The Spiritist Fallacy

Wow Guenon shreds the whole thing in a single bound; spiritist meaning spiritualist. Also applies to channeling & hypnosis, especially with what's happening now 100 years after this book was written. He would probably be aghast & appalled, but not surprised.

p3 "Dire effects," "sinister," "greatest number of victims" etc, he uses to describe the effects of seances & communications from "beyond," even including hypnosis & channeling. For the participants he says it "results in irremediable disequilibrium and disorder" - yes just look at the ufo scene where this belief in alien abduction simply destroys people. The "peril is not to be dismissed as negligible."

p14 The medium lends to the spirit a certain ill-defined power to which various names have been given: odic, neuric etc. This force is not an integral part of the spirit. It comes from the living being (the medium). It must make use of this force (I believe he's referring to the "wandering influences" of traditional doctrines) in order to act upon sensible matter. 

p16 Origin of spiritualism in 1848, Fox sisters in New York.

p19 According to HBofL the first spiritualist phenomena were not produced by spirits but by men acting from a distance by means known only to initiates; their own inner circle. - Deliberately provoking and promoting it to bring us to where we are now, I presume.

p20 Similar events to Fox sisters are found in antiquity, Pliny the Younger, and in the Middle Ages. In Hydesville the person died a violent death & the body remained hidden. Among the ancients the phenomena was related to the fact that the person wasn't given a proper burial accompanied by certain rites; which could have still been done after the body was found, according to Pliny the Younger. That's how far back this stuff goes. Why 1848 all of a sudden? The same year as a series of revolutions in Europe. Coincidence? Guenon doesn't mention them, other than the "socialists" he keeps referring to as being the originators of a lot of this stuff (the notions of reincarnation, evolution, karma etc). Actions of deceased or of living man - the wandering influences triggered by the living. The dead are in another state of existence already.

p21 The sorceror who wishes to take revenge on the occupants of a house must touch one of them, who afterward becomes his unconscious and involuntary instrument and will serve as support for an action which can be exercised from a distance when the subject is present. So according to the author, this can actually be done. Interesting. 

Presence of a medium is not always a necessary condition.

p22 A pre-existent force can be directed and utilized by men who know the laws involved. 

p23 Possible that initiates provoked the phenomena by making use of favorable conditions they found there, in order to bring about the spiritualist movement. Which coincides with the revolutions that were happening in Europe. Brought about by the same people? The Illuminati? The NWO beginning the consolidation of Europe to pave the way for the EU? The coming World Socialist Dictatorship, I mean Utopia, sorry... But if it takes so long, generations, why bother if you're not gonna be around to reap the benefits? None of these peeps in 1848 would still be alive. Or... is it peeps, or someone (-thing) controlling them, for their own benefit?

p28 From 1850 spiritualism propaganda in which socialist periodicals were particularly conspicuous; the socialists (in France anyway) being the revolutionaries, or so I assume, the author only implies this. 

Theories set forth in the communications dictated by so-called spirits are generally related to opinions current in the circles in which they are produced. And thus more readily accepted. This enables one to account for their real origin; ie the minds of the participants, not departed souls.

p29 French spiritualists introduced the idea of reincarnation.

p30 - According to Dunglas Home, Allen Kardec received his own doctrines as messages from the world of the spirits. Home: "The illusions of this world." "Their fingers committed to paper the ideas thus forcibly imposed on them." "Not a single case of hypnotic clairvoyance where the subject did not directly or indirectly reflect the ideas of the magnetizer-hypnotist." Kardec's "mediums were so many writing machines slavishly reproducing his own thoughts."

Wow just wow, this explodes the whole alien abduction thing wide open. It's all produced by the hypnotists themselves, like Budd Hopkins. Or the aliens reincarnating on earth as the 3rd wave of volunteers or what evs, as Dolores Cannon produces in her many works. Or Tim Wyllie and his rebel angels. Just products of their own imaginations. Did they earn a good living from it? Do their books sell that well? Their sincerity isn't in question, don't get me wrong. But there are so many of these types of books nowadays. I wonder what Guenon would say 100 years later? No wonder Guenon's works weren't even printed in the USA until 20 years ago; this whole fake alien abduction scheme might have been impossible to implement. But again we get to the point of it all. Destabilize people & society? To make it easier to take over? Meh who knows. Guenon says elsewhere (maybe in this book too) that it is impossible for someone to reincarnate as another personality, because we retain our personality through all the different changes of state that beings go through. None of the traditional systems even mention reincarnation. All they mention is a "change of state." Karma is another one; it's a sanskrit word that means "action." That's all. There is no retributive karma that passes along from incarnation to incarnation; it's all an invention of these same people who try to use it to explain unequal social conditions.

p37 Belief in progress is of recent origin dating only from 2nd half of the 18th century.

