w.j. colville - twenty-five years of psychical experiences (1902)

8/22/2019 W.J. Colville - Twenty-Five Years of Psychical Experiences (1902)

1/44

enty-Five YearsOf:

Psychical

W. J. Colville


2/44


3/44

Twenty-Fiye Years of PsyghigalExperiences.

W. J. COLVILLE.

Lecture Delivered March 6th, 1902, BeforeLondon Spiritualist Alliance, in St.James's Hall, Piccadilly, E. Dawson

Rogers, Esq., President of theAlliance in the Chair.

Reprinted f?'om London '"''Light.''

BOSTON:Banner of Light Publishing Company


4/44

y^i\

ifiAp'OS


5/44

Twenty-Five Years of PsychicalExperiences.

The twenty-fifth anniversary of my first introductionto public life having occurred on the 4th of this presentmonth, I have been particularly requested to give somedefinite account of my connection with psychic problemsduring a quarter of a century. If I am to relate faith-fully, even in barest outline, my experiences with 'un-seen helpers,' I must go back to my very early childhood,when my 'mediumship' originally declared itself. I waspractically an orphan from birth. My mother passed tospirit life in my infancy and my father was called byimportant business to travel in lands remote from Eng-land, where I was left in charge of a guardian. Mychildhood was singularly unchildlike, as I was separatedfrom children altogether, and compelled to associate ex-clusively with persons of thoroughly mature age.How I first came to see my mother clairvoyantly I donot know, but I distinctly remember becoming vividlyconscious at frequent intervals of the gentle, loving pres-ence of a beautiful young woman, who invariably ap-peared to my vision gracefully attired in light garmentsof singular beauty. The head of this charming lady wasadorned with golden ringlets; her eyes were intenselyblue; she was tall and of rather slender build, and man-ifested many attributes of almost ideal womanhood. Icannot recall to mind any occasion when this lady spoketo me as one ordinary human being on earth converses


6/44

4 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFwith another, but I distinctly recollect that when I sawher most plainly and felt her presence most distinctly, Iwas intensely conscious of information flowing into me.I can only liken my experience to some memorable state-ments of Swedenborg concerning influx of knowledge intothe interiors of human understanding.

THE PROBLEM OF CLAIRVOYANCE.I should probably never in those early days have

thought of such a problem as clairvoyance, had it notbeen for the surprising fact that what I saw perfectlyother people did not see at all. I was first led to realizethe unusual character of my vision when I mentioned thepresence of the 'beautiful lady in white' to two personswho were with me when I saw her very distinctly, andthey declared that we three were the only occupants ofthe apartment. The mystery of the fourth inmate wasfor me greatly intensified when it appeared to me thatthe other two persons, besides her and myself, could passthrough her and she through them, while they appearedcompletely unconscious of each other's presence. Anelderly lady with whom I was living, who was a devotedChurchwoman, summed up all e the work ofGod or Satan.' Though not many months over five yearsof age at the time to which I am now referring, Ihad already heard Satan called the 'father of lies' andhad also been taught that truth belonged to God andcame from heaven; so my youthful intellect was not per-turbed with dread of any power of darkness, as I foundthat all the information which flowed into me when thisbeautiful spiritual being manifested to me was correctin every particular. I was, therefore, quite content tobelieve, with simple faith supported by reasoning, thatmy dear mother was watching over me as a guardianspirit. I often heard of guardian angels, and I wassometimes taken to a children's service in a church wherea favorite 'hymn before the catechising began with thefollowing invocation:

'Dear angel ever at my side'.How loving must thou :be .To leave thy home in heaven to guardA little child like me '


7/44

PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 5Instead of conjecturing angels as well-nigh incompre-

hensible beings belonging to an order in the creationentirely different from ourselves, I rested satisfied withthe simple, reasonable conviction that the messenger fromunseen spheres who watched over


8/44

6 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFdence of clairvoyance did not refer to sight, even on thepsychic or astral plane, as sight is ordinarily understood,but to mental enlightenment or intellectual illumination,and this, not only of a general hut also of a particularcharacter, as the knowledge which entered into my under-standing related not only to topics of usual information,but went deeply and precisely into manifold details ofprivate family history, and included many revelationswhich brought great consternation to the hearers whenI reported my experiences, seeing that the people amongwhom I was being reared were very desirous of hidingfrom me many facts connected with my parents of whichmy spirit mother undoubtedly wished me to becomeaware. The third feature in my clairvoyance was theactual predicting of coming events, and I use the term'coming' in the precisest possible manner for the veryevents I was led to foretell had, in many instances, act-ually occurred in one sense, and were on their way tooccurring in yet another. A single example will illus-trate.

THE MYSTERY OF PROGNOSTICATION.My grandmother's sister in Lincolnshire had decided to

visit Sussex, but had not communicated her intention toanyone, though her mind was fully made up. Though Ihad never seen my great-aunt, and had rarely heard hermentioned, I distinctly saw her in the house where I wasthen living, and accurately described her appearance,even to the strings of the cap which she actually wore afew weeks later when paying her sister a visit. Twoquestions naturally arise at this point: First, how is itthat we can see people who may be thinking of. us, orperhaps only of a place we are inhabiting, when theyare not consciously or deliberately projecting theirthought, or an astral likeness of themselves, to us?Second, how is that we see articles of wearing apparelwhich those persons may not be actually wearing at thetime when we behold them? The following reply mayserve to elucidate, at least in part, the foregoing mystery.When Herbert Spencer many years ago criticised some-what adversely the notion of clothing as pertaining tothe spirit world, he evidently overlooked a very import-ant consideration, to the effect that our clothing is allmentally designed before it can be physically confected.A new fashion in dress is impossible except as an out-


9/44

PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 7come of a new mental concept of apparel. Not onlySwedenborg, but Shakespeare also, clearly illustrates theclose connection which must ever logically exist betweenthe wearer and the garment worn; and in no case do wefind the suggestive doctrine more clearly taught by in-ference than in the play of 'Hamlet,' where the fatherof the Prince of Denmark appears in spirit, clad inarmor, at the very time when he is seeking to inspirehis son to make war against an uncle who has incurredthe fierce displeasure of the discarnate king. Not onlydo we clothe ourselves physically in such raiment as be-comes our immediate mental state, but we often uncon-sciously supply, gratuitously, portraits of ourselves doingthings we intend to do, things, indeed, which we havespiritually already done, and which we shall certainlyultimate 'materially unless our plans are unexpectedlyfrustrated. It generally simplifies the mystery of prog-nostication if we do but consider that seership is afaculty which enables a seer or seeress to actually be-hold what exists on a plane of ultimation prior to thephysical.

AN EVENTFUL DAY.As I grew from childhood to rather riper age, and in

the meantime attended schools and became interested inmany external pursuits and objects, my singularly spon-taneous mediumship became less prominent, and withthe exception of an occasional prophetic dream of rarelucid 4ty, which always came ias a needed warning, Igradually drifted into a more prosaic state of life, fromwhich I was suddenly aroused by the 'presence of theworld-renowned Cora L. V. Richmond (then Mrs. Tap-pan) in England during the seventies of the last century.When I was ndarly fourteen years of age, and a memberof a church choir, Mrs. Tappan greatly excited the popu-lation of Brighton, where I was then residing, by hermarvelous discourses and poems, and singularly eruditereplies to all kinds of questions, which she claimed werenot due to her own erudition, of which she made noboast and to which she laid no claim, but to the actionthrough her instrumentality of a band of guides whowere ready to speak through her whenever their serviceswere in demand. May 24th, 1874, was, indeed, an event-ful day in my history, for though my ipubilc career as alecturer and globe-trotter did not begin till nearly threeyears later, it was on the evening of that beautiful Whit-


