We all go through the evolutionary process through incarnations. All, without exception. During this process, because of our choices, we can develop good habits or bad habits. The former become virtues, which bring us closer to happiness, while the latter become imperfections, which distance us from happiness and, therefore, prolong our sufferings.
“All men experience passions. Those who have overcome them, and are not, by nature, proud, ambitious, selfish, spiteful, vindictive, cruel, wrathful, sensual, and do good without effort, without premeditation and, so to speak, involuntarily, it is because they have progressed in the sequence of their previous existences, having freed themselves from this uncomfortable weight. It is unfair to say that they have less merit when they do good, compared to those who fight against their tendencies. It turns out that they have already achieved victory, while the others have not yet. But when they achieve it, they will be like the others. They will do good without thinking about it, like children who read fluently without needing to spell. It is as if there were two sick people: one cured and full of strength while the other is still convalescing and hesitates to walk; or like two runners, one of which is closer to the finish than the other.”
KARDEC, Allan. The Genesis. 4th edition (original), FEAL
Bad habits are of two types: moral and material (which, deep down, always have something moral, that is, the will of the Spirit). Bad moral habits are those easily recognized as avarice, jealousy, vanity, selfishness, pride, etc., the last two of which can be understood as the parents of all others. Bad material habits, on the other hand, are those such as addictions to drugs or the exaggeration of certain animal instincts, such as gluttony, addiction to sex, etc.
Both are very difficult to combat, now installed. Often, they require multiple incarnations and, not infrequently, we find ourselves in the condition of the one who you see where he goes wrong and the suffering it causes him, but who says: “he is stronger than me”. Commonly, in this condition, which is already the beginning of something very important, through simple recognition, we are going to look for different external ways of dealing with these bad habits, whether religious or philosophical, or medicinal. We look for hospitalizations, drugs that aim to combat certain aspects, religions that will commonly classify as sin or that will say that we need to change in a hurry, because “Jesus awaits us”. None of this, however, manages to change what is at the bottom of our souls, except with rare exceptions. It is that, in all this, a fundamental key is missing: the will.
Let's see: all external artifices can, of course, help a lot in the process of overcoming. Prayer or prayer, medication, external practices, in short, everything is a tool, but I am here to say that nothing will change unless the individual acquires the firm will to win. And this is a process, very greatly aided by reason. Spiritism, when it shows us that joy and sadness, pleasure and pain are purely material and transient conditions, but that true happiness lies in getting rid of the conditions that force us to continue incarnating in such brutal conditions, living under the fruit of our own imperfections, tells us: everyone will reach the heavens, but it depends only on each one When it will happen.
By understanding this aspect, we can begin to see life differently. Every difficult situation and every opportunity becomes a learning device. We start to face difficulties with different eyes and become more attentive to the opportunities to which the good Spirits lead us, as long as we have the will.
Still, winning seems something very distant and difficult. Many will say: the flesh is weak. Well, we really can't assume that overnight we will overcome a bad habit that is deeply ingrained in our minds. This is the first fundamental understanding. It is necessary to adopt reason and will to develop better habits, being who of them is the habit of learning to say “not today”. Let's learn to design our future: why do we want to get rid of one imperfection or more? Because we wish we didn't need to go through more lives in the same condition. Who knows, the transformation may be so great that, at the end of this incarnation, we can conquer the possibility of incarnating in slightly happier worlds? Even more: those who know the transformation may, albeit slowly, take place in such a profound way that we can, day after day, find a growing happiness in our hearts, in the face of the realization that we have learned to deal a little better with difficulties and bad habits?
This should be enough to provoke us with firm intentions for change, in the concrete hope of a better tomorrow for ourselves.
Therefore, when we struggle with our imperfections, let us learn to watch our thoughts, moving away, that is, not even thinking, about what leads us to the stumbling processes. And if today we were not strong enough and we stumbled, let's not say: "I can't, I'm not strong", but rather "I'm not perfect and I still haven't been able to overcome", analyzing where the mistake happened and remaining firm in the purpose of change. . We just can't take this principle as an excuse.
Dear reader, know and never forget: if you already notice an imperfection, this is the beginning of your change. Strengthen your will and know that, through it, you will never be abandoned. The friendly spirits themselves will lead you to the opportunities that you will have to accept or not. It's a good book that arrives in due course, it's a word from a friend, it's an article like this, designed to move you. Be aware of bad suggestions, however, which will continue to come from spirits accustomed to disturbance, and build up your strength in study and prayer, always seeking to reform yourself. The other things, such as doing good, studying the gospel, psychological counseling, are, yes, very important, but it depends on you, and only you, wish to achieve happiness.
Remember, after all, that Jesus, nailed to the cross, listening to the repentance and pleas for forgiveness of the thief nailed to the cross next to him, replied: “today you will be with me in paradise”. “Being with Jesus in paradise” means saying that the thief, having repented and found the will change, entered a new learning phase. It was not Jesus who saved him, but himself. Think about it.
We recommend watching the study below. Talk deeply about it:
Can a person die before his time or is it always fate or fate?
It is a false concept, although widespread, to say that there is a plan in everything. If so, we would not have free will.
When it is said that even a leaf that falls is under the will of God, it means to say that everything is under his Laws, which are perfect. However, there is no direct effect of the will of God that determines that, at that moment, the leaf will fall or not fall.
Well then: we, as Spirits, before entering the realm of conscience and choice, are guided solely by instinct. It is he who guides us, for example, when we are animals: hunger makes us look for food, anger helps us to kill the animal that will serve as food and fear keeps us away from dangerous conditions. When we are an animal outside the top of the chain, many times we are killed to serve as food for another animal (see: there is no harm in that, but good, because we are following the Law of God). After death, the Spirit of the animal, which still lacks self-awareness and the ability to choose and, therefore, does not suffer morally, is very quickly reused in another animal that is born.
After entering the realm of free will, we progressively choose our lives, planning them in general terms. If I was very attached to jealousy, which causes me difficulties and suffering, once we understand this, we choose a way of life that will provide us with possibilities to deal with this imperfection. Friendly spirits participate in this planning who, throughout life, help us, influencing us, inspiring us and often leading us to situations that may be useful to ourselves.
All this was necessary to highlight: we are Spirits living incarnations in dense matter. We are therefore subject to spiritual laws and the laws of matter. The latter make us exposed to the conditions of matter, such as, for example, a torrential rain that causes a commotion in a mountain, that comes down on the houses, a volcano that explodes, an earthquake that generates a devastating tsunami or, still, a comet that hits the planet and destroys it completely. The idea of “collective karma”, therefore, is FALSE (in fact, the idea of karma, as we know it, is false).
