SEERS AND HEALERS
Spiritists recognize different kinds of mediums, whom they classify and designate according to the special nature of their faculties and the manifestations they produce. Naturally, the accounts they give to all these are quite variable, for they can be divided and subdivided almost indefinitely. Here is one such listing which is rather complete:
There are mediums who produce physical effects, who provoke material phenomena such as noises or knockings in walls, apparitions, [1] displacement of objects without physical contact; [2] there are sensitive mediums, who by a vague impression feel the presence of spirits; there are auditive mediums, who hear the voices of the 'disincarnated', sometimes clear and distinct as those of living persons, at other times as intimate whispers in their inmost heart; there are speaking mediums [3] and writing mediums, who, either by word or writing, but always with a complete and absolute passivity, transmit communications from beyond the grave; there are seeing mediums who, in the waking state, see spirits; and there are musician mediums, designer mediums, poet mediums, healing mediums, the names of which sufficiently designate the dominant faculty. [4]
It must be added that several kinds of mediumship may be found in the same individual, and that the most typical mediumship is that which produces physical effects, with all the varieties this may include. Nearly all the rest can be reduced to simple hypnotic states as we have already explained. But there are nevertheless several categories which we should discuss in greater detail, so much the more in that some people attribute great importance to them.
The sensitive, seeing, and auditive mediums, who can be grouped together, are only called mediums by the spiritists in accordance with their preconceived ideas. These are individuals supposedly endowed with certain 'hyperphysical senses', to adopt an expression used by some; some call this the 'sixth sense' without being more precise, while others list 'clairvoyance', 'clairaudience', and so on, as so many distinct senses. Some groups claim that man possesses seven internal senses [5] beyond his five external senses. These are actually somewhat improper extensions of the word 'sense' and we do not see how one can envisage 'internal senses' other than what used to be called the sensorium commune, which is to say mentality in its function of centralizing and coordinating sense data. We readily acknowledge that the human individuality possesses certain extra-corporeal faculties which are latent in everyone and which can be more or less developed in some; but these faculties do not really constitute senses, and if one speaks of them by analogy with the corporeal senses it is perhaps because otherwise it would be difficult to speak of them at all. When taken literally this assimilation implies a large element of illusion, arising as it does from those endowed with these faculties, who are constrained to express what they thus perceive in terms that normally designate things of the corporeal order. But there is another cause of more complete and serious illusion: this is the fact that in spiritist circles and in other 'neo-spiritualist' schools, one intentionally tries to
acquire or develop faculties of this kind. Without speaking of the dangers inherent in these 'psychic allurements', which are very apt to unbalance those who give themselves up to them, it is obvious that under these conditions one is often induced to take as real 'clairvoyance' what is only the effect of a suggestion. In some schools such as Theosophy, the acquisition of 'clairvoyance' seems to be the supreme goal. The importance accorded these things proves yet again that, notwithstanding their pretensions, the schools in question have absolutely nothing initiatic about them, for there is nothing in all this but contingencies which seem quite negligible to anyone who has any knowledge of a more profound order. At the very most it is something 'beside the point' which they so continually seek out and which in most cases represents an obstacle rather than an advantage. Spiritists who cultivate these faculties imagine that what they see and hear are 'spirits', and this is why they regard it as mediumship; in other schools one thinks one sees and hears quite different things, but these are of an equally fanciful character.
In sum, it is always a question of a description of the theory of the school where the phenomena were produced, and here is sufficient reason for it to be maintained without fear of being deceived that suggestion plays a preponderant if not exclusive role. One can have more confidence in what is reported by isolated and spontaneous 'seers', those who belong to no group and who have never been beguiled. But here again there are many causes of error. First is the inevitable imperfection of the mode of expression they use; then there are the interpretations they mix into their visions, involuntarily and unawares, for they are never without at least some vague preconceived ideas. And it must be added that generally these 'seers' have no underlying ideas of a theoretical or doctrinal order which would permit them to know themselves and prevent them from distorting things by letting their imagination intervene, an imagination which unfortunately is often quite well developed. When 'seers' are orthodox mystics, their natural tendencies to stray are in some manner held in check and reduced to a minimum; almost everywhere else they have free rein and the result is often a nearly inextricable confusion. The most unquestionable and most celebrated
among them, Swedenborg for example, are far from exempt from this fault, and one cannot take too many precautions if one wishes to extract what is of genuine interest in their works. Better to go to purer sources, for after all there is nothing to be found in the former which cannot be found elsewhere in a less chaotic state and under more intelligible forms.
