MEDIUMSHIP (continued): ITS FOUNDATION, DEVELOPMENT, DANGERS AND ADVANTAGES 

The foundation of mediumship lies deeper than mere physiological sensitiveness or adaptation. It is not altogether a question of the external physiological life of man, but it relates to certain essential principles in the nature of man. If you clearly understand that through the agency of mediumship you are able to come en rapport not only with the spiritual world, but with the intelligences who people that world, there will of course then be presented to you the suggestion of subtle and subjective qualities and relationships in the nature of man which relate him to the world that lies beyond. 

The existence of mediumship is not only the proof, or the means whereby the proof of the existence of spirits and their return is presented to humanity, but it argues the existence of a realm of subjective possibilities in man’s nature, the investigation of which causes you to realize the fact that you are actually now expressing subjective spiritual powers, that, in a sentence, the operations of mediumship are the indication of the existence of superior powers latent in humanity whilst living in this world. 

The foundation of mediumship therefore, really rests upon the existence of the immortal spirit itself; and its developments are the manifestations of spiritual powers and faculties resident in your natures now, which, through exceptional circumstances, are made manifest and visible to your sight and understanding. 

MAN IS A SPIRIT 

Therefore, mediumship opens up a very wide series of considerations 

The existence of subjective powers within yourselves; the existence of a subjective source within yourselves from whence those powers are derived, or in which they inhere; the existence of a still more subjective universe to which that subjective or inner source is necessarily related; and as that source is the superior centre within yourselves, that universe to which it is related must necessarily be a superior universe in itself, and as you have a relationship to it by the very fact of its existence, mediumship may be said to be rooted in the very constitution of the universe itself, is part and parcel of the orderly possibilities of existence, has nothing miraculous, nothing special about it, but is a legitimate and sequential unfoldment of the innate possibilities of the universe and man. This is the very highest presentation of the foundation of mediumship. Let us forsake it for a few moments and direct our attention to its foundations in the external, life. 

Of necessity we must look to the physiological system of man for the matters we are in search of We must look also in the mental departments for the means by which sympathetic brainwaves are set in motion, and their results transmitted in the various forms of intellectual or subjective mediumship; we must look for the still more recondite expressions of mediumship; in the superior faculties of the mind which are related to the spiritual nature itself, and in those departments of inspiration, of clear seeing, spiritual perception and discerning, and those clairaudient faculties, whereby you are brought into telephonic communication with and catch the vibrating thoughts and emanations of the immortal world, we must look in these higher branches for some of the foundations for the working of mediumship upon the subjective plane. But we must remember that mediumship is not confined to those phenomena which take place within and are actually expressed by the personality of the medium. We must remember that there is a sphere of operation in mediumistic development and phenomena that is beyond, so to speak, the individuality and personality of the medium, to a very large extent. There are, in a word, the external physical phenomena, and we must look for the foundation of those phenomena, as well as for those of a more recondite nature. 

SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE PHASES 

For the sake of convenience, we may divide mediumship into two classes. On one hand, the subjective mental phenomena; on the other hand, the objective or physical mediumship. Mediumship is, of course, involved in both cases, but it is scarcely correct to speak of it as mediumship generically in both relations; for on the external plane we have the simple fact that owing to the existence of a certain subtle force—or emanation—which surrounds the subject, certain physical, audible signs and tokens and sounds can be produced, certain physical tangible phenomena be performed, these being the objective form of results. Then, on the other hand the individual, physically, mentally and spiritually, being actually directed by a controlling intelligence for the definite expression of all the intellectual qualities and personal attributes that make up individuality in its detailed form of expression, gives voice and manifestation to the personality of the mind controlling him, giving here the mental form of mediumship, in which case you have mediumship pure and simple. The individual becomes the vehicle or the medium for the actual transmission of the intelligence and will and understanding of a personality beyond himself 

In the former case it is the material emitted from the individual that forms the means of connection between the material and spiritual states, and upon which the spiritual operators are dependent for the performance of the various matters they may have before them. Of course, it is mediumship in this case, because the individual is the medium from which is derived this fluid necessary for the production of the phenomena. We think you will agree with us that a more definite and correct interpretation of the word mediumship would be to associate it with that phase where the individual becomes the agency for the actual transmission of another’s intelligence and understanding through his ordinary personality. 

