XIV. Ultra-terrestrial Vision.
XIV. Ultra-terrestrial Vision.—If a clairvoyante can discern what is passing at the distance of one hundred leagues, why should not his perception extend to material objects beyond our sphere?
Mr. Williamson tried to conduct one of his clairvoyantes mentally to the moon; but, having got some way, she declared the moon was so intolerably bright, that the effort pained and distressed her, and accordingly Mr. Williamson relinquished the experiment, and happened not to renew it.
M. Alexis, when entranced, in answer to my inquiries, declared himself cognizant of the condition of the planets. He said that they were inhabited, with the exception of those which are either too near to, or too remote from the sun. He said that the inhabitants of the different planets are very diverse; that the earth is the best off, for that man has double the intelligence of the ruling animals in the other planets. It would be the height of credulity to regard this communication as more than a clever guess; yet a plausible guess it is, for if the other planets are composed of the same material elements with the earth, it is evident that the temperature of our planet must render these same materials more generally available for life and economic purposes on it than they would be in Mercury or Saturn.
XV. Ultra-vital Vision.
XV. Ultra-vital Vision.—The following is M. Alexis’s trance-revelation as to the state of the soul after death. I presume it is no more than an ingenious play of his fancy; but a young clergyman of some acumen, to whom I communicated it, was half disposed to give it more credit, and observed, with logical precision, that, viewing the statement as an intuition, it would show the necessity of the resurrection of the body.
“L’âme ne change jamais. Après la mort elle retourne à la Divinité. Dieu a voulu attacher l’âme au corps, qui est un prison où Dieu a voulu enfermer l’âme pendant qu’elle est sur la terre. L’âme ne perd jamais son individualité. Après la mort, nos souvenirs ne nous restent pas.”
The last sentence is that to which my friend’s remark principally referred.
XVI. Nature of the Supreme Being.
XVI. Nature of the Supreme Being.—The following striking expressions were made use of by M. Alexis, when entranced, in answer to a string of questions which I had sent to him on this subject. He declared, at the same time, that he had never before been led to consider it in his mesmeric state. I presume, therefore, that in his ordinary waking state he is a Spinozist, and that, in place of an intuition, he simply delivered an oracular announcement of his preconceived notions:—