The defects we have just indicated reach their apogee among unlettered 'seers' who are left to themselves without the least direction, such as the peasant of the Var, Louis Michel de Figanières, whose writings [6] are the admiration of French occultists, who see in them the most extraordinary 'revelations'; and it is here in large part that the origin of the so-called 'living science' should be sought, which is one of their principal obsessions. In frightful jargon these purported 'revelations' express the most anthropomorphic and materialized conceptions, or rather descriptions, that have ever been made of God, who in this context is called the 'great infinite man', 'president of life' [sic], and of the Universe, which someone has seen fit to term 'omniverse.' [7] In all this it is a question of 'networks', 'construction sites', 'digestions', 'aromas', 'fluids', etc. This is what the occultists praise as a sublime cosmogony. Among other marvels to be found therein is a history of the formation of the earth which Papus adopted and did his best to disseminate. Not wanting to linger over this subject but wanting to give an idea of these rantings, we will only cite a summary made by the Belgian spiritist Jobard, [8] in which the special language of the original has been carefully preserved:
Relatively speaking, our globe is quite new. It is constructed of old materials gathered in the great construction site of the universe, out of the old debris of planets brought together by attraction, incrustation, and annexation into a single whole from four satellites of an earlier planet which, having reached the state of maturity, was gathered by the great Gardener to be conserved in
his granaries and to serve for his material nourishment. For just as man gathers the mature fruits from his earthly garden, the great infinite man gathers the mature fruits from his omniversal garden which likewise serve as his nourishment. This is what explains the disappearance of a number of stars, observed for centuries, from the great flower bed of the heavens. What is the digestion of a ripe fruit in the stomach of an earthly godling [9] if not the awakening and the departure of a hominucular population fallen into catalepsy, or an ecstasy of happiness on the little worlds that they have formed and led in harmony by their intelligent works? . . . Let us return to the formation of our incrustative planet by the simultaneous annexation of four ancient satellites: Asia, Africa, Europe, and America, put in magnetic catalepsy by the collective, celestial soul of our earth charged with this operation, no matter how difficult the union of several small kingdoms into a single one or small businesses into a large one. It was not without long negotiations with the fallen collective spiritual souls of the four satellites in question, that the fusion was accomplished. Only the moon, the fifth satellite and the strongest as well as the worst, resisted these solicitations, creating thus her own unhappiness and that of the earthly agglomeration where her place will be reserved at the center of the Pacific Ocean. [10] But the souls of stars, good or bad, have their free will as does the human race, and dispose of their destiny for good or ill. . . In order to make this sublime and sensible operation of incrustation less painful, the celestial soul of the earth (or the good fluidic seed of the incrustative graft) began, we say, by magnetically putting to sleep the furnishings [11] [sic] of the four
ancient satellites of good will. Asia, the good material plant of this graft, was far more advanced than the three others, as it had already lived many centuries with its populace entirely awake, while the others were still partly asleep. Men, animals, and all living seed were placed in a state of complete anesthesia during this sublime operation of the four globes becoming confounded under the pressure of the hands of God, of his Great Messengers, their entrails, their crust, their faces, their eyes, their atmospheres, their collective souls.
We can come to a stop here; but this citation quite usefully illustrates where occultists get their pseudo-tradition and their bogus esoterism.
Let us add that Louis Michel must not be held solely responsible for the ramblings that have been published under his name; he did not write, but dictated what a 'superior spirit' inspired; and his 'revelations' were collected and arranged by his disciples, the principal of these being a certain Charles Sardou. Naturally, the milieu where all this was worked out was strongly imbued with spiritism. [12]
'Seers' often have a tendency to form schools, which may even form around them without their playing any intentional part. In this latter case it happens that they are true victims of their entourage, which exploits them consciously or unconsciously, as the spiritists do with all those in whom they discover some mediumistic faculties. When we speak here of exploitation, this must be understood above all in a psychic sense, though the consequences are nonetheless disastrous. For a 'seer' to be installed as a chef d'école in reality and not merely in appearance, it is not enough that he desire to be such; he needs a certain superiority over his 'disciples', which his abnormal faculties confer upon him. This was not the case with Louis Michel, but it is sometimes seen in spiritism. Thus there was at one time in France a spiritist school of a rather peculiar character, founded and directed by a 'seer', Madame Iucie Grange, called by the 'mystic' name Habimélah, or Hab by abbreviation, a
name which, it seems, was given her by Moses in person. In this school there was an especial veneration for the famous Vintras, who qualified as a 'prophet' [13] among its members, and the group's publication, La Lumière, which began in 1882, counted among its contributors-for the most part disguised by pseudonyms-more than one suspect person. Mme Grange was much occupied with 'prophecies', and she considered that the 'communications' she received were of such a nature. She gathered into a volume a rather considerable number of these 'productions', [14] whether of 'psychographic, psychophonic, or natural clairvoyance' as she called them, indicating thus the several kinds of mediumship she possessed (writing, audition, vision). These 'communications' bear the signatures of Christ, the Virgin Mary, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, [15] the chief saints of the Old and New Testaments, as well as illustrious men of ancient and modern history. Some signatures are still more curious, such as that of 'the sibyl Pasipée of the Grotto of the Croissant', or that of 'Rafana, soul of the planet Jupiter'. In a 'communication' St Louis informs us that he was King David reincarnated and that Joan of Arc was Thamar, daughter of David; and Hab adds this note:
A significant connection: David was the founder of a predestined family, and he was the source of our last kings. Saint Louis presided at the first spiritist teachings and in the name of God was made Father of a regenerated Christianity by his special protection of Allan Kardec.
Such 'connections' are especially significant as to the mentality of those who make them, and they have a quite clear sense for whoever knows the politico-religious underside of certain milieux much concerned with the question of the 'survival' of Louis XVII. Moreover, the second coming of Christ as more or less imminent is
announced in these circles. Is there thus a desire to imply that Christ will be reincarnated in the new 'race of David' and that he may be the 'Great Monarch' announced by the 'prophecy of Orval' and several other predictions of greater or lesser authenticity? We will not say that these predictions are in themselves totally devoid of value, but as they are formulated in hardly comprehensible terms, each interprets them in his own way; and there are very strange things in what some claim to draw from them. Later, Mme Grange was 'guided' by a so-called Egyptian 'spirit' who presented himself under the composite name Salem-Hermes, and who dictated to her a volume of 'revelations'; but this is much less interesting than the manifestations that are more or less directly connected with the affair of Louis XVII, a list of which, beginning with the first years of the nineteenth century, would be quite long but also very instructive for those with a legitimate curiosity to seek for the realities hidden under certain phantasmagoria.
