The Last Years of the 19th Century

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The Last Years of the 19th Century

In the last years of the century, Peter Dunov met with a wide circle of people with spiritual pursuits: Evangelical pastors, spiritists, and theosophists. These contacts were highly informative to him. He was looking for minds that were free of dogmatism - the sort of minds that he had seen in America. Naturally, the discussions were usually about the mysteries of the Spirit. Controversial issues that Dunov sometimes raised on purpose were also debated. He believed in the "truth as it is" and he sought to win over the participants in these discussions to this philosophy. He did not always succeed, though. The disappointment was not infrequent. Once a renowned Evangelical pastor said: "I believe in the existence of spirits, I believe in reincarnation, there are proofs of that in the Scriptures." Later in church, however, he declared from the pulpit: "This is not true, there are neither spirits nor reincarnation!" Here is how he explained his inconsistency: "I am a preacher. If I maintain this teaching, I will ruin my reputation." Peter Dunov commented bitterly on that occasion: "To an Evangelical pastor, there are neither spirits nor reincarnation, as they are against his interest. Only a free person can speak the truth!" Peter Dunov was particularly insistent in his efforts to make his contemporaries overcome their conservative thought. He was particularly critical to his fellow-Evangelists who were afraid to stray from the letter of the Scriptures. To them, he presented indisputable truths that were proved by spiritism. He sought to expand their notions with the achievements of spiritual science. Sometimes he referred to articles from a magazine entitled Nova Svetlina ("new light"), edited and published by a Dr. Georgi Mirkovich. The magazine prompted Peter Dunov to meet this well-known doctor, homeopath and public figure from the town of Sliven. The meeting marked the beginning of a ten-year close friendship, an extensive correspondence and numerous meetings. Dr. Georgi Mirkovich was the first promoter of spiritism in Bulgaria. In 1891, he started to edit and publish the Nova Svetlina magazine. It focused on occultism, spiritism and some less known and hardly explained by science psychical phenomena. In 1893 Dr. Mirkovich launched the magazine Zdravoslovie ("of health") in which he promoted new methods of treatment: hydrotherapy, sun therapy, homeopathy, etc.

Under Peter Dunov's influence, Georgi Mirkovich renamed the Nova Svetlina magazine into Videlina (meaning spiritual rather than physical light). Peter Dunov was a supporter and promoter of spiritism. The role of spiritism, he believed, was to awaken people's minds. Only a free mind could help them cope with contradictions in life. For that purpose, they ought to reflect seriously upon life, study the surrounding world and change their thinking accordingly. Along these lines, spiritism was a step towards mastering the secrets of spiritual science, means to explain observable phenomena and a necessary proof for the incredulous. The truth about the surrounding world which was inhabited by souls of varying awareness level could help them go on to deeper spiritual revelations and further their spiritual growth.

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