I am always emphatic in demonstrating that the Spiritist Movement is considerably far from true Spiritism. We almost always find the Spiritist Movement, represented by the Spiritist Centers, the FEB, the USE and the speakers and representatives of these institutions, surrounded by atavisms, trapped in systems of ideas built on distortions and spiritist romances, attached to their own opinions gradually formed over decades. of a teaching distanced from Kardec and full of Roustaing, or supported on the false ideas born by adulteration of Heaven and Hell. As a result, the Spiritist Movement distanced itself from the logical and clear face of spiritual science and became a new religious variant, something that Spiritism has never been (nor will it ever be).
In the last almost four years (I write in February 2024), what I thought I knew about Spiritism has suffered a huge shock. It started with reading Allan Kardec's Legacy, followed by the reading of “Nem Heaven, Nor Hell: the laws of the soul according to Spiritism” and then went deeper with the inauguration of our Study Group, where we began to study the Spiritist Magazine and also with the reading of the works of Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, dealing both with Rational Spiritualism, a scientific-philosophical movement of the 19th century that gave basis to the emergence of Spiritism, and with the true face of Spiritism.
I am, therefore, interested in summarizing, in this article, some recommendations for the Spiritist student, wishing to free themselves from the webs of the stagnant and dogmatic Spiritist Movement, to get to know and experience true Spiritism in their lives. Let's go in order:
I hope this can be very useful to you. If you have any doubts, contact.
Download PDF of The Original Heaven and Hell, by Allan Kardec
The publisher FEAL recently released the free PDF of the work Heaven and Hell, by Allan Kardec. The big difference for this edition is that it recovers the work originally written by Allan Kardec, free from the absurd disfigurement that this work suffered in its 4th edition, tampered with after Kardec's death.
Adulteration? Yes, if you don't already know, this work was tampered with after Kardec's death and released with a huge variety of removals of original, very clear ideas and the addition of exiguous ideas to the Spiritist Doctrine, contrary to what Kardec often denied or stated. You can understand this adulteration a little better by clicking on here and also by reading “Neither Heaven Nor Hell – The laws of the soul according to Spiritism“.
Click on the link below to download the free PDF of Heaven and Hell, by Allan Kardec, by FEAL:
Continuation of the article Spiritism: The Idea of Jesus. Are we going to better understand the differences between the true mentality and the false idea?
Over time, the true mindset and false idea have taken root in the world's traditions in various ways. Religions have always embedded competition, dispute and the law of the strongest into their teachings.
Pixabay Photo: Mohamed_hassan
The Christian tradition considers that Jesus was announced by John the Baptist and foreshadowed by repentance: “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. With this thought, we had to repent of our sins, of our mistakes. This education leaves us full of guilt, because if I made a mistake, I need forgiveness to be saved.
TO MAKE AN ERROR IS A SIN, says Christianity.
Religions used this idea to say that only God's forgiveness saves those who make mistakes, and those who disobey are eternally punished and handed over to the devil. This thought was not only implemented by religions: at work, if you make a mistake you will be fired, in the family, if you make a mistake you will be ignored, and this happens in countless situations. In life, you can't go wrong! People use pretense, hide, camouflage mistakes, falsehood, because remember: making mistakes is a Sin. This triggers several consequences, including that people are not as they truly are, nor do they feel included, lost, aimless.
That's why we have to understand Spiritism's message of belonging, of being part, of collaboration. We have to seek this understanding. We have to put aside the idea that the strongest will save the simple, the ignorant, that the strong and outstanding are bigger and better.
To make the truth count, you have to do good! But it is necessary to reform the way these teachings are taught, changing how and what is taught to children, with structural changes in schools. Competition cannot be the stimulus for learning. False ideas are taught when children are told that fighting serves to stand out, to be superior, to be better than others, to be “among the superiors”, so as not to be rejected by society. This mentality is false!
Cooperation is the key to changing the world! It is not the superior that makes the world move forward, but everyone's cooperation! says Spiritism
However, the most recent translation work on the gospels makes it clear that the Greek verb methaneô, linked to the noun metanoia, has the meaning of “changing mentality”. Frederico Lourenço explains: “At the heart of the word is the word nous (“mind”): hence the fact that the essence of the idea is anchored in mental change (of which regret is a symptom)” (New Testament).
Verse 14 of chap. 1, by Mark, goes like this:
14 After John [the Baptist] was betrayed, Jesus went to Galilee to proclaim the good news of God, 15 saying: “The time has come and the kingdom of God has come near. Change your mentality and believe in the good news.”
Mark: 1:14-15
With this simple passage from the Bible, we completely transform the understanding of the meaning of Repentance: there is a need to change our mentality to overcome a false mentality! It is not regretting the mistake, but changing the way of understanding, Change your mindset.
This article was prepared based on a lecture given by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo. Click here to meet her.
Esse texto, intitulado “Remorso e Arrependimento”, foi integralmente extraído da Revista Espírita de maio de 1860:
"I am happy to see you all united by the same faith and love for Almighty God, our divine Lord. May he always guide you on the right path and shower you with his benefits, which he will do if you make yourselves worthy.
Always love one another as brothers; help one another, and let love of neighbor not be a meaningless word to you.
Remember that charity is the most beautiful of virtues, and that of all, it is the most pleasing to God, not only that charity which gives an offering to the unfortunate, but that charity which pities the miseries of our brothers and sisters; which makes you share in their moral pain, lighten the burden that oppresses them, in order to make their pain less vivid and their lives easier.
Remember that sincere repentance obtains forgiveness for all faults, so great is God's goodness. Remorse has nothing in common with repentance. Remorse, my brothers, is already the prelude to punishment. Repentance, charity and faith will lead you to the happiness reserved for good spirits.
Go and listen to the words of a superior Spirit, beloved of God. Retreat and open your heart to the lessons he will give you."
A GUARDIAN ANGEL
Repentance, for Spiritism, is not something external, subject to a figure of others, as it is for religions: no, repentance is the movement of the Spirit that understands its own deviation and then seeks to correct itself, through the atonement and reparation.
