That other world : personal experiences of mystics and their mysticism

Contents

EDUC.

PSYCH.

UBRARY

CHAPTER I How came I to be first interested in the so-called occult ?

Everything has a beginning ; and my interest in the mysterious and the phenomena associated with what were then termed " unknown forces " early attracted my attention. Scotch connections had told me of uncanny experiences associated with what was designated as "second sight/' More than one claimed to have this gift or to know someone who had it. It was, moreover, a gift that I too might possess. In my youth I dreamt of all kinds of wonderful things I should be able to see and foretell. At that period one possesses much enthusiasm, a high imagination, and precious little logic and power of analysis. Experience alone enables one to weigh, analyse, and discriminate with any approach to accuracy. And this experience I certainly have had.

When spiritualism became a subject of general inquiry I was an early inquirer ; and, in an amateurish sort of way, sat with friends seeking for the signs which were said to come to those who sought them in the proper spirit and under congenial conditions.

I entered upon the inquiry not only with a perfectly open mind, but with not a little expectancy. For I had been told of occurrences which were certainly remarkable, and, upon generally accepted principles, quite inexplicable. But I was soon to learn that things seldom, if ever, occur exactly as related. What was said to have occurred elsewhere did not occur under the conditions described at sittings I attended. Indeed, nothing for which a spiritual origin could with any degree of certainty be claimed ever really happened. The things that did occur seemed to me to come from within the sitters themselves, and that it was unreasoning expectancy that ascribed a supernatural origin to them. I early saw that not only were the most earnest and veracious people liable to be self-deceived, but that they found comfort in the self-deception. For, although I may not have inherited the seer's gifts of second sight and so forth, the good gods have endowed me with a certain clearness of vision and a becoming quantity of sound common sense.

The little private seances I attended having produced but negative results, I was induced to pursue my inquiries at sittings where the spiritcontrolling genius was a medium of alleged wide experience and great gifts.

From medium to medium I went, to find that the chief basis of the movement was money-making, and that whatever happened there was the outcome of human agency pure and simple, actual spiritual force or influence at such seances having no existence. Whatever illusions may have remained to me were knocked on the head. Disgust at the chicanery practised and contempt for the puerile manifestations claimed to be spiritual took the place of expectancy and earnest longing for truth. I had indeed arrived at the truth, but through methods which, at the commencement of my investigations, would have been unthinkable.

But it v^as one thing to put one's personal experience in the scale and, from that experience, to denounce the whole thing as a delusion and a fraud, and another to prove by practical demonstration the reaj nature and character of the manifestations I myself had witnessed. To duplicate what w^as duplicable under precisely the same conditions as those under which they were presented as instances of genuine spirit force was the one way to bring the expose home to those who were really desirous of arriving at a correct conclusion on the subject.

And so I set to work not only to find out how the so-called spirit phenomena were produced, but to reproduce them after the manner and under the conditions governing the medium's productions.

I succeeded in enlisting the attention and the support of such really scientific authorities as Charlton Bastian, Crichton-Browne, Lauder Brunton, Brudenell Carter, David Ferrar, Hughlings Jackson, Ray Lankester, Croom Robertson, Huxley, and Tyndall.

Ray Lankester, with the recollection of the impostures perpetrated by the notorious medium Dr Slade, whom he in conjunction with his friend lo THAT OTHER WORLD

Horatio Donkin so completely exposed, wrote me the following letter : —

" Having had the opportunity of witnessing your demonstrations of the mode in which so-called spiritmediums perform the tricks by which they attempt to impose upon the public, I have great pleasure in saying that I have no doubt that you have actually discovered the methods used by those persons, and that your lectures furnish a complete and thorough explanation of the pretended marvels by which many men and women have been cruelly deceived and swindled. I consider that your lectures are likely to do a great deal of good in showing in a convincing manner to those who attend them, how simply the judgment may be misled and erroneous conclusions formed when skilful fraud operates upon credulous ignorance. You have my best wishes for your success in what is, in my opinion, an important Educational enterprise."