From another point of view, we are also subject to the choices of other incarnate Spirits. See: God and the superior spirits respect the free will and time of men. This is why there is no divine interruption of a war, nor of a small-scale crime. Of course, good spirits try to dissuade bad choices through their influences, but in the end, man is the one who chooses to listen to them (or to his own conscience) or not. On the other hand, a person who is leading himself into a situation where he becomes a victim may also try to be inspired, if possible, to deviate from it. How many individuals escape accidents and crimes because of a dream or an insistent thought, or even through an event that causes them to get in the way?
Of course, this is not a concession to special people. We all have good spirits who love us, without exception, but we are often too far away from their influences or turn a deaf ear to their suggestions.
One more logical observation that we make is that when a person dies from a crime, he is NEVER “paying” for something from the past (but he may, of course, have been the victim of his own carelessness, when, for example, he gets into a criminal or dangerous environment of their own volition).
Finally, we arrive at the realization: the genre and the time of death can, yes, be planned before the incarnation of the Spirit, but the course of life can, of course, change this planning. There is no predetermined destiny, because if there were, we would be mere puppets in the theater of life. We can change our plans – and we often do. We can even create a disease, by our actions, that kills us sooner than planned, and we can also get rid of a disease or condition that would take us at a young age, if a series of conditions allow (and it is NOT part of these conditions what they call of "deserving".
Think of that person who crosses the street without looking: it is not a Spirit that impels him to such an act, but his own carelessness, a bad habit. Through this bad habit, he may, at any moment, encounter a car speeding along or a driver looking the other way, and he may crash and die. Think, too, of the parachutist who jumps out of an airplane, putting his life on a parachute. Instinct tells him to be afraid to do it, but his will, the fruit of choice, falsifies that instinct, and he, anyway, launches himself. If the parachute fails and he dies, it was not God who wanted it that way, nor a Spirit who spoiled the parachute, but the laws of matter themselves.
We believe that this thought was clear, but we close by highlighting what Kardec presents in Practical instructions on spiritist manifestations:
FATALITY — from Latin. fatalites, in fatum, destiny. Inevitable fate. A doctrine that supposes that all the events of life and, by extension, all our acts, are predestined and subject to a law from which we cannot escape. There are two kinds of fatality: one arising from external causes, which can affect us and react on us; we could call it reactive, exterior, eventual fatality; the other, which originates in ourselves, determines all our actions; it is personal fatality. In the absolute sense of the word, fatality transforms man into a machine, without initiative or free will and, consequently, without responsibility. It is the negation of all morality.
According to the spiritist doctrine, by choosing its new existence, the Spirit practices an act of freedom. The events of life are the consequence of choice and are related to the social position of existence. If the spirit must be reborn in a servile condition, the environment in which it finds itself will create events very different from those that would present itself if it had to be rich and powerful. But whatever that condition may be, he retains free will in all the acts of his will, and he will not be fatally drawn to do this or that, nor to suffer this or that accident. Due to the chosen type of struggle, he has the possibility of being led to certain acts or encountering certain obstacles, but it is not said that this must happen infallibly, or that he cannot avoid it through his prudence and his will. That's why God gives you the ability to reason. It is the same as if you were a man who, in order to reach a goal, had three paths to choose from: the mountain, the plain or the sea. In the first, the possibility of finding rocks and precipices; in the second swamps; in the third, storms. But it is not said that it will be crushed by a stone, that it will get stuck in the marsh, or that it will be shipwrecked here and not there. The choice of path itself is not fatal, in the absolute sense of the word: man will instinctively take the path in which he must find the chosen test. If you have to fight the waves, your instinct will not lead you to take the mountain path.
According to the type of tests chosen by the Spirit, man is exposed to certain vicissitudes. As a result of these same vicissitudes, he is subjected to drags from which he must escape. He who commits a crime is not fatally driven to commit it: he has chosen a path of struggle that can excite him to it; if you yield to temptation, it is through weakness of your will. Thus, free will exists for the Spirit in the errant state, in the choice it makes of the tests to which it must submit, and it exists in the condition of being incarnated in the acts of corporeal life. Only the moment of death is fatal: because the kind of death is still a consequence of the nature of the tests chosen.
Was Jesus ever as imperfect as we are?
Why, of course! Jesus was neither a demagogue nor a hypocrite when he called us “brothers”. He demonstrated that he was like us, an evolving Spirit.
This is a fundamental postulate of the science of Spirits: all of us, without exception, were created simple and ignorant and, from there, we followed the path of evolution. When and where, only God knows. Since God is the sovereign justice and Love in essence, he could not create privileged, full and evolved creatures, while creating others to suffer. This is a very ancient dogma taught mainly by the Roman Church, which we will not go into, given the extent of its discussion.
Everything that is exposed here is abundantly postulated in Kardec's works, with great clarity and rationality, and it is possible to find the necessary bases already in The Spirits' Book.
The fact that we highlight here is that nobody evolves in a straight line towards God. This is a false concept. The evolution of any Spirit goes through the same steps, passing through all kingdoms, including that of the animal, and then, upon entering the realm of consciousness, acquiring free will, that is, the ability to choose.
However, how can the Spirit choose in the face of a situation it has never faced before? It's impossible. He acts, obtaining a result that can be a mistake or a success. So, the next time you face the same situation, having already some knowledge of the result according to your way of acting, you can choose to act the same way again, or you can try to act in another way, which can make you right or wrong again.
While the Spirit is trying, it's making progress. The error that is born of the attempt is not a sin, but only an error. He is not committing evil, but good, for he had no basis for his own judgment on how to act. It's how much he spends choose act wrong, for whatever reasons, that the mistake becomes a habit and then becomes an imperfection.
Kardec, in A Genesis (chapter III), concludes:
“He who does not control his passions can be very intelligent, but at the same time, very bad. Instinct annihilates itself; passions can only be tamed by the effort of the will.”
However, that chapter ends here, in the 5th edition of this work, which, today we know, has strong indications of having been tampered with. Taking the 4th edition, we have the following closing, VERY IMPORTANT:
All men go through passions. Those who have overcome them, and are not, by nature, proud, ambitious, selfish, spiteful, vindictive, cruel, wrathful, sensual, and do good without effort, without premeditation and, so to speak, involuntarily, it is because they have progressed in the sequence. of their previous existences, having rid themselves of this uncomfortable weight. It is unfair to say that they have less merit when they do good, compared to those who fight against their tendencies. It turns out that they have already achieved victory, while the others have not yet. But when they do, they will be like the others. They will do good without thinking about it, like children who read fluently without having to spell. It is as if they were two sick people: one cured and full of strength while the other is still recovering and hesitates to walk; or as two runners, one of which is closer to the finish than the other.