From the doctrinal principle of Atonement, by Allan Kardec
A Brazilian Spiritist group, with unquestionable merit for its approach to practical Spiritism through evocations and dialog with the Spirits, recently published an article in which, having evoked the Spirit of Allan Kardec, he supposedly commented on the ten Moisaic laws - the Ten Commandments. In this evocation, he said something about atonement that caught our attention.
We don't doubt the possibility of this Spirit communicating. In fact, he must be very keen to do this essentially spiritist work, wherever he is called. However, reading the comments attributed to him, we find the following:
Who punishes the iniquity of the fathers in the children who hate me to the third generation.
"That would be a denial of God's sovereign justice and supreme goodness. Truly, this is what has been said: everyone will be punished for his sin. Isn't that a refutation of these sad words? The guilty atone for their faults, for which they have no regretsin a series of painful incarnations."
The conclusion is not correct. I ask you to bear with me amicably, because I'm not here to throw stones at anyone.
"The guilty atone for their faults, which they do not repent of, in a succession of painful incarnations." This leads to the idea that atonement is a punishment given by God to unrepentant spirits:
The word atone means to purify, to pay for sins. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can purify ourselves in order to be reconciled with our Heavenly Father.
Available at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/true-to-the-faith/atonement-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng
This cannot be Kardec's thinking. The third edition of Heaven and Hell contains the following, later removed in the adulteration of this work:
“8º) The duration of the punishment is subordinated to the improvement of the guilty spirit. No condemnation for a fixed time is pronounced against him. What God requires to put an end to suffering is repentance, atonement, and reparation—in short: a serious, effective improvement, as well as a sincere return to the good.”
The spirit is thus always the arbiter of its own destiny; he can prolong his sufferings by his hardening in evil, alleviate them or abbreviate them by his efforts to do good.
A sentence for any given period of time would have the double disadvantage of either continuing to affect the spirit that had been perfected, or ending while it was still in evil. God, who is just, punishes evil while it exists; and ends punishment when evil no longer exists.
Thus this expression is confirmed: I do not want the sinner to die, but for him to live, and I will accuse him UNTIL HE REPENTS
Then, in a passage removed in the 5th edition of The Genesis, he states:
"Far from replacing one exclusivism with another, Spiritism presents itself as the absolute champion of freedom of conscience. It combats fanaticism in all its forms, cutting it out at the root, announcing salvation for all good people, as well as the possibility for the most imperfect to reach, through their efforts, through atonement and reparation, the unique perfection that leads to supreme happiness. Instead of discouraging the weak, it encourages them by showing them the port they can reach."
Of course the atonement is a result of the Spirit's repentance. Before that he only suffers remorse, but sincere repentance puts him on the conscious path of reparation through atonement, the fruit of his choices (remorse and regret are different things). This is the result of all Kardec's long years of study and research, and is constantly evidenced in the Spiritist Review.
The clear evidence of adulteration, especially in Heaven and Hell, have disfigured the doctrine and tarnished Kardec's reputation as a fool who contradicts himself or someone who has lost his capacity for judgment. We have shown that item 10 of the 4th edition of this work demonstrates, without a doubt, that there has been tampering, and this tampering does not allow us to know the reality of Kardec's conclusions.
Prayer of the Spiritist student
I suggest the following thoughts, which have inspired me, as a prayer for the good Spiritist student. They are thoughts that I think are useful to reflect on before study meetings.
"Good Spirits, I'm about to start another learning activity together with the group that welcomes me. Much more than a pastime, I understand the depth of this knowledge, which over time will change me and, from me, the human family around me.
I ask my guardian Spirit and the good Spirits who guide me to inspire me with good thoughts at this time. Spirits of our mothers, fathers, grandparents, relatives or close friends; spirits of people who I may not even remember, but who may be grateful to me for the slightest good I have done them, or sympathetic to my difficulties and my will: may my thoughts be more accessible to their good influences, thus warding off the influences of those who, unhappily, even without knowing it, aim at malevolence or frivolity.
Right now, may I look inward, so as not to be hypocritical with myself. Help me to notice my inner dispositions, my mistakes, my bad habits and, perhaps, my imperfections. Before I say "but him", may I turn to myself and say "what about me?", so that I can first see the beam in my own eye before I see the speck in someone else's. May I learn not to see what is wrong with me. May I learn not to see the evil in someone else's mistake, thus creating the evil in myself. May "judge not" be clear in my mind, understanding that seeing another person's mistake should not lead me to judge them for that mistake, which they may not even be aware of and which they often commit while trying to do good.
Help me, finally, not to deceive myself. Learning can only be built through collaborative effort, and happiness is no less a joint effort. If my purpose is to learn, in order to share and help, may I, in learning, first apply the consequences of Spiritism to myself, making the effort that the true Spiritist, the one who has understood the Doctrine at the core of their Being, must make. So, wishing to be a good tool, may I use all this knowledge to develop better habits, replacing the bad ones; may I learn, day after day, to tame my emotions, counting on the good inspiration of you, my fellow Spirits, as well as the group that welcomes me with open arms.
May pride and selfishness gradually leave my being and be replaced by true humility and charity. May personalism find no place in my soul. May vanity not instigate me to think I am superior to anyone, when I am only a mere apprentice, trying to keep on the learning curve of God's Law, and may levity, still characteristic of Spirits like us, not lead me to be careless and behave like pseudo-wise Spirits, who think they know what they don't know. Let praise not instigate my vanity, which I must firmly combat, and let criticism be taken only as an opportunity for reflection. If I have mediumship, may I not think I'm infallible, nor be led to blindly believe in the Spirits who may communicate with me or inspire me, and may, when I may have my attention drawn to them, sullenness and pride be far from my thoughts.
May the innermost purposes of this group with which I sympathize be mine too, and may I learn to do my part, carrying my blocks for the effort that, together, will help to restore the foundations and re-erect the edifice of Spiritist science, so that one day it can once again illuminate the whole of humanity with its torch of light, today overshadowed by contempt and neglect.
Help me so that, leaving this meeting, I can maintain these dispositions in my daily life, knowing that true prayer is experienced every moment, through will, founded on knowledge. Intuade me, out of charity, to remember to find more moments to study this Doctrine, replacing idle time with knowledge of the Good, so that I can ultimately become a more useful individual for the group and for humanity.
