The Spiritist Fallacy

by René Guénon, Alvin Moore (Translator), James Richard Wetmore (Editor)

Since WW II, 'channeling' has largely replaced older styles of mediumship in the movement loosely known as the New Age. Yet the two are intimately related. As both historical chronicle and metaphysical critique, The Spiritist Fallacy, together with its companion volume, History of a Pseudo-Religion, is a valuable study of New Age origins. Guénon takes the 'spirit manifestations' of the Fox sisters in Hydesville, New York (in 1847) as his starting-point, but while accepting the reality of many such 'manifestations', denies that they represent the spirits of the departed. He sees them, rather, as fostering belief in a kind of rarefied materialism, as though the 'spirit of the deceased' were no more than an invisible, quasi-material body, and death no more than a 'shedding' of the physical body while the 'spirit' remains otherwise unchanged-a belief widespread today in popular culture. The author demonstrates how various 'spirit philosophies' are little more than reflections of their own milieux-'English spirits' being conservative and denying reincarnation, 'French spirits' accepting reincarnation and espousing progressivist or revolutionary ideas, etc. And he addresses the strange fact that 'manifestations' associated from antiquity with haunted houses suddenly, in the 19th century-and within five years of their appearance-spawned an international pseudo-religious movement, speculating that certain magicians (possibly from the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor) may have intentionally produced the Hydesville phenomena by actively projecting hidden influences upon the passive psyches of their mediums. The mutual influence of Spiritism and Theosophy, and the adverse affects of 'spirit entities' upon many mediums, are also covered in considerable detail. The Spiritist Error is both an exposé of 'unconscious Satanism' and a highly useful critique of the false ideas of the afterlife which are so prevalent in our time.

Genres: Metaphysics, Philosophy, History, Religion

364 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1923

About the author

René Guénon (1886-1951) was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of sacred science,traditional studies, symbolism and initiation.

French biography : http://arlesquint.free.fr/rene%20guen...
http://www.index-rene-guenon.org/

Reviews

[Air Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an interesting book, and the author makes a nice exploration on both spiritism and ocultism, but his approach to prove the fallacy based on his metaphysics concepts ends up falling short, leaving the exposed inconsistencies and incoherencies as the strongest argument, which isn't actually what he wanted.

[A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like his "General Introduction", this book is much better than expected.

"D’autre part, la réfutation du spiritisme, en dehors de l’intérêt qu’elle présente par elle-même, nous a permis, comme nous l’avions annoncé au début, d’exprimer certaines vérités importantes ; les vérités métaphysiques surtout, alors même qu’elles sont formulées à propos d’une erreur, ou pour répondre à des objections, n’en ont pas moins une portée éminemment positive."
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"On the other hand, the refutation of spiritism, apart from its self-interest, enabled us, as we had announced at the beginning, to express certain important truths; above all, metaphysical truths, even though they are formulated with regard to an error, or to answer objections, have nevertheless an eminently positive range."

[Chrysalides · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guenon's quintessential polemic style was insulting the intelligence of those he didn't agree with, but in the case of the spiritists, broadly defined as those who believe in communication with the dead, it's hard to object to such an approach. Examples cited of these neo-spiritualists of the 19th and early 20th centuries come off as so childish that it borders on parody, yet nonetheless many of their ideas managed to permeate modern culture even to this day. Many will scoff at the road-side psychics or the sensationalist television series about ghost hunters and mediums, yet Guenon sees goes beyond the banal and identifies the truly insidious elements behind the movement.

While spiritism today has largely been supplanted by rationalism and scientism as a consequence of the digital age, its residues still offer insight as to the development of the modern deviation, something which Guenon claims cannot be some mere coincidence.