Having spoken of 'seers', we must also say a few words about 'healing mediums'. If the spiritists are to be believed, this is one of the highest forms of mediumship. For example, here is what Léon Denis wrote after having stated that the great writers and the great artists were nearly all 'inspired' and 'auditive mediums':
The power to heal by a look, a touch, or the laying on of hands, is also one of the forms by which spiritual action is exercised in the world. God, source of life, is the principle of physical health as he is that of moral perfection and of supreme beauty. Certain men, by prayer and magnetic élan, draw this influx upon themselves, this radiance of divine energy which chases away impure fluids that cause so much suffering. The spirit of charity, of devotion pushed to the point of sacrifice, forgetfulness of self, are the necessary conditions for acquiring and keeping this power, one of the most marvelous that God has accorded man. Even today a number of more or less fortunate healers offer their care with the help of the spirits.... Above all human Churches, outside all rites, all sects, all formulas, is a supreme center that the soul can attain by the impetus of faith.... In reality, magnetic healing requires neither passes nor special formulas, but only the ardent
desire to relieve others, the sincere and deep appeal of the soul to God, principle and source of all strength. [16]
This enthusiasm is easily explained if one recalls the humanitarian tendencies of the spiritists; and the same author says further:
Like Christ and the apostles, like the saints, the prophets, and the magi, each of us can lay on our hands and heal if we love our neighbor and have the ardent desire to bring them relief.... Silently gather your wits, alone with the patient; call to the beneficent spirits who hover over human sufferings. Then, from above you will feel an influx descend into you and then reach the subject. A regenerative wave will of itself penetrate to the cause of the evil, and, by prolonging and renewing your action, you will have contributed to relieving the burden of earthly miseries. [17]
It seems that here the action of 'healing mediums' is properly compared to magnetism; there is however a difference to be taken into account, which is the fact that the ordinary magnetizer acts by his own will, without in any way soliciting the intervention of a 'spirit'. But spiritists say that such a one is a medium without knowing it, and that the intention to heal is equivalent to a sort of implicit evocation, even if he does not believe in the 'spirits'. In fact, exactly the inverse is true, for it is that spiritist 'healer' who is an unconscious magnetizer; whether his faculties have come to him spontaneously or have been developed by practice, they are nothing other than magnetic faculties, but in virtue of his particular ideas he imagines that he must appeal to 'spirits' and that it is these latter who act through him, while in reality it is only from himself that all the effects are produced. This kind of alleged mediumship is less harmful than others for those endowed with it because, not implying the same degree of passivity (and even passivity in this context is rather illusory), it does not involve the same disequilibrium. Nevertheless, it would be too much to believe that the practice of magnetism under these or under ordinary conditions (the difference is more in
the interpretation than in the facts) might be free from all danger for him who gives himself up to it, especially if he does so habitually, 'professionally' as it were. As to the effects of magnetism, they are very real in certain cases, but one must not exaggerate their efficacy; we do not believe that magnetism can heal or even relieve all maladies without distinction, and there are temperaments which are completely refractory to it. In addition, certain healings must be credited to the power of suggestion, or even to auto-suggestion, more than to that of magnetism. As to the relative value of this or that manner of proceeding, that is a matter of debate (which the different schools of magnetism engage in extensively, not to mention the hypnotists, who are hardly in greater agreement among themselves). [18] This is perhaps not as completely immaterial a matter as Léon Denis claims, at least if it is not the case of a magnetizer who possesses particularly powerful faculties as a kind of natural gift. Such a case, which precisely gives the illusion of mediumship (supposing that one knows and accepts spiritist theories) because it allows no room for any voluntary effort, probably holds for the most celebrated 'healers', except of course when their reputation is usurped and when charlatanism is mixed in, for this too sometimes happens. As for explaining the phenomena of magnetism, we do not need to be concerned with them here, but it goes without saying that the 'fluidic' theory, to which most magnetizers subscribe, is inadmissible. It is here that spiritism got its conception of 'fluids' of all kinds; but this is only a very gross image, and the intervention of the 'spirits', which the spiritists bring in, is an absurdity.
