tained by one whose nature is not
inherently truthful.

Any selfish desire dominating the mind, in regard to any thing or
person will distort the vision and render it misleading, while a
persistent self-seeking spirit will effectually shut the door to all
revelation whatsoever.

Therefore above all things it is essential for the investigator of
psychic phenomena to have an unflinching love of truth, to be
resigned to the will of Heaven, to accept the revelations accorded
in a spirit of grateful confidence, and to dispel all doubt and
controversy by an appeal to the eyes of one's own immortal soul.

These are qualifications with which the seer or seeress should be
invested, and if with these the quest of the vision is unsuccessful
after a period of earnest trial, it must be taken as sufficient
warrant that the faculty of clairvoyance is not in the category of
one's individual powers. Haply the same qualifications brought to
bear on some other psychic faculty will result in a rich recompense.

As for those triflers who at odd moments sit for the production of
what they call "phenomena," with no other object than the
gratification of an inquisitive vanity, I would drive them with
whips from the field of psychical research. They are people
whose presence in this area of serious enquiry does no good
either to the cause of truth or the service of the race, and this
loose traffic of sorts in the hope of finding a new sensation would,
were it transferred to another sphere of activity, deservedly
receive a very ugly name.

The suggestion that the clairvoyant faculty is latent in all of us
has no doubt been responsible for much misunderstanding, and
not a little disappointment; but I doubt if it is so far removed
from the truth as that which makes the possession of the faculty a
certain sign of a superior degree of evolution. Although the
faculty of clear vision brings us into more intimate conscious
relations with a new order of existence, where the past and future,
the distant and the near, would seem to be brought into
immediate perception, it does not therefore confer upon us a
higher degree of spirituality. It may undoubtedly offer us a
truer perspective than that we may derive from the ordinary
circumstance of our lives, and may suggest good grounds for a
more comprehensive ethical system, but it cannot compel one to
do the right thing or to lead the virtuous life. Clairvoyance,
indeed, is a faculty which has no dir