Magnetism and Spiritualism

spiritist magazine March 1858

Magnetism was already a phenomenon studied before Spiritism emerged as a doctrine, philosophy and science.

Allan Kardec says: in fact, basing both on the existence and manifestation of the soul, far from fighting each other, they can and should provide mutual support, as they complement and explain each other mutually. However, their respective adepts disagree on some points: certain magnetists still do not admit the existence or, at least, the manifestation of Spirits.

Kardec emphasizes that, at the beginning of a science that is still so new, it is very easy for everyone, looking at things from their point of view, to form a different idea. The most positive sciences have always had, and still have, their schools, which ardently support contrary theories. The sages have raised school against school, flag against flag, and often, for their dignity, polemics have become irritating and aggressive for offended self-love and have gone beyond the limits of a wise discussion.

Magnetists are based on the fact that they can explain everything by the action of fluids. On the contrary, the adepts of Spiritism are all in agreement with magnetism through somnambulistic phenomena.

Pass: one of the ways of transferring animal and spiritual magnetism.

Magnetism prepared the way for Spiritism, and the rapid progress of the latter doctrine is undoubtedly due to the popularization of ideas about the former. Their connection is such that, so to speak, it is impossible to speak of one without speaking of the other. If we have to stay outside the Science of Magnetism, our picture will be incomplete. Through induced magnetism, according to The Spirits' Book, there is a relationship between natural somnambulism and dreams, that is, according to this pioneering work of the Spiritist Doctrine, during somnambulism, the soul can flow freely, causing the body reacts according to what the soul sees. 

He hopes that the sectarians of magnetism and Spiritism, better inspired, will not give the world the scandal of discussions that are not very edifying and always fatal to the propagation of the truth, whichever side it may be on.

Kardec is very faithful to his readers and, talking about the enemies of Spiritism, says: we owed this profession of faith, which we end with a fair tribute to the men of conviction who, facing ridicule, sarcasm and unpleasantness, courageously dedicated themselves to the defense of such a humanitarian cause.

At the end of the text, the coder concludes that, thanks to the persevering efforts of many contemporaries of the Parisian elite, magnetism, popularized, took root in official Science, where it is already talked about in whispers. This word has passed into common language: it no longer scares away, and when someone calls themselves a magnetizer, they no longer laugh in their face.

Meet our group at Facebook CLICKING HERE!




The Psychological Period

Kardec brings to light the fact that Spiritism entered, after the initial moments of purely material manifestations, in the Psychological Period.

He disagrees, however, that human science would be closed: far from that, it would still have a lot to develop in the future.  

To better understand the article, we need to understand the meaning of psychology in the context of Allan Kardec and in the current context.

Current Psychology

Psychology, nowadays, with a materialistic therapeutic characteristic, has 3 aspects:

behaviorism
Its object of study is behavior. This psychological theory holds that the psychology human or animal can be objectively studied through observation of their actions, that is, by observing behavior. Behaviorists believe that all behaviors are the result of experience and conditioning.

Psychology of form (Gestalt)
It is a doctrine of psychology based on the idea of understanding the whole so that there is a perception of the parts. The purpose of this model is to associate cognitive practices with the patient's emotions and feelings, so that he can see new ways of facing difficult life situations.

Analytical Psychology (Psychoanalysis)
Analytical psychology, also known as Jungian psychology or complex psychology, is a branch of knowledge and practice of Psychology, started by Carl Gustav Jung. She emphasizes the importance of the psyche, the unconscious, archetypes and the individuation process.

Psychology in the context of Kardec

In Kardec's context, Psychology did not have the materialistic therapeutic characteristic of today: it was a moral science, spiritualist, inserted in the context of Rational Spiritualism, and its main objective was to investigate and analyze the natural laws that govern human nature, including experimentally.

In this context, Psychology understood the human being as a being constituted of body and soul. The soul, which would survive the body, was the primary cause of the psyche, which was not just a material effect of chemistry and stimuli.

Before Allan Kardec, or before Rational Spiritualism, traditional philosophy dealt with the soul in a speculative way, through systems created by thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz and Kant. The advent of experimental psychology opened a new path: that of the philosophical sciences, which Spiritism complementary. In the words of Allan Kardec:

Spiritism, in its turn, comes to give its theory. It relies on experimental psychology; he studies the soul, not only during life, but after death; he watches her in a state of isolation; he sees it acting in freedom, whereas ordinary philosophy sees it only in union with the body, subject to the constraints of matter, which is why it often confuses cause and effect.

