Mediumship and Sciolism
By Prof. J. R. Buchanan.
The first objection to Spiritualism that is heard among A reading people who are not destitute of liberality, is the sciolism, verbosity, and fullness of its mediumistic effusions. It is commonly said that if Franklin, Washington, Bacon, and the host of philosophers and poets, from whom messages are said to have been received, are the real authors of the messages, Heaven mutt be a poor place for human development —a degenerate state of existence—and if they are not, then Spiritualism is a delusion and mediums are imposters.
It is true such remarks are very shallow and superficial, evincing very little reflection, but men generally do not think deeply on any subject which is foreign to their habits or uncongenial to their prejudices, and it often becomes necessary to brush aside their frivolous objections, teach them how to reason candidly, and present the unanswerable facts which come in legions to enforce conviction on every rational mind.
Mediumistic expression is not the cardinal point of Spiritualism. The actual reappearance of the departed in their bodily forms is the dazzling fact which ends all discussion and enables us to realize the near presence of our departed friends, and the substantial reality of that glorious, but to us invisible world which they inhabit.
In view of these facts it may be unnecessary to say any thing of mediumship as an evidence of spiritual existence and communication; but mediumship has its own interest as a widespread method by which millions obtain an imperfect access to the spirit world and receive innumerable messages, sometimes wise and valuable, sometimes verbose and vague but generally pervaded by that calm, poetic, and affectionate spirit, which dominates in the spirit realm and is felt in every approach to its borders, as we feel the sea breeze in nearing the ocean.
When we approach this charming realm, our minds should be adapted to a sphere of thought materially different from that of business life, and different too from that of the scientific laboratory. Matter is concrete, distinct, impenetrable, antagonistic—mind, or rather spirit, is the opposite in all these qualities. Its blendings, sympathies, identities, unions and indistinctness of position and definition are such as utterly to confound and embarrass those who would study spiritual science by the methods and formula of ordinary physical knowledge, Physical science and psychic ignorance are often found associated in the same individual.
Hence, when men discuss the subject of mediumship or the interaction of minds, within and without the physiological body, we have a great superabundance of sciolism among investigators, which is even worse than the sciolism of the mediums themselves, of which so much is said by their skeptical opponents.
It is possible that the sciolism of both classes may be diminished and a comfortable understanding established between them by a brief explanation of certain laws and, principles of psychic intercourse, which have been too often overlooked.
From the very nature of the organs concerned, which occupy the inner aspect of the hemispheres of the brain, and also extend up and down the temples, just along and in front of the coronal suture, mediumship is a refined and poetic condition, holding the same relation to the practical intellect as twilight and moonlight do to the hot glare of day. Its perceptions therefore have much of the vague and illusory, character of the twilight gloaming and the moonlight forest shadows. This is normal; and to object to this shadowy delicacy and vagueness would be as absurd as to demand that the cartoons of some great painter should assume the hard outlines of a bas-relief or the projecting solidity of a statue. Dreams are not more vague than many of the impressions and visions which the medium tries to explain, and which would not be satisfactorily definite even if all that he perceives and feels could be represented by a skilful and masterly use of language.
But this vagueness and lack of the hard outlines demanded by physical science is amply compensated by the beauty and delicacy of that sphere of thought in which the medium moves, and which are perceptible in the refined and tender expressions with which mediums ire so familiar, and which so often seek expression in poetry. The amount of beautiful poetic expression by mediums is one of the intellectual marvels of the age, surpassing greatly in abundance and poetic merit all that has been developed in the improvisations of Italy.
The spirit of the medium being accessible to the subtle influences, not only of physical nature and of human life, but of the departed spirits, experiences their influence in every imaginable degree, from a faint impression or consciousness of their proximity, or of thoughts sympathetically conveyed <... continues on page 3-72 >
Editor's notes
Sources
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Spiritual Scientist, v. 2, No. 18, July 8, 1875, pp. 205-7