Having succeeded in securing the endorsation of most of those who really counted in the scientific world in London, I bethought myself of enlisting the attention of the University authorities of Oxford and Cambridge.

The following attestation I received from the Oxford authorities speaks for itself : —

To Stuart C. Cumberland, Esq.

Dear Sir, — We have heard with pleasure of your success in exposing the devices of " Spiritualism," and of the satisfactory results you have already achieved in dispelling popular delusions on the subject. From what we have seen ourselves, as well as from the evidence of many competent witnesses, we have no doubt of your skill in producing, by explicable, natural means, the phenomena ascribed to " Spirit-power " ; and we are glad to hear of your intention to give in Oxford a

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION ii

private exposition on the subject, which we think may be really useful.

{Signed by)

B. JowETT, M. A., D.D., Master of Balliol, Professor of Greek,

Vice-Chancellor.

T. H. Green, M.A., Fellow of Balliol, Professor of Moral Philosophy.

R. B. Clifton, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow of Merton, Professor of Experimental Philosophy.

Wm. Stubbs, D.D., Fellow of Oriel, Canon of St. Paul's, Regius Professor of Modern History, etc.

William Odling, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow of Worcester, Professor of Chemistry, etc.

C. Pritchard, D.D., F.R.S., F.G.S., Professor of Astronomy. Henry J. S. Smith, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow of Balliol, Professor of Geometry, etc.

Bartholomew Price, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow of Pembroke, Professor of Natural Philosophy.

Joseph Prestwich, M.A., F.R.S., F.G.S., Professor of Geology.

J. Legge, M.A., LL.D., Professor of Chinese.

F. Max Muller, Fellow of All Souls, Professor of Comparative Philology, etc.

E. J. Stone, M.A., F.R.S., RadclifFe Observer.

Hy. W. Acland, M.D., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D., Regius Professor of Medicine, etc.

W. W. Merry, M.A., Fellow of Lincoln, Public Orator.

H. G. LiDDELL, D.D., Dean of Christ Church, Chaplain Extraordinary to the Queen.

M. A. Lawson, M.A., F.L.S., Professor of Botany and Rural Economy.

MoNiER Williams, M.A., CLE., D.C.L., LL.D., Professor of Sanskrit,

Thomas Fowler, M.A., Fellow of Lincoln, Professor of Logic.

J. O. Westwood, M.A., Hon. Fellow of Magdalen, F.A.S., F.L.S., Professor of Zoology.

Edwin Palmer, D.D., Canon of Christ Church, Archdeacon of Oxford, etc.

Edwin King, D.D., Canon of Christ Church, Professor of Psistoral Theology.

C. A. Heurtley, D.D., Canon of Christ Church, Margaret

Professor of Divinity.

E. Ray Lankester, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., Fellow of Exeter,

Professor in University College, London. W. Markby, M.A., D.C.L., Reader in Indian Law, late

Judge Supreme Court of Calcutta. William Esson, M.A., F.R.S., Fellow and Tutor of Merton.

For the purpose of this private demonstration the hall of Christ Church College was kindly placed at my disposal, and Sir George Sitwell — fresh from his expose of the medium, Florrie Coiner, who had succeeded in so completely bamboozling Sir William Crookes — gave me able assistance on the platform.

I afterwards went to Cambridge, under the moral support of the following eminent University authorities : —

James Porter, D.D., Master of St Peter's College, Vice-

Chancellor.

W. H. Thompson, D.D., Master of Trinity College. Charles Taylor, D.D., Master of St John's College. Richard Okes, D.D., Provost of King's College. George Phillips, D.D., President of Queens' College. Robert Phelps, D.D., Master of Sidney-Sussex College. Thomas Worsley, D.D., Master of Downing College. B. H. Kennedy, D.D., Regius Professor of Greek, Fellow

of St John's, Canon of Ely.

W. Wright, D.D., LL.D., Ph.D., Professor of Arabic,

Fellow of Queens'.

G. G. Stokes, M.A., D.C.L., F.R.S., Professor of Mathematics, President of Pembroke, Secretary of Royal

Society, etc. etc.

G. M. Humphrey, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Anatomy,

Fellow of Downing.

