Kardec begins this article by contextualizing the reader in the environment of a room, as in countless others, where the phenomena occurred typological so common at that time. Removing the possibility of fraud, knowing the environment in which he found himself, in order to look for valid hypotheses for the cause of these phenomena, he continues to unfold a logical and rational sequence of ideas, in order to demonstrate the need to never accept any idea, positive or negative, blindly:

A young bachelor's student was in his room, studying points from his Rhetoric exam, when there was a knock on the door. I think everyone admits that it is possible to distinguish the nature of the noise, and especially in its repetition, whether it is caused by a crack of wood, by the stirring of the wind or by some other fortuitous cause, or if it is someone knocking, wanting to enter. In the latter case, the noise has an intentional character, which cannot be confused. That's what our student thinks. However, in order not to be unnecessarily bothered, he wanted to make sure, putting the visitor to the test. If it's somebody, he says, knock once, twice, three, four, five, six times; tap high, low, right or left; beat the musical time; ring the military call, etc., and to each of these requests the noise obeys with the most perfect exactitude. Surely, he thinks, it can't be the crack of wood, or the wind, or even a cat, no matter how clever. Here's a fact. Let us see what consequences the syllogistic arguments will lead to.

Thus, he made the following reasoning: I hear a noise, therefore, it is something that produces it. This noise obeys my orders, therefore, the cause that produces it understands me. Now, what understands has intelligence, therefore the cause of this noise is intelligent. If it's intelligent, it's not the wood or the wind; if, then, it is not the wood or the wind, it is someone. Then he went to open the door. Let us see that it is not necessary to be a doctor to reach this conclusion and we believe that our future bachelor is sufficiently attached to its principles to conclude as follows:

Suppose that when he opens the door he finds no one, and that the noise continues exactly as before. He will follow his sorites¹: “I have just proved to myself, without question, that noise is produced by an intelligent being, since it responds to my thought. I always hear that noise in front of me and it's certain that it's not me who knocks, so it's someone else. Now, if this other one I don't see, of course he's invisible. The corporeal beings that belong to Humanity are perfectly visible. This knocker, being invisible, is not a corporeal human being. Now, since we call incorporeal beings spirits, he who knocks, not being corporeal, is therefore a spirit”.

Although Kardec made a simplification, as he did not address the need to look for possible hidden causes responsible for the “knocking on the door” (which he always sought to do), a very clear and simple line of logical thoughts is evident that, if followed, it would make many stop falling into contradictions and denials in face of what is so clear and evident.

It was in this way, when the phenomena of typtology, that answers were obtained about the questions made to the Spirits: through blows, in a defined shape or number, letters, numbers, binary answers, etc., were indicated, in addition to, for a more developed, they often indicated, by a particular sign, that they wanted to write; “then the writing medium would take the pencil and transmit his thoughts in writing”.

Among the attendants, not to mention those around the table, but of all the people who filled the hall, there were genuine unbelievers, half believers and fervent believers who, as is well known, constitute an unfavorable mix. The first ones, we leave them at ease, waiting for the light to shine for them. We respect all beliefs, even unbelief, which is a kind of belief, when it is respected enough not to shock opposing opinions. So, then, we will not say that his observations are useless. His reasoning, much less verbose than that of our student, can generally be summarized as follows: I don't believe in spirits, therefore, they cannot be spirits, and since they are not spirits, it is a trick. Such an assumption leads them to admit that the table would have a mechanism, in the manner of Robert Houdin.

Kardec cites the assistants, or witnesses, highlighting those who were convinced that everything was a farce, presenting their logic of thought. The answer follows:

First, it would be necessary for all tables and all furniture to have machinery, since they are not privileged; second, no mechanism is known to be sufficiently ingenious to produce at will all the effects just described; Third, it would be necessary for Ms. B… had purposely prepared the walls and doors of his apartment, which is unlikely; fourthly, finally, it would have been necessary to prepare the tables, the doors, the walls of all the houses where similar phenomena occur daily, which is also not to be assumed, because then the skillful builder of so many wonders would be known. .

It can be seen that they do not want to take the path of a bachelor's degree and, in advance, they have already decided to discredit.

We also have the “half-believers”, to whom Kardec recommends returning to the arguments of the future bachelor.

And, among believers, there are still three nuances, three other types of believers: the curious, who do not take moral advantage of the phenomena in question; the learned and serious, who do; and blind faith believers, who believe in the table as they would in a oracle (priest in charge of consulting the deity and transmitting his answers), without reflecting on his answers, accepting them without submitting them to the sieve of reason and agreement.

Ending the article, Kardec goes back twenty-five centuries in the past, in the sacred forest existing in Epirus (Greece), where the oaks preferred oracles and where, adding “the prestige of the cult and the religious pomp”, it is easy to understand the veneration of an ignorant and gullible people. The hissing of the wind between the leaves, the sounds emitted by the statues and other phenomena, when true, were the beginnings of spiritist communications which, however, were taken as absolute truth and blindly followed.

---

1. Logic or reasoning composed of a series of propositions linked together in such a way that the predicate of one becomes the subject of the next, and so on until the conclusion, which has as subject the subject of the first and as predicate the predicate of the last previous proposition. the conclusion.

Noteworthy, the article in question, which we decided to approach in an anachronistic way, that is, out of the original order, brings some interesting themes, in lecture with the Spirit of Miss Clary, who died at the age of 13 and who became the genius, that is, the protective Spirit of the family. Among them, there is his reincarnation, without a defined date, in another world, the sensation of the body, caused by the memory, the displacement of the Spirit through space, with the speed of thought, the intrinsic question of the perispirit in this displacement and, finally, , the outcome of the article, when, when asked if they could see, there, her “body” (perispirit) as it is currently, they are answered that, for that, it would not depend on her, but on them, under the following conditions: “you retire for a time, with faith and fervor; to be outnumbered; isolate themselves a little and get a medium like Home”.

Understanding now that Mr. Home was a powerful medium of physical effects, donor of the fluids necessary for such phenomena, we understand very well the reason for this need.

We think it is important to highlight our own considerations about material phenomena, since they still raise many doubts and discredit, especially after Spiritism has gone through almost 150 years of misrepresentations and false understandings.

Material phenomena still exist, just as the mediums who produce them still exist, this is logical. However, we believe that such phenomena, today, may not have so much expression because, when they occurred, they were motivated to draw attention to spiritist phenomena, which, some claim, is no longer needed today.

