CHAPTER VIII
“SPIRITUALISM” AND “RATIONALISM”
This book ought not to be concluded without something being said as to its design and character, and as to the mental attitude it presumes on the part of its readers.
It is intended, first, as a practical guide for the assistance of those persons who may be desirous of speaking with the dead; and, secondly, as an elementary text-book of occult phenomena. It presupposes for its readers a willingness to be guided by facts and a disregard of opinions based upon imagination instead of upon fact.
Leaving out of view all questions of religion, religious authority and Church controversy, it may be stated generally that most people are given to understand that occult matters must be looked upon in the light of either “spiritualism” or “rationalism.” When, therefore, they find in the public press various statements by eminent spiritualists that demolish the case of the rationalists, and when they at the same time discover statements by eminent rationalists that are equally destructive of the positions occupied by the spiritualists, it becomes very difficult for persons who are not close students of the matters in dispute to arrive at a settled judgment. Accordingly, the following observations may prove of some service.
The true nature of articles in the newspapers, magazines and reviews should be borne in mind. These articles are written professionally, that is, for pay, and they have to provide commercial value for the remuneration received by their writers. They have to be readable and popular, which means that they must be smart and sensational and penned with much literary ability. The authors have also their own futures to think of; they must please their respective editors and they must show off to the best advantage such stores of knowledge, such dialectical powers, and such capabilities in the arts of sarcasm and abuse as they may possess. They are like the barristers in the courts of law. They are not concerned for either justice or truth. Their business is to snatch a verdict if they can; and to do this they find their best plan is to fasten upon the weak points of their adversaries and ignore the strong ones; while, as regards their own cases, they make the most of every favourable feature and keep all doubtful points in the background. So the reader should be on his or her guard, and should not accept meekly, as a matter of course, anything that appears in print. A good example of what is here referred to may be found in the _Strand Magazine_ of July, 1917, under the title of “Is Sir Oliver Lodge Right? ‘Yes,’ by Sir A. Conan Doyle. ‘No,’ by Edward Clodd.”
Persons who wish to pursue the study of dialectics and partisan literature in connection with psychical phenomena may be recommended to read _Light_ and _The International Psychic Gazette_, which are the two leading organs of the Spiritualists in England, and the _Literary Guide_ (the sub-title being _The Rationalist Review_), which is published by the Rationalist Press Association, and is the recognised mouthpiece of the most distinguished exponents of Rationalism in the United Kingdom. All three of the publications referred to are characterised by much learning and very great ability. The facts they record are selected carefully from partisan points of view and the comments and arguments that appear in their pages are admirably one-sided and correspondingly conclusive. But the reader is thus enabled to see both sides of the shield, and has himself only to blame if he become the champion of either gold or silver.
Current literature, however, is not the only danger in the path of persons who desire to walk in the company of Reason. Current teaching is perhaps even more formidable, and especially so where Science is concerned. The popular idea of scientific men is that they are votaries of Truth and are deaf to the voice of every other deity. Hence the authority wielded by the leaders of Science, and the willing obedience rendered to their behests. It is rarely remembered that scientific men are simple human beings, subject to the same weaknesses and possessed of the same foibles as the rest of the race. History has shown that if power be placed in the hands of any professional set of men it will inevitably be abused; and Science does not provide an exception to the rule. There is every whit as much bigotry, blind dogma and savage intolerance in scientific circles as ever there was in any ecclesiastical or puritanical organisations. Sir William Crookes, O.M., P.R.S., found this out very many years ago, and Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., is now rediscovering it; the latter case of persecution by the Rationalistic Inquisition being rendered particularly piquant because of the great indebtedness of current materialism to the famous champion of the Ether--a doctrine that forms the only line of defence as yet available against the attacks of the Becquerel rays, the Ballistic Theory of Explosives and other subverters of modern dogma.
In the midst of all such strife this little book is neutral, and it counsels its readers to be neutral also. Rationalism is a good thing in a way and within proper limits; and so is Spiritualism. But neither the one nor the other is the whole truth; and, when rightly understood, the two schools of thought are not at variance. When Science speaks of the universe being fashioned and ruled by Nature, Evolution and the like, it is only another way of naming the very same existing something that the Christian calls God. The glorious Service of Humanity when followed into the recesses of its meaning is found to be a mere plain listening to one’s conscience; and the survival of good deeds is, in the last analysis, indistinguishable from the survival of the souls by whom they are accomplished.
_Sursum corda._ Let us speak to the dead and let us add their knowledge and counsel to the common store.
THE END
Transcriber’s Note:
Spelling and hyphenation in common use at the time of publication have been kept as is. Instances of the same word differing in hyphenation have been changed to the majority variant.