G. E. Paget, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., Regius Professor of

Medicine, Fellow of Caius.

E. H. Palmer, M.A., Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic,

Fellow of St John's.

J. C. Adams, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.A.S., Professor of

Astronomy, Fellow of Pembroke.

J. A. LuMBY, D.D., Professor of Divinity, Dean of St

Catharine's.

P. W. Latham, M.D., Downing Professor of Medicine. W. J. Lewis, M.A., Professor of Mineralogy. W. W. Skeat, M.A., Professor of Anglo-Saxon.

Closely following this, there was held the Church Congress at Newcastle, when one of the chief items of the programme was a discussion dealing with the question of the " Duty of the Church towards Spiritualism and Infidelity."

Despite my extreme youth — for I was by far the youngest speaker there — I was permitted to address the immense audience overflowing the great Town Hall. The reception I received highly gratified me, and I was encouraged to give public meetings with practical demonstrations of the manifestations, passed off as spiritual, and accepted by the credulous as such, all over the country.

In my crusade against the pernicious craze and the vulgar impostures associated with it, I received, in addition to scientific approval, the cordial support of the leading dignitaries of the Church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Tait) was good enough to invite me to breakfast at Lambeth Palace, where afterwards I had the privilege of giving some illustrations of the way in which " spirit " phenomena were produced. The present Archbishop was one of the company ; and with him I illustrated the fallacy of Zollner's contention of the existence of a " Fourth Dimension of Space." Of this form of spirit belief.

consisting of the passage of matter through matter, I speak in the chapter bearing upon this phenomenon.

I found everywhere a hearty support amongst those of light and leading who really counted, and the common-sense public was unquestionably with me.

A more deeply religious and earnest man than the late Earl of Shaftesbury probably did not exist ; and this is what he said, as chairman, in moving a vote of thanks to me at the conclusion of one of my public representations : —

" I am sure no one will deny that we have had an evening of great amusement and instruction, and, as such, we are deeply indebted to Mr Cumberland.

" The mental and physical powers of Mr Cumberland are simply wonderful, and I certainly am both surprised and delighted at the really marvellous things he has shown us.

"If there had been any doubt in my mind, before coming here, as to the utter humbug of this spiritualistic quackery, I must confess that it would have been at once removed by the clear and thorough expose which our friend has given us.

" I think it a great thing that a gentleman of such ability and such gifts should be found willing to come forward and lay bare the shams of a craze which is harmful to the last degree."

With the approval and support — as I may put it — of all sane and right-thinking people, what mattered the disapproval, not unmixed with abuse, of the self-interested or blindly ignorant few ?

I continued my work, with the firm conviction that what I did was of no little public value.

At the same time I continued my investigations, with the hope that I might yet find just one grain of wheat amongst the chaff. That one grain, however, has ever eluded me. I have come across wilful impositions in various shapes, and a goodly crop of illusions honestly conceived but altogether lacking the corroboration or logical analysis that make for certainty. And my investigations have taken me the world over.

Of them I shall speak as I go along, relating as briefly as possible the incidents which seem to me to call for particular attention and reasons for the well-considered conclusions I have arrived at.

I would say here that up till some twelve months ago I had ceased to take any further active interest in the subject, which had apparently lost its hold upon the imagination of the credulous public.

But, as an outcome of the Great War, there has, I am grieved to say, come a revival of the craze in its most pernicious and soulless form.

To many who have husbands, sons, brothers, or near male relatives out at the Front, daily and hourly facing danger and death, there has come a natural longing to know something of their welfare ; and when death has snatched them from them, the desire to be put in touch with them in spirit form has become only too insistent.

Some of these sign-seekers, as a result of their longings and expectancies, have had what they assumed to be a first sign direct, which has sent them to a medium — professional or otherwise — for further signs and communications, which these mediums — mostly for a mundane monetary consideration— have not failed^o supply.

Seeing the mental risks which these sign-seekers ran, and the rich harvest a number of questionable practitioners were making out of the sorrows and pious longings of their clients, I was moved to issue public warnings on the growth and danger of the craze.

