274. Do the different degrees which exist in the advancement of spirits establish among the latter a hierarchy of powers? Are there, among spirits, subordination and authority?
"Yes; the authority of spirits over one another, in virtue of their relative superiority, is very great, and gives to the higher ones a moral ascendancy over the lower ones which is absolutely irresistible."

- Can spirits of lower degree withdraw themselves from the authority of those who are higher than themselves?
"I have said that the authority which comes of superiority is irresistible."

275. Do the power and consideration which a man may have enjoyed in the earthly life give him supremacy in the spirit-world?
"No; for in that World the humble are exalted and the proud abased. Read the Psalms."

- In what sense should we understand exalting and abasing?
"Do you not know that spirits are of different orders, according to their degree of merit? Therefore, he who has held the highest rank upon the earth may find himself in the lowest rank in the world of spirits, while his servitor may be in the highest. Is not this clear to you ? Has not Jesus said that ‘Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and whosoever humbleth himself shall be exalted?"

276. When one who has been great upon the earth finds himself occupying an inferior place in the spirit-world, does he feel humiliated by this change of position?
"Often exceedingly so; especially if he have been haughty and jealous."

277. When a soldier, after a battle, meets his general in the spirit-world, does he still acknowledge him as his superior?
"Titles are nothing; intrinsic superiority is everything."

278. Do spirits of different orders mix together in the other?
"Yes, and no; that is to say, they see each other, but they are none the less removed. They shun or approach one another according to the antipathies or sympathies of their sentiments, just as is the case among yourselves. The spirit-life is a whole world of varied conditions and relationships, of which the earthly life is only the obscured reflex. Those of the same rank are drawn together by a sort of affinity, and form groups or families of spirits united by sympathy and a common aim-the good, by the desire to do what is good, and the bad, by the desire to do evil, by the shame of their wrong-doing, and by the wish to find them-selves among those whom they resemble."
The spirit-world is like a great city, in which men of all ranks and conditions see and meet one another without mixing together in which various social circles are formed by similarity of tastes in which vice and virtue elbow each other without speaking to one another.

279. Are all spirits reciprocally accessible to one another?
"The good go everywhere, as it is necessary that they should do, in order to bring their influence to bear upon the evil-minded. But the regions inhabited by them are inaccessible to inferior spirits, so that the latter cannot trouble those happy abodes by the introduction of evil passions."

280. What is the nature of the relations between good and bad spirits?
"The good ones endeavour to combat the evil tendencies of the others, in order to aid them to raise themselves to a higher degree; this intercourse, is, for the former, a mission."

281. Why do inferior spirits take pleasure in inducing us to do wrong?
"From jealousy. Not having earned a place among the good, their desire is to prevent, as far as in them lies, other spirits, as yet inexperienced, from attaining to the happiness from which they are excluded. They desire to make others suffer what they suffer themselves. Do you not see the working of the same desire among yourselves?"

282. How do spirits hold communication with one another?
"They see and comprehend one another. Speech is material; it is a reflex of spirit. The universal fluid establishes a constant communication between them; it is the vehicle by which thought is transmitted, as the air, in your world, is the vehicle of sound. This fluid constitutes a sort of universal telegraph, which unites all worlds, and enables spirits to correspond from one world to another."

283. Can spirits hide their thoughts from each other? Can they hide themselves from one another?
"No; with them everything is open, and especially so with those who have attained to perfection. They may withdraw from one another, but they are always visible to each other. This, however, is not an absolute rule, for the higher spirits are perfectly able to render themselves invisible to the lower ones, when they consider it to he useful to do so."

284. How can spirits, who have no longer a body, establish their individuality, and cause it to be distinguishable from that of the other spiritual beings by whom they are surrounded?
"Their individuality is established by their perispirit, which makes of each spirit a separate personality, distinct from all others, as the body does among men."

285. Do spirits recognise one another as having lived together upon the earth? Does the son recognise his father, the friend, his friend?
"Yes; and from generation to generation."

