Glimpses Of The Next State.Pdf - Spiritualists' National Union

13the left, and round to the right in order to see if I could exactly locate the position of the speaker.Uncle said to me: “Why are you turning your head about from side to side?”I could adduce other instances of satisfactory tests in the dark.Where materialisation is in question, it is futile for people to lay down any law as to lightand darkness. In all physical phenomena the results are more quickly obtained in the dark. Withvery highly developed psychics, of whom there are none in Europe, a little light is allowed evenduring the materialisation phase; as, as I shall presently show, some of the most extraordinary featsare performed by invisible intelligence’s in broad daylight.There is one medium in England through whom materialisation’s take place who does not gointo trance. As he is found talking intelligently with his neighbour when self-illuminated figuresare in communication with sitters some feet off, identifying themselves and conversing, there can beno doubt about his psychic power; but I am afraid that there is also little doubt that, on severaloccasions, he has been detected in fraud.The best instance I have heard of combined fraud and genuine phenomena at a séance wastold me some years ago by one of the most celebrated scientists in Europe. There was a young manof the company who made himself conspicuous by jeering at the objects of the meeting, and thiscontinued even after the séance commenced. Suddenly he became silent. The séance was asuccessful one; many messages were given to the sitters. After the lights were lit, my informantspoke to the young sceptic; “Well, young man, how is it you became so pensive during out sitting?”The reply was: “It was this way. When the séance began, I arranged myself in my seat so that Icould tap the underside of the table with my toe without attracting suspicion; and managed to carryon, by this means, the beginning of a message. Presently I became tired of this performance,withdrew my foot and sat in the normal manner; but the message went on! This gave me aconsiderable scare, and I remained quiet for the rest of the sitting.”Over and over again it has been noticed that the mental attitude of the sitters has a markedinfluence on the success of the séances. The atmospheric conditions, though they help or hindermanifestations to a large degree, are not of so much importance. The essential condition is a small,harmonious circle of people bound together by a common faith in the possibility of communicationwith beings in another state of consciousness; not blindly credulous, but with all their senses on thealter, and passive in their expectations of any individuality. If the medium is in a trance, he will beopen to suggestion and sensitive to thoughts around. Suspicion and hostility impress him instantly;and I think it is not too much to say that, if more than half the circle are suspecting fraud, thecompany as a whole will get it in some form or another. Personally, I will never again sit in a circlewith any pseudo-scientific investigator or avowed materialist. If a man cannot believe that ourlimited senses are incapable of taking in seven-eighths of the wonders of nature, he is an unfit frameof mind to appreciate what is going on. No more honest man ever lived than Charles Bradlaugh,George Jacob Holyoake, Charles Watts, or Robert Ingersoll. They could not obtain anyphenomena which satisfied them that they were in contact with another world. Bradlaugh oncesaid on the platform; “I have given attention to this subject for twenty years, and have never seen asingle phenomenon”. Of course not! Good man as he was, the delicate manifestations of spiritismwere not for such as he. The open-minded agnostic is not harmful; but the man who delivers, as hedid, that nothing exists but matter cognisable to our poor senses has put on an armour which nospiritual weapon will pierce; he is invulnerable.I have long suspected that it is the spirit body which chiefly functions in the séance-room. IfI am right, this accounts for much scepticism. A man sees and hears many things which startlehim. He is impressed, and goes home wondering what it all means; he goes to sleep wondering;wakes; has his bath and breakfast; and starts out to his business. By this time his spirit-body hastaken its customary back seat, his natural body has come to the front, and his objective mind causeshim to believe that he has been the victim of delusion.The first séance I attended was on November 16 th 1904, in a private room – a studio inAcacia Gardens, St. John’s Wood. The medium was Cecil Husk, who is nearly blind. I believe hecan see pictures or writing put very close to his face, but for all the ordinary of life he is helpless,and has to be attended out of doors by a member of his family. The table on this occasion was