The Challenge of Spiritualism
The Challenge of Spiritualism is an interview of Arthur Conan Doyle written by Charles Dawbarn published in The Daily Chronicle on 13 august 1919.
The Challenge of Spiritualism
DOES IT CONFIRM THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF IMMORTALITY?
AN INTERVIEW WITH SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
By CHARLES DAWBARN.
There is something so eminently sound and wholesome about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, something so British about the immortal literary figure that he has given us for our perpetual joy, that he would advertise any creed. Sure we are that nothing but sincerity and a desire to serve humanity lies at the bottom of his missionary efforts for spiritualism.
None, indeed, can accuse him of any thoughts of self-advancement or pecuniary gain, for it is notorious that he has been greatly attacked for his advocacy of the new cause and has lost friends thereby and that all his earnings in respect of the creed (gained by his lectures) go to help it forward.
On the score of disinterestedness he is in an unassailable position. We may believe or we may not believe, but at least there is a widespread desire to know something of the new doctrine, to know something of the origin and character and human possibilities of these strange new manifestations.
They constitute a challenge to the Churches, which has not been disregarded. We have seen the Prelate of London, in the midst of a great meeting in Hyde Park, warn his hearers against tampering such things, as if they were still uncanny and, possibly, unclean — a verdict that was common enough a few years ago.
IMMORTALITY CONFIRMED.
"Many have been led astray," said the Bishop of London at the Hyde Park meeting. "How strange," observed the protagonist of Spiritualism, in a conversation which him a few days after this denunciation, "that the Church should attack us for confirming its own doctrine of immortality, its basic creed, in fact.
"Seventy or eighty years ago the world, as represented by the Science of the day, refused to accept mesmerism. Finally, the name was changed and it swallowed it, under the name of hypnotism. I expect that the same thing will happen now: the world will accept Spiritualism, but under another name.
"If we were worldly wise, I have no doubt that we could help the acceptance of our doctrine by calling it psychic religion or some such term. I sometimes wonder whether it would not be a good thing to do, for there is no doubt that spiritualism, like charity, has covered a multitude of sins in the past, and has been besmirched by rogues and fools.
"On the other hand, one remembers the grand old pioneers and one feels that it would be a shame to drop the banner which they upheld so nobly, even if that banner has once or twice fallen in the mud."
"We could knock sideways many of our objectors," he continued, "if only they had been present at a sitting, which we held in this very house, a few hours ago. It was very touching and convincing. A young man, highly connected on both sides, but unfortunately a dipsomaniac, had been cared for and saved by two Americans, both Spiritualists, who had brought him into touch with his own dead mother. These Americans sat with us at a séance here and the mother controlled one of them. It was wonderful to hear this sweet, purely English voice coming out of the threat of an American.
A VISION IN OXFORD STREET.
"The incident began by the medium, with a fellow American, walking down Oxford street. Both were attracted by the dejected figure of a young man in front of them. They saw by clairvoyance the vision of a woman bending over him with infinite tenderness. It was his mother. And now we have the pleasure of knowing that the young man is utterly reformed.
"He has given up his bad habits, and his two psychical friends are taking him away to America, where he will have, at least, no temptation to drink.
"I shall never forget the beauty of the 'séance.' We were greatly affected when we heard the medium, in a voice so clear and sweet, sing two lines of the mother's favourite hymn, 'Sun of my soul.'" The medium is a chaplain, I may tell you, and I have advised him to give up his ministry and devote himself to psychical work."
Lady Doyle is as convinced as her husband, and rejoices in the comforting results of the new faith. It has brought great happiness into her own life, just as it has brought happiness to thousands, able now to communicate with their departed.
It is impossible to doubt the deep character of her convictions: it is plainly to be read in the candid and serene countenance.
"So many of us used to fear death," she said gently. "It seemed as if death were a grey abyss, in which we should lose all sense of individuality, all contact with our friends. But now we feel that death is like passing into the next room, where are gathered our familiars. We are assured of every conceivable happiness. Our children are taught that. They have no fear of death. They call it the Homeland — a place of infinite peace and delight. No longer does it affright us. We know that we can communicate with our loved ones, and that is a vast comfort to us. No more are we cut off by the veil of silence.
THROUGH A DEATH AT MONS.
"It was the death of my brother at Mons that brought me to believe in Spiritualism," continued Lady Doyle. "I frankly confess that, before that, I was sceptical. It was the only subject upon which my husband and I did not see alike. But in this very room" — we were in the study of Sir Arthur's house at Crowborough, overlooking a beautiful expanse of gorse and leather and clambering roses in the garden below — "the spirit came to us of my brother, and I knew that I had got into touch with him.
"The knowledge that we can speak with those who have passed over has been of the greatest consolation to mourners, to those who are broken hearted at the loss of a dear husband or son killed in the war."
Lady Doyle mentioned the example of a woman who was absolutely desperate at the death of her husband. She felt all alone in the world. But now she has received a message from him urging her to make the most of her life. She cannot sufficiently thank those who have guided her steps to the new religion.