The following, from an article of mine in the Daily Mail of 5th January 1 9 17, clearly expresses my views on the subject. I have the satisfaction of knowing that since then the law has stepped in, and that certain of the more flagrant of the practising mediums have been laid by the heels, and that credulous folk may expect reasonable police assistance against a very heartless and harmful form of imposture : —

" In this advanced, enlightened twentieth century it does indeed seem wonderful that the old-time spiritism, with its unsound pretensions and palpable little tricks, all of which the hard-headed had come to accept as things of the past, should flourish so strongly in our midst.

" But the hankering after the occult, the desire to lift the veil and peep into the future, has ever been with us and never really dies.

" With some it is an honest, deep belief, amounting almost to a religion ; with others, just a pose or a mere money-making game. It is this deep conviction of the true believer which has given tone to the movement and, at the same time, made possible much of the chicanery attached to it.

" No argument will convince the out-and-out believer that this or that manifestation alleged to have occurred in his presence or through his own mediumship is merely the outcome of expectation or false deductions. With him the difference between facts and inference from facts has no actual existence, and as he has convinced himself of the genuineness of the manifestations which he alleges have been personally vouchsafed him, he declines to see trickery in other directions, and resents as an attack on his own genuineness of belief the unmasking of other people's trickery. In my endeavours to arrive at the truth in connection with so-called ' spirit manifestations ' I have, it goes without saying, incurred the condemnation of those worthy folk whose aims and convictions have my profound respect instead of receiving their approval in weeding the cause of its palpable impostures.

" In a word, I have never yet in any land or with any medium or adept discovered any alleged occult manifestation that was not explicable upon a perfectly natural basis, and which in the majority of instances could not be humanly duplicated under precisely similar conditions. This, as the true believer would say, has been my misfortune. But there it is. So inherent is this hankering after the supernatural in human nature that many would much rather seek for a supernatural than a natural explanation of what may seem mysterious or out of the way to them.

" It is just this longing in human nature upon which these professional psychic frauds are preying to-day.

" To-day, with its heavy death toll and fateful uncertainty so closely affecting every section of the community, is indeed the moment for the practitioners on the shady side of spiritism. There is a natural desire among the bereaved, or those in doubt as to the actual facts surrounding the 'missing,' to seek for news and guidance unobtainable through the ordinary channels. These credulous folk are told that this or that medium is a real wonder who has given such and such person the most astounding revelations. So what has been vouchsafed others can quite as well be revealed to them. Hence the run upon the plausible 'crooks,' who so readily trade upon their credulity.

"Thefoolish, credulous dupes neverforamoment consider the utter incongruousness of the association of their beloved dead or missing with these professional ' spookists.' It never enters their heads that if the spirit of anyone dear to them could return at all, it would be to them direct that his return would be manifested, and that to have to go to some strange ' crook ' and part with money for the privilege of being put in touch with the spirit is the height of absurdity. They are told that they themselves are not mediumistic^ and that it is only through the truly mediumistic are such communications possible. Besides, it is the fashion or ' the thing ' to go to these mediums, who, ' poor dears,' must live and who are entitled to payment for the exhaustion they frequently und^reo in getting in touch with the spirits. No labourer, in fact, is so worthy of his hire as one in the spiritual vineyard.

" And the wine he presses as he rakes in the notes is the flow of tears from the sorrowful and distressed.

" It is not only a shady business, but it is a mean and cruel one, and should be put an end to. If the foolish cannot or will not protect themselves, they must be protected against their own folly.

" General Smith-Dorrien's crusade against vice had for its object the well-being of the young soldier ; but the vice, in all its alluring naturalness of which he complains, is, to put it quite bluntly, mild in its injurious effects as compared with the possibilities of harm arising to these soldiers* sorrowing relatives in their pursuit of the unnatural. Any mental authority will testify to the mental dangers associated with such practices.