Thank you, etc…
Cover photo by Andrea Piacquadio: https://www.pexels.com/pt-br/foto/aluna-com-dor-de-cabeca-na-biblioteca-3808057/
We can, however, add Kardec's thoughts, in The Book of Mediums:
Finally, there are exalted spiritists. The human species would be perfect if it always preferred the bright side of things. Exaggeration is harmful in everything. In Spiritism it produces a blind and often childish trust in the manifestations of the invisible world, making people accept very easily and without control what reflection and examination would demonstrate to be absurd or impossible, as enthusiasm does not clarify, it obfuscates. This type of followers is more harmful than useful to the cause of Spiritism. They are the least capable of convincing, because their judgment is rightly suspicious. They are easily deceived by mystifying spirits or by people who seek to exploit their gullibility. If only they had to suffer the consequences, the harm would be less, but the worst thing is that they offer, although unintentionally, reasons to unbelievers who seek to mock rather than convince themselves and never fail to impute to everyone the ridiculousness of some. This is not fair or rational, without a doubt, but the opponents of Spiritism, as we know, only recognize their reason as good and do not care to know in depth what they are talking about.
KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Mediums, Lake, 23The Edition. Emphasis added.
Their position is clear: careless people who, with enthusiasm (and vanity) blindly believe in everything, do more harm than good to the Doctrine.
Exaggerations, some say
It is the opinion of some that we have exaggerated. According to them, we must “respect” each person’s faith, limiting ourselves to carrying out our work. Firstly, we need to demonstrate that there is no disrespect to anyone's faith. Everyone has free will and the right to believe whatever they want, rationally or not. But, here, we are dealing with spiritist science, and this is where the biggest problem with these people's ideas arises: the lack of knowledge of this science. Just read the Revista Espírita and other works by Kardec and you will see not only him, but also the good Spirits, often highlighting the need to expose the errors and, above all, the charlatans and enemies of the Spiritist Doctrine who, dressing their ideas under the guise of Spiritism, voluntarily or not promote the error that feeds the general discredit in Spiritism, as if it were another religion born of someone's ideas. We have already sufficiently demonstrated why Spiritism is a science, and not a religion.
Spiritism arrived in Brazil distorted
O fato é que o Espiritismo já se instalou no Brasil adulterado pelo Movimento Espírita iniciante ((fatos fartamente apresentados em Endand, in the FEB (Brazilian Spiritist Federation), the self-styled “home mater” of Brazilian Spiritism, far from finding ground for its restoration, it was replaced by the doctrine of Roustaing, completely based on old religious dogmas. This institution, which ended up dictating the direction of Brazilian Spiritism for a long time, never dedicated itself to recovering Spiritist science and the method necessary for the continuity of the Doctrine, with private evocations (and even in Spiritist centers), an essential tool for the scientific study, were abandoned. Without Kardec's method, and due to the interest in printing and selling mediumistic works, any idea coming from any Spirit began to be conveyed and, thus, slowly formed the general belief of the Spiritist Movement, today completely lost in ideas that, in fact, , are fundamentally anti-doctrinal.
We need to recognize, of course, that part of these ideas were founded even before the arrival of Spiritism in Brazil, with the adulteration of the works Heaven and Hell (mainly) and A Gênesis, after Kardec's death. Unfortunately, FEB is the first to defend the idea that these works have not been tampered with, a fact that, especially in relation to Heaven and Hell, is sufficiently evidenced and irrefutable.
Is talking about adulteration creating disbelief?
Aqui, enfim, chegamos a outra crítica de certas pessoas: “dizer que houve adulteração seria jogar lama em Kardec, suscitar descrença no Espiritismo”. “Aliás”, dizem elas, “que Doutrina é essa que os Espíritos permitem tal coisa, sem aviso?”. É um pensamento completamente ilógico.
We begin by remembering that the words of Christ himself were adulterated and distorted in favor of religious dogmas, and this fact was precisely what led to countless people's disbelief in Christianity. Voltaire was one of the most evident exponents of this disbelief, which still prevails today. We ask: would it be “throwing mud” at Jesus to highlight the adulterations? Would it “raise disbelief” in Christianity, highlighting distortions, while demonstrating original ideas? Obviously not. If the problem has occurred, we need to face it head on (a scientific and truly Kardecian attitude), and not sweep it under the rug while its overwhelming effects persist.
À ideia de que “os Espíritos não teriam permitido as adulterações”, opomos a forte recomendação de estudo da Doutrina, o que evidentemente não foi realizado por essas pessoas. Os Espíritos alertaram several times about the plots of the enemies of the Doctrine, as we demonstrated in Prophecy of the Spirit of Truth. Baseado nos alertas e nas evidências, Kardec também previa o futuro do Espiritismo, conforme destacou na Revista Espírita de dezembro de 1863, no artigo “Período de Lutas”:
The struggle will determine a new phase of Spiritism and will lead to the fourth period, which will be the religious period. Then the fifth will come, the intermediate period, natural consequence of the precedent and which, later, will receive its characteristic name. The sixth and final period will be the social renewal, which will open the era of the twentieth century. At that time, all obstacles to the new order of things desired by God for the transformation of the Earth will have disappeared. The generation that emerges, imbued with new ideas, will be in all its strength and will prepare the way for what must inaugurate the definitive victory of union, peace and fraternity among men, united in the same belief, through the practice of the evangelical law.
KARDEC, Allan. Spiritist Magazine, December 1863.
Unfortunately, the forecast for the sixth period is delayed by more than a century, due to several unpredictable facts at that time, such as the abandonment of Rational Spiritualism and Spiritist Science, in addition to the adulteration of the works cited. Then, the wars, the forgetfulness of the Doctrine in France and Europe and its installation in Brazil, completely distorted.
Spirits do not impede human free will
We remember, to finish, that the core of the Spiritist Doctrine, always demonstrated by the Spirits, is free will, which the Spirits cannot interfere with. They can advise, but they cannot hinder the human will. They did so: they advised extensively on the need for care that, unfortunately, was lacking from those who should take care of the master's legacy. It seems that the French Spiritist Movement was very comfortable with Kardec's direction and, when this was supposed to change, from mid-1869 (as exposed in the Spiritist Magazine of December 1868, “Transitional Constitution of Spiritism”) Kardec died, and all they were left aimless. Leymarie assuming the direction of the Spiritist Society, distorted the purpose of the Spiritist Magazine, admitting the Roustainuist doctrine in exchange for money, and the reader can find out the rest by reading the works Allan Kardec's Legacy, by Simoni Privato, Neither Heaven nor Hell, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo and End, by Wilson Garcia.