MEDIUMSHIP IS A NATURAL FACULTY 

The foundation of the external form of mediumship must be sought in the realm of nature, just the same as the foundation of the internal or subjective form of mediumship is to be found within the personality and spiritual possibilities of the individual. We have no sort of sympathy with that doctrine that makes mediumship a gift from God to man, in the sense of its being considered a special gift from God to man. God never gives special gifts to anyone; He has no favourites. Why should He have? There is no necessity for Him to give one a rose and another a thorn. He is the universal, All loving and All-just, and, by the universal principles of His being, He regulates and orders existence in every department in divine equality; and latently every individual possesses precisely the same qualities. True, it appears that the exercise or development of mediumship to-day is special and particular, but it is the special and particular manifestation of a universal possibility which will ultimately be realised by all mankind. 

We want it distinctly understood that all the stories that you have read of mediumship being “a special gift from God”, and of “the angels” coming down and giving you this “gift” or giving you the other “gift”, or that you must be “the seventh son of a seventh son”, or “the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and all such kind of nonsense, are wrong and absolutely absurd; there is no sort of truth in it at all; no mortal or spirit can put into a human being what is not there now. What can be done is this: The secret spring may be touched so that that which has not been hitherto known to exist may be developed and brought into exercise. But this is a very different thing from giving you a “gift” or putting something into your nature that did not previously exist therein. 

THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS ONE 

Here we have two distinct grounds for the foundation of mediumship: the spiritual nature and relationship of man on the one side, subjectively; the possibilities of the universe upon the other side, objectively. How can you realise this last proposition? You can only realise it by a course of speculation which, after all, is not so very speculative, since it is in strict harmony with ascertained fact. The man of science will tell you there is an intimate relationship chemically and atomically, between every department of the universe; that the flash of a gun will produce an indefinitely extended and continuing effect through the realms of existence, even as the dropping of a pebble into the quiet bosom of a lake will cause a ripple that will finally extend from shore to shore. 

You cannot do one single thing in this room that shall affect the atmosphere without creating conditions that will react upon every human being here assembled, and the vibrations of the atmosphere from the voice of the instrument we are now using not only produce an effect upon your consciousness, but produce effects upon your nervous system through contact with the brain, and through the brain upon the entire physical organisation; thus proving that there is a material correlative for every sound you receive, the results of which are distributed through the entire physical system of each and every one. 

These are facts, and very important facts, that are passed by without serious notice being given to them, and sometimes are ignored through actual ignorance. You will here see the truth of what we are going to place before you; for if every atom of matter is capable of affecting its neighbour, there will be an increasing effect expanding through all the departments possible to be affected under the particular circumstances. Therefore, throughout the entirety of being there is a sympathetic relationship between points of force, or atoms, as they are commonly spoken of, which once set in motion here or there, a series of effects governed by their laws and relationships will be produced— whether it be from the waving of the hand, the flash of a gun, the shouting of a voice, the falling of a body, or any other phenomenon that may occur. 

This point is clear, then; and instead of the physical universe being a series of conditions jumbled together without any inherent and subtle relationship uniting them, the very converse of the proposition stands true: that every condition of existence bears an intimate relationship to all other conditions; and the key note, so to speak, between them, in their mutual vibrations, repulsions, and attractions that run throughout the various modes of existence. 

THE TWO WORLDS ARE INTERRELATED AND PSYCHIC FACULTY IS THE LINK OF UNION 

Here, then, is the external form of mediumship. We must encounter this law, or else the argument falls to the ground. If any allege that special mediumship is being advanced beyond the laws of nature, then we frankly tell you we know nothing of such mediumship; we know nothing of any possibilities that are beyond the possibilities latent within the universe wherein they occur. The phenomena of external mediumship presents to you certain tangible facts. How are they produced if the two worlds, as they are called, the natural and spiritual, are distinct conditions with no continuous degrees between them? 

