SCIENTIFIC MEN WHO ACCEPT
CLAIRVOYANCE
All those scientific men who have
investigated the subject accept clairvoyance as a fact, and many of
these are among the most distinguished in the ranks of science; as
Alfred R. Wallace, discoverer of
evolution; Cromwell Varley,
electrician; W. F. Barrett, F. R. E., Professor
of Physics in the Royal College of
Science, Dublin; Dr. Lockhart Robertson, editor Journal of Medical
Science; Camille Flammarion, astronomer; Dr. Win. Gregory, F. R. S. E.;
Dr. Ashburne; Prof. N. D. Wagner, geologist University of St.
Petersburg; Prof. G. T. Fechner, and others too numerous to mention.
Why do clairvoyants see spirits in
the garments they wore in earth-life?
As the magnetizer can make his subject see whatever be pleases, as to
take a cane for a serpent, a
cup of water for wine, so the spirit magnetizer, standing in exactly the
same relations to the medium clairvoyant, makes
him see whatever desired. This is often done as a test of identity.
OBJECTIONS.
Clairvoyants or sensitives, have seen
men on horseback, with Indian camps with dogs lying about and incarnate
objects. Do these scenes show
the existence of spirits, of people and animals, and if so to what are
we to attribute the seeing of
the inanimate objects? Does not the seeing of the inanimate objects show
that much that is taken as proof of spirit existence is hypnotic
illusion, or sub-auto-suggestion, and if so, is not clairvoyance
wholly worthless as evidence of
future existence?
There are various degrees or stages
of clairvoyance, the confounding of which by the application of general
terms, leads to confusion, and discordant conclusions. In the first or
lower state the clairvoyant cannot readily distinguish between the
spiritual and physical, and confounds the two. He has earthly scenes
presented and interprets them as spiritual. Judge Edmunds made such
mistakes, and the dairy he saw as he supposed in the spirit world,
simply because he saw it clairvoyantly, was made subject of ridicule.
Clairvoyants might see a
dairy, or an encampment of Indians as readily as
a spirit scene. They often describe
distant localities and persons in earth life. In this first, a lower
state, they are more or less influenced by the minds of those around
them, and the investigator must always allow for this factor of error.
In the higher state the clairvoyant
becomes independent of his surroundings, and able to distinguish between
physical and spiritual beings and objects. This spiritual sight and
knowledge becomes the most positive evidence of the claims of spiritual
science. It is as distinct from
that low state of hypnotic suggestion, unconsciously imposed by others, or
on self, as day is from night,
yet as at dawn light and darkness mingle, and
it would be impossible to tell where
the day began and the night ended, so
it is impossible to draw a sharp
distinction between the lowest and most exalted state.
The sensitive subject is responsive to
countless influences and to throw
aside as valueless this wonderful means of investigation, because these
are with present knowledge
uncontrollable, would be as though the photographer should discard his art
because the sensitive plates at times failed to respond to the light, and
gave foggy and blurred results. With all the care and preparation, the
perfect picture is the exception. The amateur with the most painstaking
preparation produces caricatures scarcely recognizable.
And here is revealed another and most
important factor, the knowledge
of the spirit who may be attempting to communicate through the
sensitive. In the independent
state, the spirit of the clairvoyant sees with its own spiritual senses.
In the lower it receives ideas from spirits who stand in relation of the
mesmerizer to his subject. If such spirits do not know the best methods of
communicating their ideas, these appear in the mind of the medium—or
sensitive—imperfect, as the amateur's picture on the badly exposed or
developed plate.
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