The following article contains content kindly made available by Centro Espírita Nosso Lar – Casas André Luiz, and corresponds to the event recently held by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo on the highlighted topic.
The presentation can be easily downloaded through from this link and can also be heard on Podcast, the audio of which we provide below.
Amaciante estraga a roupa
A palestra de Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo explica exatamente o que essa afirmação tem a ver com a mudança de mentalidade. Clique abaixo para ouví-la:
The following are the topics of the lecture, which can be checked in the presentation provided and in the audio exposed above.
ENCOUNTER WITH SPIRITIST CULTURE – Allan Kardec and the moral revolution of humanity
Passages suppressed in the adulteration of Genesis
Double principle of good and evil
Zoroaster and the Zoroastrian
The original text of Zoroaster: the true mentality
The deviation from the original teachings of Zoroaster: the false mentality
Moses and the one God
Jehovah and Satan
Jesus and the true mentality
The adulteration of Heaven and Hell
The incarnation is a necessity
Should we expose the enemies of Spiritism?
A question that always comes to my mind and I believe that comes to the minds of many is: what to do in the face of the enemies of Spiritism? Should we expose them or would doing so be uncharitable?
Many recommend that we continue on our way, doing our part, without even mentioning these individuals. Certainly, spending precious time just refuting or criticizing the enemies of the Spiritist Doctrine would be spending precious time in an endless war. No, I don't see that as useful. However, I think from another side: what about those who hear them?
Who are the enemies of Spiritism
Here it is necessary to make an important distinction: Spiritism has its declared enemies, but it also has them in its ranks. The first are those who openly criticize the Spiritist Doctrine and, almost always without even knowing what they are talking about, attack it from all sides. These are the any less dangerous. The second type of enemies are those who call themselves spiritists, study the surface of the Doctrine, but, voluntarily or not, attack it from within with the dissemination of the most false ideas, arising from the blind acceptance of spiritist communications. These are the most fearful enemies, and Spiritism has them among incarnate and discarnate people.
It will be very difficult and inadvisable to summarily judge the intentions of others. In some, they may be quite apparent and even declared; in others, they may even be good, but, as the individual is prone to pride and vanity, among other imperfections, they become null or even harmful due to the effects they produce. Even here, we have another problem, as these effects are often not directly noticeable, but are built up by a series of factors, over time, idea after idea, always originating from the blind acceptance of the isolated opinions of incarnated and disembodied Spirits.
A very simple way to see what I say, for the spiritualist who studies Kardec's works, is to do a search for “Spiritism” on YouTube and you will very easily find large channels that, claiming to speak of Spiritism, teach and support absurd and harmful ideas. to Spiritism, among some successes. Most of the time they are not enemies of Spiritism and even wish to do good, but, due to their resistance to studying the science they claim to embrace, they serve to disseminate ideas that are contrary to the Doctrine.. This is how we see channels like “Root Spiritism“, for a time the largest Brazilian channel called “spiritist”, stating and teaching, among other errors, that Spirits incarnate only for expiations, which would be, according to him, debt payments — a complete doctrinal distortion that leads to several effects negative, as I demonstrated in this article. Eduardo Sabbag, owner of this channel, recently made appearances on the channel House Prayer Platform, where the main “speaker” states, supposedly mediated, that he would be the reincarnation of Allan Kardec and in several moments compares himself to Jesus, to then bring up themes linked to ufology and the ramatissista ideas, supported and disseminated especially by the medium Hercílio Maes. He also participated in the Spiritist Channel, by Luiz Fernando Amaral (who presents himself as a “teacher” on this channel) who, among some successes (when Kardec resumes) makes several mistakes, when starting from the blind acceptance of communications from Spirits, mainly given via novels.
All these mistakes would be easily avoided by studying the Revista Espírita and other works by Kardec.
Spirits linked to evil, enemies of Spiritism, use individuals who do not study spiritist science and who accept and publish everything, to hinder the advancement of this doctrine whose philosophy has the potential to transform the world. Due to the vanity of believing themselves full of wisdom because, invariably, they believe themselves to be surrounded only by Spirits of the highest evolution, they serve the purpose of mystifying Spirits.
So, what to do if they don't want to study? What can we do if they respond with resistance and brutality when we point out that something they disclose is not in accordance with Spiritism?
We certainly cannot force them to an understanding that they do not want to acquire, and it will be up to time and the punishment offered by their own consciences to pay for the harm they have done by diverting or delaying many with their ideas and their resistance to studying. Unfortunately, these people find, in digital media, a means of controlling their ideologies, simply by removing comments or blocking users who disagree with them.
They are great channels. They have hundreds of thousands of followers. There are certainly, among these, a large number of people who just want to believe and who do not make an effort to reason, perhaps even due to lack of knowledge (which they could be helping to reduce). But, sooner or later, their consciences will awaken and then they will start looking for answers.