There must be a point of contact, some neutral point in the scale relating the spiritual to the material; and in that neutral point, where the material and spiritual blend, will be found the condition that enables the beings of that other world to hold communication with this world. 

So on the neutral line must be sought a point where this can be accomplished. The organic structure of man is immediately associated with the nervous forces, and the spiritual beings can use this refined force—which, being related through the human organism to the chemical forces of the universe, will form a point of contact for the spirits with man’s physical conditions; the point of contact being in the superior physiological forces; and so gradually descending to the muscular forces, wherein the spiritual world finds the means of producing the external phenomena, the nature and character of which you are more or less familiar with. 

The foundation of mediumship, then, is in Being, in the principles of existence, in harmony with the innate possibilities of human nature, is a natural faculty and possibility of the individual, and a universal law in harmony with the principles of God. Here, then, superstition and all kinds of ignorance concerning mediumship vanish, for we find it rooted in Nature, in Man, and in God; and with such a triune foundation there is no need of seeking another, for no better foundation need be sought. 

DEVELOPMENT—ITS SERIOUSNESS 

How shall mediumship be developed? Here again is a fruitful theme, for a superstitious crop of errors is presented to the inquirer in this connection. We should not do justice, if we dealt with this topic in pleasant and soothing words. You must remember that you are mortal beings as well as spiritual beings; you must remember you are related to a world of sense, matter, and time, as well as to their immortal counterparts; and bearing this in mind you should deduce from it the lesson that there are duties due to this world now, as well as duties due to the world towards which you are going. That condition to which you belong, for the time being, has the primary claim upon you; that condition of existence towards which you are going has, therefore, a secondary claim upon you. Give, then, to this world while you are in it, that due regard and proper consideration its primary claims upon you demand. In so doing you will find ample leisure, if you will, to consider those secondary relationships in regard to the world towards which you are tending. 

We want you to understand that the development of mediumship is a matter of very serious consideration. We have been consulted over and over again in very many places as to the propriety of developing mediumship; and we have had to tell many that, as the indications of the possible development of their mediumship were exceedingly small, they had better devote all their spare time to washing dishes and cleaning windows, for then they would be doing something serviceable with the powers they possess. You can waste your time, you can sit in circles, absorb all kinds of psychological influences, exhaust your own, and in many cases become so filled up with contending influences that you are in a state of psychological fewer all the time, or so exhaust yourself that you will become as limp and useless as a rag. This is not the way to use the opportunities you have; and you should avoid the injudicious, promiscuous and insane methods of development of many who are extremely anxious to develop you as mediums, and who often bring discredit upon the subject of mediumship, and do no one the slightest practical good, not even themselves. 

DO NOT NEGLECT LIFE’S DUTIES 

It may be thought we are speaking against our own cause; it may occur to you that the greater number of mediums, the greater the army that is dispensing truth throughout the world. Let us caution you that the development of mediumship ought not to be the highest aim of individual existence. There are duties to be done here; soil to be cultivated, men to be clothed, honourable service to be given to humanity at large; some fair and just return for all the privileges and advantages conferred upon you, which tend to make the world happier and wiser, to build up the constitution of human society wisely and truly, so that at last the divine temple of a happy, virtuous and noble humanity shall disclose its glorified proportions to the world at large; these things leading to such results being wisely and honestly performed by you will infinitely bless and better the world, and give you a nobler purpose in life than will the development of mediumship, which in many cases has no other benefit or result than the gratifying of vanity or a craving after notoriety. 

Mediumship, when it comes spontaneously, is the type of mediumship which is likely to be the most satisfactory; and when it comes spontaneously and manifests itself unsought and uncalled for, you can generally depend upon it that the unseen directors can give you that needful instruction you require during its development. Let us suppose an ideal case. In the first instance, the development of mediumship for purely physical or external phenomena does not make any real demand upon the intelligence or morality of the individual. 

