Spiritism today, or rather what the Spiritist Movement knows and transmits about it, is very far from being reality, and this is very serious, as it is precisely because of these distortions that false ideas were created that repel individuals and create fights, not only internally, but also with spiritualist religions.

A very well-known case is that of Umbanda, which was created because an individual was prohibited from “receiving” a Spirit from an “old black man” in a spiritist center. Not only that: nowadays, people of any religion who have any interest in Spiritism are led to the question: “do I need to abandon my religion to be a Spiritist?”. This is because “being a Spiritist”, in modern times, means attending a Spiritist center which, according to false concepts, is where Spiritism “lives”.

I am here to demonstrate how wrong these conceptions are and that, far from a dispute of truths, it is possible to have union and that, in truth, this is how Spiritism developed.

The history of Spiritism like almost no one has known

It is logical to say that, before Spiritism became established as a doctrine, no one was a Spiritist. How was it possible, then, to form this science, with a philosophical aspect and moral consequences?

Anyone who says or thinks that it was Allan Kardec who created Spiritism is wrong. No: Spiritism is in nature, just like the other sciences. It would behoove someone to study, with scientific methodology and seriousness, the principles of this science, and that is what Kardec did. He never gave himself the right to take the truth for himself, simply because, as an honest scientist, he knew that science does not deal with truths, but with theories that come closest to the truth.

Thus, Kardec dedicated himself to studying the phenomena and communications of Spirits, using the main tool available: evocations, through mediums. And he didn't do it alone: at that time, study groups spread across France and other nearby countries and, in fact, preceded Kardec in evocations. When he became interested in Spiritism, there were already several evocations recorded on paper, which he gathered, analyzed and organized, which gave rise to the first edition of The Spirits' Book, about half the size of its second edition.

Kardec quickly realized that this initial effort in the Doctrine would require development, like all science. Thus, in 1858, the Spiritist Magazine — Journal of Psychological Studies, a monthly periodical where he presented to the public results of studies on evocations and spontaneous communications within the scope of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, as well as pertinent content sent by other groups. He also used the Magazine to reinforce the true face of Spiritism, often presenting counterpoints to opinions and articles full of ignorance and, at times, evil.

We talk about scientific methodology: well, Spiritism was born like all science: from a systematic and controlled observation of verifiable facts (although not under our will), from which hypotheses were created. From the hypotheses, a theory was created, which was then subjected to experiments (evocations). From the experiments, the results were verified and, from there, the hypotheses were evaluated: if they were corroborated, they were incorporated into the theory; if not, they were reevaluated and new observations were made.

Untruths

One of the biggest untruths that reign over the current Spiritist Movement is that evocations should not be carried out, which is in opposition to the historical characteristics of Spiritism. Anyone who studies the first year of Revista Espírita understands how indispensable for spiritist science, which, as it is a science, should not be taken as sacred content, which should remain untouched. On the contrary: Spiritism needs development, but this development can only be done through scientific methodology, which necessarily depends on the resumption of evocations. An example of a practice lacking method, or taken for false principles, is that it is enough to evoke one or more Spirits, in an isolated group, and ask (or listen) to them about everything, making this a doctrinal principle.

Another big untruth is the assumption that mediumship belongs to the Spiritist Doctrine. So much so, that we demonstrate that Spiritism was born through the joint effort of groups that could not be Spiritists, since the doctrine did not yet exist. At that time, people of various beliefs and religions practiced mediumship in their homes, in small groups, and reaped good or bad results from evocations depending on their efforts to reason about communications. Kardec mentions, in the Magazine, that the followers of Spiritism included Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists, etc., carrying out evocations and studies and often sending them to the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, where, together with other collaborators, they were evaluated, analyzed and separated those that could represent an interest for the general public.

Here we have two more untruths of the modern Spiritist Movement: the one that says that mediumship can only be practiced in the spiritist center and the one that says that we should just wait for the free communication of the Spirits. From these, perhaps, is born the biggest mistake of modern spiritists and followers: the blind and unreasoned acceptance of everything the Spirits say.

Another untruth, which we cannot fail to mention, is the one that says that Spiritism is a religion. We have already demonstrated that it is a science and that it can only be taken as a religion in the philosophical sense of natural religion, approached in a metaphysical and moral way by Rational Spiritualism, which we will talk about in a moment. This is the reason for finding, in Kardec's time, followers among religions, who did not leave their religions, with their particularities, to practice Spiritism. Regarding this, stay with us until the end, as understanding is extremely important.

Unfortunately, the Spiritist Movement erased science and transformed Spiritism into a religion, which started to create false ideas and dogmas that, if they please some, please for a while, but cannot face reason in the most critical moments of life, creating, thus, disbelievers. They forgot that Spirits do not become wise by leaving the material body and that, among them, there are good and bad, wise and ignorant, etc., and that it is above all when it is simply made available, without dialogue, that anyone presents themselves .

There are countless false ideas, which feed the Spiritist Movement and followers in general, which have not gone through the necessary screening, which have not been investigated and questioned, even if they were opposed to what, with method, was transformed in principle by psychological observation in thousands of Spirits, of all “types”.

We invite the reader, if they have not already done so, to start studying the Revista Espírita from 1858 and 1859 (it runs until May 1869). This publication, which should be taken as a laboratory where one can follow the development of the Spiritist Doctrine, through the method highlighted above, and not as a final idea in each article, demonstrates what Spiritism actually is and how much our society is far from this reality.

Notice what we say untruths, and not “lies”, since most of those who spread them, speak from what they were taught. But where did these untruths come from?

The materialist turn of the 19th century

Spiritism was not born out of nowhere. The ground was very well prepared before that and, at the beginning of the 19th century, the movement known as Rational Spiritualism was born, which, based on metaphysics, sought to study the human psyche through its most elementary and inseparable aspect: the soul. Authors such as Maine de Biran, Victor Cousin and Paul Janet were its main exponents.

You probably don't know, but Rational Spiritualism defined French Moral Sciences in the middle of this century, forming part of French teaching and defining its structure. I will leave information in the description. But ER approached this study only through metaphysics, and not in a practical way. As Spiritism, which was its development, Experimental Psychology was born (and now you know the reason for the subtitle of the Spiritist Magazine). I will not go into many details, which can be found in the book “Autonomy: the never told story of Spiritism”, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo. The issue here is different.

At the end of the 19th century, German materialist philosophy overcame French spiritualist philosophy, which, according to some rulers, was the reason for France's failure in the war. Rational Spiritualism was swept under the carpet and Spiritism, which was already suffering from adulterations (we will talk about that in a moment) took the final blow, being practically forgotten in France, in Europe and, later, in the world. New icons of the philosophy of nothingness and materialist psychology (however paradoxical this idea may be), such as Nietzsche and Freud, were taken as idols, replacing rational spiritualist psychology with the perspective of the nullity of moral efforts and selfishness.

Adulterations in Spiritism

Very interesting details about the events after Allan Kardec's death can be gleaned from the books “O Legado de Allan Kardec”, by Simoni Privato, and “Ponto Final”, by Wilson Garcia. In short: the fateful and unexpected event shook spiritists everywhere, who struggled to regain some strength. Along with this, wars came and, in the Spiritist Society, Kardec's successor, Pierre Gaetan Leymarie, undermined scientific doctrinal principles, expelled old people, in the middle of winter, from homes created by Kardec for poor spiritists, burned correspondence carefully kept by the Professor and, for personal interests, he admitted to the Spiritist Magazine contents originating from the ideology of Roustaing, now deceased, who considered himself the revealer of truths, blindly believing in one or more obsessive Spirits who communicated through a medium. The care for rationality, for the general agreement of spiritist communications, ended and, to throw the last straw on French Spiritism, Leymarie was put on trial for publishing content originating from a charlatan, in what became known as “ Process of the Spiritists”.

Because of this whole scenario, Spiritism grew stronger in an already distorted Brazil. The origins of FEB, an institution that took the liberty of proclaiming itself the general leader of Spiritism in Brazil, in fact, are completely linked to these distortions. FEB was founded and guided by Roustaing's principles for a long time (read Ponto Final, by Wilson Garcia). This is the main reason for the distortions of the Brazilian Spiritist Movement.

Added to this, the Revista Espírita only came to be translated in the 1950s. Here, several false ideas were formed, with, as we have demonstrated, the assumption of not judging communications and not evoking Spirits for investigations being the most damaging of them.

The resumption

When we talk about resuming Spiritism, we talk about resuming it as a science. To do this, knowledge is needed, born from study, seriousness, will, purpose and collaboration. Mediumship, which does not belong to the Spiritist Doctrine or the Spiritist Movement, can be practiced by everyone, including outside of spiritist centers. Evocations are necessary and healthy, but here we need warn about some principles of the science of Spirits.

The Spiritist Doctrine, as a science, has the merit of having produced knowledge about the observation of phenomena and communications of Spirits, spread throughout the world. It was not born from Kardec's brain, but from thousands of evocations and facts, analyzed in a scientific way. We repeat this a lot, because this understanding is substantial.

Already in the time of Allan Kardec, mediumship was practiced everywhere. At first, with many errors; later, as knowledge became established, it became increasingly more serious and rational, leaving only dissidents and stubborn people who, not wanting to observe scientific principles and driven by self-love, insisted on banal errors, which almost always led them to obsessions. . We mentioned Roustaing a little while ago, who, preferring to blindly believe the words of Spirits that fed his ego, promptly turned against Kardec when he tried to warn him. It's like Icarus, who, warned that he couldn't approach the sun without getting burned, fed with his ego by his wings, ignored the warnings and ended up burned.

This general warning comes in line with the completion of this important call: Spiritism needs to be resumed, and this depends on knowledge and care. The evocations need to be resumed. The doctrine of Spirits needs to be developed again by small groups, cooperating with each other. This was the direction that Kardec sought to give to Spiritism, shortly before his death (read Spiritist Magazine — 1868 > December > Transitional Constitution of Spiritism), where Spiritism would start to be developed by scattered groups, coordinated among themselves, observing the principles already established by the method. People of any religion can do so, as mediumship does not belong to the Spiritist Movement. The centers need to return to being serious, controlled study centers. When resuming the evocations, it is clear that we will face different challenges; It is logical to assume that many will encounter difficulties and many others will fall into the error of vanity and personalism, struggling to establish false ideas, as is already the case. Unfortunately, we will find them mainly in the Spiritist Movement. But these are challenges that will be faced and, if they are done with the doctrinal knowledge that already exists, they will be quickly overcome, if they ever exist.

Let us envision a new future, where there is no fight between religions, but where individuals and groups cooperate with the restoration of evocations with a greater purpose: that of resuming the development of Spiritism. We will return to Spiritism in homes, as in Kardec's time, where family evocations consoled, taught and, at times, represented doctrinal interest. They will be spiritists, or their followers, people of any religion, any creed, or even non-believers, who, with the firm purpose of learning and with the full awareness of not being the holders of the truth, will seek, through evocations and collaboration, to restore the momentarily interrupted path of Spiritism, a doctrine capable of revolutionizing ideas and, thus, transforming individuals, families, groups and, finally, the world. The truth does not belong to anyone, but the theories that come closest to it can be found by that maxim expressed by Allan Kardec, representing the scientific method in Spiritism:

Generality and agreement in teaching, this is the character essential of doctrine, the very condition of its existence, from which it follows that any principle that has not yet received the consecration of the control of generality cannot be considered an integral part of that same doctrine.. It will be a simple isolated opinion, for which Spiritism cannot assume responsibility.

This collectivity in agreement with the opinion of the Spirits, passed on to the others, by the criterion of logic, is what constitutes the strength of the Spiritist doctrine and assures its perpetuity.

Allan Kardec – Genesis

We welcome your comments below.

Spiritism, as a science with a philosophical aspect and moral consequences (Spiritism can only be seen as religion From a philosophical point of view, said Kardec, precisely based on the philosophy of the time, the Rational Spiritualism, from where Spiritism developed.)), formed through the scientific method, experiences challenges from all sides. Placed in a figure, it looks like the most beautiful flower, with the sweetest perfume and the greatest healing properties, smothered by thorns and weeds.

The most diverse difficulties arise from all sides, arising mainly from a lack of commitment, zeal and care. Under this nomenclature, they admit any type of ideas, coming from the mouth or mediumistic intermediation of individuals who have become unquestionable icons. As if that were not enough, lacking knowledge about what science and about the necessary scientific method, responsible precisely for the unassailable strength of the Doctrine born from the studies coordinated by Allan Kardec, most modern researchers promote, in the spiritist environment, new ideas, new theories, distracting themselves from the essential point: the evocations, producing teachings that agree with each other, so subjected to rational analysis, in the face of human science and in the face of what had already been constructed by the same method.

Scientific Method

Let us return for a moment to the question of the definition of scientific method, exemplified in the attached figure. For those who dedicated themselves to studying at least the first year of Revista Espírita (1858), it will be very easy to identify the same steps taken by Kardec:

• the systematic and controlled observation of certain phenomena and, later, of evocations;
• verification of identified facts;
• the investigation of hypotheses, which form a theory, cohesive in itself, from which we obtain implications, conclusions and predictions;
• carrying out experiments, through evocations, from which new observations are obtained, analyzed rationally and logically;
• hence, the observation of new facts, which will or will not corroborate the theory;
• finally, add the results of these observations to the scientific theory, if they corroborate it, or recycle hypotheses, making new observations and going through the same method again.

A very notable fact, which denotes Kardec's scientific rigor and his indissoluble commitment to true science, is that he Never clung to any idea in the study of Spiritism. Anyone who has studied the Spiritist Magazine of 1858 and 1859 already understands this very well. An example of this is the study treated mainly from the RE of July 1859, starting with the article O Zuavo de Magenta and concluded (at least for the moment) in the articles of the following month. We highlight the study in the article Materiality from Beyond the Grave.

And it is precisely at this point, that of attachment to ideas, added to the absence of the necessary method, that the vast majority of modern researchers of Spiritism make mistakes.

The error of the modern spiritualist movement

The big problem arises when, abandoning the essential scientific method for spiritist science, the Spiritist Movement began to admit theories contrary to the principles already solidified by the same method, such as the ideas of spiritual colonies, thresholds, etc., falling into the most basic error of the excited spiritist: blindly believe in the opinions of Spirits.

We do not say that Spiritism, studied by Kardec, has already observed everything there is to be observed. Of course not. What we say is that the modern spiritist movement has created a large set of theories that cannot face the scientific method, because they have not gone through it!

We very often find even those dedicated and willing researchers — we will not take this true impetus from them — who, however, cling to the most diverse ideas and who very quickly become irritated by the contradiction of what, scientifically, is part of the principles doctrinaires of Spiritism.

The basis of the indispensable methodology in Spiritism

Let us return here to what is highlighted on our home page – a quote from Allan Kardec in A Gênesis:

Generality and agreement in teaching, this is the character essential of doctrine, the very condition of its existence, from which it follows that any principle that has not yet received the consecration of the control of generality cannot be considered an integral part of that same doctrine.. It will be a simple isolated opinion, for which Spiritism cannot assume responsibility.

This collectivity in agreement with the opinion of the Spirits, passed on to the others, by the criterion of logic, is what constitutes the strength of the Spiritist doctrine and assures its perpetuity.