 Allan Kardec – RE – May 1864

Psychology is the science that studies mental processes (feelings, thoughts, reason) and human behavior. It derives from the Greek words: psique, which means “soul” and logia, which means “the study of”.

And how does Spiritism study the soul? Through the spiritist phenomena that, however, are no longer studied just for entertainment or curiosity, but precisely with the aim of investigating the natural laws that govern human nature!

And why did it all end?

The end of the psychological period, or rather, the twilight of the Philosophical Sciences, according to Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, was due to the union of the power of the Church with the Dictatorial State, which were hostile to the enlightenment of society and against the liberal doctrine defended by Rational Spiritualism.

It is important to say: liberalism in this context does not refer to unbridled freedom, the fruit of selfishness, but to a freedom guided by reason and enlightened by conscience.

Allied to this, a strong materialist movement begins to rise in Germany, around 1860, and ends up invading France, where it removes the Moral Sciences from the official chair.

It's in Brazil? Rational Spiritualism, which formed the first philosophical school established in the country and which came to be implanted in the teaching curricular structure, also faced

 […] adverse conditions that the first individuals aware of the original theory faced when they intended to create a Brazilian spiritist movement. A combative Church, struggling to maintain its privileges and the power that had been ebbing away since the Second Empire. And a materialist scientific current, rocked by the retrograde thoughts of Comte and German physiologists, such as Vogt, Moleschott, Virchow and Büchner. The rational spiritualist current, bravely defended by the leadership of Gonçalves de Magalhães and Porto-Alegre, who became disseminators of animal magnetism and later of Spiritism, despite infecting teachers and students of their time, was soon silenced and forgotten. In fact, it was not possible to establish in our lands the favorable scenario that Kardec found in France

Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo – Autonomy: the untold story of Spiritism

The result of all this is what we see today: a totally materialistic society, focused on the pleasures of the flesh and forgetful of spirituality, afraid of life and desperate before the grave!

What to expect for the future?

Only the best, because, in the same way that Rational Spiritualism was born in opposition to the materialism of the time, we are now experiencing a swarm of initiatives like ours and even better ones, which will certainly produce, in a few years, very important fruits for this time. of changes we are going through!

Remember Kardec, with which we end the article:

These excesses, however, have their utility, their reason for being. They frighten society, and good always comes out of bad; it takes the excess of evil to make the need for the best feel, without this man would not get out of his inertia.

(KARDEC, [RE] 1868, p. 201)




Mr. Home II

spiritist magazine March 1858

Mr Home had already been mentioned by Allan Kardec in the February edition of the Spiritist Magazine. Kardec seems to have a great affection for the mediumship and personal characteristics of Mr. man. In it, we see a man gifted with an amazing faculty. He is a young man of 24 years, of medium height, blond and whose melancholy face is anything but eccentric; he is of a very delicate complexion, of simple and gentle habits, of an affable and benevolent character, on which the contact of grandeur has neither cast arrogance nor ostentation. Endowed with excessive modesty, he never flaunts his wonderful faculty.

Read the Spiritist Magazine that addresses the first article about Mr. home clicking ON HERE!

Mr. Home is a medium with several faculties, with emphasis on physical phenomena and intelligent manifestations that, as he is not a scribe, the Spirits' answers are given by vibrating beats.

What catches the attention of Mr. Home, in spite of his mediumship, is that his faculty is exceptionally developed. Under the influence of Mr. At home the loudest noises can be heard and all the furniture in a room can be turned over and the furniture piled on top of each other. In addition, he himself gravitates without being aware of the fact.

Another notable gift of all his manifestations is that of the apparitions, which is why Kardec insisted on commenting on them, in view of the serious consequences arising therefrom and the light they shed on a number of other facts. The same is true of the sounds produced in the air; music instruments that play by themselves, etc.

Kardec ends the article saying that religion teaches us the existence of the soul and its immortality; Spiritism gives us its living and palpable proof, no longer through reasoning, but through facts and that the Spiritist Doctrine shows us happiness in the practice of evangelical virtues; it reminds man of his duties to God, to Society and to himself. 

In a new onslaught, Kardec concludes that:

“Helping in its propagation (of Spiritism) is to deal a mortal blow to the wound of skepticism that invades us like a contagious disease. Honor, therefore, those who employ in this work the goods with which God has favored them on earth!”




