CHAPTER XVIII.

ANDREW JACKSON DAVIS, A NINETEENTH CENTURY SEER—A GLIMPSE AT HIS PHILOSOPHY.

Among the truly wonderful pioneers of the great new wave of thought which during the past century largely revolutionized the entire thinking world, the name of Andrew Jackson Davis, author of “Nature’s Divine Revelations,” “The Great Harmonia,” and many other wonderful literary productions, deserves to hold a singularly high and honored place. We hear so much of the influence of heredity and of environment, that we are generally much astonished when we find a highly gifted writer displaying amazing knowledge on almost every subject, if concerning his ancestry and early history we know nothing in any way remarkable.

The mother of Andrew Jackson Davis seems to have been a good, honest, ordinary woman, displaying no remarkable traits or characteristics, and as to the boy’s early history we can only discover that he attended common country schools and was in early youth apprenticed to a shoemaker. Without some spiritual theory to account for genius, we can only remain utterly bewildered in presence of the great library of outwardly unassuming but intellectually imposing volumes which have recently been reissued by the Austin Publishing Company, Rochester, N. Y., and which carry us back to the ’forties and ’fifties of the nineteenth century. Quite apart from the phenomenal character of their authorship, the works themselves are a stupendous revelation, embracing as they do profound and learned treatises on all the natural sciences, besides undertaking to give us wonderful enlightenment concerning the (ordinarily) unseen universe.