I think the best we can do is produce material pointing to true doctrinal understanding. This way we can give people the chance to search for a certain subject, or even through these channels, to find content from spiritist science. Let us learn to demonstrate our errors, without falling into a greater error, which would be to take derogatory accusations to a personal level. We can disagree and point out the error in your ideas, like Kardec did, based on Spiritism for this, as Kardec recommends in the Spiritist Magazine of 1863:
“This is how the detractors of Spiritism proceed: through their slander they show the weaknesses of their own cause and discredit it, showing what regrettable extremes they are forced to resort to in order to support it. What weight can an opinion based on manifest errors have? One of two: either the errors are voluntary and then bad faith is seen; or they are involuntary and the author proves their inconsequentiality by speaking about what he does not know. In one case, as in the other, you lose your right to trust.
Spiritism is not a work that marches in the shadows. He is known; its principles are formulated clearly, precisely and without ambiguity. The slander could not, therefore, affect him. To convince her of imposture, just say: read and see. Without a doubt, it is useful to debunk it. But it must be done calmly, without bitterness or recrimination, limiting oneself to opposing, without superfluous words, what is to what is not. Leave the anger and insults to your adversaries, and keep to yourself the role of true strength: that of dignity and moderation.”
Spiritist Magazine, March 1863. Emphasis mine.
So, let's not waste time on personal attacks. Of course, these people will victimize themselves, aiming to manipulate their target audience. faithful. Let's not make the same mistake. Let us act like a good researcher, a good scientist, who discusses facts and evidence, and not about opinions, much less about the people who issue them. That's what Kardec has always done.
“You will have to fight not only against the proud, the selfish, the materialists and all those unfortunate people who are imbued with the spirit of the century, but also, and above all, against the mob of deceiving Spirits who, finding in your midst a rare gathering of mediums, as in this regard you are the most fortunate, will soon come to assault you, some with wisely combined dissertations, in which, thanks to pious tirades, they will insinuate the heresy or some dissolving principle; others with communications openly hostile to the teachings given by true missionaries of the Spirit of Truth. Oh! Believe me, do not be afraid to unmask the deceivers who, new Tartuffes, would introduce themselves among you under the guise of religion.”
Spirit of Erastus, Spiritist Magazine of 1861. Emphasis mine.
The War between Israel and Palestine and Spiritism
There are elderly people, children and babies being murdered or captured by the terrorist group Hamas, currently generating a war between Israel and Palestine. And what will Spiritism say? Why does God allow such a thing? Would these people be paying off debts from past lives with this suffering?
Amazingly: there are judges on duty who want to say that the massacre of young people at the rave was related to divine punishment, for having a party, supposedly with drugs, in the “Holy Land”. A complete is evil nonsense!!
Once again we need to remember: to speak according to Spiritism, it is necessary to look for what exists developed by the necessary scientific method, something that, to this day, has been done just by Kardec. And here's a golden tip:
Se alguém disser falar do Espiritismo, mas diz que as vítimas de quaisquer calamidades ou crimes estão “pagando” por dívidas de vidas passadas, ou que é efeito do “karma“, or who are repaying debts from past lives, stop following them and go look for what spiritist science says. We are here stating, emphatically: this is not Spiritism! Spiritism can be found in the recommended works at the end of the text.
Spiritism does not talk about karma, nor about paying debts for incarnation
It is a never-ending struggle, and every time any critical event occurs that shakes the population, we have to return to the same subject, in the name of true Spiritism. Now there is war in Israel. Last year, it was the terrorist attacks to Brazilian schools. Before, a climate disaster or cataclysm like the one who undermined Petrópolis or the sad accident with the Chapecoense team. And frivolous individuals always appear, who have never studied Spiritism, saying truly absurd things that do not correspond to the Spiritist Doctrine or claiming to have received psychographs from the victims, stating that they were “evil soldiers who committed cruelty in the past” (sic! ).
We are obliged to do our part, remembering that we are alive in dense matter, subject to the laws of matter and also to the criminal decisions of other people, which never, ever, under any circumstances, serves to “redeem debts from past lives”!!
Apart from the tests imposed by the choices of others or by the force of nature, or even those that result from the present actions of the individual himself, there are also types of tests that the Spirit may have chosen to go through, but not to “pay” for anything:
The Spirit can choose trials simply to learn and progress.
You can also choose certain tests because you understand that you have overcome a certain imperfection, choosing then go through challenges and opportunities with a view to letting go of this imperfection, which makes you suffer.
Talking about the destructive scourges, we can apply part of the understanding to these events as well:
738.
The) - But both the good and the wicked man succumb to these scourges. Will this be fair?