Universal Cosmic Fluid – General Principles

Allan Kardec was, above all, a scholar. At the beginning of the chapter of the Spirits' Book (Chapter II – General Elements of the Universe, 2. Spirit and Matter item 27.), new terms appear such as Universal Fluid, or UNIVERSAL COSMIC FLUID. It is about him that we intend to deal here.

Beforehand, we recommend that the reader study the work Mesmer: the denied science of animal magnetism, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo.

O Universal Cosmic Fluid it is a hypothesis that explains much of the spiritual manifestations and phenomena, that is why its understanding is so important for the student of the Spiritist Doctrine. In your latest book, Genesis, Miracles and Predictions According to Spiritism , Allan Kardec concluded the entire Spiritist Doctrine. It has a whole chapter dedicated to the fluids, chapter XIV. I suggest the new edition of FEAL as it contains a more faithful translation of Kardec's first edition of January 1868. It is worth reading. (note: Editions currently published in Brazil are from A Genesis from the 5th French edition onwards, which have been tampered with by a former helper involved with other ideas.)

O Universal Cosmic Fluid was first described by Frans Anton Mesmer, in 1784. He was a German physician who lived between 1734 and 1815. He developed the Animal Magnetism Theory.

In 1775, after many experiences, Mesmer recognized that he could heal through the application of his hands. He declares: "Of all the bodies of Nature, it is man himself who most effectively acts upon man." The disease would just be disharmony in the creature's equilibrium, he believes. Mesmer, who charged nothing for treatments, preferred to treat disorders linked to the nervous system. In addition to the imposition of hands on the sick, to extend the benefit to a greater number of people, he magnetized water, dishes, bed, etc., whose contact subjected the sick.

FEB article

His theory is that all phenomena in nature originate from a single principle, The original matter of the entire universe: O Universal Cosmic Fluid, because? Because all phenomena are explained from it.
And how does he explain?

It will grant the hypothesis that nature works through vibration states. each state of Universal Cosmic Fluid, which is for where is the vibration, it would have degrees of subtlety. And the vibration of each of these degrees would result in different phenomena. He talked about electromagnetic waves, but in other words... The “little problem” is that there was still no study on electromagnetic waves, nor was it known if they existed... At the time, in the 18th century, they believed that there was nothing between molecules. The Fluid would be where the transmission takes place.

note: Magnetism is the name given to the studies of phenomena related to the properties of magnets. The first magnetic phenomena were observed in ancient Greece, in a city called Magnesia. The first studies carried out in this area were carried out in the 6th century BC by Thales of Miletus, who observed the ability of some pebbles, which today are called magnetite, to attract each other and also to iron. The first practical application of magnetism was found by the Chinese: the compass, which is based on the interaction of the magnetic field of a magnet (the compass needle) with the earth's magnetic field. In the sixth century, the Chinese already dominated the manufacture of magnets. Studies on magnetism only gained strength from the 13th century onwards, when some work and observations were made on electricity and magnetism, which were still considered completely different phenomena. This theory was accepted until the 19th century. Experimental studies in the area were carried out by Europeans. Pierre Pelerin de Maricourt, in 1269, described a large number of experiments on magnetism. The names of the North Pole and South Pole to the ends of the magnet are due to him, as well as the discovery that the compass needle pointed exactly to the geographic north of the Earth. The great revolution in the study of magnetism was made by Oesterd in 1820. He discovered that electrical and magnetic phenomena are interrelated. According to this theory, called electromagnetism, moving electric charges generate a magnetic field, and a moving magnetic field generates an electric current. These studies were completed by Maxwell, who established solid theoretical foundations on the relationship between the electric and magnetic fields, that is, electromagnetic waves.

Dr. Mesmer believed that the ANIMAL MAGNETISM, that is, of vital principle, was an invisible natural force possessed by all living/animate beings (humans, animals, plants, etc.). He believed that such a force could have physical effects, including healing properties. This theory is known as MESMERISM.

He said that the denser matter is "vibrating" the waves materials through the fluid.

Let's exemplify, to illustrate: imagine the wind/pressure make water waves; then the waves of air, a little more subtle than those of water, would result in the phenomenon of sound; more subtle waves generate the phenomenon of light, which would be, for him, the vibration of matter in an even more subtle state. It's the most we can see.
So, Mesmer will grant a hypothesis: after the fluid of light, there would be something even more subtle, which would receive the vibration of our thoughts and our will. And these vibrations of thoughts and will, then, would extend throughout the Universe from a focus that is each one of us. and that the nervous system of other individuals could interpret that thought.