10/44

8 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFSunday that I experienced the first thrill of conscious-ness that it was my principal lifework to travel nearlyall over the earth, guided by unseen but not unknown in-spirers, who would carry me safely over all tempestuousoceans and protect me from all dangers by land if Iwould but be faithful to the mission entrusted to me bywise and kindly helpers. I have always greatly dislikedthe word 'control,' and I dislike it still, for in my ears itsavors of coercion, and I have never been coerced by myinspirers, who have ever proved themselves faithfulteachers, counsellors, and guidesveritable 'invisiblehelpers,' to use Leadbeater's felicitous expression, a titlewe may well apply to those numberless assistants whorender multifold services to us of which we are oftenquite unconscious, but from which we derive inestimablebenefit. ! I < ' jThe record, of my original introduction to the work ofinspirational speaking is now an oft-told tale; in brief, Imay sum it up as follows: When I was walking homeafter greatly enjoying Mrs. Tappan's wonderful elo-quence, I registered a vow that if any good and wise in-telligences in the unseen state would inspire me as theywere wont to inspire the marvelous lady who styled her-self their 'instrument,' I would most gladly take servicewith them and go whithersoever their counsels led me.I earnestly desired and confidently expected that inspira-tion would come to me if it were genuine at all, andcome it did that very evening and within an hour fromthe time when I invoked it. Had no obstacles beenplaced in my way, I should have darted forth meteori-cally as a speaker before my fourteenth birth 'anniver-sary, but my legal guardian refused to grant permissionuntil il was at least two years older, tfhough she did notprevent my occasionally appearing at private gather-ings, nor was she able to deprive me of some wonderfulexperiences of mesmeric or hypnotic character, whichopened my eyes in my early teens to many of the mar-vels of psychology which are now demanding and receiv-ing attention from distinguished savants the wide worldover.HYPNOTIC INFLUENCE AND SPIRIT CONTROL.Hypnotism and its dangers, like Spiritualism and itsdangers, is now being discussed at every turn, and I am

often greatly interested to hear discussions on these re-condite themes, when the debaters are people of experi-


11/44

PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 9ence, but whose experiences have been largely unlike myown. I do not presume to settle any question for myneighbors, I merely speak in the first person singularwhen I declare that I was never hypnotized against -oreven without the full consent of my own will; and asspiritualistic literature abounds with references to thevirtual identity of hypnotic influence with spirit control,I deem it advisable to bear personal -testmony in thisconnection. Shortly after my discovery that I couldspeak inspirationally, and even be spoken through hy anunseen intelligence, to whose words, uttered through mylips, I could attend as a quiet, interested listener, I madethe acquaintance of a brilliant young nobleman who wasboth an operatic singer and a practising psychologist.This young 'star' was introduced to me as desiring toconduct some delicate mesmeric experiments for whichhe needed the services of a lucide, or natural clairvoy-ant; or failing to discover anyone who would entirelyanswer to the above description, he considered it highlyprobable that his experimentation would be successful ifhe could meet a sensitive young person who was thor-oughly willing to yield to his suggestive influence. Myfirst ejaculation when the subject was broached to methat I might serve for the experiments, was 'I should bedelighted, and feel sure they will be successful.' Thoughail the experiments were conducted in strict privacy, sofar as the general public were concerned, many distin-guished persons high in the learned professions tookactive part in many of the most satisfactory of them. Itis not usually supposed, at least by the uninitiated intopsychic mysteries, that the words passive and negativeare quite as correctly qualified by the terms wilfully andwillingly as are positive and active. We are frequentlytold that mediumship is impossible without passivity, andsuch is doubtless the case, but voluntary rather than in-voluntary passivity or negativity conduces to the mostreliable results. Operator and subject are terms ofdouble import, but such terms as sender and receiver ortransmitter and recipient are clearly not open to validobjection, seeing that they in no way imply enforced sur-render of one individual to another. During the nearlythree years which intervened between my first insightinto my capabilities as an inspired lecturer and my debutbefore a London audience, I had many opportunities forwitnessing extraordinary phenomena, as I became wellacquainted with many prominent Spiritualists, who


12/44

io TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFtreated me with great kindness and consideration andplaced many exceptional advantages at my disposal forwitnessing manifestations of all varieties. Some of theseappealed strongly to me, others did not. I had many op-portunities for sitting in circles with Williams, Heme,Monck, Egiinton, and other extraordinary mediums, who,at about that time, were either in the inception or at thezenith of their fame. Though I was told repeatedly thatI was a physical medium, and though I sat in manyseances where tables moved and furniture in general be-haved grotesquely, I never knowingly officiated as aphysical medium, though planchette has worked for merepeatedly and automatic writing has been often with mequite an every-day occurrence. During the greater partof 1877-8, I was privileged to investigate the evidences ofphenomenal Spiritualism all over England. The mostprivate gatherings were open to me, and I was timeswithout number privileged to sit with the most distin-guished mediums under thoroughly satisfactory test con-ditions; but though I saw enough to convince me a thou-sand times over that some mysterious occult force wasoperating, and the spiritualistic hypothesis always seemedto me more reasonable than any other, I do not think,with my peculiar and naturally sceptical cast of mind,that I could ever have been completely convinced of thetruth of spirit-communion had it not been for experiencesof my own which absolutely forced me as a rational in-dividual to accept the only sane conclusion.

ON THE PUBLIC PLATFORM.When I first took the platform I felt very much as I

had often felt in more private places when voluntarilyobeying the silently expressed dictation of the talentedpsychologist who could transmit to and through me anyinformation he desired to convey wfcten I was in a sus-ceptible condition; but though he declared that I wasperfectly his 'subject,' and I was quite willing to besuch, I could not be induced by any professional mes-merist or practising physician, who was engaged in theconduct of hypnotic experiments, to receive or transmitanything, simply because I did not choose to make my-self passive or susceptible. I remember well sitting onthe platform in old Doughty Hall (a Masonic edifice nolonger in existence) on Sunday evening, March 4th, 1877,and gazing out upon a large concourse of people gathered


13/44

PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. nto hear the 'kitten orator,' as I had been called becauseof my youth, discourse on a subject to be selected bytheir own vote. A hymn was sung to open a semi-re-ligious service, and then I rose and offered a prayer, thewords of which formed themselves in my mouth withoutforethought or conscious volition of my own. After asecond hymn the presiding officerjthe then celebratedJames Burns, editor of the 'Medium and Daybreak'an-nounced in my hearing that the youthful occupant of theplatform was prepared to discourse under inspiration onany theme the audience might think proper to select. Iheard this without the slightest internal trepidation. Ihad become tense, callous, self-assured, but completelyconfident that an intelligence beyond my normal ownwould certainly render me entirely equal to the occasion.A subject was quickly decided upon by show of hands,and I rose to lecture. I spoke unfalteringly for fully anhour, and resumed my seat uiiexcited and unfatigued. Athird hymn was sung, and then Mr. Burns called uponthe audience to mention topics for an impromptu poem.Three or four subjects were given, and no sooner was adecision reached by the chairman as to which topic hadreceived the greatest show of hands, than I rose for thethird and last time that evening, and heard myself reeloff a number of verses as easily and fluently as though Ihad them well committed to memory, though I am cer-tain they were nowhere in print, and I was listening tothem for the first time. The report of that memorablemeeting created a great sensation twenty-five years ago;but events crowd thickly upon each other in these days,and a new generation has arisen since I was a 'youthfulprodigy,' 'one of the marvels of the nineteenth century,'and much else, according to the newspapers, which Ihave long since forgotten.Immediately after my appearance in London I wascalled to all parts of England. I went as an inexperi-

enced child to places rough and smooth, aristocratic anduncouth, clean and dirty, refined and vulgar, religiousand atheistic; and wherever I went I found my unseenprompters ready to help me in all emergencies and topilot me safely over many difficult and unpleasant placesfrom which T should certainly have shrunk had I seenbeforehand what awaited me. During the nineteenmonths of my touring as a lecturer in England, betweenMarch, 1877, and October, 1878, I certainly saw the worldin a large number of its varied phases, and though many


14/44

12 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFepisodes in my career during that eventful period wereextremely enjoyable, as I met kind and true friends al-most everywhere, I could, without the slightest difficultyor exaggeration, unfold many a tale which might amuseor startle more than it would edify the listeners. Myconstitution was not considered naturally robust and Ihad to encounter many hardships from which many astronger person would have fled in dismay, but though Icannot say that I quite enjoyed all the harsher featuresof my travels in all weathers to all sorts of places, in-stead of succumbing I grew steadily stronger physicallyas well as mentally, so that when I left England forAmerica near the close of October, 1878, my constitutionwas quite equal to endure the strain of a singularlytempestuous, though not dangerous, ocean passage andthe rigors of a New England winter, to the severity ofwhich the fickle climate of Albion had never subjectedme. I well remember my departure from Liverpool forunknown Boston across the wide Atlantic, whither Iwas journeying entirely alone save for the clearly dis-tinguished presence of those faithful unseen helpers whonever deserted me.

