The Spirit of an Idiot(Society, May 25th, 1860)
Charles de Saint-G…, is a living thirteen year old mentally challenged
boy, whose intellectual faculties are so much inexistent that he does
not even recognize his parents and can barely feed himself. All his organs
have completely stopped from any further development. Some people
thought that this could be an interesting subject for a psychological study.
1. (to St. Louis) – Could you tell us if we can evoke the spirit of that
child? – A. Yes you can evoke him as if he were dead.
2. Your response makes us suppose that we can make the evocation
at any time. – A. Yes, his soul is attached to the body by material
links but not by spiritual links. His soul can always disengage.
3. Evocation of Ch. de Saint-G… – A. I am a poor spirit, bounded
to Earth like a bird held by the foot.
4. In your present condition as a spirit, are you aware of your almost
nullity in this world? – A. Certainly. I feel my imprisonment well.
5. When your body sleeps and your spirit is free are your thoughts
as lucid as if you were in your normal state? – A. When my unfortunate
body is asleep I am a little bit freer to elevate to heavens
to which I aspire.
6. Do you have a painful feeling as a spirit with respect to your corporeal
condition? – A. Yes because it is a punishment.
7. Do you remember your previous existence? – A. Oh, Yes! That is
the cause of my current exile.
8. What was that existence? – A. A libertine youngster at the time
of Henry III.
9. You said that your current condition is a punishment. Then, you
have not chosen that? – A. No.
10. How can this present existence serve to your progress considering
your oblivious state? – A. It is not oblivious to God who has
imposed that to me.
11. Can you foresee the duration of the present existence? – A. No; a
few years more and I will return to my homeland.
12. What have you done as a spirit between the previous and current
existences? – A. Since I was a frivolous spirit, God imprisoned me.
13. In your waking state, are you aware of what goes on around you,
despite the limitation of your organs? – A. I see and understand
but my body does not see or understand.
14. Can we offer you with anything useful? – A. Nothing.
15. (to St. Louis) – May the prayers for an incarnated spirit have the
same efficacy as those in favor of an errant spirit? – A. The prayers
are always good and pleasant to God. In the current position of
this unfortunate spirit they cannot serve; they will be useful later
since God puts them in reserve.
Observation: Nobody can neglect the elevated moral teaching that
results from this evocation. Besides, it also confirms what has always been
said about the mentally challenged. Their moral handicap does not mean
a handicap of the spirit that, apart from their material body, enjoys all its
faculties. The limitation of the organs is just an obstacle to the free manifestation
of the faculties; it does not annihilate them. It is like a strong
man whose limbs are tied up by a strong rope. It is a well-known fact
that in certain regions, far from being a reason for neglect, the mentally challenged are surrounded by careful benevolence. Wouldn’t such a feeling
be originated from the intuition of the true state of these miserable
creatures, deserving more attention, the more their spirit which understand
their condition, must suffer by seeing themselves as an outcast of
society?