This is one way of seeing. The other would be that these phenomena only diminished after the development of Kardec's studies because, then, they were no longer necessary, since it was much easier to communicate through psychography, mainly, than through blows. But even then, these phenomena did not stop completely, as we can see with the example of Mr Home and, later, with the example of the well-known medium Eusápia Palladino, studied by Cesare Lombroso with great seriousness and dedication.

Now, as Spiritism has been so misunderstood over time and methodological studies have been forgotten in the past, leaving room for mystifications and the unbridled growth of materialism, even among spiritualists, we ask: would such phenomena not come today? bring attention again to the spiritist facts? We dare not answer categorically, but only recall the several reports that are put to our eyes every day, in the various groups on the subject, on social networks, and about which, for the moment, we only highlight: “what if?”

Moral dissertation dictated by Saint Louis to Madame Ermance Dufaux, on January 6, 1858

The dissertation in question has a moral nature and, therefore, requires the analysis and reflection of each one, individually.

However, we note the reflection made by Kardec at the end, because the Spirit of Saint Louis speaks of eternity of suffering, “when all the superior spirits are in agreement in combating such a belief”. It turns out that he ends up saying: “to punish you, God wants you to BELIEVE him”, which is the same thought presented in the general characteristics of Third Order Spirits, in The Spirits' Book.

“[…] the more imperfect the spirits, the more restricted and circumscribed their ideas. For them the future is vague, and they do not understand it. They suffer; his sufferings are long, and for one who has suffered for a long time, that is to suffer forever. This thought alone is a punishment.”

[This article was originally created by the passage of Yellow September 2021, but extends to all possible moments]

In a century of despair, where society experiences materiality in an exaggerated way, perhaps like never before; where ancient dogmas and the imposition of fear no longer have any effect, discredited as they are by the development of science and reason; where, finally, the human being abandons life and its sufferings sweetened by the false conception that, after death, there is only “rest in peace”, Spiritism comes, once again, to show the essence of its doctrine, presenting, to individuals, the reality of life and a new way of facing it, with more determination and austerity. In the prevention of suicide, Spiritism is the most powerful tool in existence..

What is suicide in the understanding of Spiritism

Suicide, in itself, is just the extreme act, almost always desperate, often caused by human passions, led to the thoughtless act of crime against life itself. But it begins earlier, much earlier, with the first urges of giving up in the face of life's difficulties. We are still imperfect Spirits and, without a strong base, without a buoy to hold on to, we easily sink… And it is precisely this base that the Spiritist Doctrine comes to give us, no longer as an article of faith, as something imaginable, only, but by the evidence of the spiritist phenomena and the communications of themselves, the Spirits, already freed from the matter.

Where, then, will we find this lifebuoy, in the midst of the sea of pain?

Nothingness, dogma and reason

The Catholic dogmas of the time stated, on this subject, that the individual who committed suicide would suffer eternally in hell; now, between suffering here and suffering in hell, in the minds of many, the difference would not be great, since many already imagined themselves with a “foot in hell”, because they already believed themselves to be sinners. Taking one's own life wouldn't change much, they thought, but at least it would free them from their present pain. We see that dogma was no longer sufficient to fill the human void.

Materialism, on the other hand, claimed that man was just a biological machine, a slave to the senses and wills. Taking one's own life, then, to end any suffering, often without explanation, would be the best way out, from this point of view – a doctrine of terrible theories and disastrous consequences:

Every man feels the need to live, to enjoy life, to love, to be happy. To a person who knows that he is about to die, let it be said that he will still live, or that his time has been postponed. Tell yourself, above all, that she will be happier than ever, and her heart will flutter with joy. But what good would such aspirations of happiness be if a light breath could undo them?

[…]

Is there anything more desperate than the idea of absolute destruction? Sacred affections, intelligence, progress, knowledge laboriously acquired, all would be undone, all would be lost! What is the need for the effort to become better, to repress passions, to enrich our spirit, if we are not to reap any fruit from it, especially given the idea that tomorrow, perhaps, it will no longer serve us for anything? If that were so, man's lot would be a hundred times worse than that of the savage, who lives entirely in the present, in the satisfaction of his material appetites, without aspirations for the future. A secret intuition tells us that this is not possible.

Allan Kardec, Heaven and Hell

Before Spiritism, the afterlife was just a vague thing. We knew that we “had” a soul (better saying, we are a soul, linked to a body) but the kind of difficulties to be faced by it after death was something totally unknown, being treated only in a dogmatic way and, even when removed from the dogma, was more a philosophical than a factual concept.

The Spiritist Science comes to bring light through the rational study of the facts

With the birth of Spiritism, however, the concept of soul it was complemented and expanded through the study of the phenomena resulting from our relationship with the Spirits, who showed themselves to be human souls, but disconnected from the body.

This was a landmark that, one day, will be in human history, as it is already found, today, in the spiritist history, because it brought to man the certain that life does not really end in the tomb, nor does it begin at conception, but that it transcends the limits of matter, in successive incarnations, with the aim of learning and elevating itself, always, until it no longer needs matter, when the Spirit becomes pure or perfect.

Through communications with the Spirits, mediated by mediums, especially mechanical psychographers (see more about this in The Mediums' Book, in Part Two), Allan Kardec obtained the most valuable teachings about the future of the soul, after disincarnation. And that was how, after some years of studies, he formulated the work O Céu e o Inferno, where he deals in a philosophical way, in the first part, and in a practical way, in the second, about the biggest problem of humanity: who we are, where we came from and where are we going and why and what are we here for.

Heaven and Hell: the fate of the Spirit after the death of the body

In this work, impossible to be summarized, in the second part, we find some depositions of Spirits of various evolutionary shades - among them, that of some suicides. And reading, although difficult, is very important, because we learn from them about the effects of their actions. In Revista Espírita, from 1858 to 1869, we also find several reports of evocations of suicides, which tell us about their difficulties and the effects of their actions. From them we take the following extract:

Each situation is one, because each Spirit is one, with its intelligence, its evolution, its understanding, its conceptions and its moment. There are suicides who claim to suffer physical pain after death (which, in fact, is an externalized moral suffering, since the Spirit does not suffer materially); there are spirits who say they find themselves in a hellish situation, which can be just a mental picture as it can also be a “reality” lived with other suffering spirits, who are grouped by their mental state; there are spirits who realize that they made a mistake by taking their own life, in an unthinking act; and there are even, although they are rare, those who, at first, are content with having left life, only to later understand that this has been of no use to them and that they will have to reincarnate again, in the same kind of incarnation, in order to to continue their tests.