CLEAR VISIONS.One of the clearest visions of my life attended me dur-

ing the night prior to my departure from Liverpool. Ifell asleep about 3 a. m., apparently as a result of fatiguefollowing upon intense excitement, but my seership as-serted itself triumphantly in a manner which I was soonable to verify, even to the minutest detail. I saw myselfstanding on a wide platform which was covered withthick red carpet, in a great hall, with high windows oneither side. There were an organ and choir gallery overthe entrance to this audience room, and surmounting therostrum on which I stood was a fine bust of the greatNew England preacher, the famous Theodore Parker. Inthat hall I saw ' a very large audience numbering from600 to 800 persons; and in the midst of the assembly thedignified figure of Dr. J. M. Peebles, whom I had metin London some months previously, loomed large beforeme. The vision impressed itself indelibly on the tabletof my memory; then I fell into a dreamless slumber,which continued until I was called to partake of my lastbreakfast in England for many a year to come. Onreaching America I found that not only had my adventbeen heralded in the columns of the 'Banner of Light,'


15/44

PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 13the oldest spiritualistic paper in the world, but the friendwho met me at the landing stage (Robert Cooper, ofEastbourne, who was then a prominent worker inAmerica) informed me that Dr. Peebles had just com-pleted a lecture engagement in Parker Memorial Hall,and that he had announced me as his successor, the com-mittee having accepted) me for that large and prominentposition on the good doctor's kindly recommendation,though I was only eighteen years of age and entirely un-known to the directors of the Parker Hall lectureship.No sooner had I landed in America than I was quite athome on what was in no sense to me a foreign soil, forthere I heard the same language spoken, and, with minorexceptions of no definite importance, soon discovered thatEngland and America are at least first 'cousins, if notstill nearer relatives. In Boston my work quickly grewapace; then I was called to New York, Philadelphia, andother mighty cities, not excepting Chicago, where I filledMrs. Cora L. V. Richmond's platform for an extendedperiod, while she was filling an engagement in Boston.Nearly five busy years had sped their course when, in1883, I found myself again in England, taking up afreshthe work which 1 never laid down, but only temporarilysuspended when I was led to cross the ocean and becomea prominent worker in America. In 1884 I returned tothe "United States, and in 1885 again revisited England.During those years I accomplished a large amount ofliterary work in addition to extensive traveling and con-stant lecturing. In 1886 I visited California for the firsttime, and spent five delightful months on the sunnyPacific slope, in which charming country I addresseddaily audiences often numbering many hundred persons,and saw wonderful results from the practice of mentalhealing, of which I had by that time become, and ofwhich I still am, an uncompromising, though I trust nota fanatical, advocate and exponent.

A 'MIRACLE' OF HEALING.At the close of a lecture which I delivered on a spirit-

ualistic camp ground bordering on Lake Merritt, adja-cent to the city of Oakland, California, a lady who hadlong been a cripple handed her crutches to her husband,walked home, and did not resume the use of artificialsupport subsequently. This 'miracle' of healing tookplace unconsciously to me, for I did not know there wasa crippled woman in the assembly. I do not claim any


16/44

14 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFpart in the accomplishment of this marvel further thanto declare that I was led to say before I concluded myexposition of the philosophy of healing, 'You can useyour limbs if you determine to use them, no matter howlong they may have failed to serve you.' I had no ideathat I was addressing anybody in particular, and nomember of the audience was more greatly astonishedthan myself when the 'miracle' occurred. My explana-tion of it is twofold; I firmly believe that there was aninfluence at work with that afflicted woman beyond myconsciousness, and I feel also convinced that through herown auto-suggestive act she greatly facilitated her re-covery. This case is thoroughly authenticated, and isnow in print in the supplement to my old standard work,'The Spiritual Science of Health and Healing,' under theheading, 'Testimony of Mrs. Lily Bothwell.'During that marvelous summer of 1886, which was in

some respects the most astounding in my whole career,I received pressing invitations to visit Australia, fromwhich far-distant land cablegrams came to me in quicksuccession. Nine years previously, at the very outset ofmy public work, I had been assured by my unseen pre-ceptors that there was a great work for me to accomplishat the Antipodes after 1 had crossed America, and I mayhere mention that I had daringly announced in a Londonpaper, in 1885, that I was going to California in conse-quence of a communication to that effect having beenwritten through my hand when I had no earthly prospectof pursuing my westward way further than New Yorkand Boston. My disappointment was singularly keenwhen obstacles arose, mountain high, to forbid my leav-ing America on the completion of my first season in Cali-fornia. Duty called me back to Boston, and reluctantlyI obeyed its call, with heavy heart and doubtful mind,for I was beginning to suspect that my unseen directorshad been in some way thwarted in their plans for me, Ihaving been solemnly assured by them that I had a mis-sion to fulfil in Australasia; and now that the way hadplainly opened, the door had been ruthlessly closed andby no voluntary act of mine. On the way back acrossthe American continent, when I paused to lecture in St.Louis, a message came to me with unmistakable clear-ness, 'You are going to Australia and New Zealand butnot just yet! plans are ripendng but not yet matured;have perfect confidence in your inspirers, for thoughthere is a seeming delay there has been no hitch in the


17/44

PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 15arrangements.' 'But when shall I go?' I inquiredeagerly. 'We cannot tell you just now; you would thinkthe time too long did you foreknow its duration; but restcontent; you are going, and you will fill a large placewhile you reside there.' With that assurance t had to re-main content, for I could receive nothing further con-cerning the Southern Hemisphere though many directionswere given me concerning my continuous work in theNorthern. For ten years I saw nothing of England, andit was through the joint instrumentality of Lady Caith-ness, Duchesse de Pomar in Paris, and the special ex-cursion of the World's Women's Christian TemperanceUnion from New York, in June, 1895, that I revisitedEurope after ten years' unbroken residence in America.Those ten years had been very busy and highly eventfulones; my singular experiences during their highlychequered course would fill many a bulky volume. 1 hadscoured America from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico,and had met with warm receptions and enthusiastic au-diences everywhere, though let no one imagine that api-ominent public life means constant resting on a bed ofroses; roses abound but thorns are often their intimateneighbors. I had produced a number of books, editedseveral periodicals, and contributed many hundreds ofarticles to magazines, besides having written thousandsof letters to newspapers, in addition to musical work, be-fore I again set foot in England after my departure in1885.

A TELEPATHIC INCIDENT.What first led me to turn my attention back to Europe

during the winter of 1894 was a psychic or telepathic in-cident well worth repeating, though it has been previ-ously recorded. I well remember December 8th, 1894. Onthat day, between 2.30 p. m. and 3 p. m., I was seated ata desk in New York writing an article for a periodicalwhich demanded copy at short notice. I was scribblingaway at full speed, writing 'against time' as literary hacksdescribe the process, when I was suddenly arrested by avision of Lady Caithness, whom I had not seen for overnine years, seated at an escritoire in a sumptuously fur-nished boudoir, the most conspicuous feature of whichwas a magnificent painting covering nearly the whole ofone side of the wall. This painting, which I saw dis-tinctly in my vision, represented 'Jacob's Ladder,' and Iremember being particularly impressed with the singular


18/44

1 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFbeauty of the faces of the angels. Lady Caithness waselaborately dressed, and engaged in writing to me; itseemed as though I could see ink falling from her penon to the paper, while she informed me of many inter-esting events connected with the erection of her ducalpalace, 'Holyrood,' to which she had recently moved fromthe fine old house in an older quarter of Paris, whereshe had hospitably entertained me and where I had heldseveral conferences during 1884-5. The letter -she wasthen writing embodied the request that 1 should withoutdelay contribute an article for a periodical she was thenediting, and it also expressed a fervent hope that I shouldsee my way clear to accept her offer of an engagementto deliver a course of lectures at 'Holyrood' during theensuing June. For nearly thirty minutes this vision con-tinued with me, and tben, before the letter appearedfinished, it suddenly vanished, and I resumed my inter-rupted article. I went to Boston for Christmas, and whilethere, on December 24th, I received, among other lettersfrom New York, the identical letter from Lady Caithness,dated 'Paris, December 8th,' which I had beheld in myextremely vivid vision. In the course of the letter Ilearned that it was indited between 7.30 and 8.00 p. m.,Paris time, which is five hours ahead of New York, andtherefore the time coincidence was as nearly exact as itwell could be.