Idea of reincarnation also very recent, from end of 18th century first voiced by Lessing, then Fourier & Leroux. All socialists. They use this idea to splain the inequality of social conditions.

p42 Pretas - inferior elements that remain attached to the corpse; identical to manes of ancient Latins; in no way do they represent the spirit. This is what magicians are evoking, not the actual spirit of the dead person. I guess because the dead person has already been changed to another state of being and therefore can't be hanging around as a ghost or whatever. It is these residues that we are mistakenly referring to as the dead, and whatever type of existence they have, they may have their own agenda. Such as, pave the way for more peeps to try to evoke them, thus the birth of spiritualism, & socialism in order to promote belief in this type of thing; the sentimentalism that Guenon always talks of.

Mediums are abnormal and unbalanced. Heh, okay. A disequilibrium that is not being attempted to remedy; rather it's being used or exploited, to the detriment of the medium.

p46 Magic vs spiritualism. A difference between one who takes the necessary precautions  & consciously produces phenomena of which he has studied the laws, and one ignorant of all these laws who places himself at the mercy of unknown forces, passively awaiting what they will produce. Precise and rigorous rules to which magical operations are subject, all of which have their reasons. The spiritualists have no notion of these rules and can unleash forces capable of striking them down. - Now, is any of this actually true? Try it & find out? No way. "Powers of the air," "powers and principalities," "wandering forces..." Apparently all traditions warn of this stuff, it's not just Christian arglebargle. So what are these rules and why are they necessary? And why do they work? When it all seems like ridiculous even idiotic ritual (from what I've read).

p47 It was well known by the ancients that what can be evoked does not represent the real person, who is beyond reach because he has passed to another state of existence, but are only inferior elements which the being has left behind following dissolution/death. Ancient Latins called it manes, Hebrews called it ob. The ob remains attached to the body not the spirit, and is translated as "breath of the bones." It is not a body, only a subtle form that can take an illusory corporeal appearance. The magician (hypnotist?) lends it what it lacks, a reflex consciousness of sufficient consistency to respond when it is interrogated. I presume this applies to Wyllie & Dolores Cannon, as well as Budd Hopkins and his ilk. 

p69 Suggestion plays a leading role in all of this, for suggestion or thought transmission is obviously linked to hypnotism or magnetism. Open To Suggestion, as Robert Temple titled his book about hypnosis. Which isn't in print in the US for some reason... They don't want to give it away...

p71 It is always extremely imprudent to bring into play forces about which one is entirely ignorant. There are things that cannot be touched with impunity in the absence of the doctrinal guidance required to keep one from going astray. The number of people who lose their reason is only too great.  - I would qualify the last sentence by saying that the author is speaking mainly of peeps converted to spiritualism who come to believe in communication with the dead, which he considers losing their reason. Not that they necessarily go insane or anything.

p72 Experimenter is in indirect contact through the intermediary of the mediums he works with. This ambiance is a source of collective and mutual suggestion. Experimenter (or subject?) influences the medium, but without being aware of it can also be subject to suggestion from the medium. There are also all the influences the medium brings along, which are at minimum eminently unhealthy. You are then at the mercy of anything that occurs.

p80 Some dude named Dr Gibier came up with 4 types of classifications of spiritualist phenomena: the somewhat independent collective being constituted from the "fluids" of the medium & persons present, demons, beings such as genies fairies etc (labeled elementals by some), and lastly the souls of the dead.

p81 Actions exercised by non-human beings. In principle, nothing is opposed to this since there might be such beings who might also be as diversified as possible. There must be something to this because there is remarkable agreement (among all peoples at all times) as to their manner of action.

p82 Elementals, modernized version of the above. 4 types: salamanders or spirits of the fire, undines or spirits of the water, gnomes or spirits of the earth, and sylphs or spirits of the air (the author doesn't necessarily agree with this, it's analysis of Gibier's theories. 

p97 Trance - same as the subtle state. Possibilities of the subtle state, including transferring into that state the individual consciousness. Same as the dream state I think.