" There is not space for me here in which to relate my impressions and experiences of spirits I have known, together with other phases of the so-called occult. It forms too long a story. I would, however, like to say that I am desirous of extending my knowledge of spiritism and occultism so as to include the latest exponents of the mystic art. I am quite open to conviction, and should rejoice to find something which, under proper test conditions and with due investigation, proved itself beyond question the outcome of spirit power. A manifestation which is capable of being demonstrated can alone be beyond question when done under conditions from which all chances of trickery are eliminated. There are apparently other forms of ' spirit power * which, while not depending upon outward and visible demonstrations for their proof, claim to give the inquirer glimpses into the past, present, and future. They, too, clipped of their patter and ungraspable ambiguousness, are interesting in their way as showing on what lines certain spirits alone can or will work.

" Honestly, the whole of my inquiring, investigating soul goes out to all : the bootless materialised form in white, the three dead friends on the slips ofpaper, the passing of matter through matter, the sepulchral voice that comes from the Beyond finally to find escape through the medium's own mouth, the clutching spirit-controlled hand that scribbles endless messages from the other world regardless of the shortage of paper in this. Yes, I am ready and eager to become closely acquainted with them all, and to make known to the world the truth that in them is."

To the opinions expressed above I have nothing to add. I am still seeking for proofs, still anxious to be convinced. To my request for enlightenment I received upwards of one hundred letters ; but although I was again and again assured that such and such a thing had undoubtedly occurred, there was no corroborative evidence of its occurrence and no willingness to have the manifestation repeated under proper test conditions. This inability to guarantee a repetition of an occurrence which has caused bewilderment or intense personal satisfaction, according to belief or temperament, is understandable from the fact that such visitation has in all probability nothing more behind it than is contained in the mere mind's-eye form of proof.

But in these purely subjective, as distinct from objective, occurrences certain men prominent in Literature and Science profess to see a proof of a life Beyond, and of the ability of that spirit life to make itself seen, known and understood. In support of this contention not an atom of actual proof is advanced ; and it simply serves to give a wholly unnecessary fillip to a movement which might, to the moral and mental well-being of those who are disposed to follow it, be left severely alone.

The harm that may be worked amongst such followers, too ill-equipped mentally to correctly diagnose and appraise the real value of the phenomena associated therewith, causes me to place my experiences and conclusions in the present form before the public.

Chapter II

The hankering after the uncanny, the dabbling in the so-called occult, is by no means confined to emotional women and mentally ill-balanced men with more time on their hands than they know what to do with, and more inner longings than they know well how to check or control.

Their beliefs, if they do not bring them a salutary disillusion, end generally in dissatisfaction or disappointment. That is their own affair. But it is quite another thing when the mystic art casts its spell over a country's rulers, influencing their interior and exterior policies, to the general injury and danger.

It is beyond question that mystic influence had not a little to do with the downfall of the Romanoffs and the great upheaval in Russia. The dabbling in the supernatural at the Russian Court is by no means a new thing. It dates back years. It came in with the visit of D. D. Home, and went out with the removal of the unspeakable Rasputin.

Home succeeded in capturing the society of more than one European capital ; but I fancy he did best in Petrograd. He finally managed to impress a Russian princess, a goddaughter of the Tzar Alexander 11. , to the extent of getting her to give him her hand and fortune.

His social success here in London was not inconsiderable.

Home gave a tone to Modern Spiritism, and — to use an Americanism — was looked upon by the faithful as quite a " tony '' medium. His bag of spiritual tricks included materialisation and dematerialisation ; but his chief card was " levitation." There were two noble lords who, in their mind's eye at least, saw him float in and out of an open window in a west-end London house, and duly testified to the fact. Nothing, I believe, would convince them of the fallacy of the pretension. In these days of the conquest of the air, how useful the floating art might have been made, especially if Home, as claimed, could make himself invulnerable !

Whilst in Petrograd — so at least a famous diplomat assured me when I was there — Home did a feat of dematerialisation before the Court which, had it not been for the favour in which he was held in high places, might have curtailed his liberty for a period.