THOMSON JAY HUDSON'S THEORY.I 'have been repeatedly asked to describe the difference

between telepathic and spiritual messages, and I franklyconfess that I have rarely been able to clearly distinguishbetween them. And this statement suffices to introducea consideration which is in my opinion a matter of greatimportance. Take, for example, Thomson Jay Hudson'smuch-discussed theory of two minds and two memories.Hudson avers that the subjective mind is the sole seat ofthe telepathic faculty, and in his three celebrated books,'The Law of Psychic Phenomena,' 'A Scientific Dem-onstration of the Future Life,' and 'The Divine Pedi-gree of Man,' 'he industriously undertakes to prove that,though the objective mind with its memory may perishwith the decease of the physical organism, the subjectivemind with its memory continues to live* on in the life ofimmortality. If this premiss is sound, then Hudson'sconclusion, as put forth in his recent article (February,1902) in the 'Era,' a well-known American monthly, is


19/44

PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 17quite unwarranted; and it is the height of absurdity onhis part to declare that Spiritualists are 'fighting in thelast ditch,' because recent experiments in the ample fieldof psychical discovery hare abundantly proved the relia-bility of just such telepathy as Hudson and many othersintelligently vouch for. My own experiences) in number-less instances have completely satisfied me that in nineout of any average ten instances when psychic com-munion between friends can be clearly demonstrated, itis almost impossible to discriminate exactly between amessage received from a communicant on earth and fromone who has passed to the other side of existence. What,indeed, is that 'other side' but the side to which tele-pathy is indigenous? And can we afford to be sure thatwhen we are functioning telepathica'lly we are not be-having just as we should continue to behave were wesuddenly divested of our material envelopes? If thephysical frame be but a sheath or vehicle of the abidingentity, which is the true individual, then all these fasci-nating evidences of thought transference, or mental teleg-raphy or telephony, accumulating everywhere, are butso many convincing proofs of the reality of our spiritualnature in the here 'and now, which will prove continuousin the hereafter and the future. Evidences of psychicpresence and spiritual guidance having attended my stepsfrom infancy, I cannot specialize any particular seasonwhen I have enjoyed the greatest number of distinctproofs of super-terrestrial guidance, but such have al-ways been most distinct and multiple when the need forthem has been greatest.

I will now select, almost at random, a few notablystriking instances of warning, guidance, and simply in-teresting seership, which stand forth prominently in myrecollection as my thoughts revert to days gone by.

A WARNING VOICE.Once in California, when I had arranged to lecture in

a theatre in Los Angeles while I was yet in San Fran-cisco, I purchased a ticket and secured a berth on asteamer leaving on a Thursday, and due at San Pedro,the port of Los Angeles, by noon next Saturday. It wassummer weather and the coast steamers were almost in-varia'bly punctual to schedule time. Feeling perfectlysure that I should reach Los Angeles at least twenty-fourhours before I needed to appear in the theatre, I felt noapprehension, after securing my tickets, as to fulfilling


20/44

18 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFmy engagemeut, and therefore I was greatly surprisedwhen, while walking up Market street, I heard a voicesaying distinctly beside me, 'Change your ticket; go bytrain: boat will not arrive till Monday.' At first I paidno attention to this strange admonition, and was simplyperplexed to account for its origin; but after it had beentwice repeated I resolved to run no risk of disregarding anecessary counsel, and I (therefore returned to the officewhere I had secured my passage and changed my ticketsfrom boat to rail, despite the positive declaration of thebooking agent that the boats were always on time, andthat I could rely on meeting my engagement if I adheredto my first intention. Having procured a railway ticketin compliance with the urgent request of the unseenmonitor, I mentally asked, 'What will cause the delay?'to which I received an answer, clairaudiently, with greatdistinctness, 'Accident to propeller; no danger, but vesselwill have to return for repairs; it will arrive safely onMonday.' On arrival in Los Angeles on the Saturdaymorning, friends remonstrated with me for having for-feited a pleasant water journey at a season when boatswere far preferable to trains in that vicinity; but I in-sisted that as I was announced to deliver two lectures onthe following day it was imperatively necessary for meto arrive before the steamer, which I was certain wouldbe belated. Saturday and Sunday flboth passed and nosteamer arrived. I addressed two great audiences beforethe boat finally got in on the Monday morning, telling atale of broken propeller and return to port of departurefor repairs.Another incident of quite a different character, but

none the less phenomenal, even though less practicallyuseful, concerned an acquaintance I formed in London in1895, during a course of private midnight seances I wasprivileged to attend at which conditions were exception-ally fine. To accommodate the several professionals whowere members of the circle, we assembled twice a weekat midnight and continued our sittings till from 2 a. m.to 3 a. m. Our chief centre of attraction was a hugecrystal placed in the centre of a large library table. Thecrystal was as large as an ordinary globe for containinggoldfish, and into this brilliant object we all quietly butintently gazed, with a view to increasing concentrated-ness of thought and vision. After we had become sus-ceptible to psychic vision we let our eyes close if they


21/44

PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 19seemed so disposed, and we described whatever came be-fore us. Among a multiplicity of telling incidents con-nected with that circle, I remember describing accuratelyscenes then being enacted in a house in Brighton occu-pied by the parents and other relatives of a young armyofficer whose regiment was soon afterwards ordered toIndia. Some months later, when this gentleman was iBCalcutta and I in New York, I saw him as plainly asthough he were physically beside me, and on the occasionof his birthday, when some friends presented him with ahandsome pair of ivory-backed military hair brushes onwhich his monogram was richly chased in blue and gold,I saw those articles as plainly as though he and I hadbeen actually in a room together, inspecting the birth-day presents. A letter which came to me from him a fewweeks later described those brushes precisely and con-tained the words, 'I am sure you are receiving a tele-pathic despatch from me at this instant.'

SPIRITUALISM BASED ON TRUTH.Though I have narratives to relate which would fillmany a volume, all illustrative of the great question of

psychic intercourse between friends yet on earth andthose who have 'passed over,' as well as manifold de-scriptions of most convincing telepathy where both par-ties have been still incarnate, I must reserve for futureopportunities the narration of other striking incidents.But now that I have just rounded out a full twenty-fiveyears of public service, I feel it a solemn duty as wellas a high privilege to bear unequivocal testimony to thealways beneficial effect which mediumship such as I havedeveloped has had on me from all standpoints. Mentallyand physically I owe immensely much to those very en-dowments and experiences which mistaken people imag-ine are weakening to mind and body. That there aredangers and drawbacks I do not deny, but through allmy varied and protracted experiences on and off the plat-form, for more than a quarter*of a century, I have in-variably found that the directions given me from unseenhelpers have been sound, elevating, and truthful to theletter in all particulars; while the telepathic incidents,at which I have scarcely more than hinted, have beenalways interesting, never mischievous, and invariablycalculated to throw bright light on many a mystic prob-lem. During the nearly two years which I recently spent