Therefore, Jesus also went through the same path, including wrong and right. He is just a Spirit that has already run the entire scale, while we are still at the beginning of it, making efforts to get out of the third order of the classification of the Spirit Scale. Today, if a Spirit at the beginning of its life could evaluate us, we would think that we are demigods and would judge how wonderful the few deeds we can perform.
Far from this thought lowering Jesus, it elevates him and, at the same time, gives us hope, as it demonstrates that a Spirit who has already walked this entire path of evolution, through a free gesture of kindness and charity, has returned to teach us. One day we will be working with him, but let's not forget that, from now on, we can also make a difference in people's lives, without expecting anything in return.
Does the Spirit retrograde or “involve”?
No, Spirit never retrogrades. It always goes forward, sometimes it stops, but it never goes back. If it returns to appearance, as in the case where it no longer fits into the moral evolution of a population and will incarnate in another, more backward civilization, it is because it has not yet advanced morally, in fact.
God creates us simple and ignorant. During the first steps of our evolution, we have no conscience, but only instinct, which is from the Law of God and, therefore, is good by definition. The lion that kills the zebra does not do evil, but good, for he is responding to instinct.
Further on, when we enter the realm of consciousness, we conquer free will, that is, the ability to choose. With it, we start to TRY and, from the attempt, mistakes and successes are born. The one who errs trying, is not doing evil, but good, because he is following the laws of God. Evil consists only when the individual starts to err by will, thus cultivating imperfections. When creating an imperfection, the Spirit will suffer on account of it, for more or less time, until it realizes the harm it does to itself, repents and honestly wants to overcome this imperfection, through atonement.
That is why, in Kardec's works, more than once the Spirits used the expression "will be doubly punished": it does not mean that God will punish him more or less - because God does not punish - but that, after acquiring an imperfection , the Spirit will spend a lot of time trying to get rid of it.
Rational Spiritualism and Paul Janet's Treatise on Philosophy
During the nineteenth century, what we call the human sciences were established from a spiritualist assumption for their constitution. Meanwhile, in the natural sciences, such as Physics and Chemistry, materialism predominated. This condition is very different from what we are used to today, when the university is almost completely guided by materialistic thinking.
This current of thought was known as rational spiritualism. For it was completely independent of formal religions and their dogmas. The fundamental basis was psychology, science of the soul, which had as a guideline: “The human being is an incarnate soul”.
As is explained at length in the book Autonomy, the untold story of Spiritism, Allan Kardec made psychology the conceptual basis for developing the Spiritist Doctrine. His monthly newspaper was the Spiritist Magazine, journal of psychological studies.
Rational Spiritualism was taught since 1830 at the University of Paris, also at the Ecole Normale, where teachers were trained, and also at the Lyceums, in the education of young people. For these, there were manuals, like Paul Janet's. This manual has been translated into several languages and adopted in many countries, including Brazil.
This manual is of fundamental importance to understand the conceptual basis of Kardec's studies, especially regarding spiritist morals.
The first division of the sciences, presented in the treatise on philosophy, by Paul Janet, work in two volumes, which can be downloaded here, according to the structure in force in Sorbonne University, in the 19th century, was between:
a) The exact sciences or mathematics.
b) The natural sciences, which study the objects of the physical world (physics, chemistry, biology, etc.).
c) The moral sciences, which study the moral world, which comprises the actions and thoughts of the human race.
The moral sciences, in turn, were divided into four groups:
1) The philosophical sciences, divided into two classes: psychological (psychology, logic, morals, aesthetics) and metaphysical (theodicy, rational psychology, rational cosmology).
2) The historical sciences (history, archeology, epigraphy, numismatics, geography) study human events and development over time.
3) The philological sciences (philology, etymology, paleography, etc.), whose object is language and human symbolic expression.
4) The social and political sciences (politics, jurisprudence, political economy), which study the social life of human beings (JANET, 1885, p. 15-17).
The last three classes of the moral sciences (historical, philological and social) deal with moral facts or phenomena that are external to the human being, seen from the objective point of view. But, considering the human spirit “the set of the intellectual and moral faculties of man, such as they manifest themselves internally in each of us”, everything that concerns the I, an interior principle conscious of itself, is the subjective point of view, or “study of the soul itself” (JANET, 1885, p. 17). Hence a group of sciences called psychological sciences. They adopt the methodology of introspection and were a development of the scientific school started by Maine de Biran. However, to support the psychological study from a spiritual perspective, the conceptual bases of this paradigm needed to become an object of research, comprising a science of man (human spirit) and a science of first causes, or metaphysics. These are the objects of the philosophical sciences.
See more details at work Autonomy, the untold story of Spiritism.
Cesare Lombroso was an Italian university professor and criminologist, born on November 6, 1835, in Verona. He became world famous for his studies and theories in the field of characterology, or the relationship between physical and mental characteristics.
Cesare Lombroso was born on November 6, 1835 and passed away on October 19, 1909. A scientist universally known for his important work in the legal field, he dedicated himself to letters from an early age. At the age of twelve, he wrote the work entitled “Grandeza e Decadencia de Roma”, which had great repercussions in the intellectual circles of the time.
About the work of Mazolo, a great Italian psychologist, he wrote an article, which was published in one of the Italian newspapers. Mazolo read this article and invited Lombroso to his house, as he wanted to meet the new writer. In front of the boy, who was only fourteen years old, he was surprised, given his precocious intelligence.
Lombroso converted to Spiritism after carrying out experiments on the mediumship of Eusapia Paladino, presented to him by Professor Chiaia, from Naples. In one of the sessions with this medium, he witnessed the materialization of the Spirit of his own mother. From then on, Lombroso had no doubts about the spirits' survival and communicability.
the medium Eusapia
He wrote several works, both in the fields of Medicine and Philosophy. Among them, the notable monograph “Criminal Anthropology”, “L'Uomo di Gênio”, “L'Uomo Delinquente”, as well as others on psychology and psychiatry stand out. On Spiritism, we cannot fail to mention the “Research on Hypnotic and Spiritist Phenomena”, through which he reports all the experiences carried out, not only with Eusápia_Paladino, but also with other mediums of physical effects, such as Elizabeth D'Esperance and Politi .
It was slow and arduous, however, continuous and sure, the march of Lombroso towards Spiritism. At first, he ridiculed psychic manifestations. He mocked mediums and “turning tables”. He even went so far as to insult the Spiritists. However, on a certain occasion, through a letter from his friend Ercole Chiaia, he came to know the figure of a Neapolitan woman, illiterate, of humble, robust class and whose name was Eusápia Paladino.