There is, therefore, this correlation that many make, that the suicidal person will suffer feeling the worms gnawing at his body or that in the next life they will be reincarnated in deformed bodies, nor that everyone will go to the famous “suicide valley”, which is nothing more. than one of the infinite groupings of Spirits in suffering and that, due to their disturbed mentality, create true infernal regions. Each case is different. The only certainty, I repeat, is that suicide will only prolong the state of suffering that is being imperfect and having to deal with these imperfections through reincarnations in gross matter and among Spirits as imperfect as we are, or more.

More than that, however, it is very important to understand the Spiritist Doctrine in its essence, from which we take the following:

In life, we have two kinds of suffering: those caused by ourselves, by our carelessness, by our impatience, by our addictions, and those that we do not cause in this life. The first can be avoided by an interior reform, by correcting our imperfections. The second, however, compose the types of difficulties that are part of a reincarnation planning, carried out by ourselves, with a view to making us learn, in difficult tests and, thus, to correct our imperfections, helping us to make less mistakes and to advance. more quickly.

So, so far, we have three very important points:

1. Killing the body does not kill the Spirit, nor does it eliminate pain. moral that make us suffer. It often increases it and always prolongs it.
2. Faced with the difficulties caused by ourselves, by our imperfections, only an internal correction will make us stop creating these difficulties that often bring us so much suffering.
3. Faced with the difficulties brought by life and which are not the result of our current actions, we need to understand that it is a very great opportunity for our learning, planned by ourselves, as Spirit, and that we need to get something good out of it, taking advantage of the opportunity sore to look inside ourselves and change ourselves with even more energy and persistence.

Life, after all, is not a punishment. We are not here to pay anything, but to develop ourselves., and it is only through the exercise of this development, of getting rid of our imperfections and of conquering virtues, that we will reach a real state of happiness, each time greater.

Suicide and our relationships with Spirits

We know, however, that we are not always ready to deal with the difficulties that come our way, so it is very easy to allow ourselves to get depressed. It is at this moment that we need to be very attentive, because, let us remember, this despondency does not usually come only from within us, but often – almost always – is fed and augmented by Spirits who do not wish our good.

We know that Spirits are around us all the time, and that they are attracted to us as we are in our raw, inner reality. So, because of our imperfections, which we often we like to cultivate, we start to attract inferior spirits who start to get attached to us and feed the cultivation of these imperfections. Over time, this relationship can become obsessive, to the point where we find ourselves subjugated by the will of one or more inferior spirits, who start to command our actions. This is a dangerous state that also leads us to have suicidal thoughts and, in extreme cases, can inactivate our ability to act on our own will, and a firm will is the main tool to overcome spiritual obsessions.

In these cases, it is important to seek external support, as we often find ourselves in a state of subjugation that takes away our ability to reason and have a firm will. This help can be found in several ways – see, at the end, the section “Tools for overcoming depression and thoughts of giving up“.

the passions

Here another important aspect arises in this matter: the question of passions, which Kardec always cited in his time, and which today can be understood as “feelings”.

By definition, passion is a term that designates a very strong feeling of attraction to a person, object or topic. Passion is intense, enveloping, an enthusiasm or a strong desire for something. The term is also often applied to designate a lively interest or admiration for an ideal, cause, or activity.

In the state of experiencing the passions, the individual is blind to rationality and, in this state, how many cases of suicide have been committed without thought? How many communications were there, with which we have already had contact, from the Spirit who, soon after performing the act, deeply regretted the thoughtlessness of what he had done? Taming the passions, therefore, is something of paramount importance. Kardec defines it like this, in A Genesis:

Instinct annihilates itself; passions can only be tamed by the effort of the will.

And today, finally, with access to the Spiritist Doctrine, we can strengthen the will through reason, that is, we can develop more firmness and calmness to go through the trials of life, knowing that our future happiness depends on it, and that interrupting our life before time will not end any moral suffering, but will only prolong it.

In this situation, therefore, let us seek help: let us seek a psychologist, let us seek the spiritist center, let us seek a good friend, let us seek prayer, calm music, reading and the practice of the Gospel, let us seek to visit a nursing home to talk to the elderly, in short, Let's look for something that makes us feel good, but let's look for it with determination and persistence.

But, above all, let us seek something very special and important: to study and practice Spiritism in our homes, together with our family, because while the individual is supposed to be a passive machine, hostage to body chemistry, without soul and, therefore, without free will, he will only respond mechanically to everything and, in the face of pain, he will find the only result that emanates from it, albeit false: the machine is turned off, the pain ends.

To understand Spiritism is to understand life

It is only with the return and development of the understanding of the concept of a soul that survives the death of the body and that it always advances towards perfection, improving and correcting itself through successive trials and opportunities, and away from the old and wrong concepts of sin. and punishment by a vengeful and cruel God, that suicide will cease to exist on the face of the earth.

Life does not end in the tomb and the soul, freed from the body, only finds its reality even more exacerbated. It is precisely this reality, which leads her to give up, that she needs to lean over, without ceasing, in order to strengthen herself; but, I repeat: this will never happen as long as, in the body, one assumes only a machine, a slave to the chemistry of the senses.

And let's not forget. God does not leave us abandoned in the difficulties of life and does not give us greater burdens than we can bear. It is because of our actions or the way we face these difficulties that we often increase the weight of this burden until we fall to the ground, under a weight beyond what was programmed. Still, it is possible to recover and move on if we want to: just ask God for help and it will come, in one form or another, to help us lessen the extra weight we carry. Let's be careful: this help comes through an unexpected contact, a gifted book, content that a friend suggests or even through a persistent thought so that we look for certain content on the Internet. It's the way God answers us, but we need to be open to it.

Finally, of course: if you notice someone by your side with the slightest traces of depression, constant sadness, discouragement, withdrawal, etc., be charitable and talk to her, with all the affection, all the fraternity and all the attention possible. Tell her about your certainty that life doesn't end at the grave. Tell her that she is not alone and that life's difficulties, which we all have, are necessary tests for our own learning, almost always requested by ourselves. This could save a life.