The spiritist conception of 'healing mediums' is particularly clear in 'Fraternism', where mediums of this category occupy the first place. It seems that this sect even owes its origin to them if one is to believe what Paul Pillault wrote in 1913:
It has been barely five years since, at Auby, in my office, and sometimes at my home, I tried my own abilities as healer which our good brother of space [sic], Jules Meudon, had uncovered in me and which he urged me to practice. I succeeded with many cures, from blindness to simple toothache. Happy with the results obtained, I resolved to put my healing abilities at the disposal of as many of my fellows as possible. At that point our director, Jean Béziat, joined with me to found l'Institut général psychosique at Sin-le-Noble (near Douai), which issued l'Institut des Forces psychosiques no. 1, and which, in 1910, began publication of our journal, Le Fraterniste. [19]
Still working at healing, they soon began to have more extensive preoccupations (we do not say more elevated, because no more that humanistic 'moralism' is involved), as this citation from Béziat shows:
We encourage science to undertake researches in spiritism, and if we ultimately lead it to take an interest in this, it will find. And when science will have found and proven, it is Humanity in its entirety that will have found happiness. Thus Le Fraterniste is not only the most interesting but also the most useful journal in the world. It is from Le Fraterniste that one must await the tranquility and joy of Humanity. When the foundations of spiritism have been demonstrated as well established, the social question will almost be resolved. [20]
If this is sincere, it stems from a truly disconcerting lack of reflection. But let us proceed to the theory of 'fluidic psychosic healings' which was expounded in the court of Béthune, January 17, 1914, the
occasion being a lawsuit against two 'healers' of this school, Messrs Lesage and Lecomte, who were charged with the illegal practice of medicine and were acquitted because they did not write prescriptions. Here is what is important in their statements:
They treat maladies by the laying on of hands, flourishes, and the simultaneous mental invocation of good astral forces. [21] They provide no remedy or prescription; there is no treatment in the medical sense of the word, nor massage, but care by means of a fluidic force not active in ordinary magnetism, which may be called spiritist magnetism (psychosism); that is, the magnetizers are influenced by forces from good spirits and then transmit these forces to the sick, who then feel a great amelioration or obtain complete recovery as the case may be, this over an equally variable period of time.... In the course of questioning the judge asked for explanations regarding the laboratory where basins of magnetized water were found, prepared by the healers.... From the point of view of healing, the magnetized water has only a relative value; it is not the water that heals; it aids the evacuation of noxious fluids, but it is the spiritist treatment that expels the evil. [22]
Elsewhere they sought to persuade doctors themselves that, if they succeeded in healing the sick, it was also to the 'psychoses' that they owed their success. It was solemnly declared:
It is the Psychose which heals, Sirs; the healer is simply the instrument. You also, you are the object of the psychoses; but it is useful for you that good things have come from your side, just as they have come from ours. [23]
Note also this curious explanation by Béziat:
We can assert that a malady, whatever it may be, is one of the numerous varieties of Evil with a capital 'E'. Now the healer, by
his fluid which he infuses into the patient and by his good intentions, kills or injures Evil in a general way. As a result he injures the particular variety at the same time, that is to say the malady. That is the entire secret. [24]
All this is in fact quite simple, at least in appearance, or rather quite 'simplistic'. But there are other healers who find it even simpler to deny evil: the 'Christian Scientists' and the 'Mental Scientists' of America are a case in point, and this is also the opinion of the Antoinists, whom we will discuss below. The 'Fraternists' go so far as to call down the 'divine force' in their healings, and it is again Béziat who proclaims 'the possibility of healing the sick by invisible astral energies, by appeal to the Great Universal Dispensatory Force which is God. [25] If this is the case one might ask them why they find it necessary to appeal to 'spirits' and 'astral forces' instead of addressing God directly and exclusively. But the character of the evolving God believed in by the 'Fraternists' has already been seen. In this connection there is still something else that is very significant: on February 9, 1914 at Arras, Sébastien Faure gave a conference on the 'twelve proofs of the nonexistence of God', a conference which he repeated almost everywhere. Béziat spoke next, describing himself as 'pursuing basically the same aim,' addressing to Faure 'his most sincere felicitations,' and 'inviting the audience to associate themselves sincerely with him [Faure] in the realization of his eminently humanitarian program.' Following his journal's review of this meeting, Béziat added these reflections:
Those who, like Sébastien Faure, deny the Creator-God of the Church, in our view draw that much nearer to the true God that is the Universal Impulsive Force of the worlds.... Thus we do not fear to advance this paradox: that if Sébastien Faure and those like him no longer believe in the God of the churchmen, it is because they believe more than others in the true God. We say that in the actual state of social evolution, these deniers are more divine than the others because they desire more justice and
happiness for all.... I conclude from all this that if Sébastien Faure no longer believes in God, it is only because he has come to know him more, or in any case to feel him more, since he wills to practice the virtues. [26]
Since that time Sébastien Faure has had some misadventures which illustrate only too well how he meant to 'practice the virtues'; the 'Fraternists', defenders of Le Clément de Saint-Marcq, have decidedly singular friendships.
There are many other somewhat independent spiritist schools founded or directed by 'healing mediums', such as M.A. Bouvier of Lyon, who combined the theories of magnetism and Kardecism, and whose school put out a journal entitled Universal Peace, from which the extravagant project, the 'Congress of Humanity' that we have mentioned elsewhere, was launched. [27] The review displayed on its masthead the two following maxims: 'Exact knowledge of oneself engenders love of one's fellows', and, 'In all the world there is no more elevated cult than that of the truth'. It is not without interest to note that the second is a nearly literal transcription (but for the word 'religion', here replaced by 'cult') of the motto of the Theosophical Society. On the other hand, Mr Bouvier, who in the end joined the 'Fraternists', was, contrary to the usual case, on very good terms with the occultists. It is true that the latter have for these 'healers' a veneration at least as excessive as that of the spiritists. The famous 'Unknown Master' of the school of Papus, to whom we have alluded earlier, was essentially only a 'healer' who had no doctrinal knowledge at all, being in fact the victim of the role imposed upon him. The truth is that Papus did not need a 'Master', for he did not want one; what he needed was someone he could present as a Master in order to give the appearance of a serious foundation for his organizations and to encourage the belief that 'superior powers' were behind him. All this fantastic history of 'envoys of the Father' and 'spirits from the apartments of Christ' has nothing other than this as their primary raison d'être. Under these conditions it should