As a skeptic, he refused to attend sessions, having as a medium the great medium Eusápia Paladino. But his friend Chiaia insisted so much that Lombroso insisted on imposing the conditions. The other participants in the meetings, including the Medium, accepted all the conditions imposed by Lombroso. Thus, in March 1891, in the presence of Lombroso, under strict supervision, with the Medium being held by two people, phenomena took place...
object transport,
of partial materializations,
of typtology, (transcendental message obtained through blows),
of direct voices
and others of the same strain.
After all that he had witnessed, without a doubt, Lombroso surrendered to the Truth and confessed: “I am very ashamed and disgusted for having fought with such persistence the possibility of the so-called spiritual facts; but the facts exist and I am proud of them to be a slave”.
Lombroso passed away serenely in the arms of his talented daughter Dr. Gina on October 19, 1909, in Turin, at the age of 74.
In the midst of his research on mediumship, he first starts attempts to study the phenomenon under the positivist aspect of factual evidence – as other scientists of the time did elsewhere, several of them imbued with positivist ideals – and at the end concludes by scientifically confirming the doctrine and studied phenomena. He then became a defender of Spiritism in Italy at the time, as did several trends in the positivist movement at the time.
His works cover several areas such as: anthropology, criminal sociology, psychology, criminology, philosophy and medicine.
His studies became known as criminal anthropology.
Lombroso's work with the medium Eusápia Paladino followed and progressed. Under the ectoplasm released by Eusapia, Lombroso, ever vigilant, obtained wonderful revelations. The aforementioned revelations overcame Lombroso's scientific distrust and did not fail to illuminate his Moral Conscience. In a certain session, Lombroso's full conviction was strengthened even more, before the materialization of his mother's Spirit. Eusapia promised Lombroso a surprise and it came about through the materialization of her own mother's Spirit. Yes, my friends, the Spirit of Lombroso's mother materialized and, approaching her son, said: "Cesare, fio mio" and then, removing, for a moment, the veil that covered his face, she gave him a kiss. And Lombroso confesses that, at the moment when the materialization of his mother's Spirit took place, Eusápia had her hands trapped by two people and that Eusápia's stature was also much taller than that of her mother's materialized Spirit. Here, my friends, is the Truth through the testimony of a Man of Science, a Sage. Will anyone be able to dispute it, we believe not…
Born on the 18th of November to a wealthy family in Verona and graduated in Medicine at the University of Pavia, he graduated in 1858. A year after graduating in medicine, he obtained a degree in surgery in Genoa. He improved his knowledge in Vienna and Padua, where he perfected his knowledge, aligning himself with positivist thinking.
At the age of twenty, he demonstrates his line of interests with a study on madness. Lombroso already outlines the subjects that will make him famous: the contrast between the genius of man and theories about degenerative nature. As a medical officer, he wrote, in 1859, “Memory on Wounds and Amputations by Firearms”, which is still considered one of his most original works. Then he was drawn to Calabria by the anthropological and ethnic problems of the region. These observations were developed in a psychiatry course, which he began in Pavia in 1862, where he began to analyze the possible influences of the environment on the mind, ideas that at first achieved success and, later, distrust. He starts a course in psychiatry and the following year transforms it into a course in “clinical mental illness and anthropology”. His frequent visits to the mental hospital, where he assisted patients free of charge, allowed him to deepen his study of the relationship between genius and neurosis. “The ideas of the greatest thinkers burst out of the blue, unfold involuntarily like the compulsive acts of maniacs,” he wrote. At the International Congress of Anthropology held in Milan, several criticisms were raised against Lombroso's position, but his pioneering role in therapy with the mentally ill was recognized: rational relaxation of treatment, introduction of manual work, conversations with outsiders, collective entertainment , diaries written and printed by the patients themselves. It was a new method, used today by psychotherapy.
In 1864, Lombroso became known for the book "Genius and Madness". Psychiatrist and director of the asylum in Padua from 1871 to 1876, he collected enough data for his theories. From the examination of hundreds of mental patients and criminals, he comes to the conclusion that the criminal is formed by some basic tendency inherent in his destiny, and that the "seeds of a criminal nature" can often be identified in the child. He also believed that the social environment, combined with astral influences, prepared individuals whose nature was anti-social for criminal action. The ideas defended by Lombroso about the “born criminal” advocated that, by analyzing certain somatic characteristics, it would be possible to foresee those individuals who would turn to crime. Many other beneficial changes adopted by criminal legislators around the world derived from the studies pioneered by Lombroso. Lombroso's main idea was partially inspired by genetic and evolutionary studies at the end of the 9th century and proposes that certain criminals have physical evidence of an atavism (reappearance of characteristics that were presented only in distant ancestors) of a hereditary type, reminiscent of more primitive stages of human evolution.
These anomalies, called stigmata by Lombroso, could be expressed in terms of abnormal shapes or dimensions of the skull and jaw, asymmetries in the face, etc., but also in other parts of the body. Subsequently, these associations were considered highly inconsistent or completely non-existent, and theories based on the environmental cause of crime became dominant.
In 1882, in his booklet “Study on Hypnotism”, he ridiculed spiritist manifestations, but, invited by prof. Morselli to study the subject better, participated in sessions with the medium Eusápia Palladino, becoming convinced of the incontestable veracity of the facts. For many years he denied psychic and spiritual phenomena as quackery and simple-minded credulity.
On July 15, 1891, a letter was published in which he declared his surrender to spiritual facts: I am very ashamed and disgusted for having fought so persistently against the possibility of so-called spiritual facts; I say facts, because I am still opposed to theory. But the facts exist, and I'm proud to be a slave to them.
When he goes to Moscow, it is in 1897, as a participant in the Psychiatric Congress, he meets Tolstoy, who knew very well his ideas about genius and madness.
He then became a defender of Spiritism in the Italy of his time, as did various currents of the positivist movement of the time. Lombroso, always faithful to the experimental method, bequeathed to the spiritists an excellent collection of information about mediumship and the vast phenomenological field. A deeply honest man defended the veracity of Spiritism until his death, which was prominently reported around the world, on October 19, 1909.
It was the end of the mission, which in his case, started in reverse, from the position of ridicule to that of sincere defender, would strengthen the spiritist movement through its own inclusion in the midst of its researchers and defenders.
God has many ways for men. For Lombroso, the path was to retrace his own path, that is, to consolidate what he, through ignorance of reality, had attacked, by formulating mistaken concepts about Spiritism, portraying himself intimately and publicly a posteriori through the immense work he carried out.
Lombroso was one of the greatest criminal doctors of the last century.
Black magic, spells, baths in rock salt and herbs, amulets, Wicca: does it all exist?
