Current opinion of Lavater about SpiritismOral communication through Mr. Morin, in spontaneous somnambulism
Parisian Society, March 13th, 1868
Since the divine mercy allowed me, humble creature, to receive revelation through the messengers of the immensity, to this day the years have, one by one, fallen into the abyss of time; and as they flowed, the knowledge of men also increased, and their intellectual horizon widened.
Since the few pages that were read to you were given to me, many more pages have been given all over the world on the same subject and by the same means. Do not think that I, humble among all, claim to have been the first to have the distinguished honor of receiving such a favor; no; others before me had also received the revelation; but, like me, alas! they did not fully understand parts of it. It is necessary, gentlemen, to consider the time, the degree of moral instruction, and above all the degree of philosophical emancipation of the peoples.
The Spirits, of which I am happy to be a part today, also form peoples and worlds, but they have no races; they study, they see, and their studies can unquestionably be larger, broader than the studies of men; but, nevertheless, they always start from the acquired knowledge, and from the peak of the moral and intellectual progress of the time and the environment in which they live. If the Spirits, these divine messengers, come daily to give you instructions of a higher order, it is because the generality of the beings who receive them can understand them. As a result of their preparation, there are moments in which men do not need to wait for the eternity of a century to understand. Since one can see a rapidly improving moral level, a sort of attraction carries them towards a certain current of ideas that they must assimilate, whose goal they must aspire; but such moments are short, and it is up to men to take advantage of them.
I said that it was necessary to take the times into account, and especially the degree of philosophical emancipation that the time entailed. Grateful to the Divinity, that had enabled me to acquire certain knowledge, by a special favor and more quickly than other men who started from the same point, I received communications from the Spirits. But, the first education, the narrow minded teachings, the tradition and customs weighed on me; despite my aspirations to acquire a freedom, an independence of mind that I desired, an attractive magnet for the Spirits who came to communicate with me, not knowing the science that has since been revealed to you, I could only attract beings with similar ideas and aspirations, and which, with although with a wider horizon, nevertheless had the same limited view. Hence, I confess, the few errors that you may have noticed in what came to you from me; but the substance, the main body, is it not, gentlemen, in conformity with everything that has since been revealed to you by these messengers of whom I spoke earlier?
An incarnate spirit, instinctively brought to good, a fervent nature taking hold of a thought that brought me to the truth, unfortunately so quickly as those that led me to the error, it is perhaps there the motive that caused the inaccuracies of my communications, not having the control of the points of comparison to rectify them; for a revelation to be perfect, it must be addressed to a perfect man, and there is none; It is therefore only from the whole that we can extract the elements of the truth: this is what you were able to do; but, in my time, could one form a set of a few pieces of truth, of a few exceptional communications? No. I am happy to have been one of the privileged of the last century; to have obtained some of these communications through my direct intermediary, and most of them by means of a medium, a friend of mine, completely foreign to the language of the soul, and as we must say everything, even to that of good.
Happy to share these ideas with intelligences that I believed to be above mine, a door was opened to me; I seized it with enthusiasm, and all the revelations of life beyond the grave were, by me, brought to the knowledge of an Empress who, in her turn, brought them to the knowledge of her entourage, and so forth.
Believe it, Spiritism was not revealed spontaneously; like everything that came out of the hands of God, it developed gradually, slowly, surely. It was as an embryo in the first germ of things, and it grew with this germ until it was strong enough to subdivide itself ad infinitum, and to spread its fertilizing and regenerating seed everywhere. It is through Spiritism that you will be happy, that the happiness of the peoples will be assured; what did I say? the happiness of all worlds; for Spiritism, a word that I did not know, is called to make great revolutions! But rest assured; these revolutions will never bloody their flag; they are moral, intellectual revolutions; gigantic revolutions, more irresistible than those provoked by weapons, by which everything is so much called to be transformed, that all that you know is only a weak sketch of what they will produce. Spiritism is such a vast a word, so great, by everything that it contains, that it seems to me that a man who would know all its depth could not pronounce it without respect.
Gentlemen, I, a very small Spirit, despite the great intelligence that you grant me, and about those much superior ones that it is given to me to contemplate, I come to say to you: do you believe then that it is by chance that you may have heard this evening what Lavater had obtained and written? No, it is not by chance that the hand of my perispirit has surely directed them towards you. But if these few thoughts have come to your knowledge through me, do not think that I sought in them a useless satisfaction of my self-love; no, far from that; the goal was greater, and even the thought of bringing them to the universal knowledge of Earth did not come from me. This knowledge had its uses; it must have serious consequences, that is why it has been given to you to spread it. In the smallest things lies the germ of the greatest renovations. I am happy, gentlemen, that I have been given the right to give you an idea of the impact that these few reflections, these communications, that are very poor compared to those you are currently obtaining, will have; and if I can see the result, if I'm happy, why wouldn't you be?
I will come back, gentlemen, and what I said this evening is so insignificant compared to what I have a mission to teach you, that I hardly dare to tell you: it is Lavater.
Question: We thank you for the explanations you have kindly given us, and we will be very happy to count on you henceforth among our teaching Spirits. We will receive your instructions with the greatest gratitude. In the meantime, allow us a simple question about your communication today:
1st - You say that the Empress brought these ideas to the knowledge of those around her, and so forth. Could it be for this initiative, from the highest echelons of society, that the Spiritist doctrine must meet so many sympathies among the social leaders in Russia?
2nd - A point that I am astonished not to see mentioned in your letters, is the great principle of reincarnation, one of the natural laws that most testifies of the justice and the goodness of God.
Answer: It is evident that the influence of the Empress and of some other great characters was predominant in determining, in Russia, the development of the philosophical movement in the spiritualist direction; but, if the thought of the princes of Earth often determines the thought of the great who find themselves under their dependence, it is not the same with the small ones. Those who have the chance to develop progressive ideas among the people are the sons of the people; it is they who will make triumph the principles of solidarity and charity everywhere, that are the basis of Spiritism.
So, God, in his wisdom, has staggered the elements of progress; they are above, below, in all forms, and prepared to fight every resistance. Thus, they undergo a constant back and forth movement that cannot fail to establish the harmony of feelings between the upper and lower classes, and to make the principles of authority and freedom succeed in solidarity.
The peoples are, as you know, formed by Spirits who have a certain affinity of ideas among themselves, that to a greater or lesser degree predispose them to assimilate ideas of this or that order, because these very ideas are in a latent state in them, only waiting for an opportunity to develop. The Russian people and many others are in this case regarding Spiritism; if the movement is seconded instead of being hindered, ten years would not pass before all individuals, without exception, were Spiritists. But these very fetters are useful in tempering the movement that, somewhat slowed down, is given more thoughts. The Omnipotence, by whose will everything is accomplished, will be able to remove obstacles when the time is right. Spiritism will one day be the universal faith, and they will be astonished that it has not always been so.
As for the principle of earthly reincarnation, I admit that my initiation had not gotten there, and no doubt on purpose, because I would not have failed to make it a subject of my instructions to the Empress, like with other revelations, and perhaps that would have been premature. Those who preside over the ascending movement know well what they are doing. The principles are born one by one, according to the times, places, and individuals, and it was reserved to your time to see them united in a solid, logical, and unassailable bundle.
Lavater.
