New Horizons

Paulo Degering R Jr
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In the first half of 2021, I had - and I don't even remember how - contact with Simoni Privato's work - The Legacy of Allan Kardec - a work that really shook me, given my understanding of everything that happened to the French Spiritist Movement after Kardec's death, and how much it defined the direction of this movement in the following century, especially in Brazil. Then, "by chance", someone posted a question in a group about a work that had just been released at the time: "Nem céu, nem inferno", by Lucas Sampaio and Paulo Henrique de Figueiredo (PHF). The first thought was: it must be absurd. But the title was too challenging to pass up. So, in order to understand the basis of what the authors were saying, I bought and read the book, with great avidity, I must confess.

. Demerit? None. I studied what was within my reach. Humiliation? Only if I thought that the truth was just what I knew and that, outside of that, nothing would exist. But if there's one thing I knew about Kardec, by tradition of studying The Spirits' Book with my father, it was his great commitment to the scientific search for the truth, which was the reason that instigated me to study, without attachments. But… Study what? I already knew most of the Spirits' Book. The essence of The Mediums' Book, too. I mean: in the face of what was within my reach, the moral and scientific essence seemed to me to be well understood.

A fact that caught my attention and that perhaps intuition reinforced is that there must be something important in this “Spiritist Magazine” since these authors often resorted to very pertinent and insightful quotes from Kardec or Spirits, contained in these volumes. Thus, this initiative and our study group were born… But you probably already know all of this. That's not the point, I just thought it would be interesting to demonstrate, once again, the path I've taken so far, as this path is taking me to places I've never visited before.

A very important fact that happened in this trajectory was the approximation with the Grupo de Estudos Espiritismo para Todos, which happened because, in contact with Paulo Henrique, he himself referred me to someone from that group, who studied with him the works of Kardec and its scientific context. Then came the knowledge of Rational Spiritualism, which we have discussed here several timesand, more recently, a massive in-depth study of Kardec's entire context, which is unknown today. Metaphysics, something unknown or disconnected from current science, was an elementary part of any scientist's studies at the time, and it was this, along with everything that science provided at the time, that made the formation of the Spiritist Doctrine possible.

In the same way that Science itself has as its object the study of the laws of the material principle, the special object of Spiritism is the knowledge of the laws of the spiritual principle. Now, as this last principle is one of the forces of nature which incessantly reacts on the material principle and reciprocally, it follows that the knowledge of the one cannot be complete without the knowledge of the other; that Spiritism and Science complement each other; that Science without Spiritism is unable to explain certain phenomena resorting only to the laws of matter, and for having dispensed with the spiritual principle, it finds itself in the midst of so many difficulties; that Spiritism without Science would lack support and control and could make mistakes. If Spiritism had arrived before scientific discoveries, it would have failed, like everything that happens before its time.

KARDEC, Allan. The Genesis, 1868

It's impossible to describe everything we've studied so far in this article alone. The reader who follows us will be able to identify when reading the texts on this site, various suggestions and clues that we often give and that it is up to each person whether or not they want to investigate. The fact is that we are reaching a point, following the studies of our friend Paulo Henrique, where my first questions are beginning to be answered: is it possible to return to Spiritism, studied scientifically, as Kardec did? Is it possible to resume contact with the Spirits, continuing the formation, or even the doctrinal recovery? Indeed, it is possible (and I write this with a smile on my face).

Have a look: Kardec had understood and advanced on scientific points that we had never suspected, and this could be verified through a method that will soon be made known to us and to the dear reader, because the interest is to present it to humanity. Not just the method, in fact, but the knowledge found through it. In my study with PHF, where this knowledge is being developed, I could feel nothing but very diminished compared to Kardec. I felt ignorant of my previous understanding of Spiritism. With each new realization, I laughed, but it wasn't a laugh of disdain or sarcasm: it was a laugh that was impossible to contain, expressing my level of ignorance in the face of the size of Spiritist science, formed by Kardec's studies through years of learning from the Spirits.

We already know (and if you don't, hurry up and read the Spiritist Review) that when we learn from the spirits, we can't treat them as revelators to whom all we have to do is ask and they'll answer with the theory ready. No.