Rare are the beliefs and even superstitions that, over the millennia, have no basis in truth. In fact, Allan Kardec has always tried to show that the truth has always been in the history of humanity, transmitted through all times, but that it was only muffled by the characteristic errors of human ignorance and also by the dogmas purposely created to control consciences.
In “Practical Instructions on Spiritist Manifestations”, Kardec defines it this way:
MAGIC, MAGE — from gr. mageia, deep knowledge of nature; whence magi, sage, scientist trained in magic; priest, sage and philosopher among the ancient Persians. Originally magic was the science of the sages; all those who knew astrology, who boasted of foretelling the future, who did extraordinary and incomprehensible things to the common people, were magicians or sages who were later called magicians. Abuse and quackery discredited magic; but all the phenomena that we reproduce today through magnetism, somnambulism and spiritism prove that magic was not a purely chimerical art and that, among many absurdities, there was certainly much that was true. The vulgarization of these phenomena has the effect of destroying the prestige of those who once operated under the cloak of secrecy and abused credulity, attributing an alleged supernatural power to themselves. Thanks to this vulgarization, today we know that there is nothing supernatural and that certain things only seem to derogate from the laws of nature because we do not know their causes.
Magic in Ancient Egypt
One of the greatest examples of this were the Egyptians, who were deeply knowledgeable about mediumship and many of the truths that Spiritism professes today. However, this knowledge was reserved for the initiates — the priests, in general — and, to the public, the mystical image of terrible and vengeful gods and a false superhuman power attributed to priests and pharaohs was passed on. The same structure was copied by other religions that followed.
The Egyptians also practiced the various rituals of magic (heka) which, far from the negative meaning that the West makes of the word, was one of the gifts granted by the god (in lower case because their belief was not exactly like ours, in a single, sovereign God, etc):
Well attended are men, the cattle of the god. He made heaven and earth for your sake, repelled the water monster, and made the breath of life (to) your nose. He shines in the sky because of you, and he made plants, cattle, birds, and fish for them (everything) to feed them. (however) he killed his enemies and destroyed even his own children when they tried to rebel. He made daylight for your sake and sails (in the sky) for you to see. He erected […] his sanctuary among them, and when they cry he hears. He made them rulers in the egg, guides to lift the backs of the weak. He made magic [heka] for them as a weapon to deflect the blow of what happens (bad), watching over them day and night. killed the traitors who were among them as a man beats his son for his brother's sake, for the god knows every name.
(ARAÚJO, 2000, p. 291. Our emphasis)((ARAÚJO, Emanuel. Written for Eternity: literature in pharaonic Egypt. Brasília: UnB, 2000.)).
The Magic Among the Druids
Both the Egyptians and practically all peoples had their practices of magic. The same happened among the Druids, people in charge of counseling and teaching tasks and legal and philosophical guidance in Celtic society. In general, it can be said that they were priests and sages. They existed since before Christ, more than 3000 years ago.
One of the most legendary mages of all, Merlin, would have also been a Druid.
Considered as witches and sorcerers, full of rituals that would even include human sacrifices (which to date has not been proven) — the reason why they were largely exterminated by the Romans — the druids were, in fact, a priestly class that lived among nature and that gathered from it the elements necessary for their rituals, among them healing.
The magic for millennia
The ideas of magic or healing, as we said, perhaps permeated all people, at all times. In Brazil, we have healers, sorcerers and shamans, among the indigenous peoples and, more recently, faith healers, as well as Wicca, born in Europe, and countless other denominations that, wrapped in dogmas, rituals and particular beliefs, have, in deep down, the belief in the power of prayer (or formulas) and nature to cure illnesses — and they believe, some of them, to cast an evil spell against others. Wiccans, for example, going (to some extent) in the direction of Mesmer's Magnetism, which we will present below, believe that magic is the law of nature still misunderstood or ignored by contemporary science ((Valiente, Doreen (1973). An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present. [Sl]: Hale. 231 pages)), and as such, they do not see it as being supernatural, but as being a part of the “super powers that reside in the natural”.
Mesmer's Magnetism
Kardec would say that “unshakable faith is the only faith that can face reason face to face, in all ages of Humanity“. Let us, therefore, take care to make an approximation with the science that already exists regarding these beliefs.
Very briefly, Franz Anton mesmer was a doctor, scientist and scholar who, based on rational experiments, postulated the theory known as Animal Magnetism ((FIGUEIREDO, Paulo Henrique de. Mesmer – A Ciência Negada do Magnetismo Animal. FEAL, 2022)).
Mesmer came into conflict with the science of his time, which, in order to explain everything that could not be analyzed by devices and human senses, created the theory of fluids (for the scientists of the time, electricity would be a fluid, as well as magnetism and even life). For him - which later was confirmed by Spiritism and by current science — there was the Universal Cosmic Fluid, which gave rise to everything. Each different state of matter, even that which was intangible and imperceptible, would only be a different constitution of this original fluid, vibrating at a different frequency (this is exactly what modern physics explains, more than 200 years after Mesmer's theory).
According to Mesmer's theory - and spiritist science - the human being is capable, by will, of interacting on what became known as perispiritual fluid, which constitutes the link between Spirit and matter.
the perispirit
The perispirit, as concluded by Kardec, connects to the body molecule by molecule((KARDEC, Allan. A Gênesis. 2nd Edition. FEAL, 2018)) (in fact, cell by cell, but at that time there was no such organic knowledge) and, through the action of thought, through this intrinsic connection, it influences you positively or negatively, being able to obtain cures or create illnesses. It is the principle of illnesses psychosomatic and, in the background, of placebo effect, for which modern science cannot find a definitive explanation precisely because it ignores the sciences of Magnetism and Spiritism, which they call superstitious.
It should be noted that the perispirit is a theory based not only on everything that great thinkers have always conceived, including Socrates and Plato — and Mesmer himself — but also on reason and the observation of phenomena and spiritist communications, as presented. on here. Kardec would say, in The Mediums' Book:
Numerous observations and irrefutable facts, of which we will speak later, have led to the consequence that there are three components in man: 1st, the soul, or Spirit, intelligent principle, where the moral sense has its seat; 2nd, the body, a gross, material covering, which he temporarily clothed himself in, in fulfillment of certain providential designs; 3rd, the perispirit, a fluidic, semi-material envelope that serves as a link between the soul and the body.
[…]
The perispirit is not one of those hypotheses that science usually uses to explain a fact. Its existence was not only revealed by the Spirits, it is the result of observations, as we will have the opportunity to demonstrate. For now, and as we do not anticipate the facts that we are about to relate, we will limit ourselves to saying that, whether during its union with the body, or after separating from it, the soul is never disconnected from its body. perispirit.
