Moïse. “Yes, we understand.”
Spook. “Well, we do not use voice sounds in this sphere; we simply send thoughts, and just as you can stop your voice from sounding, so we can stop our thoughts from going out. Very few humans can read thoughts among themselves; on the other hand, very few of what you call ‘spirits’ can make their voices heard to human ears, and none can read human thoughts except by entering into a medium. Do you understand?”
Moïse. “I think we have understood everything except the last part of the sentence.”
Spook. “By ‘entering into a medium’ I mean, for example, to read thoughts I must do it through Jones or Hill, and my success or failure depends as much on their powers as on mine. I can put thoughts into a person’s head, but I cannot take them out. Do you understand?”
Moïse. “Yes.”
Spook. “Well, when it becomes a question of reading human thoughts, I am as ignorant of what I read as the mediums are until it is read out, and all I do is to communicate certain movements to the mediums, who in turn communicate them to the glass. That is to say I myself act as an intermediary medium to a control in a still higher sphere. So you see thought-reading demands that not only should the two human mediums be in tune between themselves, but also with me, and the difficulty of keeping in tune varies as the square of distance between the two human mediums, and the human whose thoughts have to be read.”
Moïse. “Explain more, please.”
Spook. “This has never yet been understood by humans; it is very difficult. Listen, please, I will try again. In ordinary cases you use two mediums, Jones and Hill. In these cases I take complete control, and it is I who give the answers. In these cases I know what to do and what I am saying. But when it is necessary to thought-read a human brain you have three mediums—of whom I am one. Do you understand?”
Moïse. “Yes.”
Spook. “Now to explain about distance. First,—distance has no meaning to me, but it affects the human mediums. When you think a thought you cause certain ethereal movements. Now, my powers are such that distance does not affect me, but with humans it is different. The further away the humans are from the thinker, the harder it becomes for them to notice the ethereal movements. If too far away they are not affected at all, and to keep in tune they must be affected by the movement. Therefore distance is important.”