p99 Subtle state is linked to the corporeal state in 2 complementary ways: heat and light, blood as caloric quality and the nervous system as the luminous quality. The principle of a whole psycho-physiology. 

 p100 The environment of the subtle state is a "field of forces." These forces unite with humans for the production of phenomena. Forces are diverse and multiple, from special beings to wandering influences. They are the most inferior of all whose effects can be baneful; to be avoided. Far-eastern tradition calls them wandering influences. Management of these forces constitutes the most important part of magic. Some of these forces can be demoniacal or satanic. Including the ob as well as the products of the disintegration of the subconscious of the dead person. 

p101 These forces can be captured by complying with certain laws. One must know how to direct it. The magician who knows the laws of the wandering influences is able to fix them by several procedures by taking as supports certain substances or certain objects which act as condensers. The magician can also dissolve the conglomerates of subtle force, either that he crated himself or that others did; in this regard the power of points has been known from all time. - Power of points? What is that? Author does not elaborate. 

p102 - Analogous to what alchemy calls coagulation and solution - summons and dismissal. In between the 2 the magician can lend to the forces he has captured a kind of consciousness and synthesize them as a temporary individual. Illusion of living being. Only a means of rendering visible what his subconscious already contains in a latent state. Wandering influences are being mistaken for spirits of the dead.

p103 These influences can be condensed in oneself, such as the fakirs of India.So if people can really do all this shit, then the relentless promotion of magic, Crowley, aliens, sci-fi, hypnosis, and especially channeling etc has caused this stuff to increase exponentially & has caused the world to get increasingly f'd up exponentially. Because these manifestations aren't what they seem. The ICHC. The "ancient adversary" as Keel calls them.

p114 Communications of alleged spirits are always closely related to current ideas. - Thus proving it comes from the medium/channeler/hypnotist him/herself. Why don't any peeps subject to hypnosis back in the 1800's mention aliens or alien abduction (although elves could be an interpretation of greys)? Why don't hypnotized peeps nowadays channel elves or dwarfs instead of aliens? The forces tailor themselves to the minds of the percipients, as Keel said 50 years ago (and no one listened).

p118 Reincarnation is not mentioned in the bible because it's a modern idea.

The "spirits"' view represents the thinking of those who interrogate them. This then would include Dolores Cannon, Budd Hopkins obviously, Whitley Strieber, Wyllie, Shi-Ji or whoever the fook that is, Oahspe, Urantia, etc etc ad nauseum.

p126 There is an indefinite series of worlds, graded in hierarchical order, that is to say states of existence (and not places) in which our world is only one constituent element of neither more nor less importance or value than any other.

p150 Kardec & Dunglas Home sound exactly like Adamski & Menger & their ilk almost 100 years later. The only difference being the latter meeting the supposed Space Brothers as actual physical beings instead of spirits. But the story is the same (living on Jupiter or what evs). The spirits (and their human allies/subordinates) must have then realized the old trappings no longer fit & changed the story, probly cuz of all the probes we've sent out to the planets & moons proving they're uninhabitable; gradually morphing into the story of the grays & alien abduction. Of course these spirits are only the wandering forces Guenon speaks of, controlled by someone(s), or controlling someone(s), or out of control.

p155 Intervention of secondary & dissociated elements coming from the dead is perfectly possible (in seances & such - channeling maybe), not the real being of the dead.

p161 Human individuality is not solely the corporeal state: it also consists of diverse prolongations. Guenon doesn't say exactly what these prolongations are; they extend into the subtle state, the deep sleep state and the unmanifested state maybe, as he describes elsewhere. None of this stuff is his opinion, it comes from traditional doctrines (Hindu, the Vedas, Taoism, Confucianism, Pythagoras, Islam, Judaism etc), which he says all agree. Which is why he thinks they speak the truth & are important, & better than modern ideas like progress, evolution, socialism etc etc.

p175 The dissociation following death involves not only corporeal elements but psychic elements as well. Such elements may sometimes intervene in spiritualist phenomena (or channeling I presume). These elements include all mental images, memory and imagination. These faculties are perishable. Outside temporal (time) condition, memory would have no reason to exist. 

p178 Very profound reasons for funeral rites. The action of these rites is exercised precisely on the psychic elements of the deceased. If the being only passed to another state, there would be no point in talking account of these post mortem elements. But the situation is otherwise because of the "prolongations" of the human individuality. He says he won't speak of this subject publicly or in detail. Maybe because it would put peeps at risk if they had this knowledge & tried to use (abuse) it.

