Regarding the poetry of Mr. Marteau
It is a really curious thing to see those that even reject the name of Spiritism, with the most obstinacy, sowing its ideas in profusion. There is not a day when, in the press, in literary works, in poetry, in speeches, even in sermons, we do not encounter thoughts belonging to the purest Spiritism. Ask those writers if they are Spiritists, they will answer with disdain that they would be careful not to do so; if you tell them that what they wrote is Spiritism, they will answer that it cannot be, because it is not the apologia for the Davenports and the turning tables. For them, the whole Spiritism is there, and they do not leave it, and do not want to leave it; they have already pronounced: their judgment is final.
They would be very surprised, however, if they knew that they are doing Spiritism at every moment without knowing it, that they elbow it without realizing that they are so close! But, what does it matter the name, if the fundamental ideas are accepted! What does the shape of the plow matter, as long as it prepares the terrain? Instead of happening all at once, the idea comes in fragments, that's all the difference; however, when later, they will see that these reunited fragments are nothing else than Spiritism, they will inevitably deny the opinion they had formed about it. The Spiritists are not so childish to attach more importance to the word than to the thing; that is why they are happy to see their ideas spreading in any form.
The Spirits who lead the movement, say to themselves: Since they do not want the thing with this name, we are going to make them accept it in detail in another form; believing themselves to be the inventors of the idea, they will themselves be its propagators. We will do as we do with patients who do not want certain remedies, and that are made to unsuspectedly take them, by changing the color.
The adversaries generally know so little what constitutes Spiritism, that we are certain that the most fervent Spiritist, who would not be known as such, could with the help of some rhetorical precautions, and provided especially that he would abstain from speaking of Spirits, develop the most essential principles of the doctrine, and obtain applause from those that would not even have allowed him to speak, if he had presented himself as a follower. But where do these ideas come from, since those who put them forward have not drawn them from the doctrine they do not know?
We have already said it several times: when a truth has come to term, and the minds of the masses are ripe to assimilate it, the idea sprouts everywhere; it is in the air, carried to all points by the fluidic currents; each one inhales a few bits of it, and emits them as if they were hatched in his brain. If some are inspired by the Spiritist idea, without daring to admit it, it is certain that in many it is spontaneous. Now, Spiritism being in the collectivity and in the coordination of these partial ideas, by the force of things it will one day be the link between those who profess them; It's a matter of time.
It should be noted that when an idea must take its place in humanity, everything contributes to clear the way for it; so it is with Spiritism. By observing what is happening in the world at this moment, the large and small events that arise or are being prepared, there isn’t a single Spiritist who does not tell himself that everything seems to be done on purpose to smooth out the difficulties and facilitate its establishment; the adversaries themselves seem driven by an unconscious force to clear the way, and to dig an abyss under their own feet, to make people feel better the need to fill it up.
And let us not believe that opposites are harmful; far from it. Never have disbelief, atheism and materialism more boldly raised their heads and displayed their pretensions. It is no longer about personal opinions, respectable like everything that springs of the intimate conscience, they are doctrines that one wants to impose, and with the help of which one wants to govern men, against their will. The very exaggeration of these doctrines is the remedy, for one wonders what society would be like if they ever came to prevail. This exaggeration was needed to better understand the benefit of beliefs that can be the safeguard of social order.
But, what a strange blindness! Or to put it better, what a providential blindness! Those who want to replace what exists, like those who want to oppose the new ideas, when the most serious questions are raised, instead of attracting, instead of reconciling sympathies by gentleness, benevolence and persuasion, it seems that they do everything to inspire repulsion; they find nothing better than to impose themselves by violence, to compress consciences, to offend convictions, and to persecute. A singular way of seeing themselves well by people!
In the present state of our world, persecution is the obligatory baptism of any new belief of any value. Spiritism receiving its own, it is the proof of the importance that one attaches to it. But, we repeat, all this has its reason for being and its usefulness: it must be so to prepare the way. The Spiritists must see themselves as soldiers on a battlefield; they owe themselves to the cause, and can only wait for resting when victory is delivered. Happy are those who will have contributed to victory at the price of some sacrifices!
