Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866

Allan Kardec

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A Vision by Paul I



The czar Paul I, then only the Grand Duke Paul, was in Brussels in a meeting with friends, talking about the so-called supernatural phenomena, when he reported the following fact:[1]

“One afternoon, or better saying, one evening, I was in the streets of St. Petersburg with Kourakin and two servants. He had spent a long time talking and smoking, when we had the idea of leaving the palace in disguise, to see the city under the moonlight. It was not cold; the days were long; it was one of those sweetest days of our Spring, so pale when compared to those of the South. We were happy; we were not thinking of anything religious or not even serious, and Kourakin was telling me a thousand funny things about the rare passersby that we met. I was in front while one of us followed me; Kourakin was a few steps behind and the other servant followed us a bit further down. The moon was bright to the point of allowing a letter to be read. The shades, in opposition, were long and thick.

When I made a turn on a street, I noticed a tall and slim man, by a door entrance, covered by a mantle, like a Spaniard, wearing a military hat, much pressed onto his eyes. He seemed to be waiting, and when we passed by, he left his hiding place and stood by my left side, without a word or a gesture. It was impossible to distinguish his traces; his steps emitted a strange sound when touching the pavement, like a rock hitting another. I was initially surprised by that encounter; I then felt that everything that he almost touched cooled down gradually. I felt a glacial cold penetrating my limbs, and turning to Kourakin I said:

-This comrade is quite a character!

-Which comrade? He asked.

-Well, this one walking on my left and that makes a lot of noise, I believe.

-Kourakin looked at me with his spooky eyes and assured me that he did not see anyone on my left side.

-What? Don’t you see a man on a mantle between me and the wall?

-Your Highness touch the wall and see that there is no space for anybody between you and the wall.

I reached a little with my arm, and in fact I felt the stone. However, the man was there, always following with his hammer-like steps, syncing with my pace. I then carefully examined him, and saw below that unique hat, the shiniest eye that I had ever seen. The eye looked at me, and fascinated me; I could not avoid it.

-Ah I don’t know what is going on, but it is strange, I said.

I was shivering, but of could and not fear. Bit by bit I felt my heart taken by an impression that cannot be described. The blood froze in my veins. Suddenly a cavernous and melancholic voice came out of that mantle that hid the mouth and called me by my name:

-Paul!

I responded mechanically, driven by an unknown force:

-What do you want?

-Paul, he repeated. This time the tone was more friendly and gloomier. I said nothing, waited and he called again and then abruptly stopped. I was forced to do the same.

-Paul, poor Paul! Poor Prince!

I turned to Kourakin that had also stopped.

-Do you hear? I asked.

-Nothing, my Lord, and you?

I heard; the lament was still sounding in my ears. I made a huge effort and asked that mysterious being who he was and what was it that he wanted.

-Poor Paul! Who am I? I am the one that is interested in you. What is it that I want? I want you not to worry too much about this world, for you will not stay here much longer. Live in fairness if you want to die in piece, and do not neglect remorse, that is the most pungent torture of the great souls.

He went back his way, looking at me with that eye that seemed to escape his head, and as I was forced to stop with him, I was forced to walk with him. He did not talk to me again and I did not feel like talking to him. I followed him because he was the one leading the way, and the walk still lasted over an hour, in silence, and I could not figure out where I passed. Kourakin and the servants could not still get over it. Look at his smile: he still thinks that I dreamed all that.

We final approached the Grand Plaza, between the Newa bridge and the Senators Palace. The man went straight to a point in that square, and I followed him, of course, and he stopped again.

-Good-bye Paul. You will see me here and in other places also.

Then, his hat lifted on its own, as if he had touched it, and I could easily see his face. I stepped back, unwillingly: it was the eagle’s eye, the swarthy front, the severe smile of my grandfather Peter, the Great. Before I could recover from my surprise, from my terror, he was gone.



This is the same place where the Empress erects a monument to the renowned that will soon impress the whole Europe, and that represents the czar Peter on a horseback. The basis of the statue is a huge block of granite. I was not the one that pointed at this place to my mother, chosen, or better saying, guessed by the ghost. I confess that finding that statue there I cannot describe the feeling that took me over. I am afraid of being afraid, even though Prince Kourakin wants to persuade me that I was daydreaming, strolling around the streets. I remember the tiniest details of that vision, since it was a vision, I insist. It feels that I am still there. I returned to the Palace, broken as if I had gone for a long walk, and literally cold on my left side. It took me several hours to warm up in a hot bed, under blankets.”

Later, the Grand Duke regretted having talked about that adventure, and tried to make a mockery out of it, but the concerns that it brought up made he think that there was something serious about it. Once this report was read at the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, but without the intention of framing any question about it, one of the mediums received, spontaneously and without evocation, the following communication:

Parisian Society, March 9th, 1866 – medium Mr. Morin

“In the new phase that you entered, with the key given by Spiritism, or the revelation by the Spirits, everything must be explained, at least what you are capable of understanding. Clairvoyance was the first mediumship given to man to correspond with the invisible world, cause of so many facts that still today are left without a rational explanation. In fact, when you look over the different ages of humanity, carefully observing all the traditions that existed, you will find, among those that preceded you, creatures that had a relationship with the world of the Spirits. Since the beginning of times, in all peoples, religious beliefs were established upon revelations of visionaries or clairvoyant mediums. Too small on their own, men were always assisted by the invisible that preceded them in erraticity, and abiding by the law of universal reciprocity, they came to bring them the knowledge that they had acquired, through communications sometimes inconsistent, delineating the conduct to be followed for the discovery of truth. The first mediumistic faculty, as I said, was the vision. How many adversaries has it found among the interest of all times! But one must not infer from my words that every vision is the result of true communication; many are the result of hallucinations of weakened minds, or the result of a plan hatched to serve a calculation or to satisfy pride. Believe me, the clairvoyant medium is the most impressionable of all; what he saw is better stored in the mind. From the moment when your Grand Duke[2], vain and boaster like most of his kind, saw the grandfather appearing to him, since it was in reality a vision that had its reason in the mission that Peter the Great had accepted in favor of his grandson, that consisted on guiding and inspiring him, mediumship was permanent in the Duke and it was only the fear of ridicule that precluded him from telling all visions to his friend. That clairvoyant mediumship was not the only one that he had. He was also endowed by intuition and hearing. However, much pervaded by the principles of his first education, he refused to take advantage of the wise warnings given by his guiding Spirits. It was through auditive mediumship that he had the revelation of his tragic end. Since then his Spirit progressed a lot. Today he would no longer fear the ridicule of believing in a vision, and that is why he comes to tell you: - Thanks to my dear spiritual guides, and to the observation of the facts, I believe in the survival of the soul, in the eternal omnipotence of God, in the constant progression of men and peoples to good, and I am honored that one of my frivolities has given place to a dissertation from which I have everything to win and you have nothing to lose.

Paul



[1] Extracted from the Grand Journal, March 3rd, 1866, taken from a book by Mr. Hortensius de Saint Albin, entitled Le Culte de Satan.




[2] Many Russian citizens attended the session in which this communication was given; that has undoubtedly led to the expression your Grand Duke.


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