“During life, man refers everything to his body; however, he thinks differently after death. Now, as we have said, the life of the body is very little. A century in your world is nothing more than a lightning in eternity. Therefore, nothing is the suffering of a few days or a few months, about which you complain so much. They represent teaching that is given to you and that will serve you in the future. Spirits, which pre-exist and survive everything, form the real world (85). These are the children of God and the object of all their solicitude. Bodies are mere disguises with which they appear in the world. On the occasion of great calamities that decimate men, the spectacle is similar to that of an army whose soldiers, during the war, had their uniforms damaged, torn, or lost. The general cares more about his soldiers than about their uniforms.”
B) - But that doesn't mean they are no longer victims of these scourges.
“If you considered life for what it is, and how little it represents in relation to infinity, you would give less importance to it. In another life, these victims will find ample compensation for their sufferings, if they know how to bear them without murmuring.”
We also recommend caution with these theories that are events related to the planetary transition, as they are theories that do not find support in Spiritism.
Let's return to Kardec. Is important. Enough opinions. Spiritism is a science! If more people were defending the Doctrine, others would have a better chance of finding good content, not content based on false ideas.
It is worth recalling what appears in The Spirits' Book about wars:
742. What drives man to war?
“The predominance of the animal nature over the spiritual nature and the overflow of passions. In the state of barbarism, peoples only know one right: that of the strongest. That is why, for such peoples, war is a normal state. As man progresses, war becomes less frequent, because he avoids its causes. And when it becomes necessary, he knows how to do it with humanity.”
743. From the face of the earth, will war ever disappear?
“Yes, when men understand justice and do the law of God. At that time, all peoples will be brothers.”
744. What did Providence aim at, making war necessary?
“Freedom and Progress.”
The) - If war must have the advent of freedom as its effect, how can it often aim and result in subjugation?
“Temporary subjugation, for press peoples, in order to make them progress more quickly.”
745. What is to be thought of him who stirs up war for his own benefit?
“This is the big culprit and many stocks will be necessary for him to atone for all the murders he has caused, as he will answer for all the men whose death he has caused to satisfy his ambition ((Which means: when this Spirit understands the evil he has caused, his conscience will accuse him of height to which your imperfections have reached. This is the reason for demanding many incarnations in atonement, choosing proofs that can help you to rescue yourself of their deviations. It doesn’t mean that he will have to reincarnate with each of his victims, even though most of them don’t get attached to the fact and follow their path of evolution (Our notes))).”
The Book of Spirits
Our condolences to the victims of this sad war between Israel and Palestine. Let us pray that these Spirits do not get attached to the evil of others and can move on. This is one of the best effects of Spiritism, which, unfortunately, they probably did not know about.
Curiosities
Kardec several times performed evocations of Spirits killed in wars, from simple soldiers to officers. We have, for example:
My mission in this article is to provoke you about the subject: can you practice mediumship at home? I want you to not be able to contain yourself, clicking on the button at the end of it to download a PDF talking about the issue of communications with Spirits. Happy studying!
So does this mean that it is not dangerous to call Spirits into homes?
Another fallacy that has spread, and we want to believe that it is more due to ignorance than the malice of those who defend it, is the danger of communicating with Spirits in homes. Now, if it is possible to communicate with them even in prisons, it is even more possible to call loved ones in homes.
It is not the evocation that attracts the Spirits
Another important point to be considered, in the light of Spiritism, is that Spirits are not attracted by the direct call of men, that is, by evocation. Many of those who have suffered or are suffering from an obsession have never evoked the Spirits and do not even know that this would be possible. All the cures for obsessions that were published by Allan Kardec in his Magazine were from this issue. We were able to see this fact in relation to those who suffered from obsessions today, and who were cured.
Children at spiritist meetings
Many people may wonder: can children participate in spiritist meetings at home? We could answer this question with another: are children part of the family? No one could say no, or say that to be a member of the family you need to be a minimum age. Now, what are children? Aren't they incarnated Spirits, to whom the spiritist world is not strange? Aren't children familiar with their Angels, who are also Spirits, from the cradle, and even before they are born?
Excerpts from an article about mediumship in animals, obtained from the Revista Espírita of August 1861.
To begin with, let's understand our facts. What is a medium? It is the being, the individual that serves the Spirits as a link, so that they can easily communicate with men, incarnated Spirits. Consequently, without a medium, no tangible communications, mental, written, physical, or of any kind.
Today I address the problem of animal mediumship, raised and supported by one of your most fervent followers. By virtue of the axiom who can do the most can do the least, he claims that we can mediate birds and other animals, using them in our communications with the human species. It is what, in Philosophy, or rather, in Logic, you call purely and simply a sophistry.