He had demateralised a splendid row of emeralds lent the " dear spirits " for the purpose of the test ; but up to the time of his departure from the seance, the emeralds, for some occult reason, had declined to materialise and thus be handed back to the confiding owner. They were, of course, in spirit land engaging the attention of the spooks, who seem to have a pretty taste for valuable jewels. But the chief of the police had not that faith in spiritual probity generally accepted at the Court, and, before leaving the palace, Home was searched, and — so the story came to me — the dematerialised emeralds were found materialising in his coat-tail pocket. They had been placed there by an evil spirit, of course. But the police chief impressed upon the medium that the climate of the Russian capital might not be good for his health — that an early departure would probably benefit it. Home took the hint and his early departure. To his dying day, I think, he regretted the interference of the evil spirit. It would have been so much more satisfactory for the jewels to have remained dematerialising in spirit land, to be materialised at will with no interfering police around, for they were of great earthly value.

History has an odd habit of repeating itself even in connection with spiritualistic affairs.

During the crisis associated with the approaching abdication of the Tzar Nicholas, it was impossible to get in touch with ministers who counted, on account of their being engrossed in a spiritualistic seance. How ill the controlling spirits at this seance advised the sitters, and failed to get in proper celestial touch with the to-bedethroned monarch, events have shown.

During my first visit to Petrograd there was another crisis in the air, which, if it had come to a head, would have had very far-reaching effects. To my great surprise I found that hardened diplomatic old sinner. Count Peter Shuvalow, sitting with a number of high ministers of state at a round table consulting the " dear spirits " as to what could happen, and so forth. His Excellency affected to be surprised at my disbelief in the powers of the spirits to manifest in the manner anticipated by the sitters. But, all the same, I was distinctly of the private opinion that at heart his belief in the reality of such phenomena did not exceed my own. He was, I conjectured, but playing a game, just because it was at the moment diplomatic to so play it.

Whilst ambassador in London he played the game of make-believe to an extent never yet approached by the diplomatic representative of any other country attached to the Court of St James. Well I remember Mr Henry Labouchere impressing upon me, on the eve of my departure for Russia, the wisdom of studying closely the ex- Ambassador, who, shortly after his return to Petrograd, had been appointed head of the dreaded Third Section.

"As a subject," added Labby, "you will find him the hardest nut you have ever tried to crack. To judge him by appearances, or to accept any statement as indicative of his actual thoughts, is to make the greatest mistake possible. I have in mind the critical days of the Russo-Turkish war, when the goody-goodies of Society thought how deplorable it was that so gifted a man, holding so distinguished a position, should drink so heavily and take so little trouble to hide the fact from those with whom, in accordance with his position, he associated. But it was all a game ; and, I must confess, he played it remarkably cleverly. It enabled him to eavesdrop without being suspected, and to let out grave secrets v^hilst seemingly in his cups, which, instead of being an act of grave indiscretion, was just a part of his little game. I always had my suspicion that he painted his nose at times in order to more completely look the part."

Labby, from his at one time connection with the British Embassy in Petrograd, knew the Russian diplomatic world pretty well ; but his knowledge of Russian diplomats did not, I fancy, include General Ignatieff, the author of the famous San Stefano Treaty. I had ample opportunities of studying both him and Peter Shuvalow ; and in the matter of mental deception and verbal unmeaningness the ex-head of the dreaded Third Section was a guileless child as compared with the treaty-drawer.

Count Paul Shuvalow, Peter's brother, whom I saw frequently in Petrograd, and subsequently in Berlin, where he was the Tzar's ambassador, leaving there to succeed General Gourko as Governor-General of Poland, had not only a real belief in the occult, but was convinced that he himself was genuinely psychic. In diplomatic circles in Berlin it was generally assumed that his Excellency was not quite all there. But his seeming absent-mindedness and funny little ways were too, I am sure, just a part of his own game.

Rasputin would never have flourished or have exercised the slightest Court influence had he been up against Paul Shuvalow. Had it been necessary, in order to have effectively combated that unspeakable person's evil influence, he would, I have no doubt, have boldly declared himself a medium controlled by celestial beings of the highest probity, who not only denied Rasputin's alleged powers, but most strongly condemned his habits and practices. Count Paul was a gentleman as well as an astute man of the world. He knew by instinct the right card to play in mysticism as well as in diplomacy, according to the audience he sought to impress.