Transmigration is mentioned in all traditional doctrines - change of state. Passage of the being to other states of existence, states that are defined by entirely different conditions. Not a return to the same state. Therefore reincarnation is impossible. 

p181 Multiple states are simultaneous as well as successive; succession is only symbolic because time is a condition proper to only one of these states, the corporeal state that we are in. Even duration is only a property of some of the states. Succession is logical not chronological; causal chain between the various states, which implies simultaneity or coexistence. The human state, even subject to time, can nevertheless present a multiplicity of simultaneous secondary states; the "prolongations."

p184 - HBoL - once consciousness is attained, the soul will never again pass through material incarnation; rebirths are in the realm of spirit. Acorn becomes an oak, but the oak can never become an acorn again. 

Awakenings of latent memories can be explained by laws of affinity and form. 

The first cycle never becomes the second. The beings of the first cycle generate the second cycle. Each cycle comprises a great family constituted by the reunion of diverse groups of human souls, each condition being determined by laws of action, affinity and form.

Complete correspondence between man and oak, which is why druids revered the oak.

p185 It suffices that a being has passed through a certain state, even if only in an embryonic form, or even in the form of a single germ, in order for it in no case to be able to return to that state. - I wonder how common abortions were during this time (1920's) and what this author would say about it... Or maybe he just did...

p190 Idea of the second birth is common to all traditional doctrines; second birth in a spiritual sense plainly contrasted with physical birth.

p191 Almost all these people imagine that they are the reincarnation of some illustrious figure. -Yes, including personal acquaintances.

p192 Dunglas Home says he's had the honor of meeting a dozen former Marie Antoinette's etc. Well see Dolores Cannon's "imprints" for an all too convenient explanation of that.

p199 Karma, as we've been conditioned to understand it, is a hooey. It's a sanskrit word that means "action." That's all. Karma as in previous lives affecting future lives, is hogwash. Actions in the present life, the only one we have as human as we know it, does have an effect in this life; actions have a reaction in a universal sense, but not in the modern sense that karma has wrongly come to be known.

p214 Memory is not a permanent principle of the human being. Guenon goes on to cite several examples of why we supposedly have forgetfulness of previous existences (the real reason being we have no previous existences as human but I digress), all lame, but not as lame as the one I cited in a previous post where the control says that the brain gets squeezed going through the birth canal. My response was, what about us C-sections then? Heh.

Unconscious prejudice falsifies the results of experiments - Guenon is referring to seances & spiritualism but I would apply it to any scientific experiment, or theory. Particularly the global warning or "climate change" (now there's a phrase that means absolutely nothing since the climate is never static & is always changing) fanaticism.

Hypnotic subjects only reflect ideas intentionally or unintentionally suggested to them. - Better suppress this information or Budd Hopkins and his fellow hypnoticists are out of a job & the alien abduction scenario goes down the toilet. Experimenter only needs to conceive of a theory for it to become the point of departure for interminable ramblings on the part of the hypnotic subject. On a par with any dream; could be studied from the point of view of the psychology of dreams produced by hypnotic states.

p217 In 1911 a guy named de Rochas published research on so-called successive lives by means of the phenomena of regression of the memory. Almost 100 years before Dolores Cannon. These ideas are now to be found everywhere. Boy, that's for sure. 

p218 Reincarnationist epidemic. 100 years ago! It must be a pandemic now, to match covid. At least the latter is real; although not a good thing obviously.

p225 He splains past-life regression, but I think he misses a bit. Earlier he mentions ancestral psychic as well as physical inheritances & I think that would splain past-life "memory" better than anything else, at least of the period of time the patient is regressed to.

p227 Useless & illusory to try to pursue researches prior to the subject's birth (aka Dolores Cannon - sorry to keep dragging her in but that's what she does - although I think she's sincere) because that living being did not exist yet in an individualized state. You cannot go back beyond the origin into conditions in which they can't be found. Full blown fantasy, the author says.

p229 Hypnotic state and dream state are the same; only difference is the presence of the hypnotist. Hypnotist can supply (even unconsciously or not knowing it) data to the subject that he'll use in his dream; ideas or theories of any kind. The hypnotist is the dupe of his/her own suggestions.

Hmm. Should I continue reading Cannon & Wyllie then? Waste of money if I just give or throw their books away. They do have nice covers heh. But they will represent the subconscious thoughts and ideas of these types of authors; apparently nothing more than that though. As distorted by the wandering influences or ICHC.