Good in the midst of mistakes
Many say: “the Spiritist Movement, in the midst of many mistakes, still produces good. It’s not wrong at all.” We couldn't disagree with that. We do not say that there is error or mistake in everything and that no good is produced. A mediumistic romance, even though it is full of wrong ideas, can be the gateway to the questioning individual go after more information, ending up getting to know Kardec's works, in short. But, we ask: wouldn't it be better if Spiritism were presented as it is, simple and rational, without the absurdities that produce so many setbacks and that very often lead to disbelief? We cannot fail to highlight that, when space is created for a mistake, within a science, and this mistake is not remedied by theory and doctrinal facts, it gives rise to many others. That's what has happened.
Restoration
The time has come to restore Spiritism, which has already begun in Brazil and will spread throughout the world. The first step is to learn Spiritism as it truly is, moving away from errors. Those who, called “spiritists”, do not wish to do so, will join a new religion, if they wish, as dogmatic as the others. Let's let time take care of them, but that doesn't mean we stop doing our part, presenting the errors, in the face of the Spiritist Doctrine, without personalism. Then, the time will come to restore Kardec's method. These two steps will give rise to the possibility of the sixth period foreseen by Kardec: that of social renewal.
Be part of this journey, which is collective and will only happen through the collaboration of many.
The strongest evidence of tampering with Allan Kardec's Heaven and Hell
They are undisputed legal facts at tampering of A Gênesis and O Céu e o Inferno, for the mere reason that editions were released, with changes, after the death of the author and without legal deposit – this is what at least four specialized legal operators say: Simoni Private, Julio Nogueira, Lucas Sampaio and Marcelo Henrique. That cool fact it is above of any consideration and, because of this, spiritist federations from other countries, respecting the law, returned to the third edition of the work. Unfortunately, the Brazilian Spiritist Federation, having a lot to recapitulate when taking this attitude (since the original text of A Gênesis contradicts a multitude of errors that populate most of the publications edited and printed by it) still resists these facts, basing itself in layman arguments on copyright matters.
In addition to the legal fact and the necessary respect for the law, through the study we have just identified another piece of evidence, perhaps the most decisive of all, of the adulteration of Heaven and Hell, the work of Allan Kardec, precisely in the part that expressed the doctrinal philosophy in its clearest and purest face.
In The Spirits' Book, Kardec deals with the issue of spirits who have always chosen the path of good (we also dealt with this in the article "Intimate Reform and Spiritism“:
There are spirits who have always chosen the path of good
121. Why do some Spirits follow the path of good and others the path of evil?
“Don’t they have free will? God did not create evil spirits; He created them simple and ignorant, that is, having as much aptitude for good as for evil. Those who are evil became so of their own free will.”
133. The Spirits who From the beginning they followed the path of good?
“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 torment. He who is not envious, nor jealous, nor avaricious, nor ambitious, will not suffer the tortures that originate from these defects.”
The Spirits' Book. Emphasis added.
Confirmed by the Spirits, there are those who have always chosen the path of goodness, which does not free them from the need to incarnate for their development. Thus, they have nothing to atone for, since atonement is the conscious choice of tests and opportunities that help them to let go of imperfections they have consciously acquired (remembering that merely making a mistake is not acquiring imperfections, as long as the mistake is overcome through learning. What generates imperfections is the conscious repetition of the mistake).
Furthermore, it is only logical that those who have overcome an acquired imperfection through atonement have nothing more to atone for, except if they develop new imperfections. Even so, they may need to be born on a planet like Earth, simply because their current needs demand it or because they choose to incarnate on a mission. Jesus Christ himself is the ultimate example of the latter, and even though he was a pure Spirit, he still faced the vicissitudes of matter without having anything to atone for. Look where admitting these false ideas leads: to the dogma of Spirits created apart and who have never actually been among us (a dogma supported by Roustaing)!
Strong evidence of tampering with Heaven and Hell
And here we come to the proof of the adulteration of Heaven and Hell, which, in the edition released after Kardec's death, introduced two items in chapter VIII (which became chapter VII):
9th — Every fault committed, every evil done, is a debt contracted that must be paid; If it is not so in one existence, it will be so in the next or subsequent ones, because all existences are in solidarity with each other. Whoever pays it off in the present existence will not have to pay a second time.
10 - The Spirit suffers the penalty of its imperfections, whether in the spirit world or in the corporeal world. All the miseries, all the vicissitudes we endure in corporeal life are the result of our imperfections, expiations of faults committed, whether in the present existence or in previous ones.
Heaven and Hell, fourth edition. FEB. My emphasis.
These two items, I repeat, did not exist in the third edition of the work, released and printed by Kardec during his lifetime. To admit that Kardec included these items in that edition, especially item 10, would be to admit that Kardec contradicted everything he had developed up to that point.
To support this false idea, the following paragraphs were removed in the adulteration, in chapter IX (formerly chapter X):
In the first stages of their existence, spirits are subject to material incarnation, which is necessary for their development, until they have reached a certain level. The number of incarnations is indeterminate and is subordinate to the speed of progress, which occurs in direct proportion to the work and good will of the spirit, who always acts according to their free will. Those who, due to their carelessness, negligence, obstinacy or bad will, remain in the lower classes for longer, suffer the consequences, and the habit of evil makes it difficult for them to get out of this state. One day, however, they get tired of this painful existence and the suffering that comes with it. Then, when they compare their situation to that of the good spirits, they realize that their interest lies in doing good and they try to improve themselves, but they do so of their own free will, without being forced to do so. They are subject to the law of progress because of their ability to progress, but they don't do it against their will. God constantly provides them with the means to progress, but they are free to take advantage of them or not. If progress were obligatory, spirits would have no merit, and God wants everyone to have the merit of their works, privileging no one with the first place, a position granted to all, but which they achieve only through their own efforts. The highest angels earned their position by traveling the same route as everyone else. Everyone, from the top to the bottom, has belonged or still belongs to humanity.