In A Genesis, Kardec concludes:
Experimental Spiritism studied the properties of spiritual fluids and their action about the matter. It has demonstrated the existence of the perispirit, about which there were suspicions since antiquity, being called by São Paulo Spiritual Body, that is, the fluidic body of the soul after the destruction of the tangible body. We now know that this sheath is inseparable from the soul; which is one of the constitutive elements of the human being; which is the vehicle for the transmission of thought and which, during the life of the body, serves as a link between Spirit and matter. The perispirit plays such an important role in the organism and in many conditions that it is linked to both Physiology and Psychology.
The perispirit is not, therefore, a theory, nor even a hypothesis, for Spiritism. Follows Kardec, in the same work, stating that…
As a means of elaboration, Spiritism proceeds in the same way as the Sciences positive, that is, it applies the experimental method. When new facts are presented which cannot be explained by means of known laws, he observes them, compares them, analyzes them and, going back from the effects to the causes, arrives at the law that governs them; then it deduces its consequences and looks for its useful applications. It does not establish any preconceived theory. Thus, it does not present as a hypothesis neither the existence, nor intervention of the Spirits, nor even the perispirit, reincarnation or any other principle of the doctrine.. It concludes for the existence of spirits when it became evident by observation of the facts, and it has proceeded in the same way in relation to the other principles. It was not, therefore, the facts that later came to confirm the theory, but the theory that came later to explain and summarize the facts. It is therefore strictly accurate to say that Spiritism is a Science of observation, and not the product of imagination..
Cures, passes, black magic and sorcery
Here, however, it is necessary to make a very important observation, based on the two sciences mentioned above: since animal magnetism is not a transference of fluids, but an action of the will on perispiritual fluids, it is essential that the other end share the will and acceptance so that this interaction prolonged come true.
When Mesmer and many of his disciples healed, this action took place through countless hours of approaching the patient, from the sympathy of ideas and, figuratively, of energies and, then, the treatment, almost always through passes, started for long hours, and could be carried out periodically, in order to achieve the result. The patient, at this stage, made himself totally available and in favor of the cure, which, not infrequently, took place in a remarkable way. Then, Spiritism came to demonstrate that these cures are almost always associated with kind spirits who help in the process.
Note: This image is just an illustration of the laying on of hands.
Of course, Mesmer's entire theory did not fail to create scathing enemies, but this is a topic for dedicated reading by the reader ((FIGUEIREDO, Paulo Henrique de. Ibidem)).
In the same way as with healing, black magic and sorcery rituals (which, in fact, are the action of the will - although maleficent - on the perispiritual fluid, with or without the participation of inferior spirits) depend inexorably on the acceptance of the counterparty for the influence to be fulfilled. See that, in any case, it is not a fluid that is transferred from one to another, but the effect of the mental action of one on the other. That's why, simply and correctly, the saying “if you don't believe it, don't take it” is accurate.
I go further: you know that idea that words of hate are a jet of negative energy that hits the other? It's also a myth. The other is only contaminated with the bad state if he allows it, and what happens is not that he lets an energy in, but that he himself creates the “bad energy”.
We see, therefore, that, with regard to "black magic", to begin by dissolving superstition is the first good that is done. The creature who doesn't even believe that already puts himself a foot away from this influence. However, it remains to be said that the vibration, here, enters with great propriety: the individual who, mentally, moves away from the good, either by ostensible action in evil, or by the cultivation of passions and imperfections, places his perispirit (being matter, but in a state quintessential) in a vibratory state susceptible of being influenced by the thoughts of other Spirits in the same tune, incarnate or disincarnate. Therefore, if the individual is in this state, he will not receive an influx of magic as if it were something tangible, but, through the action of someone else's thought, he will be able to influence himself. In fact, it is not even necessary to resort to magic for this: people influence each other, positively or negatively, day after day.
Is everything energy?
This statement is extremely common: we are energy. However, before proceeding, we have to say: not everything is energy.
Neither God nor Spirits are energy. Energy is something physical. God is something else, and Spirit is something else yet. If they were energy, they would be matter and, therefore, would be subject to the transformations of matter, including disaggregation and, therefore, would have an end. But we know that the Spirit is immortal and that God, in addition to being immortal, also does not have a beginning.
That's why anything that which is material has an influence on the Spirit, unless he believes it. By the same principle, nothing that is spiritual has direct action on matter. If this were not the case, it would be very easy for an evil Spirit to carry out a materially harmful action on an incarnate person, including creating diseases and installing control “chips”. We emphasize: all this is nothing more than superstition, and it is in this sense, so well understood here, that, in The Spirits’ Book, the following is stated:
Can a bad man, with the help of a bad spirit dedicated to him, harm his neighbor?
551. Can a bad man, with the help of a bad Spirit dedicated to him, harm his neighbor?
— "No; God would not allow it.”
KARDEC, Allan. The Spirits' Book, 1860
“God would not allow it” contains all the explanations given so far: a bad man, with or without the help of a bad spirit, cannot do evil against another, through spells, spells or conjurations. "It is the law of God."
We would say, however: “but a man can harm another by direct, even physical means”. This seems logical... But, if we think more deeply, even this harm done physically, such as, for example, a wound by a weapon or even death, can only represent harm to its victim if it allows itself to be harmed. Now, the other performs an action, far from good, through ignorance that he is doing evil to himself. As much as it hurts, it is my choice to let myself be affected by this action, allowing myself to linger over thoughts of anger, anguish, revolt, revenge, etc., which is when I myself do evil to myself. see what thought liberator!
Want a practical example? Let us think of Jesus: from our point of view, we have done him a lot of harm. From his point of view, however, nothing we did hit him, and he suffered no harm other than physical pain, for his degree of spiritual elevation no longer made him susceptible to anything they did. Here's our goal.
Flushing baths, coarse salt, herbs and amulets
Arriving at this point, we assume that the principle of “energetic” action between incarnated beings and the principle of the inexistence of an energetic action between Spirits and incarnated beings, and vice versa, is already quite clear. It became evident that no Spiritual action, whether by an incarnated or disembodied Spirit, can directly affect another incarnated individual (and it remains to rule out that the action between disincarnated Spirits is always moral and depends on the acceptance of the other). Therefore, recommending any material devices to attract or repel these influences is almost entirely a waste of time, since what is wanted is that the affected party rationally takes a firm stand against the influences of extraneous thought, which only happens. with the active moral transformation of the individual.
But what about the placebo effect? Of course, we don't rule it out. A person can, yes, believing in the power of an amulet or an herb, or even a bodily cleansing, or the environment, assume a different, more positive and active attitude and, from there, remove the previous influences. However, let's see, here is the will of that person, and not the supposed strength of those elements, which promoted the modification of his state. However, there is a very negative side to this aspect: being motivated by superstitious and unscientific beliefs, the person can often forget the main thing, that the modification itself, granting the desired effect to the action of these elements and, thus, prolonging his own suffering.