Allan Kardec — The Genesis

The statement highlighted above, made by Kardec, is not a mere result of a personal systematization. Quite the contrary: it represents the necessary scientific method for the study and development of Spiritism. It is not enough for the same principle to be consecrated by generality (which requires the use of evocations, because it is not enough that we just put ourselves in the role of listening and accepting what the spirits say); it is not necessary, furthermore, that this consenting collectivity of opinion of the spirits be passed through the criterion of logic, which means comparing it to human science and the scientific method, so that, only then, it can be taken as a principle of Spiritism.

Note, furthermore, the term “opinion” used by Kardec, not by chance: what the Spirits say, through mediumistic communications, are their own opinions, born from their knowledge and their own observations, when they are not the result of a deliberate intention to mystify, that is, to promote false ideas . It happens in the best groups. The opinions of spirits, like the opinions of human beings, can be loaded with beliefs, false ideas, little knowledge, illusions, etc. How, then, to analyze them scientifically? Through the psychological observation of these communications.

The nuances in a psychological science

Anyone who has studied at least the first two years of the Spiritist Magazine notes that, even at the end of the second year, Kardec continues to frequently question the communicating spirit how he got there, how he presents himself, how he sees other spirits, etc. If an answer disagrees with the scientific theory or brings new facts, it will be investigated through evocations and according to the scientific method — which is not done nowadays.

Kardec investigated, among many things, the issue of pain in the Spirit. There were those who claimed to feel cold or hot; pains; hunger; worms gnawing his body, &c. It was through dedicated study, through rational analysis of the psychological nuances of these communications, that Kardec arrived at several doctrinal scientific principles. An example of this is the communication from the Spirit of the assassin Lemaire in the RE of March 1858:

6. Immediately after your execution, were you aware of your new existence? — I was plunged into an immense disturbance, from which I still haven't emerged. I felt great pain; looks like my heart felt it. I saw something roll at the foot of the scaffold. I saw the blood flow and my pain became more acute.

Kardec could easily, were it not for his scientific rigor, admit that the Spirit materially suffered from a pain in the heart. But he investigates:

7. Was it a purely physical pain, similar to that caused by a serious injury, such as the amputation of a limb? — No. Imagine remorse, great moral pain.

We could cite a huge diversity of cases that illustrate this scientific principle, but we leave the purpose of studying the Doctrine that it embraces to the reader's healthy curiosity.

Spiritism needs defense

Leaving aside the scientific method is a big mistake on the part of most modern researchers of Spiritism, who aim to construct new doctrinal principles without going through this process, when they should not only be practicing evocations, given the dedicated study of the Spiritist Magazine, but also should be encouraging the spiritist movement to do so at all times.

By not doing so, they throw another shovel of lime on Spiritism, producing a bad impression and a false idea in the scientific world, which does not recognize it as something born of science, but as a mere superstitious belief or a religion. It is not uncommon for me to come across allegations from people who, having not had the chance to know what really be it Spiritism, they distanced themselves from it because they could not admit, for reason, that, for example, a Spirit has to take a flying bus to get around.

We have a lot to do and you must have realized that the first step is studying.

Recently, a series of studies by Revista Espírita gave us an interesting lesson, which goes directly in line with the ideas of cities in the spiritual world, which many believe in and promote. The study was carried out on the following articles from Revista Espírita:

• July 1859:

  • The Magenta Zouave;

    • A senior officer killed in Magenta

• August 1859:

• • Furniture from beyond the grave;
  • Pneumatography or direct writing;
  • A servant spirit;
  • Mrs Mally's Guide

In addition, we use Kardec's conclusion in A Gênese (Editora FEAL) — Nature and Property of Fluids.

We will highlight the main points of the study, where we list our comments in square brackets ([comment]).

Magenta's Zouavo

45. ─ Do you know why you see us, while we cannot see you?

─ I think your glasses are too weak.

[He does not know. Hence it uses a metaphor or figure of speech.]

46. ─ Is it not for this same reason that you do not see the general in his uniform?

─ Yes, but he doesn't wear it every day.

47. ─ What days do you wear it?

─ Now that! When they call him to the palace.

[The Spirits, ignorant of certain things, express themselves as best they can, and see the world of Spirits according to their ideas, just as a child, using mental images to describe something that he does not understand, speaks of things that we attribute only to the imagination, but that, deep down, has its meaning. The mistake here would be to take the “palace” as an expression of spiritual truth permanent.]

48. ─ Why are you here dressed as a zuavo if we can't see you?

─ Simply because I am still a Zouavo, even after about eight years, and because among Spirits we conserve that form for a long time. But that's just between us. You understand that when we go to a very different world, like the Moon or Jupiter, we don't take the trouble to do all that toileting.

[This is very interesting. What we understand is that he is referring to the fact that Spirit adopts a perispiritual form according to the world where it goes and according to the existence of a personality in that world, without even realizing it. If he had lived in a distant world, for example, an animal seller, when evoked there, would present himself that way. When moving through space, without being evoked, it does not take a specific shape, that is, “you don’t need to do all that toiletry”.]

49. ─ You speak of the Moon and Jupiter. Were you there after he died?

─ No. You are not understanding me. After death we find out about many things. Didn't they explain to us a lot of problems of our Earth? Don't we know God and other beings much better than we did a fortnight ago? With death, the Spirit undergoes a metamorphosis that you cannot understand.

[He is trying to explain the previous thought, not knowing how to do it.]

A senior officer killed in Magenta

13. ─ At the moment of death, did you immediately recognize yourself?

─ I recognized myself almost immediately, thanks to the vague notions I had of Spiritism.

14. ─ Can you say something about Mr… also killed in the last battle?

─ He is still in the networks of matter. There's more work to get rid of. His thoughts had not turned this way.
OBSERVATION: Thus, knowledge of Spiritism helps in the detachment of the soul after death and shortens the period of disturbance that accompanies separation. This is understandable, as the Spirit knew in advance the world in which it finds itself.

[If this knowledge is so important, how can we conceive that precisely when Spiritism was scientifically studied, at the best possible moment, nothing was said about this materiality that today dominates communications?]

furniture from beyond the grave

So far no difficulty concerning the personality of the Spirit. We know, however, that they appear in clothes whose appearance changes at will; sometimes they even have certain toilet accessories, jewelry, etc. In the two apparitions mentioned at the beginning, one had a pipe and produced smoke; the other, a tobacco box and took pinches. Note, however, the fact that this spirit was from a living person and that his snuffbox was in everything similar to the one he usually used, and that he had stayed at home. What, then, do this tobacconist, this pipe, these clothes and these jewels mean? Would the material objects that exist on Earth have an ethereal representation in the invisible world? Does the condensed matter that forms such objects have a quintessential part, which escapes our senses?

This is an immense problem, the solution of which may provide the key to a number of things that have not yet been explained. It was this tobacco company that put us on the path, not only of the fact, but of the most extraordinary phenomenon of Spiritism: the phenomenon of pneumatography or direct writing, which we will talk about below.

[Position of the true scientist, in search of the truth, without discarding anything.]

3. ─ This snuffbox had the shape of the one he habitually uses, and which was in his house. What was this snuffbox in the hands of the Spirit?

─ Always looks. It was so that the circumstances would be noticed, as they were, and so that the apparition would not be taken for a hallucination produced by the state of health of the seer. Spirit wanted this lady to believe in the reality of her presence and took on all appearances of reality.

4. ─ You say that it is an appearance, but an appearance has nothing to do with reality; it's like an optical illusion. I would like to know if this snuffbox was nothing more than an unreal image, like, for example, that of an object reflected in a mirror.

(One of the members of the Society, Mr. Sanson, observes that there is something real in the image reproduced by the mirror. If the image does not remain in the mirror, it is because nothing fixes it, but if it is projected onto a daguerreotype plate, leaves an impression, clear proof that it is produced by some substance and that it is not just an optical illusion).

4 (continued) – Mr. Sanson's observation is perfectly fair. Would you be kind enough to tell us if there is any analogy with the tobacco box, that is, if there is anything material in that tobacco box?
─ Certainly. It is with the help of this material principle that the perispirit takes on the appearance of clothing similar to those that the Spirit wore when alive.

[Today, we know the principle of the image reflected in a mirror and its fixation in a photograph: the behavior of waves. The light, as electromagnetic energy, reflects off the mirror and impresses the photography device, whatever it may be. It seems that it is to this same principle (of wave) that the Spirit refers.]

NOTE: Evidently the word appearance it must be taken here in the sense of image, of imitation. The real tobacconist was not there. What Spirit had was just a reproduction. Compared to the original, it was but an appearance, though formed by a material principle.

Experience teaches us that we should not take certain expressions used by spirits literally. Interpreting them according to our ideas, we expose ourselves to great mistakes, so we must deepen the meaning of their words, whenever there is a minimum ambiguity. Here is a recommendation constantly made by the Spirits. Without the explanation we provoke, the word appearance, repeated continuously in similar cases, could give rise to a false interpretation [Since “appearance” could give rise to the idea of something that does not exist.].

5. ─ Would there be an unfolding of inert matter? Would there be, in the invisible world, an essential matter, covering the form of the objects that we see? In a word, would these objects have their ethereal double in the invisible world, as men are represented there in Spirit?

OBSERVATION: Here is a theory like any other, and that was our thought. The Spirit, however, did not take it into account, which absolutely did not humiliate us, because its explanation seemed very logical to us and because it rests on a more general principle, of which we find many explanations.

─ It doesn't happen that way. The Spirit has a power over the material elements disseminated throughout space, in our atmosphere, that you are far from suspecting. He can, at will, concentrate these elements and give them an apparent form, suitable for his designs.

6. ─ I ask the question again categorically, in order to avoid any misunderstanding. Are the clothes with which spirits are covered something?

─ It seems that my previous answer settles the question. Don't you know that the perispirit itself is something?

7. ─ It follows from this explanation that the Spirits make the etherized matter undergo transformations at will and that, therefore, in the case of the tobacconist, the Spirit did not find it perfectly finished; he made it himself at the moment he needed it, and then undid it. The same should happen with all other objects, such as clothing, jewelry, etc.

─ But it is obvious.

8. ─ That tobacco box was so clearly visible to Mrs. R… to the point of deceiving her. Could the Spirit have made it tangible?

─ It could.

9. ─ In that case, could Mrs. R… have taken it in her hands, thinking she was getting an authentic tobacco box?

─ Yes.

10. ─ If I had opened it, I would probably have found snuff. If she had taken it, would it have made her sneeze?

─ Yes.

11. ─ Can the Spirit not only give the form, but even special properties?

─ If you want; It is in virtue of this principle that I have answered affirmatively to the preceding questions. You will have proof of the powerful action that the Spirit exerts on matter and which, as I have already told you, you are far from suspecting.

[We know, today, that Creation is far from being “each for himself”, and that, in fact, it is “one for all and all for one”, with those most inferior being always “led” by the highest .]

12. ─ Let us then suppose that he wanted to make a poisonous substance and that a person had taken it. Could this have been poisoned?

─ I could, but I wouldn't have done it, because I wouldn't have been allowed to do it.

13. ─ Could you have made a salutary substance suitable for healing in case of illness? Has there ever been such a case?

─ Yes; often.

OBSERVATION: A fact of this kind will be found with a very interesting theoretical explanation in the article that we give below under the title A Servant Spirit.

14. ─ In the same way he could make a food substance; let's suppose he had made a fruit or some snack. Could someone eat it and feel fed?

─ Yes, yes. But do not look so hard to find that which is easy to understand. A ray of sunlight is enough to make your gross organs perceptible to those material particles that fill the space in which you live. Do you not know that the air contains water vapour? Condense it and you will bring it to a normal state. Deprive it of heat and behold, its impalpable and invisible molecules will become a solid and very solid body. There are other matters that will lead chemists to present you with even more astonishing marvels. Only the Spirit has instruments more perfect than yours: his own will and God's permission. 

OBSERVATION: The issue of satiety is very important here. How can a substance that has only temporary and, in a sense, conventional existence and properties produce satiety? By its contact with the stomach, this substance produces the sensation of satiety, but not the satiety resulting from fullness. If such a substance can act on the organic economy and modify a morbid state, it can also act on the stomach and produce the sensation of satiety. However, we ask pharmacists and restaurant owners not to be jealous, nor to think that the spirits are coming to compete with them. These cases are rare and exceptional and never depend on the will. Otherwise, food and healing would be very cheap.

15. ─ Could the Spirit manufacture coins in the same way?

─ For the same reason.

16. ─ Once made tangible by the will of the Spirit, could these objects have a character of permanence and stability?

─ They could, but this is not done. It's outside the law.

17. ─ Do all spirits have the same degree of power?

─ No, no.

[Because only superior spirits could do it (following answer).]

18. ─ Which ones have this power more particularly?

─ Those to whom God grants it, when this is useful.

19. ─ Does the elevation of a Spirit influence this case?

─ It is certain that the higher the spirit, the more easily it obtains this power. This, however, depends on the circumstances. Lesser spirits can also get it.

[And, in that case, they are supplied by the assistance of superior spirits, often without even knowing it. See The Book of Mediums or Guide for Mediums and Evocators > Part Two — On Spiritist Manifestations > Chapter V — On Spontaneous Physical Manifestations > Throwing Objects.]

20. ─ Does the production of semi-material objects always result from an act of the Spirit's will, or does it sometimes exercise this power despite its own?

─ This often happens in spite of you.

[That is to say: he doesn't even realize, consciously, that he does what he does.]

21. ─ Would this power then be one of the attributes, one of the faculties inherent in the very nature of the Spirit? Would it be, in some way, one of the properties, like that of seeing and hearing?─ Certainly. But sometimes he himself ignores it. Then another exercises it for him, in spite of himself, when circumstances demand it. The Zouavo's tailor was precisely the spirit I just mentioned and to which he alluded in his joking language..

OBSERVATION: We find an example of this faculty in certain animals, as, for example, in the electric fish, which radiates electricity without knowing what it does, nor how, and who does not even know the mechanism that produces it. Don't we ourselves sometimes produce certain effects through spontaneous acts of which we are not aware? Thus, it seems very natural to us that the Spirit operates in this circumstance by a kind of instinct. He works of his own free will, without knowing how, just as we walk without calculating the forces we bring into play.

NOTE: This was, for example, the case of the queen of Oude, whose evocation appears in our issue of March 1858, who still thought she was covered in diamonds.

23. ─ Can two spirits recognize each other by the material appearance they had in life?

─ This is not how they recognize each other, as they will not assume that appearance for each other. If, however, under certain circumstances, they find themselves in the presence of each other, dressed in that appearance, why should they not recognize each other?

[This is important! In mediumistic novels, the fantastic world created is all material or materialistic, and form, in these tales, is fundamental. Here, we have again the confirmation already made before that form is not important for Spirits in general, although it is predominant for Spirits still very attached to matter (that is, with very attached thoughts). It follows that it would make sense for a Spirit in disturbance to “see” itself in a condition like that of André Luiz's threshold, but the same could not happen when already detached from these ideas, which does not seem to be something that far away, according to the reports of several Spirits, given to Kardec.]

24. ─ How can spirits recognize themselves in the midst of the crowd of other spirits, and above all how can they do it when one of them goes to look for in a distant place and often in other worlds, those we call?

─ This is a question whose answer would take a very long way. It is necessary to wait.

You are not advanced enough. For the moment, content yourself with the certainty that this is so, for you have sufficient proof of this.