not be astonishing that the naive, who are quite numerous in occultism, believed that among the 'twelve unknown Grand Masters of the Rosicrucians' were other 'healers' as completely destitute of intellectuality as 'Father Antoine' and the Alsacian Francis Schlatter, whom we have mentioned elsewhere. [28] There are still others who, without being so highly placed, are touted in the same school; such is the person concerning whom Papus slipped in this note in one of his works:
From the quarter of spiritism, we should point out the adepts of theurgy, and especially Saltzman, as propagators of the idea of reincarnation. In his beautiful book, Magnétisme spirituel, Saltzman opens up magnificent horizons to every seeking mind. [29]
Saltzman is really only a somewhat dissident spiritist, in no way an 'adept' in the true sense of this word; and what he calls 'theurgy' has nothing at all in common with what the ancients understood by this term, of which he is completely ignorant. This brings to mind a rather ridiculous personage, formerly a Paris celebrity, called le zouave Jacob. He too thought well of giving the name 'theurgy' to a common mix of magnetism and spiritism. In 1888 he published a sort of journal of which the title, despite its unwonted length, merits citing in full: Theurgical, scientific, psychological, and philosophical review, especially examining hygiene and healing by fluids and the dangers of medical, clerical, magnetic, hypnotic, etc., practices, under the direction of Jacob the zouave-which already gives a clear enough notion of his mentality. We will limit ourselves to providing an appreciation of this person by an author who was himself entirely favorable to spiritism:
The 'zouave healer' was quite popular. I came to know him, but I was soon disillusioned. He claimed to operate by the influence of the spirits, but when I risked some objection he was beside himself with insults and rudeness worthy of a buffoon.... Poor arguments in the mouth of an apostle! I write 'apostle' because he said he was sent by God 'to heal men physically, as Christ had been sent to heal men morally'! Many people will remember this typical phrase. It is true that I witnessed astonishing ameliorations experienced instantly by certain sick persons who had been abandoned by doctors. Among others, I saw a paralytic carried in on someone's back because he could no longer move either arms or legs; this man then began to walk on his own, without support or crutches . . . only till he left the office of the healer, that is to say as long as he remained in his presence. Once outside the door, the unhappy man again became immobile and had to be carried away in the same manner he had come. As I have heard as well as seen, the cures of the famous zouave were only pseudocures, and on returning home his clients again fell into the same infirmities from which he had freed them, along with an additional one, discouragement. In any case, he was unable to cure me of what he called 'moral blindness', and up to this moment I persist in the belief that the secret of his influence on illness was to be found not in the assistance of spirits, as he claimed, but in his deplorable manners. He frightened his clients by furious looks to which, on occasion, he added cutting remarks. He was perhaps a subduer, but not a thaumaturge. [30]
In brief, there was a strong dose of charlatanism along with a certain power of suggestion. We will find something quite analogous in the story of Antoinism, to which we devote a special chapter because of the astonishing expansion of this sect, and also because in it we have a very typical case well suited to serve as basis for judging the mental state of some of our contemporaries. We do not want to say that all 'healers' are of such character; there are certainly some whose sincerity is very respectable and whose real faculties we do
not question, even while regretting that nearly all of them try to explain these faculties by theories that are more than suspect. It is also rather curious to note that such faculties are found to be especially well developed in men of modest intelligence. Finally, those who are only 'suggestioners' can in certain cases obtain more lasting results than those obtained by Jacob the zouave. And it is not just an appropriate setting that can act effectively on certain ills. It can even be asked whether in the final analysis the most obvious charlatans are not themselves subject to their own suggestions, and whether they do not believe more or less in the extraordinary powers they attribute to themselves. However that may be, we repeat yet again that 'phenomena' of any sort prove absolutely nothing from the theoretical point of view. It is perfectly useless to cite in support of a doctrine healings obtained by men who profess the said doctrine, for one can support the most contradictory opinions in this way, which shows that these arguments are without value. When it is a question of the truth or falsity of ideas, every extra-intellectual consideration must be considered null and void.
exception. As a result charges were brought against him for the illegal practice of medicine and a modest fine was levied. He then replaced his liquor with magnetized water, which could not be characterized as a medication, then with magnetized paper, which was easier to transport. Nevertheless, the sick who gathered at Jemeppe became so numerous that he had to forego individual treatment in favor of gestures or the simple laying on of hands, and he instituted the practice of collective 'operations'. It was at this time that Antoine, who had until then spoken only of 'fluids', began to make faith an essential factor in the healings he accomplished. He began to teach that the imagination is sole cause of all physical ills, and in consequence forbade his disciples (for from that time he posed as the founder of a sect) to seek the care of medical doctors. In the book which he entitled Revelation, he has a disciple put this question to him:
Someone who had thought he would consult a doctor comes to you saying (to himself): 'If I do not become better after this visit, I am going to Doctor so-and-so.' You note his intentions and counsel him to follow his line of thought. Why do you act this way? I have seen sick persons who, after having followed this advice, have had to come back to us.
Antoine responded in these words:
In fact, certain sick persons may have planned to go to a doctor before consulting me. If I sense that they have greater confidence in the doctor, it is my duty to send them to see him. If they are not healed it is because their plan to visit me is an obstacle to the work of the doctor, just as their intention to consult a doctor is an obstacle to my work. Other sick persons ask me if such and such a remedy may not help them. This thought falsifies my operation in the blink of an eye; it is proof that they do not have sufficient faith, the certitude that I can give them what they seek without medications. . . . The doctor can confer only the results of his studies, which are based on the material order. The cause remains, therefore, and the malady reappears, because whatever is based on matter can cure only temporarily.
In another passages one reads further that
It is by faith in the healer that the sick person finds his healing. The doctor may believe in the efficacy of drugs, but these are of no use for whomever has faith.... Faith is the unique and universal remedy, it penetrates whomever one wishes to protect, even if that one is thousands of leagues away.