Men are therefore more or less advanced incarnate spirits, and spirits are the souls of men who have left their material shell. Spiritual life is the normal life of the spirit. The body is nothing more than a temporary garment, appropriate to the functions it must perform on Earth, just as a warrior puts on his armor and chain mail for the moment of combat, then takes them off after the battle, only to put them on again when the time comes for a new fight. Corporeal life is the battle that spirits must face in order to advance, so they put on this armor which is both an instrument of action and an embarrassment.
When they incarnate, spirits bring with them their inherent qualities. Imperfect spirits therefore make up imperfect people; those who are more advanced, good, intelligent, educated, are instinctively good, intelligent people who can easily acquire new knowledge. In the same way, when people die, they provide the spirit world with good or bad, advanced or backward spirits. The corporeal world and the spiritual world thus constantly supply each other.
Among the evil spirits there are those who have all the perversity of demons, to whom we can perfectly apply the image we have of the latter. When they are incarnate, they are perverse and cunning men who delight in evil, seemingly created for the misfortune of all those who are drawn into their intimacy, and of whom it can be said - without it being offensive - that they are demons incarnate.
Having reached a certain degree of purification, spirits are given missions compatible with their advancement, thus performing all the functions attributed to angels of different orders. As God has always created, there have always been enough spirits to meet all the needs of the government of the Universe. A single species of intelligent beings, subject to the law of progress, is therefore sufficient for everything. This unity in creation, together with the idea that everyone has the same common origin, the same path to follow, and that they all rise by their own merit, corresponds much better to God's justice than the creation of different species, more or less favored by natural gifts, equivalent to privileges.
Heaven and Hell – Editora FEAL
More evidence of the original idea
Below are some more excerpts from Kardec's work that show the true understanding of the subject (incarnation is not exclusively the result of atonement):
According to a system that is somewhat specious at first glance, spirits were not created to incarnate and incarnation would only be the result of their lack. Such a system is undermined by the mere fact that if no spirit had failed, there would be no human beings on Earth or on other worlds. Now, since man's presence is necessary for the material improvement of the worlds; since he contributes by his intelligence and activity to the general work, he is one of the essential cogs in Creation. God could not subordinate the accomplishment of this part of his work to the eventual fall of his creatures, unless he counted on an ever-sufficient number of guilty people to provide laborers for the worlds created and yet to be created. Common sense rejects such an idea.
KARDEC. Spiritist Review - 1863 > June > On the principle of the non-retrogradation of the Spirit. Emphases added.
In this article, in this passage, Kardec is evidently firmly refuting the same idea conveyed in Roustaing's Four Gospels (which would only be released in 1865), that incarnation would only take place for atonement, that is, when the Spirit is "guilty":
The idea of incarnation as punishment, we said, is an idea totally linked to Roustaing's dogmas:
N. 59. Which is what we should think of the opinion that goes like this: "In the same way that, for the Spirit in a state of formation, materialization in the mineral and vegetable kingdoms and in the intermediate species, and likewise incarnation in the animal kingdom and in the intermediate species, is a necessity and not a punishment resulting from a fault committed, so, too, for the formed Spirit, which already has independent intelligence, awareness of its faculties, awareness and freedom of its actions, free will and is in a state of innocence and ignorance, incarnation, first in primitive lands, then in the lower and higher worlds, until it has reached perfection, is a necessity and not a punishment"?
"No, human incarnation is not a necessity, it's a punishment, we've already said that. And punishment cannot precede guilt."
The Spirit is not humanized, we have already explained this, before the first lack subjected it to human incarnation. Only then is he prepared, as we have already shown, to suffer the consequences.
ROUSTAING, Jean B. Four Gospels, Tome I, item 59
It's easy to see the similarity between this idea and the one introduced in the 4th edition of Heaven and Hell: that incarnation only takes place when the Spirit is guilty of a previous error.
Let's continue with the evidence of Kardec's original idea and the Doctrine:
132. What is the purpose of the incarnation of spirits?
"God imposes the incarnation on them in order to bring them to perfection. For some, it is an atonement; for others, it is a mission. But in order to reach this perfection, they have to suffer all the vicissitudes of bodily existence: that's the atonement [...].
The Book of Spirits
For some, it's atonement; for others, it's a mission. "In order to achieve this perfection, they have to suffer all the vicissitudes of bodily existence: that is what the atonement is," in other words, the atonement, treated in the religious world as a process of remission of sins by divine punishment, here, for Spiritism, is just the process of learning and development of the Spirit.
However, fatality is not an empty word. It exists in the position man occupies on Earth and in the functions he performs there, as a result of the kind of life his Spirit has chosen as a test, atonement or mission. He fatally suffers all the vicissitudes of this existence and all the good or bad tendencies that are inherent to it.
The Book of Spirits
The Spirit suffers the vicissitudes of the existence chosen by the Spirit, as a test, atonement or mission.
Is incarnation a punishment and are only guilty spirits subject to it?
Spirits' passage through corporeal life is necessary so that they can fulfill, through material action, the designs that God has entrusted to them. It is necessary for their own sake, since the activity they are obliged to carry out helps them to develop their intelligence. Being sovereignly just, God has to distribute everything equally to all his children; that's why he has established for everyone the same starting point, the same aptitude, the same obligations to fulfill and the same freedom to proceed. Any privilege would be a preference, an injustice. But incarnation is only a temporary state for all spirits. It is a task that God imposes on them when they begin life, as their first experience of the use they will make of their free will. Those who perform this task with zeal quickly and less painfully pass through the first stages of initiation and enjoy the fruits of their labors sooner. On the other hand, those who misuse the freedom that God has given them slow down their progress and, no matter how obstinate they are, they can prolong the need for reincarnation indefinitely, in which case it becomes a punishment. - St. Louis (Paris, 1859)
KARDEC. The Gospel according to Spiritism > Chapter IV - No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again > Instructions from the Spirits. > Necessities of incarnation. > 25. Our emphasis.
Of course, the Spirits show that incarnation is necessary for everyone, so that while they develop, they play their part in Creation.
