The New York herald., 1922-06-18

1
are informed. represented merely an
Illusion, an image necessary to make
| the spirits recognizable to the me-
dunn. In actuality, they were moth
ing more nor less than floating
patches of light; they were formed
of an impalpably thin substance too
delicate to be perceived by the crude
senses of mankind. But by no means
all the spirits were of the same
composition; there were those OF
reddish hue, who were inferior and
lowered close to earth; there were
those of blush tinge. who were less
gross and abided in midair; there
were the white spirits, who were
very few but vastly superior, who
had detached themselves from all
earthly interests, and who f1oated
untrammeled into the far regions OF
space, ruling the spiritual world and
yet so subtly made as to be imper-
ceptible to most of their fellows.
The inferior spirits were constant.
ly improving themselves through a
slew process of evolution, Of which
one of the outstanding features con-
sisted of repeated reincarnations.
Spirits could often elect to be rein
carnated, could even choose their
progenitors or their particular posi-
ton on earth; but while the union
Of soul and body ordinarily occurred
at about the time of birth the spirit
had to prepare itself a habitation in
the budding embryo, and to mold its
own personality. With birth came
complete forgetfulness, for then the
soul had been definitely imprisoned
in the body, and its consciousness
was limited by the body's physical
construction. If it had evolved far
enough the soul might require no
further incarnations; or reincarna-
ton might occur after many CEN
turies. or on another planet.
All this appears strange and fan
tastic, too fantastic for acceptance
by the nationalist. Yet there is no
doubling the authors sincerity: and
his results, it may be added. have
been substantially corroborated by
the inquiries of numerous other in
vestigators. AS he remarks, one of
the reasons that the world to-day
tends to be wary of spiritualism is
that science. after struggling for
centuries, has only recently fought
it's way free of theology and mys-
ticism, and having made the con-
quest. it is naturally suspicious of
anything that seems to encourage a
return of the old order, anything
that threatens to supplant reason by
credulity. Yet. paradoxically, the
attitude Of the most reasonable of
us is often unreasonable; the atti-
tude of the most logical is illogical.
We ask, with Omar Khayyam.
Strange. Is it not. that of the myriads
who
Before us passed the door of Darkness
through.
Not one returns to tell us of the Road,
Which to discover we must travel, TOO.
And then, when we lear that some
are actually returning to tell Of the
mysteries of the road, we scoff and
reply that this is impossible, since
none have ever come back before
Is it not little like throwing away
the key to ones house and then
complaining that one has no way
of entering? Or like refusing a for
tune on the ground that one has
always been poor and therefore can
never be wealthy? Spiritualism is.
indeed, far from an established fact.
but M. Cornillier's book is one voice
in the chorus that makes an i'm
partial hearing for It imperative.
that it may stand or fall by its own
merits or shortcomings, rather than
by the preconco ived opinions or de-
sires of either rs friends or its foes.
STANTON A. COBLENTZ