And, even clearer, we are not ruling out the effects physicists that matter has on matter; it is, moreover, the beginning of all that we have said above.
Finally, we can even resort to the much-mentioned action of André Luiz's mentor, in the novel Nosso Lar, que vai à Floresta, in the land, and there supposedly collects elements extracted from the trees to treat of the body of the incarnate individual. We know about the principle of spiritual healing, but it is important to remember that, for this action to be possible - from the collection of natural principles, to application to the sick, the existence of a medium is necessary who, even without consciousness, can provide some fluid specific perispiritual for this task. Who knows, following this theory, this didn't happen through André Luiz's own daughter, who demonstrated latent mediumship?
And does prayer or prayer work?
It depends, because the prayer or prayer must have the intention honest of the individual who recognizes his imperfections, his faults and asks for help to win these difficulties. That is the purpose of prayer. Through it, the individual elevates his thoughts, changes his tune and puts himself in contact with the superior spirits - as long as his intention is honest and true.
However, if prayer is done "with your mouth", a mechanical repetition of "sacred" formulas and if, above all, it transfers responsibility to someone else, whether to God or to a Spirit of any order, it will be ineffective, since the person is not attentive and committed to his own modification. Neither God nor any Spirit do anything for us, if not to inspire and direct us to the situations, contents and knowledge that can help us. That is, they take us to the door, many times, but opening it and entering is something that depends on us, exclusively.
Let's look at an example:
“[…] I now appeal to the 13th dimensional Security Circle to completely seal, protect and increase Michael Archangel's shield, as well as to remove anything that is not of a Christed nature and that currently exists within this field.
I now appeal to the Ascended Masters and our Christed assistants to completely remove and dissolve each and every implant and its seeded energies, parasites, spiritual weapons and self-imposed limitation devices, both known and unknown. Once that is completed, I call for the complete restoration and repair of the original energy field, infused with the golden Christ energy.”
This is an excerpt from the well-known “21-day prayer of Saint Michael the Archangel for spiritual liberation”. Review this excerpt and, if you wish, the rest of it. Compare with everything we have exposed so far. It is full of concepts. false and is based on the heteronomous concept: do it for me.
Therefore, we repeat, to emphasize and conclude: incarnate or disincarnate, all, absolutely all, from evil to cure, depends solely and exclusively on the action of our will. Without her, nothing gets done..
Spiritism Podcasts
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THE CRITICISM OF MEDIUM WORK
A good medium must always be ready to criticize his work, since it does not belong to him, never being hurt or humiliated when any idea comes from an imperfect spirit and cannot be accepted as doctrinal.
This criticism and judgment, when dealing with a good medium, should not and need not be extended to the medium itself. However, if in the mediumistic group there is the invigilant individual, almost always moved by habits of vanity and pride, which often promote frames of obsession and fascination, he must be advised privately, firmly, but with benevolence. If reason speaks louder to you, you will understand and seek to change your picture; if not, it will often turn away. 🇧🇷In this case, whatever faculties it possesses, its removal is not to be missed.”, Kardec would say [RE, July 1858]
The role of the medium is to transmit the content, including those of inferior spirits, and the role of a good spiritist should be to judge, based on study and reason, mediumistic communications and even learn from those that come from inferior spirits, not for accepting them blindly, but for understanding the ideas, the difficulties, the illusions, the reflections on the previous life, etc. And that, dear reader, also applies to dear Chico Xavier, Divaldo, Sueli Caldas and all mediums, as none have the divine grace to be "armored” against imperfect spirits — quite the contrary, as I believe is clear from the very purpose of mediumship.
An absurd distortion was created, not only in the Spiritist Movement, but also in the entire spiritualist movement, with mediumistic works, since this principle was forgotten and Mediums began to be treated as infallible oracles. It is important to remember that this idea was precisely the one inculcated by Roustaing, the greatest enemy of Spiritism and that, unfortunately, permeated and dominated the Spiritist Movement since its arrival in Brazilian lands, before 1900, having found wide support for dissemination in the FEB, self-titled organ maximum representation of Spiritism in Brazil (contrary to what Kardec himself recommended and planned to start, if he had not died so soon, as presented in Transitory Constitution of Spiritism — RE — December 1869).
Mr. Roustaing, one of the "Judas of Spiritism", was not a medium. But by a good medium, Mrs. Emilie Collignon, who even communicated with Kardec, began to obtain communications attributed to the four evangelists, who came to say that Roustaing would be the new prophet, producing what became known as The Four Gospels, which until today negatively influence, with various concepts, the Spiritist Movement in Brazil, mainly.
All that I am pointing out was exactly what Kardec pointed out to Roustaing. The medium herself even stated, to Kardec, that she did not agree with those communications, but whenever she was with Roustaing, they were obtained. After Kardec drew Roustaing's attention to the obsession of which he was a victim, trying to do him some good, he rebelled, out of vanity and pride... And then the damage was done.
After the death of Prof. Rivail (Kardec), a rich (quite rich) follower of Roustaing, Jean Guérin, approached Leymarie, the “continuer” of Spiritism who, for less elevated interests, sold himself and, among so many crimes against Spiritism, started to publish , in the Spiritist Magazine, contents from this ideology, even though contrary to the Doctrine. This provoked revolt in the true followers of Kardec, among them Berthe Fropo, a close friend of the couple, Camille Flamarion, Leon Denis and Gabriel Delanne. Fropo even published:
I appeal to all spiritists, my brothers. Can this man [Leymarie] remain in the direction of spiritualism? since he is no longer a spiritist? He, who has no belief, who has only interests, who has renounced the doctrine he was supposed to defend and protect, has debased it in himself by preferring another. Now he wants to make the doctrine enter the theological phase, to establish it as a religion, and to make our beautiful philosophy be lowered through congresses, ceremonies and, later, by dogmas, and all this for the love of money, to please the ideas. of Mr. Guérin, the millionaire. He became a Roustangist, advocated subversive ideas about the nature of Jesus and, currently, puts to study even the non-existence of Christ.
In the name of our revered master, we cannot leave our doctrine of life in the hands of a man without belief, without conviction, and who has disowned it. I beg all spiritists who have shares in the Anonymous Society founded by Mrs. Allan Kardec to meet in a general meeting; they have the right as shareholders. If they are sincere spiritists, honorable people, great hearts who desire the happiness of all our humanity through the propagation of the doctrine in all its purity, they must consider that it is a right and above all a duty for them, and that if they do not fulfill it , whether out of fear or inertia, that would be a cowardly abandonment of our dear philosophy, which, you are persuaded, is in danger, and in great danger. How is it possible to respect spiritism when one sees, in order to represent and advance it, people without morality, without belief and without loyalty?