Examples of immediate punishment are less rare than you might think. If we were to go back to the source of all the vicissitudes of life, we would almost always see the natural consequence of some fault committed. Man receives terrible lessons at every moment, which unfortunately he makes very little use of.
The Spiritist Review, 1864
Almost always the sources of all the vicissitudes of life go back to the natural consequence of some fault committed.
[The good man] Knows that all the vicissitudes of life, all the pain, all the disappointments, are trials or atonements, and accepts them without murmuring.
The Gospel According to Spiritism
All the vicissitudes of life are trials or atonements. Trial: everything that helps us learn, all of life's difficulties. Atonement: certain types of trials, chosen to exercise detachment from an acquired imperfection.
"The disciples' question 'Is this man's sin the cause of his being born blind' indicates an intuition of a previous existence. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense, because the sin that would be the cause of a birth defect would have to have been committed before birth and, consequently, in a previous existence. If Jesus had seen a false idea there, he would have said: "How could this man have sinned before he was among us?" Instead, he told them that if the man is blind, it doesn't mean that he has sinned, but in order for God's power to shine in him; it's like saying that he should be the instrument of a manifestation of God's power. If this was not an atonement for the past, it was a test that should serve his progress, because God, who is just, could not impose suffering on him without compensation."
KARDEC, Allan. The Genesis. 4th edition. “Blind from Birth”. Emphasis added.
In this passage, where Kardec deals with Jesus' healing of blindness, he makes the following observation: "If this was not an atonement for the past, it is proof that it should serve your progress". This means that for him, and in accordance with Spiritism, vicissitudes are not only an atonement, but also a learning tool. This passage even appears in the 5th edition of Genesis (the adulterated edition), and Kardec cannot have contradicted himself in his ideas in each of his works. This is not the Kardec we know.
Reason for adulteration
Anyone who is seriously investigating the subject, and who has also investigated the adulteration of Genesis, will notice something in common between the two adulterations: the principle of the dogma of incarnation as the result of punishment for sin - a strongly limiting and imprisoning dogma, echoed by Roustaing and taught by the mystifying spirits who communicated with him through the medium Emilie Collignon. Contra a sua teoria, existe um simples detalhe: Jesus.
Jesus, the most evolved Spirit ever to incarnate among us, had nothing to "pay", since he was a pure Spirit. How can this problem be solved? By saying that Jesus didn't incarnate, but was in fact an agenere, that is, a materialized Spirit, who simply deceived us throughout his trajectory.
The point is that, in Heaven and Hell, the doctrinal ideas that showed incarnation as necessary for everyone, good and bad, were removed, and the idea that everything we go through is the result of atonement for mistakes in past lives was added (item 10, chapter 7, Penal Code of the Future Life); in the adulteration of Genesis, not by chance, item 67 of chapter XV was removed and, as Henri Netto demonstrates,
[…] the renumbering of item 68 as if it were item 67 hides the logical assessment (albeit in terms of suppositions) of the fate of Yeshua's bodily envelope after his burial. What would be Kardec's reason, after repelling the docetist thesis ("fluidic body" of Jesus), and affirming his human nature, for suppressing his judicious considerations on the subject?
In other words: in Genesis, in order to support the adulterations of Heaven and Hell, the idea that demonstrates, by unequivocal example, that incarnation is not just for atonement (adding here that atonement is the conscious act of choosing trials with the aim of returning to goodness, for those Spirits who, in the minority, chose to be attached to error and thus developed imperfections) was attacked. A doctrinal idea has been removed, even though the recommendation of the Spirit who communicated to Kardec on the subject of the new edition was not to remove anything related to doctrinal ideas.
Conclusion
Either Kardec made this change, or he didn't make this change. If he made this change himself, then he contradicted his entire previous understanding and, furthermore, he demonstrates an altered state of mental health, since he contradicted this idea in A Gênese, including in its fifth edition, as we demonstrated above.
Now, knowing that Kardec makes his understanding very clear that incarnation cannot be the exclusive result of atonement, and knowing his state of sound mental health up until the day of his death, we can only come to one conclusion: this work has been tampered with.
The change is very clear: "All the miseries, all the vicissitudes that we endure in corporeal life are the result of our imperfections, expiations of faults committed." This is clearly Roustaing's idea. This is clearly Roustaing's idea, and the essence of this chapter has been lost with the alteration, in order to implement the same dogmas that this gentleman accepted and defended:
"No, human incarnation is not a necessity, it's a punishment, we've already said that. And punishment cannot precede guilt."
ROUSTAING, Jean B. Four Gospels, Tome I, item 59
Many will say that item 16 of chapter VII of Heaven and Hell (the adulterated version) contains the same principle removed from the original item 8:
16 - Repentance is the first step towards perfection; but it alone is not enough; atonement and reparation are still needed.
Repentance, atonement and reparation are the three conditions necessary to erase the traces of a fault and its consequences.
El arrepentimiento suaviza el dolor de la expiación, dando esperanza y preparando el camino para la rehabilitación; pero sólo la reparación puede anular el efecto destruyendo la causa; el perdón sería una gracia, no una anulación.
However, we ask: what do repentance, atonement and reparation become, when subjected to the ideas inserted by adulteration, if not the fulfillment of a sentence or a punishment? What does error, part of learning, become if not a condemnation? And, looking at it from this angle, we ask: the individual who is led to think this way, how does he act towards life? Does he or she act austerely, trying to overcome the mistake, or, believing himself or herself condemned, does he or she submit to inaction or, worse, slip into even more mistakes? What about your neighbor, who is suffering the vicissitudes of life? Do you see in them a brother or sister who needs our support, a being capable of overcoming their difficulties through learning, or do you see in them another condemned person, about whom nothing can be done, since they are serving their sentence? Finally: does all this lead to a state of cooperation, in search of progress, or does it lead to materialism and selfishness?
These are questions that everyone has to ask themselves, in possession of the knowledge that, for me, took three years to clarify and establish. Maybe, with all this, I can help to shorten that time for you.
