Spiritist DissertationsThe Arts and Spiritism
Paris, Group Desliens, November 25
th, 1868 – medium Mr. Desliens
“Was there ever a time when there were more poets, more painters, sculptors, literati, artists of all kinds? Was there ever a time when poetry, painting, sculpture, any kind of art, was greeted with more disdain? Everything is in the doldrums, and nothing currently has a chance of being favorably appreciated, except what relates directly to the positivist fury of the century. There is still, no doubt, some friends of the beautiful, the great, the true; but sided by how many profaners, either among the professionals, or among the amateurs! There are no more painters; there are only makers! It is not glory that is pursued; it comes at too slow a speed for our generation of rushed people. Fame and the halo of talent crowning an existence in decline, what is that? A chimera, good at least for the artists of the past! We had time to live then; today we barely have time to enjoy! Now it is necessary to promptly get a fortune; one must make a name for oneself by an original action, by intrigue, by any not much confessable means, with which civilization fulfills the peoples who reach an immense progress for the future, or an unforgiving decadence. What does it matter if the conquered celebrity disappears as quickly as the existence of the ephemeral! What does it matter the brevity of celebrity! … It is an eternity if that time was enough to acquire fortune, the key to pleasures and the dolce far niente![1] It is the courageous struggle in the ordeal that makes talent; the struggle with fortune annoys and kills him! Everything falls, everything collapses, because there is no belief anymore! Do you think the painter believes in himself? Yes, he does sometimes; but, in general, he believes only in blindness, in the passion of the public, and he profits from it until a new whim moves elsewhere the torrent of favors that came his way! How to make religious or mythological paintings that strike and touch, when the beliefs in the ideas they represent have disappeared? We have the talent, we sculpt the marble, we give it the human form; but it is still a cold and insensible stone: it is lifeless! Beautiful shapes, but not the spark that creates immortality! The masters of antiquity made gods because they believed in these gods. Our current sculptors, who do not believe in that, hardly make men. But come faith, however illogical and without a serious goal, and it will give birth to masterpieces, and if guided by reason, there will be no limits that it cannot reach! Immense, completely unexplored fields are opening to today's youth, to all those who are driven by a powerful feeling of conviction in any direction whatsoever. Literature, architecture, painting, history, everything will receive from the Spiritist spur the new baptism of fire, necessary to restore energy and vitality to the dying society; for it will have engraved in the hearts of all those who accept it, an ardent love of humanity and an unshakeable faith in its destiny.An artist, Ducornet.”
[1] Pleasant idleness (T.N.)
Spiritist Music
Paris, Group Desliens, December 9
th, 1868 – medium Mr. Desliens
“Recently, at the headquarters of the Spiritist Society of Paris, the President did me the honor of asking my opinion on the current state of music and on the changes that the influence of Spiritist beliefs could bring to that. If I did not immediately respond to such benevolent and sympathetic appeal, believe me gentlemen, that my abstention was caused by a force majeure. Ah the musicians are men like the others, more men perhaps, and as such, they are fallible and sinners. I was not exempt from weaknesses, and if God gave me a long life so that I had time to repent, the intoxication of success, the complacency of friends, the flattery of courtiers often subtracted me the means. A maestro is powerful in this world where pleasure plays such a big role. He whose art consists in seducing the ear, in softening the heart, sees many traps being laid under his feet, and he falls in them, the unfortunate one! He gets intoxicated in the intoxication of others; the applause plugs his ears, and he goes straight to the abyss without looking for a point of support to resist the enticement. However, despite my mistakes, I had faith in God; I believed in the soul that vibrated in me, and once freed from its sound cage, it quickly recognized itself amid the harmonies of creation and confused its prayer with those that rise from nature to infinity, from the creature to the uncreated being! …I am pleased with the feeling that drove me to be among the Spiritists, for it was through sympathy that it happened, and if it were curiosity that first attracted me, it is to my gratitude that you owe my appreciation for the question that you posed to me. I was there, ready to speak, believing I knew everything, when my pride, in falling, revealed my ignorance to me. I remained silent and listened; I went back, I enlightened myself, and when the words of truth uttered by your instructors, joined reflection and meditation, I said to myself: The great maestro Rossini, the creator of so many masterpieces, according to men, did no more than to shell out some of the less perfect pearls of the musical setting created by the master of the maestros. Rossini assembled notes, composed melodies, tasted the cup that contains all harmonies; he stole some sparks from the sacred fire; but that sacred fire, neither he nor the others created it! - We invent nothing; we copy from the great book of nature and the crowd applauds when we do not distort the score too much.
A dissertation on celestial music! … Who could do it? What superhuman Spirit could make matter vibrate in unison with such enchanting art? What human brain, what incarnate Spirit could grasp its infinitely varied nuances? … Who possesses the feeling of harmony at this level? … No, man is not cut for that! … Later! … Much later! …
In the meantime, I will come, perhaps soon, to satisfy your desire and give you my assessment of the current state of music, and tell you about the transformations, the progress that Spiritism can introduce there. - Today it is still too early. The subject is vast, I have already studied it, but it still overwhelms me; when I master it, if that is at all possible, or better when I have glimpsed at that as far as the state of my mind allow me to, I will satisfy you; but still a little while to go. If a musician alone can speak well of the music of the future, he must do so as a master, and Rossini does not want to speak as a schoolboy.
Rossini.”
Simulated Obsessions
This communication was given to us about a lady who was supposed to come to ask for advice about an obsession, and about which we thought it to be necessary to first seek the advice of the Spirits.
“Pity for those who suffer must not exclude prudence, and it might be reckless to establish relationships with all those that come your way, affected by a real or feigned obsession. It is yet another test through which Spiritism will have to pass, and that will serve it to get rid of all those who, by their nature, would hinder its path. Spiritists have been mocked and ridiculed; they wanted to scare away those who were attracted to you by curiosity, by placing you under satanic patronage. None of that succeed; before surrendering, they want to launch one last battalion that, like all the others, will work to your advantage. No longer able to accuse you of contributing to the increase of insanity, they will send you real obsessions, before whom they hope you will fail, and simulated obsessions that it would be naturally impossible for you to cure from an imaginary illness. All that will not slow down your progress, but on condition that you act with caution, and advise those who deal with the treatment of obsessions to consult their guides, not only on the nature of the disease, but on the reality of the obsessions that they may have to fight. This is important, and I take the idea that has been suggested to you to seek advice in advance, to recommend that you always do so in the future. As for this lady, she is sincere and she is really suffering, but there is nothing to be done for her now, except to urge her to ask, through prayer, for calm and resignation to courageously support her ordeal. It is not instructions from the Spirits that she needs; it would even be prudent to keep her away from any idea of correspondence with them, and to urge her to rely entirely on the care of official medicine.
Dr. Demeure.”
Observation: It is not only against simulated obsessions that it is prudent to be on guard, but against requests for communications of all sorts, evocations, health advice, etc., that could be traps set for good faith, and that could be used by malevolence. It is therefore advisable to accede to such requests only with full knowledge of the facts, and regarding known or duly recommended persons. Opponents of Spiritism regret the developments that it takes, contrary to their forecasts, and they spy on or provoke occasions to catch it, either by accusing or by deriding it. In such a case, it is better to err on the side of caution than by carelessness.
Allan Kardec.