In the case of Emanuel Swedenborg, we can trace the gradual evolution of a mighty intellect. Swedenborg was born into a distinguished family of scholars, and he gradually ascended by well-defined successive steps from treatises on natural science and philosophy to dissertations concerning the spiritual universe. But while Swedenborg was over fifty years of age when he undertook to unveil the wonders of life in spiritual spheres, the Seer of Poughkeepsie was under twenty, and quite illiterate in the collegiate sense, when he began unfolding with marvellous insight and wealth of diction the wonders of those innumerable super-physical states and conditions concerning which the majority of even the best-informed among scholars professed to know next to nothing. Were the works of Davis wild romances or accounts of rhapsodic visions lacking alike in logical coherence and continuity, we might quickly dismiss them as psychic vagaries, and pay no serious attention to their inculcations; but in Davis’s writings we are brought face to face with a fund of scientific and historical information which renders the books marvels of erudition even if we pay no heed to the accounts of unseen spheres which we are told the youth clearly beheld when in a superior condition. It was in 1846 and 1847 that the first of these great works was brought to public notice, therefore just before the year when the “Rochester Knockings” are said to have inaugurated the advent of Modern Spiritualism. Davis was therefore a forerunner of all those modern prophets who startled America with their disclosures concerning life beyond death, and all of whom in the early days of the Spiritualistic movement seemed to take a somewhat different view of their relation to the world of spirits than that claimed for himself by Davis. We all know that the common idea of mediumship is of a state or condition in which the medium is under the control or direction of some outside influence, and usually it is claimed that such influence works through the medium, whereas in the “superior condition” of Davis, which in this respect largely resembled that of Swedenborg, he claimed to see and hear for himself what was going on in other worlds, or on other planes of existence, by virtue of the enlargement of his own perception enabling him to see much further into the universe than is possible with only ordinary faculties. We read in his Autobiography, called “The Magic Staff,” that at first he was magnetized or mesmerized, and while in the magnetic or mesmeric state exhibited singular lucidity. But the men who thus operated with him were entirely incapable of transmitting through his agency the wondrous information which soon began to pour in torrents through his lips, though their manipulations do seem to have opened a door into the trance condition, which soon gave place to a higher state of independent clairvoyance. How far magnetism or mesmerism can prove a genuine aid to psychic development is a very open and much-disputed question, but the bulk of testimony in this direction, which we may reasonably deem reliable, is that it does often prepare the way for higher developments which follow, principally by removing that extreme self-consciousness, which, when coupled with inordinate attention to the external side of things, is doubtless the chief barrier in the way of mental and spiritual lucidity. Though it is quite clear to every logical thinker that no one can impart knowledge which he does not possess, it is by no means unreasonable to assume that certain obstacles may be removed, which are usually in the way of receiving information psychically, through the agency of the mesmerist. In the middle of the last century mesmeric operations were greatly in vogue among many learned doctors, prominent among whom stood the famous Dr. Gregory of Edinburgh, whose long-famous work, “Animal Magnetism or Mesmerism and Its Phenomena,” contains a great many thoroughly well authenticated accounts of remarkable clairvoyance induced by mesmeric treatment. But most of this clairvoyance was very much of a piece with the thought-transference, telepathy, and mental telegraphy, about which we are now hearing and reading constantly. Contrast the meagre results of many recent endeavors to communicate with the unseen world on the part of such distinguished scientific celebrities as, for example, Sir Oliver Lodge, with the magnificent inspired output of the Seer of Poughkeepsie, and we are only the more bewildered with the dazzling splendor of a revelation which has been almost entirely overlooked by the scientific world, even while a distinguished portion of it has been engaging itself with an attempted solution of the very problems which this revelation seems so very largely to have solved. But we must not forget that however satisfactory as well as wonderful this revelation may appear, it does not seem to supply that distinctly evidential individual testimony to personal immortality which our modern seekers are striving to obtain, unless we admit the many instances of recorded clairvoyance with which his writings abound as supplying such evidence. We can quite readily imagine the attitude taken by our modern Psychical Research Committees regarding conclusive evidence, and should we press such alleged evidence upon them, they would naturally inquire where is your proof that such visions are other than results of a fertile and highly vivid imagination? To this inquiry we can indeed offer no reply which might prove universally conclusive. Still, it may reasonably be argued that the information given is so extensive, profound, and rational that the very large probability is that it emanated from the source whence its recipient declared that it did proceed. But in these days “cross-correspondence,” and other new phases of telepathic intercourse, hold the center of the stage in certain scientific circles, and these phenomena are indeed intensely interesting and deserve the fullest attention at the hands of earnest students everywhere. But on that account we are by no means justified in narrowing the field of our vision and confining our researches within the very limited domain in which many investigators seem desirous of pursuing their inquiries. Having glanced over the contents of a valuable recent book by Sir Oliver Lodge—which has been widely reviewed in periodicals of all descriptions and has furnished texts for many lectures and essays—we find the most characteristic evidences of both mundane and supra-mundane telepathy to consist in dialogue of an extremely commonplace nature, a fact which Professor Hyslop and many other earnest investigators regard as confirmatory of the fact that individuality is expressed much more fully by means of an exhibition of minor peculiarities than through the agency of profound utterances which, however valuable from a philosophical standpoint, convey no convincing impression of having emanated from a particular individual intelligence. One of the special characteristics of the avowed inspiration of A. J. Davis is that he received it from a “sphere” of intelligence rather than from any special individual, and for that very reason it may lack a peculiar personal character, such as characterizes friendly messages between companion souls, while it gains immensely in profundity of sentiment and grandiloquence of speech. The work of Davis was evidently far more to set people thinking concerning mighty problems relating to universal life than to give them private information relative to their personal affairs; yet, because the smaller can always be included within the greater the diligent student of the Harmonial Philosophy can find almost every question fully answered which pertains to the personal side of life here and hereafter. The “magic staff,” which Davis said he was recommended, by his spiritual prompters, always to rely upon in every time of doubt and difficulty, was couched in these words: “Behold, here is thy magic staff: UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES KEEP AN EVEN MIND. Take it; try it; walk with it; talk with it; lean on it; believe on it forever.” We are told that these words came to him in radiant light, but a doubt seized him, and he asked: Is that longest sentence my magic staff? “Under all circumstances keep an even mind,” is that the mystic cane which I thought I had lost or forgotten? In a twinkling the sheet of whiteness vanished, and in its place beamed forth YES. This satisfied him, and from that day forward he declares that he always leaned on that reliable staff, which never deserted him throughout his long, eventful life, which only closed when he was past eighty-three years of age. This revelation came to him in 1844, some time previous to the more wonderful experiences which quickly and thickly followed, till at length we find no less than twenty-seven wonderful volumes growing under his hand, in consequence of his always following the guidance of that marvelous inspiration which exalted him to the rank of a truly marvelous prophet and philosopher. Personal details are always interesting when they concern remarkable personages, for they serve to throw some light upon the temperament as well as character of those who are destined to perform unusual work in the world. Davis says of himself, when reviewing his boyhood years: “I had a love of truth; a reverence for knowledge; a somewhat cheerful disposition; a deficient imagination; unbelief or ignorance concerning the existence of ghosts, etc.; dread of death, and a still greater dread of encountering what might exist beyond the grave; a tendency to spontaneous somnambulism; an ear for what I then called imaginary voices; a memory defective as to dates; a mind nearly barren of ordinary education; a heart very sympathetic in cases of trial and suffering; and lastly I was disposed to meditation and the freedom of solitude.” Speaking of his physical condition, he says that his body was imperfectly developed; breast narrow; spine short and weak; stomach very sensitive; muscular fabric unsound and inefficient; nervous system highly impressible, and he ends this uninviting description of his personal appearance and condition by declaring that he was not calculated to inspire strangers with much interest in his existence. These statements are of great scientific interest in so far as they furnish overwhelming proof that the development of the psychic faculty in a delicate lad, when wisely carried forward, far from leading to physical disability or mental deterioration, served to build up a robust mind and body, which not only endured considerable physical and mental exertion through a protracted lifetime, but also served the benign and noble purpose of conveying a vast amount of health-giving information to multitudes. That there are dangers connected with sensitiveness of every kind, no reasonable student will deny, but these are often greatly exaggerated, and in no instances is this rendered so painfully apparent as among people who foolishly discountenance and berate all exercise of supraphysical faculty. Among the many works of Davis his “Lyceum Manual” is singularly fascinating and affords a beautiful and comprehensive basis for the healthy instruction and exercise of children and young people in liberal Sunday Schools. Though the Lyceum Movement has somewhat waned in America, it has taken deep root, and is now greatly flourishing all over Great Britain and in many of the British Colonies. The system of teaching and exercising is so beautiful and natural that it unfolds the whole nature of the youth or maiden who follows it out in its entirety, and instead of forcing upon children doubtful theological dogmas, which no one attempts to fully comprehend, young people in a Lyceum are gently led on through a contemplation of the beauties of external nature to penetrate into the mysteries of the yet more glorious spiritual universe. In the Fifth Volume of the “Great Harmonia” we are confronted with almost a complete epitome of the teachings of the world’s greatest seers and sages, from very ancient to quite modern times, and through all these narratives we can trace far more than ordinary insight into the underlying principles which these master minds have clothed in systems of thought and embodied in schools of philosophy, the influence of which is at this day even greater than when these mighty doctrines were originally promulgated. We here append a few citations:

