Selected Writings of Victoria Woodhull: Suffrage, Free Love, and Eugenics

Chapter Nineteen The Elixir of Life;or, Why Do We Die? An Oration

ChapterNineteen The Elixir of Life; or, Why Do We Die? An Oration This speech was given on September 18, 1873, at the tenth annual convention of the American Association of Spiritualists, which was held at Grow’s Opera House in Chicago. It was published by Woodhull and Claflin in 1873. Iappearbeforeyouto-nighttospeakofasubjectwhich,morethanany other, ought to command the attention of the enlightened world; but which, more than any other, receives the anathemas of its professed representatives—theso-calledChristians—because,forsooth,todiscuss it, is to attack, necessarily, one of the chiefest pillars of the Christian edifice.Thesubjectinvolvesthenecessityoffreespeech,inplainterms. John Stuart Mill, whom all reformers have learned to love, said: “The diseasesofsocietycan,nomorethancorporealmaladies,beprevented or cured, without being spoken about in plain language.”1 I propose to speak about the diseases of society, and if I expect to present either a preventative or a cure, I must speak in terms so plain that none can mistakemymeaning.Youmayaffecttoblush,andthepapersmaycall me indecent and vulgar, and say I have no shame, to speak as I shall, what they do not dare to repeat. But ought not you and they rather blush with shame that such diseases as I shall mention, exist at all to be spoken about? I say shame upon the newspapers, and shame upon yourpreachers,teachersanddoctors,thatIshouldhavecausetostand the elixir of life| 173 here and tell you what they should have freely discussed, years ago, and thus have saved me the present unpleasant task. Standinghowever,asIdo,somewhatrepresentativeoftheimmense issue of sexual freedom that is now agitating the public mind, I have a duty to fulfill, to which I should be recreant did I withhold a single sentencethatIproposetoutter.But,morethanthis,even:Iamintrusted withamissionbythosewhosedisapprovalIwouldnotearn,wereitto gain the approval of a thousand audiences like this; therefore, though thetaskbenotapleasantone,IwouldnotshirkitifIcould.If,however, in performing it, instead of driving you farther away from me than you now are, I should draw you all nearer, then should I indeed thank heavenforgivingmethemoralstrengthtouttertheplain,unvarnished truth, as I know it, about the most important question that has ever interested or distracted the human mind. . . . I think I know enough of the world at large, and of individuals specially to say, that there are not a half dozen persons present, who are not in the most abject slavery to what the world pleases to call, their secretvices.Wouldn’titbestrangeiftheseshould,afterall,turnoutto bevirtuesinstead.Thenwouldn’ttheirsubjectsbeheartilyashamedof themselves for having been frightened at shadows, merely, into being liars, thieves and hypocrites so large a part of their lives! Againandfinally,letmeentreatthat,foronceinyourlives,youthrow off the sickly sentimentalism about sexual love—your sham morality and mock modesty about the most common and harmless, as well as innocent and beautiful of things; and like common-sense individuals , with me, consider, specially, that department of our natures with which, though you have pretended such immaculateness, you would no sooner part than with life itself; indeed, to blot which out of life, would be to leave but a precious little worth living. For once be men and women, acting as if you were known by each other, as you are, to be men and women, possessed of all the endowments of nature, and wantingtoknowifthereisstillsomethingtolearnthatwillmakethem yetricher,morebeautifulandbountifulofhappinessthaneverbefore; and willing to accept the lesson at least for consideration, to which I will proceed without further delay. the elixir of life 174 | I have said that this problem of sexual love is the most important onethateverengagedthehumanmind.Itbecomessobecausewithin itisconcealedthesciencethatshallfinallysolvetheproblemoflifeand death,whichmustremainunsolveduntilthisscienceis discoveredto theworld.WhenIsaylifeanddeath,ImeanliterallywhatIsay.Imean that within the sexual problem is concealed the law that shall enable us to solve the mystery of life by conquering death. . . . Do not, however, receive this as coming from me; but accept it as coming from the wisest and best of ascended Spirits—those whom you have learned to honor and love for the good done while on the earthly plane; those to whom, if they were to appear before you here, you would willingly yield implicit obedience; and who would appear here, were not the one essential element still wanting, and to whom for six years I have yielded a willing and appreciative obedience. Gladly would I name them. They are familiar to you all; but I must not presume beyond my commission; but I am commissioned, aye commended, to declare unto you, and through you to the world, that in the despised, the ignored problem of Sexuality, lies the keys that shall unlock to Spirits the doors of materiality, and show in boldest relief that of...