25. ─ If the Spirit can take from the universal element the materials to make all these things and give them a temporary reality, with its properties, it can also take from there what is necessary to write. Consequently, this gives us the key to the phenomenon of direct writing((Direct writing happens when a Spirit, by will and with the utility of doing so, makes real writing appear on paper, sometimes in graphite, sometimes in ink, sometimes in print format. We recommend reading the following article, “Pneumatography or direct writing”, as well as the article with the same title, in May 1860, and also Chapter XII of The Book of Mediums — “On pneumatography or direct writing”. 

Pneuma: among the ancient Greek thinkers, especially the Stoics, designation of the spirit, animating breath or creative force, used by divine reason to vivify and direct all things.)).

─ You finally understand.

[scientific maturation]

26. ─ If the material used by the Spirit is not permanent, how come the traces of direct writing do not disappear?

─ Do not judge by the words. From the start I never said never. In the cases studied, these were bulky material objects; here we are dealing with signs that should be conserved and are conserved.

[I understand that St. Louis states that this matter is not impermeable, and that it falls apart when it is “condensed” only by a temporary effect, by inferior Spirits. In the case of direct writing, if there is an interest in preserving it, it is preserved. Chapter VI – General Uranography – in Genesis, gives the key to this understanding.]

The above theory can be summarized as follows: Spirit acts on matter; it takes from universal primitive matter the necessary elements to, at will, form objects with the appearance of the different bodies existing on Earth. He can also operate on elementary matter, at will, an intimate transformation that gives it certain properties. This faculty is inherent to the nature of the Spirit, which often exercises it, when necessary, as an instinctive act, which it does not realize.

[It is important to note that, afterwards, it seems to be clear that this interaction on matter is never direct, but that it needs the perispiritual fluid of the incarnated person to happen..]

The objects formed by the Spirits have a temporary existence, subordinated to their will or necessity. He can make and break them at will. In certain cases, in the eyes of living people, these objects can have all the appearances of reality, that is, become momentarily visible and even tangible. There is formation, but not creation, since the Spirit cannot bring anything out of nothing. (The Book of Mediums, questions 130 and 131).

Mrs Mally's Guide

The article “A servant spirit”, from the same issue, presents the case of Mrs. Mally, where, around her, many interesting facts happen. From an early age he had the ability to see spirits. Sometimes he saw his guiding Spirit; others, he saw unpleasant apparitions, which were intended to call his attention to remain vigilant. There came to be the materialization of a Spirit (agenere).

“In 1856, Mrs Mally's third daughter, aged four, fell ill. It was in August. The child was continually immersed in a state of drowsiness, interrupted by seizures and convulsions. For eight days myself [the correspondent] I saw the child, who seemed to come out of her dejection, take on a smiling and happy expression, with half-closed eyes, without looking at those around her; extend your hand in a graceful gesture, as if to receive something; take it to your mouth and eat; then say thank you with a charming smile. During those eight days the girl was sustained by this invisible food and her body regained its usual appearance of freshness.”

[The article is interesting and we recommend reading it. Let's move on to the evocation of Mrs. mally.]

The evocation begins with the establishment of the Spirit's relationship with Mrs. Mally: they had an old friendly relationship. The Spirit was that of an eight-year-old boy who had died a long time ago. Kardec asks if he was always the one who appeared to her, and he says no, but asserts that it is he himself who produced certain material phenomena *:

13. ─ So you have the power to make yourself visible at will?

─ Yes, but I said it wasn't me.

14. ─ Don't you also have anything to do with the other material manifestations produced in her house?

─ Sorry! This yes. It was what I imposed on myself, together with her, as material work, but I do other work for her that is much more useful and much more serious.

* Kardec says, in the previous article: “By other manifestations he reveals his moral state. This Spirit has a non-serious character, however, alongside signs of levity, he has shown sensitivity and dedication.”

16. ─ Could you make yourself visible here, to one of us?

─ Yes, if you ask God for it to happen. I can, but I dare not.

17. ─ If you don't want to make yourself visible, could you at least give us a manifestation, such as bringing something onto this table?

─ Certainly, but what would be the use? For her this is how I witness my presence, but for you it would be useless, as we are talking.

18. ─ Wouldn't the obstacle be the lack of a medium, necessary to produce these manifestations?

─ No, this is a small obstacle. Don't you often see sudden apparitions to people without any mediumship?

19. ─ So everyone is able to see spontaneous apparitions?

─ Yes, because every human being is a medium.

20. ─ However, doesn't the Spirit find in the organism of certain people a greater facility to communicate?

─ Yes, but I told you ─ and you must know ─ that the Spirits have the power for themselves. The medium is nothing. Don't you have direct writing? Is a medium necessary for this? No, but only faith and a burning desire. And even sometimes this happens in spite of men, that is, without faith and without desire.

[Here, Kardec is deepening his studies. We cannot take this as conclusive, because, perhaps, what this Spirit says is not the truth, but only what he understands. However, it is not difficult to think that, if Matter is formed by the thought of pure Spirits, very simple material forms can be formed, under that influence and for its usefulness, by less elevated Spirits.]

21. ─ Do you think that manifestations, such as direct writing, for example, will become more common than they are today?

─ Certainly. How do you understand, then, the vulgarization of Spiritism?

22. ─ Can you explain to us what Mrs. Mally's daughter took in her hand and ate when she was sick?

─ Manna, a substance created by us, which contains the principle contained in ordinary manna and the sweetness of confectionery.

23. ─ Is this substance formed in the same way as clothes and other objects that spirits produce by their will and by the action they exert on matter?

─ Yes, but the elements are very different. The ingredients that make up the manna they are not the same ones I got to create wood or clothes.

[“We must not take certain expressions used by Spirits literally”. Let's go, before forming ideas]

24. ─ (To Saint Louis) Were the elements used by the Spirit to form his manna different from those he took to form other things? We have always been told that there is only one primitive universal element, of which the different bodies are mere modifications.

[Here, because there is doubt or inaccuracy in the response of that Spirit, Kardec questions São Luis, Spirit guide of the group. It is the principle we demonstrate in our recent article]

─ Yes. This means that this primitive element is in space, here in one form, there in another. That's what he means. He gets his manna from a part of that element, which he supposes different, but which is always the same.

25. ─ Is the magnetic action by which special properties can be given to a substance, such as water, for example, related to that of the Spirit that creates a substance?

─ The magnetizer employs nothing but his will. It is a Spirit who helps you, who is in charge of preparing the medicine.

---

Analysis of passage in “Our Home”

In Nosso Lar, we see the following passage. Let's analyze it:

The messenger of good fixed the painting, understood the gravity of the moment and added:

- We have no time to lose.

First of all, he applied comfort passes to the patient, isolating him from the dark shapes, which moved away as if by magic. Then he invited me decisively:

– Let's go to Nature.

I accompanied her without hesitation and she, noticing my strangeness, emphasized:

– Not only man can receive fluids and emit them. The natural forces do the same, in the different realms into which they are subdivided. In the case of our patient, we need trees. They will help us effectively.

Admired by the new lesson, I followed her silently. Arriving at a place where huge fronds were lined up, Narcissa called someone, with expressions that I could not understand.

[Of course, the spirits did not speak through their mouths. That's a figure of speech. The expression is of thought, and André Luiz could not understand these thoughts, yet.]

Moments later, eight spiritual entities answered his call. Immensely surprised, I saw her inquire about the existence of mango and eucalyptus trees. Duly informed by friends, who were complete strangers to me, the nurse explained:

– They are common servants of the plant kingdom, the brothers who attended to us.

[The highest, SERVE. They are not “elves”. They are Spirits, carrying out their activities in nature. They do not live in the middle of the forest, but they take care of this kingdom, as other Spirits will take care of others. They may not be more advanced than us, but they are more advanced than those who are still in the position of the Intelligent Principle. Therefore, they serve their purpose. Mediumistic works need, based on Spiritism, to be re-read and, if there is still doubt, these Spirits must be EVOKED!]

And, seeing my surprise, he concluded:

– As you can see, there is nothing useless in the House of Our Father. Everywhere, if there are those who need to learn, there are those who teach; and where difficulty appears, Providence appears. The only unfortunate person, in the divine work, is the unforeseen spirit, which has condemned itself to the darkness of evil.

[Here, she reinforces the teaching, asserting that the Spirit (therefore, conscious) who voluntarily condemned himself to darkness, that is, who voluntarily clung to imperfection, is the only one who moves away from the “path”, which is the constant relationship of Spirits, learning, cooperating and teaching, towards good.]

Narcissa manipulated, in a few moments, a certain substance with the emanations of the eucalyptus and the hose [“[the] primitive element is in space, here in one form, there in another”] and, throughout the night, we applied the medicine to the sick person , through common breathing and absorption through the pores.

---

Continuing: Mrs Mally's Guide

26. ─ (To the guide) Some time ago we reported curious facts about manifestations of a Spirit designated by us with the name Duende de Bayonne. Do you know this Spirit?

─ Not particularly, but I followed what you did about him and that was how I came to know about him.

27. ─ Is he a spirit of a lower order?

─ Does inferior mean bad? No. I mean, simply: not entirely good, not very advanced? Yes.

[Inferior spirit is not synonymous with imperfect spirit, because imperfection is something acquired by habit and will. On the Spiritist Scale, this is clear.

All of this is fantastic! Being able to verify, in the RE, the confirmation, given everywhere, of what is concluded in the final works. Little do the resistant know the richness that exists in this study!]

28. ─ We thank you for your kindness in coming and for the explanations you gave us.

─ At your orders.

OBSERVATION: This communication offers us a complement to what we said in the two previous articles about the formation of certain bodies by spirits. The substance given to the child during illness was evidently prepared by them and was intended to restore health. Where did they get their principles from? From the universal element, transformed for the desired use. The very strange phenomenon of properties transmitted by magnetic action, a hitherto unexplained problem, and over which unbelievers have been amused, is now solved. Indeed, we know that it is not only the spirits of the dead who act, but that those of the living also have their share of action in the invisible world. The tobacconist gives us proof of this. What, then, is admirable in that a person's will, acting for the good [Law], can operate a transformation of primitive matter and give it certain properties? In our opinion, this is the key to many supposedly supernatural effects, of which we will have the opportunity to speak.

This is how, through observation, we come to perceive things that are part of reality and the marvelous. But who says this theory is true? Go there! It has at least the merit of being rational and of perfectly agreeing with observed facts. If any human brain finds another more logical than the one given by the Spirits, let them be compared. One day perhaps they will thank us for opening the way to the rational study of Spiritism.

One day someone said to us: “I would very much like to have a servant Spirit at my command, even if I had to endure some pranks that he did to me.”

It is a satisfaction that we enjoy without realizing it, because not all the Spirits who assist us manifest themselves in an ostensive way, but that does not stop them from being by our side and, due to the fact that they are occult, their influence is no less real.

The Genesis (FEAL) > Nature and Property of Fluids

As has already been demonstrated, the universal cosmic fluid is the primitive elementary matter of which the modifications and transformations constitute the innumerable variety of bodies in nature. As an elementary principle of the Universe, it presents two distinct states: that of etherealization or weightlessness, which can be considered as the primitive state, and that of materialization or weightlessness, which becomes, in some way, its consequence. The intermediate point is the transformation of the fluid into tangible matter. But even there, there is no sudden transition, as our imponderable fluids can be considered as an intermediate point between the two states ((To understand Allan Kardec's statements, it is essential to consider that there was in his time, in Physics, the theory of that matter would be made up of two classes: common matter, tangible or ponderable, and imponderable matter or atoms representing light, electricity, heat, etc. (these are luminous, electrical, caloric fluids, etc.). Psychic fluids or spiritual (theme of this chapter) would then be even more subtle states of the universal cosmic fluid than those imponderable fluids accepted at the time. There would then be, in a sequence from greater to lesser subtleties: common matter, imponderable matter, psychic matter. Currently we know that the hypothesis of the imponderable substance is false, and these phenomena are explained as electromagnetic waves.Transposing Kardec's reasoning to Modern Physics, we could conclude that psychic or spiritual matter would be above light. But this hypothesis leads to more complex questions and implications in the current scientific paradigm for which we do not have in this work the developments that allow us to resolve them. (N. do E.) )).

Spirits act on spiritual fluids, not manipulating them as men manipulate gases, but with the help of thought and will, which are, for the Spirit, what the hand is for man. By thought they impress this or that direction on the fluid; they agglomerate, combine or disperse them and form sets with a certain appearance, shape, color; they change their properties, as a chemist changes those of a gas or other bodies, by combining them according to certain laws. It is the great workshop or laboratory of the spiritual life.

Sometimes these transformations are the result of an intention, but often they are the product of an unconscious thought, because the Spirit just thinks about something for it to be done.

This is how, for example, a spirit appears to an incarnate spirit, endowed with spiritual vision, under the appearance he had when he was alive, at the time he met him, although he has already had several other incarnations. He presents himself with clothes, external signs, diseases, scars, amputated limbs, etc. who had; a beheaded one will present himself without his head. I do not say that they preserved such appearances; no, certainly, because, as a Spirit, he is neither lame nor one-armed, nor one-eyed nor decapitated. But his thought, referring to the time when it was like that, his perispirit instantly takes on this appearance, which also changes instantly. If he had been once black and once white, he will present himself as either black or white, according to which of the two incarnations he is evoked and where his thoughts go.

By an analogous effect, the thought of the Spirit fluidly creates the objects it was used to using. A miser will handle gold; a soldier will have his weapons and his uniform; a smoker, his pipe; a workman, his plow and his oxen; an old woman, her distaff.

These fluidic objects are as real for the Spirit as they would be in the material state for the incarnated man. But, due to the fact that they are created by thought, their existence is as ephemeral as it is [here Kardec refers to the article discussed earlier, furniture from beyond the grave].

our observations

• The Spirit materializes, by the action of thought, the fluids, according to its elevation, its attachments and its ideas. This materialization can range from simple objects to, probably, large scenarios, formed in a group.
• Spirits that are sometimes less elevated, but already detached from material attachments, demonstrate that they are not involved in that materiality, so prevalent in others.
• Unenlightened spirits form mental images to describe something they don't understand, just as children can do. The role of a psychology student, in both cases, is to go beyond the images and figures to understand the background of what they say. 
• The mistake is in taking the word literally.
• Far from discarding it as nonsense, we will need to be ready, with a resumption of scientific Spiritism, to know how to filter the various atavisms that Spirits, dominated by these widely disseminated ideas, will be able to use.
• As we highlighted in recent article, it is a serious mistake to form systems on metaphors, taken out of context and not understood correctly. To get rid of these errors, it will be necessary to resume Spiritism scientifically, in the same way that Kardec did.
• The “coding” presents all the elements to understand that the materiality of the spiritual world is directly linked to the materialism of the Spirits. Those who are more “spiritualized”, not necessarily enlightened, do not present it, while those who are in a state of disturbance, caused by imperfections, often present ideas of attachment to matter. These examples are plentiful. We ask: how, precisely at the most important moment of Spiritism, this supposed reality of cities and colonies, which would be so important, since it would be immediate to our death, was not clearly established for Kardec? We have already addressed these issues in recent article, and we will not repeat it.

For a strange idea, we adopted the principle that we cannot evoke the Spirits, and that the only one who could do that was Kardec, because he had the permission or a very peculiar purpose.

In the light of knowledge, we need to correct this idea a little, because, in fact, the only ones who could make the evocations were the thousands of individuals and small groups, spread around the world, not only at the time of Kardec, but even before him, because , when Kardec became interested in the new science and even before giving himself the pseudonym of Allan Kardec, Spiritism was already practiced in many parts of the world.