Note: Today it is known that the light it's a kind of wave visible electromagnetic field, formed by the joint propagation of an electric and a magnetic field. As is characteristic of electromagnetic radiation, the light it can propagate through different media and undergo changes in speed when passing from one propagation medium to another. Light can propagate in a vacuum with velocity of approximately 300 thousand km/s. The frequencies of light that are visible to the human eye are called visible spectrum, these waves have lengths between 400 no and 700 no. Electromagnetic waves that have frequencies lower than that of visible light are called infra-red, while those with higher frequencies are called ultraviolet. In Mesmer's time, there was no such understanding, yet... They believed that there was always a fluid, such as magnetic fluid, electric fluid, chloric fluid, etc. and the prevailing theory was mechanist, that is, everything was transmitted from one molecule to another.

Dr. Mesmer performed a series of experiments with applications of his hands to heal people. He realized that his patients, when awake, influenced perception at the time of healing. He then imagined the following: if I put this patient in a state of sleep, putting the body to sleep (this would be our hypnosis today), he would begin to perceive the subtlety of the vibration of the thoughts of others. This was his way of explaining somnambulistic lucidity by this method. It will grant the existence of a 6th. Sense, which, for him, would be in the our nervous system(I didn't think it was something spiritual). He will also perceive states of vibration above light, it would be a state of vibration of the universal cosmic fluid that would have thought waves. The Fluid is the medium through which the thought of the healing will reached the patient.

Mesmer says it like this: that's why, just thinking about the question, the sleepwalker, who is perceiving everything through the sixth sense, captures my thought.

quote from Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo in a lecture for the Spiritism For All Channel on 02/01/2021

Mesmer's hypothesis was that matter is the same in different states. And who acts on matter is the movement of this sixth Sense from our nervous system.
Mesmer spoke of conditions of matter veryuntessentialthe, most subtle, where thought can act. That would be the spirit world only he, at the time, didn't use the "spirit world" to explain...
He knew that at a certain point the matter was so subtle that it was possible for thought to act there.

When he did the healings he was talking to me out of matter. “He talked with the Spirit, by thought. Your proposal was very advanced.”

Kardec would say about Mesmer.

Around the 1850s, around 70 years later, Allan Kardec began his studies. He did not have access to all of Mesmer's work, but the Spirits knew, knew and talked with him about the Mesmer principle. The Spirits will explain that it is not an organ of the body's physiology that perceives the vibrations of thought, but our perispirit(which is a means by which the Spirit can communicate with the body). Kardec, then, developed the hypothesis that it is the Spirit who activates the fluid through thought-will and moves it. would be the smart principle.

So there is a difference between Mesmer, who conceived a Hypothesis, and Spiritism, which works from the observation of the Spirits of the reality of the spiritual world.

Mesmer never thought of perispirit. He couldn't "invent" something that far. He imagined that it was the nervous system that perceived the vibrations of thought. would never be a perispiritual fluid of a spiritual principle not belonging to the material world. Kardec, then, explained the phenomena from these hypotheses of Mesmer regarding matter. And the Spirits will explain to Kardec that no, “our thoughts really vibrate matter, but that matter does not belong to our universe”. This matter is spiritual.

So, the Spirits explained it like this: we have 3 things in the Universe: God, matter and Spirit. Matter is inert, and would be represented by the Universal Cosmic Fluid, because it is inert, it has no form. For a form to emerge, someone has to think. So the Spirit, in its simplest condition, when it thinks (or has a will), the form that appears in matter is the simplest particle.

And what is this unity of the Universal Fluid? She is like the thought of God. But as God created in all times, there are Spirits of all evolutionary scale: there are beings who live in the vegetable kingdom, in the animal kingdom, there are human spirits that range from the simple ignorant to the pure Spirit, all of this concomitant. And among us, Spirits in an evolutionary process, none is equal to the other. If an individual, with his characteristics, will reflect what he is, which is different than another form of another incarnate, with other virtues, other abilities, and so on. Each one completely different from the others, due to the choices and knowledge they made. In such a way that we present the most absolute variety. and everything inside Universal Cosmic Fluid.