- How do those who have known each other on the earth recognise one another in the world of spirits?
“We see our past life, and read therein as in a hook; on seeing the past of our friends and our enemies, we see their passage from life to death."

286. Does the soul see, immediately on quitting its mortal remains, the relations and friends who have returned before it into the world of spirits?
"Immediately is not always the right word; for, as we have said, the soul requires some time to resume its self-consciousness, and to shake off the veil of materiality."

287. How is the soul received on its return to the spirit-word?
"That of the righteous, as a dearly-beloved brother, whose return has been long waited for; that of the wicked, with contempt."

288. What sentiment is experienced by impure spirits at the sight of another bad spirit, on his arrival among them?
"Such spirits are gratified at seeing others who resemble them, and who, like them, are deprived of the highest happiness; just as a band of scoundrels, upon the earth, are gratified at meeting with another scoundrel like themselves."

289. Do our relatives and friends sometimes come to meet us when we are leaving the earth?
"Yes, they come to meet the soul of those they love; they felicitate it as one who has returned from a journey if it have escaped the dangers of the road, and they aid it in freeing itself from the bonds of the flesh. To be met thus by those they have loved is a favour granted to the souls of the upright; while the soul of the wicked is punished by being left alone, or is only surrounded by spirits like itself."

290. Are relatives and friends always reunited after death?
"That depends on their elevation, and on the road they have to follow for their advancement. If one of them is further advanced, and progresses more rapidly than the other, they cannot remain together: they may see one another occasionally, but they can only he definitively reunited when he who was behind is able to keep pace with him who was before, or when both of them shall have reached the state of perfection. Moreover, the privation of the sight of relatives and friends is sometimes inflicted on a spirit as a punishment."

291. Have spirits special personal affections among themselves, besides the general sympathy resulting from similarity?
"Yes, just as among men; but the link between spirits is stronger when the body is absent, because it is no longer exposed to the vicissitudes of the passions."

292. Do spirits experience hatreds among themselves?
"Hatreds only exist among impure spirits. It is they who sow hatreds and dissensions among men."

293. Do those who have been enemies on earth always retain their resentment against one another in the spirit-world?
"No; for they often see that their hatred was stupid, and perceive the puerility of the object by which it was excited. It is only imperfect spirits who retain the animosities of the earthly life, of which they rid themselves in proportion as they become purified. Spirits whose anger, as men, has been caused by some merely material interest, forget their dissension as soon as they are dematerialised. The cause of their dissension no longer existing, they may, if there be no antipathy between them, see each other again with pleasure."
Just as two schoolboys, when they have reached the age of reason, perceive the folly of their boyish quarrels, and no longer keep up a grudge against each other on account of them.

294. Is the remembrance of wrongs they may have done one another, as men, an obstacle to sympathy between two spirits?
"Yes, it tends to keep them apart."

295. What is the sentiment, after death, of those whom we have wronged?
"If they are good, they forgive you as soon as you repent; if they are bad, they may retain resentment against you, and may even pursue you with their anger in another existence. This may be permitted by God as a chastisement."

296. Are the individual affections of spirits susceptible of change?
"No; for they cannot be mistaken in one another. The mask under which hypocrites hide themselves on earth has no existence in the world of spirits, and their affections, when they are pure, are therefore unchangeable. The love which unites them is a source of supreme felicity."

297. Does the affection which two spirits have felt for each other upon the earth always continue in the spirit-world?
"Yes, undoubtedly, if that affection were founded on sympathy; but, if physical causes have had more share in it than sympathy, it ceases with those causes. Affections are more solid and lasting among spirits than among men, because they are not subordinated to the caprices of material interests and self-love."

298. Is it true that the souls of those who will eventually be united in affection are predestined to this union from their beginning, and that each of us has thus, in some part of the universe, his other half, to whom he will some day be necessarily reunited?
"No, there is no such thing as any special and fated union between any two souls. Union exists between all spirits, but in different degrees, according to the rank they occupy,-that is to say, according to the degree of perfection they have acquired; and the greater their perfection, the more united they are. It is discord that produces all the ills of human life. The complete and perfect happiness at which all spirits eventually arrive is the result of concord."