Interesting, isn't it? Why is it that today, then, we cannot or should not evoke the Spirits? I do not know this law, nor have I ever seen it written anywhere, except in a sentence taken out of context, metaphorical by Chico Xavier: “the phone only rings from there to here”. Quite the contrary, when studying the works of Kardec, we will find the recommendation of the practice of Spiritism by small groups, a practice that consisted, in his view, a science: the constant investigation, together with the Spirits, of the laws that govern Creation.

For this very strange idea, we started to put mediums in the position of the old automatic telephone secretaries, whose only mission was to answer a call and record the message, and nothing else. Mediums have turned into this:

Not only that: Spiritist groups, which today practically do not exist outside of Spiritist centers, began to adopt an even stranger idea: they began to listen to “telephone recordings” without questioning them! That's right: the message given is not questioned, they are simply taken for the principle that they are always endowed with truth and wisdom, and with good intentions. This idea is very, very strange, because yesterday my mother received a message from someone who claimed to be me, and who wanted three thousand reais to pay an urgent bill. Imagine if my mother adopted the practice of many spiritualist groups and simply trusted the interlocutor!

The systems

By an even stranger principle, certain individuals began to create and defend systems built precisely on these passively received and unverified communications, wasting precious time and causing enormous difficulties to the spiritist movement, which stopped studying Kardec to trust these systems. Incongruously, the individuals who act in this way are often those who would be fully capable, due to their scientific knowledge, to investigate these issues.

But not only from unchecked spiritist communications does this sad scenario form. Many others erect true systems of ideas about metaphors used by Kardec in his studies, failing to understand that scientists, especially at that time, envisioning new scientific aspects that they had no way of understanding, created metaphors to try to give light to the idea they sought to express, entrusting the continuity of science with better explanations. All great scientists have done this, above all in the philosophical aspect and especially in the metaphysical scope of these ideas. Kardec did this, for example, when trying to explain the divine presence as an ocean, where everything would be immersed. One metaphor((Even today metaphors are used to give scientific explanations, with certain cosmologists going so far as to say that Space is like shampoo or cheese! Poor guy who builds a system on these metaphors!))!

But not only human science used metaphors. The Spirits also used them, often. Wise spirits used wise metaphors to explain ideas that, scientifically, we could not yet understand. Jesus used metaphors to explain principles of the spiritist science that the men of that time could not understand. Ignorant spirits used metaphors to explain causes and effects that even they could not understand in a scientific way, but that they knew existed and worked.

The whole question here is one:

METAPHORS

Just to be very clear and there is no doubt, let's define the meaning of the term: metaphor is the “figure of speech in which a word denoting one type of object or action is used in place of another, so as to suggest a similarity or analogy between them; translation (by metaphor it is said that a beautiful and delicate person is a flower, that a color capable of generating strong impressions is warm, or that something capable of opening paths is the key to the problem); symbol.”((MICHAELIS. Modern Portuguese – Search – Brazilian Portuguese – Metaphor. Available at: https://michaelis.uol.com.br/moderno-portugues/busca/portugues-brasileiro/metafora. Accessed on: May 29th. 2023.)). From Greek, metaphora.

They are true systems of ideas erected, many times, on nothing more than metaphors, taking them as if they were literal. In the scope of spiritist communications, the study of the Zuavo soldier's communication ("Magenta's Zouavo“), in the Spiritist Magazine of July 1858, gives us an interesting perspective, because, when asked about his spiritual appearance in that evocation (or perispiritual), he replies:

42. ─ If we could see you, how would we see you?
- In a turban and breeches.

43. ─ Well done! Suppose you appeared to us in a turban and breeches. Where would you have gotten those clothes, since you left yours on the battlefield?
─ Well, well! I don't know how this is but I have a tailor who can get them for me.

44. ─ What are the turban and breeches you wear made of? Have you no idea?
─ No. That's right there with the ragpicker.

OBSERVATION: This issue of the clothing of the Spirits, as well as several other no less interesting ones, linked to the same principle, were completely elucidated by new observations made within the Society. We will report on this in the next issue. Our good Zouavo is not advanced enough to solve it alone. For that, we needed the concurrence of circumstances that fortuitously presented themselves and that put us on the right path.

Later, when asked about his general, who was also dead, he replied:

46. ─ Is it not for this same reason that you do not see the general in his uniform?
─ Yes, but he doesn't wear it every day.

47. ─ What days do you wear it?
─ Come on! When they call him to the palace ((The Spirits, ignorant of certain things, express themselves as best they can, and see the world of Spirits according to their ideas, just as a child, using mental images to describe something that he does not understand, talks about things which we impute only to the imagination, but which, deep down, has its meaning. The error here would be to take the “palace” as an expression of spiritual truth permanent.)).

We could take this communication as another support base for the system of spiritual cities. Kardec, however, acting in a scientific way, systematized about this idea, but just saw in it something very interesting to be researched. Hence, the hypothesis arose that, in the world of Spirits, terrestrial matter could have an “etheric double”. In the article “Furniture from beyond the grave”, in the Magazine of August 1859, he asks São Luis:

5. ─ Would there be an unfolding of inert matter? Would there be in the invisible world an essential matter, covering the form of the objects that we see? In a word, would these objects have their ethereal double in the invisible world, as men are represented there in Spirit?

─ It doesn't happen that way. The Spirit has a power over the material elements disseminated throughout space, in our atmosphere, that you are far from suspecting. He can, at will, concentrate these elements and give them an apparent form, suitable for his designs.

Not satisfied with the answer, he asks:

6. ─ I ask the question again categorically, in order to avoid any misunderstanding. Are the clothes with which spirits are covered something?
─ It seems that my previous answer settles the question. Don't you know that the perispirit itself is something?

In the same article, just before, Kardec refers especially to the case of the Spirit of an incarnate person, who presented himself elsewhere, to a person, with the same characteristics of the physical body and carrying his tobacco box. We reproduce it, as it is self-explanatory:

3. ─ This snuffbox had the shape of the one he habitually uses, and which was in his house. What was this snuffbox in the hands of the Spirit?
─ Always looks. It was so that the circumstances would be noticed, as they were, and so that the apparition would not be taken for a hallucination produced by the state of health of the seer. Spirit wanted this lady to believe in the reality of her presence and took on all appearances of reality.

4. ─ You say that it is an appearance, but an appearance has nothing to do with reality; it's like an optical illusion. I would like to know if this snuffbox was nothing more than an unreal image, like, for example, that of an object reflected in a mirror.

(One of the members of the Society, Mr. Sanson, observes that there is something real in the image reproduced by the mirror. If the image does not remain in the mirror, it is because nothing fixes it, but if it is projected onto a daguerreotype plate, leaves an impression, clear proof that it is produced by some substance and that it is not just an optical illusion).

─ The observation of Mr. Sanson is perfectly fair. Would you be kind enough to tell us if there is any analogy with the tobacco box, that is, if there is anything material in that tobacco box?

─ Certainly. It is with the help of this material principle that the perispirit takes on the appearance of clothing similar to those that the Spirit wore when alive. OBSERVATION: Evidently the word appearance must be taken here in the sense of image, of imitation. The real tobacconist was not there. What Spirit had was just a reproduction. Compared to the original, it was but an appearance, though formed by a material principle.

Experience teaches us that we should not take certain expressions used by spirits literally. Interpreting them according to our ideas, we expose ourselves to great mistakes, so we must deepen the meaning of their words, whenever there is a minimum ambiguity. Here is a recommendation constantly made by the Spirits. Without the explanation that we provoke, the word appearance, repeated continuously in similar cases, could give rise to a false interpretation.

The mirror image is here taken as a metaphor. At that time, the physical principles of this image were not known, believing, in general, that it was something unreal, a “appearance“. The fair observation of Mr. Sanson demonstrates that the reflection in the mirror has something real, since, if instead of the mirror, it were a photosensitive plate, like that of the daguerreotype, that image would be recorded. They had no way to explain the phenomenon, so they used metaphors. The Spirit of São Luís responds with the accuracy confirmed by modern science: just as the reflection in the mirror and the recording of the photograph act as a result of the interaction with photons of light, the appearance that the perispirit takes results from the interaction of the Spirit's will on the element taken from the universal cosmic fluid. This is concluded in question nº 25:

25. - If the Spirit can take from the universal element the materials to make all these things and give them a temporary reality, with their properties, it can also take from there what is necessary to write. Consequently, this gives us the key to the phenomenon of direct writing.
─ You finally understand.

The purpose of this article

If the reader has followed us this far, he will understand that we are tracing a very clear line of reasoning: it is a mistake to build systems on metaphors. This is not scientific. Having put aside the spiritist science, modern spiritists have formed complex systems of ideas and principles that, many times, are fixed on a fragile stick stuck in the sand. The whole question is: do we we need resuming Spiritism as a science and, before demonstrating our view on it, let us make it very clear that, for this, one condition is essential: to study and know Spiritism and the principles of this science (therefore, it is logical, to study the works of Allan Kardec), as well as being focused on the subject you want to study.

The interesting point is that we have several people fully capable of taking up this science in the areas that interest them. We have great connoisseurs of Spiritism and the various human sciences, scattered around the world: physicists, biologists, philosophers, mathematicians, etc. The difference is that, at the time of Kardec, the sciences were all interconnected by metaphysics and that practically all scientists knew various areas of science ((Reading suggestion: Autonomy – The Untold Story of Spiritism, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo)). Furthermore, it is interesting to highlight that the principle that governs a good scientist is detachment from pride. One can have a prior idea, as Kardec had; one can question answers that differ from this idea, defending it, as Kardec did; however, faced with undeniable evidence to the contrary, when there is no doubt that the previous idea is not sustainable, the good scientist must leave this idea aside, choosing to stick with what meets reason and logic.

It is on this point that the good scientist and the good experimental science diverge from the systematic scientists, who want to impose on Nature the adaptation to their own ideas, as if that were possible. It is the latter who, based on metaphors, distorted and twisted at their convenience, elaborate intricate systems that, not infrequently, dominate humanity for an expressive time. We saw this in several areas, and the spiritist science did not escape this problem.

Finally, we come to the crux of this article.

The resumption of spiritist science

Imbued with the purpose of resuming the study; interested in reestablishing the spiritist science; adherents to the purpose of abandoning or, at least, questioning the systems; aware of the fact that Kardec relegated to the future the continuity and elucidation of the questions that he could not deal with except in a metaphorical way, we will give our vision on what the recovery of spiritist research requires from the point of view of experimental science, holders of understanding that, yes, we can and should evoke spirits for this purpose. However, we will base our ideas on the true guide to the spiritist laboratory given by Allan Kardec: the Spiritist Magazine.

It is very easy to understand, with the study of the first years of the Spiritist Magazine, the basic principles necessary for the scientific research of Spiritism. Let's divide them into two sections: moral principles and practical principles.

Moral principles

• Personal commitment to morals; detachment from one's own ideas.
• Interest in the legitimate investigation of the truth
• Humility and spirit of cooperation
• Seriousness and responsibility in research
• Formation of cohesive groups in ideas and principles

practical principles

• Elaboration of research and study groups, where only people truly knowledgeable of Spiritism participate
• Cooperation of mediums, preferably psychographers, with special interest in mechanical psychographers ((Because the control of the motor centers necessary for speech is more difficult and because “psychophonic” responses are more difficult to be analyzed in their independence in relation to the ideas of the individual medium.)), detached from their own personalities and their own interests in this work.
• Careful organization of studies, ability to analyze and separate what is metaphorical from what is literal in communications

Research through evocations

Endowed with legitimate principles and the will to seriously research a given topic, the small groups – which must operate in an environment closed to the general public – will be led by one or more higher spirits, whose moral authority can be easily established if the group is really penetrated by the spiritist science. This Spirit, which, in the case of Kardec, would be São Luís, is the one who will take care of assisting in the spiritual part, forwarding communicating Spirits, complementing ideas, etc.

Research on a particular topic or principle should follow, then, the following steps, where GS is the guiding spirit of the group:

I dared to summarize in a flowchart the complexity of evocations for scientific research purposes, but it is clear that the diagram only exemplifies the steps that Allan Kardec himself demonstrated to take, without demonstrating all the complexity behind it, in the sense of the need for knowledge, seriousness , moral commitment, etc.

The flowchart is very simple and self-explanatory, just follow the directional arrows. It demonstrates the steps of preparing questions in advance, selecting the Spirits to evoke (because evoking Spirits without a serious purpose is the same as being available to any Spirit, and it can be even worse), checking the evocability and the usefulness of evoking that Spirit in particular, carrying out the evocation and carrying out the questions and recording the answers, before which, in the face of specific questions present, new questions can be asked for clarification, to the Spirit itself or to the guiding Spirit and, finally, the documentation and subsequent analysis of the answers given, with the creation of a “database” of the group and with the availability, when pertinent, of the evocation and study for other groups, who will be able to analyze them and seek confirmations or refutations in their own studies. The medium is not part of the flowchart, but it is clear that he also has a fundamental role, treated with dedication in The Book of Mediums, by Allan Kardec.

It is evident that each answer will need to be analyzed with great care by the group, considering Psychology and knowing that Spirits, simply because they are free from the body, do not instantly gain full light - hence, always, the recommendation of the study of the Revisa Espírita, which evidences the fact that Kardec never formed systems on incomplete ideas or on a single Spirit, which would have condemned Spiritism to mysticism, right in its first year of studies.

And what can we ask? With seriousness, honesty and knowledge of Spiritism, everything. That is: it is clear that, satisfying the express conditions, we will not carry out an evocation to ask for the prediction of the lottery, nor to do evil, this is evident. But, for example, we could evoke some Spirits to seek to understand these ideas of fluids more deeply, in light of the knowledge of modern physics. Why not? Perhaps this can be deepened or, who knows, we will receive an answer like “there is still a lack of knowledge for human beings to understand these concepts”.

the false ideas

It is a mistake to think that modern times will hinder this work, imagining that the ease of communication will “contaminate” ideas between groups. Spirits do not exclusively reveal knowledge, but rather spread it everywhere, where there are people able to study. If a false idea is accepted by a group and disseminated to others, if the others are serious groups, they will easily reject it, because they will see the Spirits demonstrating their error. The ease of communication, first, will facilitate this work, as long as there is seriousness in communicating groups.

It is also false to assume that the spiritist researcher has to be a blank canvas. No! The researcher will always start with one or more hypotheses, which he will need to test in a population – in this case, that of spirits. He may have a prior idea because, based on his knowledge, that is where his reason points, and he may see this idea confirmed or refuted in the practice of evocations. If the researcher is not attached to his own ideas, that is, if there is no pride, he will abandon them when reason points in another direction, for new facts and evidence.

