So-Called Psychic 'Powers'

Des prétendus « pouvoirs » psychiques, May 1935.

In speaking recently of the confusion between the psychic and the spiritual, and the attraction of 'phenomena' as the primary cause of this error, we have referred to the case of those who seek so-called 'powers,' what they call powers is nothing but the faculty of producing more or less extraordinary 'phenomena.' Indeed, most of the pseudo-esoteric or pseudo-initiatic schools of the modern West do not propose anything besides it; this is a real obsession for the great majority of their adherents who delude themselves about the values of these 'powers' to the point of taking them as signs of a spiritual development, or even as its culmination, whereas, even when they are not a mere mirage of the imagination, they belong only to the psychic domain and are most often only an obstacle to the acquisition of all true spirituality.

For some, this illusion is often accompanied by a more or less excessive interest in 'magic,' whose cause is still the same passion for 'phenomena' which is so characteristic of the Western mentality; here is another mistake that is worthy of note: the truth is that there are no 'magic powers,' although we meet this expression at every moment, not only in those of whom we speak, but also in those who strive to fight their tendencies, all being no less ignorant that they are from the essence of things. As we have often said, magic is in fact only one science like any other and should be treated as such; the phenomena with which it deals, strange or exceptional as they may be, are for this reason not any more 'transcendent' than others, all this is purely 'physical,' in the proper and original meaning of the word. When provoking such phenomena, the magician does so by applying the knowledge he has of certain natural laws; then there is no extraordinary 'power,' any more than there is in him who, having studied any science, puts the results into practice. Will we say, as an example, that a doctor has 'powers' because, knowing which remedy is suitable for a particular disease, he cures it by means of the remedy in question? Between the magician and the one that has psychic 'powers,' there is a difference comparable to that which exists in the corporeal order between the one who performs a certain work with the help of a machine and the one who realizes it by only the means of the strength or ability of his body; both operate well in the same domain, but not in the same way. On the other hand, whether magic or 'powers,' there is, we repeat, absolutely nothing spiritual or initiatic; if we mark the difference between the two things, it is not that one is worth more than the other in our point of view, but it is always necessary to know exactly what one is talking about and to dispel the confusion which exists in this subject.