22/44

20 TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OFbelow the Equator, I have pursued my way unflaggingiyand untiringly in all varieties of climate and in a greatvariety of surroundings. I owe a deep debt of gratitudeto friends, seen and unseen, for the many tokens of theircare and kindness which have brightened all my journey-ings and rendered possible of accomplishment the widelyextended mission which took me to the Southern Hemis-phere. Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, New-castle, and many smaller places in great Australia, Ishall ever feel united with as centres of work which Iknow has already borne good fruit in numerous ways.Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch in picturesqueNew Zealand will always remain equally sacred in mymemory- During all my Antipodean wanderings I foundmy psychic faculties fully as clear and tas much in evi-dence as in other lands where the Southern Cross is anunseen constellation. I am now assured that my travel-ing days are not yet over, and that I still have oceans tocross, and continents to traverse, before I can honorablyretire from active service, if such retirement shall everbe my portion. The dangers of Spiritualism are in myjudgment greatly overrated, while its blessings are oftenminimized; for though I have been since 1890 a memberof the Theosophical Society, and my acquaintance andconnection with the Mental Science movement is a mat-ter of public knowledge, I wish publicly, emphatically,and irrevocably to bear my testimony to the irrefutabletruth of spirit communion. With the peculiar theoriesadvocated by some Spiritualists I have no sympathy; andI daresay there are tricksy spirits, as well as unreliablepeople on this side the mystic border; but though I mustremain the 'free lance' I have ever been, and work wher-ever I am called to operate, and therefore cannot poseas exclusively a Spiritualist, inclusively I am as thor-ough-going an advocate of Spiritualism as any of itsmost enthusiastic representatives. I owe nothing to de-veloping circles, and comparatively little to spiritualisticliterature, or to phenomenal mediumship of an objectivetype; therefore my assurance of Spiritualism's centralclaim can never be weakened by any controversy whichmay rage concerning dubious phenomena. I have seenthe unmistakably genuine, the ambiguous, and the fraud-ulent, and having seen so much I am prepared to testifyto this effect, irrevocablythat Spiritualism is based ontruth, and no matter how many barnades may have to


23/44

PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES. 21be swept from such institutions as are devoted to itsspecial advocacy, the twentieth century must and willwitness a spiritual- revealing for which all the wondersof the nineteenth, stupendous though they have been,have only paved the way.A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. Colvilleon the motion of the President, who said he had noticedwith pleasure the evident gratification with which thecompany had, throughout, listened to the speaker's in-teresting narrative, and he had no doubt that the friendswould be glad if arrangements could be made for Mr.Colville to continue his narrative at an early date. Thissuggestion was received with manifestations of cordialapproval.


24/44


25/44

The Question of Spirit Identity.

CONTINUED RECORD OF PSYCHICAL EXPERIENCES.

Lecture delivered by W. J. Oolville before the LondonSpiritualist Alliance, in St. James's Hall,

Piccadilly, May 15th, 1902.

The vexed question of spirit identity is one which isalways liable to occasion considerable discussion, chieflyby reason of the fact that what appears thoroughly con-clusive to some types of mind seems inconclusive toothers. It is, therefore, necessary to approach this im-mense and vital subject not only entirely free from prej-udice, but also fortified with clear understanding of theactual worth of the various theories now submitted forpopular acceptance as substitutes for what is oftentermed the spiritualistic hypothesis.A very friendly correspondent in 'Light' has recentlyasked whether it is possible for us to explain clearly howwe discriminate between telepathic and spiritistic mes-sagesto use the exact words of the courteous truth-seeker who raises the inquiry. Frankly, we admit that itis often quite beyond our present ability to discriminatecompletely between them, but this lack of ability alwaysto discriminate, far from weakening the testimony favor-able to simple Spiritualism, only necessitates a recon-sideration of the entire problem of our human constitu-tion before we attempt to formulate an inclusive theoryto explain the entire bulk of our diversified psychic ex-periences. A very large number of thoughtful readershave been much impressed by Thomson Jay Hudson'sthree celebrated books: 'The Law of Psychic Pheno-mena,' 'A Scientific Demonstration of the Future Life,'and 'The Divine Pedigree of Man,' in which the hy-


26/44

24 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY.pothesis known as the dual theory of the human mind isvery fully and forcibly expounded. Professor Hudson,in common with many other able writers, labors to someextent under a burden of preconception adverse to Spir-itualism, which often mars the beauty and consistency ofhis otherwise excellent nterary work. The evidence fortelepathy which this author puts forward is very strongand in some instances unimpeachable, but the alleged evi-dence 'against Spiritualism is rationally inadmissible, be-cause it is of a singularly negative and supposititiouscharacter. We must face our problem bravely, not at-tempting to disguise the fact that during the past sev-eral years much evidence has accumulated in favor ofsimple telepathy which some over-enthusiastic Spiritual-ists may have been liable to undervalue because it hasbeen erroneously supposed that, if accepted, it wouldtend against the interests of the cause which is nearestof all to their hearts. A better understanding of tele-pathy, and a fuller comprehension of what is logicallyinvolved in Hudson's 'two minds' theory, may serve toset many doubters at rest. We must not forget that thetitle of Hudson's second book is utterly misleading andan entire misnomer, if the evidences of telepathy provecommunion between friends on earth but throw no lighton the condition of those who have 'crossed the border.'The author persistently claims that of our two minds,which he consistently designates objective and subjective,the former perishes at the time of physical dissolution,but the latter lives on and finds a sphere for fuller andmore perfect functioning than it ever enjoyed on earth.This theory accounts for telepathy as a sort of foretasteof the method of communion between friendly entitieswhich will prevail unceasingly in the future life. Theonly flaw that we have been able to detect in Hudson'schain of reasoning is the poor opinion he seems to enter-tain of the moral integrity of the subjective mind,coupled with the utterly foundationless assertion thatoverwhelming evidence of unrestricted telepathy willdrive Spiritualists, ere long, even out of that 'last ditch'in which they are now desperately fighting (according toHudson) to save a lost cause and rescue a forlorn hope.Reasonable identification of telepathy with direct

spirit-commuuionj instead of introducing a new perplexiryand further complicating an already complicated situa-tion, introduces us for the first time to an orderly, har-


27/44

THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 25monious, and easily comprehended interpretation of manyanalogous facts and parallel experiences which have longperplexed the average student of psychic phenomena,though there have always been singularly luminous ex-ponents of mental and spiritual science and philosophy,who have gone a long distance on the road which mustlead eventually to universal understanding of man as aspiritual being.We have frequently been asked to define clearly where-in consists the difference between a message receivedfrom a friend yet on earth, and a similar communicationfrom one who has 'passed over.' Spiritualistic literaturehas largely been encumbered with two oft-repeatedphrases, 'spirit return' and 'spirits coming back toearth.' These phrases are to a large extent misleading,for, though there are instances where such language mayaccurately and adequately describe the nature of certainmanifestations, sach expressions do not by any meanscorrectly serve to describe the actual experiences of thegreat majority of seers and seeresses of ancient or mod-ern times. Intromission to the spiritual state is a phrasefull of deep significance, and, were it used more fre-quently, it would serve to elucidate many a problem ofclairvoyance, elairaudience, clairsentience, and phychom-etry. Professors Denton and Buchanan, in theirlearned dissertations concerning psychometry, illustratedby numerous recitals of personal experience, have in-sisted that a true psychometer perceives the aura of anobject, and can at times distinctly see into the spirit-world and become consciously en rapport with denizensthereof. Such quickened perception may fairly be con-sidered as in some degree an anticipation of the means ofintercourse we shall enjoy one with another when wehave hade farewell to our robes of flesh.