Here, friends, is all that is necessary for resuming spiritist research. Instead of clinging to the ideas erected about metaphors and figures, let's roll up our sleeves and get to work, which should begin with the study and understanding of Kardec's work, in its context. Very soon, we believe, we will have even more complete material for this correct understanding. No running over, so let's take the first step and let's study((Remembering that, according to what the facts show us, the works Heaven and Hell and Genesis were tampered with in their respective 4th and 5th editions, which is why we recommend reading the publisher's recent editions FEAL, which bear the term “original version” on the cover and with precious explanatory notes by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo and others)). What will come of this will be the consequence, as we know well that we are not left to our own devices.

the adulterations

Another important factor in this set is the adulteration of the works O Céu e o Inferno, from the 4th edition onwards, and A Gênese, from the 5th edition onwards. Those who want to turn evidence into proof can say what they like: for us, at this point, there is no other way of concluding than the adulteration of these works, since they do not match, in the altered editions, not even with what Kardec developed in the Revista Spiritist, in addition to introducing points that are disconnected from each other and that mutually contradict each other. Based on these editions, some systems were elaborated, one of the most harmful being the idea of paying debts through incarnation, as a punishment. The restoration of the original works, being carried out especially by Editora FEAL, was of substantial importance in this regard.

the main condition

For the doctrinal development to be resumed, it will be necessary to detach the personality, not only of the researcher and the medium, but also of the evoked spirit. The Doctrine demonstrates the collective condition of the Spirits and demonstrates that, by evoking, for example, Saint Louis, another Spirit can respond in his place. For this to be a good Spirit, which represents the same idea, it is necessary that the group be imbued with everything that we have demonstrated above, evoking the good Spirits and, under their tutelage, carrying out studies with Spirits that, by chance, are less elevated. In addition, for the resumption of Spiritism, in addition to the need to recover the Doctrine “in Kardec”, in a very well understood way (because the Spirits can only teach from true principles), it will be necessary for this to spread to different groups around the world, so that the conditions of universal agreement of the teaching can once again exist.

We are here, encouraging this process.

Remember of register your group contact in our directory, or if you have questions or want to talk, just get in touch!

“God will be ahead”; “God will not allow this or that fact to happen”. But then the fact, seen as negative, is consummated. And at that moment, the faith of many falters. “How could God allow such a thing?”, many will ask. We will approach and face this problem in the following lines.

Many, in moments of suffering, injustice, barbarism, fall into this questioning and, without having a concrete answer, see their faith almost crumbling, to the point where they often turn away from religion and spirituality, falling into the grip of materialism. This movement occurs only for one reason: because we are almost entirely based on false ideas. Now the false idea, being false, does not stand against the natural law. It is denied and collapses, before the course of the divine law, no matter our protests. Was this divine impiety? Or, worse, would all this demonstrate that God does not exist?

We talk about false ideas. Well, one of them is that God interferes with our choices. Another is that God would have an opposite, the Devil. Both are linked to the same problem: the false assumption that we are guided, either by God, or by the Devil, or by the “forces”, or by the stars or by the “universe”. It is the false idea of heteronomy, which, created on a philosophical doctrine that dominates society, makes us fall into these moral and intellectual traps.

Therefore, the question arises: is it wrong to reason if this reasoning leads us away from God? Would human science be reprehensible in this sense? I say: the problem is not in reasoning, but in reasoning on false principles. Since man is God's creation, his intellect is also. To deny the intellect, reasoning, would be to deny God. Reasoning is necessary – it is an imposition of the law – and when reasoning leads us to a denial of the law (here, referring to the natural, divine law) and of reason itself, it means that we are basing ourselves on a false idea, which leads to false results.

I will not spend time stressing the impossibility of the existence of a force contrary to God, or even the non-existence of evil. Allan Kardec has already done an excellent and unassailable job in the works Heaven and hell and The Genesis. We recommend the study to the reader, preferably based on FEAL editions. We also recommend that readers who have never studied Spiritism, and who only have inaccurate ideas about this doctrine, read the booklet “Spiritism in its simplest expression”, available for download using the button below.

Let's talk about the impossibility of the interference of God, Jesus or any superior being in our choices, asking: how is any learning really established in ourselves? By imposition, or by the exercise of reason? Of course, the answer can only be the latter, otherwise life itself would be meaningless, and all materialistic logic would be right.

Imagine the situation of a father and his son. The first is the best father we can imagine: centered, affable, sensible, fraternal, but energetic, as well as intelligent and very wise. The second is a rebellious son, with a “strong temper”, as some would say. Despite all his father's efforts, this son insists on making decisions contrary to his recommendations, always ignoring his thoughtful warnings. Once, the son says to his father: “I'm going to a party with Dona Maria's children”, to which the father replies: “Son, be careful. They, unfortunately, do not listen to reason. They are always involved with bad people, with drugs and I heard that, recently, they even got involved in some robberies”. The son responds, “Bullshit, dad. I'm going!".

This father would have two choices: the first would be to use his physical and moral strength to physically prevent his son from leaving home in such bad company; the other would be to always warn him, but leave it to his free and autonomous choice of what to do. It was always this second choice that she decided to make, since her son's childhood. He believes that it is only through his own choices and their results, and not through imposition, that the child will really learn what he is still unable to learn through reason and intuition.

The son leaves and, hours later, the father receives a call: it's from the police. They are saying that the son was involved in a case of armed robbery and, although he was not the one who drew the weapon, he was arrested for collaborating with the group, taking a woman's purse and necklace, a fact pointed out by the two sons. from Dona Maria, who wanted to see their feathers reduced. Sadness overwhelms this father, who, however, does not become unhappy: “I did everything I could do”, he has it on his conscience. Convicted after trial, his son spends the next eight years of his life behind bars, while he visits him weekly, advising and morally stimulating him. The other two are in the same prison and, formerly companions of vagrancy, now subject him to vexatious acts. The son says he regrets it, but if it's just remorse, for the punishment received, or if it's moral regret for the acts performed, only time will tell.

This small allegory demonstrates that God, incomparable to this father, whose morals and way of acting cannot be criticized on a single point, could not act differently, always leaving us free will and choice as fundamental tools of our evolution . And that, transposed to the social level, explains everything that affects us through these means. God gives us matter as a tool of the Spirit, but guarantees us free will, always. Of course, he does not abandon us – on the contrary: through his own creation, which is solidary, we are constantly influenced by spirits more advanced than ourselves, who, however, do not interpose obstacles in our choices:

“To rise, man must be tried. To impede their action and put an obstacle to their free will would be to go against God and in this case the tests would become useless, because the spirits would not commit faults. The Spirit was created simple and ignorant. To reach the happy spheres, it is necessary for him to progress and to rise in knowledge and wisdom, and it is only in adversity that he acquires an elevated heart and better understands the greatness of God.”

Quote from São Luis in the Spiritist Magazine of November 1858

Let's see: it was the people themselves – which is a mass of individuals, each with their choices – who elected and glorified Hitler, who, inflaming a materialistic pride, led the nation to that state of barbarism. It was, in fact, the people who, inflamed against the truths that hurt their pride or seduced by gold, chose to release Barabbas, condemning Jesus to martyrdom. And what followed from that, if not a lot of learning, in the midst of absolutely adverse conditions?

But how to explain, within this dynamic, the suffering of those who no fall into the bad choices? We speak of those who, by their own will and for a different state of spiritual progress, make better choices, more connected to the morality of the divine law.

Now, in the same way that that father suffered, limiting his life in many aspects, to be with his son, doing him the good of seeking to help him exercise his reason; in the same way that the apostles of Jesus suffered, who, far from throwing themselves at arms, threw themselves at good, through the propagation of the ideas of Christ. They are proofs, derived from natural law. They are not arbitrary impositions of a wrathful God, with the purpose of collecting debts, but only consequences of divine law, which imposes effects that, in one way or another, bring learning to the Spirit. the natural law imposes that a layer of the Earth's crust, under pressure from the mantle, may crack, causing earthquakes or the explosion of volcanoes, whose effects will inevitably bring difficulties. This same law imposes that our choices will produce effects, which, of course, are not the result of a system of sin and punishment, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” or “karma”.

Look: the father did not choose that the son make those decisions, any more than the Jews chose that Hitler was elected. A person, murdered by a criminal, did not choose to be murdered: it was the criminal who chose to commit the crime, without reflection. Because we are incarnated, we are subject to the choices of others, and that is not a penance imposed by God: on the contrary, it is a reflection of the natural law, which brings us, I repeat once more, learning, useful for our progress. Now, how many Jews, imprisoned and treated like animals, have not seen their souls lifted by the exercise of fraternity and faith, while they dealt with so many and suffered adversities? An example: Anne Frank, who lived for two years locked in an attic, with her family, without being able to make a sound, went from the state of hatred of her mother to the state of brotherly pity, and probably learned a lot from it. The Spirit of the person murdered by a criminal may learn a lot from this, or may become attached to the fact, which may cause him suffering. One way or another, you will learn, after all, as we know, the end of a life in matter does not represent the end of the Spirit's progress.

For the liberated Spirit, the suffering of the flesh is nothing more than a passing detail, which it gets rid of with happiness, when fulfilled in God's time, and with commitment to learning, or which it narrows even more, when fulfilled with rebelliousness. or terminated ahead of time, by the regrettable act of ending one's own life - and that, once again, not by an act of divine punishment, but by the very condition of connection to the matter in which that Spirit places itself.

God, after all, has not abandoned us, and he has no material suffering or a single injustice that demonstrates that he is not, in fact, “in charge”. It is enough for us to detach ourselves from the false idea that it interferes with our choices, individual and collective, as well as the idea that the individual who acts in evil would be guided by a power contrary to God. No: everything stems from choices, relative to the moral and intellectual state of each one. The evil that arises from these choices does not exist by itself, as the individual is only choosing with a view to satisfying his own desires and inclinations, which, at the root of the problem, is linked to selfishness and pride. Kardec would say, in the August 1863 Spiritist Magazine:

So why evil and how to explain it? Evil does not come from a primitive fall that would have changed all conditions of human life. He has because of the non-fulfillment of God's law and the disobedience of man, misuse of free will.

These very deep roots are not destroyed with an axe: they need to be slowly unearthed by a continuous effort, in which education and fraternity play a fundamental role.

God, far from seeing himself diminished by this, exalts himself in all his attributes, as he gives us autonomy, progress through his own effort and the opportunity for learning and teaching: those who are a little above, teach those who are a little below. , in all the infinite levels of evolution.

Thus, everything is connected, everything is linked in the Universe. Everything is subject to the great and harmonious law of unity, from the most compact materiality to the purest spirituality. The Earth is like a vessel from which a thick smoke escapes, which is rarefied as it rises, and whose rarefied parts are lost in infinite space.

The divine power shines in all parts of this grandiose ensemble, and yet they wanted, to better prove the power if God, that he, not content with this, come to disturb this harmony! Let him lower himself to the role of a magician with puerile effects, worthy of a conjuror! And they dare, in addition, to rival him in skill with Satan himself! Never has the divine majesty been lowered so low, and they are astonished at the progress of unbelief!

There is reason to say, "Faith is gone!" But it is faith in everything that shocks common sense and reason; faith similar to that which, in times past, caused them to say: “The gods are gone!” But faith in serious things, faith in God and immortality is always alive in the heart of man and has been smothered by the silly stories with which they oppressed. It rises stronger, as soon as it is released, as a plant in a dark place recovers when it receives the rays of the Sun again!

KARDEC, Allan. The Genesis, 1868. FEAL Publisher.

As for the question “Does God exist?”, we will answer that it is enough to look at everything we have said, with a look elevated above matter, and the finding cannot be otherwise. However, if your reason still struggles with the things you've learned, give the aforementioned works a chance, and study them. Most likely you will find there such a clear, brilliant rationality that you will find the answers you are looking for so much.

One last observation: we said at the beginning that, in the face of the fact, seen as negative, many faint. From our narrow earthly view, everything is negative, everything is bad, everything is retrogression. Let us look, however, to the past: how many advances, in all fields of humanity, were harvested from adversities? How much learning? This means that, although God does not interfere arbitrarily, his Law is perfect, and everything converges to a single point: progress, which is irresistible.

Optimism, therefore. Let's keep studying and doing our part. No individual, much less the world, will be changed by imposition or violence - and here is the collapse of many materialist systems and ideologies, which continue to seduce many unwary people - but only by autonomous will and conscious of each individual. Forward: the work is great, it begins with ourselves and spreads in fraternity to the next. I leave, on here, a suggestion of excellent studies.

The world will only change when society changes, and society will only change when the individual knows and understands the morality of good, which is the Law of God. How to achieve this, if not through basic education, inside and outside the home? And how can the moral of Spiritism leverage this change?

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Anyone who has ventured to know a little more about Allan Kardec's history knows that he was educated by the Pestalozzi method, being one of his most exemplary disciples. For his teacher, education must be guided by the principles of fraternity and love, away from the concepts of sin and punishment, which greatly shaped Kardec's way of thinking, which later was based even more fully on Rational Spiritualism and, later, by Spiritism. We also know that the investigative and humble character of Professor Rivail was also fundamentally formed by this education, guided by the exploration of the natural sciences through the scientific method, and this, of course, explains a lot the way in which he acted against Spiritism.

All of this – fraternity, learning about the moral principles of good and God's laws, disinterested charity, which is the fruit of this learning, humility, which is born from the heart of one who never takes as a principle that his word is the last, in short, everything that is contained in the Pestalozzian methodology – provides the basis for a much better quality education, from the first steps of human beings on Earth. It is, I have no hesitation in saying, one of the greatest tools for the (trans)formation of society, greatly complemented by the understanding of the laws that Spiritism came to demonstrate. The two, together, have the greatest power, from childhood, to prevent the installation or development of the most harmful habits for the individual and for society – selfishness and pride – but, to date, neither of them has gained the space it deserves. , due to human attachment to false concepts that, on the surface, seem to please, but that, deep down, only cause unhappiness and delay.

To exemplify all this, nothing better than reproducing, in full, the content of the homonymous article by Allan Kardec, presented in the Spiritist Magazine of February 1864.

Of all the moral wounds of Society, it seems that selfishness is the most difficult to root out. Indeed, it is all the more so the more it is nourished by the very habits of education. It seems that the task is taken to arouse, from the cradle, certain passions that later become second nature. And they marvel at the vices of the Society, when children suck it up with their milk. Here is an example which, as everyone can judge, belongs more to the rule than to the exception.

In a family we know there is a girl between four and five years old, of a rare intelligence, but who has the small defects of spoiled children, that is, she is a little capricious, weepy, stubborn, and does not always thank her when given something. , which the parents take great care to correct, because apart from these defects, according to them, she has a heart of gold, a consecrated expression. Let's see how they manage to remove those small stains and preserve the gold in its purity.

One day they brought the child a sweet and, as usual, they told him: “You will eat it if you are good”. First lesson in sweet tooth. How many times, at the table, do they tell a child that he won't eat that snack if he cries. “Do this, or do that”, they say, “and you will have cream” or anything else that pleases him, and the child is constrained, not for reason, but in order to satisfy a sensual desire ((Desire of the senses)) that stings her.

It is even worse when they are told, which is no less frequent, that they will give their piece to someone else. Here, it's not just gluttony that's at stake, it's envy. The child will do what he is told, not only to have it, but so that the other child does not have it. Do you want to teach him a lesson in generosity? Then they say to him: “Give this fruit or this toy to so-and-so”. If she refuses, they do not fail to add, in order to stimulate a good feeling in her: “I will give you another one”, so that the child does not decide to be generous unless he is sure of losing nothing.

One day we witnessed a very characteristic event in this genre. It was a child of about two and a half years old, to whom they had made a similar threat, adding: “We will give it to your little brother, and you will have nothing.” To make the lesson more sensitive, they put the piece on the little brother's plate, who took the matter seriously and ate the portion. At the sight of this, the other turned red and it didn't take either the father or the mother to see the flash of anger and hatred that came from his eyes. The seed was sown: could it produce good grain?