Allan Kardec's Magazine is nothing more than an abominable rhapsody; under the pretext of eclecticism, the most subversive ideas are inserted into it, and the judgment of those brothers of ours is perverted who, as they do not have sufficient education to do justice to all these ridiculous conceptions, are confused and become of a credulity that can be dangerous to your home.
Let us study the teaching of our dear master Allan Kardec, let us accept what this high intelligence has made up for thirty years of tenacious work, and above all let us know how to understand and apply it to ourselves in order to become better, fair, loyal and fraternal, dedicated to consoling doctrine that the Spirits revealed to us.
Jesus, who so well taught us love, charity and fraternity, however, in a moment of indignation, expelled the sellers from the temple, and the thongs he used are not yet worn out. I used those of our time; God and the good spirits will judge me.
I consider that I have fulfilled the mission with which I was entrusted. It is up to the Spiritist shareholders to act now and save Villa Ségur, which, according to the master's idea, was destined to be a shelter for elderly Spiritists; he wanted to build there, moreover, a building large enough to establish a meeting place, a museum and a spiritualist library.
Fropo, Beacoup de Lumiere
Kardec, for defending the basic and necessary principles of Spiritist science, was also called orthodox, proud, pedantic, vain, etc. Precisely he, who always demonstrated that he did not even begin the studies of Spiritism and that, having only dedicated himself to this study in a methodological, scientific and organized way, being often contradicted, in his ideas, by the force of reason, by the Spirits themselves, He always emphasized that everything belonged to the Spirits and not to anyone's private ideas, much less his own.
These are the facts that many find it difficult to accept, but which are already well known and which are reported in Allan Kardec's Legacy, by Simoni Privato, and End, by Wilson Garcia.
References
Allan Kardec's Legacy, by Simoni Privato
End, by Wilson Garcia
Beacoup de Lumiere by Berthe Fropo
Spiritist Magazine of 1858
“Rancho Alegre” spiritual colony for animals
Much has been said on this topic. Many teach that animals, after death, go to a beautiful spiritual colony, called Rancho Alegre, where the animals would stay together, enjoying the natural beauty of places in the world of Spirits. It sounds beautiful, but it is important to remember that Spiritism cannot be based on ideas that have not been validated by the necessary scientific methodology, because, otherwise, false ideas can generate mistakes, errors and attachments in our minds.
What spiritual science says
Kardec, in The Spirits' Book, presents important concepts about animals:
597. Since animals have an intelligence that gives them a certain freedom of action, is there in them any principle independent of matter?
“There is, and that survives the body.”
The) - Is this principle a soul like that of man?
“It is also a soul, if you will, depending on the meaning given to this word. It is, however, inferior to that of man. There is between the soul of animals and that of man a distance equivalent to that between the soul of man and God.”
598. After death, does the soul of animals retain its individuality and self-consciousness?
“Keep your individuality; about the awareness of your I, no. Intelligent life remains in a latent state.”
599. Is the soul of animals given to choose the animal in which to incarnate?
“No, since he has no free will.”
Animals, therefore, have a soul, or spirit. However, this Spirit, despite not being a machine, still has no consciousness of your own “I”. It does not, therefore, have free will, for it comes with the awareness of God's laws:
621. Where is the law of God written?
“In conscience.”
It is when man acquires conscience that, with it, he acquires free will. Rather, he is ruled by instincts: hunger calls him to eat, fear calls him to protect himself, anger serves to defend himself. By acquiring free will, you have free choice, from which mistakes and successes are born. From mistakes, learning or passion can be born, which is when the individual choose use instinct to strengthen a bad habit that causes you some sort of rejoicing. From this, an imperfection is born, which will be difficult to overcome through incarnations.
Animals have no moral suffering, nor need to reflect on them
The animal, however, is not at that evolutionary level, yet. When the lion kills the zebra, he is not committing evil, but rather good, as he is acting according to God's laws. The animal, therefore, has no guilt, no regret, in short, no moral suffering (although some animals learn, in contact with humans, to show similar reactions). It comes from there the Spirit living the animal phase does not need the period between lives to learn and reflect, because their learning, for now, takes place directly in contact with matter, living under instinct and under some capacity of will that, however, does not represent free will, which puts down the idea of a spiritual colony Rancho Alegre .
600. Surviving the body in which it inhabited, does the soul of the animal find itself, after death, in a state of erraticity, like that of man?
“It remains in a kind of erraticity, since it is no longer united with the body, but it is not a wandering spirit. The Wandering Spirit is a being who thinks and works of his own free will.. The animals do not have the same faculty. Self-awareness is what constitutes the main attribute of the Spirit. The animal's, after death, is classified by the Spirits who are responsible for this task and used almost immediately; he is not given time to enter into relations with other creatures.”
For the human spirit, the period of erraticity, between one incarnation and another, is necessary for its advancement and learning:
227. How are wandering spirits instructed? Right, don't they do it the same way we do?
“They study their past and look for ways to elevate themselves. They see, they observe what happens in the places where they go; they listen to the discourses of enlightened men and the advice of the highest spirits, and all this instills in them ideas that they did not have before.”
We need to return to Kardec
Therefore, friends, let us reflect on the doctrine forgotten by the Brazilian Spiritist Movement. Kardec's books were not created by him, but through the dedicated, organized and methodological study of the universality of the teachings of the Spirits. In the Spiritist Doctrine, there is a construction, where each point is firmly established on another, previously established, by the same process. It is necessary, therefore, to be very careful with the “new people” of Spiritism, almost always speaking of their own opinions. It is important to remember that what people see in a state of sleep or somnambulism (unfolding) does not always represent the truth, and may be altered by personal ideas and beliefs.
Kardec has always highlighted the need to judge everything, in the face of reason and science, something that the Spiritist Movement has not done. This same Movement, voluntarily forgetting this, began to accept spiritual communications and the opinions of prominent mediums as if they were something unquestionable... Which is a huge mistake, since the role of any medium is to transmit the communication, and it is up to others to judge it in terms of its acceptance or not, and it is not up to the medium to be offended by this.
This article, in short, is practically a cry, a plea: let's study Kardec, let's study his works, because the base of the spiritist science, that same base of the reasoned faith, the one that, according to the professor, "... is only the one that can face the reason face to face, in all the epochs of Humanity", is founded there. In short: no, the animals don't go to the Rancho Alegre Spiritual Colony, because they don't need it. In truth, even we, more evolved Spirits, do not need it: it is a myth that, when we die, our Spirits will go to any spiritual colonies, have soup and rest, because the Spirit does not need any of that.