In certain individuals, psychic 'powers' are something quite sponta- neous, the effect of a simple natural disposition which develops itself; it is quite obvious that in this case there is no point in drawing any vanity any more than any other aptitude, since they do not bear witness to any desired 'realization,' and even the one who bears these powers may not even suspect the existence of such a thing: if he has never heard of 'ini- tiation,' he will certainly not come to the idea of believing himself 'initi- ated' because he sees things that everyone does not see, because they sometimes have 'premonitory' dreams, or because they sometimes heal a patient by simple contact, without knowing how this is done them- selves. But there is also the case where similar 'powers' are acquired or artificially developed as the result of certain special 'training'; this is something more dangerous because it rarely goes without causing a cer- tain imbalance. At the same time, it is in this case that the illusion occurs most easily: there are people who are convinced that they have obtained certain 'powers,' which are in fact perfectly imaginary, either simply un- der the influence of their desire and a kind of 'fixed idea,' or by the effect of a suggestion exerted on them by one of those circles in which such 'training' is usually practiced. It is here especially that we speak of 'ini- tiation' by mistake, by identifying it more or less with the acquisition of these famous 'powers'; therefore it is not surprising that weak or igno- rant minds allow themselves to be so fascinated by such pretensions, so that it suffices to reduce the mere observation of the existence of the first case of which we have spoken to nothing, since, in this, there are 'pow- ers' which are quite similar, if not even more developed and more au- thentic, without there being any trace of 'initiation,' real or supposed. What is perhaps the most odd and most difficult thing to understand is that the possessors of these spontaneous 'powers,' if they happen to come into contact with these same pseudo-initiatic circles, are sometimes led to believe that they too are 'initiates'; they should certainly know better regarding the real character of these faculties, which occur in many otherwise very ordinary children to one degree or another, alt- hough often they quickly disappear afterwards. The only excuse for all these illusions is that none who incite them and maintain in themselves or others have any notion of what true initiation is; naturally, this does not mitigate the danger in any way, either as to the psychic and even physiologic disturbances which are the usual companion of these sorts of things, or as to the more distant but even more serious consequences of a development of inferior possibilities which, as we have said before, go directly opposite of spirituality. It is particularly important to note that the 'powers' in question may very well coexist with the most complete doctrinal ignorance, as it is all too easy to see in most 'clairvoyants' and 'healers,' for example; this alone would sufficiently prove that they do not have the slightest connection with initiation, the aim of which can only be pure knowledge. At the same time, it shows that their attainment is devoid of any real interest, since the one who possesses these powers is no more advanced in the realization of his own being, a realization which is one with knowledge itself; they represent only all contingent and transient acquisitions, exactly comparable in this to the corporeal development, which at least does not present the same dangers, and even the few advantages, which are no less contingent, which their exercise can bring certainly do not compensate for the inconveniences to which we have just alluded. Yet these advantages are too often only to astonish and be admired by the naïve, or to satisfy other desires which are no less vain and puerile; displaying these 'powers' is already showing a mentality incompatible with all initiation, even at the most basic level. What of those who use it to pretend to be 'grand initiates?' Let us not insist on this, because it is nothing more than charlatanism, even if the 'powers' in question are real in their order; in fact, it is not the reality of 'phenomena' as such that matters above all, but rather the value and scope that should be attributed to them. There is no doubt that even among those whose good faith is incontestable, the role of suggestion is great in all this; to convince oneself of this, it is only necessary to consider a case such as that of the 'clairvoyants,' whose so-called 'revelations' are always in accordance with their own ideas, those of their milieu, or the school to which they belong. Suppose, however, that these things are real, which is more likely to occur when 'clairvoyance' is spontaneous than when it has been artificially developed; even in this case, one does not understand why what is seen or heard in the psychic world would have more interest or more importance than that in the corporeal world, which everyone can see and hear while walking on the street: people whom are unknown or indifferent to him, incidents which do not concern him in any way, fragments of incoherent or even unintelligible conversations, and so on. The first is more excusable to mistake it, for he must have some difficulty in recognizing that all his efforts only result in such a derisory result, but, as for the spontaneous clairvoyant, this should seem quite natural to him, as it is indeed, and, if it were too often persuaded that it is extraordinary, he would never think of worrying more about what he encounters in the psychic realm than of its analogue in the corporeal domain, or of looking for the marvelous or complicated meanings which is utterly lacking in the vast majority of cases. To tell the truth, there is indeed a reason for every- thing, even the most minute and seemingly indifferent fact, but it matters so little to us that we do not take it into account and do not need to look into it, at least when it comes to what is commonly called ‘ordinary life,' i.e. events of the corporeal world; if the same rules were observed with regard to the psychic world, we would be spared from such ravings! It is true that it would require a degree of mental equilibrium, which 'clair- voyants' are unfortunately seldom endowed with, even those that are spontaneous, and even more so those who have undergone the psychic 'training' we spoke of above. However that may be, this total ‘disinter- estedness' with regard to phenomena is none the less strictly necessary for anyone who, being provided with faculties of this kind, nevertheless wish to undertake a spiritual realization; as for the one who does not have it, far from striving to obtain it, he must, on the contrary, consider that it is an advantage for him in view of this same realization, in the sense that he will thus have fewer obstacles to discard; we will return to this last point next time. In sum, the very word 'powers,' when so employed, is wrong to evoke the idea of a superiority which these things do not entail in anyway; if we can accept this, it could only be a mere synonym of ‘faculties,' which has, etymologically, a meaning that is almost identical: there are many possibilities of being so, but possibilities that are not ‘transcendent,' since they are entirely of the individual order, and thus are far from the highest and the most deserving of attention even in this order. As for attributing to them an initiatic value, if only as an auxiliary or preparatory value, that would be the opposite of the truth; as this alone counts in our eyes, we must say things as they are without any regard to what may please or displease anyone. The possessors of psychic 'powers' would certainly be very wrong to hold us against them, because they would only give us even more reason by showing their incomprehension and lack of spirit- uality: indeed, how could one describe the fact of keeping to an individ- ual prerogative, or rather to its appearances, to the point of preferring it to knowledge and truth any differently?^[426]