Mr. Jobard

Brussels, 1861. Mr. Jobard, director of the Industrial Museum of Brussels and honorary president of the Spiritist Society of Paris, died suddenly from apoplexy at the age of sixty-nine. Shortly after his death, his spirit communicated spontaneously through a medium before the Society even had the chance to evoke him.

Mr. JobardI'm here... the very one you were about to evoke.

Mr. JobardI especially wished to communicate through this medium, although until now I had tried in vain to make him write for me.

Mr. JobardI want to describe what I felt at the moment my soul separated from my body.

Mr. JobardI felt an impossible-to-describe trembling throughout my entire being.

Mr. JobardMy whole life... my birth, youth, and adult years... suddenly returned to my memory all at once.

Mr. JobardEvery event of my life appeared before me with extraordinary clarity.

Mr. JobardI desired only one thing... to find myself again in the regions revealed to us through our beloved Spiritist belief.

Mr. JobardThen all the agitation faded away.

Mr. JobardI was free.

Mr. JobardAnd my lifeless body lay beside me.

Mr. JobardAh, dear friends... what overwhelming happiness it is to cast off the burden of the earthly body!

Mr. JobardWhat impossible-to-describe joy it is to contemplate the glorious vastness surrounding us!

Mr. JobardBut don't imagine that I immediately reached the highest state of happiness.

Mr. JobardNo.

Mr. JobardI'm among those who have learned something... but who still have much more to learn.

Mr. JobardI quickly remembered you, my brothers in exile on Earth.

Mr. JobardMy sympathy and good wishes remain with you.

After Mr. Jobard’s funeral ceremony, several members of the Society gathered together and unexpectedly received a spontaneous communication from another spirit none of them had ever heard of before.

BernardMy name is Bernard.

BernardI lived in Passy in the year 1796, when it was still a small village.

BernardI was a poor schoolteacher.

BernardGod alone knows how much misery I endured.

BernardWhat a weary life I lived.

BernardHow many years of anxiety and suffering I passed through.

BernardEventually, I began cursing God, the devil, mankind in general... and women in particular.

BernardNot one person ever came to me and said, “Courage... patience.”

BernardI was forced to live alone... always alone.

BernardAnd the cruelty of others eventually made me cruel as well.

BernardSince then, I wander through the places where I once lived and died.

BernardToday I heard everything you said.

BernardYour prayers deeply moved me.

BernardYou accompanied a good and worthy spirit to the grave of his body.

BernardEverything you said and did touched me greatly.

BernardI was among a large group of spirits.

BernardTogether, we all prayed for you... and for the spread of your holy belief.

BernardPray for us... for we need help.

BernardThe spirit of Sanson, who was with us, promised that you would think of us.

BernardI wish to reincarnate so that I may make better use of a new earthly trial.

BernardIn this way, I hope to prepare a happier future for myself in the spirit world.

BernardFarewell, friends.

BernardI call you friends because you are kind to those who suffer.

BernardI wish you good thoughts... and a happy future.

Allan Kardec later explained that the writing medium had never met Mr. Sanson and knew nothing about his life, family, or beliefs. The medium had also never heard of the spirit Bernard. Kardec presented these details as evidence that the communications could not have come from the medium’s imagination.

Later, Mr. Jobard was formally evoked and questioned by the Society.

AllanDuring your life on Earth, you asked us to evoke you after your death.

AllanWe gladly do so, not only to honor your request, but also because we sincerely care for you.

AllanWe also hope to learn from you, because you are especially capable of giving us precise information about the spirit world.

AllanWe'd be grateful if you would answer our questions.

Mr. JobardWhat matters now is helping you better understand spirit life.

Mr. JobardAs for your sympathy... I see it clearly.

Mr. JobardI no longer receive it merely through the ears.

Mr. JobardThat alone is already a great advancement.

AllanTo help us understand clearly, can you tell us where you are in this room?

AllanAnd if we could see you, how would you appear?

Mr. JobardI'm close beside the medium.

Mr. JobardYou would see me in the appearance of the Jobard who so often sat at this table.

Mr. JobardYour physical eyes, not yet opened to spirit sight, can perceive spirits only under their earthly form.

AllanWould it be possible for you to make yourself visible to us?

AllanAnd if not, what prevents it?

Mr. JobardYour own condition prevents it.

Mr. JobardA spiritually aware medium could see me.

Mr. JobardOthers could not.

AllanThe seat you now occupy is the same seat you occupied while alive.

AllanWe intentionally reserved it for you this evening.

AllanThose who once saw you there may imagine you beside us now exactly as before.

AllanThough your physical body is gone, your fluidic body still has the same form.

AllanEven though we can't see you with our physical eyes, we perceive you with the eyes of thought.

AllanAnd although we can no longer speak with you directly, we can still communicate through writing with the help of a medium.

AllanSo, our connection with you has not truly been interrupted by death.

AllanWe can converse with you almost as easily and completely as before.

AllanIs this understanding correct?

Mr. JobardYes.

Mr. JobardYou have understood this for a long time already.

Mr. JobardAnd as for this seat... I will often occupy it, even when you don't notice me there.

Mr. JobardMy spirit will remain among you.

Kardec explains that this statement should not be understood figuratively. Spiritism teaches that spirits may literally remain present among the living through their fluidic or spiritual body. Some spirits stay near people they love, influencing, protecting, and inspiring them.

AllanIt has not been long since you last sat here among us while alive.

AllanDo your present surroundings feel very different from your former earthly state?

AllanWhat effect does this change have on you?

Mr. JobardThe surroundings themselves don't seem all that different to me.

