Protesting Style of a Spiritist Against Attacks of Certain JournalsOne of our correspondents wrote us the following:
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Here is what I sent two years ago to Mr. Nefftzer, director of the Journal Le Temps: I was a subscriber to your Journal for being sympathetic to its tendencies and opinions. I have regrettably cancelled my subscription. Allow me to explain my reasons. In your June issue you endeavor to ridicule Spiritism and the Spiritists, telling a kind of authentic story, not mentioning names or places, something easy to do. You tried to determine that Spiritism leads to madness, a compulsory theme to the materialists nowadays, that feel greatly bothered by Spiritism. Weak minds, no doubt, having already tendencies for mental diseases, lost their minds on dealing with Spiritism, as they would without it, and as it happens when they get involved with Chemistry, Physics or Astronomy, and even the writers that do not believe in Spirits. I do not deny either that there are impostors that exploit Spiritism, but which science is free from charlatanism? Don’t we find charlatans in the literature, technology, agriculture, in the military, politicians and the latter in particular? But to conclude against Spiritism from that is not much logical or sensible. Before casting an accusation of that sort, one should at least get to know the object that is under scrutiny, but that is frequently the least concern of those that write about it. They cut and decide from top to bottom since that is easier than the study and understanding. If you have already experienced great disgraces and true pain, believe me Sir, study Spiritism; only through that you will find consolation and the truths that will allow you to withstand suffering, losses and despair, and that alone is more valued than suicide. What can you offer us better than this beautiful and reassuring Christian philosophy? A cult to material things, to the golden calf? [1]This may perhaps be convenient to the temperament of the happy people of these days, but something different is needed for those that no longer wish fanaticism, superstition, and the ridiculous and gross practices of the Middle Ages, the atheism, pantheism and the systematic incredulity of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Allow me, Sir, to advise you to be more judicious in your diatribes against Spiritism for today, in France alone, they address about three hundred or four hundred thousand people.Blanc de Lalésie, owner near Joncy (Saône-et-Loire).A few days ago, we learned from the papers about the recent death of Mr. Nefftzer’s only son. I do not know if such a disgrace made him remember my letter. I have just sent Mr. Sr. Émile Aucante, manager of the Univers Illustré journal, the following letter: I have been a subscriber to the Univers Illustré for eighteen months now and since then there was only a few editions in which your chronicler, by the pseudo name Gérôme, did not bother in occupying himself in making jokes of all sorts about Spiritism and the Spiritists. Up until now, that somewhat tedious entertainment, given its frequency, was very innocent: Spiritism does not do bad because of that. But Mr. Gérôme, undoubtedly noticing that people do not bother with his jokes, changed his tone and in the October 7th edition he treats the mass of Spiritists as idiots. From jokes he moves into offence, not afraid of insulting thousands of people, as much educated, enlightened and intelligent as himself, just because they believe to have an immortal soul and that this soul, on another life, will be punished or rewarded, according to one’s merits or lack of merits. Mr. Gérôme has no more prejudices. Yikes! He, no doubt, believes that he eats, drinks and reproduces not more or less like his dog or horse. Kudos to him!If Mr. Gérôme were kind enough to receive a word of advice, I would invite him to speak only about things that he knows and to shut up with respect to those that he does not, or least to study them, something that would be easy for him, given his elevated and incontestable intelligence. He would learn about things that he ignores totally, like for example the fact that Spiritism is not but the developed Christianity and that the manifestation of the Spirits, that has always happened, adds nothing to the doctrine that would exist with or without them. But why am talking about Spirits to a man that only believes in his own, and that perhaps ignores if he himself as one? Finally, may Mr. Gérôme be surrounded by the flag of materialism, pantheism or paganism – the latter would be better because there, at least, they believed in the existence of the soul and in a future life – never mind! But may he know to respect his readers’ beliefs, by respecting himself. It is obvious that I cannot continue to give my money away to be insulted, and if such calumnies must continue I would feel sorry to have to cease my subscription…” Mr. … is modest when assessing the number of Spiritists in France as three or four hundred thousands. He could have doubled it without exaggeration and would still be well below the numbers produced by an author that pretended to destroy us and placed the mark in 20 million. As a matter of fact, an accurate census of the Spiritists is impossible given the fact that they are not grouped, do not form a corporation or society whose members are registered and may be counted. Spiritism is a belief. Anyone that believes in the existence and survival of the souls, and in the possibility of communication between mankind and the spiritual world, is Spiritist, and many are intuitively without having ever heard of Spiritism or mediums. One is a Spiritist out of conviction, as others are non-believers, and for that reason one does not absolutely need to be part of a society, and a proof of that is that not even a thousandth part of them attend meetings. There is no ledger to be consulted to have them counted. One would have to enquiry each individual and ask them about their beliefs. Through normal conversations, every day, people are found with sympathetic ideas and for that matter only they are Spiritists, without the need for a certificate or any sort of notarization. This number grows daily. The fact is attested by our adversaries that are terrified to acknowledge that such a belief invades every echelon of society, from top to bottom of the scale. It is, therefore, an opinion that must be taken into account, and that has the particularity of not being restricted to a class, a cast or sect, nor to a nation or political party. It has representatives everywhere, in the literature, arts, sciences, medicine and courts, in the army, in the commerce, etc. The number of subscribers in France, no doubt, is higher than that of signatories of all Parisian journals. It is obvious that the former constitutes a significant part of the latter. It is therefore to these supporters that your paid journalists say grievances. Now, as Mr. Lalésie correctly says, it is not nice to give money away and be ridiculed and belittled at. For that he cancelled the subscription to journals in which he felt mistreated in his belief, and nobody can reproach his attitude.
Does it mean that the journals must adopt the Spiritists ideas to please them? Not at all. They themselves discuss opinions that they do not share all the time but they do not offend those that do. Those writers are not Jewish, however they do not cast anathema and disdain upon them. Why? Because, as they say, one must respect the freedom of conscience. Why, then, such freedom is not granted to the Spiritists? Aren’t them citizens like everybody else? Do they claim exemption or privilege? They ask for one thing only: the right to be able to think as they wish. Would those that wrote in their flag “freedom, equality and fraternity” want to create a class of pariah in France?
[1] Exodus, 32 (TN)