Here is a point that a great deal of sophistry has been expressed upon. This very argument, perfectly true in itself, has been the peg upon which has been hung the most wretched garments that Spiritualism, has had in its wardrobe. Let it be clearly stated that though the external physical phenomena of mediumship make no real demand upon the morality or intelligence of the individual, yet the demand is just as true in that case—of that individual as in every other. When any condition of life or service is construed with an absolution of moral responsibility or intellectual development, then that service is an injury to the world and a curse to the individual. 

THE MORAL RESPONSIBILITY OF MEDIUMS 

We place it clearly and plainly before you, that personal moral responsibility must enter into the development of all forms of mediumship. What, then, shall we say in regard to the physical health of the individual? These phenomena of the external forms of mediumship depend upon the muscular, nervous, and physiological forces, and therefore everything that tends to maintain the physical health of the individual is absolutely necessary. Let us give you an illustration: You are, of course, more or less familiar with what is generally describable as athletics, and are aware of the fact that the athlete has to go through a very severe course of physical training before he is considered fit to race, wrestle, run or jump. You know how carefully he is trained, how his exercises are attended to, his diet looked after, and how he is bathed and rubbed, taken as much care of as though he was to be sold for £100 per pound actual weight. The very best possible care is taken of him, because it is found by experience absolutely needful to get this man into such splendid physical condition that he can accomplish his task to the best advantage. 

If this be the case with the athlete, how much more necessary that this should be done for those who have to stand virtually as gateways between the two worlds! If it is so absolutely necessary that man shall be physically clean, strong, sound, and muscular that he may be a successful athlete, how much more we ask, is it necessary that the same good training, the same care of health of body, the same development of nervous force, the same development of the entire physical man, should be demanded and insisted upon in the development of mediumship on the external plane. Take the argument and consider it for yourselves. It needs no enforcement from us. We repeat, that the development of physical mediumship should be always associated with the greatest possible attention to the health of the individual concerned, as well as the strictest attention to the cultivation of the moral and intellectual natures. 

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE MEDIUMSHIP 

When we take the subjective side of the question, we are told the case is very difficult; we must not allow the personality of the medium to interfere; the individual must be negative, he must be subjective, must be entirely put upon one side. The penalty of mediumship is very great according to this; the individual is not worth much as a medium unless he is mentally and personally very crushed down to almost perfect nonentity. Is not this asking a great price? Is it not inflicting a very severe penalty? You pride yourself upon your individuality, your strength of mind, and intellect, and will you be willing to have all this crushed out of sight? 

“Well, no, I do not think I would,” you say. How many people have said, “If I was not made unconscious I would like to be a medium, but I could never submit to have my consciousness extinguished and my individuality put upon one side.” There is the instinctive protest of the soul itself against subjection and domination, and it is a voice you should heed at all times. “But when mediums are positive they cannot be controlled, they are opposing the spiritual world.” How is that? “Well, they are too positive.” Can you not draw the line between excitement of mind and strength of mind? There is a very important distinction between the two conditions. You may be mentally all points and needles, like the quills of a hedgehog, which would aptly represent your mental excitement; but such excitement has nothing to do with your sympathy of mind, nor the strength of your mind. 

If it is possible for intelligent spirits to control weak minds, surely it should be equally possible for intelligent spirits to come into sympathy with strong minds. Therefore we draw the line here. There is on the one hand a mesmeric sensitiveness—called mediumship—where susceptibility, sympathy, and negativeness are absolutely necessary; but on the other hand there is that other kind of mediumship where strength of mind, cultivation of mind, aspiration of mind, are equally necessary. In the one case you have the presentation of the individuality, sentiment, thought, and character of particular and individual spirits embodied and disbodied; on the other hand, you have the subjective trance, the subjective inspiration, and subjective aspiration of your own immortal soul, and the inspirations of the personalities of the spirit world working through the entranced brain and body, which gives what is known as inspirational speaking, trance speaking, and such kind of matters as are related to these particular departments of mediumship. 

