Show 1 FACTS FADS FALLACIES Dealing with Personal MagnetIsm Magnet-Ism Telepathy Psychology Suggestion Hypnotism and Spiritualism By EDWARD B WARMAN A M Eminent Piycholoitct HrtlenUt SPIRITISM Wo aro hero faco to face with tho greatest truth of tho universe or else with the most lamentable delusion Which 1 Ones mcro opinion amounts to naught unless that opinion Is based upon a most careful painstaking and unbiased Investigation Even then tho result of that opinion Is wholly as It necessarily must be from the Investigators Investi-gators point of view It Is tho welch ing of the evidence that constitutes tho proof After a 1 thorough and unbiased Investigation In-vestigation extending over moro than u quarter of a century an Investigation Investiga-tion Including every phaso of spiritism extant 1 have been led step by step to tho following conclusions viz 1 I believe In tho alleged phenomena phe-nomena of spiritism but not In the alleged al-leged I cause 2 That every true manifestation of spiritism may be accounted for upon purely scientific grounds 3 That tho phenomena are not duo to or over dependent upon outside In telligences 4 That there is no valid evidence whatever that spirits of tho dead have over communicated In any manna with tho living 5 That not all spirit mediums are frauds but all spirit mediums that are not frauds aro self ileceived when attributing at-tributing either their power or their Information to spirits of the dead G That clairvoyance and clalraudl once are legitimately within tho sphere of psychic phenomena but aro wholly Independent of disembodied spirits 7 That premonitions and impressions impres-sions are Godgiven gifts to all Ills children In 1874 during my Investigation of what was then designated as spiritualism spirit-ualism spiritism I had the pleasure of meeting tho man a spiritualist who had the distinction of having given the first public lecture over heard on this subject These seances being of a private character were tho moro interesting and with less likelihood of fraud and furnished a more satisfactory opportunity oppor-tunity for careful investigation As I now look back over theso intervening inter-vening years I can seo clearly whereas at that time I saw as through a glass darkly It may not be out of place to state that at that time and for many years thereafter 1 was In consequence of many wonderful and unaccountable personal experiences a believer in spiritism but and I want that word but fully emphasized a believer with a mental reservation as to tho causo of the phenomena I have always al-ways been thankful for that shadow of a doubt for In later years It proved to bo tho pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night which led mo safely out of the wildness of Ignorance Ignor-ance and superstition Ever since childhood I have been an Impressionist and those Impres sions having been verified wero the causo of my early and continuous investigations in-vestigations It was years before I learned to distinguish tho one spiritualist spirit-ualist from tho other Impressionist but having distinguished I have learned also to discriminate In the winter of 1899 In Cleveland 0 I had the pleasure and tho honor of meeting tho late Dr Thomson Jay Hudson In the many Interviews that followed the first meeting wo exchanged ex-changed notes on our observations and experiences along the lines of psychic phenomena We found to our surprise that wo had been traveling on parallel roads for nearly 30 years Our conclusions In the main wero Identical especially regarding spiritualism and hypnotism hypnot-ism Wo differed In a few minor points each looking from his own viewpoint therefore we agreed to disagree dis-agree I shall now take up ono by one the defense of each plank In tho platform forming the basis of my argument as hereinbefore stated 1 It may ho thought strange that anyone could or would accept the phenomena phe-nomena of spiritism after so many years of faithful study or having ac cepted tho phenomena they would also accept the cause l Many persons have said to mo that they could find out all there Is In spir itism in about 25 minutes Instead of as many or more years Possibly so I C all that their prejudice would allow them to investigate Because every phase of spiritism can bo faked Is no assurance that It Is There are honest and conscientious mediums fin the minority I will admit ad-mit but they are not conscious of tho origin of their power They attribute I in all sincerity to departed spirits Why Because they have been so Informed In-formed and having accepted tho Information In-formation It has become a verity inconsequence In-consequence of the autosuggestion As has been stated In a previous article ar-ticle the subjective mind Is amenable Ito I-to suggestion It will reason deductively I deduct-ively from any premise given and then i give back to tho objective mind Urn result of that reasoning If tho premise IB wrong the conclusion will bo wrong You can repeat an untruth so often that eventually you yourself will be llovo It Is true If you want proof as to tho amenability amena-bility of tho subjective mind of the medium to a suggestion from the Bitter Bit-ter and further proof of the power or autosuggestions of the medium on her own subjective mind you havo but to ask for a communication from ono who has never existed suggesting thereby that such a person say a brother has passed Into spirit life It Is au Indisputable fact that you can obtain a communication from nn Imaginary dead person as readily no from ono who actually lived providing of course that the medium Is not aware of the facts 1 believe as I shall hereinafter endeavor to prove that h tho i > over is not from an extraneous ex-traneous source but Is Inherent 2 Science Is a knowledge of facts and forces A scientific Investlgntlou reveals the fact that man possesses Inherently In-herently tho power to produco or reproduce re-produce oery phenomenon of spirit ism therefore It III unnecessary and unscientific to seek elsewhere for thu i v sourco of power 3 Hack of the manifestation there is unquestionably nn Intelligence presumably that of tho medium Thin statement should be accepted until time contrary can be proved I do not mean the objective Intelligence of tho medium me-dium but that knowledge which lint passed tcloputhically or otherwise Into tho subjective mind 4 1 Communications all communications communica-tions given by mediums are purported to bo from tho spirits of tho dead Proof however Is wanting No medium po me-dium can communicate matter which Is at once capable of verification if that matter Is unknown to any living d mind Therefore as telepathy cannot e bo eliminated and as It Is the factor In every socalled message It is not necessary to ascribe to spirits of the dead disembodied tho knowledge which Is In tho subjective mind of Urn living tho embodied spirit 5 While many spirit mediums nro honest It must bo admitted that as n class they aro not noted for their brilliant bril-liant Intellectual attainments therefore there-fore the easier self deceived Now and then an educated man or woman accepts spiritism In tototho moros i tho pity but few of them over becomu mediums Tho majority of mediums are not l y only Ignorant but neurotic and the zzr moro so tho better condition for mo dlumshlp tho more abnormal To become be-come a professional medium it In necessary to become objectively passive pas-sive at command in other words to f f let go of tho objective mind This Is I not a difficult thing for mediums to do as the average medium has so little to let go of Verbal Messages When you go to a medium and you aro told why you came you may think it strange especially if it is your first j experience If you have written somo questions c and they aro answered correctly without with-out having been seen by the mcdlunx or having been written on a padded block you may think It still morv strange unless perhaps you are wls enough to attribute it to thought I transference But when tho medium tells you if something which you have never told a living soul then you aro astonished But when she I say alma because E she is In the majority tells your something you were not thinking of at fa 1 the time or something you had forgotten forgot-ten you aro amazed at her wonderfull power But when she tells you of something you never know the facts of which you afterward prove true you are then dumfounded and quite ready to espouse the cause of spiritism But wait Has she told you of that which you never know Impossible You may havo no conscious recollection recollec-tion of It but rest assured that no medium me-dium the most export in the world can glvo you any Information that Is not already In your Biibjectlvo mind Many things find their way Into tin subjective mind without objective consciousness con-sciousness Add to this tho fact that tho subjective mind is tho storehouse of memory and that Its memory is absolutely ab-solutely perfect that everything yout have ever heard or read or seen v y thought or said Is registered therein t that the medium is In telepathic touch with your subjective mind and can t delve Into that storehouse and bring forth those longburled thoughts that sine gets them directly from your own embodied spirit and not from the disc embodied spirit of one who previously lived Copyright 1907 by Joseph 11 BowcaX |