So, the spiritual world is invisible, obscure, imponderable (we cannot measure).
We do not possess the foundations of the invisible and spiritual world… We do not know how it is made…

O The future holds for us the knowledge of new laws, which will allow us to understand what remains a mystery.
It may be that the Electromagnetism explain a lot of what mesmer theorized and then Allan Kardec explained with your hypothesis?

YEA!!!

But it may be that the future tells us that this mechanism is all different from that…

Source: Kardec, Allan, GENESIS – Miracles and Predictions According to Spiritism, chapter XIV – Fluids, chapter III, chapter I; Kardec, Allan Book of Spirits question 223 and following; Lecture given by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo on 02/01/2021; Channel Spiritism for All, Study of Genesis by Allan Kardec; FEB – https://www.feeb.org.br/index.php/institucional/artigos/372-biografia-de-mesmer ; Figueiredo, Paulo Henrique Mesmer. The denied science of animal magnetism ; https://kardecpedia.com/roteiro-de-estudos/2/o-livro-dos-espiritos/64/parte-primeira-das-causas-primarias/capitulo-ii-dos-elementos-gerais-do-universo




Karma and Spiritualism

Karma and Spiritism are like oil and water: they do not mix. Be careful with people who preach the doctrine of karma within the spiritist environment, as the understanding of Spiritist Doctrine goes in the opposite direction: we are not incarnated to pay anything to anyone, because we owe nothing to anyone, much less to God!

We incarnate to experience our choices and learn from them, through trials and difficulties, but also through blessed opportunities, which is to have contact with Spiritism, which leverages our progress in many steps, when well understood and experienced.

Everything is part of our choices, including, most of the time, our way of dying. But in that there is no Karma. “But Paulo, so-and-so said that people burned to death at the Kiss nightclub because they killed others by burning other lives!”

Sorry to say, but so-and-so is almost completely wrong. What God would that be, who punishes ignorance in the same coin, in the fashion of Talion, in a way that teaches nothing to anyone? That said, I want to say: yes, there are Spirits that CHOOSE punishment, whether during life or in the way of dying, for BELIEVING in karma and not knowing how to deal with the guilt over their mistakes. We shall see this in Heaven and Hell, Part Two, Chapter VIII: having killed his walled-in wife in the preceding life, even though he had been forgiven by her, he PLANNED a horrible death in order to try to rid himself of this guilt. Look: planned! And needed? No, because in his current life, he was a good man, that is, he sought to LEARN to be a better person.

He understands? We are not here to pay debts, but to learn to be happier Spirits, through the smothering of our imperfections through learning! And this is often done through harsh penalties, including difficult contact with a person to whom, in the past, we have done some harm, and who, still suffering its effects, we try to help in a new incarnation. But, you see: it is a matter of conscious choice.

It is in this sense that the Earth is no longer a planet of trials and atonements to be a planet of regeneration, since the atonement consists precisely in the type of choice made by Antonio B, or by the murderer Lemaire (chapter VI), while better enlightened Spirits they choose not only to suffer in their skin, but rather better opportunities to learn. And, along with that, we come to the topic of education proposed by Pestalozzi, which is increasingly so necessary and important every day.

So, enough blaming yourself. It is clear: if we have done an evil that still exists at the moment our consciousness awakens about it, let us seek, yes, to repair it, but through work, and not through self-flagellation. And that goes for any moment, whether in the flesh or in erraticity. What really matters is learning, developing better habits, developing humility and charity. This does interrupt the cycle of evil and pain.




Is the Spirits' Book the "Spiritist's Bible"?

Earlier today I came across exactly this opinion, in a discussion in a certain Youtube group. It is understandable that many people have it, because they do not understand what Spiritism is, but it is unquestionable that only those who have not dedicated themselves to reading the introduction of The Spirits' Book can issue it - let alone Allan Kardec's other works. . But, before entering these paths, let's make an explanatory introduction to the subject here.

The Bible

First, it is necessary to understand what the Bible really is: a doctrinal compendium made up of man's stories, statements and opinions about divinity and Spirituality. We cannot object, however, that it has not been tampered with at various points by personal interests and by different groups, as the Roman Catholic Church did in historically known episodes. So, in short, it is a work full of a lot of morality, but also permeated with human errors everywhere, including introduced by an anachronistic interpretation of both history, culture and the original language. We know today that, especially in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament, the language was full of neologisms and figures that, for that people, at that time, made perfect sense.

