"THE UNIVERSITY OF SPIRITUALISM"
(The latest publication of the Psychic Book Club, 5 Bloomsbury Court, London, W.C. 1.
by Harry Boddington; 3 small volumes, paper, about 150 p.p. each. <http://amzn.to/1I8GxRX>)
Taken as a whole, this is a very cogent and well-informed presentation of the whole spiritualist position, by an experienced writer and life-long investigator of spirit phenomena. Nearly every page is quotable and our few excerpts give no adequate idea of the wealth of content.
"The true spiritualist attitude is scientific. First marshal and examine your facts. Philosophy and religion will evolve naturally from that basis . . . No people have been more misunderstood than mediums . . . Ignorance of mediumship is probably responsible for more real lunacy than any other cause . . . Entrancement by capable guides is a frequent preliminary to psychic unfoldment . . . this stimulates unused portions of the brain and psychic organism in a perfectly healthy and natural manner . . . exercise develops the psychic body . . . natural aptitudes come into play . . . Many people have cooperated with spirits all their lives (but are quite ignorant of it) . . . (pp. 201-216, vol. 2)
"Long experience proves the assumption" (that loss of consciousness is dangerous and robs one of initiative) "is utterly unwarrantable, and that ordinary commonsense is a sufficient safeguard. Others deny spirit cooperation and affirm that sensitives galvanize elemental forces into momentary life. Again we retort that this has no foundation in fact and that experience disproves it." "The psychical research theory is, that during entrancement, nothing more is given off than resides within the normal capacity of the medium, or, alternatively, that nothing of value can be given owing to subconscious action. This is the most formidable objection raised, because it embraces, in part, facts which all spiritualists accept." (206-217)
"All mental phenomena are related to the subconsciousness . . . from it or through it all forms of active consciousness must pass . . . But if the intelligence manifested is higher than normal, it is not 'sub' but 'super' consciousness (which is being tapped) . . . Only the ideas we have absorbed can proceed from us; if, therefore, knowledge emanates from a medium that he could not have acquired, either the consciousness can transcend the limitations of the body and collect this information, or some intelligence exercising a power akin to hypnotism telepathically produces the result."
"The psychoanalyst endows the subconsciousness with a personality which works to override the conscious self. The hypnotist discovers in it an ego in many ways superior to the normal man, a higher and better self. In the relation of hypnotism and mesmerism to mediumship lies the clue to the operation of 'inspiration' by spirits. Almost every phase of mental mediumship has been duplicated by hypnotism; on this account medical men reduce all seance room phenomena to autosuggestion. The crux of the position lies in the nature of the manifestation. Only information that transcends the limitations of the senses, foreign languages and other knowledge the medium could not possibly possess, may be put forward as evidence for discarnate intelligences."
The book as a whole is strong and systematic exposition. The weakest portion lies at the close of Vol. 2, where some 17 pages are devoted to "The Problem of Reincarnation." It is surprising that so competent an advocate of spiritism should have written a summary of Theosophical ideas in which there are hardly a half-dozen correct statements. The disciplines of occultism and seership are little more than autohypnosis to Mr Boddington. And instead of mentioning what we believe to be the [11] matter of prime importance, a growing rapprochement between Theosophists and spiritualists, he conceives of them as enemies at every point. Nor does he mention the fact that there is a growing acceptance of reincarnation among spiritualists (at least in this country), nor that a great number of communicating spirits frequently refer to reincarnation as a fact known by them.
These are most serious omissions, and go far to cast doubt on either the knowledge or the honesty of the author. We are not, ourselves, arguing pro or contra at this moment. We believe that many well-informed Theosophists are coming over to the spiritualist point of view concerning the true nature of seance-room phenomena, and abandoning the notion that shells, wraiths, elementals and thought forms account for almost everything. They would not dream of seriously repeating the violent expressions of H.P.B. and W.Q. Judge on these matters. But their own central tenet of reincarnation, as has been said, undoubtedly gains ground. And Mr Boddington is hardly in a position to say that all the spirit communicators who affirm the doctrine are under the hypnotic spell of medium or sitters, or are merely plain or fancy liars. And it is a distinct disservice to the cause of enlightenment, for him to emphasize and perpetuate the stupid old-time hostility between these groups.
Spiritualism, by the very nature of its phenomena, has always attracted a fringe of undesirable, sensation seekers, fanatics and exploiters. Both its past record and its present status suffer from this, and from the ignorance and indifference of many followers, and from the jealousy of its mediums. It has suffered and still does, from the fact that it is offensive alike to orthodox religionism, conservative science, and the prejudice and ignorance of the commons. But it is also true that it possesses a vast and increasing vitality, enlists the support of the most distinguished names, gains in wisdom and makes steady progress on all sides. It is the "occultism of the common man." Theosophy, as it seems to us, suffers over-much from the dead hand of authority, neither impeccable nor infallible. It has flourished on a somewhat superior intellectual level, tho this in itself guarantees nothing. For ourselves, we study its teachings with great care, finding in them a world above and beyond the "provincialized heaven" of spiritualism. We deprecate this wrangling and backbiting, which Mr. Boddington stirs up anew, feel that our ignorance is not enlightened by it, accept what today seems to be true, but pray that tomorrow may correct our ignorance.
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