"... in the world of spirits, there is a very singular fact, which surely no one had ever suspected - that there are spirits who do not consider themselves dead. Well then: the superior Spirits, who are perfectly aware of this fact, never came to say in advance: "There are Spirits who suppose they are still living on earth; retaining their tastes, habits and instincts". Instead, they provoked the manifestation of spirits of this category so that we could observe them. Thus, after seeing spirits who were unsure of their state, or who affirmed that they belonged to this world and carried out their usual occupations, the rule was deduced from the example. The multiplicity of similar facts proved that this was not an exception, but one of the phases of spiritual life, allowing us to study all the varieties and causes of this singular illusion, as well as recognizing, above all, that this situation is typical of spirits who are not very advanced morally, and characteristic of certain types of death; which is only temporary, but can last for days, months and years. Thus, the theory was born from observation. The same has happened with all the other principles of the doctrine."

KARDEC, Allan. Ibid.

It's easy to see, therefore, how much knowledge these studies require and, in a century where each area is niche, that is, where the physicist doesn't study philosophy; where the mathematician doesn't know botany; where the chemist doesn't know astronomy, and where none of them know metaphysics, it's even easier to understand the difficulty we face. I recognize that adventuring in these studies is not for everyone, and I can only behave like a goose (because I don't want to compare myself to a hen, that would be too humiliating), chasing the crumbs that fall from the hands of the one who planted and who now reaps the grains of the plantation.

Well, as I was saying, new horizons are opening up and everyone who is interested in learning and spreading knowledge can and should throw themselves into their studies in whatever way they can. It's difficult to gather all the lessons learned in order to take up the scientific study of Spiritism in our own hands, but who says we need to be as brilliant as Einstein to understand the essence of the laws of our universe, as demonstrated by this great genius? We can behave in the same way with Spiritism: all it takes is dedication, putting our minds to work and, on our part, researching, questioning and delving into everything that seems nebulous to us. The most important thing of all is that we are not alone: in a group, construction becomes much more fruitful, as each person, being in a position to help and be helped, assists and participates in the construction of knowledge. All that we need to do is get out of the position of being teachers of Spiritism.

We finalize our last study with Paulo Figueiredo saying something like that: If this knowledge is so interesting and transforming for us, who are ignorant, imagine for those who are intelligent!”. Yes. Imagine what it will be like for a mathematician to verify that Spiritism talks about mathematics. Imagine what it will be like for the physicist, the chemist, the doctor, for the philosopher, to verify that, in Spiritism, it is all about this, with moral aspect and without mysticism? From what can everything be deduced from Natural Law, and what is Spiritism about?

But, to achieve this, it is necessary to overcome some barriers created by materialism, not only in science but also within the spiritist movement. Firstly, it will be necessary to demonstrate that modern science, by turning its back on metaphysics, has become as dogmatic as the Church which, in the past, treated as a heretic anyone who stated that the Earth revolved around the sun, or that it burned. witches” for claiming to be hearing or seeing Spirits. Then, it will be necessary to demonstrate that what they think is Spiritism — often based on absurd things they read out there, other times based on what acquaintances present to them, so-called spiritists, but dogmatic and walking on false ideas, or even false confusion between Spiritism and modern, mystical, superstitious and also dogmatic spiritualism — it will be necessary to demonstrate, I said, that this is not Spiritism. It will be necessary to demonstrate that Spiritism was (is) something so rational and serious, an undeniable fact, that, more than 150 years ago, it advanced truths that Science is only now confirming. Finally, for those who reach this point, through the use of common sense, it will be necessary to demonstrate that Spiritism, as a science very well established in its time, was formed in the same way as all other sciences of observation, being, therefore, rational — as rational as the search, in current physics, for the existence of dark matter or the existence of other universes, guided by effects whose causes are not, and may never be, directly observable. Here's the challenge.

I needed help, and, despite the predominance of Catholic religious culture, I found some volumes of the Spiritist Magazine on the shelf! No. I opened it and leafed through it, but at that moment I didn't go any further. It was necessary to pass the trouble, to, only later, give attention to such work, through the process explained above. It is natural for everyone to follow their path, and we must respect each other's choices. Perhaps those who cling to and close themselves off from knowledge believe that they are doing good, just as many of those who burned scientific works believed that they were doing what was right (which does not exempt them from their responsibility, but which mitigates their faults, before their consciences). Let us present the knowledge if we wish, but if they wish to burn it let them be while we do our part. Time takes care of everything.

Well, I've written a lot. I stop here for this moment. I need to harvest some grains that were left along the way.

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