There is also an enormous difference between the two books that make up the Bible – The Old Testament and The New Testament – since, between them, there is a space of centuries that introduced a new mentality in humanity. At first, the "sacred texts" are full of even more backward ideas and permeated with laws and human statements, unacceptable today, which, at that time, had the purpose of legislating with divine powers over a people who had no ability to understand concepts that would later be acceptable. The New Testament, on the other hand, carries an enormous moral content, unassailable in its essence, taught and exemplified by a Pure Spirit, known to us as Jesus. Kardec, in The Gospel According to Spiritism, deals only with the New Testament, due to its degree of elevation, leaving the Old Testament aside.

The big question is that, through the ages, with or without adulterations, the Bible, as a whole, has always been used as a “word of salvation”, which should be obeyed blindly. Precisely there, religions found a wide field to disseminate their own ideas, introducing the various dogmas that, in fact, were not there, in order to command their faithful according to their particular political and material interests.

Spiritism

Unlike the Bible, which was born from the reports and stories of a few men, the spiritist theory, which constitutes a Philosophical Science, was born from the rational observation of facts spread over the entire globe and throughout all times. It is precisely under this authority that Kardec sees space and the need to seek to bring to the spiritist understanding the facts or stories narrated in the Bible. The in-depth study of Spiritism shows us, as always, that Allan Kardec cannot be considered the “father” or “prophet” of Spiritism, as no other could, because his quality was only that of a researcher, like so many others, who, to a “new” discovery, he begins to analyze it with patience, persistence and method, putting together the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle to compose an image that, in its separate pieces, cannot be understood or that does not make any sense.

The Spirits' Book was the first work completed by him, born of a vast study of the various spiritual messages obtained before and after the beginning of his studies. Even so, there are huge differences between the first and second editions, especially in concepts that were later investigated further and complemented or corrected. But how did Kardec carry out such a study?

The Methodological Study of Spiritism

The world of spirits cannot be glimpsed as we see our world. It does not produce the effects that in our senses produce the dense matter that constitute our world: the air, invisible to the eye, through the wind is felt by touch; the taste is felt by the taste buds; light is captured by the eyes and processed by the brain. However, the world of spirits can only be perceived by the senses. specials, which constitute what we call mediumship.

In mediumship there are different types of sense – to make an approximation with the world that we understand – and that give, to their “carriers”, the capacities to feel and communicate, or to give communication, to the beings that constitute this world, and these beings are the Spirits, more or less freed from matter and more advanced and superior or rather backward and inferior. Through mediumship, we can verify the existence of something above the material world, of an intelligence that survives matter, and some of them, like several researchers, in addition to Kardec himself, are only questionable due to the worst of pride, such as are mediumship of physical effects and somnambulism. The first obtains physical effects without great moral extension, while, in the second, the moral content is often vast, totally outside the capacities and knowledge of the medium who transmit it. But we will reserve that subject for another article.

It is important to say that it was mainly in the mediums sleepwalkers it is us mechanical psychographers that Kardec most sought out communications, as he perceived them to be richer and less susceptible to his own content. Even so, as a researcher, Kardec knew very well that he could not rely only on the opinion of one or another medium or one or another Spirit: he needed to seek in the generality and agreement of the Spirits' teachings the unshakable basis of the Spiritist Doctrine:

General concordance in teaching is the doctrine’s essential character, the condition even of its existence. It is evident that all principles which have not received the consecration of general agreement can only be considered as a fractional part of this same doctrine, merely as a simple, isolated opinion for which Spiritism cannot assume the responsibility.

It is the concordant, collective teaching of the spirits who have passed beyond which constitutes the logical criterion, giving strength to the spiritual doctrine and assuring to it perpetuity.

Allan Kardec – Genesis

And it couldn't be otherwise, after all, from the researcher's point of view, the world of Spirits is unattainable and impossible to probe and analyze. Let's make a brief effort of imagination: let's say that, wanting to move to another country, without knowing it, we want to gather as much information about that place and its people. Let's say we don't have access to the Internet and we only have the telephone. We got a number from an inhabitant of that country and called him – of course, we think they both speak one same language--in order to get an account of that place: what are the people like there? Are they good or bad? Is there violence or not? Will I be able to count on support or not? Well, it's easy to assume that this single person's account will be in line with their cultural, political, educational, historical, social and even their own perceptions. Tendencies and own concepts. It could be, moreover, that we have inadvertently called a criminal, without knowing it. Shall we, then, sway our decision or our conception of that people by a single account? Of course not: we need, in this context, to call many other people, analyze bibliographic and artistic works produced by its inhabitants, etc.