Let's go back to the girl we talked about. As she did not realize the threat, knowing from experience that they rarely carried it out, this time they were firmer, for they understood that it was necessary to master this little character, and not wait for her to acquire a bad habit with age. They said that it is necessary to train children early, a very wise maxim, and to put it into practice, here is what they did: “I promise you, said the mother, that if you do not obey, tomorrow morning I will give your cake to the first poor girl who pass." No sooner said than done.

This time they wanted to keep their promise and teach him a good lesson. So the next day, in the morning, having seen a little beggar in the street, they brought her in and forced her daughter to take her by the hand and she herself gave her her cake. Then they praised his docility. Moral of the story: The daughter said, “If I had known about this, I would have rushed to eat the cake yesterday.” And everyone applauded this witty response. Indeed, the child had received a strong lesson, but one of pure selfishness, which he will not fail to take advantage of another time, for now he knows how much forced generosity costs. It remains to be seen what fruits this seed will bear later when, at an older age, the child applies this moral to things more serious than a cake.

Do you know all the thoughts that this single fact could have caused to germinate in that little head? After that, how do you want a child not to be selfish when, instead of awakening in him the pleasure of giving and representing the happiness of the recipient, they impose a sacrifice on him as punishment? Is it not inspiring aversion to the act of giving and to those in need?

Another habit, equally frequent, is to punish the child by sending him to eat in the kitchen with the servants. The punishment lies less in exclusion from the table than in the humiliation of going to the servants' table. This is how, from an early age, the virus of sensuality, selfishness, pride, contempt for inferiors, passions, in a word, which are rightly considered as the wounds of Humanity, is inoculated.

It is necessary to be endowed with an exceptionally good nature to resist such influences, produced at the most impressionable age, in which neither will nor experience can find a counterweight. Thus, however little the germ of evil passions may be found there, which is the most ordinary case, given the nature of most spirits who are incarnated on Earth, it cannot fail to develop under such influences, while it would be necessary to observe the slightest traces in order to repress them.

Without a doubt, the fault lies with the parents, but it must be said that they often sin more out of ignorance than out of ill will. In many there is undoubtedly a guilty insouciance, but in many others the intention is good, yet it is the remedy that is worthless, or that is misapplied.

As the first physicians of their children's souls, parents should be instructed, not only in their duties, but in the means of fulfilling them. It is not enough for the doctor to know that he must seek a cure, it is necessary to know how to act. Now, for parents, where are the means of instructing themselves in this most important part of their task? Today, much instruction is given to women; they make her pass rigorous examinations, but was the mother ever required to know how to build up her child's morale?

They teach you homemade recipes, but was it initiated to the thousand and one secrets of ruling young hearts?

Parents, therefore, are left unguided to their own initiative. This is why they so often follow the wrong path. Thus, in the mistakes of their grown children, they pick up the bitter fruit of their inexperience or misunderstood tenderness, and the whole Society receives the backlash.

Whereas selfishness and pride are admittedly the source of most human miseries; that while they reign on Earth, neither peace, nor charity, nor fraternity can be expected, so it is necessary to attack them in the embryo state, without waiting for them to become alive.

Can Spiritism remedy this evil? Undoubtedly, and we do not hesitate to say that he is the only one powerful enough to stop it, from the new point of view with which he allows us to perceive the mission and responsibility of parents; making known the source of innate qualities, good or bad; showing the action that can be exercised on incarnate and disincarnate spirits; giving the unbreakable faith which sanctions the duties; finally, moralizing their own parents. It already proves its effectiveness by the most rational way employed in the education of children in truly Spiritist families. The new horizons that Spiritism opens up make things look differently. Since its objective is the moral progress of Humanity, it will inevitably have to shed light on the serious problem of moral education, the first source of the moralization of the masses. One day it will be understood that this branch of education has its principles, its rules, like intellectual education, in a word, which is a true science. Perhaps one day, too, the obligation to possess this knowledge will be imposed on every mother of a family, as it is imposed on the lawyer to know the Law.

Kardec gives full weight to the responsibility we have towards children and their habits. Spiritism shows the origin of children's innate tendencies, but it also demonstrates that the Spirit incarnated in a child may not yet be strong enough to resist a bad habit that their parents or caregivers teach them from their first steps. This creates imperfections that could be very difficult to overcome…

Commonly, in the flesh, the fruit of these imperfections will lead people to ask: “what did I do to deserve this?”, or “where did I go wrong?”. However, it is enough for reason to speak a little louder to the conscience for them to launch into heavy lamentations, born from the fruit of the realization that the suffering their son may have gone through not just in one, but in many earthly lives, originated , if not in all, but at least in part, in the first seed sown and cultivated by those who should help them develop under the morality of good, and not move away from it.

Therefore, parents and caregivers, pay much more attention to the Spirits that God has entrusted to you as children. It will be their own consciences, and not God, who will hold them accountable tomorrow...

Under a very interesting title, I found this work today, a compendium of questions and answers, freely distributed in PDF on the Internet. I then went to analyze it, which is why I leave here my observations on this work.

I must emphasize that the intention is not to denigrate or mock the efforts that many make, and that, I believe, it has a good intention, almost always. However, when we talk about Spiritism, we need to understand that this science, in short, do not make isolated opinions, and that any spiritist communication that has not met the method of double control of reason and the universality of the teachings of the Spirits cannot be taken, but as an opinion. In the article "The role of the researcher and the medium in communications with the Spirits” We have already pointed out, according to Spiritism, the various reasons for this.

This work begins like this:

This work, created by incarnate and disincarnate spirits, is structured in questions and answers, explanatory notes and complementary texts, footnotes and prayers. It is intended for all who wish to initiate or deepen their bond with the Creator through instructive and reflective reading, prayer, the practice of love and charity, self-knowledge and the constant search for intimate reform.

Until recently, I didn't see this as a problem. Today, however, I understand that there is a big mistake in the so-called “intimate reform”, which Never was, neither with these words nor with others, in the work of Allan Kardec. Because? Simply because you don't reform what isn't broken. Well, we are spirits in evolution, making mistakes and getting it right and, sometimes, acquiring bad habits that become imperfections. When there is imperfection, we will have to do some work to detach ourselves from it - then there is a certain work of "reform" - however we cannot accept as a generalized assumption the fact that we all must reform ourselves, as the Spiritist Movement has widely proclaimed . This places a heavy burden of guilt on the shoulders of those who are simply seeking to learn and evolve, but who start to believe themselves, always, as “broken things” – and this is, deep down, linked to the false conceptions of the fall through sin.

Complementation

In Chapter I - Complementation - I - Purpose of the Work, the following is said:

1. For what purpose was The Spirits' Book released in 1857 by Allan Kardec?
— To liberate the incarnates through the truth, to instruct them and, consequently, to lead them to the practice of good.

A. Has this purpose been achieved?
- Yea; obviously it depends on the free will of each individual, but everything is in God's plans.

B. Given this, is it necessary to complement it?
— Yes, communications and ways of understanding change over time, and it is important that the teachings keep pace with these changes.

Note: The intention will never be to contest what has already been written, but to state it with more clarity and objectivity, so that there is no dubious understanding, bringing the truth more explicitly, in order to promote the practice once exemplified by the master Jesus.

It is clear that, in order to complement something, especially when it comes to complementing Spiritism, through “communications from Superior Spirits”, it is absolutely necessary that a series of requirements be fulfilled:

1. The human being must be prepared for this, having known and understood deeply, and in a contextualized way, everything that gave basis to the formation of this Doctrine. As we shall see, this first point has not been met.
2. When the Spirits demand to help the man to reach new knowledge, they act distributing the same knowledge through all the corners of the world, simultaneously. That is required so that, in the light of logic and reason, researchers of the doctrine can confront the ideas transmitted from all sides, carrying out the same scientific method that Kardec did. Perhaps researchers have carried out a certain rational analysis, but since this is not due to the universality of the Spirits' teachings and since we were not given knowledge of the method employed - which seems to consist only of questions and answers given to some Spirits, supposedly superior , through a medium or more, from the same group, this second point was not answered either.

Then the following appears:

2. When the first work was released, was the intention to create a new religion?
— At the launch of the first work, the intention was to assist in the transformation of humanity through knowledge, making it abdicate from pride and selfishness, enhancing the practice of love through charity. Every religion created with the intention of aggregating rather than segregating the incarnate is positively viewed (see item V – Religion cannot cause division).

And, in addition to this, let's look for what is presented in item V of the same chapter:

16. How to promote the integration of Spiritism with other religions?
— The content must be the guide of your conscience; it has no religion, only the discernment of right and wrong. Therefore, everything that pleases her should be a factor of union, and not of segregation.

Now, the interlocutor starts from the wrong concept that Spiritism is more of a religion, contrary to what Allan Kardec has already demonstrated in the past (read more by clicking here). Thus, it biases, with a previous concept, the characteristic of the response.

Regarding the reliability of the work, there is the following:

7. What guarantees that this work comes from high spirits?

— The guarantee lies in cohesion and content, aligning them to what you feel at the core, to understand whether there is coherence or not. By filtering through consciousness, you will understand that the intention of the work is not to demonstrate the elevation of the one who instructs you, just as it is not to convince you that there is only a new communication, but rather to make you practice love and goodness.

My italics.

When the Spirit supposedly says that the guarantee is in the cohesion and content, “aligning them to what you feel in the core”, it is only stating that the answers will be cohesive, since they are born from the same idea, in the same group – which is contrary to Kardec's method - and set the precedent for this group, based on their ideas, and seeing them corroborated by the Spirits, only confirm them. Then, in “by filtering, through consciousness”, precedence is given so that the “filter” is consciousness itself, and not the rational and scientific logic of Kardec who, incidentally, was never satisfied with any spiritist idea , without judging it under the sieve of reason and, many times, he fought against them, according to science, to accept them only when he verified that the idea met, with excellence, all the questions involved.

The author follows:

8. What would Kardec say about a complement to your coding work?

— Who never intended to be the owner of the absolute truth, but to open the way so that, through science and discoveries, updates happen naturally and constantly. I would also say that truth accompanies human moral evolution; therefore, it needs updates as we evolve.

Furthermore, Kardec would say that, without the double control method, scholars would be easily led astray.

A. How can spiritists who believe that the first work is immutable be able to receive this complement?

— We hope that you will receive it with great love, but if not, you will obtain it through consistency, searching your conscience for the necessary discernment.
Nothing is immutable but God. You are all learners of eternal progress; today you know more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.

It's needed very careful with the “complicated” contents that are hidden under the different truths, taken as refrains. I am not saying that the communicating spirits necessarily wanted to carry out a mystification, but, at the very least, they reflected the same tendencies and the same thoughts of the group in question, which believed in its role in bringing, by itself, the updating of Spiritism, which it is also contrary to the lucid words of Allan Kardec in the Spiritist Magazine of December 1868.

Another issue is that we need to note the beliefs that those involved in this research were imbued with: why the need to copy the way of expressing themselves at that time, imitating the language of The Spirits' Book? “Will they get it”? Nobody uses these words anymore, nowadays, and it is natural that the Spirits would communicate differently nowadays, since they don't stick to languages.

About the work of the incarnates, it is said that:

12. Could the participants have been influenced by false prophets?

— We know the veracity of something by the content. The embodiment also matters. False prophets make a lot of fuss, but they can't hold the lie for long..

The simple fact that this work was completed with so much effort, dedication and in an unpretentious way already cancels this possibility..

Now, Roustaing's Four Gospels belie these claims: the wrong ideas were kept from beginning to end, and it was produced with a lot of effort on the part of the parties involved. Whether the effort is unpretentious or not is another matter. In fact, the Spirit does not need to want to lie to produce a work with wrong concepts: it is enough for him to believe in these concepts, presenting them. We see that in André Luiz all the time.

Another criticism of the work is that it does not make it clear, except in the questions and answers, whose text is presented: is it from the group? Is it from the reviewer? Is it from the Spirit? So it is in each of the introductions to the chapters.

General Elements of the Universe

Chapter II begins with a text talking about four energetic changes in the terrestrial globe, something that seems to have come out of eastern doctrines, which speak so much about energies, than from the Spiritist Doctrine. The text is given to Socrates, a weighty name, as if to give it more reliability.

24. Is there a predetermined hierarchy in Creation or is it the result of the evolutionary process?
— In Creation, the “hierarchy” is a consequence of the evolutionary process; as evolution takes place, the being or element increases its hierarchical position.

Although the author released a note in comparison to question nº 29 of OLE (The Spirits' Book), the answer has nothing of what a Spirit knowledgeable about the doctrinal truths recorded by Kardec would say. In OLE, the Spirits succinctly respond that the Spirits belong to different orders, not different hierarchies, which are quite different concepts. Furthermore, the Spirit says that “the being or element increases its hierarchical position”: well, do elements evolve?

Then, in III – Scientific Discoveries, the author, whoever he may be, starts from a wrong assumption, according to Spiritism, that morality must advance so that, only afterwards, we can advance in science. This is clearly opposite to what they themselves presented, shortly before, in note 27, of The Spirits' Book, and confirmed by the observations:

The Spirits' Book, question 780: “Does moral progress always follow intellectual progress? — It's its consequence, but it doesn't always follow immediately.”

KARDEC, Allan. The Spirits' Book. My emphasis.

When the author says that "one step at a time. Solidifying morals, science will take leaps and unravel many mysteries“, is leaving aside the well-known fact that the Spirit only progresses morally when he makes an effort of his conscious will. This demands intellectual advancement.

In the immediately preceding paragraph, it is said that “Technological advancement could be the salvation or destruction of the planet. It is for this reason that men will only have more answers when they have the morals compatible with this privilege.“. It is as if we said that God places a limit on human intelligence, man must first learn to love and then learn to build rockets. This would be illogical, because it is the consequence of building the rocket, which generates the bomb that is used to decimate thousands of people, which precisely promotes moral advancement, due to the consequences of the act.

Then the following question is asked:

28. What is the relationship between material and spiritual science?

— In material science, resources are limited, in spiritual science, they are unlimited. Spiritual science complements the material, because, offering infinite resources, it makes scientific advances happen through the use of human intelligence.

What is fake. Human science advances through the development of man's intellect, and not through scientific revelations from the Spirits, which, by the way, is not materialistic at all. Spirits do not develop super-technological automobiles, because they do not need matter at all, except when they incarnate to advance.

In question 35, another incongruity is found:

35. Since the first work, there have been significant advances in science.
How do the spirits see this advance?

— Naturally, because it is a reflection of the collective effort of humanity. However, the use of these findings was not always positive; they were allowed by God for the incarnate to use them for good, but, on many occasions, they used them for evil.

God neither permits nor forbids the use of science, nor its advancement. It is in accordance with the capacity of human intellectuality. The human being, through the use of intelligence, often makes mistakes and, with them, learns. This is not doing evil: it is the fruit of development.

The chapter follows with a slew of questions and answers about scientific concepts that actually go nowhere. I will not repeat them here, but I leave the question: would this be the “scientific update” of the Doctrine? Now, we know that, with regard to science, one of the points that was most studied by Allan Kardec, although limited to the science of his time, is the issue of the Universal Cosmic Fluid and the perispirit. Wouldn't this be very important knowledge to advance in the face of our scientific discoveries?

