Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1868

In a private family gathering in which they dealt with communications by typtology, two Spirits chatted through a spontaneous manifestation, without any prior evocation, and without thinking of them: one was that of a distinguished doctor, whom we will designate by the name of Philippeau, who died recently, and that had openly professed the most absolute materialism in his lifetime; the other was that of a woman who signed Saint Victory. It is this interview that we report below. It should be noted that the persons who obtained this manifestation only knew the doctor by his reputation, but had no idea of his character, his habits, or his opinions; hence, the communication could not be, in any way, the reflection of their thoughts, and even more so because the communication was obtained by typtology, therefore, it was completely unconscious.



Questions from the doctor: Spiritism teaches me that we must hope, love, forgive; I would do all these things if I knew how to go about it, to begin with. We must hope, what? We must forgive, what and whom? We must love, who? Answer me.

Philippeau



Reply: We must hope for the mercy of God, that is infinite; you must forgive those who have offended you; you have to love your neighbor as yourself; it is necessary to love God, so that God loves you and forgives you; we must pray to him and give him thanks for all his kindness, for all your miseries, for misery and happiness everything comes to us from him, that is to say, everything comes to us from him as we have deserved.



He who has atoned, later will have his reward; everything has its reason for being, and God, who is sovereignly good and just, gives to each according to their works. Loving and praying, that is all life, all eternity.

Saint Victory



Doctor. I would like, with all my soul, to satisfy you, madam, but I am very afraid that I cannot entirely; yet I will try.



Once I was dead, materially speaking, I thought it was all over; therefore, when my matter was inert, I was seized, terrified, at the feeling that I was still alive.



I saw these men carry me away, and I said to myself: But I am not dead! They therefore do not see, these imbeciles of doctors, that I live, that I breathe, that I walk, that I look at them, that I follow them, these people who come to my funeral! ... Who is it then that they are burying? … It's not me… I heard one and another saying: “poor Philippeau,” they said, “he did a lot of healing; he did kill some of them; today it's his turn; when death is there, we lose our time. It was in vain that I shouted: "but Philippeau did not die like that; I am not dead! They couldn't hear me; they couldn't see me.



Three days passed like this; I was gone from the world, and I felt more alive than ever. Either by chance or Providence, my eyes fell on a brochure by Allan Kardec; I read his descriptions on Spiritism, and I said to myself: could I be, by chance, a Spirit? ... I read, I reread, and I then understood the transformation of my being: I was no longer a man, but a Spirit! … Yes; but then what did I have to do in this new world? In this new sphere? ... I wandered, I searched: I found the void, the dark, the abyss at last.



What had I done, when I left the world, to come and live in this darkness? … Hell is dark, and it is in this hell that I fell? … Why? … Because I worked my whole life? my life? Because I have used my life to heal one and another, to save them when my science allowed it? … No! no! … Why then? Why? … Seek! seek! … Nothing; I do not find anything.



I then reread Allan Kardec: hope, forgive and love, that is the solution. Now I understand the rest; what I had not understood, what I had denied: God, the invisible and supreme Being, I must pray to him; what I had done for science, I must do for God; that I study, that I accomplish my spiritual mission. I still vaguely understand these things, and I see long struggles in my mind, for a whole new world is opening to me, and I step back, frightened at what I must go through. However, we must atone, you say; this land has been very painful to me, for it took me more trouble than you can imagine to get to where I have arrived! Ambition was my only drive; I wanted it, and I got it.



Now everything must be redone. I did the exact opposite of what was needed. I learned, I dug science, not out of love for science, but out of ambition, to be more than the others, to be talked about. I took care of my neighbor, not to relieve him, but to enrich myself; I have, in a word, been all about matter, when one must be all Spirit. What are my works today? Wealth, science; nothing! nothing! Everything must be redone.



Will I have the courage? Will I have the strength, the means, the facility? ... The spiritual world in which I walk is an enigma; prayer is unknown to me; what to do? who will help me? You, perhaps, who have already answered me ... Watch it! the task is hard, difficult, the student sometimes rebellious ... However, I will try to give in to your good reasons and thank you in advance for your kindness.



Philippeau