…
Men are always willing to exaggerate everything. Some ─ and I'm not talking about materialists here ─ refuse animals a soul and others want to grant them one, so to speak, similar to ours. Why would you want to confuse the perfectible with the imperfectible? No no. Be well convinced that the fire that animates animals, the breath that makes them act, move and speak their language has, until now, no ability to mix, to unite, to merge with the divine breath, the ethereal soul, the Spirit, in a word, that animates the essentially perfectible being, man, this king of Creation. Now, isn’t what marks the superiority of the human species over other earthly species this essential condition of perfectibility? Then! Recognize, therefore, that it is not possible to assimilate to man, the only person perfectible in himself and in his works, any individual of the other living races on Earth.
…
Certainly the Spirits can become visible and tangible by animals, often suddenly taken by that fear that seems unfounded to you, and which is caused by the sight of one or more of these Spirits with malicious intentions towards the individuals present or towards the owners of these animals. You often find horses that don't want to move forward or backward or that stall when faced with an imaginary obstacle. Well done! Be sure that the imaginary obstacle is often a Spirit or a group of Spirits who have fun preventing them from advancing. Remember Balaam's donkey, which saw an angel in front of him and, fearing his flaming sword, insisted on not moving forward. Before becoming visible to Balaam, the angel wanted to show himself only to the animal. But, I repeat, we do not directly mediumize animals or inert matter. We always need the conscious or unconscious assistance of a human medium, because we need the union of similar fluids, which we do not find in animals or in gross matter.
He says Mr. Thiry magnetized his dog. What happened? He killed him, because this unfortunate animal later fell into a kind of atony, of languor, as a result of the magnetization. In effect, flooding him with a fluid drawn from an essence superior to the special essence of his nature, it crushed him and acted upon him, albeit more slowly, in the manner of lightning. Thus, as there is no possible identification between our perispirit and the fluidic envelope of the animals themselves, we would crush them instantly if we were to mediumize them.
Having said that, I fully recognize that animals have different abilities; that certain feelings; that certain passions identical with human passions develop in them; who are sensitive and recognized, vengeful and hateful, depending on whether one acts well or badly towards them. It is because God, who makes nothing incomplete, gave animals companions or servants of man, qualities of sociability that are entirely lacking in wild animals that inhabit solitudes.
In short: mediumistic facts cannot manifest themselves without the conscious or unconscious assistance of the medium, and only among the incarnated, Spirits like us, can we find those who can serve us as mediums. As for educating dogs, birds or other animals to do such and such exercises, that is your business and not ours.
ERASTO.
Spiritist Magazine, August 1861 – The medium animals
Published in the Revista Espírita of November 1858. In full:
Recently the newspapers reported the following fact: “Yesterday (April 7, 1858) at seven o'clock in the evening, a man of about fifty years old, decently dressed, presented himself at the Samaritana establishment and asked for a bath. The employee was surprised that, after two hours, the individual did not call; He decided to go into the bathroom to see if he hadn't felt unwell. He then witnessed a horrible spectacle: the unfortunate man had cut his throat with a razor and all the blood had mixed with the water in the bathtub. Since the identity could not be established, the corpse was transported to the morgue.”
We thought it would be possible to derive a useful lesson for our instruction from the conversation with the Spirit of this man. Therefore, we evoke it on April 13th, just six days after his death.
1. ─ I ask Almighty God to allow the Spirit of the individual who committed suicide on April 7, 1858, in the Samaritan baths, to come and communicate with us.
─ Wait... (After a few moments): Here he is.
NOTE: To understand this answer it is necessary to know that, in general, in all regular meetings, there is a familiar Spirit, from the medium or from the family, who is always present, without having to call him. He is the one who makes those who are evoked come and, depending on whether he is more or less elevated, he serves as a messenger or gives orders to the Spirits who are inferior to him. When our meetings are interpreted by Ms. Ermance Dufaux, it is always the Spirit of Saint Louis who voluntarily takes on this task. He was the one who gave the answer above.
2. ─ Where are you now?
─ I don't know... Tell me where I am.
3. ─ On Rue Valois (Palais-Royal), no. 35, at a meeting of people who are involved in spiritualist studies and who are benevolent.
─ Tell me if I'm alive... I suffocate in the coffin.
4. ─ Who invited you to come to us?
─ I felt relieved.
5. ─ What reason led you to commit suicide?
─ Am I dead?... No!... I'm in my body... You don't know how much I suffer!... I suffocate!... May a pious hand come and put an end to me!
OBSERVATION: Your soul, although separated from the body, is still completely immersed in what we could call the vortex of corporeal matter; Earthly ideas are still alive. He doesn't believe he's dead.
6. ─ Why didn't you leave any identification elements?
─ I'm abandoned. I fled suffering to find torture.
7. ─ Do you still have the same reasons for remaining incognito?
─ Yes. Don't put a hot iron on the bleeding wound.