Another issue: the superior spirits, as shown by Kardec in Genesis, chap. XVI – Theory of Prescience, does not have our material references to talk about a matter of time or questions that belong to human science. That's why, even in Kardec's time, they never entered the scope of particularities, and it is up to man, in the role of researcher, to draw his conclusions, based on the comments, and not in the “revelations”.

Creation – The Childhood of the Spirit

This chapter begins with a question answered in a totally contrary way to the Doctrine of the Spirits:

60. Does the childhood period of spirits take place in a primitive world?
— Yes, in most cases, spiritual childhood begins in the primitive world, where the human stage begins.

A. Why mostly?
— The evolution of each being depends on its choices, free will and worthiness. In rare cases, the animal can also make evolutionary leaps, to the point of spending spiritual childhood on other worlds..

Note: In those cases, where the leap takes place from the terrestrial animal world to generate a childhood in another world, there is merit in that spirit, which, through its effort and resignation, although with few intellectual tools, he managed to evolve to the point of not needing to experience childhood in a world of trials and atonements.. Although it may seem confusing in your eyes, this is proof that God recognizes the effort in an individual and particular way.

My italics.

The answers attributed to a spiritual origin are completely contrary to Spiritism, as we said. Evolution does not make leaps, much less of a Spirit experiencing the animal phase, where has no self-awareness, no free will, to soon experience a human phase. Incidentally, it is in total contradiction to the answer given in OLE: “There is between the soul of animals and that of man a distance equivalent to that between the soul of man and God”. Furthermore, the absurd mistake is made of assuming that a Spirit can evolve without going through the tests, at least, which are the material vicissitudes that stimulate it to intellectual and moral development.

Soon after, in II – Material principle, in question 62:

62. Do molecules have a spiritual principle?

“No, they are part of matter. Have vital fluids, which, in turn, support them.
Molecular movements begin with the vital principle and are composed of vital and magnetic fluids. Molecules are exclusively organic, not spiritual, but they serve the spirit, through matter, when they compose the human organism.

Italics mine

The first error is in supposing the vital fluid, which was a materialist theory of science at the time of Kardec which, not being able to explain the invisible, assumed the existence of imponderable particles, such as the caloric fluid, the electric fluid, etc. Allan Kardec, who initially started from this idea, in A Genesis, abandoned her, leaving only the term "vital principle", generic, and with Mesmer's theory - that everything that exists, in matter of matter and energy (it is obvious that the Spirits are not part of either of the two) originate of the Universal Cosmic Fluid. This is well explained in The Genesis:

Is the vital principle something distinct, having an existence of its own? Or else, to be
integrated into the unity system of the generating element, it is only a particular state, a
of the modifications of the universal cosmic fluid, which becomes the principle of life, as it becomes
light, fire, heat, electricity? It is in this latter sense that the issue is resolved by the
previously reproduced communications. (Chap. VI, General Uranography).

The Genesis – Editora FEAL

It amazes me, moreover, that researchers, so penetrated by scientific formulas, which they discussed with the Spirits, have lacked this fundamental principle theorized by Mesmer and supported by modern science. We will soon see that this same mistake caused other mistakes, in the "updating" of The Spirits' Book, by the group in question.

Having reached this point, I now realize that I was wrong: the notes are almost all, if not all, of the Spirits. I wonder what the researchers did besides analyzing them, according to their ideas, and accepting them.

Fluids in the Universe

The chapter in question makes the same mistakes mentioned above: not having known and understood the science of Mesmer's magnetism and Kardec's concussions, they start from the false assumptions of an outdated science. In other words: to complement Spiritism, which, according to assumptions, would be outdated in science, they use a science that Spiritism itself has already surpassed, more than 100 years ago. Strange, no?

This is how a very wrong opinion is repeated and which, moreover, would be promptly corrected by a superior Spirit:

74. Is it the vital fluid that determines the time of human stay on Earth?
— The amount of vital fluid is determined by God, however, through your choices, you can shorten or extend the time you stay in the
orb.

First, as we have shown, does not exist vital fluid, let alone an amount of it. Second, it is not God who determines anything, but ourselves. This is exactly why animals, without free will, die, from natural causes, almost all at the same age, according to their species and race, while man dies, from the same causes, at the most different ages. And the foundation of it also is in A Genesis, presented by Kardec:

To be more exact, it is necessary to say that it is the Spirit itself that elaborates its envelope and adapts it to its new needs. He perfects, develops and completes his organism as he experiences the need to manifest new faculties. In a word, he molds you according to his intelligence. God provides you with the materials. It's up to him to use it. It is in this way that the more advanced races have an organism, or if they prefer, a more perfected tool than that of the primitive races. This also explains the special style that the character of the Spirit gives to the features of the physiognomy and the manners of the body.

KARDEC, Allan. The Genesis. FEAL Publisher.

Errors, based on these misconceptions, follow in droves in the chapter. I will not comment on them. In the following chapter, “Energy and Fluidic Transmission”, the authors continue to repeat false concepts, based on the same errors, of materialistic origin, spread by fluidists of the past, which opposed the ideas of the sciences of Magnetism and Spiritism. That's how they repeat, ipsis letteris, the very wrong idea that the pass would be an “energetic and/or fluidic transmission”. This is false, as false as the ideas that the supposed spirits repeat in the answer to question nº 92:

• “Magnetism instigates curiosity and is an intriguing science, but it requires the necessary knowledge so as not to offer risks to those who practice it or to those who receive it. You cannot include its practice in the Doctrine or confuse it with magnetic fluid.” – There is no magetic fluid, so what is this Spirit talking about?
• “Magnetizing is an ancient activity, which uses the vital fluid” – there is no vital fluid!
• “Magnetic fluid is different from magnetism and is exhaled whenever there is a need, through the assistance of the disembodied or incarnated people with due preparation” – same error, with an aggravating factor: magetism is the interaction of the will, through conscious thought, about the will of the other, who also needs to be consciously willing to be helped. There is no transfer of anything ((Mesmer – The Denied Science of Animal Magnetism, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo)).

Return to Spiritual Life

Of course, from what we've seen, it couldn't be missing, even if contrary to everything that Spiritism has already taught and that reason confirms, a great discussion about the concepts of “spiritual colonies”, threshold, physical pain in the Spirits, etc. It's the old mania of wanting to materialize the spirit world.

Sexuality, sex and morals

To complete our analysis, we refer to question nº 505, Part Three, chap. III - abortion:

505. If conception occurs through rape, is it right to abort?

- No, it's not correct. under no circumstances, for you must all pass your own tests. No one is a mother or child by chance. The divine law is wise and its main goal is to correct or alleviate suffering. The law of cause and effect generates responsibilities for all your actions, in this and other incarnations.. Interrupting the reincarnation of a spirit, even as a result of rape, is not correct: it will only bring more pain and increase the suffering of those involved. The preservation of life in the face of the pain of violence is an act of love. May you always fight evil with love, however difficult it may be.

Italics mine

A complete nonsense! Contrary to what we find in The Spirits' Book, question 359,

359. In the event that the birth of the child endangers the life of the mother, is there a crime in sacrificing the first to save the second?

“It is preferable to sacrifice the being that does not yet exist than to sacrifice the one that already exists.”

The answer to question nº 505, of the work under analysis, states that never abortion must be committed. Worse: that if the woman was raped, it is because, in the words of the Spirits, “the law of cause and effect generates responsibilities for all your actions, in this and other incarnations“. In other words: what is being said in this work, which aims to complementary and update Spiritism is that the raped woman is only paying, by the law of talion, for a lack of another life. This is complete and demoralizing nonsense. I need to reaffirm, in meeting the OLE, that abortion is preferable when the mother is at risk, and who are we to assess the emotional and psychological risk of a woman who has gone through such trauma, which is born of the crime committed by choice on the other, and not by the effect of a supposed debt collection!

Conclusion

The work itself seems like a real struggle of incongruities, false concepts, and some truths. It seems that, if there is really the participation of more than one Spirit, these Spirits have different knowledge, because the contradiction is frequent. There are several absurd and wrong ideas, contradicting the most basic postulates of Spiritism, as there are some truths scattered around. What to do then? We believe it is best to follow the advice of the Spirit of Erastus:

[…] it is better to reject ten truths momentarily than to admit a single lie, a single false theory, because on that theory, on that lie you could build a whole system that would collapse at the first breath of truth, like a monument erected on quicksand, whereas if today you reject certain truths, certain principles, because they are not logically demonstrated to you, then a brutal fact or an irrefutable demonstration will come to confirm their authenticity.

It remains to reaffirm that the intention of this article is nothing more than to warn, including the group from which this book originated, to be very careful not to get involved in these webs of false ideas, which will cost them a lot of peace in the future. that study in the background Allan Kardec, including – and mainly – in the Spiritist Magazine. That they study the new works, which come to recover the knowledge forgotten in time. Let them set aside, at least for the time being, the concepts resulting from mediumistic works, in order to seek the necessary learning. And let them never forget the very important exhortation of Allan Kardec, in The Genesis:

Generality and agreement in teaching, this is the character essential of doctrine, the very condition of its existence, from which it follows that any principle that has not yet received the consecration of the control of generality cannot be considered an integral part of that same doctrine.. It will be a simple isolated opinion, for which Spiritism cannot assume responsibility.

This collectivity in agreement with the opinion of the Spirits, passed on to the others, by the criterion of logic, is what constitutes the strength of the Spiritist doctrine and assures its perpetuity.

It is clear that Spiritism, to a certain extent, in terms of human knowledge, is interminable, but it will not be about errors that it will be continued, especially when starting from the fundamental error, which is to treat Spirits as revelators, not respecting the necessary method, because the Spirits are not revealers of the truth, the Doctrine is not made only by questions and answers, but also by the investigation and observation of Spirits of all orders, from the lowest to the highest.

It is also interesting to note that, in the case of supposed superior spirits, as the human researchers involved assume, at no time have they corrected the flagrant errors of the latter, since doctrinal knowledge already exists. Instead, they always corroborated the information and misconceptions from which the incarnates departed.

The main error of this work arises from the lack of observation, as we have shown, of the fundamental characteristics of spiritist science, so well explained by Allan Kardec in the introduction to The Gospel According to Spiritism (emphasis mine):

The agreement in what the spirits teach is, therefore, the best proof. It is important, however, that it takes place under certain conditions. The weakest of all occurs when a medium, alone, interrogates many spirits about a doubtful point.. It is evident that if he is under the dominion of an obsession, or dealing with a mystifying spirit, he can tell him the same thing under different names. Nor will there be any sufficient guarantee in the conformity that presents what can be obtained by several mediums, in the same center, because they can all be under the same influence..”

At a time when efforts to revive Spiritism are multiplying, opposing efforts are multiplying, with the aim (foolish, let's face it) of causing confusion and delay. It is necessary to be on guard, especially with regard to the frequent invitation of the shadows, instigated by human imperfections, such as vanity and pride. Now, is there anything more exciting, in this sense, than saying the new elected to continue the great work of Allan Kardec? Let's not be us, and don't be you, in your group and in your lectures, to help the work of the Spirits that still don't understand the good and that are contrary to the progress of humanity.

“Spiritists!, love one another, this is the first teaching. Instruct yourselves, here is the second.” – Spirit of Truth

Janet was a contemporary of Allan Kardec. His works demonstrate, with excellence, the philosophical context in which the coder was inserted, making use of his concepts.

Many, when reading Kardec, suppose that he, due to the words he used in his works, was just reproducing ideas and concepts originating from the Catholic Church. Nothing could be further from the truth, as we will see below, because Kardec was, in fact, using the concepts widely widespread and understood in the midst of French cultured society, which, by the way, was the class that was most interested in the study of Spiritism.

Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo explains:

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.

FIGUEIREDO, Paulo Henrique de. Paul Janet's Treatise on Philosophy. Portal do Espírito, July 22, 2019. Available at . Accessed on May 19, 2022.

Using, we said, the concepts of Rational Spiritualism, which was taught at the University of Paris and at the Escola Normal Superior in Paris, Kardec develops the most diverse philosophical concepts of the Spiritist Doctrine, in the light of the agreed teachings of the Spirits. Thus, it will give a deep development to the ideas of moral treated by these scholars, approaching the concepts of pain and pleasure, good and bad, to owe, disinterested charity, freedom, merit, punishment and reward. Let us, by way of illustration, demonstrate the construction of these last two concepts:

The reward and the punishment

in your work Small Elements of Morals, available for download, in PDF, in this link, Janet builds the various philosophical concepts that will support those of the reward and gives punishment. He expresses himself thus: "pleasure, considered as the consequence due to the accomplishment of good, is called reward, and pain, considered as the legitimate consequence of evil, is called punishment".

Pleasure, for him, is the quest to experience what life allows, and there would thus be good pleasures and bad pleasures, varying, in this interval, according to certainty, purity, intensity, duration, etc. Thus, the fugitive pleasure of drunkenness would be a bad pleasure, while the lasting pleasure of health would be a good pleasure:

There are pleasures that are very lively, but fleeting and fugitive, such as the pleasures of passion ((This is how the Oxford dictionary defines it: “in the Kantianism, violent emotional inclination, capable of completely dominating human behavior and moving it away from the desirable capacity for autonomy and rational choice. This is the meaning of passion, used by Kardec and the philosophers of his time)). There are others that are durable and continuous, such as health, safety, convenience, consideration. Will those pleasures that last a lifetime be sacrificed for pleasures that last only an hour?

JANET, 1870((JANET, Paul. Small Elements of Moral. Translation by Maria Leonor Loureiro. Paris, 1870))

Therefore, morally, the human being should always seek the good pleasures, that do not produce regrets, passing them over to the bad pleasures, which generate regrets and complications:

Experience teaches us that pleasures must not be sought without discernment and without distinction, that it is necessary to use reason to compare them with each other, to sacrifice the uncertain and fleeting present for a lasting future, to prefer simple and peaceful pleasures, not followed. of regrets, to the tumultuous and dangerous pleasures of passions, etc., in a word, to sacrifice the pleasant to the useful.

ibid.

It is clear, therefore, that the concept of reward, used in this context, is linked to the understanding of the joy of having performed an action linked to the good, while the punishment is the pain generated as legitimate consequence from evil. There is no attribution, therefore, to a mechanical imposition of a supposed “law of return” or “law of reparation”, by God or by the “Universe”, for bad action, as many insist on proclaiming, nor are there any rewards given for good action. Everything is a consequence moral, from the individual to himself, which necessarily depends on the knowledge of the Law:

In morals, as in legislation, no one takes advantage of ignorance of the law. There is, therefore, in every man a certain knowledge of the law, that is, a natural discernment of good and evil: this discernment is what is called conscience or sometimes the moral sense.

ibid.

However, for the individual to act morally, he must have free will:

It is not enough for man to know and distinguish between good and evil, and to experience different feelings from one to the other. It is also necessary, to be a moral agent, that man is capable of choosing between one and the other((Here the studies of Spiritism lead us to another understanding: in truth, man does not choose between good and evil, because, deep down , if you choose poorly, it is because you do not yet know the law. The Spirit that really knows and understands the Law of God only does good, always.)); You cannot order him what he could not do, nor prohibit him what he would be forced to do. This power to choose is freedom, or free will.

ibid.

But it is important to remember that man, as an incarnate soul, is a basic concept of Rational Spiritualism, as defined by Janet, in the same work:

Every law presupposes a legislator. The moral law will therefore presuppose a moral lawgiver: this is how morality elevates us to God. Every human or earthly sanction being shown to be insufficient by observation, the moral law needs a religious sanction. This is how morality leads us to the immortality of the soul.