299. In what way should we understand the term other half, sometimes employed by spirits to designate other spirits for whom they have special sympathy?
"The expression is incorrect. If one spirit were the half of another spirit, he would, if separated from that other, be incomplete."

300. When two perfectly sympathetic spirits are reunited in the other world, are they thus reunited for all eternity, or can they separate from each other and unite themselves with other spirits?
"All spirits are united among themselves. I speak of those who have reached the state of perfection. In the spheres below that state, when a spirit passes from a lower sphere to a higher one, he does not always feel the same sympathy for those whom he has quitted."

301. When two spirits are completely sympathetic, are they. the complement of each other, or is that sympathy the result of their perfect identity of character?
"The sympathy which attracts one spirit to another is the result of the perfect concordance of their tendencies and instincts. If one of them were necessary to complete the other, he would lose his individuality."

302. Does similarity of thoughts and of sentiments suffice to constitute the kind of identity which is necessary to the production of perfect sympathy, or is uniformity of acquired knowledge also required for its production?
"Perfect sympathy between two spirits results from equality in the degree of their elevation."

303. May spirits, who are not now sympathetic, become so in the future?
"Yes, all will be sympathetic in course of time. Thus, of two spirits who were once together, one may have advanced more rapidly than the other; but the other, though now in a lower sphere, will by and by have advanced sufficiently to be able to enter the higher sphere in which the former is now residing. And their reunion will take place all the sooner if the one who was most advanced should fail in the trials he has still to undergo, and so should remain for a time just where he now is, without making any further progress."

- May two spirits, who are now sympathetic, cease to be so?
"Certainly, if one of them is wanting in energy, and lags behind, while the other is advancing."
The hypothesis of twin-souls is merely a figurative representation of the union of two sympathetic spirits, and must not be understood literally. The spirits who have made use of this expression are certainly not of high order; and, therefore, as their range of thought is necessarily narrow, they have sought to convey their meaning by using the terms they were accustomed to employ in their earthly life. The idea that two souls were created for each other, and that, after having been separated for a longer or shorter period, they will necessarily be eventually reunited for all eternity, is, therefore, to be entirely rejected.

304. Does spirit remember his corporeal existence?
"Yes; having lived many times as a human being, he remembers what he has been, and often smiles pityingly at the follies of his past."
As a man, who has reached the age of reason, smiles at the follies of his youth and the silliness of his childhood.

305. Does the remembrance of his corporeal existence present itself to a spirit, complete, and spontaneously, immediately after his death?
"No; it comes back to him little by little, in proportion as he fixes his attention upon it, as objects gradually become visible out of a fog."

306. Does a spirit remember the details of all the events of his life? Does he take in the whole of his life at a single retrospective glance?
"He remembers the things of his life more or less distinctly and in detail, according to the influence they have exercised on his state as a spirit; but you can easily understand that there are many things in his life to which he attaches no importance, and which he does not even seek to remember."

- Could he remember them if he wished to do so?
"He has the power of recalling the most minute details of every incident of his life, and even of his thoughts; but when no useful purpose would be served by exerting this power, he does not exert it."

307. In what way does his past life present itself to a spirit’s memory? Is it through an effort of his imagination, or is it like a picture displayed before his eyes?
"It comes back to him in both ways. All the actions which he has an interest in remembering appear to him as though they were present; the others are seen by him more or less vaguely in his thought, or are entirely forgotten. The more dematerialised he is, the less importance does he attach to material things. It has often happened to you, on evoking some wandering spirit who has just left the earth, to find that he remembers neither the names of persons whom he liked, nor details which to you appear to be important. He cares but little about them, and they have faded from his memory. But you always find that he perfectly remembers the main facts of his life which have conduced to his intellectual and moral progress."

308. Does a spirit remember all the existences which have preceded the one he has just quitted?
"His entire past is spread out before him like the stages already accomplished by a traveller, but, as we have told you, he does not remember all his past actions with absolute precision; he remembers them more or less clearly in proportion to the influence they have had upon his present state. As to his earliest existences, those which may be regarded as constituting the period of spirit-infancy, they are lost in vagueness, and disappear in the night of oblivion."