Enemies of good strive to delay it
It is very clear that the most important chapter of Heaven and Hell, precisely the one that contained the essence of the doctrinal philosophy, was deliberately adulterated. The ideas originally established were completely remodeled according to dogmas linked to the idea of the fall through sin, delaying the development of Spiritism on the face of the Earth by more than 150 years. Enough. Now it's time to recover and study. We recommend reading our Recommended Works.
The efforts of those who try to master the truth are linked to old-world conceptions. They are spirits who are still incapable of understanding the essence of Spiritism and who, consciously or not, are fighting against its ideas of autonomy and freedom. As Kardec would say, let time take care of them.
They claim to have summarily proved that there was no tampering and thus refuted all evidence to the contrary. I therefore ask these individuals to explain this illogical and contradictory alteration to the whole doctrine.
How priests act
For Leymarie, the facts and the discussion about them did not matter. To maintain his version, he aimed to dominate the truth with various subterfuges. He tried to take control of spiritualist opinion and hid everything he could testify against his ideas. Those who contradict the facts of adulteration with a “siren song”, as Marcelo Henrique would say, also act in this way.
A few days ago, I commented on the video “Was the Book of Genesis really tampered with?”, published on the Grupo Espírita Revelare channel, on YouTube:
It's no coincidence that my comments don't appear to anyone else, as I'm hidden on the channel.
Ego Sum Via Veritas et Vita (I am the Way, the Truth and the Life) pixabay – didgeman
For a time, they despised Kardec's message, bringing false ideas into their doctrine. His concluding works had their best adulterated ideas. A persistent disclosure of false principles by refractors (( “22. Alongside the materialists strictly speaking, there is a third class of unbelievers who, although spiritualists, at least in name, are no less refractory to Spiritism: they are the unwilling unbelievers. These do not want to believe, because it gives them it would disturb the enjoyment of pleasures. They fear finding condemnation of their ambition, their selfishness and the human vanities in which they delight. They close their eyes so as not to see and cover their ears so as not to hear them. .” A. Kardec, The Books of Mediums, Preliminary Notions, chapter III Method)), implanted the lie among many spiritists, causing division.
However, in an increasing sequence, Allan Kardec's original documents, facts and ideas returned to light. His works were recovered, like the works Heaven and hell from 1865 and The Genesis of 1868 in their translations of their original versions. The contents presented are extremely important, as they are ideas that are much more in-depth by Kardec.
New times are already upon us, reforming ideas are spreading around the world. It is interesting to note how through study enlightened by sincere and disinterested dedication, the spiritist message, which is that of Jesus, will reach everyone. And the Spiritism will be the lever of the moral revolution, which will regenerate humanity, paving the way for a happy world.
Evil in the world represents the false mentality, which divides the world in order to justify the pride and selfishness of those who consider themselves superior and privileged. In this way, they manage to dominate and, even worse, abuse the masses. They consider her inferior and impure. The good, the good news or true mentality aims to awaken duty through reason and freedom, choosing solidarity through cooperation and mutual support, aiming for the happiness of all humanity, at all levels. By the guidance and direction of the good spirits, who are ministers of God. Everyone follows the path of good that leads to God. Spiritism, finally, explains and develops the idea of Jesus, a true mentality or good news. Like all revelations, it faces opposition from the proud and selfish who defend the false mentality.
What is the idea of false mindset? Falsely spreading that we have 2 Gods in the world, God and the Devil; spread the idea that the spiritual world is divided into 2 parts, heaven and hell; that people are divided into pure and impure, superior and inferior, etc. This is the FALSE IDEA.
In order for us to overcome the false idea, we cannot use the “same weapons” as the false idea. It uses imposition, violence, division, lies, the chosen who understand the teachings as non-existent intellectual superiority: it says that if you don't understand you are inferior, only superiors understand
THE TRUE IDEA It depends on everyone's effort! Each of us needs to understand the true idea!!
You just have to be indifferent and you help maintain the False Idea!
There is a very interesting article from 1859 that we will highlight some points regarding this idea of Jesus also described by Spiritism:
“Thus, Spiritism is based on general principles independent of any dogmatic issue. It is true that it has moral consequences, like all philosophical sciences. These consequences are compatible with Christianity, because Christianity is, of all doctrines, the most enlightened, the purest, which is why, of all the religious sects in the world, the Christian ones are the most capable of understanding Spiritism in its true essence.
A. Kardec, Revista Espirita, 1859 – Refutation of an article by “L 'Univers” ((https://kardecpedia.com/roteiro-de-estudos/893/revista-espirita-jornal-de-estudos-psicologicos-1859 /4547/may/refutation-of-an-article-from-l-univers ))
Spiritism is not, therefore, a religion. (…) Spiritism is concerned with observing facts and not the particularities of this or that belief; researching the causes; of the explanation that facts can give of known phenomena, both in the moral and physical order, and does not impose any cult on its supporters, in the same way that Astronomy does not impose the cult of the stars, nor Pyrotechnics the cult of fire. (…)
Today, thanks to the lights of Christianity, we can judge it with more certainty. He puts us on our guard against wrong systems, the fruits of ignorance. And religion itself can draw from it tangible proof of many truths contested by certain opinions. This is why, contrary to most philosophical sciences, one of its effects is to return to religious ideas those who have strayed into exaggerated skepticism.
When the elaboration of the Spiritist Doctrine through dialogue with the spirits was yet to begin, Allan Kardec in 1856 talked to the Spirit of Truth, who presented him with the following Prophecy for Spiritism:
Do not suppose that it is enough for you to publish one book, two books, ten books, and then stay quietly at home. You have to expose yourself. You will stir up terrible hatred against you; bitter enemies will be conjured for your loss; you will see yourself in arms with malevolence, with slander, with treachery even of those who seem to you the most dedicated; your best instructions will be despised and falsified; for more than once you will succumb under the weight of fatigue; in a word: you will have to sustain an almost continuous struggle, with the sacrifice of your rest, your tranquillity, your health and even your life, because without it, you would live much longer. (Posthumous works, pag. 344)
From 1858 to 1869, when Kardec published his books and the Spiritist Magazine spreading Spiritism, there were offences, slanders and defamations. He defended his ideas and the Spirits tooth and nail. After his death in 1869, the series of adulterations in his works, . Furthermore, countless false ideas were spread about the doctrine. Read the article our position where we explain our conclusions.