THROUGH THE LESSER TO THE GREATER 

Now, though it is apparently true that under what we have considered the mesmeric department of the subject there should be negativeness of mind, we want you to understand what is meant by being negatively-minded. We do not mean that the mind should be so weakened that the personality becomes destroyed. Between the sympathetic attitude and the “nothingness” attitude of mind, if we may so describe it, there is an important distinction; for the best of mediums for the spirit-world are those who are mentally sympathetic, and not those who allow themselves to become mental nonentities. 

The spirit world can do as it likes so to speak, with one of these nonentities, can twist up his brains and do extraordinary things with him; but at what cost?—the cost of the intellectual strength and mental life of the individual so performed upon! For our own part we look upon such mediumship, in the great majority of cases, as destructive of all self-control and individuality in the persons concerned. The development of mediumship, then, should be the development of the body, mind and soul of the individual, with due and proper attention to every law of health, to every law of mental culture, and every law of spiritual unfoldment; and a medium so developed is strengthened in every department of his being, and benefited instead of injured by his mediumship. 

WISE DISCRIMINATION NECESSARY 

What are the dangers? The dangers are greater, perhaps, than you may think. It is very pleasant indeed to be the servant of the angels, to have wise and mighty souls come from their high estate to inspire, control and direct you; very sweet, very beautiful, indeed, is all this. But if you are not careful, rigidly discriminative and exclusive, you may run the danger of encountering wolves in sheep’s clothing; for it is unwise to assume that every spirit in the spirit-world is as good as yourself “Oh! but that would cause us to become suspicious, and if we become suspicious, we shall become harsh, uncharitable, and unjust.” Indeed! Do you let every one into your house who may choose to knock at your door? Do you sit every person who comes into your house down to your table? Do you go out into the street and shake hands in friendliness with every passer-by? “Oh, certainly not! We have to recognise the necessity of exercising reserve and discretion in these matters.” 

Then, if you recognise the necessity of a reasonable discretion in your associations with spirits while they have bodies, why not apply the same discrimination to them when they are out of their bodies! It is not the bodies that you are careful about, it is the people who live in the bodies. The same people live after they have gone out of their physical bodies, for the immortal soul is in the same condition immediately after it passes out into the spiritual world as it was while in this world. When you have tested and tried a person and found him true and honourable, you are willing to shake hands and say, “Welcome, good friend, we are glad to see you”; but to indiscriminately open your doors may be to let in all kinds of undesirable people, as many Spiritualists forming promiscuous circles have found to their bitter cost in days gone by. Unless you test and prove the spirits when they come to you, you are liable to be overrun by the dwellers upon the threshold, who may work upon your sympathies, who may have an exceedingly good time, so far as they are concerned, but unfortunately at your expense. 

The dangers, then, if you are lacking in discrimination, if you surrender your reason and judgment to the spirits simply because they are spirits, the danger is that you may be deluded, that disaster will overtake you, that sorrow and regret will associate themselves with you; and in many cases we have found that the results of ignorance or want of care in these directions have been, that the investigator has grown disgusted by these experiences, dismissing the whole question. 

DANGERS WHICH WISDOM WILL AVOID 

There are personal dangers; dangers in regard to the health, dangers in regard to the mind, dangers in regard to the nervous condition. The inordinate practice of mediumship is just as injurious to bodily health as the inordinate practice of any other phase of human activity, you must remember that in the matter of mediumship the strain is on the most refined forces of the human nature, and these refined forces being the most powerful forces, presuppose by their exhaustion a great drain upon all the powers of the system. 

The exercise of mediumship, then, indiscriminately and persistently pursued, will lay up stores of bodily and mental trouble that will come to you by and by in a physical eclipse, involving muscular and nervous paralysis, in the drying up, so to speak, of the vital juices of your being, which will cause you to grow prematurely old, and utterly destroy health of body and vigour of mind. These dangers may be obviated, in regard to health, if mediumship be exercised and restrained within certain limits or bounds. The other dangers have been stated in the possibility of your being imposed upon by spiritual vagrants, dwellers upon the threshold, who may come just for the purpose of amusing themselves and bewildering you. 