If at this point we are reminded that the question ofspirit identity is specially our theme at present, we maysurely claim that if we are called upon to identify thoseintelligent beings with whom we are in communication,we must apply the same laws of evidence to this matteras to questions of individual identification when onlymundane matters are involved. To identify a fellow-being in any world is not always easy, and indeed itoften is found to be extremely difficult when we relysolely on outward tests. 'The hands are the hands ofEsau, but the voice is the voice of Jacob' is a vividScriptural instance of the extreme difficulty experienced


28/44

26 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY.by an ancient patriarch in deciding which of his twosons was actually in his presence. The blindness ofIsaac is easily typical of the condition in which mostpeople are found when some sort of deception is suc-cessfully practised upon them. Evidences of two kindsare presented together. One set of evidences appeal tofeeling, the other to intelligence. We judge people veryoften by outward appearances which we subsequentlyfind to have been altogether deceptive, and if it be ad-mitted in any degree that there are deceiving spirits whosometimes visit us, we are obviously placed in preciselythe same position with reference to them as with regardto persons yet on earth who play us false because weare open to deception. The difficulties attending spiritidentification are not necessarily greater than those sur-rounding the identity of persons who 'are yet encased inmortal garments.No purely external tests are always valid. Indeed, toplace extreme reliance upon such alone is to encourageswindling, and play into the hands of forgers who areusually very capable of simulating perfectly the outwardgarb of those they seek to personate. Testimonials, ref-erences, and letters of introduction constitute no in-fallible criteria, 'as these may all (be counterfeit or stolen.The only sure way to identify anyone absolutely is bycultivating psychic perceptiveness, and this is more aptto be strongly developed in highly sensitive persons thanin any others. Deception is, however, less likely to bepractised on the spiritual than on the material side ofexistence, because the motive to deceive is far lessstrong. Expectation of worldly gain urges most deceiverson earth to ply their nefarious vocation, and it maybe safely assumed that at least ninety per cent, of alldeception would vanish from the earth if no financial orother ulterior gain could accrue from it. To palm oneselfoff as another would be objectless folly in which very fewpeople would care to indulge did they not think they sawin such deception a means for self-enrichment or aggran-dizement.

It may with some fairness be assumed that when com-municating intelligences who display only very meagreintelligence profess to be very celebrated and illustriouspersonages, they may be hankering for the incense ofadulation, but when no great names are given and nopretentious claims are made, it is difficult to see whatreason could be fairly given for simply stupid masque-

f


29/44

THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 27rading or deliberate misrepresentation of any sort. Weknow from experience that auto-suggestion on the part ofthe alleged recipient of a spiritual communication mayaccount for some instances of falsification, especiallywhen such self-deception tends largely to self-glorifica-tion or the gratifying of personal vanity. A great draw-back to untainted spirit-communion is the prejudice andvanity of many sensitives, but this very foolishness ontheir part sometimes serves to reveal an aspect of truthwhich is frequently neglected, viz., that there may beperfect sincerity and frankness on the side of the un-seen communicator, while the person to whom the com-munication is made may be the sole suggester of the de-ceptive element.A lady in one of the Southern States of America de-clared that she was in direct communion with GeorgeWashington, the first President of the United States; buther friends as a rule laughed at her claim, because bymeans of automatic writing through the lady's hand, andby means of trance speaking through her lips, 'GeorgeWashington' expressed himself most ungrammaticallyand in negro dialect. On a notable occasion when'George Washington' was speaking through this lady'smediumship, he was distinctly seen by a fine clairvoyantwho had been invited to a seance, and at the conclusionof the address this seeress described what she had wit-nessed during its delivery, which was the presence of avery decided African of Ethiopian tint and cast of feat-ure, and who appeared strongly attached to the ladythrough whose mediumship he had been able to deliver alengthy message. On 'being requested to describe all shesaw, the seeress went on to give particulars of a vener-able old servant who had been named 'George Washing-ton,' who had been a faithful retainer of the family priorto the Emancipation Proclamation issued in 1865, and hadin that year steadily refused to accept his freedom, as hedearly loved the old estate and was devotedly attachedto his master and mistress, parents of the lady throughwhom he was then able to communicate and whom hehad often nursed during her earliest girlhood, ere hepassed to spirit life, when she was not over eight yearsof age. That simple incident served to explain the en-tire problem, and it afforded a thoroughly rational expla-nation of a phenomenon belonging to a class, by nomeans uncommon in America, which have led to denun-


30/44

28 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY.ciations of fraud where none existedtheories of wickedpersonating spirits, and many other vagaries of un-balanced judgmentto say nothing of the would-beclever remark made by people who were more 'smart'than wise, that it must be a terrible thing to die if iuour post mortem condition we so quickly and sadly de-teriorate. An instance like the foregoing will bear thor-ough sifting, and it is surely much easier to explain suchan instance in the light of direct spirit communion thanby straining an auto-suggestive or telepathic hypothesisto the breaking point to invent an improbable, in place ofa probable, interpretation. Had the lady referred tosuggested the matter to herself she would certainly havebeen fairly grammatical, as she was a comparativelywell-educated woman, and not being a negress she wouldnot have clothed an imaginary message from GeorgeWashington, as she conceived of Mm, in negro dialect.Admitting telepathy, mental telegraphy, or telephony, oraught else that is in any measure psychical, nothing canwell be more likely than that a good old negro who hadbeen for many years a faithful servant to the family re-siding on that particular estate, should seek an avenue ofcommunion with it through the agency of a member towhom he had been greatly attached just before he passedinto the realm of spirit.

It is doubtless true that many spirits leave the earthand all pertaining to it, very shortly after the demise ofthe physical body, while others remain closely connectedwith the scenes of their earth existence, not because theyare earth-lbound in the sense of being unhappy creatureswho cannot, on account of their sensual vices, rise abovethe mundane level, but because their affections still clingto persons and places with which they have enjoyedpleasing associations up to the latest moment of theirterrestrial existence. Andrew Jackson Davis, as well asSwedenborg, and many other gifted seers, have saidmuch concerning the many spheres in this solar systemencircling the various planets, which have often beennumlbered from one to seven, and then again divided andsub-divided into circles within circles, like wheels withinwheels in Ezekiel's visions; and those who have becomestrongly attracted to such teachingand their name is le-gionhave brought forward the revelations of theseprophets to disavow the declaration, made from a some-what different standpoint, that multitudes of spirits can-


31/44

THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 29not return to earth as they have not yet taken their de-parture from this planet's immediate atmosphere, or evenfrom the exact localities where a large portion of theirearthly days were spent in work or amusements in whichthey took a decided interest.While indulging in personal reminiscences, and not de-

siring to repeat a record of experiences already publishedand circulated, I will narrate a very recent instance ofwhat seems to me clear evidence of spirit identity. WhenI was in Australia about eighteen months ago, in Syd-ney, 1 frequently employed the services of a bright, en-terprising young man, who was an excellent typist, andto whom I dictated portions of several books and numer-ous magazine articles. Before taking my last earthlyfarewell of this young gentleman, on the eve of his de-parture for New Guinea, whither he went to occupy apost of trust and influence, he said to me that he hopedwhen I returned to England he might accompany me onthe ocean, as he much desired, though by birth an Aus-tralian, to visit the Mother Country, which, thoughtwelve thousand miles distant, is invariably called 'home'by Australasians. My reply was that though I could notdefinitely foresee my own plans for the near future, andcould, therefore, promise nothing, I held myself in fullreadiness to fall in with his wishes should opportunityoccur to favor the carrying out of the project. Shortlyafter his arrival in New Guinea in full possession ofhealth, and seemingly of vigorous constitution, he caughtthe local fever, and in three days he had made his exitfrom the mortal body. I cannot say that he was veryfrequently in my thoughts, or that his loss would seemto me irreparable; still there was a- link of sympathy be-tween us which evidently made it possible for him tomanifest his presence to me on more than one occasionduring three distinct stages of my voyage from Sydney,via New Zealand and across America, to England. Thefirst time he attempted to make himself known to mewas between Sydney and Auckland, but as I was seldomalone during the four brief days that voyage occupied Icannot remember any very definite evidence of his iden-tity, though I was fully conscious of his presence. Thesecond visit which I know he made me was en route toCalifornia, when I had a large cabin to myself on the'Sonoma,' and not being much acquainted with any ofmy fellow passengers I had many opportunities for quietsilence and uninterrupted meditation. I well remember


