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| source title = | | source title = Spiritual Scientist | ||
| source details = | | source details = v. 3, No. 4, September 30, 1875, p. 42 | ||
| publication date = | | publication date = 1875-09-30 | ||
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... | Our contemporary, the Banner of Light, has an editorial article, “The New Departure,” which reviews Col. Olcott’s letter in the Tribune, and a communication wherein Col. Olcott says, “he has had direct conversation with members of the parent Eastern Lodge of the Brotherhood of Luxor,” and then remarks on closing: | ||
Let those who would get at the truth on this subject ask the Colonel two questions: | |||
First: Have you had “direct conversation" with any persons, visible and tangible to your senses, who, not being mediums, could by mere forms and words, communicate to others, and available by them, produce “all the most startling phenomena of Modern Spiritualism?" | |||
Secondly: Have you known materialized forms of spirits to be made to appear simply by the use of cabalistic words or forms of invocation, in the absence of mediums? | |||
We do not think it at all improbable that there are hum bugging spirits who try to fool certain aspirants to occult knowledge with the notion that there is such an art as magic. A spirit may possibly make a medium believe that by the use of certain words and forms the latter may invoke and control spirits. But that there is a science, apart from mediumship and accompanying phenomena, and depending merely on a knowledge of forms and words, by the use of which spirit aid may be had, has never yet proved, and we doubt if it ever will. | |||
“Has never yet been proved" to the writer of that article, nor to many others perhaps. Neither has Spiritualism or Mesmerism been demonstrated to the masses. The simple declaration of the truth of this or any other science bears little or no weight. The student in Mesmerism knows that an operator, or spirit ''in ''the body, can, under certain conditions, control a subject, or spirit ''in ''the body. The investigator in Spiritualism, believes, that, under certain conditions, a spirit ''out ''of the body can control a spirit ''in ''the body. Is it illogical to conceive that there ''may ''be another branch to this occult science which teaches how the spirit ''in ''the body, may control the spirits ''out ''of the body? | |||
Spiritualism, through its teachers, has taught that the medium and sitters should be in a “passive” condition— in other words, the circle negative, and the force controlling positive, in order to secure the best manifestations. And what has been the result? Simply to place the medium and sitters at the mercy of such spirits as might be present. The “mind” of the investigator, its “positive” or “receptive” condition, has been a fruitful subject for discussion. It is known that an exercise of the will, can destroy the power of a control. Can we not see in all this some proof of the possibility of the existence of a science “apart from mediumship and its accompanying phenomena, and depending merely on a knowledge of forms and words, by the use of which spirit aid may be had? | |||
We think the science of Mesmerism, and what little is known of mediumship, are propositions that will warrant the inference of the existence of a system by which a spirit ''out ''of the body can be controlled by one ''in ''the body. Admit that the spirit world is governed by certain laws, and the possessor of a knowledge of those laws is enabled to control the spirits amenable to them. What is the power required? THE WILL. Evidence: that in Mesmerism, an outside force sometimes attempts to interfere with the operator and take control of the subject. The will of the operator holds the subject, and virtually the former has controlled or conquered, the opposing force, or spirit. Why does the will of an investigator interfere with spiritual manifestations? | |||
That our thoughts will draw our spirit friends, is believed by the majority of Spiritualists. If such a simple exercise of the mind can have this effect, does it require a very fertile imagination to conceive of a circle composed of positive minds having power to command such as are wanted to be present, and then to control them to derise information concerning the unseen world and its hidden truths? | |||
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<gallery widths=300px heights=300px> | |||
spiritual_scientist_v.03_n.04_1875-09-30.pdf|page=6|Spiritual Scientist, v. 3, No. 4, September 30, 1875, p. 42 | |||
</gallery> | |||
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