it futile will forcibly change their point of view and be dragged to study it seriously by the force of things. Let us then let it grow and do not request it to be an adult before it is a child; and let us not ask childhood what only adulthood can provide.

A.K.

NOTE: This explanation had only been given to the Society but since there was a unanimous request to have it inserted at the Spiritist Review we thought it would be right to attend the wishes.