These 'operations' (this is the preferred term) end with the formula: 'Those who have faith are healed or helped.' All this bears a strong resemblance to the 'Christian Science' founded in America about 1866 by Mary Baker Eddy. The Antoinists, like the 'Christian Scientists', have sometimes had disputes with the law for having allowed the sick to die without having done anything to care for them. Even at Jemeppe, the municipality several times refused burial permits. These setbacks did not discourage the Antoinists or stop the sect from prospering and spreading, not only in Belgium but also in the north of France. 'Father Antoine' died in 1912, leaving the succession to his widow, who was called 'the Mother', and to one of his disciples, 'the Brother' Deregnaucourt (who himself died after a short time). 'The Mother' and 'the Brother' came to Paris toward the end of 1913 to establish an Antoinist temple, and thence on to Monaco to open another. When the war broke out, the 'Antoinist cult' was on the point of being legally recognized in Belgium, a move which would have resulted in making its ministers' treatments a responsibility of the state. The petition filed to this effect had the special support of the socialist party and of two of the heads of Belgian Masonry, senators Charles Magnette and Goblet d'Alviella. It is curious to note the politically motivated support that aided Antoinism, the adherents to which were recruited almost exclusively from the working classes. On the other hand, we have elsewhere [1] cited evidence of Theosophist sympathy, whereas 'orthodox' spiritists seem to have seen in Antoinism only a troubling and divisive element. Let us further add that during the war singular things were recounted of how the Germans respected Antoinist temples. Naturally, the members of the sect attribute these facts to
the posthumous protection of the 'Father', and so much the more in that he solemnly declared: 'Death is life; it cannot remove me from you, on the contrary it will not hinder me coming to all those who have confidence in me.'
What is remarkable about the case of Antoine is not his career as a 'healer', which resembles that of Jacob the zouave on more than one count: there was almost as much charlatanism with the one as with the other, and if they obtained some genuine cures, these were very probably due to suggestion rather than to special faculties, and it was doubtless for this reason that 'faith' was necessary. What invites more attention is that Antoine claimed to be the founder of a religion and that he succeeded in this in a truly extraordinary way despite the nullity of his 'teachings', which were only a vague mix of spiritist theories and protestant 'moralism' often written in a nearly unintelligible jargon. One of the most characteristic morsels of this is a decalogue of sorts entitled 'ten prose fragments of the teaching revealed by Antoine the Healer'; even though we are warned that these texts are 'in prose', they are arranged like the blank verse of certain 'decadent' poets, with the occasional rhyme. [2] This is worth reproducing:
God speaks:
-First principle: If you love me-you will not teach it to any-one-since you know that I reside-only in the breast of man. You cannot testify that there exists-a supreme goodness while you isolate me from your neighbor.
-Second principle: Do not believe in him who speaks to you of me-whose intention may be to convert you.-If you respect every belief-as well as him who has none-you know, in spite of your ignorance-more than he can tell you.
-Third principle: You cannot teach morality to anyone-that would be proof-that you are not doing good-because morality is not taught by words-but by example, and do not see evil in anything.
-Fourth principle: Never say that you are being charitable-to
someone who seems miserable to you-that would be to im-ply-that I am without consideration, that I am not good-that I am a bad father-a miser-leaving his offspring hungry.-If you act toward your fellows-as a true brother-you are charitable only to yourself-this you must know.-Since nothing is good if it is not shared-you have only bestowed on him-the fulfillment of your duty.
-Fifth principle: Strive always to love him who says -he is 'your enemy'-it is for you to learn to know yourself-that I place him in your path.-But see the evil in yourself rather than in him-this will be the sovereign remedy.
-Sixth principle: When you seek to know the cause-of your sufferings-which you always rightly undergo-you will find it in the incompatibility of-intelligence and conscience-which establish between themselves terms of comparison.-You cannot feel the least suffering-unless it be to make you awarethat intelligence is opposed to conscience-this is what must not be forgotten.
-Seventh principle: Strive to understand yourself-for even the least suffering is due to your-intelligence which always wants to gain more-it makes of itself a stepping-stone for mercyintending that everything be subordinate to it.
-Eighth principle: Do not let your intelligence be your master-which always seeks only to raise itself higher-more and more-it tramples conscience under foot-claiming that it is matter-that gives-the virtues-while it contains only mis-ery-souls which you call-'abandoned'-which have acted only to satisfy-their intelligence which has led them astray.
-Ninth principle: Everything that is useful for you in the present-as well as for the future-if you do not doubt in any way-will be given to you over and above.-Improve your-selves-you will recall the past-you will remember-that it has been said to you: 'Knock, I will open to you-I am in the knowthyself. . .'
-Tenth principle: Do not think of always doing good-when a brother comes to your aid-you can act to the contraryhinder his progress.-Know that a great trial-will be your
recompense-if you humiliate him and compel respect.When you want to act-never base yourself on your beliefbecause it can lead you astray-base yourself always on conscience-which wishes to direct you, it cannot deceive you.
These alleged 'revelations' strongly resemble spiritist 'communications' both in style and content. Certainly it is useless to offer any sustained comment or detailed explanation; it is not even sure that 'Father Antoine' always understood himself, his obscurity being perhaps one of the reasons for his success. What is especially worth noting is the opposition he wishes to establish between intelligence and conscience (this last term being understood in a moral sense) and the way he claims to associate intelligence and matter. In this latter there is stuff to give joy to [Henri] Bergson's supporters, even though such a comparison may in the final analysis be unflattering. However that may be, it will be readily understood that Antoinism makes a point of despising intelligence, and even denounces it as the cause of all evils, representing the demon in man as conscience represents God. But thanks to evolution, everything will turn out just fine. 'By our progress, we will find the true God in the demon, and the lucidity of conscience in intelligence.' In effect, evil does not really exist; what exists is only the 'sight of evil', that is to say it is intelligence which creates evil wherever it sees it. The only symbol of the Antoinist cult is a kind of tree called 'the tree of the knowledge of the view of evil'. One must 'never see evil in anything', because it will then cease to exist. In particular, evil must never be seen in the conduct of one's neighbor, and this is how the prohibition against 'lecturing anyone', taking this expression in its popular sense, should be understood. It is obvious that Antoine could not forbid anyone to preach morality, for he himself hardly did anything else. To this he added precepts of hygiene, which moreover was part of his role as 'healer'. Let us recall in this connection that Antoinists are vegetarians, as are Theosophists and the members of numerous other sects with humanitarian tendencies. They cannot be considered 'zoophiles', however, for they are strictly forbidden to keep animals:
We must know that animals only appear to exist; the animal is only the excrement of our imperfection [sic].... How wrong we
are in attaching ourselves to an animal; it is a great sin [in the Walloon dialect, which he normally spoke, Antoine said 'a doubt'] because an animal is not worthy of having its home where humans reside.
