Johannes Greber - Catholic Priest | Part 2

Spiritism in the Light of Modern Science Prior to the time at which I learned of communication with the spirit-world, I had had no knowledge of the possibility of any such intercourse, having read neither books nor periodicals dealing with the subject. Similarly, throughout the period during which I was receiving the teachings recorded in this book from my ultra-mundane guides, I never came into contact with other spiritistic circles nor did I consult any spiritistic literature whatever. As long as I remained a member of the clergy, I devoted my full attention to the truths which were imparted to me week by week through the mediums, and which, more than anything else, caused a radical change in my religious views. My hours of study were devoted to the Scriptures, as I was eager to learn whether the new truths which were demolishing the structure of my previously-held beliefs, agreed with the teachings of the Bible. The Holy Writ was to be my touchstone. Moreover, the spirit-world was constantly urging me to compare my newly acquired knowledge with what is set down in the Bible. At our religious meetings the spirit which manifested itself, regularly took up the Bible and expounded its contents. However, after a certain time, when I had absorbed the presentation of the truth and had acquired a firm conviction of the same, I was invited to make myself acquainted with present-day spiritistic phenomena, which I would have the opportunity of testing and interpreting in the light of the laws imparted to me. Should I witness anything that I could not understand, I could obtain the desired explanation by asking for it at one of the séances which I attended. From the outset I resolved to test only those phenomena of whose genuineness there could be no question. At about that time, early in 1928, I heard of a scientific periodical issued with the cooperation of eminent scientists of almost all countries, and devoted to the discussion of occurrences which cannot be explained by any known natural laws. This periodical is entitled: - Zeitschrift fuer Parapsychologie (Magazine of Parapsychology).The word “parapsychology" signifies the science of things beyond the scope of the familiar laws governing psychic life. Zeitschrift fuer Parapsychologie, published by Oswald Mutze, Leipzig. Securing the 1926 and 1927 series of this periodical, the earliest published, I used them as the material for my comparative study. The facts therein related are so thoroughly substantiated as to leave no room for doubt regarding their authenticity, and embrace all phenomena observed in the realm of spirit-communication. To be sure, the periodical confines itself to the statement of facts. As to how these are to be explained is something about which opinions differ widely. Regarding the existence of a spirit-world as the intermediary in these phenomena, modern science refuses to recognize this, and it is only very occasionally and with the greatest diffidence that a scientist will hint at the possibility of intervention on the part of spirit-beings. Instead, explanations are concocted which must strike any normally minded person as puerile. Inasmuch as the "mediums" are the sources of the power used by the spirit-world for the production of the various phenomena, I shall, in the following pages, group the occurrences observed at the present day about the respective mediums, who are discussed in the publication in question, from which, also, the facts are taken, their correct interpretation being appended in the final part of each section. Kluski, the medium of Warsaw. (Zeitschrift fuer Parapsychologie, 1926, p. 5-22) F. W. Pawlowski, professor of anatomy at the University of Michigan. U.S.A., who gives an exhaustive account of his observations of the medium Kluski, writes as follows: "The phenomena which I witnessed in