309. How does a spirit regard the body he has just quitted?
"As an uncomfortable garment that hampered him, and that he is delighted to be rid of."

- What feeling is produced in him by seeing the decomposition of his body?
" Almost always that of indifference; as something about which he no longer cares."

310. After a time, does a spirit recognise the mortal remains, or other objects, that once belonged to him?
"Sometimes he does so; but this depends on the more or less elevated point of view from which he regards terrestrial things."

311. Is a spirit's attention attracted to the material relics of himself by the respect entertained for those objects by his survivors, and does he see this respect with pleasure?
"A spirit is always gratified at being held in kindly remembrance by those he has left. The objects thus preserved in remembrance of him serve to recall him to the memory of those by whom they are preserved; but it is the action of their thought which attracts him, and not those objects."

312. Do spirits retain the remembrance of the sufferings endured by them in their last corporeal existence?
"They frequently do so; and this remembrance makes them realise all the more vividly the worth of the felicity they enjoy as spirits."

313. Does he who has been happy down here regret his terrestrial enjoyments on quitting the earth?
"Only spirits of inferior degree can regret material satisfactions in harmony with impurity of nature, and which are expiated by suffering. For spirits of higher degrees of elevation, the happiness of eternity is immeasurably preferable to the ephemeral pleasures of the earthly life."
As the adult despises what constituted the delights of is infancy.

314. When a man, who has commenced a series of important labours in view of some useful end, has seen these labours interrupted by death, does he, in the other world, feel regret at having had to leave them unfinished?
"No, because he sees that others are destined to complete them. On the contrary, he endeavours to act upon the minds of other human beings, so as to lead them to carry on what he had begun. His aim while upon the earth was to be useful to the human race: his aim is the same in the spirit-world."

315. When a man has left behind him works of art or of literature, does he preserve for them in the other life the interest he took in them while living upon the earth?
"He judges them from another point of view, according to his elevation, and he often blames what he formerly admired."

316. Does a spirit still take an interest in the labours which are going on upon the earth, in the progress of the arts and sciences?
"That depends on his degree of elevation, and on the mission he may have to fulfil. What appears magnificent to you often appears a very small matter to spirits; if they take an interest in it, it is only as a man of learning takes an interest in the work of a school-boy. They examine whatever indicates the elevation of incarnated spirits and mark the degree of their progress."

317. Do spirits, after death, retain any preference for their native country?
"For spirits of elevated degree, their country is the universe; in regard to the earth, their only preference is for the place in which there is the greatest number of persons with whom they are in sympathy."
The situation of spirits, and their way of looking at things, are infinitely varied, according to their various degrees of moral and intellectual development. Spirits of a high order generally make but short sojourns upon the earth all that goes on here is so paltry in comparison with the grandeurs of infinity, the matters to which men attribute most importance appear to them so puerile, that the things of this earth have very little interest for them, unless they have been sent to it for the purpose of quickening the progress of its people. Spirits of lower degree visit our earth more frequently, but they judge its affairs from a higher point of view than that of their corporeal life. The common ruck of spirits may be said to be sedentary' among us they constitute the great mass of the ambient population of the invisible world. They retain very much the same ideas, tastes, and tendencies which they had while clothed with their corporeal envelope, and mix themselves up with our gatherings, our occupation, our amusements in all of which they take a part more or, less active according to their character. Being no longer able to satisfy their material passions, they take delight in witnessing the excesses of those who abandon themselves to their indulgence, to which they excite them by every means in their power. Among their number are some who are better disposed, and who see and observe in order to acquire knowledge and to advance.

318. Do spirits modify their ideas in the other life?
"Very considerably. A spirit's ideas undergo very great modifications in proportion as he becomes dematerialised, He may sometimes retain the same ideas for a long period, but little by little the influence of matter diminishes, and he sees more clearly. It is then that he seeks for the means of advancing."

