St Vincent Seminary - Symposium Yearbook (Latrobe, PA)

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'i 4' glql! Q . 9 -2 - r 'll. - li Y l ' . Y . . ! 7 . Y . 7 . . . . I ,. uummiag - : . u: 5 I llll - . - Nlllllllllllll' 4 f, ,f . Q 5vt,83,,7.i,,....A, 15,- QN .X , United States In both countries they were greeted with the open-mouthed credulity so characteristic of the average follower of Spiritism Even scientists, and seekers after truth, are inter- ested 1n Spiritism The former are investigating the phenomena purely as scientific happenings, while the latter are seeking for a true and universal religion, which they believe can be found in Spiritism. But Spiritism is sadly inadequate both from a scientific as well as from a religious point of view. As a science, its claim to prove the immortality of the soul by communication with the dead, has no basis. But even should it prove that spirits are at work, there is no proof at hand that these spirits are what they represent themselves to beg for even unbiased investigators speak of them as lying, impersonating spirits. As a religion, Spiritism establishes no form of morality, for it eliminates Hell and represents Heaven as a sublimated continuation of our earthly life. It denies the Redemption of mankind by denying the divinity of Christ. It has nothing to offer except a vague shadowy existence beyond the grave, such as was offered by paganism. Furthermore, as a religion, it is evidently opposed to the true faith. An analysis of the true and false in Spiritism will reveal the dangers which are always present and arise necessarily from it In general these dangers arise from the phenomena upon which the claims of Spiritism rest, and in particular from the contents of spirit messages. These are transmitted through a person known as the medium or sensitive, by means of whose vital forces- the control or alleged spirit produces the phenomena The phenomena may be divided into physical, or extra-med- 1um1st1c and psychical or intra-mediumistic. Whether they should be called preternatural, is a disputed question. Some of the phenomena observed are easily, and therefore frequently imitated by fraud others may be explained as exaggeratlons or misinterpretations of abnormal, but purely natural, psycho- logical happenings. According to the testimony of J. Godfrey Raupert Dr. Carrington Sir William Barrett, and others, there' seems to be no doubt that some, if only a few, of these observed phenomena are genuine that is, really preternatural in origin. Besides genuine there are also spurious phenomena and such as are partly spurious and partly genuine. This curious mixture of truth and decelt naturally confuses the public mind and there- fore, an explanation of each may not be out of place. In the first place let us consider the spurious phemoneria. Some . 11.4211 - Jil ll!! l IL fllllll- Ulllllillllllll alll alllllllllllll . ',-- y W, wr., '-i' .1 .

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'illlllllillllf . Y, Some Practical Moral Aspects o Spiritism JOHN F, EICHBAUER, A. B ATERIALISM and unrest, results of the recent war, have effected a revival of the almost defunct cult of Spiritism. A materialistic age is always partial to Occult- ism and the present age is no exception. This cult has spread far and wide over the world. We, as Christians, living as we do among many whose religion is gross materialism, must, of neces- sity, meet with people who believe in Spiritism and practice it. If we are to maintain an intelligent attitude on the subject, which is at the same time compatible with our Christian religion, we must learn something of the nature, the claims, and practices of this cult, so that we can converse intelligently about it, and maintain correct views on the matter. This treatise aims at a concise presentation of such knowledge. Spiritism is by no means new. It is a very ancient practice which has appeared under many forms during the history of the world. It has been cloaked under the guise of necromancy divination, black magic, and clairvoyance. The Jews knew of it since it is expressly forbidden by the Sacred Scriptures in the Book Leviticus. Spiritism was a widespread practice in pagan times. The Chinese, and even savage races, knew and practiced it. Often it neglected to clothe itself in the more specious form of necromancy, and manifested itself as the diablerie which it truly is. The modern form of Spiritism began with the Fox family of Hydesville N Y in 1848 They introduced the circle or seance. This practice spread rapidly throughout our own country and Europe but due to numerous exposures of fraudulent seances its popularity waned with the century With great vitality, the cults began to revive during the late conflict. Many people suddenly bereaved by the war fell easy prey to the blandish- ments of Spirltxsm and sought to lessen their grief by communi- cating with the souls of thelr lost loved ones. Other causes of this revival were its exploitation by the press, and the conver- sions of several prominent men to the cult. Notable among the latter are Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These men gave Splritism its lmpetus 1n England, and later in the KT .i!. ll41ll 'I llli Sl ls ulmmnm- fi - mm mm: g ' lx su, zu ll , xr 2 L ' . sin 5 mnmm' I 1 .mum uiiu -I I: ' ?lllg Wllllllllllllf' 1 , . . . P 0 . - ' v , . . . , . . . . . . y 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - Q Qllllllllllllk X5 - . I N . glllg. ., -,, I 3 K-'wif -li Q I f- '77 a -ai lv .-I-11 - T- Biillllllqqg X

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fx hi... N V -M.. ' ,Q I V la Illilllllllllll Xi Y, are pure trickery and these are in the majority Others are wrongly interpreted as being sp1r1t1st1c Under the latter class fall true telepathic phenomena: cases where 'the sensitive is made cognizant of facts known only to others by mental telepathy We have further subliminal or subconscious phenomena: cases where the sensitive after being put in a trance is peculiarly amenable to suggestion, and believes himself to be actuated by a spirit. These latter cases often yield surprising results, which however, after careful observation are found to be the result of the subconscious operations of the medium's mind. Most med- iums never pass beyond this stage. The phenomena, which are partly spurious and partly genuine vary in character. In some cases a genuine medium, unable to produce the phenomena at will, resorts to trickery to preserve his reputation. In other cases, the spirit messages are either 55? I QQW'-'g 'l TT .. W A u msn: un. s If . b fwiggjlalg - - I - Q 5 K mf nr I A , , - , t 5 S ku so mi , . Y 1 ' 7 ! flll' gllllll' . . . . 7 . . . r . . . . . . 1 . . . 1 . mnuumug - . h l - . 2 I I Ellli Fllllllllllllrl obviously false, colored by suggestion or mixed with matter undoubtedly genuine. This may arise either on the part of the medium or of the control. Sir Oliver Lodge admits that, It is difficult to find a dependable medium: some consciously distort messages, and others may do so unconsciously. On the other hand, the control may misinterpret facts and thus give a false- message, or it may deliberately lie. Dr. L. P. Jacks, in his Presi- dential Address to the Society for Psychical Research in 1917 said: Take the question of imposture. Mediums are not the only impostors. How about the communi- cators? Are they masquerading? You can have no absolute proof that there is no masquerading on the other side: I think the whole meaning of personal identity needs to be very carefully thought out and considered before we begin to produce evidence in favor of personal identity Other experimenters as Dr. Carrington and Mr. Raupert state that the spirits are deceitful and untruthful. Though it may be difficult at times to distinguish between genuine and spurious phenomena there seems to be no doubt that some, at least, are genuinely preternatural in origin The purely genuine phenomena may be described as those which cannot be explained by any natural cause. Among these are, especially physical phenomena produced under the most careful supervision and communicationsrevealing knowledge which the medium could never have acquired in a purely natural manner XT Q-3 ll43ll lllllllilllllll. sllllll- qlllllllllllli o