One further word of caution. It is a little personal, we admit, but its value we think sufficiently plain to excuse its introduction. Under all circumstances receive with the utmost reserve and caution long-winded “communications” from notable characters, who claim to be “Napoleon Bonapartes,” “Lord Bacons,” “Socrates,” or other great personages: for in the majority of cases you can value the communication precisely in reverse of the name attached to it. Humanity is so fond of receiving a great name’s seal upon some particular communication, that these dwellers upon the threshold, knowing how anxious you are to communicate with a “Raphael” a “Buddha,” or a “Jesus,” will try to personate them just to see what you have to say; but when you listen to them, and use your judgment, you will in such cases certainly think these great (?) ones have run to seed in the spirit world, because of the rubbish they strive to force upon you. We would again earnestly impress it upon your mind that the value of the communication in nine cases out of ten is exactly the converse of the importance of the name attached. 

What are the blessings of mediumship? The advantages of mediumship when rightly and orderly developed are great indeed. When the laws of mediumship are more thoroughly understood and obeyed, it will surely result in the evolution of the highest possible harmony of all the forces within the physical environment itself. In other words, it will be found that the highest conditions of mediumship are perfectly compatible with the highest conditions of physical health; it will be discovered that the inspirations from the spirit-world are in harmony with the highest unfoldment of the intellectual powers and nature of man, and your strength and character of mind, instead of repelling the operations and inspirations of the spirit-world, will really attract them and draw them to you; and when you make the best use of them, when their fertilising influence falls upon you and enters the calm recesses of your mind, the spirit develops and aspires to reach still higher and purer things. 

It shall invest you with such personal greatness and goodness that you shall stand up among your fellows clothed with power from on high; and the wise and good, seeing you have diligently used and cultivated your noblest powers here, that you might grow in mind and soul, will feel that they can help you by their counsel and guidance from time to time. 

It is indeed a blessing to know that your dead are living; a sweet and glorious consolation to have them come back to you, counsel with you, advise you, and help you in your onward pathway as you journey through the mortal sphere. It is well to have this assurance and this guidance, and if you make a wise use of this knowledge, comport yourself in harmony with their desires, you may walk and live in the daily consciousness of angel ministry. These advantages of mediumship extend into the realms of nature, and give you a suggestion of the possibilities upon the psychological plane (the almost infinite possibilities, we might call them) of the immortal nature of man while in the garments of flesh, and how the relationships between the natural and spiritual worlds bring the whole universe into harmony with yourself, and yourself into harmony therewith. 

A WELL-BALANCED SPIRITUAL LIFE RESULTS 

The advantages of mediumship shall hereafter be health of body, development of mind, unfoldment of soul, sweet communion with the angels of the life beyond, a realization of your spiritual possibilities while embodied here on earth, an understanding in part of the wondrous phenomena in the external universe around you; the advantages of mediumship, in a word, will result in the realization of the fact that the universe and man are in perfect harmony, unity and relationship. 

Here, then, on broad and general principles in harmony with law, without special and particular argument which is unnecessary to the case, we have presented in these two discourses the subject of mediumship in what we consider to be its laws and principles, its higher import, its deeper relationship; and we give it to you in the strongest terms and in the most earnest manner we can present it, that the development of mediumship should be accepted as a sacred trust: for it is an unfoldment that lifts you up to the highest and noblest powers of your being, brings you into relationship with the solemn possibilities of life, links you to the immortal world beyond. 

And as you rightly use it and reverently pursue it, and labour for its highest and best advantage, it will assure you not only the comfort arising from the presence and guidance of wise and loving angels, but by it you will gain a knowledge of the laws and principles by which they can come to you, by it you will inform yourselves of your spiritual possibilities here and now: but, better than all, it will enable you to crown your days with health of body, soundness of mind, and purity of soul, without which the grandest mortal achievements fall into sorrow and darkness, but when accompanied with these three divinely glorious possessions, life becomes a long summer dream of use and beauty to your fellows and yourselves.