319. As spirits had already lived in the other world before being incarnated, why do they feel astonished on re-entering that world?
"This feeling is only momentary, and results from the confusion that follows their waking; they soon recover their knowledge of themselves, as the memory of the past comes back to them, and the impression of the terrestrial life becomes effaced." (Vide 163 et seq.)

320. Are spirits affected by the remembrance of those whom they have loved on earth?
"Very much more so than you are apt to suppose. If they are happy this remembrance adds to their happiness; if they are unhappy, it affords them consolation."

321. Are spirits specially attracted towards their friends upon the earth by the return of the day which, in some countries, is consecrated to the memory of those who have quitted this life? Do they make it a point to meet those who, on that day, go to pray beside the graves where their mortal remains are interred?
"Spirits answer to the call of affectionate remembrance on that day as they do on any other day."

- Do they, on that day, go specially to the burial-place of their corporeal body?
"They go to the cemeteries in greater numbers on that day, because called thither by the thoughts of a greater number of persons, but each spirit goes solely for his own friends, and not for the crowd of those who care nothing about him."

- In what form do they come to these places, and what would be their appearance if they could render themselves visible to us?
"The form and appearance by which they were known during their lifetime."

322. Do the spirits of those who are forgotten, and whose graves no one visits, go to the cemeteries notwithstanding this neglect? Do they feel regret at seeing that no one remembers them?
"What is the earth to them ? They are only linked to it by the heart. If, upon the earth, no affection is felt for a spirit, there is nothing that can attach him to it; he has the whole universe before him."

323. Does a visit made to his grave give more pleasure to a spirit than a prayer offered for him by friends in their own home?
"A visit made to his grave is a way of showing to a spirit that he is not forgotten; it is a sign. As I have told you, it is the prayer that sanctifies the action of the memory; the place where it is offered is of little importance, if it come from the heart."

324. When statues or other monuments are erected to persons who have quitted this life, are the spirits of those persons present at their inauguration; and do they witness such ceremonies with pleasure?
"Spirits often attend on such occasions, when able to do so; but they attach less importance to the honours paid to them than to the remembrance in which they are held."

325. What makes some persons desire to be buried in one place rather than in another? Do they go thither more willingly offer their death? And is it a sign of inferiority on the part of a spirit that lie should attribute importance to a matter so purely material?
"That desire is prompted by a spirit's affection for certain places and is a sign of moral inferiority. To an elevated spirit, what is one spot of earth more than another ? Does he not know that his foul will be reunited with those he loves, even though their bones are separated?

- Is it futile to bring together the mortal remains of all the members of a family in the same burial-place?
"Such reunion is of little importance to spirits ; but it is useful to men, whose remembrance of those who have gone before them is thus strengthened and rendered more serious."

326. When the soul has returned into spirit-life, is it gratified by the honours paid to its mortal remains?
"When a spirit has reached a certain degree of advancement, he is purified from terrestrial vanities, for he comprehends their futility. But there are many spirits who, in the early period of their return to the other life, take great pleasure in the honours paid to their memory, or are much disturbed at finding themselves forgotten; for they still retain some of the false ideas they held during their earthly life."

327. Do spirits ever attend their own funeral?
"Spirits very often do so; but, in many cases, without understanding what is going on, being still in the state of confusion that usually follows death."

- Do they feel flattered by the presence of a large concourse of persons at their funeral?
"More or less so, according to the sentiment which has brought them together."

328. Is a spirit ever present at the meetings of his heirs?
"Almost always. Providence has so ordained it for the spirit's own instruction, and for the chastisement of selfishness. The deceased is thus enabled to judge of the worth of the protestations of affection and devotion addressed to him during his life and his disappointment on witnessing the rapacity of those who dispute the property he has left is often very great. But the punishment of greedy heirs will come in due time."

329. Is the respect which mankind, in all ages and among all peoples, has always instinctively shown to the dead, to be attributed to an intuitive belief in a future state of existence?
"The one is the natural consequence of the other; were it not for that belief, such respect would have neither object nor meaning."