For the observer who contemplates, in cold blood, the work of giving birth to the idea, it is something marvelous to see how everything, even what at first glance seems insignificant or contrary, ultimately converges to the same goal; to see the diversity and the multiplicity of events that the invisible powers bring into play, to achieve this goal; everything serves them, everything is used, even what seems bad to us.
There is, therefore, no need to worry about the fluctuations that Spiritism may experience in the conflict of ideas, that are in fermentation; it is an effect of the very effervescence it produces in public opinion, where it cannot meet sympathy everywhere; these fluctuations are to be expected, until equilibrium is restored. In the meantime, the idea advances, that is the essential; and as we said in the beginning, it comes to light through all the pores; all, friends and enemies alike, work at it as they wish, and there is no doubt that without the involuntary active cooperation of the adversaries, the progress of the doctrine, that has never advertised itself to become known, wouldn't have been so quick.
They believe to stifle Spiritism by proscribing the name; but as it does not consist in words, if the door is closed to it because of its name, it penetrates in the intangible form of the idea. And what is curious is that many of those who reject it, not knowing it, not wanting to know it, ignoring, therefore, its purpose, its tendencies and its most serious principles, acclaim some ideas, that sometimes are theirs, without realizing that they are often an essential and integral part of the doctrine. If they did know it, it is likely that they would abstain.
The only way to avoid the mistake would be to study the doctrine thoroughly, to find out what it says and what it does not say. But then, another embarrassment would arise: Spiritism touches on so many questions, the ideas grouped around it are so numerous, that if one wanted to abstain from speaking of all that is connected with it, one would find oneself often singularly prevented, and often even arrested in the outbursts of one’s own inspirations; for one would be convinced, by this study, that Spiritism is in everything and everywhere, and one would be surprised to find it among the most accredited writers; even more, one would catch oneself doing it in many circumstances, without wanting to; well, an idea that becomes a common asset is imperishable.
We have several times already reproduced the Spiritist thoughts that one finds in profusion in the press and writings of all sorts, and we will continue to do it from time to time with this title: Spiritism everywhere. The following article mainly supports the above considerations; it is taken from the
Phare de la Manche,
journal of Cherbourg, from August 18
th, 1867. The author reports on a collection of poetry by Mr. Amédée Marteau
[1], and comments about it in the following way:
“
Two thousand years ago, some time before the establishment of Christianity, the priestly caste of the Druids taught their followers a strange doctrine. It said: No being will ever end; but all beings except God started. Every being is created in the lowest degree of existence. The soul is, first of all, without consciousness of itself; subject to the invariable laws of the physical world, spirit slave of matter, latent and obscure force, it inevitably ascends the degrees of inorganic nature, then of organized nature. Then the lightning falls from the sky, the being knows himself, he is man. The human soul begins the trials of its free will at dawm; it makes its destiny for itself, it advances from existence to existence, from transmigration to transmigration, by the freedom that death gives it; or else, it turns on itself, it falls back from step to step, if it has not deserved to rise, without any fall, however, being forever irreparable. When the soul has reached the highest point of science, strength, virtue, susceptible to the human condition, it escapes the circle of trials and transmigrations, it reaches the end of happiness: heavens. Once this term has been reached, man does not fall back; he always rises, rises towards God by an eternal progress, without, however, ever being confused with him. Far from losing its activity, its individuality in heaven, it is there that each soul acquires full possession of itself, with the memory of all the previous states through which it has passed. Its personality, its own nature develops more and more distinct there, as it climbs on an infinite ladder, the degrees of which are only the achievements of life that are no longer separated by death. Such was the conception that Druidism had formed of the soul and its destinies. It was the enlarged Pythagorean idea, transformed into a dogma and applied to infinity. How does this opinion, after having slept for so many centuries in the limbo of human intelligence, reappear today? Perhaps it has its explanation in the