8. ─ Could you give us your name, age, profession and address?
─ Not at all. No!…
9. ─ Did you have a family, a wife, children?
─ I was abandoned. Nobody loved me.
10. ─ What did you do to not be loved by anyone?
─ How many are there like me!... A man can be abandoned in the middle of his own family, when no heart loves him.
11. ─ Did you experience any hesitation when committing suicide?
─ I was thirsty to die… I was waiting for rest.
12. ─ How did the idea of the future not lead you to renounce that plan?
─ I no longer create in the future; I was hopeless. The future is hope.
13. ─ What reflections did you make when you felt life disappearing?
─ I didn’t reflect; I felt it... But my life was not extinguished... my soul is linked to the body... I did not die... however I feel that worms are gnawing at me.
14. ─ What feeling did you experience at the moment death was complete?
─ Is it complete?
15. ─ Was the moment when life ended painful?
─ Less painful than later. So only the body suffered.
São Luís continues:
─ The Spirit freed itself from a burden that crushed it. He felt the voluptuousness of pain.
(To São Luís): ─ Is this the state that always follows suicide?
─ Yes. The suicide's spirit remains linked to the body until the end of his life. Natural death is the weakening of life. Suicide stops her abruptly.
─ Will this state be the same in every accidental death that is independent of will and that shortens the natural duration of life?
─ No. What do you understand by suicide? The Spirit is only guilty of his works.
OBSERVATION: We had prepared a series of questions that we proposed to address to the Spirit of this man about his new existence. Faced with their answers, they lost their meaning. It was clear to us that he had no awareness of the situation. The only thing he could describe to us was his suffering.
This doubt about death is very common in the recently deceased and especially in those who in life did not elevate their soul above matter. At first glance it is a bizarre phenomenon, but it is very naturally explainable. If we ask a person who is sleepwalking for the first time if they are asleep, they will almost always answer that no, and your answer is logical. The questioner formulates the question poorly, using an inappropriate term. The idea of sleep, in common speech, is linked to the suspension of all sensitive faculties. Now, the somnambulist, who thinks and sees; who is aware of his moral freedom, does not believe that he sleeps and, in fact, does not sleep, in the vulgar meaning of the word. This is why he responds that he is not sleeping until he becomes familiar with this new way of understanding things. The same happens with the man who has just died. For him, death was nothing. Now, as with the sleepwalker, he sees and feels the speech. For him, therefore, life goes on, and he claims so, until he has acquired consciousness of his new state.
Cover photo: Daniel Reche: https://www.pexels.com/pt-br/foto/foto-em-escala-de-cinza-de-um-homem-cobrindo-o-rosto-com-as-maos -3601097/
Moral problems – Suicide for love
The following article, about the suicide of a boy, in an act of uncontained emotions, was published in the Revista Espírita of November 1858. In full:
Seven or eight months ago, Luís G…, a shoemaker, was dating the young Vitorina R…, a boot stitcher, who he was supposed to marry soon, as the banns were being published. Things being at this point, the young people considered themselves almost definitely united and, as a cost-saving measure, the shoemaker came to have meals at the bride's house.
Having come last Wednesday, as usual, to have dinner at the seamstress' ((seamstress)) house, an argument ensued about something futile. They were obstinate, on both sides, and things got to the point where Luís left the table and went away, swearing never to return.
However, the next day, the shoemaker, very confused, came to ask for forgiveness. It is said that the night is a good advisor, but the worker, perhaps foreseeing, after the scene the night before, what could happen when there was no longer time to go back, refused to reconcile and neither the protests, nor the tears, nor despair could overcome her. However, as several days had passed since that outburst, hoping that his beloved would be more tractable, the night before last Luís wanted to try one last explanation: he arrived, knocked on the door in order to make himself known, but she refused to open. New pleas from the abandoned poor, new protests through the door, but nothing moved the implacable elected official.
“Then goodbye, oh wicked one!” finally exclaimed the poor boy, “Goodbye forever! Look for a husband who wants you as much as I do!”
At the same time, the girl heard a kind of muffled groan, then the sound of a body sliding along the door, and everything went silent. She thought that Luís had sat on the doorstep to wait for his first exit, but she promised herself not to set foot on the street while he was there.
After just a quarter of an hour, one of the tenants who was passing through the courtyard with a light shouted for help. Soon the neighbors arrived and Miss Vitorina, having also opened her door, let out a scream of horror when she noticed the body of her fiancé on the floor, pale and inanimate. Everyone rushed to help him and look for a doctor, but they soon found that everything was useless, as he had already ceased to exist. The unfortunate young man had buried the shoemaker's knife in his chest and the iron remained in the wound.