32/44

30 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY.distinctly feeling the presence of my young friend withmc, just as I had known him in Australia, and so realand tangible was the sense of that presence that itseemed exactly as though another person was sharingthe cabin with me. I was quite awake, perfectly calm,and fully able to determine all he said to me, and yet Iam certain I heard nothing with my external ears exceptthe motion of the vessel passing through the water. Notonly did I feel, or sense, his presence, 'but he gave meinformation concerning his situation in New Guinea, andthe circumstances of his life there, which I subsequentlylearned, through correspondence with a mutual acquain-tance, were correct in every detail. On the third occa-sion, when I as strongly realized his presence, I wasnearing Plymouth on my voyage from New York lastFebruary, and on that occasion he gave me informationconcerning his present state and occupation, and told meseveral things in regard to my own near future, whichhave since been fully verified. Such definite, direct, andtruthful communications certainly do not proceed fromlying spirits, nor do they emanate from my own sub-self, whose reputation for veracity and sanity I am nat-urally interested to maintain; and when I speak a goodword for my own subjective mindwhich is to live here-after when my objective mind has perishedI stand upequally for the corresponding sub-selves or subjectiveminds of all my neighbors. It is immeasurably more ra-tional to maintain a reasonable spiritualistic version ofsuch facts as I have just related than to invent, and up-hold at all hazard, a contradictory and extremely compli-cated theory of the mysteries of telepathy, which servesto befog far more than to enlighten rational inquirers.Id seeking to reply definitely to the very natural inquirywhether there is any marked difference in appearancebetween the psychic, or astral, body of a person yet onearth, and of one who has parted company with earthlyraiments, I venture to suggest that only when the factorof clairvoyance is added to telepathy is this clearly deter-minable. Usually the appearance to psychic vision of onewho has left the flesh is more ethereal than that of onewho is still connected with it, but when only a sense ofpresence is realized, and intelligence is inwardly com-municated, it is often impossible to decide whether thedespatch in question is being received from a friend yeton earth or from one who is more frequently designateda 'spirit.'


33/44

THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 31Unnecessary difficulties in the way of rational spiritual

identification are created by many persons who evidentlymistake identity which pertains to abidiing individualityfor the most external incidences of ever-fluctuating ex-terior personality. Such questions are often raised as, 'Ifyou see my father can you describe his appearance? doeshe wear a beard? how is he dressed?' and much else ofthe same almost ridiculous character. A little soberreflection must convince the veriest tyro that such ques-tions, answered one way or another, cannot determineidentity. We all know that fashions alter and habitschange with wonderful rapidity, and it is by no meansdifficult for a man to remove a full Obeard in a fewmoments, or let one grow in a few weeks, thereby com-pletely altering one aspect of his appearance. Black haireasily turns white, stout persons grow thin, and slenderpersons become stout, very frequently, while changeswrought by passing years and varying emotions fre-quently suffice to render old photographs, once speakinglikenesses, no longer discernible, unless to the acuteststudents of physiognomy. It is, however, continuallydeclared that clairvoyants see our spirit friends as theywere when we last beheld them or as they appeared whenwe were most intimately associated with them. Andsuch testimony, founded as it often is on actual fact,needs to be interpreted in the light of other knowledgethan that obtainable by simple and often mysteriousclairvoyance. Astral pictures are often ibeheld in the airof old houses, where certampeople have lived long periods,and to which they have become greatly attached, andthese psychic photographs are often mistaken for theactual presence of departed spirits by persons who relyon^gjght as evidence aparjLfrom feeling or manifest in-telligence. A fact in my own experience may serve toillustrate two features of this portion of the subject ofspirit identity.Some years ago I was sojourning in an old countrymansion in America, which had been the abiding place ofa single family ever since its erection. The room as-signed me as a sleeping apartment had, as I afterwardslearned, been for many years the special working andreading room of a maiden aunt who had been quite asecond mother to the family. In that room she had spenta great part of her time during her latest years on earth,and one of her favorite occupations was knitting stock-

Itl


34/44

32 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY.ings by the fire. For four nights in succession, during myoccupancy of that room, did I see that quiet elderlylady, with knitting in her hands, seated before a fire inthe grate, which was at that season of the year filledwith a summer ornament. At first I thought I rnust beactually in communion with the kindly, placid dame,and that she might have a message to convey throughme to some menfber of the household; but, concentratemy thoughts and attention intently as I could upon thevision, 1 could detect no animation, nor could I receiveeven the faintest intimation of intelligence. The peoplewith whom I was residing were not at all averse toSpiritualism, and when I told them exactly what I hadseen four nights in succession in that particular bed-room, they all agreed that it was an exact description oftheir aunt, even to the smooth bands of brown fronthair, and the cap with lilac satin ribbons tied under thechin; but they, in common with myself, wondered why,if I could see their aunt so clearly, I never saw her moveand could obtain no impression of her intelligence. Onthe fifth night of my occupancy of that apartment Iexperienced a totally different sensation in connectionwith the same apparition, which I again beheld stationaryand unresponsive as before; but on this occasion,hovering over the astral picture I beheld a radiant,youthful form bearing a certain family resemblance tothe abiding simulacrum, but instinct with the fire andenergy of active life and operating intelligence. Con-temporaneously with this new additional experience, in-formation clearly flowed into some receptacle of myconsciousness, causing me to become aware that theoriginal of the portrait desired her nieces and nephewsto find in her old writing desk certain papers she hadwritten long ago and which she desired should be revised,edited, and published. Following the minute directionsgiven me by this guiding intelligence, I accompaniedseveral members of the family to a lumher room in whichmany discarded articles of furniture had long been stored;and there among them stood an ancient escritoire, inwhich we found a completed story setting forth a roman-tic and highly edifying history of marvelous episodes inwhat the world would doubtless have looked upon as asecluded and uneventful career. After this startlingconfirmation of the veracity of my vision, we formeda private family circle for further investigation, and


35/44

THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 33thereat, by means of automatic writing, supplemented byclairvoyance, we verified many extraordinary statementsmade by this living relative of the family, who assuredus that she was no longer sitting by a fire engaged inknitting, but most actively employed in spiritual oc-cupations, which did not, however, alienate her in theleast from her old associates but, on the contrary, kepther in close vital touch with all of them, though in asubtler and more ethereal manner than before she hadquitted the material frame.Another interesting experience of my own dates back

only to the autumn of 1899, shortly before my departurefor Australia. I had long known Mrs. Emma HardingeBritten, but my first interview with her was in 1877, at alecture delivered in Manchester, when she was a middle-aged woman, dressed in much the same style as she con-tinued to adopt till she finally withdrew from the publicplatform. Since her passing to spirit life, this earnestworker has occasionally made herself distinctly known tome, both on and off the platform, and in November, 1899,I distinctly saw, in connection with a most forceful real-ization of her close proximity, the likeness of a radiantmaiden with light golden curls, somewhat resembling theearliest pictures of Mrs. Richmond wlhen she was CoraHatch, but in no way suggesting Mrs. Britten to meby the appearance. I never could have understood thatvision had I not visited Mrs. Wilkinson (Mrs. Britten'ssister), about a month later, and, while her guest inManchester, been shown a picture taken many years ago,representing Emma Hardinge in youthful costume as'Queen of the Fairies.' This ipicture represents the younglady who afterwards became Mrs. Britten with flaxenringlets, and in every way precisely as she showed her-self to me on the occasion of my vision. Had Isuggested to myself a similitude of Mrs. Britten, I shouldcertainly have conjured up from the depths of memorya likeness of her as I (had known her; and when Iinterrogated her spiritually through the imediumship ofautomatic writing, subsequent to beholding the portraitat Mrs. Wilkinson's, the following message was com-municated: T knew you were going to my sister's; Itherefore, I wished to give you a singular test of myidentity, which I find I have succeeded in doing; and jthere is another reason why I showed myself to you thusI wished to impress you with the knowledge that I can