Matter itself exists only in appearance, it is only an illusion produced by the intelligence.: 'We say that matter does not exist because we have raised our imagination above it.' It is thus identified with evil. 'An atom of matter is suffering for us.' And Antoine goes so far as to declare: 'If matter exists, God cannot exist.' Here is how he explains the creation of the earth:
Nothing other than the individuality of Adam created the world [sic]. Adam was led to form an atmosphere for himself and to construct his habitation, the globe, such as he would have it.
Let us also cite a few aphorisms regarding the intelligence:
Factual information is not a matter of knowing, but of reasoning about matter. . . Intelligence, considered by humanity the most enviable faculty from every point of view, is only the seat of our imperfection.... I have revealed to you that there are in us two individualities, the conscious self and the intelligent self; the one real, the other apparent. . . Intelligence is only the bundle of molecules we call the brain.... To the extent that we progress, we demolish the intelligent me to reconstruct the conscious me.
It is all rather incoherent; the only idea that comes out of it, if it can even be called an idea, could be formulated in this way: intelligence must be eliminated for the sake of 'conscience', that is to say for the sake of sentimentality. French occultists have recently reached almost the same conclusion, though for the most part they do not have the excuse of being illiterate; but it is worth noting that it was a 'healer' who played a role in this development.
In order to be consistent with himself, Antoine had to limit himself to the utterance of moral precepts of the following kind, which are inscribed in his temples:
Only one remedy can heal humanity: faith. It is from faith that love is born, love which reveals God himself in our enemies. Not
to love one's enemies is not to love God, for it is the love we have for our enemies that makes us worthy to serve Him. This is the only love that makes us love truly, because it is pure and from the truth.
Here is what is essential in Antoinist morality; the rest seems to be rather elastic:
You are free, so act as seems good to you; he who does good deeds will find goodness. In fact, we use our free will to such an extent that God allows us to do what we will with it.
But Antoine also believed he had to formulate theories of another order, and it is here above all that he attained the pinnacle of absurdity. Here is an example taken from a brochure entitled L'Auréole de la Conscience:
I am going to tell you how you must understand the divine laws and how they can act upon us. You know that it is recognized that life is everywhere; if a void existed, nothingness would also have its raison d'être. Something I can also affirm is that love exists everywhere; and just as there is love, there is also intelligence and conscience. Intelligence and conscience, united, constitute a unity, the great mystery-God. In order to make you understand what the laws are, I must return to what I have already said concerning fluids: as many exist as there are thoughts. We have the faculty to manage them and to establish laws for them by means of thought, according to our desire to act. Those which we impose on our fellows, are likewise imposed on us. Such are the laws of the interior, ordinarily called the laws of God. As to exterior laws, called laws of nature, they are the instinct of life which manifests itself in matter, clothing itself in all nuances, taking numerous and incalculable forms according to the nature of the seed of the ambient fluids. This is the way of everything; everything has its instinct; even the stars which hover in infinite space are directed by the contact of fluids and instinctively follow their orbit. If God had established laws for going to Him, they would be an obstacle to our free will; whether they were relative or absolute, they would be obligatory, for we could
not dispense with them in order to attain our end. But God leaves to each person the faculty of establishing his laws according to necessity; this is yet another proof of His love. Every law must be based on conscience. Do not say 'laws of God', therefore, but rather 'laws of conscience'. This revelation comes from the very principles of love, from that love which overflows from every direction, which is found at the centers of the stars as well as in the depths of the oceans, from that love the perfume of which is manifested everywhere, which nourishes all the kingdoms of nature and which maintains equilibrium and harmony throughout the universe.
To the question: 'Whence comes life?', Antoine replies as follows:
Life is eternal, it is everywhere. The fluids also exist infinitely and eternally. We bathe in life and in the fluids like a fish in water. The fluids follow one another and are more and more ethereal; they are distinguished by love. Wherever love exists, there is life, because without life love has no raison d'être. If suffices that two fluids be in contact by a certain degree of solar warmth in order that their two seeds of life be disposed to enter into contact. It is thus that life creates an individuality and becomes active.
If somcone had asked the author of these lucubrations to explain himself a bit more intelligibly, he would no doubt have replied with a sentence that he repeated at every opportunity: 'You see only the effect, seek the cause.' Do not forget that from the Kardecist spiritism with which he began Antoine had carefully retained not only the theory of 'fluids', which we have just seen him express in his inimitable manner, but also, along with the idea of progress, that of reincarnation.
The imperfect soul remains incarnate until it has overcome its imperfection.... Before leaving the dying body, the soul has prepared another body in which to be reincarnated.... Our cherished loved ones, said to have departed, have left us only apparently; we do not cease for one instant to see them and converse with them. Corporeal life is only an illusion.