Mr. JobardBut my spirit now possesses a clearness and sharpness of perception that leaves no uncertainty in whatever I examine with thought.

AllanDo you remember having existed in the same state before your last life on Earth?

AllanAnd do you feel changed since then?

Mr. JobardI remember my previous existences.

Mr. JobardAnd I can see that I have improved.

Mr. JobardI now see clearly... and I absorb what I perceive.

Mr. JobardAfter my earlier incarnations, my spirit remained in confusion.

Mr. JobardI saw nothing except the gaps and failures of my life on Earth.

AllanDo you remember the incarnation that came before your life as Mr. Jobard?

Mr. JobardIn that previous existence, I was a mechanic laborer consumed by poverty and by the desire to perfect my work.

Mr. JobardDuring my life as Jobard, I fulfilled the dreams of that poor workman.

Mr. JobardAnd I praise God, whose infinite goodness allowed the seed planted in my mind to grow and bear fruit.

AllanHave you already given communications elsewhere?

Mr. JobardVery few so far.

Mr. JobardIn many places, another spirit has taken my name.

Mr. JobardIn some cases, I was nearby but unable to communicate.

Mr. JobardMy death is still recent, and I remain affected by certain earthly influences.

Mr. JobardI can express my thoughts only where I find complete sympathy.

Mr. JobardSoon I will act with greater freedom... but not yet.

Mr. JobardWhen a well-known man dies, he is evoked everywhere.

Mr. JobardThousands of spirits are eager to assume his identity.

Mr. JobardThis has already happened in my case several times.

Mr. JobardI assure you that very few spirits are able to communicate directly immediately after death, even through their preferred medium.

AllanDo you see the spirits who are with us this evening?

Mr. JobardYes.

Mr. JobardNear you I see Lazarus and Erastes.

Mr. JobardA little farther away, hovering in space, I see the Spirit of Truth.

Mr. JobardBesides these more advanced spirits, I also see many spirit-friends surrounding this gathering.

Mr. JobardThey participate actively and kindly in your work.

Mr. JobardYou should consider yourselves fortunate, dear friends.

Mr. JobardGood influences surround you and protect you from suggestions that might lead you into error.

AllanDuring your life, you believed the Earth was formed through the merging of four planets.

AllanDo you still hold this opinion?

Mr. JobardNo.

Mr. JobardThat opinion was mistaken.

Mr. JobardRecent geological discoveries already prove the upheavals and successive eras through which the Earth developed.

Mr. JobardThe Earth, like all planets, has had its own independent life.

Mr. JobardGod had no need of such a chaotic catastrophe as the collision of several planets.

Mr. JobardWater and fire alone are the organic elements of the Earth.

AllanYou also believed that human beings could remain indefinitely in a cataleptic state.

AllanAnd you believed humanity had been brought to Earth while in that condition.

AllanDo you still believe this?

Mr. JobardNo.

Mr. JobardThose ideas were illusions of my imagination, which was always inclined toward exaggeration.

Mr. JobardCatalepsy can last a long time... but not forever.

Mr. JobardMy theory came from exaggerated Eastern legends.

Mr. JobardBelieve me, I have suffered greatly in realizing how quickly I accepted such illusions.

Mr. JobardDon't forget this lesson.

Mr. JobardI possessed considerable knowledge.

Mr. JobardAnd my intelligence, without vanity, was quick and active because of the broad studies of my previous lives.

Mr. JobardBut from earlier incarnations I had also retained a fascination for the marvelous, the complicated, and the fantastic creations of human imagination.

Mr. JobardAs yet, I have not devoted much attention to purely intellectual matters such as those that interest you.

Mr. JobardHow could I, when I'm dazzled and carried away by the wonderful spectacle surrounding me?

Mr. JobardThe bond of our shared Spiritist belief... a bond far stronger than human beings can imagine... is the only thing capable of drawing me back toward this Earth that I'm now leaving behind.

Mr. JobardAnd I leave it not with joy, for that would show irreverence toward the Creator...

Mr. JobardBut with deep gratitude for my freedom.

In February 1862, the Spiritist Society organized a collection to help struggling workers in Lyons. One member donated twenty-five francs in Mr. Jobard’s name, after which Jobard dictated another message.

Mr. JobardI'm pleased and grateful that my Spiritist brothers have not forgotten me.

Mr. JobardI thank the generous heart that conveyed the offering I myself would have made had I still lived among you.

Mr. JobardIn the world where I now live, we have no need for money.

Mr. JobardSo I had to borrow from the purse of a friend in order to give you visible proof of my sympathy for my brothers in Lyons.

Mr. JobardBrave workers... you now see that charity is not an empty word.

Mr. JobardRich and poor alike have shown you brotherly sympathy during your suffering.

Mr. JobardYou are therefore walking upon the great humanitarian road of progress.

Mr. JobardMay God preserve you upon that path.

Mr. JobardAnd may happier times await you.

Mr. JobardOur spirit friends will support and assist you in overcoming the hardships of your condition.

Mr. JobardI now live more peacefully.

Mr. JobardI'm less disturbed by the constant evocations that pursued me from every direction like a storm of hail.

Mr. JobardApparently, spirits are not exempt from the tyranny of fashion.

Mr. JobardWhen the fashion of evoking Jobard is replaced by someone else, I will pass into human forgetfulness.

Mr. JobardAnd when that day comes, I ask my sincere and serious friends to continue evoking me.

Mr. JobardThen we may resume our study of questions that until now have been treated too superficially.

Mr. JobardAnd your friend Jobard, now completely transformed, may continue being useful to you from the depths of his heart.