“Scientific” Study of Spiritualism
By L. A. S.
“WHAT shall we believe about spiritualism?” is a question considered in a recent issue of Public Opinion, by Mr. H. Addington Bruce. This writer devotes two articles to a review of the work of the Society for Psychical Research, covering a period of more than a score of years. Three hypotheses have been put forward by those who have taken note of what are called “spirit manifestations” to account for the same; namely, trickery, the agency of spirits, and “telepathy,” the latter term meaning the transference of thought from one mind to another by some unknown psychical means of communication. The opinion is gaining ground, says Mr. Bruce, that “telepathy” is the hypothesis which most satisfactorily accounts for the phenomena under consideration, and which is therefore most likely to be accepted as the basis of such phenomena, by the outside world. But what is “telepathy”?—Nobody knows. Nobody can explain it. It is a name used to designate a hypothesis. There is a hypothesis that thought may be transferred from mind to mind without speech, sound, sign, or writing, or any visible means of communication, and regardless of intervening space. To accept this theory as an explanation of the revelations given by spiritualist mediums it is necessary to believe that there is a certain “power belonging not to the ordinary but to the secondary consciousness—the ‘subjective mind’ or ‘subliminal self;’ that information conveyed ‘telepathically’ from one ‘subjective mind’ to another will remain latent until conditions are such that it can rise above the threshold of consciousness; and that such information may be retransmitted ‘telepathically’ by the5original percipient to a second percipient—the ‘medium’ for instance.” From this statement some idea may be gained of the heavy draft upon one’s credulity that is necessary on the part of those who accept a “scientific” explanation of the phenomena of modern spiritualism. People are prone to invent a term to designate some unknown force or some hypothesis relating to certain mysterious phenomena, and then make familiar use of that term as if it were an explanation of the phenomena, instead of a mere word to designate something entirely beyond the range of their knowledge. “Telepathy” is an explanation of this sort. Through the Society for Psychical Research and other agencies the world is being stirred over the manifestations of modern spiritualism, and the former prevalent belief that they could all be accounted for on the supposition of fraud and trickery is losing ground. “It is useless,” observes Mr. Bruce, “to deny facts which can easily be substantiated. The problem is the interpretation, not the verification of these facts.” It is certainly an excellent time for those who know the Scriptures to set before the people the Bible explanation of the phenomena of spiritualism, as the only explanation which has both reason and revelation for its support.