The fact that we found in Le Siecle April 7th awakened in us the idea of asking a superior Spirit some questions about its moral consequences. Here they are, with the respective answers, given by the Spirit of São Luís in the Society's session on August 1, 1858.
1. ─ Is the girl, the involuntary cause of her boyfriend's death, responsible? ─ Yes, because I didn’t love him.
2. ─ To avoid this misfortune, should she marry him, even though she didn't love him? ─ She was looking for an opportunity to separate from him; He did at the beginning of his call what he would have done later.
3. ─ So the guilt consists of having harbored feelings in him that he did not share and which were the cause of the boy's death? ─ Yes. That's right.
4. ─ In this case, your responsibility must be proportional to the fault, which must not be as great as if it had, in any case, caused death. ─ This is obvious.
5. ─ Is Luís’ suicide justified in the madness into which Vitorina’s obstinacy plunged him? ─ Yes, because his suicide, provoked by love, is less criminal in the eyes of God than that of the man who wants to free himself from life out of cowardice.
NOTE: Saying that this suicide is any less criminal in the eyes of God, evidently means that there is criminality, even though it is minor. The lack consists of the weakness that he did not know how to overcome. It is undoubtedly a test to which he succumbed. Now, the Spirits teach us that merit lies in fighting victoriously against tests of all kinds, which are the essence of earthly life.
Evoked on another day, the Spirit of Luís C… was asked the following questions, to which he responded:
1. ─ What do you think about the action you took? ─ Vitorina is ungrateful. I was wrong to kill myself for her, because she didn't deserve it.
2. ─ So she didn’t love you? ─ No. At first I thought so, but I was deluded. The scene I made opened his eyes. Afterwards, he felt happy with this pretext to get rid of me.
3. ─ And do you sincerely love her? ─ I had a passion for her. I believe it was just that. If I loved her with pure love, I wouldn't have wanted to hurt her.
4. ─ If she had known that you really wanted to kill each other, would she have persisted in refusing? ─ I don't know. I don't think so, because she wasn't bad. However, it would have been unfortunate. For her it was better that way.
5. ─ When you arrived at your door, did you intend to kill yourself if you were refused? ─ No. I didn't even think about that. I didn't think she was so obstinate. Only when I saw his stubbornness did I feel dizzy.
6. ─ It seems that you only regret the suicide because Vitorina did not deserve it. Is it your only feeling? ─ Right now, yes. I still find myself disturbed. It seems to me to be on your doorstep. However, I feel something that I cannot define.
7. ─ Will you understand later? ─ Yes, when I'm free... What I did was bad. I should have left her calm... I was weak and I suffer the consequences... As you see, passion leads man to blindness and to make absurd mistakes. He only understands when it is too late.
8. ─ You said you suffer the consequences. What punishment do you suffer? ─ I made a mistake by shortening my life. I shouldn't have done it. It should resist instead of ending everything prematurely. That's why I'm unhappy. I suffer. She's always the one who makes me suffer. It seems to me that I'm still on your doorstep. How ungrateful! Don't tell me about this anymore. I don't want to think anymore, because it hurts me so much. Goodbye.
Mediumship: Spiritism, Umbanda and other religions
Not long ago, I demonstrated, in article is at video, that the reason for the birth of Umbanda was due to an absurd attitude of a spiritist center that prohibited Spirits such as those of the “pretos-velhos”, recognized in Umbanda as one of its entities, from communicating. They mistakenly thought that mediumship belongs to Spiritism. Sad reality of a distorted doctrine, formed by the cooperation of groups and individuals even from Catholicism and Protestantism, who studied it, regardless of their religions.
Today, the Spiritist Movement, which accuses other religions of “mysticism”, also adopts several mystical ideas, to the detriment of existing doctrinal knowledge.
It turns out that this disagreement occurred, on both sides, due to a lack of knowledge of what Spiritism really is, which, at that time, was already distorted on Brazilian soil. On the side of the spiritists, who wanted to dictate the truth based on false concepts, if they had known the content of the Spiritist Magazine, they would know how unreasonable such an attitude would be, since Kardec demonstrated the usefulness of evoking all the Spirits, with one detail: not to hear them and believe in them without reasoning, but to be able to study their communications in a psychological way.
Before I continue, I need to say that if you believe you know enough and don't need to know anything else, this article is not for you. Otherwise, if you are interested in knowing the facts and thus judging by your own conscience, stay with me until the end.
I want to say, to make it clear, based on the knowledge acquired through the study: all Spirits have something to teach, although not in the same way, in the same way that we can learn from the words of the wise, which we seek to internalize, and from the examples of criminals, which we seek not to repeat. This is how, for example, Kardec and others found learning from the guiding Spirit of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, São Luís, to the study of the Spirit of the ragpicker on Noyers Street, who scared the people there and threw stones at the windows. (read Spiritist Magazine 1860 » August » The ragpicker on Rue de Noyers).
dissent
Unfortunately, with dissent, the first founders of the Umbanda religion not only moved away from the Spiritist Movement, with its errors, but also from the Spiritist Doctrine, which was the result of joint and collaborative efforts, coordinated by Allan Kardec, in the methodological and systematic of thousands of evocations, spontaneous communications and various spiritist phenomena. Umbanda was not the only case.