36/44

34 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY.now show myself in vario^sf^gggj^to my friends, andmy present, appearanceiai^nore closely resembles thatof my youth on earth than that of my later age.''How do we know each other here?' is quite as gravea question as 'Shall we know each other there ?' Iremember some years ago, iu New York, 'being asked bya mutual friend to meet a gentleman who was returningto America after ten years' residence in Germany, andwho was described to me from a portrait as a slenderman with jet black hair. And such he doubtless waswhen he embarked for Germany, but during the decade ofyears he had spend in Europe, he had grown decidedlycorpulent and his hair had become positively white. Inevertheless knew him by instinct, though I had nevermet him previously, and I accosted him by name, greatlyto his surprise, directly he had left the steamer. HadI been slavishly governed by my physical senses insteadof trusting to some surer and subtler faculty of discern-ment, I should certainly have failed to acknowledge him,so greatly did he differ in appearance from the descrip-tion 1 had been given of him. We cannot expect thatwhen we change in outward aspects thus rapidly onearth, we shall remain stationary in external aspect inthe world of spirits. There is, however, this to be saidconcerning relatively fixed appearance in the life beyond.We are not there, as here, so greatly affected by outwardclimate, and outer appearance changes only as it indicatesalterations in our interior state. Such is the unanimousand unfaltering verdict of spiritual testifiers whereverthey have made their presence known.And now, finally, concerning the weighing of evidencein the scales of reason. We may certainly maintain in theface of all opposition that every individual communication should be judged on its particular merits, and neitherbe accepted nor rejected on the merits or demerits of anyother submitted message. We cannot believe, unless wepart company with reason, that we are victims of stupidor wicked deception in cases where the teachings givenare of the highest moral import, and where the informa-tion offered is proved correct in every detail as far as wecan possibly verify it. The crude and intricate theoriesnow afloat to discredit evidence of spirit intercourse are

|far more difficult and far less probable than the plainsatisfactory conclusion long ago reached by all intelligent

,

and dispassionate inquirersthat .we do on many occa-

l

'


37/44

THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 35sions receive convincing proof of the identity of com-municating spirits. In conclusion, let us look for aninstant at the mental characteristics of a few of thetypical students of psychic phenomena who during recentyears have become thoroughly satisfied that in manyinstances, though not 111 all, proof positive of spiritidentity has been obtained. Professor Hodgson and Mr.Myers were thoroughly satisfied at length, through Mrs.Piper's mediumship and that of other sensitives; and sowere Miss Lilian Whiting and Rev. Minot J. Savage, aswell as many other representative and cautious investi-gators. These famous persons had nothing to gain andpossibly something to lose, by outspoken advocacy ofSpiritualism; and in the case of Dr. Savage it is well-known that his tendency of thought was decidedlyagnostic, and for many years during his popular ministryin Boston he was largely a champion and exponent of thephilosophy of Herbert Spencer. It is difficult to see whypeople should prefer the Devil to their own friends whohave passed beyond the mystic portals, and it surely can-not


38/44

36 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY.conspicuous. The lecturer said, in reply to an inquiryconcerning telepathic intercourse with spiritual beingswho might be occupying positions in the solar system farremote from this planet's immediate atmosphere, that itwas easily possible to hold communion with sympatheticintelligences without coming into local contact. It wasalso stated that intermediary intelligences often serve asconnecting links between two spheres which have somemeasure of affinity with each other, though they cannotbe described as actually near together. And the furtherdeclaration was made that space plays a far less im- !portant part than state in all spiritual interblendings.And it was yet further insisted that higher spheres cancommune at will with lower planes of activity, but lowercircles cannot rise into full conscious communion withhigher circles except through such interior growth asproceeds from continued aspiration.Regarding elemental and elementary spirits and the

future existence of animals, the speaker said that this isa living universe; therefore, every element is in essencepsychical. Life is everywhere, and all forms of animateexistence are oragnized expressions of a universallydiffused life principle. Magicians may command thelower forces of Nature and employ them in magical pro-ductions, but elemental influences cannot simulate humanintelligence, at seances or elsewhere, any more thananimals can speak with human voice or display suchattributes as pertain only to the human species. Manyclairvoyants have had some evidence of the temporarilycontinued existence of certain animals in the post-mortem state, but their actual immortality cannot bedemonstrated.In reply to a question concerning the likelihood of

'astral shells' producing the phenomena of Spiritualism,the lecturer argued with such decision against the sup-position that galvanized reliquae of the departed coulddisplay intelligence, and the utmost that could berationally conceded to that theory would be the barepossibilityand that an improbabilitythat some humanintelligence might use a 'shell' as a vehicle or utensil inthe production of a phenomenon, but in that case thesource of the manifestation would still be an intelligententity.Some ladies questioned the lecturer concerning thelegitimacy or desirability of perpetuating such elementary

I


39/44

THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY. 37modes of spirit communion as table-tipping and otherrudimental phases much in rogue in the early days of theModern Spiritualistic movement, to which the followingreply was given:There is always a place for elementary phenomena,

which are well adapted to the present requirements ofmany truthseekers who are as yet unprepared to appre-ciate or comprehend more advanced phases of psychicdemonstration. For that reason it is far better to en-courage than to discourage home circles and selectfriendly gatherings of congenial sitters, where the simplerforms of phenomena recur. Wherever two or three, orany larger number of friendly, harmonic persons uniteto seek enlightenment, the response they win from unseenspheres is far more a result of their interior states ofthought and feeling than of the method employed ex-ternally by those who are seeking to pierce the psychicveil. If the chief attention is always paid to aspiration,motive, desire, and all that constitutes the inner side ofpsychical investigation, the outward means employed maywell be extremely diverse, to suit the varied needs of thegreat multitudes who are now knocking at the portals ofthe House of Wisdom.Replying to a question concerning fraud practiced

during seances, the lecturer said that during extensivetravels in various parts of the world he had witnessed.much genuine phenomena of many varieties, and alsomuch that was ambiguous, but actual fraud was com-paratively rare except in cases of persons who did notactually claim any mediumistic gifts when .they werefreely conversing with their cronies, and who undertookto simulate phenomena when they thought it wouldredound to their financial interest. Such persons, par-ticularly in America, where they had been sometimesnumerous, were turncoats in profession, for they invari-ably felt the pulse of a neighborhood and adapted theirtrickery to the largest prevalent demand. Many churchofficials had employed these tricksters to expose Spirit-ualism in one place, while they had quickly gone to an-other and posed as ardent Spiritualists and faithfulmediums devoted to the cause of Spiritualism. It hasbeen largely owing to impostors of that stamp thatphenomenal Spiritualism has been at times under a heavycloud and honest mediums have been exposed to assaultand persecution. When phenomena are sometimes


40/44

iAR 27 1905

38 THE QUESTION OF SPIRIT IDENTITY.fraudulent though casually or frequently genuine, in thepresence of certain public sensitives, something can besaid in support of the plea that such mediums are some-times greatly influenced by the immoral calibre of sitters.and being often not particularly strong morally in them-selves, even when their sitters are not deceptive personscarrying a deceiving sphere with them, there is strongtemptation to produce imitations of genuine manifesta-tions when the demand for phenomena greatly exceedsthe supply. The chief cause of fraud in America hasbeen the insatiable demand of a voracious public fortwenty or more full form materializations every night inthe week at 'circles where a dollar per head has been theprice of admission. It stands to reason that genuinephenomena of so marvelous a character cannot ibe doledout to order for just so much money whenever paymentis forthcoming, and it is the height of folly to patronizeand encourage such proceedings and then vehemently de-nounce the people who have only catered to a vociferousdemand. A great deal of alleged fraud deserves careful,unexcited scrutiny, and it is not likely that fierce de-nunciation, will ever effectually prevent it, as people willprobably always be taken in more or less frequently untilthey have reached a plane of clear perceptiveness wherethey are no longer deceivable. Fraud may occasionallyemanate from the spirit side of life, but that is an obscureproblem and a remote contingency. Mind-reading andunconscious thought-transference will account for muchseeming deception in connection with mental phenomena;but as this consideration opens a particularly wide fieldfor psychological investigation, we should be extremelychary of condemning anyone without overwhelmingevidence of guilt. Mediums certainly should not beprejudged unfavorably, and we cannot reasonably expectto remove deception by surrounding hyper-sensitive per-sons with a .blighting atmosphere of suspicion.At the close of the proceedings a cordial vote of thankswas accorded to Mr. Colville for his very interesting and

instructive address.


41/44


42/44

J


43/44


44/44

w.j. colville - twenty-five years of psychical experiences (1902)

Documents