It is exactly the same as what Allan Kardec did, analyzing countless communications obtained from all sides, by countless mediums and by countless Spirits, drawing, from all this, rational and logical conclusions, postulates and, sometimes, scientific theories, which only future studies could sanction or derogate.

Conclusion

We could truly spend hours and hours talking much more about Allan Kardec's studies, but the fact is that there is already a lot of material about it, especially in Kardec's own work, which, as he always demonstrated, did not have a content born of his own ideas. We leave this necessary search to the reader. We limit ourselves to closing this article, after all this previous approach, demonstrating that Spiritism is not a religion and that, as Science is a Doctrine that presents its studies and its conclusions, in a rational and logical way, and leaves to each one the task to reason for yourself about all the content presented. Now, as even the Modern Sciences, so well established, find their dissidents with their most absurd ideas, Spiritism could not expect less. Still, it's a question of everyone's freedom.

We spiritualists we believe in Spiritism not out of fear or imposition, but because we naturally understand the rationality contained in this Scientific Doctrine. We believe in reincarnation not because of inconclusive evidence, but because of an inconclusive rationality; we believe in the existence of spirits and in their communication with us also for reason, but also for the seriousness of researchers who have already set out to study the manifestations with great care and who, by themselves, have found irrefutable evidence of such existence; but we do not believe blindly in the teachings of the Spirits, much less in any supposed phenomenon. Kardec himself asserted: Spiritism must go hand in hand with Science. If, one day, it denies some postulates of its Doctrine, we must abandon them and stay with Science. On the contrary, Modern Science is getting closer and closer and confirming the spiritist postulates, just as the Science of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century did.




Confessions of Louis XI

During 1858, Ermance Dufaux received some autobiographies mediumistic. Among them, the authors were the French kings Louis XI and Charles VIII. Allan Kardec praised the work of Ms. Dufaux and transcribed excerpts from the “Confessions of Louis XI” in the Spiritist Magazine. That same year, Kardec released three messages psychographed by the young sensitive.

This communication specifically doesn't seem to have much relevance to us at this point. They are historical facts, used to evidence the authenticity of the communicating Spirit. We emphasize that Louis XI no it is São Luís, the Spirit who always communicated as one of the “mentors” of Kardec's studies.

In addition to them, she received a mediumistic autobiography from Joan of Arc, already mentioned in the edition of January 1858 RE

For those who want to know more about Ms. Ermance Dufaux, Click here

video



Purpose of Certain Evocations

In this article, Kardec demonstrates the usefulness of evoking Spirits of all kinds, from Spirits with a serious and constructive intention to those who committed heinous crimes, because “to know the customs of a people, it is necessary to study it in all its forms”. scale degrees”.

Therefore, there is always an impasse, because superior spirits have a lot to teach, but our distance from them is quite large. The more “bourgeois” spirits, that is, spirits like us, more common, still stuck to everyday concerns, present many important teachings, for making us able to see ourselves in their own actions and their effects. All of them show us the practical application of the great and sublime truths, whose theory the superior spirits teach us.

Another advantage of some evocations is to verify the identity of the Spirits in a more precise way. When a Spirit presents itself under a great name from the past, it is only possible to believe in words and judge its content on what is known. If the content meets the necessary criteria, we judge it a superior spirit, and that's enough. The name doesn't really matter.

However, when a spirit of lesser evolution presents itself and gives details that prove its identity, we will have, there, great examples that are very “palatable”: “it is the romance of the customs of the spiritist life without fiction”.

We also discussed our personal experiences regarding evocations of family and friends.

Particularly, we always have to be very careful about the content of the communicating Spirit, because he may not be who he says who he is. Some communications bring some comfort to us.

Next, 3 evocations of 3 different Spirits: the first is the Lemaire assassin (about a month after dismeat); The Queen of Oude (about a month after dismeat) and Dr. Xavier (Evocation after many months after disincarnation).




Dr. Xavier

The Doctor. Xavier was a doctor of great talent and who had been very busy with magnetism, on which he had left a manuscript that he supposed would revolutionize Science. Before I died I read The Book of Spirits and wanted a contact with Allan Kardec, which he was unable to do. Months after his death, his evocation took place, at the request of the family, which was carried out in the presence of Kardec. He took care to exclude, in this publication, the questions and answers of a private nature.

