Human comedyParis, group Desliens, November 29
th, 1866 – medium Mr. Desliens
“The life of the incarnate Spirit is like a novel, or rather like a play, in which each day we go through a page containing a scene. Man is the author; the characters are the passions, the vices and the virtues, matter, and intelligence, competing for the possession of the hero, that is the Spirit. The audience is the world in general during the incarnation, and the Spirits in erraticity, and the critic that examines the play to ultimately judge it, awarding the author with blame or praise, that is God.
So, make sure you are applauded as often as possible, and only rarely hear the unpleasant sound of the whistles, blowing in your ear. Let the script always be simple, and only seek interest in natural situations that can serve to make virtue triumph, to develop intelligence and to moralize the public.
During the execution of the play, intrigue, set in motion by envy, may try to criticize the best acts, and only praise those that are mediocre or bad. Close your ears to such flattery and remember that posterity will appreciate you for your true worth! You will leave a name obscure or illustrious, tainted with shame or covered with glory, according to the world; but, when the play is over, and the curtain drawn after the last act, and you are in the presence of the universal stage manager, of the infinitely powerful director of the theater, where the human comedy takes place, there will be neither flatterers nor courtiers, neither envious nor jealous: you will be alone with the supreme, impartial, equitable, and just judge.
May your work be serious and moralizing, for it is the only one that has any weight in the scale of the Almighty.
Everyone must give back to society at least what they receive from it. The one that, having received the bodily and spiritual assistance that allows him to live, goes away without returning at least what he has spent, is a thief, because he has wasted a part of the intelligent capital and produced nothing.
Not everyone can be a genius, but everyone can and should be honest, good citizens, and give back to society what society has lent them.
For the world to be in progress, everyone must leave a useful memory of their personality, one more scene in the infinite number of useful scenes, that the members of humanity have left, since your earth has been used as a place of dwelling to the Spirits.
So, make sure that each page of your novel is read with interest, and that one does not just browse through it, closing it in boredom before halfway through.
Eugène Sue