Tools for overcoming depression and thoughts of giving up

Here, we are going to list some tools that will be more or less useful for some and for others, according to the thinking and state of each one. Analyze and stick with what makes you feel good:

• Psychological help: This is substantial and necessary support in these cases. The professional therapist will be able to provide support that almost no one will be able to, helping you to understand content and pain that you don't even realize, but that are there, disturbing you.
• Gospel at Home: it is a practice that has been very prominent, and which aims to reflect, in the light of the Gospel According to Spiritism, on our own faults and imperfections, seeking to change ourselves. In this sense, a content that I really like and that has already helped me is the Gospel of the Spiritist Center Land of Ishmael.
• Study of Spiritism: acquiring knowledge is extremely important for our faith to be unshakable and for us to become more austere and decisive to face difficulties. Study Kardec's works!
• Attending a spiritist center: although the experience of Spiritism must be something internal, having the fraternal support of a spiritist center can be very important. Look for someone close and where you feel good and welcomed.
• Practice activities in order to socialize and disconnect a little from the disturbing thought or environment. Assistance activities, for example, help a lot, because when we do good to others, we do ourselves.
• Practice sports and try to seek a healthier life, as we cannot forget that, while incarnate, we are influenced by the body's ailments.
• Do general exams, verifying that you are not having health problems, including vitamin and hormonal deficiencies, which commonly cause states of shortage and depression.
• don't cover yourself too much, for this causes disappointment and bitterness. We know we need to improve ourselves, but it's no use wanting to become an angel overnight! Evolution is made in decisive and constant steps, but millimeter by millimeter. We will stumble many times in this process: so don't let yourself get discouraged. Recognize yourself as an imperfect Spirit, get up, beat the dust and get back on your way.
• Practice prayer at all times when you feel any anguish. Do not repeat words in a memorized way, however: make this prayer come from the bottom of your heart, connecting it to God, and don't forget that none of us are abandoned in life: on our side, seeking to help us, we always have our Spirits protectors or guardians.
• Be aware of the opportunities that “life” (the good spirits, in fact) present to you: a good book recommended by someone, an invitation to a study group, participation in a spiritist center, in short, the good opportunities that life offers us. presents and that it is up to us not to be resistant to them.

Allan Kardec, under the guidance of superior spirits, classified, in decreasing character of moral value and intelligence, the spirits in general as follows. Get to know the spirit scale:

3rd ORDER OF IMPERFECT SPIRITS ACCORDING TO THE SPIRITIST SCALE

It starts from 10th grade and goes up to 6th grade. Follow below:

2nd ORDER: GOOD SPIRITS

Includes Spirits from 5th class to 2nd class:

1st ORDER – PURE SPIRITS

It is the sublime class that encompasses the Pure Spirits:

Check out the group's archives for more information on our work. Click here.

Also check out our Facebook page. Click here.

A sad time, that of slavery and segregation, now long over. Today, we no longer talk about “races”, because we know that there is only one race: the human race. Today, in the vast majority, especially in our Brazilian society, black people integrate and actively participate, still facing some difficulties, but which decrease day after day, with human advancement. From that time, some speeches by Allan Kardec appear, racist in today's eyes. They say he would be racist without an understanding of the times.

The mistake, always, is trying to confuse Allan Kardec with Spiritism. Spiritism exists by itself, as a fact of nature. Kardec dedicated himself to studying it. He never imposed his ideas or truths on the Doctrine. In fact, as we will see, it was through this study that he was able to verify black people, women and even homosexuals, as we will see, from another angle, as no philosophy had ever done before.

It remains to be remembered that the concept of races was a scientific concept of the time, which was only overcome at the end of the 20th century.

the infamous phrase

The phrase in question, used to claim that Allan Kardec would be racist, belongs to a much more complete and in-depth article, published in the Spiritist Magazine of April 1862 and which precisely comes against the racist idea, demolishing it:

“Thus, as a physical organization, blacks will always be the same; as spirits, it is undoubtedly an inferior race, that is, primitive; they are true children to whom very little can be taught [...]”

Allan Kardec, RE, April 1862

It is, however, the old human craze, cultivated until today: a sentence is isolated, taking it out of an entire context, and presented as complete proof of the opposite point that one wants to prove, almost always with a view to denigrating the image of others.

We need to remember that Allan Kardec was in France ethnocentric mid-1800s, when the entire society EVEN attributed a soul to black people and when science itself adopted a concept racist:

in the 19th century, the process of neocolonialism or European imperialism. England, France, Germany and others European capitalist powers invested in new policies of territorial expansion and practically divided the territories of the Africa, gives Asia and from Oceania.

To justify the exploitation of the riches of those places and the policy of racial segregation, Europeans had to look for a scientific justification, because, in the 19th century, science was already widely disseminated and religion was no longer sufficient to justify any kind of authoritarian action.

In that sense, the anthropology emerged as an attempt to create scientific theories that justified the exploitation of peoples outside Europe by European peoples. The first theories in this area, developed by the English biologist and geographer Herbert Spencer, stated that there was a kind of hierarchy of races.

From this perspective, European whites were superior, followed by Asians, Indians and Africans, the latter being the least developed. This current became known as Darwinism Social or social evolutionism, as it appropriated the theory of biological evolution of Charles Darwin and applied it in the sociological field[…]

Francisco Porfírio – Brasil Escola – https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/sociologia/etnocentrismo.htm

Says Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, in A Genesis (ed. FEAL, 2022):

When Allan Kardec wrote this work, the evolutionary hierarchization of the then considered human races was not seen as racism, but adopted by eminent scientists such as Cuvier, Charles Darwin, Buchner, or Carl Vogt, who stated: “As soon as young black people reach the period During puberty, we witness a phenomenon identical to that which occurs in monkeys. From now on, the intellectual faculties remain stationary and the individual, like the entire race, becomes incapable of any progress” (Leçons sur l'homme. p. 253).

This understanding was hegemonic in the scientific environment, thus contextualizing the outdated descriptions developed here, belonging to the Science of the time, and not to Spiritism.

Allan Kardec was, therefore, led to make this error of judgement, racist in today's eyes, based on some prejudices and scientific concepts of the time. while, on the other hand, he demonstrated, through the studies of Spiritism, that all human beings have souls that can even reincarnate wherever and under any color, “race” or creed..

Let's see: Kardec judged black people from the point of view of the concepts of the time, which admitted them only as savages, coming from the African jungles, all far below any civilization and culture. It is on this fundamental error that Kardec bases himself to say: “as Spirits, they are, without a doubt, an inferior race, that is, primitive”. It was a concept of science at the time, guided by racism, even due to interests!

However, if we go beyond this thought by Allan Kardec, racist by definition, studying the Spiritist Doctrine in the background, we will see that it contradicts, I repeat, any and all racial, sexual or caste prejudice.