Unfortunately, major revelations always face these characteristics as consequences: hatred, betrayal, contempt and false ideas. If Spiritism is of great importance, it is natural for it to happen.
Pixbay Image – Ambroo
The other revelations, such as that of Moses and Christ, had the same resistance that the Spirit of Truth mentioned.
Overcoming the false idea of the Egyptians, Moses led to the people who followed him the idea of the one God, and the solidary destiny of humanity. Moses did not speak only to the Hebrew people: he called people from all classes of Egypt. And that’s what made the Egyptian priests bother: it was the imminent danger of a social revolution. Hatred and betrayals began.
And the Jews, who were among those who adopted his thought, deviated from the proposal of universal harmony. They elaborated the exclusivist beliefs and practices, separating pure and impure, those who would be from God and those dominated by the devil. were the false ideas that were far from what Moses proposed. The idea of God, devil, heaven and hell, pure and impure, is not part of this revelation. And that’s what Jesus came to do by putting things in his way.
Jesus came among the Jews to bring the true mentality and denounce the false idea. His good news represented the arrival of the full divine law for mankind. Jesus predicted that his ideas would be distorted. If Jesus predicted this with his own teaching, why would it not occur with the Spiritist Revelation?
26. Meanwhile, Christ adds: "Many of the things I say to you cannot yet understand, and many more I would have to say, but you would not understand; therefore I speak to you in parables; but later I will send you the Comforter, the Spirit Truth who will restore all things and explain them all.
If Jesus announced that it would be necessary to restore the lost teachings, we clearly deduced that something was abandoned, both in the teachings of Moses, in Jesus and in Spiritism.
And Kardec undertook a fight that actually ended up taking away his health, as was the prophecy of the Spirit of Truth. From studies we know that the best instructions of the Spiritist Doctrine were disregarded in many cases, and worse, falsified in others. We need to recover these lost teachings! ((text drawn from the lecture given by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, Click here for more details ))
Below is the complete communication of the Spirit of Truth of 1856:
June 12, 1856 (At Mr. C...; medium: Ms. Aline C...) My mission Question (to the Truth) - Good Spirit, I wanted to know what you think of the mission that some Spirits signed me. Tell me, I beg you if it’s evidence of my self-love. I have, as you know, the greatest desire to contribute to the propagation of the truth, but from the role of the simple worker to that of missionary in chief, the distance is great and I do not understand what can justify in me such grace, preferably to so many others who have talent and qualities that I do not have. Answer - I confirm what was said, but I recommend you a lot of discretion if you want to do well. You will later learn things that will explain what surprises you. Do not forget that you can triumph, how you can fail. In the latter case, another would replace you, for God’s designs do not rest on a man’s head. Never, therefore, speak of your mission; it would be the way to make it fail. It can only be justified by the work done and you have done nothing yet. If you fulfill it, men will know how to recognize it, sooner or later, since the quality of the tree is verified by the fruits. P. - I certainly have no desire to boast of a mission I hardly believe in. If I am destined to serve as an instrument for Providence, may it dispose of me. In that case, I claim your assistance and that of the good spirits, in the send
A. - Our assistance will not be lacking, but it will be useless if you do not do what is necessary. You have your free will, which you can use as you see fit. No man is constrained to do anything. Q. - What causes could determine my failure? Would it be the insufficiency of my abilities? A. - No; but the mission of the reformers is pregnant with obstacles and dangers. I warn you that yours is rude because it is about shaking and transforming the whole world. Do not suppose that it is enough to publish a book, two books, ten books, and then be quietly at home. You have to expose yourself. You will stir up terrible hatred against you; bitter enemies will be conjured for your loss; you will see yourself in arms with malevolence, with slander, with treachery even of those who seem to you the most dedicated; your best instructions will be despised and falsified; for more than once you will succumb under the weight of fatigue; in a word: you will have to sustain an almost continuous struggle, with a sacrifice of your rest, your tranquillity, your health and even your life, because without it, you would live much longer. Well! not a few retreat when, instead of a flowery road, only see under the steps heathers, sharp stones and snakes. Intelligence is not enough for such missions. It is necessary, first, to please God, with humility, modesty and disinterest, since He slaughters the proud, the presumptuous and the ambitious. Courage, perseverance and unwavering firmness are indispensable to fight men. Prudence and tact are also necessary in order to conduct things properly and not to compromise their success with untimely words or measures. Finally, devotion, self-denial and willingness to all sacrifices are required. You see, thus, that your mission is subordinate to conditions that depend on you. Spirit of Truth
I - Spirit of Truth, thank your wise counsel. I accept everything, without restriction and without preconceived ideas.
Posthumous Works, pg. 343-5
In Posthumous Works, follows an interesting note made by Allan Kardec more than 10 years later:
NOTE - I write this note on January 1, 1867, ten and a half years after I was given the above communication and I attest that it took place at all points, as I experienced all the vicissitudes that were predicted to me. I fought with hatred of hardened enemies, with slander, slander, envy and jealousy; infamous libels were published against me; my best instructions were falsified; those whom I trusted most betrayed me, I was paid with ingratitude by those to whom I served. The Paris Society was the focus of continuous intrigues against me by those who declared themselves in my favour and who, in good face in my presence, hit me in the back. They said that those who kept me faithful were my soldiers and that I paid them with the money I earned from Spiritism. I was never given to know what rest is; more than once I succumbed to overwork, had shaken health and compromised existence. Thanks, however, to the protection and assistance of the good spirits who incessantly gave me manifest proofs of solicitude, I have the fortune to recognize that I have never felt the slightest faintness or discouragement and that I have continued, always with the same ardour, in the performance of my task, without worrying about the wickedness of which I was the object. According to the communication of the Spirit of Truth, I had to rely on all this and everything was verified. But also, along with these vicissitudes, which I experienced of satisfaction, seeing the work grow so prodigiously! I am fortunate to recognize that I never felt the slightest weakness or discouragement and that I continued, always with the same ardor, in the performance of my task, without worrying about the wickedness of which I was the object. According to the communication of the Spirit of Truth, I had to rely on all this and everything was checked. But also, along with these vicissitudes, which I experienced of satisfactions, seeing the work grow so prodigiously!