But I'm not here to point fingers at anyone. I am of the opinion that everything got tangled up by the “force of things”, that is, people just repeated what they were taught. It is not too much to repeat: Spiritism, when it really gained strength in Brazilian territory, arrived adulterated in principles and greatly influenced by the ideas of Jean-Baptiste Roustaing, who chose to blindly believe in Spirits who fed his vanity by declaring him the “revealer of the revelations” and who quickly turned against Kardec when he sought to warn him of the danger of doing so, instead of taking care to question the Spirits and his own reason. The FEB itself – Brazilian Spiritist Federation – self-proclaimed responsible for the direction of Spiritism in Brazil, adopted Roustaing's principles since its origins, and this is one of the biggest reasons why evocations were abolished in this country, an influence that is spreading today throughout the world and that turned the Spiritist Movement into a religion, very far from the science that Spiritism actually is.
Due to this distancing from Spiritism, substantially stigmatized by the actions, practices and words of Brazilian “spiritists”, there were countless dissents from the Spiritist Movement, sometimes towards other religions, sometimes towards disbelief. But, here, we come to the problem of the matter: mediumship, for those who had it, was almost never interrupted by the departure of the Spiritist Movement, which does not stop it. Thus, almost always, they began to live mediumship in the way they knew how and how they could, far from the knowledge generated by that collaborative work for which Kardec was responsible, as it was necessary to be at that time.
Stigma
This stigma, generated by the Spiritist Movement, meant that, for a long time, and still today – unfortunately – people from religions such as Umbanda, who practice mediumship, looked at Allan Kardec with prejudice and even with a certain anger, often believing , that he had founded a religion where he intended to adopt the truth. Nothing false anymore, but the truth was very difficult to reach behind so many false ideas that the Spiritist Movement cultivated (and still cultivates). Kardec never took the truth for himself. His role was that of a dedicated researcher, who always sought to act impersonally, always ready to modify his concepts and hypotheses when they proved to be wrong. Thus, through systematic and careful observation, carried out in collaboration with countless groups and people, it was possible to establish several doctrinal principles, which are not the absolute truth, but which reason indicates as the most rational and probable possible.
Umbanda entities
Behind the nomenclatures with African roots, which many still find strange and stigmatized, are the Spirits that communicate in the Umbanda religion. Below Olorum, the orixás of the Yoruba tradition are venerated as superior entities, and they vary according to each branch of the religion. These include Oxalá, Oxum, Oxóssi, Xangô, Ogum, Obaluaiê, Yemanjá, Oyá, Oxumaré, Obá, Egunitá, Yansã, Nanã and Omolu. Below the orixás, spiritual entities are grouped into lines and phalanges, covering different categories, such as the Caboclos, which are indigenous spirits; the Pretos Velhos, which represent the spirits of former Brazilian slaves; the Exus, who are benevolent spirits and messengers of the orixás; the Pomba Giras, identified as ladies of the night or sorceresses; and the Erês, who are childish spirits.
As we can see, they are just nomenclatures, and nothing more than that. Pashas, Zouaves (who were African soldiers), supposed sorcerers, etc. communicated with Kardec or were evoked. When they became more enlightened, they appeared detached from their previous personalities; At least, they said they presented themselves as they were or as they remembered or imagined.
Of course, I cannot help but remember that evocation for the purpose of empty curiosity or play will be reciprocated by the presence of Spirits of like mind. Serious evocations were carried out with the aim of developing the Doctrine.
It is from here that we will approach Spiritism in its reality, without impositions, since, as Umbanda is a religion, it is necessary to recognize the freedom of each person to believe in what they want, and how they want.
The rediscovery of true Spiritism
What I intend to demonstrate, finally, is that the mediumship practiced in Umbanda does not differ from the mediumship practiced by spiritists, or by Catholics, by Buddhists, by any religion, in short, or even by freethinkers, except for one detail: beliefs. And here, I need to be emphatic in repeating that Spiritism, being, from a spiritual point of view, in Nature itself, is thus characterized by a natural science, so that, to understand it well, scientific dedication is necessary. Note that here I am separating Spiritism from the Spiritist Movement: they are two different things.