revolution that, since Galileo, has taken place in the astronomical system; perhaps it owes its resurrection to the seductive perspectives that it presents to the reveries of philosophers and thinkers; or finally, to that native curiosity that constantly pushes man towards the unknown. Be it as it may, Fontenelle is the first whose witty pen has renewed these questions in his charming banter on the plurality of worlds. From the habitability of the worlds to the transmigration of the souls, the slope is slippery, and our century has let itself be drawn into it. He took hold of this idea, and supporting it on astronomy, he tried to raise it to the level of a science. Jean Reynaud developed it, in a masterful form, in Ciel et Terre; Lamennais adopts it and generalizes it in the Outline of a Philosophy; Lamartine and Hugo recommend it; Maxime Ducamp popularized it in a novel; Flammarion published a book in its favor; and finally, Mr. Amédée Marteau, in a poetic work, that we have read with the greatest interest, puts the colors of his seductive palette on this vast and magnificent utopia. Mr. Marteau is the poet of the new idea; he is an enthusiastic and devoted believer in the transmigration of souls into heavenly bodies, and it must be admitted that he has succeeded in handling this splendid subject with mastery. God, man, time, space are the inspirers of his muse. Vertiginous abysses, immeasurable elevations, nothing stops him, nothing frightens him. It is played out in the immensity, it rubs shoulders with the shores of infinity, without fading. He travels through the stars, like an eagle on the high peaks. He describes in harmonious language, with mathematical precision, their shapes, their movement, their color, their outlines." After quoting a fragment of one of the odes from this collection, the author of the article adds:
“Mr. Marteau is not only a poet of great distinction, he is also a philosopher and a scholar. Astronomy is familiar to him; he enamels his poetry with the gold powder that he drops from the sidereal spheres. We cannot say what captivated us the most, if the interest of the language, or the originality of the thought. All this fits together, coordinates in such a crystalline, clear and natural way, that one remains as if fascinated by the spell. We don't know Mr. Marteau; but we think that if, to compose a book like this, one must be endowed with a great talent, one must also be endowed with a great heart; for, in this author, everything breathes the love of man and the love of God. So, we must recommend to all those who are not absorbed by worries and material interests, to take a look at the works of Mr. Marteau. They will find there consolations and hopes, not to mention the intellectual pleasures that the reading of a generous poetry, rich in conceptions, ideal, and undoubtedly destined to a brilliant success."Digard. The exposition of the Druidic doctrine on the destinies of the soul, with which the article begins, is as we see, a complete summary of the Spiritist doctrine, on the same subject. Does the author know? We allow ourselves to doubt it, otherwise it would be strange if he had refrained from quoting Spiritism, unless he was afraid to give it a share in the praise that he lavishes to the author's ideas. We will not insult him for supposing such childish partiality in him; we, therefore, prefer to believe that he does not even know it exists. When he asks himself: "
How does this opinion, after having slept for so many centuries in the limbo of human intelligence, wake up today?" If he had studied Spiritism, Spiritism would have answered him, and he would have seen that these ideas are more popular than he thinks.
“
Mr. Marteau,” he said, “
is the poet of the new idea; he is an enthusiastic and devoted believer in the transmigration of souls into heavenly bodies, and it must be admitted that he has succeeded in handling this splendid subject with mastery." Further on, he adds:"
If, in order to compose a book like this, one must be endowed with a great talent, one must also be endowed with a great heart, because, in this author, everything breathes the love of man and the love of God.”
So, Mr. Marteau is not a fool for professing such ideas? Jean Reynaud, Lamennais, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, Louis Jourdan, Maxime Ducamp, Flammarion, are not, therefore, fools for having recommended them? To praise men, is not that to praise their principles? And besides, can one praise a book more than saying that the readers will draw hopes and consolation from it? Since these doctrines are those of Spiritism, does not this accredit them with public opinion?
Therefore, here is an article where one would say that the name of Spiritism is intentionally omitted, and where one acclaims the ideas that it professes, on the most essential points: the plurality of existences and the destinies of the soul.
[1] Hopes and Souvenirs, at Hachette, 77, boulevard Saint-Germain.