In fact, let us recover very important excerpts from the article in question:

it is said about black slaves: “They are beings so brute, so unintelligent, that it would be a vain effort to try to instruct them. They are an inferior, incorrigible, profoundly incapable race.” The theory that we have just presented allows us to look at them in a different light.. In the question of the improvement of races, it is always necessary to take into account two constitutive elements of man: the spiritual element and the corporeal element. It is necessary to know both, and only Spiritism can enlighten us as to the nature of the spiritual element, the most important, for being what thinks and what survives, while the corporeal element is destroyed.

Allan Kardec, RE April 1862

Here it is very evident, especially for those who read the entire article, that Kardec precisely brings the issue in vogue, at that moment, for analysis from another perspective – that of Spiritism – which could bring another way of interpreting the subject. Let's go on, presenting the complete paragraph from which the quoted sentence was extracted:

Thus, as a physical organization, blacks will always be the same. As spirits, they are unquestionably an inferior race, that is, primitive. They are true children to whom very little can be taught. But, through intelligent care, it is always possible to modify certain habits, certain tendencies, which already represents a progress that they will take to another existence, and that will allow them, later on, to take on an envelope of better conditions. Working for its improvement, one works less for its present than for its future and, however little it is achieved, for them it is always an acquisition. Each progress is a step forward that facilitates further progress.

ibidem

Vemos, como apresentado, que Allan Kardec partiu de um fundamento errado, racista, baseado em conceitos científicos, sociais e culturais da época — o de que os negros seriam uma “raça” selvagem e sem conhecimentos e o de que os brancos constituiriam uma raça superior — num contexto, onde muito provavelmente, ou ele sequer tinha contato com negros, ou, hipótese mais razoável, que ele apenas os conhecia de sua posição socialmente inferior, posto que a escravatura na França foi apenas abolida em 1848. Contudo, logo em seguida, ele adiciona que, por mais que pudessem constituir uma “raça” inferior, esses Espíritos, que ora ocupavam um corpo tido como “inferior” ao branco — nada mais afastado da realidade — através de sua progressão espiritual, ocupariam “envoltórios melhores”. Isso está mais ou menos expresso no seguinte pensamento, da Revista Espírita de novembro de 1858: “the Spiritist Doctrine is broader than all this. For her, there are no different kinds of men; there are simply men whose spirit is more or less backward, capable, however, of progressing“.

Kardec goes ahead and reproduces the reigning thought, at that moment, regarding the physical body that constitutes the “black race”: “That is why the black race, as a black race, bodily speaking, will never reach the levels of the Caucasian races, but as spirits it is something else: it can and will become what we are. It will only need time and better instruments.“

Is it repugnant to our eyes today? Yes it is. And it is something that we need to discuss, in a non-anachronistic way, in order to understand and separate the thought of man, imperfect, from the thought expressed by Spiritist science, as in everything.

Note that Kardec took a point of view based on human science and the science of Spirits. For the first time, it was based on the ideas of races, thus expressing wrong thinking. For the second time, he was right to understand that we are all equal. Spiritism, therefore, is not racist, but quite the opposite.

It is also worth making another observation: Kardec didn't see black people as beings who should not have the same respect, charity, fraternity and love as we owe to everyone else. We see this very well expressed in the Spiritist Magazine of June 1859, when a deceased black man is evoked, and he expresses himself as follows:

4. ─ However, you were free. What are you most happy about now?
─ Because my Spirit is no longer black.

To which Kardec makes the following note:

NOTE: This answer is more sensible than it seems at first glance. Certainly the Spirit is never black. He means that, as a Spirit, he no longer has the humiliations to which the black race is subjected.

Now, it is necessary, then, to understand this issue, in the right historical context, from both sides: on the one hand, Kardec, the white, European, who believed that the black was an inferior “race”, but who understood that it was a matter of our brother, Spirit like us, who also suffered from humiliation and wanted to be happy. On the other hand, the black man, who not only felt humiliated and mistreated, but was also humiliated and mistreated because of his skin color. Would it be too much to assume that, in this very specific context, very different from what modern society is today (in large part), the Spirit who incarnated in a black body wanted to stop being black in a next life? This is evident in the thought of the Spirit (Father Caesar):

10. (To Father Caesar) – You said that you are looking for a body with which you can advance. Will you choose a white or black body?
─ A white, because contempt would hurt me.

From the point of view that the black was treated as an animal, facing severe difficulties, would it be too much to suppose that, at that time, a Spirit chose to incarnate in a black body in order to face the immense difficulties that this life would offer him, learning from them? Today, living as a black person is no longer as painful as it was at that time and, with the evolution of the human being, the atonements chosen by the Spirits would be different. The question, always, in order to understand these difficult questions, is to separate Spirit and body, in addition to contextualizing terms and ideas according to time, history and social context.

It is also important to remember that, if Kardec was, in a way, prejudiced, on the other was not a slave or even segregationist or, if one day he was, he changed his opinion when in contact with spiritist science:

829. Are there men who are by nature destined to be the property of other men?

“It is contrary to the law of God every absolute subjection of one man to another man. Slavery is an abuse of force. It disappears with progress, as all abuses will gradually disappear.”

The human law that enshrines slavery is contrary to nature, since it makes man the irrational and degrades him physically and morally. (note by Allan Kardec)

[…]

831. Does not the natural inequality of aptitudes place certain human races under the dependence of the more intelligent races?

“Yes, but for them to elevate them, not to further brutalize them through enslavement. For a long time, men considered certain human races as working animals, equipped with arms and hands, and thought they had the right to sell those of those races as beasts of burden. Those who do so are considered to be of purer blood. fools! They see nothing but matter. More or less pure is not the blood, but the Spirit.” (361–803.)

Allan Kardec - The Spirits' Book

Let's not stop, however. Let's move on, looking at other important and related issues.

Would Kardec be sexist?

To analyze these themes, I will use as a basis the article produced by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, which can be fully appreciated at the link https://revolucaoespirita.com.br/kardec-homossexualidade/

Starting with the issue of machismo, Kardec makes a very interesting approach in the Spiritist Magazine of January 1866, in the article entitled “Do women have a soul?”. Yes, amazingly, that was the question at the time.

Do women have souls? It is known that the thing was always taken for grantedfor, it is said, was put to deliberation in a council. Denial is still a principle of faith in certain peoples. It is known to what degree of debasement this belief reduced them in most parts of the East.. Even if today, among civilized peoples, the matter is resolved in their favor, the prejudice of his moral inferiority was perpetuated to such an extent that that a writer of the last century, whose name escapes me, defined woman in this way: “An instrument of man's pleasures”, a definition more Muslim than Christian. From this prejudice was born its legal inferiority, still not erased from our codes. For too long they have accepted this enslavement as a matter of course, so powerful is the force of habit. This is how it is with those who are subjected to servitude from father to son., who end up judging themselves to be of a different nature from their masters.