Well then: the merit of Kardec and all those who seriously studied Spiritism in its first steps, was to analyze with methodology and scientific rigor the results of mediumistic communications and various phenomena, obtaining, as I mentioned, a theory composed of several doctrinal principles, exhaustively verified. Kardec, for example, several times questions how the Spirit got there so quickly, not being satisfied with the first answer. It was thus possible to understand who the Spirits are; how they find themselves after leaving the material body, after its death, etc., which later gave rise to Kardec's other works, including “The Book of Mediums or Guide to Mediums and Evocators”, a true practical treatise on the science of communication with the Spirits. With this, it was possible for the mediums and scholars of the time, who naturally came from different religions, apart from the freethinkers, to overcome several errors and become increasingly useful in the propagation of knowledge that every day converted more to good. and to reasoned faith criminals, depressives to the point of despair, disbelievers, etc.
If you've been following me, you'll understand what I'm saying. It's like saying: if there are studies on physics, which explains principles such as inertia, it would be unwise to practice base jumping without calculating the inertia that could cause the individual to fall to the ground, taking the necessary precautions to prevent this from happening. When we talk about mediumship, we say the same thing.
An example of errors made by modern spiritists is the one given at the beginning, when they wanted to prohibit the communication of a Spirit that presented itself under such a nomenclature. Another: it has already been demonstrated that we cannot blindly believe in what the Spirits say, as they do not gain wisdom by leaving the physical body, it is necessary to always reason about what they say and, if there is any room for doubt, it is necessary to investigate further , including through evocations, if necessary, if the Doctrine no longer provides sufficient answers to the subject in question.
One more example: it has already been demonstrated that it is not possible to dominate Spirits through rituals, formulas or objects, and that malicious Spirits often intensify their attacks even more when one tries to do so. This is the result of this methodological study on countless Spirits. Kardec, in fact, tries to make a bad Spirit go away through the force of God's words and name, during an evocation, without success. Still, there are those who deliberately choose to turn a deaf ear to these facts and who, not infrequently, end up magnifying their displeasures or, sometimes, becoming non-believers, who do not find a solution to their disturbances, despite all the formulas, signs, objects and rituals used.
Conclusion
Of course, Kardec did not end Spiritism. Quite the opposite: as a scientist, he always asserted the need to continue his studies. However, for this continuity, all the aspects previously highlighted are necessary. It is not enough to listen to isolated opinions from Spirits and take them as truth, and those who fight against this, deep down, just want to support their own vainly cultivated opinions.
The reflection, to conclude, is this: neither spiritists, nor dissidents, nor other people, religious or not, really know what Spiritism is today, although everyone is capable of practicing mediumship. Therefore, they suffer from various deceptions and harmful effects, the main one being obsession and even possession, in addition to the dissemination of false ideas that delay the development of humanity. Often, these bad results are found by people in good faith, for whom knowledge would be enough. Other times, they are reluctant people, who definitely don't want to open themselves up to the possibility of admitting that they are wrong or that they don't know everything – but this article is not for them.
Let us, therefore, as in Kardec's time, help recover this knowledge. Let's learn what Spiritism really is, through the study of the Revista Espírita from 1858 to 1869; let's practice healthy mediumship, free from false ideas; We will then resume the evocations, and then cooperate between the groups, as Kardec presents in Revista Espírita, not with mediumship restricted to “spiritist centers”, as we know it today, but rather with it spread across small groups and family groups, each one of them a “center”. It does not matter what religion each person has, to which everyone has the right: Spiritism is a natural fact, accessible to everyone.
For a long time, the Spiritist Movement and Umbanda were guided by mysticism, despite having such a rich and serious wealth of knowledge at their disposal. Whether you are a participant in the Spiritist Movement, or another religion, or even a freethinker who wants to know the facts, join this recovery effort. That's the invitation.
I suggest, as a great read, the work “Autonomy: the never told story of Spiritism”, by Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo.
Thank you for accompanying me here.
The history of Spiritism and the Spiritist Movement
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:
General concordance in teaching is the doctrine’s essential character, the condition even of its existence. It is evident that all principles which have not received the consecration of general agreement can only be considered as a fractional part of this same doctrine, merely as a simple, isolated opinion for which Spiritism cannot assume the responsibility.
It is the concordant, collective teaching of the spirits who have passed beyond which constitutes the logical criterion, giving strength to the spiritual doctrine and assuring to it perpetuity.
Allan Kardec – Genesis
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Spiritism and Science: overcoming modern challenges and errors
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.
Exemplification of the scientific method
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:
General concordance in teaching is the doctrine’s essential character, the condition even of its existence. It is evident that all principles which have not received the consecration of general agreement can only be considered as a fractional part of this same doctrine, merely as a simple, isolated opinion for which Spiritism cannot assume the responsibility.
It is the concordant, collective teaching of the spirits who have passed beyond which constitutes the logical criterion, giving strength to the spiritual doctrine and assuring to it perpetuity.
Allan Kardec — 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.