From all this, the understanding of vice and virtue is born:

Human actions, we said, are sometimes good and sometimes bad. These two qualifications have degrees, because of the importance or difficulty of the action. This is how an action is convenient, estimable, beautiful, admirable, sublime, etc., on the other hand, bad action is sometimes a simple fault, sometimes a crime. It is reprehensible, base, hateful, execrable, etc.

If, in an agent, the habit of good deeds be regarded as a constant tendency to conform to the law of duty, that constant habit or tendency is called virtue, and the contrary tendency is called vice.

ibid.

Evil, however, is a judgment of oneself (no one can do harm to another((According to the rational principle of autonomy, developed so far, the individual can only commit physical harm against another, but never moral harm. A subject can stealing someone else's belongings, which will cause him some difficulties, but, in truth, he does harm to himself, as he violates the moral law, for which he will suffer depending on his state of consciousness. The victim, for his Once, apart from the material setback, she may or may not do harm to herself, depending on whether or not she clings to what happened and generates some suffering for herself. This will also depend on her awareness of the moral law))), which depends on the awareness of what one does:

The judgment that is made from yourself It differs according to the principle of action that is admitted. He who lost at the game may feel distressed about himself and his recklessness ((In other words: he may realize that he did himself wrong by losing money at the game)); but he who is conscious of having cheated in the game (even though he has won by that means) must despise himself when he judges himself from the point of view of the moral law ((Because, when he becomes aware of what he has done, he realizes that he has harmed the another, and this makes him remorse)).

ibid.

And then, a little further on, still in the same work, Janet develops the understanding of moral satisfaction and repentance:

Regarding our own actions, feelings change depending on whether the action is to be done or already done. In the first case, we feel, on the one hand, a certain attraction to the good (when the passion is not strong enough to suffocate it), on the other, a repugnance or aversion to evil (more or less attenuated according to circumstances by the habit or violence of the desire). These two feelings were not usually given particular names.

When, on the contrary, the action has been performed, the pleasure that results from it, if we act well, is called moral satisfaction, and if we act badly, remorse or regret..

Remorse is the burning pain, and, as the word indicates, the wound that tortures the heart after a reprehensible action. This suffering can be found in the very ones who have no regrets for having done wrong and would do it again.. It has, therefore, no moral character, and must be regarded as a kind of punishment inflicted on crime by its very nature. “Malice, said Montaigne, poisons itself with its own poison. Addiction leaves as it were an ulcer in the flesh, a regret in the soul, which is always scratching and bleeding itself.”

Repentance is also, like remorse, a suffering born of wrongdoing; but there is added to it the regret for having carried it out, and the desire (or the firm resolution) not to carry it out any more..

For Janet, then, remorse would not yet be the suffering generated by regret, but just a certain torture for carrying out the reprehensible action. In other words, one does not suffer because evil has been done, but only because what has been done is reprehensible. And then, Kardec, in Heaven and Hell ((Always remembering that this work was tampered with and mutilated starting from the fourth French edition, which served as the basis for all other editions and translations. The topics covered in this article were those that suffered most from these adulterations)), speaking of punishment, which has, for Janet, the same meaning as punishment ((Says Janet: “The idea of punishment or punishment would also not be explained if the good were only the useful. You don't punish a man for having been unskillful; you punish him for having been guilty”)), it is expressed as follows:

The duration of the punishment is subject 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 the repentance, expiation and reparation – in short: a serious, effective improvement, as well as a sincere return to the good.

KARDEC, Allan. Heaven and hell. Translation by Emanuel G. Dutra, Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo and Lucas Sampaio. 2021.

In other words: God does not pronounce punishments or punishments against the individual. It is he himself who punishes himself, through legitimate consequences of the evil done. So, to end this suffering, you need to repent, in the first place, that is, identify that you have done something reprehensible (remorse) and add to that the regret of having done it (repentance, which is moral), as well as the desire to no longer do it. In order to reach this understanding, it is necessary for the Spirit to advance in intelligence and, in order to repair the harm done (which it is already clear that he has committed against himself, and not against others, from which it follows that he must repair in itself the origin of this evil), Spiritism demonstrates, without the possibility of error, the existence of the law of reincarnation.

All this, in short, to understand the concepts of punishment and reward. Behold, in accordance with all the above, Kardec says, in an excerpt prior to the one mentioned above:

Punishment is always the natural consequence of the fault committed. The spirit suffers for the evil it has done, so that, as its attention is incessantly focused on the consequences of this evil, it better understands its inconveniences and is motivated to correct itself.

And then, because of all this, Kardec thus begins chapter IV of this work - The hell:

Man has always intuitively believed that the future life should be more or less happy in the ratio of good and evil practiced in this world. But the idea he has of this future life is in proportion to the development of his moral sense and the more or less just notion he has of good and evil. The penalties and rewards are a reflection of the instincts that predominate in him..

But it is worth remembering that, using these philosophical concepts of his time, Kardec, at the same time, developed them for the moral consequences of spirit science.

O spiritualism in Kardec

It is worth, before closing, to remember that Allan Kardec several times used the word spiritualism in your work. It is to Rational Spiritualism that he refers:

Whoever believes that there is something more in himself than matter is a spiritualist. It does not follow from this, however, that he believes in the existence of spirits or in their communications with the visible world. instead of the words spiritual, spiritualism, we use, to indicate the belief to which we refer, the terms spiritist and spiritualism, whose form recalls the origin and the radical meaning and which, for that very reason, have the advantage of being perfectly intelligible, leaving the word spiritualism its own meaning. We will say, therefore, that the doctrine spiritist or the spiritism its principle is the relations of the material world with the Spirits or beings of the invisible world. The adepts of Spiritism will be the spiritists, or, if you like, the spiritists.

As a specialty, the Book of Spirits contains the doctrine spiritist; in general, it is linked to the doctrine spiritualist, one of whose phases presents. This is the reason why it has the words in the header of its title: spiritual philosophy.

KARDEC, Allan. The Spirits' Book. 1857

This is, finally, proved by the following excerpt from the Spiritist Magazine of 1868:

The work of Mr. Chassang is the application of these ideas to art in general, and to Greek art in particular. We are happy to reproduce what the author of the Patrie review says about it, because it is further proof of the energetic reaction that takes place in favor of spiritualist ideas and which, as we said, every defense of rational spiritualism opens the way to Spiritism, which is its development, fighting its most tenacious adversaries: materialism and fanaticism.

KARDEC, Allan. Spiritist Magazine, November 1868

Conclusion

Here is clearly presented proof that we cannot know and understand Kardec's philosophy without understanding the philosophy and morals of his time, fully inserted in the context of French Rational Spiritualism, just as we cannot fully understand the spiritist science without understanding the sciences of Magnetism [by Mesmer] and Psychology (the latter also included in the ER, under the division of moral sciences).

It was clearly evidenced that Kardec no he used dogmatic religious concepts, but only words that, found in these concepts, were first re-signified under the philosophy of the time and, later, under the spiritist philosophy.

Therefore, it is very necessary to study and disseminate this knowledge. Once again, we invite the reader to study and distribute, in all possible spiritist media, the work referred to in this article, as well as the present text, which is the result of an effort made in this direction as well.

Definitely, I moved away from the discussion about proofs and evidence of tampering in your works. That is my opinion that they have become a huge waste of time. I explain:

At first, I had an opinion, that pieces of evidence regarding the adulteration were very overwhelming ((Facts presented in detail in “The Legacy of Allan Kardec”, by Simoni Privato, and “Nem Céu, Nem Inferno”, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo and Lucas Sampaio .)).

Then, emerged the evidence that it could had been indicated could that there were no adulterations and that everything was the result of Kardec's own work, according to the interpretation of some, and this led by indications and evidence that he, Kardec, had the clear intention of publishing new editions, with alterations, of O Céu and Hell and Genesis. I emphasize that, in my opinion, so far, all the evidence indicates that Kardec, at least in A Genesis, would have started a work in this direction, a work that was never completed and that gave space, precisely, to whoever would have the intention to wreak havoc in the only way possible on an unassailable Doctrine: by tampering with its postulates, in their origin.

There are those who disagree, of course. But there's a big although, on this subject, which I cannot ignore: the question precisely linked to spiritist science and to Allan Kardec as the honest, insightful, patient, careful and honest scientist he was. Of two, one: either he wrote very important and serious things under an anxiety that he never had, having later retreated in his opinions - which would demonstrate a serious flaw in his method and would represent a great danger to the whole Spiritist Doctrine - or he he was very careful, until the end, and only concluded what had to be concluded, after years of research and under the guidance of superior spirits, as he always tried to do.

Now, he himself said, years before the publication of these works, that certain doctrinal matters still needed to wait a few years and that he would not publish anything very soon, without the development of the Doctrine giving way to this. Heaven and Hell and Genesis were precisely that conclusion. I do not see how, therefore, especially in the first work, to make changes that, at certain points, alter completely the understanding of the idea and that, in A Genesis, make the concept or doctrinal postulate incomplete or misunderstood. But that's not all: Kardec was very austere in these two works, precisely with regard to the most sensitive points, and which gave reason to fear in the opponents of Spiritism, and it was precisely at these points where the “alterations” took place.

Let's look at some examples:

In A Genesis, chapter III, item 19, from the 5th edition onwards, the text reads as follows:

“The man who only acted constantly by instinct might be very good, but he would keep his intelligence dormant. He would be like a child who didn't leave the walkers and didn't know how to use his limbs. He who does not master his passions can be very intelligent, but at the same time very bad. Instinct annihilates itself; the passions can only be tamed by the effort of the will.“

However, in the 4th edition, now recovered and translated into Portuguese by the publisher FEAL, there is the following complement:

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.

Kardec, A Genesis, 4th edition — FEAL Publisher

Now, it seems believable that Kardec drew this conclusion so important, profound and liberating of this postulate?

A little further on, in chapter XVIII, “The times have arrived”, the following passage was deleted (removed) from the 5th edition of the work. Read with attention:

To say that humanity is ripe for regeneration does not mean that all individuals are on the same level, but many have, by intuition, the germ of new ideas that circumstances will bring about. Then they will prove to be more advanced than one might suppose, and they will eagerly follow the lead of the majority. There are, however, those who are essentially refractory to these ideas, even among the most intelligent, and who will certainly not accept them, at least in this lifetime; in some cases, in good faith, out of conviction; others for interest. They are those whose material interests are linked to the current conjuncture and who are not advanced enough to give them up, since the general good matters less than their personal good — they are apprehensive at the slightest reform movement. The truth is for them a secondary issue, or rather, the truth for certain people lies entirely in that which does not cause them any trouble. All progressive ideas are, from their point of view, subversive ideas, and for this reason they have an implacable hatred for them and an obstinate war against them. They are intelligent enough to see Spiritism as an aid to progressive ideas and the elements of transformation that they fear and, because they do not feel up to it, they strive to destroy it.. If they thought him worthless and unimportant, they wouldn't worry about him. We have already said it elsewhere: “The more grandiose an idea is, the more it finds opponents, and its importance can be measured by the violence of the attacks to which it is the object”.

Kardec, A Genesis, 4th edition — FEAL Publisher

If the suppression of this passage doesn't seem like something carried out precisely by an opponent of the Doctrine, I don't know what would.

In O Céu e o Inferno, from the 4th edition onwards, we have, among other things, the suppression of important postulates, such as these (chap. VIII):

Through the examples that Spiritism places before our eyes, it teaches us that the soul in the invisible world suffers for all the evil it has done, as well as for all the good it could have done and did not do during its earthly life. That the soul is not condemned to an absolute, uniform, and time-limited penalty, but that it suffers the natural consequences of all its evil deeds, until it has improved itself by the efforts of its own will. It carries its own punishment within itself, and that wherever it finds itself, for which there is no need for a circumscribed place. Hell, then, is wherever there are suffering souls, as Heaven is wherever there are happy souls, which does not prevent one and the other from grouping together, by affinity of position, around certain points.

Heaven and Hell, Chap. IV, item 6, paragraph deleted in adulteration, p. 85

As all spirits are perfectible, by virtue of the law of progress, they carry within themselves the elements of their future happiness or unhappiness and the means of acquiring one and avoiding the other by working towards their own advancement.

Allan Kardec, Heaven and Hell, 3rd edition — FEAL Editor

We see, then, a great loss, for the suppression of these postulates. There are several other points, which, according to a certain understanding, can even be re-signified under a possible authorship by Allan Kardec, but the fact is that there are also strange changes in this work that do not make sense. Just compare the chapter "Future penalties according to Spiritism“, from Heaven and Hell, completely disfigured in the “alteration”.

There's more: admitting that all the existing alterations in these works were carried out by Kardec, means saying that he would have made a grotesque mistake, and not just once, but twice: not having obtained the necessary permission, from the government, to print new editions of these works. I've never met this careless and reckless Kardec that they've been showing around.

Knowing a little about Professor Rivail's extremely serious, conscientious and careful face regarding this science (as with others), I cannot admit the theories of alterations by his own hand, especially the deletions, and, from a scientific point of view, everything What I have seen so far, not counting the forced conclusions under chains of logic with some problems, at most, indicates an intention to publish a new edition, which was never completed and which, precisely, gave rise to adulterations subsequent to his death, by changing the movable type ((pieces used to make previous impressions, at that time. These impressions were analyzed and corrected, by changing the types (letters, punctuation, etc.) and, when it was verified that the work was finished, they were used for printing the headquarters, which is used for large-scale printing)) existing.

In fact, in possession of Kardec's manuscripts, made available by the CDOR, from FEAL, it was possible to identify that:

Some handwritten letters show that, in February 1868, Kardec was interested in adding excerpts in The Genesis, as it was his custom, after a while of release, to review his works. For this, he asked the spirits for advice to organize this work.

Some spiritual friends gave guidelines for a review of the work, with the express indication not to change the doctrinal issues in any way, as can be seen from the following excerpts from this communication:

"My opinion is that there is absolutely nothing of doctrine to be taken away; everything there is useful and satisfying in every way" and

"It is necessary to leave intact all theories that first appear in the public eye.”.

In this case, in addition to the legal demonstration of tampering with The Genesis, this communication also reinforces the fact due to the doctrinal changes identified in the work, with the suppression of several passages in which Kardec criticizes the heteronomous moral of religious fanaticism, among other manipulations.

Still in this communication, the spirit also suggested that he work without haste and without dedicating a lot of time:

"Above all, don't rush too much. (…) Start working immediately, but not in an exaggerated way. Do not hurry”.

https://espirito.org.br/autonomia/ncni-conselhos-sobre-a-genese/

Now, what do we observe in the alterations of Genesis, if not haste and carelessness?

This recommendation was justified because Kardec, in the midst of his difficult health condition, had priority issues to worry about, such as Spiritist Magazine and the project for the continuity of Spiritism through the collective direction phase.

That's my conclusion. However, we can even go so far as to say that these questions of adulteration or not are a mere “detail”, a “stumbling block”, which will be overcome when science is restored to its essence. Now, this essence remains unchanged and is available for our study. It is enough to study it, honestly, because the honest and humble man surrenders in the face of the results of scientific investigation. But, in conclusion, this study needs to be contextualized, and one of the greatest researchers of this context, Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo, is being put under the rug, by many, just because he shares the opinion of adulteration. And that attitude is definitely not science.