The Washington herald., 1912-08-22
THE PEOPLES FORUM
URGES GREATER RESEARCH
INTO THE OCCULT WORLD

To the Editor: I must laud you for your
excellent editorial this morning headed
The Girl in a Trance" especially for
your paragraph: IF half the time which
has been spent in laboratories to discover
things of remunerative value had been
devoted to solving mental phenomena We
would not now be still en- the threshold Of
the occult world"
/ have been a student and teacher OF
psychology for many years. but was never
convinced OF the truth Of the claims OF
spiritists. lacking facilities to investigate
the phenomena upon which such claims
are based This is because the scientific
world has neglected one of its most i'm
portant fields of investigation. Funds
are not available to publish the accumu-
lated material obtained through trust
worthy mediums, and where II has been
published 1t has not been sifted and sys-
tematized, much less critically examined
and practically utilized. This is the rea-
son why the sensational opponents OF
spiritism. who try to explain all psychic
phenomena as nysteria, telepathy, and
jueglery, find II so easy to assail spirit
ism. The multitude Of Indifferent readers
rather believe such writers who falsely
appear In the manner of critics than
trust the opinion of spiritists. Then. too'
there IL the church, not only the Roman,
but also the Protestant, and even the less
organized societies and movements, such
as certain New Thoughters. who for some
reason or other deny either the facts OF
the psychic phenomena or they argue
that harm will come to him who invest-
gates.
II NAV be said in charity and with
truth that, as far as true general
knowledge OF psychism is concerned. the
world of thought Is in its infancy. In
what pertains to lasting existence, man
kind Is less concerned. II seems, than IN
what is ephemeral. II was the universal
mind that created the forms Of the world.
and 1t is the human soul entity that Is
cree. 1--WE spark In this universe. but so
little has mankind developed. or rather
awakened, that the destructive and out
ward forms receive far more attention
than the lasting. indestructible entity,
which creates and discards these forms.
One of the great delusions Of our age
is that the study Of psychism Is not re-
muneratiye, and has no practical value
for this life OF course, ] am not speak
ing about the money value received by
mediums who pay licenses. What I mean
is that IL the real facts obtained by an
investigation Of psychic phenomena and
spirit messages were needed, thousands
Of human lives and millions of dollars
worth Of property could be saved: people
could avoid the use Of elements which
lead this earth to an imminent terrible
disruption: governments would be guided
to wiser acts; the correct viewpoint as
to the best use Of wealth would be OBJ
tanned; better remedies Tor our ailments
would be found: war would cease, and
there would be one true universal religion.
Besides, gradually, our eyes would be
opened and we would see that we are
alive in a universe SO unlimited, 30 nice
" adjusted in all its parts, and so perfect
,Iy correct, and that all real evils can be
avoided or abated, crime becoming known
as something else. and that man b meant
70 be not beast Of burden and crueitys