Allan Kardec, RE, January 1866

Amazing, no? It was still questioned, in some societies, if the woman really had a soul and, born of a prejudice, your inferiority cool still existed. Women could not even vote – a fact that is well known even today. Let us note one thing: if Kardec may have been prejudiced against black people, he, however, did not consider them animals that should be enslaved to the will of the white man, just as the woman should not be enslaved to the will of the man.

“After having recognized that they have a soul, if they have been recognized as having the right to conquer the degrees of science, that is already something. But their partial liberation is only the result of the development of urbanity, of the softening of customs, or, if you like, of a more exact feeling of justice; it is a kind of concession that is made to her, and, it is necessary to bless her, haggling over them as much as possible”.

ibidem

Paulo Henrique comments in his article:

At that time, despite the question of the existence of a woman's soul being considered ridiculous, it was still not considered that the “equality of social position between man and woman was a natural right”, and not a concession made by man. The contribution of Spiritism to the debate is extraordinary and current. While the fact that traditional gender differences were established as a function of culture and not of physiological nature is currently being discussed (in order to justify the power of man), Spiritism demonstrates the other extreme of the question: equality is natural, because spirits have no sex distinction! In other words, if the division of sex by gender is cultural (it is known today), equality is natural (the spirits explain).

In The Spirits' Book, Kardec delves into this issue, in a very current way, creating, once and for all, through the teachings of the Superior Spirits, the deepest notion of equality ever seen in a Doctrine, as it is based on the principles of Natural Law, which transcends matter and time:

817. Man and woman are equal before God. women and have the same rights?

“Has not God bestowed on both the intelligence of good and evil and the faculty of progress?”

818. Whence comes the moral inferiority of women in certain regions?

“Of the unjust and cruel predominance that man has taken over her. It is the result of social institutions and the abuse of strength over weakness. Among morally little advanced men, strength makes right.”

819. To what end weaker physically than man is the women?

“To assign you special functions. To man, for being the strongest, the rough works; The women, light work; to both of them the duty to help each other to endure the trials of a life full of bitterness.”

Allan Kardec - The Spirits' Book

And, further, worthy of note, presents this incredible and profound thought:

821. The functions to which the women destined by Nature will be as important as those deferred to man?

“Yes, even bigger. It is she who gives him the first notions of life.”

ibidem

We have already seen, so far, that Kardec goes in the opposite direction of the thought in force at that time: women, of course, have a soul and, being equal to men, should be treated with the same conditions guaranteed by natural law, given to men. Spiritism demonstrates that equality is Natural, since the Spirit has no sex and, therefore, no color or race, as is exemplified in the communication with the Spirit of Mr.

“Spirits do not have sex; but as you were still a man a few days ago, do you tend in your new state to be male nature rather than female nature? Is it the same with a spirit who has left his body a long time ago?”

And, through the medium, Sanson replied:

“We don't have to be male or female: Spirits don't reproduce. God creates them at his will, and if, for his wonderful purposes, he wanted spirits to be reincarnated on Earth, he had to add the reproduction of species for male and female. But you feel it, without any explanation being necessary, spirits cannot have sex.”

So, finally, we come to the question:

Kardec homophobic?

Dear reader, I have to say that I don't even know where people get these thoughts from. In fact, I know: from common sense, that well-known “cordless phone”, which transmits ideas from one to the other without seriously analyzing them.

Those who really seek to study and understand Spiritism and Allan Kardec already understood, just from the above, that he could not be homophobic. However, we will end the article with the following quote, in the same issue of Revista Espírita, followed by the quote by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo about this passage:

“If this influence of the corporeal life has repercussions on the spiritual life, the same happens when the Spirit passes from the spiritual to the corporeal life. In a new incarnation he will bring the character and inclinations he had as a Spirit; if he is advanced, he will be an advanced man; if he is late, he will be a late man.

By changing his sex, he will therefore be able, under this impression and in his new incarnation, to retain the tastes, tendencies and character inherent in the sex he has just left. This explains certain apparent anomalies in the character of certain men and women.”.

Therefore, there is only difference between man and woman in relation to the material organism, which is annihilated with the death of the body. But as for the Spirit, the soul, the essential, imperishable being, it does not exist, because there are not two kinds of souls.

Allan Kardec, RE, Jan/1866

It is very important to highlight here that the term “apparent anomaly”, used by Kardec, was present in the sciences of the time, referring to phenomena that escape the explanation of accepted theories, not being “normal” for them; but that, when a new natural explanation for the phenomenon is found in new theories, they cease to be “anomalies” and become natural phenomena. That's why she's "apparent"

Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, Spiritist Revolution website, 08/25/2016

Final considerations

There are very good people of all colors, including people of the worst kind, also of all colors and sexual options. There are high spirits in misshapen bodies, just as there are terrible spirits in the most beautiful bodies. We need to learn to stop judging the next, as well as to stop creating concepts and prejudices based on how people look, in our eyes.

The understanding of Spiritism comes precisely in this sense, when we understand that the body is just a vessel, which can contain more or less crystalline water. The human Spirit can incarnate into any type of human body, according to its needs. How, then, knowing this very well, Kardec could have expressed such an erroneous opinion about black people?

This is partly explained by a strong ethnocentric prejudice that, in France in the mid-1800s, saw black people as an inferior “race”, savages, without knowledge and without culture. On the other hand, let's understand clearly, Allan Kardec, based on the racist ideology of current science, assumed that the Spirits that incarnated in black people were also Spirits of lesser evolution, in a phase of spiritual infancy. Nothing, I repeat, nothing further from the truth, since we know how much moral value and knowledge these brothers had, still used as slaves shortly before in France and, for many decades to come, in Brazil. However, at the same time as he started from this wrong starting point, he added: “they are Spirits like us, doomed to evolution and perfection”.

It was already a big step, for a man of that time, to have given soul to a people who were treated like machines. But, we know, the march of progress advances and, as Kardec always said, we should always follow scientific advances, abandoning the opinion that proved to be wrong in the face of science. That's what we do here and it's the same thing that Allan Kardec would do if, today, he were incarnated among us.

