Moral Influence of the Mediums in the Communications (Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, medium Mr. D’Ambel) We have already said that the mediums, as mediums, have only a secondary influence in the communications of the spirits; that their role is like that of the telegraph that dispatches messages between distant points of Earth. Thus, when we want to dictate a communication we act upon the medium as the telegraph typist does onto the device, that is, like the clicks of the telegraph draw meaningful characters on a piece of paper thousands of miles away, we also communicate through incommensurable distances that separate the visible from the invisible world, the incarnate from the immaterial world, transmitting all that we want to teach you through the mediumistic instrument. However, like the atmospheric conditions influence the quality of the telegraph transmission, the moral influence of the medium acts and sometimes disturbs the transmission of our messages from beyond the grave, since we are forced to pass them through a filter that is contrary to its own nature. In most cases though, that influence can be nullified by our energy and our determination thus avoiding the manifestation of a negative action. In fact, essays of elevated philosophical reach and communications of perfect moral content are sometimes transmitted through mediums that are not suitable for such superior teachings; while, on the other hand, less constructive messages also arrive through mediums who feel ashamed for having served as their intermediary. As a general thesis one can say that similar spirits attract similar spirits and that only rarely spirits of elevated spheres communicate through bad filters when they have at their disposal good instruments, in a word, good mediums.
Thus the lighthearted and less serious mediums attract spirits of the same kind. That is why their communications are marked by banal and frivolous things, ideas without proper coordination and sometimes very unorthodox from a spiritist point of view. At times, they may say good things, and they do, but it is exactly in this case that a very severe and scrupulous exam is required because certain hypocritical spirits can skillfully permeate controversy and lies as to mislead the good faith of the audience. One must then suppress every mistaken word or phrase and only retain from the dictation what is accepted by logic or something that has been already taught by the Doctrine. Communications of this nature should not be feared more by the isolated spiritists or recent and unenlightened groups than in sessions where the followers are more advanced and have gained more experience; regardless of how much the crow covers itself with the feathers of a peacock it will always be mercilessly unmasked.
I shall not speak about those who enjoy and ask for obscene communications. Let them be satisfied by the presence of cynical spirits. As a matter of fact, communications of such a nature seek solitude and isolation on their own. In any case they can only provoke disdain and embarrassment amidst serious philosophical groups. But the moral influence is really felt when the medium replaces the ideas that the spirits struggle to transmit; when the medium extracts fantastic theories from their own imagination, in good faith believing that the communications were transmitted via their intuitive skills. There is a thousand in one chance that in such case, it is a reflex of the medium’s own mind. There is even the curious fact that the medium’s hand sometimes moves almost mechanically, as if being driven by a secondary or inferior spirit. It is against this critical test that the young and excited imagination crashes, carried away by the enthusiasm of their own ideas, decorated by their own personal knowledge, thus ignoring the simple thoughts of an elevated spirit, exchanging the prey for its shadow and replacing the message by an exaggerated paraphrase.
It is also against this formidable obstacle that ambitious personalities crash, and thus in the absence of communications refused by the good spirits they present their own work as if produced by the spirits. That is why the leaders of the spiritist centers must have an accurate perception and a rare sagacity to differentiate between authentic communications and those which are not, and yet not hurting people who deceive themselves. When in doubt, leave it out (more is less), says one of your old proverbs; therefore, you must admit but only what is a certainty to you. Whenever there is a new point of view you must test it against the crucible of logic and reason. Anything that is rejected by reason and common sense must be firmly declined. It is better to reject ten truths than to accept a single lie, a single false theory. In reality a whole system could be built on top of a false theory and that would ruin before the first breath of truth, like a monument built on quick sand, whilst if some truths are rejected today because they don’t seem to have been demonstrated clearly and logically to you, soon an overwhelming fact or irrefutable demonstration will come to attest their truthfulness. Yet, spiritists, remember that there is nothing impossible to God and to the good spirits but injustice and iniquity.
Spiritism is now sufficiently spread among humanity and has moralized sufficiently the devout followers of its sacred doctrine so that the spirits are no longer forced to utilize bad tools, imperfect mediums. Nowadays if any given medium gives reason for suspicion by conduct or habits, out of pride or lack of love and charity, repudiate their communications for there is a snake hidden in the grass. That is my conclusion about the moral influence of the mediums.
Erastus