Note: communication contains hits and misses on the part of the Spirit. Kardec presents both, as he wants to lead us to verify and reflect on the fact that the Spirit does not become wise by disincarnating.

our comment

After summoning, Dr. Xavier answered questions about the Spirit Doctrine, about the beginning of life, about the union of the Spirit to the new body, as well as the disunity of the Spirit at the end of the corporeal life.

Dr. Xavier said that the Spiritist Doctrine is a great work, and its worst enemy is religions, the beliefs of men. (Author's N.: So current... We can see that not much has changed since then... )

When Dr. Xaier was asked about the body retaining organic life for a few moments after separation from the soul, he said that the body feels what caused it to die only for a few moments.

At the time of separation, he said:

Question. 21 – How does the separation between the soul and the body occur at the time of the body’s death?

Reply. Doctor – Like a fluid that escapes from any vessel. 

Question. 22 – Is there a really clear line of demarcation between life and death?

ans. Dr. — These two states touch and confuse each other; in this way, the Spirit gradually detaches itself from its bonds; he unravels them, he does not break them.

Question. 23 – Does this detachment of the soul operate more readily in some than in others?

ans. Dr. – Yes: in those who in life have already risen above matter, because, then, their soul belongs more to the world of Spirits than to the terrestrial world.

Question. 23 – At what point does the union between the soul and the body occur in children?

Reply. Doctor – When the child breathes; as if it received the soul with the outside air.

RE March 1858, Dr. Xavier

Observation (Allan Kardec) – This opinion is a consequence of Catholic dogma. In fact, the Church teaches that the soul cannot be saved except by baptism; Now, as natural intrauterine death is very frequent, what would that soul become, deprived, according to her, of this only means of salvation, if it had existed in the body before birth? To be consistent, baptism would have to be performed, if not actually, then at least intentionally, from the moment of conception.

Our observation – The theory given by this Spirit about the moment of union between the soul and the body is not absolutely exact. The union begins from conception, that is, from the moment when the Spirit, without being incarnated, connects to the body by a fluidic bond, which is increasingly tightened until the moment the child sees the light. . The incarnation is only completed when the child breathes.

Follow the conversation with the Spirit of Dr. Xavier about intrauterine life, about spontaneous and induced abortion, about how the Spirit happens in these situations, in short, about the union of soul and body. This complete and very well explained understanding is in the Book of Spirits, by Allan Kardec, cap VII – From the return of the Spirit to Corporal Life, Union of the soul and the Body, from questions 344 to 360.

In addition to the passages cited from the Spirits' Book, we suggest consulting O Céu e o Inferno, Allan Kardec, Part Two: Examples, Chapter I. The Passage, Publisher Feal where there is an extensive explanation of what we discussed in the LIVE




The Queen of Oude

The Queen of Oude has been summoned. She was an Indian Queen (her name was Malika Kishwar) who had visited England. On his return trip to India, he fell ill and died in Paris, in 1858. More details here queen of oude From now on, we'll call it Queen.

The queen appeared very disturbed, finding it difficult to understand what was happening to her. From their conversation, we could see their arrogance and pride. Several questions were asked about her opinion of her earthly life, the condition of women, the life of Indians, about Muhammad, God, Jesus, but she said that she was too powerful to be occupied with God.

She said that she missed life, that she hoped her subjects would come to serve her. She said more than once that she was always queen, even in other lifetimes. She was extremely arrogant.

The queen, in addition to being disturbed, seemed quite annoyed with the questions, which was questioned. She said she was forced to come:

question 22 ─ Why did you respond so quickly to our appeal?

ans. Queen: - I didn't want to do it, but they forced me. Do you think that I would deign to answer you? Who are you by my side?

Question. 23 – And who forced you to come?

Reply. Queen: – I don't know myself... since there shouldn't be anyone greater than me.

The Queen of Oude, RE March/1858

The conversation ended as soon as the Espírito de Sao Luis intervened:

question 32 ─ We only ask you to be kind enough to answer two or three more questions.

Reply. Saint Louis – ─ Leave her, poor misguided! Have mercy on your blindness. May she serve as an example to you! You do not know how much their pride suffers.

We thought we would find in this Spirit, if not philosophy, at least a truer feeling for reality and healthier ideas about earthly vanities and grandeur. Far from it, earthly ideas retained all their strength in her: it is pride, which loses nothing of its illusions.

This evocation description is also found in the book Heaven and Hell by Allan Kardec, Second part, chap. VII – hardened spirits.