However, none of this changes our way of understanding Spiritism, in its true conception, and not even in relation to the great role that Kardec had in his study, since he was an imperfect man, although committed to charity and science. In fact, he adds, to the Doctrine of Spirits, the real beauty that it has, understood in its depth and without the human prejudices and concepts that, after all, it does not have, but rather undoes.

supposed? No, they are not supposed. They are factual, with numerous evidence and strong evidence presented, including obtained by field research and others based on historical documents by Allan Kardec that, little by little, come to light.

Unfortunately, the FEB, based on Carlos Seth's arguments, is basing itself on very weak evidence to argue in favor of what it believes – non-adulteration – without presenting, as Kardec would do, the opposite argument, without going deep into them. I discuss that in this article: https://geolegadodeallankardec.com.br/2021/09/01/as-adulteracoes-nas-obras-de-kardec-e-o-csi-do-espiritismo/

worse than that, the defense of non-adulteration, against the existing evidence, hurts Allan Kardec's own image, as if he, who always carried out everything with all the necessary care, under all the requirements of human law, had then decided to submit an amendment illegally, without making the legal deposit, obligatory at that time, making him a self-confessed criminal. I believe that we can and must do more than that, not only in the name of Allan Kardec, but in the name of something much bigger and more serious: Spiritism, a doctrine that finally comes to provoke and help the great changes necessary for humanity.

I feel a great dissatisfaction when verifying not that there are contrary opinions, but, yes, that many spiritists do not even try to follow the example of Kardec, honest and humble, verifying all serious sources, even contrary to his previously developed ideas, going deep into them and analyzing what is true or probable in them and, modifying one's own opinion in the face of scientific evidence and, when not, scrutinizing such ideas in order to show where they fail.

Unfortunately, many have not acted like this, despite countless serious spiritualists, already since the 19th century and, later, passing by Silvino Canuto de Abreu and Herculano Pires himself, having raised serious accusations against the deviations that the Doctrine suffered after Kardec.

In true, I don't want you to agree with me, but that we all act conscientiously, mirrored in the example of Professor Rivail. Several works, since a few years, have presented evidence that is too serious and too well-founded to the point of being put aside and discarded. If we are going to discuss tampering, let us discuss it in the light of reason, in the face of logical reasoning and evidence and evidence, as Kardec would do.

As we call ourselves Spiritists, which is a science born from the observation of facts and evidence, I ask once again: let us not leave these works aside, because what they bring, even if it were false, is too important and serious to ignore. them, as the Brazilian spiritist movement has done.

They are, but not only:

• The Legacy of Allan Kardec, by Simoni Privato
• Neither Heaven nor Hell: The Laws of the Soul according to Spiritism, by Lucas Sampaio and Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo
• Much Light (BEAUCOUP DE LUMIÈRE), by Berthe Fropo
• Autonomy: the untold story of Spiritism, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo

Brothers, read, study, inform yourself and spread this motivation everywhere. It is high time to restore the original understanding of Spiritism!

We often find ourselves asking: why reincarnate? Could we not make all progress on the spiritual plane?

Spiritism, as in everything that we are already able to understand, comes to our rescue, explaining this point, which is actually fundamental to our lives, since we see so many brothers and, sometimes, ourselves, with thoughts of discouragement and giving up. . How many brothers have not taken their own lives from their bodies, through suicide, interrupting a reincarnation plan so important to them?

What Spiritism teaches us, dear brother or sister, is that, when in Spirit, in the state of erraticity, that is, in the period between one incarnation and another, our true self emerges with emphasis and transparency. Thus, our good and bad virtues, embedded in our minds, show themselves as they are, and with greater truth. It is as if we are a crystal vase that has the cloudy water thrown away and then starts to shine in its original clarity, although this does not always show a crystallity of heart.

The Spirit that has been struggling for some time due to moral imperfections - and even material vices - and that, from incarnation to incarnation, has not yet found the strong decision for its change, when disincarnating, it starts to experience this moral environment at its disposal. , as they move, with the speed of thought, to the companies and environments they most desire. Thus, many spirits easily become part of the ranks of spirits who agonize in the misunderstanding that, in order to leave, a firm will is enough, which until then, even in physical life, they often failed to have.

Also, there are cases of obsessed and persecuted spirits, often demented by the extent of their own guilt and misunderstanding.

Then comes the opportunity of reincarnation as a very valuable device that allows the Spirit, through the obliteration of integral memory, to regain breath and correct imperfections, especially through the so important but still so forgotten role of parents or caregivers, from early material childhood that the Spirit goes through, a phase in which it becomes more docile and malleable to learning - which should always be done on the basis of love and fraternity, in a constructive way and never violent or imposing.

But, we remember, reincarnation, or reincarnation planning, only happens in an “impositional” way when the Spirit does not yet have the consciousness developed to the point of understanding the needs for its advancement. It is at this point that he is constrained to reincarnate, by other Spirits who, in the name of charity, dedicate themselves to such a task.

From the moment, however, in which the Spirit develops its own awareness of its own imperfections and the need to correct them, it starts to act positively in this process, often requesting a new incarnation, full of tests and atonements, with the purpose of learning and correcting its imperfections.

Therefore, the incarnation, the present life, is a divine gift, a blessed opportunity to readjust the factors that, in ourselves, lead us to make mistakes and, therefore, to suffer. It has never been and will never be a punishment or a punishment and, if we ourselves do not increase our sufferings by our own actions, we will be able to go through the trials and atonements many times chosen by us, because we will never be abandoned in this endeavor and, in addition to the brothers who assist us from the spiritual plane, there will always be people around us, ready and often devoted to this planning, to help us.

Dear brothers, let us spread this simple and so powerful truth, so that the brother who is about to give up on life, reconsider his position and that he does not have to, only from the spiritual plane, wrapped in suffering, look back and verify that the suffering that he was going through was about to end and that he had a lot to help him change, never to suffer like that again, if he had his will very firm and decided. And remember, always: we will all reach happiness and perfection, some faster than others, by the action of their own will:

133. Do spirits who from the beginning have followed the path of good need incarnation?

“All are created simple and ignorant and are instructed in the struggles and tribulations of bodily life. God, who is just, could not make some happy, without toil and work, therefore without merit.”

The) - But, then, what is the use of spirits to have followed the path of good, if this does not exempt them from the sufferings of bodily life?

“They reach the end faster. Furthermore, the afflictions of life are often the consequence of the imperfection of the Spirit. The fewer imperfections, the less torments. He who is neither envious, nor jealous, nor greedy, nor ambitious, will not suffer the tortures that arise from these defects.”

