12 ANTOINISM

LOUIS ANTOINE was born in Liège [Belgium] to a family of miners and was at first a miner himself, later becoming a metallurgist. After a period in Germany and Poland, he returned to Belgium, taking up residence at Jemeppe-sur-Meuse. Having lost their only son, Antoine and his wife became interested in spiritism and soon the former miner, though almost illiterate, found himself at the head of a group calling itself the ‘Vinedressers of the Lord', which operated an actual office for communication with the dead (an institution as we shall see, not unique in kind). He published a sort of spiritist catechism consisting entirely of borrowings from the works of Allan Kardec. A little while later Antoine added to his enterprise—the character of which was not altogether disinterested—a consultation agency 'for the relief of all moral and physical afflictions', which he placed under the direction of a 'spirit' called Dr Carita. Somewhat later still, Antoine became aware that he too had the faculties of a 'healer', and this permitted him to cease all spiritist evocation and to 'operate' directly on his own. This change was quickly followed by a quarrel with the spiritists, the grounds of which are not very clear. As happens so often in similar circumstances, it was from this schism that Antoinism was born. At the Congress of Namur, November 1913, Mr Fraikin, president of the 'Belgian Spiritist Federation', declared that 'Antoinism, for rather unworthy reasons, always refuses to go along with us. It may be assumed that these 'rather unworthy reasons' were chiefly commercial, and that Antoine found it more advantageous to act independently, outside of any more or less inconvenient controls. For the sick who could not visit him at Jemeppe, Antoine prepared a medication which he called ‘Coune liquor, claiming that this potion could cure all complaints without 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 anyone—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 imply—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 aware—that 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 mercy—intending 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 misery—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 yourselves—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 know-thyself....'

Tenth principle: Do not think of always doing good—when a brother comes to your aid—you can act to the contrary—hinder 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 belief—because 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 someone 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 intellectu-ally, 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.