From “The Great Harmonia,” Volume II, entitled “The Teacher,” we extract the following (page 250): “I consider motion the first manifestation of mind—an indication of the Great Mind which resides back of, and in, Nature; and a prophetical indication of the existence of a corresponding mind as an ultimate or perfection of Nature.

“I consider Life the first development of Motion, and the second indication of intelligence.

“I consider Sensation the first development of Life, and the third indication of future or ultimate Intelligence.

“I consider Intelligence the highest development of Motion, Life, and Sensation, and a perfect manifestation of the internal living and unchangeable organization, and when I employ the terms Soul, Spirit, and Mind, I mean the internal and immortal individual. When Motion, Life, Sensation, and Intelligence are conjoined and organized, I term that organization a unity of elements and attributes; and these elements and attributes arrange according to their natural order, under the comprehensive terms of Love and Wisdom—terms which are perfectly expressive of the natural characteristics and legitimate manifestations of those internal principles. Therefore, when I use the nouns substantive—Soul, Spirit, Mind, and Individual—the thought which suggests their employment is resting invariably upon the inward Homo, upon the individual Oneness, which is constructed upon those principles which elevate that oneness above the plane of change and disorganization. Hence the question is answered affirmatively—the terms are unqualifiedly synonymous.”

The question referred to was: Are Soul, Spirit, and Mind synonymous?—one which is so frequently asked to-day that we selected the answer to it out of an immense variety of replies to all sorts of questions put to A. J. Davis, thinking it might serve almost better than any other to elucidate the philosophy of the Poughkeepsie Seer in his own words.

We will not attempt any commentary upon the words quoted, because we desire to acquaint our readers with what a truly remarkable seer has uttered, rather than to put any gloss of our own upon his words by argument or comparison. Concerning the final destiny of the individual immortal human entity, Davis says, in reply to a query thereon (page 254): “The Spirit will have no ‘final home’; because to an immortal being rest would be intolerable—it would be next to annihilation.” . . . “But the spirit will progress eternally! It will always be in harmony with surrounding circumstances, and thus will always reside in heaven. The same differences will exist in future spheres of life as exist in this world,—I mean those differences which are established by the real intrinsic perfection of the constitution, education, and harmony of the individual. But the spirit will walk in those shining paths which angels tread, in opening communications between the celestial inhabitants of celestial spheres and those high-born spirits of our earth.” Only one more quotation will we offer from the vast mass of material at our disposal, as the object of this essay is to whet our readers’ appetites for the massive volumes from which these brief excerpts are extracted. This last morsel is from “What and Where is God?” (page 270): “Surrounded by an inconceivable number of forms and organizations,—each one of them occupying a specific and progressive position in Nature,—the human mind can but perceive that the cause of them must be, Himself, an infinite Cause; that to produce organizations he must be, Himself, first, Intelligent; and that to produce an infinite machine, he must be, Himself, not only organized and intelligent, but he must have had some glorious end or result to accomplish, according to which his Universal Machinery was constructed. Surely, this is plain reasoning. God, therefore, philosophically considered, is an infinite Cause; Nature is an infinite Effect; and the object, for the accomplishment of which the whole was thus constituted, is the infinite Use or End. God is the Great Positive Mind;—all else is Negative." Atheism indeed receives no support from Davis, as it receives none from any of the world's spiritual enlighteners; but neither does any narrow theology receive endorsement — an all-embracing God is the only real Deity.