In the eyes of the Antoinists what is most important in the 'teaching' of their 'Father' is its moral content, all the rest being only accessory. Proof of this is found in a propaganda leaflet bearing the title Revelation by Father Antoine, the great Healer of Humanity, for whoever has faith, which we quote word for word:
The teaching of the Father is based on love; it reveals the moral law, the conscience of humanity; it recalls man to the duties he has to fulfill toward his fellows. Even if he is so backward as to be unable to understand it, he can, on contact with those who disseminate it, be filled with the love that flows from it; and this will inspire him with the best intentions and will raise up in him the most noble sentiments. Religion, the Father says, is the expression of love drawn from the bosom of God, who makes us love everyone without distinction. Never lose sight of the moral law because by it we sense the necessity to improve ourselves. Not all of us have reached the same degree of intellectual and moral development, and God always places the weak in our path in order to give us occasion to draw nearer Him. There are among us beings deprived of every faculty, who have need of our help; duty imposes on us the task of coming to their aid in the measure that we believe in a good and merciful God. Their development does not permit them to practice a religion the teaching of which is beyond their comprehension, but our manner of acting toward them will recall them to the respect due them and will lead them to seek the most advantageous surroundings for their progress. If we wish to draw them to us by a morality that rests on laws inaccessible to their understanding, we will disturb them, and the least instruction will become insupportable; they will end by understanding nothing; doubting religion, they will revert to materialism. This is the reason why every day our humanity loses some real belief in God to materialism. The Father has revealed that formerly it was as rare to meet a materialist as today it is to meet a true believer. [3] As long as we are unaware of the moral law
by which we are guided, we transgress it. The Teaching of the Father rationalizes this moral law, which inspires all hearts devoted to the regeneration of Humanity; it does not interest only those who have faith in God, but all men without distinction, believers and non-believers, and whatever their station. Do not believe that the Father demands the establishment of a religion which confines his adepts in a circle, obliging them to practice his doctrine, to observe a certain rite, to respect a certain form, to follow any opinion whatever, to leave their religion in order to come to Him. No, it is not so: we instruct all who contact us in what we have understood of the Teaching of the Father, and exhort them to the sincere practice of the religion in which they have faith, in order that they may acquire the elements of morality that are consonant with their understanding. We know that belief can be based only on love; but we must always try to love and not to make ourselves loved, for this is the greatest of curses. When we are penetrated with the Teaching of the Father there will be no more dissension between religions because there will no longer be indifference, we will love all because we will have finally understood the law of progress, we will have the same regard for all religions and even for unbelief, in the conviction that no one can do us the least ill and that, if we wish to be useful to our fellows, we must demonstrate to them that we profess a good religion in respecting theirs and in wishing them well. We shall then be convinced that love is born of faith which is truth; but we will not possess it except when we do not claim to have it.
This document ends with this phrase printed in large characters: 'The Teaching of the Father is the teaching of Christ revealed by faith in this day.' An article taken from a Theosophist journal, which we have cited elsewhere, also ends with this incredible statement: 'The Father claims only to renew the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth, so materialized in our time by religions which claim to represent this great Being.' [4] This claim is so audacious that it can be excused
only by ignorance. And given the state of mind it reveals among the Antoinists, it is not surprising that they have reached the point of a veritable deification of their founder, even during his lifetime. The following extract from one of their publications proves that we do not exaggerate:
To make of Monsieur Antoine a great lord, would that not be to diminish him? You will admit, I suppose, that we, his adepts, who are aware of his work have completely different thoughts in his regard. You interpret our way of seeing things too intellectually, that is to say too materially, and judging thus without full knowledge you cannot understand the sentiment animating us. But whoever has faith in our good Father appreciates what He really is, because he views him morally. We can ask Him whatever we want and He gives it impartially. Nevertheless it is permissible to act as we wish, without any recourse to Him, for He has the greatest respect for our free will. He never imposes anything whatsoever. If we ask His counsel it is because we are convinced that He knows all our needs, while we are ignorant of them. Is it not infinitely preferable to be aware of His power before wishing to discredit our manner of acting toward Him? Like a good father, He watches over us. When, weakened by sickness, we go to Him full of confidence, He assuages and heals us. If we are crushed under the blows of the most terrible moral pains, He gives us relief and brings hope back to aching hearts. If the loss of a dear one leaves an immense void in our hearts, His love fills the void and recalls us to duty. He has the most excellent balm, true love, which levels out every difficulty, which surmounts every obstacle, which heals every wound, and he lavishes it on all humanity, for he is doctor of the soul rather than of the body. No, we do not wish to make of Antoine the Healer a great lord, we make of him our Savior. He is rather our God, because he wants only to be our servant.
So there it is; and enough on a subject so totally devoid of intrinsic interest. But what is terrible is the facility with which these insanities are spread abroad in our times; in only a few years Antoinism has gathered adherents by the thousands. The fundamental reason
for this success, as for that of similar cases, is that these aberrations correspond to tendencies in the modern mind. But it is precisely these tendencies that are troubling because they are the negation of all intellectuality, and it cannot be denied that they are presently gaining ground. The case of Antoinism, as we have said, is quite typical; among the many sects that have been formed during the past half century or so, some are similar to Antoinism, but this latter has the distinction of having been formed in Europe; most of the others, at least those that have succeeded, are of American origin. What is more, there are some, like 'Christian Science', which have taken root in Europe and even in France in recent years. [5] This is a further symptom of the growing mental disequilibrium of which the appearance of spiritism marks the point of departure; and even when these sects are not directly derived from spiritism, as is the case with Antoinism, the tendencies they manifest are assuredly in large measure the same.