SUNDAY EPISODE
"Is there anyone here", asked the preacher sorrowfully,
"Who believes in God?
Anyone here at all who really believes in God?"
Then there was a long silence over the congregation . . .
Until a tall thin man stood up in the front pew
With a face melancholy as a rain-swept moor,
And a whistling voice like wind over a dry tree,
And said "I do" -- timid but yet determined.
People began to smile, and the preacher said
(And his words were a wanderer lost in a barren of sand)
"If you do, I'm sure you can work miracles,
For you need faith only as large as a mustard seed
To root up the sycamine tree, and cast it in the
midst of the waters
(According to Luke 17 in the 6th verse)
But I for some forty years have been preaching God
And never yet found a man with faith enough
To raise up one dust-mote, from the covers of Holy Writ,
And all my labor is vain, and the wicked flourish
And the works of the devil increase, wherefore it is plain
That I - even I do not really believe in God."
Then the tall man replied
Quickly and firmly, as if scenting a long discourse -
"That you are speaking the truth I feel satisfied,
For had you believed, you would have been crucified
In three short years at the most - but then, in addition
I could never have sat in this pew (and a thousand others,
Since I have the gift of ubiquity, see Job 1 - 7)
And felt so comfortable and drowsy-minded.
Now you have ruined all my satisfactions,
By becoming honest and self-critical,
Almost enregistering as God's own man!
Hereafter I must attend divine worship
Where there are more protestations of faith
And less falling away from the broad paths of hypocrisy."
All this the tall man said with such hard, sad conviction
That the preacher himself was a little shaken
And hesitated for words - till the tall man turned
And left his pew, and went limpingly down the aisle.
Up to the great church door, which he did not trouble to open,
But walked through it unconcernedly, leaving behind him only
An admirable impression of his perfect sincerity.
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WHAT CONSTITUTES
A PSYCHICAL RESEARCHER
by
Hereward Carrington, Ph.D.
(Director, American Psychical Institute)
Psychical research has so many ramifications - so many facets, angles and sub-divisions - that I have often said, half in fun and half seriously, that one must be everything from a metaphysician to a jail-breaker to encompass them all. We encounter every side of human nature, from the most exalted and mystical personalities to the pure racketeers, who constitute the Underworld of the psychic field. One must be prepared to face on equal terms each and every one of them, treating every case on its own merits, and judging it by its fruits. Writing on this topic in my Story of Psychic Science I said:
" . . . . A specialized training is necessary for this work; our ideal investigator must have a thorough knowledge of the literature of the subject; he must have a good grounding in normal and abnormal psychology; in physics, chemistry, biology, photography, and some laboratory experience; he must be a keen observer, a good judge of human nature and its motives; he must be well trained in magic and sleight of hand; he must be shrewd, quick of thought and action, ever on the alert, patient, resourceful, open-minded, tolerant, rapid in his observations and deductions, sympathetic, and have a sense of humour! He must be free from superstition, and at the same time unswayed by bigotry - theological or scientific . . . In short, our ideal psychic investigator is hard to find, and it is probable that such a man is born rather than made . . . Psychic investigation has now become a highly specialized study, and calls for a combination of temperament and knowledge hard to find . . ."
Nevertheless such investigators exist, and may be found scattered here and there throughout the world today.
Reading a few books and attending a few seances does not constitute an expert psychic investigator by any means. A suitable temperament is necessary, as I have tried to show - one neither credulous nor incredulous, but governed only by the sincere love of truth. A neurotic soil, or any form of mental instability, should rule out our candidate immediately. Any such person should leave this subject severely alone. (Unfortunately, they are the very ones usually attracted to it).
I have spoken of familiarity with the literature of the subject. No one can properly claim to be an expert in this field unless he has read, to begin with, ALL the Proceedings and Journals of the various Societies for Psychical Research. These in themselves constitute more than a hundred closely printed volumes, of several hundred pages each. Added to these are certain classical books upon the subject.
I have often thought it would be a good idea to get up a sort of examination paper, asking certain questions which could be almost automatically answered by anyone thoroughly familiar with the literature [3] of the subject, but which would prove stumbling blocks to our alleged (pseudo)experts. Their status in philosophy and allied sciences should be similarly tested. A good all-round grounding is necessary to the investigator in this field.
Our American Psychical Institute claims to conduct its investigations along the lines above outlined: cautiously yet sympathetically. We fully realize that certain "conditions" are necessary for the production of psychic phenomena, both physical and mental, and these we are prepared to grant - up to the point where they permit fraud. If test conditions are not permitted, then the whole procedure degenerates into a farce. If the medium is genuine, why not? Spiritualists are constantly referring to the tests undertaken by Crookes and others years ago, but when one proposes similar tests today, hands are held up in holy horror, and the statement is usually made that "we are past all that now." If such tests were ever valid, they are valid now. Great mediums have invariably submitted to them. If any mediums are willing to submit themselves to such tests we should be most happy to hear from them, and they can be assured of kindly, understanding, and sympathetic treatment at our hands. But such sittings must be held under test conditions - otherwise their scientific value is nil. The psychic investigator is one who knows how to devise and impose such conditions. Home, Palladino, the Schneider brothers, many of the world's greatest mediums, have triumphantly demonstrated the genuinely supernormal character of their powers in spite of the most rigid tests. We are most anxious to discover some such mediums today. They will be well paid for their services . . . If readers of this magazine know of any such cases, will they kindly let me know? I should be most happy to hear.
(§ The American Psychical Institute is located at 1145 Vine St., Hollywood 38, Calif., which is also Dr. Carrington's official address).
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We heartily recommend Dr. Carrington's article (1) to all the sapient self-satisfied folk who think all psychic investigators are fools (2) to all faithful spiritualists who believe all PR men are hostile and prejudiced and without understanding (3) to all soi-disant experts who go around making trouble for honest mediums, while themselves totally ignorant and incompetent (4) and to all ignoramuses on both sides, who habitually sound their trumpets of assurance on the most complex and difficult problems of psycho-biology . . . The RR Editor accepts, for himself, the basic ideas of spiritualism, but he also supports the new slogan of spiritualism, "No test conditions, no confidence" . . . "Not an answer but an education" is what most contentious people really need, especially in this field of the psychic sciences. And if we can concentrate, each of us, on the one objective of learning the truth, controversy and propaganda will come to a near-end, and be replaced by friendly discussion and the spirit of helpfulness . . . . . . Dr. Carrington is probably the best-known figure in American psychical research, and the author of a large number of books, pamphlets and articles; we are very glad to have his friendly assistance with the work of the Round Robin.