Psychological Problem
Two insane brothers
In a working-class family of Paris there are two children that are mentally ill, presenting the particularity of being perfectly normal until they were five years old. Unless provoked by an accident, insanity
[1] in children is almost always the result of an interruption in the development of the organs and, consequently, it manifests since birth. Besides, it is remarkable here the fact that two children were hit by the same disease in identical conditions. Since this double phenomenon can be the object of an interesting study, from a physiological point of view, one of the members of the Parisian Society, Mr. Desliens, was introduced to the family in order to report back to the Society. The result of his observations is as follows:
“
When the father learned about the objective of my visit, he said, he went to a bedroom and returned with a being that had the features of an animal rather than showing any spark of intelligence. He also brought a second one, in the same brute state but showing more of human characteristics. None of them would produce any meaningful sound; their only audible manifestation were little screeches and high pitch sounds. Their faces almost always showed an unhuman smile. The oldest is called Alfred and the other one Paulino.
Alfred is now seventeen years old and was born with normal intelligence that even manifested prematurely. At the age of three he spoke with fluency and was able to comprehend the tiniest signs. He then fell ill and became verbally impaired and showed mental disability. Medical treatments lead him to a total exhaustion of his vital forces and absolute rickets. That creature, that not even has the appearance of a man, nonetheless has feelings; he loves his parents and brother and is capable of showing sympathy or displeasure for those around him. He understands everything that people say; intelligence shines out of his eyes; he strives to find the resources to respond to things that interest him but all that unsuccessfully. He has an incontrollable fear of death and always hides when he sees a funerary car. One day his aunt jokingly threated to poison him if he were naughty and he understood that perfectly well and for over a year he refused to accept any food from her hands, although he has an extraordinary appetite.
Paulino, the fifteen-year-old, physically he has a more human look. His severe mental illness shows on his bruised facial expression. He, nonetheless, loves but that is limited to exterior manifestations. He was equally normal up to the age of six. He cared a lot for his brother. He then fell ill at that age and went through the same process as the oldest. More recently he had a prolonged illness after which he seemed to understand things better. The clerics of the parish said that it was all about demoniac possession and that it was necessary to exorcize the boys. The parents hesitated. However, fatigued by their insistence and afraid of losing the support they had, given the state of the children, they agreed. Those gentlemen than stated that in fact there had been possession but, in another time, and that today there was nothing else that could be done. One must say, with respect to the parents, that they have always shown the greatest care and fondness towards those unfortunate creatures.”The clerics wisely resigned to the exorcism that would certainly lead to failure. The children do not show any sign of obsession, in the way Spiritism understands it, and it all leads to the belief that the cause is purely pathologic. Both shows mental illness as a consequence of another disease that, undoubtedly, caused the atrophy of the brains. But it is clearly easy to see that there is a thinking mind behind that veil that finds an unbreakable obstacle to its free manifestation. The intelligence of those kids, in their early days of infancy, demonstrates that it is about advanced Spirits that later on had their manifestation hindered. If they were given a normal body they would have been intelligent men, and when death frees them from that impediment, they will recover the full use of their faculties. Such a constriction imposed onto a soul must have a moral and providential cause, and it must be fair since God is the source of all justice. Well, considering that those kids could not have time to do anything wrong in this current life that would lead to such a punishment, one must forcibly admit that they are paying for a debt of a previous life, unless we deny God’s justice. They provide us with a proof of the need for reincarnation, this key that resolves so many problems and daily casts light on to so many still obscure question (see
The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chapter V, item 5: Past causes of affliction).
The communication that follows was given at the Parisian Society about this subject, on July 7
th, 1865 (medium Mr. Desliens): “
The loss of intelligence in the two cases of mental illness is certainly explainable from a scientific point of view. Each one fell ill for a short while; one can then conclude that their brains were affected. But why had that accident occurred after the evident manifestation of their normal faculties, contrary to what generally occurs in cases of insanity? I repeat: every disturbance of intelligence or of the physical functions may be explained physiologically, irrespective of the cause, since the laws established by the Creator for the relationship between intelligence and the organs of its transmission cannot be denied. The disturbance of those relationships is a consequence of those laws and may reach the culprit for their previous faults: that is the atonement. Why are those two beings hurt together? Because they lived a common life; they were connected during the trial and must be reunited in their atonement. Why have they given early signs of intelligence, contrary to what commonly happen in similar cases? From the point of view of the providence, it is one out of thousands of nuances of atonement, that are individual and very difficult to assess by the simple fact that they are individual. One must also see here one of those many elements that daily come to confirm, to the careful observer, the bases of the Spiritist Doctrine, sanctioning by the evidence the principles of reincarnation. In addition, do not forget that the parents also have their part here. To them it is also a great test, for their love and care have no compensation. They must be congratulated for not having failed and the compensation that they do not find in this world they will find later on. Rest assured that the care and affection that they dedicate to those poor beings might well be a reparation to them, a reparation that have even more merit given the embarrassing condition of the whole family.” Moki
[1] Idiocy in the original. The term was medically correct in the times of Allan Kardec and had no negative meaning as it does today (TN)