The Book of Spirits

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Charity: term so used everywhere, but still so misunderstood. What would be true Charity, according to Spiritism?

For us, spiritualists, it appears everywhere, in all literature. Kardec made it the necessary basis for any and all happiness, saying: “outside of charity there is no salvation”. The statement, of course, was born from a certain opposition to religious dogmatism, which tried to proclaim that salvation was in each sect, in an exclusivist and even selfish way, but it is still true, because, without charity, there is no love for others. .

However, the term charity has now taken on the connotation of welfarism, almost exclusively, becoming synonymous with material donation. But, so that we can really understand it within the spiritist context, we need to go back to the context of Allan Kardec, in France in the mid-1850s:

It is important to highlight that the term charity used by Kardec, for Rational Spiritualism, at that time (diverging from the current definition of the term, which is close to assistanceism), represented act from duty, that is, freely, consciously, intentionally, independently of punishments and rewards, with a full understanding of the moral law. Charity is a principle that guides the integral action of the being, and not a complementary activity, as if it were an accessory behavior. […].

Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo – The Legacy of Allan Kardec

We thus see that charity, properly understood, must constitute the to be, the way of proceeding, and not just consisting of isolated actions that, often, speak more to the need to be seen as a “charitable person”, a situation in which there is no real charity, but only ego and vanity. More than that, charity is not limited to material donations. In fact, I would say, it is, most of the time, opposite to material donation, since whoever donates materially, be it money, food, things, often does so as a form of relief of conscience.

The dear reader, forgive me, because the intention really is not judge anyone on their actions. Christ himself exemplified, in the “parable of the widow's mite”, that the real intention, or, if you like, faith, is the one who speaks the loudest. Many people donate money or other resources wanting to really doing good and, of course, that counts a lot. But how many times do we limit ourselves to making a material donation, without even reflecting on what we are doing and on the real situation of that person who asks us, in a [misleading] act, almost always, of releasing us from going beyond, or just to feel good?

Let's think: how many people use donations to, by reselling resources, obtain money to obtain drugs? How many people, having easy resources at their disposal, throw themselves into the worst vices and profligacy, digging deeper and deeper into the very hole in which they are sinking? Is giving to these people on a regular basis really helping their situations? Could it really be that if the rich simply gave away their fortunes, human misery would end?

By no means do I say that we should not donate material resources; but let us think further, analyzing each situation and seeking to be fraternal with the brother who seeks us, really caring about that person's situation. Often, a simple question like “why are you on the street, brother? What is going on?” can pave the way for a much more fruitful relationship that, let’s not forget, benefits both sides.

The individual who really wants to do good does not do charity once a month or a week: he It's kind, all the time. AND be charitable it consists in putting the other ahead of our own wants and needs. How many times, people going through the most difficult moments of their lives, find the strength to do charity by giving a smile to those who cry even more? My grandmother, for example, going through a serious and painful illness, found the strength to be sweet and affable, smiling at all who came to visit her in her last days of her last incarnation. Is this not a kind of charity – perhaps one of the greatest there is?

When we think, therefore, about charity, we must necessarily think about one thing: going further. If we donate something material, let this be just the door to creating a bond and an opening to deepen the relationship with the brother who may be in great suffering. But, above all, let us not forget that the greatest charity we can do to others is to bring them love, faith and consolation, especially through the example of someone who lives what they say and not just as someone who throws words to the wind.

It is, therefore, a kind of charity towards humanity that we strive for our own moral advancement, seeking to change ourselves in the light of what consoles us and, in our case, dedicatedly studying Spiritism, a doctrine that, many times in life, saved us from bad choices or led us to better paths. Let us learn to spread it without shocking, that is, without starting conversations talking about reincarnation and obsession, but, rather, presenting the very comforting philosophy found in this Doctrine.

We will then go out the gate and find people everywhere needing, desperately, for something that comforts them, that helps them get the thought of giving up from their heads, that helps them go through life's trials with unshakable faith and with firm resolve. They are almost always difficult people, due to the moment of crisis who live, and wouldn't it be greater charity to make an effort to help her, in a persistent and fraternal way, even knowing that, many times, we will experience difficulties in this initially difficult contact?

Believe me, brothers: we do charity much bigger leaving behind our imperfections and spreading consolations and knowledge that can change, forever, the direction of a Spirit, than just donating a “thing”, which he will use and discard, while we turn our backs and go on with our lives, without the desire to go beyond. After all, what's the point of donating a bag of rice to someone who asks at the gate when we're not charitable, even with our own family members or our subordinates at work?

I close by leaving the message of “A Protecting Spirit”, presented in chapter XIII of The Gospel According to Spiritism:

My friends, I have heard many among you say: How can I give charity, when I often do not even have the necessary?

Friends, in a thousand ways charity is done. You can do it by thoughts, by words and by actions. By thoughts, praying for the abandoned poor, who died without even being able to see the light. A prayer made from the heart relieves them. In words, giving your everyday companions some good advice, saying to those who despair, privations soured their spirits and led them to blaspheme the name of the Most High: “I was as you are; I suffered, I felt miserable, but I believed in Spiritism and, you see, now I am happy.” To the old people who tell you: “It's useless; I am at the end of my journey; I will die as I have lived”, say: “God deals equally with us all; remember the workers of the last hour.” To children already addicted to the company they have surrounded themselves with and who are going around the world, ready to succumb to evil temptations, say: “God sees you, my dear little ones”, and do not get tired of repeating these gentle words to them. They will eventually germinate in their childish intelligences and, instead of being vagabonds, you will make them men. This too is charity.

Others among you say, “Why! we are so numerous on earth that God cannot see us all.” Listen well, my friends: when you are on the top of the mountain, do you not look at the billions of grains of sand that cover it? Well then, in the same way God sees you. He lets you use your free will, as you let those grains of sand move with the wind that disperses them. Only God, in his infinite mercy, has placed in the depths of your hearts a watchful sentinel, which is called conscience. Listen to her, she will give you only good advice. Sometimes you manage to numb it by opposing the spirit of evil. She then shuts up. But rest assured that the poor banished woman will make herself heard as soon as you let her perceive the shadow of remorse. Listen to her, question her and you will often find yourself comforted by the advice you have received from her.

My friends, to each new regiment the general gives a standard. I give you this maxim of Christ as a motto: “Love one another.” Observe this precept, gather around this banner and you will have happiness and consolation. – A protective spirit. (Lyon, 1860.)