Thus life has been rendered full of hope and happiness for thousands of the bereaved.
And Sir Arthur broke in: "The Churches have failed in the present crisis. People get cold comfort from ordinary religion, and so seek after Spiritualism. Sermons are full of windy words and dogmatic assertions. Men have largely ceased to go to church. It is not that they are irreligious. It is that they have outgrown this presentment of religion. Is it not remarkable that in the lectures that I have delivered and down the country quite half my audience are men?
THE WAY FROM MATERIALISM.
"I myself was sceptical in the early days," said Sir Arthur, as if answering a doubt in an inquirer's mind. "As a young medical man I was a materialist, though I believed in God because I felt that behind the 'immutable laws' must be Somebody who had made the laws immutable. You remember that Napoleon, when on his way to Egypt, pointed to the stars and inquired of his Staff — no doubt sceptics to a man — 'Gentlemen, who made these? Well, that was my view. But I was a doubter — I wanted proof of everything. In Spiritualism, as I can now see, I spent too long a time in demanding proofs of things already proved.
"I have long since passed the stage of inquirer or investigator. Proofs! My dear sir, my shelves are full of them."
Sir Arthur pointed to the numerous books on the subject — over 100 in number — which stared from shelf above shelf in his library.
"It is not true,"
he argued, "that scientists are divided about the genuineness of the communications. It is true that Darwin, Huxley, Spencer, and others rejected them, but without adequate examination.
"Huxley was 'not interested'; Spencer resisted spiritualism on 'a priori' grounds. Indeed, one may say that these distinguished scientists, so splendid in their own domain, adopted an unscientific attitude towards these new phenomena.
"The scientists who have examined into the manifestations are almost unanimous in believing them, though they differ upon the religious interpretation. Sir Oliver Lodge, Sir William Crookes, Russel Wallace, and at least 50 professors at seats of learning could be quoted upon our side. Many clergymen are adherents in spite of the Bishop of London's injunction.
THE LIFE BEYOND.
"The spiritualist knows that his loved one is waiting behind the Veil longing to communicate with him. He has the same sort of feeling that the parent has who knows that he can receive a message from his son in India or Australia. When you find a body of evidence coming from all parts of the earth and agreeing in the main in the facts given, though there may be some diversity in the details, you, as a fair-minded man, must regard such testimony as incontrovertible. It is so in regard to the future state. We find singular agreement as to what that state is."
Sir Arthur proceeds, with a few graphic, almost homely touches, to give a picture of the Heaven of the New Revelation. There is nothing about harps and celestial choirs chanting in unison glad hymns of praise, but there is a great deal of a higher intellectual life stripped of grossness and materialism — "the curse of the present day,"
as Sir Arthur says. Therein, the inhabitants follow out their destiny much as we do here. Those who are intellectual pursue their speculations and their artistic pursuits and every gift finds its full fruition there. Those who were less spiritual on earth remain in some intermediate state until they are ready to progress.
"Heaven, as we understand it, is the final goal of all. The passing period of development varies according to the advancement or merit of the soul. But it is strange to find persons of apparently inferior position on earth occupying there a comparatively exalted place. For the man who has worked up from humble beginnings is likely to be more highly considered than he who has had every advantage, but has been comparatively inactive throughout his life."
Nor is one's individuality merged in the new world. One is broadened, but is still tinged by the old views. The teaching of the other world is that all religions are good as long as they lead to spirituality, and are bad as far as they retard it. The man of low spiritual stature is longer travelling through to the higher plane than the other. He is isolated from contact with the best spirits, save when they descend to him upon missionary work. But though his position is not elevated in the spiritual scale, he is not necessarily unhappy. He is like those who have lived in the slums on earth, and were fairly content with them, knowing nothing better,
LIKE EARLY CHRISTIANS.
Sidelights on the life beyond are contained in the voluminous correspondence which reaches Sir Arthur. They constitute an unrivalled source of information, for they contain full details of communications or experiences.
"It is an eminently practical religion," claims Lady Doyle, "for one feels that a cross word or action may retard one's progress in the Beyond. Every thought and action of life becomes tinged by it. And yet it is not ascetic, for our spirit friends assure us that the merrier we are the more it makes them happy."
"It is a religion,"
insists Sir Arthur, "that approaches that of the Early Christian Church. Christ was the great Psychic, and His disciples, as I believe, were chosen because they were psychic. We are warned by St. John 'to try the spirits if they be of God.' That is the usual practice. I have had no personal experience of frivolous and vexatious messages, though my experiences go over 30 years, but others say that it may happen. It is essential, therefore, to hold the sittings in a reverent and religious atmosphere. Thus may be the 'communion of the saints.' We begin with prayer and hymns. It is either the most solemn thing in the world or else it is absolute nonsense. There is no middle ground between these extremes."
This is the final challenge of Spiritualism. By it its advocates must stand or fall. And it is here that we may leave the subject with all its implications.
